Almond Bran Mini muffins!

Some more mini muffins! These are some crunchy almond muffins. I sneaked in some blueberries in a couple of them :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 cup wheat bran
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extraxt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons yogurt
• 1/2 cup almonds soaked in water for 2-3 hours and chopped

Directions:

1. Sift or mix well all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until just about incorporated.
3. Fold in the almonds.
4. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture in a greased mini muffin pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.
6. Serve warm!

Butterscotch flavored Sweet Bread!

Portuguese Sweet Bread with butterscotch flavoring! I loved my Portuguese Sweet Bread from The Bread Bakers Apprentice a lot! So I decided to make it again, and this time I used half whole wheat flour and half Bread flour. I also added 1/2 a cup of butterscotch chips dissolved in warm water. And voila here is a butterscotch flavored Portuguese Sweet Bread!

Because of the wheat flour, the dough was a bit difficult to knead. I finally gave up kneading much and hence the boule also did not form as well. The shape don't matter much when the bread is that tasty though! I guess some breads come out more beautiful that others:)

Grilled Pizza !

I was reading up on pizzas and came across some grilled versions. It is much quicker on the grill and is fun in its own way!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups bread flour
• 1/3 cup water at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Toppings as you please (grilled veggies or grilled fruit slices, or thinly sliced fresh veggies which don't need to get cooked much)
• 1/2 cup cheese ( we used cheddar, jack and mozzarella)

Directions:

1. Mix in the first 9 ingredients and knead into a soft dough.
2. Place dough in a covered container in a warm place for an hour or until doubled.
3. Degas and knead again for 2 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough to a 1/8 inch thickness. (thin crust pizza!)
5. Let the dough sit for 10 minutes.
6. I grilled mine on a cast iron grill pan on the stove at high heat. BBQ grill can also be used.
7. Heat the grill or grill pan on high heat for 10 minutes,
8. Place the rolled out dough on the grill and let cook for 5 minutes. timings may vary depending on the type of grill.
9. Flip the side. Arrange the toppings and cheese on the cooked side.
10. We used some already cooked vegetable curry, crushed red pepper, freshly chopped onions and tomatoes as the topping and sprinkled some cheddar,jack and mozzarella.
11. Reduce the heat to medium and let the base cook for 5 minutes.
12. Remove pizza from grill and enjoy it crisp and hot !

Portuguese Sweet bread ! from BBA

Another bread that i tried from Peter Reinharts' Bread Bakers Apprentice Book !. This one just looked very pretty, so i had to try it. I dint have a pie pan , so I used the boule technique, but placed it in a bread pan. The bread came out really soft with a nice mahogany crust!

I also finally bought an electric knife and got those beautiful slices!

Here's the recipe on Fresh Loaf . I was feeling a bit lazy to copy it off the book:)

This one was an instant hit with hubby. I love the texture, the taste and the beautiful colors of this one. All the effort of reading the book and following steps methodically and all that patience did help!

This one is surely headed to Susan's YeastSpotting !

Spicy Corn Bell pepper muffins!

I got a bit tired of all sweet muffins and decided to find some salty snack to bake up instead. I also got a new mini Muffin pan and i love the mini size! I found a great spicy Corn Muffin recipe on Tasty Palettes and decided to give it a try with some changes. I made mine with corn, bell pepper, garlic and cilantro. Next time i am going to add some scallions, grated carrots or beets, zucchini and or spinach. And I will add some cheese too!

Yield: 12 mini muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup wheat bran
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 3 tablespoons yogurt
• 2-4 tablespoons milk
• 1.5 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 cup corn
• 1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 2 teaspoons garlic flakes
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon poppy seeds

Directions:

1. In a pan. heat 1 teaspoon oil.
2. Add in the garlic flakes, bell pepper, corn and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook on medium flame for 7-9 minutes or until the bell pepper loses some of its moisture.
3. In a large bowl, mix in the flour, salt(1 teaspoon) , baking powder and baking soda. Mix well or sieve 2 times.
4. Add in the sugar, bran, spices, remaining oil, yogurt, milk, lightly beaten egg. Mix till just about incorporated.
5. Add in the warm corn mixture and cilantro and mix until well incorporated. The mixture should not be too dry.
6. Drop spoonfulls on the greased muffin pan.
7. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes. Check with toothpick before removing from oven.
8. Remove muffins from pan. Cool before popping them in your mouth with ketchup or ranch! I had these warm snacks with my evening tea! A Hit with hubby too!

