Thursday, March 31, 2016

Indian Maize Pudding / Corn Payasam




  This was my first post in this Shhh secretly cooking . Mayuri patel mailed me whether I am interested in joining , I immediately said Yes .

   Pallavi purani  was paired with me  for this March. She gave me two secret ingredients – Maize and Cardamom.



  The term maize derives from the Spanish form of the indigenous Taino word maiz for the plant. It is called as Maize in united kingdom and Ireland , where it is called now as sweet corn.

  We usually buy the maize as a whole – corn on cob and steam cook and have it. It is a common snack in our home.
  Dried corn has the antioxidant activity , which reduce the chance of heart disease and cancer . Dried corn is a good source of many nutrients like thiamine ( Vitamin B1) , Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5 ) , folate , dietary fiber , phosphorous and manganese . Its effect in heart health lies not just in its fiber , but in the significant amounts of folate that corn supplies .

 I thought of making some other recipe and bought dry corn but finally made the  payasam with the fresh corn.

  I boiled the whole corn with the cob and shreeded the corn .


Requirements :

Shredded corn from one whole corn cob
2 cup Milk
½ cup sugar
2 cardamom
6 cashew
One tbs clarified butter ( Ghee )

Method :

Dry roast the cardamom and grind into fine powder.

  I shreeded the corn from the whole boiled corn cob. Then grind the corn with little milk to a fine paste.

Melt the Ghee in a pan , add the grounded corn and sauté for two minutes .

Add in the milk and let it boil on the medium flame.

After around 15 minutes of boiling , add the sugar and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add in the cardamom powder and cashew and mix well.

Serve warm or cold .

Indian Maize pudding is ready to serve.

Note :
I didn’t add any other flavouring other cardamom  , if you wish to add can add rose water.


The payasam was so flavourful and tasty.

Sending  to here.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Leopard Patch / Spots Bread – We Knead to Bake#36





    This month’s bread was Leopard Patch (spots) bread which I had first seen on a chinese website and thought of making. I was happy when I saw this bread has to be made. I enjoyed the whole process with my sister Anu.




    Pao de Leite Leopardo which translates a Leopard Patterned Milk Bread.
   If you want to add more flavour to your bread you can add vanilla to the dough, add more sugar for a sweeter bread, and I’ve even seen someone cover the top of the bread with melted chocolate.
As a variation on this if you just colour one half of the bread with enough cocoa to make it dark and then follow the recipe with just two different colors of dough, one white and one dark, you can make A Giraffe Patch Bread!

Ingredients :
 2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup warm milk
½ cup warm water
50 g butter , melted
½ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Instant Yeast

For the darker brown coloured dough:
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder ( Cadburys cocoa )
1 tbsp milk
For the lighter brown coloured dough:
1 ½  tsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder ( Another brand cocoa which was lighter in colour )
1 tbsp milk

A little milk for brushing while baking
Method :
To make the dough
  In a large bowl , combine the all purpose flour and whole wheat flour along with the sugar , salt and instant yeast .
 Mix in the  butter , warm water and milk and stir well until the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl .
 Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple.
 Divide the dough into two halves. Shape one half into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover loosely and let it rise till double (about 2 hours). This is the white coloured dough.
   Take the other half and divide it into two equal portions. To one portion, add the 3 tbsp cocoa powder dissolved in the 1 tbsp of milk and knead well until uniform in colour. This is the dark coloured dough for the leopard’s patches. Shape it into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover loosely and let it rise till double.
Add the 1 1/2 tsp of cocoa powder dissolved in the 1 tbsp of milk to the other half of dough an knead well till the colour is uniform. This is the light coloured dough for the leopard’s patches. Shape it into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover loosely and let it rise till double.
   Gently deflate the dough and then divide each of the coloured dough into 6 equal portions. Roll each of the light brown portions into long ropes about 8 1/2“ long. Now also roll each of the dark brown portions to ropes of similar length. Flatten the dark brown ropes a little so they can enclose the light brown ropes. All the enclosures don’t have to be complete or perfect as the imperfections create the unevenness that will show up as beautiful “leopard patches”.
Now roll out the white dough into ropes of similar length, roll to flatten them out and enclose the brown ropes making sure they’re completely covered. Now gently roll the completely enclosed ropes gently increasing their length to about 17”. Cut each of the 7 ropes exactly in half to make 14 ropes about 8 1/2" long.  I didn’t do this step , I arranged six ropes evenly .
  Now arrange them a little unevenly in a greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan, cover and let it rise for about an hour until it has almost doubled in volume. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that refills slowly. Brush the top with milk.
  Bake the bread at 180C (350F) for 30 to 35 minutes, until it's light golden brown and done. Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.
This recipe makes 1 loaf.

