INDIAN FUSION DESSERTS TO ENJOY ON INTERNATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY

It’s International Chocolate Day, and just another excuse for us to indulge in some chocolate goodness.

We’ve put together our favourite Indian Fusion Desserts that will leave your sweet tooth’s asking for more.

First up, we have a strange combination of Nutella and Coconut filled Samosas.

Samosas are a popular Indian snack, and are known everywhere around the world. They’re either fried or baked and are a savoury pastry shaped in a triangular form. They’re either filled with spicey veggies or have a meaty filling.

We’ve never came across a sweet filled samosa, but this recipe by The Petite Cook intrigued us.

Ingredients

• 8 Samosa sheets
• 4oz/ 120 gr homemade nutella, refrigerated
• 1 banana, sliced
• 4 tbsp desiccated coconut
• Spray oil, for baking
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour+ 2 tsp water, for the paste

To serve:

• Confectionery sugar
• Dark chocolate, melted

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400F/200C.
2. Fold the edge of a samosa sheet to form a small triangle. Spread a little flour paste over the edge and shape into a cone.
3. You’ll get a sort of pocket, fill it up with a generous teaspoon of Nutella, a slice of banana and sprinkle with coconut.
4. Fold the top sheet over the pocket to make the triangle.
5. Then finally spread some flour paste on the sheet edge and fold again to seal the samosa. If any of the angles is not sealed properly, just spread a little flour paste to secure it well.
6. Repeat the process with the remaining sheets.
7. Arrange the samosas on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and spray with a little oil.
8. Bake samosas for 15 mins or until golden and crisp, turning them half-way through cooking time.
9. Serve the samosas dusted with confectioner sugar, drizzled or dipped in melted chocolate. Enjoy!

Next up, we have Chilli Chocolate Mousse, that is sure to bring your taste buds back to life.

We think the combination of chillies and chocolates are great, and what do us Asian love more than chillies in our food? This recipe by Angus & Oink does not disappoint!

Ingredients

• 100g granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 30g butter
• 1 pinch of sea salt
• 200ml double cream
• 50g Angus & Oink chilli chocolate
• 50g dark chocolate
• 3 large eggs (yolk & white separated)

Method

1. Make the caramel by placing the sugar in a saucepan. Add 2 tbsp of cold water and dissolve the sugar over the head.
2. Bring to a slow simmer but do not stir as this will cause the sugar to crystallise.
3. When the syrup starts to colour round the edge, give the syrup a gently swirl around the pan as this will allow the caramel to cook through. Allow it to become a nice dark brown colour, but do not stir.
4. Once you have reached a nice colour, take the pan of the heat and stir in the butter and salt.
5. In a separate pan, bring the double cream up to boiling point and add this to the caramel, continue to stir until smooth, ensuring that all the caramel is dissolved in the warm cream.
6. Break up both bars of chocolate and add to the pan, mix it through until completely melted before adding the egg yolks, giving the mixture a good stir to incorporate everything together.
7. Finally, whisk up the egg whites in a clean bowl until they have formed firm but not stiff peaks.
8. Fold the egg whites gently through the chocolate before dividing into six serving dishes.
9. Refrigerate for 5 hours before serving.

 

Another Indian Fusion dessert we found is the Chocolate Rasmalai Terrine.

East meets West in this dessert, where the Rasmalai is wrapped in a chocolate mousse mix.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp agar agar or gelatine
• 1/4 cup sweet wine
• 1 tsp icing sugar
• 2 Tbsp double cream
• 100g chocolate
• 1 cup whipped cream
• 6 pieces Rasmalai
• Gold leaves and rose petals, to garnish

Method

1. Melt the chocolate and let it cool down a bit.
2. In a bowl mix gelatine, sweet wine, sugar, double cream.
3. Heat this mixture for a minute or two till the gelatine melts.
4. Mix the whipped cream with the chocolate. Add the agar mixture to it.
5. Take a rectangular elongated mould and line it olive oil with a pinch of icing sugar.
6. Place some chocolate mixture in it. Now place the Rasmalai slices over the chocolate mixture.
7. Cover the Rasmalai’s with the rest of the chocolate mixture.
8. Deep freeze this for at least three hours.
9. Slice and decorate with gold leaves and rose petals.

We also discovered the Chocolate Cinnamon Gujiya by Cook with Manali.

This Indian sweet is made during the festival of Holi. The sweet dumpling are filled with milk solids, nuts, chocolate chips and rolled with cinnamon sugar.

This is a treat that you should be snacking on today!

