LEAVE behind the cacophony of the street and the stress of misdirected cabbies. I have a date with a dark, sweet Belgian. Tempered and ready for the mould, the thick, slow river of dark brown chocolate is a welcoming sight, flowing through the Prefamac moulding and tempering machine.The 20°C interior of the Chocossieur factory helps a lot and I offer a genuine smile to Priti Chandrani, my initiator to the world of sweet sin.Jammed between two monstrous buildings in Lalbaugh’s thickly-peopled Tavdi Pada in Mumbai, it’s an unlikely venue to meet such a delicacy but once I have popped a sample— a Gianduja Zebra, into my mouth where it slowly dissolves.all mundane thoughts melt away too.Priti takes a few minutes to get me acquainted with the Belgian machines that will help me make my very first batch of chocolate. Today we will make rum ’n’ raisin.There is, of course, the tempering machine which circulates the chocolate in a rotating drum. This is to makes sure it does not solidify and is neither too hot nor too cold, in just the right kind of mood.Next comes the vibrating tray where air bubbles are shaken to death leaving the chocolate in a state of velveteen smoothness. A set of moulds offer a variety of shapes, but I go for the hearts. (Damn what a diehard romantic!)My first time and I am nervous especially since Priti moves around with swift, efficient gestures, tapping out trays, scraping off theexcess chocolate and telling me that I have to be firm yet gentle.Armed with an apron and kitchen cloth, I first heat the mould with an industrial hairdryer. It’s all about the right temperature, like I said. Then I grasp the tray (firmly) and pass it under the large spout that deposits generous dollops of tempered chocolate on my mould. Praying fervently that it does not slip into the circulating drum, I scrape away the excess with arubber spatula.Repeat till all the moulds are full. Now vibrate. Then turn over on a grate that sits over the drum and count to three. All the excess chocolate drips off leaving a thin shell behind when you flip it back. We scrape off all the excess bits with a palette knife. ‘‘That’s pretty good,’’ says Priti and I want to clap my hands with glee and sing the Good Ship Lolipop, from Williwonker and the Chocolate Factory. But good sense prevails and it dawns on me that this is only the first step.While we leave the tray to solidify in the fridge, we prepare the filling. The raisins are drunk from being soaked overnight in Old Monk and taste delish. But I have to focus here since Priti is already scooping out big blobs of unsalted butter into an eversilver bowl. Weighing it in at 75 gms we take it out to melt. ‘‘If you can avoid it, don’t have a gas burner inside the area where you prepare the chocolate. It leaves an unpleasant smell around the chocolate, besides tampering with the temperature,’’ warns the chocolate maestro.Butter melted, we add 125 gms of milk chocolate, the fairer cousin of our dark beauty, chilling in the moulds. Mix together with a whisk till smooth. We add a dash of rum (15-20 ml) to make it merry. Out comes the mould. Slip in a finger and gently draw out the chocolate shell. She is ready to be filled.Three drunk raisins per shell, too much leaves no space for the milk chocolate. The piping bag is fixed with a nozzle and filled with the mixture. Test it and lower the nozzle to neatly fill each shell. Letting it all settle in we pop it back in the fridge. Half an hour later the tray is ready to be sealed off with dark chocolate.We make another visit to the dark chocolate river and then neatly seal off the moulds. ‘‘Be very careful to wipe the top evenly since this is final,’’ says Priti sternly. At last, she is to be sent one final time back into the fridge. This is where we rough her up a bit, banging the tray on the table-top to loosen it from the icy grip of the mould. Not too hard or you might just break my heart.Okay that’s a bad joke, but oh the chocolate is sooo good — if I say so myself.Rum ’n’ Raisin Treats IngredientsFor mould 200 gms dark chocolate. Use a homegrown double boiler. Place the smaller vessel (with chocolate slabs) in a larger vessel containing water. For filling 75 gms unsalted butter 125 gms melted milk chocolate 100 gms raisins MethodFor mould: Heat chocolate till it reaches 40° C. Temper about 100 gms on a marble slab by moving it around with a palette knife till it is 30°C (measure with a thermometer) add it to the balance. Pour chocolate into mould. Tap the mould to remove air bubbles. Clean excess with rubber spatula. Refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes. For filling Soak raisins overnight in Old Monk Rum. Heat unsalted butter in a bowl till smooth. Mix tempered milk chocolate with butter. Whisk till fine. Set aside Remove mould from refrigerator. Add three raisins per mould. Fill in a piping bag with nozzle. Pour the filling into mould. Seal top of mould with remaining dark chocolate tempered at 30°C. Carefully clean excess chocolate with spatula. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Tap out chocolate it’s ready to eat.
