Rich’s Gourmet Guide 2016

Entering a roomful of designer cakes was the biggest surprise for me. I have never seen such a big selection of beautiful cakes, neither at a party nor at any patisseries. It seemed like fairy tale word!!

Chef, chefs at everywhere, some carving out attractive figures from candy clays, some demonstrating the techniques of glaze truffles to coat the cakes, some designing chocolate ribbons and some creating innovative candy flowers. Then there were also chefs preparing smoothies/fruit mocktails and some baking savories/soups.

RICH”S GOURMET GUIDE 2016 organised by Rich's Graviss was the first of its kind held in Mumbai at Hilton Hotel. This endeavor was undertaken to bring the international food trends to its food service and bakery customers in India. Their large variety of products like Niagara Farms, Whip toppings, Truffle base, Cremagic, Nugel-Neutral, Chocolate compound kept the home-bakers mesmerised.

There was an interesting talk by celebrity Chef Varun Inamdar – Master Indian Chocolatier. He showcased live demonstration of global trends in foods and his first volume of Barcode- Artisanal chocolates with flavours across 5 states of India, his message being ‘work with honesty and interest’.

I attended the live demo of  Beverage session and Cake session.

In demo of beverage session, the chef used the product Niagara Farm to prepare pineapple  Smoothie, freak shake, bubble tea and cold coffee.

Chef prepared smoothie by blending yogurt, honey, mint leaves, pineapple pieces, whipped cream, ice and chilled water.

In another pretty glass jar, he placed strawberry jelly, then poured jasmine ice tea. Prepared a foam by mixing equal ratio of cream, milk and water and covered the tea with this foam.

The freak shake was an interesting drink. He got a jar and applied the chocolate on the rim of the jar, then blended brownies, castor sugar, Olio biscuits, Niagara farm milk, cream and poured it into the jar. Covered it with brownie cake and cream…very freaky indeed!!

In another session of Cake designing, Chef demonstrated the new trends of making cakes by using chocolate biscuits and Indian sweets like rosgolla to give a completely new taste. He gave a live demo of making truffle for coating cakes to give a shiny look. He made glaze by mixing 1kg of Cromagic with 200gms of Nuegel and 1.5 kg of dark compound. He boiled Niagara farm and poured it over chocolate compound, using spatula to mix. The mixture has to set it in fridge and then double boil and poured over  the cake to give a shiny chocolate look. The cake can then be decorated with chocolate chips and candy ribbons.

I had a lovely time listening to home baker’s stories.  Many of the women were full time home bakers and were so very interested in learning the new techniques. 

“The main objective of the event was to make our bakery and food service customers aware of global trends and also global cuisines which could be made using Rich’s products. The purpose is to inform and upgrade the quality of offerings of both bakery and food service operators to general public. I believe with Rich’s Gourmet Guide 2016, we have been able to achieve that.” Said Pankaj Chaturvedi, CEO & Executive Director at Rich Gravis Products Pvt. Ltd

Quenching with Summer Drinks

Instant karma are the cocktails? Or so they say...Good Karma or bad karma, taste decides, if you like it then good Karma but if you hate it then bad

But when you chance upon the mixing techniques to enjoy the drink to perfection then its going to be only good Karma, right?

Well this Thursday, I got an invite to attend the workshop on ‘Mocktails and Bartending’ by mixologist Ameya Sharma at Nature’s basket at Bandra.

Beginning of the month, my shopping was overdue at this store and I needed to fill up my larder, this was the perfect timing for attending this workshop as well.

So before my tedious shopping of organic fruits, vegetables, cheese and sauces, and surf the shelves for something new, I could do for some drinks.

Nature's Basket has one small inner room where hard drinks are stocked on regular days, this is the room where workshops are normally held. Until last year, we watched demonstrations as standees, crowding around the table, but over the time it is getting more organized. There were twelve chairs in three rows plus another six plastic stools. A big LCD TV in one corner and four assistants for helping with serving and attending to the comfort of the audience and the host. The table was laden with different kind of juice packets, syrups and fresh fruits, cutlery, mixing jugs, muddler, strainers, cocktail shakers, measuring cups, glasses and many other accessories.

Word spreads fast, because the room was full, with hardly any space to move. The men who had come early to get the best seat, had to sacrifice their comfort for late comers, especially women who expected this service. The recipes of the drinks were handed out to all those present and it listed all the items that would be demonstrated during the evening. The session began with the short introduction of the accessories that are useful during mixing of drinks.

There is the way to shaking the cocktail shakers, “Shake it like so, on the side above your shoulders” he said showing the right direction "so as not to wet yourself during mixing of the drinks".

