Open Masala Toast

 

This recipe makes a wonderful breakfast or an evening snack recipe.  Taste is truly awesome.  Something which can be made in a jiffy.  With just a few ingredients this snack can be made for kids when they get back from school.  Or like I said, having it for a Sunday breakfast is also very welcoming.  So, keeping my talk short will get to the recipe right away.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 2-3 minutes (each slice of bread)

INGREDIENTS:

Main ingredients:

Bread	1 loaf
Onions finely chopped	1 big
Sev* (very fine)	A big bowl
Coriander leaves	A little chopped
Oil	To toast the slices

* Sev is a popular Indian snack food consisting of small pieces of crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour paste, which is seasoned with turmeric, cayenne, and ajwain before being deep-fried in oil. These noodles vary in thickness. Ready-to-eat varieties of Sev, including flavoured Sev, are available in Indian stores.

To grind:

Onions	2 big
Tomatoes	2 medium
Ginger	1 inch
Garlic	2 pods

 
To assemble the masala (gravy):

Ground masala
Chilli powder	1½ tsp
Turmeric	½ tsp
Garam masala	½ tsp
Salt	1 tsp
Oil	1 tsp

 
METHOD:
1.      In a mixer, grind chopped onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic with very little water to a fine paste.
2.      Place a pan on low flame and add a tsp of oil.  Add the ground masala to the oil and saute it till the raw smell goes.  This could take around 10 minutes. 
3.      Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder and mix well.  Add garam masala and mix well again. 
4.      Add salt and switch off the flame.
5.      Place a griddle on the gas stove or induction.  Turn on the heat to a medium flame.  Take the bread slices and apply oil to the side to be faced down on the griddle.
6.      Toast the slice, oil side facing down to a light golden brown colour.
7.      Put the ground masala/gravy on the top side a tbsp each on each slice.
8.      Remove from the griddle and top it with finely chopped onions.
9.      Garnish it with sev and coriander leaves.
10.  Serve hot.

 NOTES:

1.      Though the process explained may look elaborate, it’s very easy to prepare it.
2.      Eat while it is hot as it tends to turn soggy if kept for a long time.
3.      This proportions makes around 15 slices.  So adjust the proportion accordingly to cater to your requirement.
4.      Using fine sev or what’s called nylon sev gives a wonderful taste.
5.      Do not increase the garam masala as you do not want to over-power it with the spice mix.

Anzac Cookies

Back with another cookie. 

 
INGREDIENTS:

Butter	75 gms
Corn syrup/honey	2 tbsp
Flour	120 gms
Brown sugar	200 gms
Dessicated coconut	80 gms
Rolled oats	140 gms
Baking soda	½ tsp
Warm water	1 tsp

METHOD:

1.      Mix together all the dry ingredients except the baking soda.

2.      In a pan, melt butter and sugar over low heat till the sugar almost dissolves. 

3.      Add corn syrup and blend well.  Add baking soda mixed with warm water to it and mix well

4.      Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients.  Bring it together by soft kneading.  At this stage, you might find it a little sticky.  But it will come together.

5.      Once it comes together, shape them into small little balls and press them with the base of your palm. 

6.      Place them on a baking tray and bake them in a pre-heated oven (Pre-heat oven @170°C) for 12-15 mins.

7.      They might feel soft when taken out from the oven.  But leave them to cool for 10 minutes and they will be perfect. 

NOTES:

1.      I used salted butter here.  If using white cooking butter please add ½ tsp salt along with the dry ingredients.
2.      If you find still find them soft, keep them for another 5 minutes on low temperature (130°C).
3.      They remain good for two weeks if stored well in an air-tight container.

