T's Eggless Tiramisu -- the one so good that I dare not bake

While in my last post I lamented on friendships lost, today I will sing paeans of the ones that sustained, with no effort of mine. And this past Spring weekend we got a chance to spend time with two of them -- T and R-da. We have known T for a long long time, so long that she is practically family. My daughters love her and her husband much, call her T pishi and draw her and R-pisho in family portraits. T is an awesome baker while her husband R-da is the bong food connoisseur and official Italian in my bong circle. I mean he is not an Italian but he has lived in Italy and makes the best pasta to my knowledge.

Though we have had many meals at her home, this weekend we made a special request to eat only pasta, cooked by R-Da -- and yes a big "and" ---only vegetarian pasta-- no meat. When we reached their home on Friday evening their home was alive with Italian music which I had no clue existed and fragrant with a very Italian aroma which made my belly squeak and ask for "food".

Before I could start eating though, the girls were waylaid by a lovely surprise, a cute easter bunny cake with pretty pink dust ears, baked by T. Naturally they, the girls, started off with a dessert.

Next we started with an antipasti of caprese --fresh mozzarella with perfect tomatoes and fresh basil, and bruschetta -- bread rubbed with garlic and brushed with a very fragrant olive oil infused with black peppercorns. I had so much of it that it could have been my dinner. Then there were two Pasta dishes of Primo course and apparently no Secondi. Don't ask me "Whaat"? It sounded Greek to me but this is what T said was the order in Italian courses. I still remained clueless.

In plain Bong speak  for the main course there was pumpkin ravioli in white sauce. The white sauce, home made with mascarpone and what not was mind blowing. R-da also made a vegetable sauce and served it with tagliatelle. The sauce is supposed to be meat based but because of our veg requirements he made it with grated carrots etc. Okay, we did not even realize it was supposed to be meat based it was so good and that from a moderately meat loving Bong.

With the second pasta they served an eggplant dish which again T kept harping on as "should be antipasto" and some such thing. It had exactly the same effect like saying to a Martian "Ilish er Jhol should be only served with rice at a sit down meal and after that you have to take a nap". For me Marinated Eggplants a la Ottolenghi -- was so delicious; the eggplants so soft and buttery; and so fragrant with herbs and a lovely Olive Oil that I could eat it straight from the bowl standing at the security clearance for AlItalia. I know I went overboard with "so" there but it was Oh so good.

By the time the meal ended we were brimming with good food and a content heart. It was then that T brought out her Tiramisu. Now to be honest I have never been a fan of Tiramisu. Or rather I have never had a Tiramisu that I fell in love with until the evening of 6th April, 2012. Mark your calendars. So I wasn't too excited and anyway I was full with the excellent pasta and therefore opted for a small piece. And then it happened. Shining lights, pushpa brishti and all that. That was the day all the loser Tiramisu's in my life were banished away by the prince, the real one, the chosen perfect Tiramisu.

Phewww what a relief.

Now since I can never ever do justice to such a thing, I asked T for the recipe--which she finally gave after umpteen e-mails-- to be shared here. Okay she wrote it while on conf calls so you have to give it to her. If you are brave enough, go try it. I will just drive over an hour and reach her place and have the real thing. Thank you or Grazie Tanto.

And we have to go back soon because Li'l A was mighty displeased to come back home and said she wants to stay at T Pishi's home for s-i-x-t-y days. "Sixty days thakbo", she shouted. "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday --s-i-x-t-y". Good luck kiddo, let me see which college gives you an admit. Till then let's eat some Tiramisu.

PS: Pardon the picture qualities, I was so involved in eating that spent minimum time taking pictures and that too in night light.


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T's Eggless Tiramisu

In her exact words

My exact recipe is not electronically available. So for "faaast" I am sending this from internet, which comes close to my recipe, and I modified it a bit to make it closer to my recipe.
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup(8 oz) Mascarpone cheese
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 TBS Kahlua, or to taste
3 TBS sugar
1 cup strong coffee chilled
Italian Savioirdi (Lady Fingers) (available in Italian stores)
Shaved Chocolate for decoration

Directions:
1. Whip cream and 3 TBS sugar to almost stiff peaks. Set aside.
2. Mix mascarpone cheese with 1 TBS Kahlua, vanilla. Whisk together.
3. Fold mascarpone mixture with the sweetened whipped cream.
4. Combine coffee plus a bit of Kahlua...to taste.
5. Dip savoiardi biscuits in coffee mixture and place in pan in a flat layer.
6. Add a portion of the mascarpone cream mixture and level out. Repeat layer once more or two more times if doing a 3 layer cake. You can sprinkle some cocoa/shaved chocolate between teh layers, if you like.
7. Spread shaved chocolate on top for decoration.

