How to make a Dutch Baby Pancake

We've been in isolation for more than week and it's getting a little hard to keep our spirits up. Resources in the kitchen are also beginning to get restricted, with fresh veggies nearly over. We like a lot of variety in our meals and the hubby had been asking me to make a Dutch Baby for the last couple of days. I had the ingredients in stock and decided to make one this morning, though it was actually after noon by the time we actually had it - we have been starting our days really late thanks to insomnia and restless sleep patterns and end up sleeping in most mornings. 

Anyway! Here's the recipe adapted slightly from the one on cooking.nytimes.com 

Please note - you will need a cast iron pan (this is a baked pancake that is cooked in the pan in the oven)

Dutch Baby Pancake 

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup milk

3 eggs

a pinch of salt

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp butter

You can also use nutmeg/cinnamon/cardamom powder - each will give a lovely flavour to the pancake

Make sure your ingredients are all at room temperature. 

Preheat the oven at 200C

In a clean bowl mix all the ingredients except the butter.
Whisk well to make a smooth lump-free batter and incorporate as much air into the batter as you can, but no need to whip up a big froth. 

Put the butter in your cast iron skillet and put it in the oven to melt. Don't let the butter burn or even brown. 

Remove the skillet carefully holding the hot handle with a thick kitchen towel. Pour the batter into the skillet and put it back in the oven. 

Let it bake for around 20 minutes till you see it nicely puffed up. Now reduce the temperature of the oven to around 170C and bake for a few minutes more till the pancake gets a nice golden brown colour with darker edges. 

Serve immediately with honey, maple syrup, berry compote, assorted jams, or just with a dusting of icing sugar. 

Green Garlic, Spring onion, Bacon, and Egg Tart

Green garlic season is on and as it's one of the favourite ingredients for Parsis I've been seeing it very often in my kitchen. One dish that we made quite often is leela lasan (green garlic) ne leela kanda (spring onion) per eeda which is eggs steamed on a bed of the two greens with salt, pepper and a light spicing of cumin or jeera. To be honest, I got a bit bored making this same thing so often and decided to play with basic concept and do something fun while still retaining the basic character of the dish.

I always have puff pastry sheets in my freezer and I also found a packet of bacon in there. And the idea of a tart was born.

Leela Lasan, Leela Kanda, ne Bacon per Eeda Tarts


1 bunch green garlic
1 bunch spring onions
1 onion
1 tsp cumin seed
salt
pepper
oil

1 sheet puff pastry
a few rashers bacon

To make the filling.

Wash the greens well and then chop as fine as possible. Use the roots of the green garlic too, they pack a lot of flavour.
Chop the onion fine.
In a pan heat some oil and add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Chuck in the chopped greens and the onion and saute on a slow flame till it is all cooked. Season with salt and pepper. Keep the heat on medium to low as you cook because the onions and garlic mustn't brown at all. Stir frequently as you cook.
You can make this mix in advance and store it in the fridge up to two or three days, ready to use whenever you like.

To make the tarts

Preheat the oven at 180C

Fry the bacon rashers lightly and then chop into small pieces. Don't let the bacon become crisp - remember it will be baked on the tarts later.

Let the pastry sheet thaw a bit and then cut into four equal squares. Run a pizza wheel or a knife lightly along the edges to trace a 'frame'. Don't cut through the pasty. With a fork poke the middle of the pastry till the entire surface has been marked. Once again, don't go through the pasty.

Line your baking tray with parchment or baking paper and arrange the pastry squares on the sheet.
Arrange the leela lasan filling on each square in a thin layer making a slight hill along the edges. This will help keep the egg in the middle when you add it later.

Once all the squares are done pop the tray into the oven and bake for around 12-15 minutes till you see the pastry puffing up along the edges. 

Remove the tray carefully and get ready to add the eggs. Now this gets a little tricky so it's best if you break each egg into a cup or bowl instead of directly onto the tart. The egg white can spill all over and out of the tart so you have better control if you break it in a cup first. Use a tablespoon and carefully pick up the yolk and place it in the centre of a tart. Arrange bacon pieces around the yolk (it strengthens the 'fort' and helps keep the egg white in). Spoon over the egg white carefully. I found it harder to keep the egg white within the filling.

Crack fresh pepper over the tarts once you have placed eggs and bacon on each and then put it all back in the oven to bake at 160C till the eggs are set to your liking. This could take anything from 6-8 minutes to longer depending on how set you want your eggs but once the whites turn opaque it's good to go.

Enjoy the tarts hot straight out of the oven!

