Persimmon Chia Yogurt Verrines - From my Guest

Now, is that a co-incidence or the heights of my lethargy, I'm not sure. But the next post after my guest post is a guest post for me from a very special blogger friend of mine ;) :D Guess who is doing the first guest post for me?? Yeah, she is the creative food photographer, food stylist & the wonderful Meena from elephants and the coconut trees. I am a great fan of her lovely pics. She tells the story of the dish through her appealing & mouth watering pics, which make me crave for them right away. Her Unakka Chemmen Podi is a award winning recipe which has brought me great accolades at my home :) 

So Meena is one of my great blogger buddy who constantly encourages me with my posts & recipes :) When I asked her to do a guest post for me, she immediately accepted & presented with 3 wonderful recipes & pics to choose from. I actually wanted tell her to do all 3 for me :D but then my sis intervened & selected this dish :) To tell the truth, I am a great fan of persimmon a.k.a sharon fruit & it was with great delight that I seconded my sis's decision :) 

So now, over to Meena dear !!

Thank you so much Chitz for inviting me to your space.It is such an honor to do this guest post for you. I will never forget that you were one among the first to join my blog and encourage me all along.

Hello lovely readers,

I am Meena, who blogs at elephants and the coconut trees.I am from Kerala,India currently living in California, United States with my husband and tween. I am a complete foodie and enjoy all kinds of cuisines. 

I started cooking after marriage and it was never easy for me. Those days there was no Google to help either. I must say I have done so many experiments and the poor man of mine just gulped it down.Then came the daughter.. a very sweet girl but she could reject food like a Master Chef judge :) That being said times have improved. Non vegetarian,super spicy food and baked goodies just vanish in no time:) I started blogging to acquaint daughty with Kerala food and to keep track of everything else that happened in my kitchen.

Persimmon is a fruit looks like tomato but gives a faint taste and smell of mango.Unripe ones can be really astringent and bitter.So pick ones that give in to a press. Persimmon freeze very well and ones thawed it is really pulpy and tastes really sweet that I do not use any extra sweetener when I eat, not even honey. 

The quality of the verrines lie on the yogurt you use.I used whipping cream and made yogurt at home.It really gives a creamy texture and certainly enhances the taste. Persimmon Chia Yogurt Verrine is an ideal fall dessert to make in large batch.It can also be had as a breakfast on the go if you were to fill it in jar with tight lid .

Ingredients :

Fuyu Persimmon - 2 ( 1 per person)

Homemade yogurt from heavy whipping cream - 4 -5 tbsp( Really thick not sour)

Chia seed - 1 1/2 tbsp

Honey - 2 tsp

Method :

• Wash ,wipe and freeze ripe persimmon for 24 hours.
• Soak chia seeds in 1/2 glass water and let it stand for 1 hour to expand or overnight in fridge.
• When u are ready to assemble in the glass simply take out the frozen persimmon put it in warm water for a few minutes then cut off leave part and peel  the skin gently with potato peeler (u might have to hold the fruit with a paper towel or cloth as the fruit would be still cold).Cut into bite size pieces

To assemble 

• Arrange few pieces of fruit at the bottom of the glass then slowly put 2 tbsp of yogurt per glass then hold a spoon upside down on top of  the yogurt  and gently pour 2-3 tsp of chia seeds onto the back of the spoon.So the layers would not mix up .On top add add the remaining cut fruits.Serve chilled or at room temperature.
• Before serving drizzle some honey.

Thank you so much Chitz for giving me an opportunity to be your guest.Wish you all the best and hope you join Deepak soon.

