Verve celebrates with crackers and chessboards

Royal Game Shahi Mohre

Platters, full of mouth-watering mithais - as much a photographer's as a connoisseur's delight - and fireworks creating colourful mayhem, herald the onset of festive merry-making. With dollops of sugar and lots of ingenuity, you can rustle up sweetmeats in stylised combinations.

Perfectly shaped laddoos, creatively contoured barfis, juicy jalebis flavoured with rich dry fruits, are sure-fire temptations that seduce even the hard core diet-driven.

Noted singer and theatre personality, Ila Arun says,

"When it comes to Indian festivals, I swear only by Indian sweets. I like Western desserts like chocolates and mousses but with our celebrations, you cannot have anything which is not homespun. Our sweets, cooked in pure ghee, tend to be fattening but, on certain occasions, I let myself freak out - imarti, rabdi, petha, kala kand…the works."

Orange Shrikhand Parfait

Semi-frozen orange, cardomom flavoured creamy yoghurt parfait with saffron, orange chocolate mikado and a royal berry ribbon.

Ingredients:

Shrikhand, 350 gms; Egg yolk, 6 units; Castor sugar, 80 gms; Candied orange rind, 20 gms; Cream (whipped with little sugar until firm), 350 gms; Cardamom powder, 1 pinch; Saffron threads, 1 pinch; Cointreau (orange liqueur), 40 ml.

Method:

Bring water to simmer in a saucepan. With an electric hand mixer or whisk, beat shortly the egg yolk, castor sugar, Cointreau and cardamom powder in a mixing-bowl. Place the mixing-bowl over the simmering water, whisk until the mixture becomes foamy and stiff. Remove from heat and whisk until the mixture reaches room temperature. Add the orange rind and the saffron threads. With a spoon, fold in the shrikhand and the whipped cream.

Fill the moulds with the mixture and refrigerate for approximately ten hrs. Before serving, remove the parfait from the moulds onto a platter and let it soften at room temperature for five minutes. Serve chilled with berry sauce.

Royal Game Shahi Mohre

Assorted cashew and almond barfi placed on a chocolate chessboard.

Ingredients for the cashew and almond barfi:

Almonds (blanched and peeled), 125 gms; Cashew nuts, 125 gms; Castor sugar, 180 gms; Almond essence, 1 drop; vanilla essence, 1 drop; Dark chocolate powder, 5-10 gms.
Ingredients for the chocolate chessboard:

Grenada chocolate wafers (dark and white), 80 gms each.

Method for the barfi:

Remove the residual skin peel and simmer cashew nuts and almonds for approximately 20 minutes in water. Leave to cool. Once cold, strain and dry the nuts by wrapping in a kitchen towel. Grind the almonds and cashew nuts into a fine paste without separating the almond oil from the paste. Add the sugar and almond essence to the paste. Place the mixture in a kadhai and simmer over low heat while continuously stirring, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the paste has reached a thick, smooth consistency.

Set aside till completely cool. Dust a clean working table (marble is ideal) with icing sugar. Split the paste into two parts and add a drop of vanilla flavour for the white figures. Shape the almond paste into artistic figures by hand. For the dark figures, work some dark chocolate powder under the paste.

Method for the chocolate chessboard:

With the white and dark Grenada chocolate wafers, prepare a chessboard and place it on a platter. Place the figures on the chessboard and decorate.

Sona Ki Barfi

24 karat diamond barfi with crystallised rose petals and chilli threads placed on an almond and pistachio cream mille feuille.

Ingredients for the barfi:

Almonds (blanched and peeled), 250 gms; Castor sugar, 180 gms; Almond essence, 1 drop; Lemon skin (washed and grated), 1 pc; 24 karat gold leaves, for coating.

Method:

Let the blanched and peeled almonds simmer for approximately 20 minutes in water. Remove from fire and let the almonds cool. Strain and dry the almonds in a kitchen towel. Grind the almonds into a fine paste, without separating the almond oil from the paste. Add the sugar, almond essence and lemon rind to the paste. In a kadhai, let the mixture simmer over slow heat, while continuously stirring, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the paste has reached a thick, smooth consistency. Set the paste aside, cover with a kitchen towel until completely cool. Dust a clean working table (marble is ideal) with icing sugar and roll out the paste into a 1/2 cm thickness.

Ingredients for the almond tuile:

Sugar icing, 200 gms; Refined flour, 50 gms; Orange juice, 70 ml; Orange zest, 5 gms; Almond flakes, 75 gms; Butter (melted), 70 gms.

Method:

Mix all ingredients together and let the mixture rest for one hour. Place a non-stick paper on a baking sheet and spread out the mixture thinly on the paper in an even layer. Bake at 180° C for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Cut the tuiles into shape and set aside for cooling in a dry area to keep them crisp.

Ingredients for the pistachio cream:

Castor sugar, 20 gms; Whipped cream, 50 gms; Pistachios (blanched, peeled and finely chopped), 70 ml.

Method:

Fold the sugar and the pistachios into the whipped cream. Refrigerate until use. Then place different layers of cream between the almond tuiles.

Place all the ingredients on a platter and decorate with a caramel sheet, one crystallised orchid and crystallised chilli julienne. Serve at room temperature.

Khoobani Ka Meetha

Hyderabadi apricot and dry fruit dessert with semi-whipped cream fraiche and imperial jalebi swirls.

Ingredients:

Apricots (dried), 280 gms; Castor sugar, 200 gms; Almonds (sliced), 40 gms; Water, 1/2 ltr.

Method:

Soak the apricots in boiling water for approximately 11/2 hours. Remove the apricots from water and set aside. Add the sugar to the same water, let it simmer till the sweetened water turns into a thick syrup. Add the de-seeded apricots to the syrup and let the mixture simmer for half an hour more. Add the sliced almonds to the stewed apricots, simmer for a few more minutes. Set aside for cooling.
Place the khoobani ka meetha on a platter and garnish with semi-whipped non-sweetened cream, dry fruits, saffron threads, jalebis….