Come, have Chai For I have News to share

For the longest time I have wanted to sit cozy and gossip over a cup of chai. Legs drawn together, feet tucked under, sitting close, a cup of warmth in my hand, speaking in hushed tones.javascript:void(0) About what ? I have no clue. I have friends with whom I talk mostly over the phone. We discuss everything from Romney to the Jupiter and Venus in the night sky. The sad part is none of them have the time or inclination to spend time over hot cups of tea. Now if we are talking dinner that is another story.

So my wish remains unfulfilled. Largely. Except for a couple of folks. But even with them it never happens like it did for my Mother. Every afternoon Ma would change into a crisp cotton saree for summer or a rustling silk for the winters.She would dab some of the Mysore sandal talc on her nose, tie up her long black hair in a plait and then put a kettle of water to boil. Some days a neighborhood aunt would drop by. On others Ma would go over. They would share stories over those cups of hot chai which I was not privy to. "Ja porashuno korte bos (go, get along with your studies)" was what they said if I lingered longer.

Naturally I nurtured a secret hope of such evenings, maybe even grander ones, once I was in charge.It is yet to happen. So when this thing--- that I have been desperate to tell you all along--- happened I wanted to sit right besides you, feet tucked under my pajamas,a cup of tea in hand.

And no it is not what you are thinking. No. Not at all. Okay, what are you thinking anyway ?

But I am eternally grateful to you for what happened. For your kind words, for your belief in me, for reading me, for telling me that you liked what I wrote. This wouldn't have been possible without you.

For like you, a very nice editor from Harper Collins (India) read my blog. And last year around summer she sent me a polite mail asking if I would be interested in writing a book. First I gulped and then decided it was one of those spams like the Nigerian government promising to transfer billions to my account. Turned out it wasn't. This was really, truly, a real life editor from Harper. She wanted me to write a book based on my blog, a food narrative along with my recipes. I was so struck by the wondrous nature of the whole thing that I of course said "Yes". Only a month later I realized what I had done but by then the contract was signed. The deal was sealed. And I was going to write a book. THE BOOK. The Bong Mom's Cookbook.

So I have been writing a book. It has been nine months. Given that number I now treat it like a third child in my womb. I have been putting my everything into it. My love, my emotions, my thoughts, my life. In fact I am so attached to it that I am having separation anxiety and am yet to hand over the manuscript. Every day when my girls are finally in bed, the dishwasher is humming a Dadra, the crickets outside have given up chirping, I sit on the black poang, open up MS Word and pour my heart into it. I am also dead scared (very unlike a third time new Mother is wont to be) and that is the reason I had kept it in my heart though my mind itched to share it with you long back.

But now I need your support, your trust in me, your wishes and your blessings. Send me all your good vibes so that I can do my best. Please, pretty please.Else my toes are going to curl up cold and the gestation stage might get longer than that of an elephant.

The Book: The Bong Mom's Cookbook
The Publisher: Harper Collins India
What is it about : More of a Food narrative than a cookbook per se. In short mine, yours and everyone else's life in food with recipes thrown in. More details as I write the book.
When: Will let you know as the thing happens

Now that you guys are in the loop trust me you are going to hear of my third baby as much as you do about Big Sis and Li'l Sis. And then don't come back and tell me that irritates the heck out of you.

There's an whole army of talented bloggers whom I owe big time for this whole blog thing. Almost all of them are on my reader you see on the left.

Thanks Miri, Mandira, Manisha, Indo of Daily Musings, Sra, Vani, Nupur of One Hot Stove, Mallika, Happy Cook, Cham, Sig, Sailu, Anita, Linda, Jaya of DesiSoccerMom, Supriya, Jaya of Spice and Curry, Soma, Pree, Sharmila, Eve's Lungs and Kalyan for being there and sharing your food.  And Cynthia I owe you big time for helping me through the jargon of the contract language.Then there are those who do not blog anymore but had set up the path like Indira of Mahanadi, Inji, Asha, Mallu Girl, Sunita and Vee. I think half of my book is going to be just Acknowledgments.

