Amore Mio Amra!

The secret guide to a delicious, lick-able Amra chutney in jiffy

                           Amra, Ambadda, wild mango, ambara, Indian hog plum, amade, ambade, amado, adavimamidi, buah umbra, casharana, golden plum, makok farang, jobo indio, prune cythere-so many names to call this fruit all over the globe! But whatever name we have for it one thing stays the same- the beautiful flavor, the touch of tartness and the crunch-well almost. The botanical name for this fruit is perhaps spondias pinnata, spondias dulcis. Okay so enough of names.

 

                                                                                       You know when I came to know that Amra is also known as wild mango , I had an eye brow raised simply because the flavors are quiet different, leave apart the sizes that amra’s are tiny in front of majestic mangoes! But then when I bite into a piece of amra chutney at a certain point of time I said to myself “hey this reminds me of a certain mango!” now this has to do something with the cooking because they are literally quite different in flavor n texture.  They have literally a beautiful flavor, especially when combined with salt and a dash of chili powder, it becomes fantastic. If you enjoy tartness, imagine adding an extra crunch to that because Amra is crunchy! Wonderful huh! N how it makes us salivate thinking about them. So if you get your hands on them somehow, grab them, sit down and indulge slowly.

                Traditionally in this part of the world the flesh of the Amra is used in both savory and sweet chutneys. In sweet chutneys their tartness is balanced with sugar while in the savory we combine them with salt, the heat from chilies, pepper and sometimes pungency from the mustard. I must tell you about this time in my life when I was in school and just outside the gates of my school there used to be a few good men who served quick snack for the kids. In the months of early monsoon, one of them used to bring a heap of these green fruits, he used to slice them with knife, sprinkle chili powder and a mix of two different salts on them and sell them to us. I remember during the afterhours of school when I will be walking along with my friends to the station nearby, biting into one of the fruits brought from that man, my hands wet with the juices that the salt bring out of them and inside my mouth there was an explosion of flavors! You know I love those moments.

                                                                              Now talking of the cooking tradition, apart from the sweet chutney, Amra is used in flavoring Dals/Dahls, it is cooked with the red lentils known as “Masoor” where it gives off its flavor and adds a touch of tang to the dal. When the Amra fruits ripen, the flesh of them is smashed with salt, pink rock salt, chilies, sugar, sometimes with a touch of garlic and coriander leaves and enjoyed as a savory finger-licking mash. In another version of sweet chutney they are cooked with coconut milk where it is pronounced with the flavors of coconut milk and its creaminess.

 

                                                                                                     There is a very special dish that is a popular evening- time snack, served here. The interesting thing is almost no one makes it at home but everyone who has tasted this looks forward to this in the evening time. The sellers appear in the evening walking the streets, they carry the ingredients with them and especially what they carry is a mobile burner or lamp! They carry that source of heat with them to keep warm the crispy fried sticks made from a batter of dals n a few spices, the fried sticks are then mixed together with peanuts and potato chips…and they are called “Chanachur”. This is what they keep warm and later on when we order for one, they mix this crispy chanchur with chopped red onion, green chilies, coriander leaves, salt and then the much awaited chopped Amra. Oh it is such a pleasure eating them and I can never eat just one, as soon as I finish I order one again. Oh! Now you must know what this dish is called, they are known as “Ghoti Garam” which literally means a metal pot known as “Ghoti” is Hot “Garam”. The thing is they carry this chanachur  in a metal pot perhaps made from brass and they keep it warm by placing the burning burner below them, hence comes the name. Wouldn’t you love to try that?

                          The chutney that I’m posting here about deals with a very few flavors, so easy to make that it feels almost effortless.  The main star flavor is of the Amra fruits, supported by the flavor of whole black mustard seeds, sugar, turmeric for its flavor and brilliant color and a touch of salt. You can enjoy them with some crispy papads or crispy salted chips, French fries, crispy-fried noodles, in tacos, crispy fried fish n chips! Let your imagination run freely and let this chutney pamper you like anything. Bon appétit.

                                                    

                Now I will tell you the recipe.

For The Recipe:  you will need

Unripe Amra fruits-250 gm

Granulated sugar-1/2 -1 cup, it varies according to taste and their tartness.

