The aroma and after-taste of Villie Mehta’s culinary flair continue to linger
What better way to remember our beloved mother (and mother-in-law) than to share her most celebrated recipes?” rhetorically state Hormuz Mehta, Zarina and Ronnie Screwvala in the booklet Memories of Strawberries and Cream, a Tribute to our Mother Villie. The renowned home chef’s culinary demonstrations at the Time and Talents Club and for the gourmet circles in Bombay were greatly appreciated. Villie started teaching when she was very young, perhaps 18. Subsequently when her husband, Brig Furdoon Mehta, was posted as India’s military and naval attaché in Washington DC, she hosted innumerable dinners in their elegant home.
Clockwise from top left: Chocolate Gateau, Asparagus Mousse Photo: Niloufer Mavalvala,
Villie Mehta, Strawberry Macaroon Torte, Quiche Lorraine Photo: Niloufer Mavalvala
"When we returned to Bombay in 1970, she started teaching cooking to countless students at our home at Khatau Mansion. She was baking, in her lovely lemon yellow and white kitchen, at Navroze Apartments, till her very last days at the age of 89,” the children remember. Villie passed away on May 25, 2020.
The home chef’s niece, Canada based chef Niloufer Mavalvala, author of food blogs and cook books, recalls that her aunt’s "passion for baking and teaching turned into a profession which she worked hard at with great pride and joy… Enamored as a child by my Villie fui’s (paternal aunt) cooking classes on her visits to Karachi, I often imagined doing them myself. As her sous-chef I learnt how to use kitchen scissors and the importance of using one’s fingers! Cutting a chicken and deboning a fish was what I recall impressing me most!”
Listed below are four of Villie Mehta’s recipes.
ASPARAGUS MOUSSE
Makes 4 measuring cups
Asparagus spears from a can — 500 g
Liquid from the can — 250 ml + vegetable stock/water to top up (as required)
Gelatin powder — 1 tbsp
Whipping cream — 180 ml
Cream cheese or grated cheddar cheese — 200 g
Salt — to taste
Tabasco — to taste
Sugar — a pinch
Lemon juice — 1 tsp (optional)
Drain the asparagus. Warm the liquid in a small pan and add the gelatin. Stir over a low flame until all of it is melted and smooth.
In a food processor, blend the asparagus and add the cheese. Then put in the gelatin, salt, tabasco and with the processor running add the cream in a slow stream.
Pour into a glass bowl and chill to set for at least three hours.
For the pastry shell
All-purpose flour — 1½ cups, sifted
Salt — ½ tsp
Salted butter — 125 g
Cold water — 3 tbsp
In a bowl, sift the flour and salt. Cut the butter into tiny pieces. Use your fingertips to mix it gently until it looks like a bowl of small pebbles. Now sprinkle in the water and press together to make a soft ball.
Cover the bowl with a wet tea towel and leave it to rest for 30 minutes.
Roll out the pastry to a 12” disc. Lightly butter a pie plate and flip the pastry into it, patting it down gently to remove any air bubbles. Cut off the edges with the help of a knife. Prick dots into the pie with a fork and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F/180°C for 15 minutes till it is barely cooked — just dry. Cool for 10 minutes before filling.
For the filling
Salted butter — 50 g
Green onions — 6, finely chopped
Bacon — 4-6 rashers, diced
Eggs — 4
Cream — 125 ml
Whole milk — 300 ml
Tabasco — few drops
Sugar — ¼ tsp
Salt — to taste
Sharp cheddar cheese — 1 cup, grated
Saute the onions and bacon until just soft. Cool and keep aside. Beat the eggs with a fork in a large bowl. Add the cream, milk, tabasco, sugar and salt.
Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on the cooked pastry shell. Top with onion and bacon. Pour the custard mix all over.
Bake in a preheated oven of 400°F/200°C degrees for five minutes and lower the temperature to 275°F/135°C. Bake for another 30 minutes. Check the quiche to be set with a slight wobble and golden top. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Serve warm.
CHOCOLATE GATEAU
For chocolate sponge cake
Eggs — 4
Sugar — ½ cup
Rum — 1 tsp
Flour — ½ cup
Baking powder — 1 tsp
Cooking cocoa — 1/3 cup
Salt — a pinch
Butter — 3 tbsp, melted
Beat the eggs, sugar and rum till very stiff. Sift together flour, baking powder, cooking cocoa and salt. Fold in the dry ingredients very gently but quickly into the egg mixture. Using a rubber spatula, Mum added the dry ingredients in three batches. Then fold in the butter.
Pour into a buttered 9” pan. Bake in a moderate 350°F oven for 25 minutes. Always remember the oven must be completely hot when you put in your cake.
Chocolate Custard Cream for the cake center
Sugar — ½ cup
Flour — 1/3 cup
Cooking cocoa — 1/3 cup
Butter — 2 tbsp
Salt — ¼ tsp
Milk — ¾ cup
Cream — ½ cup
Rum — 1 tbsp
In a pan, thoroughly mix the above with a whisk and gently add in the cream.
Place on medium heat and stir continuously with a whisk till the custard thickens and boils gently. Add the butter. Cook for two extra minutes on low heat. Cool. Whip it again if it’s too thick. Add rum when cool.
For chocolate icing
Icing sugar — 3 cups
Cooking cocoa — 1/3 cup
Salt — a pinch
Butter — 3 tbsp, at room temperature
A little water
Mix the above in a bowl (Mum used her old faithful Kenwood with the "k” shaped mixer), using a little water to get the consistency right.
Compiling the cake
Cool the cake. Slice it into half. Soak the lower layer with a rum syrup (approximately 1/3 cup warm water, sugar and rum) which you can make to taste. Spread a generous amount of the cooked chocolate cream on the lower layer. Place the second half on top. Add the rum syrup. Ice the cake and voila!
STRAWBERRY MACAROON TORTE
For the macaroon
Egg whites — 3
Baking powder — a pinch or ¼ tsp
Cream cracker biscuits — 10, crushed or processed (but needs a slightly coarse texture)
Walnuts/almonds — 1/3 cup
Rum or vanilla — ¼ tsp or to taste
Chantilly cream
Strawberries
Beat the egg whites and baking powder till stiff and fold in the other ingredients. Add rum or vanilla. Spread into two well-but
tered pans, one 8” another 6”. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F for 20-25 minutes till a light golden color. Cool. Remove from the pan and layer with whipped Chantilly cream and add strawberries or fruits of your choice. We suggest you sugar your strawberries, adding a touch of rum. Sliced mangoes could substitute strawberries.