Awards

Thank you Sangeetha from kothiyavunu , for Nominating Me for Kreative Award. I am so Happy to receive my second Award.It motivates me to do better.Once again Thank you so much Sangeetha.

Grissini II

I baked a similar bread stick (grissini) nearly a year ago which was topped with sesame seeds that had given a super crunchy texture. This time, I try to use cheddar cheese and it smell very good when it's almost ready from the oven. There are two types of texture for grissini which is a crisp texture outside and a soft crumbs. Another texture is crisp and crunch from the outside to the crumbs. According to the recipe from 孟老师的100道面包, leaving the grissini in the oven for few minutes after the required baking period to make the entire stick much crunchier. If you don't like a crunchy crumbs, remove from it from the oven after bake. It's such a simple yet delicious craving snacks!

Mixture (A)

Bread flour 150g

Plain flour 50g

Sugar 15g

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Water 100g

Instant yeast 1/4 teaspoon (1g)

Parmesan cheese powder 20g

Mixture (B)

Unsalted butter 15g

Egg whites 20g

Shredded cheddar cheese

1. Mix all the mixture (A) in a mixing bowl with a dough hook at low speed then medium speed until everything well combine and become a smooth dough.
2. Add in unsalted butter continue kneading with a low speed until the butter mix with the dough then change to medium speed until it become a very smooth dough.
3. Proof it in a large bowl cover with cling wrap for 50 minutes.
4. Roll the dough out at 0.3 cm thick in rectangular shape. Brush egg whites on the roll out dough and generously sprinkle with cheddar cheese to cover the whole piece of dough. Use the hand to gently press the cheese to stick at the dough.
5. Using a roller cutter to cut longish shape at 1cm thic then twist it with your hand by holding each side of the end of the dough.
6. Place on a baking tray and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes at 150'C until it golden brown color. For crunchier texture, switch off the oven and let the grissini sit in the oven for 15 minutes before transfer to a wire rack to cool down. Otherwise, take it out after 15 or 20 minutes of baking to get a soft crumbs. Enjoy!

Navaratri Day 2 ~ Besan Payasam & Kosumalli

Day 2

Besan Payasam


Besan/gram flour/ kadalamavu is roasted in ghee and cooked in milk and finally sweetend with sugar. Its that simple. It requires very less time to make.  A simple, yet exotic dessert is ready in flat 15 minutes. The ingredients are always available in our pantry. 

Besan/Bengal Gram flour/Kadalamvu - 2 tblspn

Boiled milk - 1/2 litre

Sugar - 3 tblspn

Ghee - 1 tspn

Heat ghee in a pan and add besan. Roast the flour till nice aroma comes through. Leave it to cool. Add cool milk to the roasted flour and slowly mix to form a paste avoiding lumps. Stir in the paste to the remaining boiled milk. Boil the milk+besan mix and let it simmer for 5 minutes. The milk will start thickening. Stir in sugar. The sugar will melt and dilute the mix. When it boils again, remove from fire. The payasam will have a creamy consistency and will taste like mysurpa. You can adjust the sugar according to your taste. This will taste good when served warm or chill for few hours and serve like pudding.

Optionaly you can add some roasted cashewnuts too for extra richness. This will serve two people sufficiently When you have unexpected guests and don't know what to make for dessert, this will come quite handy. A very forgiving recipe except that you need to take care that besan doesn't turn lumpy when added to milk.

Kosumalli - Kadalapruppu Sundal

Bengal gram - 1 cup

Turmeric - a pinch

Salt to taste

Grated coconut - 2 tblspn

Seasoning

Coconut oil - 2 tblspn

Mustard seeds - 1 tspn

Green chilli - 2 nos

Red chilly - 1 no

Finely chopped ginger - 1/2 tspn

Curry leaves

Pressure cook kadalapruppu with turmeric till it is soft yet firm. Care should be taken while cooking so that it doesn't turn mushy. If it is not cooked well on pressure cooking, you can cook it for some more time on stove top.Then you will know when to stop. Drain the cooked dal and leave it on the colander for few minutes for the water to drain out completely. Also on cooling, it will firm up. So it doesn't turny mushy on the next step of preparation.

Heat oil preferably coconut oil(or vegetable oil ). Add mustard seeds, red chilli-broken into two, chopped green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. Add salt and the cooked and drained dal. Gently mix with a flat spatula, taking care not to make it mushy. Cook on low fire for 5 minutes for the dal to absorb the flavors and salt. Finally add fresh grated coconut and remove from fire.