Crispy Bread Cups with vegetable filling

There are enormous ways to serve bread. Here the bread is converted into a crisp snack with little effort. Bread slice is shaped into a cup and baked till crisp and golden. It is filled with cooked vegetables. This make an ideal snack/starter for any party. This is a very versatile recipe. With the bread cups as base, you can try out different filling, both sweet and savory. For making it more healthier, use whole wheat bread. When using whole wheat bread you might need to steam the slice before placing in the muffin. Else it might be difficult to get the shape.

You need

For cups

Bread slices - 8 nos

Butter - 3 teaspoons

For Filling

There is no specific recipe for the filling. I am listing the ingredients with approximation.

Finely chopped vegetables - 2 cups (I used potato,carrot and cabbage)

Onion -1

Crumbled paneer - 2 tblspn

Green chily - 2nos

salt

1 tspn of mixed herbs

tomato sauce - 2

chilli sauce -1 tspn

oil - 1 tblspn

Trim the crust from the bread. Flatten the bread with a rolling pin. This makes it easier to place in the muffin tray. Spread little butter on the slice. Place the bread in the greased cavities of muffin tray with the buttered side up. When you place adjust the slice so as to resemble a cup.
Bake at 180 C for 10 minutes or till the cups are crisp.

Meanwhile, you can prepare the filling. Heat oil in a pan. Saute onions till pink. Add the vegetables and saute till it is half cooked. Add salt, chilly sauce and tomato sauce. Mix well. Continue cooking till veggies are cooked and firm. Finally stir in crumbled paneer.

Spoon the filling into the bread cups. You can top it with grated cheese if you wish. Bake for 5-10 minutes. Serve with ketchup or any dip of your choice. The bread cups and the filling can be prepared before and assembling can be done prior to serve. It tasted good when served warm.

Being a perfect starter for any party, this goes to Rachana's Healthy Bites.

The Kitchen Masterpiece - event round up!

The Kitchen Masterpiece - event round up!
Are those flowers? So many types!
Look at that bird! Where is my pouch?
Grab those balloons, sit on my rug.
Fly away, with my tiny friend mouse

Sheep graze and teddys dance
I drop into a boat; start rolling the dice
Octopus is happy, I am in a trance
What’s that light that’s getting bigger?

Angry faces are angry no more
Heart burst with joy;Roses fill the sky
Om Ganeshaya namaha!
That is my mother land!

VONGONS MAKE WAY – here I come. This is what happens when you get into blogging, watch 6 Disney movies in a week, and run events like the Kitchen Masterpiece!!

Without further ado, here are the amazing Masterpieces!

Carrot couldn't get more appealing! Presenting Carrot Flowers by Sita Kiran of Andhra Flavours ...

Get into a holiday mood! Here is Mangala Bhat’s tropical capsicum and strawberry flower!

Rekha of Plantainleaf sends in these Club Sandwhiches, tranformed with decorative Carrot Flowers!

Valentine day florists have another place to source roses from! Priya Suresh sends in Red Roses made of tomatoes!

Asha sends in Aroma-tic rice cake (tattae idli flower). Anyone game for a flowery breakfast?

If idli is around, can dosa be far behind? Here is Madhu’s Dosa Flower. She sent in a Lentils Rug (is it a magic carpet?) and a cereal heart as well!

Lakshmi sends a flower made of tea spices from her Cooking Station. Her entry from Taste of Mysore, are delicious jackfruit flowers and a traditional betel leaf pouch!

Usha Nandini sends in these lovely Curry Leaves made out of …….Curry Leaf Powder!

Jayasree’s Experiments in Kailas’s Kitchen has got us a microwaved chocolate pudding flower!

Nazarina the Giddy Gastronome, has sent in these fantastic butter scotch almond thumbprints. Big Hugs all around!

Esther J Pragasam shares this pretty ‘gFrame’ or 'Groceries/Greenery Frame' from her handwork blog - My Passion.

Did you know Srivalli - the queen of blog events, has a 7 year old daughter following her footsteps? Talented Anjana sends in her rangolis made of rice flour ! She has also uploaded and posted these herself!

Gayathri Gopinath has sent this colourful and festive Rangoli made out of Raw Rice and Sooji/Rava from her Adigemane.

The Jugalbandits, Bee and Jai have sent in Mooli Mouse, one of the many constructive uses for those who find, radish overpowering their olfactory neurons!

Transformed in Lubna's hands! Lubna from Yummy Food, has sent in these festive grape balloon cluster and the jolly banana octopus.

Row, Row, Row your boat ....Swapna has sent in these boats made of zucchini and cheese.

Ivy of Kopiaste made these amazing fruit faces! One can never look at fruits in the same way again! Hey, in case you don’t already know, Ivy is one of the three bloggers who began BloggerAid, a community of Food Bloggers who have come together to help fight world hunger. A BloggerAid Cookbook is on the cards this year, and you can help in a number of ways. Check this site for more details.

Shoba Shrinivasan from Anubhavati - Tastes from my Kitchen, sends us these colourful appetising sandwhich hearts.

Cham from Spice Club is giving Brittania a run for its money with these savory palmiers!

Priyanka sent in a heart made of fried green peas. We can literally eat out hearts out!

