Crêpes with Crème Fraîche & Nutella

Crêpes with Crème Fraîche & Nutella

Yes, I'm back! It’s been a long sabbatical but I couldn't stay away from the kitchen any longer. A while back I had posted the recipe for Crème Fraîche. If there was ever a marriage made in heaven, it’s the marriage of Crêpes with Crème Fraîche & Nutella. Oppppsss! That would not be a marriage that would be a threesome. But then, sometimes, three’s company in a wonderful, innocent, sweet kind of way and this is one time when it’s just that! There’s no other way to restart after a sabbatical than with something sweet, so here’s a recipe to sweeten your world. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1½ cup all purpose flour / maida

½ teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons powdered sugar
2 cups lukewarm milk

1/8^th teaspoon cardamom-nutmeg powder
2 eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons melted butter

1 teaspoon oil - per crêpe

Method: 

1. Beat the eggs lightly with vanilla essence.
2. Mix all purpose flour, baking powder, powdered sugar, cardamom-nutmeg powder.
3. Gradually add lukewarm milk to the flour mix to make a floury-slurry.
4. Add the eggs, into the slurry and beat well to incorporate into the flour-slurry.
5. Add the melted butter to the flour-slurry and give it a good mix.
6. Keep the batter aside, to rest at room temperature, for 30 minutes.
   
   
   
   
7. Heat a 10 inch non-stick pan on a medium flame.
8. Heat one teaspoon oil, give the flour-slurry a mix, add one medium-sized ladle of flour-slurry to the pan and immediately swivel the pan to even out the mixture into a thin crêpe.
9. Cook for about 45 seconds to a minute on medium flame, until the underside gets done. Flip and cook the other side for 30 to 45 seconds or till done.
10. Remove on a plate lined with butter paper.
    
    
    
    
11. Using 1 teaspoon oil per crêpe, repeat steps 8, 9 and 10 until all the batter is used up. (Always put a piece of butter paper between each crêpe to ensure they don’t stick to each other.) Serve with Nutella and Crème Fraîche.
    
    

Chef Notes:

1. These are sweet crêpes used for desserts. You can use them for various things like Crepes Suzette, or serve them with fruits and whipped cream, or serve it with chocolate sauce. You can fill the crêpes with a filling and serve with a sauce of your choice. You can use these beautiful, light crêpes, for dessert or breakfast, with various variations.
2. Adding a bit of cardamom-nutmeg powder is the typical Parsee-Bawa way of making crêpes. If you prefer to make them without cardamom-nutmeg powder, feel free to give the ingredient a miss.
3.  I have mentioned it in the recipe, but at the cost of sounding repetitive, please use a butter paper between each crêpe when you remove them from the non-stick pan. Crêpes stick to each other when stacked directly on top of each other and tend to tear when you try to separate them.
4. You can also use clarified butter instead of oil to make crêpes but they tend to feel a bit greasy in the mouth when they cool down hence I prefer to go with a regular light refined oil.
5. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   
   

Chinese Room… Memories of food - from an era gone by…

Chinese Room - Memories of food - from an era gone by…

My first visit to Chinese Room was at the one in Kemps Corner, Mumbai. I was barely three or four years old at the time. The restaurant holds special memories because, back then, every festive occasion included a visit to Chinese Room. 

I had also been to their Pune branch, at East Street, eons ago. I recently got an opportunity to visit this restaurant, twice. I missed out on writing the review when I visited the restaurant a few months back. I did not want to miss out on penning the review this time. I’m writing a combined review for both my visits to this restaurant. 

For my first visit, a few months ago, we had Sweet Corn Crab Soup, Manchow soup (or was it Hot & Sour?? Umm.. ummmmm.. Nope, cannot recollect.) Our mains were Chili Sesame Prawn, Sweet & Sour Prawns (for me), Sweet & Sour Pork (for my friends) and Chicken Fried Rice. My friends also ordered another pork dish, the name of which I (again) do not remember because I do not eat pork. The Sweet and Sour Prawns brought back wonderful memories because as a kid it was the only dish I would eat. Verdict for this meal: It was a very good lunch! Every dish was well made and none of us had any complaints. 

I revisited the restaurant a couple of days ago. This time, we opted for Sweet Corn Chicken Soup, Crispy Spinach with Chicken and Shanghai Prawns Dry. The soup was perfect, as were both the other dishes. The prawns were perfectly cooked! Not overcooked and rubbery. We wanted to share a dessert (Chocolate Mousse) but unfortunately, it wasn’t available.

This is a restaurant that serves good food. It is also value for money because the quantity is just as good as the quality. The servers are attentive and polite and at no time was my glass of water empty.  I give huge, huge brownie points for that. Will I visit them again?? Definitely! 

Food: 4/5

Service: 4/5

Ambience: 3/5 

5 Spice… Quite bland, actually!

This review is slightly delayed but, what the heck, better late than never. I was in Mumbai a couple of weeks back and headed to 5 Spice (Fort branch) for lunch with family. The first impression was ghastly because we were a tad early and the restaurant was not set up for service. My impression did not change even after the restaurant was set for service. Still ghastly! Ambience equals zero!

We began with soup and stuck to tried and tested soups. Sweet corn chicken and sweet corn crab were our choices. Both were good, no complaints there. For starters we opted for Steamed Chicken wontons. The filling was palatable but the covering was doughy and leathery. We also called for Black Pepper Prawns. They were cooked to perfection! They weren’t rubbery or chewy. Another starter we tried was Crispy Chicken. It was average in taste and did not blow me away at all.

We skipped the mains as I had to head back to Pune the same afternoon but we did share a dessert, Death by Chocolate. I’ll happily give it a 10/10.

The glass in which they served Fresh Lime water was sticky. *Urghh!* The waiters were utterly clueless in regard to recommending food and in general. When I requested for a knife to eat with, the waiter gave me a blank look. *Sigh!* When I mimed the act of cutting the prawns on my plate, he gives me a shocked look and said, ‘oh! chakku?’ I felt like I had asked him for a Rampuri knife to gut him but I politely said ‘yes’ and left it at that. *Double sigh!* The restaurant needs to be cleaner and that definitely goes for the washroom too.

We paid approx 1700-something for the meal, with a 100 buck tip. They did not deserve a 10-15% tip. Did not take any photographs of the restaurant or the food for this review for trust me, you aren't missing anything. 

Food: 5/10

Ambience: 2/10

Service: 2/10 (I’m being polite)