G'Gina's Kitchenette

Chenna Morru Curry (Yam in yoghurt curry)

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 19:23:00 +0000

It has been so long since I wrote a blog post. I remember my friend who is also a blogger saying that it's ok and I should not feel guilty about 'Living a full life!' Strange saying if you analyse it- Living life! or a full life! But that's just it. She is right and I am living a full life. Though I do not get paid for it always in cash. I do it out of love! Taking care of my precious, beautiful and soulful girl and running my travel business 'ICare Holidayz'.

Since my last blog post, I have restarted yoga, got my blackbelt in Karate with my girl, written a couple of scripts and stories/poems. Engaged my little one to write a few scripts and stories. Edited some stories and poems and kept my travel business running. Oh and appeared in a movie audition or 2 and a dubbing tryout for a movie done by my daughter too (thanks to my neighbour friend). This coupled with the cooking and snapping pictures. So yes I have been 'Living a full life!'

Writing does take your full attention and it just doesn't flow easy. I plan on posting a couple of vegetarian recipes for the Advent (Dec 1-24, 2019) where most Christians give up on either fish, meat - red or white, eggs, milk, etc or all of these in case of some.

This recipe is a simple yet flavorsome and was suggested by my maid and friend Betty. She has a rich resource of Keralaean dishes that she excels in creating, much to the admiration of its' devoured.

You need:

Cooking oil, preferably coconut oil
Coconut milk from 2 small coconuts
Yams - chopped - 400 gms
4 green chilies slit
A tsp of turmeric powder
Garlic cloves - 5-6
Cumin (Jeera) - 1/2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - A palmful
Small onions (Kunjulli)-3-4 pcs
Fenugreek (Uluva)-2-3 pcs
Yoghurt - 3 cups
Salt to taste
Water as required

Method:

Serves 4-5 adults | Preparation Time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 10 minutes

1. Extract coconut milk from 2 small coconuts.

2. Chop yams with a little water (no need to cover the yams completely) and cook with about 4 green chilies slitted lengthwise. Add the turmeric powder and salt to taste.

3. Grind garlic cloves, jeera, yogurt and coconut milk. Set aside.

4. Splutter the mustard seeds , curry leaves, finely diced small onions, with fenugreek.

5. Add the yogurt mix to the cooled yams .

6. Once the onion mix is cooled, add the cooked yam mix to it and bring to heat. Don't boil!

7. Serve warm with some hot rice.

Hope you enjoy this dish!

Stir Fried Yam (Chena Mezhukupuratti)

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 18:38:00 +0000

"A pan full of Yam" - Chenna Mezhukuparatee/ Sauteed yams

Onions can make you cry but this dish had me crying even before I peeled the onion. Why? Because this dish was prepped by mum when she visited in February 2015. I have almost no clue of how to peel and cut every root vegetable possible. And Dad and Mum used to grow these root veggies in their yard. Yam is one such root veggie that Mum and Dad carried with them to our home in Chennai. This was when they were visiting us for the first of the two times at Chennai, before Mum passed away.

She prepped this dish and asked me to cook half of it and refrigerate what I didn't need right away and so I did. When we were moving from Chennai, I need to clear up my fridge and I came to the container in the freezer and decided to have it on Saturday 27.6.2015.

This dish was physically prepped by Dad and Mom and finished off by me (after Mum passed away). The yam itself was homegrown. When Mum was prepping the dish for me, little did I know that only a few weeks away would Mum leave us for her Heavenly Abode.

I had first chosen to share this dish after New Year as most homes would have been dialing down the extravagant meals after the festive season. I know of homes that go completely detox or purely vegetarian after all the indulgent weeks have gone by. But now with the Lenten season in, it seems apt to post this recipe.

I do not think I have consumed as much yam in my lifetime as I did while we were moving from our home in Chennai as I needed to use the prepped yam and would not let a morsel of it go to waste. Mum must have had a good laugh. Miss you Mum.

So since I didn't know how to skin the yam, Mum put Dad on the task as her skin was quite sensitive to it. Then Mum did the initial cooking of the yam and asked me to store the excess in the freezer and use as required. This root vegetable can actually be precooked and stored in the freezer even up to 6 months. I would not recommend it as the fresher your veggies are, better is their nutritional value.

So to make this simple recipe,

You need:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Onions - 1 medium size, sliced
Green chilies -1-2 nos slit
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tbsps
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Elephant Foot Yam/Chenna - skinned and sliced - cut into long 1/4" sticks
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

The Make:
Preparation Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Serves 4 adults

Boil the yam in water with shake of salt, turmeric and some pepper powder.
Splutter mustard seeds in heated oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan or wok. Then add the curry leaves. Lower heat to medium-low.
Saute onions, green chilies, ginger garlic paste, turmeric, Coriander pwd and salt.
Toss in prepped yam and saute for 10 minutes making sure to not have the yam stick or burn against the pan.
You can also leave out the green chilies and add a tablespoon of chili powder after tossing in the yam. Another alternative is to add pepper instead of the green chilies or chili powder. You can also add some jeera/cumin powder.

Hope you enjoy this dish with a nice steaming bowl of rice and your favourite gravy.Serve hot with rice or chapatis.I went all out and added this as a mash in the centre of my dosa. I even tried it in some white pasta.

Celebrating Life.... Creamy Vegetable Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 19:52:00 +0000

No excuses this time for being late on my recipe posts. I am thankful that I have a full life, filled with multitude of things to do. One such wonderful opportunity that came my way again was to cook at my little girl's school. They have started a new cooking lab and I had the opportunity to impart some cooking learning to a bunch of wonderful second graders.

The thing I love about my girl's school is how they inspire the kids to inquire and learn. Kids are curious by nature and to mould them into thinking out of the box is something I simply love. I love that I have a creative, excited little girl who is always willing to explore, learn and better herself.

The Lead Ma'am and I chose a soup to make this time owing to the end of monsoons. Also since there have been a couple of rains off and on causing the temperature to lower. A lot of kids had been falling ill too with cold, cough or flu. So a soup seemed apt.

This soup is a Thai inspired one. But since kids come from different households where either they are vegetarians or cannot eat onions, eggs, etc. or where the kid has peanut allergies or generally don't like things like ginger, I avoided using them. Kids are also picky on things like bell peppers, etc. So although it is Thai inspired requiring the use of galangal, bell pepper, peanuts, etc I avoided using any of it.

Carrots are liked by most kids and I know many kids who prefer broccoli these days to cauliflower. So a small portion of brocolli, chopped finely was used. Each kid was asked to bring 1-2 ingredients. I loved the excitement of the kids as each ingredient went into the wok. In fact because of all the beta carotene (through carrots), the soup got a nice orangish colour and coupled with the coriander leaves, the kids who had just celebrated their Indian Independence day celebrations were inspired to tell me what the colour of the soup reminded them of, which was the Indian Flag.

Apart from maybe one or two kids who wanted chicken in their soup, the rest even though non-vegetarians liked the soup for its creaminess. I chose to use two homemade coconut milks, the 2nd milk to cook the vegetables in and the 1st milk to add at the end just warmed up and not boiled which added to its creaminess. How to freshly extract the coconut milk is explained here.

That's me by the way. Extra happy with the kids :)

If you want to make the full version, you can used crushed ginger or galangal, lemongrass, either sriracha chili or green chili, bell peppers finely diced and yellow onion. You can also take a non vegetarian option by adding boneless chicken diced small or boneless fish diced small.

You need:

2 cups of grated carrots (about 4-6 carrots depending on size)
1 cup of broccoli, florets separated into tiny florets
4-6 cloves of garlic, grated using a hand grater
White pepper preferred (if not available you can use regular black pepper) powder - 1-2 tsp
Salt to taste
1 medium coconut gratings (extract two milks)
1 bunch of cilantro or coriander leaves, diced well
1 cup of sweet corn
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup of drinking water (set aside some more if required)

The Make:
Preparation time: 10-15 minutes | Cook time: approx. 20 minutes | Makes about 4-6 medium sized bowls

1. In a large wok, heat about 2 tbsp of coconut oil and add the carrot gratings. Saute for about 2-3 minutes on medium-low heat.
2. Next add the broccoli and sweet corn. Saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add a sprinkle of salt and the pepper. Mix well. Add 1 cup of drinking water.
3. Add the second (thin) milk and half cover the wok. If you have a wok with a glass lid containing a steam hole, then cover fully and keep the heat at medium-low heat. Allow the vegetables to cook for 10 minutes. Add the water and if required add more than 1 cup. Do not overdo it else it will not turn out as creamy.
4. Grate the garlic over the uncovered wok and stir well. Add half of the chopped cilantro and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Lower the heat and then add the first coconut milk. Add the remaining coriander leaves and watch over the pot to allow to heat up. Do not boil. Do a salt check and add more if required.

It is better to add just a sprinkle of salt at first as adding to taste levels at first may not balance the dish as the coconut milk tends to sweeten the soup. So you may end up adding much more salt than is required for the soup. You could also cook the vegetables with just the water at first, blend it with a hand held or regular blender and then return it to the wok to cook in the coconut milk and finish off with the first thick coconut milk. Since there was no blender available, I had opted for the non-blending option.

Hope your kids and you enjoy this soup. Do let me know how it turns out. You can also mail me on gginazkitchenette@gmail or visit my Facebook page or Twitter page. We are also on Pinterest and Instagram now.

Spiced Homemade Wine

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 11:30:00 +0000

Cheeeeeers to a New Year 2017! Ahem, yes I know we are well into the New Year but mine seems to have just begun!

After a cleansing process that the Good Lord has performed in my life recently, I am now in a happy state of mind after the many, many months of downs and outs. On that note, dear readers,

Happy International Happiness Day!

My dearest Dad had a fairly invasive surgery and was living with us for a couple of few months. I truly was not in a state to write or share on my blog. A new made friend gave me the much needed inspiration and focus to get back to writing. Thank you dear friend (for reasons that may cause you to be shot/'bazooka'-ed ;) dear readers along with me, I will not share this friend's name...but yes I will thank you friend - you know who you are! :) :) ). I believe people come into our life for a reason and they sometimes exit without reason or without a good reason.

Forgiveness is not something everyone can do. There was a time in my life where I felt revenge was the sweet return to victory. But not today! After having lost my Mom so suddenly, I really look right through evil or injustice or even meanness or rudeness as a weakness on the part of the person that delivers the same. What would life be when 'Love is (truly) all around"? Life is too short to hold grudges or to be mean. Live and let live. Or as Aunty Vinna principles, 'Do good and avoid evil'.

Everyone around you is fighting a battle you know NOTHING about. So do not judge and bring down people just cause they have made choices which you do not understand anything about. Do not team up in groups and nail them to the wall through your words, actions or expressions cause that is what a pack of wolves or vultures would do. They just may be doing the contrary by blessing and praying for you each and every single day.

Despite some of these unforeseen and rude departures that God allows someone to make in your life, there are some who depart along with others who stay or others who have to physically depart that would make a major impact in your life. You can even say,

That friends may stay or leave but there are those that stay in your heart forever, never to leave!

At the end, always remember (this helps a lot!) 'Whatever happens, happens for your best!' (ALWAYS!! No matter how hard it seems)

On account of International Happiness Day, I hope I get a chance to make someone smile today! There are a lot of people who are depressed, lonely and have not a person to talk to right now. Find sometime today to reach out to a lonely person and make them smile even for a few minutes.

This aromatic wine is ideal for Christmas holiday time, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.Toast to Life today and be happy and bless ALL around you with a glass or two of this flavoursome Spiced Homemade Wine! Cheee...eeeers all! This Easter you can serve some of this wonderful vino along side your main meal.

You need:

1 kg Seedless green or white Grapes
2 kgs Sugar
41/2 litres Water, boiled and cooled
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 Cinnamon Stick
3-4 Cloves
2 tsp of powdered nutmeg
1/2 Cup sugar (for carmelising) (optional)

The Make:

Preparation time: 20 minutes | Resting Time: 42 days minimum

1. Sterilise the ceramic jar that you plan to use. You can also sun expose it to sterilise it or just use plain hot water and leave it out to air dry. You can also use a glass jar. I used the ceramic jar. Remember I said, everything happens for the best! There was a plumbing issue causing the internal walls of my kitchen cupboards to have some dampness. I had to clean out the entire cupboard including the jar and then sun dry it. This year being supremely hot and sunny also helped.

2. Boil the water and allow to fully cool down. Clean and de-stalk the grapes. Strain in a colander.

3. Dissolve the active dry yeast in the lukewarm water. Set aside for 10-15 minutes to activate.

4. Using a sterilised wooden spatula or crusher, bruise the grapes in a large pot. You can also alternate between using sterilised hands and the spatula.

5. Next add half the quantity of sugar to the grapes and mix well.

6. Transfer the crushed grapes and sugar to the sterilised jar. Add the activated yeast.

7. Next add the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the jar.

8. Add the boiled, cooled water to the jar. Mix well. Keep the jar in a dry, dark place in the airtight jar. You can also place a kitchen towel over the mouth of the jar before securing on the lid. It has to remain like this for a minimum of 21 days. In my case, I kept it like this for 6 weeks because as I mentioned, I was busy taking care of my Dad. It worked out in my favour, so I am happy.

9. There would be some air bubbles on top during the fermentation process. Stir the mixture with a sterilised wooden spatula during the 21 days or thrice a week. I let it rest and stirred it once a week.

10. Strain the mixture into another sterilised vessel using gauze or a muslin cloth. Add the remaining sugar and mix well and allow the cloudy wine to stand for another 21 days. The sediments will settle down and the wine appears clear. A few days before the next steps you can add the caramelised sugar as what the home nurse told me who came to take care of Dad. This will give the wine a golden colour. I skipped this step.

11. You can either use a muslin cloth to strain the mixture or carefully ladle out the wine into a sterilised bottle. I chose not to add the caramelised sugar so my wine appeared pinkish/rose in colour.

