To Russia with Love from my stroganoff Heart – chicken Stroganoff

Comforting Chicken Stroganoff with mushrooms n home-made crème fraiche n egg noodles- a fantastic versatile recipe from Russia

“The knife was going through the mushrooms effortlessly, every time the knife hit the worn out wooden piece of wood it gave off a comforting sound, other than that sound there was silence in the room and her n him-Nikolai Ivanich-a curly headed young fellow with shiny forehead with fine wrinkles. The faint sunlight coming through the window glass bounced off the table where his hands rest and got reflected by the shiny blade of the knife that she was handling n hit the wooden ceiling, he wondered if Sofia has found rhythm in the kitchen, it is the first time he is visiting this cousin of his after that life changing incident, Sofia Alexandrovna  doesn’t look around as she peels the onions, she seems peaceful n in tune with herself, it is hard to describe looking at her now how her life was 6 months back, she is thin n tall with a worn out grace, taller than most of the ladies around her n she is wise, partly made by herself, party by life. As he kept looking around the room, the smell from the pan filled up the wooden room, he knew what coming- stroganoff” 

This could have been a story from a Russian book n I am sure I have read such a piece while I was growing up, my childhood was packed with books from Russia, back then in the eighties there were huge number of books by Russian authors were present in India, every week my father would get us a few new books on his way back from office and it was a blast of joy every time he did that, I was utterly in love with books n the fantastic illustrations that were hidden in those books- they enriched my imagination as my father would read from those books at times or as I will read them single mindedly in the afternoons after school.  Even though now I don’t read books so frequently, a part of me will always belong there; a part of it will always love those tales from Russia.

Stroganoff is a proper comfort food, easy to cook; it thrives on simple few ingredients, it originates from Russia and then spread across the world n won hearts.  Now it is popular all over the world and as with every country the recipes changes with time n place, it is popular in Brazil, in Japan, in China, the UK, and Australia…so literally all over the globe. You can serve it with rice or flat egg noodles, sometimes potato straws are served along with it which will be so exciting I can imagine, I think the Parsi n Bengali people will love it since they love potatoes with meat.

One of the important ingredient is Crème fraiche- this is rich and it is bacterial cultured, it has tang n certain kind of nuttiness which comes from the culture, crème fraiche has about 10-45% butterfat, it is made by introducing the bacterial culture to heavy cream, you can make it at home like I did, it’s simple n very rewarding, all you need is buttermilk which has those bacteria or a good yogurt and after 2 days you will have your own crème fraiche. You can use sour cream if you don’t have it but sour cream doesn’t have that nuttiness that crème fraiche has, but still you can use it.

Another important ingredient is a good stock which will provide the depth of flavor, so before you start to make stroganoff make sure you have some good chicken stock ready or stock cubes. In my recipe I have used white wine but it’s not mandatory, you can simply skip it. I decided to use chicken thigh because they are most tasty n I love their texture, however chicken breast is utterly fine n will cook even quickly.

The day I made the chicken stroganoff I tasted it with rice n it was so delicious, the next day I tried it with egg noodles-the noodles I made that morning myself,  when you serve the stroganoff with warm buttered egg noodles it makes you so very happy.  You can have them with toasted pieces of buttered bread too...Do what you feel like.

So now I will take you to the recipe.

For The Recipe:  You will need

For the Stroganoff:

Chicken thighs – 250-350 gm, deboned n cut into 2 inch pieces

Button mushroom- 250 gm, cut into ¼ inch thick slices

Red onion- 1 medium, cut into medium slices

Garlic- 2/3 medium cloves, grated

Flour- 1 tbsp

White wine- 4-5 tbsp

Chicken stock- 1 ½-2 cups

White vegetable oil- 2-3 tbsp

Butter- 1 tbsp

Crème fraiche- 2-3 tbsp

Black pepper

Salt

Flat leaf parsley- 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves-1 tbsp

For the egg Noodles:

