Chef's Corner: Chef Shikha Gupta - On a roll

Let Christmas be an opportunity to get innovative in the kitchen.

Roll up your sleeves and try out this recipe, sent to us by Chef Shikha Gupta of The Leela Palace New Delhi.

Chocolate Cigar

Ingredients

For the Tuille

(Cigar Shell)

100 ml milk

100 gm icing sugar

75 gm cocoa powder

25 gm refined flour

Method

Mix all the above ingredients; sieve the batter to remove the lumps, if any.

Spread the batter on the silpat (silicon sheet) thinly.

Bake the Tuille at 175 degree C for 10 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and roll it on a wooden roller to get the shape of the cigar.

To make it look more elegant, and also real copy of a cigar, you can apply gold on the rim for garnish.

For the filling use the following ingredients

500 gms dark chocolate mousse

500 gms dark chocolate by Amedi

100 gms Elle & Vire cooking cream

200 gms Elle & Vire whipped cream

50 gms breakfast sugar

Method

Make a thick ganache with dark chocolate and hot cream. When it cools down, fold the whipped cream using a piping bag.

Fill the cigar shells with the mousse.

Presentation

Use a nice plate which seems like an ashtray at the base.

Put sesame ash as the base and the cigar will be on the top of it.

Please note that it should be served fresh to retain its crunchiness.

You can check the photo for directions on how to present it.