I plan on letting my wine rest a little longer in the bottle. I will let you know how that turns out ;)

To caramelise the sugar,

In a non-stick sauce pan add the sugar and on medium heat allow it to heat up and then stir till the sugar melts and becomes dark brown. Then scrape down the sides of the pan with your wooden ladle to get an even caramelisation. Add a few tbsp of hot water to the caramel and mix well. Cool down and add the syrup to the jar and mix well. The wine will darken in a few days. The quantity of sugar can be increased or decreased to suit your taste.

Cheers to a fun today and a brighter tomorrow and pray that your year ahead is as fabulous as you are! God Bless! Happy Happiness Day!

Crispy Chocolate Surprise Balls #FoodieExtravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 11:42:00 +0000

Aaaah I'm back and for one of my favourites 'Chocolate'! Thank you Kathleen for my favourite Chocolate theme in time for me to pick up the pace on my food blog as well.

Kathleen Coe Clegg is the wonderful hostess of our October's theme 'Chocolate' over at Foodie Extravaganza. She is the owner of 'Fearlessly Creative Mammas', a wonderful blog sharing recipes from her home.

This time I wanted to do something similar to cake pops except it is presented a lot differently.

I enjoyed making this treat as I knew my little girl would love it.

She absolutely loved it and thinks I should sell it. She added that she thinks there is only one problem, no one who eats it will want to leave our home. She even tried to convince her grand dad (my dad) to have one. She said "It's homemade!" :D. She is a Chocolate fanatic just like her mom as you can see from her expression in this photo of the two of us sharing a bowl of layered ice cream at The Chocolate Room in Hyderabad, India two years ago (New Year's Day dessert).

With runs to the hospital to daily chores increased in the last weeks, I was totally unsure if this post would get uploaded at all. I am glad I was able to do it. I may get the opportunity to get the opinion of one or more kids today. I will let you know what they say about it. Trust me, if kids like a dessert or dish, it is good. They never lie. They are the best food critics in the world. Yaaay! I just got feedback from my darling little 5 year old Rayu. His response was a thumbs up and a fist bump! His parents ate most of the chocolate ball though. Thanks Zaira and Shaan. Love seeing my favourite neighbours and friends enjoy my homemade treats :)

The surprise here was meant to be the caramel but I am not sure it is! In my daughter's case the surprise is the Chocolate outer and inner as well. The Crispy element can be made crunchier in case you cook the puffed rice with a layer of powdered biscuits (Marie biscuits) and set to cool. For want of time, I could not. I will try it next time and let you know how it goes.

You need:

Basic chocolate cake:

1/2 cup cocoa powder
11/4 cup all purpose flour, plain flour or maida
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 medium sized eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
1/4 cup of warm water
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter (for the cake balls mould)

Caramel sauce: See Mango soufflè with caramelised ginger and caramel sauce (no need for ginger here)

1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup hot water

Chocolate sauce and crisps:

1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup of puffed rice or churmura (plain not salted)
1/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp butter

The Make:
Preparation: 20 minutes | Baking time: 30 - 40 minutes | Makes 8 medium sized chocolate balls

For the Basic chocolate cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C. Butter a cake tin of any dimension. The size doesn't really matter as the cake will be deconstructed.

2. Mix the cocoa powder in the warm water until smooth. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a bowl and set aside.

3. Whisk the eggs until light and fluffy and add the butter to it and whisk well. Mix the egg mixture into the flour mixture until smooth.

4. Transfer to the prepared cake tin and allow to rest for 20 minutes before baking for 30-40 minutes until risen. Set aside to cool.

5. Deconstruct the cake into powder and add 1 tbsp milk and 1 tbsp butter and mix well till a dough can be formed. Set aside.

For the Caramel sauce:

1. Heat a pan and add the sugar to it on medium-high.
2. Once the sugar melts and begins to turn into a golden brown, add the hot water and cover evenly.
3. Once the caramel turns an amber colour, turn off the flame. The caramel colour will deepen once rested.

For the chocolate sauce with puffed rice:

1. Add the cocoa powder and warm water and heat lightly on sim whilst stirring. Once it starts to boil turn off the heat and mix the butter in well.
2. Add the puffed rice, mix well and allow it to cool to room temperature.

For the Crispy Chocolate Balls:
1. Divide the cake dough into 8 parts. Roll each one into a ball and flatten it in your palm. Add a tsp of caramel sauce in the center and roll back into a ball. Do this until you finish all 8 balls.
2. Place the cake balls on a rack and pour the cooled chocolate sauce with puffed rice using a ladle over each ball. Allow it to cool at room temperature.
3. Transfer to the fridge.

Serve cold. Your kids will love this treat.

Foodie Extravaganza is a monthly food fest, where a group of bloggers all create and share a recipe around one of the monthly food 'holidays' as detailed in The Nibble. This month Kathleen from Fearlessly Creative Mammas is hosting and since chocolate day is October 28th, Chocolate is our theme. There are actually two other days that incorporate chocolate in October, the 14th is Chocolate Covered Insect Day and the 18th is Chocolate Cupcake day. We didn't want to get to specific though, so we will just say chocolate. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE. Now, check out these great chocolate submissions!

Holy Mole Pork Stew from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Triple Chocolate and Cream Trifle from Fearlessly Creative Mammas
2 Kiss Cupcakes from Sneha's Recipe
Chocolate Lovers Dream Cake from Cookin and Craftin
Kahlua Chocolate Cake from Making Miracles
Queen Anne Squares from Tara's Multicultural Table
Hot Fudge Cheesecake Brownies from Cookaholic Wife
Nutty Chocolate Fudge from Basic N Delicious
Chocolate Blintzes from Sew You Think You Can Cook
Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Slow Cooker Chicken Mole from Caroline's Cooking
Simple Chocolate Cake from Passion Kneaded
Chocolate Rugelach from Hardly a Goddess
Crispy Chocolate Surprise Balls from G'Gina's Kitchenette
Marshmallow Turtle Bars from Food Lust People Love
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins from Not Too Shabby Gabby

Mango Jam #noPectin

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 05:11:00 +0000

It has been a while since I last posted a recipe on the G'Gina's Kitchenette. You know what they say, 'When life hands you lemons make lemonade!( or in this case use it as a part of your Jam - I know PJ)' But what do you do when it hands you death, accident, unwanted troubles and family and friends' health issues?

Well not to burden you with the details but I have had quite a few check in on me..I lost my Dad-in-law in July and have had some issues with family health. Also an unfortunate accident happened, one that I will learn from. I had once lost all hope. But I trust God will bring peace and favour to us.

This recipe is long overdue. I wanted to post this soon after the Mango Jam Rolls in which I had used the same jam batch. Although in India, Mango season has come and gone, I am sure a lot of places still get a good lot of mangoes.

During this mango season, I had a wonderful time making recipes using different types of Mangoes. This one is special though as it reminded me of Mum who taught me my first ever Jam.

You can make this Jam with any kind of non-stringy mango variety. For this one, I chose Alphonso mangoes. I did not want to use Pectin either as Mum never used it and I am sure with reason.

You need:

6 large ripe and firm alphonso mangoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
11/4 cups of granulated sugar
Juice of 1 medium size lemon
Sterilised jars, pots and ladles

*Make sure that all utensils including the spoons and ladles are properly sterilised and dried.

The Make:
Preparation time: 15 minutes | Cook and rest time: min. 45 minutes | Makes 2 small sized jars or 11/2 medium sized jars approx 600 gms | Lasts minimum 2 weeks if refrigerated well

1. In a large pot, place the mangoes, sugar, lemon juice over medium-high flame.Once the sugar comes up to a boil, reduce the flame to sim.
2. Cook the mangoes for at least 5-10 minutes and mash the cubes with the ladle.
3. Cook for another 5 minutes and the resultant mangoes will be cooked and thickened. Test the jam on a plate by drawing a line on it. If it is firm and not runny, then you are good to go, otherwise test cook for another 3-5 minutes.
4. Set aside from the flame and allow it to cool which will continue the jam thickening process.
5. Once completely cooled, transfer to a sterilised jar (s) and refrigerate and use for a minimum of 2 weeks or until your family allows you to store it. #JammyGoodness #Flavoursome

Serve on your favourite toast or can be used in your favourite savoury dish as well. Spicy prawns may go well with this jam.

Pearl Spot Fish Pan fried in a Banana leaf (Kuttanadan Karimeen Pollichathu) #FishFridayFoodies

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 11:23:00 +0000

This month's Fish Friday Foodies' event is 'Pan or Deep Fried Fish' chosen by April of Angels Home Sweet Homestead. Thanks April for choosing this theme.

I have always wanted to make the Pearl spot in our traditional Keralite manner. It tastes awesome and is packed with flavour. Not only that it takes very little oil/fat to make it. I tried the traditional Kuttanadan recipe. Read more about the Kuttanad region of Kerala (India) here.

Pearl spot is called 'Karimeen' in Kerala and 'Pollichathu' essentially means burnt (in literal terms)/grilled/ pan fried in a Banana leaf. The fish is cleaned and wrapped in whole in the leaf.

This batch of extremely fresh Pearl Spot fish was procured through a good friend Michael Bejoy at our community where we stay. Michael essentially was the first person who helped me out when we moved to Kochi after Mummy had passed away.

We settled down much faster in Kochi owing to him. I was lost without much assistance since Hubby was traveling most of the time and he kind of did what Mum would have in that circumstance. He pushed me into getting out of home and mingling with the women of our community, who have gone on to being good friends, neighbours and more like family. I can count on them. So I guess besides getting a good batch of fish, I actually got much more. So thank you Michael for being such a good person and friend. Oh and he also helped me avail the banana leaves plus extra Pearl spot fishes for my buck as it was his friend who was selling them. (Happy Me!)

I made the Karimeen Pollichathu in two ways as most of my readers are well aware by now that my little one is anti-spice. We say she is not supposed to have been born into an Indian household owing to her taste buds for non-spicy food.

As a result all fish in my home is cooked in two clay pots or pans and so also this one was done the same way. The only difference in the recipe being, I did not add the green chilies or chili powder and substituted the chili powder with coriander powder for my little's one's preparation. She loved it!

I did not share this with my hubby as he was traveling all week and by the time he got home quite late that night, he saw only the bones and the leaf in the food trash and one or two last ones refrigerated. He thought I had bought it from this particular hotel. So I am pleased as it looked like one that was professionally prepared by a chef. *happy smiles* :D! I need to make this one more time for him. Michael will order another batch of Karimeen soon :)!

The spicier version

The one without chili

On with the recipe,

You need:

Pearlspot fish / Karimeen (medium sized) : 6 nos, cleaned in whole and oblique incisions made on both sides of each fish
1/2 kg diced Onions
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
2 strips of Cinnamon
4 tbsp Vinegar
4 tbsp Coconut oil
Salt – to taste
1" diced Ginger
1 medium sized whole garlic, diced finely (you can reduce the quantity of garlic depending on taste)
6 green chilies
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Pepper powder
6 Tomatoes, finely diced
2 tbsp Chilli powder
Drinking water
1 large banana leaf or 2 medium sized banana leaves, cleaned and air dried

The Make:

Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 20-30 minutes | Servings: 6

1. Drain the fish well before use.
2. Grind the chili powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder and cumin seeds with 1/2 tbsp vinegar to a fine paste. (For the non-spicy version, as mentioned use coriander powder and try to do that as the first grind to avoid the transference of the chili powder spice. If you are making 2 versions remember to divide the quantities of all the ingredients by half or in relation to the ratios in which you plan to make it).
3. In a clay pot or any other heavy bottomed pot(s), heat a little of the coconut oil.
Fry the cinnamon pieces in the pan.
4.Add the onions, ginger, garlic and green chilies to the pan and saute it well.
Once the onions are cooked well, add the finely ground paste and saute it well in a low flame.
5. Next add the tomatoes until softened and cooked. Add 2 cups of the boiling water to the cooked mixture.
6. Add salt and the remaining vinegar and mix well. Add the whole fishes to the spices and saute it the gravy thickens and the fish is half cooked which takes about 5-10 minutes. The spices essentially is cooked this way for the Kuttanad version and acts as a marinade for the fish.
7. Each banana leaf can act as a wrap for at least 6 fishes. So using a sharp kitchen knife or blade, slit it vertically into 6-7 pieces and skin off some of the stem from behind the leaf.
8.Wrap each fish, along with the thickened marinade/gravy in a banana leaf. Secure it with banana fibers(from the banana stem) or a use a kitchen string. Heat a pan with some oil and pan fry the fish in the banana leaf with 5 minutes on each side.

Serve it with a choice of your favourite Appams, Steamed rice or Idiyappams (String hoppers)

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com.

Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

Do check out what the rest of the Fish Friday Foodies have made for this fabulous June event:

An InLinkz Link-up

Celebrating G'Gina's Kitchenette's Fourth Blogiversary: Mango Jam Rolls with Cremé, Fresh Mangoes and Jam filling #BreadBakers

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 11:17:00 +0000

This challenge could not have been announced at a better time when Mangoes are in plentiful! So I got to try many a recipe involving the delicious Mango this year.

It is Monsoons here now as I type this so the number and variety of mangoes have significantly dwindled. I explored recipes with at least 4-5 types of mangoes this year.

I could not post my Bread Bakers' recipe in time for May's event of theme ' Rolls' owing to the issue with the Daylight savings time. I had made Cinnabon-style Cinnamon Rolls. I missed by an hour or so. So this time I posted well in advance.

These particular rolls were made with Bangenapalli variety of mangoes which is named after a town in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. A friend and neighbour, Divya who hails from the lovely city of Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, loves these mangoes and she could not find the sweeter variety here in Kochi, Kerala. So when I did stumble on a few of these sweeter varieties, I decided to make the Jam rolls for this month's Bread Bakers' challenge with them. And also to give Divya a tasting of these rolls.

The only regret in making these Jam rolls were that I should have made it with a bigger batch. With my little one's school about to start, I had a lot of long standing tasks and errands to complete during the holidays. I am almost about to reach the end of that list. Wish me luck with it! It certainly needs it.

