Drumrolls For the Winners Please

First up thank you folks for participating in the Sin-A-Mon Valentine contest, I got 43 entries in less than 24 hours and each one of the entries was brilliant… had a character to it, some were utterly romantic, some really whacky and some even naughty…

Me and my partner sat down yesterday night and went through them, and what a time we had imaging the whacky cupcake flavours ranging from aalo parantha with pickle to sambhar powder flavoured with spicy potato mash frosting to ring as cup cake toppers (awww) to lime and mint (I personally like this one)… there many amusing flavours that came to me in mail and folks I am going to actually try making some of them, yes yes I am that whacky

And after sitting on the responses for over an hour we decided to announce 4 winners instead of 3, as between these three folks we just couldn’t drop one

So drumrolls please folks… here are the names of the winners (in no particular order)

1. Rani

2. Jismy Jose

3. Nazeen Koonda-Masood

4. Sindhu Rao

And here is what they had to say

Jismy Jose

Whats the first thing that attracted you towards your partner?
The first thing that attracted me to him was his hair. He looks like a total schoolboy and would never ever be called a 30 year old. Also cause he is such a goof ball, but in the nice warm funny way =)
What according to you is the wackiest occasion to gift cupcakes?
The wackiest occasion to give a cupcake would be at a baby shower. Have a big cake and make replicas of the big cake into small cupcakes. It goes with the theme of the baby shower =)
What according to you is the most romantic thing to do with a cupcake?
The most romantic thing would be is to ask a girl out with cupcakes. Write an alphabet onto each cupcake, asking her out and you could also make the ring as a topper on the last cupcake

Nazeen Koonda-Masood

Whats the first thing that attracted you towards your partner? (go on don’t hesitate, I love to listen to funny things too ) – His extra messy hair and the fact that he was always late
What according to you is the wackiest occasion to gift cupcakes?- Its min happiness after you’ve dumped that Awful friend
What according to you is the most romantic thing to do with a cupcake? or if you are the kind who likes to be wacky whats is the wackiest flavour of cupcakes you can imagine?- I want a Alo paratha flavoured cupcake with a achar filling and mash potato icing!! the most romantic thing to do with a cupcake is to eat it!

 

Rani

. Done!
2. Was swept off my feet by his sexy butt that looked edible ( I swear!!) in the black trousers he wore!
3. whacky would be when a woman (could be me ) doesn’t get her ‘cup’ size and is frustrated (must be me!)
4. The whackiest flavor I can think of is this: say sambhar flavored cup cake for a south indian friend or a raajma stuffed/or dressing cupcake for a northie pal. Or vice-versa would be bad either! Imagine!!

Sindhu Rao (response by email)

Hiya Monika..Huge fan of ur page..wantin to taste those cute cup-cakes fr a long time now So here goes the answers

1. He was this really chubby,cute looking,black hair turned brown over days   ..I can really use the word Looking like a "Cup-cake",just waitin to get my hands on him * U promised u wudnt laugh* !

2. personally if it wer upto me..I’d make cupcakes frm B’days to everythin ! Wackiest fr me would be whenever and whenever I screw up and get someone mad at me..Just give them cupcakes and leave them at it :d

3. the ideal romantic thing fr me would be a room filled with all kinda flavours of cupcake ..like the possible flavour ever and to keep ‘em comin all day long

So the winners please mail me your phone nos/email ids at contact@sinamon.in I hope you enjoy the goodies

“Symbol of Edible Love” and a Valentine contest

This sunday I woke up to a very sweet news that SinAMon has been featured in Bangalore Mirror in an article on Cupcakes and Valentines… this is how the article starts

“There’s a gentleman in the city (whose name we cannot reveal because that would blow his cover) who is meticulously planning a Valentine’s Day gift for his partner: 18 cupcakes, each with a delicious creamy alphabet swirled on its face; you line them up and it would read – ‘I LOVE YOU **********(no, we can’t tell you his lady’s name either… for obvious reasons. But we can tell you this: it’s is a pretty long name). Baker Monika Manchanda of Sin-AMon is giving shape to this man’s new age symbol of love. “

*Read the full article here

Didn’t your heart go all awwww… so this valentine I am thinking of adding some edible love aka cupcakes to your life…  Its pretty simple, I will post some questions, you mail or tweet or me the replies or post them on the FB wall and the answers that I love the most win these gorgeous looking cupcakes

Champagne infused strawberry double chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting

or these

Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, love is in the air isnt it?

