The Joy of Giving... The French Loaf cake event

On the evening of CFG's 8th Anniversary Celebrations, Mr Mahadevan, one of the guests announced their Longest Photo cake event .. This was part of the Joy of Giving week. Last year, they had done the same event, except the cake was based on movies of yesteryear. This year, it was a tribute to Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja... 

Not only this, but he announced that 100kgs shall be set aside for Chennai Food Guide members, given to us for FREE... The event was slated for 2nd Oct , at Express Avenue Mall.

As decided, we all met up at the mall at the venue of the event, and were excited to see what was ahead of us.  We got to meet a few new faces, and interact with other friends as well.. In total, we were about 30 of us, we walked around the entire length of the cake, trying to spot the movies we had seen, heard of and the ones that were completely new. We waited patiently sweating away, listening to Mohan, Parthiban, Srinivas, Sriram, Mr Mahadevan, Chef Bhupesh, and Gautam Menon speak about the event. It was amazing to hear the announcements of cake being sold, people who bought them, and the money contributed to Ekam Foundation. Few members from CFG got the chance to speak to Raj TV, while the rest of us generally hung around having a good time.... 

And then, it was time to cut the cake..... Few minutes later, we were all trying to fit the huge cake box into plastic bags... but only after checking out what movie was on the piece we received. Even though it was free for us, we went ahead and made a contribution to Ekam... What a beautiful feeling to give to those in need.. Apart from the little deeds that we do, we thank Mr Mahadevan of Oriental Cuisines for this lovely opportunity as well... :-) 

 I had Pillai Nila on my cake... Not heard or seen this movie...

Subsequent to the event, the group waltzed lingered around, catching up, taking photographs, and winding up with a burppilicious dinner at Rajdhani...

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Tuscana goes Gluten Free, Chennai

How many calories will that slice of Pizza add to my waist?

Is that Maida, dont you have something made with Bajra or Ragi? 

I have been asked to eat Gluten Free food, any idea where in Chennai i can find the same? 

Well, these are questions i have encountered in the past few months and well, today there is a place that answers all these.. "Tuscana" 

 Polenta cakes with mushroom filling..

 

 Risotto cakes that were served as starters

Tuscana has been one of my favorite places to eat at, and now they are just taking it one step further with this new initiative. Recently they launched the bi-lingual menu- English & Tamil.

 

And what an event the launch was, i left home and  it began pouring, most us reached the venue drenched, but what timing... Snuggled inside the restaurant, we eagerly waited for Vipin & Chef Willi to give us  some insight on Gluten Free, the products used in the dishes and get a taste of the final dishes. 

 

The different pastas- Rice and Corn based

  The four flour/starch used in the pizza/pastas

 Vipin & Chef Willi explaining the whole Gluten-Free concept, how it came about, the dishes and so on

What is Gluten?

 "Gluten" is present in flour like Maida and such. It is nothing evil, but just a protein composite in the flour that gives it the elasticity and thereon the texture. When  you knead the flour, the gluten is activated. When talking to a nutrionist friend, i discovered Gluten traps the Carbon di-oxide from yeast, making sure it works on the dough leading it to rise and become nice and soft. 

But, does this mean Gluten free food is flat and tasteless? No way... That is such a myth! 

 The vegetarian pizzas... 1st one with colour peppers & 2nd olives & Artichoke

Why Gluten Free? 

Well, sadly there are a few among us whose body does not digest gluten well. And the new range of dishes at Tuscana is such a boon for them.  They can enjoy them as much as the others, from main dishes to dessert. 

Gluten-free diet is a way of life for the person with celiac disease, a digestive disorder due to severe gluten sensitivity.  No one needs to tell someone with the disease to stay off gluten, the protein component in many grains.

However those suffering with joint pain, brain fog, loss of balance or other neurologic and auto-immune disorders may also benefit from a similar diet as some studies have linked these and other illnesses to gluten consumption. It is reported that one out of every 133 healthy adults in the United States has celiac disease and the accompanying digestive problems if they eat anything containing gluten.

 

 The panna cotta with Blueberry compote[ a Tuscana signature yummilicious dessert]

 

Whats special about Tuscana's Gluten Free menu?

Chef willi showed us the various flour used to make a Gluten Free pizza- Potato Starch, Bajra, Jower flour & Tapioca Starch. He said  the pizza takes about 8 mins to cook against the normal 4mins and similarly for the Pasta, he said it has to be cooked on order, unlike the normal pasta, which can be cooked and kept aside. 

They have a separate section dedicated to the Gluten Free dishes- utensils, cutlery and oven space as well.

 

How does it taste?

I was a bit sceptical, but the pizza tasted real good, now if you have eaten Bajra roti, you will identify the base texture and flavour. When we questioned Chef on the life of the pizza [store it overnight and eat next morning or few hours later] he assured us a few minutes in the microwave was all it would take and the pizza would be good as new..

