Not quite the same, Sepen - Tibetan Hot Sauce

In one of the food discussions, in a group, on facebook, someone suggested the Sepen, a very hot Tibetan sauce. It is interesting to know that while Tibetan cuisine is mild in spices and it is very common that the Tibetans partake many of their dishes with a generous dollop of hot sauces. The sauce counters the otherwise nearly bland taste. In the comments thread under the same discussion, someone also shared two links to recipes. They got me hooked to try the sauce.
Both of the recipes were similar because one was adapted from the same author as the other. One used just chillis and Sichuan / Szechuan Peppercorn while the other had tomatoes and celery added. Now I was in a fix as neither did I find the right peppercorn nor the celery. I decided it was to try my own take on the recipe with tomatoes, chillis and the mighty black pepper. Thus the emerging dish was not authenic sepen, just quite near imitation of the original. However, the taste of the sauce and colour were really good. That is reason enough to share a recipe, isn't it?

Tibetan Hot Sauce -Sepen

(Adapted from NYTimes 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/dining/sepen-or-tibetan-hot-sauce-recipe.html?_r=2 
and,
Experience the joys of Tibet culture
http://www.yowangdu.com/tibetan-food/tibetan-hot-sauce-tomato-based.html

Ingredients:
Makes 250 millilitres medium thick textured sauce
8 medium size tomatoes
3-4 dry red chillis
5 fresh green chillis
1/2 tablespoon black pepper corn crushed coarsely
7 pods of garlic crushed
1" piece ginger chopped very fine
2 table spoons oil
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons fresh coriander chopped (optional)/ few leaves for garnish

Method:
Wash the tomatoes clean and drop them in very hot water for a minute.
Remove the peel, cool and puree in a blender.
Grind both the chillis together to a coarse paste. Let the seeds of the chillis remain whole. Add to this, the crushed garlic, peppercorns and the ginger.
Heat oil in a heavy pan. Add the combined paste and saute'  for a few minutes on low heat to remove the raw taste.
Add the pureed tomatoes adjusting the water and the salt. Bring to one boil and simmer for 30 minutes, very slowly so the flavours come out strong.
Continue to simmer to achieve desired thickness of sauce.
Just before removing from the heat, add chopped coriander.

Remove from heat. Allow to cool and transfer to storing jar.
This sauce can stay outside of refrigeration up to three days and in the fridge for about ten days if stored well.

As is evident from the above picture, my sauce was not very thick while it was neither of runny texture. I cooked it to this level of thickness as I was cooking noodles with the sauce later.
Serve small portions of the very hot sauce with milder dish like momos and noodles and to dunk other stuffed breads in.
We relished this with steamed rice noodles.

Strawberry Jam

I mentioned that we went strawberry picking while holidaying with our daughter and son-in-law. It was so much fun to visit the vast farm and trying to pick and pick and pick.there was no restrictions so we kept eating as we picked. Not for a fleeting minute did either of us care that we are consuming not-so-clean fruits. Fresh from the plant seemed to take over any such idea. We kept going until we spotted that the shopping crates we had carried from home were filling up quickly. The whole purchase weighed to about 6lbs. Brought the strawberry loot home and stored them in the freezer all the while keeping aside for consumption as fresh. It was not hard to think of dishes to use them up before the next weekend visit to the farm.
My daughter made the strawberry ice cream that had a wonderful flavour and beautifully natural colour from the fresh produce. Meanwhile, on a visit to a bookstore, we came across a book on jams, jellies and preserves. Curious about the contents, we bought the book. Now was time to put to use the book and the berries we thought. However, cooking from the book did not materialise and we decided to rely on the internet. I had also picked up a small pack of pectin just to try. So, with some guidance from various sites on the internet and the book, we tried our recipe for the strawberry jam.At first attempt we let it sit in the heat a wee little longer and the jam was not flowing into prepared canning jars. We were careful the second try and we had perfect textured jam. Niki made this delicious jam and I carried it back home for my father. He seems to be eating it with anything he can pair it with.

