R.S.V.P
MASCARPONE IN BOMBAY Ques: I’ve been itching to make tiramisu, but have been at an absolute loss as I have not chanced upon mascarpone cheese in Bombay. Would be grateful if you could suggest where I could get it. — Sneha Shenoy, by email. Ans: In Bombay, mascarpone cheese is easily available at Godrej Nature’s Basket (all stores), Indigo Deli at Apollo Bunder, and Rajat Provision Store at Malabar Hill. HUNAN CRAB
— Kokil, by email. Ans: Here’s your recipe courtesy Chef Roger Yen of Barbeque Nation. Hope you get it right, enjoy! Ingredients: 1 medium sized crabFor the Marinade- 2 tbsp corn flour, 1 1/2 tbsp refined flour, 1 eggFor the Hunan Sauce- 1 capsicum, 1 onion, each cut into 6-8 pieces50 gm cashew nuts, 2 tsp honey 3 tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp red chilli paste 1 tsp ginger garlic (both chopped), 2 tbsp oil Salt and white pepper to taste Method : Boil the crab for 5 minutes. Cut it into 4 pieces, add corn flour, refined flour and eggs. Fry after a while.
For the sauce, sauté chopped ginger and garlic in the oil. Add the chilli paste. Then, add the honey, capsicum, onion and cashew nuts. Add the fried crab pieces. Finish with soy sauce, salt and white pepper. Ghaari
— Bipin Chand, by email. Ans: Thakar Moti Harji Mithaiwala in Surat has a monopoly on the famous ghaari with pista, mawa and badam-kesar-pista varieties of the mithai. According to these experts, ghaari takes five hours to make. Milk is boiled and boiled until it becomes mawa, then rolled on the palm to make a laddoo. This mawa laddoo is then rolled out like a roti. And it is fried in pure desi ghee after which it is folded, then cooled again and layered with ghee once more. The sweet is then garnished with chopped badam and pista. When it is cut open, or bitten into, the ghee melts in the mouth and mixes with the flavours of the ghaari. It tastes awesome! UpperCrust sampled this devour-able sweet for its April 2004 issue. Here’s the recipe courtesy Yogesh Thakkar of Thakkar Moti Harji Mithaiwala. Believe us, it was not easy to make them part with it! Ingredients: 1 kg crushed pista powder, 5 kg mawa,1 kg sugar3 kg buru (ground caramel), 1 kg chana dal (chickpea) flour, 1 kg clarified butter (ghee) 4 kg flour, 250 gm cardamom (elaichi) powder Method: Mix chana dal, flour and ghee and cook till the mixture reaches a medium consistency. Make sure it is not too thin. In another pan, mix mawa and sugar. Cook until its mixed properly. Remove from the pan into a tray. Allow to cool.Combine both the above mixtures with pista powder, cardamom and buru properly. Make small laddoos of this mixture. Mix ghee with flour and make a dough using water. Make rotis of this dough. Fold a roti around each laddoo and fry in the ghee. Remove and let cool. Pour ghee over the ghaari the following day and devour! Saving Wine..
-Ben Fernandes, Bombay. Ans: Pulling the cork off the wine bottle is a point of no return as oxygen has potential to harm it a great deal. The age of the wine is an important factor to determine how the wine holds up once it is released from ‘captivity.’ While young wines may survive the onslaught of oxygen, very old wines, being extremely fragile may rapidly collapse, losing their character in just minutes or hours of opening. While one should not expect old wines to survive long once uncorked though younger wines can be stored for the following day. Try these methods - The refrigerator: Chemical reaction like oxidation is less rapid at lower temperatures.
Decanting: Decant the wine from the full bottle (say 750 ml capacity) into a spare half bottle (say 375 ml capacity), recork it and then refrigerate. This practice tends to lessen the wine’s contact with the oxygen. While some wine lovers may argue against this practice, it tends to work for younger wines.
Vacuuming: Try to find wine preservation systems that pump the air out of the bottle or protect the wine with inert gas.
An exception to these methods is sparkling wine. To try to decant such a wine is not sensible at all as it would result in the loss of fizz, for starters. Many wine lovers use a pressure cap to prevent the fizz from going out. But honestly, doesn’t one always find someone to polish off bubbly?! Marinated Oysters in Salmon
— Samantha Singh, Mangalore. Ans: This dish is highly suitable as an hors d’oeuvre. Use a medium-sized oyster with a firm meat content and is not too salty. Overseas, they use crassostrea gigas or virginica oysters which are ideal if you can source them. Because the salmon is not cooked in this recipe, it is important that it be fresh and from a reputable source. Here you go- Ingredients: 24 oysters, 500 gm salmon filletFor the Marinade: 300 ml dry white wine6 tbsp fresh orange juice, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar 12 drained capers, Salt and pepper to taste For the Garnish: 1 kiwi fruit (optional), 3-4 radicchio leaves, shreddedMethod: Prepare the marinade at least half an hour before you want to serve this dish. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. Meanwhile, open the oysters and remove them from their shell and place on a flattish dish.Add the wine to the marinade. Trim the salmon and cut it into pieces the same size as the oysters. Arrange the pieces on the dish with the oysters and spoon the warm marinade over both. Leave until cold, the cover and chill in the refrigerator for an hour. Garnish with kiwifruit, if using, and shredded radicchio leaves and serve. E-mail your queries at [email protected] We’ll do our best to provide the answers, even if they are recipes from your favourite restaurants. |
Ques: There is a crab dish that is served at the buffet at Barbeque Nation (Bombay), which I absolutely love. Could you please source it for me?
Ques: I would be very grateful if you could send me the recipe for making Ghaari or at least send me the web address or link to websites which have Ghaari recipes.
Ques: I find it real hard to store wine once the bottle is open. Is there a way whereby which wine, once opened, doesn’t go bad?
Ques: I love oysters. And I love salmon. Please suggest a recipe wherein I can incorporate both my favourites.
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