1 tsp whole black mustard seeds

1 tsp of mustard oil

½ tsp of turmeric powder

1 ½ -2 cups of water

¼ tsp of salt

Pinch of pink rock salt.

1.       Let’s begin, slice the fruits lengthwise into 1 inch by ½ inch rectangular slices.  Sprinkle a pinch of turmeric powder on them and mix lightly. No need to take their skins off. Now in a saucepan pour the sugar with 1 ½ -2 cups of water, put the heat on the lowest flame. Stir the sugar in between until the sugar completely dissolves, once dissolved put the heat on medium and let it come to almost a simmer. As it reaches almost simmer pour the cut fruits in that syrup and cover them, bring the heat down to low.

2.       In a separate pan on medium heat add the mustard oil, once it is hot add the whole black mustard seeds, as they just begin to crackle, take the pan off the heat, add the rest of the turmeric powder in that oil and then pour this whole thing into the sugar-Amra mixture. Now cover it again and leave it for about 10 minutes on low heat.

3.       Check the flavor after 10 minutes, add more sugar if you think you will like it that way, add the salt, the pink rock salt- 2/3 pinches, taste it again, if satisfied give them another 5 minutes where the flavors mingle with each other. At the end of 15 minutes put the flame off and give it 2min standing time, then take them out in a plate or container and let it cool.

Now dig in and enjoy J

The color of the summer is mango

A lesson in how to handle a woobly-ooubly mango jelly

                                                                                     The summer evening transform her-self into a sky of mangoes-the spectacular shades of orange, yellow,  red, in the foreground the trees add the hues of green, all the play of colors you will find in a mango! That is the way I choose to see at times, so can you. Summers and mangoes are so close to each other that it will be fun to imagine that two of them worked with each other to build a bomb packed full of both of their flavors, when the sun shone bright and came close to this part of the earth the bomb exploded, the flavors, the heat, the mangoes covered great distances, fell here n there, reached corners of the earth and made the corners juicy n yummy.

                                                                                                                                          I am literally driving on mangoes these days-if I was a car my wheels will be mangoes. This year our good old mango tree being blessed by the sun, the rain, the wind, the earth burst into mangoes. 3 weeks back was when they started making sounds on the ground-the ripe mangoes hitting the ground covered with dry mango leaves and it’s a sound you get only accustomed with after the first couple of falls. When I first heard it I was unsure of the source, curiously I walked out to see if someone has been visiting the garden secretly, I looked around at eye-level, no one, then I started inspecting the garden floor and I found out who it was, a green mango with hues of orange on the top laying silently in the ground, then I found another. I knew it was time to get the mangoes out of the tree.

 

                                                               So there Is this special tool for that, in description it is long wooden branch of any tree, on the narrower side another tiny twig is fastened with ropes that almost creates the letter “X” in the top, sometimes beneath that a small light metal wire box or an inverted umbrella shaped cloth is added to collect the falling mango which has been detached from the tree by hatching the “X” with hand when the particular target mango is caught in one the narrower angles of the “X”. While many times there is no wire box under the “X”, so the mangoes come falling to the ground. It is a fun tiny adventure because sometimes the falling mangoes tend to love landing on our heads! Timing and observance thus saves our heads, it’s so much fun.

                     

                                                                                                     You can imagine the charm of collecting mangoes. On the first day I counted, there were 55 of ripe mangoes and some more waiting in the tree. So I let them stay there. The smell that hit me whenever I go near them is summery-delicious. If I can say mangoes smell like summer, harsh summer only would sound so beautiful.  All I was thinking what will we do with all these mangoes, most will eaten just like that, we will share some with our neighbors, some will be used for making mango-lassi, some for mango-shake, some will be made into a jelly-which is what I did.

                                                                                                                                                                                 For a mango jelly it is a good idea to choose a variety of mango that is sweet n sour in taste, especially if we are eating that in summer, you know how refreshing the tang in summer can make us feel. However I made two kinds of jelly with 2 different variety of mango, one is “Gulabkhash” which is sweet n sour and has a beautiful flavor and another one is from our own mango tree “Himsagar” which is sweet and what a subtle beautiful flavor! So when finally the came out of the refrigeration and I have my chilled bite, it was so refreshing in that hot yellow day…it was like a chilled hug of a mango who loves you and whom you love.