All purpose flour- 1 ½ cup

Eggs- 2

Water- 1/8 cup about, it varies

Salt

Butter – ½ tbsp, melted

1. Start by making the pieces of the chicken n drying them slightly with a paper towel, sprinkle them with salt n pepper, heat 2/3 tbsp of white oil in a pan over medium heat and add the chicken pieces, don’t add too many pieces n crowd the pan, work in 2 batches if the pan is small, when one side gets  brown color flip them n color other side too, when done remove from the pan, add the butter to the same pan and add the sliced onion n mushrooms together, let the heat be medium and toss them in between as they get brown all over, when the mushroom n onions are golden brown to brown, add the grated garlic n put the heat to low and give it 2 minutes. Add the flour and toss it and give it another 2 minutes, then add the white wine and deglaze the pan, when the pan is almost deglazed after a minute or so, add the chicken stock and let the whole thing come to a simmer, then add the chicken pieces back in the pan mix well, let it come to simmer again n taste n adjust the seasoning, cover it with a lid and give it about 20 minutes, the chicken will be tender in 20 minutes. After the time check if the chicken is done and the sauce should have thickened, if you want the sauce thinner add some more stock or water, if you want it more dry you have to give it more time on the fire, so now it is time to finish, add a big dollop of crème fraiche to the pan and mix well and put off the flame, taste n adjust the seasoning one more time, then sprinkle the fresh herbs all over n give it 5 minutes standing time.

2. For preparing the egg noodles from scratch, take the flour in a bowl and make a well in it, break the eggs in a small bowl and add the melted butter and whisk the eggs until uniform, then pour it in the flour well, add salt, don’t add less salt, add enough salt to bring out the flavor of the eggs, then start mixing the flour with the eggs gradually, when all the flour has gone into a lump n add a little water and make it come together, the dough should not be very soft nor very tight, it will be medium, so adjust the water accordingly, don’t add too much water in the beginning, work on the dough, if the dough is too tight add some water, work again, if it still needs then add some more. Now you need to knead the dough for about 7-10 minutes and it will be smooth n elastic. Cover n rest the dough for an hour to 30 minutes.

Prepare the flat working surface by sprinkling flour all over it, tap the dough out , divide in 2 equal parts and shape each one into a flat round and with a floured rolling pin n floured hand tap one round and start rolling uniformly in all directions until it becomes a big circle, work with light hands as the dough gets thinner, make it a circle of about 12- 15 inches in diameter, you will be able to see though lightly through the dough, with a sharp knife or pizza cutter cut the noodles into long strips of about ½ inch-1/4 inch broad, this is a work of patience, when you have finished making the noodles like this give them about 30 minutes to rest, separate the noodles you will cook for now, for the rest sprinkle flour all over them  n toss them with light hands in that flour, then you can store them in the freeze wrapped in a plastic bag for 3-4 days.

3. Boil some water in a bowl, salt the water, then put the egg noodle into the boiling water, fresh noodles cook very quickly, so give them about 2-4 minutes, check after 2/3 minutes by lifting one up, they should still have a little bite n not completely soft, at this stage drain the water n pour cold water over the noodles, then drain the water n sprinkle a little oil all over them, so they won’t stick to each other, melt some butter in a pan and pour the butter over the noodles along with some black pepper when you are going to serve them.

So the chicken stroganoff is  all ready waiting for you and now we must taste, dip the spoon get some sauce along with piece of mushroom with the chicken n put that whole thing into your mouth. Woaah!!...so rich n delish! You can’t just eat it on its own and forget about anything else but I think crispy potato straws will be heavenly.  Bon appétit.

 

Indian Mango Ice-cream- You Are My Summer

GulabKhaas Indian Mango Ice-cream with Pistachio praline dust n leaf-the true essence of summer n why home-made ice-cream makes all the difference

I set the battery in the camera, I set the two plates ready, the pistachio praline dust is ready and the praline leaf has come out of the oven 5 minutes ago and they came off the baking sheet in one shape, much relief, now all I need is the ice cream on the plate. So I run down to the ground floor to get the tray of ice cream and I start scooping as soon as I reach the veranda, the rays of the evening sun are on the plate, one by one I put 3 scoops on the plate and by the time the 3^rd scoop is getting ready the first two starts to melt, at this time I start to panic, I should have frozen the plates, the sun is at 42 Celsius  and I have to take good pictures before my ice creams melts down, with a stiff heart I place the fresh mango puree on the plate around the ice cream, place the pistachio praline leaf on the ice cream and I start to shoot, gosh it’s not easy at all, every second the ice cream melts a little more and loses its height, I’m worried now, if I can’t find good frames in this frame of mind today is gone, I have to shoot next day because the ice cream wont set again in 5 minutes and the evening sun isn’t going to stay…tough. 