Divya returned with the feedback that this roll was nice. Hubby and daughter loved it too. It was moist, flavoursome, creamy, punchy as well.

I had made some Mango Jam earlier which I used in the dough and also there were chopped up mangoes in the filling along with some chilled cremé. I will share the recipe of the Mango Jam soon.

You can also use ready to use Mango Jam in case you have not made any or you can pulp mango and add instead.

I had earlier made a roulade to celebrate G'Gina's Kitchenette's First Blogiversary so these smaller ones were less of a challenge to roll up. It has been 3 weeks since G'Gina's Kitchenette's Fourth Blogiversary. I had just posted G'Gina's Kitchenette crossing 100,000 page views with the Mango Soufflé. So I would like to share this recipe also as a part of our Fourth Blogiversary celebrations!

June's Bread Bakers event was chosen by the lovely Mireille Roc of The Schizo Chef. The theme is Stone fruit - Bread and could include peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, mangoes, etc. - in any form - juice, fresh fruit or dried fruit. The only condition being that the stone fruit should be included the dough or mix.

You need:

Baking paper or parchment paper
3 large eggs (in my case homebred)
100 gms powdered sugar or castor sugar
1 tsp baking powder (optional)
150 ml chilled cremé ( I used low fat Amul cremé, chilled overnight and whey removed) or you can use double cremé if readily available
Icing sugar or castor sugar or powdered sugar to dust
100 gms plain flour
Mangoes (chopped in very small pieces) - 4 tbsp
100 gms Homemade Mango Jam (recipe to follow) or Mango Jam or Mango Pulp

The Make:
Makes 6 small rolls | Preparation time: 15 minutes + overnight chilling time | Baking time: 15 minutes | Resting time: 20 minutes | Chill time: 30 minutes (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 25 x 30 cms cake pan or a Swiss roll pan with parchment paper. Cut the corners to fit the tray.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar until a ribbon trail is formed when the beater is raised. Add the Mango Jam or Mango pulp (set aside 2 tsp of the jam for the filling). Add 2 tsp of the chopped mangoes and the baking powder (optional) as well and fold. I made the first batch without baking powder and then added to a second batch. Not much of a difference. I think the mangoes added some rising factor.
3. Sift a ladle of flour each into the egg mixture and use another ladle to fold until well combined. Repeat with the remaining flour until all of it is added.
4. Carefully pour the mixture into the pan and give the pan a shake to level. Then smoothen the surface of the mix with the back of a ladle.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove the sponge from the oven and lift the parchment paper carefully onto a clean chopping board or surface.
6. Using a serrated knife cut the sponge into half lengthwise.

7. Place one half on a clean tea towel. Roll the half lengthwise and set on a surface to cool. Repeat with the other half. Allow it to rest for 20 minutes.

8. Meanwhile, whisk the cremé with some sugar (if your jam is not sweet enough).
9. Carefully unroll the first roll, spread some jam on it lightly and then some cremé lightly in the center of the roll and sprinkle with a tsp each of mango pieces in the centre.
10. Carefully roll from one end and cut once the filling is covered. Repeat until 3 pieces are cut.
11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 for the second roll. Serve the rolls with tea or coffee on a platter and sprinkle with some icing sugar through a small round sieve.

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. #BreadBakers - Stone Fruit

Apricot and Cherry Focaccia by Herbivore Cucina
Apricot & Pistachio Buns by Baking Sense
Apricot & Stilton Soda Bread by Baking in Pyjamas
Apricot Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Apricot Cranberry Walnut Quick Bread by Spill the Spices
Apricot Kolaches by Food Lust People Love
Apricot Oat Casserole Bread with Sweet Vanilla Glaze by A Salad For All Seasons
Big Batch Bran Muffins by What Smells So Good?
Brown Sugar and Plum Pull-Apart Bread by The Wimpy Vegetarian
Cherry Bread with Streusel Topping by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
Cherry Ricotta Muffins by Sneha's Recipe
Cinnamon Swirl Peach Bread by Kylee Cooks
Dried Apricot Bread with Walnuts by The Bread She Bakes
Eggless Mango Cardamom Walnut Quick Bread by Sizzling Tastebuds
Eggless Mini Mango Bread by Sara's Tasty Buds
Mango and Passionfruit Yeast Bread by Mayuri's Jikoni
Mango Challah by Passion Kneaded
Mango Jam Rolls with Cremé, Fresh Mangoes and Jam Filling by G'Gina's Kitchenette
Mango Pull Apart Bread by Gayathri's Cook Spot
Nectarine-Blueberry Muffins by A Baker's House
Peach & Nutmeg Sweet Focaccia by The Schizo Chef
Peach Yogurt Muffins by Magnolia Days
Plum & Pecan Bread by I Camp in my Kitchen
Scones with Apricot, Ginger and Brie by Palatable Pastime
Semolina Bread with Apricots and Sage by Karen's Kitchen Stories
Spicy Peach Oatmeal Bread by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Whole Wheat Nectarine Bread by A Shaggy Dough Story
Wholewheat Sweet Rolls with Mango Filling by Cook's Hideout

Ramadan Kareem : Iftar 2016 : Mango Soufflé with Caramelised Ginger and Caramel

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 19:26:00 +0000

Ramadan Kareem!

My earlier batch of Mango Soufflé that I made and posted to celebrate G'Gina's Kitchenette crossing over a 100,000 page views was made slightly differently. The flavour was varied too in the second make. In fact I preferred the second one to the first.

I have always enjoyed making desserts for my loved ones and when someone asks to taste a dessert of mine, I tend to go all out and whip up a huge batch. Funnily enough, it turns out better than I ever imagined and more than the original recipe I created. So when it was mentioned how I had shared my first batch with a couple of my neighbour friends I was asked to make it again for a few more of my neighbour friends.

I made this recipe for my dear and sweet friends and neighbour Zaira Shaan, Shaan Rahman and their all too adorable son Rayaan Shaan (Rayu darlin'). Actually my chief taster was darling 5 year old Rayu who said he loves desserts and when I asked which one, he said yellow one with caramel. I asked if the yellow meant Mango as being Mango season it was all about mangoes for me! Zai prompted he meant cremé caramel.

Well since I had already promised Zai that I would be making her the Mango Soufflé, I stuck to the plan. But to please my main man Rayu, I had added a tweak and instead of cream, I used homemade caramel sauce with mango cubes and for the parents, caramelised ginger addition topped with fresh mango cubes.

There was a hint of chili in this batch as well which was a flavour enhancer but was not prominent as there were children involved in the tasting. The feedback was : Really good, Applause, etc. And I was happy! :)

I had more to give away. So when another good friend and neighbour Dr. Parvathy (Paru) heard Zai ask for the Mango Soufflé, she asked if I really liked soufflé (as she did not!), I decided she would be the one to taste it. She actually asked for just a taste but since it was served in individual bowls, I took her one with the hope to transform her! I guess she is transformed now. This I know as she offered her little boy just a tsp and gobbled down the rest. It was a 'clean bowl'! She added. 'Well! you don't really need me to comment now do you?' :)

I started my recipe creations with cakes and desserts. But somewhere along the line, when the number of tasters reduced, I went full onto the savoury side.

So I do want to go back to my roots and continue with the sweeter side of life. Let us see how far I will go in this plan. I will not of course be giving up on the savoury makes as there is far too many opportunities to build on existing there as well.

Anup and my Izzykins too loved this version of the Soufflé better than the first one.

You need:

For the Soufflé:

1 cup mango puree
1/2 cup of powdered sugar or castor sugar
2 cups of cream
11/2 tbsp Gelatine (soaked in 11/2 tbsp of cold water)
3 eggs
Few tbsp of warm water

For the caramel and caramelised ginger:

1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup hot water
2" ginger, peeled

The Make:

Preparation time: 10 minutes, Setting time: preferable overnight or 8 hours | Serves 6 medium sized bowls

The Soufflé:

1. Whisk the eggs well .
2. Add castor sugar and cook in a double boiler until thickened. Set aside to cool.
3. Whisk the cream in a cold bowl with the Mango puree.
4. Add a few tablespoons (tbsp) of warm water to the soaked gelatin and stir to dissolve. Add the gelatine to the egg mixture.
5. Stir in the egg mixture into the cream mixture. Drizzle some of the homemade caramel around the inner walls of the individual bowls. Then pour the cream mixture into each of the bowls.
6. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
7. Loosen the sides of the soufflé with the back of a teaspoon. Top with mango cubes, cream or in my case homemade caramel.

The Caramel and the Carmelised Ginger:
7. With the back of the knife, smash the ginger and then finely slice the ginger lengthwise.
8. Heat a pan and add the sugar to it on medium-high. Once the sugar melts and begins to turn into a golden brown, add the hot water and cover evenly. Once the caramel turns an amber colour, turn off the flame. The caramel colour will deepen once rested.
9. Set aside some caramel in a small bowl and add the ginger to it. Add the caramel in a bowl and allow it to cool. Aesthetically place the caramelized ginger on top of the inverted soufflé and drizzle with caramel as required.

Hope you enjoy making this for your loved ones as I did and hope your loved ones enjoyed it as much as mine did!

Celebrating crossing 100,000 page views - Mango Soufflé #FoodieExtravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 10:06:00 +0000

G'Gina's Kitchenette has crossed another milestone and I am so thankful to all our readers. Reaching this milestone would never have been possible without my Good Lord and my constant inspiration Mummy.

So to celebrate this milestone, I would like to share my Mango Soufflé recipe as a part of our Foodie Extravaganza June event. I had a choice to either bake this soufflé or to use the normal double boiler method. I preferred the latter to allow the natural flavours of mango to appear. Not only did my little one like this soufflé, two of my friends (and neighbours) Divya and Ribu, did too. I missed on giving some to another friend and neighbour, so I may make this again this afternoon. In fact the talk of my making this soufflé was two-fold, one was as a part of the Foodie Extravaganza challenge and the other one is because there is a tradition that I follow from Mum. We never return an empty container back to anyone who offers us their food/delicacies. Ribu made this awesome fish curry for me to try and Divya offered me one of my many staples I used to regularly have in Hyderabad (Gongura Pickle).

Mango season is almost coming to an end so I am frantically whipping up all that I can. So you can expect a fair bit of mango recipes to come. I would suggest you freeze all the mango pulp you can now.

I cannot make Soufflé without a bit of a chuckle. Prior to my wedding, I used to make Chocolate Soufflé a lot at home for my family and friends at Dubai. My bros-in-law used to tease me with the name Soufflé, pronouncing it as Sou-flee or Sou-fly, etc. :D which is why the chuckle!

I made this soufflé with both homegrown mangoes and home bred chicken eggs.

The mint leaves are from a dear friend Elizabeth who is also my neighbour who grows them in her pretty little garden on her balcony.

There are two ways to make this, one is with the egg yolks in a double boiler and egg whites whisked separately.

The other way is to make it with the eggs whole and additional yolks and cook in a double boiler together.

Since these eggs are from homebred chickens, I followed the first method this time.

You need:

11/2 cups pureed mangoes
2 cups chilled cream
2 tbsp lemon juice
1.5 tbsp gelatine
1.5 tbsp cold water
3 eggs - whites and yolks separated
A double boiler (You can also use two sizes of pots or sauce pans)
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup sugar
Few mint leaves (as garnish) - optional
Mango cubes (as garnish)- optional
Castor sugar or powdered sugar (presentation) - optional

The Make:
Preparation time: 30-40 minutes | Cooking and setting time: 4-6 hours | Serves 4-6

1. Place the separated egg yolks into a double boiler or in the smaller saucepan or pot and the egg whites into a clean glass bowl.
2. Soak the gelatine in the cold water for 30 minutes and then add 1/4 cup of warm water and stir to dissolve the gelatine.
3. Add the sugar to the yolks and whisk till light and creamy.
4. Next place the double boiler or the larger saucepan or pot containing water over low heat.
5. Add the pureed mangoes to the yolk mixture, stirring continuously. This makes the custard for the soufflé.
6. Add the soaked gelatine to the warm custard and stir till it reaches a smooth consistency.
7. Set aside from the heat and add lemon juice. Allow to cool till partially set.
8. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.
9. Whisk the cream to a thick consistency. Set aside some cream for topping if desired and add in the rest of the cream to the custard in folding motions. Then add the egg whites till smooth.
10. Add the castor sugar or powdered sugar in the surface of the slightly damp individual bowls. Pour in the custard into individual bowls and allow to set in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
11. Once set, top with cream, mint leaves or mangoes as desired.

Hope you enjoy this make. Do let me know how it turns out for you. And now for some of those exciting Midsummer Eve themed desserts:

This month Laura of Baking in Pyjamas is hosting with the theme Midsummer. The challenge was to create a dessert of your choice which is Midsummer Eve themed, think any kind of summer fruit or an interpretation of what Midsummer means to you. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.

Thai Barramundi Green Curry #FishFridayFoodies

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Fri, 20 May 2016 10:20:00 +0000

Thank you dear readers of G'Gina's Kitchenette for helping my blog cross an important milestone of 100,000 page views. I plan to share a special recipe with you to thank you for all your love and care. Over the years I have made some very good friends through the food world.

It is true what the experts say: Food brings you closer to people in your life. A lot of love and care goes into making the perfect meal for your loved ones. This is why when things are down and out, a lot of loved ones bring food to the grieving homes or persons.

The month of May sees our loving Fish Friday Foodies family cooking up Seafood with 'Spice'. For those of you who know me well, know that I have always enjoyed spicy food and that too seafood. I have always lived near the seaside till a year after my wedding. Perhaps my most depressing year was from Dec 2010 to 2011. That was the first year of the 4.5 years that I lived away from the sea and that made me so blue.

It behooves me to have been raised in a Keralite household. Even when I was away from home, I lived with families from Mangalore, Karanataka, India where both seafood and spice was prominent. I love the Mangalore cuisine. In fact I always loved what Uncle John and Aunty Felcy made. I also have a college friend Lynet whose Mum made the most tastiest chicken and seafood curries. (*mouthwatering*). I loved Aunty's curries and Aunty loved seeing me gobble them up so it was a win-win situation :D.

