Puffs

PUFFs , the savoury snack loved by all hag gone through major changes since potatoes are my least favourite vegetable. If potatoes could talk, they would complain of severe neglect & would bear 'identity crisis' at my kitchen. Paneer takes the place making this snack to my liking as well as my family's taste.
 As I'm known to always alter the dishes  my variation can easily substituted with potatoes,  shredded cooked chicken or boiled egg halves More substitutions are cooked black beans with salsa flavours, tandoori chicken ( total yum) & shrimp with  roasted onions & tomatoes. Told you that  I tweak!

Puffs folded in two different way...I like the first pic, the best...looks much fancier. The second one shows the  familiarity; the fond memories of  eating it at the Mangalore bakery.
























Ingredients:
Puff pastry sheets ( pepperige farm)
Paneer 400 gm, ( 1 a slab)
onions 2, finely chopped
green chillies 6-8 finely chopped
tomatoes 1, finely chopped
cilantro, few stems
red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
turmeric 1/4 tsp
garam masala 1/2 tsp
kitchen king masala 1/2 tsp
salt
oil

Method:
Filling; Heat oil in a pan, add onions and saute till soft and translucent. Add green chillies and spice powders. Roast for a few minutes before adding paneer crumbles, tomatoes and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes and add cilantro.

Pastry sheets; Have puff pastry sheets come to room temp ( about 40 mins as per package instructions). The box contains 2 sheets. Cut the sheet in 3 and cut it in half again. This yields 12 puffs out of one box.

Baking; Place a sheet, spoon filling in the centre and fold the puffs halfway or have fout corners meet each other in the centre for a fancier looking puffs.Water may be used to glue the edges together. In my case, I didnt need to since the pastry sheets were pliable at room temperature and glued itself pretty well. Place the puff pastries in parchment lined baking tray and coat the puffs with beaten egg whites with a pastry brush. Bake at 400F for 15-18 mins. Serve hot.

Cream cheese frosting

The sweetish tangy icing goes perfect as a frosting for the spice infused carrot cake.

Ingredients:
12 oz.( 1 1/2 sticks) full-fat cream cheese, chilled
12 Tbsp ( 1 1/2 sticks) butter, unsalted, room temp
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
6 cups confectioners sugar

Method:
In the large bowl of your mixer, using the paddle attachment on medium speed, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until very soft and light for about 5 minutes. Decrease the speed to low and gradually add in the confectioners' sugar, a cup at a time, beating after each addition and finally increase the speed to medium for 5 minutes longer.
The icing is now ready to be spread since it is at room temp. If adding pecans, hold the iced cake by base in one hand and use the other to touch pecan bits to the icing. The cake needs to be chilled before serving.

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped, lightly toasted
To toast them, put them in a 350 oven on a rimmed baking sheet for 10 to 12 minutes. let them cool on the pan.

Chicken Biryani

The long overdue recipe for G's Biryani recipe is finally here! Biryani lover's rejoice...this dish has been showered with lot of praises, pat on the back and a many many smiles from DH. All thanks to SG for a great masala base....Banne Nawab Hydrabadi chicken biryani

Ingredients for marinade:
Chicken 5 lbs, cut, cleaned, bone intact
yogurt- 1 cup
Biryani masala- Banne Nawab
chilli powder- 1 tsp
ginger paste- 1 tsp
garlic paste- 1tsp
lemon juice- 3 tbsp of juice of one lemon
salt

for layering
Rice, 4 cups, halfway cooked with whole garam masala, ghee and salt
Fried onions, 3 large onions, thinly sliced( I try to make a freshly batch but store brought will do if u r not as picky as me)
boiled eggs, about 8 ( cook in boiled water for exactly 5 mins), peel
cilantro and mint, chopped roughly
saffron- 2 tbsp soaked in 1/2 a cup of warm milk


Part 1, Mix up all spices and chicken, cover, refrigerate and let marination do the work overnight. If pressed for time, 4 hrs is minimum required time for good biryani, but I don't want it just good, I am after the best!

