Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 9, 2012, 6:34 am
After over four (!!) years of blogging about sweet things, I’ve added a ‘salad’ category in my blog admin for the first time. I suddenly feel like a newbie. It’s not that I don’t like salads. I love salads – whenever we eat at buffets, I’d decide if I wanted to go back based on the sa...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 2, 2012, 6:30 pm
Last week, I was at Paris des Chefs – an event that had the best chefs and designers collaborate on creating food together. Watching them at work was awe inspiring. I was particularly influenced by Alain Passard’s approach to food and his irreproachable knife skills. My favourite workshops were,...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Jan 29, 2012, 1:09 pm
I did it.  I finally did it. I ate raw oysters. I set a goal for myself to eat raw oysters when I first visited Paris, but I chickened out. I imagined raw oysters to be alive and squiggly, dirty with ocean grit. I imagined that on putting the oyster in my mouth, I’d have it jump up and down in t...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Jan 16, 2012, 9:03 am
Whenever I spot an apple recipe in a book, it gets bookmarked. Especially lately. I’ve been consuming apple desserts as if they’re they only kind available: apple tart, apple strudel, green apple sorbet, apple cake, apple bread. Anything at all made with apple is picked up without a second thoug...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Jan 9, 2012, 10:50 am
How to Cut an Artichoke, the Roman way. Early in the morning at Campo de Fiori, aside from arranging the fresh produce, the vendors are busy trimming the seasonal favourite of Italian: the artichoke. While both small and large artichokes are available whole, the trimmed artichokes, ready to cook, ar...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Jan 8, 2012, 9:53 am
View the slideshow On an early Friday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, had a cup of espresso and a ricotta and cherry pastry from the forno downstairs, and walked to the market I’d heard so much about, 20 metres away. Campo de Fiori, literally meaning Field of Flowers (which it was, Head o...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Jan 5, 2012, 6:52 pm
Happy New Year, dear readers! Thank you for sticking around here for yet another year. Thanks for emailing, commenting and even lurking (Hello Lurkers! Say hi!?). Wish you a delicious year ahead filled with joy, inspiration and magic. I’m late in wishing you, but I’ve good reason. I’ve been tr...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Dec 24, 2011, 4:10 am
I’m lucky to be living 20 metres from one of the most colourful food markets in Rome, Campo di Fiori. Today, I woke up early (or perhaps it was all the caffeine I’m enjoying lately) to photograph the gorgeous produce. I ended up photographing artichokes the most. Mostly because that’s what I�...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Dec 15, 2011, 1:31 pm
I go through cookie phases. I don’t make them for months at a stretch, but when I do, I can’t seem to stop. With cookies showing up all over the blogosphere this season, I got sucked into the madness as well. First, it was the walnut-rosemary that sat in a cookie tin on my desk. Head over the b...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Dec 14, 2011, 11:30 am
You know what I wish I was familiar with sooner? Caramelised garlic. Gently blanched. Slowly cooked. Sticky with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Fragrant with rosemary and thyme. Almost candy-like garlic. A dear friend recently sent me a few cookbook as a wedding gift recently, one among which was a...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Dec 8, 2011, 9:06 am
I’ve never liked eating an egg more than I’ve liked it in this egg sandwich. This sandwich is absolutely simple to make, and the return that you get on the time and ingredients invested is manifold. I’ve been eating an egg sandwich this way since I discovered it a little while ago, and I recen...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Oct 31, 2011, 6:40 pm
I was in London for a few days and I did all my favourite things. Had my first real scones and clotted cream at Canteen (the chairs are so pretty), walked around Covent Gardens, drank up all the Elderflower presse I could, baked cake with my favourite cousins, ate sticky toffee pudding, walked throu...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Oct 19, 2011, 3:35 am
I love that living in France, I never run out of things to be fascinated with. My food fixations so far have been châtaignes à la vanille slathered on toast, Speculoos spread straight from the jar, roasted chestnuts, crème fraîche dolloped on or dipped into, crunchy(!) Speculoos spread (from the...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Oct 17, 2011, 4:29 pm
Can you imagine my delight when I found these at the supermarket? Much sweeter than the ones we’re used to, and so much fun to crack open and eat straight out of the shell. These can be roasted to bring out their nutty flavor, too. A while ago, I found newly harvested hazelnuts with their papery ...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Oct 13, 2011, 4:09 pm
You can probably tell that I have a huge fig fixation looking at the number of photos of it that I clicked at La Boqueria. I love how they look – deep purple with streaks of green and a shimmery pink jewel-like inside. Whenever I buy them, I almost always eat them straight out of the box or bake i...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Oct 11, 2011, 6:12 pm
I have three huge bottles of Nutella sitting on my shelf. My mom would be furious if she knew; but then, that’s my excuse for not making unnecessary trips to the supermarket. After having my fill of Nutella slathered on toast and straight from the jar, I decided I’d bake some of it into a cake....