G'Gina's Kitchenette was formed out of the desire to share what cooks in my kitchen and it has always been global cuisine.Why? Because I was born and grew up in a cosmopolitan country, Dubai, UAE. Mum too cooked a lot of global cuisine. So this time I wanted to present the Thai fish curry.

Anup had traveled to Thailand and he brought the fish sauce from there, so I have used it in this recipe.Green curry paste can be made from scratch or bought from most South East Asian aisle's of your neighbourhood Mart or stores. You can make the paste in advance and store in a cool, dry place.

You need:

3 tbsp of green curry paste
3 shallots, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp oil
Milk of 1 medium sized coconut half (Take two milk - thick and thin)
200 ml chicken or fish stock
2 tbsp anchovy or fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
3 kaffir lime leaves or lime leaves
7 cherry tomatoes,halved (preferred)
I kg fish, cut into medium size
1 stalk of lemongrass, peeled and cut into 1" pcs
Coriander leaves and 4 lemon wedges (to serve) (preferred)
Thai Red chilies or green chilies, chopped

The Make:

Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 20 minutes | Makes 4 adults

1. Heat the oil in a large wok and add the lemongrass, shallots and garlic. Saute for a minute until golden and fragrant on medium-low heat.

2. Next add the green curry paste and saute for a minute until cooked and fragrant.

3. Add the thin coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, sugar, lime leaves and the cherry tomatoes if using. I only did not use the cherry tomatoes as I was not able to procure it and was running out of time to run to the store. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.

4. Add the fish. Cover and simmer for about 5 mins or until the fish is cooked.

5. Serve in a large bowl with the lemon wedges on the side or you can also divide the curry among four bowls and top with coriander leaves and chilies. This would accompany rice well.
Bon Appetit or in this case Lxng kin ลอง กิน (Thai for Bon Appetit)

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com.Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

Now to see what the rest of our #FishFridayFoodies have whipped up for May:

An InLinkz Link-up

Cinnabon-style Cinnamon Rolls - Mummy's First Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Tue, 10 May 2016 13:10:00 +0000

I have always wanted to make these rolls. I have been missing Cinnabon's rolls since moving from Dubai, UAE. Most times I miss Cinnabon's Cinnamon rolls during a rainy day :) And would you believe it actually rained today (the first rain) and quite heavily may I add!

It has been a year since I first joined Bread Bakers. I still remember how a few days after joining Bread Bakers and the first event I was to participate in, I had heard of the sudden and untimely demise of my dear Mum. Today marks the first year since Mum left for Heavenly Abode. Mummy has always been my inspiration to bake and cook. She was a fabulous cook and her presence is truly missed in my life. I am grateful to our Good Lord for letting Mum continue to advise and be my guide especially in difficult moments and even when in the kitchen. The difference between how it was earlier when Mum was just a phone call away and now is that I listen to her advice to the 'T' with no questions asked. So yes I am thankful she still guides me. I still miss her like crazy though. Today I am quite spent from the difficult night I had mulling about Mum and our good ol' times.I miss Mum's jokes, laughter and smiles the most. Love you Mum and miss you loads.

I will be trying this recipe again. My biggest critic is my part time maid Betty. Since she loved the flavour of these rolls and my hubby and I felt it lack some more of the fluffiness to make it like Cinnabon's layers, I will definitely be going at this again. These reason for the slight flatness of these rolls is when I placed the tray into the oven to bake at 200°C, our apartment building's gas supply was over and they had changed it to the new supply during the bake. So for 5 of the 15 minutes of the bake the temperature was automatically changed to much higher than it was meant to be. Of course I figured this out at the last few minutes of the bake.

Unfortunately this recipe was meant to go into today's Bread Bakers' event of theme : Rolls. I had to go to church and when I came there was the first downpour of rains this year. I still tried to make it but looks like I messed up on the time conversion this time. I just heard its owing to the Daylight savings time which is an hour forward.

To make these super simple and luscious rolls,

You need:

For the dough:

1/2 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/4 cup white sugar

1 1/4 tsp dry active yeast

1 egg, room temperature

1/6 cup or 40 gms of melted butter

21/4 cup plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

For the spread and sprinkle:

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
11/4 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/6 cup or 40 gms butter, softened

For the topping:

40 gms cream cheese, softened

30 gms butter, softened

25 gms castor sugar or icing sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

The Make:

Preparation time: 10 minutes | Resting time: 10 minutes | Baking Time: 15 minutes | Makes 9 rolls

1. In a small bowl, mix the yeast with the lukewarm milk and sugar. Allow to activate. If it does not froth, you need to try with a fresh batch of yeast.

2. In a large bowl, place all the dough ingredients and the prepared yeast and mix well.

3. Turn the dough out to a floured surface. Cover and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes. You will find the dough has doubled in size.

4. Preheat the oven to 200°C and lightly grease a baking 9X13 inch baking tray.

4. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon powder.

5. Roll the dough into a 9X13 inch rectangle. Spread the dough with the 40 gms of butter. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the sugar-cinnamon mixture.

6. Carefully roll up the dough to a log. You can also use a baking mat to do this if unsure. Cut out 9 rolls and place them on the prepared baking tray.

7. Bake the rolls in the preheated oven until golden brown up to 15 minutes.

8. While the rolls are baking, beat the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar, vanilla essence or extract and salt.

9. Once baked, spread the frosting on the warm rolls just before serving.

Bon Appetit! Hope you enjoy this bake.

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits #FoodieExtravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Wed, 04 May 2016 12:54:00 +0000

May's theme of Foodie Extravaganza is Buttermilk Biscuits. Our host is Kathleen Coe Clegg of Fearless Creative Mammas has picked a theme true to her roots. Her family is from the South of the United States where biscuit is a staple. The idea behind this month's theme is to get fun and creative with the staple biscuits of the South.

Thank you Kathleen for sharing with us about your family's roots and I can honestly say I enjoyed learning more about the South. I have always loved Southern cooking and will attempt more recipes from the South of US in my cooking.

I first misunderstood the biscuits to be that of a normal crispy,flaky biscuit. So when I attempted to make them and found them to be more scone like, I was a little puzzled. I imagined it to be a flaky, crunchy biscuit. Of course, the biscuit ended up having a nice, crusty exterior with a moist, flaky interior.

You can either try to slap some butter, jam, jelly or honey in this biscuit in which case I would ask you to sprinkle some sugar on top which would be a nice addition or you can have it as a savoury. In my case, when my sister-in-law and family were visiting our home a few weeks ago, I had attempted a savoury muffin, so I used the same kind of filling for the biscuits as well. It made for a nice and satisfying meal.

My first ever biscuits or cookies were attempted at Mum's kitchen in our home at Dubai. I even remember how I had a little tea party with my school friends. My first batch of perfect biscuits were made for my school buddies and I had iced their names on each biscuit.

Mum's first anniversary is in six days. I cannot imagine how I lived a year without Mum. Of course the Good Lord has been Kind and Merciful as always to me. I have always heard Mum's voice or felt her guidance through Him in every time of need. I could have been angry with Him for taking her so soon or for even taking her on Mother's Day last year. Life will never be the same without Mum. You know what though, He always brings her voice or memory or guidance even when I need her the most.

There is a little something I am expected to allow in my life but I have not been able to so far. Let's see how life progresses on that. Until then if you believe in God or say prayers, do keep me in your prayers or just send happy thoughts my way.

The best way to eat these biscuits are right out of the oven and in the US it is eaten as a savoury on top of chicken pot pie filling, slathered with some gravy on the side or even with fried chicken. A shorter description of these biscuits are that they are moist, fluffy and light.

You need:

2 cups of plain flour or pasta flour (if you can find pasta flour, it would be the best)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 tbsp of cold butter (cut into cubes and refrigerated) + 1 tbsp reserve
4-6 tbsp of sugar (optional)
1 cup of chilled buttermilk
1 tsp salt (in case of unsalted butter)

The Make:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Resting time: 10 minutes + 10 minutes (optional) | Baking time: 15-20 minutes | Makes 9 biscuits of 7" in diameter each

I did not use a food processor or the kind, just my good ol' hands. So I am unsure if your queries revolve around how to make this recipe using a food processor or a Kitchen Aid or the kind. I am sure the below instructions would serve well for both methods although I cannot be completely sure. So do let me know if you are using any processor to make these biscuits.

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and sift well.
3. Next add 6 tbsp of the cold butter to the flour mixture and mix in until it appears like a coarse meal. Place the flour-butter mixture back into the refrigerator. This will help create those lovely flaky layers of the biscuit. Let it stay refrigerated for at least 10 minutes. If you have left it in longer, it does not matter and will not affect the biscuit in anyway negatively.
4. Next add the cold buttermilk bit-by-bit into the flour-butter mixture until just combined. You will have a sticky, clumpy mixture and not a smooth dough. You will be left with at least 2-3 tbsp of buttermilk which you can use to brush on top of the prepared dough circles. Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes if you find that your butter has melted.
5. Take the dough onto a floured surface and pat gently to about 1/2" thick. Fold the dough and repeat the process. Do this at least 5 times. Then gently pat the dough down to 1" thick.
6. Using a round cutter, cut out at least 8-9 circles and place them on a buttered baking tray about 1" apart to get a crusty top and bottom. Brush the top of the biscuits with the remaining buttermilk.
7. Bake at 180°C for about 10 minutes. Brush the top and bottom of the biscuits with the remaining butter and continue baking for at least 5 minutes when a golden brown colour is achieved. If you are planning to use the biscuits with a sweet filling, you could sprinkle some sugar on top.

Your biscuits are ready to be eaten straight out of the oven. So hope you have your sides or fillings and your family/guests ready to gobble these flavoursome delights right away.

Today's Foodie Extravaganza day is celebrating the Buttermilk Biscuit. Kathleen, from Fearlessly Creative Mammas is the host this month, and to celebrate her southern roots, she picked Buttermilk Biscuits as the theme.
May 14th is actually Buttermilk Biscuit day, but we get to pick from any of the foods in the specific month, so Buttermilk Biscuits it is. We pick our foods from the website The Nibble.
Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza.

We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.

Cacio e Pepe Biscuits by Laura at Baking in Pajamas

Buttermilk Biscuit Mixed Berry Shortcake by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm

Savory Buttermilk Butter Biscuits by Kathleen at Fearlessly Creative Mammas

Tarragon Sweet Potato Biscuits by Caroline at Caroline's Cooking

Maple and Bacon Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits by Rebekah at Making Miracles

Cinnamon Buttermilk Biscuits by Lauren at From Gate to Plate

Bacon Honey Mustard Biscuits by Stacy from Food Lust People Love

Buttermilk Lemon Biscuits by Kathya from Basic N Delicious

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits by Georgina from G'Gina's Kitchenette

Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls with Chopped Pecans by Elaine from Cookin and Craftin

Biscuit French Toast by Teri from The Freshman Cook

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits by Sneha from Sneha's Recipes

Mediterranean Roasted Red Snapper with Sauteed Veggies #FishFridayFoodies

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 10:10:00 +0000

I often go back to the land where I was born at, in my thoughts. It is hard to be away from Dubai, UAE as there are so many fond memories of the place. Growing up, we lived in a place very close to the first fish market. Seafood has always been at home as long as I can remember at least for lunch.

Mummy made the best roast /grilled fish too. Since Dad has not had spicy food in decades now owing to his health, Arabic/Mediterranean food seems to be the best choice! And nothing like having Fish grilled or roasted which brings out its natural flavours and does not need much oil owing to its natural oils. I miss Mum's cooking a lot these days. The image below is of a post card I had since college days. Well I used to miss her cooking back then too when we stayed away from home.

This fish was grilled when my Papa (Hubby's Dad) came to stay. He has been unwell since last year and has a lot of diet restrictions, so I thought it best to make this fish roasted. He thoroughly enjoyed this fish and make. What's best is it was devoid of any oil and used a lot of good, healthy ingredients. The Red Snapper in itself is quite a flavoursome fish. You can add other vegetables too but like I said he has many restrictions on the type of vegetables too. Suggest adding some whole shallots and tomatoes with slits on either side. Ironically though my recipe is titled as with Sauteed Veggies, it really does only give the look of being sauteed as that is how it cooked when roasted with the fish.

Red Snapper can be cooked in many ways. Rich in Selenium, Vitamin A, Omega-3, it can be baked, broiled, poached, grilled, sauteed or steamed.

I am a fan of one pot or pan cooking. So it was neat to have the veggies cooked atop the fish. Although I had to do a bit of flash cooking prior to placing the beans on the baking pan.

April's Fish Friday Foodies is hosted by the lovely Camilla M. Mann of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Thank you Camilla for this awesome theme.

You need:

1.5 kgs Red Snapper
4-5 cloves of Garlic
2 tbsp of crushed black pepper
250 gms of French beans
Sprinkle of Salt
1/2 medium sized lemon (Preferable, but I had to leave it out owing to Papa's diet restrictions) or 1 tbsp of vinegar
1 large shallot, diced or cut finely

The Make:
Preparation time: 10 minutes | Marination time: 20 minutes to an hour | Cooking Time: 30 minutes | Serves 4 adults

1. Slit the sides of the Red Snapper and sprinkle some salt and rub down on both sides with the black pepper and vinegar (or lemon juice).
2. Crush the garlic using the back of a knife and press down. Place it in the cavity of the fish and around it as well. Allow it to stand for 20 minutes to an hour.
3. Line a baking pan with butter paper/foil or lightly grease the pan. Heat water and add a sprinkle of salt and bring to a boil. Add the cleaned French beans and shallots to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the flame and place the beans in an ice bath or chilled water.
4. Place the fish over the pan and add the beans and shallots on top. Loosely cover the fish with the edges of the butter paper or foil or you can even leave it open.
5. Heat the oven to 180°C and place the fish in the oven. Roast for at least 20 minutes to an hour.