To take part in the contest

1. Like Sin-A-Mon’s FBPage 

2. Answer the following questions…

• Whats the first thing that attracted you towards your partner? (go on don’t hesitate, I love to listen to funny things too ) Or if you are single tell me about your first crush
• What according to you is the wackiest occasion to gift cupcakes?
• What according to you is the most romantic thing to do with a cupcake? or if you are the kind who likes to be wacky whats is the wackiest flavour of cupcakes you can imagine?

Go on answer these questions mail to me at contact@sinamon.in or post the answers at Sin-A-Mon’s FB Page or tweet them to me at @monikamanchanda

The contest is open to Bangalore residents, however if you are outside Bangalore and want to participate please do we would be happy to give you Sin-A-Mon Gift Vouchers which you can gift to your friends in turn

So get cracking  and send me the replies by EOD tomorrow

Bake With Me | Baking Workshop A Recap

And finally Sin-A-Mon takes another big step, a step towards the dreams getting fulfilled… Yes we held our first commercial baking workshop. I have been teaching baking for sometime now to friends and have been asked many a times from a lot of people to take proper workshop. Some part of me always wanted to do that and some part of me was a little afraid as we all are when starting something new, the excited nervousness that helps us push ourselves, the excited nervousness that helps us perform well. Atleast it does to me, if you have gone through it you know what I mean

So with this nervousness I posted the content and the registration details of the workshop and was super surprised to see it getting full in about a week and with that the pressure was back on me to perform to deliver what I had promised

So one fine Saturday morning I reached chaipatty early to get things ready for the workshop, set up my ovens, the mixers and the likes.. the participants the lovely girls who joined me in the workshop. Introductions were made and we realised that 5/7 girls are IT folks (surprise surprise he he)  and we started with the introduction of material, the oven, the instruments needed etc

And post this session when loads of doubts were clarified we moved on to the hands on part. I was very clear in my mind on two things when I designed this workshop that, one that I want everyone to have hands on experience with baking and hence get over their fear of baking. Gain more confidence and go home all full of happiness… two have recipes that work 100%

So all through I made sure people did the baking along with me or rather I taught them standing there how to do and they did it.  We made double chocolate muffins, choco chip cookies, Chelsea buns, cheese and pepper loaf and I loved how I was able to pass my love for bread baking… atleast two of the participants have already been experimenting with the dear ingredient yeast and that makes me a very happy teacher…

Here are the results of day 1

We started the day 2 a little early and made corn chilli muffins, bran & whole wheat muffins, savory cheese bites, pineapple upside down cake, apple crumble…

and after we baked it all we moved on to the frostings, whipped cream, chocolate ganache and buttercream to get over the fear of frosting

the yummy almost black forest cake we made yeah yeah almost black forest because I forgot the cherries and I have had my learnings which will be implemented in the next classes

Also made was some yummy cheesecake and apple crumble.. two of my favourite desserts

All in all I had a great time at the workshop, sharing what I know and baking with more fun girls… This is what some of the girls had to say about the workshop

Pallavi Puri says

“Monica’s classes are full of interaction, love for baking and enthusiasm. One shall for sure take away her infectious energy and smile. I loved every bit of the 2 day workshop and would love to be a part of similar workshops again. Thanks for the best weekend ever.”

Caroline says

“A relaxed, fun weekend with Monika who taught us the basics of baking in her enthusiastic exuberant style. She let us get hands on and coached us as we followed her recipes and turned some beautiful looking and tasting cakes, cookies and breads. I also came away with a lot of tips and tricks about baking that you usually only learn from experience. All in all, it was a lovely time and im really glad i went!”

Chitra Prasad says

“A fun weekend. understanding more about baking.. not just the theory alone.mixing,grating, kneading for breads, whipping cream (therapeutic ) and lots more. Thanks to Monika the “teacher/facilitator” and the lively set of new friends and a great setting in the form of Chaipatty . Overall a great experience”

Sunanda says

“It was the most wonderful weekend I’ve had in my entire life in Bangalore so far:)”

Shruti says

“I rarely venture into the kitchen, and hardly ever bake! So this was my first.. and Monika did not disappoint us. Read the full post here and also here

Thank you ladies for making the class special and good luck to u all for future baking experiments… and below is us the participants along with our lovely host at Chaipatty

For all pictures of the workshop check out the FB Album

For more information on baking workshops and registrations visit here : Bake With Me Workshop

