Indian Style Cappuccino

Blogging Marathon# 31: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking BM# 31 Themes - Member's Choice/ Coffee Variations
Dish: Indian Style Cappuccino

I didn't plan to make Cappuccino for today's post. I'm not a big fan of coffee, even though I enjoy  an occasional latte or mocha from Starbucks. I don't like the bitterness that is associated with coffee and I end up adding whole lot of sugar. To avoid the unnecessary sugar intake, I pass on coffee and only indulge in it once in a while. 

I attended 'Vegan Donut' making class in ICE, New York yesterday and it was so much fun to working with the dough and making different flavored cake & raised donuts. Our instructor was Adam Sobel of the famous Vegan & Organic food truck Cinnamon Snail. He was informative, funny and very enthusiastic to teach the techniques and tips of vegan donut making. I came back home with a box full of goodies.

Coming back to today's post, I was planning on making quiche or pretzels from this month's Member choice list. If I remember right, I probably added them to the list because both of these are on my to-make list for almost forever. I was procrastinating and finally didn't find time to make either one. I also had some donuts left over and I thought making some of Coffee variations would give us something to drink with our yummy donuts.

I thought I picked the easiest one of the list, but this Indian style cappuccino definitely proved me wrong :-) With all the whisking that is involved, your hand will agree that this not an easy recipe to make. But since I was eating donuts with coffee, I kept telling myself that this is the pre-exercise for enjoying them afterwards. The trick in getting this coffee right depends on the batter preparation -- incorporation of air by constant whisking, which takes a good 10 minutes by hand. The end result is quite satisfying -- creamy, frothy and perfectly sweet for my liking. 

Recipe from Entice with Spice by Shubra Ramineni.

Ingredients: Serves 2

For Cappuccino Batter:

Instant Coffee Granules - 2tsp (I use Nestle Taster's Choice)

Sugar - 4tsp

Water - 2tsp

For Cappuccino:

Milk, 1% fat - 2cups (If using whole milk, take 1 cup milk and 1 cup water)

Method:

• Make Cappuccino Batter: In a small bowl combine coffee granules, sugar and ½tsp of water. Mix well with a spoon for 2 minutes. In the beginning, it will have a very coarse texture.
• Add ½tsp of water and beat for another 2 minutes until sugar starts to dissolve and the mixture starts to get smooth.
• Add another ½tsp of water and beat vigorously for 3 minutes. Mixture will start to get lighter in color and will get airy and frothy.
• Add the final ½tsp of water and beat vigorously for another 3 minutes. Now the mixture will have a pudding-like consistency and will be light brown in color. This batter can be used right away or refrigerated for up to 3 days.
• To make Cappuccino: Heat milk (or a combination of milk and water) in a small saucepan until boiling. Stir when it gets to boiling stage and turn off the stove.
• Divide the cappuccino batter equally between the two cups. Add 2tbsp milk in each cup and mix well.
• Pour the remainder of the boiled milk evenly into each cup from at least 6" above the cup to allow the froth to form. Serve right away. 

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 31.