Food, In The Main...

We Knead To Bake #4 - Torcettini di Saint Vincent yeasted cookies

2013-04-29T22:46:00.006+01:00

(Adapted from A Baker’s Tour by Nick Malgieri)

Cookies are not my thing. I might have tried baking cookies maybe a scant 2 dozen times in the last 10 years (or since I started cooking, anyway). Not always successfully, I might add. There aren't many biscuits that have come out well, except for the multiple batches of ginger biscuits that I baked last Christmas, much to Pete's satisfaction. Pete loves ginger biscuits, but not really any others. As for me, I'm no cookie monster!

Anyway - these yeasted cookies were pretty easy to make. Like most everyone else, we both liked the sugar crust and the caramelised underside of the cookies. They were different from anything I've had before, that's for certain!

And one more thing - I'm glad I've managed to post this recipe before the end of April. I missed the publish date of 24th April because of a combination of circumstances, the most distressing one being a bereavement in the family. Still... it's a part of the cycle of life, I suppose, and life being what it is, it must go on. So... onward to May's challenge!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water
1-1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or 1 tsp instant yeast)
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lime/lemon zest or 1 tsp crushed anise seeds
2-1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
about 1/3 cup granulated sugar for rolling the cookies

Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, in a small bowl and keep aside.

2. Put the flour and the salt in a large bowl and stir everything together. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the butter is well mixed and the flour-butter mixture looks powdery.

3. Add the yeast-water mixture and knead just till it all comes together as a ball. Place the ball of dough in a oiled bowl, turning it so it is well coated with the oil. Cover the bowl, and let the dough rise. This dough does not really double in volume, but it should look “puffy” after about an hour or so. When you pinch off a bit from the top you can see the interior looking a bit like honeycomb. Press down the dough to deflate it, wrap it in cling wrap and refrigerate it for at least one hour or up to 24 hours.

4. When ready to make the cookies, take the dough out and lightly roll it out into an approximately 6” square. If the dough feels sticky, scatter a little sugar on it. Using a pizza wheel cut the dough into four strips of equal width. Cut each strip into 6 equal pieces, by cutting across, making a total of 24 pieces. The measurements are not very critical in this part because this just makes it easier to have 24 equal sized bits of dough, as compared to pinching of bits of the dough.

5. Roll each piece into a pencil thick “rope” about 5” long. Sprinkle a little sugar on your work surface and roll the “rope” in it so the sugar crusts the dough uniformly. Form the “rope” into a loop crossing it over before the ends.

6. Place the Torcettini on parchment lined baking sheets, leaving 1-1/2" between them. Leave them for about 20 minutes or so till they rise/ puff up slightly. They will not “puff up” much, like bread, but the “puff” will be visible.

7. Bake them at 160C (325F) for about 25 minutes till they’re a nice golden brown.

Cool the cookies completely, on a rack. Store them in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Roasted smoked garlic

2013-04-02T22:47:00.001+01:00

I keep hearing things about roasted garlic... good things, like how lovely and mellow it tastes, and how it's perfect as a spread straight onto fresh French bread, etc etc. It's not a new thing, obviously. I must confess that this is not the first time that I've roasted garlic bulbs whole. It's actually the second time. And the reason that there's been a gap of a few years between the first attempt and this one is that I sodhapufied (ruined, in Tamil slang) it big time. The garlic was absolutely disgusting, bitter to the core. After that I was too nervous to try again, although I thought about it every so often.

Then I bought 3 bulbs of smoked garlic on an impulse, with no real idea of what to do with them... until it struck me that I could roast them. This time, I was careful to cover the garlic with foil and to roast the heads at 180C for about 30 minutes. This time, probably because I was careful, the roasted garlic was just wonderful - it slipped out of its papery skin without a problem, it smelt gorgeous, and I must have eaten a full head by myself without really realising it, it was that good. The rest of the bulb I used to make a garlic and tomato bread... but that's for another post.

PS. You don't have to use smoked garlic; regular garlic will do just as well.

Recipe for: Roasted smoked garlic

Ingredients:

3 heads of smoked garlic
3 tsp olive oil

Method:

1. Peel the garlic until you're down to the single skin covering the bulbs. Slice off the top of the bulbs to expose the white flesh within.

2. Drizzle one tsp olive oil over each cut head of garlic. Place in a small baking tray and cover the top tightly with foil.

3. Bake at 180C (350F) for 20-30 minutes, or till a knife inserted into a garlic pearl goes in easily. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before squeezing the inner flesh from the papery skin (carefully, as it can still be very hot). Use the roasted garlic in cooking, or just smear it on a baguette with a little salt.

We Knead to Bake #3 - Hokkaido Milk Bread

2013-03-23T00:00:00.000Z

Last month's baking challenge saw me at my whiny worst, because the croissants that we were supposed to make nearly got the better of me. But I persevered, rather to my surprise, and at least I can say "I tried it". This month's challenge was much more in keeping with my ability and my interest, because I can make bread. I can knead dough. I've been experimenting with different types of bread, with different proportions of strong white, wholewheat, wholemeal spelt and wholemeal rye flours. Mostly they've been successful bakes.

That is why this Hokkaido bread didn't faze me. Yes, the dough was irritatingly sticky. Yes, I kneaded the dough by hand, because I don't have a machine to do the job... but to be fair, I didn't put my entire being into the kneading. That's because of the technique recommended by Dan Lepard of the Guardian newspaper (jeez, the number of times I've mentioned this man in my posts, he should be paying me a commission!).

Anyway, I didn't do a 10-second knead with this dough, but I certainly didn't knead for 15 minutes at a time either. It turned out so soft and buttery, it was unbelievable. I made one big loaf, and some Nutella rolls and some with a spicy potato filling. They all turned out incredibly moreish. I'm planning to use the tangzhong technique with regular baking flours rather than just all-purpose. The tangzhong will continue to be made with AP flour, though. However, that's for another post. In the meantime, thank you once again, Aparna Balasubramanian, for introducing me to this bread technique that was completely new to me.

Recipe for: Hokkaido milk bread

(Original Recipe from 65 Degrees Tangzhong “65C Bread Doctor” by Yvonne Chen, and adapted from Kirbie’s Cravings)
http://kirbiecravings.com/2011/05/hokkaido-milk-toast.html

Ingredients:
For The Tangzhong (Flour-Water Roux)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk

For The Dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
1tsp salt
2 tbsp powdered milk
2 tsp instant dried yeast
1/2 cup milk (and a little more if needed)
1/8 cup cream (25% fat)
1/3 cup tangzhong (use HALF of the tangzhong from above)
1/4 tsp salt
25gm unsalted butter (cut into small pieces, softened at room temperature)
1/2 to 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips if making the rolls

Method:
The Tangzhong (Flour-Water Roux):
Whisk together lightly the flour, water and milk in a saucepan until smooth and there are no lumps. Place the saucepan on the stove, and over medium heat, let the roux cook till it starts thickening. Keep stirring/ whisking constantly so no lumps form and the roux is smooth.

If you have a thermometer, cook the roux/ tangzhong till it reaches 65C (150F) and take it off the heat. If like me, you don’t have a thermometer, then watch the roux/ tangzhong until you start seeing “lines” forming in the roux/ tangzhong as you whisk/ stir it. Take the pan off the heat at this point.

Let the roux/ tangzhong cool completely and rest for about 2 to 3 hours at least. It will have the consistency of a soft and creamy crème patisserie. If not using immediately, transfer the roux to a bowl and cover using plastic wrap. It can be stored in the fridge for about a day. Discard the tangzhong after that.

The Bread Dough:
I made this bread by hand. This dough dough is a bit sticky and can take some time and effort to knead by hand. If you have some sort of machine which will do the kneading for you, use it. Don’t punish yourself. And do not add more flour to make it less sticky either!

Put the flour, salt, sugar, powdered milk and instant yeast in a large bowl and pulse a couple of times to mix. In another small bowl mix the milk, cream and Tangzhong till smooth and add to the bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together. Now add the butter and knead till you have a smooth and elastic dough which is just short of sticky.

The dough will start out sticky but kneading will make it smooth. If the dough feels firm and not soft to touch, add a couple of tsps of milk till it becomes soft and elastic. When the dough is done, you should be able to stretch the dough without it breaking right away. When it does break, the break should be form a circle.

Form the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl turning it so it is well coated. Cover with a towel, and let the dough rise for about 45 minutes or till almost double in volume.

Place the dough on your working surface. You don’t need flour to work or shape this dough. This recipe makes enough dough to make one loaf (9” by 5” tin), 2 small loaves (6” by 4” tins) or 1 small loaf (6” by 4”) and 6 small rolls (muffin tins). Depending on what you are making, divide your dough. If you are making 1 loaf, divide your dough in 3 equal pieces. If you are making two smaller loaves, divide your dough into 6 equal pieces.

The shaping of the portions, whether for the loaf or the rolls, is the same.

Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape, about 1/8” thick. If you are using a filling, spread it on the dough now, before shaping it into a ball with your hands, bringing the edges to cover the filling.

Roll this folded dough with the rolling pin so the unfolded edges are stretched out to form a rectangle. Roll the rectangle from one short edge to the other, pinching the edges to seal well. Do this with each of the three larger pieces and place them, sealed edges down, in a well-oiled loaf tin.

Cover with a towel and leave the dough to rise for about 45 minutes.

To make the rolls fold them in the same manner described above, but before rolling them up, put in the filling.

Turn the roll over so the seam side is down, and shape it with both hands, sort of cupping it so that the top is smooth and tight, and the underside is sealed.

Carefully brush the tops of the rolls and the loaf with milk (or cream) and bake them at 170C (325F) for about 20 to 30 minutes till they are done (if you tap them they’ll sound hollow) and beautifully browned on top.

Let them cool on the tray for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack till slightly warm or cool.

Serve or else store in a bread bin. This bread stays soft and delicious even the next day. This recipe makes enough dough to make one loaf (9” by 5” tin), 2 small loaves (6” by 4” tins) or 1 small loaf (6” by 4”) and 6 small rolls (muffin tins).

