It was my birthday during the first Covid lockdown. Even though I had laid out a feast for my family, there was one very important, missing element. Cake. Two months later, the same emotion got repeated for my husband’s birthday. I felt as if I was the only one who didn’t know how to bake. But I had one sorry excuse – no oven. 

I received a small OTG as a present after a few months and then I didn’t even have my sorry excuse.  My fear of baking was at its peak with home bakers using the lockdown to flaunt their beautiful creations on Facebook and Instagram. 

The first known cake can be traced back to the Egyptians and then the Greeks and Roman. All I could remember was my failed attempt at baking a few years earlier. I had gone and purchased all the ingredients and baking equipment with enthusiasm when my husband requested a home-baked teacake. After zeroing in on an easy looking recipe, I readied the batter. What came out of the oven 40 minutes later was something that vaguely resembled a cake. It tasted eggy and was raw in places. That was the hint I needed. The oven mittens, cake tin and everything else was shoved into the cupboard. I am glad that there exists no photographic evidence of my baking fiasco.

The memories of that experience made me even more jittery. After contemplating for a few days, I decided that it was time to take the plunge. Or maybe just some baby steps. Another round of shopping and with the help of Google baba, I was as prepared as I could be, given my lack of confidence. I could imagine myself pulling a hard-as-rock cake out of the oven.

The day dawned and the cake was baked. What happened next was unfathomable. My whole house was fragrant with a yummy aroma. That soft, spongy and buttery vanilla cake lasted for just a few hours.

I have followed the same recipe ever since. Here is the foolproof recipe for a basic vanilla cake. It is a very forgiving recipe and you can convert it into a tutti frutti or walnut or marble cake very easily. You can easily replace the maida with whole wheat flour and reduce sugar if you like it less sweet. It will still turn out good.

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 cups All purpose flour (maida)

1 cup  sugar

1/2 cup / 113 grams  unsalted butter

2 tsp oil

1/4 cup malai

2 large eggs 

1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract/essence 

1/4 tsp salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line an 8-inch cake tin.

In a mixing bowl, sieve flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. 

Beat together sugar and malai till it is light and fluffy. At the same time, heat the milk with the butter till the butter melts.

To the sugar and malai mix, add the oil and mix. Then start adding the eggs, one at a time. Beat till the mix is light in colour. 

Add the vanilla essence.

I stop using the beater at this stage. I use a silicon spatula to mix the wet and dry ingredients. You can use the beater but at the lowest speed possible.

Start adding the flour little by little. DO NOT OVER MIX. 

Once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed well, add in the warm milk and butter. Mix for a few seconds till you have a smooth batter.

Transfer into the lined cake tin and put it on the middle rack of your oven. 

Bake for about 40 minutes or till a tooth pick comes out clean.

Cool for a few minutes before you cut a slice for yourself and don’t forget to pat yourself on the back!

The post Basic Vanilla Cake {Recipe} appeared first on Indian Food Freak.

My friend and I walked into Boju’s Kitchen on a lovely, sunny winter afternoon. A small, unpretentious Himalayan kitchen with limited seating, run by the charming mother daughter duo – Arati Thapa and Chitrangada Gupta who hail from Darjeeling. The size of the kitchen is in contrast with the large hearted, warm women. Boju means grandma and that is the source of all recipes that one can see on their menu and the secret behind the hearty, no-fuss and authentic Nepali food. Started as a home kitchen during the first lockdown, this restaurant now sits at a very pretty location at 32nd Avenue, Gurugram.

From cooking herself, Arati now has a chef from Nepal running the kitchen but the recipes are still hers.

We sat at a table outdoors and the first thing we had was the first flush Darjeeling tea. So mellow and yet so flavourful. This was followed by their chicken thukpa that we divided into two for ease of eating. The broth was light, fresh and delicious with a touch of chilli oil. The experience got elevated when we learnt that the noodles in it weren’t made of maida but healthier rice flour. I could imagine myself sitting with a large bowl, slurping the broth, on a cold winter evening. Like a hug that warms up the coldest cockles of your heart. That’s how good it was.

Next up was their chilli pork. When it was brought to the table, my first reaction was – oh that looks gorgeous! And it tasted exactly the same. Gorgeous!

I was full by then but there still was the pork curry meal which we had already ordered. A bowl of steamed rice with pork curry and alu dum served with a side of aloo pickle and fermented leafy vegetables. We requested the kitchen to up the spice levels of the aloo pickle and they gladly obliged. The fermented vegetables were new for both of us and you can think of it as a Nepalese kimchi. Look at the dish this way – pork, potatoes and rice, together are a match made in heaven. We couldn’t have asked for more.

