Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Smooth down the surface with a spatula. Tap down to settle.
Place in the oven and bake until golden, about 35 minutes. When its done, the top should be springy and a toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean.
Let cool after taking from the oven, then remove the cake from the pan. Cut into thin slices and serve.
ONION PAKORAS (SPICY ONION FRITTERS)
Bought on a railway platform during a stop of the Darjeeling Mail on its journey north from Kolkata to NJP station outside Siliguri, in one of the roadside tea shops on the curvy and much-patched road up into the hills, or for afternoon tea in Darjeeling itself, crispy, deep-fried pakoras—also known as bhajia—are a favorite snack with tea. The Elgin serves its delectable pakoras with trio of chutneys and some sweet tomato-chili sauce. They make a perfect snack while dinner slow-cooks.
Or just to nibble on to pass a rainy day. On one such drizzly June day in Darjeeling, the city was brimming with Indian visitors escaping the searing the heat of the plains. “But none of the tourists ventured out today,” one hotel manager lamented to the Calcutta Telegraph correspondent. “They watched TV and ordered unending rounds of tea and pakora.”5
Makes about 10 to 12 pakoras:
1 cup/125 g gram (chickpea) flour
¼ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp black onion seeds (optional)
⅓ cup loosely packed chopped cilantro (coriander leaves)
1 to 2 small, fresh green chilies, deseeded and finely chopped
½ tsp salt
2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
Vegetable oil for frying
Preheat to the oven to 200°F/95°C.
Place the flour in a mixing bowl and work in about ½ cup/120 ml warm water. The batter should be pasty and silky and just thicker than pancake batter. Add in a touch more water, or flour, if needed. Whisk in the turmeric, black onion seeds, cilantro, green chilies, and salt. Add the onions and blend well with the hands, separating the segments and slightly crunching them down against the bottom of the bowl. The batter should coat the onions but not be clumpy.
In a deep skillet or sauté pan, heat at least 1 inch/2.5 cm of oil to 375°F/190°C. When the oil is hot enough, a small amount of batter should float and vigorously bubble.
Working in small batches that don’t crowd the pan or bring the temperature of the oil below 350°F/180°C, drop spoonful-size globs of the mixture with a pair of soupspoons into the oil, flatten out slightly, and fry until crispy and a rich, deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
Remove with a slotted spoon, and place on absorbent paper towels to drain. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm until all of the pakoras have been fried.
Remove any solid bits from the oil before adding the next batch of pakoras. Fry the remaining batter, being sure that the oil has returned to 350°F/180°C before adding the next batch. Serve hot.
TIMELESS CUCUMBER SANDWICHES
Few items on the tea tray are more unappealing than a poorly made cucumber sandwich with soggy bread. But when done well, nothing makes a better companion for an afternoon cup of Darjeeling tea: small, crustless, and prepared using thin slices of bread and cucumbers sliced so thin that they are transparent. Cut into rectangles—properly called fingers—they might seem a touch dainty, but they won’t (unlike scones or pound cake) spoil one’s appetite for dinner. More important, their delicate, fresh flavors won’t overpower even the subtlest first flush Darjeeling tea.
Spreading the butter evenly but not thickly is key, as it makes a sealing layer to keep bread from getting moist. Prepare only at the last moment so that both bread and filling are at their freshest.
Makes 12 finger sandwiches:
1 firm medium garden cucumber
Salt
8 thin slices fresh white or brown bread
Unsalted butter for spreading, at room temperature
Scrub the cucumber and remove any wax. Slice crosswise as thinly as possibly, ideally with a mandoline. Place in a colander and lightly salt. Let the cucumbers sweat and draw out the flavors for 15 minutes. Place on paper towels and pat dry.
Lay out 4 slices of the bread and on one side, spread a thin, even coat of butter from crust to crust. Arrange the cucumbers in 2 or 3 layers. Butter one side of the remaining 4 slices of bread in a thin, even coat from crust to crust, and lay on top.
Gently press down with the palm and trim the crusts with a serrated knife. Cut each sandwich into three even rectangles. Neatly arrange on a platter and serve immediately.
GLENBURN’S CHICKEN-AND-FRESH-MINT HAMPER SANDWICHES
Flights into Bagdogra Airport—Darjeeling’s closest access point by air—all land just after lunch. For guests staying at Glenburn Tea Estate, the four-hour journey up to the garden is broken with a stop on a knoll below Kurseong. The driver unpacks a picnic hamper that includes a thermos of tea—shockingly good, considering it was prepared in the morning—slices of cake, fruit, and some sandwiches, including this delicious Glenburn classic.
Makes 3 sandwiches:
2 bone-in, skin-on whole chicken legs, about 1 pound/450 g total
¼ cup/60 ml mayonnaise, preferably Hellmann’s
¾ tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp finely chopped, fresh mint
6 slices white bread
Place the chicken in saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the heat, uncover, and let legs cool in the water. Remove and discard the skin, and debone the chicken. Hand-shred the pieces. There should be about 1½ cups/175 g of loosely packed chicken meat.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with the mustard and mint. Fold in the chicken.
Spread the filling on 3 slices of the bread. Cover with the remaining slices. Trim the crusts. Cut the sandwiches diagonally. Wrap in wax paper.
DELHI SANDWICHES
During the Raj era, some of the only fish found in hill stations such as Darjeeling—or even landlocked places such as Delhi—were tinned anchovies, sardines, and salted fish. Cooks sometimes got creative with their use in recipes. Michael Smith, culinary advisor to Upstairs, Downstairs and The Duchess of Duke Street television miniseries, offers the Delhi Sandwich (“Straight from the Days of the Raj is this one!”) in The Afternoon Tea Book.6 I have adapted it only slightly. Smith recommends spreading this between slices of brown bread or hot over buttered toast or over split, toasted English muffins.
Makes 5 or 6 sandwiches:
6 anchovy fillets
6 ounces/170 g skinned and deboned tinned sardines, about 1¼ loosely packed cup of fillets
1 tsp mild chutney
1 medium egg
¾ tsp mild curry powder
Salt (optional)
2 to 3 dashes of Tabasco or 1 pinch cayenne pepper
10 to 12 slices brown bread
In a blender, add all of the filling ingredients and blend to a paste. Transfer to a saucepan.
Over low heat, cook until the paste has firmed slightly and cohered, about 5 minutes. Spoon into a bowl and let cool.
Spread the filling on 5 or 6 slices of the bread. Cover with the remaining slices. Trim the crusts. Cut the sandwiches diagonally.
Arrange on a platter and serve.