Tomato Ketchup/Sauce

Most of the time, its store bought ketchup at home. When tomatoes are in season and when I get them at throw-away price, I make ketchup and pickle using them. Though preparing ketchup is time consuming, if you get everything ready, then it is easy to prepare. And constant attention to the recipe is not required. So this can be done along with the other cooking, so that you can oversee the progress at intervals. This recipe is from the hand-written list of my mother-in-law. So the exact recipe source is unknown.

Select ripe, juicy tomatoes with less seeds. Blanch and peel the tomatoes. Make puree of it and strain. I don't have patience to do the blanching and peeling. I totally ignore this step. Still it comes out fine. I directly wash and put the tomatoes in the mixer grinder and make puree and strain.
If you use 2 Kg of tomatoes, you will get around 10 cups of juice. I prepared with 1.5 kg and I adjusted the ingredients.

The following ingredients are for 10 cups of tomato juice.

Sugar - 1 cup
Vinegar - 1/2 cup
salt - 1 tspn
To be tied in a cheese cloth
Garlic - 2 pods
Onion - 1 medium
Jeera - 1 tspn
Cardamom - 5 nos
Cloves - 3 nos
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Cinnammon - 1 inch pc
Nutmeg powder- 1/2 tspn

Powder the spices. Mix it to chopped garlic and onion. Tie this mixture in a cheese cloth.

Take the juice with 3/4 cup of the sugar. Dip the cloth pouch in to the juice and cook till you can smell the aroma of spices.

This will take around 20 minutes. Just stir 2/3 times in between. By this time, the syrup will start thickening. Remove the tied pouch.
Add salt, vinegar and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar.
Boil the mixture, till it reduces to 1/3 of the original quantity.
Remove from fire.

To preserve them for a longer period, add a pinch of sodiumbenzoate to it.
I don't usually add the preservative. It stays good for more than 2 weeks on refrigeration.

This goes to Roma's Long Live Shelf event

and to The 'Food in Colors ' event started by Sunshinemom. Sunshinemom has kick started a new event starting this month to celebrate the colors in food. And she has chosen Red for the month of August.

Gateaux Basque

Gateaux Basque is originated from a town in south of France. It is now famous at everywhere and different flavors of Gateaux was created by different chefs. I read this recipe from a french recipe book, the chef was using the traditional recipe by adding some cooked apple to make it more interesting. I noticed many people add blueberries, cherries or other fruits instead.

It has a crumbly texture from the outside and soft texture from the inside which has contained with some cooked apple and custard. French named the custard as "Cream Patissier". European will love this cake as it's rich and buttery flavor. I would love it when I'm looking for something rich to fill my appetite and this is the one!

Recipe for one round tin 18cm x 3.5cm

For the Basque Pastry: 133g Butter / 133g plain flour / 67 ground almond / 2.6g Baking powder / 46g Egg yolks / pinch of salt / 100g sugar powder / 6g rum

For the Cream Patissier: 333g milk / 33g sugar / 1 teaspoon vanilla extract / 53g egg yolks / 33g sugar / 26g plain flour / 6g corn flour / 8g butter / some egg wash

Cooked apple : 2 large cooked apple / some sugar and butter / 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method for the Cream Patissier:

1. Warm the milk with sugar in a sauce pan.
2. In another mixing bowl, mix the yolks with sugar then slowly add in plain flour and corn flour.
3. When the sugar melted in the warm milk, add it to (2) the yolks mixture. Add little by little until everything combine.
4. Pour it back to the pan at low heat. Keep stirring with the hand whisk until its thicken.
5. Off the heat and keep stirring for couple of minutes, add in the vanilla extract then the butter.
6. When everything combined. Pour it into a bowl and cover with cling film. Let it completely cool down and place it into the fridge for 4 hours or overnight and its ready to use.

Method for the cooked apple:

1. Peel the apples and cut into 8 slices. You would have 16 slices.
2. Grease a baking pan with butter then sprinkle with some sugar. Place the apples into the baking pan.
3. Place some butter on top of the apples and bake at 180'C for about 1 hour. Sometimes it depends on what apples you are using. So keep an eye on it, the apple should have a little soft. Sprinkle with some cinnamon powder on the apple after 40 minutes baking.

