Sweet somethings

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Diwali gift hampers from The Oberoi Patisserie & Delicatessen

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It’s again that time of the year when people, even those with major sweet tooth, start refraining from sweets as they dread the sight of mithais and much-done chocolate boxes. Although the festival of Diwali is most eagerly awaited in the city, the deluge of calorie-ladden sweets is not that enticing anymore for most youngsters.

Seems the hot hubs in Delhi quite understand this dilemma. Many of them have come up with some innovative Diwali gifting options that are far better replacements for them.
Choko la has come up with a Diwali collection that comprises firecracker-themed chocolates. Packaged in retro styled boxes, their mock firecrackers come in four variations — choko sparkles, chocolate sparklers made with pretzel sticks and dark chocolate; choko blast, dark chocolate fudge enrobed in dark chocolate; rocket rose, dark chocolate roses and choko anaar (traditional Indian shape of flowerpot filled with rice crispies moulded in dark chocolates).
Talking about the new innovation, Ravi Pahuja from Choko la says idea was to highlight the spirit of Diwali. “The idea was to create a fun way to capture the essence of Diwali without using real fire crackers. The mock fire cracker designs are the USP,” says Ravi.
The Oberoi Patisserie & Delicatessen, known for its bakery items, has introduced a special luxury range of packaging, which can be easily customised for Diwali. “Our chef had been to France recently and came back with some amazing range of cookies, cakes, macaroons and homemade products. We have included them in our Diwali hampers and then we package it according to the customers’ requirement. These are some luxury options,” says Deepica Sarma on behalf of the Oberoi.
Rushma Sud of Dessert Carte has introduced liquor shots for Diwali. “Diwali is also about parties and cocktails. I thought if people begin their party with liquor then why not end with them. So, I created this new dessert based on liquor. I made a 30ml shot, blended them with homemade sponge, used a lot of fruits and flavours and came up with these unique dessert shots. They come in flavours like pina colada, tiramisu, Bloody Mary and apple pie shots. Plus, they are an ideal gift option if you want to skip those chocolates and mithais. Just that they need to be refrigerated and should reach the person in an hour,” says Rushma.
So just grab any of the special hampers and stay blissful this Diwali!

RASMALAI
Although we are all looking forward to modern reinditions of mithai this festive season, nothing beats the traditional thandi rasmalai. We share with you the recipe for the same.
Ingredients
250 gm chhena
500 gm sugar
5 gm pistachios, blanched and slivered
550 ml water
50 ml ritha water

For sweetened milk
1 and a half litres milk
80 gm sugar
1 gm saffron

Method
Mash the chhena and make small balls. Flatten them with your palms and set aside.
Dissolve sugar and water to make sugar syrup. Reserve half of the sugar syrup and set aside in a container. In the remaining sugar syrup, add ritha water and place it on fire.
Poach the chhena dumplings in the sugar syrup for about 8 minutes.
Once the dumplings puff up, strain and soak them in the sugar syrup that has been reserved earlier. Place it in a chiller and refrigerate.
Separately, reduce the milk with sugar till it achieves a thick consistency. Place it in a refrigerator and cool.
Take out chhena dumplings that have been pre-soaked in syrup. Squeeze to drain out sugar syrup and drop them in the chilled sweetened milk.
Add to it saffron and garnish with pistachio slivers.
Recipe courtesy: Gaurav Tandon, executive chef, Taj Palace, New Delhi