Sugar et al, Author at Sugar et al

Roasted Beet Salad with Egg and Honey Balsamic Dressing

29|05|2013

Roasted beet salad with eggs, leafy greens and a delicious honey balsamic dressing. Healthy, nutritious and easy to make.

Another break, another comeback and a wonderful sense of belonging. Again! Like coming back home. Wish I could show you how much I love my time with the blog. Though sometimes it requires a mammoth effort to stay connected than other times. The long and short of it is that life is finally a bit settled and I am finding my rhythm again. My boys have found a wonderful second home at the day care and I am looking forward to spending more time with my happy little space on the internet.

The last few weeks involved a myriad of discoveries…around the neighbourhood, within the house..zones in my balcony that offer good lighting, new friendships and some reflective exercises on the changes that have come about with time. The funny thing is that it takes some ‘getting used to’ not having the children around and savoring activities that I craved for not so long ago. I am fascinated by the way motherhood has changed everything I do, even the way I look at alone time.

Most people I know out there associate salads with health and nutrition. I do too. But along with that, I also associate salads with colours, textures and an important aspect of a meal. If it is an accompaniment to a main meal, it needs to compliment the flavours of the dish. If eaten on their own, there needs to be a protein element to it that compensates for the nutritonal value of a main meal.

Eggs are a critical part of my pantry. That is pretty obvious to all my blog readers by now for its inevitable appearance in desserts. But, what is lesser known is my affinity to use it in salads. They can easily transform a leafy salad into a filling dish. And the colour..oh so brilliant! Maybe that’s why I choose it over any other protein. The dressing is a simple honey balsamic dressing which goes very well with beetroot. You can use baby spinach, rocket, swiss chard, lettuce, mint..basically any leafy green that is available. Serve it with some crusty bread and you have a wholesome meal ready for you.

Roasted Beetroot and Egg Salad with Honey Balsamic Dressing
Serves 2

2 large beetroot
2 hardboiled eggs, peeled, quartered
A handful of mixed salad leaves (spinach, rocket, swiss chard, lettuce)
Cracked pepper to sprinkle

Honey Balsamic Dressing

2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey

Preheat oven to 200 degree C. Trim beetroot stems. Wash beetroot and pat dry. Wrap in a foil and place in a roasting dish. Roast for 45 mins or until tender (skin peels away when rubbed). Set aside until cooled.

Make the dressing: Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Keep aside.

Wearing rubber gloves, peel each beetroot and cut into quarters. Arrange the beetroot and egg quarters in a bowl along with the salad leaves. Drizzle with dressing. Sprinkle with cracked pepper. Serve with crusty bread.

Celebrating Mommy! Corn and Chive Pikelets with Smoked Salmon and Sour Cream

9|05|2013

The sweetest message I have ever read. ‘I BELIEVE IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT…Because I’VE BEEN LOVING MY MOTHER SINCE THE TIME I OPENED MY EYES…’

I don’t really follow ‘day-s’. Birthdays are an exception of course. But I would still call myself a person who can go lengths to make someone smile. Just that it would never be restricted to time or occasion. I am certain all of us are like that.

Until a few years ago, I couldn’t relate to all the hype about Mother’s day. Though I have probably participated every year since I was a little girl by bringing little gifts for my Mommy or cooking something special for her, I have to admit that I did it without much thought or understanding of the significance of Mother’s day. I would only think about what gifts she would like or what would make her happy. After my twins came, I looked at motherhood with a whole new perspective. Mothers don’t really expect anything..rather nothing!

Having said that, being a Mom is the most rewarding role in itself, however thankless or sacrificing it is. Ask any Mommy out there! And making a surprise brunch or a meal can be a small gesture in acknowledging all that she does selflessly day after day. Daddy-s too, I think can lead by example and involve younger kids in putting something together to show how much she is appreciated. You always have the option of taking her out for lunch but isn’t it worth spending a little time and doing it at home?

Keeping that in mind, I am posting a recipe that is quick and easy but looks great. Pikelets are nothing but baby pancakes. I often make the batter a day in advance and shallow fry the pikelets when needed. Canned creamed corn is readily available in Australian supermarkets but if you do not have access to it, its easy to make your own and store. Vegetarians can substitute smoked salmon for grilled shaved pumpkin or sweet potato. It looks fantastic and tastes just as good. You can use a grilling pan (or a normal frying pan) sprayed with a little olive oil and cook for 2-3 mins on each side.

In my house, though the kids are too young to understand celebrations, I have received notes every year on their behalf leaving me teary eyed (of course, Daddy at work).Last year, the boy’s daycare got their hand and feet impressions in different colours on a card with a sweet message. When I went to pick them up, they came running to me with the cards in their hands shouting ‘Appy appy day’. It was touching!