Now I will tell you about the recipe.

For The Recipe:   you will need

2 medium ripe mangoes which are sweet n sour in taste

2 tbsp of gelatin powder

2-3 tbsp of sugar

Half a lime

Pinch of salt

Freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp of lightly roasted fennel/mouri/saunf powder (optional)

1.       Soak the gelatin in cold water for 20 minutes, you will see it will begin to fluff a bit n get think.

2.       De-skin the mango with a knife, then chop the mango flesh in chunks, put them in a blender and whiz them until smooth. Pour it in a container then add the sugar, stir to dissolve, add freshly ground black pepper, fennel powder, a pinch of salt and the lime juice. Taste and if you think you need more sweetness add more sugar, for more sourness add a bit of lime or more mangoes.

3.       Now put this in a saucepan and add the gelatin mixture, heat this gently, don't let it come to a boil anyway, stir so that the gelatin is completely dissolved. Now off the heat and cool this mixture.

4.        Place small dices of mango in the bottom of small glass or metal containers, I added  a little strawberry crush in some of them, then pour the mixture gently into the glass or metal containers and put them in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours or overnight and they will set.

5.       When they have set and you are ready to eat, take them out of the refrigerator, rub your hands and warm the container by the warmth of your hands and shake gently on a plate until the jelly comes out.  Beautiful! Now dig in. Bon appétit. J

Plastic Chutney!

A translucent love-affair

                     My love affair with chutneys have not had seen a low day yet right from the moment it began, it began a long time ago, it takes me back to my early childhood.  And sometimes I am amazed to find how the memories of chutney from that time-period, has still been carefully stored in my brain cells! I remember with clarity, it was long time ago, I was just entering school in standard 1 and a new family moved in just beside our home. That time most of the spaces around our house were still empty and green, so when this new family appeared I witnessed a new house being built just beside our home. Mom, dad and a young kid- three of them, later on I came to know this young boy was at the same age with me. It didn't take long for our friendship to develop and flourish, later on we entered the same school. While their house was being built they used to live nearby in a rented house and many times me and my mom used to visit them there.

 

                                                                                                                                                                        It was the middle of yellow summer, one day after spending hours in the green fields playing and jumping in the burning noon, me n my friend went back to his home, it was time to have a bath and have lunch, while  we are still playing inside the house his mother brings this new dish made from mangoes, she feeds this to me and him and I can’t describe in words how it tasted that time…after so many years if I have to describe that taste I will say it was tangy, filled with the amazing flavor of those particular mangoes she used, it was sweet, light translucent yellow in color, by the texture it was runny…later on I came to know it was called “Ambole” and at the top of all of this description..It was divine. It was so tasty that it has stuck to my brain even without my knowledge! When I came back home I told my mother about this and she was excited hearing the detailed description from her little son. Some days later while talking to her, my mother mentions how much I talked about that Mango Ambole , it made her smile hearing about it and guess what! After a couple of days she comes to our home with a bowl full of Ambole! Oh my god! I was so excited, this time she brings an Ambole of Bottle gourd! In Hindi bottle gourd is often called Ghiya/Dhudhi/Lauki, in Bengali it is known as Lau, in English we know this sometimes as Calabash/Long Melon, the biological name being Lagenaria Siceraria. The Ambole was almost translucent with a touch of green in it and it tasted so wonderful- a combination of sweet n sour and the flavor of Lau.

                                                                                                                                                                                                             The difference between Ambole and Chutney is in its texture, while chutney is thicker, syrupy, little jam like, Ambole tends to be lighter n runny, more liquid than chutney. Chutney and Ambole both are made from various fruits like mangoes, tamarind, grapes, pineapple, pomegranate, green papaya and much more and often eaten paired with crunchy papad/papadums.

The chutney today I am gonna tell you about is a very special chutney first of all because it is called Plastic chutney! Off course it is made from Plastic sheets, that’s why it is called so.

                                                                                                                                                                                   No. Lol. In fact it is made from green papaya, it is peeled and then thinly sliced, placed in a flavored sugar syrup for some time until the thin slices are cooked through, have absorbed the flavored sugar syrup and have become literally translucent like tiny plastic sheets. So now you know the secret. There are many people who tend to avoid dishes made from raw papaya, but just give them this chutney without telling them what it is made from and watch them getting lost in it, licking their fingers, the bowl…its fun watching that I tell you. Some times less information does a job well. And I think how green papaya does its magic with its humble origin in the tree. And for all those who stay away from green papaya…you are missing out something very nice.