Wheat-spelt milk bread

2013-03-17T16:10:00.001Z

Man, I have to say I'm beginning to find it really difficult to come up with something to say for every post. Usually when I stop thinking too hard about what to write, I tend to unblock the stoppage, as it were... but this is beginning to work less and less often.

I've actually thought about not writing anything at all, just posting the recipe and a couple of photos, but I don't know how well that would work.

I mean, when I go to a food blog and find nothing there but the recipe, I get annoyed, even if the recipe is fantastic. I need at least one photo. If there is a photo or two, or even many photos, but no write-up to go with the recipe, that makes me feel annoyed too.

So you'd imagine that when there is a recipe, a photo or two (or even many photos) and a write-up to boot, I'd be a happy camper? Reasonable assumption, right?

Nope.

You see, I'm unreasonable in my wants. I'm not content with just a recipe, a photo or two (or even many photos), and a write-up. No, I want that write-up to be funny and warm and honest and interesting and readable and at the very least I want the recipe to be fabulous - in other words, pretty much like any post you'd care to choose from the lovely Nupur's wonderful blog One Hot Stove.

Unfortunately it is not given to many of us to successfully combine humour and warmth and honesty and readability and foster a loyal readership of our blog... so we just have to struggle on. And if for some people it's a struggle to write a decent post, it's a struggle for others to read a dull one - even if they know how hard it is to actually write a post, never mind pleasing anyone with it!

And on that philosophical note, I guess I will say a few words about this recipe before I close. You will know some of the words, like "variation of Dan Lepard recipe", "The Guardian newspaper", "minimal kneading" and "tasty", so I'll just say the ones that you may NOT know, which is "tighter crumb because I added spelt flour".

Recipe for: Wheat-spelt milk bread

Ingredients:

2-1/4 cups strong white bread flour
1/4 cup very strong wholewheat bread flour
1/2 cup wholemeal spelt flour
100 ml warm water
200 ml warm whole milk
1 tsp quick-rise yeast
1-1/4 tsp salt
Oil for kneading
Flour for sprinkling
Butter for greasing 7" x 5" loaf pan

Method:

1. Mix together the flours in a big bowl and whisk in the salt and yeast. Then make a hole in the centre and pour in the yeast and warm milk-water mixture. Mix together with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a rough ball. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

3. Lightly oil your work area/kneading board and scrape the dough onto it. It will be quite sticky. Knead lightly for 10 seconds. Then put the dough back in the bowl, cover it and let rest for 10 minutes. Repeat this cycle twice more, oiling the work area lightly each time, if required.

4. After the fourth 10-second knead, the dough should be elastic and not very sticky. This time, let the dough rise in the covered bowl for 40 minutes to an hour, or till doubled.

5. Now punch the dough down gently. Lightly flour the work area and pat the dough into an oblong, then roll it up and place it in your buttered 7" x 5" loaf pan. Flour the top of the dough, cover with a clean tea towel and let the dough rise in a warm draught-free area for 45 minutes to an hour - it should be at least 1" over the rim of the loaf pan.

6, Preheat the oven to 200C/450F and place a dish of boiling water on the floor of the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or till the loaf is golden brown on top and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool before slicing.

Wheat-rye cider loaf

2013-02-25T09:00:00.000Z

This recipe is from... but I bet you already KNOW where it's from and whose it is. You won't even have to guess. Thaaaaat's right. Dan Lepard, the latest man in my life. He's only lately been in my life, though. Until a couple of weeks back, my No. 1 baking man was Hollywood. Paul Hollywood.

I don't know about you folks outside the UK, but in the UK, The Great British Bake-Off is one of the most watched baking shows. And with good reason... one of the judges, the man with ice-blue eyes, Paul Hollywood, is most watchable. Eminently watchable. Even more than the show, much as I love it. So, carried along by the rush of my crush, I bought his book "How To Bake".

It's a good book, don't get me wrong - it's got good photos of him and his breads, and there are recipes I want to try. But a lot of them require a Kitchen Aid-type of food processor (if that's what they're called), with a dough hook. I don't have a dough hook, much less a Kitchen Aid. In my kitchen, my arms are my aid. So until I get one of them Aids (erk... not meant the way that sounds!), or figure out how to get around not having a hook (being fairly sure that Abu Hamza al-Masri would not be amenable to helping me out), I'll just have to stick with recipes that require arm-power, not hook-power.

Which brings me back to Dan Lepard who, going by his photo in The Guardian, is not an ice-blue-eyed killer-smiled baking heart-throb... but - and this is a BIG but - his baking recipes are doable. As eminently doable as Paul Hollywood is eminently watchable. For the time being, doability trumps watchability. And that, my friends, is saying a LOT!

Recipe for: Wheat-rye cider loaf

Ingredients:

1 tsp fast action yeast
1 tbsp agave nectar or honey
150 ml warm water
175 ml dry cider
375 gm (2-3/4 cups) strong white bread flour
75 gm wholegrain rye flour (just over 1/2 cup)
50 gm olive oil
1.5 tsp salt
a little oil for kneading (if required)

Method:

1. Mix the water and cider in a big bowl, then stir in the yeast and syrup till dissolved.

2. Add the olive oil, bread flour and rye flour to the bowl, and finally the salt. Stir quickly and evenly until mixed, and the dough comes together into a rough ball. Cover the bowl and leave it for 10 minutes.

3. Now lightly oil your worktop or kneading board, and scrape the dough onto the board. Knead lightly for 10 seconds, then return the dough to the bowl. leaving it to rest for 10 minutes. Repeat the kneading/resting procedure two more times.

4. After the third time, put the dough back into the bowl and let it rise undisturbed until it's puffy and looks like it has more or less doubled in size. Lightly flour the worktop/board. Punch the dough down and put it on the floured board. Pat it or use a rolling pin to shape it into a rough rectangle with the long side facing you.

5. Now roll up the flattened dough from the far end towards you, as tightly as you can manage it. Place it seam-side down on a tray lined with nonstick baking paper. Cover with a clean cloth and let it rise for 1-2 hours or till it has risen again.

6. Heat the oven to 220C (200C/425F in a fan-assisted oven). Cut a 1-cm deep slash down the centre of the loaf and bake it in the hot oven for about 40 minutes or till golden brown on top and hollow-sounding when tapped on the bottom.

Let cool before slicing.

We Knead to Bake # 2 - Classic croissants

2013-02-24T00:00:00.000Z

Original version of the recipe on Fine Cooking

Aparna's post on her blog My Diverse Kitchen

Let's get one thing clear from the start - making croissants was not my first choice, nor even my hundredth choice. In fact, it didn't even figure as a fleeting choice on my "would like to try" list. But I made them. I made them because it was the recipe for February in the "We Knead to Bake" challenge. There is no way that I would have tried this otherwise, none. I cannot stress that enough. I wish I could say that I enjoyed the three-day process so much that I wanted to do it all over gain... I COULD say it, but it would be a big fat lie.

Do you think this might be a bit of a negativity overkill?

Ok, to be fair, I'm glad I tried the recipe. Glad that Aparna made me go way outside my comfort zone (it took me a week to make my way back - ha ha). Glad that I know how much hard work goes into making the flaky, buttery, delicious croissants that I love. Glad that there are bakeries and cafes where I can walk in and simply buy a croissant. And, most of all, glad that faced up to my croissant demon... and if I didn't quite vanquish it, at least I can say truthfully that I didn't just give up.

My croissants were reasonably good, more than edible (jeez, all that butter - why WOULDN'T they be tasty!), and the ones with chopped chocolate filling were actually extremely moreish. I only did a few of those, though, perhaps about 4. The rest were plain croissants. While Pete liked them, and so did I, I just felt that the end result was not good enough for the effort that went into making them. I guess I'm just being picky, and I guess that's because I do love a well-made, fresh, flaky croissant.

I think I need a tame croissant baker who would be at my beck and call for baked goods. Any takers?

Recipe for: Classic croissants

Ingredients:

For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour, and a little more for dusting/ rolling out dough
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp cold water
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp cold milk (I used 2%)
1/8 cup granulated sugar
20gm soft unsalted butter (1.5 tbsp)
1/2 tbsp plus scant 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt

For the butter layer:
125 gm cold unsalted butter
Or 1 egg for egg wash
Finely chopped dark or plain chocolate for filling (optional)

Method:

Day 1 - Make the dough (and refrigerate overnight)
Combine all the ingredients for the dough in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. You can also use a food processor with the plastic blade, or do this by hand.
Mix everything on low speed for 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the mixing bowl once if necessary. Then mix further on medium speed for 3 minutes. Lightly flour a 10-inch pie pan or a dinner plate. And place the ball of dough on this.
Gently shape the dough into a flat ball by pressing it down before storing it in the fridge, this makes rolling out next morning easier. Making a tight ball will strengthen the gluten which you do not need. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and wrap well with plastic so it doesn’t dry out. Refrigerate overnight.

Day 2 - Make the butter layer
The next day, cut out 2 pieces of parchment or waxed paper into 10” squares each. Cut the cold butter into 1/2-inch-thick slabs. Place these pieces on one piece of parchment/ waxed paper so they form a 5- to 6-inch square. Cut the butter further into pieces as required to fit the square. Top with the other piece of parchment/ waxed paper.
Using a rolling pin, pound the butter with light, even strokes. As the pieces begin to stick together, use more force. Pound the butter until it flattens out evenly into a square that’s approximately 7-1/2”. Trim the edges of the butter to make a neat square. Put the trimmings on top of the square and pound them in lightly with the rolling pin. Refrigerate this while you roll out the dough.

