Sprouts and Vegetable Salad with Nuts

Over the past week I have been making one pot meals for lunch and salads to go with. Salads are often included in my menu though my husband is not particularly interested. I am wary of the leaves though. I have not taken to the raw taste of lettuce and such, so I opt to exclude them. On a visit to the market, I picked up a small pack of cherry tomatoes, green grapes and tender ginger. Most times I snack on sprouts for my mid morning snack, thus, I have on hand one thing or another.
This is a simple salad with no fancy dressing but loaded with nutrition. A simple lime juice and ground ginger was all I needed to take the taste one notch higher.

Sprouts and Vegetable Salad with Nuts
Serves two people
Ingredients:

1/2 cup sprouted green gram
12-15 cherry tomatoes
20 green grapes
1 carrot
A table spoon each of walnuts, goji berries, slivered almonds and pistachios
Salt
1&1/2 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon ginger paste

Method:
Slice the carrot as desired, cut into two the cherry tomatoes and green grapes.
If the grapes are seedless variety use them as is, otherwise remove the seeds.
Toss the sprouts, above vegetables and all the nuts in a serving bowl.
Add salt, ground ginger and the lime juice.
A quick salad is ready to be served
.

We Knead to Bake 25 - Black Forest Buns

Through the last year and the year the year before that, I have been baking along with the We Knead to Bake bread baking group. But my attention to the baking along suffers long intervals. Just as I am catching up with other members who have baked almost all the breads, I have a set back and I race again to catch up. This time I am four behind, having taken a break since November. I had intended to bake all the four of those and post in the order of the group, which again became a task that I did not adhere to. This month's bread caught my husband's attention when Aparna posted it and he printed it out for me. He fancied the black forest cake crumble in the buns and insisted that i try it out soonest, other breads could wait. Thus, here i am posting the bread for February 2015.
Aparna wanted to have this recipe for this month in line with the Valentine's Day. I have no idea how this day is different from other days as love can be shared and expressed any day. However, it was a good idea to bake a special kind of bread, for the other half.
I kept reading the recipe and putting it off for another day. with the Cricket World Cup matches starting, I was sure I may never get around to doing anything constructive over these two months. However, team India gave us a reason to celebrate defeating their arch rivals Pakistan in the opening match. It was a good start having not won a match for over few months. While we can enjoy great friendship with our neighbours, Pakistan, when it comes to cricket, we are rivals and fans tend to treat this rivalry very seriously. Thus, it is a joy to watch your team beat their opponents.I thought it would be good to bake a cake,celebrating the victory and a cake that will go into the buns that my husband was looking forward to. I baked the eggless cake adding cocoa to the batter and baked the chocolate sponge cake.The left overs of this cake was crumbled and added to the buns.
I hope to bake the three other breads soon too and shall be posting even though they do not appear in the order of baking as in the group. bear with me if there be too many breads following one another.
Black forest buns use chocolate cake and cherry compote. The cherry compote could be flavoured with a little amount of kirsch - the cherry brandy if you like them for flavour.
While egg adds to the texture to the dough and hence buns, I did not find them different even if I omitted the egg. I had cherry jam on hand, but you could always opt for the strawberry jam.
The kneading, rolling out the dough and the shaping are all similar to the cinnamon rolls. Adding toasted and chopped nuts or mini chocolate chips is also an option.

Black Forest Buns

Makes 12 buns

Ingredients:
For the Dough:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
50 grams butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg at room temperature (I have substituted the egg with 1/4 cup more water)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
3 to 31/4 cup all purpose flour

For the filling:
3/4 cup cherry compote/ jam or strawberry jam
21/2 to 3 cups crumbled chocolate sponge cake

For Drizzling:
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate (not used in my buns)

Method:
Prepare the chocolate cake adding 20 grams of cocoa powder to this recipe posted earlier in this blog.
You may make any chocolate sponge cake recipe with or omitting eggs.

