INDIA: Jodhpur

Jodhpur is known as the blue city due to the blue-painted houses around the old town.

There are some great local specialities to try and saffron lassi is one of them. Another one is Makhaniya lassi. It's simply a lassi with some butter to make it creamy, almost like a milk shake. Other variations are lassi with cardamom, dried fruits or any sort of fresh fruit like banana or papaya.
Also refreshing in the heat is sugar cane juice. This one here was squeezed with a lime to balance the natural sweetness. Delicious. See the machine? It's hard work to extract the juice so usually they are powerd by a generator.

Indians eat their dinner fairly late so to bridge the gap or if they just feel peckish they might have some of these: Wada or vadai is a savoury fritter-type snack. A bit like a donut. But Indian style with a hint of cumin.

Another great snack are these deep fried Thenkuzhal (made from gram and rice flour with black sesame seeds) formed into a spiral or Murukku ribbons (with some cheese added) and fried. It usually comes with fried chilies. Great with an ice cold beer.

INDIA: Udaipur

Udaipur is considered the most romantic city in Rajasthan, if not even in India. "Everybody will promise you the most romantic hotel, restaurant or view but you can't buy any of that. It has to come from the heart!" Well spoken Chill (real name Filuz), our tuk tuk driver.

Udaipur is also known for it's appearance in the 1982 James Bond film 'Octopussy'. For in case you have forgotten you will be reminded every night with screenings at most restaurants over dinner.

With the summer approaching fast the days are getting hotter and nothing is more refreshing than a cold lemon soda. All you need to do is mix it yourself.

We took a cooking class with Sushma in her kitchen and learnt how to make three different kinds of curries, chappatis and proper chai. And the best was we got to eat it all afterwards.

Meet: Rakesh. He is a miniature painter specializing in the Rajput-Mughal style that Udaipur is famous for. The smaller and more intricate, the more expensive his work is. So does size matter? Rakesh will definately say yes!

INDIA: Jaipur

Puri stalls can be found all over India. It's a great snack that can be served with either halwa, korma, chana masala, dal or potato based curries. It's made of wheat flour and salt. The dough is then rolled out in a small circle and deep fried in ghee or vegetable oil. While deep frying, it puffs up like a round ball.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Or kulfi. In this case.

Ghewar is a delicious Rajasthani sweet made of wheat flour which suger syrup is poured. Ghewar sweet known for its matchless sweetness comes in varieties such as plain, desi ghee, paneer and mawa. Paneer ghewar is garnished with paneer and is highly demanded for their tasty flavor. It is a speciality prepared for Gangaur festival here in Jaipur.

I am glad we were in town for the festival. Elephants, camels, beautiful costumes and a great parade with music.

INDIA: Agra

Well, last time I checked we were no cannibals but just now we ate a tourist. And it was crisp and chocolaty with a creamy vanilla centre. Yum!

We took the train from Delhi to Agra and were served food en route. As it was an early train leaving at 6.15am a staming hot chai is always appreciated. We were served two meals. For breakfast we had black tea with TRUST superfine sugar and NOVA dairy creamer (or milk powder), some Parle-G cookies and Nütrive chocolate eclairs (actually candy). The second meal some time later was our lunch.

So here we are in Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

And it is picture perfect though if I had to criticise one thing it's the lack of windows inside the modestly spaced chamber (you have ornately carved screens cut from marble instead) resulting in almost no ventilation. Everybody had to take off their shoes to enter so now imagine the smell inside...

A great sentence I learnt from a travel guide in Udaipur that I have to add here goes as following:
If you have a great idea you can build the Eifel Tower.
If you have love and passion you can build the Taj Mahal.
But if you have patience you can build them all over again.

INDIA: Delhi

I thought I'd start the travel blog with the bare necessities and what could be more essential to life than water. In Delhi you can buy yours from a refridgerated trolly and it will be served to you in a glass with whole lemons (just to flavour the water) and maybe a piece of charcoal. Charcoal removes chlorines, odors, colours and any cloudiness. Please be aware this is just chilled tap water so unless you are a resident this may not be advised for travellers and may cause a 'Delhi-belly'...

There are lots more of these trollies and stalls that we will expore and post about in the next couple of weeks.

Another thing you notice are the street vendors. This one here is selling papadum, also known as papad in Northern India, and a great snack on the go.

Is it just me or does the middle piece resemble the Indian subcontinent?

Colour lovers: cherry blossom

Pink is a mixture of red/magenta and white and is nowadays considered a feminine colour. Ironically in the 1920s, pink was seen appropriate for boys because it derived from red which was the more masculine and decided color. Blue on the other hand was considered appropriate for girls because it was the more delicate and dainty color and associated with the Virgin Mary. Since the 1940s, this had been inverted: pink became considered appropriate for girls and blue appropriate for boys, a practice that has continued into the 21st century. Check out the palette at colourlovers

Pecan tart

This tart is a cross between a classic American pecan pie and an English treacle tart. With the dash of Maple syrup you even get a hint of Canada. Now that is what I call multiculturalism in a dish!