Grape and Raisin Bread with a touch of Kahlua!

Reposting this recipe. This one is from my early bread days and i really like it. It was my own creation and it turned out great!

Original post here

This one is headed to this week's Yeastspotting!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1.5 teaspoons active yeast
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 6 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup grapes cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup kahlua
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. Warm the milk and add the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar to it. Mix well and keep for 10 minutes till it starts to get frothy.
2. Add in the rest of the sugar and softened butter and mix well.
3. Add 1 cup all purpose flour,kahlua, coffee and salt and mix well.
4. Add in the whole wheat flour 1 cup at a time and knead into a soft dough. Use more water if necessary.
5. Keep the dough in a well oiled container covered in a warm oven for about an hour.
6. knead the dough again using flour is necessary so that it is not too sticky.
7. Add in the raisins and grapes and knead again to distribute them out into the dough.
8. Make the dough into a loaf and keep it on a floured baking sheet, in a warm oven, covered for half an hour or till it doubles.
9. Cover the loaf with the disposable lasagna pan and bake at 350 degrees F.
10. Remove pan after 10 minutes and continue baking. Total baking time around 20 minutes.
11. Cool on rack before slicing!
12. Enjoy as a tea bread or buttered toast!

Methi Chicken! (Chicken Curry with Fenugreek)

We had some tasty Methi Chicken from Roti in QueenAnne last week. It was quite good, but was too fatty and probably not as freshly spiced. I cant digest most Indain food from Indian restaurants these days.. The Fat and bad spice takes a toll on my tummy even when i eat in moderation. So I decided to make my own version which I could stuff myself with and not worry about the tummy.

I saw some Methi chicken recipes online which were quite simple, but I had a feeling that they might not taste as good as I wanted it to taste. So here is my own version!

Ingredients:

Marinade:

• 4-5 chicken tenders chopped or 2-3 chicken breasts chopped ( i usually use tenders as they can be made into smaller pieces and cook faster)
• 1 teaspoon garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon lime juice

Curry:

• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 serano pepper
• 1 dried red chili pepper whole (can be substituted with 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• pinch of asafetida(hing)
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds(methi seeds)
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cloves whole
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 inch ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 Tablespoons dried fenugreek(methi) leaves( fresh can be added too, but cooking time might differ)
• 2 Tablespoons spinach chopped(optional, i used some spinach to add a green tinge to the curry)
• 1 Tablespoon yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon sour cream (can be substituted by yogurt)
• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves for garnish
• 1 tomato chopped for garnish
• 1 teaspoon butter chopped for garnish

Directions:

Marinade:

1. Mix the chicken with the spices and ginger garlic paste and keep for atleast half an hour to 4 hours before use.

Curry:

1. In a large pan/wok, heat the oil on medium heat.
2. Add cumin seeds and wait till they start giving out an aroma.
3. Add in the fenugreek seeds, asafetida, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom and mix well.
4. After 2 minutes, ad din chopped onions, green chili, red chili and mix well.
5. Cook onions on medium flame with an occasional stir for 10 minutes or until onions are golden brown.
6. Add in chopped ginger and garlic and chopped spinach.
7. Cook for another 2 minutes.
8. Blend this onion mixture in a blender with a little water and keep aside.
9. In the same pan, add a little oil and the marinated chicken pieces.
10. Cook for 3-4 mintues on each side or untilt he outside of the peices is cooked.
11. Add in the onion puree and mix well.
12. Add in the dreid fenugreek leaves and salt and sugar and mix well.
13. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes on medium-low heat.
14. Stir it every 10 minutes.
15. After 20 minutes add in the lightly whisked yogurt and sour cream and check for salt/spice. Adjust salt and spice according to taste. You can add more chili flakes or salt at this point, or if too salty, then add some more yogurt.
16. Cook for another 10 minutes on low flame.
17. Add in tomatoes, clinatro and chopped peices of butter and switch off the heat.
18. Serve hot with Naan, Roti, or Basmati rice!!