These are great for breakfast and work well as an evening snack too. Kids and adults will enjoy the crunch of the pastry and this is a great way to get your family to eat some greens :)

Lomba Kaata Alu'r Torkari ar Luchi - Bengali Style Long Cut Potatoes with Puris

Sometimes breakfast demands to be elaborate. The usual toast and eggs or muesli simply don't make the cut and the heart demands something more. And then, if it's Kali Pujo, the demands are louder. Since I don't make luchis very often I decided Kali Pujo was a special enough occasion to put aside all thoughts of counting calories and carbs and to simply indulge. And thus we had luchi and alu'r torkari for breakfast today.

Now there are many different kinds of alu'r torkari, or potato preparations, that can be paired with luchis, the pale, pure maida Bengali puris. From a simple alu bhaja (fried potato) to a more elaborate alu'r dom, alu phulkopi, sada alu'r torkari, Bengalis have a wide range of options. One that my mom used to make very frequently was a lomba kaata alu'r torkari.

This is a very simple preparation with barely any spices or ingredients and is absolutely delicious. It's also quick to cook which makes it perfect for breakfast. Once in a way mom would make this early in the morning for our school tiffins too. She'd roll up luchis with the torkari tucked inside and put three or four rolls in the box, enough for me and my friends to have a high treat at tiffin break!

Lomba Kaata Alu'r Torkari

4 large potatoes
2 green chillies
1/2 tsp kalonji or nigella seeds
1 tomato
salt
turmeric
chilli powder
mustard oil
water

Cut the potatoes into matchsticks, not too thin. You can retain the peel, make sure you wash the potatoes really well.

Chop the tomato and keep aside.

Heat mustard oil in a wok or kadai and once it's properly hot chuck in the green chillies followed by the kalonji.

Once the kalonji finishes sizzling, add the potatoes.

Stir well to coat the potatoes with the oil and kalonji seeds.

Cover the wok and lower the flame, let the potatoes cook for a couple of minutes. Do not let the potatoes brown.

Once the potatoes are translucent add the salt, turmeric, chilli powder, and tomato and stir properly to mix well. Let it cook for a bit, a couple of minutes.

Now add enough water to just cover the potatoes.

Bring it to a boil and cook uncovered till the potatoes are done and the water nearly dried up.

This dish doesn't have a gravy, but don't let the water dry out completely. The gravy should be barely there, just coating the potatoes.

Serve with hot luchis.

Here's the recipe for Bengali luchi.

This torkari goes well with porota and with regular everyday rotis too. Mom made it for dinner paired with rotis quite often. On days when you'r short of ingredients this torkari can be a lifesaver. For me, this torkari is something I associate very strongly with my mother - memories of Sunday breakfasts and special dabbas for for school. Such a simple torkari, but so much more than just a torkari.

I Love Luchi!

"I love luchi" is something nearly every bengali you know will say and my Parsi hubby says it with equal fervour. While I'd love to make luchi every week I barely make it once a year - all that white flour and deep frying has made it one the most forbidden treats of all. So it is only natural that one chooses a special day for luchis - either a birthday or anniversary, or a favourite festival. 

This year I was convalescing through the Durga puja after a nasty bout of the mumps and hadn't cooked any special meal or made any dessert through the puja duration. On Dussehra day - Bijoya Dashami for us Bongs - I felt a keen need to make SOMETHING at least. I couldn't let the pujas pass without putting at least one special treat on the dinner table, I just couldn't! So luchi -torkari it was. 

Puffy pillowy luchis accompanied by my favourite Aloo Phulkopi'r torkari. Luchis are the Bengali puris made with all purpose flour, with not a hint of any healthy whole wheat or other flour tainting its pristine complexion. The dough must have good quality ghee in it, and is kneaded with plain water. While frying the luchi you must make sure the luchis remain white with just a bare blush of brown, if at all. Of course, they must puff up like perfect little balloons.

INGREDIENTS 

500 gms Maida 

2 tsps Ghee 
1/2 tsp Salt 

Water 

Oil for frying

Empty the maida into a large flat bottomed vessel or platter. Add the ghee to it and mix it in with your fingers till you have a crumbly mix. Sprinkle in the salt and mix properly.

Add water a little at a time and bring the dough together with your fingers. Keep kneading till you have a soft and smooth dough. 

Knead for around 5 minutes and then let the dough rest, covered, for 30 minutes.

Set enough oil to heat in a kadai or wok to fry the luchis.

Divide the rested dough into small balls, each of which will be rolled out into a luchi. Try to make these balls as uniform as you can.

Dab each ball with a little oil and then roll it out into a disc around 5 inches in diameter. 

Roll firmly pushing the dough out and avoiding folds as you roll.

Place the disc as flat as possible into the hot oil and gently push it down with your slotted spoon to make it puff up nicely. Flip it over quickly and fry the other side.

Remove the luchi to a plate and proceed in this fashion till you have fried all the luchis.

There is a skill in making perfect luchis.

Remember to let the dough rest. You will get a more pliable dough and will find it rolls out better.

