It's time to ring in the festive season with customary Christmas dishes.
Classic pumpkin pie
The classic pumpkin pie is made with spices. Photograph: Courtesy stephanieortiz/Pixabay.com
Recipe by Mahesh Pandala, Executive Chef, The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace.
Ingredients:
- 500 gm fresh cream
- 120 gm castor sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 20 gm refined flour
- 210 gm roasted pumpkin puree
- 10 gm cinnamon powder
- 5 gm nutmeg powder
- 5 gm ginger powder
For the short crust:
- 100 gm icing sugar
- 2 eggs
- 200 gm refined flour
- 5 ml vanilla essence
- 100 gm butter, unsalted
Method:
- For the short crust, cream butter and icing sugar together. Add egg one at a time. Cream till the mix gets soft peak consistency.
- Add vanilla into it. Fold in the flour and keep in refrigerator for an hour.
- Take fresh cream in a pan, add sugar into it. Cook for some time.
- Cool the cream. Add eggs in the mix. Add pumpkin puree, flour and all the spices into it and mix properly.
- Roll the short crust and line the pie shell. Pour the mix in the lined pie shell. Bake at 170°C for 35-40 mins or till done.
- Decorate with marzipan pumpkins and glazed apricots.
A Christmas dinner is incomplete without the turkey.
Recipe by Saurabh Srivastava, Executive Chef, Aloft New Delhi Aerocity.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 lb (around 100 gm) unsalted butter
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
- 1 fresh turkey
- Kosher salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 1 bunch thyme leaves
- 1 whole lemon, halved
- 1 Spanish onion, quartered
- 1 head garlic, halved crosswise
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 350°C.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add the zest and juice of a lemon and 1 tsp thyme leaves. Set aside.
- Take the giblets out of the turkey and wash the turkey inside and out.
- Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers and pat the outside dry.
- Place the turkey in a large roasting pan. Liberally apply salt and pepper to the inside of the turkey cavity.
- Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, halved lemon, quartered onion, and garlic. Brush the outside of the turkey with the butter mixture and sprinkle salt and pepper.
- Tie the legs together with a string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the turkey. Roast the turkey at 350 F (about 2 to 2½ hours), or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and the thigh.
- Remove the turkey to a cutting board and cover with aluminum foil; let rest for 20 minutes. Slice it and serve.