‘TIS THE SEASON
Q How can I make plum cakes at home?
- Aditya, Mumbai
This the ideal time to start prepping for Christmas cakes since it’s best if you soak your ingredients for at least a month. I soak raisins, cashews, tutti frutti, dried figs, black dates, in red wine, black rum (Old Monk, preferably, given the caramel flavour in that), and a stout beer. Take the basic recipe of a plum cake—a batter of sugar, flour, eggs, butter, vanilla essence, baking powder and yeast—in a baking tin, and let it bake. For the toppings, you can do a plain sugar dusting or add soaked fruits mixed with chocolate/in chocolate syrup.
OAT TALK
Q
Any interesting ways in which I can consume oats?
- Kirti, via Instagram
One of the most common ways is to make porridge. Add fruits, nuts, honey and sweeteners. I recently had oats chila—soak oats overnight, and make a batter in a food processor. Add chopped onion, tomatoes, pickled chillies and spices. You can also use this batter to make paniyaram or appe. You can also take a basic muffin recipe and, instead of flour, use oats to make it.
Known for making a mark in the world food scenario with his previous restaurant Masque, and his focus on indigenous Indian ingredients, Prateek now is working with a lot of Indian communities to research for his next venture