Use a firm and confident hand when rolling out the discs and try to roll as uniformly as possible avoiding thick edges. A uniformly thin disc will make for a perfectly puffed up luchi. Make sure there are no folds or tears in the rolled out disc.

Once the oil is nice and hot reduce the heat to medium and maintain that temperature. If your oil is too hot the luchi will turn brown and not cook properly. If the oil is not hot enough the luchi will absorb loads of oil and will not cook fast enough, nor will it puff up.

Practice makes perfect and if you're like me, making luchis just once a year, don't worry if the luchis are not perfect to start with. Just keep the above tips in mind and you will have beautiful 'phulko luchi' in no time!

Poached to Perfection - An Easy method for Poaching Eggs

Being married to a Parsi means eggs feature very often at breakfast in our house. Though I don't cook egg curries very often, fried eggs, omelettes, french toast, akuri, etc., are a very regular feature in the mornings. Breakfast is our favourite meal and we like to make a fuss over it adding cold cuts, cheeses, and of course, eggs to the meal. Over the years I have learned how to fry eggs perfectly but the perfect poached egg was still elusive.

I'd seen plenty of videos showing different techniques but I couldn't really master any of them. All that swirling the water and popping in the egg only resulted in a mess of stringy egg whites that looked like very ugly noodles instead of those perfect poached eggs ones saw demonstrated. I needed to find a way to keep the white together and without buying another rash of gadgets and doodads (yes, I'm trying hard not to buy stuff!).

After fooling around with various saucepans, bowls, and ladles I have finally figured out a simple technique that has worked very well, and repeatedly. This is one science project that has yielded good results!

Here's what you will need -

Fresh eggs
1 tbsp vinegar
Water
oil

A small deep saucepan
A large milk ladle
A flexible rubber spatula
Patience

And here's what to do -

Fill the saucepan about halfway up with water. Bring the water to a boil with the vinegar added to it.
Rub the ladle with a drop of oil. This helps release the egg once it's cooked.
In the ladle crack one egg and sprinkle with a little salt. Carefully lower the egg on to the water but don't submerge it. Let the lower side of the egg set with the heat from the water.

Tip the side of the ladle just a little and let very little water run onto the egg. Once again, be careful not to let the egg run out of the ladle or too much water get in. Be patient and do this with confidence and a steady hand. Alternatively pour hot water onto the egg using another ladle. Do this if you are sure you can keep the egg steady and use the other hand simultaneously.

Once the top of the egg is set let more water in and slowly submerge the ladle into the water. The water will foam up so keep an eye on things and don't let it spill over. Reduce the heat if required. Don't leave the egg submerged - let it stay under the hot water just a few seconds at a time.

Pour off any water from the ladle once the egg is done to your level of preference. Try to ensure that all the white is cooked.

Gently prise off the egg using the rubber spatula and slide it onto your ready plate or on a slice of toast. You can slide the poached egg onto a slotted spoon to drain off all the excess water if you like. Be sure not to break the egg.

It takes around three to four minutes to do each egg from start to finish so I make these on days when I'm not in a hurry. Patience is the key here so don't rush things. Make sure you have your equipment in place before you start. And use fresh eggs.

Did you know many Bengalis refer to the good old fried egg as 'dim'er poach'? You should have seen the hubby's face when my mum offered to make him a poach for breakfast when she visited the first time after we were married, and presented him with a perfectly fried egg! Well, my mother has also been educated in the finer points of egg dishes and their correct nomenclature since then, lol! 

Breakfast at Chandni Chowk

What a way to begin a new year - a holiday in Delhi! So much to do, so much to see, so many people to meet and, most importantly, so much to eat! Quite at the top of my list was breakfast at Chandni Chowk and it was one of the first things to get ticked off my list.

We set off early on morning in search of bedmi pooris, aloo subzi, nagori halwa, parathas, nihari, and other legendary goodies. The idea was to try out whatever we could find as long as our appetites held out. Our taxi dropped us off at a corner right in front of a jalebi-wala. It was a good place to start. The area wasn't crowded at all, there was a light fog and a general sense of well being permeated the area.

Hot jalebis were being fried. Who could resist that?!

We asked for 100gms of jalebis and I was hugely amused when we got one whole jalebi! Of course, we asked for more and then eagerly tucked in to these hot fresh babies. These jalebis were fat and airy, not crisp and nearly hard like the thinner jalebis one sees in most sweet shops. There were slightly spongy bits and light crisp bits which together were simply magical. As soon as you bit into one syrup just flowed out. It was less sweet than I expected and I was delighted. The only reason we didn't have seconds was all the other food still waiting to be tried. As is evident, I forgot to take a photo of the jalebis after they were ready to eat.

We proceeded to the Fatehpuri Masjid at the end of the main thoroughfare and then doubled back in search of Shiv Mishtan Bhandar where we would get a taste of nagori halwa, bedmi pooris, and other delights.