That’s what I go through almost in every shoot, though some are more dramatic like this one, but then at the end of shoot when I spoil myself with the half melted ice-cream, all the hard work seems fine, I can just eat it like that but the photographs are for you really, who come to this blog to find some beautiful delicious food.

I love ice-cream in every season n I think it’s only in the summer when you can enjoy it like in no other season. I dream of a warm beach, I’m sitting on a rock looking down at the sea with the wind on my face with ice –cream on my lips, I imagine of walking inside a dark green forest with an ice-cream in hand with the sense that something is following me, I imagine of walking in the woods in golden sunlight with heaps of dry leaves under my every footstep with ice-cream drops running down my hands, I imagine of sitting by the bone sculpture of a dead camel in the Kalahari desert with chocolate ice-cream in my hands.

Right now in India the summer is tremendous and not much rain till now, we are waiting for the rains, our genes are praying for the rain n at home I’m making ice-cream with mangoes n I realize these are the best mango ice-cream I have ever eaten, the freshness n the flavor of the mango is in every scoop, every time I’m making it with different varieties of mango the flavor changes, the store bought one are the same all the time and most of the time the flavor is artificial. So why would you not make a little effort to create something so good?

In my ice-cream I use fresh mangoes, single cream, full-fat milk and sugar syrup and corn flour n a touch of salt-that’s all. The first mangoes to appear in the market every summer in Kolkata are ‘Golaap khaas’/’Gulab Khas’/’Gulaab Khaas’, they are in a prominent shade of green with a stroke of red on one side esp. on the lower half on the mango, the flesh is smooth and not fibrous and  it is not completely sweet when ripe, it still has a touch of acidity or tartness, that’s what makes them so desirable in a hot summer afternoon, the perfect balance of sweet with a touch of tartness.

When I put the ice-cream in the freezer to set I give it about 4-5hours as it begins to go solid, since I don’t use an ice-cream maker I take it out, put the solid parts in a blender and blend it until it becomes a smooth mixture that can be scooped with spoon, then it get in the freezer to set again for 3 hours, I repeat this blending process for 3 times with the gap of 3-4 hours, the result is an ice-cream that is smooth in texture with less icy crystals in the bite, if you freeze the ice-cream right away overnight and eat it next day it will give much less smooth mouth feel n more icy crunch feel than if you churn it every 3 hours.

Every time you are blending the ice-cream to smooth, you are redistributing the ice-crystals already formed inside preventing them to grow bigger in one shape, with 3-4 churning the final ice-cream becomes more scoop able with smooth mouth feel and with much less icy crunch. So now here is the recipe.

For The Recipe:  You will need

For the ice-cream:

Mango-2 Gulab Khaas, medium size around 300-350 gm

Single cream- 200 ml

Full-fat milk-100ml

Sugar-8-9 tbsp heaped

Cornflour-3 tbsp

Water-11 tbsp

Salt- a pinch

For the Pistachio Praline:

Pistachio-14-17, slightly roasted for 4 minutes

Sugar-3 tbsp

Water-3tbsp

1.  Place the sugar with the water in a saucepan on medium flame, as the sugar dissolves completely put the flame high and let it come to a boil, simmer for 4 minutes and you will see the color gets a little touch of yellow, the flavor of the sugar will change a bit, that’s what we want, after 4 minutes take it off in a container and let it cool.

2. Peel the mango and scoop the flesh out with spoon and then place them in a blender and blend till completely smooth, add a dash of water if needed.

