budding junior master chefs ?

every friday i am a 'Cook and Bake' teacher for kids at the Darjeeling Montessori House of Children. the kids are a riot (aren't they all?) and it takes all of my zen and patience to sometimes rein them in with nothing but love...i guess i've had enough practice with zy in that front. zy too, is a part of the curriculum ( although he's absent from these photographs )

we made rocky road last friday and it was the biggest hit with the children because which child does not love chocolate, marshmallows and licking the bowl!?

when the school administration first spoke to me about holding classes for children here, apprehension was my only reaction. i had never taught children before in the kitchen. my first concern was safety and my other concern was well, me! i'm not known for my patience. with zy, i get away with it because i package it as 'tough love'  and he buys that! 

not very long ago, my friend Cath had once mentioned that i was a natural with kids during one of our other workshops so when i eventually agreed to take this up, i guess i might have gone with that ...i really hope i've done the right thing!

all said, these young chefs have been amazing...so far, so good :)

Rocky Road Recipe

125 grams soft butter

300 grams dark chocolate broken into pieces

3 tablespoons honey

 (it's actually golden syrup but in darj, we do make compromises with ingredients)

200 grams rich tea biscuits

100 grams mini marshmallows

Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan. Scoop out about 3 tablesppons of this melted mixture and put aside.

Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and then bash them with a rolling pin until they are crumbed unevenly.

Fold the biscuit pieces and crumbs into the melted chocolate mixture in the saucepan, and then add the marshmallows.

Tip into a foil tray and flatten as best you can with a spatula. Pour the reserved melted chocolate mixture/ganache over the marshmallow mixture and smooth the top.

Refrigerate for about 2 hours or overnight.

Cut into squares and eat!

we might organize a food festival as a fund - raiser for the school. watch this space for the same ... as, when and if it happens.


“His name is Marcus: he is four and a half and possesses that deep gravity and seriousness that only small children and mountain gorillas have ever been able to master.” 
― Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

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selling the selroti

I know the great festival of the Nepali people came and went, i know delicious meals were cooked in every household including mine, i know the tunes of deusi/bhailo still lingers for some of us... and i also know that i have been neglecting this page :(

My only excuse is that i've been busy, not glorifying it but just plain, dull, mundane busy with work. So busy that i couldn't even send this recipe which i'm posting today to V when she needed it. I know i'm forgiven (because my girlfriends have massive hearts, specially her!)...nevertheless, this one is for Vaishali/ Falguni.

Selroti is an important fermented rice food of the Nepalis consumed traditionally during marriages, festivals and other special occasions in Nepal, the Darjeeling Hills, Sikkim and everywhere else in the world where you might find Nepalis.

the batter

My grandmother used to insist on using traditional tools while preparing selroti. The okhli and mushli to pound soaked rice, a nanglo to dry the soaked rice, a suiro, which is a pointed bamboo stick to turn the selroti upside down, lift and drain oil to take out the fried rings of selroti.

The tawa, a cast iron frying pan was a must ( as used below)and a thumsey, a wicker made basket to store fresh selrotis.

frying the sel roti swirls in golden glory

My mother still tries to keep the selroti preparation in our family as traditional as possible, besides the grinding part. Of course, we use the blender and i say a silent prayer to the science gods for that wonderful invention...

the suiro from my grandmom's days

Is it just me or do other people also want to know the origin of this delicious bread in the Nepali community? I love stories specially when it revolves around food so after putting in my best to find out,the only conjectures that i could come up with after many queries and online research is that the name could be derived from saela, a Nepali word given to any food item that is lifted by a suiro.Hence, saela roti becomes selroti. 

Also, Seli is a local variety of rice grown in the foothills of Nepal so the product prepared from this particular variety of rice could have been called selroti.

Although the nomenclature given to that beloved concoction is still a mystery, am i glad that it's NOT Fox Bread of all the   interpretations in the world! I almost cried when i heard that the first time :(

crispy selrotis served with sukha aludum

My Grandmother's Recipe

Come Tihar or a wedding or any festivity, she was the go to person for everyone we knew for the best selrotis in town.People flocked to her house to have it made.

Ingredients:

The estimate i have given is for a kilo of rice which would roughly give you 40-50 pieces of selroti. 

Rice

100 gm ghiu / clarified butter

garam masala ( cardamom, cloves, cinnamon etc)

500ml milk ( depends on how thick you want your batter)

2 unripe banana

Heavy Cream to soften the dough

250gm wheat flour

200gm granulated sugar

Oil to fry

Method

Clean, wash and soak rice in cold water overnight.