Strawberry Jam
(Recipe adapted from various internet sites)
Makes 2X475 millilitres jars full.

Ingredients:
2 &1/2 cups crushed fresh strawberries
1/8 cup (30 ml) juice of lemon/lime
1/2 tablespoon powder pectin
3&1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon butter at room temperature

Method:
Heat water in a largish bowl in which you will be able to drop the glass jars that will store the jam.
Gently immerse the two canning jars in the simmering water. Keep them very warm until ready to transfer the hot jam.
Crush the strawberries with the back of a ladle to almost pulpy.
In a heavy bottom large bowl, add the pulp and the lemon juice and combine. Gradually add mix the pectin in.
Place the bowl on heat and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil.
It should boil down so much that the mix cannot be stirred down. Do this over high heat while constantly stirring the mixture.
Once the mix has thickened, add the entire sugar. Allow it to dissolve and cook back to full rolling hot again.
Add the butter and stir again, leaving it just for a minute on the stove. The butter eliminates the possibility of foam that might collect over the top.
You may do the plate test to check for doneness.

Remove the jars from the canning bath and quickly transfer the jam into them, leaving some space at the neck of the jars.
Store well with tight lids.
Enjoy with as many dishes as you wish.

Kambu Adai - Pearl Millet Adai

Millets have been a recent addition to my pantry. They are super easy to add to any recipes, can be powdered to flour, ground with other ingredients to a batter and cooked as such too.It is suggested that they have more nutrition than polished white rice. Millets are gluten free, rich in many minerals and above all they are quite delicious. They are interesting alternatives to more common grains like white rice.They sure fill you up with smaller quantities and thus good for diet watching too.
I have tried porridges, kheers, pongal, dosai and even paniyarams using millets. They taste good too.
At home, in India, I stocked up my supplies on millets. While the sorghum was well received cooked in any recipe, as my mother warned me that the pearl millet comes only second to any millet. To use this in crepes  may not be a choice that will be relished. However, she suggested that I make adai; with many more ingredients the taste and texture will certainly be better.
Pearl millet is a body coolant as it hydrates the system and thus a great choice to switch to in hot summer days. People who toil in the sun in open fields during the summer months, partake a porridge made with kambu, or carry rice kind of preparation with some raw shallots and buttermilk to survive the heat.

We tried the adai recipe she had noted down sometime and shared with me through a letter years ago. I have now cooked them a few times and have enjoyed with different side dishes.   

Kambu Adai

Ingredients:
To make 10 adais 

1/3 cup parboiled rice
3/4 cup kambu/ pearl millet
1/4 cup Channa dhal/ Bengal gram split
1/4 cup Thuvar dhal/ Pigeon peas split
1/4 cup shredded coconut
3 dry red chillis
3 fresh green chillis
1"piece ginger peeled
3 sprigs curry leaves, separated
Salt to taste
Oil to drizzle generously over the crepes


Method:
Wash the rice until clean and soak for a few hours.
Sprinkle water on the pearl millet and pulse it in a blender just once to dehusk it. If you have readily available clean kambu, just wash once or twice and soak separately for few hours.
Wash and soak both the dhals together and soak just for about 30 minutes.
Blend the soaked rice and kambu to somewhat smooth along with chillis, ginger and curry leaves.
Add the soaked dhals and shredded coconut. Grind only until you achieve a coarse batter.
Allow a few hours of fermentation.
Heat an iron skillet and pour a ladle of the batter, spread it in a circular crepe. Drizzle oil around the crepe. Cook until both sides are done crisp and golden.

Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or milagai podi. However, they are best relished with unrefined sugar and a blob of butter.