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Oct 3, 2011, 8:23 pm
I think we need to sit down and have a chat. Over some roasted chestnuts. Because that’s what I’m obsessed with these days. Before one of you jumps up and asks me, “Oh! where do you get these in Bombay?” you’ll figure where soon enough. There have been a lot of things that have happened i...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Oct 1, 2011, 5:14 am
View the slideshow If you’re viewing this in your RSS reader or inbox, please hop over to the site for the 40 photo slideshow. I’m a sucker for food markets when travelling. That’s probably the first thing I look up when planning a trip. Ever since I heard of the glorious food at Borough Mar...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Sep 29, 2011, 10:51 pm
My trip to Barcelona was quite unplanned, and with 4 days on hand I decided I’d just walk around with a map trying to cover the major tourist-y places and let my nose lead me to my food. In the four days I was there, I fell in love with Barcelona. Madly in love with the food, the colour, the arch...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Sep 17, 2011, 11:23 am
View the slideshow One of the best (and the most delicious, of course) ways to observe cultures is to see how the locals eat, how they buy their produce, how they chit chat with sellers and each other about what’s in season and what they’re planning to cook for lunch. Here are some moments I ca...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Sep 14, 2011, 6:23 am
View the slideshow While I was creating a list of places to visit in Barcelona for my trip a few weeks ago, the first name I added was ‘La Boqueria’. Just so I didn’t forget, I highlighted it three more times. Arguably Europe’s best food market, La Boqueria (bo-care-ia) has been operati...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Aug 18, 2011, 11:59 am
I’m currently holidaying in the picturesque Lake District in England. Lush meadows, scenic bedroom views, long drives, and picnics in the boat are the order of the day.  Today, we visited the famed Grasmere Gingerbread shop that has been making gingerbread every single day since 1854. The story g...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Jul 11, 2011, 9:58 pm
This has been the longest I’ve been away from the blog, and I’ve missed hanging around here with you. I am so happy to be back here and talking about my favourite thing in the world: baking. But before I move on to that, I owe you guys an update. Thank you so much for your multitude of e-mails a...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Jun 12, 2011, 2:51 am
Left: Easy, homemade Mascarpone cheese, Right: Tub of Italian mascarpone cheese Last week was a fun week filled with lots of experiments in the kitchen. I had the strongest craving to replicate the Tiramisu that I ate on my first evening in Verona. That Tiramisu changed my life (more on that in the...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - May 30, 2011, 4:05 pm
I’ve had a waffle iron for a pretty long time. I bought it, determined that I’d make waffles at least once a week. Somehow, the iron got packed away into the loft, and I forgot all about it until a few weeks ago when we rearranged the space. I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning when I ...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - May 27, 2011, 5:12 pm
Last weekend was fabulous. I had the best time teaching my favourite recipes, chit-chatting about baking, and hanging out with a fun group of participants. I just got my hands on the photos taken at the class, and I couldn’t wait to share them with you. Even if it meant staying up till three am ...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - May 25, 2011, 12:54 pm
These golden hued disks of sliced almonds are crisp, shiny and supremely addictive. What’s a Florentine you ask? It’s an Italian cookie that gets its name from where it originated, Florence, and is generally made with almonds and hazelnuts (the most abundantly used nuts in the region). Dried an...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - May 13, 2011, 12:44 am
This cake is probably the epitome of Indian frugal baking – it consumes just 1 precious pack of Philadelphia cheese, and yet makes an eight inch cake. The key: create a thicker cookie crust bottom with Oreos that are now, thankfully, produced locally and abundantly available. My grandma, an elfin...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - May 9, 2011, 1:55 pm
I’m so excited to announce the first official Purple Foodie Baking Class at The Bombay Hub. First there was the bake sale, then the merchandise, and now, this baking class! Fun times. After all those requests to conduct classes, I’ve had to cave (and happily so!). Later this month, I will be mo...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - May 5, 2011, 3:41 pm
When I was in Paris a few months ago, I was lucky to be living in the cutest little apartment with a well stocked pantry and the most gracious host. That’s where I first got a taste of this delicious cheese spread – light fluffy, sweetened with honey, and crunchy with walnuts and figs. I ate it ...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - May 4, 2011, 5:03 am
Cinnamon, sugar and butter between slices of dough and baked to a warm hue. How can you resist? It looks all fancy schmancy, but it’s really simply to make. It’s the basic plain white bread dough. You just do a little bit of rolling, spreading and slicing. Shove it into a loaf pan, and then let...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Apr 23, 2011, 2:50 am
Toasted coconut, cinnamon, bananas and chocolate – slightly warm, with pieces of melted dark chocolate playing hide and seek. Oh, yes. You are going to love it. I’ve been eating a lot of this coconut-ty banana goodness lately. In the past two weeks I’ve consumed dozens of bananas (and I’m n...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Apr 14, 2011, 12:32 pm
I was jubilant when I spotted tiny yellow tomatoes at the market a few days ago. Given their size, I could either toss them into a salad or top them on a focaccia. No prizes for guessing what I opted for. These tiny tomatoes pushed into the focaccia dough come alive with the sprinkling of rosemary....
