Quick Dessert: Chocolate Agar Agar Mousse

A lot of times we have impromptu film screenings or friends pop in and I can never let anyone go without eating something. On one such 45 minute notice period I made a quick dessert for our visitors since they were coming post diner.

This recipe uses agar agar also known as china grass or as I heard someone on Master Chef Australia call it Aey-gaar Aey-gaar. (I bet they must be making fun of our accents. Have you ever wondered if there is ONE true accent?)

Agar Agar calls for some experimentation on your part. Sometimes it's hard to get it right but you will learn from your mistakes. I have previously made a Lime Nutmeg Jelly with Agar Agar which is a bit more work than this recipe. For this recipe, I used the strips of Agar Agar which are available in the grocery stores if you ask for China Grass. Each pack of Agar Agar has one thick strip which is enough for half a litre of milk. 

This is the plain, unflavoured Agar Agar (China Grass) I like to use

Since this wasn't planned with enough time, I used sweetened chocolate flavoured soy milk which I had. But you could do the same with any other non dairy milk if you prefer. You can do it with cashew, almond, coconut or even rice milk.

You need:

1/2 litre (roughly 2 and a half cups) of Chocolate Soy milk at room temperature

1 Strip of Agar Agar (Cut and powdered in a dry mixer)

1/4 cup water

Mix the powdered agar agar flakes with the water and bring it to a boil. Stir frequently and make sure most of the agar agar has disappeared. A few small lumps are okay. Now, little bit at a time, while stirring continuously, add the chocolate soy milk. Keep it on the stove for about 3 minutes more till the soy milk is hot and take it off the stove. Pour into a big glass bowl or small moulds to set. Keep it in the fridge and let it set for at least 45 minutes.

It always has a better texture after about 6 hours, but it's like a perfect mousse after an hour.

Top with some grated/ chopped vegan chocolate (Bournville, Mordes) and serve cold.

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Right Side Up Banana Cake with pour over Coffee Caramel

It's Vegan Mofo Iron Chef Challenge #2 and Isa decided to spice things up by giving us two ingredients - Banana and Coffee. One I love, the other, well... 

I eat bananas everyday - in breakfast smoothies, as an evening snack, for dessert. Recently I even made gluten free pancakes using dried banana flour. 

So it's safe to say that I could survive on bananas if it ever came to that.

Coffee, well it ends there for me. Coming from a South Indian family, coffee is a very integral part of the day and it's freshly brewed (filter coffee) every single day in all kitchens. Tamillians cannot breathe without their coffee. They start the day (6am) with a hot cup of strong coffee, have one more by 11pm may be, another at 4pm and if they really are insane, then another one after dinner. My mom never allowed us to drink coffee (and tea). It just wasn't offered to us. Her father (a doctor and a coffee addict) used to warn everyone about the dangers of coffee while drinking his daily cup of coffee. And it was well known then that children don't need the caffeine high. [I don't know how that perception has changed now and how it is okay to 'caffeinate' your child every day (a la Gatorade, Coca Cola, Tea, Coffee, the works)]

So it's safe to say that I don't like coffee.

This challenge was tricky for me. Since I was already up to my neck in cakes today, I decided I would try to make something sweet out of it. Yeah I read the challenge, brownie points for savoury stuff, I had a brainwave and I had to do it. I had 4 friends coming over, so I had an audience for feedback which was nice. Feedback I got, it's all gone!

This is a dense cake that's best served warm, but it makes a nice cold dessert too. I prefer using whole wheat flour because it makes the cake dense and fulfilling. I added chocolate because, well who doesn't love chocolate? And the pour over Coffee Caramel added some gooey quotient to it. I suggest pouring the caramel just before serving, since the flavour of coffee tends to disappear quickly. 

Right Side Up Banana Cake with pour over Coffee Caramel 

For the Caramel:

I had a previous batch of caramel sauce I'd made from this recipe. It makes the most delicious caramel sauce ever.

I brewed some coffee and mixed one part coffee to two parts caramel. This was a mild mix, good enough for me. If you like coffee, then you could use equal quantities of both.

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 175C

1 Big Ripe Banana

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 a lime

1 tablespoon water

Cut the bananas into 1/2 inch thick slices.

In a saucepan, melt the sugar and water. Once it's melted, add in the lime juice. Pour it into the baking pan and spread. Arrange the banana slices to cover the entire bottom of the pan in an overlapping fashion.

Prepare the cake mix:

1 and a 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 cup sugar or any sweetener

1/4 cup chunks of vegan chocolate

1/2 tsp Cinnamon Powder

1/2 tsp All Spice

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Corn starch

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup Soy Milk/ Water or any non dairy milk

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp vinegar

Combine wet and dry ingredients separately. Mix and fold the batter lightly. Add into the pan with the bananas and spread evenly.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Loosen the edges of the cake and invert it onto a grill. 