Part2, heat oil in a kadai, fry 3 large onions and set the onion aside to drain on a few paper towel. Remove excess oil from kadai, leaving abt 3 tbsp to roast the chicken. Brown the chiken, a few at a time without overcrowding the pan. The purpose here is to brown the surface to get a caramalised taste, at this point I am not worried about chicken not being cooked. Remove all the roasted chicken and set aside.To the kadai, add about cup of water to deglaze, stir constantly and gently add all the browned chiken. Cover, simmer and cook till done. Open and reduce any leftover liquid from the chicken on high heat.

Part 3, In a a heavy bottomed vessel, boil 6 cups of water, add whole garam masala ( 4 bay leaves,2 cloves, 4 cardamom pods, a couple pieces of cinnamon sticks,star anise, few peppercorns), 4 cups of rice, 4 tbsp ghee and salt. Cover and take off the heat to slow cook. In about 30 minutes all the water will have absorbed and the rice cooked halfway....just the way we want it.
Now, spread the rice on a large platter to cool off a little to prevent cooking further. Spoon the saffron milk at one tsp at a time, in about 6 places to color as well as flavor the rice. Do not mix further. A fork can be used to lightly rake the rice to get different shades of yellow from saffron.

Part 4, In a oven proof casserole/dish, layer in half the rice on the bottom, sprinkle 1/3 of cilantro and mint leaves, layer chicken, fried onion, boiled egg nestled between chicken and some more of cilantro mint leaves. Layer second half of rice, fried onions and cilantro mint leaves to completely cover the chicken. Cover the casserole with aluminium foil and bake.

Part 5 , Heat oven to 250F and place the biryani in the oven for about an hour. This final baking gives the 'DUM' effect, cooks the eggs and rice and the gets the chicken to flavor the dish to perfection.


*G's Note*: I let the chicken biryani sit in the oven for longer until it is time to serve since I do not recommend reheating the dish for obvious reasons while entertaining friends.

Podi/ bhajo's

Paagil podi (pic 1) cauliflower bhajo (pic 2)









Leave it to 'Amchi's' to take something healthy and deep fry and relish it like it's the best thing in the world....but hey, I'm not complaining....I am equally guilty of having a nostalgic fondness towards podi's and bhajo's with dalithoy. Yum!

Bhajo's batter is made using besan,rice flour, chilli powder, hing and salt.Usually made out of cauliflower, potato,onion.

Podi's that uses the masala mentioned below are made of kadi ( raw jackfruit), Pagil( kantola), Goint( parwal), karathe(bitter gourd, Mashingasang (drumsticks).

For the podi guli:
Rice- 1 Cups, soaked in water for 2-3 hrs
Red chillies – 20
Hing – 1/4 tsp
salt
Grind all these ingredients into a coarse thick paste with minimal water and apply this to the the choice of your vegetable. Deep fry the goodies and enjoy with dalithoy and rice.

5 min choc cake

Ingredients:
4 tbsp all purpose flour
3 tbsp choc chips (any kind)
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
i pinch salt
1 egg
5 tbsp milk
3 tbsp oil

Mix all the ingredients together in a coffee mug. Microwaave on high for 3 mins. Cool for a minute. Sare and enjoy!

berry ice cream

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup strawberries
lime juice out of 1 lime
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream

Method:
In a medium sauce pan over low heat cook berries, sugar, lime zest & juice of 1 lime stirring occasionally, until berries begin to burst. Remove from heat and add strawberries,  mash a few berries leaving a few intact.



Cool the sweetened berries to room temperature add heavy cream * extract then churn in the ice cream maker till it thickens (about 25 mins).


Pour into a plastic tub (with airtight lid), line with wax paper & secure with lid. Freeze 2 hrs for a softee treat or 4+ hrs for tight scooped ice cream.

