It’s getting colder each day, but winter brings with it many good things. One of them happens to be oranges
Orange chocolate cake (By Chef Shashi, The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace)
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Ingredients
- 225 gm dark chocolate
- Zest of one orange
- 225 gm melted butter
- 4 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 90 gm flour
- 90 gm sugar
- A dash of orange essence or a little orange juice
Method: Melt the dark chocolate and butter together in a double boiler. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar. Mix the chocolate and butter mixture into egg mixture. Add orange zest, orange juice or essence and fold in the flour. Pour the mixture in a greased bowl and bake at 180°C for 25 minutes. You can decorate the cake with a few orange segments and icing and also make a two-layered cake.
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Citrus chicken salad (By Chef Saurav, Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre)
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Ingredients
- 30 ml fresh orange juice
- 100 gm mixed lettuce
- 50 gm fresh orange segments
- 20 gm red onions
- 4 kalamata olives
- 4 manzanillo olives
- 10 gm Greek feta cheese
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper
- Coriander leaves
- 5 cherry tomatoes
- 50 gm chicken
- 1 pod of garlic
- A few cloves
- 50 ml olive oil
- 5 gm Dijon mustard
- Thyme leaves
- A few peppercorns
Method: Marinate the chicken with the crushed garlic clove, peppercorn, salt, olive oil and thyme. Grill on a hot plate and let it cool down.
For Orange vinaigrette: Whisk orange juice, salt, pepper and Dijon mustard together and emulsify by adding olive oil steadily.
Assembling: In a mixing bowl, add hand shred lettuce, finely sliced onions, olives and dress well with orange vinaigrette. Arrange it in a plate, add chicken breast and garnish with halved cherry tomatoes, feta, orange segments and coriander sprigs.
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Orange cauliflower (By Prashanthi, food blogger, yummilyyours.com)
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Ingredients
- ½ cup fresh orange juice
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 1 medium-sized cauliflower broken into florets (approximately. 3 cups)
- ½ cup diced bell peppers (mixed colors)
- 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ to ½ cup water (to make a batter)
- Oil for frying + 1 tbsp
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ cup vegetable broth
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp Sriracha (or any other red chili paste/sauce)
- ¼ tsp crushed black pepper
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp green onion, thinly sliced
Method: In a pan, heat half tbsp oil and add the peppers. Sauté until they turn golden. Set aside once done. Mix cornstarch and all-purpose flour with a pinch of salt and water to make a thick batter. The batter should be thick enough to coat the cauliflower florets evenly. Meanwhile, heat oil for frying in a pan. Dip each cauliflower floret into the batter and add them into hot oil for frying. Once the florets turn crisp, place them on paper towels. To keep the florets crisp after frying, keep them warm in a pre-heated oven or re-fry them in hot oil for a minute before adding them into the sauce.
For the sauce: Heat ½ tbsp oil in the pan you roasted the peppers in. Add minced ginger and garlic. Sauté until they turn golden. Add the orange zest in. Add the broth, orange juice, Sriracha, soy sauce, sugar and mix well. Meanwhile, mix 2 tbsp of cornstarch with water to make a thin paste. Once the broth-orange mixture begins to boil, lower the heat. Add the crushed black pepper and salt (only if required). Add the cornstarch paste into the boiling mixture in a slow steady stream. Make sure you are constantly stirring the simmering mixture while adding the corn flour paste. Once the mixture thickens, toss in the fried cauliflower and the sautéed bell peppers. Mix well and increase the heat up a notch. Heat for a minute or two.
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