Arabian Delight

BURP....
You may wonder why start with "Burp"?
It's a compliment. "Better out than in". Shrek always say that.

At last its finally executed today. "Treat" given by a bunch of Newly* Wedded teammates.

Venue: Al Arab, Mylapore.
Al Arab is a kinda Indo-Arabian cuisine hotel. Once we step into Al Arab, one could feel an Arabian ambiance around. It's the waiters and attendants who make us feel that way. They are all seen dressed up in their traditional Arabian outfits(white pyjamas & red checked scarfs). There are four floors in the hotel. It seems that 3rd and 4th are meant for buffet. We were all accommodated in the 4th floor. The feast was set open once the mini charcoal grill sears were set in our tables. First we were served with a roll of Shawarma. It was really a good preparation. Then the waiters revolved around the table placing the pre grilled Chicken, paneer with few veggies over the charcoal sears. Taste of the grilled chicken was quite different with a carbonized aroma. Chicken was soft & tender but had a bland taste and could not be consumed without sauce or mayonnaise. After 2 to 3 rounds of grilled starters I was unable to lift myself from the seat to fetch the main course. With great difficulty I reached the buffet table with my friends. The main course had 2(V & NV) hot & spicy soups, around 10 different salads, 2 types of stews, a fish curry, 2 other gravies, briyani rice, naan, curd rice. Opposite to the main course table they have stationed my favorite items, "The Desserts". They were good in number. So I decided to cut short my main course and reserve space for desserts. So I just tried few salads and had a small quantity of curd rice. Once I was done with my short main course, I hopped towards the Desserts area and loaded my plate with a choco truffle, a small piece of brownie, a scoop of fresh cream, a Gulub Jamun piece, few pieces from fruit salad, 2 scoops of vanilla icecream. Regarding the desserts, brownie and Gulub Jamun could have been better, otherwise it was worth the taste. In short it was like a welcoming feast given at Hogwards(Konjam exaggerate panniten)

Shawarma

Grilled Chicken, paneer with few veggies

* Are they really Newly wed now? [Summa ;-)]

P.S

Thanks to the JSG group for this appetizing treat.

Anju

Plum cakes - Key formula revealed

Is there any good tie-up between me and cooking?

Actually, I WAS quite a Kitcheno-Phobic person EARLIER. But now I have started spending time doing some research on kitchenomics. Have tried few recipes, faced countless failures and couple of successes. Let me share few words about my hit recipe. You would have easily figured it out as the blog is entitled in such a manner. Yep, its PLUM CAKE.

Ingredients:

1. Dry fruits like dates, tutty fruity, orange peel, raisins..
2. Nuts like cashew, almond, pista, walnut..
3. Grape juice or red wine
4. Maida flour - 1 cup
5. Powdered sugar - 1 1/2 cups
6. Eggs - 3
7. Butter(Non Salt) - 100 gms
8. Baking soda - 1 tsp
9. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
10. Powdered spices (Cardamom,Cloves,Cinnamon,Nutmeg,Dry ginger) - 1 or 2 tsp
11. salt - 1 pinch (Optional)
12. Ramen Girl's Touch (Must)

Procedure:

Soak the dry fruits and nuts in Grape juice/ red wine in an air tight container for 2 days time.

Caramelize 1/2 cup of Sugar.
Heat a medium sauce pan with 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp of water. Stir it continuously. It will turn into a dark colored syrup. Slowly add 1/4 cup of water and stir well and allow it to cool. Be careful while pouring the water as it might splash out of the vessel.

Add baking powder to maida, mix it well and keep it aside.

Add powdered spices to soaked dry fruits, mix it well and keep it aside.

Dough making
Beat the butter into smooth paste. Added 1 cup of powered sugar to the butter and beat it well until sugar blends well along with butter. Try to beat is an uni-directional manner. Then add beaten eggs into the butter and sugar mixture. Beat for some time. In intervals, add some amount maida and mix it well. See to it that there is no lumps of flour left behind in dough. Now it is time to add the vanilla essence and caramel sauce. Mix it well so that the caramel is evenly distributed thru' out the dough. Finally add the Soaked dry fruit mixture and mix it well. Don't beat for a long time bcoz it might break the fruits.

Baking
Grease the cake baking aluminum tin with ghee or butter. Added a very film/layer of maida flour over the ghee. This is to avoid cake from sticking to the tin while removing cake from the tin. Micro oven settings vary from one microwave oven to another.

(In our IFB microwave oven, "Cakes and Deserts" settings was chosen and a baking time of 45-50 mins was set)

Few useful tips:
- Try to use Round shaped Aluminum tin

Scientific reason: in a round shaped vessel heat distribution will be even.
- Use a toothpick to check whether the cake is fully baked. The centre/ bottom part usually takes more time to cook.

- When more dry fruits are added it takes more baking time, especially the bottom part of the cake.

Scientific reason: dry fruits settles down @ the bottom due to Newton's law of gravity.

Now, if you ask me "Is it all over? Can I expect a divine taste if all these steps are followed correctly?"

My reply is Flatly "NO".

You have missed one of the key ingredient(no. 12) mentioned in the list.

Ramen Girl's Touch

What is this Ramen Girl's Touch all about?

It is a kinda intangible ingredient. It refers to the mood/state of mind & heart with which you prepare a dish. In simple words, cake's taste is directly proportional to the amount of happiness with which you prepare it.

P.S

Keep in mind, the Ramen Girl formula while cooking:

Taste ∝ Happiness

More about Ramen Girl here.

Some more Filler:
Updated my current mood video.
Youtube link here

Anju