Ingredients:

Maida: 250 gms
water: 170 – 180 ml
Unsalted butter: 10 gms (2 tsp)
salt: 1 tsp
rosemary: 1 tbsp (i used the dried variety here)
Fresh yeast: 7.5 gms (1.5 tsp)
Granulated sugar: 10 gms (2 tsp)
chilli flakes: 2 tsp
Olive oil: to grease the mold
Butter: to brush on rolls once the baking is sompleted

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degree C.
2. Measure all the ingredients and set aside.
3. Take the yeast, sugar and 40 – 50 ml of the measured water in bowl and let it sit for a min or so (till we see little bubbles forming)
4. Sieve the maida on the platform, add the yeast & sugar solution to it and start kneading.
5. Add the salt and continue kneading.
6. Add water little by little and knead till the dough becomes a thick mass, at this stage add the butter and knead the dough till all the butter is incorporated into the dough.
7. Continue kneading and add water little by little till the dough becomes nice and soft and spongy.
8. At this stage, place the soft dough inside or under a bigger vessel and let it rest for 10 – 15 mins.
9. Once the dough is rested, knock out or remove the air in dough by flattening the dough with hand.
10. Roll the dough into a thick sausage and cut 6 equal portions and set aside.
11. Grease a 8 inch cake mold with oil or butter.
12. Roll each portion of dough into round balls and place them as shown in the pic…

13.  Sprinkle the rosemary & chilli flakes on the rolls and rest them again in the same mold in a warm place for 15-25 mins or till the rolls double  & puff up in size as shown in Pic… ( I kept the mold inside a switched off microwave, guess kitchen cupboard should also be fine).

14. Once they have risen nicely, brush the top of the rolls with milk or eggs and bake for 10 -15 mins or till they get a nice brown colour.
15. Once they are baked, remove from oven and set aside to cool. Brush the hot rolls with some butter..yumm…
16. Once they have cooled for 5-10 mins, try and slowly remove the rolls out of the mold and place them on a tissue or butter paper (this will ensure that there is no collection of moisture at the bottom of the rolls and it does nor become too wet).
17. Eat as a pav or with some olive oil or as is…enjoy!!!

Ingredients:

Milk powder: 1 cup
Cocoa powder: 2 tsp
Sugar: 1 cup
Unsalted butter: 1 tbsp
water: 2 tsp
Roasted & powdered cashew: 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Mix the milk powder and cocoa powder nicely in a bowl.
2. Melt sugar and water in a pan on medium flame till you reach ball consistency (this is the consistency achieved when you drop some melted sugar in a cup of water, now roll the sugar into a small ball between your thumb and index finger).
3. Switch off the gas and add the butter.
4. Once the butter froths, add the mixed powders, powdered cashew and mix well.
5. Pour the hot mixture on a greased plate and let it cool.
6. Before it completely cools, cut the burfi into pieces and let it completely cool before serving…

Ingredients:

SOUP:
Tomatoes: 1 kg
red bell pepper: 3 nos
garlic: 3-4 cloves
cream : 1/2 cup
salt & pepper to taste

VEGGIES:
Zucchini: 1 nos
mushroom: 200 gms
salt & chilli flakes to taste
oil / butter : 1 tsp

Method:

1.Remove the seeds from inside the tomatoes and slice them into quarters.
2. Place them skin side down, on a tray directly or on parchment paper.
3. Sprinkle olive oil and salt and place them in an oven @ 200 degree centigrade for about 45-60 min or till they are a lill charred.
4. Repeat the same process for the red bell pepper and garlic cloves.
5. Puree the roasted vegges with some salt and cream.
6 Serve hot with garnish of your choice..

Sauteed veggies:
1. Chop the zucchini length wise and then into quarters.
2. Chop the mushrooms thinly and set aside.
3.  Saute the veggies with butter separately, then add salt & chilli flakes according to taste…

Ingredients:

Channa dal: 1.5 cups
Raw rice: 1 cup
Cooking soda: 1 tsp
Ginger – green chilli paste: 1-2 tsp / according to taste
Salt: according to taste
turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Temper in 1 tbsp of oil: mustard seeds, curry/kadipatta leaves and til / white sesame seeds
Sour curd: 1- 2 tbsp
Garnish: chopped coriander leaves & grated coconut

Method:

1. Soak channa dal and rice separately for atleast 2 hrs or till they are soaked nicely.
2. Grind the dal and rice separately, then mix them in a bowl with some salt.
3. Cover the dal rice mix with a lid and let it reat in a warm place for about 5-6 hours so that it can ferment.
4. Once the mix is fermented, add curd, salt, ginger-green chilli paste and turmeric powder and mix well.
5. Grease a shallow utensil (any baking dish should do) and pour the mix into it.
6. Just before putting the baking dish to steam, add the soda and mix well and immediately start steaming.
7. Steam for min of 10 – 15 mins / till its cooked well.
8. Once steamed, garnish with temper, chopped coriander leaves and some freshly grated coconut.
9. Cut into bite sized pieces.
10. Serve with tangy chutneys (tamarind / mint / coriander)…njoy!!!

This journey from a blogger to student to tutor has been very pleasant and hope all these are always a part of my life..here’s to a continued relationship with food and food and food!!!!