                                                                                  I don’t remember well when n where I first tasted this unique chutney, I must have got its first taste in a feast during a Hindu marriage or on the celebratory gathering when a child is 6 months old and he/she first starts to eat a grain of rice-it is celebrated and it is known as “Annoprashan” where the word “Anno/Anna” means rice. Later on the word ‘plastic chutney’ ignited my curiosity, following that years later I cooked it in my kitchen and that was the first time it was made in our home. Since then I have never stopped.

                                                                                  Now it’s time for the recipe. Bon Appetit! Bhalo Kore Khaben!

   

  For the Recipe: you will need

1 medium raw green papaya

1 cup granulated sugar

2-2 ½ cups water

1-2 tsp of lime juice

1 tbsp kismis/sultana

½-1 tsp mustard seeds

½-1 tsp fennel/mouri/saunf seeds

A pinch of salt

5-6 almonds thinly sliced.

2 tsp  flavorless vegetable oil.                

          1.       First peel the green papaya with a peeler, then half it lengthwise, then slice each half into 4-5 sections lengthwise until in the middle their maximum thickness is around 1 inch.  Doing that you have around 8 long slices of the papaya. Remove the seeds and thinly slice out the whitish part just beneath the seeds. Now place one of the slice on chopping board, you need a sharp knife now, start to slice as thinly as you can along the breath. You will get like rectangular thin slices with curved edges as you slice. Try to slice as thinly as you can, so a good sharp knife is helpful, also keep in mind if you are not an expert with knifes it will take a bit of time. Be careful with your fingers. Do the same with the other 8 portions with patience, it will take around 15 minutes and you will end up with a heap of sliced papaya.

2.       In a saucepan or kadhai or wok, place the sugar, pour the water over it, then put it in low heat, stir in between until the sugar has completely melted, now increase the heat to medium and let it reach a simmer, then pour all the sliced papaya in that, mix well, now lower the heat, cover the pan and now it will take 15-20 minutes until the papaya slices will start to get translucent.  After the initial 10 minutes add the kismis/sultanas. You have to stir in between a few times and keep the heat low, if the slices are a bit thick it will take more time for them to go translucent, being thinner it will take less time.

3.       After 20 minutes you can literally see they have become translucent, sprinkle a little pinch of salt in then, and then add the lime juice. Taste it, adjust it.

4.       In a separate pan heat a tsp of flavorless vegetable oil, let it heat up in a medium flame, when hot add the mustard seeds first, let them start to pop, add the fennel seeds, remove from flame, give them 30 seconds, then pour this whole thing into the chutney and mix.

5.       With half a tsp of vegetable oil in low heat in the same pan, add the sliced almonds, toss them with spoon at time until they start to get little light brown, once there remove from heat. Sprinkle them over the chutney. The almonds add a little crunch and their flavor.    

                                                                            

And now you should enjoy this after all that hard work J let it make you smile.

For Pabda

From the heart of mustard to the hands of a green chilly 

  

                                    For handling this fish you need delicacy or you will break her heart, her flesh and then her bones and you will have in hand fish gravy filled with broken hearts n bones. Even if that happens that doesn’t mean disaster for the taste will still be the same, only the texture will be different. So how come such a delicate fish be safe with hot chilies n pungent mustard, how come the flavor of the delicate fish make friends with fiery green chilies and hot yellow mustard?-the answer is unknown.

                                                                              As you are looking at the pictures of this delicate fish you may or may not have noticed something, that thing which makes it different from most fishes- that this fish doesn’t have any fish scales. With the absence of the fish scales it becomes an easy job for even a novice to handle this but then please be delicate with her, being a bull in the china shop will not help. This fish is soft n delicate in terms of  when you try to fry this fish it tends to break apart easily because of the softness of her flesh. Now scientifically this fish is known as Ompok Pabo, while in English we will know the fish as Pabo catfish or Pabda catfish.

