Food Diaries Recipe | 15 Jan 2023 | Recipes: Chocolate Marmalade Cake, Kaju Katli & Burgers | Zarnak Sidhwa

Butter a 1.2-litre pudding basin and put a circle of buttered baking parchment in the base. Sift together the cocoa, flour, bicarb, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then add the orange zest. Gradually add the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the marmalade. Fold in the sifted ingredients followed by the dark chocolate chunks. Scrape the batter into the prepared pudding basin. Put a piece of baking parchment on top of a sheet of foil (both should be large enough to cover the basin and overhang the edges). Fold a pleat along the middle, then place this, parchment side down, onto the pudding. The pleat should run across the centre. Tie to the basin firmly with string, using it to make a handle. Trim off the excess parchment and foil. Put the pudding in a large saucepan on a trivet or upturned saucer. Add enough boiling water to come one-third of the way up the sides of the basin. Bring the water to the boil, turn down to a simmer, cover the pan and steam the pudding for 2 hrs-2 hrs 15 mins. Keep topping up with hot water. Lift the pudding out of the pan, leave to sit for 10 mins, then run a knife between the basin and the edge of the pudding. Invert onto a plate – the pudding should slide out. Remove the parchment. Whip the cream and icing sugar to soft peaks, then stir in the marmalade. Serve the pudding with a dollop of the cream and some marmalade on top.

Place cashews in a spice grinder and grind to a smooth powder. Don’t over grind or cashews will release oil. You can sieve if there are coarse pieces of cashew. Set it aside. Add sugar and water in a pan. Add rose water. Let the sugar melt and let the mixture boil for 1 minute. Lower the heat and add in the powdered cashews. Keep stirring the mixture on low heat. Add a teaspoon of ghee and stir. Ghee makes the mixture smooth and also adds some shine to the katli. Keep stirring, after around 10 minutes on low heat, the dough will leave the sides of the pan. This is the stage when you want to remove pan from heat. You can check if the dough is done or not by taking a small piece from mixture, let it cool down a little and then roll it between your thumb and index finger. You should be able to make a non-sticky ball out of it. It means your dough is done. If not, you need to cook it further. It will be done around 10-12 minutes on low heat though.
Once the dough is done, transfer it to a sheet of parchment paper. Wait for 3 to 4 minutes for the dough to cool down a bit. Then knead the dough with your hands to make it smooth. You have to knead the dough while its warm. But be careful to not burn your fingers. Let it cool down a little and only then attempt to knead. Also if the dough looks very dry while kneading, you can sprinkle some water or milk to make it smooth.
Then place another sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough. Roll to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick using a rolling pin applying equal pressure on all sides. Once rolled, apply silver vark. Cut the dough into diamond shape by first cutting the dough vertically and then horizontally. Separate the kaju katli.