Double Dhamaka | Weekday Cocktails

Who said cocktails are only for weekends… Me and N love having lighter cocktails on the weekday evenings,  helps us relax and bond and for days like these liquors like  Cointreau work beautifully

Those are  Cointreau Diabolic a cranberry and strawberry based cocktail & Cointreaupolitan a simple cranberry based one

Recipe -

Cointreau Diabolic

• 50 ml Cointreau
• 30 ml Cranberry Juice
• 20 ml lemon Juice
• 10 ml Strawberry Puree
• 2 drops of Tabasco

How I made it

• Mix in a shaker with ice.
• Pour into a Martini Glass

Recipe - Cointreaupolitan

• 50ml Cointreau
• 30ml Cranberry juice
• 20ml Lime juice

How I made it

• Mix in a shaker with ice.
• Pour into a Martini Glass

Say Cheers !!!

 

 

Muffin Monday | Crusty Cheese and Onion muffins

I love muffins and I love savory muffins even more There is something about them which is so warm and comforting. So when this week A sent a mail mentioning that we are baking Crusty Cheese and Onion muffins I knew I had to bake them along and I am glad I did these were loved by anyone in the house and made for an excellent Sunday breakfast. I did make a couple of changes though… made the savory more healthy by using whole wheat plus I didn’t have chive so I used fresh parsley instead

It was amazing how light the texture of muffins was inspite of the fact that mine had more whole wheat in them than atta. If you like savory muffins trust me this one is a must try

Recipe – Crusty Cheese and Onion Muffins

Servings – about 6 jumbo muffins

What I used

• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 20 grams butter
• 1 teaspoon water, approximately 
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium (150g) onion, halved and sliced
• 13/4 cups self raising flour ( I used 1 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 cup maida and 1 teaspoon baking powder)
• 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives ( I used a tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 11/4 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

How I made it

• Place the all purpose flour in a small bowl and rub in the butter, mix in just enough water to bind ingredients. Press dough into a ball, cover, freeze about 30 minutes or until firm
• Preheat the oven to 200C . Grease a 6 hole (3/4 cup deep) muffin tray. 
• Heat Oil in a frying pan, add onion, cook, stirring, until soft and lightly brown. Set aside to cool. 
• Sift self raising and extra flour into a large bowl, stir in half the onion, half the cheese and all of the chives, then egg, buttermilk and extra oil
• Spoon Mixture into prepared tray. Grate frozen dough into a small bowl, quickly mix in remaining onion and cheese. Sprinkle over muffins. 
• Bake muffins for about 25 minutes. Serve warm with chive butter ( I served them with garlic butter, my latest craze… its strange how I have come from a garlic hater to a garlic lover )

 Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week. 

A Big news with Margarita and Eggnog Muffins

A very happy new year to all my dear readers, hope 2012 is treating you well.  May it bring along with it loads of happiness, success and new beginnings too

I am starting the year with a desire to do something big, with a news which I am sharing with you of a humble starting which I some day hope will make it big too… So the news may be a little old to most now but was so busy in general that I realized I have that I missed posting the news on the blog that’s the starting point of it all, the blog that made me think that yes a career outside IT is indeed may be possible for me, that there is something beyond binary numbers that I can do well…  Yes we are talking about Sin-A-Mon going commercial with its offerings…

Well truly speaking it was the belief of my friends which made me take the first step and ofcourse the deal at chaipatty… when Chirag and me spoke about supplying the baked goodies to him, I wasn’t really sure which way it will go but the feedback and the acceptance there and the demand for more and more just made me a happy person, the confidence shot up and so did the desire to achieve more. I started the design for the website and opened it up for orders and did they start pouring in, more than I thought they will.. In about 2 months, I have delivered many orders which includes a almost 300 piece plum cake order for Wipro.

Any success is sweet and this to indeed is sweet success, though this is just a beginning and there is a long way to go before I sleep. So friends wish me luck and please do spread the word about Sin-A-Mon, for which I have lots of things in plan.. seasonal special flavours, baking workshops and more which I will keep announcing as and when it goes.