PECAN TART

sweet pastry base
50g butter
250g golden syrup
100ml maple syrup
150g breadcrumbs
1 orange (zest and juice)
2 apples
fresh ginger
handful of pecans

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Roll out the chilled sweet pastry and line a tart shell. Freeze for 10 minutes. Blind bake for about 7-10 minutes. Leave too cool. In the meantime melt the butter and the syrup in a pan, add the breadcrumbs, finely chopped apple, ginger and pecans. Leave some pecans for decoration later. Add the grated orange zest and juice. Spoon into the pastry case and add the pecans on top. Bake for another 20 minutes until golden. Great served warm with a dollop of sour cream or vanilla ice cream.

Mini cupcakes

Today is Fabian's birthday and I made a selection of mini cupcakes: matcha-pistachio, orange blossom, coffee-chocolate and a lemon and poppy seed version. All use the same base dough that I just divided up into 4 and then added my different flavours. For the icing I made white chocolate buttercream. Yum!

The recipe makes about 40-50 mini cupcakes.

MINI CUPCAKES WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

125g unsalted butter
150g sugar
2 eggs
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp milk

for the buttercream
100g white chocolate
140g unsalted butter
140g icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 150°C. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and mix well. Now add the flour and the milk. Divide and add your different flavours and about 4 tbsp more liquid (again dived up by how many flavours): lemon juice to go with lemon zest and poppy seeds, orange blossom essence and some orange juice to go with orange zest, coffee to go with cocoa powder and chocolate chips, matcha powder and chopped pistachios. You may need to add 1-2 tbsp more liquid if you add powders like cocoa as they will change the consistency on the thicker side.
Fill into petit four cake cases and bake for 12-15 minutes. Leave to cool. For the buttercream melt the chocolate over a bain marie. Leave to cool for a bit. Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Mix in the chocolate. Put in a piping bag and pipe on the mini cupcakes. Sprinkle with decoration according to taste.

Colour lovers: emerald

Emerald is a light and bright shade of green with a faint bluish cast. Green is not a primary colour but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan. The word green is closely related to the Old English verb growan, "to grow". It reminds us of plants or the ocean and because of that association the colour has a calming effect. It's commonly used on environmentally–friendly products for the same reason. In combination with blue the calming can even be enhanced and it's a harmonious palette. Check out the palette at colourlovers

Marble cake

This is one of my grandmother's recipes and because of that it's special to me. She is the one who taught me most of my baking (and some cooking) skills and her passion for cakes is infectious. Even at the proud age of 80 she still bakes tarts and cakes and the odd layered one with freshly whipped cream or butter cream for special occasions. Can't take that away from her!
I am not sure how it started, whether it was my grandfathers love for cake or her passion for baking first (classic chicken/egg situation) but either way they complemented each other. He liked his slice of cake and a hot cup of coffee in the morning for breakfast. Not a slice of bread or toast: CAKE. It gave my grandmother a reason to bake cake at least once a week.

MARBLE CAKE

200g butter
250g sugar
1 Tsp vanilla sugar
pinch of salt
4 eggs
500g self-raising flour
1 Tsp baking powder
1/8 l milk
100g sliced almonds
3-4 Tbsp cocoa powder
2-3 Tbsp rum or amaretto
100g dark chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 175°C. Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt. Add the eggs one at a time. Sift the flower and baking powder. Add to the mixture, adding the milk when it becomes too thick. Separate in two lots: add the sliced almonds to the first and the cocoa and rum/amaretto to the other and mix well. Now butter your baking tin and fill with the vanilla layer, followed by the chocolate layer. To create the marble effect use the handle of a spoon, chop stick or a bamboo skewer and swirl it around in the mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Leave to cool. Melt the chocolate over a bain marie and glaze the cake.

Peanut caramel macarons

This is my third attempt at the classic French macaron. Notoriously difficult and I have again learnt some valuable lessons: aging your egg whites (haven't done this but will do it from now on, for at least 24 hours, so just separate your eggs the night before you bake); not too build up the macaronage too much by folding in even more air as you will end up with air bubbles and an uneven shell. I baked at a lower temperature this time but slightly longer and I had let them rest to dry out for longer (for an hour).

PEANUT MACARONS WITH SALTED CARAMEL

3 egg whites
50g light brown sugar
60g ground almonds
50g ground peanuts
200g icing sugar

for the caramel
125 brown sugar
1 vanilla pod
60g salted butter
50ml double cream

Blend the ground almonds, ground peanuts and the icing sugar and sift in a bowl . In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until they start to stiffen and slowly add the sugar. Mix some more until stiff and shiny. With a spatula fold under the nut and sugar mix but don't overwork the mixture. Place into a piping bag and pipe 3cm circles onto a baking tray lined with grease proof paper. Let rest for one hour. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 min, depending on size. Leave to cool.
To make the caramel dissolve the sugar and 3 tbsp water in a pan. Slit open the vanilla pod open lengthways and scrape out the seeds and add. Stir in the butter and raise the temperature until it bubbles and caramel turns toffee colour. Take off the heat and gently stir in the cream. Let cool before applying it on the macaron halves and sandwich together.

March

The days are getting longer now and grey will slowly but steady be replaced by colour.