So here goes…Bake-O-Mania….well this time around the first week was bread…with carrots, milk, sweet, palak, raisins, cinamon and then there were doughnuts, pizza base etc etc..phew…

See how one doughnut is only half..that is masala doughnut and it was eaten even before i got a chance to plate up the bread and click a picture…

More breads..in various shapes..they look good dont they…they tasted even better…hmm it was fun..baking is really fun….yay!!!

So as a part of the friendship chain….Hema sent me some very beautiful things…Peach Apricot tea, a beautiful letter, black till and a lovely Ganesha key chain. Thank you Hema…

The moment i saw black till, i knew what i had to make…. spicy milagai podi with black till…milagai podi (powder) is usually eaten with idlis or dosais and makes the whole breakfast experience greeeat!!!!

Here is my mothers recipe for the podi…

Ingredients:

Urad dal : 1 cup
Channa dal :  1 cup
Dry Red chillies : 1- 2 cups
Black till: 1/2 cup
salt: according to taste
curry leaves : 10-12 nos
Hing / asafoetida: 1 tsp
Oil : 1 tsp

Method:

1. Dry roast the dals and till separately and set aside (do ensure that the dals do not become burnt while roasting)
2. Heat (moderately) oil in a kadai and add the hing to it.
3. Now add the red chillies and roast them.
4. Once the red chillies are roasted, switch of the gas and add the curry leaves to it and mix well.
5. Let all the ingredients cool down.
6. In a mixer grinder, grind the chillies, then add the dals & till and set aside…add salt according to taste.
7. Serve with hot idlis or dosais…njoy!!!

This is my entry to the Arusuvai friendship chain…

Ingredients:

Big brinjal / Eggplant: 1 nos
Tomatoes: nicely chopped: med: 3 nos
Onions: finely chopped: 2 nos
Ginger-garlic paste: 2 tsp
Dhania / corriander powder : 2 tsp
Jeera / cumin powder: 1 tsp
Chilli powder: according to taste
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
salt: according to taste
Chopped coriander leaves: for garnish
Oil for coating the brinjal before roasting: little
Oil for the sabzi: 2 – 3 tbsp

Method:

1. Apply little oil on the surface of the washed brinjal and roast it equally on all sides… (spots seen on the stove…juices that drip from brinjal while you roasted it  )

2. Once the brinjal is roasted on all sides, remove from flame and let it cool.

3. Once the brinjal is cooled, remove the outer black skin of the brinjal and set aside.

4. Remove the top part of the brinjal and chop it into small pieces.

5. Once this is done, heat oil in a kadai.
6. Once oil is heated (not to smoking point), add the onion, ginger-garlic paste and saute till the onions are pink in colour and the garlic loses its raw smell.
7. Now add the finely chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder and cook till oil starts leaving the sides of the kadai.
8. On a medium flame, to the above mixture…add the salt and the other masala powder mentioned above and cook for a few seconds.
9. Once this is done, add the chopped brinjal and mix well.
10. Add about 1/2 glass of water, mix well and cook with lid closed for about 5 mins.
11. Once the sabzi is cooked, garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis / bread or rice
12.  Some people also like to add juice of 1/2 a lemon to this sabzi before serving…

We were seven of us in this batch…and what fun we had, getting our hands dirty in maida, margarine, whipped cream etc etc….the end product made it all worthy. During the course of three days, we made breads, doughnuts, cakes, cookies, tarts, cheese cake (yummm) and puff. Learning new recipes, making them with other eager students , bringing the loot home and distributing to family and friends, that’s what made the experience even more memorable..sharing the joy!!!… The picture above is the loot we made on day one…hope to bake more often..njoy & recipes to follow soon..

Aloo squash looks more like a close relative of a vegetable available in South India called as “Chow-chow”. This is a lot bigger, thornier (really pricks) and yellow in colour. They grow every where in this area, they are creepers and grow on any kind of tree..even on pine trees (Will post pics soon). I had aloo squash curry in Kalimpong. really like it and so got the cook at our hotel teach me to make it…since this vegetable is not available in Bangalore….i also carried some of them to make at home

Ingredients:

Aloo squash: 3 nos- diced into small pieces
Paanch Phoran mix: 1.5 tsp
oil- 2 tsp
tomatoes: 2 nos: finely chopped
turmeric powder: 1 tsp
salt: according to taste
Chilli powder: according to taste
Onions: 1 nos: finely chopped
Garlic: 3 cloves: grated or finely chopped
Roasted peanut powder: 1 tbsp

To make the Paanch Phoran mix/masala:
Mix 1 part of jeera, 1part of saunf (fennel seeds), 1 part of methi seeds (fenugreek seeds), 1 part of Kalonji (onion seeds) and 0.5 parts of ajwain.

Method:

1. Remove the thick outer skin and the pit inside of the aloo squash.
2. Cut the aloo squash in small pieces and wash it with water and keep is aside.
3. In a wok or kadai, heat oil and add the paanch phoran mix and let the mix splutter.
5. Add the onions and garlic and saute till they are cooked and loose the raw smell.
6. Add the tomatoes and saute till they are cooked.
7. Add turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder and aloo squash and stir well.
8. Add about 1 cup of water to this and cook with lid closed.
9. Once the vegetable is cooked, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and roasted peanut powder (mix well) .
10. Serve hot with rotis….