With the mercury rising, can you give us recipes for simple coolers that are easy to make with locally sourced ingredients?
David, New Delhi
If I’m honest David, after all the years I have spent in India, I love all of the seasonal coolers like sugar cane juice and tender coconut water, and all of the salted ones too like fresh lime water (nimbu pani), raw mango juice (aam sherbet), lassi and buttermilk. I am not sure what you are suggesting by coolers, but they are all great with vodka and white rum and lots of ice.
How can you tell whether eggs, fish and chicken are fresh when buying them?
Aroop, Calcutta
Always tricky, but as a rule of thumb, winter is usually not so much of a problem. I have abandoned the local market eggs and chicken since the eggs are often old, slightly smelly and watery, and the chicken, because it’s just been slaughtered in front of you, is tough. I have started buying from companies such as Total Chicken as the eggs are always fresh and the pre-packed chicken seem well fed, fresh and tender. Fresh fish should have non-cloudy eyes, bright red gills and non-slimy to touch.
I am a home baker. Some people have been asking me about vegan options in cakes and pastries. Can you suggest some non-dairy options for baking cakes and how much time should be given for the mixture to rest before baking? Also, since frosting is mainly done with dairy products, can you also suggest non-dairy frosting options and how can I stabilise them in order to create flowers with nozzles?
Koyel Dutta Gupta, Calcutta
You know what Koyel, I love easy questions like this. Key in ‘vegan baking’ in the search bar of Amazon online store, like I just did, and you’ll find a selection of books you can buy.
My husband and I have recently moved to Bangalore because of his job. Can you help these two desperate Bongs by telling us where we can buy good fish like ilish, katla and bekti?
Paramita, Bangalore
I drive past the HAL fish market, just off the Old Airport Road, whenever I am on my way to Whitefield and if I have a Bengali friend or colleague in the car, they can’t help themselves from stopping the conversation and telling me all about it with that look of absolute excitement on their faces. So probably, best we take their word for it.
I’m 15 and love salads. But for us, salads other than the regular kachumber have never really played much part in our daily eating habit. My mother says that a lot of this has to do with our fear of pesticides and bugs. Can you give some suggestions about what I can do to persuade my mother into making salad from time to time because I would really like to eat more of them.
Trina, Calcutta
Yes Trina, I’ve heard these tales many times over. The best thing I can advise your mum to do is get some potassium permanganate crystals, dissolve a scant few in plenty of water so that it turns light purple in colour and soak the veggies in it for five minutes and rinse well. Hopefully any critters should be removed.
I’m a home baker and many of the recipes I read in books ask for unsalted butter. Is unsalted butter available in Calcutta?
Manjri, Calcutta
There are two parts to this answer. Yes, Amul has unsalted butter, but from my experience as a pastry chef I can tell you that most of the recipes that call for unsalted butter also usually ask for salt! Us, the British, have taken a lot of flak over the years from the Europeans because we have salted butter and they can’t imagine butter with salt. I have used salted butter most of my life outside of croissant and puff pastry and prefer salted butter in baking.
A friend recently told me that gelatin is non-vegetarian. Since I am a vegetarian, can you tell me a good substitute for it?
Nina, Calcutta
If I explained how non-vegetarian gelatin actually is, most non-vegetarians would feel a bit squeamish! But there is no such substitute for gelatin in my books. Gelatin gives a luscious, melty-mouth feel with creamy desserts. The only partial substitute would be agar, which is plant-based, but once it sets it’s like a firm jelly which is heat-stable, so doesn’t melt and has a texture I personally don’t like. But good luck with that.
It has been 18 months since I started studying culinary arts but I am yet to decide what direction to go in once the three years get over. Any suggestion?
Sandipan, London
Like I always say to my students, do whatever interests you the most. Being in London, you should already be working most evenings in different places like the best of us have always done. I was always interested in patisserie, bread and chocolate, but that was just me. Even when I started a full-time job, I still worked now and again in different places on my days off and during holidays... a stage as we call it.
The best advice I can give you is that if you really are interested in cooking, don’t think too much about money until you have at least five years’ experience working in some really good kitchens. Get your head down and learn the craft from the best people you can find. The rest will follow.
Amritaparna Saha, a Class VIII student of Aditya Academy
(Sr. Secondary) Dum Dum, wrote to chef Shaun asking him to teach her to make a nice Baked Alaska. And her wish was our command! How? The 13-year-old got to learn it first hand, at the chef’s kitchen in Lake Gardens.
“I could never imagine that I would be cooking with a celebrity chef! Cooking has always been a hobby, but after learning so much from him, I plan to cook more often. I am also taking back lots of memories and tips. Chef Shaun is such a friendly person,” said Amritaparna.
t2 brings you moments from the one hour of fun, laughter and, of course, cooking.
Let’s start cooking, but first, put on the apron!
This is how you slice the sponge cake for Baked Alaska.
“Whisk, whisk, whisk, using only your wrist,” comes the chef’s tip.
Plate it up with panache. The guru shows how to.
“I encourage youngsters to get involved in the kitchen from as early an age as possible. I am sure whatever she does in future, cooking will always be a part of her life and hopefully, lifestyle,” said Shaun.
Ingredients:
Sponge cake, cookies, a whole mango, castor sugar, aam sotto (mango leather), egg whites, caramel popcorn, strawberry puree, mishti doi, mihidana and nolen gur-er ice cream.
The recipe:
• Whisk the egg whites until there is a thick white foam. Make sure that the bowl you are whisking in is squeaky clean.
• Add castor sugar to the egg whites and keep whisking. The quantity of castor sugar should be equal to the quantity of egg whites.
• Chop some mango and aam sotto and coat them with castor sugar.
• Slice the sponge cake and keep aside.
• For assembling, take two or three slices of the sponge cake or cookies, take a big dollop of nolen gur-er ice cream and make a stuffing with it.
• Now that you have ice cream balls, coat them with spoonfuls of the egg white meringue and put them in the oven as quickly as possible, making sure that the oven is hot.
• For plating, take some mishti doi and strawberry puree on a plate, put the Baked Alaska at the centre and scatter some caramel popcorn and mihidana around it. You can also splatter some strawberry puree on a plate, place the Baked Alaska on top of it and garnish with fresh mango slices along with chopped mangoes and aam sotto coated with castor sugar.
Text: Nandini Ganguly. Pictures: Arnab Mondal
