Happy Chocolate Day!

It’s World Chocolate Day and we’re uber excited (not that we need a reason to have chocolate, but if you’re looking for some, then click here).  We’ve been shopping for all things chocolate and whipping up a storm in the kitchen. And we thought maybe you’d like to chocolate up your meals tonight too. Here are some Zoinkalicious! Recipes you’d love to make at home :

1. Tall, Dark and Handsome: 

Start off your meal with a chocolate liqueur drink which pairs very well with pretty much anything. Who doesn’t love a chocolate drink anyway?

Ingredients:

• 1 packet cocoa mix, for glass rim
• 2 shots vanilla vodka
• 1/2 shot coffee liqueur
• 1/2 shot chocolate liqueur

Method:

1. Wet rim of martini glass on a damp paper towel and dip into cocoa mix; set aside.
2. Add remaining ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir and strain into martini glass.

2. Spinach Salad with Chocolate Vinaigrette:

Ingredients:

For vinaigrette:

• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette

For salad:

• 8 cups bagged baby spinach, washed
• 1 1/3 cups freshly diced mango
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

1. In a large bowl whisk together cocoa powder, sugar and vinaigrette. Add spinach and toss to coat.

2. Add mango, cranberries and walnuts. Toss together and transfer to a serving dish.

 

3. Chocolate Crostini with Sea Salt:

The biggest challenge with presenting this chocolate sea salt crostini recipe is getting people to stop thinking, “dessert,” and start thinking, “great special occasion savory snack.” For this to work as a savory bite, the chocolate must be very dark, bittersweet, and world-class.  Also, use only extra virgin oil to give it that perfect taste.

 

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces dark chocolate
• 1/4 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 12 thin baguette slices, toasted
• medium-coarse sea salt

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate with the orange zest and olive oil in a small, heavy-bottom pot over ultra-low heat (if you’re a double boiler-lover, feel free to use one here), swirling it around occasionally.
2. Give it all a good stir once it’s super soft but not completely melted and take it off the heat.
3. Spread chocolate mixture on baguette slices and sprinkle with a generous pinch of sea salt.

 

4. Chicken in Chocolate Sauce: 

No, don’t wrinkle that face. Unsweetened cocoa powder with the sherry, spices and garlic glaze the chicken beautifully leaving you with an unforgettable taste in your mouth. The silkiness of the chocolate  combined with the  tenderness of the chicken is absolutely orgasmic.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken pieces, cut in strips
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 6 ounces dry sherry
• Salt and pepper
• Bay leaf
• Cloves, to taste
• Cinnamon, to taste
• Thyme, to taste
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

1. Sprinkle chicken strips with spices. Add garlic and sherry and let marinate.
2. Heat oil in a saucepan and brown chicken pieces. Add onion and continue cooking over low heat.
3. Add marinade. Cook 20 minutes. Stir in cocoa. Cook 10 minutes. Remove chicken with slotted spoon. Reduce sauce, serve over chicken.

 

5. Super Gooey Chocolate Brownies:

Nobody can resist chocolate brownies, especially super gooey ones. The crispy choco base over the brownie and the gooey moist centre makes this for the perfect comfort dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 120 gms. unsweetened chocolate
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour, or pancake mix
• 1/2 to 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

 

Method:

1. In a saucepan melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally. Add the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Remove from heat. Allow the mixture to cool 15-20 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips. Pour mixture into a well greased 9 x 12 inch pan.
2. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and cut into squares.
3. The brownies will solidify over time, to re-moisten, microwave for a few seconds and sprinkle over some icing sugar to serve

 

So these are our Chocolate based recipes this Chocolate Day. Try them and let us know how it goes!

Recipes Courtesy:

http://www.cooks.com
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://www.cdkitchen.com
http://www.nourishnetwork.com

Uncooking anyone?

We’ve all had our turns at the stove where everything we did messed up and stank from here to high heavens. And that’s about the time when either we wish we had not started this venture or we could, errr.. uncook it. And amazingly enough, someone has unlocked the key to ‘uncooking’. You heard me right, it’s ‘Uncooking’! And we have the fathers of fine dining, ie the French, to thank for. Well,  one French guy in particular called Hervé This.

A little about Hervé before we go on. Heard of Molecular Gastronomy?* Well, this is the physical chemist who, along with physicist Nicholas Kurti, came up with the concept. He breaks down the science of everyday cooking, thus discovering more efficient way of assembling a recipe. For example, it’s been an old debate among cooks, how to make  béchamel sauce ie white pasta sauce without lumps; whether to to add roux (cooked butter and flour) to milk or vice versa. Also whether the milk should be hot or cold. Turns out one of the polymers is not water soluble and another dissolves only in hot water. Dissolving starch in hot water creates a gel that makes lumps. The solution? Add the roux to cold milk. Who knew that the dreaded chemistry lab would help us make that perfect pasta!

Check out his CHOCOLATE CHANTILLY recipe. It has only chocolate and water with sugar optional! Now if that the not the shortest ingredient list you have seen for a mousse then I don’t know what you been making!!

