For the love of chips

I've just done the most British thing you can do. I queued up for almost an hour to eat chips.
That's pretty British. That's pretty committed. Is it committable?

Café Culture: Eating my way across Vienna

There's something beautifully endearing about Vienna, and it's the cafés. It's probably been said a thousand times, and it'll be said ad infinitum; that's no bad thing. 

Café culture in Vienna is about surrounding yourself in comforting stasis. Close your eyes and you can imagine sharing your table, through time, with a bohemian writer, beat poet or plotting intellectuals. Open your eyes and you're back to sharing the café with ladies who lunch, retirees who linger and tourists that dare not afford the lure of Café Sacher.

Going Cuban

Have you seen Chef, the movie? I did, and it blew me away. OK, it's not the greatest film it the world. It hasn't won all the big awards, and it's pretty hokey. That aside, the film is off the foodie charts. Not a surprising thing when the film is called Chef. 

The cooking scenes have been so lovingly framed and filmed that it makes you salivate, and then cook, and then stuff your face. 
I was taken aback at just how beautifully Director, and star, Jon Favreau, captured every element of cooking. Watching the scenes of him in the professional  kitchen made me think back to Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, and his description of professional kitchens working almost as if in a choreographed dance. 

Pies you like

What do you think of when summer comes around? Is it pies? It probably not pies.
OK so maybe it's not pies, but you might be thinking of shortcrust pastry. Who isn't?

I've recently been getting into making my own shortcrust and applying that to my cooking. 
The biggest push towards making pies was simply that I wanted to eat a pie. This was back around Easter. I had some friends over for lunch, and I thought, well why not bake a couple of mini-pies. 
It went down like a peach. Is that a saying? Why not. Let's make it a saying.

A question of image

I've come a long way since my first market late last summer. 

The first market was something I did on a whim. The opportunity came up and I thought I'd give it a shot.

After that each market has been a constant refinement of what I'm offering, and how I'm presenting myself. 

Every market has seen me bring something different to the market. It could be a different bake, it could be presentation, but at each market I want to be better. 

That's entertainment

It's been a while, right? Where have I been?
Forgive me for my absence. I've been working on a lot of different things, and unfortunately I let the blog slide. 

On the bright side I have been baking/cooking, and I have been trying a few new things. 

Over the last couple of months I've had friends over for lunch, and it's been a lot of fun. On each occasion I thought it'd be a great idea to make almost everything from scratch. 

I don't know why I'm such a glutton for punishment, because each time I do this I run myself ragged. Personally, I feel you need to make as much yourself. Why invite someone to your home if you're only going to serve them something bought from the supermarket? 

In development

Things are rolling with the market thing and I have a few more under my belt. It's a lot of fun and while I have some solid produce, I need to add something different to my offering. 

The last couple of weekends have been used for development. I've been trying out some new flavours and some bakes I've not done before. Some have worked out well and I'm happy to produce them for my next market. Some were a bit of a car crash. In fact one looked like the aftermath of one. 

Obsessing about cheese

Earlier I admitted to not having much of a sweet tooth. That's still true, but the other week I was obsessed with making cheesecake. It wasn't just any cheesecake. I wanted to make a particularly light, chocolaty, gooey cheesecake.

At work, at home, on the bus, on my bike, I wanted to make a chocolate and caramel cheesecake. I couldn't remember how long it had been since I had made a cheesecake. I hate having to buy a cheesecake. They are always so dense and devoid of anything other than sugar. The base is terrible and mealy. Why commit such crimes against cheesecake? Who would do that? 

Buckets of sugar

I'm not usually one for desserts. I'll happily have a starter or a side and forsake pudding. It's not that I don't like desserts, it just that usually, it's pretty hard to find a worthwhile dish. 

Eating out regularly means I get to taste more than my share of desserts, and well, I'm usually left with a sour taste in my mouth. No. It's not because I ordered the lemon tart. It's that so few restaurants can nail the finale to a meal. 

Half-Desi Samosas

Do you know what makes a fantastic samosa? It's the pastry. It's all in the pastry. 

Samosas live and die by their outer shells, and unfortunately through either convenience or poor taste people are crapping out on the pastry. 

Have you ever eaten a samosa wrapped in filo-pastry? You have? Well that wasn't a samosa. I'm sorry to break it to you like this but there you have it. 

Fill your cake hole

I'm still recovering from the sugar high that was the Cake and Bake Show 2013 at Earls Court.

I went along with my partner in crime Little Miss Shortcake, and I don't think it turned out to be quite what we expected. 

Pretty hollow

I took part in my first fayre/market and I am still exhausted. It was fun but I have a newfound respect for street foodies everywhere.  

Just to fill you in I took part in the Jersey Gardens Summer Fayre, which is a cute annual event near Osterley Park. 