Maritozzi Con La Panna - We Knead to Bake 28

This month we bake a very simple yet awesome in taste and texture bread for the We Knead to Bake Group assignment. Sometime last month, Niv had come across these bun like rolls in Food 52, recipe by Emiko Davies and mentioned about it. Soon Aparna suggested we bake it this month. Finla had added her comment about the discrepancies in the measures of ingredients in that post. I guess that Aparna was determined to get it all right for us to bake and read up various sites who had shared the recipe and derived her measures to guide us.
I was about to travel back to India,having stayed a month with my daughter. We quickly decided that both of us shall bake the bread together. We baked it on the day Aparna shared her document with the group. it feels like an accomplishment as I usually take time to work on the recipe and bake the rolls.
These buns can be had without the cream also and with the cream they are a delight.
Maritozzi (or Maritozzo for a single roll) are very fragrant and soft, sweet buns. They are cut across the length, until about half way down to fill with whipped cream. They are served alongwith coffee during the breakfast hours in coffee bars in and around Rome.(Lazio region of Italy).
Traditionally the dough is flavoured with pine nuts, raisins and candied orange peel. once baked they are brushed with sweet water and sugar syrup. Cooled maritozzi are then cut and filled heavily with cream before serving.
The dough is essentially slightly enriched brioche dough, a less rich version though. This uses only orange zest for flavouring the dough and raisins added to the dough.
There are two video links that might be useful one showing how to make the Maritozzi,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7v3uz-pn18
and the next on how they fill cream in the maritozzi as being made in a Roman Bakery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDWq2NJAjY


Maritozzi Con La Panna (Roman Cream Buns)
(Adapted from various sources)

Ingredients:
For the Buns:
1&1/2 teaspoon instant yeast ( I used 2&1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast, proofed and added to the starter)
1/2 cup warm milk
1&3/4 cups all purpose flour (Plus for dusting)
1 egg (which I have substituted by adding more milk as needed)
1/4 cup sugar
50 grams butter at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/8 cup raisins, soaked in 2 to3 tablespoons warm orange juice/ warm water for 10 minutes
1 tablespoon pine nuts toasted lightly
Zest of 1 orange or 1 tablespoon candied orange peel, chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons water

or
powdered or icing sugar for dusting

For the filling:
500 millilitres fresh cream whipped to stiff peaks with few teaspoons icing sugar. (you may need 2 to 3 tablespoons cream per bun)

Method:
I have made this by hand, however, one might also use the processor.
Add warm milk and a teaspoon sugar to the instant yeast and 1/2 cup of flour. Mix to a smooth paste and cover. Let it stand for about 20 minutes. By then the paste would have doubled in volume and there will be visible bubbles.
If you use active dry yeast, allow it to rise before adding the flour and give time to double volume with bubbles.

To the starter add the rest of the sugar, butter, salt , egg (if using) and a cup of the flour.
Knead them to come together in a dough and add the pine nuts, raisins with the juice, the orange zest and vanilla extract. Knead by hand to a soft and elastic dough.
Add just as much of the remaining 1/4 cup flour to achieve a soft and elastic dough.
Dust a little flour in a bowl and place the dough in the shape of a rolled ball. Cover and give it a rise. It might take an hour to an hour and a half to double in its volume.
Lightly knead the risen dough to remove air pockets.
Divide the dough in 6 or 8 equal portions.
Roll each into a smooth ball and flatten it out into circle with your fingers.
Roll the flattened dough into a swiss roll style and seal their edges well.
Place them on lined baking tray well apart to allow them swell.
Cover loosely and let the rolls rise for another 30 minutes.
Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C /350 degrees F and bake the rolls for 15 to 20 minutes until they have puffed up and golden.
Do not over bake them as the bottom will darken and the rolls might become hard.
If you choose to glaze with sugar syrup, make the syrup by boiling the sugar together with the water  while the buns are baking. Glaze them while they are warm.
If you choose to use dusting, do so with powdered or icing sugar while they are warm.
To make the filling whip the cream with some icing sugar until stiff peaks are formed.
While serving, cut opeh the rolls not quite fully and fill in 2 to 3 tablespoons of whipped cream in the rolls.