Slice, pour the Coffee Caramel on the cake and serve!

Mmmm Mmmm Mmmmmm!

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I ♥ Avocado

If wishes were horses, I would own a farm full of Avocado trees. I've planted two and wish they would start bearing me the damn avocados. I'm so obsessed with them that I once went six straight months in three different countries eating them at least twice a week. So it's not a surprise that this post is dedicated to my favourite fruit and I'm so going to want to eat one after writing this!

About 12 feet tall now!

Avocados are almost tasteless. I know what you're thinking, 'what an anti-climax!', right? All this for a tasteless fruit. But it's buttery like no other butter, juicy and succulent like nothing else in this world and it takes on the flavour of anything you add to it so beautifully. There are no tiny pits or seeds that you need to spit out while eating it, there is nothing in between you and that fresh, green bite of heaven.

Not many people in India know how to deal with this big green 'dinasour egg' looking fruit. Most of the people I have spoken to have said they don't like the taste of it. (But it is tasteless!) You probably just don't know when or how to eat it. I have done a post earlier about guacamole where I also go on to digress about sprouting the seed into a plant. But what do you do with the ripe light green almost-goo thats inside? How do you know when it is right? Do you know how to buy it?

Fear not, because in all my avocado (read guacamole) experiences I have some knowlegde about buying this fruit and using it effectively. Here is what you need to look out for:

1. A Dark Green (Not black) clear skin with minimum or no blemishes

2. Should be hard to slightly hard when you touch

3. Should not have fungus or damaged skin (on the top of the fruit) near where it joins the tree

4. Could be any shape or size, but is usually round like an orange or pear shaped

Where to buy it?

In Bombay, you can get it now in almost any suburban vegetable market. Usually the guys with the "fancy vegetables" like broccoli, zucchini, celery, etc. have it. But I prefer to buy it from Crawford Market.

When to buy?

Avocados are now available almost all year round. But I have heard that the ones after summer are the best. All (or most) of the avocados come from Karnataka to Bombay. Sometimes if you are lucky you will get the Pondicherry ones but I like to believe that the people in Auroville eat it all up, because that is what I did in the two months I spent there.

What to do with them?

Wait till they ripen! It is a very important phase of the fruit. So many ways to hasten the process, but the avocado will take it's own sweet time. Sometimes it can take upto two weeks, so be very patient. Let me tell you it all pays off in the end. If you cut into an unripe avocado be ready for some bitter experiences which will put you off the fruit forever. The best way to know if it is ripe is to press the fruit with a finger. If the skin gives in without too much pressure and you have made an indentation on the fruit, it is ready. You will learn from your mistakes. I have been so eager sometimes to eat the fruit that I cut it open too early and end up with a bitter taste. Sometimes the fruit is not bitter even when it is slightly unripe.

This time I was in for a surprise when I went to pick avocados from my usual vendor. The avocados were bigger than I have ever seen, even bigger than the ones in Mexico! They were literally the size of musk melons, each weighing a kilo! I was jumping inside at the thought of having a HUMONGOUS portion of Guacamole which is exactly what I did for breakfast. This fruit was so big, it made me easily one and a half kilos of guacamole which K and I polished off for breakfast one morning with some toasted bread. We were so full after that we couldn't eat lunch.

The Avocado is as big as my face!

Orange v/s Avocado

Ready for the Guac!

Everytime I buy avocados I decide I am going to try something different with at least one of them. Almost all the time they end up as guacamole because I just cannot resist temptation to eat it immediately. This time I held back and made some avocado ice cream (Yes I made something sweet again, I have cavaties remember). Depending on how big the avocado is, you blend the ripe avocado and add a sweetener with some flavouring. I made some chocolate icecream with it and served it up with some chocolate cake and chocolate ganache since the ice cream was not sweet enough. There is a lot more you could do with it also like put it in raw salads, put it inside sandwiches, burgers or tacos and even puree it to make a raw pasta sauce or mousse.

I don't know why but only when it comes to the avocado, I have no patience to try anything else with it. It's only if I have had two ripe avocados waiting to be opened on the same day will I try anything else with it. I know, I'm crazy.

All hail the Avocado.

Chocolate Avocado Ice cream with Dark Chocolate Cake

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The Easiest, Yummiest Banana Sorbet!

This is as easy as can be and it's so good!

You need:

4 ripe Bananas (even if you have over ripe bananas, will do!) - peeled, sliced and frozen over two nights in an airtight container.

Walnuts or whatever nuts you like

A dash of Cinnamon

Take the bananas out of the freezer and thaw them for about 5 minutes. Put them in a blender and blend them till they are creamy. Add the walnuts and cinnamon and serve immediately. This won't keep after you blend it, but I don't think you'll have anything left over!

I have also read variations of this recipe adding peaches and other fruits. I'm yet to try those, mainly because I can't get over how good this one is.

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