                                                                                                                                         In terms of the flavor it has a subtle flavor which becomes fragrant when cooked and naturally it has slightly as if salty flavor, so going by that the most popular preparation of this fish in the regions of Bengal; tends to be salty in its basic taste spectrum. Some very traditional and popular preparations are ”Pabda  Macher Jhal”, which translated will mean the fish prepared in a gravy flavored with mustard paste and green chili paste , the oil being mustard oil, the other will be “Pabda Macher Jhol” which is the fish being stewed with a much lighter gravy infused with the flavors of cumin or nigella seeds or mustard seeds and tomatoes, onions, ginger or garlic of both at times and fresh coriander leaves. Now traditionally both of these fish preparations are eaten with white rice, it can be white basmati rice or the par-boiled rice “siddha” or sun dried rice “Aatap”.

                                                                                                                                                    Now for this recipe I am going parallel with the traditional recipe, the crucial part comes when frying the fish where too much handling the fish in the pan will make it go in pieces plus if the pan is not properly heated, if the oil is not hot or the fish is cold…anyone of this can lead to it. But then don’t panic at all if this happens, you will still be able to enjoy the wonderful flavors of this recipe, and if somehow the fishes are intact in one piece…yahoo…it is a good feeling. So I will tell you some stuffs that might help you…if the fish you are using are fresh which means that they are not frozen, then chances are high that your fish will not break into pieces easily, if the fish has been frozen, bring it to room temperature before it hits the pan, for both the cases dry them  before they go into the pan, as for the pan, first heat the pan without the oil until the pan is fairly heated, then add the oil and wait for the oil to be pretty hot, also before adding the fishes in the oil in the pan we can coat the fishes with a little oil, though it Is not necessary. Anyways I will tell you about the recipe now. I really hope you enjoy making and eating this fish in gravy. Bon appétit!

                                                                                                                          Oh I know I am writing after almost a month which is a delay. Did you miss me?

          For the Recipe:

6 medium size Pabda fish

1 ½ -2 tbsp mustard seed paste

1 tsp of whole mustard seed

1 small clove of garlic, crushed to a paste

1 green chili crushed into a paste

1 tsp of turmeric powder

½-1 tsp of red chili powder

1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce

1½ tbsp of soy sauce

2 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander leaves

1 or 2 fresh green chilies slit length ways

½ tsp of coriander powder

½ cup of mustard oil

Salt to taste

A small pinch of sugar

1 ½ cups -water                                                       

                                     

1.       Begin by making the mustard seed paste, so in heavy mortal n pestle or in a stone grinder or in blender, crush the mustard seeds with a little water until they are all smashed and turned into a paste. Next dilute that paste with a little water and pass it through a sieve so that we get a smooth texture and also the outer husks of the seeds which are still there are filtered out. Next make a paste of the green chili and the garlic.

2.       Let’s handle the fish now, so dry the fish and then sprinkle ½ tsp of turmeric powder over them and using your hands make sure that all the fishes are lightly coated in the turmeric, give them 5 minutes. Begin by heating the pan in a medium flame, when the pan is quite hot, add the mustard oil ( add half if frying 3 fishes in the first batch), let the oil come to a smoking point then reduce the flame, now sprinkle a little oil over the fishes, coat them and then place them carefully in the hot pan. They will start to sizzle, increase the flame to medium high and give about 4-6 minutes on each side. Don’t be tempted to move the fish in the pan with your spatula…this is what will break the fishes easily, if you feel the heat is getting a bit too high, lower it. After about 5 minutes check once with a spoon, tilt the fish carefully in the pan, see if it is coming out easily and if they have browned on that side, if yes flip them over. So when both the sides are done, take them out in a plate.

3.       In the same pan and in the same oil add the whole mustard seeds, let them pop, reduce the flame now, while the flame is at low add the crushed garlic and green chili paste, mix the turmeric, red chili powder, coriander powder with 1 tbsp of water and add them to the pan. Give them 2 minutes, then add half of the chopped coriander leaves, saute for a minute, then add half of the mustard paste solution, mix everything well then add the rest half of mustard paste solution, let the flame be medium now and give it about 5-7 minutes stirring them in between. After about 6-7 minutes you will see the oil is leaving the sides of the paste in the pan, increase the flame to high now, add salt and then add the Worcestershire sauce while the pan is hot, then reduce the flame and add the soy sauce. Check to see if the seasoning is right; adjust n add a little pinch of sugar.

