Bombay Foodie

You must have noticed that I haven't been participating in many events lately. No taste & create, and no daring bakers challenges for months now. It's not that I don't want to - I just seem to have a to-do list so long I never get around to doing any challenge in time. But I do snap out of this laziness for some special ones. Like last month's Indian Cooking Challenge. Srivalli picked khara biscuits or savory cookies from Karnataka's famous Iyengar bakery. I told her there was no way I was staying away from ICC's first baking challenge. There's another reason too. I am still searching for a good savory cookie or a cracker recipe. Nothing I've baked so far comes anywhere near my concept of what these cookies should be. So it might be ten days late, but I finally have the khara biscuits for you. Instead of the chillies and herbs in the original recipe, I made my cookies with cumin seeds and some fresh ground pepper. Interesting flavors, but still ...

I'm putting my crepe class at Suzette to good use. Two weeks on, and this is the second time I've made crepes at home. It's really that easy. If you plan to have crepes for breakfast, you better make the batter the night before. It's okay if you don't but crepes just taste better if the batter gets time to rest. So the batter...take 250 grams plain flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Make a well in the center and add two eggs. Whisk to mix them in, then slowly add 500 ml of milk. Whisk until you get a smooth, lump free batter. Let rest for at least an hour. Heat a nonstick pan. Your dosa tava is your best bet here. Put a few drops of oil on a tissue paper and use that to wipe your pan. Pour a ladleful of batter in the center of the pan and spread it out as thin as you can. Let brown, then flip and cook the other side. You can fill these crepes with literally anything you like. I put a tbsp of apricot compote in the middle of mine then folded them up and topped ...

The shortest book review in the history of our book club : The book was My Life from Scratch by Gesine Bullock-Prado. I didn't like it. Despite the lackluster storyline, the book did have some interesting recipes. I chose to bake Gesine's all purpose vanilla cake. Her cafe sells this as golden eggs - egg shaped cake drenched in butter and sugar. I baked regular muffins, adding some pitted cherries for flavor. The cherries all sunk to the bottom though so what you see up tops is cherry jam, also homemade, circa yesterday. So is this the best vanilla cake? If the top was a bit less moist, which it could get to with adjustments in baking time, it well may be.

Bombay Foodie celebrates the start of the cherry season with a parfait. It's a layer of granola, then one of pitted cherries tossed with sugar and lime juice. Finally, some plain yogurt topped with strawberry coulis. Pretty, isn't it!