3. In a deep saucepan or wok place the cream with the milk and let it come to a simmer on a medium flame, stir it often and make sure nothing catches at the bottom, dissolve the corn flour in little water , once the milk n cream comes a to almost a boil reduce the flame to minimum and add the corn flour tbsp by tbsp, stir continuously at this time and make sure nothing catches at the bottom, once all the corn flour is added give it 1 minute, then add the sugar syrup n pinch of salt n mix well, take off the heat. Taste at this point if you would want it more sweet, add more sugar if you feel like and make it dissolve. Pour the mixture in a flat container which is floating on cold water or ice to cool it down. When the mixture is at room temperature n not hot, add the mango puree and mix well until homogeneous. Then pour the whole thing into a flat container which will go inside the freezer. Freeze for 4-5 hours at the initial stage.

4. Once the mixture has begun to get solid, touch it and you can feel if it is still gel like or begin to get hard, if it is beginning to get hard take it out and cut the mixture with a knife and put inside a blender and blend with little breaks in between when you scrape down the sides n blend to a stage when it looks smooth n fluffy, at this stage pour it back into the container n freeze again in the freezer for 3-4 hours. Repeat the same thing after 4 hours, refreeze n do it again, repeat one more time.

This is why you should begin making the ice-cream in the day time so that by night your blending process is done and you are not blending at 2 in the night and everyone is wondering what on earth you are doing at this hour. So then let the whole thing freeze for a good solid 8-10 hours in freezer in that container or in moulds if you like and next morning your ice-cream is secretly ready, well not so secretly actually.

5. For the pistachio praline, toast the pistachios on low heat for 4 minutes, then in a heavy bottom saucepan place the sugar with water gently, make sure there is no sugar cubes outside the wet sugar in the pan , place it on low heat for 4 minutes, then increase temp to medium high, when it reaches brown color, shake the pan gently for even color, when it gets dark brown stage, throw in the pistachios and pour the whole thing on marble counter, after 5 minutes they will easily come off.

Place the praline in a blender and blend till you obtain a smooth powder, make sure the blender is dry before placing the praline into it.

To make leafs or round disc first make a template on paper and cut out those shapes, the place that paper on a baking sheet and with a spatula lift out the praline dust and scatter over the template, make sure the shapes are getting coated in a thick layer of praline dust, if they are too thin you won’t be able to get them out in one piece, so dust well, when you have dusted over all the template carefully lift up the paper and you have the shape on the baking sheet.

Pre-heat the oven to 150 Celsius/330 Fahrenheit and place the baking sheet carefully n bake for 2 minutes, then let the sheet cool n then with a spatula lift up the shapes carefully.

Ice-cream is ready, take out the tray and dip a spoon in water n scoop in a line and the ice-cream will curl with the spoon, what a beautiful thing to watch, place on cold plates, place each praline leaf over a scoop, scatter some praline dust around the ice-cream and add a piece of fresh mango in the plate or even a fresh mango puree. And then forget everything and take a spoonful of ice-cream and place it carefully in your mouth, close your eyes and be loyal to the ice-cream, everything else will fall in place. Bon appétit.

The Cakey Kiss of an Orange with a touch of Dark Chocolate n Fennel

An intense Orange Cake with layered Orange Curd, fennel flavored whipped cream on top n Dark Chocolate shavings 

The goodbye of the winter comes with the disappearance of fresh oranges slowly from the local market n I never wanna say goodbye to oranges, partly because citrus are one my favorite flavors n aroma and because oranges are oranges n I just love the color orange. In fact my favorite color is yellowish orange which reminds me of the sun at dusk n dawn n fire n off course the oranges themselves. So before the oranges say goodbye I captured them in this cake-hoping this recipe would last forever n please us time n time again.

I have memories of making orange cake before, possibly last year I made them in my sister’s home-orange cupcakes n I have memories of reading about orange cakes from one of my favorite cookbooks-Recipes from a Provencal Kitchen by Michel Biehn n Bernard Touillon n I used to imagine the aroma reading that recipe n the description. But my cake comes from my experience of flavors that go well with orange, in my cake I have used fennel seeds known as ‘Mouri’, ‘Saunf’ in Bengali n Hindi respectively, this spice is aromatic with a soft aniseed flavor n it goes well with both orange n chocolate.