Volunteers from the audience were invited to replicate the method demonstrated by host, and one by one, the drinks were mixed to make it visually appealing and then poured into tiny glasses for tasting.

Beside the various drinks he also demonstrated different ways the glass of drink could be garnished: a curled lime rind, a fan shaped apple slices hinged on a tooth-pick, the salting of the rim. It made interesting visual impact.


After every demo, we were given a shot to taste


I am not sure how many such shots I took but I came home in a very pleasant mood.

Some of the one which I liked

Orange Julius

Mix and blend........ 

120ml orange juice

60ml milk

3-4 chunks fresh orange chunks

30ml vanilla syrup

30ml fresh cream

10 ice cubes

The taste was sweetest milky flavor

The Pom Pom

Mix and blend........ 

300ml apple juice

½ cup chopped apples

½ cup chopped pineapples

½ cup chopped peaches

30ml blood orange syrup

7-8 ice cubes.

There was a sweetish sour, crunchy taste of fruits from the tiny bits that had escaped during double straining of the juice

Off Shores

Mix and blend........ 

5-6 coriander leaves

8-10 mint leaves

6-8 drops Worcestershire sauce

2-3 drops tobacco

60ml guava juice

Pinch of salt

3 scoops of ice cubes.

This tasted like panipuri, sweet, sour and spicy

Many people asked different recipes for various drinks and Ameya patiently shared his recipes. My cousin had tipped me to ask the recipe of Pinacloda

And he obliged

Mix and blend........

Pineapple juice 120ml

Fresh cream 30ml

Coconut cream 30ml

Vanilla rum 30ml

White rum 60ml

image source

But looking at the ingredients I agree its High-CalAlcoholic Beverage to Avoid

Potluck Party to Celebrate Terra Madre Day

People in Kenya revived the tradition of cooking in the earthenware pots, People in Istanbul gathered to discuss the importance of wheat as ‘Our wheat, our history’ Some people had honey festival, some people celebrated with workshops, art and discussion on seed and garden food, all the food-conscious people who wanted to revive the age-old tradition were celebrating around the world, a day called Terra Madre day. 

The worldwide Terra Madre network is working to create an alternative model of food production and consumption, in line with Slow Food's philosophy of good, clean and fair, good for our palate, clean for humans, animals and the environment, and fair for producers and consumers. 

10th December was Terra Madre day and it was going to be celebrated in my town, in Mumbai too.

A group of Mumbai food bloggers would cook traditional regional dish and enjoy the potluck party at one of the bloggers’ terrace. Rushina, our mentor brought all the food blogger together to celebrate this day. Nikhil Merchant was kind enough to do us the honor of sharing his terrace as a perfect venue to celebrate this event. The theme for this potluck was unusual traditional dishes from regional cuisines of India.

At 8pm, I arrived at Nikhil’s terrace to enjoy the potluck party. It was a full moon night and food bloggers had gathered in smaller groups, some sitting on a swing, some around the pool table, some near the drinks bar and some closer to the serving tables to enjoy their multiple visits for each serving, all enjoying the food and clicking their best shots. Everybody was excited sharing their dish, talking about its history and food culture associated with that particular cuisine. It was interesting to listen to other food blogger relating their story and some were happy to share their recipe too.

 I had brought with me the traditional mutton dish. It is the spicy dish cooked in cardamom and black pepper.

This is the traditional Sindhi dish and has been relished since Sindh days, when my family lived in Pakisthan, before the 1947 partition days. Mutton is stir fried in ghee with black pepper and cardamom till it is properly coated with the ingredients. Spinach, tomatoes, green chilies, ginger, coriander powder and salt is added and it is allowed to cook till all the juice dries up. It is then mixed and stirred till the oil begins to float. One cup of water is added and it is allowed to simmer till it is tender. Chopped coriander leaves, black pepper and lime juice is added before serving. This is a very healthy dish and tastes good when served with a buttered Bhakri roti

Talking about food makes one more hungry, and I shifted my gaze towards the drinks station, some were enjoying varied combinations of the drinks I am not familiar with. I stuck to my usual fresh juice.

 Finger food is what I am fond of and most of the parties that I attend; I normally have my fill on snacks.

 There was a huge variety of main dishes, just spoonful of each was not doing justice to the food, but since that was the only way that I would be able to taste all the dishes, I tasted as many dishes as I could.

 I am not a desert person; therefore, at desert station it was just tiny-viny bits to taste the flavor.

 The best part of this event was the take-away goodies which were on and under the Christmas tree. The cookies and goodies hung on the tree, sauces, masalas and sweets packed in beautiful packets surrounded the tree.

 I met some interesting people, made new friends and came back with happy memories of the event spent with like-minded people.