Tuesday, July 28, 2015

No Cook No Bake Chocolate Pizza

No Cook No Bake Chocolate Pizza


Last week I had some guests who came home without giving notice. Personally I plan very quickly on what needs to be prepared and served to guests considering the ingredients I have at home. But, when it comes to dessert, I go absolutely blank. And on almost all such instances we end up getting ice cream from out and serve. But, this time that was not an option allowed; as our guests wanted to have something home cooked and of course by me.

It’s been long that I have been out for my regular grocery shopping due to rainy days, bad health and many other reasons. But, then when once in awhile a request comes up to prepare something its hard to refuse.

I quickly opened my Pantry had Dark Chocolate and a small tetra pack of Cream. Making Ganache was an immediate thought, but outing Ganache over what??? :P defiantly could not serve them Ganache as it is in a bowl.. :D :D

Having said above, I wasn’t very keen in putting much effort in baking/cooking and prepare anything much fancy.  I had initially thought of preparing a mousse but the cream I had was medium fat and not heavy cream, so mousse was out of option. Then I thought a little more and proceeded toward the cupboard where I store/hide rather all the munchies, biscuits, Chocolates from my little one. By god’s grace I found few interesting things that finally ended up in post..: P  

No cooks no bake Chocolate Pizza, which was served as a dessert. Not only had everyone loved it... Kids literally jumped out of their chair looking at the super tempting toppings.

So let me share how I made this super simple dessert:

Ingredients
·         200 Grams Dark Chocolate  ( I have used Dark Compound)
·         100 Grams ( 1 Small Tetra Pack) of Fresh Cream ( I have used Amul)
·         4 tbsp of unsalted butter
·         25 Oreo biscuits, Any flavor would do ( I have taken Chocolate Cream Ones)
·         ½ cup in total of toppings, you can use anything of your choice ( I have used
o   Mini Snicker Bars cut in half
o   Mini Bounty Bars Cut in Half
o   M&M
o   And Choco Chips
o   Few recommendation (You can use any of your favorite topping or anything available handy.  Butter Toffees, Caramel Candies, Regular Chocolate Bark broken in pieces, Marshmallow, Praline, Sugar sprinklers etc.)

Equipment s required:
·         An 8” spring form Cake Pan/ A loose bottom Tart tin would work too
·         A pan to heat cream
·         A Small Whisk
·         Grinder and a jar
·         A big bowl

Process
1.       In a grinder jar, put all the Oreo cookies and crush them in smooth powder.
2.       Once done, add melted butter and with help of your fingertips, mix them. Result should be coarse bread crumbs look alike textured mixture.
3.       Empty this mixture on the tart/cake tin. Try to press as evenly as possible this cookie mixture across the bottom and little towards the side of the tin.
4.       Once done, put this base in fridge to set for at least 45 minutes to 1 hour. ( Base of Pizza is ready)
5.       In the meanwhile, we will prepare Ganache ( Pizza Sauce for the Pizza)
6.       Take a pan, pour in the cram and on low flame let the cream warm. Ensure the cream is not boiled just warm, and turn of the flame as soon as it starts bubbling up.
7.       Add chopped dark chocolate to this cream, and cover with and plate and let this rest for 8-10 minutes.
8.       What happening here is, the heat of cream will help chocolate to melt. Thus, we do not have to melt and then mix the chocolate to cream and cook it separately.
9.       Once done, with the help of a whisk, beat this mixture together, and as you mix/whisk them together the mixture will starting smoothening up. And a nice glazed, smooth, shiny thick mixture of chocolate and cream is formed.
10.   So Ganache/Our Pizza sauce is ready too.  We just need to ensure the Ganache cools down a little before we use it on our cookie and butter base.
11.   Once the Ganache is cooled for good 8-10 minutes. Take out the base and pour the Ganache over it. You can give it a swiggy shake to ensure Ganache is spread evenly on the base.
12.   Pop this in fridge for at least 20 minutes.
13.   Post 20 minutes you can add the topping of your choice, and chill it for another 15-20 minutes.
14.   After that, very gently remove the pizza from tart /Cake pan and slice it.
I can bet once you serve this to your guest, they will ask you the recipe to try it themselves.  Just one thing to note this post is not for those who don’t love chocolates, as this is an overdose of chocolate…