And that was the very sweet lady from the land of 'coconuts & elephants' :) treating me & my dear readers will a fall dessert. Thank you so much Meena for doing this guest post for me.. I do miss Persimmons & you made me reminiscence of my indulgence of it :)

Cheers,
Chitz

Cheesecake - Baking Partner Challenge #9

Hello, my dear pals.. Hope u all had a wonderful Vishu or Tamil Puthandu or Pohela Boishakh or Gudi Padwa or Ugadhi. Yes, the names are very different. But they all mean the same and every one of them is celebrated in a very similar way with their own lil' twist & turn. Just like how we tweak our recipes to suit our individual taste buds or to incorporate the ingredients available at hand or locally !! So now that the festive mood is over, let's get back to business :D

Challenge of the month for the 'Baking Partners' group was Cheesecake.. U could have your pick from Japanese Cheesecake or Eggless Cheesecake or No Bake Fruit Cheesecake or the Perfect Cheesecake ;) Yup, you guessed it right, I went for the Perfect Cheesecake. Yea, you could say that the name fancied me, alright !! But the actual reason ,was the tiresome & grueling chore of shopping with a Norsk translator in hand and many a times some normal ingredients are exotic ingredients at this small beautiful village ;) So finally the Perfect Cheesecake seemed to fit into the profile..

But did it turn out to be actually perfect?? That's now an interesting question.. Coz, I don't know to judge this particular piece. I have not had cheesecake before. And certainly it did not appear similar to the pictures I have seen or from the source. I could feel a slight taste of the eggs & the sourness from the sour cream. And it was a litttttle dense too, not on the very fluffy side !! Having said all these, I must also admit that Deeps & I enjoyed having it. though it was a different taste from the normal cakes ;) So I don't know, is this a success or disaster or semi success story, you experts tell me :)

Recipe Source: Simply Recipes (in turn from Dorie Greenspan cookbook)

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Baking Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Idle Time: Overnight

Yields: 8-12 servings

I Used:

Crust
Digestive biscuits	-	1 cup / 8 nos (original recipe calls for Graham Cracker biscuits)
Sugar	-	1 tbsp
Salt	-	A pinch
Unsalted butter	-	35 gm (omit salt if using salted butter)
Filling
Cream cheese	-	450 gm
Granulated sugar	-	135 gm
Salt	-	a pinch
Vanilla Essence	-	1 tsp
Eggs	-	2 large
Sour cream	-	80 ml
Heavy whipping cream	-	80 ml
Topping
Sour cream	-	200 ml
Powdered sugar	-	20 gm
Vanilla Essence	-	1 tsp

The Way:

Prepare Springform pan

1. Prepare a 16*16 inch square of aluminum foil. Place the springform pan in the middle of the foil
2. Gently fold up the sides of the foil around the pan
3. No holes should be created in the foil as you do this as the presence of holes will allow water to get into the pan and ruin the crust. Press the foil around the edges of the pan
4. Place a second large square of foil underneath the pan and repeat gently folding up the sides of the foil around the pan and pressing the foil against the pan 
5. Gently crimp the top of the foil sheets around the top edge of the pan

Prepare Crust 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with the baking tray in the lower third of the oven
2. Blend the biscuits to a fine powder
3. Place in a wide bowl and mix in sugar and salt to it
4. Stir in the melted butter and mix well into the biscuit powder
5. Place this biscuit powder mix in the springform pan. Use your fingers to make an even layer at the bottom with a slight rise along the inside edge of the pan
6. Place this in oven for 10 minutes
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool
8. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degree F

Prepare Filling

1. Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature. Then beat on medium speed them till smooth, soft & creamy
2. Add sugar and beat for 4 minutes
3. Add salt & vanilla essence beating after each addition
4. Add eggs one at a time. Beat for a minute after each addition
5. Add sour cream, beat until incorporated
6. Add heavy cream, beat until incorporated
7. Pour this into the springform on top of the biscuit crust and smoothen the top with a spatula

Cook Cheesecake

1. Prepare 2 L of boiling water
2. Place the springform pan in the baking tray, Pour the boiling water into the baking tray to create a waterbath for the cheesecake
3. Water should reach halfway up the springform
4. Cook for 1.5 hours or until it turns slight golden on the top. In my case it took 1 hour and 15 minutes
5. Turn off the heat. Open the door of the oven 1 inch and allow the cake to cool for another 1 hour. This is to prevent the cheesecake surface from cracking
6. Cover the top of the cake with aluminium foil so that it doesn't touch the cake and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight

Prepare topping

1. Stir in the powdered sugar & vanilla essence into the sour cream
2. Unmould the cake form the springform and spread the topping over the cake. If interested you can top it up with a fruit coulis of your choice

Cheers,

Chitz