Here we gorged on bedmi pooris with aloo subzi and chhole, and little crisp and delightful nagori pooris with halwa. Once again we had to hold ourselves back in anticipation of the other gastronomic attractions of this area. Given a choice I'd go back for another round of the nagori pooris for sure. Somewhere between a luchi and the poori for a pani poori in size, the nagori pooris were unique in flavour and texture - not so crisp as to be labelled hard, these were that imprecise level of crisp that is 'just right'! We expected the pooris to be served only with halwa but they were also accompanied by an aloo chhole which I suspect was a mix of the aloo and chhole subzis that came separately with the bedmi pooris. No complaints, it was delicious!

We decided to head towards the Jama Masjid for some nihari. I wanted to wander a bit so we decided to meet back at the jalebiwala, and I trotted off down the road looking at the old buildings, the hubbub of people ferrying goods, cycle rickshaws, pedestrians, honking cars, a huge Gurdwara, and finally reached the jalebi shop to find the hubby tucking into a bowl of the famed Daulat ki Chaat!

We hopped back into our cab and headed off to Al Jawahar in the lane right in front of Gate 1 of the Jama Masjid. The first sign that this would be an epic experience was the list of available foods - "paya, nihari aur roti" said our waiter. When it's so focused I guess there's a high probability of success. We ordered nihari with rotis and waited eagerly. The food arrived and there was a palpable aura of impatience around me - I had to take photos first before I would allow anyone to even touch the food! Finally we tucked in. There was a reverent silence and an occasional sigh of happiness. And that is all one needs to know about the nihari at Al Jawahar- just go there and eat it for yourself.

This was just the beginning and it was beautiful. Delhi, I am so looking forward to more from you.

White Sandwich Bread - My Little Rebellion

Everywhere I looked there was an obsession for what is perceived as healthy - recipes that boasted of being egg free, gluten free, fat free, no white flour, no sugar, no butter - only oil, and a zillion other 'healthy' claims. The sad thing is most people have no idea of what genuinely is healthy, or rather relatively healthy, and what is actually quite far from being good for anyone. That's not to say all things touted as healthy or good for you aren't - one just has to realise that blindly substituting and replacing, often with synthetic substitutes, is not the path to healthier or nutritious eating.

Tired of this I decided I had to have my own little rebellion. I was going to make that terrible. terrible thing - white bread. Made with no compromise to the all purpose white flour. No whole wheat flour or any other 'healthy' flour would even be allowed to come near. If the recipe asked for a pound of butter I was going to put in a pound of butter. If eight eggs were required eight eggs it would be. You get the drift...

I asked my friends to share tested recipes and I went looking around on my own. I read quite a few recipes and finally decided to use one by Julia Child. My main motivation to use her recipe was that I'd never made anything from a Julia Child recipe and this was the perfect opportunity. And the recipe was simple and straightforward, perfect for an amateur like me who needs a recipe to bake bread. Always. Even for breads I've made many times over. So I made my date with Julia and we made white sandwich bread from here.

I'm not rewriting this recipe as I didn't change anything in it. Just replaced the 1 tbsp Active Dry yeast with 2 tsp Instant yeast.

The dough for this bread is quite sticky and I was quite sure it was not going to work out. But it did. I was nervous because it took time to come together and I had to struggle not to add too much flour beyond what the recipe called for. Don't worry, this recipe works! And the stand mixer did most of the work ;)

Make sure you have a couple of loaf tins ready before you start. I didn't have two of the same size so I divided the dough accordingly instead of blindly halving the dough.

Make the bread the evening before and have it for breakfast the next morning. It tastes much better after resting for those hours. Don't slice the bread unless it is absolutely cooled. Patience is the key here.

As it turned out all this recipe requires is APF, yeast, and water, with a little bit of butter to help it along. Not so evil after all! So bring out the butter, Nutella, the jams, marmalades, honey, cold cuts, fry and egg or two and have yourself a feast.

Rockville Deli, Vashi - A Review

Navi Mumbai has been sprouting quite a few new restaurants, coffee shops, and eateries in the recent months and Rockville Deli at Vashi is one among them.

Located right next to the huge Kalyan Jewellers showroom near Vashi station this is perfectly located if you want to grab a bite on your way home from work, or relax over coffee and some very interesting eats in the evening. There's loads of outdoor seating and a smaller indoor air conditioned section which will definitely be in great demand once summer hits followed by the monsoons.

That was my first impression of the place before I had a look at the menu. As it turns out they have a really varied menu stretching from breakfast options through to a variety of mains, snacks, mini -meals, sandwiches and burgers, generous crock pots (a new concept in Navi Mumbai for sure), pizza, and even tava biryani. They also have a decent selection of hot and cold beverages, sundaes and desserts. Though there are many categories, each category has a few options under it, making the seemingly vast menu actually quite simple. There's plenty of choice for vegetarians and the cuisines stretch from Italian to Indian, with a lot of other Continental flavours thrown in. 