Serve hot with kuboos / pita bread or any of your favourite flat bread and garlic paste or sauce.

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com.

And now for some of the lovely, healthy Whole Fish Recipes by our awesome #FishFridayFoodies from around the world:

An InLinkz Link-up

SELF-HOSTED WORDPRESS

An InLinkz Link-up

Easy-Peasy Garlic-ky Mini Rolls #BreadBakers #NoBake

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 04:30:00 +0000

I am thankful to our Good Lord for showing His Mercy on us. My dearest Daddy had a mild chest pain last Thursday and my little girl and I rushed over to Dad and Mum's home which is a little away from the city where we stay.

I did not remember about this BreadBakers' event as a result as I was too stressed having just lost Mummy 11 months ago. My sisters who are abroad were petrified and asked me to leave at the soonest. Luckily Dad's initial cardiac results were normal. He has to go through a TMT on Tuesday and so I am scheduling this post ahead of time. We also have to drive back to our apartment with Daddy as he plans on staying with us for a bit so I may be settled only by evening hours to complete the updated post links which is ok owing to the time difference which will still meet the event challenge time. Since it is my first time at scheduling a post, I am a tad nervous it may not happen on time. Nevertheless, family is the most important, Food always takes second place to Family, so Karen please excuse me in case this does not happen on time.

I would like to thank my good friends (you know who you are) for checking in on Daddy's health and my well-being during this trying time even if for a day or two. Also thank you for cheering me up with shared laughter and moments via calls, visits and messages. You are amazing! Just goes to show who true friends are and the love that you bestow on me is irreplaceable. God bless your families and you abundantly.

Since I did not bake ahead of time and if you have been following my posts since last May, you would know that Mum's oven is at our other home which does not make it easy for me to go over just to bake these rolls. As although we have a full fledged kitchen there all the ingredients and tools are at this home . So what started as my experiment to make Garlic Dough Balls turned out to be Garlic Mini Rolls. We had a rough Sunday night with my little girl feeling ill and so when I made this on Monday afternoon, I was pretty groggy. Sorry about the last day name change of my recipe title Karen.

My husband and I consume raw garlic as a part of our morning routine. This was started a few years ago, when a nutritionist asked my husband to have it as he seemed to have a borderline high cholesterol value back then. Then it became a habit and when we learnt of the many benefits of garlic, then it just became a part of our daily routine.

So the last time I tried this technique of baking is when I was at home after Mummy's passing away and had committed to making Whole Wheat Pita Bread. Trust me when I say that this is not only an easy technique of baking but gives almost the same results as the oven if done right. For those of you who have an oven, I will provide instructions as to how to bake it normally in the oven as well.

Garlic happens to be my favourite condiment so I could not resist participating in this event. I would like to thank the lovely Karen H Kerr of Karen's Kitchen Stories for choosing this theme.

You can serve these mini rolls with your favourite soup or simple as an appetizer as well.

The Verdict: My 6 year old gobbled up most of these rolls as a snack! :D

You need:

1 pod of a medium sized garlic, peeled and cleaned; half the pod sliced finely, other half minced or microplaned
2 tbsp of butter / ghee (Clarified Buter) / Olive oil
Salt - 1 tsp + a sprinkle
1 cup of whole wheat flour
A pinch of sugar
Luke warm water - to knead
1 tsp Yeast

The Make:
Makes 8 mini rolls | Preparation time: 10 minutes | Rising Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes

1. Proof the yeast by taking the yeast with a pinch of sugar and mixing it with some lukewarm water in a small bowl. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes till it froths.
2. Next in a large vessel, add the yeast, flour and salt and knead well with the lukewarm water added in bit by bit to form a smooth dough ball. Allow to rest in a warm, dark place for at least 30 minutes. The dough would have doubled.
3. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the finely sliced garlic pieces with the butter, ghee or oil. If you do not have a mortar and pestle you can do this with your grinder/blender and if using the oil, slowly trickle the olive oil in during the grinding process. The resultant will be a creamy garlic butter. Add a sprinkle of the salt and mix well. Set aside half of the garlic butter. If you are using a blender, do not exceed a minute.
4. Next knead in half of the garlic butter in the dough and roll the dough within your palms to a longish log, as evenly as possible. Cut out pillows of dough as even as possible and roll the dough into balls or in my case pillow-shaped. Repeat till the entire dough is used and placed on the vessel with some distance between the dough pillows to allow it to expand.
5. The dough bits will expand further. Next brush the top of the dough rolls with the remaining half of the garlic butter and place the minced garlic on top and lightly press down.
6. After brushing, heat the remaining garlic butter in a pan and place the dough rolls on the pan. Cover with a lid with a steam outlet or slightly left open to allow steam to pass. Heat each side for 2 minutes.
7. For those using an oven, butter the baking pan with the remaining garlic butter after brushing the dough bits and line the dough rolls at a distance from each other. Bake for 10 minutes until lightly browned. Flip over in case you do not have top heat in your oven.

Serve hot aside your favourite soup or as it is with some butterspread/cheese spread.

April 2016's #BreadBakers' event : Our ingredient of the month is GARLIC, in celebration of National Garlic Day in the United States - 19 April - and one of our favorite food holidays. Black garlic, white garlic, elephant garlic, smoked garlic; powdered, roasted, raw, crushed or whole, include some garlic in your bread!

Now for some lovely Garlic breads from our #BreadBakers family of amazing bakers:

Black Garlic Parmesan Sourdough Bread from Magnolia Days
Buttery Garlic Cheddar Rolls from Kylee Cooks
Buttery Garlic Knots from Sara's Tasty Buds
Buttery Garlic Pull Apart Bread from Cook's Hideout
Caramelized Garlic Chèvre Stuffed Bread from Food Lust People Love
Cheddar, Garlic and Jalapeno Beer Bread from A Palatable Pastime
Cheddar Garlic Dinner Rolls from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
Cheese and Garlic Biscuits from A Baker's House
Cream Cheese Stuffed Garlic Rolls from Herbivore Cucina
Domino's Style Garlic Bread from Gayathri's Cook Spot
Easy-Peasy Garlic-ky Mini Rolls from G'Gina's Kitchenette
Garlic Batard from Hostess at Heart
Garlic & Gorgonzola Focaccia from Baking in Pyjamas
Garlic, Herbs and Cheese Bread from La Cocina de Aisha
Garlic Naan with Green Chiles from Karen's Kitchen Stories
Garlic Pull Apart Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Garlic Sunflower Bread from Passion Kneaded
Gluten Free & Vegan Garlic Breadsticks from What Smells So Good?
{Gluten Free} Seeded Black Garlic Flat Bread from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Green Garlic Parathas - Flat Bread from Sneha's Recipes
Herbed Garlic Butter Garland Bread from Ruchik Randhap
Multi Grain Garlic Naan from Mayuri's Jikoni
Pissaladière from The Bread She Bakes
Roasted Garlic Focaccia from Sizzling Tastebuds
Triple Garlic Knots from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Whole Wheat Garlic Ciabatta Bread from Cooking Club

Cappuccino Cake #FoodieExtravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 10:06:00 +0000

I was truly delighted when I heard the theme of April's Foodie Extravaganza event 'Coffee Cake' by Caroline of Caroline's Cooking. So delighted that I even skipped the description or skimmed over the description of the event. She really meant any cake that would be accompanied by tea or coffee. Well no regrets! Coffee happens to be my favourite hot beverage.

In fact this is ideal as there are rare times when I am in a dilemma as to whether to have coffee or tea and have even wondered if I should mix the two (eeeeeeeeks! I know). But such is the case when I have the dual feeling. I never crave tea as such but there are times when I cannot have coffee owing to the meal I had prior which left a heartburn or acidity. In these cases I think the Cappuccino cake would compliment the cuppa tea. A cuppa tea with Cappuccino Cake! Hmm!

I got a Bundt spring cake tin from Dad's and Mom's place. Mom had last baked a Christmas cake and guess what I found some residual crumbs stuck to the bottom of the tin. Yes and as you may have imagined, I spent a few minutes reminiscing over Mum's cakes and how she inspired me to bake cakes. I almost didn't want to use the cake tin until I felt Mum's voice saying, "Oh just get on with it girl, there isn't time!" And so I did!

My little girl has her summer vacations so I am busy keeping her happy with her activities, play time with friends, etc. Elizabeth, a good friend of recent and my excellent neighbour, who I recently spoke of in the Pain Au Chocolat blog post generously assisted me with my presentation as I scurried to get my pictures before dusk. And as I nervously used my brand new DSLR to click pictures of my Cappuccino Cake creation. Yes! I can almost hear the many friends, family and colleagues say 'Finally there she gets her DSLR'. I have to tell you though I am still such a novice at it despite going to tutorials of the same. I need to spend time with this new baby.

Thank you whole heaps Elizabeth and darling Joanne who let me know how moist this cake turned out. Children never lie and Joanne said she liked the cake and so did my sous chef and admirer Isabelle my darling daughter. Hubby I have left enough cake for you too. So no more grumbling! John, Elizabeth's husband and Joanne's Dad too liked the cake. I am glad it turned out to be a life saving buffer Elizabeth ;).

You can make the Cappuccino from scratch or if it is too much for you, you can even buy Cappuccino satchets and make it. I did two things, one I used 2 satchets of Cappuccino coffee and I also used an extra strong coffee. I only did this as I was lacking time to make the same. Next time, I will make Cappuccino from scratch just to see if there is a difference or not.

Today is the birthday of three lovely neighbours - Priya Thomas:May you have a wonderful year ahead, a handsome little boy Sujith and a darling little girl Jiya. Hope you both have a fun birthday celebration and blessed year ahead.

On with the recipe,

You need:

For the cake batter:

270 gms or 2.5 cups of flour
2 satchets of Cappuccino Coffee
250 gms of Dermerara or brown sugar
250 gms of butter
1 tsp of baking powder
3 large eggs
200 ml of strong coffee, room temperature
Some butter for greasing

For the icing:

300 ml of double cream or Amul cream, refrigerated overnight
2 tbsp of brown sugar or Dermerara sugar
Coffee beans (optional)

The Make:

Preparation time: 10 minutes | Standing time: 10 minutes| Cooling time: 30-45 minutes | Serves 6-8

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar well. Next add in the eggs, Cappuccino powder and flour together and mix well with a large wooden ladle.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a cake tin of 25 cms with butter.

3. Add half of the strong coffee (once lukewarm) and beat with an electric beater until well combined. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

4. Carefully place the bundt cake tin into the oven and allow to bake for 30-35 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, whisk the cream well. If you are using Amul cream, the fat percentage is less and in this case, separate the whey from the cream before whisking. Add sugar to the remaining coffee, set aside 4 tbsp of the coffee and pour the rest into the cream and whisk well. Freeze the whisked cream while the cake is being baked and while cooling off to room temperature.

6. Once the cake is baked and cooled off, drizzle the remaining 4 tbsp of coffee over the cake.

7. Remove the cream from the freezer and generously top your cake with it as desired. Sprinkle some roasted coffee beans on top as desired.

Hope you enjoy making this Cappuccino Cake!

Thank you Caroline for such a wonderful theme and for hosting the same!

It's Foodie Extravaganza Day and this month's theme is Coffee Cake with Caroline from Caroline's Cooking is hosting What is Foodie Extravaganza? It's when a group of bloggers get together and make a recipe using one main ingredient. Where do we get the ingredient? We look at The Nibble and pick something off of their list. Croissants are actually celebrated on January 30th, but it's in January, so it's fair game. You can check out our group Pinterest board for past recipes. If you're a blogger, you can join along with us by requesting to join on our Facebook page. Now, on to the goodness being shared this month:

Almond Raspberry Cake by Food Lust People Love
Blueberry vanilla coffee cake by Fearlessly Creative Mammas
Cappuccino Cake by G'Gina's Kitchenette
Caramel Coconut Coffee Cake by cookinandcraftin
Classic Coffee Cake by Basic N Delicious
Coffee Cake Cookies by Sew You Think You Can Cook
Coffee Cake in a Jiffy by Our Good Life
Coffee Cake Muffins by I'm Hungry
German Beer Coffee Cake by Wholistic Woman
Gluten free hazelnut pear cake by Caroline's Cooking
Kärleksmums (Swedish Coffee Cake) by Tara's Multicultural Table
Lemon Thyme n Mint Loaf by Baking in Pyjamas
Orange Coffee Cake with Pecan Streuse by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Polish Placek by Cooking With Carlee
Simple Coffee Cake by Sneha's Recipe
Strawberry Coffee Cake Muffins by Making Miracles

Malabar Trevally with Spices en Papillote #FishFridayFoodies

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 07:39:00 +0000

En papillote (French for "in parchment"), or al cartoccio in Italian, is a method of cooking in which the food is put into a folded pouch or parcel and then baked. The parcel is typically made from folded parchment paper, but other material, such as a paper bag or aluminium foil, may be used. (source:Wikepedia)

March's Fish Friday Foodies event is 'Fish en Papillote' hosted by the lovely Karen of Karen's Kitchen stories. Thank you Karen. I chose Malabar Trevally or Malabar Kingfish which we commonly consume here.

Although I have always made Fish En Papillote in aluminium foil, I always wanted to try making it in parchment paper. Unfortunately I could not try it with parchment paper since we are on Lent, we are abstaining from Fish, Meat and Eggs. Although these days it is being said that Fish was never meant to be on the list of food items to abstain from as Fish is synonymous with a lot of events in the Holy Bible. I had made this dish before Lent. So although initially I had not committed to this event, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had not posted this recipe yet on my blog.

There are a lot of interesting recipes today. Can't wait to see them. You can find the link of the recipes below this recipe post. This is a simple recipe. So hope you get to try it soon.

Usually as I understand Fish En Papillote is usually done with boneless fish or shellfish like prawns but without the shells and is mostly fish in full. However, as I mentioned earlier, I prefer Fish with bone on. You can choose to fillet your fish before you make this. Since my fish was cut up when bought from the fish vendor I just cooked it all together in one big pouch.

