Versatile Christmas Trifle

With my last few days here and little time on my hands, my dear friend somehow managed to convince me to do an event at the cafe she was helping set up. What was supposed to be a dessert night got compressed to a demo for a nice fancy trifle, and I think everybody was really happy to say the least. My first demo an a nice, cozy full house, that too for a cafe opening! If you're ever in Chandigarh, make sure to visit Chapter 7 and attend one of their events!

I'll briefly cover what I covered at the demo here as well.

Ingredients are the real heroes- it is absolutely worth investing a bit more for say, fresh in place of frozen strawberries, because you'll never yield the same level of juiciness and result with the two. Ditch your regular chocolate and opt for coverture- if you live in the tropics, your country might be a producer. You get the hint, right? My favorite so far is Balinese cacao.

Remember, you create the dish and lead what direction it goes in. What you have in your heart will manifest in your food, so I will say what my colleague once told me- make with love.

This trifle is very versatile- you can swap the strawberries for any seasonal fruit (cherries and stone fruit are good choices) and you can proceed likewise for their frozen counterparts as well. The frozen strawberries recreate the feeling of an ice cream in conjunction with the cream, without all the hard work and having to own an ice cream machine (I genuinely feel clever on this one). You can even leave out the spices to make it more suitable to summer or just take the essence of the dish and make it your own. Let this trifle mark a new beginning to yet another amazing year, and a new chapter in my life!

Christmas trifle with gingerbread spice, strawberries and chocolate

Served 6 with some extra crisps to snack on

Spice mix

1 t cloves

1 T cinnamon

1/3 t nutmeg

1 green cardamom, only seeds

1/4 t fennel seeds

1/2 t powder of roasted coriander seeds

3 wings of star anise

1/3 of a small bay leaf

Dash of pepper

Grind in pestle and mortar. Reserve.

Gingerbread spice and cocoa shortcrust pastry (12 portions)

130g flour

47g sugar

10g cocoa powder

90g butter

25g egg yolk

1/2 t of minced fresh ginger

1 1/3 t spice mix

A nice pinch of salt

1. Cream butter and sugar till very light.

2. Add the cold egg yolk and ginger and cream till well emulsified.

3. Sift in the dry ingredients along with the spice and combine. Do not overmix.

4. Shape into a square and wrap in cling film. Refrigerate for 30min.

5. Roll out to 3mm approx. thickness and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C till baked. (Approx 10 mins).

6. Once cool, break into shards.

Chocolate mousse (6 portions)

65g 53% coverture dark chocolate

1 egg yolk

60g cream

40g milk

10g sugar

90g whipped rich cream

1. Make an anglaise by combining the cream, sugar, egg yolk and milk and heating it gently. Cook till it costs the back of a wooden spoon.

2. Add the chocolate callets to the hot anglaise and mix with a whisk.

3. Cool to room temperature and fold in the whipped cream.

For the strawberry compote: (6 portions)

220g strawberries

80g Kinnow juice

8g minced candied orange rind

Sugar, to taste

1. Halve the strawberries and sprinkle some sugar on them.

2. Add the rind and the juice and cook on high heat till the strawberries as softened. Cool.

Frozen strawberries (6 portions)

7-8 Strawberries

1. Slice the strawberries thinly lengthways and lay out on a non stick mat. Freeze.

Whipped Vanilla Cream

100g rich whipped cream

1/4th vanilla bean

1. Scrape seeds from the vanilla bean and mix with whipped cream.

To serve

Pistachios, chopped

Pipe a generous portion of the mousse with a slightly less generous portion of the vanilla cream. Spoon on some strawberries from the compote followed by a  liberal sprinkle of pistachios. Place a shard of the gingerbread shortcrust and place frozen strawberry segments to finish, about a full strawberry's worth.

Share for more happiness tis season!

The plated trifle: Gingerbread chocolate shortcrust, Frozen strawberries, Strawberry compote, Vanilla whipped cream, Chocolate mousse and pistachios. Both pictures by Taher Hussain