A Mother’s love is UNCONDITIONAL. You realise that far more when she is not around. Can you tell me in the current world how many things are unconditional?

To all the Mommy’s out there, you are amazing…you are beautiful…what you have accomplished, NOONE else can. Your kids love you and so do I. Happy Mother’s day!

Corn and Chive Pikelets with Smoked Salmon and Sour Cream (pikelets adapted with variation from Taste.com)
serves 4-5

1 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg lightly beaten
1 cup creamed corn (store-bought or home made- recipe below)
2 tbsp freshly chopped chives
1/2 cup grated cheese (I use cheddar)
Olive oil for frying
8-10 thinly sliced Smoked Salmon
Sour cream
Fresh Dill for garnish
Extra Virgin Olive oil and cracked pepper (optional)

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre.

Whisk milk, egg, corn together in another bowl. Add to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Stir in chives and cheese.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Using 2 tablespoons of batter at a time, cook pikelets in batches till bubbles appear on the surface (2-3 minutes). Turn over the other side and cook till golden and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining batter to make 20 pikelets.

To serve, place 3-4 pikelets on a plate. Top with 2 slices of smoked salmon. Add a dollop of sour cream and garnish with dill leaves. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of cracked pepper.

Creamed Corn

2 cups frozen whole corn kernels
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Place butter in a large skillet over medium heat to melt. Add the frozen corn and stir, cooking over medium heat until the corn is mostly thawed. Add in the heavy cream, sugar, salt and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring constantly to prevent cream from scorching (10-15 mins) until corn is cooked through and sauce is thick.

A Place called Home! Passion Fruit Mousse with Strawberry Meringue Crumble.

6|05|2013

A very warm welcome to Sugar et al’s brand new home. This partly explains my absence from my favourite blog-o-sphere for a while. Partly because along with my website, I moved too. Not that I had planned it this way…just a fantastic coincidence.

9 weeks, 18 posts, a few hundred requests and a brilliant techie later, I finally decided to give my blog a little makeover. Yes, the much awaited SUBSCRIBE button is here…at last! Now my friends there is no escaping the mush, the mash and the mousse (does it rhyme…who cares!) Get ready with a spoon and a box of tissues to follow me on my new journey.

My heart is full of affection and gratitude for all the people who have been with me all this while. You made me realise that relationships can form anywhere, anytime…across nations, despite boundaries, without ‘subscribe’ buttons. I take this opportunity to thank my friends who came to check on me every now and then…Mary, Julia, Nazneen, Pavithra, Evelyne, Gloria, Tia, Nilu, Deepti, Soni, Uru, Dhanish, Rita, Nava and livened up my blog with lovely comments. A few days back Pavithra did a beautiful post called ‘A lesson in Unity’. I believe in that more than ever today.. And Nazneen, I am so touched that you wrote to me out of concern.

And for my silent readers, I know you are there and I am grateful. I love you for the time and patience you shower on me each day.

I also need to thank Adrian, an extremely enthusiastic techie for helping me to make the blog look like one. Despite his super busy schedule he kept coming up with plenty of ideas and suggestions of navigation options, designs etc (half of which wouldn’t even register in my non-techie brains). Thank you Adrian..you are a genius!

This blog is incomplete without food. And since I have grown up with a belief that good things and celebrations start with sweet, I am sharing another favorite with you. The passion fruit mousse takes less than 5 minutes to put together if you have the passion fruit curd pre made like I do (home-made or store-bought). The strawberry meringue crumble is unique and looks very beautiful. This recipe like few others was born out of a refrigerator clearance exercise that I had to undertake recently. The recipe can be substituted with lemon mousse using lemon curd if passionfruit is not available.

I moved houses 2 days back and still in the process of getting settled. A totally new locality, neighbourhood, supermarkets…it is like starting all over again. While I said a goodbye to my previous suburb with a heavy heart for all the warmth, convenience and memories (I hope to write about that too) that it had to offer, I am very excited to explore the new one. Little by little, I am trying to make it my home. It always intrigues me how a few walls, a floor and a roof can house so many dreams..stand witness to a million stories that take place everyday…where people grow older…each time you turn that key in, you let yourself into a world which is so familiar, so comfortable…the sights, the smells, the feel..that you want to come back to it over and over again. A place called HOME..

I am taking in the warm rays of the sun falling out of a big window as I write to you. I saw the sun rise, right before my eyes today. It feels good to be HOME!

Passionfruit Mousse with Strawberry Meringue Crumble

Passionfruit Mousse (Serves 4)

3/4 cup Passionfruit Curd, cold (recipe below)
1 cup whipping cream/heavy cream
Sugar (optional/to taste..I did not add any)

Whip the cream to soft peaks using a stand mixer/hand mixer or simply by hand with a whisk. To understand the various stages of whipping here’s a handy link. Gradually incorporate the passionfruit curd 2 tablespoons at a time and mix slowly till all the yellow streaks disappear and the mixture looks uniform. Pour into serving glasses and chill for about 3 hours to firm up.