My dad for health reasons cannot take spicy food and my little girl dislikes spicy food of any kind. The max she can take is pepper. This is why I made it two ways, one slightly spicier and the other less with just pepper. Mum taught me how to make fish for my Dad and my daughter has always loved her version of fish made especially for Dad.

Thanks to Mummy, I was making Fish En Papillote long before I knew the term.

For this recipe,

You need:

1 kg Malabar Trevally
6-8 cloves of garlic
1" garlic
Salt to taste
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp paprika powder
A whole lemon, juice extracted
A small drizzle of olive oil
A little drinking water (optional)
2-3 whole tomatoes, slit around it (I just made little crosses)

The Make:
Serves 3-4 adults | Marinating time: 1 hour | Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Baking Time: 20 minutes

1. Make a paste of the garlic and ginger using very little water. You can also use some of the olive oil to marinate the same.
2. Marinate all of the fish with salt, lime juice, ginger-garlic paste and pepper. Divide the fish pieces as desired and add the paprika powder to the one set of fish.
3. Place an aluminium foil (slightly longer sheet than the required quantity of fish to allow to make a pouch) over a baking tray or sheet and place the fish carefully over the aluminium foil. You can choose to have two separate pouches for each fish set (spicy and non-spicy). For want of time, I just divided them separately on the tray and placed them in the same pouch. Allow it to marinate for at least an hour. As with most marinades, remember the more time you marinate it, the better flavoured it will turn out.
3. Place the tomatoes around the fish and sprinkle some salt over it. Next drizzle some olive oil over the fish and cover the fish with the extra length of foil and loosely fold the sides of the foil on three sides to look like a little purse/pouch. Make sure to create a slit to allow the steam to escape (this is only for the foil not the parchment paper).
4. Bake for 20 minutes until nice and flaky. If you have excess stock you can make a gravy out of it or use it as a drizzle while serving.

Serve with your favourite veggies on the side or choice of rice.

Bon Appetit!

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com.

Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

The fabulous list of recipes from our awesome #FishFridayFoodies:

An InLinkz Link-up

Pain Au Chocolat (Chocolate filled Croissants) #BreadBakers

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 12:35:00 +0000

Being Women's Day today this was the ideal challenge...'Chocolate'. Happy Women's Day to all you fabulous Women out there. I have mentioned at least three in this post who have made this post possible! Special thanks to Elizabeth, Manju and always you Shireen.

When I heard my good friend and college mate Shireen Pais-Sequeira of Ruchik Randhap chose Cacao, Cocoa or Carob for the Bread Bakers' March event, I was super excited. Many ideas flashed through my head. Thank you Shireen for hosting this lovely theme!

I have had a secret nickname given by my ex-colleague and friend Thomas Forsch...'Chocolate'. Yes he called me Chocolate, because he knew I could be bribed with Chocolate. He challenged me to a work related challenge at the company we worked at and when I met the challenge, he promised me the best chocolate cake there ever was! And yes all of it was all for me. I still remember when that day finally arrived, of how my buddy Nina Silva called me as I just finished conducting an interview. She told me of how she had opened the cake box and started sharing the cake. I was furious with her and she couldn't help but burst into a roar of laughter!!

Nothing has changed since then, I can still be bribed with chocolate. I also remember how a friend got out of an angry situation with me back in college days with a bar of chocolate. I didn't realise until I had actually cooled off.

Coming to the challenge, I had never made croissants before and recently I took up a dessert
challenge that had eaten into two full days of work and sleep time. It didn't turn out as expected but
the customer was happy and that was what mattered the most. While I began this challenge all excited, it got ugly pretty fast. To avoid a similar turn of events as the dessert challenge, I spoke to my recent good friend and fabulous neighbour Elizabeth Rita Samuel of whether she had made croissants earlier while we were walking up in school to pick our kids. She said that she had just made a batch of dough waiting to be baked after we returned from school for her lovely daughter Joanne who incidentally has become my daughter's favourite friend. We mums call them two peas in a pod.

As luck has it, apparently Elizabeth has had a lot of experience with croissants esp.when she stayed at Belgium. She told me some of the challenges involved with making croissants in such a challenging environment as we stay in a tropical place where the humidity levels are high and hot. Summer decided to come in a tad earlier this time. "Everything must remain cold" is what Elizabeth said and that means returning the dough each time during the preparation process back to the refrigerator. The rolling pin went in to the refrigerator as well. Elizabeth spoke of the ratios of ingredients and how to roll and shape the croissants.

I then came up with one more idea which was to freeze my room and kitchen as much as possible
which meant all doors were closed and I turned the aircon down to 18°C, as low as it would go.

Since this challenge was all about Cacao, I decided to include it both in the dough and in the filling.
'Pain Au Chocolat' traditionally has a half moon puff pastry look filled with chocolate pieces and translates literally to 'Chocolate bread'. But like I said I wanted to try the traditional look of croissants as Elizabeth spoke of since it was the first time I tried my hand in croissants. The dough essentially of the croissants and 'Pain Au Chocolat' is the same. It is the shape that differs. Of course, the chocolate filled croissants also gained the name 'Pain Au Chocolat'. So it was a win- win situation either way name wise.

I seriously thought that all this would be a 'pain'ful effort with the turn of ugly circumstances that I mentioned earlier in this post which arose in the process of making these croissants. My workstation that I use to post all my recipes and do my multiple other jobs from met with a coma. It is on its way to another state to get fixed as the rotten retailer who promised an All-India service failed to meet its promises. Sigh!So as I write this post, I am still unsure of its successful post as mentioned to today's gracious hostess Shireen.

And now an update, the retailer turned out to be not-so- rotten after all. But it remains to be seen when I visit the service center this weekend *fingers crossed*.

You can use a normal egg wash to glaze the croissants, I used milk as we are on Lent. I finally completed this post on my neighbour friend Manjusha Manusmrithi's desktop as the IPad I tried to work most of this on started acting funny in the nth hour right before posting.

On with the recipe...

You need:

2.5 cups (300 gms) plain flour

200 gms cold butter, cubed

7 gms active dry yeast

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup (180 ml) lukewarm milk + 4-5 tbsp of milk for brushing

4 tbsp (60g) sugar

200 gms of chocolate cubes or 9 tsps of nutella/ chocolate cream

The Make:
Makes 9 croissants | Bake time: 20 minutes | Preparation time: 15 minutes | Resting and Rising Time: 10 hrs/ overnight

1. Place the yeast in a bowl and add the sugar and a tad bit of the milk. Stir until it dissolves. Then add rest of the milk except the one set aside for brushing. Set aside to cool down.

2. Combine flour and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and using a fork combine until it crumbles together.

3. Add the milk-yeast mixture and gently combine until the dough comes together. The butter needs to remain in pea-sized pieces. Next roughly shape the dough into a square and wrap the top of the bowl in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours. If you like you can also freeze it for 30 minutes to hasten the process along.

4. Remember to keep your work tools as cold as possible. Next dust your cleaned work surface and rolling pin with flour. Start rolling the dough into a rectangular shape at least two or three times as long as it is wide. Do not worry if the dough is hard to work with at this stage. It will come together during the rolling and folding process that follows.

5. Next fold the short sides (breadth) of the rectangle dough into the middle. Rotate the dough by a
half turn. Roll out to lengthen. Fold the short ends again towards the middle.

6. Next flip the dough over so the folded seams are underneath. Repeat the rolling and folding process steps 4-5, four more times, giving the dough a total of five times of rolling and folding. Place the dough in a wide bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 8 hrs or overnight.

7. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a rectangular of 18" X 12". Cut the rolled dough into triangles, it will make about 9 triangles of 14" long and 5" at base. 

8. Place a chocolate cube or a tsp of chocolate in the center of each triangle base. Then gently roll the croissant starting from the wide part up to the top, curving the ends inwards giving it the croissant shape. 

9. Place the croissants with final rolled tip side down onto a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2-3 hours at room temperature.

10. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Brush the croissants with milk. Lower the heat to 180°C and b ake for 20 minutes until golden brown. If your oven is anything like mine where the heat is only at the bottom, please turn over after the first 10 minutes.

11. Cool on wire rack before serving with your hot cuppa' coffee or tea.

Breads with Cocoa, Cacao or Carob in any form

Chocolate & Cherry Swirl Breads from The Bread She Bakes
Chocolate Orange Swirl Buns from Mayuri's Jikoni
Chocolate and Vanilla Brioche from Kidsandchic
Chocolate Banana Quick Bread from Basic N Delicious
Chocolate Buttermilk Quick Bread from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Chocolate Filled Bundt Bread from Food Lust People Love
Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Bread from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
Chocolate Monkey Bread from Sara's Tasty Buds
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Quick Bread from Magnolia Days
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cinnamon Rolls from From Gate to Plate
Chocolate Yeast Bread from Cook's Hideout
Croatian Povitica - Chocolate Walnut Swirl Bread from Herbivore Cucina
Dark Chocolate Cherry Pocket Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
Dark Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns from Baking in Pyjamas
Double Chocolate Espresso Scones from Wholistic Woman
Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread from Sizzling Tastebuds
Egg Free 45 Minutes Chocolate Buns from Gayathri's Cook Spot
Eggless Chocolate Babka from I Camp in my Kitchen
Eggless Chocolate Swirl Buns from Seduce Your Tastebuds
Eggless Triple Chocolate Scones from Spill the Spices
Four-Chocolate Sour Cream Quickbread from What Smells So Good?
Leopard Print Bread from Spiceroots
Pain Au Chocolat (Chocolate filled Croissants) from G'Gina's Kitchenette
Pane Al Cioccolato - Chocolate Bread from Ruchik Randhap
Petits Pain au Chocolat - Mini Chocolate Croissant from Sneha's Recipe
Sourdough Cacao Sweet Bread from The Schizo Chef
Sweet Russian Chocolate Braid from Hostess At Heart
Two Chocolates Greek Yogurt Banana Bread from La cocina de Aisha

Breads with Cocoa, Cacao or Carob in any form #BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Kids' Special# 4 - Soft Noodles with Veggies and Poached Egg #FoodieExtravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 10:36:00 +0000

It has been a long time since the last Kids' Special. I started this tradition of sharing Kids' meals a few weeks before my Mummy passed away and frankly speaking I never wanted to restart it as it reminded me too much of her.

When Lauren Mitchell of From Gate to Plate hosted March's #FoodieExtravaganza event Noodles, I had no choice but to restart the Kids' Special as I had already prepped the dish and had to only post the same. And for this thank you from the bottom of my heart dear Lauren. Also special thanks for allowing me to partake in this month's Noodles event though I was a little late without which I would have probably further delayed the sharing of G'Gina's Kitchenette's Kids' meals tradition.

I have always wanted to make noodles or pasta from scratch. Never had a chance to buy the pasta maker though (someday!! sigh!)

Although this is not Mum's Recipe per say, it reminded me a lot of how she would cook up noodles for her grand kids when we all came visiting home as all of them love noodles.

You need:

1 packet of dried noodles of your choice (400 gms)
1-2 eggs (optional, I used quail eggs)
Vegetables of your choice - chopped or diced (2 cups)
Salt to taste
Seasoning - A pinch each of turmeric, garam masala, coriander powder
Cup of Fresh stock or 1 stock cube
1:1 ratio of Water to noodles
Water to boil veggies
1-2 cloves of garlic shavings (optional)
Drizzle of oil
Drizzle of Soya sauce

The Make:

Serves 2 kids | Preparation Time: 5-10 minutes | Cooking Time : up to 20 minutes

1. Boil the noodles in same quantity of water (or a little less) on medium-low heat. Once the water is cleared, set aside. Boil the veggies until half cooked in another bowl. Drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile in a wok, drizzle some oil in a wok and add the half cooked veggies and garlic shavings and saute well.
3. Next add the stock cube, seasoning, salt to taste and saute for a minute.
4. Toss in the noodles and a drizzle of soya sauce (my kid likes it. You can skip it if you like) and saute it for a minute.
5. Serve hot with a poached egg on top. I intentionally did not swirl the water while poaching the egg as my kid likes to see the yolk. This was done with quail egg.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.

And now for the star recipes from the #FoodieExtravaganza Noodle Party goers:

One Pot Garlic Pasta by From Gate to Plate
Haluski (Fried Cabbage & Noodles) by Making Miracles
Homemade Chinese Noodles by Fearlessly Creative Mammas
Spicy Shrimp with Peanut Noodles by cookinandcraftin
Bacon and Beer Mac & Cheese by Sew You Think You Can Cook
Sopa Seca de Fideo - Spicy Mexican Noodles by Food Lust People Love
Green Bean and Squash Laksa by Caroline's Cooking
Kakaós Tészta (Hungarian Cocoa Noodles) by Tara's Multicultural Table
MiMi's Baked Ziti by Cooking With Carlee
Tortellini and Tomato Salad by The Freshman Cook
Homemade Noodles by Our Good Life
Tossed Homemade Macaroni Noodles by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Kids' Special# 4 - Soft Noodles with Veggies and Poached Egg by G'Gina's Kitchenette

Maryland Crab Soup #FishFridayFoodies

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 18:30:00 +0000

This month Fish Friday Foodies theme is 'Seafood Stews and Soups of the World'. Some suggested ones included: bouillabaisse, bourride, cioppino, caldo de mariscos, courtbouillon, chowder, bisque, Mae-un tang, Shui Zhu Yu, Tom Yum, etc. Our gracious host Stacy Livingston Rushton of Food Lust People Love set this lovely theme with a motto of 'Let's take a world tour together one comforting hot bowl at a time!'

I was glad to try this recipe out. Hope you enjoy making it as much as I did!

This recipe comes to you from the Chesapeake Bay area in the USA!!

I made this prior to Lent 2016 as we do not eat any meat, fish or eggs during the days of Lent.