The dough:
Pour milk and water in a pan and heat it until hot but not boiling. Take off the heat and drop in the butter. Stir and melt the butter in this hot liquid. Add the sugar and dissolve it. Allow the mixture to become lukewarm. Hot liquid will kill the yeast and also curdle the egg if using one.
Transfer the liquid to the kneading bowl. Add the yeast and mix it in. If you are adding egg, add it to the mixture now and whisk together.I added some extra water to the mixture at this point.
Add one cup of the flour to the above and mix. Then add the salt and the rest of the flour and knead well to obtain a soft, elastic dough that is not sticky. Add flour to adjust the consistency of the dough, but do not add too much.
When done, roll the dough and place it a lightly oil coated bowl, turning it in the oil to thinly coat over the dough. cover loosely and keep aside allowing it to double in volume. This may take about an hour to an hour and a half.
Meanwhile crumble the cake and keep the jam ready.

Shaping the buns:
Remove the risen dough and transfer to a flat working surface.
Roll the dough into a rectangle 18"by 12".
Spread the jam over the surface leaving just about 1/2 an inch towards the edges.
Sprinkle the crumbled cake on the jam.

Roll the dough as snugly as possible away from you along the length of the rectangle. This will be like the Swiss roll with the jam, cake and dough contained within.
Pinch to seal well, if needed dampen the edge to ensure that it seals.
Using a sharp knife or the dough scraper into 1&1/2 inch rolls.
Arrange these rolls on paper moulds or making collars around them in a pan, leaving just enough space. If they are too spaced out, the dough might rise in the wider angle while we need it to rise in height.
Make sure that the roll has been done as tightly as possible because these buns swell quite a bit
Cover and leave aside for an hour until almost double.

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Bake the buns for about 25 to 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool them on wire racks.
if you choose to drizzle the chocolate, do it after the buns are completely cooled.
Like every other bread, these are best enjoyed fresh. However, keeping them for an extra day does not alter the taste and texture.
I have halved the above recipe to make six buns, though I had one extra bun as I may have cut the rolls smaller. I baked them in a 10" round cake tin.They swelled enough to fill the tin. placing the collars helps as otherwise they tend to stick to each other on the sides, making them pull-apart buns.

For more of these buns please visit Aparna's post and find at the bottom links to other members' buns.

Amrakhand - Mango Flavoured Shrikhand

I had been away from active blogging for some time now. It was a medical emergency that I was in India and having recouped my health well, I am home and to routine. I thought I shall start this new beginning with a sweet dish.
Shrikhand is a popular dessert in the western states of India. It is made of just two main ingredients namely hung curd and sugar. It could be flavoured with saffron and cardamom. It was not introduced to me, who had not travelled far from South Indian states, until my late teens. We were visiting our uncle in Bombay and he bought us shrikhand and few other mithai from a popular shop near where they lived. Today I do not recall taking to the taste, much, despite being fond of sweetened curds. Many years down, we picked up a branded pack of shrikhand flavoured with cardamom, which is when possibly I acquired the taste.
There are versions that a fruit pulp is blended into the curd cheese and sugar added to it. My dish today is the amrakhand which hung yoghurt is blended with mango pulp.
During the season, my fruit vendor offered me two large, juicy and sweet mangoes. I made the sorbet with part of the pulp, mousse and this shrikhand. There was enough for the two of us to last three or four days in mango mania.

I have used in this recipe, some condensed milk. In the warm weather, my home set yoghurt tends to get a bit sour. Using condensed milk is optional. You may place the yoghurt in a strainer with a bowl underneath it and leave it in the refrigerator to drip. You may need to increase the quantity of sugar and adjust according to how sweet your mango is.