Laminate the dough
Unwrap and lay the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll it out to a 10-1/2-inch square, and brush off the excess flour. Take the butter out from the refrigerator —it should be cold but pliable. If it isn’t refrigerate it till it is. This so that when you roll out the dough with the butter in ti, neither should it be soft enough to melt, or hard enough to break. Unwrap the butter and place it on the square of dough in the centre, so that it forms a “diamond” shape on the dough.
Fold one flap of dough over the butter toward you, stretching it slightly so that the point just reaches the middle of the butter square. Bring the opposite flap to the middle, slightly overlapping the previous one. Similarly repeat with the other two so that the dough forms an envelope around the butter. Lightly press the edges together to completely seal the butter inside the dough to ensure the butter doesn’t escape when you roll out the dough later.
Lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough. With the rolling pin, firmly press along the dough uniformly to elongate it slightly. Now begin rolling instead of pressing, focusing on lengthening rather than widening the dough and keeping the edges straight.
Roll the dough into an 8” by 24” rectangle. If the ends lose their square shape, gently reshape the corners with your hands. Brush off the excess flour. Mark the dough lightly equally into three along the long side. Using this as a guideline, pick up one short end of the dough and fold 1/3rd of it back over the dough, so that 1/3rd of the other end of dough is exposed. Now fold the 1/3rd exposed dough over the folded side. Basically, the dough is folded like 3-fold letter before it goes into an envelope (letter fold). Put the folded dough on a floured baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for 15 to 20 minutes to relax and chill the dough.
Repeat the rolling and folding, this time rolling in the direction of the two open ends (from the shorter sides to lengthen the longer sides) until the dough is about 8” by 24”. Once again fold the dough in thirds, brushing off excess flour and turning under any rounded edges or short ends with exposed or smeared layers. Cover once again with plastic wrap and freeze for another 15 to 20 minutes.
Roll and fold the dough exactly in the same way for the third time and put it baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap, tucking the plastic under all four sides and refrigerate overnight.

Day 3 - Divide the dough
The next day, unwrap and lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough. Cut the dough along the longer side into halves. Cover one half with plastic wrap and refrigerate it while working on the other half.
“Wake up the dough up” by pressing firmly along its length with the rolling pin. Don’t widen the dough but simply begin to lengthen it with these first strokes. Slowly roll the dough into a long and narrow strip, approximately 8” by 22”. If the dough sticks as you roll, sprinkle with flour.
Once the dough is about half to two-thirds of its final length, it may start to resist rolling and even shrink back. If this happens, fold the dough in thirds, cover, and refrigerate for about 10 minutes; then unfold the dough and finish rolling.
Lift the dough an inch or so off the table at its midpoint and allow it to shrink from both sides and prevent the dough from shrinking when it’s cut. Check that there’s enough excess dough on either end so that when you trim the edges to straighten them, you have a strip of dough that is 20’ inches long. Now trim the edges so they’re straight. Cut the dough into equal sized triangles, marking them off first if you prefer, before cutting.

Shape the croissants
Now work with one piece of triangular dough at a time. Using your rolling pin, very lightly roll (do not make it thin but only stretch it slightly) the triangle to stretch it a little, until it is about 6” long. This will give your croissants height and layers. You can stretch it by hand too, but if you don’t have the practise, your stretching could be uneven.
Using a sharp small knife, make a 1/2- to 3/4-inch-long notch in the centre of the short side of each triangle. The notch helps the rolled croissant curl into a crescent.
Place the triangle on the work surface with the notched side closest to you. This is the time to add your filling, if you're using any. With one hand on each side of the notch, begin to roll the dough away from you, towards the pointed end.
Flare your hands outward as you roll so that the notched “legs” become longer. Roll the triangle tight enough but not too tight to compress it, until you reach the “pointy” end which should be under the croissant.
Now bend the two legs towards you to form a tight crescent shape and gently press the tips of the legs together (they’ll come apart while proofing but keep their crescent shape).
Shape all the triangles like this into croissants and place them on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet leaving as much space between them as they will rise quite a bit.

Proof the croissants
Brush the croissants with milk (or a mix of milk and cream). If you use eggs, make an egg wash by whisking one egg with 1 tsp water in a small bowl until very smooth. Lightly brush this on each croissant.
Refrigerate the remaining milk/ milk+cream (or egg wash) for brushing the croissants again later. Place the croissants in a cool and draft-free place (the butter should not melt) for proofing/ rising for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. They might need longer than 2 hours to proof, maybe as much as 3 hours, so make sure to let croissants take the time to proof. The croissants will be distinctly larger but not doubled in size. They’re ready if you can see the layers of dough from the side, and if you lightly shake the sheets, the croissants will wiggle.

Bake the croissants
Just before the croissants are fully proofed, pre-heat your oven to 200C (400F) in a convection oven or 220C (425F) in a regular oven. Brush the croissants with milk/ milk+cream (or egg wash) a second time, and place your baking sheets on the top and lower thirds of your oven (if regular) or bake one tray at a time in the convection oven.
Bake them for about 15 to 20 minutes till they’re done and golden brown on top and just beginning to brown at the sides. In a regular oven, remember to turn your baking sheets halfway through. If they seem to be darkening too quickly during baking, lower the oven temperature by 10C (25F). Cool the croissants on the baking sheets on racks.
Serve warm. This recipe makes 10 mini croissants.

Fresh yeast white-wholewheat loaf

2013-02-22T23:21:00.003Z

This is yet another Dan Lepard recipe, kind of - that is, I took his basic never-fail white loaf recipe, substituted quick-rise with fresh yeast, changed the flour content to 2:1 white to wholewheat, substituted 1 cup water with 50ml Greek yogurt thinned with 50ml water and, as a final touch, added 1 tbsp vinegar because I'd read somewhere that it helped keep the loaf soft for longer.

Perhaps I should have made one substitution at a time per loaf, rather than all the substitutions in one loaf - because I can't say for sure if it was the yogurt or the vinegar or the combination that actually made the loaf come out so well! What I CAN say for certain is that this was a lovely, lovely loaf - rose well, baked well, sliced well, toasted well...

I might be blowing my own trumpet here a wee bit, but... it might just be that I've got my bread baking mojo back!

Recipe for: Fresh yeast white-wholewheat loaf

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups strong white white flour + 1 cup strong wholewheat flour
30gm fresh yeast OR 1 tsp dry instant/quick-rise yeast
1 tsp sugar
1-1/2 tsp salt
200 ml warm (NOT hot) water
50 ml Greek yogurt + 50 ml water
1 tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
a little oil for kneading

Method:

1. Check that the yeast is alive by crumbling it into the warm water along with 1 tsp sugar, and whisking it. Leave it for 15 minutes. If it's starting to bubble, it's alive and can be used successfully. (If you're using instant yeast, skip this step and go straight to step 2, adding the instant yeast to the flour.)

2. Put the flours in a bowl and whisk in the salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast starter along with the yogurt and vinegar. Mix to form a rough dough. Cover and let it be for minutes.

3. Now oil your worktop or kneading board lightly, and scrape the dough onto it. Knead lightly for 10 seconds, then let it rest for 10 minutes. Do the kneading/resting procedure twice more, for a total of three times, oiling the board and/or your hands as required.

4. After the fourth 10-second knead, put the dough back in the bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 45 minutes to an hour, or until it has doubled.

5. Lightly flour the kneading board. Punch down the dough and return it to the kneading board, rolling it gently or patting it into a rough oblong. Now roll it up tightly along the long side, and place it seam-side down on a floured tray. You can also place it in a lightly greased 7" x 5" loaf tin. Either way, flour the top of the loaf, cover it with a clean tea towel and leave it to rise for another hour or so. When the dough looks like it has more or less doubled, or when it is about 2 inches above the rim of the tin, make a 1cm deep cut down the middle with a sharp knife, or three diagonal slashes - whichever way you prefer it.

6. Preheat the oven to 200C/425F. Just before putting the bread in to bake, place a tray of boiling water on the oven floor. The steam will help the crust become a rich colour. Bake the bread for about 35-40 minutes. The bread is done when the top turns golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when it is tapped. Let cool before slicing.

Sour cream loaf

2013-02-16T23:14:00.000Z

I've been on a baking binge over the last 2 weeks - only on the weekends, though, because weekdays are just not long enough for baking bread if you're not demonically organised, which I am not.

Ever since I discovered Dan Lepard's recipes in The Guardian, I've gone through some 300-odd recipes in his column published over the past so many years, and scouted out all the bread recipes that seemed interesting and easy. And printed them. And now I'm trying to bake them all, one by one.

The saffron bloomer got made twice. Then this one, which is really good. There's also a wheat & rye cider loaf, and a loaf made with fresh yeast... but I'm getting ahead of myself. Those recipes will follow in due course.

For this loaf, it was serendipitous that I had half a carton of sour cream in the fridge. It may have been just a teensy bit past its use-by date, but I didn't say that and you didn't read it. Besides, we're both alive, so there was no harm done.

I've never been so pleased with bread I've baked - this loaf could have come from a proper bakery, I kid you not. I SO like Dan Lepard, because he says there's no need to knead like a maniac to get good bread, and believe me, that man speaks true. I'm all for an easier life, and he does make it easier. I may have said that before, but it remains true nevertheless.

Recipe for: Sour cream loaf

Ingredients:

125g (4 oz or 1/2 cup) cold sour cream
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp caster sugar
1 sachet (7g) fast action yeast
550g (1 lb 4 oz) strong white bread flour, plus more for shaping
Oil, for kneading

Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix the sour cream with 150ml cold water and 100ml boiling water.

2. Add the sugar and yeast and whisk it together, then mix in the flour and salt until it forms a rough ball. It will be quite sticky. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to sit for 10 minutes.

3. Lightly oil your working area (worktop or kneading board) and gently knead the dough on it for 10 seconds. Put the dough back in the bowl and let it rest covered for 10 minutes.

4. Repeat the 10-second-kneading/10-minute-resting procedure twice more, oiling the worktop again if required to stop the dough from sticking too much. After that, leave the dough covered in its bowl for an hour or so, until it has doubled in size.

5. Butter the base and sides of a large, deep, 8" (19cm) loaf tin. Line the base with non-stick baking paper.

6. Lightly flour the kneading board now and place the punched-down dough on it. Pat or roll it out into 1 2-cm thick rectangle that's the length of the loaf tin, then roll the dough up towards you as well as you can. Place it seam-side down in the loaf tin, flour the top lightly, cover with a towel and let it rise for 60-90 minutes until it is doubled again.

7. Bake at 200C (180C/350C for fan-assisted or convection ovens) for about 45 minutes till it is golden brown on top and sounds hollow when you tap the loaf on the bottom (you gotta remove it from the baking tin for this, so definitely use oven gloves!).