Methods for the Gateaux:

1. Mix the egg yolks with salt and rum together.
2. In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar powder.
3. Mix the egg yolks mixture (1) to the butter mixture (2). (Add little by little)
4. Add in flour and mix until everything combine.
5. Wrap it into a cling film and flatten it into 1cm thick. Place it into fridge to sit for 3 hours.
6. After 3 hours, cut out 2 pieces of 18cm round shape and place one into the tin. (Do this with a cling film would be much easier)
7. Continue to make about 3.5 cm long shape to fit the side of the cake tin. (If the mixture start to melt, place it back to the fridge until it could be easy to handle)
8. Fill in the cream patissier then follow with some cooked apple. Cover with another piece of pastry on top. (You might not need all the cream patissier, I used 2/3 only)
9. Egg wash the top and use a sharp knife to draw some pattern on it if you like. (I didn't draw it nicely so you couldn't get what I actually draw.)
10. Bake in a 180'C preheat oven for 90 minutes or 2 hours. (place a piece of aluminium foil on top if you find it is burning too much on top after some times of baking, it is better to bake at the lower part of the oven)
11. Let it completely cool down before cutting it into slices. It's best to serve the day after.

Stuffed Molagai Bajji - Peanut Chutney Stuffed Batter Fried Chilly

STUFFED MOLAGAI BAJJI
- PEANUT CHUTNEY STUFFED, BATTER FRIED CHILLY!

Bajji is an easy-to-make-dish by deep frying sliced vegetables dipped in batter. In South Indian homes Bajji and Sojji (a sweet made of semolina) are served to the boy and his people, who go to see a prospective bride. Usually the girl prepares the dishes so that the boys’ people might gauge her culinary expertise.

When our daughter took us to Haridwar on a pilgrimage, we stopped by an eatery for our breakfast. We were astonished to see an enormous platesful of assorted vegetable bajjis (they called them pakoras) they served for breakfast.

Bajjis are commonly made with potato and onion slices. Marrow slices and egg plant slices are also used. Now a days, cauliflower bajjis and capsicum bajjis are common in restaurants. Baby corn and cheese bajjis are a hit among children. The exotic among them all is the stuffed chilly bajji, which my paternal aunt prepared.

For this recipe, you need to prepare the stuffing, batter and the chillies as follows:


Ingredients for the Stuffing:
Peanuts -1 cup
Red chillies- 3
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Urad dal (Black gram dal) – ½ tsp
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Oil – 1 tsp
Chopped coriander leaves – ½ cup
Tamarind – 1 small marble size
Salt -3/4 tsp
Method to prepare the stuffing
1. Heat oil and add asafoetida and mustard seeds.
2. When mustard sputters, add black gram dal and roast till it is golden in colour.
3. Add red chillies and roast till crisp.
4. Add peanuts and roast till they crack.
5. Allow to cool.
6. After cooling, grind coarsely with tamarind, salt, and coriander leaves.
Keep the filling aside and prepare the batter.
Ingredients for the batter
Kadali maav (Besan or Roasted Bengal gram flour) – 1 ½ cups
Rice flour – ¼ cup
Red chilly powder – ¼ tsp
Jeera (Cumin seeds) – 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Salt – ½ tsp
Curd – 2 tbsps
Oil – 1 tbsp
Method to prepare the batter
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add curds and oil.
3. Add water little by little and whisk all ingredients together to make a thick batter. The consistency should be similar to that of a cake batter.
Preparing the Chillys
1. Wash about 8 bajji chillies and slit them lengthwise on one side only.
2. Take a scraper and scoop out all the seeds and fibers from the inside of the chillies and rinse them clean under running water.
3. Hold the slit open and fill it with the prepared chutney and arrange the stuffed chillies on a plate.
Frying the Bajjis
1. Heat oil in a wok. Take enough oil to completely cover the chilly when deep fried.
2. Hold the chilly by the stalk and dip the stuffed chilly into the batter, and coat it thoroughly on all sides.
3. Drop the chillies two or three at a time into the hot oil so that they do not stick to each other.
4. Reduce flame and cook till the batter is cooked intact.
5. Increase heat and fry until all the bajjis turn into a reddish golden colour
6. Take out the bajjis from the oil and drain them on tissues.

Enjoy with tomato sauce or pudina chutney while still hot and crisp.