Serve with coffee or tea.
Please take time to check out Aparna's post where you may find links to other members' posts. enjoy a visual treat of Maritozzi being served.

Home Made Strawberry Ice Cream

"Strawberry season is on and it is at it's peak" announced a flyer the postman dropped into my daugter's mail box last week. The U-pick farms are not very far from their home, about half an hour's drive away. So we decided to go enjoy the fun activity on the week end, and oh my, enjoy - we did. We were unable to stop picking the juicy ripe strawberries (and a few unripe for photos). It  was hardest to resist popping some into our mouths. We ended up picking two large crates and brought home around 6 kilograms strawberries. 

What would you do with so many, way more than you can consume? Freeze! Yes, we did the same. We were motivated to use them when they were fresh for there will always be another week, in some other season. So the strawberries went into as many dishes as we could think of. This ice cream was one.
Just three ingredients, a little patience and a wee little work are all you need to get the strawberries come together in this delightful dessert. The below makes quite a volume, but you may keep it in the freezer and enjoy over many days.

Home Made Strawberry Ice Cream

Makes 2 litres
Ingredients:
Fresh strawberries 1&1/2 cups
Sweetened condensed milk 1 tin(aprroximately 400 grams), 1&3/4 cup
Heavy whipping cream 2 cups (1 pint/16 fluid ounces/ approximately 475 millilitres)

Method:
Rinse the strawberries, remove the stem and pulp them in a blender.
Place a large bowl and the blades of a hand mixer in the freezer for about an hour.
In this large bowl pour the heavy whipping cream and run the hand mixer on medium speed till stiff peaks appear in the cream. Watch carefully not to over do the whipping.

Transfer contents of the condensed milk tin into a large bowl, pour in the strawberry puree and mix well.
Gently fold the strawberry and milk mixture into the whipped cream.
Cover the bowl tightly and place it in the freezer.
Take the ice cream out after three hours, stir briskly to remove ice crystals. Place it back in the freezer.

Repeat the stirring after three hours two more times.
Serve and enjoy.

 

We Knead to Bake 27 Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread

This month, Aparna chose for us in We Knead to Bake Group a rather easy bread and similar to the cinnamon rolls we baked earlier in the group.The Orange and Cinnamon Swirl bread is a typical American style breakfast bread and is sweet. It has a nice combination of ingredients and I personally prefer the cinnamon flavour.
Aparna had chosen this bread from a book she had to review. She made changes to her personal prefernce while she gave us the exact recipe to work with. i must say that I went with her measures and still had a nicely sweet bread.
I am currently travelling and this post is late as I had to juggle the time to bake the bread and then write the post. Given below is a copy from Aparna's post while the change I made was using strawberry preserve in the place of the apricot preserve and omitted the egg. I substituted for the egg with extra milk.

Orange and Cinnamon Swirl Bread

(Reproduced with permission from 500 Breads by Carol Beckerman)
(Makes TWO medium size loaves)

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon sugar
2/3 cups warm water
2 teaspoon active dry yeast
3&1/2 cups al purpose flour
2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs (or substitute, as required)
Juice and grated rind of an orange
5 tablespoons apricot/ strawberry preserve
1 tablespoon cinnamom powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
Oil for greasing

Method:
Grease two 8"X4" loaf tins with some oil.
dissolve 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water and sprinkle the teast. Allow it to proof for 10 to 15 minutes.
in a large bowl, mix flour, salt and 3 tablespoons sugar. Add the liquid yeast, eggs (or milk), the juice and the zest. Work this to a somewhat firm dough.
Turn the dough on to a loghtly floured surface and knead to a smooth, elastic but somewhat firm dough. Place the dough in a large, oiled
 bowl, cover and set aside in a warm place to double in its volume for about an hor and a half.

