Friday, July 17, 2015

Rendezvous with Celebrity Chef Ranveer Brar

Rendezvous with Celebrity Chef Ranveer Brar

Meeting celebrity Chef RanVeer Brar of Masterchef fame was an excitement of another level. It was a meeting discussion, exploring some of his recipes and his valuable insights and tips. To see him cooking just in front of us was very exciting. Actually he does not look very photogenic on the TV or in photographs but in reality he is very handsome, lighter in complexion and looks much younger. On screen he appears to be somewhat rude and while talking he looks as he is chewing the words. Believe me it was fake on the show. I found him full of life, gentle, soft spoken, well behaved. He was aware of the fact as others that ladies talk too much but we kept calm while listening to him. During his cooking he showed some of the delectable blue berry dishes using fresh, succulent or dried blueberries. He demonstrated how to give a twist to typical Indian recipes by using blueberries.I am sharing with you all these mouth watering recipes.

It's me with Ranveer
GRILLED CHICKEN WITH SCALLION SPINACH & BLUEBERRY CHUTNEY
SERVES: 2 NO
COOKING TIME: 20 MINUTES
INGREDIENTS:
Chicken breast boneless halves 4 No
Fresh mint, chopped 2 tbsp
Fresh yogurt 2 tbsp
Fresh young ginger finely chopped 1 tbsp
Fresh thyme finely chopped 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper ½ tsp
Olive oil 1 tbsp
FOR SPINACH
Fresh baby spinach ½ bunch
Scallion, white and green part separately, chopped 4
Nigella seeds 1 tsp
Lemon zest, only yellow part ¼ tsp
Olive oil 1 teaspoon


FOR BLUEBERRY CHUTNEY
Fresh/ frozen/ dry blueberries 2 cups
(if it’s dry then soaked in water for 3 hrs)
Golden raisins 1/3 cup
Brown sugar 1/3 cup
Onion, chopped 1 medium
Cider vinegar/ white wine vinegar 3 tbsp
Fresh young ginger, peeled, grated 1 ½ tbsp
Worcestershire sauce ½ tbsp
Ground cinnamon ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Red chili flakes ½ tsp


GARNISH
Fresh tomato, quarter 1 no.
Salt to taste
Fresh black pepper sprinkle
Olive oil just to drizzle


METHOD:




Pre heat oven at 150 0C
Blueberry chutney: Heat olive oil in a heavy bottom sauce pan and sauté chopped onion and ginger until aroma comes out on medium flame. Add other ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes on medium low flame or until thick, stirring occasionally.
For chicken: Marinate chicken and olive oil, salt, thyme, mint, ginger and black pepper for 6-7 hours. Preferably overnight, keep into refrigerator. Heat a large grill pan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken 2 minutes on each side to seal its juices and then cook in preheated oven for IO to I2 minutes or until done.
For spinach: heat olive oil, sauté white part of onion and nigella seeds for minute on medium flame. Add spinach and sauté until it turns soft for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add green part of the scallion and lemon zest, stir and keep aside.
For garnish: Cut fresh tomato into quarter. Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle seasoning and grill on the same pan where chicken was cooked. Remove and keep aside.
In service plate arrange scallion spinach on top of it place chicken, pour blueberry chutney and garnish with grilled tomato quarter. Serve immediately.

BLUEBERRY WAFFLE WITH BLUEBERRY SRIKHAND

SERVES: 4 N0
PREPARATION TIME: 10 MINUTES
COOKING TIME: 7 - 10 MINUTES
FOR BLUEBERRY WAFFLE
INGREDIENTS:
Fresh / frozen blueberries 1 cup
Eggs 2 No
Baking powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar 1 tsp
Vanilla extract few drops
All-purpose flour 1 cup
Whole wheat flour 1 cup
Unsalted butter 4 tbsp
Buttermilk 2 cups


METHOD:

In large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk the buttermilk, egg yolks and butter, stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, fold into batter. Bake in a preheated waffle machine for 7 to 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove and serve immediately with blueberry srikhand.
FOR BLUEBERRY SRIKHAND
SERVES: 4 N0
PREPARATION TIME: 3 HOURS
COOKING TIME: 5 MINUTES
INGREDIENTS:
Fresh/ frozen blueberries 1 cup
Curd 1 kgs
Powdered sugar ¼ cups
Vanilla extracts few drops


FOR THE GARNISH
Fresh/ frozen blueberries ¼ cup
METHOD
Hang the curds in a muslin cloth in a cool place for approximately 3 hours until all the liquid (whey) has drained off. Mix together the hung curds, sugar, ¾ parts of blueberries in a bowl and churn using a hand blender. Now add remaining blueberries and fold into mixture evenly. Serve immediately.

BLUEBERRY PARFAIT
SERVES: 4 NO
PREPARATION TIME: 10 MINUTES
INGREDIENTS:
Fresh frozen blueberries
Greek/ plain yogurt chilled 2 cups
Mini dark chocolate chips (optional) 2 tbsp
Oat granola ½ cups
Walnuts, chopped 2 tbsp
Fresh mint leaves for garnish 10 -12


METHOD:


Arrange each spoonful of blueberries into each of parfait glass, then add spoonful of Greek yogurt, followed by oats granola and 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.
Add another layer of the berries, yogurt, chocolates, walnuts and granola to each glass, garnish with fresh mint leaves and some blueberries. Serve immediately.