Let cool before slicing.

Chana dal-vegetable masala rice

2013-02-11T23:10:00.003Z

Chana dal sundal (cooked chana dal stir fried in spiced oil with mustard seeds) is one of my favourite things to eat as a side dish with rice and mor kuzhambu. I like to mix the rice and sundal together (as weird as that may sound), which is why I thought that this recipe would work. There's no mor kuzhambu involved this time, though. Just the rice and chana dal. Oh, and some vegetables.

If you think about it, recipes that combine protein, carbs and vegetables in a tasty package have to be top of the list for those occasions where you don't want to spend ages in the kitchen but also don't want to be tempted to order a takeaway. This recipe takes about 30 minutes from start to finish, especially if you prep and cook the vegetables while the rice is cooking. If you have leftover rice, this recipe is even quicker to make. And it tastes lovely.

A word of warning with regard to the chana dal - because it's easy to cook it to mush, I don't add any extra water while cooking it with the rice. I like my chana dal very slightly undercooked so that it still has a gentle bite. If you prefer it well soft, feel free to add another 1/8 cup of water while cooking the rice & dal.

Recipe for: Chana dal-vegetable masala rice

Ingredients:

1 cup basmati rice
1/4 cup chana dal
1 medium potato, chopped into small cubes
1/4 cup sliced runner beans (or green beans)
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 fat clove garlic, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced thin
1 tbsp oil
3-4 green chillies, sliced (to taste)
1 tsp chana masala/garam masala/curry powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander leaves for garnish
Roasted peanuts, for garnish (optional)

Method:

1. Wash and soak the basmati rice and chana dal together for 15 minutes. Then place in a saucepan along with 2 cups water over high heat. When the water begins to bubble and holes appear in the rice, stir the rice, turn down the heat to the lowest setting, and cover the pan with a lid placed over a clean tea towel (the towel will absorb the steam). Let it be for about 8-10 minutes, then turn off the heat. Let the rice stay undisturbed for 10 minutes so that it can absorb the moisture, then fluff it up.

2. While the rice is cooking, heat the oil in a saute pan until it shimmers, add the cumin seeds and fry them for 10 seconds, then add the green chillies and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds or so. Stir in the onions and cook them till they turn soft.

3. Now add the chopped tomato, potato and runner beans/green beans and stir well. Cover the pan and cook on simmer for 10-15 minutes, till the vegetables are done. Stir in the chana masala/garam masala/curry powder and salt to taste.

4. Finally, add the rice-chana dal and mix it in gently but thoroughly with the vegetable masala. Sprinkle with coriander leaves and peanuts, and serve hot with any raita.

Vegetable-mushroom soup

2013-02-09T18:20:00.002Z

I made a version of this soup last month when I was with my family in Seattle, to go with the herby cheese pull-apart bread that was our first baking challenge set by Aparna Balasubramaniam. The soup is not exactly as I made it the first time, because mixed vegetable soup can be whatever you make of it.

If you're a wannabe Masterchef contestant or judge, or have more money than sense, you can use expensively exotic ingredients - mushrooms that have been grown in soil imported from a remote corner of the Brazilian rain forest and watered with dew gathered in moonlight on a full moon night in June; the rarest blue-spotted heirloom potatoes from Venezuela that have been hand picked by an endangered tribe (gotta support them, don't y'know); cream from milk where the cattle were exclusively hand fed on the finest grass prepared by Cordon Bleu chefs while classical music was played by the London Philharmonic live in their air-conditioned, state-of-the-art barn (the cows' barn, I mean, not the London Philharmonic's. The London Philharmonic wouldn't be allowed to live in the same building as these super-exclusive posh cows!)... you get the idea.

OR, you could just use whatever vegetables you have in your refrigerator that need using up, and standard chestnut or white mushrooms (or whatever you can get), to make this soup. It's a guide more than a recipe, anyway.

That said, though, I bought the mushrooms specifically to make this soup. But because I have more sense than I have money, I bought them from the "reduced for quick sale" section. Yay me!

Recipe for: Vegetable-mushroom soup

Ingredients:

4 small onions, sliced thinly
2 baby leeks (green and white parts), sliced thinly
4 cups mixed mushrooms (I used portobello/cremini, shiitake and oyster), sliced
1 medium potato, chopped (skin on)
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 litre (4-5 cups) vegetable stock/broth
1 tsp dried thyme or Italian herb mix
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sour cream/Greek yogurt or full fat milk (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp parsley for garnish

Method:

1. Heat the oil and butter in a large pan, add the onions and leeks and cook over medium heat till they begin to soften (about 5 minutes), stirring frequently.

2. Add the mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes or till they start to reduce.

3. Add the potatoes and carrots along with the dried herbs and bay leaf. Stir for a couple of minutes.

4. Then add the stock and the fresh thyme sprigs.

Bring this to a boil, cover the pan and let the stock simmer for 10-15 minutes or till the carrots and potatoes are soft and cooked.

5. Fish out the fresh thyme sprigs and bay leaf, then turn off the heat. Let the soup cool, then blend it to a smooth consistency.

If you would like a bit more texture to the soup, blend only about 3/4 of the soup smooth, then add it to the remaining unblended soup in the pan. Add the milk or sour cream/yogurt, if using, and stir it in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reheat on low heat till thoroughly warmed, but do not let it boil. Serve with parsley sprinkled on top, and croutons if you like, and crunchy buttered toast on the side.

Saffron bloomer loaf

2013-02-09T02:58:00.001Z

This recipe is pretty much exactly as detailed by Dan Lepard in The Guardian newspaper. It just seemed like a simple thing to make, and it pretty much was. While I like kneading bread, it's also a nice change to NOT have to knead bread. This bread doesn't need much effort, just 30 seconds of light kneading in total, 10 minutes apart. What's not to like?

The saffron taste and aroma was gentle but there, and the bread was just lovely. The most it takes up is time, and I watched two movies while waiting for the dough to prove. They were "Premonition", starring Sandra Bullock, and "One Small Hitch", starring an actor called Shane McRae. The first was a sort of paranormal suspense move, and the second a light comedy. While I really like Sandra Bullock, the movie itself was pretty much a clunker - I don't like unhappy endings, so that just made it worse. Shane McRae was pretty cute, though. I thought "One Small Hitch" was a good timepass movie.

And now, because this is meant to be a food blog, I will stop here and dream about Shane McRae in private. Do try this lovely bread, though. I'll be making it again for sure.

P.S. It makes fantastic toast! Try it with marmalade and peanut butter (or ok, maybe that's just me).

Recipe for: Saffron bloomer loaf

Ingredients:

A good pinch or two of saffron
150ml boiling water
150ml cold water
1 tsp fast-action yeast
100g ricotta
500g (4 cups) strong white bread flour, plus extra for shaping
50g (1/2 cup) wholemeal flour
2 tsp fine salt
Oil, for kneading

Method:

1. Put the saffron in a large mixing bowl, pour on the boiling water and leave for 10 minutes. Then add the cold water and yeast, stir well to dissolve the yeast, crumble in the ricotta and mix well.

2. Add the flours and salt, mix everything to a smooth dough, then cover and leave for 10 minutes.

3. Now lightly oil a kneading board or your kitchen worktop, and knead the dough lightly for 10 seconds. Return the dough to the bowl, leave for 10 minutes, then repeat this light knead twice more at 10-minute intervals, before leaving the dough, covered, for about an hour.

4. Lightly flour the worktop, pat the dough into a rectangle and roll up very tightly. Place the dough seam-side down on a tray lined with nonstick paper, lightly flour the top, cover with a cloth and leave for an hour until it nearly doubles.

5. Slash the risen dough three or four times with a sharp knife along the top,

and bake at 220C (200C fan-assisted)/425F/gas mark 7) for about 40 minutes.

Tip: Fill a metal dish with boiling water and place on the lowest shelf of the oven, before putting the dough in to bake, to help give the your loaf's crust a golden colour.

Green beans with sesame seeds

2013-01-29T21:55:00.002Z

This is a wonderful recipe for green beans. I made it for Pete with the idea that it would make a nice side dish to go with his prawn stir-fry (that I cooked, but the recipe for that doesn't feature here because this is a vegetarian - well, eggitarian - blog), but in the event, he only got the smallest taste of it, because I scarfed most of it myself.

I may have mentioned in previous posts about my love for tender fresh green beans. For someone who can eat a large bowl of plain boiled green beans, sometimes lightly salted, sometimes tossed with good olive oil and sea salt, or in any number of gorgeous Indian ways... this recipe, with its salty umami sesame seed-y garlicky flavours, was just too good to resist. Pete's not crazy about green beans (they're GREEN, man, they're VEGETABLE-Y!) but he made a pretty good effort at taking them away from me. Too bad for him that nobody - nobody! - gets between me and my green beans. Not even Pete. Try this and see if you don't feel the same way about them.

Recipe for: Green beans with sesame seeds

Ingredients:
1/4 kg (250gm) green beans, topped and tailed
1 tsp peanut/vegetable oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
1 fat clove garlic, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Method:
1. Place the green beans in a saucepan and pour boiling water over to cover, then continue to cook them over high heat for 3-4 minutes till parboiled. Drain the water and reserve the green beans (you can use the cooking water for making soup with, or to make chapati dough).
2. Toast the sesame seeds in a little pan until they puff up and start turning colour. They may pop all over the place while toasting, so if you have a splatter shield, use it. Reserve the toasted seeds.
3. Heat a large pan or wok over medium heat. Pour in the peanut/vegetable oil and add the sliced garlic, cook for about a minute on medium heat, but don't let it brown.
4. Toss in the parboiled green beans and sesame oil. Stir the beans to coat with oil.
5. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add soy sauce and stir frequently on high heat for about 5 minutes.
6. Stir in toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately. This is very good as a side with Chinese-style meals. Or just eat as a snack.

