Theme: Cooking BM# 31 Themes - Member's Choice/ Coffee Variations
Dish: Indian Style Cappuccino
I didn't plan to make Cappuccino for today's post. I'm not a big fan of coffee, even though I enjoy an occasional latte or mocha from Starbucks. I don't like the bitterness that is associated with coffee and I end up adding whole lot of sugar. To avoid the unnecessary sugar intake, I pass on coffee and only indulge in it once in a while. I attended 'Vegan Donut' making class in ICE, New York yesterday and it was so much fun to working with the dough and making different flavored cake & raised donuts. Our instructor was Adam Sobel of the famous Vegan & Organic food truck Cinnamon Snail. He was informative, funny and very enthusiastic to teach the techniques and tips of vegan donut making. I came back home with a box full of goodies.
Coming back to today's post, I was planning on making quiche or pretzels from this month's Member choice list. If I remember right, I probably added them to the list because both of these are on my to-make list for almost forever. I was procrastinating and finally didn't find time to make either one. I also had some donuts left over and I thought making some of Coffee variations would give us something to drink with our yummy donuts. I thought I picked the easiest one of the list, but this Indian style cappuccino definitely proved me wrong :-) With all the whisking that is involved, your hand will agree that this not an easy recipe to make. But since I was eating donuts with coffee, I kept telling myself that this is the pre-exercise for enjoying them afterwards. The trick in getting this coffee right depends on the batter preparation -- incorporation of air by constant whisking, which takes a good 10 minutes by hand. The end result is quite satisfying -- creamy, frothy and perfectly sweet for my liking. Recipe from Entice with Spice by Shubra Ramineni. Ingredients: Serves 2 For Cappuccino Batter: Instant Coffee Granules - 2tsp (I use Nestle Taster's Choice) Sugar - 4tsp Water - 2tsp
For Cappuccino: Milk, 1% fat - 2cups (If using whole milk, take 1 cup milk and 1 cup water)
Method:
- Make Cappuccino Batter: In a small bowl combine coffee granules, sugar and ½tsp of water. Mix well with a spoon for 2 minutes. In the beginning, it will have a very coarse texture.
- Add ½tsp of water and beat for another 2 minutes until sugar starts to dissolve and the mixture starts to get smooth.
- Add another ½tsp of water and beat vigorously for 3 minutes. Mixture will start to get lighter in color and will get airy and frothy.
- Add the final ½tsp of water and beat vigorously for another 3 minutes. Now the mixture will have a pudding-like consistency and will be light brown in color. This batter can be used right away or refrigerated for up to 3 days.
- To make Cappuccino: Heat milk (or a combination of milk and water) in a small saucepan until boiling. Stir when it gets to boiling stage and turn off the stove.
- Divide the cappuccino batter equally between the two cups. Add 2tbsp milk in each cup and mix well.
- Pour the remainder of the boiled milk evenly into each cup from at least 6" above the cup to allow the froth to form. Serve right away.