So the cake formed itself in my mind and I was looking for an opportunity to incorporate these flavors into the cake, so I slightly roasted the fennel seeds n pounded them until smooth n I mixed them into the cake batter and later on I used the same powdered form into the whipped cream. I was also looking for opportunities to produce a real soft light cake –that will mean incorporating air into the batter in many ways so the cake comes out light as a dream.

So there are many ways to incorporate air into a cake batter- we can use leaveners, we can use whipped egg whites to give more air, we can use more sugar while creaming the butter n sugar together, we can use heat while beating the eggs to stabilize them holding more air-so in this cake I whip the egg whites to almost stiff peak and then folded them into the batter. I creamed the sugar n butter very well for a good 7 minutes until it became really light n pale.

 I used fresh orange juice in the cake which is an acidic ingredient, so I used Baking Soda to react with that acid n produce air bubbles n therefore making the cake light, I also used Baking powder which reacts in 2 parts, once as it comes in contact with water, second when it goes inside the oven-the heat initiates another reaction producing more air bubbles.

I wanted the cake to speak of orange mainly with background flavors of fennel n dark chocolate, for that I used the orange zest because that has the essential oil n fragrance of orange which is so very beautiful, and how will I make a good orange cake without either the orange zest n the fresh orange juice!

And there is more, the two layers of the cake hold a sweet secret- a beautiful delicious orange curd, rich with egg n butter n orange. It kicks the orange flavor to a new height; at the same flavor it provides moisture.

When you bite into the cake you get this amazing orange flavor, then in the background you experience this subtle flavor from fennel seed and once in a while a little dark chocolate comes n seduces you but you never lose your focus from orange…it’s a beautiful bite-every flavor is in harmony n married to each other.

So now I will take you to the recipe.

For The Recipe: You will need

For the Cake Batter:

Orange juice- 2 medium sized, peeled, seeded n juice extracted

Orange zest- zest of 3 oranges grated on a grater/zester

Butter- 150 gm, at room temperature, unsalted

Cake Flour/All purpose flour-150 gm, sifted

Caster Sugar/Powdered sugar- 150 gm

Eggs- 3 at room temperature, yolk n white separated

Lime juice- ½ tsp

Baking Soda- ½ tbsp

Baking Powder- 1 tbsp

Fennel seed- 1 tbsp, slightly roasted n powdered

Salt- 2/3 pinches, skip salt if butter is already salted

For the Orange Curd:

Orange juice- from 1 orange

Orange zest- from 1 orange

Eggs- 2 medium eggs

Sugar powdered- 30 gm

Butter- 50 gm, at room temperature

For the Fennel Whipping Cream:

Whipping cream Dairy/Soy- 300 gm

Fennel seed- 1 tbsp, slightly roasted n powdered to smooth

Sugar- 40 gm superfine sugar, skip sugar if your cream is already sweetened

Pre-heat your oven at 180 Celsius/350 Fahrenheit

You will also need Dark chocolate shavings- you can do this with a big Chinese chopper, cutting the bar really thin n the stripes roll themselves as you slice them really thin or with a sharp knife scrape along the bar and you will see rolled up shavings coming out.

1. Begin by lightly buttering your 8 inch cake tin n layering the cake tin with baking parchment paper n also butter it, in a big bowl cream together the powdered sugar n soft butter with a big whisk or electric hand mixer or stand mixer, do it for a good 6/7 minutes and the mixture will go light n pale, we are trying to incorporate as much air as we can at this stage.

2. After that add egg yolk no.1 n beat it in really well until the mixture is uniform, then add yolk no.2 n do the same, then add yolk no. 3 n do the same. After that add the oranges zest and mix it in well, then add half of the orange juice and slowly whisk it in until the batter becomes smooth again, then add the rest half and do the same.