Turn the dough back on to a lightly floured surface, punch it down and gently knead again until the dough feels firm.
Divide the dough into two and roll out each into a 13"X6" rectangle.
Spread the preserve on each surface, sprinkle the brown sugar generously on top of the preserve and then the cinnamon powder.
Roll both rectangles each in a swiss roll like loaf.
Place each roll into the two prepared loaf tins.
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C (400 degrees F). Bake the breads for 30 to 35 minutes until the top of them is golden.

While tapped under they should sound hollow. Remove from the loaf tins and cool on wire racks.

Serve as a breakfast bread with tea or simply with tea or coffee anytime of the day.

Notes:
You may or may not use the eggs.
You might want to omit the 3 tablespoons sugar if you want your bread somewhat mildly sweet. brown sugar may be substituted with regular sugar.
Again, you may reduce the quantity of brown sugar to tone the sweetness down.
Apricot preserves work the best, but the strawberry preserve was close enough. Use the exact measures of the preserve as too less will leave a bland bread while too much will make it ooze and messy.
Adjust the flour or liquid to achieve a smooth, elastic but somewhat firm dough. Exercise caution with the flour or liquid as the texture will depend on them.
Try to keep the rolling measurements. I rolled it too thin and the bread had an ugly tear on the crown in my first attempt.
Roll the swiss like roll tightly enough and seal the edge well brushing a little water if needed. Place the seam side down while baking.
 

Mango Ice Cream

It is summer, so the time to look forward to mangoes. There seem to be no particular season for the fruits in where I live, but the mangoes that are available during the season have richer taste in them. Most varieties I get here have a thin, and long stone, more flesh and some varieties are a bit fibrous. They are all quite sweet once you remove the skin. Unlike those which I relish in India eating whole with the skin on, these have a tart skin that have to be sliced off. The tree at home gave us about three or four large fruits at one go and I was tired making milkshakes and lassi every other day. I had already done the amrakhand that was inside the refrigerator and the mango sorbet just got over three days ago. So it was time to think of anything other than these. It had to be ice cream then, don't you agree?

I have a small booklet of recipes from Milkmaid, Nestle India. Among others there was a recipe for mango ice cream which I looked up. The ingredients listed gelatine which I found unsuitable for us. Still, I decided to use the recipe and try my luck with some custard powder for substitution. then I chanced upon many recipes that did not use any stabilizer. The ice cream looked very nice too. Thus from various recipes I had read, I adapted partially Tarla Dalal's Mango ice cream recipe and the one from the booklet I had.
The ice cream did not last even a few days, needless to mention. This was an every afternoon dessert that my husband tried hard to keep to a scoop, looking forlornly at the reducing quantity with each scoop.

Mango Ice Cream

Ingredients:
Makes 1 litre
2 -3 large mangoes that have less fibre/ peeled and chopped to achieve 2 cups mangoes
384 grams/ 1 tin of condensed milk
1/2 litre milk
2 teaspoons custard powder
1/8 cup sugar ( adjust according to how sweet the mangoes are)
1 teaspoon juice of lime

Method:
Peel mangoes, cut them in small cubes.
Add the sugar to the mangoes and puree them together in a blender.
Keep 1/4 cup of milk aside and put the rest to boil.
Stir in the custard powder into the 1/4 cup milk to a lump free mixture.
Add this to the warm milk and soon as it thickens a bit, remove from the fire.
Allow this milk to cool.
Whisk the condensed milk and blend the milk and juice of limes. Using a wire whisk, whisk the mixture. This way it gets well aerated.
Gently add in the mango puree. Mix them well and transfer to a freezer container. Cover with a tight lid and place it in the freezer for four hours.








Take the ice cream from the freezer and whisk again. Repeat this thrice at two hour intervals. This makes smoother ice cream. Return the container to the freezer.
Scoop out the ice cream on to serving bowls and enjoy.