Prateek Sadhu: Of plum cakes and DIY oats

‘Tis the season Q How can I make plum cakes at home? —Aditya, Mumbai This the ideal time to start prepping for Christmas cakes since it’s best if you soak your ingredients for at least a month

‘Tis the season

Tips for Christmas cakes and oat dishes

Q How can I make plum cakes at home?

—Aditya, Mumbai

This the ideal time to start prepping for Christmas cakes since it’s best if you soak your ingredients for at least a month. I soak raisins, cashews, tutti frutti, dried figs, black dates, in red wine, black rum (Old Monk, preferably, given the caramel flavour in that), and a stout beer. Take the basic recipe of a plum cake—a batter of sugar, flour, eggs, butter, vanilla essence, baking powder and yeast—in a baking tin, and let it bake. For the toppings, you can do a plain sugar dusting or add soaked fruits mixed with chocolate/in chocolate syrup.

Oat talk

Q Any interesting ways in which I can consume oats?

—Kirti, Via Instagram

One of the most common ways is to make porridge. Add fruits, nuts, honey and sweeteners. I recently had oats chila—soak oats overnight, and make a batter in a food processor. Add chopped onion, tomatoes, pickled chillies and spices. You can also use this batter to make paniyaram or appe. You can also take a basic muffin recipe and, instead of flour, use oats to make it.

Known for making a mark in the world food scenario with his previous restaurant Masque, and his focus on indigenous Indian ingredients, Prateek now is working with a lot of Indian communities to research for his next venture

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