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Recipe: A Bit Of Summer Cheer – Baked Yoghurt With Strawberry Compote

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As mentioned in my previous post, strawberry compote is a versatile topping that can be used on a wide range of desserts. After sharing the recipe for it, I was debating whether to prepare a cheesecake or a baked yoghurt using the same, as a suggestion for you in case you are exploring the compote’s usage too. I chose the latter. Summer is setting in in Chennai and a cooling yoghurt-based dish rather than a rich and heavy cheesecake just made sense. This baked yoghurt with strawberry compote, using seasonal strawberries, is ideal for the climate in every way.

We have recently had a number of celebrations in the family, and to be honest, given the quantity of sweet treats we have all been consuming, I have also begun to veer towards lighter desserts now.

Strawberries remain in season, and I want to make the most of them before we move towards mangoes. Already, I can see small fruits on my own trees as well as those around the city. The days are becoming longer and the heat is steadily rising. I have a feeling the mango harvests will be good this year, and look forward to them. But meanwhile, right now, strawberries continue to have my heart. Pairing them with yoghurt – an item that I relish perennially – makes for even more pleasure.

As I’ve mentioned in various posts, dairy products in general are considered sacred in Hindu traditions and used in rituals. Any form of dairy is enjoyed across India in general, as well. Come mango season, for example, a lot of buttermilk is going to be consumed across the country, as the coolant is used to counteract the heatiness of the fruit, as per Ayurvedic practices.

Yoghurt in particular is my personal favourite among the various dairy products, and the reason why I have not been able to go vegan even during periods when I have tried to adapt my diet as much as possible to those principles. I prepare it at home, and I have shared the method earlier too.

Yoghurt by itself is enough for me, but elevating this quintessential Indian component into a dessert that to me has both Continental and subcontinental influences was a very intriguing idea. I first enjoyed baked yoghurt at a popular café in Chennai. It was moist, soft and had just a hint of sweetness. The subtlety of the sweetness was what I found most attractive. Gujarati shrikhand and Bengali bhappa doi are similar in texture, but usually made much sweeter. To me the bhappa doi is one of the inspirations for my baked yoghurt. I don’t know much about the culture and cuisine, but my research also suggests that the two dishes are connected. Baking is not traditionally Indian, but I would venture a guess that baked yoghurt dishes on Indian menus may have evolved from bhappa doi.

While I grew up with shrikhand, on the other hand, I would have to say that I have come to prefer baked yoghurt to it. The minimal use of sugar is what creates the distinct advantage, in my view. Furthermore, by preparing strawberry compote or other toppings at home, I also get to control the sugar quantity for all aspects of the dish. If your strawberries are naturally sweet enough, you may not even have to add sugar to the compote at all.

That said, this baked yoghurt can be paired with a variety of other toppings too. Rose jam, mango purée or salted caramel are some wonderful options. The base itself is very versatile that way.

I began making baked yoghurt at home only recently, so I’m also excited about trying out new varieties. They are perfect for when you are entertaining guests, which is why I have suggested making them in individual portions below. Alternately, you can also prepare it in a large glass dish and spoon out the required portions.

Baked Yoghurt With Strawberry Compote
(Yield: 5-6 ramekins)

250 grams yoghurt
200 grams condensed milk (or less, if you prefer)
50 grams cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon rose water

Prepare a bain-marie by pouring water into a wide tray and placing it into the oven. Make sure that it has a tall lips or sides. You may want to check that the water will reach midway to the ramekins you will use. Preheat the oven to 160°C for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, add all the ingredients gently one by one.

Using a whisk, gently bring them all together until there are no lumps. Pour the prepared mixture into the ramekins equally. You will get 5 or 6 portions depending on their size.

Place the ramekins into the bain-marie, after checking that the water is hot, and bake. This should take approximately 15 minutes, depending on your oven. Bake only until the centre looks jiggly.

Remove the ramekins from both the oven and the tray. Allow the baked yoghurt to cool completely and then refrigerate.

Serve chilled, with a spoonful of strawberry compote or any other topping of your choice.

If you’d like to enjoy more strawberries or more yoghurt this summer, I have a selection of recipes on this blog that feature either ingredient. Don’t forget that the former will soon be out of season, but as I said earlier, here in the Indian subcontinent we have something equally or perhaps even more wonderful to look forward to: mangoes! I am still thinking up some recipes that will highlight this them year, but in the meanwhile, I hope you’ll explore my archives.

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Recipe: Sweetening The Summer – Strawberry Compote

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My husband’s most favourite dessert of all time is, hands down, strawberry compote. To be fair, a compote is not the dessert itself, only its special enhancement, but for him it can be the best part. Every time we travel to certain parts of the world, he looks for sweet treats that contain it. I decided that it was about time that I start preparing it at home too, and my trials turned out beautifully – and so, I believe, will yours.