What do you need:

4 large tomatoes, boiled and slightly mashed (in whole)
1/2 cup of lima beans or white beans
1/2 cup of sliced carrots
1/2 cup of corn kernels
1 tbsp of chopped onions
11/2 cups of water
2 tbsp of Old Bay Seasoning (Refer Notes*)
1 cup of beef broth
1/2 kg crab meat - either blue crab if available or in my case the Three-spotted crab (Refer Notes*)
8-10 crab claws, steamed and cracked slightly
11/2 litres water

The Make:
Serves 5-6 adults | Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: up to 30 minutes

1. In a large cook pot (with a lid), place the tomatoes, carrots, corn, onions, lima beans and sufficient water along with the beef broth and Old Bay (or alternate) seasoning and cover and cook for 5 minutes on medium-low heat.

2. Boil the 11/2 litres of water to boil, add the cracked crab claws and boil for another 5-6 minutes. Drain the crab and set aside.

3. Next add in the crab meat and the claws if you are ok with it (*Refer Notes) to the cook pot. Serve hot with your favourite soup sticks, crackers, bread or on its own.

Notes:
1. Since we live in India now and Old Bay Seasoning is not available what you can do is take a mix of mustard powder, paprika, celery salt, bay leaf, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, mace, cloves, allspice, nutmeg,cardamom powder and ginger powder. Please feel free to avoid one or more of the ingredients based on availability. For eg. instead of celery salt, I added 2 tbsp of diced celery.
2. Some people do not like claws or shells or bones of fishes/meat in their serving plate so you can skip accordingly.
3. For the crab meat, you can either use already picked crab meat from the market if available or you would have to shell it yourself which is not too hard really. There are a lot of self help videos available. One such videos for your convenience is available here. In my case I love the bones and shells in my fish and shell food so I took the liberty of adding it in here. My daughter too loves to crack a claw and have the juicy meat of the crab so double the fun!

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com.

Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

An InLinkz Link-up

Swedish Polar Bread #BreadBakers

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 11:31:00 +0000

Whew! This was one challenge I will never forget. After the relocation last year, there are a few places I have learnt which sell baking items. My choice of Polar Bread would do well if there was Rye of any form either Light Rye or Dark Rye and this I learnt after my research in the last few days. This is the very first time that I have left my baking to the last minute. My dough is still proving as I type this. Thank God for time differences which makes me hopeful to post this recipe before 800 hrs EST.

Since I live in India now ingredients such as Quinoa, Rye, etc can be availed if ordered online earlier. Of course it has a steeper price owing to the import tax but all in the name of Baking. I was super busy with the family and myself since the last few weeks with weddings, engagement, School Cultural Fest, Karate assessment, etc. Oh by the way I now hold a colour belt in Karate (Shito ryu)...Hya!! Just got to know last evening.

I began my research on this bread late which gave me little room to notice the Rye or even think of looking for it. Lulu Mall here also has its presence in the Middle East and I foolishly thought I could avail the flour there. Unfortunately, Rye primarily grows in Eastern, Central and Northern Europe and its growth belt stretches from Northern Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia into central and Northern Russia. It is also grown in North America, parts of South America, Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), Turkey, Kazakhstan and in Northern China.

I did find an online portal and a company that would have delivered the Rye if I had not waited till the last minute. Yesterday the one day I got free from all my personal commitments, I spent close to 4 hours++ in search of Rye. By the way I find it strange to say Rye so much as I have a school friend Ryan who I nicknamed Rye ..hahaha!

Polar Bread is a Scandinavian bread and it has very little information online. In fact, in Sweden I believe Polar Bread is known as Polarbröd which one site even claimed is the brand name for Mjukkaka. Mjukkaka is the bread of Northern Sweden and literally translates to 'Softcake'. Polar bread probably derives its name from a company 'Polarbröd' founded in the 1800s and is a family company with old traditions. You can read more about the origin of this bread here.

Coming back to my predicament of being a last minute baker for the first time for a blogging event, I still did not hold the Rye. My friends and neighbours of the community apartment complex I lived in gave me several options. One suggested I visit a store near by which led me to another branch where after almost reaching the store I was informed by the owner that it was unavailable at that branch and to drive back to a place closer to home. Unfortunately what I said was Rye and what he heard was Rice Flour! Oh gosh! So then on returning home began the research of what could be substituted instead of Rye and that brought in suggestions such as grounded brown rice, finger millet (Ragi), Red Rice powder (for the Dark Rye colour), buckwheat, etc. One of my neighbours Ritu suggested using the Rye flakes found in certain kinds of Muesli. Unfortunately even that type of Muesli is not found here locally.

Rye is low in Glutenin and high in Gliadin. Of course the Mjukkaka requires some amount of white flour or bread flour. I finally succumbed to a combination of Finger Millet, Bread flour and Red Rice flour considering the darker Rye. Hope this works (remember my bread is still proving). Like Daddy said last night when I asked about Rye Flour availability in Dubai (he is on his break there) is to use what is locally available. I remembered how I used to resort to asking Mum whenever I was stuck in my cook or bake. I took it as her word and decided to go with what I have.

If you are using Rye, remember that you can alter the ratio of Rye to Bread flour keeping in mind that the total quantity should be equal to the recipe requirements. The more Rye you add, the denser the bread gets. I had taken an equal quantity of Bread Flour and Finger Millet with Red Rice flour. The only thing I would do now that my bread is all baked is to have a higher ratio of Bread Flour to Finger Millet and Red Rice (hence I have resorted to the original quantities in the recipe below). Also the next time I will try and make this with Rye Flour. In my haste I rolled out the bread a little thinner than the 1/4" thickness so it did not turn out to be as fluffy as I would have liked it. More reminded me of the darker brown Mediterranean flatbread 'Kuboos'.

These are the ingredients that Polarbröd use to make their soft bread taken from this link. You may have to hit 'Translate this page' to read it in English :

INGREDIENTS

Wheat flour, water, sifted rye flour (20,4%), syrup, sugar, wheat gluten , rape seed oil, sugar beet fiber, salt, fermented wheat flour, yeast, emulsifier (mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, mono- and diglycerides of mono- and diacetyl tartaric acid), baking soda (antler salt), fruit sugar, malt flour ( barley ), flour treatment agent (ascorbic acid), enzyme.

Contains gluten. Milk free.

I am going to give you two options, one of my modified Finger Millet and Red Rice Flour additions and one with the original Rye flour. Please revert to the Rye flour for all available purposes, i.e. in case you have Rye flour where you stay at - use it! I do not want to change history at least not for now.

You need:

500 gms of plain flour or white bread flour
60 gms of Rye flour (or in my case 20 gms of Red rice flour and 40 gms of Finger Millet)
60 gms of Yoghurt (or you can also use Sour cream or Crème Fraiche)
5 tsp sugar or honey
2 tsp fennel seeds or anise seeds
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried yeast

The Make:

Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes | Proof time: 1 hr, 20 minutes | Cook time: Up to 6 minutes per soft bread | Makes at least 6 soft breads

1. First mix the sugar and yeast in the water and leave it to rest for 10 minutes.

2. Next add the flours, salt and seeds in a large bowl and mix well.

3. Add the yeasted water and yoghurt to the flour mix and knead well to a sticky dough.

4. Continue kneading on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth.

5. Place the kneaded dough in a lightly greased plate/bowl and leave it to prove in a warm place and double in size. This should take about 20 minutes.

6. Turn out the dough to a floured surface and knock the air out of the dough.

7. Divide the dough into equal sizes (6 numbers) and roll out each dough ball into a 1/4" thickness. Try to roll out perfect rounds and if not possible do your best.

8. Prick the rolled dough circle on both sides with a fork.

9. Next place the dough discs on a floured surface, cover and allow to rest for 40-60 minutes.

10. Preheat a griddle or in my case a cast iron flat pan or skillet or any other pan and place the dough discs onto the griddle on medium heat and cook each side for at least 2-3 minutes.

Serve warm with your favourite stuffing or dip. Bon Appetit! I love saving the best for last....

February's #BreadBakers event is 'Griddle Breads' hosted by Anshie Dhar of Spice Roots. She had openly themed the griddle breads to include anything from Rotis, crumpets, English muffins, etc. Thank you Anshie for choosing this theme. I was almost certain that I would back out after yesterday's fiasco but yaaay I made it in time! Here are some of the griddle breads from our Famous and Fabulous Bread Bakers' family...

February's Griddle Breads

Amaranth (Rajgira) Paratha from Herbivore Cucina
Cheese and Potato Gözleme from Cook's Hideout
Corn Pancakes from Magnolia Days
Cornmeal Griddle Cakes from Noshing With The Nolands
English Muffins from La cocina de Aisha
Fruity Hemp Seed Pancakes from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Griddle Scones from Hostess At Heart
Homemade Corn Tortillas from Kylee Cooks
Lachha Paratha - Indian Layered Flatbread from Sara's Tasty Buds
Masala Poli - Spicy Potato Masala Stuffed Poli from I Camp in my Kitchen
Masala Roti from Sneha's Recipe
Paneer Kulchas - Griddle Fried Cottage Cheese Flatbread from Sizzling Tastebuds
Paruppu Poorana Poli from Gayathri's Cook Spot
Peanut Butter and Apple Griddle Cakes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Phool Makhana Parathas (Puffed Lotus Seeds Parathas) from Seduce Your Tastebuds
Saffron Unleavened Bread from Kidsandchic
Satpadi - Spiced Griddle Bread from Spiceroots
Scallion Pancakes from A Shaggy Dough Story
Sourdough English Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
Spicy Loli - Breakfast Flatbread from Food Lust People Love
Spinach and Feta Gözleme from Spill the Spices
Stacked Apple Arepas from The Schizo Chef
Staffordshire Oatcakes with a Bacon & Cheese Filling from Ruchik Randhap
Stove-Top Muffins (Diphaphata) from Wholistic Woman
Swedish Polar Bread from G'Gina's Kitchenette
Vitumbua (Coconut Rice Pancake Balls) from Mayuri's Jikoni
Welsh Cakes from Passion Kneaded
Yeast Raised Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pancakes from Pastry Chef Online

BLT Pie #FoodieExtravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 11:20:00 +0000

Foodie Extravaganza{Party}'s February 2016 event is 'Pie' or as the lovely Wendy Klik of 'A Day in the Life on the Farm' coined it as 'Bye Bye Miss American Pie'. Wendy that song has been playing in my head for a while since your event posting now :D. Thank you whole heaps Wendy for this theme. What came as a challenge in this dish was the Butter Crust that I chose to make and now I am confident of whipping up a fabulous butter crust anytime.

The first 'Wednesday' of every month, Foodie Extravaganza {Party} hosts a theme based cook-off where food bloggers come together to celebrate the food event of the month from the American National Food Holidays.

I know Wendy said that we need not constrict ourselves to American Pie and the theme title came only as a result of the song. But I wanted to challenge myself to make an All-American Pie and BLT just popped up in my head. Of course the 'L' in BLT stands for Lettuce but to introduce lettuce into a pie filling would just make it mushy. I needed something firm but similar to lettuce. Enter a passing moment at the grocers where a lady asked the vendor whether a cut of leaves were lettuce. He informed her that it was Chinese Cabbage.

Then I remembered why not Leek too. I also wanted the pie filling to reflect a breakfast meal of bacon, eggs and maybe some potatoes on the side. Egg of course came on top of the pie crust. I then introduced some cheese. In fact I decided it would be two kinds of cheese.

I have to admit I struggled with my first try of the butter pie crust but then I remembered my Christmas Shortbread cookies and well yes you probably guessed right, the second try was a breeze.

The only thing I would do next time is if I plan on Bacon or Pork or anything else as fatty as protein, then I would not go with a Butter Crust as it can be quite filling. Well that is why the serving number on this dish went up. Otherwise it would be 4-6 adults.

The Butter Pie Crust would go well with fruit or nuts or both.

Well let me not go on and on with the background story and get on to the recipe:

You need:

For the Pie crust:

21/2 cups of flour (plus additional for dusting/sprinkling)
16 tbsp of cold butter, chopped in cubes *(refer notes)
1/2 tbsp salt
6-7 tbsp of ice cold water

For the Pie filling:

1 tbsp unsalted butter
600 gms of bacon, diced
2 medium sized potatoes, skinned and chopped into cubes
3 large tomatoes, diced into cubes
1 shallot, finely diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, diced
2 bulbs of leek, diced (include the edible leaves too)
1 cup thick tomato puree
1 egg, beaten or 2 tbsp milk
Mozzarella and Cheddar Cheese - 2 tbsp each
A good shake of pepper

The Make:

Please take a note of the notes below before attempting to make your Pie.

For the Pie crust:
1. In a large bowl, take the flour, salt and butter cubes*(refer notes) and mash with your finger tips into the flour till combined and no dry flour left aloof in the bowl.
2. Next add the water bit by bit into the flour until well-combined and the dough formed. The water is used as a binder. Wrap in cling film and transfer to the fridge to remain cool till you prepare the table top for the next steps.
3. Prepare the counter top or your silicone baking mat by sprinkling some flour on top. Make sure if you are using your counter top to keep it clean and free off any materials. Preheat the oven at 180°C.
4. Sprinkle some flour on the pie dish as well. You can use any kind of pie dish, I used to bottom shifting, 9.5" pie crust tray that belong to Mummy. Since there is sufficient butter in the pie crust you do not need to butter your pie dish.
5. Take out the pie dough, cut in half and place one half in the center of the prepared mat or on the counter top and with a rotating motion of the fleshy part of your palm, just gentle roll on top. Return the other half of the pie dough to the fridge.
6. Next press the dough ball down and roll using a lightly floured rolling pin, making sure to turn it over each time you roll flat. Make sure to evenly roll out. Once it has reached about 8" you would need to flip it using the side of your mat. Since I used a 9.5" pie dish, I needed to roll it to almost 12 inches for the bottom crust to ensure the sides of the pie dish are covered.
7. If you find that your dough is tearing up slightly while flipping, stop and then mend and then flip over and roll till you reach your desired size. Then flour your rolling pin once more and sprinkle some flour on top the rolled pie dough. Using both hands, gently place one end of the rolled pie dough over the rolling pin and without pressing on the dough lift the dough off the mat and rest it well onto the pie dish, making sure to blanket the sides well and to go over the top edges of the pie dish. Any extra dough hanging off the pie dish can be cut off. You could use the extras to fix any holes of the top crust or can be baked on a tray with some sugar and cinnamon on top as an in-between baking treat ;) .
8. Blind bake the prepared dough for 10 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the filling of the pie.

