October 20

"Chefs don't make mistakes; they make new dishes" - Elizabeth Briggs

Happy International Chef's Day to all the lovely chefs (professional and home chefs), you all are just awesome! 

I mean seriously, if there is one thing the lockdown has done to most of us, is that it has brought to life the inner chef within us. Cooking was always a therapeutic thing for me. When I am upset, cooking made me happy. When I am happy cooking made me exuberant. The romance of the colors and flavors in the wok is like the best ever romance series for me, even better than the Hallmark Romances! The excitement of creating something new, serving it to loved ones and the final accolades - even if it is hard work it is all worth it at the end!

With no or limited access to restaurants, we all have started making things we never thought we could. Or never thought we needed to make, because it was always there at the tap of a food delivery app. After mastering the staples, now people are exploring and stretching their limits. I have been doing that a lot and enjoying every bit of it. Even if there had been a couple of hiccups, and recipes gone wrong here and there, one thing I noticed, the more I cooked and explored the more stronger my sense of flavors became. I could easily visualize many of the tastes of the final dish even without tasting them just by the ingredient combinations. And then adding the touch of experimentation on top of the recipe to tweak it at times and give it a nice personal twist. Never felt so happy pushing my thought limits as I feel while making something new. 

All this experimentation streak has really made me see beyond my favorite cuisines - Indian and South East Asian. I explored American, European, Arabic, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and even planning on some African cuisine soon. In the process of exploring food, I also started reading a lot about food. It was not always physical books but I found good content even on Instagram and facebook. There is this lady who had found an ancient diary when she bought an almirah and has taken up a project to create every dish of the diary throughout the year. Then there is another lady who is doing a series of feature on cricketers who have started on the food business, their food stories. Even some homestay pages talk about local cuisines and how to make them. In a nutshell, there is so much to know about food and cuisines that 24 hours just feel inadequate. The more you see, the more Google keeps suggesting you. Reading has always been a love for me, and I really enjoy knowing and exploring so many facets of food. It almost feels like I am in the wrong profession, I should have definitely my heart set on food domain. 

But when there is no immediate chance of switching the work domain do what you can do best - make things you never tried before, taste things which are not in your usual list of items, read more about the story around a particular recipe and so on. Its not just enough to create a recipe. You need to feel the food, its elements, why you need to add certain aromatics or spices, what happens when you change a few things here and there. Food is as much as a science as any other sciences. 

Coming to today's recipe. I am not at all a sweet loving person. And I was completely opposite as a kid. I used to gorge on sweets. But I think once I hit the teenage, the love for sweets was replaced by love for savory things and its still the same. But having said that, I do love to east sweets occasionally. Especially during the festivals or just a random afternoon craving on a hot day. Only thing is I do not life sweets which are overtly sweet. Mild sweet stuffs are more my forte. This recipe was the outcome of a blueberry frozen dessert I had read about once. A couple of days ago it felt really hot in the afternoon and I wanted to have something cold and nice. Since I didn't have ice cream on me, I thought of whipping up a small batch of frozen yoghurt cups. Fortunately I had granola in the pantry. So wanted to add a nice crunchy layer below the creamy yoghurt layer. A little butter an honey mixed with the granola tasted so divine that I almost felt like gorging on the entire base I had prepared as is. I had to really fight the urge! For the yoghurt part I was wondering what flavor to add. I didn't have any fruits at that time so the  next best option that came to my mind was rose. Rose flavor beautifully compliments any sweet dish, thus incorporating the same into a frozen dessert form was a risk worth taking. And the risk taking did payoff. Apart from looking super pretty, it tasted so lovely and refreshing too. I added ample amount of rose petals to add to the aromatics as well as the overall look of the cups. See for yourself if you like them or not.

This recipe is perfect for the hot summer days. But since it is festive time, sweet little things to munch on is never a bad idea. This recipe would be loved by both the young and old alike. So don't wait, go ahead and give it a shot. Psst...it event tastes divine when it melts!

October is also marked as the Breast Cancer Awareness month to help increase attention and awareness for this disease. It is also called the pink month. Hence this pink themed recipe as a small step towards spreading the awareness and removing any taboo talking about it. Cancer is a reality which I have seen closely even in my family. Both the person who is going though this and the family needs all the empathy we can extend at their hour of need. This post is dedicated to all the brave folks who are putting up against this with a smile and to all those women who need to be cautious about even the slightest change in their bodies. We are all in this together.

Ingredients for Yoghurt:

• Yoghurt (Dairy or non dairy) - 250 gm 
• Rose Syrup - 2 tbsp
• Pink food color - 1 drop / Beet root powder - 1/2 tsp
• Dried rose petals (optional) - 2 tsp
• Castor sugar / powdered sugar - 3 tsp * (adjust as per taste)

Ingredients for Base:

• Granola - 4 to 5 tbsp 
• Honey - 1 tbsp
• Butter - 1 tbsp

Ingredients for Garnish:

• Dried Rose petals 
• Honey

Equipment:

• Muffin mold - 4 cups

Method:

1. Start by melting the butter in a microwave safe bowl. I usually put it in microwave mode for 30 seconds if I am using butter directly from the refrigerator.

2. To the melted butter add the honey and mix well.

3. Now add the granola to this honey-butter mixture. Fold in. 

Tip: Adding honey and butter gives it a yummy taste to the granola.

Note 1: I used Kellogs cranberry granola. You can use anything of your choice.

4. Now prep up the yoghurt. In a bowl add the yoghurt, rose syrup, food coloring and rose petals. Mix it well.

Pro Tip: If you do not have yoghurt you can make this with any dahi as well - homemade or store bought. Just convert it into hung curd by pacing it into a strainer or muslin cloth and letting it hang for about 30 minutes till the water is drained and it becomes nice and thick. Converting it into hung curd will result in a thicker and more creamy outcome whereas if you do not remove the water it will end up being a little glassy.

5. Now take the cupcake molds. I used silicon ones. Brush the base and sides with butter. Now spoon in a layer of granola mix evenly on the base of each cup. Press the granola mix firmly to the bottom. They should occupy about 1/3rd of the cups. Now transfer this to the freezer for about 15 minutes to harden the base.

6. Take out the mold. Arrange a few petals along the sides of the mold ( they will be visible once you demold the cups). Then top each off with the yoghurt mix.  Sprinkle a few rose petals on top. Transfer the cups back to the freezer and let it set for minimum 2-3 hours. 

Tip: You can also add some chopped nuts on top

Take them out when you are ready to eat. Top them off with honey and have them right away.