Leopard Patch bread is ready to be served.
Note :
I added extra sugar , the original recipe calls for 2 tbs , but I added ½ cup sugar.

I used cadburys cocoa for darker patch and a local brand cocoa for the inner patch. You can increase the amount of cocoa powder to get the darker shade. Make sure to increase the sugar accordingly.

 For the darker patch some use activated charcoal powder , if you get that can use in the bread.



Sending  to here.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Betel Leaves Chutney / Vetrillai Thuvaiyal



Betel leaf is a must in offerings to god and is usually served   following a feast in India.
Betel leaf are good for digestion , so our ancestors followed it as a custom after the feast and is good for pregnant ladies as it helps them in lactation.
I had already posted a rice recipe using this betel leaf , Vetrillai Poondu Sadam , a flavorful Rice with betel and garlic .


Ingredients :
Betel leaves  ( small ) – 5 -6
Chopped cilantro leaves – ½ cup
Urad dhal – 2 tbs
Red chillies – 2
Tamarind – a small marble sized
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method :
Wash and pat dry and chop betel leaves.
Heat oil  in a pan , add urad dhal and sauté till golden .
Add in dry chillies and sauté for a minute.
Let it cool and add in the chopped betel leaves , coriander              leaves and tamarind.
Grind along with salt and little water .
Betel leaf chutney is ready to serve.
Serve along with plain rice , idli or dosa.
We had it with  plain dosa.


Monday, March 14, 2016

Sepen- Tibetian Hot spicy sauce





  Spicy raw sauce made as a sidedish , goes well with tingmo. 




Sepen  is a Tibetan hot sauce made with chilles as the  main ingredient and other spices. It can be made on a tomato base  or can include vegetables like onion and celery.

 Sepen can be thick and chunky or smooth. It is served with all meals and is used to spice the usually mild Tibetan food.





Requirements :

1 cup whole dried small red chilli peppers
1 tsp whole Sichuan peppercorns ( optional )
½ cup chopped fresh cliantro ( coriander ) leaves
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced ginger







Method :

 If planed a day before , soak the chili pepper in cold water overnight.
 For instant preparation , soak chili in boiling water for 20 minutes.
 Drain the chillis and discard the water.
Combine all the ingredients along with 2 tbs of water and grind until smooth.
Serve along with Tingmomo.


Saturday, March 12, 2016

Reviews


                              Cookbook Review 
            
                             The udupi Kitchen 
               
                               Indian Breads 

                          Silk Road Vegetarian 

                          The Cafe Spice Cookbook 

                               Guilt - free Baking 


      


                          Product Review
      
                         Assam 1860 Tea 

                     Dabur Baby Massage oil

                         Eastern Masala 

                   Garnier pure active neem Facewash 

                          goodfud.co 

                       Gits ready meals 

                                        Snackexpert.com




                             Book Review 

                              Private India 

                            God is a Gamer 

                          That's my story 

            Ramayana - Game of life - Shattered dreams  

                           The   amazing Racist  

                      The best seller she wrote  
  
                                 Bhima

          Ramayana - Game of life - Stolen Hope