The pasta was yumm, not as smooth as the normal pasta, but held the flavours beautifully. Very light and simple

 

Oh and they have desserts too.. We each got a Gluten Free cake [made with Almond meal and orange flavoured icing] when we bid adieu to the team at Tuscana.. Wish them all the best!!

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Eggless Banana Cake in a jiffy

There we were, kinda bored and wondering what to do when our gramma muttered "there are too many bananas here, next time buy just 5-6, dont buy a dozen, see they have all started becoming black"...And the next instant, my cousin L was on her laptop hunting for another cousin's mother-in-law's blog where she had read a Banana Cake recipe.... Within minutes, she had found the blog and the recipe. Reading out the ingredients, we discovered most of them were already available at home.. I was heading out for a bit and so we decided to bake the cake once i got back home.... 

 

The weighing scale

I strode in around 4.15 and we got to prepping for the cake by 4.30. Laid out all the ingredients on the dining table, pre heated the oven, greased the baking bowls and were all set to get the cake mix ready.



The Eggless Banana cake [ Recipe from here]

Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour- 140 gms
Baking Powder- 2 tsp
Baking Soda- 1/2 tsp
Condensed Milk (sweetened)- 200 gms
Melted Butter- 70 gms
Vanilla Extract- 1 tsp (optional)
Very Ripe Bananas- 2 (Peeled weight 200 gms)
Water- 60 ml
Almonds- 10- chop into small pieces
Baking pan 7″ x 5″ x 2″




Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 De Centigrade.
• Peel and mash the bananas with a fork and keep aside. DO NOT use mixer to mash.
• Sift together flour and baking soda and powder. Add the chopped nuts and mix well. Add melted butter, condensed milk, Vanilla essence and mashed bananas. Mix well. Add water little by little to form an uniform batter.
• Transfer to greased pan and tap to level. Bake at 200 degrees C for about 50 minutes. The cake is done when it begins to leave the sides of the pan. Remove from oven and leave in pan for 5 minutes. 
• Then separate from pan and turn on to a cooling rack

 

We baked the cake in a round mould and it came out delicious.. The top was a thin crust, while the center was soft and filled with favour... Proud of our baking skills, we went ahead and baked another batch, half of which travelled with me by A/C bus to Chennai and a tiny slice is all that is left...!!

Next time, i am going to try the same recipe with Strawberries or apples... ;-)

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Hunger pangs and an Eggless Strawberry Yogurt Cake

I was feeling like a snack, but it was one where i wanted to eat fruits. I opened and stood in front of the fridge for a few minutes, discovered a box of chopped papaya and a box of fresh strawberries. Had a light bulb moment, why not i make something with the strawberries, milk/yoghurt and maida at home. And for some reason, was in the mood to bake. There flew my urge for a snack. 

I started looking on the net for simple interesting recipes, when i stumbled upon the Eggless Strawberry Yoghurt cake on my friend Saffrontrail’s blog. That was it, it looked mighty easy, and i had all the ingredients, but jam [which i could pick up from the store a minute away from home]

Here is the recipe from her blog:

Ingredients

¾ cup yogurt

¼ cup milk (i used regular milk )

¼ cup rice bran oil ( i used cooking oil, dint have rice bran at home)

¾ cup sugar

2 generous tablespoons of strawberry or mixed fruit jam (mixed fruit jam it was)

1 tsp Strawberry essence or mixed fruit essence (had to settle for vanilla extract 1 tsp)

1.5 cups all purpose flour OR 1 cup AP flour + ½ cup whole wheat flour (atta)

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

Roughly 1 cup finely diced strawberries [ I set aside a few berries for decoration but ended up eating them as the cake baked :-) ]

Handful of tutti-frutty (optional- i dint have these either)

Directions

In one bowl, whisk the oil, yogurt, milk, sugar and jam.

In another big bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well. Add the whisked wet ingredients. Fold until they come together.

*Note: Over enthusiastic beating / whisking is better avoided.

Towards the end, fold in chopped berries and tutti-fruity.

A small variation here:

Saffrontrail recommends baking in oven, now i again had only a microwave and have baked a eggless chocolate cake earlier, which turns out delicious every time. So, going with my gut feel, decided to try the same for this cake as well and must say, not disappointed. The cake was yummy, a tad dry in the middle [wonder why] but otherwise soft and bursting with strawberry flavour….

I used a microwave proof glass bowl, and baked it for 8minutes on high.. :-)

If you have an oven [lucky you, follow the below mentioned steps to bake the cake]

Scrape the batter into the greased tin / silicon mould and bake at 180 C for around 45-55 minutes, checking with a tester if it comes out clean.

After 10 minutes, un-mould and cool on a wire rack.

Finally, cut into wedges, dust with icing sugar and serve with tea/coffee or just devour it as a dessert. 

Bon Apettit... 

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