A tasty variant of the cheesecake

Tarun Kapoor is executive chef at Doha’s Horizon Manor Hotel.  Send your feedback to: exe.chef@horizonmanor.comYou may know cheesecake, or the New York cheesecake but you may not be so familiar with Sopapilla Cheesecake, a popular dessert in South American cuisine. They are also known as Sopaipillas. The word Sopapilla is derived from sopaipa, a Spanish word for fried bread. Sopapilla is a puffy, fried South American pastry with many sweet, salty and stuffed regional variations. The sweet Sopapilla are eaten with honey and the salty ones are eaten with mustard or ketchup and the stuffed ones may have a filling of beans, meat or pepper. The combination of Sopapilla pastry with a regular cheesecake produces a Sopapilla Cheesecake. There are many variations of this cheesecake, which incorporate different types of pastry and custard desserts.The basic ingredients required to make Sopapilla Cheesecake are cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, butter, cinnamon, and crescent bread, and for the filling cream cheese, sugar and vanilla are mixed together. This sweet filling is spread on top of crescent bread and second crescent bread is placed on top of the filling. The sponge is then brushed with melted butter and baked for about 20- 25 minutes. The cheesecake is ready when the crust turns to golden brown colour. This cheesecake is generally available in many restaurants featuring New Mexican cuisine and South American cuisine. You can make your own healthier version of the cheesecake by replacing sugar with sugar alternate and using low fat cream cheese instead of the regular cream cheese.Sopapilla CheesecakeIngredientsCream cheese 450 gmCastor sugar 1 cup + ¾ cupVanilla extracts 1 tspCinnamon powder 1 tspButter  ½ cupHoney  ¼ cupCrescent rolls 450 gm GarnishWhipped cream 2 cupStrawberry 100 gmMethodBeat the cream cheese with 1 cup sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.Use a rolling pin to flatten the crescent rolls to the size of the baking tray (approx.9x13 inch). Press one layer in the bottom of same sized greased baking tray.Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture, cover with the remaining crescent bread  on top.Stir together ¾ cup sugar, cinnamon and butter separately in a bowl.Dot the mixture over the top of the cheesecake.Bake in preheated oven at 350 degree Celsius for 20- 25 minutes or until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown.Remove from oven and drizzle with honey, allow to cool down completely in the pan before cutting into desired shape. Garnish with whipped cream and strawberries, serve cold.NoteYou can replace the crescent rolls with cake sponge also if the crescent bread is not available.Tandoor cookingTandoor is a charcoal fired clay oven that has been used since centuries by mankind to cook food. Tandoori cooking now a day has evolved itself into a delicious cuisine in itself and chefs around the world have been experimenting with the food that can be cooked in it. The tandoor cooked food has its own unique aroma and flavour due to the charcoal being used to fire it. A variety of vegetarian, non-vegetarian dishes and breads are cooked in the tandoor. The cooks that specialise in Tandoori cuisine are in always in demand owing to the specialised nature of the cooking involved. Some of the dishes that have gained international recognition are chicken tikka, tandoor chicken, seekh kebab, naan, tandoori roti and many more. The below recipe is not only unique but simple as it involves very less preparation and ingredients. Tandoori Fruit ChaatIngredientsRed apple  2 noPears  3 noPineapple  1 noBell peppers  2 noHung curd  2 cupGinger, chop  1 tspCoriander powder 1 tspChat masala  1 tspCoriander leaves, chop 1 tbspRed chilli powder ½ tspLemon juice  1 tbspSalt  to tasteBlack pepper, crushed to tasteMethodWash and cut all the fruits into equal sized dices.In a bowl combine hung curd, ginger, coriander powder, coriander leaves, red chilli, lemon juice, salt and black pepper and mix well to make a marinade.Marinate the cut fruits in the prepared marinade. Skewer the fruits and cook in tandoor till the fruits are charred from outside.Do not overcook the fruits as they will lose their moisture and texture.Remove from skewer and sprinkle some chat masala on top. Serve hot with choice of sauce.