HOT BUTTERED RUM

Why is the rum always gone?! - Jack Sparrow

 

This is a hardcore cold fix. Don't try this recipe unless you feel a real threat of hypothermia. No I mean it. This is buttery, spicy and (very) heavy. If you haven't reached that age where you worry about diet choices and eating meals at regular intervals this could be a meal. I'm pretty sure it's the calorific equivalent of atleast 2 meals.

But if like me you are stuck in a cold, cold place and have all the sweaters in your cupboard on your back this will fix you. Go out for a walk, take a deep breath of the cold winter air, run back indoors and drink some of this stuff.

 

What you’ll need (for 4 cups):

8 teaspoons butter

1 tsp Cloves

1 tsp Cardamom

4 sticks Cinnamon

3 tablespoons sugar

1 ½ cup orange juice

Hot water

 

How to: 

 

1. Crush the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon to a powder.

 

2. Heat the butter in a pan and add the spices and sugar. Stir in well.

 

3. Drop a heaping tablespoon of the spice butter mixture into each cup.

 

4. Heat orange juice and water in a pan.

 

5. When ready to serve add rum to each cup and then top up with the hot water/juice mixture. Stir well and serve.  

 

CHEATER'S MULLED WINE

“his lips drink water

but his heart drinks wine”

― E.E. Cummings

 

 

So I was waiting to put together a series of posts on food and drink to make you feel better in the bitter winter except it was so cold out that I got lazy. Then day before yesterday the temperature started to rise and I realized that my recipes were going to become useless soon and Delhi would be back on its diet of Cucumber Coolers and Melon Martinis. So here's me getting my act together while the temperatures stay low.

 

Again this is one of those indicative recipes. That's why it's called Cheater's Mulled Wine. Actual Mulled Wine recipes tend to have a lot more stuff floating in the wine but it's too cold for me to try to make the effort.

 

Feel free to mess around with the proportion till you find something that works for you. Also with the ingredients. I imagine you could do away with some of the ingredients below or add more of your own (maybe nutmeg?). You'll see I've put in a lot of fruit options - go with whatever you have at hand, so either just one fruit or a combination of what  you have lying around. It will all work.

 

This is a wonderful drink to drink when you come back in from the cold. Put your feet up, get your book and have a furry, warm dog lying by your side while the mulled wine heats you inside out.

This is what I was looking at when I was drinking my Mulled Wine this winter.

 

What you’ll need: 

A bottle of wine (any will do but a red or deep fruit wine may take on the flavours better)

2 tbsp sugar (more if you want it sweeter)

1 cup fruit juice (ideally to match the flavor of the fruit you’re putting in but orange is a good failsafe)

3 -4 pods of Cardamom (crushed)

3 -4 sticks of Clove (crushed)

2 -3 sticks of Cinnamon

Oranges/ Pomegranate/ Lime (not lemons)/ Pineapple/ Apples (chopped)

 

How to:

1. Smash together the cardamom, clove and cinnamon. Keep some sticks of cinnamon aside to garnish your drink.

2. Pop all ingredients together in a pot and let sit for as long as you can.

3. When time to serve, place pot on stove and heat through. Make sure you don’t boil the mix because you’ll boil the alcohol away.

4. Once warmed through ladle into mugs and serve! I really like having some of the fruit pulp in my drink but check if your companions want the drink strained.

 

CUPS OF BRUSCHETTA

“Dining partners, regardless of gender, social standing, or the years they've lived, should be chosen for their ability to eat - and drink! - with the right mixture of abandon and restraint. They should enjoy food, and look upon its preparation and its degustation as one of the human arts.”
― M.F.K. Fisher, Serve It Forth

 

This is such a fun, yummy starter to try to put together! Basically you bake little cups of bread which eventually hold the bruschetta you've plunked together. And if you don't feel like bothering with the cups just scoop the tomato mixture up and plop onto slices of toasted baguette and serve!

