Stay-home treats

Oreo biscuit cake

 

Oreo biscuit cake

Ingredients:

300g oreos

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp instant coffee powder (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the cooker without the whistle  on a medium flame for 10 minutes.

2. Roughly break the biscuits and put them in the food processor along with the sugar. Blitz until there are no chunks remaining and it’s a homogenised fine mixture.

3. Transfer the biscuit mixture to a glass bowl, add in the baking powder and the coffee, mix well.

4. Now add milk and vanilla to the bowl. Mix until everything is well combined and the batter looks nice and smooth.

5. Generously grease the 4-inch baking pan with oil or butter. Line it with a parchment paper or dust it with flour.

6. Transfer the batter into the pan and carefully place the pan on  the wire rack in the cooker. Close the cooker and cook the cake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

7. Once done cooking, carefully remove the cake and let it cool completely before unmoulding

Shivesh Bhatia is a self-taught baker, food blogger, author of Bake With Shivesh. Instagram: @shivesh17

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Maacher tel jhol 2.0

 

Maacher tel jhol 2.0

500g fish

1 tsp nigella seeds

A few slit green chillies

A few cloves garlic, smashed

Salt to taste

1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

 1 tsp turmeric powder

Coriander leaves to taste

A knob of butter

Method:

1. Marinate the fish lightly with some salt and turmeric. This recipe works great with small fish — think pabda, parshe, koi, or frozen prawns, pomfret, snapper, rawas, sole or bhetki as well. Just, never do basa. Give the nigella seeds a good rub on your palm to release more flavour.

In a bowl, make a paste with the Kashmiri red chilli powder  and turmeric powder with a little water.

2. Heat some mustard oil in a non-stick pan.

3. Fry the fish. After two minutes, flip them to add colour to the other side. It is now time to introduce garlic.

4. Keep an eye on that garlic. If it’s taken on a nice golden brown colour, it’s time to introduce the turmeric and chilli, stirred in with some water.

5. About 15-30 seconds later, once the masalas have infused in the oil, pour in a cup of water  and let the sauce come to a simmer. Sprinkle coriander leaves. It’ll only take another minute or so for the fish to be fully cooked and the coriander to infuse.

6. Our final step, rather cheat. Amul Butter.

7. Serve piping hot with rice and a wedge of lemon.

Auroni Mukherjee at the Sienna Store and Cafe, Kolkata. Instagram: @aurnithologist

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Chocolate and digestive bars

Chocolate and digestive bars

Ingredients:

200g chocolate, chopped

 100g digestive biscuits

50g butter

60ml fresh cream

Method:

1. Prep a 6-inch square baking tin by lining it with butter paper or foil.

2. Break the digestive biscuits into chunks in a medium-sized bowl.

3. Place the chopped chocolate in another medium-sized bowl.

4. Bring fresh cream to a boil in a thick-bottomed pan, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Mix  well to combine the two.

5. Add in the butter and whisk vigorously to achieve a smooth batter.

6. Fold in the crumbled digestive biscuits.

7. Transfer this batter into the lined tin and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours. It needs to set completely, so check before you take it out.

8. Demould the fudge and slice it carefully into bars.

Founder of Le 15 Patisserie, Mumbai. Instagram: @poojadhingra

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Brigadeiro or Brazilian fudge

Brigadeiro or Brazilian fudge

Ingredients:

400ml / A can of condensed milk

4 tbsp cocoa powder

 2 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp salt

Cocoa powder / sprinkles /cookie crumbs to coat

Method:

1. In a saucepan add the condensed milk, cocoa powder, salt and butter.

2. Set the timer on your phone to 8 minutes. Turn on  the stove and let this mix come to a boil, stirring continuously.

3. Turn heat to low, stir and cook the fudge until it thickens and leaves the sides of the pan.

4. Transfer this mixture into a greased bowl and leave it to cool for 30 minutes.

5. Butter your hands and make small balls of the fudge. Coat with sprinkles, cocoa powder or cookie crumbs.

Ruchira Hoon is a chef and food consultant at Ek Bar and The Piano Man, New Delhi. Instagram: @ruchirahoon