Do try and share your experiences.
Happy Cooking and Stay Blessed
Shikha

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Monday, July 13, 2015

Instant Pizza Samosa

Instant Pizza Samosa


Who Doesn’t Likes Samosa!! The most Famous Indian Appetizer, that can part of breakfast, evening snack and for me it can be part of a meal too…:D

Almost every Indian craves for samosas as the monsoon knocks the door... the combination of piping hot Samosa with hot sip of coffee or Ginger tea is one of the best combos made in heaven..
I have tried out many fillings in Samosas earlier starting from the traditional potato filling to , Cottage cheese and mixed Veggie too..

It was last evening when it was raining heavily and I thought of making some samosas, but neither had I boiled potatoes handy nor plain flour to make the dough. But, once you decide to make something then you start craving for it isn’t it?? :P Same was with me, and I was in no mood spending entire evening in kitchen preparing something else to satisfy my crave for samosas…
I randomly opened the freezer to check what can be worked around, I found an unopened pack of Samosa Pastry Sheets/Patti Samosa Sheets, and block of cheese… Suddenly the bulb blinked with a visual of cheese oozing out from samosa in my mind… :D And I knew what I was up to…

This recipe is super simple, will take hardly 10 minutes including preparation and cooking time. You just need to have few things handy, without much talking lets begin on how to make these beauties…

Ingredients (will make 12 regular sized Patti Samosa)

·         12 Samosa Patti/ Samosa Pastry Sheet/Home dough would work fine too)
·         ¼ cup finely chopped onion
·         ¼ cup finely chopped onion
·         ¼ cup finely chopped tomato
·         3 tbsp of frozen corn  ( Microwave for 2 minutes)
·         Few sliced olives ( or any topping of your choice like Mushroom, jalapenos)
·         Salt as per taste
·         A pinch of black pepper
·         1 tsp of mixed herb/Pizza seasoning
·         ¼ cup shredded mozzarella
·         Flour paste ( 2 Tbsp of flour mixed in 2 tbsp of water to make a thick lump free paste)
·         Oil for deep frying


Process
1.       We’ll start by thawing the samosa sheets. You either take the required no. of sheets from refrigerator 2-3 hours prior to when you plan to make samosas. Or, I usually take the required no. of sheets and just defrost them in microwave by putting them in microwave for 10 seconds or so...
2.       Now, with filling; take a bowl add Chopped veggies (chopped capsicum, tomato, onion, olives and corn).
3.       To this add Salt, Black pepper and mixed herbs. Once done mix everything well with the help of a spoon.
4.       Now, add shredded cheese and give a final mix. With this our filling is ready.
5.       Now, keep one samosa sheet on your work surface and from one end fold diagonally to make a pocket where the filling can be stuffed.
6.       Once done, add a spoon full of filling and seal the samosa by folding the samosa diagonally till entire sheet is done, and towards the end apply some flour paste to seal. Make sure the samosa is not opened from any of the 3 corners.
Note: for better understanding of how to fold samosa, you can watch this video (video courtesy www.switzfrozen.com)

http://www.switzfrozen.com/how-to-fold-the-samosa/

                                                                                Or
Refer to the picture given below (Picture taken from http://www.spicytasty.com/)
7.       Fold all the Samosas following the same way.
8.       Once done, Deep fry them on medium flame till nice golden brown from all the sides.
9.       Your Pizza Samosas are ready, I bet these would become regular at your place just like mine..:D


There are few things though that needs to be taken care of while preparing and pre paring these Samosas if you are making them in bulk for any party or get together..
Tips:
·         Ensure to cover to cover the prepared samosas and the sheet not in use to always cover with a damp cloth, as they tend to dry out soon.

·         Ensure all the sides and corner are sealed properly, else while frying oil will ruin the samosas.


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