This is the website, do see and let me know the feedback too… http://sinamon.in , also if you haven’t liked the Sin-A-Mon FB page yet please do – http://facebook.com/sinamontales

And a celebration is never complete without some sweets and a toast and today I am bringing to you both a Margarita and some yummy egg nog muffins that we made for Xmas this year…

what I used

• 20 ml Cointreau
• 40 ml Tequila
• 10 ml lime juice
• some crushed ice if you like your drink chilled

How I made it

shake shake in a cocktail shaker and pour with sieve leaving behind the ice… cheers… to Sin-A-Mon

Now that we are done with the toast lets talk about something sweet, shall we… and with winters around (atleast in some part of the country, here in Bangalore sadly it already feels like summer sigh) eggnog muffins are the ideal way to start your day.  Perfect for breakfast or perfect for evening with tea in the evening… actually perfect for just about anytime…

when A of bakers street mailed me just before Xmas saying we’ll be making Eggnog muffins for Xmas, I made them the day she sent me I think however I was so busy with work that I just couldn’t get around posting it before the Monday post went up

I absolutely love eggnog as a drink too but somehow raw egg worries me a lot specially because I know Ojas is going to have it with us too though I still make it once every season atleast and try and have it without showing it to Ojas (also it has loads of rum to be give to child ;P) but these muffins seemed like a perfect solution to express my love for Eggnog

The recipe of the eggnog I make is very similar to this one  only I use rum instead of brandy since I am not too found of brandy… the bourbon remains if I have or its gets replaced by any good whisky I have

for the muffin recipe I just followed the same recipe just added dried black currants to the crumble top (copying it here for easier access)

EggNog Muffins

Source: From King Arthur Flour

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• Batter
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) butter
• 3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon eggnog flavor or 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) eggnog or half and half
• Topping
• 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
• 1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon eggnog flavor, optional
• 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter, melted

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper or silicone muffin cups, and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar till smooth. Add the eggs, beating for several minutes and scraping the bowl, till the mixture is smooth and light colored. Beat in the baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and eggnog flavor or vanilla.
3. Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the eggnog or half and half, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.
4. Stir together all of the topping ingredients JUST till crumbly. Stir gently, and don’t overmix; you don’t want to turn this crumbly topping into a solid mass. Sprinkle the topping over the muffins.
5. Bake the muffins for 20 minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and serve warm, or at room temperature.

and wishing you all a very happy new year

Cosmopolitan–A cocktail for Your Saturday

Saturdays are times to do “Cheers”

Saturdays are times to celebrate

Saturdays are to have fun

Saturdays are times to bond over a drink

Saturday is when I get experimental with my cocktail mixing

Saturdays are when others drink what I make

Case in point this time Cosmopolitan – A Cointreau and vodka based cocktail both of which are my favourites in their own

What I used

• 50ml (1.6 fl oz) Vodka
• 25ml (0.8 fl oz) Cointreau
• 20ml (0.6 fl oz) Cranberry juice (I actually used bacardi breezer cranberry, yeah yeah I evil )
• 10ml (0.3 fl oz) Lime juice

How I made it

• simple shake shake shake everything together, strain it and say cheers

Tomato Rice–Comfort Food Series

Its time for Blog Hop wednesday and while I was browsing through the blog assigned to me for this week, I realised how we pick some recipes instantly and some just don’t even give it a chance. While I was thinking, my thoughts wandered away (hello don’t you say whats new now) to comfort food.. don’t we all have comfort foods, some foods we turn to when we are upset, some foods we turn to when we are happy, foods that give us comfort. Somewhere high up in the list of comfort food comes spicy tomato rice and raita for me but I realised I don’t have the recipe of that up on the blog, infact after I digged a little I realised I hardly have recipes of any of my comfort food up on the blog. So this will be the first post in comfort food series that hopefully I will be doing

So I tried the tomato rice version on Ammu;s blog for today for dinner and it turned out pretty yumm… a little strange but nonetheless yumm, strange because it nicely balances the mexican flavors of jalapenos and olive oil with indian masalas… I served it with the burnt garlic chutney and boondi raita and the combo turned out for a super simple but yet hurried veg meal, for a day when I don’t feel like doing anything elaborate and idea is to get something on the table fast and quick

Recipe – Tomato Rice (adapted from Ammu’s Kitchen)

What I used

• 2 Cups of cooked rice (I used basmati)
• 1 onions chopped
• 4 Garlic cloves finely chopped
• 1 green chillis sliced
• 1 tsp of chopped pickled jalapenos
• 2 Cups of tomatoes diced
• 2 Tsp cumin-coriander powder
• Cilantro for garnish 
• handful of mint leaves
• 1 Tsp olive oil
• 1 Tsp jeera
• Salt to taste
• pinch of turmeric