Curried devils (deviled eggs)

2013-01-27T23:45:00.001Z

I recently read a book called "The Secret Supper Club" by Dana Bate, which was about this woman who worked as a research assistant, but whose dream was to become a cook - or chef, I suppose (which is really just a posh word for "cook"). It was a good if light read, just what I'd wanted at that point.

I'm not really going to do a book review, but I had to mention the book because there were a few recipes at the end, of things that she'd made for her secret supper club guests, and the first of them was a recipe for deviled eggs. The rest of the recipes I was not interested in because they were rather too elaborately non-vegetarian. But this one seemed doable, so I did.

I made a couple of minor changes, but mostly this recipe is as the book had it. The filling turned out to be much more lemon-sharp than I'd anticipated, and I think it's because I used perhaps a tablespoon's worth of lemon juice rather than the 1/2 tsp called for. It wasn't really a huge mistake for us, in any case, because Pete and I both love the sourness.

Recipe for: Curried devils (deviled eggs)

Ingredients:
8 large eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp medium or mild curry powder (or use 1/4 tsp garam masala)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
1/4 tsp smoked hot paprika/cayenne pepper
Kosher salt & freshly milled black pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp sweet paprika for garnish

Method:
1. Place the eggs carefully in a large saucepan and fill with cold water to come up to 1" above the eggs.
2. Bring to a bubbling boil, then turn the heat off, cover the pan and leave for exactly 14 minutes.
3. Then drain off the water and fill the pan again with very cold water, to stop the eggs cooking any further. Set aside for 10 minutes, then peel the eggs and slice them in half vertically.
4. Remove the yolks to a small bowl. Mash them smooth with a fork, then add the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, curry powder/garam masala, lemon juice, chives and hot paprika and mix thoroughly. Taste the mixture, adding a bit more of whatever you feel is lacking. Add salt (careful with this as the mayonnaise will already have salt) and pepper to taste and mix one final time.
5. Spoon the egg yolk mixture into a sealable sandwich bag or Ziploc bag (or use a disposable pastry bag) piling the filling as far as possible into one corner. Snip off the corner of the bag with scissors, then pipe the mixture into the egg whites. Sprinkle with a little sweet paprika to garnish, and serve at room temperature or cold.
Note: If you have any mixture left over (and going by my experience, you will), use it in a sandwich, or as a spread on toast. You can store the unused mixture in a sealed container in the refrigerator for a day.

Tomato-garlic pull-apart bread with dukkah

2013-01-20T19:04:00.000Z

I just wanted to try the pull-apart recipe again, to see if I could manage the miraculous "second rising" of the bread dough. I started this before I checked to see if I had any cheese - and sure enough, when I did get around to checking the fridge, there was no cheese - no, not even a bog-standard Cheddar *sigh*. I couldn't go out to get cheese because of all the snow (it's been snowing all day) and because I didn't want to venture out into the freezing cold.

This should have been a CHEESY bread... ideally I was hoping to use feta, as a Mediterranean cheese to go with the somewhat Mediterraneanish Dukkah (Sainsbury's finest version, I'll have you know).

(Ok, yeah, I know Dukkah is Egyptian, but it's kinda sorta close to Mediterranean cuisine, no? Work with me here, people... I suppose you could say that Dukkah and feta are about as compatible as Dukkah and cheddar - but that's for YOU to say. I say different.)

Anyway... I halved the quantity of ingredients in the original recipe because I'm back home and there are fewer than half the people that were there when I made my first attempt in Seattle earlier this month. I'm glad to say that, on the plus side, the second rising in my second attempt was successful. Unfortunately, while I turned the former negative into a present positive, a couple of other negatives arose in the present version - one being, as mentioned earlier, a lack of cheese; the second being that the tomato flavour was at best only mild. I guess 1 tbsp of concentrated tomato paste was not enough even though the ingredients were halved. Next time I'd probably double the amount of paste and use finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil too.

Oh well, live and learn.

The bread, by the way, was good, but it would have been better with cheese (a friend of mine at work insists that most things are better with cheese).

Recipe for: Tomato-garlic pull-apart bread with dukkah

Ingredients:
For the Dough
1/4 cup warm milk
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp active dry yeast
1.5 cups bread flour (+ a couple of tbsp more for dusting if necessary)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter, soft at room temperature
1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
2 fat cloves garlic, grated (use only 1 clove or 1/2 tsp garlic paste if you want a milder flavour)1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp milk for brushing
For the Filling
1 tbsp melted butter
2 tsp Dukkah (I pounded it with a mortar and pestle to make it more uniformly sized)

Method:
1. In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar and the yeast in the 1/4 cup of warm milk. Keep aside for about 5 minutes till the yeast mixture bubbles up.

2. Put 1.5 cup of flour, salt, softened butter, and grated garlic in a large bowl and mix. Then add the yeast mixture and most of the 1/3 cup of milk and mix together. If there is more than a tbsp of flour that keeps dropping off from the dough (i.e, it isn't coming together) and the dough itself seems dry, add the remainder of the milk and knead it in.

Transfer the dough to a non-stick mat (lightly flour your kneading area if it is not non-stick) and knead away till you have a soft, smooth and elastic/ pliable dough which is not sticky (about 10 minutes of energetic kneading). Add a little extra flour if your dough is sticking, but only just as much as is necessary.

3. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning the dough to coat it completely with oil. Cover and let it rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until almost doubled in volume.

4. Dust your work surface lightly with flour. Deflate the dough, shape it into a square and roll the dough out into a square that is about 8" by 8". Brush the surface of the square with the melted butter.

5. Evenly sprinkle the Dukkah mix. Use a rolling pin to very lightly press the topping into the dough to ensure the topping doesn’t fall off when you are stacking the strips.

6. Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough from top to bottom into 4 long and even strips – they do not have to be perfect. Lay each strip on top of the next, with the topping facing upwards, until you have a stack of the strips. You can put the 2 strips cut from the sides in the middle of the stack so it looks neater. Using a pastry scraper or a sharp knife, cut straight down through the stack dividing it into 3 or 4 equal pieces.

7. Grease and lightly flour a small loaf tin that will fit the pieces comfortably (or any other baking container you like). Layer the slices, cut sides down into the loaf tin. Cover the loaf tin dough with a towel and allow the dough to rise for an hour. Lightly brush some milk over the top of the loaf.

8. Bake the dough at 180C (350F) for about 25-30 minutes (but check from 25 minutes, as every oven differs in its performance) until it is done and the top is golden brown, and the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

9. Serve hot with soup.

Herby cheese pull-apart bread - Bread #1, January 2013

2013-01-19T00:39:00.007Z

This is the first challenge of the monthly baking event started by Aparna Balasubramaniam of My Diverse Kitchen - she of the gorgeous photos and amazing baking ability in particular and lovely recipes in general. When I signed up to join the group, I happened to be in the States, visiting my family in Seattle. It was the perfect opportunity to try the recipe for pull-apart bread, especially as I'd kinda sorta earmarked it for making (at some unspecified point) when I'd seen the original photo on the Huffington Post's selection of photos of pull-apart breads.

The other point was, of course, that there were lots of people at home who would help demolish the bread... whereas at home in Shrewsbury, there's usually just me and Pete. It's difficult to invite people over when you can't be sure that you can provide something edible - I'm a million miles from being the world's best baker, that's the problem.

Happily, family don't fall into the worrisome category, so I was quite pleased to make them my guinea pigs as far as this bread was concerned. As it happened, the dough didn't rise as much as it should have, or as evenly. And since the oven was unfamiliar to me, I didn't really know anything thing about its particular quirks - its hot spots, or cold spots, etc.

But - and this is important - the bread turned out beautifully golden and really tasty with the mushroom-vegetable soup that I'd made.

The aroma as it was baking nearly drove us mad, and there was nothing to do but tear into it the moment it came out of the oven! Granted, the texture of the bread was a bit dense, but I don't think anybody cared.

I changed the original recipe just a tad - I used Pepperjack cheese on request from my sister, instead of cheddar, and I used an Italian herb mix, because that's what I had. I hope to make this bread again, with slightly different toppings. If I do, I'll definitely post it here. But for now, here's my tear-and-share bread.

Recipe for: Herby cheese pull-apart bread

Ingredients:
For the Dough
1/2 cup warm milk
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp active dry yeast
2-3/4 - 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
25gm butter, soft at room temperature
3/4 to 1 tsp garlic paste
3/4 cup milk (+ a couple of tbsp to brush over the bread)
For the Filling:
15 to 20gm melted butter
2 tsp dried Italian-style herb mix
1 tsp crushed cumin seeds
1/2 cup grated Pepperjack cheese

Method:
1. In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar and the yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm milk. Keep aside for about 5 minutes till the yeast mixture bubbles up.

2. Put 2 3/4 cup of flour, salt, softened butter, and garlic paste in a large bowl and mix. Then add the yeast mixture and the 3/4 cup of milk and knead till you have a soft, smooth and elastic/ pliable dough which is not sticky. Add a little extra flour if your dough is sticking, but only just as much as is necessary.

3. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning the dough to coat it completely with oil. Cover and let it rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until almost doubled in volume.

4. Dust your work surface lightly with flour. Deflate the dough, shape it into a square and roll the dough out into a larger square that is about 12’ by 12”. Brush the surface of the square with the melted butter.

5. Evenly sprinkle the herbs and the cumin seeds and then the grated cheese. Use a rolling pin to very lightly press the topping into the dough to ensure the topping doesn’t fall off when you are stacking the strips.

6. Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough from top to bottom into 6 long and even strips – they do not have to be perfect. Lay each strip on top of the next, with the topping facing upwards, until you have a stack of the strips. You can put the 2 strips cut from the sides in the middle of the stack so it looks neater. Using a pastry scraper or a sharp knife, cut straight down through the stack dividing it into 6 equal pieces (6 square stacks).

7. Grease and lightly flour a 9” by 4” (or 5”) loaf tin. Layer the square slices, cut sides down into the loaf tin. Cover the loaf tin dough with a towel and allow the dough to rise for an hour. Lightly brush some milk over the top of the loaf.

8. Bake the dough at 180C (350F) for about 30 to 40 minutes until it is done and the top is golden brown.

This recipe bakes one 9” by 5” loaf.