 

What you’ll need:

4 – 6 small tomatoes (chopped into a little chunks) (these will fill about 9 cups)

9 – 10 slices of brown bread
½ cup olive oil
½ cup cheese (grated)
2 tablespoons garlic paste
1 tablespoon oregano
Handful of fresh basil leaves (chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste

 

How to:

1. Much like the Eggs In a Cup recipe I’ve put up – oil up your chopping board and a rolling pin. Lay out slices of bread (you can leave the crusts on – I do), cut bread into quarters and roll the slices of bread thin.

 

2. Olive oil the insides of a muffin tray and line with thinned bread. Dab some more olive oil on top. Bake the bread for 10 -15 minutes till golden and a little crunchy.

 

Note: This is one of those steps that looks easy but when you actually get to lining the muffin tray you might find that the bread tears or overlaps in places. Don’t worry about it being messy and you can use stray bits of bread to patch any holes that you see.

 

3. While your muffin cups are baking, in a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, 3 – 4 tablespoons olive oil, salt, cheese, garlic, oregano and any other seasoning you want to include.

 

Note: I have a kitchen sink Italian mix that I got as a gift which has a mix of parsley, thyme, oregano and chilli which I used. Put in whatever you like – even the quantities I’ve mentioned are only indicative. Taste the mixture and see if you’d like to put more of anything.

4. Top up your bread cups with your tomato mix and bake for 10 -12 minutes till the cheese melts and the top is golden. Sprinkle the chopped basil and serve immediately.

 



BREAKFAST BANANA LOAF

“Baking is like washing--the results are equally temporary.”  ― Patricia Briggs

A moist, spicy, nutty bread to uplift the gloomiest winter breakfast. If you don't have a loaf tin you can always bake it as a cake and cut out slabs in the sizes you want. Try to use overripe bananas, yes the ones with the black spots and smudgy bits (not completely decomposed though obviously). Bananas that have seen better days will bake beautifully and add a lot of sweetness to your batter.  

 

 

Serves 6

 

What you’ll need:

 

3 bananas (preferably overripe)

60 ml vegetable oil

60 ml softened butter

160 gm sugar

3 eggs

225 gm flour

100 gm raisins

100 gm almonds/walnuts

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

½ tsp salt

 

How to:

 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and grease 2 loaf tins (or one medium sized baking dish).

 

2. Mash the banana and oil together and put aside.

 

3. In a separate bowl, cream the sugar and butter till the mixture turns pale and fluffy. This might take some time so keep at it. Much easier with an electric whisk but it’s possible even by hand.

 

4. Beat the eggs into the sugar mixture, one by one. Then add your banana mush and stir gently.

 

5. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, spices and salt. I usually sift the flour mixture a couple of times to try to build as much air into it as I can.

 

6. Add flour mix to banana mush and mix everything together. Add the raisins and nuts and fold together again.

 

7. Spoon batter into loaf tins and bake for about 30 mins or till your inserted toothpick/knife/chopstick comes out clean. Let cool. Unmould.

 

8. I’d say warm them up a little every time you’re going to serve but they’re going to taste amazing anyway.

 

 

 

BREAKFAST PIZZA

“Those pizzas I ate were for medicinal purposes.” ― Amy Neftzger

Happy New Year! May our new year be as simple, satisfying and stress free as this breakfast pizza recipe. 

 

Serves 2

What you’ll need:

Pre-baked pizza base

4 tbsp tomato puree

½ cup cheese (grated)

½ cup spinach (washed and chopped)

1 egg

1 ½ tbsp oregano

1 ½ tsp red chilli powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Sundried tomatoes (optional)

 

How to:
 

1. Pop your pizza base on to your baking tray and spoon on the tomato puree evenly.

 

2. Sprinkle a layer of cheese and follow with a layer of chopped spinach in a sort of nest shape (leave a hole in the middle, genius).

3. Break an egg into abovementioned hole. Season wildly with oregano, salt, pepper, chilli and whatever else floats your boat. I managed to find a bottle of sundried tomatoes under my stove and plunked some of those on as well.

 

4. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or till egg on top is cooked. Sprinkle some more cheese and serve immediately!

 

A VEGETARIAN DINNER PARTY