4.       Now add 1 ½  cup of water, add the fishes with all their oil in the pan, make sure that the fishes are almost submerged in the liquid, then cover the pan and let it simmer gently for 10 minutes, flip the fishes  over in between,  after 10 minutes the gravy will thicken a bit. We are almost ready, switch off the flame and sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and 2 half-slit green chili and cover. Leave it for 5 minutes and we are ready. White rice goes just great with this recipe, so go get it.

                                    May the delicacy of the fish reach to all of us ;)

The Battenberg Case

The truth, the myths and the marzipan in between ;)

Year 1884 April 30^th and a cake is born-the Battenberg cake to celebrate the marriage between the Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine on that very day.

No this is not true!, in fact this is the myth, no historical written record or proof has been found which depicts that the co called Battenberg cake was created on the occasion of this marriage. The modern version of this cake has 4 panels in colors of pink n yellow arranged in check pattern, however the cake at that time used to have 9 such sections. Now because the 4 sections since it looks like a child’s drawing of a window panel it is often known as window chapel cake in northern England. Now as with everything changes occur naturally with time, so did happen with this Battenberg cake, perhaps the cake started getting 4 panels when the mass industry production started taking place before the world war 2, we need a minimum of 4 panels to create a cross check pattern, so it makes sense to simplify things for the sake of mass production.

                                            The creator of this Battenberg cake was Frederick Vine, a talented British food writer around that time. In fact he used to write Battenberg as “Battenburg”; after all it is his creation. His original earliest cake however did not have any check pattern; it was simple fruit loaf with lots of sultanas and candied peel. Some years after the marriage mentioned above, there was perhaps gradual appearance of this check pattern cakes, in fact in 1898 appeared Mrs. Marshall’s domino cake which looked just the same as Frederick Vine’s Battenberg cake with 9 sections and Robert Well’s Neapolitan roll which had 4 sections like the ones we see today. The distinctive thing about this cake was it was covered in almond paste which we know as marzipan in the era. If you want to read more about it and see some real pictures from that time click here http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/battenburg-cake-history-again.html

This is great history food blog by the talented Ivan Day.

                                       Now let me tell you about the cake itself, it’s a light sponge cake, the panels assembled together with apricot jam and then coated in a layer of marzipan. Now I find this cake to be a little over-sweet and you can imagine why! I mean the sponge cake is sweet, the marzipan is sweet and the apricot jam is sweet, sweet on sweet on sweet…all right. When I baked the cake I reduced the sugar in the sponge itself and I also rolled the marzipan as thin as I could. The cake looks lovely, in this bright pink n yellow squares, it can make you smile.

                                   Hey I made my own marzipan, for the first time, that too with some changes and it worked. Well what I did was I took equal parts of almond and peanuts, took off their skin by soaking them in hot water, not boiling water, for about 5 minutes when the skin comes off easily, then I pat them dry with a towel and then in a strong blender I made almost a smooth powder out of them, it doesn't have to be very smooth, and then I take equal amount of castor sugar and I combine them with this castor sugar with a bit of red rum. I used red rum because I love the flavor and I think red rum gives it a longer shelf life. And I did have a bit of fun with the marzipan, now I will call it “MARZIFUN” and you can have a look at them… child’s play right! Imagine you give this to a group of children and what amazing things they will come up with! You can even eat all that fun literally.

Now one interesting thing about the prince Louis of Battenberg though it is not related to the cake, is he was of German origin and later on he was a member of the British Royal family, he was appointed the captain, the admiral, the first sea-lord by the royal family. So he modified his family name from Battenberg to Mountbatten since there were rumors that the British royal family must be pro-German. I am sure he has eaten this cake many times. Well for you, readers I have this cartoon from “punch” depicting this modification of his family name.

                                                                                

                                                                                                                      Oh! I did have a bit of fun with the marzipan, my hands made some caterpillar and some weird animals and I don’t even know what to call them!

                                                     I thought I will tell you about the Battenberg markings which are high-visibility markings on the sides of the emergency vehicles used in some European countries and some more. Mostly they are in green and blue or yellow squares in a check pattern just like the cake! The name for the markings most probably comes from the similarity in appearance of the cross section of the cake.