3. In a big clean airy bowl take the 3 egg whites n add the fresh lime juice into it, then start beating it with a wire whisk or electric hand whisk or stand mixer with whisk attachment, first it will go to ribbon stage , then it will form soft peaks, then it will go towards stiff peak, when the egg white is at soft peak stage that is when you lift them with the whisk they don’t stand straight , add 1 tbsp of powdered sugar and whisk on, after 1 minute add another tbsp of sugar and whisk, soon they will reach to stiff peak when they will just begin to hold their shape, stop at this stage. We don’t want to reach full on stiff peak stage because after that the egg whites will have no more capacity to expand any more when they go inside the oven. We want our egg-whites to expand further in the heat of the oven, so we will stop just as it reaches stiff peak, just there- this is important.

4. Take the creamy sugar, butter, egg yolk mixture- sift the flour and the baking powder together and mix with the whisk until it becomes a uniform mixture, don’t do it for a long time, just as the batter becomes uniform it is done, add the powdered fennel seed powder and mix it in, then take 1/3 of the egg white and vigorously beat it in the cake mixture to loosen it up for30 sec, then take a silicone spatula and take another 1/3 of the egg white n softly carefully fold it in by going in a rotating motion from the outside of the bowl towards the centre, lifting up the mixture and cutting through when you go in again, rotate the bowl with every lift, do the same with the remaining portion of the egg white. Finally sift the baking soda over the batter, spreading it everywhere as you sift and again mix it well. Then pour the batter in the cake tin, place the tin on a baking tray and put it into the hot oven for about 35-40 minutes.  Every oven behaves in a different way, so keep an eye on the cake, after 35 minutes the top of my cake had no color, so I put the top grill on and I gave it 2-3 minutes more and the top became golden brown, test it with a skewer by inserting it into the cake n it should come out clean, when you touch the cake it will spring back and you will see the sides of the cake shrinking from the metal tin.

This is one of the characteristic of cakes done with folded egg white that when done the cake shrinks from the side of the pan. So now put the cake pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then take the cake out and place it on the wire rack to cool down. The cake needs to cook completely so that we can slice it, once cool the cake needs to go into the refrigeration to firm up for 4/6 hours so that we can slice it in 2 parts.

5. For the orange curd, prepare a water bath, pour water in deep bowl n make it come to simmer, then mix the orange zest n the sugar together in a medium bowl, then add the orange juice n mix well, then whisk the eggs in another bowl then add to the orange mixture n mix well, add the room temperature butter to the mixture and place this mixture  over the simmering water bowl making sure this bowl doesn’t touch the surface of the water, whisk constantly for the first five minutes, then whisk every 1 minute so that eggs don’t scramble, if the heat if becoming too high you feel lift up the bowl n control the temperature, then bring it back n stir often, after 20 minutes this mixture will thicken n go pale, this is orange curd, pour it into a bowl n let it cool.

6. Now we will whip the chilled cream, the cream needs to be chilled so that we can whip it to its full volume, so chill the cream in the fridge for 12 hours before you whip it and chill the bowl n the whisk for 2 hours if you are using dairy cream, if using soy cream you can skip it, so whip the cream until it begins to hold shape which is stiff peaks, then add the fennel powder and whisk it in, set aside in the refrigerator.

7. Now we will assemble the cake, take the cold cake out of the refrigerator, with a sharp big knife give light cut marks along the perimeter of the cake first to devide it in half, then as you rotate the cake cut a little into the cake, in this way you will get a smooth slice of the cake , carefully lift up the top layer and then take the orange curd and smear it generously over the bottom layer with a palette knife, then place the top layer carefully over it, then take the whipped cream and smear it over the surface with the palette knife and then put some of the cream in a piping bag and pipe over the cake into a beautiful pattern-just the way you like it,

Take the dark chocolate shaving and arrange it over the surface-in between the piped designs or just the way you like it, then drop some of the remaining orange curd over the piped cream, finally slice some orange cloves and open them up and place them over the cake and hey there! It seems you are done.

Now you can eat the cake but I will suggest you place the cake in the refrigerator for 1 hour, so after an hour take the beauty out and first show it to everyone, create the anticipation, then gather everyone and keep a sharp knife ready, slice through the beauty with uttermost love and then it approaches your lips...the moment, let it kiss you and then you get the taste, you get the aroma. Sooooo good right! Bon Appétit.