Amrakhand - Mango Flavoured Shrikhand
Makes about 750 grams /6-8 servings

Ingredients:
2 litres of home set/ store bought, thick, natural yoghurt
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sugar powdered very fine
1 cup mango pulp blended very smooth

Flavouring:
Few strands of saffron mixed in a tablespoon of warm milk
2 pods of cardamom powdered


Garnish:
Chopped pistachio nuts
Chopped almonds
Few pieces of cubed mango

Method:
Pour the yoghurt into a cheese cloth. Gently turn the cloth to allow the whey to drip. Place the bundle in a strainer, over a bowl and allow the whey to collect in the bowl.
You may choose to hang the bundle from a height and collect the whey in a bowl placed underneath.
Place the bowl and strainer with the yoghurt in the refrigerator for a few hours until all the whey has drained.
Remove the curd from the cheese cloth into a large bowl.
Puree the mango to a very smooth blend. Add the sugar to the pulped mango.
Add to the curd cheese, condensed milk and blend with a whisk.
Put in the saffron and cardamom and give another whisk.
Gently add the mango and blend until desired consistency and colour is achieved. I used up the entire pulp and my amrakhand was not very thick. This shrikhand was a smooth blended fruit and yoghurt mix.

While serving, garnish with chopped nuts and cubed mangoes.
Serve chilled.
When mangoes are not in season also, if you are able to purchase canned mango pulp, you might enjoy the amrakhand.

Flower tea for Black and White Wednesday

A friend gifted me a pack of Flower tea, bursting with flavours from the ingredients therein. Here's the picture of the tea being infused.

Cindystar currently hosting Susan's Black and White Wednesday event, hosts this 150th week special edition. This picture is being sent for the same.

Vanilla Flavoured Maida Burfi - Deepavali Bakshanam

Activity around any festival is by itself a thrill to experience. Deepavali being one of the widely celebrated festivals and one of the grand occasion, our homes are abuzz with preparations. Different kinds of sweet dishes and savoury crisp dishes are made on a week long process, in huge numbers. There is so much joy in cooking them and sharing with neighbours and friends.
Years ago, we used to get back from school in anticipation of seeing filled stainless steel and brass cylinders filled to the brim with bakshanams. As we only had the tradition of having the 'Ganga snaanam', namely the oil bath, wearing new clothes and cracking fireworks then, there were no special prayers. So we were allowed to taste and munch on all the dishes, as and when they were made, in my mother's kitchen.
These days, living in far away lands, I try to observe the tradition to the best of my ability. Though I hardly have someone to share with, I make a few dishes, in much lesser quantities. This year too, I had made a list of dishes to be made. It was an extra special deepavali, being the first for our daughter after her marriage, earlier this year.
My daughter wanted to try her hand, in her kitchen, making some of them. She wanted me to guide her with them. To be very sure and to pass on proper measures and procedures, I made them at home, ahead of her, took pictures and messaged her in detail. She followed the same and was very happy with her attempts. Over skype conversations and demonstrations, we discussed her list of dishes. She made thirattuppaal  taking instructions from my mother, and badam halwa from the blog.
One of the sweets I tried to make it easy for her was the vanilla flavoured maida burfi. There is already the rose flavoured maida cake in my list. She is not fond of rose flavour and opted for the vanilla flavoured one instead. I altered the procedure a little bit, making it easier. The recipe below is that I sent to her to try. She was happy to have made them and I ticked one sweet dish off in my list.

Vanilla Flavoured Maida Burfi

 

Ingredients:
200 ml plain flour/ All purpose flour/ maida

200 ml ghee melted

450 ml sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

150 ml water to dissolve sugar

2 teaspoons ghee to grease the jelly pan

Method:

Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a heavy bottomed pan, add the flour and over a very low flame roast it for about  5-7 minutes.
Transfer to a flat large dish and allow it to cool. Once it has come to room temperature, add 100 ml of the ghee to it and mix well. Break tiny lumps that may form with the back of the ladle.
Take this mixture to the pan and cook over a low flame until the mixture is a bit frothy. This may take about 5 minutes. Transfer this to a bowl. Keep aside.
Rinse the pan and place the sugar and water in it. Place the pan on the stove over medium heat. Dissolve the sugar and continue boiling  to make a syrup.
The correct consistency of the syrup to be achieved can be tested by dropping a small quantity in a little water. If the syrup flattens and holds, but is not rolling to a soft ball while rolled, then the right consistency is achieved.