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Apr 4, 2011, 3:19 pm
Chocolate chip cookies are the kind of snack you should always have around the house. It makes people happy. And more so, when you dot them with chocolate chips right before baking. When I discovered the thrills of baking, chocolate chip cookies were amongst the first things I tried. And I tried a ...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Mar 28, 2011, 1:47 am
Each morning I take the train to the other end of town to study French. With a copy of Best Food Writing 2010, some roasted nuts and orangefoodie for company, it’s a fun ride. There are some days when breakfast on the train is an event we look forward to with homemade Snickers or rich chocolate b...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Mar 25, 2011, 1:01 pm
Pursuing a passion for baking in India in quite a challenge, where one probably spends more time out on the road finding the right equipment and ingredients than in the kitchen creaming butter and sugar. But for me, it’s this challenge that makes baking that much more fun. If everyone were baking...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Mar 25, 2011, 9:09 am
That’s just fancy talk for rich hazelnut chocolate ganache rolled into a hazelnut sheet cake rich with chocolate and more hazelnuts. As you’ve probably noticed, there is a lot of chocolate being eaten in the Purple Foodie household. And this time, with a bag of fresh hazelnuts at hand, I had to...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Mar 21, 2011, 1:30 am
Everybody loves giveaways. And I noticed just how much you do when you went on to write a few verses to tell me why you’d love the Cupcake Tote. I love seeing you get excited. So I thought I’d send something bigger your way. Exactly 9 times as big. So comment away to participate. All things f...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Mar 17, 2011, 2:04 pm
When I first discovered my love for creating illustrations (which was when I designed this site), I knew that at some point I’d like to see my art on products. Fast forward to March 2011 – I created my store, put up my product listing, and am now ready to sell my first illustration: A cupcake re...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Mar 13, 2011, 5:30 pm
I’m not a huge cookie person. I do make them on and off, but that’s mostly to feed others. Especially the ever popular Nutella cookies. I have made them so many times, I’m pretty sure I could make them in my sleep. But this past week, I think I’ve found a cookie that’s going to stand up a...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Mar 7, 2011, 9:39 pm
Currently I’m obsessed with two things: chocolate and farro. I don’t know where the sudden chocolate craving’s come from (and I’m not complaining), but as for the latter, I’m having a lot of fun rustling up various dishes with the ancient grain. My aim with this recipe was to recreate a p...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Mar 2, 2011, 11:10 am
Rich. Chocolate. Brownies. I bet you’re smiling already. I haven’t met a person who didn’t get happy at the very thought of brownies. You don’t need me to tell you that they’re made with dark chocolate, heaps of cocoa, and are supremely addictive. Just the fact that they’re brownies gi...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 26, 2011, 5:47 am
Buttery shortbread. Caramelised cashews. Dulce de leche. 70% dark chocolate. Each, delicious on its own. But can you imagine what it’d be like when they all came together, layered one on top of another on top of another on top of another? You cannot. Even if you know the distinct taste of each of...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 23, 2011, 6:21 am
Remember I told you about my palate changing a while ago? It’s happening. It’s happening again! And this time, I’m back to liking mushrooms. When I was younger, the only type of mushroom that I was exposed to, and that was widely available, was the button mushroom. I often made a mushroom an...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 18, 2011, 7:19 am
While Italy was packed with events scheduled one after another (5 cities in 6 days!), my friend and I decided to take off to Paris for 3 days. 3 days in Paris is no good, especially when you have lofty goals of accomplishing all the places you read about in Edible Adventures in Paris. But I managed ...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 17, 2011, 2:03 pm
Ever since my friend sent me candied orange segments from one of Madrid’s oldest sweet shops, I’ve been on a wild goose chase to find that flavour. I tried candying segments, but that didn’t work as I imagined. I ended up with sticky yet delicious syrup that I could add to drinks, but had to ...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 14, 2011, 12:17 am
Food aside, what charmed me the most in Italy were the windows. Pretty windows. Colourfuls windows. Happy windows. Every window, has a personality of its own: colours ranging from pastels to solid, wispy drapes to blinds, potted flowers to leafy vines. My favourite of course, was the one adorned wi...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 11, 2011, 1:48 pm
I’ve put together a round up of my favouite recipes from the blog that are loaded with love and chocolate – the kind that are perfect for Valentine’s Day. Enjoy! Breakfast in bed: Chocolate cinnamon babka Sinful: Chocolate Valentino Cake ” Perfect gifts: Passion fruit truffles I *heart*...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 9, 2011, 7:50 am
I recently rediscovering the joys of truly amazing extra virgin olive oil. Over the past week, there has been nothing I’d rather snack on late at night than slightly toasted bread, sprinkled with crunchy sea salt and doused in extra virgin olive oil.  After trying out the multi grain bread from Y...
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Shaheen (Coco) P. posted an article on Ambrosia - Feb 7, 2011, 10:01 pm
I’m going to tell you about one of the most enjoyable things I did during my recent trip to Italy - Watching the production of Provolone Valpadana cheese at the Auricchio factory in Cremona. Cremona is a city in Northern Italy that is known for its musical history and traditions, and is the hear...
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