We were a group of seven and we decided to order a variety of dishes covering as many categories as we could, instead of ordering individually. This allowed us to sample a nice variety of preparations giving us a good idea of what's good and what's not so great at Rockville Deli. 

We started with mocktails and shakes and then proceeded to try out the food. The selection was pretty standard with Oreo Shake, Mint Mojito, Mocha Shake and Ice Tea which we opted for. The drinks were well made and what I really liked was that they were not too sweet. Serving drinks in jam jars seems to be the hip thing to do these days and Rockville Deli wasn't bucking that trend. So there we were with our jam jars and stripey straws, enjoying our drinks! 

Mint Mojito

Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich

Mushroom, Chicken Sausage and Egg Crockpot

Stuffed Egg White Omlette

Moroccan Burger

Jalapeno Potato Cheese Frittata

Waffles with Whipped Cream and Maple Flavoured Syrup

Mocha Magic Sundae

Hawaiian Tropicana Sundae

Rockville Deli is certainly a nice place to hang out at - the location is convenient, the ambience is beautiful, the menu is extensive and the prices are quite reasonable. The fact that this place has an all day breakfast is another huge plus point because Navi Mumbai lacks these sort of things, though they are coming up now. 

There are a few things they need to pay attention to, like training their serving staff better and making sure they're well versed with what the items on the menu are. Service is friendly enough but needs a little polish, that's all! I didn't dislike any of the food or drinks that I tried but I didn't find anything spectacular or memorable either. Food presentation is a little lacklustre but if you're like me, you're more concerned with the taste and quality rather than plating. However, good presentation is not a bad thing at all and always works to an advantage.  

Would I go back to Rockville Deli? I most certainly would. 

Disclaimer - The evening was hosted by Rockville Deli for NaviMumbaiFoodies

Black Forest Buns - We Knead to Bake #25

The chosen bread for February, being valentine's month, for the We Knead to Bake group was Black Forest Buns. These buns have cherries, chocolate cake and chocolate sauce incorporated into bread in the form of buns. The idea appealed to me instantly and I got the ingredients together to make them on a Sunday.

Since K loves jams, jellies and preserves, he has quite a collection and I had his permission to raid his stash for something suitable. I did. I also made my easy pound cake with a whole lot of cocoa powder added to the mix for a home made chocolate cake that I could crumble and use for this recipe.

The Black Forest Buns are basically bread rolls stuffed with a cherry preserve or compote, and crumbled chocolate cake. Ideally they should look like cinnamon rolls and should stand individually instead of turning into pull apart rolls as mine did. The hubby certified the taste to be outstanding, so I'm glad I got that right at least!

To make the chocolate cake I followed the same Basic Sponge Cake recipe that I've been making for many years, with around 3 to 4 spoons of cocoa powder added to the flour. You can add a little milk to the batter if you feel the cocoa is making the batter too dry. Let the cake cool completely before you take it out of the tin. I used a little less than half the cake for crumbs. The rest will be slathered with Nutella and enjoyed with coffee :)

Black Forest Buns

The recipe is quite the same as given by Aparna here.

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 heaped tablespoon soft butter
1 and 1/2 tsp Instant yeast
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups plus extra maida

For the filling

Crumbled chocolate cake
Cherry preserve or compote or any berry jam. Chunky will give good texture.

For topping

Melted cooking chocolate


Start by mixing the milk and water in a pan. Heat the two till hot but not boiling. Remove from heat. Add the sugar and let it dissolve. Let this mixture cool considerably and then put it into the mixing bowl of your food processor or stand mixer. If you're kneading by hand then just use a large mixing bowl.

Add the egg and the yeast into the still warm liquid mix and stir to combine. Then add a cup of maida/white flour and start your machine. I used my stand mixer with the batter paddle attachment. Gradually add the remaining flour till it all combines. Don't forget to add the salt early enough.

I changed to the dough hook once the ingredients were combined and left the machine to knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes. Once the dough was more or less together but still a tad sticky I took it out onto my work surface and kneaded it by hand till it was soft, smooth and very lightly sticky. Add loose flour little by little as you knead to get there. Use the stretch and fold method to work the dough.

Take an oiled bowl and set the dough aside to rise. I will take a little more than an hour to double. Leave the bowl covered with a damp cloth.

Once the dough has doubled get all your filling ingredients together.

Punch the dough down gently. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to make a large oblong around 18" x 12" Try to make it as neat and uniform as possible so you have nicely formed rolls at the end. Work quickly so the dough doesn't rise too much as you work.

Once the oblong is rolled out spread the cherry preserve (or whatever you are using) generously all over, leaving a small border around.