Note: If you are in a hurry and want to serve it right away, you can do so by whipping the cream to stiff peaks and mixing it with the curd. The only difference is that the mixture is a little fluffy to handle and therefore hard to put into serving glasses unless piped. If you don’t mind that, there is no difference in the taste otherwise.

Strawberry Meringue Crumble

7-8 strawberries chopped into cubes
10-12 meringue kisses, crumbled (home-made (recipe below) or store-bought)
A handful of roasted macadamia nuts, chopped (or any other nut of your choice)

Mix every thing together just before serving to retain the colour and texture.

Passionfruit Curd (Makes about a large cup)

4 egg yolks
125 g unsalted butter, chilled
3/4 cup castor sugar
3/4 cup fresh or canned passion fruit pulp

Combine the egg yolks, butter, sugar and passionfruit pulp in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly till the mixture thickens to a consistency of mayonnaise. Cover and cool to room temperature and then chill for an hour.

Meringue kisses

This recipe from Joy of Baking has always worked for me. Once the meringue is ready, play around with different nozzles and pipe them in whatever shape and size you want. For this recipe, shape really does not matter so if you are not comfortable with piping, spoon the meringue into mounds on the baking paper.

Walnut Crusted Lamb Cutlets with Minted Mushy Peas and Roasted Tomatoes.

19|04|2013

As Autumn settles in deep into the homes and lives of Sydneysiders, ‘Change’ is prevalent in the air. From temperatures..to clothing..to food. Gone are the days when winter wear was dull and not-so stylish. Adding layers to your clothing is like adding another element to your personality. Last week at a shopping centre I tried out a blazer in 5 different colours (there were 15 shades available). No points for guessing which shade I settled for. If you are reading my posts regularly, the answer lies there in.

At a nearby Asian restaurant, Laksa seems to be the dish of choice.

As part of embracing this change, we are having to make certain modifications in our routine too. Like making time in the morning or noon to visit the park..rescheduling my foodie photo shoots to afternoon and all other activities accordingly.

Some big changes are also taking place in our lives at the moment. But before I get into that let me go back 3 posts complete a story that I left unfinished. My Nature centric post on Autumn.

Nut picking was totally new to me. Unlike fruit picking and berry picking which is pretty common around Australia, I had no idea how Chestnuts and Walnuts are grown or harvested. Hence it caught my interest and I made sure we paid a visit when they were in season.

Chestnuts need gloves to pick up the spiky shells which have fallen to the ground and break them open to get the chestnuts. Walnuts are just picked up from the ground. The walk along the chestnut trees could actually be pretty dangerous with the spiky sharp outer covering sticking out of the ground. One needs to watch their step especially with kids.

The Chestnuts that we picked up went into a dessert. Handling that was mammoth task by itself…maybe I will blog about it someday. With the walnuts I decided to go the Savoury way.

Lamb cutlets make for a quick and easy dinner when you are in a hurry as the cooking time is really short. There is no end to the variety of marinades that can be used on them. Entree or Mains (with some accompaniments), they can be served in any way you like. Again, you can crust them with a nut of your choice (pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts and so on). Though I experiment with marinades more often, I prefer the texture that a crust has to offer and reserve that for special occasions.

Walnut Crusted Lamb Cutlets with Minted Mushy Peas and Roasted Tomatoes. (Minted Mushy Peas adapted from Jamie Oliver)
Serves 2

8 Lamb cutlets, french trimmed
1/2 cup of walnuts, coarsely (not finely) ground
1/2 cup of dry multigrain breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tsp dried Italian mixed herbs
Salt and pepper to season.
21/2 cups frozen peas
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
1 tbsp butter
A squeeze of lemon juice
2 springs truss baby roma tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

To make the peas, add butter to a pan along with the peas and mint. Put a lid on top and simmer for 10 mins.Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. You can mush up the peas in a food processor or by hand till they are stodgy and thick.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Heat olive oil in a shallow frying pan. Combine walnuts, breadcrumbs, herbs and seasoning in a plate. Whisk the egg lightly in a shallow bowl. Dip the cutlets in egg and then coat in the walnut mixture. In batches brown the lamb cutlets 2 mins on each side.
Place them in a roasting tray with the tomatoes and a drizzle of olive oil. Roast for 5 mins until lamb is medium rare and the tomatoes soften. Rest for 5 mins while you reheat the mash
To serve: Place 3-4 heaped tablespoons of mushy peas on the plate. Top with lamb cutlets and roasted tomatoes. Mix balsamic vinegar with pan juices and drizzle over.