How I made it

• Heat a pan with oil add jeera to it. Fry till it browns a little.
• Add garlic and chillis. Fry them till garlic is turns a little brown.
• Add onion to pan and fry it till they turned transparent.
• Add a couple of mashed mint leaves and fry for one minute
• Add tomatoes along with salt and allow them to cook with a closed lid for about 5-6 minutes till they are soft and mushy
• Add the jalapenos at this stage along with other masalas… Mix tomato mixture carefully to rice without breaking it & garnish with cilantro and mint leaves
• Serve hot

For seeing what the other blog hoppers are cooking go here

Book Review – The Tulleho book of Cocktails

I am total cocktail person, love my weekend drink and love it even more in form of cocktails

when I saw ‘The Tulleho book of Cocktails’ up for review at blogadda I knew this a book for me, a book I would love to have. I am hoarder for cook books and recipe books anyways. I have about 3 books for cocktails and I don’t even want to count the number of recipe books I have.

The Tulleho book of Cocktails is a delightful read to an extent that its almost impossible not to feel trippy while reading it. The book starts with an introduction on various kinds of spirits and liquors (vodka, rum, whiskey is known to all but do we all know about Baileys, Cointreau, Kahlua) , must haves for a bar, the equipment. I had a certain level of comfort with cocktails but if you are someone whose only idea of cocktail till now is having one in a pub, this book is your answer. Its unassuming, starts from the basic. It teaches you what mixology actually is right from the beginning.

What I loved about the book was the categories and how it touches the Indian side of the cocktail market, Market Fresh which uses fresh ingredients from the market, Desi Dhamaka using local Indian ingredients so that the end drink has an indianness to it,  Old Boys club i.e the one which is there forever since the old boys time , Ladies Special well well, Dessert Cocktails oh I love these ones…the sweet after dinner mostly liqour based cocktails that very one serve the one of the road purpose and well ofcourse the herbs and spices if you are a spicy person

The book also has the Tulleho classics like Instant Karma, Anarkali and some other yummy names like Anartini, Nimbuz Fresh, names that make you drool and want to grab that glass ASAP.

The Tulleho book of Cocktails is a must have book on cocktails for any Indian home bar, a must have book for any aspiring or even expert Indian cocktail lover

Cocktail in the picture – Vasanth Neer

What I used

• Vodka 45 ml
• Lime Juice 15 ml
• Midori 15 ml
• Sugar Syrup 5 ml (actually I added only a couple of drops)
• Coconut Water 90 ml
• Ice to fill the glass or as much as you want
• Lemon slice or mint leaf to garnish

How I made it

• Shake all the ingredients apart from ice in a cocktail shaker and strain in the glass over ice
• Garnish with lemon and say cheers

I loved the freshness of the drink, the coconut water and lemon together makes it so refreshing. This one goes right in my comfort cocktails (yes there is something like that, don’t make a face )

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Cheese Stuffed Cutlet AKA Dahi Kabab

For this Blog Hop Wednesday (yeah I know I am late again sigh, I must do something about my time management skills soon) the blog assigned was the taleneted Priya’s Now Serving I spent a lot of delicious time on her blog before I zeroed in on the dish I wanted to make

So many dishes so little time, the world isn’t fair actually I surprisingly followed the recipe quite closely this time. The most major change I did was to replace the cream cheese she mentioned in the post with hung curd. I love the flavour of flavor of dahi in my kababs and also the fact that curd seemed healthier (and cheaper) option was an added advantage

Recipe – Cheese Stuffed Cutlet AKA Dahi Kabab (Adapted from Now Serving)

What I used

• 5 medium sized potatoes (boiled, peeled and mashed)
• 1 big red onion (chopped finely)
• 5-6 green chilies (finely chopped)
• ½ cup of fresh coriander leaves chopped
• Salt to taste
• dash of paprika powder
• 1/2 cup hung curd blended a little with generous amount of freshly crushed black pepper and salt
• ¼ cup each of rice flour and gram flour and a pinch of salt –make a dilute mix of these for dipping
• 1 brown bread slice grinded in the mixer
• Olive oil for shallow frying
• Fresh Veggies of choice for salad to be served along

How I made it

• Mix all the ingredients apart from hung curd, the dip and the oil together till they just bind together
• Heat olive oil in a flat pan. Meanwhile make a lemon sized ball in your palm and make a wide shallow dip in the middle, take a tsp of hung curd mixture and stuff it in the dip. Close the potato mixture around to close it fully and give it a desired shape
• Now dip the patty in the flour dilution
• Drop in the oil and shallow fry till done

Enjoy with the salad and sauce of choice

For seeing more Blog Hop Wednesday’s go here