Glimpses of the Gourmet Fare at Frankfurt Fair

For the first time, Gourmand International partnered with Frankfurt Book Fair to showcase cookbooks in the Gourmet Gallery of the fair. The occasion also coincided with Gourmand International celebrating 20 years of publishing cookbooks. To pay respect to the very best publishers and authors of the culinary sector, best of best cookbooks in the last 20 years were awarded a special honour by Edouard Cointreau, president of the World Cookbook Fair (Gourmand). I was thrilled to receive this honour for my book On the Butter Chicken Trail-A Moti Mahal Cookbook published in 2009.

As a tribute to my book, I shall share a recipe from it here. There is, however, a surprise recipe I learnt at the fair which contains my favourite pistachios. My friend Marlena Speiler, a renowned cookbook author, also won the award for her Jewish cookbook. She recently posted on Facebook a picture of ‘sweet pistachio’ that she discovered at the fair. Although I was not lucky enough to taste it at the fair, somehow managed to make it at home to satiate my taste buds. So, here is the recipe.

Sweet Pistachios

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sifted flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups finely  ground  pistachios

Method

• In a large bowl, whisk the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy
• Beat in egg and vanilla
• Combine flour, baking powder and salt
• Add pistachio to the  mixture and mix well
• Chill dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes
• Preheat oven to 350

degrees

• Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick on a floured board
• Cut with cookie cutters and arrange on ungreased cookie sheets
• Bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes or until edges start to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool and enjoy the sweet cookies