This meal was exactly what food dreams are made of. Laidback atmosphere, delicious food and recipes straight out of mumma’s cookbook. There is an indescribable sense of comfort when one eats at restaurants born out of love. And when you have a grandma, her daughter and granddaughter at the helm, you know that you are up for a happy and satisfying meal. One thing I can say for sure. I will definitely go back especially for sadeko momos.

Address

Boju’s Kitchen, The Highline, 32nd Avenue, Sector 15 Part 2, Gurugram

Phone number:  95820 81749

The post Boju’s Kitchen, Gurgaon: Delectable Himalayan Cuisine appeared first on Indian Food Freak.

I am not sure when macarons made their way from French patisseries into the Indian markets but I feel, these small nuggets of goodness travelled into our hearts, thanks to all the cooking shows and English food channels. Even then, not all bakeries make this difficult-to-get-right cookie.

Just three ingredients – egg whites, almond flour and sugar but still one of the more technical and fussy cookies to make. I dabble with baking cakes and cookies at home pretty successfully but this is something that I haven’t gathered enough courage to try.

The perfect sweet treat with a light crispy exterior and a wonderfully chewy interior, what’s there not to love. Colourful, beautiful and you can fill them with anything from ganache to jam to curd or buttercream and they will not fail to tempt even the most disciplined ones.

On a recent trip to Gurgaon, my friend and I stopped by at Theos in Cyberhub for breakfast. But this post is not an appreciation post for the award winning bakery. The regulars at Theo’s already know how pretty the place is, how warm and inviting the interiors are and how attentive the staff is. This post is about these trays with neatly arranged macarons on the bottom shelf of their huge and almost endless display counter. We had a passionfruit and a blueberry one that day. One bite and I was completely bamboozled! They had managed to get it so perfect.

I had a flashback to three earlier occasions (twice in Mumbai and once in Chandigarh) when I got a box of macarons home and was extremely disappointed. It had made me question the craze for these cookies internationally. They were dry and lacked any flavour. But what I held in my hand sitting at a corner table in Theos in Gurgaon took me on a quick trip through the streets of Paris. I loved them so much that I went back the next day and had some packed to bring back home.

Priced at Rs.110 per piece, they are not cheap by any standards but if you are like me who loves desserts with textural differences and ones which are not sickeningly sweet, you would love these. I just hope, Theos gives macarons a slightly more important place in their display counter. 

Do pick up some if you are in that side of the city and you won’t be disappointed.  You know what I want you to grab, right? Delicate, delectable and oh-so-yum macarons!

The post The Magical Macaron at Theos appeared first on Indian Food Freak.

I have always identified Japanese cuisine with elegance, refinement, freshest produce and a cuisine where every bite is like a dash through the rich cultural history. So when a bunch of us descended upon Takashi in sector 29, Gurgaon on a deliciously nippy December evening, the air was filled with excitement.

Three things make a meal outing worth remembering – ambience, company and food. As we stepped into this small, classy, opulent restaurant, I knew two out of the three requirements had been ticked off. All that was left was the food. And we had an insanely long menu to navigate through.

I have posted photographs to show you all that we ate. But I want to talk about a few of my favourite. The ones which were unputdownable. The ones which made me wish I could split the menu between two dinners.

We started with Gomae salad. If there is one dish that can make someone fall in love with spinach, this would be it.

This was followed by a light but delicious crab salad. We were in good hands.

The salads were followed by four kinds of sushi. The first on the table was tuna nigiri. Unsure if the sushi would taste fishy, I dunked it in soya sauce. My chopsticks hovered near my mouth and I paused for a noticeable second before taking a big mouthful. All I can say is that I was stumped. How could something so simple be so delicious?!

Another one that I loved was the gorgeously luscious rock shrimp tempura uramaki roll. Perfectly rolled with the crunch of shrimp tempura, which made most of us want seconds.

Out of the appetizers, rock shrimp tempura was the stuff of dreams. Light, fresh and crunchy. It would probably be one of the best appetizer to have with a pint of cold beer.

Buta no shogoyaki (pork) with white onion was another crowd pleaser.

At each step, through the menu, I thought we had reached the peak but the kitchen relentlessly kept sending out one good dish after the other.

From the main course, buta kakuni (Belgium pork belly) with that subtle broth was an instant hit.

I fell in love with the jumbo prawn katsu curry. The crunchy prawn in the yummy and rich sauce was perfect for a winter evening.

That gorgeous meal had to end on a high and there could be nothing better than mochi icecream! The chewy, mildly sweet outer layer encasing the cold creamy icecream made me wish for a separate dessert tummy. I gave macha pudding a miss because this Punjabi lady likes her desserts sweet!

When conversation is sparkling and laughter echoes off the walls, wine glasses are full, service is impeccable and food is fantastic, one wishes the evening to go on and on. If there was a way to define a perfect dinner, it would be our dinner at Takashi.

– Shailly Jindal

The post An Evening at Takashi, Sector 29, Gurgaon appeared first on Indian Food Freak.