Mango Sorbet

Mango Sorbet 

The season for mangoes is coming to an end. My favourite variant , Gulab Khas had already bid adieu some time back and the only other variant which I am getting here in Kolkata is the 'Langa'. I love variants of mango with a sweet and tangy taste.

Most people in India love mangoes and consider mangoes to be the King of all fruits. I personally love them but I do love other fruits as well.

My mother particularly adored them and since she is very choosy I was quite happy with the dish even though I found it a little bit on the higher side of the sweetness meter but the tangy taste from lemon balanced it out .

 I followed the recipe to almost a tee from Larousse Gastronomique and the result was  outstanding with almost no ice crystals at all. It was  the sugar syrup which prevents ice crystals and along with the lemon juice made it a perfectly refreshing delicacy. So even without a sorbetiere or ice-cream maker this recipe gave me smooth velvety sorbet.

1 kilogram mangoes which is peeled and gives 530gm mango puree (I used the Langda variety of amngoes)
250ml sugar (Make a syrup with 330gm sugar and 500ml water. Simmer it till it  reaches 106 Centigrade and comes down to 250ml of sugar syrup. Takes 10 minutes 15 minutes or so)
Juice from 1 big lemon


Make the syrup and add a bit of lemon juice which prevents crystallization of the syrup. The recipe is particularly easy. Peel the mangoes and de-seed them and then blend the pulp and then strain it. Mix it with the syrup and juice of lemon and whisk well. Freeze it and scoop out delicious balls of mango sorbet.

Please note that I did not keep track of the exact amount of time it took me to make the syrup. I used a candy thermometer and when it reached 106 C and was bubbling away I switched it off but its definitely for 10minutes and a bit more. 

My Perfect Iced Coffee

My Perfect Iced Coffee 

I believe as with every other subject in this world cooking is most definitely an ever learning process where you not only learn new dishes , techniques ways , sometimes you get to improve upon that what you previously know and sometimes you hit upon the exact note and then stick to it.

Like I keep on saying taste cannot be anything but subjective and with the firm notion of the importance of the subjective nature of palate sometimes we find people with a similar taste and then does the merriment begin.

I have a few close friends and I always feel extremely happy and lucky that one of my closest friend , Tori and I have taste which is quite similar when it comes to food. We both like seasonal food which is apt for the seasons, we have this palate and appetite for a variety of cheese, we both love meaty treats and we both love love love strong coffee I mean really strong which sadly very few cafes make in India (Mumbai or Kolkata)

Anyway point is just like I try my hands on every dish that I eat outside which catches my fancy for years I had tried making iced coffee at home and it always missed this mark. No matter how lovingly I ground the coffee or how generously I used the coffee it was just not what I would have wanted.

Finally somewhere in the beginning of the season of heat and dust in 2013 I chanced upon The Pioneer Woman's post on Iced coffee.

What caught my attention was the method of brewing and I thought there was no harm in trying out this new technique. It was a bit time consuming but after a good 12 hours the fruit of the labour was so beautiful and sweet that I knew this was it.

Of course Tori approved of it with all her heart and quite honestly though it might sound pompous (though all the steps I follow are collected from all over the internet including Pioneer Woman's brewing mwthod which she has herself admitted to have collected from somewhere. isn't it great when good information is passed on this way) this coffee is for those who like the  strong flavour of coffee than the watery mild flavoured coffee that one purchases in the cafes in India.

Anyway last year when I had invited my  friend Pritha who blogs  from Guilt Free I had made this coffee for her and she seemed quite pleased with it.

Well months went by and the hot season hit us hard again when The Shirazaine shared this article from The Huffington which basically was a gist of everything I do with my iced coffee and so I decided to make a tall cooling glass of this magic potion for the summers and as usual when two food bloggers are friends except them to whatsapp each other at any given point of the day about food tirelessly and passionately. So Pritha told me I should make a post about it and so here it is.

This one I dedicate to Tori and Pritha. I have jotted down the steps which are crucial for the taste. Perhaps you would be interested in giving it a shot.

This process needs a bit of planning but I feel it is worth it. Hurrying the method does just not give the required results.

The Coffee 

All you need are good coffee beans. I live in India and the ones from Nilgiri in South India work beautifully for me. Now you would ask me where I procure it from. In  Kolkata  you get it at good Tea shops which sell loose tea. They keep coffee beans as well. And where there is a will there is always a way. When I had gotten married and my husband was in Mumbai I would frequently visit the city and found amazing beans at The Philips Coffee Shop. So basically every city will have a place which sells coffee beans . All you have to do is search a bit and you won't end up paying a fortune for coffee if you don;t want to. In case you want to use the beans from the exotic Costa Rica or Ethiopia its completely your choice and it probably might just give you better quality coffee which I cannot talk about since I have not used coffee from any exotic place for coffee. Instant coffee just does not give the required flavour and yes I have tried that as well.