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons ghee, also known as clarified butter
• water, as needed to form a stiff dough.
• vegetable oil, for deep frying

For the Filling

• 1 cup crumbled khoya/mawa, also known as milk solids
• 1 teaspoon ghee, also known as clarified butter
• 3 tablespoons coconut powder
• 3-4 tablespoons chocolate chips
• 4 tablespoons chopped roasted nuts, i used a mix of cashews, pistachios and almonds
• 3-4 tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 2 tablespoons tutti frutti
• ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg powder

Sugar Syrup

• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• ¾ cup water

Cinnamon Sugar

• ¼ cup granulated white sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

Water-Flour Paste

• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

• ¼ Cup Chocolate Chips, Melted With 1 Teaspoon Coconut Oil, for garnishing
• Edible Silver Leaves, Also Known as Chandi Ka Vark – for garnishing

Method

1. In a bowl take 2 cups of all-purpose flour, also known as maida.
2. Add 4.5 tablespoons of ghee, and rub it with your fingers until it’s all mixed with the flour.
3. Add cold water, little by little to form a stiff dough. It’s totally fine if your dough doesn’t look smooth, it will be okay after the resting period. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.
4. While the dough is resting, make the filling. In a pan. HHeat 1 teaspoon of ghee, and then add crumbled khoya/mawa to it and sauté for a minute or two.
5. Add coconut powder and cook till fragrant, around 2-3 minutes. Remove pan from the  heat.
6. Add chopped nuts and mix. If you are using raw nuts, you would need to roast them in ghee before adding them to the mixture.
7. Now wait for 2-3 minutes and while the mixture is still little warm (but not extremely warm) add tutti frutti, nutmeg powder, chocolate chips and sugar and mix.
8. Since the mixture is still warm, the chocolate chips will melt a little and this is exactly what we want. Set aside.
9. Make the Gujiya
10. After 30 minutes, the dough would have rested and ready to be used. Take a small dough ball and roll it into a circle of around 4 inches.
11. Transfer the rolled dough on top of the gujiya mold. Apply flour-water paste on the edges of the mold [paste prepared by mixing 1 tablespoon flour with 2 tablespoons water]. Now place 2-3 teaspoons of the prepared filling inside. Do not overfill as the filling will come out in the oil.
12. Press the cold tightly to seal the gujiya.
13. Remove the excess dough and add it to the main dough ball again.
14. Keep rolling, filling and sealing the gujiya till all dough is finished. Keep the prepared chocolate gujiya covered with a cloth all the time.
15. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok on medium heat. Check if the oil is ready by dropping a small piece of dough in it. If the dough comes up gradually, then the oil is ready. If it comes up immediately your oil is too hot and you never fry gujiya in super-hot oil.
16. Fry the gujiya in batches till they turn light golden brown from both the sides.
17. Fry all the gujiyas and drain on a kitchen towel. Let them cool down.
18. Meanwhile in a bowl mix together ¼ cup sugar with 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder and set aside.
19. In another pan, heat water and sugar together. Let it come to a boil, and then let it boil for 3-4 minutes. We aren’t looking for any string consistency here, just let the syrup becomes little sticky.
20. Switch off the heat and drop the gujiyas into the warm syrup, just 1 minute on each side is enough.
21. Remove the gujiya from syrup and then roll them into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
22. Melt some chocolate chips with little coconut oil in a microwave.
23. Drizzle on top on the gujiya and decorate with chandi ka vark.

Lastly, we came across the White Chocolate Chai Spice Cake by Maurine Dashney.

Again, you can’t go wrong with white chocolate and the flavour of chai fused together, that will create a luxurious tasting spice cake.

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted*
• 1–2 TB ground Chai tea

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a larger bowl, beat the butter at a high speed, and gradually beat in the sugar. Then, slowly beat in the egg whites.
4. Now you will gradually be adding the dry mixture and the milk to the butter-sugar-egg mixture. To do this, alternate mixing in some of the dry mixture, followed by some milk, followed by some dry mixture… You get the picture. Do that until you’ve incorporated the dry mixture and the milk completely. Just don’t over-mix here.
5. Finish by incorporating the vanilla, white chocolate, and Chai.
6. If you’re making cupcakes, pour the batter into greased or lined cupcake wells until each is about 2/3 full and bake for 17 to 22 minutes. If you’re baking a cake, pour the batter into a greased 9″ round cake pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Rely on the toothpick test here for a perfect cooking time— a toothpick inserted into the middle should come out with some crumbs on it.
7. Coat with a buttercream frosting for a sheer taste of heaven.

By Amy Lehal