Madgane

Ingredients
1 cup bengal gram /chana dal
15 cashews
1 cup grated jaggery
1 cup coconut
2 tbsp rice, soaked in water
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Pressure cook dal and cashew nut, just cooked till soft.
Grind coconut with rice to a smooth paste and use a sieve to strain and get milk.
In a heavy bottomed pot, add cooked dal, jaggery, cardamom powder and coconut milk. Bring to a boil over moderate heat. Serve hot.

Amrakhand

Ingredients:
2 Cup of yogurt
1 Cup Mango pulp
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 tbsp Everest milk masala (* see below)
a big pinch of saffron strands
1/2 Cup Pistachios, coarsely chopped
10 almonds, crushed
1/2 tsp elaichi powder

Method:
Place the yogurt in a colader thas has been double lined with cheese cloth. Refrigerate covered, overnight. Place a plate under the colander to catch the drips .
Add the sugar, mango pulp, elaichi powder, Everest milk masala, saffron, pista and almond to the thick yogurt. Garnish with saffron, pista and almond. Serve chilled with poori.

* Everest brand sells a kesar milk (powder) that has dried nuts ( coarsely crushed)in them that is added to warm milk for the saffron flavoured doodh. It can be used for flavouring kheer as well.

Happy Ugadi!

Clockwise:- starting from happla kismuri ( 6 O'clock), vodi, taushe sasam, dalithoy, chane ghashi made with the same masala as tori ghashi, nelkadle upkari, madgane, amrakhand with rice.

Happla kismuri

Ingredients:
Red Chillies Pappad/ Happol - 5
Onions,finely chopped - 1
Green Chillies - 3 finely chopped
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Coconut oil - 2 tsp
Cilantro, few stems, chopped
Salt

Method:
Roast the Pappad on high flame, apply oil. Crush green chillies in grated coconut add this to chopped onions, cilantro and salt. Hand crush the pappad and mix it with coconut onion mixture. Serve immediately.

Chane upkari ani phov

This is one of the breakfast eats which is done at most Konkani get-together's yet is not liked very much if done at home. It is considered very thoughtless of the host if at all it is served to any guest...no idea why! With last minute guest visiting all the time, sometimes it is inevitable to fix this breakfast up. I love this all the more now that I'm away from my home and it is a rare breakfast eats for us over here. A very simple non complicated breakfast.


















CHANE UPKARI
Ingredients:
brown skinned chana – 1cup
Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Red chillies 3, cut in half
Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:
Soak chana for 4-6hrs.
Pressure cook the chana till soft and tender.
Heat oil in a kadai, for seasoning and splutter mustard seeds,red chillies and curry leaves. Now add the cooked chana and salt. Bring it to a good boil. Garnish with coconut. Serve with Phov.

PHOV
Ingredients:
Thin poha 2 cups
coconut 1 cup
jaggrey 1/4 cup, grated
Jeera 1/4 tsp
coriander seeds 1/4 tsp
red chillies 4-8
mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
oil 1tsp

heat oil and roast red chillies, jeera and coriander seeds.
Crush the roasted spice with jaggrey, salt and coconut with a mortar and pestle. Add this coconut-spice mixture till the masala incorporates with poha. Make a seasoning with oil, mustard seeds,red chillies and curry leaves and add this to mixed poha.
This poha in a konkaniites home is served with one or more of the following:-banana, upma, chana upkari, chivda.

Nelkadle upkari

This dish is the recipe shared by one of a great cook, Shyamala Kini who posts wonderful pics on a group "Konkani Amchi Food" on FB. Something so simple, yet, delicious and a new found dish made from the common ingredient....the peanuts.
So, my inspiration source of this dish is S akka.

Ingredients:
Peanuts 2cups,
mustard seeds
red chillies
curry leaves
salt

Method:
Peanuts need to be soaked in water for 4-6 hrs. Pressure cook.
heat oil and season with mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves. Add cooked peanuts and salt and bring it ot one boil. Serve as a side.

Upma

The upma served here with tea, bhusa mixture and parle-G, just the way my babies love it.