INSTANT CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (CHOCOLATE CHANTILLY)

As easy as Chocolate Chantilly?!

Recipe by Herve This & Heston Blumenthal

Ingredients

4 servings

• 9.35 ounces (265 grams) bittersweet (%70 cocoa solids) chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup (240 ml) water
• 4 tbsp sugar, optional

Method

1. Place a large mixing bowl on top of another slightly smaller one, filled with ice and cold water (the bottom of the large bowl should touch the ice). Set aside.
2. Put chocolate and water (also sugar and/or liquor if you’re using) in a medium-sized pan and melt the chocolate over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
3. Pour the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl sitting on top of ice and water, and start whisking with a wire whisk (or an electrical hand-held mixer) until thick. Watch the texture as you whip and make sure not to over-whip as it will make the mousse grainy. If the mousse becomes grainy (which is possible at your first try), transfer it back into the pan, reheat until half of it is melted, pour it back to the mixing bowl and whisk again briefly.
4. Divide into four serving cups and serve immediately.

And you can also flavor it with cinnamon or add a tablespoon of liquor like Grand Marnier, Chartreuse or Tia Maria. Just make sure the amount of liquid stays the same (subtract the amount of liquor from water). Or boil the water first, take off heat, place a couple of Earl Grey tea bags, let infuse and then use it as your liquid. You’ll have Earl Grey scented mousse in no time. Watch this video for finding out the perfect consistency from the man himself,Heston Blumenthal and he tells you why it works!(Applause!!)

Best part is that since it doesn’t lose it’s consistency it can be used as filling for cakes or any kinda bakes!

Anyways, got side track there, din’t we? Back to ‘uncooking’. We are not at a place where we can uncook that really complicated  ‘pate en croute’ yet, but we can start with the humble egg. And you can try this at home, just that it takes about ,say 3 hours! It’s just easier watching the video!

Check out how to uncook an egg:

Ps: ignore the last 5 secs.. have no idea why Chucky! :-/

Well, that’s a lot of new things you learned today! Let us know how you liked it!

* If you have not, then more on that in later posts!

Bite Sized Joys- Cupcakes!

We been reading ‘Like water for chocolate’ ( More on that later!) and consequently Chocolate is at the top of our minds. Chocolate and cooking. So all the more reason why we should be doing some ourselves! And cupcakes ( or fairy cakes, as they are called in Britain.. isn’t that the cutest and most apt description!?) seem just right for the moment.

So here are out some of our favorite fairy cake recipes:

Nigella’s Easy Peasy Cupcakes

Easy Peasy Bite-sized joys!

We love Nigella anything, but when she makes things easy peasy for us we just roll over like a happy dog with it’s tummy rubbed!

• 125g butter, softened
• 125g sugar
• 125g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2-3 tablespoons of milk

Preheat oven to 200C, or 180C if using fan-forced.

Place all the ingredients except the milk into a food processor. Blitz in short bursts until the mixture is well combined and smooth.

Whilst pulsing the mixture, gradually pour in the two tablespoons of milk through the food processor funnel. Blitz until the milk has been incoporated. The mixture should look smooth. Add another tablespoon of milk if necessary.

Divide the mixture across a patty-lined 12-muffin tin. A generous tablespoon should be sufficient, as the mixture should triple in size when baked.

Bake for 15-20min or until well-risen and the tops are a pale gold in colour. Ice when cool.

Variations: 
Lemon cupcakes: Add two teaspoons of finely grated lemon rind.
Chocolate cupcakes: Add two tablespoons of cocoa.

All good things come in cup sizes! ( Giggle!)

Brownie Cupcakes

• 90g unsalted butter
• 130g caster sugar
• 90g dark chocolate
• 50g choc chips, any type of chocolate
• 40g plain flour
• 20g cocoa powder
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Melt butter and dark chocolate in bain-marie and leave to cool once melted.

Sieve flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into mixing bowl.

Add chocolate chips,  eggs and sugar.

Add the butter and chocolate mixture.  Beat this chocolate mixture with a wooden spoon til combined.

Pour the mixture into a paper cupcake cases in a cupcake tin. Bake for 15 mins on 180 degrees or until done.They will sink slightly but dont worry. It’s all part of the plan!

 

Now for the icing! What cupcake is perfect with out the absolute indulgence of the soft creamy topping!

Buttercream icing: Beat 125g softened unsalted butter with 250g pure icing sugar using an electric mixer. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and 2 teaspoons of milk. Beat until smooth (a wooden spoon can be easier at this point), adding either more milk or icing sugar if necessary. Use a piping bag to decorate swirls onto cooled cupcakes.

Chocolate icing: Melt 90g of dark chocolate (broken in pieces) and 30g butter in a bowl sitting over a pot of gently simmering water. Stir until melted, then add 1 cup icing sugar and about 2 tablespoons of hot water. Mix well and add either more hot water or icing sugar until you reach your desired consistency. Using a spatula to slather generously over cooled cupcakes.

 

Well, now you are all set to make yourself very very happy! Share the joy.. Share the post!