FUSION
MITHAIS
Want
tradition with a twist? Fusion mithais offer the best of both worlds for you
A CHEESECAKE with gulab jamun, a
blend of phirni and chocolate, and a rangoli cake filled with gulkand. These
exotic-sounding concoctions aren’t the stuff of fantasy – they’re what
sweetmakers are now devising to please bored palates.
People like indulging their sweet
tooth during the festive season, but in the past few years, there’s much more
than ordinary mithai out there. Chocolate has become the new ‘mithai’ for a lot
of us (except that a lot of locally made chocolate is pretty ghastly). But
there’s a new dessert trend now: ‘fusion mithai’, in which the best of
traditional mithai is teamed with exciting new global flavours.
“The idea behind creating these
fusion sweets is to offer something that is healthy, tasty and sweet so that
people can indulge themselves without guilt,” says Rashma Sud, owner of Dessert
Carte, a Delhi bakery. A patti (you can’t get more traditional than that!)
filled with apricot, anyone? “Traditional sweets are going in a new direction.
Chefs are mixing them with Western ingredients. It makes for a nice change. But
traditional desserts and their unique flavours will never lose their lustre,”
says chef Vishal Atreya, executive sous chef with The Imperial, New Delhi. Bon
Appetit!
GULAB JAMUN CHEESECAKE
Bakery aficionados in the West swear by the cheesecake for
its softness and flavour. Closer home, there are few things as satisfying as a
nice juicy hot gulab jamun, particularly on a cold winter day. What if you want
the best of both worlds? Well, you cook a plain cheesecake sans flavour (recipe
below). That’s when the gulab jamun will impart its own distinct flavour – and
sweetness – to the cake. And yet it won’t be as sweet as a gulab jamun.
THE RECIPE
INGREDIENTS: 150gm mascarpone cheese; 250gm whipped sweetened cream; 5gm gelatin; 20-25 gulab jamuns; 100gm cookie crumbs; 30gm unsalted butter; 1tsp cardamom powder, 1tsp saunf powder, a few drops kewra water.
METHOD: Melt butter, add cookie crumbs to it. Line base of cake tin with crumb mixture. Spread evenly and press hard to form a firm base. Refrigerate for 15 mins. Soak the gelatin in 20ml water. Stir the mascarpone cheese in a bowl till it is creamy. Add cardamom, saunf powder and kewra water. Add melted gelatin to the creamed cheese, mix well and fold in the whipped cream. Place a layer of gulab jamuns on the crumb base. Pour the cheesecake mixture into the tin. Refrigerate for 2 hours, then keep at room temp for 10 mins. Slice and serve immediately.
DRY FRUIT & APRICOT PATTI
For most desserts, you don’t need to look too far to add a fusion touch. This nouvelle twist involves baking a mixture of soft dried apricot, mixed dry fruit, wholewheat flour, rolled oats, orange zest and orange juice. To keep the patti light and crispy, use brown sugar, olive oil and oats in the mix. This dessert can make a great accompaniment to tea or coffee or a gift for a special someone. Want to add a special touch? Drizzle 30gm of white chocolate over the cooked mixture and allow it to set before slicing.PHIRNI IN CHOCOLATE
If the idea is to provide a new twist to something that is traditional and yet simple to make, phirni fits the bill perfectly. But instead of serving it straight, use chocolate flowers to give the sweet dish a contemporary touch. Another interesting variation is to make chocolate balls and fill them with shrikhand (also not difficult to prepare). They make great sweet munchies for when guests visit, or when you’re giving out party favours.KALAKAND AND FLORENTINE ALMOND CAKE
Here, kalakand, that classic Indian mithai, is blended with almond florentine (almonds in caramelised sugar). It is then infused with butterscotch and raspberry sauce to create a dessert that is at once so familiar but oh so exotic. A small word of warning though: this delectable dessert is not for those watching their weight. It’s high on taste as well as calories. But frankly, it’s Diwali, so throw your diet put of the window!
HTBR121018
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