Ingredients:
Rava 2 cups
mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
urad dal 1/4 tsp
green chillies 4, slit
curry leaves 1 sprig
water 4 cups
ghee 3tbsp
cocnut 4tbsp
sugar 3 tbsp
salt

Method:
Boil the water and keep aside.
Heat ghee in a kadai and season with mustard, urad dal, green chillies, curry leaves.
Add rava and roast on low flame till the rava has a toasted aroma. Add salt and sugar mix well and take off flame. Pour the 4 cups of boiling water, coconut and mix well. cover and and cook on low flame for 15 mins which will completely cook the rava and doubles up in volume. Stir to mix up all the seasoning that settled on top of the upma. Serve it with poha, bhusa mixture, chivda or as is.

Malai kofta

This one's one of the first recipe I tried from Sanjeev Kapoors collection (print out saved from 2002). I don't know if his recipe has changed over the yrs, I never felt the need to check since I think dish has been approved by my family long ago and that's all that matters.

Ingredients for kofta's:
boiled potatoes, 2 medium
paneer, crumbled, 1 cup
raisins 20
cashew nuts 1/4 cup
corn flour 1/4 cup
bread crumbs, 1/2 cup
red chilli powder 1/2 tsp
finely chopped green chillies 6
finely chopped cilantro
salt

For the gravy:
Onions 2-3
green chillies 4-6
garlic paste 1tbs
ginger paste 1tbs
milk powder/ mawa 1/2 cup
fresh cream 1/2 cup
turmeric 1tsp
coriander powder 1tsp
garam masala 1tsp
red chilli powder 1 tsp
tomato puree 1/2 cup
cashewnuts abt 10
oil + salt

Part 1: Peel and mash the boiled potatoes, add all the ingredients listed in the kofta section. Mix well, form elongated rolls (this makes about 20)and deep fry. Set aside.
Part 2: Boil the onions (I pressure cook without any liquid in the vessel containing onions). Separately soak cashew nut in warm water for about 20 minutes and make a paste along with boiled onions. cool.
Part 3: Heat oil in a kadai, add boiled onion paste ( a very high chance of spluttering and blistering is expected here)and stir the paste so it reduces the water content. Add ginger garlic paste and stir for a few minutes before adding spices to remove any pungency from garlic. Add tomato puree and all the spice powder and saute for a few minutes.
Part 4: Dissolve milk powder in 1 1/2 cups of water and add to gravy. Bring it to boil and simmer for 5 mins. Finish with fresh cream and cilantro.
Add kofta's on hot gravy just before serving. Serve with ghee rice or roti's.

Arvi chatpata

Ingredients
Arvi roots-boiled like poatoes, peeled, cubed,
Oil- 1 tbsp
mustard seeds-1/4 tsp
curry leaves- 1 sprig
turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Jeera-1/2 tsp, crushed
Dhaniya powder- 1/4 tsp
chaat masala- 1/4 tsp
salt

Heat oil in a kadai and all the above ingredients listed above and saute lightly to crisp the arvi chunks.

Shrimp 65

Ingredients:

For the marinade:
3 lbs Shrimp
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp ginger & garlic paste
1 tbsp lime juice
1 egg
salt

cooking oil for deep frying

For seasoning:
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
6-8 Italian peppers
4 green chillies, slit
2sprig curry leaves
3 tbsp chilli garlic sauce (I used Ching's secret)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp schezwan sauce
Salt to taste
5-6 stems spring onions

Method:
Marinated the shrimp and set aside for about an hr.
Heat oil for frying the shrimp and fry them to medium rare without overcrowding the oil.
Heat oil in a kadai/wok and add seasoning ingredients one at a time in the above order, sauteing for a few minutes before adding the next ingredient.Toss fried shrimp to coat well. Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve as an appetizer.

Vaingana/gulla sagle

Ingredients:
Gulla/thai green eggplants 12-15
Coconut -1 cup
Red chillies 6-8
Tamarind paste 1/2 tsp
methi seeds 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

prep:
Slit egglpants into 4 from the bottom keeping the stem intact.