The Grinding 

I use a normal coffee grinder and in my experience the powder needs to be finely ground for good flavour. 

The Brewing 

Now comes the important part and yes I believe this is a very important part. Its cold brewing all the way. So basically you soak the ground coffee with water and let the flavour infuse for a minimum of 18 hours to 24 hours and then you basically use a muslin cloth to strain the coffee and its flavour is what the iced coffee is all about.  The coffee to water ratio is 1:8 as per Jamie Oliver's site. I usually use about 120gm ground coffee per litre of water. Then you put this in the refrigerator to cold brew. Then you do the needful of straining.

The Coffee Cubes 

Now this part is again crucial for my coffee. Have you ever had a well made iced coffee and you love the first few sips and slowly and steadily the coffee gets diluted and you feel meh. Well here is the answer. Again this is also a method I chanced upon some article over the internet. Once your coffee has been cold brewed take some of the coffee add sugar as required. I usually need about 8gm to 10 gm per 250ml brewed coffee and then freeze it in a ice cube tray. 

The Final Product 

Well here is where you taste is yours and so how you make it depends on how you like it. Personally speaking I reduce milk not to the consistency of condensed milk but say if I take 250ml milk I would reduce it for 15 minutes , cool it chill it and use about 125ml of milk per 500ml brewed coffee. I like it really strong. I just blend the coffee and milk with some brown sugar and voila its done. 

The Pioneer woman uses condensed milk following some Vietnamese coffee recipe. 

Finally fill a tall glass or jar with the coffee ice cubes and add the blend and sip away my friend. 

While making the final product you can always experiment by using dairy cream, chocolate if you like that or some other flavour . P.s. Sometimes I make alcohol based coffee essence at home and 1 tsp of that takes the coffee to a whole new level. 

Gondhoraj Ghol

Gondhoraj Ghol 

There are very few things I like about the Indian summers. Its not just the oppressive heat which drives everyone crazy on top of that I have one of the most strange allergies. I am allergic to extreme hot temperature which means throughout the 3 or 4 months of  oppressive heat my eyes become red if I am out in the heat for more than half an hour and my skin starts itching terribly.

Yes life is tough but as it so happens that I am lucky enough to work from home and even with the problem with my eyes one of the few things I love about the summers is plenty of sunshine actually strong sunlight which leads to plenty of sun dried tomatoes which disappear within half the time of drying it and then there are the pickles that I make and then of course mangoes.

The last few days have been terribly hot and that had led to a complete loss of appetite and all I wanted was something refreshing.

Lately my obsession are these Bengal limes called 'Gondhoraj lebu'. All the fragrance which it is famous for is in its skin.

A few weeks back I had bought a couple of these limes and then had forgotten about them for a few days and then one fine day out of no proper reason I used a thin slice of the lime in plain water and the refreshing taste and beautiful aroma was what led to this complete obsession. Since then I have been experimenting with different types of dishes where I might use it. I had started off with a fish poached with gondhoraj slices and even though I used it right at the end there was a mild bitterness.

My friend from France, a trained chef advised me to use the zest alone and then I remembered how most of the bitterness comes from the pith.

My next experiment, Spatchcock Gondhoraj Chicken was cause of complete and utter delight. It was one of those beautiful dishes that I would look back in the future and be proud to have made.

So the bottom line is that I am buying these limes every now and then and then I happened to remember this fantastic cooling and refreshing drink I have had at one of Kolkata's beloved restaurants which serves traditional Bengali food, 6, Ballygunge Place .

Nowadays the mere thought of the aroma of Gondhoraj makes me happy and making a ghol 'a yogurt based thin drink is one of the msot easy things to do'

To me ghol is to Bengal what Lassi is to Punjab except that Lassi is thick creamy and delicious while ghol from the East is absolutely thin so that its consistency is like buttermilk.

Needless to say this was loved by one and all

Makes 2 servings

200ml thick plain curd
300ml ice cold water (as chilled as possible)
Sugar as per taste (I needed 2 tbsp)
Zest of 1 gondhoraj lebu
Tiny pinch of salt

Start by grinding the sugar in a coffee grinder. I have seen that this step makes it easy for the sugar to dissolve in the drink.

Just blend everything together and serve immediately.