                                                                                                So when I will be carrying the cake walking in the street, tell me will you be able to see it from far! And then you will go home and make it. Ha-hah. Now I will tell you the recipe. Bon appétit.

The Recipe: you will need

For the sponge     

175g/6oz very soft butter, plus extra for greasing

175g castor sugar (I put the sugar a bit less like 155g)

175g self-raising flour or all purpose flour

3 medium eggs

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

Zest of 1 orange, zest of 1 or 2 limes

1 tbsp of fresh orange juice

1 tbsp of baking powder if using all purpose flour/1 tsp baking powder if using self-raising flour

A pinch of salt

Some drops of pink food color.

For the covering

200g of marzipan

About 6 tbsp of apricot jam

3 tbsp of icing sugar for rolling the marzipan

You need a brush to coat the cake with warm apricot jam.

For the marzipan

50g almonds

50g peanuts

2 tsp of red rum

1.       Let’s begin with making the marzipan. Measure 50 g of almonds and peanuts each, if you like almonds more measure 100g of almond. Heat some water in pan to almost boiling, then take it off the heat and when the temp, reduces slightly pour the almonds and the peanuts in separate pans by dividing the water in 2 pans. Now give them about 5 minutes, then start with the almonds, with your fingers if you press the almonds you will see the skin has come loose, you may have to scratch them a bit, so de-skin all of them. It will take a bit of time to de-skin both the almonds and the peanuts, when done pat them dry with a towel, then in a grinder place the almonds, grind to almost the smooth powder, same with the peanuts, in case of peanuts you will find that the powder of them looks more like a smooth dough. Now measure 100 g of icing sugar. In a big bowl mix the powder of both almonds n peanuts with the icing sugar with a wooden spatula, when well combined add 1 tsp of rum and mix well, you will see that the mixture has begin to come together like a dough now add 1 more tsp if you think it needs, then mix well with your hands until the whole mixture comes together like a smooth dough. Here you have just made fresh marzipan! Now wrap it in cling film and freeze it.

2.       Pre-heat the oven to 180 C/350 F/gas mark 4. Grease a 20cm/8in square tin with butter, as for me I buttered a 1 lb loaf tin very lightly and I lined the loaf tin with baking parchment paper and buttered it. With an aluminum foil I made a pleat and place it in the center along the length of the tin so that I can bake the 2 colored cakes in the same tin.

3.       Start creaming the butter with a whisk; when the butter attains a light color add the castor sugar and cream it until it becomes lighter in color for about 5 minutes. Then add 1 egg and whisk until it is fully incorporated, then add the 2^nd egg and do the same, then with the 3^rd egg shift a little flour on top of the egg in the cake mixture and beat it in. we are doing this so that the mixture wont curdle, even if it curdles it will be fine. So when the eggs are all in add the lime and orange zest and vanilla essence to the mixture and whisk it in. Then pour the baking powder, a pinch of salt into the flour and shift the flour in 2 batches into the wet mixture and mix well. Now divide the mixture in 2 equal parts and to one part add 1-2 drops of pink food color just to attain the pink shade. Now to the other part add the orange juice and mix well. Now pour the pink and the yellow mixture in the tin and place them in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean and the cake springs back when touched.

4.       Take the cakes out of the tin after 10 minutes and when they have cooled off, take a sharp knife and cut both of them along the length into rectangular stripes which has around 1 inch/2.5 cm square sides. Do them with both the yellow and the pink sponge. Then warm the apricot jam in a pan, with a brush apply the sides of the first 3 strips of cake to stick them together, now brush on the top side of them and take one opposite colored strip and brush its downside and put it on the first base strip of the cake, brush its side and place another strip of cake beside it and the same for the last strip. Now brush the jam all over the cake lightly with the jam.

5.       Roll the marzipan on a flat surface dusted with icing sugar to a thickness you want. I rolled it to the minimum thickness I could, and make sure the rolled surface is big enough to wrap the cake all around. Then brush the inside of the rolled marzipan with apricot jam, then place the cake in the middle and warp it. Pinch the meeting sides together with your fingers. And now with sharp knife slowly cut across the length t reveal the checkered pattern. You are done!

                             

                         

It is a bit of work and after all the hard work it does look lovely. Since it’s a tea cake get some tea!