Skip to main content

I've cracked it!

I dig hot chocolate. So much that I find reasons to have a couple of hours between connecting flights in Delhi. Just so I can hop into Choko La and have a cup of Papua Hot Chocolate. And sometimes I feel that I only go to London so I can go to the Chocolate Bar at Harrods. All because I can never get the right flavor when I make hot chocolate at home. Or didn't, until yesterday. This morning, I finally got it right.

I started with 20 gms of pure dark chocolate. Not milk, not semi-sweet; just plain 70% dark (I use Lindt). I don't have a double boiler so I heated water in a saucepan until it came to a boil, then reduced the heat to let the water simmer. Next I found another pan that fitted in the rim of the saucepan and added chocolate pieces to this one. After a few seconds, when the chocolate started melting, I just swirled it a bit with a fork to break the pieces. Once all the chocolate had melted, in went half a teaspoon of sugar. Mixed for a few seconds, then poured in a cup of warm milk. I mixed the chocolate and milk with a fork at first. Then, after a few seconds, I brought out a wire whisk and whisked the mixture for maybe a minute until it was frothy and slightly thickened.

Deep, dark, mysterious; the flavor was a cross between Choko La and Harrods, and as chocolatey as it gets.

PS: I don't have any pictures; for how was I to know it will turn out so good.

Comments

CurryLeaf said…
Nice to know,you like dark one.I prefer milk chc and yes I too love hot choc.Well choc shakes also go well me.I too use your method or microwave to melt them.Yummy and comforting the warmth of hot chocolate
Bharti said…
You got it girl. I make it the same way using the same lindt dark chocolate (melt it in the microwave). I use so much chocolate that you don't need the added sugar. :-)
I don't need the pictures to tell me how good this is. Of course, I would like hot chocolate! :)

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but...

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru...

Of Brun and Bun Maska

There is more to Bombay's breads than the pao that goes into pao bhaji and vada pao. There's Brun. and there's bun. We will get there. First, you have to get to know the city's Parsis. And Iranis, who are also Zoroastrians, but came to city a little later, in the late 19th or early 20th century. And when they came, they brought with them these little cafes that dot the city. I am no expert on Irani chai cafes. And I can't tell you whether Yazdani Bakery will provide you the best experience or Kyani's. But I can tell you a few things you need to ignore when you get there. Appearances don't matter; so ignore the fact that the marble/glass top tables and the wooden chairs look a bit dilapidated. Also ignore the rundown look the place sports. Instead, get yourself settled. And order a bun muska. This one's familiar to you as a first cousin of the soft hamburger bun. It's similar, but just a tad bit sweeter. Maska, of course, is the generous dollop o...