One of my favourite things to do is work with themes. When I made candles I did great themes like Hot stuff and Spice shots below.
Nowadays I like to take an ingredient, or a dish and roll with it, thats how most of my recipe features pan out. An ingredient catches my fancy; citrus, sprouts, nut oils even something like ugly veges or Baigan and I get obssesive. I will research them, try them the way they are used traditionally and then I get creative and design new recipes around them like this Kaffir lime and coconut soup I made after I found Kaffir Lime (my current obsession) at Nature's Basket. 
So when I began to consult with Amore Gourmet Gelato I popped up with idea of attempting a Modak Gelato Cake. Ganesh festival is incomplete without the naivedya of Ganesha’s favourite food the modaks but not the commercial Khoya ones out of molds, I wanted them to try something that would capture the flavours of the traditional home made Ukadiche modak (so named because the dough is cooked kneaded while it is still hot, a method that is called Ukad and it is this that gives the dish its distinctive flavor, texture and the name!) The innovative head chefs in Italy, Costanzo and Asher were days away from perfecting their 100% vegetarian Gelato cake, (which has become my choice of hostess gift to take along when I go anywhere because besides being delicious - particularly the Ferrero flavour - also has the advantage of being more healthy. It is mainly gelato with a low fat content and just a smidgen of cake to hold it together.
Nowadays I like to take an ingredient, or a dish and roll with it, thats how most of my recipe features pan out. An ingredient catches my fancy; citrus, sprouts, nut oils even something like ugly veges or Baigan and I get obssesive. I will research them, try them the way they are used traditionally and then I get creative and design new recipes around them like this Kaffir lime and coconut soup I made after I found Kaffir Lime (my current obsession) at Nature's Basket. 
So when I began to consult with Amore Gourmet Gelato I popped up with idea of attempting a Modak Gelato Cake. Ganesh festival is incomplete without the naivedya of Ganesha’s favourite food the modaks but not the commercial Khoya ones out of molds, I wanted them to try something that would capture the flavours of the traditional home made Ukadiche modak (so named because the dough is cooked kneaded while it is still hot, a method that is called Ukad and it is this that gives the dish its distinctive flavor, texture and the name!) The innovative head chefs in Italy, Costanzo and Asher were days away from perfecting their 100% vegetarian Gelato cake, (which has become my choice of hostess gift to take along when I go anywhere because besides being delicious - particularly the Ferrero flavour - also has the advantage of being more healthy. It is mainly gelato with a low fat content and just a smidgen of cake to hold it together. 
As luck would have it Chef Shyam Telang the guy behind all the fab gelato they serve up is Maharashtrian. He has grown up eating traditional Ukdiche Modak and was able to capture the flavours of the perfectly. Asif, his assistant added his creativity and the Modak gelato cake was born. It turned out so well that Amore decided to go ahead with it for this Ganesh Chaturathi! A bit of a mad rush ensued to get everything done in time, but its all come together perfectly as you can see. (Ganeshji must be smiling down on it).
I have been in the food business for six years now, I have had hundreds of articles in print, watched so many ideas come into being, successfully but I still get excited when an idea works, when my food shots are published and when my bylines appear after stories. It's these little things that motivate me, honestly! Do try the Modak Gelato cake and let me know what you think!
GYAN and Links....
AMORE'S MODAK CAKE IS AT A SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNTED PRICE OF 600 untill the 28 of Sept. Call 022 65208300 to place orders.
Otherwise Amore's Gelato cakes are priced at Rs. 800 and come in 4 flavours - Belgian Chocolate, Cookies and Cream, Ferrero and Cheesecake. Because they are made fresh the day they are delivered, Amore require 24 hours advance notice for orders. Here is a link to the Amore facebook page for those who want to keep track of new things happening at Amore.
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