Coconut Cookies

Back again with a sweet goodie.  This time its cookies.  A wonderful snack for tea-time or just cookies and milk.  I am sure cookie lovers need no excuse to eat them.  This recipe is for keeps.  I got this recipe while I was just surfing through the channels on TV.  I have altered the recipe a little to suit our taste-buds. Another variation that I have done is given it a coconut flavour and believe me it tastes awesome.  A must try.  You can make them and store it in air-tight containers.  I have made them just round.  But you can get your kiddies to cut out shapes and involve them too. So shall we get right to making the cookies.

INGREDIENTS:

Butter	3 tbsp
Sugar	50 gms
Flour	125 gms
Dessicated coconut	3 tbsp
Buttermilk	¼ cup
Baking soda	¼ tsp
Baking powder	½ tsp

METHOD:

1.      Sieve together flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.  Add butter to it and rub it well, so that you get a crumb like mixture.

2.      Add the dessicated coconut to it and mix well again.  Add buttermilk and bring it together.

3.      Add icing sugar to this dough and knead again.  Kneading with just your finger-tips all the while.

4.      If you find that the dough is too soft you could at this stage, keep the dough in the fridge (for half an hour).

5.      After half an hour, roll out the dough on a floured surface and make cut them into desired shapes.  At the same time keep the oven for pre-heating.  Preheat @ 175° C for 5-7 minutes.

6.      Bake them for 10-12 minutes, until they get a light golden brown colour.

7.      Once cooled keep them in an air-tight container.

 

NOTES:

1.      You would get approximately 20 25 cookies with this recipe.  But that completely depends on the size you make them. 

2.      Mine took around 15 minutes to bake.  But since it depends from oven to oven pl do keep a check after 10-12 minutes

3.      You could play around and give them flavours of your choice.  Be it choco-chip, cashew-nut or any other variation that you would like to eat.

 

 

Tiramisu

I have been planning to put up desserts or cookies in a long time now.  But just never found the time to actually make them.  Just that I had been keeping busy or at times the laziness creeped in, I guess.  But then I told myself, I better get to it without any further delay.  So here I am, posting a few sweet goodies along with the usual recipes that I will be posting.

So, today am posting an Italian dessert, Tiramisu.  It means “pick me up”.  Literally looking at the dessert that is what you would like to do.  Though I must say I could manage to click only this pic, as I had made it for a party organised by someone and it had to leave ASAP.  So, getting a pic of single portion was not possible.  But never mind, will update the pic again later.  Till then try it and enjoy.  Though I must mention, everyone has a different version of this wonderful dessert.  This is how I prepare it.

INGREDIENTS:

Chocolate sponge fingers	20 nos
Cream cheese	100 gms
Whipping cream	200 ml
Instant coffee	1 tbsp
Hot water	1 tbsp
Rum	2 tbsp
Grated chocolate	50 gms
Icing sugar	1 tsp

METHOD:

1.      Cream the cream cheese well.  Dissolve coffee powder in hot water add 1 tbsp of rum and add it to the well creamed cream cheese.

2.      Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold the cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream.

3.      In a glass bowl or any other bowl that you would want to make the dessert arrange the sponge fingers on the base.  Soak it with rum and sugar mixture

4.      Pour the cream mixture over the sponge fingers.  Make another layer of the sponge fingers and soak it with rum and sugar mixture.

5.      Pour the remaining cream over it. 

6.      Garnish with grated chocolate.  Keep this in the refrigerator for an hour or two before serving.

NOTES:

1.      In case you do not want to use rum, you can avoid using it.  Soak it with coffee decoction.  Mix coffee with water and icing sugar and use it to soak the sponge fingers.

2.      You can buy a sponge cake or make one well in advance so that it cools down before you make this dessert.

3.      You could even sprinkle cocoa powder over the tiramisu.

Sweet Corn Soup

Today is a soup recipe that might be known to all of you.  With everyone having their own versions of the soup.  Here is my version of a sweet corn soup.  There are times when we just have soup and home-made bread for dinner along with some sides.  Namely hash-brown’s or baked potatoes.  Though not necessarily always.  Like this time it was just soup and this wonderful Manaqueesh.  And who would not like to have a hot soup on a rainy day.  So here’s the recipe for this simple but wonderful soup.