9. Serve hot with any soup.

Fresh fruit rava kesari

2012-11-13T19:39:00.004Z

I don't make sweets often, but once in a while something like Cilantro's fruit kesari catches my fancy, and then it's like a craving - so here's my craving, which I made yesterday. It's just a coincidence that it's Deepavali and the kesari is appropriate as an offering. It's even more convenient that I could use up some over-soft soft fruit that I might have thrown away if not for the craving.

Now if only someone would make me thenkuzhal and thattai...

Ah well. Happy Deepavali to everybody, and may light and happiness be ever in your lives.

Recipe for: Fresh fruit rava kesari

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rava/sooji/semolina
1-1/2 cups water
1/8 tsp saffron threads (a pinch) left to soak in 1/4 cup warm milk for 15 minutes
10-12 seedless red grapes, halved or quartered
1 small orange, peeled and segments chopped
1 small ripe banana, chopped
1 small ripe plum, stoned and chopped
1 tbsp raisins or sultanas (optional)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
5 tsp ghee
2 tbsp nuts (I used walnuts and pecans)

Method:

1. Heat 2 tsp ghee in a heavy-based medium size pan and fry the rava/sooji/semolina on medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes till the rava turns a slightly darker shade and smells roasted. Be careful that it doesn't burn. Remove to a bowl till required.

2. In the same pan, heat another tsp ghee and fry the nuts on medium heat, stirring till they are fragrant and turn a darker shade. Remove the nuts from the pan and reserve.

3. Heat the fourth tsp of ghee in the same pan, and add all the fruits, letting them cook on medium-low heat till they are soft and squishy, about 5 minutes.

4. Now add the water and sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat a little and let it simmer for 5 minutes, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely.

5. Add the roasted rava/sooji/semolina now, stirring all the while to mix evenly. Let this cook until the kesari begins to thicken, then add the saffron milk and stir it in. Keep stirring frequently to ensure that it does not burn or become lumpy.

6. When the kesari is no longer watery and has "come together" in a soft mass, stir in the fried nuts along with the remaining tsp ghee. Serve the kesari warm in small bowls.

Tip: You can also spread the kesari on a greased plate and let it cool, then cut it into squares or diamonds for a more elegant (and convenient) presentation.

Biting off more than I can chew?

2012-10-09T18:17:00.002+01:00

There's a sad, sad pun in the title, which you'll probably realise in a moment when I tell you my latest project - a new food blog, on Wordpress rather than Blogger (in a bid to try something different) and featuring only non-vegetarian recipes. Here, my friends, is where it is: Non-Veg Food, In The Main

Ok, I'm TOTALLY thinking what you're thinking, and I know exactly what you're thinking - what on earth is this woman doing starting yet another blog when she's been neglecting the ones she DOES have? I know, I know. I'm probably all kinds of a fool for doing this, but... who knows, it might kick-start my mojo and make me a food blogger again instead of a food-blog lurker.

And yes, since I'm pretty much a rank beginner in the non-vegetarian cooking arena, my skills are very basic, and so is my knowledge. The recipes that will feature in my new blog will be mainly for the beginner cook, but I hope to improve my culinary skills as we go along. The trick will be in cooking without tasting, because after all, I'm vegetarian! Fingers crossed for luck!

And another one went by unnoticed...

2012-09-15T09:39:00.000+01:00

Another one what, you ask? Do you even have to ask? Another anniversary, that's what. ~~I completed~~ My BLOG completed 8 years on May 17 2012, and nobody, including me, remembered. You'd think my blog - shy, retiring and unassuming like me though it is - would have drawn my attention to its 8th birthday in some shy, retiring, unassuming way... but no. Apparently, my blog - with ~~whom~~ which I have conversations while typing up recipes and posts - is not a real entity.

Who knew? The world in my head seems as real as the world outside my head. Not that anyone can say for sure how real that is... I mean, for all you know, we could just be the dreamworld of some unknown super-being who didn't even have to create the world as we know it, merely dream about our world as we think we know it. I know. It boggles my mind too.

And with that sufficiently mysterious, pseudo-philosophical and pseudo-theological remark, let me drink drink a metaphorical flute of champagne to mark the (till now unmarked) passing of yet another year for my food blog. Here's to Year 9, and may it see more than just imaginary conversations! Cheers! *metaphorical hiccup*

Spinach-onion-cabbage chutney

2012-08-24T22:17:00.001+01:00

This gorgeous emerald coloured chutney is many kinds of pretty - pretty beautiful, pretty tasty, pretty versatile, pretty healthy, pretty easy to make...

So go and make it. Pretty please.

Recipe for: Spinach-onion-cabbage chutney

Ingredients:
1 cup spinach leaves
1/2 cup cabbage, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
A good handful of chives
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp urad dal
1 tsp tamarind paste or a gooseberry sized piece of tamarind
5-6 dried red chillies (or to taste)
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder (optional)
2 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 fresh or frozen curry leaves
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat the oil and when it shimmers, add the mustard seeds and cover the pan till they finish popping.
2. Now add the urad dal, red chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida powder. Stir-fry till the urad dal turns a pale golden brown and the red chillies are a shiny darker shade.
3. Add the garlic, chives and onion and stir-fry till the onions start to soften and turn translucent.

4. Add the cabbage and fry it till it wilts,

then the spinach until it wilts too.

Let this mixture cool.

5. Pick out the red chillies and grind them to a smooth paste with the tamarind and a couple of spoonfuls of the vegetable mixture.
6. Now add the rest of the cabbage-onion-spinach mix

and grind it to a fairly smooth consistency - but not to a puree. It should be a little bit coarse.
7. Remove the chutney to a bowl, add salt to taste and mix well. This can be mixed with rice or eaten as a side dish/dip with chapaties, dosas, idlis etc.

RECIPE: SPINACH-ONION-CABBAGE CHUTNEY
Ingredients:
1 cup spinach leaves
1/2 cup cabbage, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
A good handful of chives
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp urad dal
1 tsp tamarind paste or a gooseberry sized piece of tamarind
5-6 dried red chillies (or to taste)
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder (optional)
2 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 fresh or frozen curry leaves
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat the oil and when it shimmers, add the mustard seeds and cover the pan till they finish popping.
2. Now add the urad dal, red chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida powder. Stir-fry till the urad dal turns a pale golden brown and the red chillies are a shiny darker shade.
3. Add the garlic, chive and onion and stir-fry till the onions start to soften and turn translucent.
4. Add the cabbage and fry it till it wilts, then the spinach until it wilts too. Let this mixture cool.
5. Pick out the red chillies and grind them to a smooth paste with the tamarind and a couple of spoonfuls of the vegetable mixture..
6. Now add the rest of the cabbage-onion-spinach mix and grind it to a fairly smooth consistency - but not to a puree. It should be a little bit coarse.
7. Remove the chutney to a bowl, add salt to taste and mix well. This can be mixed with rice or eaten as a side dish/dip with chapaties, dosas, idlis etc.

Radish thogayal (chutney)

2012-08-06T23:02:00.001+01:00

You know, it's really nice not to be the proverbial frog in the well, and it's all the hundreds of food blogs that I have to thank for introducing me to the enticing, amazing world of home-style food recipes... and showing me the thousands of possibilities with everyday vegetables and fruit that would never have occurred to me otherwise.

Take thogayal, for instance - I knew three kinds: Coconut-only, coconut-with-cabbage, and coconut-with-pumpkin-or-chayote squash. I didn't even imagine that thogayal could be made with carrots, beets, bell peppers, spinach, etc... and as for making it without coconut - wow! The first time I made thogayal with just cabbage was such a revelation! All the taste of the dish I loved without loading it up with coconut - I can't tell you how much I loved it.

In that spirit, I decided to make thogayal with a bunch of red radishes with their greens because I didn't feel like eating them raw (they were pretty pungent!).

I was actually a bit worried that the thogayal would be smelly... but as it turned out, you would not have known that it was made with radishes, because the typical smell of the radishes was totally gone. I'm absolutely certain that even radish haters would love this chutney. You could probably even try it with the more typically Indian white radish or mooli - I'm going to do so if and when I get my hands on some. But until then, red radish thogayal will fill its place perfectly.

Recipe for: Radish thogayal/chutney

Ingredients:
10-12 small red radishes or 1 medium white mooli/radish, chopped

1 cup radish greens (or use spinach) (optional)

2 medium onions, chopped
5-6 dried red chillies (or to taste)
2 tbsp tur/toor/tuvar dal
3 tbsp urad dal

1 tbsp tamarind paste
a few fresh/frozen curry leaves
3 tsp oil
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (optional)
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add the asafoetida powder and let it sizzle, then add the chopped onions and radish.

Stir-fry over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until the radish is nearly cooked and the onions are turning soft (6-7 minutes).

Add the chopped greens and cook till they wilt. Remove from the heat and let cool.

2. In another small pan, heat the remaining oil and add the red chillies, urad dal, toor dal and curry leaves.

Fry, stirring, till the dals are golden brown and the red chillies turn a shade darker. Remove from the heat.
3. When all of it is completely cool, transfer to a mixie/grinder, add the tamarind paste and grind it to a fairly smooth mix.

4. Add salt to taste and mix it in. Serve as a side dish with rice, chapaties, bread or as a dip with snacks.

RECIPE: RADISH THOGAYAL/CHUTNEY
Ingredients:
10-12 small red radishes or 1 medium white mooli/radish, chopped
1 cup radish greens (or use spinach) (optional)
2 medium onions, chopped
5-6 dried red chillies (or to taste)
2 tbsp tur/toor/tuvar dal
3 tbsp urad dal
1 tbsp tamarind paste
a few fresh/frozen curry leaves
3 tsp oil
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (optional)
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add the asafoetida powder and let it sizzle, then add the chopped onions and radish. Stir-fry over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until the radish is nearly cooked and the onions are turning soft (6-7 minutes). Add the chopped greens and cook till they wilt. Remove from the heat and let cool.
2. In another small pan, heat the remaining oil and add the red chillies, urad dal, toor dal and curry leaves. Fry, stirring, till the dals are golden brown and the red chillies turn a shade darker. Remove from the heat.
3. When all of it is completely cool, transfer to a mixie/grinder, add the tamarind paste and grind it to a fairly smooth mix.
4. Add salt to taste and mix it in. Serve as a side dish with rice, chapaties, bread or even as a dip with snacks.