Now bring the heat to the lowest and add in the flour - ghee mixture into the syrup.

Stir constantly and cook the mixture. Add the rest of the ghee in small increments and incorporate it into the cooking mass. 
When the mixture is well cooked and almost done, it will have white foam around the edges and big bubbles appear towards the middle. It will leave the sides when stirred and very slowly get back.
At this point turn the heat off. 
Keep the pan on the stove and briskly stir the mix until it is thickened enough to pour from the pan to the greased jelly pan in a uniform smooth, but thick batter that is almost like a loose dough.
(Ideally we take the pan off the stove and keep stirring strongly until the mass collects in a soft ball dough. I kept it on the hot stove with the fire off and stirred.)
Once you have transferred the dough to the jelly pan, tilt the pan a little to level the mix. Grease the back of a ladle, or a banana leaf and smoothen the top. The ghee will bring the extra glaze needed to this top surface also.Allow the mix to cool a little bit and while still warm, make cuts with a knife.
Let it cool completely before removing the pieces from the jelly pan.

The above recipe makes 25 numbers of 11/2 inches squares that are about 1/2 an inch in thickness.
This is slightly on the sweeter side in taste, that is how we like them. If you do not want them as sweet, reduce the sugar about two table spoons, but not more.

Rich Tomato Soup

I have lived in this country for the past nineteen months but I am yet to figure out the weather. It has been unpredictable and while the sun shines bright all day one day, we have overcast skies the next. It rained so heavily the other day that the weather was crisp. On such days one might just want to get cozy with a hot cup of tea and  a book. Cooking even the regular four or five dishes meal seems elaborate. I would love to settle for a hot soup and something very light to keep me filled.
After feasting on the neivedhyams - specially prepared and offered dishes through navarathri, we were taking it easy with lighter meals. Then Deepavali followed soon and it was again time for some rich sweets and savoury dishes.The crisp weather only called for a soup warm and nice, making up a light meal.
On my visit to the market one particular weekend, I found some fresh looking tomatoes, some ripe and some very green. I could not resist purchasing those. Thus, with a basket load of tomatoes, that was in excess of our regular consumption, I had to use them up, before they loose that freshness.
I have not added any butter or cream to call it rich, but it is rich in flavours and is Omega 3 rich. So I decided to add the adjective to the soup.

Rich Tomato Soup
Serves 2 fairly big servings

Ingredients:
5-6 Fresh, ripe, medium sized tomatoes
3 shallots
1/2 of a carrot
1 tablespoon cubes of beetroot
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon flax seeds
2 walnuts
1/2" piece cinnamom
1/2 teaspoon shredded ginger
1 clove
1/2 a bay leaf
1 cardamom slightly crushed
Salt as required

Method:
Wash the tomatoes and place them in a large bowl with water to cover the tomatoes. Boil them for about 4 to 6 minutes.
Remove from the heat, drain the excess water and allow to cool. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the peel and coarsely chop them.
Toss the shallots in some oil on heat for a few minutes until they are softened and acquire a shine.
Steam the carrot and beetroot and when they are soft, add to the tomatoes. Blend them to a puree along with the shallots and strain the puree.
Dry roast the flax seeds and sunflower seeds lightly and crush coarsely along with the walnuts.
Place the ginger,clove. bay leaf, cinnamon, and cardamom in a muslin cloth and tie it up securely.
In a pan place the olive oil and add the powdered seeds mix. Toss them around for half of a minute, drop the muslin with the condiments inside. Pour the vegetable broth and add the salt.  Allow this to simmer for 7 to 10 minutes and remove the muslin out.
Add the blended tomato puree in. Adjust the liquid level by adding more broth or water, if required.
Let the soup simmer until desired consistency is reached.