Archy has sent this colourful Elekosu (Cabbage/Pattagobi) Rotti. The art is in patting this rotti!

Want to play your game and eat it too? Ankita has sent in these Kaju Dice!

Sanika from Spicy & Tangy.....Sweet & Yummy blog, sent in the maximum number of entries, with Gem flowers, cauliflower sheep, a happy face, Ganapati Bappa and the Indian Flag!

Om Ganeshay Namah!! Sharmistha from Cooke-a-doodle-do has sent this Ganesha inspired by her 3-year old daugther’s creativity with atta dough!

Mahimaa, has sent this '108 channa dal kuthu vilaku' from Indian Vegetarian Kitchen. Kudos to her patience!

Our entry from Chitra Amma's Kitchen, are these jaggery and flour lamps or maavillakkus or tambitus

Yosee’s heart warming entry from Jalan-Jalan! Jai Hind!

Now for the lucky draw... chits were made, and my husband picked the lots, with sound effects by me. .. PAPARAPPPAA.....dabadabadadaba...phee...pheeee...

....and the Lucky Draw winners are: Sita Kiran, Sanika, Lubna and Anjana! ...clap...clap...Congratulations to you all! You will be contacted on mail for your gifts!

We've included entries which were received by mail, as well as informed through comments. In case any were missed, please let us know, and we will surely update the post.

A BIG THANK YOU to all of you for your Masterpieces! Your wonderful entries are sure a break away from the mundane, and triggered us into a fantasy world!

Custard Bun

My first attempt on this custard buns which suppose to be a loaf of bread but I make it into nine little buns and pipe some custard for the extra flavour. There are super soft buns and I believe if I make it into a loaf of bread it would be definitely fantastic texture to eat in slices. I make the buns in the late evening which totally no natural lightning for the shooting. Somehow, just right after the shooting, my other half hardly resist the smell and the sweetness and require to have one before sleep. I'll definitely make this bread again.

Recipe:

(A) Custard: 2 egg yolks / 20g sugar / 30g bread flour / 130g milk

(B) 250g bread flour / 30g sugar / 1/2 tsp salt / 1 tsp yeast / 15g milk powder / 100g water

(C) 25g unsalted butter

How I made it:

1. For the custard, boil the milk with sugar until sugar dissolve but not boiling. Meanwhile, mix the egg yolks and bread flour to become a thick paste but no lumps. Add two tablespoon of milk if you find it too dry to mix.


2. Pour the dissolve warm sugar milk into the egg yolks mixture, pour little by little and mix with a hand whisk until everything combine. Then, pour back the mixture into the cooking pan. Cook in very low heat and keep stirring until it thicken. Transfer to a plate and cover with cling wrap and chill for 60 minutes.


3. Mix ingredients (B) and half of the custard until it become a smooth dough. Add in butter and continue to knead until it become a smooth and elastic dough.


4. Place the dough into a clean bowl and cover with cling wrap to proof for 80 minutes.


5. Divide the dough into 9 portions. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.


6. Roll each dough into ball shape and proof for 60 minutes.


7. Egg wash the doughs then pipe some custard on the doughs. Bake at 190'C preheated oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.

Wood-Mode Cabinet Sale

I spoke to my local Wood-Mode cabinetry dealer yesterday and asked her about what the company is doing to combat the economic crisis we are all going through.

I expected the usual: A "sale" after their typical January price increase.

Instead she told me that Wood-Mode had deferred their usual price increase. And that they were running a sale with a substantial percentage off on the buyer's choice of several categories that are normally added to a kitchen purchase as percentages or dollar amounts. Door style, finish, or wood upcharges that typically amount to thousands of dollars on a cabinet order.

I was surprised!

In all the years I have worked with companies like Wood-Mode I can't recall such a major discount on their product to consumers.

Wood-Mode is one of my favorite cabinetry lines (I went through their factory training program in 1983, at the very beginning of my design career). It is high quality at a fair price.

The company has been around since the 1940's, so you know they know what they're doing and they'll be there if you have a problem. It is also one of the few major cabinet companies that hasn't been bought out by a big conglomerate, usually with disastrous results.

The sale has been extended until the end of March. I suggest that anyone who has been sitting on the fence on a cabinet purchase might want to take another look.

Saving thousands on your cabinets with a quality company like Wood-Mode might make your project affordable after all.

Peggy

Raagi Biscuits

I made raagi biscuits inspired from Cham and Shilpa's Varada aayi's posts. My recipe is a combination of those two recipes.

Ingredients

Raagi(Finger millet) flour - 1 cup

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Powdered sugar - 1 cup

Butter - 1 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tspn

Baking powder - 1 tspn

Milk - 1 tblspn
Chopped nuts to garnish

Method

Roast raagi flour for about 5 minutes till you can smell the aroma of raosted raagi. Whisk butter and sugar till creamy.Mix roasted raagi,all purpose flour, baking powder and cardamom powder well.Stir in the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix to make a soft dough. If you find the dough dry, add about a teaspoon of milk. Pinch off a lemon sized dough. Shape into a ball and flatten a bit. garnish with chopped nuts. Press it down using a fork.
Bake in a preheated oven
Temp -180 C

Time - 30 min

Yields - 16 nos

Verdict - crisp,soft, melt in the mouth cookies.

I have made these biscuits more than once.