WHAT THE FUDGE.....

CHOCOLATE BROWNIE FUDGE

Last semester, my friend Mukta sashayed into my room and popped a indecently small, i should say, piece of the most awesome, melt in your mouth, almost orgasmic chocolate brownie fudge in my mouth and walked on to the next room. A second later I had jumped out of bed and followed her out hoping to get a  few more bites of that delicacy. Alas, it was over. But, I did manage to finagle the recipe out of her.

So when my childhood friend, Vartika, decided to come over for the weekend to spend time with me and well I wanted to do something special for her. Since she is a chocolate lover but refuses to eat branded chocolates (another one of her activist whims), I decided to whip up a batch of these exotic chocolate brownie fudge for her.

She absolutely loved them and finished the entire box in a single day ( This stunt was performed by an expert and I am sure that much fudge in a day is not good for the stomach, so please don't try this stunt at home.) So here i give you the much loved, the yummilicious, the fantasy-tical chocolate brownie fudge recipe -

INGREDIENTS:


1. For the batter

Flour (1cup)
Powdered sugar (2 cups)
Eggs (4)
Butter (1/2 cup)


2. For making it Fudgy

Cadbury cocoa powder (12 tbsp)
Coffee (1 tbsp)
Butter (3/4 cup)


1. Preheat the oven at 180 degree

2. Put all the batter ingredients in a mixer and beat them into a fluffy mixture.

3. On very low flame or in a double boiler melt the 3/4 cup of butter and add the cocoa powder and coffee to it, stirring all the while to form a smooth paste. (Don't taste it, it's darn bitter!!!)

4. Now fold in the chocolate paste into the egg batter and mix it properly.

5. Pour the batter in a lightly greased cake tin and sprinkle choco-chips and walnuts over it. Put the tin in the pre-heated oven for around 40-45 minutes in a 180 degree oven.


The original chef (Mukta) recommends that you serve it either with ice-cream or chocolate sauce.

But, if you are anything like my best friend or me, believe me you won't have the patience to adorn the fudge 'cus it's perfection in itself so just go mad over the chocoliscious delight and gobble up!!!!

PASTA - POPEYE STYLE

If I had to one character from the POPEYE THE SAILOR-MAN.........I'd definitely be Bruto.
like Bruto i hate the sight of the dreaded green vegetable - Spinach.

But even for a cynic like me there are two ways in which one just can't go wrong with Spinach. With cottage cheese ( Palak Paneer) and secondly, the Italian way i.e. with Pasta. So here is a tried and tested and totally rocking recipe of a healthy yet delightful Spinachy Pasta.

Ingredients:
Pasta
Spinach (15-20 leaves)
Butter (2 tbsp)
Flour (1/2 cup)
Milk (half liter)
Cheese (there's never enough of cheese)
Diced Capsicum, Carrot and Tomatoes ( 2 cups)

1. Boil any pasta of your choice till al-dente. blanch in cold water. Keep aside.

2.For the Spinach puree
Boil 15-20 leaves of spinach in just enough water to soak them for 5 mins.
Add salt, a little pepper and chilly and blend the boiled spinach to make the puree.

3. For the white sauce
Put a saucepan on medium flame add the butter. Add the flour to melted butter while stirring. When it gets
a slightly golden tinge slowly start adding a little milk. Keep stirring.
When the sauce starts to thicken a bit, add a half tsp of salt and stir in the vegetables. let it all simmer for 3-4
minutes. By now the sauce should have reached the desired consistency.
Mix in the puree and cheese, stir and add in the already cooked pasta. Cook for two minutes. Take off the flame.
Add freshly ground pepper and finely chopped parsley and lots of grated cheese. Serve Hot.

The pasta tastes yummilicious.
But what made it one of my best culinary success ever is when my cousin asked - "Is it okay if I eat directly from the pan" and the sound of the pan being scraped of the last dibs of sauce was music to the ears.

SNEAK PEAK...........STEAL AND EAT

If you ever follow Nigella Lawson's cookery show, you'll notice that the last clip is always the one where she sneaks out to her kitchen at night and plops into her mouth whatever in that huge fridge of hers catches her fancy.

Now, i have spent the last year living in a hostel where i have full freedom to eat whatever i want and whenever i want it. So, i never understood the novelty of sneaking food into my stomach this way.

Still i was pretty intrigued....

So this past month i decided to follow in Nigella's footsteps. And guess what - it is actually a lot of fun. It's suicide for the health but the entire hidey-ho feel of staving off hunger and, more importantly, boredom is really quite awesome.

To sneak downstairs at two in the morning, all the way assailed with the constant fear of waking up my light-sleeper mom. Peaking all around the staircase in the dim lights of my mobile display so as not to do a Humpty-Dumpty. Walking barefoot on the cold floor and opening the kitchen door all the while praying it won't squeak. Phew.

It has actually been so much enjoyable that till now I've managed four such trips downstairs. Once for coffee and plum cake (yummy) and the next time to warm up the bowl of noodles (mmmm..) sitting in the fridge. Coupled it with a few episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and it actually made for a blissful night of sleep.

It is something that i found that i quite love to do right before i slip into my warm toasty duvet with a good book. The laughs that James Herriot hilarious novels draw are very well complimented with that stolen last piece of melt-in-the-mouth chocolate pastry or a hot cup of tea and a pack of biscuits.

I can only assure you that all of this food which i tasted snuggled in my bed tasted ambrosiac that late at night. The sneak peak...steal and eat routine actually makes me hungry and the food that i manage to sneak into my room had some amazing flavour quality to it.