While my spouse reaches out eagerly for interesting dishes while travelling, as for me I am often more interested in the process of how an item is prepared than in only consuming it. As a baker, I am very interested in what other people bake, and love exploring small local bakeries. These tend to be excellent, and I chat with the owner or the workers and taste the pastry they are most known for. Obviously, the bakers will never reveal their secrets, but I have a sensitive palate and can often deduce certain tricks and techniques that I then experiment with once I am back home. I like to figure out what ingredients may have been used, and what has made a treat particularly moist or rich, for instance. Of course, when one is in a holiday mood everything always feels just perfect and lovely. But I believe we can keep some of that good mood going by revisiting those memories through food we recreate back home.

I’ve eaten a great deal of strawberries because of my husband’s love for them, sharing so many treats that contain either a compote or the fresh fruit with him. While I can’t recall the first time I tasted compote, I certainly can tell you when the first time that I saw wild strawberries in a dessert was. It was during a trip to Rome a long time ago. We noticed strawberries and cream on the menu. Naturally, we ordered it. The wild strawberries were in season – fresh, small in size and simply bursting with flavour. This particular dessert became something that I would specifically request at certain cafés after this.

It can feel like strawberries are almost universal, because they seem to be available everywhere. However, that’s just a perception I have now, versus how it felt before. Strawberries were once considered an exotic fruit in India, at least while I was growing up. They were hard to grow and scarce in the market. I remember seeing them in photographs and wondering what they tasted like. Soon enough, hill stations and towns with conducive climates began to cultivate them in India too. Humans are resourceful that way, no? If the conditions are right, we can find a way to grow anything.

Back then, Bombay always had access to fancy fruits first, and set trends thereafter. My sister, a resident of that city, used to make a simple two-ingredient strawberry jam and send it to me, or hand-carry it on flights for me. I would use it as a compote over ice cream and desserts.

We now get strawberry harvests of very good quality here in Tamil Nadu as well. However, I still strongly feel that the best experience depends on the season, even if produce is available year-round. For instance, let’s take a less glamorous fruit: the watermelon, which has been a staple local produce for as long as I can remember. While I can procure it even during the monsoons, I do not. I know that it tastes best and offers the most benefits only during the summer, and that’s when I consume it.

Coming back to strawberries and to this compote, this is a very easy recipe and it will give you a jar of delight that you can use to add sweetness to anything. You can use either sugar or honey to prepare it, and the best part of it being homemade is that you can control the amount you use. I prefer mine lightly sweetened with a larger ratio of fruit to sugar, so that I can enjoy bigger portions with less guilt. This is one of the reasons why I prefer to make jams and spreads at home in general, or get mine from friends who do so. The amount of sugar and preservatives that goes into those big tubs and jars in supermarkets concerns me.

Trust me, once you try this out, you’ll see that I have many reasons to make my own jams, spreads and compote! This strawberry compote is easy to make, versatile and just so delicious. It’s difficult, and unnecessary in my view, to go back to storebought items when the goodies made at home are so wonderful!

Strawberry Compote
(Yield: 2 cups / 1 jar)

2 cups chopped strawberries
4 tablespoons sugar or honey (adjust as per need)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
A pinch of salt
1 teaspoon chia seeds
5 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a pan, add the strawberries. Add sugar/honey and water and boil until the fruit begins to disintegrate and the mixture begins to thicken. At this stage, you can add more sugar/honey if required.

Now, add the chia seeds. Remove the pan from the flame and allow the mixture to cool and thicken more as it does.

Once it has cooled down completely, fill a jar and store in the refrigerator. You can keep this refrigerated for 2-3 weeks. It makes for a great topping on toast, ice cream and cheesecake. You can even make ice cream with it or add a dollop to yoghurt. In case you’re in need of ideas, the next recipe I will share will be a dessert that uses this strawberry compote, so do keep an eye out for it!

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Recipe: Berry Delicious – Strawberry Smoothie

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Strawberries are in season right now, and are easily available at my regular grocery outlets, and I know this is true for many Indian cities. I love tossing a few of these sweet fruits into the blender, along with a fantastic mix of healthy ingredients, to whip up a smoothie in no time. I’m not a great fan of green smoothies, especially ones which involve raw spinach! While I know they are good for us, I have had an aversion to them ever since I once fell sick after having one. It’s interesting how memory and food are so strongly correlated. Our experience of food becomes a memory, and informs our next experience of the same item. But this fun, fruity smoothie is only a repository of goodness for me.

