Goodbye….

After more than 3 years, I finally take my final bow from active food blogging. It was a good ride while it lasted unfortunately this no longer excites me the way it used to be before. While my passion for food has only increased over the years but I have come to realise that my true pleasure lies in discreetly cooking and serving a few select family and guest. Also my research and family requires my complete attention which no longer leaves me with much time for blogging

For my reader- thank you for your support over the years and I really appreciate it. Please feel free to email me about any questions on the recipes posted here or any other recipes you have in mind.

Cheers..

Simi Mathew

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

It’s been absolutely crazy…… My college has re-opened and its all back to assignments, debates and test paper. By the time I am back home from college, I hardly have the energy to even lift a frying pan. While I have been struggling to re-adjust to the college schedule, I also felt completely lost and it was not long before that I realised that it was because I have not been baking. Baking is an integral part of my soul and if I stay away from it for a long time, it seems that I have lost a part of my identity. So to redeem my soul and lift my spirits to meet the deadlines for all my pending assignment, I decided to pamper myself with some ambrosia- Extra Large Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache. I unashamedly borrowed the Hershey’s Chocolate Cake recipe and less said the better about how moist and succulent this cupcake is. Try it and you will not ever regret it.

Baklava

Baklava is my all time favourite dessert. Since my family returned to India after our 15 long years in Libya (where I grew up), Baklava suddenly disappeared from my life. I used to lust and dream about the crispy-nutty-sweet-succulent dessert. My search for Baklava continued for years and finally I found by pure coincidence an Arabian restaurant which retails Baklava. But the good news is that since I  did my pastry course from the baking school last week, I can make my own phyllo/filo pastry sheets. It is super complicated but I was ready to re-create some today to quench my desire for some Baklava. It literally took me the  whole day but the efforts was well worth it. I am not posting the recipe for phyllo dough here as it is not easy to make it without visual directions and lot of practice. The best option is to buy ready made phyllo/filo sheets or you may even replace it with spring roll sheets.

Shepherd’s Pie

Sharing an easy breezy recipe for some lovely and delicious shepherd’s pie. We enjoy this dish with some lovely garlic toasts.

Hot & Sour Vegetable Soup

There are days when we really overeat our lunch and end up feeling stuffed up rest of the day. But then for us feeling stuffed is not an excuse for us to skip a meal . We mostly end up having a light soup with lot of roasted croutons.

Sharing a recipe from one of our easy-on-stomach dinner…

Pan Roasted Duck (Kerala Style)

It is impossible to get some good duck to cook in Bangalore but that has not stopped me from quenching my occasional craving for a good Kerala style roasted duck curry. Hence, I on my last vacation to Kerala exported 4 whole ducks with me. They were freezed and then packed in ice boxes with lot of crushed ice. They reached Bangalore perfectly and after 10 hours, the ice on the duck was still intact.

Sharing with my readers a recipe which is probably the best way you can cook your duck provided that you have a palate for spicy thick curry. The recipe is a 3 step process. The duck needs to be marinated first then pressure cooked and finally pan roasted. Though this puny little bird does not have much flesh on it but the meat is quite tough to cook.

Baking School, Finally !!

Guess what I am up to these days…Finally Finally- I am doing my certificate course in pastry and cake baking- the perfect way to spend my one month semester break. The whole course runs for 10 days and I am already exhausted.I love packing my apron and duster in my bag than the usual fat books on psychology but what I was not prepared for was the hot kitchen and standing all day. It is pure hard and intense labour but I am loving every single bit of it….sharing some picture from my classes…

Aubergine Mushroom Bake

Our perfect way of celebrating a lazy weekend is eating junk food and cosying up in front of the TV. As a matter of fact, we celebrate anything and everything with loads of junk food. A perfect excuse to temporarily break away from the normal health food routine J.

Last week we celebrated- my exams finally getting over with some lovely Aubergine Mushroom Bake. I got the idea of baking a brinjal from Ally’s blog but then I wanted to experiment with the dish and ended up with my own version by adding some mushrooms, mashed potatoes and using a completely different cheese.

The dish was perfect though it could be a little too cheesy for most people’s palette.

Egg Omelette in Coconut Gravy

Just when you get tired with the regular egg curry, omelette, scrambled egg fare- here is something that is a twist to the regular fare. The coconut based gravy is of a smooth consistency and leaves your taste buds tingling for more.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Re-doing a recipe from one of my oldest posts……Blast from the Past