Dried Fig Ice-cream

Dried Fig Ice-cream 

Sometimes a dish is completely unplanned but is made because of excessive ingredients from a previosuly made dish. Well it was time for an all girls brunch again . You see we are this group of friends and since my friends seem to like what I put on their plate we usually have this brunch which rolls till dinner at my place every time my friend comes down from Delhi. Of course my best friend from the group can be found at various times of different days at my place. Well this time I had opted for a Coffee parfait with a delightful flavour of wine and that required heavy cream.

Now I do understand that procuring heavy dairy cream in India is difficult but its not impossible and here is why I would personally suggest steering clear from  non dairy whipping cream. Cream is naturally supposed to be from cow milk so it is supposed to be dairy and anything which is non dairy is quite obviously unnatural, moreover there was this one time that I had used whipping cream for frosting and making ice-creams and believe me when I say a zinc like taste had ruined both dishes. I do understand that most bakeries in India use Non-dairy whipping cream but any frosting which stays unharmed for days on the end is bad news. In case heavy cream is not available use Amul cream

Now of course there are people who are lactose intolerant and so this particular recipe is not for them. I am not much of a fan of the American style of ice-cream so mine always uses eggs .

You see once you have tasted a superior version of a dish there is no turning back. I was initially a very non-adventurous ice-cream eater who would basically stick to dark chocolate flavoured scoops, coffee flavoured ones, butterscotch, rum and vanilla and then I tasted this fig flavoured ice-cream in Mumbai and I was bowled over. It blew me away but then again without the eggs the richness is just not there. Its not as creamy , not as smooth etc etc. So when I had a good 800ml heavy cream left from my coffee parfait I naturally decided I was going to make a Dry fig flavoured ice-cream.

Here is the deal. I do not own an ice-cream maker and so I naturally welcome recipes which doesn't use ice-cream makers and so Mary Berry's recipe was the perfect solution. I will be honest,  I did not follow the recipe to the tee at all but when you have the basic concept in your head things become much more easy.

Here is the recipe :-

Makes about 12 to 15 scoops of ice-cream

4 eggs separated
500ml heavy cream / Amul Cream in case heavy cream is not available.
3/4th cup icing sugar . You can always increase or decrease the sugar as per taste
A few drops of lemon

For the flavouring
1 heaped cup of dried figs (cup holds 250ml of liquid)
1 cup of water + extra if required
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Start by making your flavouring. Simply bring the figs, water and sugar to a boil and then simmer till its soft. You might be required to add more water but make sure it softens well. It took me 15 minutes over the gas stove on low flame. Let it cool down completely.

Whip your egg whites to soft peaks. use a few drops of lemon. The lemon ensures that the whites do not collapse after being whipped . Now whisk the egg yolks and then add sugar and whisk till its pale and fluffy and add the cream and sugar and create a custard base over a double boiler. At the end you will make a smooth delightful consistency. let it cool down over an ice-bath. Simply take a tray full of ice which is big enough to hold the container with the custard and place it on top till it cools down completely.

In the meantime blend the softened figs to a pulp and now mix it with the custard and whisk well. Fold in the egg whites and pour it in an air-tight plastic container and wrap the container with foil and freeze for at least 3 hours to 4 hours till completely frozen and enjoy the decadent scoops but do eat fat because it melts fast . Next in my mind is this apricot in wine flavoured ice-cream

Melon Smoothie

Melon Smoothie

Well when its hot and you feel tired all the time there is nothing like a refreshing healthy drink. On these hot summer days when you have a tall glass of refreshing drink to quench your thirst while you get to enjoy the delightful taste its a match made in heaven. Water melon and muskmelon both have high water content and so a smoothie  with these two fruits makes a delightful summer drink. The best way to ensure that your smoothie is chilled is to keep the fruits in the refrigerator and chill them well before blending them since adding ice does dilute the flavour.

Here is what you need :-

Serves 1

1.5 cups of diced water melon
1/2 cup of diced musk melon

Simply blend together and relax with a tall glass of Summer delight. I have to admit that I am a fruit fanatic and love most fruits but in case you are not you may add honey for extra sweetness or to jazz things up you can add some Chaat masala as well.

Grape Cooler

Grape Cooler

Fancy some healthy grape cooler to cool you down?

Here is what you do :-

Take enough ice so that you can fill half a drinking glass with the crushed ice

Take about 20 black grapes and blend it well

Just pour the grape juice over the crushed ice and slurp away. You can add sugar and strain the grape juice if you like. Me? I like to get my dose of fiber and hold the sugar for me please

Ah but do not start slurping till you have added a squeeze of lemon and some rock salt.

Stay Cool lovelies