Next spread a generous amount of the cake crumbs covering as much of the dough as you can. Try to make the layer as even as you can.

Now comes the tricky part. Start from one long side and roll tightly to form a long log creating a spiral as you go. Tuck in the dough gently and carefully so the roll is not loose. The sides of my dough were a bit too thick so I had a really fat centre so remember to roll it as thin as you possibly can.

Use a dough scraper or a really sharp non serrated knife and cut out individual buns from the rolled log. Arrange these in a tall sided baking tin and leave them to prove for another hour. They will double.

Bake the risen buns for around 30 mins at 180C. Keep an eye on them so they don't become too brown.

 I also topped the buns with dried cranberries before putting them in to bake. Melt a little chocolate and drizzle on top of the buns. Serve them still warm or enjoy them later with your evening coffee or tea. These will be great as tiffin fillers for the kids.

We Knead to Bake

Marathon Bloggers

Pane Siciliano - We Knead to Bake #24

The new year began with a beautiful bread on the We Knead Bake group. The first bread for 2015 was Pane Siciliano, a semolina bread from Italy. It was exciting for me because there were new elements (for me) involved in this recipe - I'd never made a bread with semolina, and I'd never made a pre-ferment before. What a great way to start the new year - with a chance to broaden my bread making horizons.

The recipe is an easy one but the process takes some time. Ideally you should do it over two days giving the poolish, or in this case, the crescuita, time to develop properly overnight. The Pane Siciliano is traditionally shaped into the Mafalda (snake) or the Occhi di Santa Lucia (Eyes of Santa Lucia). I went with the Mafalda. The resultant loaf wouldn't be winning any prizes in the looks department but this was one delicious bread! And whatever reservations I had about making a bread with semolina simply evaporated as soon as I cut the first slice.

I started the crescuita in the late morning and by the time my dough was ready to prove for the final time it was already a little late. I didn't want to stay up baking till late in the night so I tucked it into the fridge and baked it in time for breakfast the next morning. (in fact, that was another first for me, I think!).

This is Aparna's recipe for the Pane Siciliano which I followed with a couple of minor variations.

Pane Siciliano

For the Crescuita (pre ferment)

1/4 cup warmed water
1/2 tsp Instant Yeast
1/4 cup plain flour

To make the crescuita simple dissolve the yeast in the warmed water. Once it froths stir in the flour and dissolve gently with a fork or whisk. Cover the bowl with a loose lid or napkin and leave it to ferment overnight. If you've forgotten to do this the night before simply start it as early as you can and let it sit for at least 4 to 6 hours. Mine was left for around 6 hours.

For the Dough

the crescuita
1/2 tsp Instant yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tsp honey
2 to 2 1/2 cups barik sooji or fine semolina, ground fine
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sesame seeds
water for brushing

Once again, bloom the yeast. Dissolve the honey in the warm water and add the yeast in. Wait for it to froth. Though I use instant yeast I still like to bloom it just to ensure it is still active. Do this in a large mixing bowl so you have fewer things to wash once you're done.

Once the yeast solution has frothed add 2 cups of the ground semolina and mix well to form your dough. Add the olive oil and the salt with the semolina flour. You will start with a thick batter like consistency. Now keep adding the remaining semolina flour and knead/mix till you have a nice soft dough. I did this in the stand mixer. The final dough should be 'just short of sticky'.

Form into a ball and leave it to rise in a well oiled bowl covered with a damp tea towel. The dough should double in volume and this will take anything from an hour and a half to two hours.

Prepare your baking pan while you're waiting. All you need is the baking sheet/pan and some baking parchment. Cut a large piece of the paper, enough to cover the pan, and you're ready. Place the paper on the pan and spread it to cover the entire surface. You will be placing the ready loaf on this before popping it in to bake.

Once doubled, punch it down gently and take it out onto your work surface to shape into the Mafalda. I like to lightly dust the surface with flour so the dough doesn't stick. Knead the dough very lightly for a bare minute and then roll it into a long rope/cylinder. You will need it to be at least two and a half feet long so you can shape a proper snake with enough coils and enough tail to place on the coils.

Shape the mafalda and then leave it to rise for another couple of hours or until double. I did this stage overnight in the fridge. I covered the bread with a damp towel again to prevent it from dehydrating in the fridge - a hazard of our frost free refrigerators.

Brush the risen loaf with water and sprinkle sesame seeds all over the surface. Pat gently and make them stick.

Preheat the oven at 190C. Set a tray upside down in the oven and let it heat up with the oven. Once ready place your tray with the Pane Siciliano on top of the hot tray. Bake the bread for around 30 minutes till the crust turns brown.

Cool the loaf completely before you slice it. Enjoy your Pane Siciliano! We had ours with butter, cheese spread and even jam.