Remove from heat and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.
Serve hot.
No Croutons Required Event, co-hosted by Lisa and Jacqueline is now happening - October 2014 edition, at Tinned Tomatoes. This soup is to be packed for the same.

Varagarisi Badham Payasam - Kodo Millet and Almond Payasam

The Navarathri festival just got done with last week. During the nine days, I make different sweet dishes for each day and a legume based simple stir fried dish that we call sundal. I have with me a list of the specific neivedhyams offered as given to me by an elderly neighbour in Madras. He was a scholarly old man who was associated with eminent people in the literary field. This list was shared by one such person to this uncle. Thus I use it as THE guide. That list is just a part of all the special dishes that are prepared, while the payasams and sundals complement the menu.
During my recent visit to home, my sister told me that my cousin's doctor recommended her a diet with millets and that they find cooking them easy and that they enjoy them. There were magazines that were pouring in recipes and nutrient information that piqued my interest. Also, while I was there, the Government was promoting use of millets. There were organised events that promoted cooking and using of millets. I gave in and picked small quantities of most of those available in my local grocer's shelf. The dhobi who comes home to press our clothes purchased, picked and cleaned a few for me. she also instructed me how to cook them.
I packed whatever I had found and when I displayed my lot, the other one person whom I will have to share was skeptical. I was determined, however, and introduced them in dishes that they may blend well. Thus chola dosai (shorgum crepes), kudhiraivali ven pongal (savoury pongal with barnyard millet) etc. became regular dishes. Then with the advent of the festival, I announced to him that I am venturing a little further, and venture I did with relish. I cooked a few sweet dishes with millets going  more on a whim and fancy. Thankfully, I also knew to play them safe and I have a few recipes that we liked and decided were worthy of putting on this space.
Today's recipe is an attempted vegan dish which can also work with regular milk, though I prefer this version. I made this a bit thick in its volume so much as pudding; one may adjust to make it more of drinkable texture.

Kodo millet and almond payasam

Varagarisi Badham Payasam

This recipe makes 600 ml payasam that is creamy and has a slightly thick body.

Ingredients:

¼ cup kodo millet/ varagu arisi

10-12 numbers almonds whole

½ cup powdered jaggery

1 cup first extract of coconut milk

Cardamom powder, nutmeg powder for flavouring

Almonds and cashews toasted in a little coconut oil for garnish

Method:

Soak the almonds in water, remove the peel.
Pick, wash and soak the kodo millet for about 20 minutes. Alternately you can run it in the mixer and make a coarse powder that can be added directly to the almond paste later.

Dissolve the jaggery in warm water, strain to remove impurities. Place it in a saucepan and boil until the rawness subsides.
Meanwhile, grind the soaked almonds and millet to a fine paste adding sufficient water.
Transfer the paste to a heavy bottom pan, add about 1 and ½ more cups of water and cook on a medium to low flame stirring regularly. The millet-almond mixture will easily thicken and form lumps if unattended.

Cook this for about 10 minutes, adding more water if necessary until they cook to a creamy semi solid mass.
Pour in the jaggery syrup, mix well and finally add the coconut milk.
Cook until they blend well and just about until the coconut milk has lost the raw flavour.
Add the cardamom and nutmeg powders. Stir them into the payasam.
Remove from the heat.
To make the garnish:

Heat two teaspoons coconut oil, drop the broken cashews and slivered almonds. Toss until they are golden and fried until brittle.
Garnish the payasam with the above.
Notes:
If you need to double the recipe, adjust the jaggery , not exactly double but a little less.
I was going vegan with the recipe, but I am sure ghee will add to the flavour.
Cut slivers of coconut tossed in ghee/oil will also be good in the garnish.
I usually add a hint of dried ginger (about a pinch of finely powdered chukku) to most vellam based payasams. Since I used nutmeg, I opted that out in this.

Serve warm or chilled. 

Tweak as you like, adjust sweetness and liquid levels to your liking and enjoy the payasam. The chilled payasam, that had the pudding texture and the time to absorb the flavours,
tastes good that would leave one wanting another helping.