Film-making and Chilli Cheesecake

It is not every day that you work with a director, I luckily got that chance. Being born in India, Bollywood has a lot of influence on me, mostly on the music front, but then making a film is a different experience altogether. This happened when my director friend suddenly called me up one day and said that he wants to shoot a portion of his film at my house. It was pretty exciting for me and I was all prepared for the D-Day. Most of the day was spent in cooking, Mr. Director wanted to shoot a dinner scene and the food was to be prepared by me. And, me being a very nice guy (and a great chef), agreed to it impromptu. The food menu was simple, a Chinese style sautéed vegetables dish and a Bengali-style chicken rezala, to be served with rice and there was custard for dessert.

The team came quite late, and the set up took about 15 minutes. It was a simple set-up, just a few lights, one tripod and camera. Most of the set used my already nicely set-up drawing/dining space. And then the shooting started. The dialogues were being prompted and read, the director was saying “action please” and “cut” very frequently. It was quite funny actually. I met the actors for the first time, but still it was hard to maintain composure and keep my serious face, and hence, I got busy with the cheese cake, the recipe follows. I was called in to prompt for some time, which I enjoyed doing. In some time the funny part became less and it was serious business. You can’t be giggling a lot when there is such a serious director on the floor!

The shooting took about two hours, since due to resource shortage, the same scene was filmed twice from different angles. I felt good after Mr. Director took one of my suggestions (about blowing the candle) though rest of the suggestions went directly to the bin. By the end of it, the director looked satisfied, the actors were tired and we all sat together and had dinner. The food had to be re-heated, but still tasted awesome (as the Director for feedback)

The Chilli Cheesecake Recipe

This is a cheat’s cheesecake as there is no cheese involved. This is a no-bake cheesecake, hence can be made by anyone. You just need a fridge so that the “cake” sets firmly. In hot countries like India, the cake might not hold for a long time and will become a  custard like formation when left out for some time, so take care of that. No eggs, hence vegetarian.

Ingredients:

         For the base:

• 100 grams or one packet of your favourite digestive biscuits
• 50 grams or half cup unsalted butter (melted)

         For the filling:

• 300 ml of thick cream
• 400 grams or 1 tin of condensed milk
• Zest of 2 limes
• Juice of 1 lime

          For the topping:

• Half cup sugar
• Juice of 2 limes
• 2 long red chillies, de-seeded and de-veined, finely chopped

          Equipment:

                One 8-inch round cake tin or 20 cm x 30 cm pan lined with baking paper, even on the side walls

Procedure:

1. Crush biscuits by hand or pulse mode of mixer. Mix with butter.
2. Press the above mixture in the pan, spread evenly and refrigerate.
3. Whip cream to soft peaks and keep aside keeping as much air as possible.
4. Now whip condensed milk, then fold in lime juice and zest.
5. Gently fold the whipped cream into condensed milk until just combined. Keep temperatures low otherwise the cream might curdle due to the lime.
6. Pour over the crumb base and refrigerate for minimum 3 hours or overnight. The cake should become firm.
7. For the topping, place sugar, lime juice and chillies in a pan and bring to a simmer.
8. Cook until little thick, stir to dissolve sugar. Then remove from heat, let it cool and transfer to fridge.
9. To serve, remove cake from pan carefully. Drizzle with chilli syrup. Cut and serve.

Tips:     

• Replace biscuit base with nut base for gluten-free.
• Do not add chilli syrup and store the cake, the syrup being heavy will cut down into the cake.