Marathon Bloggers

Chorizo Oats

Marriages might be made in heaven but some blessed pairs are made in my kitchen. Like chorizo oats. I am in love with oats and have been making a savoury oats porridge with various vegetables and spices several times a week, and I'm always looking for new inspired combinations. Adding spicy flavourful chorizo to the mix has been one of the best ideas I've had in a long, long time!

Chorizo Oats

Quaker Oats 3/4 cup
100gm chorizo, peeled from the casing and crumbled
1 small potato cubed or cut into sticks
1 small onion, thickly sliced
1 small carrot cut into discs
1 handful frozen green peas
half a green capsicum sliced into 2inch pieces or 1 bhavnagari chilli chopped
3 tbsp tomato puree or ketchup
salt
turmeric
jeera/cumin powder
dry chilli powder or paprika powder
oil

Heat a little oil in a wok or kadai and put in the carrots and potatoes. Fry on a medium flame so that they cook through. Add the chorizo and mix well breaking up the meat as you go. Cover the wok and let it cook for a few minutes. Now add the remaining vegetables, stir it all well and leave it alone for another five minutes or so. Add salt and the spices too.

Once the carrots and potatoes look nearly done sprinkle the oats on the vegetables and mix well. Let it roast a bit for a couple of minutes and then pour in enough water to cover everything under a centimetre or so of water. Stir and add the tomato puree or ketchup, whichever you are using. Let it come to a boil and then simmer till the water is absorbed and the oats are cooked through.

I reserved a few pieces of the chorizo once they were fried, to garnish the dish. The chorizo tends to disintegrate and blend into the dish so the reserved pieces are nice to bite into as you enjoy the oats.

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Petit Pains au Lait - Soft and Delightful French Milk Bread

I haven't written anything here for a while. Two months, to be precise. I like to write mainly about stuff I cook, new things I've tried out in the kitchen, and occasionally about an experience eating out somewhere. The hubby was away and there was not much cooking or eating out happening so things have been quiet on the blogging front. Well, the man is back and I am back too.

One of the first things I wanted to do was make bread again. I grabbed the first free day I had and got out the yeast, the flour, the rolling pin and the assorted paraphernalia and proceeded to get elbow deep in homemade bread. I made Petit Pains au Lait, the WeKneadToBake #17 recipe which was the chosen bread for May 2014. Here's Aparna's recipe.

A very easy bread to make and quite perfect for a beginner level bread baker like me, Petit Pains au Lait are simple small sized milk breads that are great on their own or can be enjoyed with a dollop of butter or a dab of jam. Since the dough is rolled up to shape each mini loaf you can also flavour these with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar, Nutella, sweetened peanut butter, or jam. Make a savoury version with herbs and cheese if you like or stuff the roll with finely diced ham or soft fried bacon. These will be great to put in your kid's tiffin box too.

Petit Pains au Lait 

2 1/2 cups flour with 2 tablespoons flour reduced.
2/3 cup warmed milk
1 tsp Instant yeast
1/4 cup regular sugar
1/4 tsp salt
60 grams butter

Topping
1 tbsp milk
Pearl sugar or large grained sugar

Method

In a large mixing bowl pour in the warmed milk and add the yeast and the sugar. Give it a good stir. Now add the flour and then the salt. Mix it all well with your fingers till it resembles large crumbs. This should take two to three minutes. Now add the butter and knead it into the flour mix to till it all comes together. Remove the dough to your cleaned work surface and start working the dough. Keep a little milk handy and add it by the mere teaspoonful if the dough is too stiff. Knead for a good 10 to 15 minutes till the dough is soft and smooth. Place it a bowl and cover with a damp napkin and leave it to rise. This will take around an hour and a half to double in size.

Turn out onto the work surface and deflate it gently. Divide into 10 portions and leave to rise for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Take each individual ball of dough and roll out into a circle roughly 6 inches across. Roll up the disc to form a cylinder and then place it on your baking tray. If you're adding a flavouring like Nutella spread it on the disc and then form the rolls. Make ten such rolls and leave them to prove for another hour till they are nice and plump again.

A distinct feature of Pains au Lait are the cuts made along one side of the roll that result in a pretty pattern on the golden rolls when they are finally baked. You can see how these cuts are made in this video here. Remember to brush the rolls with a little milk before you make the cuts so the final product has a beautiful glaze. Dot the rolls with pearl sugar if you have it or sprinkle regular sugar. You can also use demerara sugar if you like or avoid the sugar entirely.

Bake the rolls in a 200C preheated oven for approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they can burn easily. I burned one batch because I was distracted for just a couple of minutes!

These rolls are best had hot out of the oven - they are soft and wonderful and I liked them best with a pat of butter melting into the warm bread.

We Knead to Bake #17

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Kanda Papeta per Eedu - A Parsi Classic

Parsi food is not always lavish and complicated. There are plenty of simple comforting dishes that will make you weep with pleasure. Kanda Papeta per Eedu is definitely one of them.