Drain excess water and spread to dry for 1 hour.

Grind soaked rice into a coarse powder - (this is how we do it at home which ensures the texture of the final selroti is not smooth but rough.To get this texture,you must also make sure that your gas flame is not too high and is kept to a medium flaresre).Some people prefer the surface to be smooth, so for that result, you must grind the rice to a fine paste.

Mash and add unripe banana, spices, ghiu, heavy cream, sugar, wheat flour and knead the mixture to a soft dough.

NOW add the milk slowly to batter the mixture into a thick and luscious paste.

Leave the batter to ferment for at least two hours or more in a cold climate.

Heat oil in a cast iron pan and deposit the batter as rings into the oil and fry until golden. Make sure that your flame is not too high.

Seloti can be eaten warm, hot or cool with aludum, simi ko achar and chiya.

this photograph was taken by my dear friend, Pranavesh, at his girlfriend's house...and i begged him to part with it...scrappy, ain't i? :)

A little late in the day but HAPPY TIHAR everyone!

x

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Farm Fresh

Spent a weekend at our farm when my brother was visiting last month and i made an impromptu ravioli with potatoes, bacon and baby spinach from the kitchen garden.Served it with a classic burnt butter sauce.

Needless to say, it was lip smacking good. and yes, i don't know modesty...what is that? :)

I made my own pasta sheets. You can find the recipe anywhere on the internet.

 Filling:
2 tspn olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped

2 potatoes mashed

finely chopped bacon bits
¾ cup finely grated fresh cheese
2 tspn finely grated lemon rind
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
freshly ground salt and black peppercorns, to taste

To serve:
20g butter

soy granules

sprinkling of baby spinach

Method:

Roll your pasta dough out and cut round sheets off it with a cookie cutter or in this case with a steel bowl/ batuka! 

Mix the filling together and place a spoonful each on the cut round sheets. 

Moisten the edges of the the remaining round sheets and place them on the mounds, firmly pressing the edges as you go.

Cook ravioli for 3-4 minutes in boiling water until just tender. Drain with a slotted spoon and place into warmed serving bowls.

Quickly heat the butter swirling the butter for about 1 minute only over a medium high heat until very foamy and a slightly golden nutty color (do not burn), add the spinach and soy granules, stir and quickly remove from heat.

Drizzle over the ravioli and serve.

You can grate more cheese over it if you want.

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Stickiest Lemon Cake Ever!

....with lots of syrup:)

Don't you just want to smash your face into that?!

My favorite critic and taster!

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Lemon Drizzle  Cake

125g unsalted butter

175g caster sugar

2 large eggs

zest of 1 lemon

175g self raising flour
pinch of salt

4 tablespoons milk

1 cake tin buttered or lined

For the syrup:

juice of 1 and a half lemons

100g icing sugar

To Make The Cake:

Preheat your oven to 180 C/ gas mark 4.

Cream together butter and sugar and add eggs and lemon zest, beating them in well.

Gently fold in the flour and the salt, mixing thoroughly and then add the milk.

 Spoon the batter into your prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

For the syrup:

Put the lemon juice and icing sugar into a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves.

As soon as cake is out of oven, puncture all over with a fork or tooth pick (in my case) and pour the syrup.

Leave cake to cool completely before removing from the cake tin.

Serve or eat with weak Darjeeling tea…

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Hardcore Foodie Workshop

The Hardcore Foodie workshop last week was a bit of a challenge to me since i had to draft out a purely vegan menu for the participants. Which meant tweaking recipes, cutting corners, adjusting ingredients yet still making the dishes taste just as good. I can't say it wasn't fun and i can't say i did not meet that challenge :)

Glimpses from the Class

lucy's so engrossed in the recipes

some tips and tricks being imparted !!

making mango pulp for the dessert

deep fry

life always gives us lemons but no one's complaining

tasting time is the best time

lucy takes recipe reading to another level

cathy's job hazards

charlotte with the dessert mix

great food on the table

ta dah - the dairy free, gluten free, semolina and mango bake!!


FIND THE RECIPE HERE

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And while we waited for the food to be served

wine was flowing

tattoo art was in the making by our very own deejayshe

wifi benefits

joy and jest

private moments

 and enough time for some weird shots

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and then the french algerian belly dancer gave us some shimmy tips

and we sashayed to her tunes for a while until food was served

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Glimpses of some of the guests who were invited to relish what we cooked

 Gatty, Jamie, Matt and Sharad

Susannah, Mike, Cath

and the rest of us

Another Hardcore Foodie class, another great day spent with good friends...

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