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

 INGREDIENTS:

Sweet corn	1 cup
Onion	1 big
Salt	As per preference
Pepper	As needed
Butter	1 tbsp
Water	2 cups

 
METHOD:
1.         Boil the sweet corn in a cup of water for 10 minutes.  In the meanwhile, chop onions (cubes won’t matter as it will be sautéed in butter)
2.         Saute the onion in a tbsp of butter.  Grind the sautéed onions and ¼ of the corn in a mixer to a smooth paste.(the water used for boiling corn can be used to grind this mixture)
3.         In another pan, take the remaining half of the corn and add a cup of water.  Add the ground corn and onion mixture to it and bring it to a boil.
4.         Add salt and pepper to it as per preference.
5.         Serve hot

NOTES:

1.         Soup should not be too thick, so you can add more water if you find it too thick. 
2.         You could add just one pod of garlic and saute it along with the onions.

So there you go, this is my way of making this soup.  Go ahead, make it and enjoy it with this wonderful Manaqueesh, plain soup or any breads of your choice.

Manakeesh

Today am posting yet another bread recipe, it’s a flatbread to be precise.   A Middle-East bread recipe.  The word manaqish is the plural of the Arabic word manqūshah (from the root verb naqasha 'to sculpt, carve out'), meaning that after the dough has been rolled flat, it is pressed by the fingertips to create little dips for the topping to lie in. (Source Wikipedia).  The women would bake them in communal oven to provide their families with their daily bread needs.  They would do so with different toppings and serve them up for either breakfast or lunch.

 This Levantine Arabic bread has toppings mainly with meat, thyme and cheese, or even plain vegetarian topping.  Happened to see this bread on the TV while watching a food show.  Though the recipe I saw, had different toppings (traditionally what the Arabs would use).  But, since I wanted to try it immediately I used these toppings.  Or should I say filling.  That’s because I folded the bread as shown. 

 INGREDIENTS:

Active Dry Yeast	20 gms
All Purpose Flour	200 gms
Warm Water	50 ml
Sugar	1 tsp
Salt	½ tsp
Tomato	2 medium
Onion	2 medium
Capsicum	1 big
Corn kernels	½ cup
Cheese	2 cubes grated
Olive oil	2 tbsp
Salt	½ tsp
Pepper powder	½ tsp

METHOD:
1.          To develop the yeast, mix it with luke warm water and sugar.

2.          In a mixing bowl, take the flour and mix it well with salt.  Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture.  Knead this into a soft and pliable dough.

3.          Add olive oil and knead again. (This would take approximately 10 minutes).  Cover and rest the dough for an hour or so, till it doubles up in size.

4.          After an hour, punch the dough and keep it covered again for half an hour.

5.          In the meantime, finely chop the onions, tomatoes, capsicum.  Grate the cheese.  Now mix the chopped onions, tomatoes, capsicum, add corn and grated cheese and mix well.  Add salt and pepper to it.

6.          Now roll the risen dough into a circle.  Fill one half of the circle and fold the empty side over it.  Press it down well so that the two ends stick to each other.  (You could use a little water to seal it).

7.          Brush it with olive oil and bake it in a preheated oven at 200° for 10-15 minutes.

THIS IS ANOTHER VARIATION (STUFFING) THAT CAN BE USED.

1.          Take about ½ a cup hung curd add a few olives (cut into pieces), parsley, 1/8 cup toasted sesame seeds, a tsp of thyme, a little sumac powder, salt and pepper.  Add a little cream cheese or grated cheese.  Combine this to get a smooth mixture and follow the same method to fill the rolled circle.

NOTES:

1.       I served this along with sweet corn soup and can I tell you it was a hit at home.
2.       A nice and light dinner was what we all enjoyed.