K asked me to have Kanda Papeta ready so he could make Kanda Papeta per Eedu for breakfast. The Parsis' love for eggs is legendary and their repertoire of egg dishes is vast. Kasa per Eedu or eggs on something is a huge category in their cuisine and the something can range from a simple onion tomato base to the elaborate kheema or lamb mince, the crisp and crunchy sali or the delicately flavoured kanda papeta.

Kanda papeta is simply onions and potatoes slow cooked with minimal spices or oil. It's delicious with rotlis or bread and is often part of a simple dinner at home. The addition of eggs takes it to a different level.

Kanda Papeta per Eedu

Serves two

2 potatoes, peeled and sliced finely
1 Onion, chopped medium
mustard seeds (optional)
1 or 2 green chillies, chopped fine
a few sprigs fresh coriander
salt
pepper
oil
3 eggs


Heat up your nonstick pan and splash some oil into it. Splutter the mustard seeds if you're using them and then reduce the heat. Add the sliced potatoes and chopped onions along with the green chillies. Spread and tamp down slightly and let it cook slowly. Add salt. Cover the pan and stir every five minutes. Add the pepper.  Take care not to brown the onions. The potatoes must be sliced finely so the cook quickly and the onions don't risk getting brown. Once the potatoes are nearly cooked level it all across the pan. Sprinkle the washed and chopped coriander all over. Cover and cook for another minute or two and your Kanda Papeta is done.

There are three ways of adding the eggs to this. You can add the eggs whole cracking them on the kanda papeta layer. Sprinkle salt and pepper and cook covered till desired done-ness. Garnish with extra coriander and chopped chillies.

I prefer the Faetela or beaten version. In a bowl whisk the eggs with a little salt and pepper and then simply pour over the kanda papeta in the pan. Cover and cook till desired level of done-ness.

Now within the faetela version you can either tightly pack the base to prevent the beaten egg from running through so you have two distinct layers or you can leave the base a little loose and let the beaten eggs seep through the gaps. Let the bottom brown a little - the top layer will soft eggs, onions and potatoes and the base will give you a delightful crunch.

All three versions are divine!

Serve hot with rotlis or bread. I like to have it on it's own :)

Marathon Bloggers Project 52

Much Ado about Oats

I have always disliked oats. Don't ask me why because I have no logical reason to put forth. I'd never eaten oats but porridge always looked sludgy and unappealing and I also dislike milk. There was no hope for oats as far as I was concerned.

Life went happily by and I never saw or felt any need to add oats to it. Till diabetes entered the scene and after years of struggling to reduce the carb intake and manage the sugar levels, the hubby convinced me to at least try oats - Don't make porridge, he said. Why don't you make your veggie upma with oats instead, he urged. Finally he just insisted that I make it once and eat it only because he was telling me to. Quite reminiscent of the parents' dialogue "you have to do it because I said so". Sigh.

So I finally did. I made oats with a ton of vegetables and a smattering of spices and took the plunge. Literally. This was a month or so ago and much to my surprise I didn't hate it. In fact, it was quite palatable and I knew I would grow to even like it. A little bit of online advice from my foodie buddies and a few tweaks later I was on to a good thing!

Oats with Plenty of Veggies

1/2 cup Quaker Oats
1 cup or more assorted vegetables chopped into small cubes
1 tbsp cooking oil
turmeric
chilli powder
jeera powder
salt
chopped green chillies
Sliced or chopped onions

I use potatoes, carrots, green peas, cauliflower, capsicum, coloured peppers, brocolli, whatever I have at hand.

Dry roast the oats in your kadai or non stick pan for a few minutes. I like to do this so the final product is not very porridge-y in consistency. Remove to a plate or bowl.

Heat oil in your wok or kadai and add the vegetables and fry lightly. Cover and let them cook for a bit, reduce the flame. Once the vegetables are nearly done add the dry spices and salt and stir well. Now add the oats and cook stirring frequently so that the oats and vegetables are mixed thoroughly.

Now add a generous glass of water and let the whole thing cook till the water is all absorbed. I like to cook it till it is dry and coming off the sides of the wok. You can leave it loose if you like.

Garnish with shredded fresh coriander and add a good squeeze of lemon and serve hot.

This is a very filling meal and works for breakfast or lunch or even dinner. Oats fill you up really well and I find that I don't get hungry for at least 4 to 5 hours. More importantly, the urge to nibble is not there. From the diabetic point of view the good thing is that my sugar levels don't spike. A winner all around, I think!

It's a nice feeling when you continue to grow, you let yourself open up to new experiences and new tastes too. It's even better when you manage to get past a blind spot. However the smug satisfaction on the hubby's face is purely priceless :)

1 December 2013
Marathon Bloggers