Grind together the coconut, red chillies,methi seeds, coriander seeds, salt and tamarind to a coarse paste. Spoon this paste in the cut slits of eggplants. Set aside.

Heat oil in a flat heavy bottomed pan and season with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the stuffed eggplants and let it sizzle in the seasoning, turning the eggplants as it roasts on medium heat. After roasting for a few minutes, add the rest of the ground masala, if any and cover and cook for about 10 minutes to cook completely on low heat. Do not stir the dish too much which may break the eggplants. Serve hot as a side dish along with rice.

Pomfret fry

Pomfrets cut up into 1 inch
red chilli powder
 tamarind,
 turmeric
 hing
 salt.

 All the ingredients are just a eyeball measurement.

Mix well and chill in the refrigerator for a couple hours.
Coat the fish in dry mix using 1 tbsp of rice flour, salt and red chilli powder and set aside.
Shallow fry on medium hot skillet using about a tsp of oil around the edges of each peice.

Rabdi

Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 cup paneer, grated
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
a few strands saffron

For the garnish
1 tbsp crushed almonds

Heat milk in a heavy bottomed vessel and bring it to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat and add the paneer crumbs, condensed milk, cardamom powder and saffron. Cook on low heat for 5 mins. Garnish with crushed almonds. Chill overnight and serve.

Paneer Jalfrezi

A variation to paneer chili with the addition of schezwan sauce.



1 block paneer ( 400g) cut in rectangle pcs
1  each- bell pepper, red onion,
5-8 green chillies, cut fine
1 inch ginger piece, julliened
3-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp chilli flakes
2 tbsp hot chilli sauce (I used Taco bell brand)
2 tbsp (chings) Schezwan sauce
salt

Shallow fry paneer peices with oil to a golden brown color.
Heat oil in a wok, add ginger, garlic, bell pepper and red onions. Saute to get the onions translucent.
Add all the sauces, salt, green chillies, paneer and spring onions.
Stir fry for a few mins to soften the spring onions and coat up the paneer well.
Serve hot as an appetizer.

Tawa Bhaji

Ingredients
2 big red onions
1 green bell pepper
1 medium potato
cauliflower florets
2 green chillies slit
1 tomato
1 inch pc ginger finely chopped
paneer cubes
2tsp kitchen king masala
1 tsp paneer makkanwala powder
1/4 tsp haldi
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp kasoori methi
cilantro for garnish
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste


Method
In a kadai, heat oil, add onion, fry potaoes cooked for a few minutes and add the spices and stir for a few minutes. Mix in rest of the veggies and paneer, saute to crisp the vegies, simmer and cook for a few minutes, covered. Garnish with cilantro and crushed kasoori methi. Serve with paratha/ chapathi.
G's note: there is no added water to this dish and the veggies have a slight crunch to them and not completely cooked.

Anjeer kulfi

Khurle ghashi

Ingredients
4 lbs crabs/ kurlo (mine was frozen snow crabs)
2 cups coconut
1 small sized onion, finely minced
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
8-10 red chillies, roasted
1 tsp tamarind paste
salt

Make a paste out of coconut, roasted red chillies, tamarind and salt.
Heat 1 cup of water in a big stock pot.  Add  crab and steam for 5 mins. 

In a seperate pan, roast onions in 1 tbsp oil.  Add  ground masala, ginger, steamed crabs and bring it to a rolling boil, cover. Cook for 5 minutes. Let sit for an hour before serving.
Heat well and serve hot with rice.

Roasted red bell pepper hummus

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 can chickpeas; drained
1/2 cup red bell peppers; roasted
2 garlic cloves; minced
1 tsp kasmiri chilli powder
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt


Add all ingredients but the oil into a food processor and start processing. Add the oil slowly until you reach the consistency you’d like. Enjoy it with edible spoons IE with chips of your choice(pita chips/ tortilla chips/ crostini's).

