A masterclass with Vivek Singh
Chef Vivek Singh surprised his family when he announced his intentions to become a chef. After graduating from catering college, he joined the Oberoi Hotel group focusing on Indian cuisine. Chef Singh worked at the Grand Hotel in Calcutta and moved to Jaipur in 1997 where he became the Indian chef of Oberoi’s flagship Rajvilas in Jaipur, at a young age of twenty-six.
Since the opening of The Cinnamon Club in 2001, as the executive chef of the restaurant, Chef Singh never stopped pushing boundaries and redefining the expectations of Indian cuisine. The Cinnamon Club has since picked up numerous awards for its ‘beyond authentic’ Indian cuisine such as the best curry in 2006 by United Kingdom best dishes award and the best in Britain Award every year since 2001. Chef Singh has written four cookbooks; one of which Cinnamon Club Seafood Cookbook won a World Gourmet Awards in 2006 for the best United Kingdom seafood cookbook. Chef Singh is a familiar face on television with regular appearances on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and UKTV Food’s Market Kitchen.
250g Greek yoghurt, hung overnight
100g mascarpone cheese
100ml double cream, whipped to soft peaks
50g sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
Strawberry and fig wedges, for serving
Crumble
250g flour
250g sugar
180g ground almonds
250g salted butter, diced
Tamarind Glaze
100g sugar
200ml tamarind purée
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
10g finely chopped mint leaves
1 lemon, for juice
For the crumble:
Place the flour, sugar, ground almonds and diced salted butter into a mixing bowl and knead until a soft dough is formed. Spread the dough onto a lined baking tray and bake in a preheated oven at 160°C until golden brown, for about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove baked dough from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cooled, crumble the baked dough to bread crumbs texture.
Place the yoghurt, mascarpone cheese, whipped double cream, sugar and cardamom powder into a mixing bowl and fold gently until well incorporated.
Place the crumble into the bottom of a mould and top with the cheesecake mixture and chill for a few hours. Remove the chilled cheesecake from the mould and set aside.
For the tamarind glaze:
Heat the sugar in a sauté pan until caramelised. Add in the tamarind purée, fennel seeds and coriander seeds and continue to cook on a low heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove sauté pan from the heat and set aside the mixture to cool. Once cooled, add in the chopped mint leaves and lemon juice. Mix well.
Place the cheesecake onto the centre of each serving plate. Top with the strawberry and fig wedges and drizzle over the tamarind glaze.
Serves 4