Caramel Sauce

Oodles of caramel sauce drizzled over ice cream scoops or say cakes can make anybody's mouth water and crave for something sweet. Talk about making your own caramel sauce and a lot of people develop jitters considering it to be tedious, risky and working with thermometers. Well, its easy to make and only takes minutes to prepare and having a sweet, salty, buttery sauce to drizzle over your desserts is a must have in your cooking repertoire. Though it only requires minutes to prepare, those minutes are very crucial and demand your full attention while you are at it, so ensure all the ingredients are measured and within reach and anything that can take you away from the cooking range has been handled before you set out to make this sauce. The caramel sauce also stays well in  your refrigerator for upto 2 weeks, so its good to make yourself a jar that is within your reach when you are down and need a sugar kick or sweet therapy after a real hard day.

Coming to basics for this sauce, it is in simple terms a sauce made of melted sugar. Therefore it is essential to keep your focus while melting sugar. It goes from just right to a horrible mess in a matter of seconds. That is one of the reasons why I add little water to sugar. It sure makes it a little longer to melt and get the color, but makes the process a little easy to handle. A lot of people, and masters at doing this, usually prefer no addition of water (its called the dry method of making caramel sauce), but thats your call at how comfortable are you in doing this.

As I have said earlier, ensure all ingredients are close by at arms length to add into the sauce. Running around at the last minute will ensure you have a burnt sauce on your hands and some great deal of scrubbing to do on your pan.

Use a heavy bottomed pan, preferably with a light surface so that you can make out the color of the melted sugar. Also ensure the sides are a little high, as you do not want your sauce to spill onto your cooking range (more scrubbing) or on to yourself, especially when it foams.

Lastly, caramel is hot. Please ensure proper clothing and safety. Do not burn yourself while making it. There can be splashes while whisking so be careful. As it foams during addition of cream there can be some steam that will escape. Be careful.

 

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:
Sugar, granulated - 210 gm.
Butter - 85 gm.
Sea Salt - 1 Tsp
Whipping cream - 120 ml.
Water - 1/4 Cup

Method:
1. Add the sugar along with the water to a heavy bottomed pan and heat on a moderate flame. As the sugar melts, whisk it around to ensure it browns evenly.

2. Once it is browned to an amber color (I prefer a little darker sauce, so I wait for a more dark amber), add in the butter and sea salt. Whisk well until the butter has melted.

3. Take the pan off the heat, and wait for 30 seconds. Add in the cream while whisking to incorporate the cream to the sauce. The sauce will foam up after addition of cream for a few seconds. It is normal. Continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth .

4. Allow to cool and transfer to a glass jar.
5. Store in the refrigerator and warm before serving.  

Serving Suggestions:
- Spoon it over Vanilla ice cream.
- Drizzle over brownies or chocolate cake.
- You can also dip your favorite fruit in it.
- Drizzled over pancakes
- Goes really well with Christmas pudding.
- I just eat a spoonful..it really tastes good by itself.

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Banana & Raisin Pancakes

There is a joy in cooking for kids. And the joy infact multiplies when you have kids cook alongwith you. The sheer enthusiasm in them to help out and contribute is infectious. It can range from something as menial as getting the utensils or sifting flour, they are up and about and for me personally cooking with my two boys is the biggest stressbuster. One of these Sundays, we decided to make banana & raisin pancakes and though I knew it would be an amazing Sunday, I'm sure the thought of 3 boys in the kitchen had already made my better half dismiss this as a day off and prepare for a day spent in cleaning the mess we would create. Yes, there was a mess, but most of it was on our clothes and our faces, with some flour flying around and the different syrups and sauces they wanted to pour on their pancakes in the end and some of those sauces finding their way to their aprons. Truthfully, we love to see the look on her face after we are finished. After all these years, she still hasn't figured out that boys will be boys no matter how old they get. 

Banana Pancakes
(Makes 10 pancakes)

Ingredients:
Bananas, mashed - 2
Bananas, cut into rounds - 2
Raisins,soaked - 1/2 Cup
All-Purpose Flour - 125 gms.
Eggs - 1
Milk - 245 gms.
Sugar - 15 gms
Baking Powder - 2 Tsp.
Salt - 1/4 Tsp.
Oil - 20 gms.

Method:
1. Combine all the dry ingredients (Flour, baking powder, salt, sugar) in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl mix all wet ingredients except the bananas that have been cut into rounds.
3. Sift the dry mixture into the banana mixture and whisk lightly to form a batter. Add in the raisins and give it a light whisk to mix evenly.
4. Heat a lightly oil pan or griddle.
5. Pour a ladle of the batter onto the pan. Allow to cook on one side and then flip them over.
6. Cook on both sides till they are golden brown.
7. Serve hot with chopped bananas, whipped cream and maple syrup. (Or a combination of sauces, like chocolate sauce and strawberry sauce).

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