I highly recommend smoothies if you are currently going carb-free or observing a thoughtful diet. They pack a lot of nutrition into a single glass and are very filling. There comes a point when one realises the value of eating healthy and age-appropriately. This is especially important for women who undergo many physiological changes with age. Chia seeds and flax seeds are two ingredients which are particularly beneficial for us, lowering the risks of certain cancers, balancing the hormones and providing nutrition that addresses post-menopausal needs. You can sprinkle these onto salads or lightly onto various dishes, incorporating them into daily meals. I am also keen on innovative ways that centre them as major ingredients. You may remember my take on the trendy chia seed pudding here.

As with my recent stir-fry recipe and so many others that have been shared on this blog over the years, this smoothie recipe is highly adaptable based on personal tastes and dietary needs. For example, my son likes an addition of protein powder in his smoothies. I personally not only hate the taste but am against such chemical supplements, so you’ll never find the same in mine. When I find that I’m in need of a protein boost, I head for these overnight oats or a similar recipe. The use of natural ingredients is important to me, and I don’t like to compromise on this.

This smoothie is based on flaxseed meal and chia seeds, with an eclectic and ever-changing mix of other ingredients. I prepare it through the year, so while strawberry is my current star, I will substitute the base fruit depending on what is seasonal. What’s fresh and being harvested right now matters, as well as what I used to call my mood or state of mind, but which I now recognise as something deeper. I’ve come to understand that what we think of as cravings can sometimes be needs. When your body is asking for a dish, it is sometimes because of the need for a specific ingredient, and its positive effects. The healing or nourishing benefits of that ingredient may be what my body requires each time I feel an urge for a particular taste. We must learn how to listen to our bodies well so that we can identify the underlying need and address it. This means that I may add a bit of turmeric or ginger to my smoothie on certain days, because there’s an extra boost my body is asking for.

My craving for this smoothie itself sometimes reflects my body’s desire for sugar, and I find that this is one of the healthier ways to meet it – through fruits. It’s a great appetite-sater between meals. Nowadays, I often have it for breakfast, or in the evenings if I’ve eaten a complete meal in the morning instead.

As I said earlier, there’s presently an abundance of strawberries in hill stations all over India, and they are plentiful in our urban supermarkets. I believe strawberries are the easiest berry variety to grow in our climes, and they must be a newer crop as they don’t form a major part of my memories of school holiday summers in Ooty. My most cherished memories of strawberries are from trips abroad. It was wonderful to relive my childhood experience of going strawberry-picking with my aunt in America with my own kids. We ate until we were sick of strawberries, if there could even be such a thing!

That reminds me also of a long-ago visit to Italy. Somewhere just outside of Rome, I came upon a place where wild strawberries grew lushly. They were marble-sized, as small as raspberries. I learnt very little about them except that they had a very short growing season, and that they tasted sublime served with whipped cream. They also looked so beautiful that I don’t think I’d blend them into a smoothie even if you gave me a basket of them today. Their incredible flavour was meant to be relished whole. Fortunately for us here in India, strawberry crops of a good quality that are perfect for smoothies are now easily available.

Still, they carry an air of exoticness to me, and it’s never stopped being amazing to me that in some places, sweet strawberries grow the way that mangoes and bananas grow in our own backyards. We don’t care if they fall to the ground or become pulp, if monkeys steal them and just leave their skins, or if they just go to waste. The reverse must be true for those in countries where strawberries run wild, who would be alarmed that we take our own abundant tropical fruits for granted!

 

Strawberry Smoothie

(Yield: 1 glass)

 

3-4 strawberries

½ cup pomegranate arils

1 cup orange juice

1 amla (gooseberry)

1 teaspoon flax seed powder / flax seed meal

1 teaspoon chia seeds

4-5 almonds

Water as required

 

Put all the ingredients into a blender. Add water, either at room temperature or cold/iced, depending on your preference. You may also add mint leaves, as I do sometimes, if you want to enjoy that flavour.

Blend well and serve. That’s really the entire method! The beautiful simplicity of smoothies is part of what lets you be creative with the ingredients. In my home, the components change daily. A seasonal fruit, however, is always the base and the key.

Although some people add nuts directly into their smoothies, I often have a handful of whole ones alongside my drink instead. Walnuts and almonds are my favourites. Together, they form a light but nourishing meal.

You’ll find this strawberry smoothie highly flavourful and filling. It definitely falls into that “how can something so tasty be so good for you?” category! The convenience of putting it together, as well as how quickly you can consume it during a busy day, are also attractive points that make it a dish that’s well worth incorporating into your lifestyle. I’d love to know if you try it out!

 

 

 

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