Cook. Click. Eat. Blog.

Posted by kaaliyakapoor on May 4, 2010 · 20 Comments 

I have always been a very eager cook. From the time I was in school, I would bake cakes, make fancy salads (including the mayo) and the usual roti-subzi/raajma chawal/paranthas etc. From 2003 till 2005, when I was in a hostel in Ahmedabad, my cooking took a backseat. My cooking in the 5 years from 2005 to 2010 has been extremely sporadic, it has partly to do with the fact that in Mumbai, somehow there seemed to be less time available and partly with the fact that I just became lazy.

After moving to Delhi, two things happened: 1.we finished a long overdue purchase – a Morphy Richards OTG; and 2. Soon after we shifted to Delhi, I found the awesome Le Marche department store in Vasant Vihar and Saket.

As a result of these two, I have started trying my hand at cooking again, and I am happy to inform that the experiments have been quite successful. With the new-found interest in photography, the combination has been more than satisfying for me.

Following are the pictures of my experiments, hope you like them:

Tomato, cheese and Herb Pizza: The first preparation in the OTG. Both the hubby and I are fans of the thin crust. Here I made the crust first and once that was done, I baked the pizza. Both of us loved it.

Borough market brownie: Last year, the hubby and I went to London for a vacation. On that trip we went to Borough Market, I absolutely loved it. We saw the farmer’s market, also the smoothie stalls, the sandwich stalls and the famous brownie stalls. We tried most of those things and on the whole had a great time there. So, when I saw the recipe called borough market brownie, I knew I had to try it. The brownie turned out to be just the right amount of sweet and chocolaty and quite gooey and rich. There was only one problem – I don’t like gooey brownie much.

The hubby loved it. Though to his credit, he is very encouraging and would never say anything bad about my cooking.

Chocolate cookies with chocolate chips: When my parents bought our first microwave way back, I wasted what I thought was biscuit/cookie batter more than once. I was disappointed not to have a good recipe which would work in a microwave.(By this time, the oven in my parents’ house had died a slow and painful death)

With the OTG I did make chewy jumbo chocolate cookies with chocolate chips as soon as I got time and ingredients.

Cheesy Bonfire Bread: This is a yeasty bread made with generous amounts of cheddar cheese. It was an 80% success, slightly doughy but quite tasty. The doughiness was I guess because I tried to make the bread healthy and use multi grain instead of regular atta + maida mix. Anyhoo nice bread, will make again, especially since hubby brought excellent gruyere type cheese from Zurich. He interview the CEO of Hublot, the watch maker, and the kind man gave him a slice of cheese he made in his personal dairy. Here is the Hublot CEO’s photo.

Other fair successes have been chocolate chip muffins, fancy bagel sandwiches, pastas.

Super Success: Oatmeal and raisin cookies. I loved them completely! So did everyone who tasted it. Even my mom loved it. Who is living in constant fear that I will quit one day to cook. (I might) Yay!!!

There have also been some near hits and some disasters. e.g. my tiramisu tasted perfect but didn’t set properly, the cauliflower soup was slightly too thick and the scones. Oh my God, the scones. They were too salty and not nice at all. But we will not talk about the scones. I am very touchy about the scones. Sob.

All in all, excellent experience till now. Wish me luck, I am planning to make a coffee based cake soon and I am hoping I can use my newly made vanilla sugar for it. Tell me about your cooking experiments and send me any good recipes. Also any tips for good ingredient suppliers in Delhi?

Any compliments on my cooking will be highly appreciated. One day when I start my world-class muffin delivery business, I might send you a free box.

P.S. Check out bbcgoodfood.com for the warm fuzzy feeling which good food can bring. Also check passionateaboutbaking.com and purplefoodie.com. Both women have great sites and yummy food photos.

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