Spiced Pumpkin Latte | Winter Is Coming - Season 2 | How To Make Pumpkin Spice Latte | Varun

It's been a year, and I'm sure none of us have realised. Well, I'm back in the studio with the next season of Winter is Coming. And with winter comes in the earthiness of spices. I'm showing you a recipe today which is very simple of coffee. And this one is not just any coffee but a Spiced Pumpkin Coffee. Hey guys, it's me the Bombay Chef Varun Inamdar. And welcome to Rajshri Food. Let's begin. Spiced Pumpkin Coffee, well the name says it all. It has spice, it has pumpkin and of course it has coffee. Now I'm going to break this recipe into 3 components. The first one of course is making the pumpkin puree. And in this case, I'm going to use the red pumpkin. The second component is making the coffee mixture which is going to be infused with spices. And the third one of course is heating the milk and assembling it later. Let's begin with the first process and that is cutting the red pumpkin. Well at this stage if you notice, what I'm doing is removing this entire fibrous bit, along with the seeds and removing the skin. In this case, the skin is slightly tougher. So you can take a call when you actually take the pumpkin or when you see the pumpkin in real. What's important is to get the meat of the pumpkin or the flesh of the pumpkin, which is next going to get steamed. Now I'm using a tiny pumpkin and that is why the process could look a little complicated. In any case if you're using a large pumpkin of course, what you need to do is remove the seeds, remove the fibres, remove the skin and cut it into large chunks. The next step is extremely simple and that is lighting the flame, adding in some water and boiling this or steaming this, the choice is completely yours. I'm going to cover this and allow the steam to generate. At this stage, we also need to understand we are making a coffee. We are making literally a paste or a puree of pumpkin for the spiced pumpkin coffee. So no sugar, no salt at this stage. Also the coffee is not going to have sugar because I personally like this without sugar. But in this case also the choice is completely yours. The water is on a roll boil. Let's add in the pieces of pumpkin. While we are boiling the pumpkin or cooking the pumpkin, we need to ensure and remember that the pumpkin later will be cooled down and run into a puree, which is nice and smooth. At this stage, the water will later get discarded. Please remember this because this will not be converted entirely into puree. Only the pumpkin which will later get cooled and pureed, just a reminder. While the red pumpkin is getting cooked, let's move on to the second component and that is making the coffee decoction or the coffee syrup for which we need some water. To this, let's add in some instant coffee powder. And allow this to bubble for at least a minute and a half. Well in case you have your wonderful coffees in place, you can put those as well to use. In case you have an instant coffee maker or a coffee maker at home, please ensure that you take at least 2 to 3 shots of Espresso for something like this. Now here we have the red pumpkin cooking. And we also have the coffee decoction which is now bubbling away to glory. Now one thing which is very important at this stage for all of us to understand is to infuse this with some spices. What I have here with me is some nutmeg, some dry ginger powder, some cloves, some cinnamon sticks. And what I also have here with me is a combination of all these 4 spices which are ground into a fine powder. So in case you want to infuse this, you use the whole spices. In case you want to just dry roast all the spices, powder them and add in just a touch of this. That also does its job wonderfully well. But I'm taking a slightly longer route and I'm going to infuse the syrup. The next is some dry ginger powder. Followed by some cloves. And finally a stick of cinnamon which I'm going to further break down into few pieces. Lastly, I'm also going to add in a wonderful sweet note. Of course we have the sweetness of nutmeg. But I'm going to take it to another level and scrape in some fresh vanilla. Now while I'm using a fresh vanilla bean, you can by all means also use vanilla essence. But of course I'm sure you understand the difference between the two. Let's add this in. What I'm doing here in this case is, along with that I've also added the pod in this itself. So that it's infused further more. Our coffee decoction is getting ready. Let's quickly also check the doneness of the Red Pumpkin. It's beautifully cooked, nice and soft. Yet, it's holding its shape. At this stage, let's turn the flame off. We can remove the pumpkin and allow these to cool down completely. Because the next step is to grind this into fine and smooth puree. Our decoction is done and ready. Time to strain this out. Let's move on to the next step and that is grinding the cooked pumpkin. Which is now cooled down into a smooth puree. Let's have a quick check. There you have a wonderful smooth and silken Red Pumpkin puree. Let's transfer this in a bowl. And move on to the next step and that is heating the milk or rather frothing the milk. And for this, I'm using full fat milk. What I'm using here in this case is a whisk. In case you have a milk frother, by all means you can use that. But I'm showing you an absolutely wonderful home trick and that is by the use of a whisk. What we need to do is while the milk is boiling away, we need to start whisking this so that it starts frothing and that's what is required. The milk has become nice and frothy. Also by frothing this up is going to add into the creaminess of the final coffee. At this stage, you also need to understand one very important thing. I'm not adding sugar in the coffee because I personally like my spiced coffee just like that. And of course, now this is with pumpkin. So sugar is absolutely personal. In case you want to add in sugar, you can add in brown sugar, you can add in maple, you can add in honey. The choice is completely yours. For now, let's start assembling this nice wonderful spiced pumpkin coffee. Let's do that. I'm going to begin the assembly with this silken smooth red pumpkin pulp. To this, I'm going to add in the spiced coffee decoction. Finally, to this assembly, let's add in our frothed milk. You know what, I'm super excited. One, looking at this colour which is wonderfully developing now in the cup. And secondly, winter is coming. Let's take this to the next level and add in some additional milk froth. And finally, last but not the least, the spice powder. Remember I spoke about, just a touch of it, just a smidgen and it'll do its job, trust me. With this, our spiced pumpkin coffee is done and ready. Make this for your family, make this for your friends, but more importantly, make this for yourself. On that note, do not forget to stay tuned for more such quick, simple and stunning recipes. Bye for now.