For the Pie Filling:
8. Heat a pot and add the butter followed by the potatoes and bacon. Saute for about a minute and add in the remaining ingredients except the puree and saute well for about 5 minutes. Add the puree and cover and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Uncover and allow to cook to room temperature or until warm.

9. Next place the filling inside the prepared pie dish, toss in some pieces of cheddar and roll out the top crust of the pie. Follow the same steps as for the bottom crust and place well over the filled pie dish and seal the edges well. With the tip of your kitchen blade draw a cross on the top of the pie crust. I added a few pieces of mozzarella there.

10. Brush the beaten egg or milk on top of the pie crust, grate some mozzarella on top if desired and place into the oven at 180°C. Make sure to take your oven spill tray and place it on the rack just above the pie rack (only in case you are using an oven with only bottom heat). Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes. Check to see if you have achieved a golden crust or a dark brown one in case you are using milk.

Slice and serve hot with your favourite dips/sauces. Bon Appetit!

Notes:
1. Time to bake will depend on the type of oven you have. In case you have an oven with only lower heat and no upper, this may take up to 1 hour and 20 minutes.
2. For those of you who do not have an upper heat coil in your oven, then you need the spill tray or oven tray to cover your pie dish to get an even colour on your pie crust.
3. The butter used in the recipe has to be cold, which is why once you chop the same please transfer it to the oven to remain cold.

So that is my Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Pie or BLT Pie. This was what was for dinner last night.

Take a look at the gorgeous pies our Foodie Extravaganza Party has brought to the table today:

BLT Pie by Georgina of G'Gina's Kitchenette
Cheddar Leek Potato Pie by Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
Cheeseburger Pie by Kathleen at Fearlessly Creative Mammas
Grapefruit Pie by Rebekah at Making Miracles
Ham and Broccoli Quiche by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm
Homegrown Blackberry Pie by Carlee of Cooking with Carlee
No Bake Peanut Butter Pie by Lauren of From Gate to Plate
Peaches and Cream Pie by Elaine at Cookin and Craftin
Penne Pie by Terri at Our Good Life
Red Velvet Pudding Pie by Teri of The Freshman Cook
Tar Heel Pie by Tara of Tara's Multicultural Table
The Impossible Coconut Pie by Stacy of Food Lust People Love
Walnut Crumble-Topped Apple Tart by Caroline at Caroline's Cooking

Malaysian Red Snapper with Lime Leaves #FishFridayFoodies

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 06:20:00 +0000

I have always been a lover of seafood and just loved that Wendy Klik of A Day in the Life on the Farm started this new group of Fish Friday Foodies of Fish food lovers.

Red Snapper is a low-calorie, lean source of protein rich in selenium, Vitamin A, potassium and Omega-3 fatty acids. Besides this is quite a flavoursome fish as well.

I grew a small potted lime plant in my balcony at my last place of residence. After a few months of seeing some produce from the plant, sadly I had to let go of it as it became diseased. Hopefully if ever I move into a home with a better garden area, I will attempt at growing the lime tree :)

Now while I had a chance to use the produce off my young lime plant, I made this Red Snapper with Lime leaves. The fragrance throughout my home that day was amazingly uplifting and fabulous.

You need:

1 kg Red Snapper, cleaned and cut into medium sized pieces
2 large shallots, quartered
1/2 tbsp Peppercorns
3-4 Star Anise
4-5 Lime Leaves + 2-3 for garnish
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed and quartered
2 tsp Freshly Ground Coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp cooking oil
2 tsp sugar
2 red chilies quartered
250ml of coconut milk
Zest of 1 small lime
Salt to taste
Drinking water, heated

The Make:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes | Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes | Serves 4-6 adults

1. Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a clay pot or a wok and toss in the star anise, fennel seeds, red chilies, cinnamon sticks and set aside after a minute.

2. In the same pot, add the remaining oil and toss in the shallots and saute till translucent on medium heat.

3. Next add the garlic, coriander, turmeric, salt and peppercorns and saute for another minute or until the spices leave the sides of the pot and is cooked.

4. Lower the heat and pour half the quantity of coconut milk, sugar and pour in a cup of heated water.

5. Add in the the sauteed spices earlier set aside and turn to medium heat again for a minute or until heated but not to a rolling boil.

6. Lower the heat and then add the Red Snapper fish pieces, lime zest and lime leaves. Cover and cook for 30 minutes and then check if cooked well. If not increase by 5 minutes and check. Once cooked add the remaining coconut milk and allow to heat not boil else it will split.

7. Serve hot aside piping hot bowl of steamed rice of your choice. Garnish with lime leaves.

Bon Appetit!

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com.

Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

An InLinkz Link-up

Word Press:

Eggless Sorghum and Pearl Millet Banana Muffins (Eggless Jowar and Bajra Banana Muffins) #BreadBakers

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 09:26:00 +0000

Happy New Year readers. I have had a good start to the year meeting friends of old and family. I feel blessed to have moved to our new location which is giving me a chance to meet lots of wonderful people from my life with many more to come in the days ahead. This is why you haven't heard from me since Boxing Day.

These days a lot of diets have non-gluten ingredients to make a way for those who are gluten intolerant. Although initially I thought of making these muffins using only Sorghum, I added in the Pearl Millet in small quantities and glad that I did so, as it adds some texture making it seem crunchy. Loved the reaction of my tasters. I had my daughter who at first point blank did not like it as it seemed too healthy to another toddler (Mahi) who downed two muffins as he loved it to another doll (Riddhi) also who pretty much gobbled it up as her mum said. So you know that with kids this muffin could go either ways. The adults all seemed to have liked it even though it was butterless, 'refined' flourless and colour wise looked different from your regular muffins.In fact one of the tasters who does not like banana in her muffins surprisingly did not notice the banana until it was pointed out to her. There were others who pointed out that the muffins tasted like a prasadam (holy food) they received from the temple. They did not particularly like it though they said it was edible and would be enjoyed by health freaks and kids whose parents were health conscious.

Sorghum or Jowar has heaps of health benefits including but not restricted to protection against diabetes, insulin resistance, inhibit cancer tumour growth, safe for people with celiac disease as it is gluten free, manages cholesterol and is known to help treat human melanoma.

Pearl Millet or Bajra (the poor man's grain) is an excellent source of protein and fiber with easy to digest amino acids than the ones found in wheat. It helps reduce cholesterol, maintains good heart health, reduces blood pressure and lowers the risks of heart attacks. Rich in phosphorous which is a constituent of lipid-containing structures such as cell membranes and the nervous system.Apparently recent studies have also declared Pearl millets to help prevent gallstones in women. It also increases insulin sensitivity and reduces triglycerides. It also provides protection against breast cancer in pre-menopausal women and reduces the occurence of asthma and wheezing in children. It also reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and hormone dependent cancers.However do not overdo your Millet intake as there are risks involved owing to low iodine content and resultant goiter. You could include it in your daily diet in small quantities.

I must admit I was seriously nervous and fascinated at the same time to try out these flours in making a baked bread (vs. a flatbread) as I have never used either Bajra or Jowar as a baked bread. Flatbread yes I have tried both Bajra and Jowar separately and together as well. So I cannot tell you how pleased I was with the result of these muffins. All thanks to Robin Beck of A Shaggy Dough Story who chose this fabulous theme of 'Ancient Grains' for the first month of 2016 Bread Bakers's event. Thanks Robin.

Since the relocation of homes, I did not see either these flours or grains at our present local market so I had my hubby bring the flour and grain from his recent work travel. Sorghum was available as a flour but the Pearl Millet had to be ground. Thanks Stacy for the guidance to grind my own flour :) The Pearl Millet has this really interesting fragrance when pounded as well. *4. Check notes

Cashews or almonds are optional. Here for just two of the muffins I added the cashews that my mum had chopped herself and soaked for Christmas 2015 (I ate them on my own :( ). She had it soaked for a while as she didn't make Christmas cake the year before as my grandma had passed on. I am treasuring that bowl of soaked cashews.

On with the make..

What you need:

1/2 cup Sorghum Flour / Jowar Flour , sifted
1/4 cup Pearl Millet Flour / Bajra flour, sifted *1. Check notes
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
6-7 tbsp Sugar *2. Check notes
1/2 cup Oil *3. Check notes
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
Cashews or Almonds for topping (Optional)
3/4 cup of mashed bananas (of your choice)

The Make:
Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook time: 20 mins | Makes: 8 Muffins

1. Sift the flours together and blend in the salt, baking powder and baking soda. Let it rest for a while (at least 10 minutes).
2. In a large bowl, whisk the mashed bananas with the sugar, vanilla essence and oil until the sugar dissolves.
3. Next mix in the flour bit by bit to the whisked banana mixture until no traces of flour is seen.
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Meanwhile line your muffin tray with paper cups.
5. Spoon in the batter into each paper cup halfway leaving room for the batter to rise.
6. Sprinkle some chopped cashews or almonds on top.
7. Transfer the muffin tray to the oven rack and bake for 20 mins at 180°C.
8. Once baked, do a clean test with a toothpick and set aside for at least 10 minutes.

I kind of enjoyed these muffins warm. It depends on your taste buds really. I loved it especially once it came out of the oven and after the 10 minutes rest. If it gets too cold then just slightly heat it in the oven for a minute or less. These muffins are really light on your palate and does not leave a heavy after taste owing to the lack of gluten in the flours. Hope you enjoy making these as I did.

Notes:
1. Bajra seeds can be ground using a coffee grinder or a spices grinder
2. The Sugar can be adjusted depending on how sweet your bananas would be.
3. Preferably use an odourless oil like sunflower oil or corn oil.
4. For those of you in India and do not have either of these flours in your local market, you can get your Bajra or Jowar from Amazon, India. For those of you with an Amazon.com reach, try to get your Bajra or Jowar from their online portal.

This month's BreadBakers' theme is Ancient Grains, hosted by Robin at A Shaggy Dough Story. Ancient grains are generally accepted to mean grains that have remained largely unchanged/un-hybridized over the last several hundred years, which means NO MODERN WHEAT. Here's what our creative bakers came up with.

Ancient 4 Grain Breakfast Bread from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
Ancient Grain Carrot Bread from The Schizo Chef
Barley Flour Donut Muffins from I Camp in my Kitchen
Blueberry Peach Quinoa Oatmeal Muffins from Magnolia Days
Buckwheat Savoury Pancakes from Mayuri's Jikoni
Dimbleby's Breastfeeding Bread from Food Lust People Love
Eggless Sorghum and Pearl Millet Banana Muffins (Eggless Jowar and Bajra Banana Muffins) from G'Gina's Kitchenette
Foxtail Millet Bagels from Cooking Club
Garlic Cheesy Einkorn Crackers from The Wimpy Vegetarian
Injera Bread from Spiceroots
Little Millet Banana Bread from Sara's Tasty Buds
Millet Idli from Gayathri's Cook Spot
Quinoa Banana Bread from Wholistic Woman
Seeded Spelt Boules from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Spelt and Buckwheat Soda Bread from A Shaggy Dough Story
Spelt and Einkorn Sourdough with Caramelized Onions from Karen's Kitchen Stories
Spelt Bread from Hostess at Heart
Spelt Sweet Potato Paratha from Cook's Hideout
Teff Crepes with Spinach and Mushrooms from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Yeasted Jowar Naan from Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Roast Chicken with Spinach stuffing - A Boxing Day Special

noreply@blogger.com (Georgina K.) — Fri, 25 Dec 2015 16:53:00 +0000

Yes I know the last thing you want to hear right now is Roast or anything remotely close to it. So then why am I posting this recipe now. Well it is because I know many of you either had a festive Christmas meal(s) and may not even know what Boxing Day is all about. However there are many others globally who enjoy a public holiday on December 26th, i.e. the day after Christmas and traditionally celebrate Boxing Day.

So what is Boxing Day - the simple explanation as per modern day practices is a day when all the leftovers of Christmas Day is shared. It may also be a day when those friends or relatives you haven't celebrated and shared the meals of Christmas Day comes over for a meal or two or more.

After a festive meal or even a Christmas party, it may be that you do not have any leftovers to share, so hence the Roast recipe I am about to share with you. This roast has a healthy element in terms of its stuffing and is no problem at all to cook up as it has a simple marinade and does not require much of visits to stores (which I am sure your feet probably would not allow you to do).

No need for any close monitoring either. Just pop it into the oven and it is ready to hold center place on your Boxing Day table along with any leftovers or sides.

Some interesting learning of the origin of Boxing Day can be learnt here.

The marinade is learnt from my darling Mummy and in fact she was with me in Chennai (visiting us in February 2015) when I cooked this last roast with her.

On with the recipe...

What you need:

1500 gms of chicken (skin-on), cleaned well
2 fairly large bunches of spinach, chopped roughly
1 large onion, finely diced
Ginger-Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
1 heaped tbsp of Chili powder
1 heaped tbsp of Garam Masala
1 tbsp salt
Water to combine the marinade
Olive oil

The Make:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Marination time: 30 minutes to 2 hours |

1. Slit the chicken skin across the breast, legs and wings. Make a marinade of the ginger-garlic paste, Chili powder, Garam masala and salt. Rub generously all over the chicken and within the cavity as well. Set aside for 30 minutes up to 2 hours minimum.

2. Meanwhile in a large wok, drizzle some olive oil, saute some onions until lightly brown and then add the spinach leaves. Cook until the residual water disappears or up to 5 minutes. Set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

4. Next stuff the cavity of the chicken and all around the roast with spinach leaves and place on a roasting tray. Loosely cover the chicken with foil paper. Roast for 45 minutes to an hour.

Serve hot with your Christmas day leftovers and sides.