LadyBug Pancakes for Edible Book Festival

Ever since I saw this event "Edible Book Festival"  announced I wanted to take part in it. A fun way to spend a weekend with the girls I thought. But I wasn't sure what exactly to create until one fine night under the comforter we read "Pancakes, Pancakes" for Lil Sis.(by Eric Carle)

"Pancakes" it hit me. "We can do pancakes".

"We can color it", said Big Sis who always tries to find an excuse to use the tiny box of food colors we had got last year and rarely used.

I decided to go with one of Little Sis's book simply to get her interested. Big Sis is a voracious reader and needs no motivation. And it really did--got the little one all piqued. She diligently followed the steps needed to make a pancake from flour, to milk, to eggs, to butter and then promptly fell asleep. It was tedious if you started from the wheat bit and followed the long supply-chain involved in making a pancake. But it also gave the kids a good idea that even a simple food like pancake involves a complex process.

After narrowing it down to Pancakes we decided to shape it like The Very Hungry Caterpillar because, because...ummm well we thought a caterpillar would be easy to create with pancakes.

All things said and done I made this very easy and totally reliable Pancake Mix on Friday night before going to bed at 12. I like to plan my days. I am very organized that way.Not.

On Saturday morning due to my superb organization skills there was crisis. We searched high and low and could not even get a whiff of The Hungry Caterpillar-- the book. Like many of Lil Sis's belongings I am sure it is tucked away somewhere to be found 1, 5 or even 10 years later.

So then Big Sis suggested a LadyBug pancake based on "Ladybug Girl Dresses Up"(by Jacky Davis) another of Lil Sis's favorite books. She loves how Lulu dresses up as a pirate, an astronaut, a spy and then finally a ladybug. Since we had enough food color to paint the town  a ladybug with red wings and chocolate chip dots appealed immensely to both the girls. I got idea of a ladybug pancake from here (they have more lovely ideas there).The girls of course went wild with the color and added a teal blue sky, greenery around and flashy red wings with day-glo orange for the antennas.

Then they added more colors and made a caterpillar. Then they added more and made stuff I did not even recognize. Finally we ate them with a good drizzle of Maple syrup. The pancakes were soft, fluffy and just right.

The Pancake recipe was courtesy Nigella Lawson snagged from here. The Homemade Pancake mix is such a brilliant, brilliant idea that I have been gushing over it. You can make it ahead and store it in an air-tight box. I used it within two days but I think it will keep for a week. Oh and I also made some pancakes and froze them to be used during the week. My first time freezing them and I thought it was a pretty helpful thing to fall back on busy week days.

This is my entry for edible Books going over to Play By the Book.


And on the creative note do checkout the lovely Etsy store stocked with the cutest framed appliqued art work of my another favorite blogger Peppercorns in My Pocket.


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Homemade Pancake Mix and Critter Pancakes

Make Pancake mix

All-purpose flour ~ 2 cups
Baking powder ~ 1.5 tbsp
Baking soda ~ 1 tsp
Salt ~ 1/2 tsp
Sugar ~ 1 tbsp + 2 tsp

Mix all of the above ingredients and store in an air-tight jar or box.

Make Pancake batter

For the batter
Add
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
to about 1&1/8 cup of the dry pancake mix. Mix gently to combine. Do not overmix.
Note: the recipe said to add 1 cup pancake mix but I wanted thicker American style pancakes and so added a little more.

Make the pancakes

Heat a flat griddle or pan over medium-high heat. Grease with little butter or oil.

Spoon 1/4 cup of batter onto the hot griddle and when bubbles appear on the surface of the little pancakes, flip them over to make them golden brown on both sides.

For the ladybug pancake we used
1/4cup batter mixed with cocoa powder to make the body,
1/4 cup batter with red food color for wings,
1/8 cup batter with cocoa for head,
1/8 cup batter with orange food color from which strips were cut for antenna.

Chocolate chips made the polka dots.