Vanilla cake with choc frosting

Mix together cake flour, water, eggs and oil to a smooth batter.


Spray the pan with cooking spray or smear with butter generously. Bake at 325F for 1 hr for a 8 inch diameter by 3 inch height. ( 8 X 3)


Remove from oven. A well done cake should leave the sides of the pan.


Remove after 10 mins, while it is still warm to ensure the easy release of the cake.


Cool on a cooling rack till completely cooled.


Smear some icing on the base of your cake board so that the cake won't slide during placing.


Make as many layers as desired. In my case, due a good height of cake pan, I got 4 layers out of 3".


Pipe a ring of icing so the filling does not ooze out, between each layers.


Ice the top of the cake first by using a lot of icing on top since it is easy to remove extra icing but hard to put it back on if your spatula touches the cake, making all the crumbs to ruin your cake.


Ice the sides next, again without letting the spatula touch the cake. At this point, the spatula should touch the icing only at all times, for the same reason explained above.



A comletely iced cake, also called crumb coating. The cake is visible and the crumbs may show through the icing...no worries, since this is getting a second coat of icing. Now the cake can be chilled for an hour to seal the crumbs. I skipped the step since I did not get crumbs on my first coat.


A second coat was applied(In my case chocolate) Decorated and was ready for presentation.





Here's a second look as I totally loved making this for my sweetie!


The irresistable chocolate rose. If I may say so, myself!

Sourdough bread

Sourdough 101
Don't freak out looking at the pictorial....it is just broken in parts so a beginner can do it with no(or less) confusion. It's pretty easy considering that I've failed a few times and came up with a no-fail recipe. I guarantee it!

Ingrediemts needed are pretty much what we always have ready. Theres nothing much to it. Really! What gives this bread a 'tang' is what we need to have ready a day in advance.






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A starter:
Mix together 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 cup yogurt and 1 tsp yeast(optional) and let sit for 12-24 hrs.
I left mine for a full 24 hrs.
At this point you can do one of two things:
a) take half and follow rest of the procedure with it or share/discard the second half
b) keep the second half & feed half cup water and 1/2 cup flour and let sit 24 hrs for another day of bread making/pancakes/muffins/scones etc.
It can also be saved in refrigerator, loosely covered and keep feeding it every week and this lasts good for a whole year( some bakers say, indefinitely) provided, u take half out and add half cup of each water and flour, religiously. That is another topic with a longer explanation and for another day.

So here's my starter all mixed in & ready to work its magic.


This is how it looks next day. Add 1 1/2 cup flour and 3 cups water and mix well.



This is how it looks after 12 hrs. Let it sit 12 more hrs to get the tang.


24 hrs later, you will see a well fermented batter.


Add 2 to 2 1/2 cups of flour, 3 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp salt, 1tsp sugar and mix well to make a pliable dough.


This is how your dough should look like....non sticky and smooth.


5-6 hrs later, the dough has doubled up in volume. You'll know it is ready when you poke a hole at the center & the dent stays in.


Take a look at the beautiful gluten that was working hard to make it look like this...stretchy, yeasty smell & pliable. Its time to punch it down, shape into whatever your heart desires. Typically a loaf, baguette, Boule or rolls.



I shaped mine into lump (talk about being lazy. In my defense, all the wait for the dough to be ready was tiring enough!). Set aside for 1 hr (OR until it has doubled up in volume) to proof( second rise).


Mist the risen dough with water (for crisp crust) and bake for 17- 20 mins @ 450F. For a better color, use beaten egg white as a wash instead of water.
My baked bread sort looked pale...sigh! I wasn't happy with the color but the taste was 'to die for'. The smell that filled my kitchen was amazing. Absolutely a keeper recipe for us, I'll work at it to achieve the color as well as I see many more breads coming out of my oven.
* A well baked bread should sound hollow when tapped on and the crust should feel crisp when poked. Yeah, I can be crazy like that!


Now admire the beautiful bread, pat yourself on the back and bite into the bread with a pat of butter.