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food envy
'I love chicken biryani... but it's tricky to master': 5 recent meals from a home cook with Indian roots
Art director Sonica Baptist tells us about the dinners and decadent desserts she’s been making of late.
IN NEED OF some mealtime inspiration? Each week, we ask a home cook about the dishes they’ve been eating of late, from empty-fridge dinners to Sunday roasts.
This week we spoke to Sonica Baptist, art director by day and kitchen mastermind by night.
Sonica grew up in awe of her grandmother’s cooking, and after making the move to Ireland a few years ago, she began trying to recreate some of the Indian food from her family kitchen.
As well as testing out new cake recipes or photographing large quantities of rainbow sprinkles, Sonica does dedicate kitchen time to other varieties of food too. Here’s what she’s been cooking up of late…
1. Stuffed peppers with avocado and toast: ”My favourite meal of the day is breakfast. I make spiced scrambled eggs with onions and tomatoes or stuffed peppers, and have it with avocados and toasted bread. Having a good breakfast really helps you look at the rest of your day positively. If your tummy’s happy, then you are happy… and then everyone around you will be happy.”
2. Chicken biryani (that’s worth the extra effort): “This dish is one of my favourites but it’s quite tricky! Biryani involves layers of spiced rice and thick chicken gravy stacked over each other. The chicken is marinated overnight and slow cooked with the rice. To finish it off I garnish it with cilantro, fried onions, cashews and a drizzle of saffron milk.”
3. Rawa idli, an Indian speciality: “Rawa idlis are like steamed cakes made with a batter of semolina and yogurt. They are easy to make and can be put together in less than an hour. You generally have these with a side of sambhar (a kind of Indian vegetable stew) and coconut chutney. The beauty of this dish is that the batter is really versatile- you can add finely chopped vegetables, spices or really anything leftover in your kitchen to the batter before steaming.”
4. A tiramisu-mousse hybrid (my own creation): “When it comes to desserts, it’s just so hard for me to choose. I have two favourites – tiramisu and chocolate mousse. One afternoon when I was craving these two treats I combined my two favourite recipes which resulted in this rich, creamy, decadent dessert that I call tirami-mousse!”
5. And okay, just ONE cake: ”I absolutely LOVE baking and making sweet things. As a young girl, I grew up watching different cake shows on TV and was obsessed with the art and science behind baking. My mom and sister are home bakers themselves so just being around them always made me curious. My advice to anyone trying their hand at baking would be – research, try, fail, repeat and add a spoonful of patience always.”
More: ‘The pasta was to die for’ – 5 recent favourites from a Greek-born home cook in Dublin>
More: ‘It had about 20 cloves of garlic in it, so just enough’ – 5 favourite dishes from a home cook in Kildare>
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