Blueberry Plum Bread with Sour Cream!

I wanted to add plum puree to a bread and also wanted to experiment with some sour cream, so i added both in one bread and sprinkled up some blueberries too. I love blueberries in breads or muffins.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup bread flour
• 1.5 teaspoons yeast
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 2 Tablespoons sour cream
• 1/2 cup plum puree ( 1 plum pureed produced about half a cup. I pureed it with little water)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions:

1. Warm the water and add yeast ans sugar to it. Mix well and let stand until frothy(10 minutes)
2. Ad din bread flour, salt, cinnamon, plum puree and sour cream and mix/blend well.
3. Add in the whole wheat flour 1 cup at a time and knead into a soft dough.
4. Add in the blueberries and continue kneading until blueberries are well incorporated.
5. Place dough in a covered container for an hour or until doubled.
6. Knead dough again and shape into a loaf.
7. Place loaf in breap pan and cover the pan and let sit for half an hour.
8. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a tap on the bread gives a hollow sound.
9. Cool on rack before slicing, preferable an hour.
10. Slice and enjoy!

Ciabatta .. the hearth way From Peter Reinhart's BBA)

I finally got The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart from the library. I am still in the process of reading it from the beginning, but i skipped a bit and decided to try Ciabatta from the book. Though the instructions in the recipe are quite elaborate, you still need to read the first half of the book to do the things right. I also did have to read up a bit on the net esp for more detailed pictures and steps and finally made the Ciabatta. I wish the book was detailed enough so that once I got to a recipe I wouldn't need to research more,... but it aint so...

Look at those holes and the hard crust!.. My lovely Ciabatta!!

Heres one of the links I followed.. It has step by step pics as well. I should have taken more pics.. but the whole 3 day process with multiple stretch and folds and rises tired me out.

http://pinchmysalt.com/2009/07/07/bread-bakers-apprentice-challenge-ciabatta/#more-3201

This bread is headed to YeastSpotting!

Will put up the recipe in a bit. It is exactly the same from the book.. I reduced the quantities by a third.

Poolish:

• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 cup water at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl till they look like a thick pancake batter. Let the bowl sit at room temperature covered in wrap for 3-4 hours to ferment. The sponge should become bubbly and foamy. Refrigerate it for upto 3 days.

Dough:

• 2.5 cups poolish
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1.25 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 2/3 cup water at room temperature
• semolina or cornmeal for dusting.

Directions:

1. Remove Poolish from refrigerator and let sit out for an hour or till it becomes almost room temp.
2. In a large bowl, mix in the poolish and the dough ingredients, either by hand or in an electric mixer to make into a soft ball.
3. Use stretch and fold method (stretch the dough on a well floured surface and let the dough relax for a minute. Stretch the dough and fold each side onto itself to make a rectangle). Spray oil on top and let sit covered for an hour.
4. Use stretch and fold again 2 more times and let dough sit for half an hour each time.
5. After the final stretch and fold, using a pastry scraper, cut dough into 2-3 peices. Shape it lightly into a rectangle. Stretch to a 9-12 inch rectangular baguette.
6. Place pizza stone in a 450 degree F oven for about 45 minutes. Place a sturdy tray at the bottom shelf for 15 minutes.
7. Slide dough onto a heated pizza stone. Pour boiling water onto the hot tray and close the oven.
8. After 30 seconds, spray the oven walls with water. Repeat again after another 30 seconds. At this time, remove the bottom tray.
9. Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees F. Rotate loafs and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
10. Bread should sound hollow, register 205 deg F at the center and be golden brown when done!
11. Cool for an hour before slicing!
12. For more detailed instructions and pictures, please look up the book!

Ciabatta also gets stale pretty quickly, so i froze the remaining a day later!

Spinach Onion Quiche!

I read up some recipes for a spinach quiche and tried one last week. I did not have a puff pasty or pie shell so I made one myself but I made a bread one!. I am not too fond of making apuff pastry with all the butter and effort and cooling it so many times.. too much work:) I was also inspired by the Sourdough crust Quiche by Mimi .

The quiche turned out quite tasty and filling and not even too fatty!.