I teamed up with my cousin Little Miss Shortcake to run a foodie stand. She baked and sold her awesome selection of cakes and treats, while I did, well you know what I do; bake a ton of bread.

Birthday cappuccino

It was my sister's birthday the other day and I thought mark the occasion with a freshly baked cake. 

Personally I'm not much of a fan for the traditional cream-filled cakes, and as I was going to be making breakfast too, what would make a better accompaniment to the morning celebrations than a sweet scenting cappuccino cake. 

After some hunting around I settled on Mary Berry's recipe. The beauty of Mary's recipes are that they are so simple to follow. Whack them in a bowl, mix them up and there you have it. Even a first year student can follow one of her concoctions. 

As I do not bake with eggs I used the Orgran No Egg substitute and added a half a teaspoon of Bicarb and Baking powder. Try not to overdo either of those as you will get an odd tasting cake. 

After you've put together the cake mix don't forget to put both tins on the same shelf. If The Great British Bake Off has taught us anything it's that a shelf makes all the difference. You'll want both cakes to bake at the same time and the same rate. 

As is the way with most eggless cakes mine didn't quite rise as much as it needed to. The original plan was to slice each cake in half to have four layers of cake with cappuccino frosting in between. If your cakes do rise to the appropriate level I'd suggest making double the frosting. The amount in the original recipe will not be anywhere enough if you like to be generous. 

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to show you a photo of my sister with her slice of cake, but I can show you the finished article. Even if you don't have a birthday going on this is a real treat to have for afternoon tea. And if you can be bothered to do it in the morning, your home is filled with that beautiful scent of coffee. 

Have a crack at it and let me know how it goes. Try it with freshly ground coffee rather than instant and you'll taste the difference. 

Desi wedding season

I have to apologise for my terrible ability not to write more regularly. 

For us Desi folk it is wedding season, and that cuts into all the serious business of baking and cooking awesome stuff.

Spending a whole day or weekend at one wedding or another does not put you in the mood for baking.

Indeed I pushed myself to make grissini today and completely ruined the whole batch!

I am so ashamed I will not be posting any photos of my failure. Although I will get back to it and make a fresh batch soon. 

While at these weddings I've wondered why we do not see more baked goodies at weddings. 

Indians generally aren't that big on baking, besides the usual range of beautiful flat breads we really don't go in for all that.

Yesterdays wedding was slightly different though. We were served a selection of petit fours with tea at the close of play. 

It could certainly be one trend to take on next year. What baked goods would you have at a wedding? 

Mini focaccia finger sandwiches or how about bruschetta on freshly baked ciabatta? 

I had a house guest and so it was the perfect excuse to go all out for a leisurely Sunday breakfast. 

Belgian waffles with chocolate and strawberries followed by mini rostis. Who could say no to that? 

On the news front I'll be baking some bread for my cousin's cake stand at foodie event. 

I'm coming up with a selection of breads to take along. Any suggestions are welcome. 

I'll probably go with about five or six different breads. 

I've wanted to do something like this for a while now so this is a great opportunity to get stuck in. 

Don't forget to 'follow' me on Twitter @desi_baker_boy or how about checking out my Instagram @break_the_remotehttp://instagram.com/break_the_remote

Drunk mangoes

Unfortunately the Indian/Pakistan mango season is coming to an end and all those weeks of eating mango after mango is over. 

This year like every other year I've enjoyed going to Wembley to pick up boxes of Honey, Kesar and Alphonso mangoes. If you've not been I suggest you take a walk down Ealing road and take in the sights and smells. 

Quite bananas

The summer has really hit us, here in the UK, and that means BBQing almost every day. Not only have I been hitting the grill most evenings I've also been invited to a few over the last couple of weekends. 

A couple of weeks ago my uncle held one at quite short-notice, and unfortunately I didn't bring anything. Huge faux pas I admit, but there really wasn't any time. 

Summertime smoothie

We here in the UK are enjoying a rare heat wave, considering last summer was a washout I am quite enjoying the 30 degree temperatures. 

There's nothing better than sitting in the sun and sipping on a Cuba Libre. Unfortunately it's only 11am and as such it'd probably not be wise to travel that road so early in the day. 

Short-order picnic bread

At very short notice I was asked along to a picnic, and when anything like that happen I curse Indian timing; Indian timing of course being any time that isn't on time or one that gives the least amount of notice.

I needed to bring something and while it'd be easy to go to the shop and buy some pre-packed monstrosities I'd rather spend what little time I have creating something interesting.

Chock full of cherries

Over the last few weeks my local market and grocer have been drowned in all sorts of cherries, which to me means it's time gorge. 

Every evening I've been delighting in a bowl full of cherries. This season has been particularly lovely. I've not had one bad cherry, which it something of a joy.