Courgette/zucchini handvoh

2012-08-06T14:30:00.000+01:00

Well, here I am after an unscheduled break from my food blog. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to, bla bla bla, it’s just that I’ve not had much free time, hey nonny no, and what little free time I’ve had in the evenings I’ve spent reading, yada yada yada. So, in short – same ol’ same ol’.

I’ve made handvoh before, years and years and YEARS back when I was living in Madras. It was probably one of the first “exotic” recipes that I tried from a recipe printed in *ugh* Women’s Era *cringe*. However, as much as I hate the thought of that awful magazine now, I remember the recipe worked beautifully - the batter behaved itself faultlessly, fermenting in the heat as stated in the recipe, and then steam-cooking in the ilupachatti (kadai/wok) that I used. It was all the more thrilling because the handvoh tasted great and it was not something that had ever been made by my mother, to my recollection. It wasn’t a family staple, let’s say. Just think - I'd actually made something entirely new to me from a magazine recipe - and it turned out well!

That said, this recipe, that I cobbled together after reading a few others on the Internet did not seem at all familiar or bring to mind my original handvoh experience. The only common factor was that this tasted great, too. Can’t complain about that, can you?

Recipe for: Courgette/zucchini handvoh
Ingredients:
1 cup long grain rice

1/4 cup chana dal
1/4 cup tur/toor/tuvar dal
1/4 cup urad dal

1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp ginger-garlic-green chilli paste - (1.5" piece ginger + 4-5 garlic cloves + 6-8 green chillies (reduce chillies as per taste))
1.5 packed cups grated courgette/zucchini
salt to taste
1/2 tsp ajwain/omam
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp sesame seeds

3 tbsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
a few curry leaves

Method:
1. Wash the rice and dals and soak them in water for 6 hours.

Then drain and grind along with the yogurt to a paste - it should be fairly coarse, not smooth.

Try to add as little water as possible while grinding.

2. Put the batter in a medium bowl and add the ginger-garlic-green chilli, grated courgette/zucchini

salt, sugar, ajwain/omam and turmeric.

Mix well.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil and fry the curry leaves for 15-20 seconds, then add the red chilli powder and turn the heat off. Pour this mixture into the batter and mix again.

Let the batter rest covered at room temperature overnight, or for 7-8 hours.
5. Cover and let this batter rest for 6-7 hours or overnight (no need to refrigerate).

6. In the morning (or after 6-7 hours), add the baking powder and baking soda and mix thoroughly.

7. Line an 8" cake pan (round or square, doesnt matter) with non-stick paper/foil and spoon the batter into the pan.

8. Sprinkle the sesame seeds evenly on top of the batter.
9. Heat the remaining oil in a small skillet and add the mustard seeds. Cover and let the seeds pop (about 30 seconds), then add the asafoetida powder and turn the heat off.
10. Drizzle this seasoning over the sesame seeds on top of the batter.

11. Cover the pan with aluminium foil and bake at 180C/350F for 40 minutes or so, or till a cake tester comes out clean. (Remember that the size of the pan you use will determine the amount of time that the handvoh takes to cook.)
12. Uncover the pan and broil the handvoh until the top turns golden brown.

Let it rest in the pan for 10 minutes before cutting.

Serve warm with any chutney or even tomato ketchup.

RECIPE: COURGETTE/ZUCCHINI HANDVOH
Ingredients:
1 cup long grain rice
1/4 cup chana dal
1/4 cup tur/toor/tuvar dal
1/4 cup urad dal
1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp ginger-garlic-green chilli paste - (1.5" piece ginger + 4-5 garlic cloves + 6-8 green chillies (reduce chillies as per taste))
1.5 packed cups grated courgette/zucchini
salt to taste
1/2 tsp ajwain/omam
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3 tbsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
a few curry leaves

Method:
1. Wash the rice and dals and soak them in water for 6 hours. Then drain and grind along with the yogurt to a paste - it should be fairly coarse, not smooth.Try to add as little water as possible while grinding.
2. Put the batter in a medium bowl and add the ginger-garlic-green chilli, grated courgette/zucchini, salt, sugar, ajwani/omam and turmeric. Mix well.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil and fry the curry leaves for 15-20 seconds, then add the red chilli powder and turn the heat off. Pour this mixture into the batter and mix again. Let the batter rest covered at room temperature overnight, or for 7-8 hours.
5. Cover and let this batter rest for 6-7 hours or overnight (no need to refrigerate).
6. In the morning (or after 6-7 hours), add the baking powder and baking soda and mix thoroughly.
7. Line an 8" cake pan (round or square, doesnt matter) with non-stick paper/foil and spoon the batter into the pan.
8. Sprinkle the sesame seeds evenly on top of the batter.
9. Heat the remaining oil in a small skillet and add the mustard seeds. Cover and let the seeds pop (about 30 seconds), then add the asafoetida powder and turn the heat off.
10. Drizzle this seasoning over the sesame seeds on top of the batter.
11. Cover the pan with aluminium foil and bake at 180C/350F for 40 minutes or so, or till a cake tester comes out clean. (Remember that the size of the pan you use will determine the amount of time that the handvoh takes to cook.)
12. Uncover the pan and broil the handvoh until the top turns golden brown. Let it rest in the pan for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve warm with any chutney or even tomato ketchup.

Chana (chickpeas) bhuna

2012-06-19T14:03:00.001+01:00

I think I may have found the most PERFECT masala recipe I've ever tried, and all thanks to Sangeeta of Banaras ka Khana blog. Her blog is one of my favourites, because she has North Indian recipes which are not so well known (at least to me) as the usual things you get endlessly everywhere. I like reading about typical everyday recipes which are still not common outside of individual homes, and Sangeeta's blog is the perfect place to find these.

I tried this masala with cooked chickpeas because I had some, and loved the result so much that I've made it (with different dals) four times in the last 10 days... although not (yet) with the original split chickpeas (or chana dal) that Sangeetha used. I've tried it both as a thick sauce and as a runnier one, and it makes not a whit of difference - other than the clingy sauce is better with whole chickpeas.

I reduced the peppercorns to 1/2 tsp because I can't take the heat from them (but chilli-heat is more than bearable, go figure), but otherwise the recipe is no different - well, apart from having used chickpeas, that is. Do try it - it's pretty quick to make, too, especially if you use canned chickpeas.

Recipe for: Chana bhuna

Ingredients:3-4 cups cooked chickpeas (or two cans' worth)
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp ghee or oil (I used oil)
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste

For grinding:

1/2" piece cinnamon stick
1 small black cardamom (seeds only)
1 htsp coriander seeds
1 htsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
4-5 dried red chillies (or to taste)
3 garlic cloves
1" ginger root
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp amchoor (dried raw mango) powder - optional
3-4 tbsp water

Method:1. Grind all the ingredients for the masala into a smooth, fairly thick paste. Use only as much water as required to make it smooth.

2. Heat the oil/ghee in a pan, then add the cumin seeds.

3. Once the seeds sizzle, add the chopped onion and stir.

Let it cook on low heat for 15 minutes or so, till it becomes soft and pinkish.
4. Now add the ground masala paste to the cooked onion

and stir it in.

5. Fry it (bhuno) on low heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, till the paste is well amalgamated, thick and intensely aromatic. Any excess water should have evaporated.

6. Now add the chickpeas along with salt to taste

and stir till it is all well mixed.

7. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes more (longer if it is watery), then take it off the heat.

Serve hot with chapaties or puris.
Note: The curry tastes best when the masala coats the chickpeas thickly, so make sure the masala is not runny.

RECIPE: CHANA BHUNA
Ingredients:
3-4 cups cooked chickpeas (or two cans' worth)
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp ghee or oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste
For grinding:
1/2" piece cinnamon stick
1 small black cardamom (seeds only)
1 htsp coriander seeds
1 htsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
4-5 dried red chillies (or to taste)
3 garlic cloves
1" ginger root
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp amchoor (dried raw mango) powder - optional
3-4 tbsp water
Method:
1. Grind all the ingredients for the masala into a smooth, fairly thick paste. Use only as much water as required to make it smooth.
2. Heat the oil in a pan, then add the cumin seeds.
3. Once the seeds sizzle, add the chopped onion and stir. Let it cook on low heat for 15 minutes or so, till it becomes soft and pinkish.
4. Now add the ground masala paste to the cooked onion and stir it in.
5. Fry it (bhuno) on low heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, till the paste is well amalgamated, thick and intensely aromatic. Any excess water should have evaporated.
6. Now add the chickpeas along with salt to taste and stir till it is all well mixed.
7. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes more, then take it off the heat. Serve hot with chapaties or puris.
Note: The curry tastes best when the masala coats the chickpeas thickly, so make sure the masala is not runny.

Cauliflower cheese

2012-05-21T16:20:00.000+01:00

While I could probably eat my weight in green cabbage and would do so willingly, cauliflower isn't as welcome on my plate. While there are a couple of ways of making cauliflower that can be snuck past my fussy tastebuds (think oven-roasted cauliflower or cauliflower usili), there is literally only one way that Pete can be persuaded to eat this vegetable - and that is if it's hidden under a layer of cheese and white sauce. Yesterday turned out to be the day that I made this for my husband for the first time, because there was just too much cauliflower for one person to finish off especially when that person is not particularly fond of this smelly vegetable (but ask her to eat potatoes and see what happens - just stay a safe distance away while you watch!).
Oh, do you remember me saying that mustard just loves cheese? I proved it for the umptieth time with this recipe.
Recipe for: Cauliflower cheese

Ingredients:
1/2 small cauliflower, separated into more or less evenly sized florets
1/2 cup + 2 cups milk + more as required
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp wholegrain prepared mustard
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste

Method:
1. Cook the cauliflower with 1/2 cup milk and enough water to cover the florets, until done but not overcooked. (It is cooked when a skewer goes through the thickest part of the floret without too much resistance.