This post might seem exaggerated, but i think that those stolen moments of childlike behaviour render some of its sweet and salty quality to the food. And although, I guess, following Nigella this way is not exactly a good habit. But a bit of fun never hurts, huh.

 So do try to sneak in your kitchen sometime at night. Oh! And remember to steal something that your mum will definitely notice missing the next day. The perplexed expression on their face is just added bonus :P

DHABA ISHTYLE

After my return from Amritsar i missed the awesome food you get there at those really awesome dhabas (do go to Bhrawan da Dhabba and Kesar da dhaba, for meat lovers visit Haveli and Lawerence Road if u happen to find yourself on the land of Golden Temple)........... Anyways returning to my story, yesterday my cusins took me to the Bittu da Dhaba on the outskirts of the city.

So while we watched the sun set we gorged upon really good food. For less than five hundred bucks we chomped on 4 plates of dal, 2 plates of paneer and pulao and numerous roti's. The companty was good, the food was good and it set the mood for the rest of the day as good.

So paying homage to the lil bit of punjabi blood in me, I assure you that the best way to enjoy food is at a Dhaba.......yup those lit like a bride places or those damp, dark and dhingy food places u see outside the city, on the highways and everywhere in Punjab.........I can't explain how but food always tastes much more delicious in a dhaba than in a five-star hoter.

The quality of the materials used i cannot vouch for.......but the taste is just BRILLIANCE. You can get authentic Punjabi food only at a dhaba........so if you happen to be in Punjab by any chance do not and i warn do not venture into a hotel even by mistake........Instead find out the best dhaba's in town and hop, run and skip to it for some Awesome food ever.......

FOOD FOR THE SOUL

I have been cribbing a lot lately. My friends can vouch for it. Everytime they call i keep telling them that am about to drop dead due to boredom. How nothing ever happens in my hometown. How i stay lethargic throughout the day.....blah...blah...blah. Man, have i complained some. But this post is not about that.

Instead, it is about something almost contrary to my complaints. You see, i had been feeling so sorry for myself that i had started missing the sweetest of things. But, today was different. Today i paid attention to the beautiful gesture made by my grandfather (Daddiji). Tonight I had dinner with him. On menu was morning's vegetable- kofta aloo, Three chapatis- 2 for him and 1 for me, three papads and four slices of mango.

We sat down and talked about the heat and monsoon while eating. Halfway through his dinner he tore his second chappati into half and kept it on my plate. I protested but he looked like he'll be more hurt if i returned that small offering. So i accepted it and we started eating again. half a second later he divided the kofta on his plate and gave me the second half. I smiled my thanks to him. After finishing i got up to get water. Upon return i found mango slices on my plate.

Now, for many this incidence would hold no interest. Many would wonder what was here to post. But, to me the whole thing was so very special. This was by far the best dinner i have ever had because it satisfied my soul as well. I never realized that how much my being here meant to my Daddiji. Sure it means a lot to my parents as well but the thing is when i leave my parents have each other to hold onto. With my Daddiji, though, its like letting your only friend go. And so coming back here is almost a reunion of friends with him.

The time i spend here with him will be the only time he'll be animated and talk about all the random and the important stuff till i return again for holidays. The time i spend here is the only time he'll sit past his bedtime just because we were debating or pondering over something. The time i spend here is what he shall replay again and again when i leave again.

The food today was ordinary so was the conversation but the gestures were just so touching and the gentle affectionate expression his eyes held manage to make my eyes go all misty. So, however boring these three months might prove to be, the time i spend with him shall be the highlight of each day, the moments that i shall cherish close to my heart and the reason that i shall account to myself whenever i question "What the hell am i doing here?" I am gathering food for my hungry soul.

MASALA CHAI AND MAGGI

So i am done with my assignments, projects and exams for this semester. Am a free bird except that my friends are still slogging. And that frankly is very irritating. We leave here in a few days and do not meet again for some three months. So, all i wanna do is go crazy, have fun, have walks and talks sessions with them and basically enjoy these last few days in their company.


Instead of which I am the only one here going "bounce, bounce, bounce" and the others are giving me black stares, especially my generally/really sweet and innocent roomie, Devaki. But, that deters me not. The more they stare, the more I irritate them. Yes, I have been irritating Devaki for some four hours now, but even that is fun no more.

Four o' clock at night. I m still awake giving my roomie company(evil grin) while she studies. Then we see everyone( Monica and Tharini, namely) making the half cooked variety of Pazzta and Maggi. Our stomach rumbles, we decide we'll have tea. Tea it is. But, only tea. Nah.... from somewhere a pack of chocochip cookies comes up.

But its Maggi we crave and Maggi it shall be. So we start making our own kachcha pakka Maggi. Suddenly, Polomi from across the room, mind it, pings and asks if we have food. Being the generous souls that all hostlites are, we invite her to share our Maggi. The next room door opens and Monica comes out with the weirdest, soupiest pazztaa ever. She even adds Maggi to it and everyone pretends to like it.


We chat for a while. Everyone shows me attitude. Its not my fault my exams are over, people. But, I keep mum, after all these sleep deprived souls have to live with the fact for another three days ( i.e. seventy-two hours, guys). They all leave, my chai is stone cold and my share of Maggi is all lumpy, now. But it does not matter. Because despite of the fact that the countdown for our departure is set, I've just found a beautiful moment amidst its tick-tocking. A moment worth cherishing and writing about because this has been the most amazing pre-dawn snack I have ever had.


P.S. - Mukta bless her soul, has promised to bring vadas and dosas from Reddy's for our breakfast by six. I'll let you all know if she did finally for once in her life come on time. She won't.......


P.P.S. - GOOD MORNING