Ingredients:

Bread shell:

• 1 cup bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon quick rise yeast
• 1/3 - 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon butter softened
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Quiche Filling:

• 1/2 medium onion chopped
• 1 cup spinach chopped
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1/2 cup peas or carrots chopped finely
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
• 1/2 cup mild cheddar shredded
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tablespoons sour cream

Directions:

Bread shell:

1. Warm the milk.
2. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients to form a soft dough. Add more milk of the dough is too stiff.
3. Roll the dough out in the shape of the pie pan or whichever pan you will use for baking. I used a cake pan.
4. Spray oil on the pan and place the rolled out dough on it and make a little wall out of the edges.
5. Let the dough sit for 30 minutes, then bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Prepare the filling while the bread is baking.

Quiche Filling:

1. In a large pan, melt the butter on medium heat and add in the chopped onions and garlic.
2. Cook for 5 minutes or till onions soften
3. Add in the spinach, peas, salt and chili flakes and cook covered for 10 minutes. Keep aside.
4. In a bowl blend eggs and sour cream until fluffy and keep aside.

Quiche:

1. Take the bread shell out from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes.
2. Sprinkle the spinach filling on the shell evenly.
3. Sprinkle the cheddar on the spinach mixture.
4. Pour the egg mixture on top the cheddar to cover evenly. You can make multiple layes or sinach and cheese and then pour the egg mixture. Since this was the first time I was trying a quiche, I had limited filling, so I just tried one layer. Next time I will also add Mushrooms and Feta!
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until the egg is golden on the top and the center is well set.
6. Serve Warm!

Vegetable Biryani! (Stirfried Vegetables with Rice Indian style)

We were very tired on Sunday after a hectic weekend full of steam cleaning the house. some shopping and a TaiChi session. And I wasnt in the mood to cook, but I still wanted to eat something good and tasty. So Me and hubby decided on Biryani. I gave him some initial instructions for cooking rice and getting the veggies and everything ready. Then we made some Delicious Biryani and ate it even when it was too hot!.. right off the stove. So of course, no pictures. I will take some next time!

Ingredients:

Rice:

• 1.5 cups basmati rice
• 2.5 cups water
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon oil

Veggies:

• 1/2 medium onion chopped
• 2 cups mixed vegetables( I used frozen ones as I was too lazy .. so carrots, corn, peas, bell pepper, green beans etc)
• 1 inch ginger chopped
• 1 Serrano pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 4-5 cloves
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 3 cardamom pods
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dried red chili
• 2 teaspoons coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• pinch of asafetida(hing)
• 2 teaspoons saffron water( pinch of saffron soaked in warm water)
• 1 cup cilantro/coriander leaves chopped
• 1 cup mint leaves chopped
• 2-4 teaspoons lemon juice
• fried cashews and onions for garnish

Directions:

1. Wash rice and soak for 10 minutes.
2. The rice can be cooked in a pressure cooker or a covered container. In the cooker pan, add oil and let it heat up on medium heat.
3. Add in cumin seeds and wait for 2-3 minutes or until they start browning and giving out an aroma.
4. Add in the chopped garlic and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add in the rice and water and salt and give the mixture one slight whirl and keep the rice for cooking. 1 whistle in pressure cooker and 10-15 minutes on covered container. The rice should be cooked to almost cooked, but not fully cooked. Keep rice aside.
6. In a large pan, heat oil and Add in the chopped onions and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
7. Add in the Serrano peppers and red chili and mix well.
8. Add in the cumin and coriander powder, turmeric and asafetida and mix well.
9. Add in the rest of the spices(bay leaves, cardamom,. cinnamon, cloves) and mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes.
10. Add in the thawed vegetables, salt and ginger and mix well.
11. Cook for 5 minutes or until veggies are half cooked.
12. Reduce heat to low and spread out the veggies to cover the bottom evenly. If you have a slim pan with more depth, you can keep some veggies to add another layer.
13. Top the veggies with half of the coriander and mint leaves.
14. Top this off with rice and sprinkle the saffron water on the rice.
15. Sprinkle some lemon juice on it as well.
16. Top the rice with the remaining coriander and mint leaves.
17. You can add addition veggies and rice layers. I made only one layer.
18. Cover the container and cook on low for 10-15 minutes.
19. Garnish with 1/2 cup fried cashews and 1/2 cup fried onions.
20. Serve hot with yogurt or raita!