Drain and place in an oven-safe casserole dish.
2. Heat a heavy-based saucepan and put the flour and butter in.

Cook it on medium heat, stirring continuously until the butter and flour are well incorporated and the flour smells good (3-4 minutes).

3. Stir in the mustard,

then add the remaining 2 cups milk all at once and whisk the mixture well so that there are no lumps.

Add the cheese and stir till it melts in.

5. Cook the sauce till it thickens and becomes glossy (about 5 minutes on medium-low heat), stirring it to stop it catching on the bottom.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over the cooked florets.

You can sprinkle on some more cheese now if you like.

7. Cook it at 180C/350F for 15-20 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the top is golden brown.

Let the cauliflower cheese rest for 2-3 minutes before serving it up.

RECIPE: CAULIFLOWER CHEESE
Ingredients:
1/2 small cauliflower, separated into more or less evenly sized florets
1/2 cup + 2 cups milk + more as required
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste

Method:
1. Cook the cauliflower with 1/2 cup milk and enough water to cover the florets, until done but not overcooked. The cauliflower is cooked when a skewer goes through the thickest part of the floret without too much resistance. Drain and place in an oven-safe casserole dish.
2. Heat a heavy-based saucepan and put the flour and butter in. Cook it on medium heat, stirring continuously until the butter and flour are well incorporated and the flour smells good (3-4 minutes).
3. Stir in the mustard, then add the remaining 2 cups milk all at once and whisk the mixture well so that there are no lumps. Add the cheese and stir till it melts in.
5. Cook the sauce till it thickens and becomes glossy (about 5 minutes on medium-low heat), stirring it to stop it catching on the bottom.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce over the cooked florets. You can sprinkle on some more cheese now if you like.
7. Cook it at 180C/350F for 15-20 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the top is golden brown. Let the cauliflower cheese rest for 2-3 minutes before serving it up.

Spinach black-sesame masala rice

2012-05-20T13:47:00.000+01:00

I'm sure that there are dozens of recipes for green rice Indian-style on the blogosphere, and dozens more if you were to look for "spinach rice" or "spinach pulao" or "spinach masala rice" or for any such combination that you care to come up with... but, like Frank Sinatra (much) before me, I didn't do it in any of those other dozens of ways - instead, I did it "Myyyyyy Waaaaaaayyy". Just be glad that I cooked it Myyyyyy Waaaaaaayyy, instead of singing it - I don't think that my singing would be particularly appreciated, whereas chances of my recipe being appreciated are quite good... or so I like to think. But, more importantly - what do YOU think?
Recipe for: Spinach black-sesame masala rice

Ingredients:
4-5 cups basmati rice, pre-cooked al dente
1 cup shredded green cabbage (I used savoy)
1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 tbsp chopped mint
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, crushed or left whole
1 tsp ghee
10-15 cashewnuts, broken, for garnish
a pinch of soda bicarb
Salt to taste
For the wet masala
1 cup chopped spinach, loosely packed
1 cup chopped coriander leaves, loosely packed
4-5 green chillies (or as per taste)

1" piece ginger
For the dry masala
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
1 tbsp tur dal
2-3 dry red chillies (optional)

Method:
1. Grind all the ingredients for the wet masala to a smooth paste and set aside till required.

Do not add any extra water while grinding.
2. Dry-roast the dry masala ingredients in a small pan over medium heat,

stirring frequently, till they are aromatic and the dal is golden brown. Do not let them burn. When cool, grind them to a powder (doesn't have to be very smooth) and reserve.

3. Heat the ghee in a big kadai or wok and fry the cashew nuts till they are a pale golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside till required.
4. In the same pan, heat the 1 tbsp oil. Add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and let them sizzle for 10 seconds, then add the sliced onion.
5. Fry 2-3 till they begin to soften, then add the cabbage.

Stir well, then cover the pan tightly and let the cabbage cook till nearly done, about 7 minutes.

6. Now add the ground spinach masala with a pinch of soda bicarb and fry it for about 5-6 minutes, stirring,

until it loses most of the excess moisture and doesn't smell raw any more.

7. Add the cooked rice now, along with salt to taste,

and mix it in carefully with the masala, without mushing up the grains,

then stir in the dry masala powder.
8. Sprinkle the chopped mint and fried cashewnuts over the rice,

and serve hot along with fried papad/appalam or potato crisps, and onion raita.

RECIPE: SPINACH BLACK-SESAME MASALA RICE
Ingredients:
4-5 cups basmati rice, pre-cooked al dente
1 cup shredded green cabbage (I used savoy)
1 large onion, sliced thinly
2 tbsp chopped mint
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, crushed or left whole
1 tsp ghee
10-15 cashewnuts, broken, for garnish
a pinch of soda bicarb
Salt to taste
For the wet masala
1 cup chopped spinach, loosely packed
1 cup chopped coriander leaves, loosely packed
4-5 green chillies (or as per taste)
1" piece ginger
For the dry masala
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
1 tbsp tur dal
2-3 dry red chillies (optional)
Method
1. Grind all the ingredients for the wet masala to a smooth paste and set aside till required. Do not add any extra water while grinding.
2. Dry-roast the dry masala ingredients in a small pan over medium heat, stirring frequently, till they are aromatic and the dal is golden brown. Do not let them burn. When cool, grind them to a
powder (doesn't have to be very smooth) and reserve.
3. Heat the ghee in a big kadai or wok and fry the cashew nuts till they are a pale golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside till required.
4. In the same pan, heat the 1 tbsp oil. Add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and let them sizzle for 10 seconds, then add the sliced onion.
5. Fry 2-3 till they begin to soften, then add the cabbage. Stir well, then cover the pan tightly and let the cabbage cook till nearly done, about 7 minutes.
6. Now add the ground spinach masala with a pinch of soda bicarb and fry it for about 5-6 minutes, stirring, until it loses most of the excess moisture and doesn't smell raw any more.
7. Add the cooked rice now, along with salt to taste, and mix it in carefully with the masala without mushing up the grains, then stir in the dry masala powder.
8. Sprinkle the chopped mint and fried cashewnuts over the rice, and serve hot along with fried papad/appalam or potato crisps, and onion raita.

Baked jalapeno poppers

2012-05-12T17:53:00.000+01:00

The first time I ate these little things was at a work party in Singapore and they were the frozen store-bought type - but they were so delicious that I made a pig out of myself over them. I don't remember eating anything else that evening, actually. It could have just been the relief of finding something to eat that was vegetarian (our office parties had plenty of delicious looking things to eat, 98% of them barred to me), but that was not the real reason I monopolised the poppers - the real reason was a sort of disbelieving greed that something could be so darn good. I didn't imagine that replicating them at home was possible, so I didn't bother. I didn't even know what they were called, other than the generic "stuffed pepper".

Eventually, though, years later and thanks to the Internet and food websites, I discovered that the peppers were called jalapenos, and that the stuffed ones had a name - poppers. Going by my own experience, I imagined that was because you couldn't stop popping them into your mouth. Pop pop pop...

Anyway, if I was making these just for myself, I would not have bothered to remove the innards from the jalapenos. But as there were other less chilli-tolerant people who would be trying out the poppers, I removed every last vestige of seeds and pith that I could manage. So, stuffed with cheese as they were, the poppers didnt quite give me that hit of heat I would've ideally liked. That said, they were still quite, quite delicious. One of the few things, in my opinion, that are just as gorgeous baked as deep-fried.

Don't get me wrong, just because they are baked doesn't mean these jalapenos are low in fat or can be classified as health food (oh how I wish...!) - far from it. But they're that much less fattier than deep-fried, that's all. They're best had fresh and warm - I don't think I would recommend eating them oven-hot, because the cheese would probably strip the lining from your cheeks. Eat them warm, though, and tell me these poppers aren't the scrummiest thing you've ever tasted...

Recipe for: Baked jalapeno poppers

Ingredients:
10 jalapenos, all of a size
1/3 cup garlic-herb cream cheese
1/3 cup Boursin cheese
1/3 cup grated mature Cheddar cheese

2 tsp milk
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 egg + 1 egg white
Breadcrumbs as required (1 generous cup)
Water

Method:
1. Halve the jalapenos lengthwise and carefully remove the seeds and pith without cutting through the flesh.

2. Mix the flour, pepper and garlic powder in a shallow, wide bowl.

3. Put the cream cheese, Boursin and cheddar in a bowl and mix together well.

Dribble in the milk and blend again.

4. Whisk the egg and egg white till well blended but not foamy.

5. Fill the jalapeno halves with the cream cheese mixture.

6. Put some plain water in a shallow bowl. Dip each filled jalapeno first in the water, then in the flour so that both sides are well covered,

then in the beaten egg,

and finally in the breadcrumbs.

Place on a non-stick foil-covered baking tray.

7. Heat the oven to 180C/350F and bake the jalapenos for about 30-40 minutes - it took 30 minutes in my fan-assisted oven.

8. Serve warm or at room temperature.

RECIPE: BAKED JALAPENO POPPERS
Ingredients:
10 jalapenos, all of a size

1/3 cup garlic-herb cream cheese

1/3 cup Boursin cheese

1/3 cup grated mature Cheddar cheese

2 tsp milk

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 egg + 1 egg white

Breadcrumbs as required (1 generous cup)

Water

Method:

1. Halve the jalapenos lengthwise and carefully remove the seeds and pith without cutting through the flesh.

2. Mix the flour, pepper and garlic powder in a shallow, wide bowl.

3. Put the cream cheese, Boursin and cheddar in a bowl and mix together well. Dribble in the milk and blend again.

4. Whisk the egg and egg white till well blended but not foamy.

5. Fill the jalapeno halves with the cream cheese mixture.

6. Put some plain water in a shallow bowl. Dip each filled jalapeno first in the water, then in the flour so that both sides are well covered, then in the beaten egg, and finally in the breadcrumbs. Place on a non-stick foil-covered baking tray.

7. Heat the oven to 180C/350F and bake the jalapenos for about 30-40 minutes - it took 30 minutes in my fan-assisted oven.

8. Serve warm or at room temperature.