Give the mall and movies  a miss and try cooking this Valentines Day. Here are some quirky recipes created by Chef Jerson Fernandes, Corporate Chef, Berggruen Hotels to sets your heart and palette aflutter!

Valentine’s Day recipes with the simplest of ingredients including ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner accompanied with a romantic drink all made with ingredients readily available at home. Chocolate is considered the hot favorite during Valentines Day mainly for its aphrodisiac quality. Times have changed leading to couples becoming more health conscious and avoiding high calorie foods like chocolate, cheese and candies. The recipes detailed below are simple yet interesting,.

Heart to Heart – Open heart egg sandwich served with skewered cocktail sausage hearts

Toast your heart out and show your valentine how much you care for him/her on this special day. This recipe is simple yet interesting. The best part of this recipe is that it can be prepared for breakfast, lunch and even dinner since it is very simple and easy to prepare in just 10 minutes flat.

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 whole wheat bread slice
100 grams chicken sausages

6 cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
A pinch of salt and pepper for taste

Method:

Cut out a heart from the centre of the whole wheat bread using a knife or a heart shaped mould.

Toast the bread till golden brown and allow to cool.

Heat olive oil in a pan, place the bread in the centre and break the egg into the heart shaped cavity. Allow the egg to cook on a slow flame for 5 minutes.

Once firm enough carefully remove the bread with the egg intact using a flat spoon.

Meanwhile cut sausages diagonally and join ends to form hearts. Skewer the sausage hearts and cherry tomatoes. Toss in a pan for a minute or two till sausages look grilled.

Serve the sausage skewers along with the toasted egg accompanied with ketchup and mustard.

Chefs Tip: Store the bread slices in the refrigerator overnight for it to firm up, making it easy to cut out the heart shape. Ensure your pan is smoking hot before you crack the egg on it or else the egg will stick to the pan.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 minutes

Calories: 180 kcal                                                                               

Cutting chai infused chocochip muffins topped with very berry fresh cream

Chai (tea) is one of the most common and favorite beverages had across the globe. I wanted to do something with this versatile drink. I infused its delicate yet sharp flavors into my chocochip muffins giving it a twist of flavor and taste. The fresh cream with strawberries goes very well with the muffins. Serving it on the typical cutting chai glasses gives it a different look and feel.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
100ml condensed milk

1/3 cup tea decoction
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup miniature semi sweet chocolate chips
Strawberries – 12 numbers
1 cup whipped cream

Method:

Boil tea powder in hot water and strain water to make tea decoction. In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. In a small bowl, beat condensed milk, tea decoction, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes.
Whip fresh cream, add in chopped strawberries to whipped cream and pipe over the muffins .Finish by placing a whole berry over it.
Garnish with a sprig of lemon grass.
Chefs Tip: Start boiling tea powder in cold water till it comes to a boil to extract the maximum flavors form the tea powder.

 Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 10minutes

Calories: 245kcal

Duet of strawberry and white chocolate mousse

This is one of the simplest and least time consuming recipe for a perfect Valentine’s candle light dessert. The combination of white chocolate and strawberry is simply amazing as they marry each other very well both in terms of color and flavor. This dish is one of my personal favorites.

Ingredients:
1Tablespoon gelatin
1/2 cup water
1/4cup sugar
1/4cup strawberry puree
1 cup roughly chopped white chocolate
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups beaten whipped cream
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
6 nos strawberries
1 cup whipped cream
1 chocolate ball

 Method:

Make a smooth jelly by boiling water, sugar strawberry puree and gelatin on a double boiler.  Pour the mixture into 4 martini glasses and chill to set.
Combine the chocolate and milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 2 minutes.  Remove from the microwave and mix well until no lumps remain and strain it using a strainer.
Add the beaten whipped cream and mix gently. Add the vanilla essence and sugar and again mix gently. Pipe equal quantities of the chocolate mousse into four individual glasses over the set strawberry jelly. Place a dollop of beaten whipped cream in the centre of each of the glass and place a chocolate ball in the centre. Place halves of strawberry randomly on the mousse. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve chilled garnished with a lemon grass sprig.
Chefs Tip: Make a perfect chocolate ball by rolling nuts with melted chocolate till it turns into a lump of nutty chocolate. Freeze till set.

 Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Calories: 220kcal