Saturday, May 23, 2009

Polo Bun 菠萝包 (2)

I made this polo bun quite often but there is a difficulty in handling the pastry as the butter melt very fast and cause it sticking on my hand while I'm trying to gather the dough with the pastry. Recently, I found another solution which would be much easier to handle. The original recipe asked to beat the butter until pale and fluffy then gradually add in sugar powder, salt and milk powder and beaten egg till everything combine. With this method you would get a wet pastry paste which you may need to store in the fridge for some time to harden before use (but it'll melt very fast in this hot weather, so it's not easy to handle).
For the new method, cut the cold butter into 1cm pieces (store them in the fridge if there start melting). With the same method as shortcrust pastry, process the flour, sugar powder, cold butter in a food processor till the butter mix thoroughly with the flour like the fine breadcrumbs. Add 1 tablespoon of beaten egg then pulse several times until its become a chunky breadcrumbs but not a dough (don't over process). Turn the pastry out onto a clean, floured work surface and, with floured hands, bring together to make a dough, but don't knead. Shape into a flattened ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Divide the pastry into pieces and it's ready to use. I found that the texture is much better and most wonderful thing is, it's easily to put together the dough with the pastry.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Mango Thokku


Come Summer, every household will be busy making pickles and variety of sun dried goodies to last the rest of the year. Raw mangoes are pickled in various ways. This is an instant pickle which can be consumed immediately and do not require any standing time before consuming.

Ingredients

Raw mangoes, chopped - 2 cups

Gingely oil - 4 tblpsn

Chilli powder - 3 tspn

Salt - 2 tspn

Roasted and powdered methi/fenugreek seeds - 1 tspn

Mustard powder - 1 tspn

Method
The mangoes should be raw and sour. Wash and wipe the mangoes dry. Chop the mangoes into pieces with skin. If the skin is very thick, you can scrap and chop. The pieces are not chopped uniformly.

Take a MW safe bowl. Add 2 tablespoon of gingely oil and the chopped mangoes pieces. MW high for 3 minutes. This is to make the mango soft. If you want it mushy, keep for another 2 minutes. Add chilli powder, salt, methi powder, mustard powder and the remaining 2 tblspn of oil. Mix well, so that the spices coat the pieces well. MW for 3 minutes. Cool and store in dry, airtight bottles. It will stay good for a week outside and 2 weeks on refrigeration. The chilli powder i used is very hot which is specifically for pickles. You can adjust the amount of chilli according to your taste.
Usually, these kind of pickles are made not to last too long.

This is my entry to MEC:Extras, hosted by Rachel, an event originated at Srivalli's



15 Minute Recipes - Drinks(Part 1)

Dear friends,

Thank you all for participating in this event and making it a grand success! Can you believe that I received over 290 recipes? I seriously did not expect such a huge response. I really appreciate your enthusiasm in sending multiple entries. I hope you will find the round up very useful. I have split the recipes into various categories. Recipes are sorted in alphabetical order.

Presenting 15 Minute Recipes-Drinks(part 1)

Juices



  1. Aam panna from Appetizing Recipes
  2. Bonda juice from The Chef and Her Kitchen
  3. Carrot Orange Juice from Appetizing Recipes
  4. Instant cucumber cooler from easy2cookrecipes
  5. Grape juice from Priya's Sourashtrian Kitchen
  6. Green tea cooler from Foodie's Hope
  7. Lemon juice from Appetizing Recipes
  8. Lime mint juice from Usha Nandini's Recipes
  9. Mix Fruit Juice from Appetizing Recipes
  10. Musk Melon Juice from Appetizing Recipes
  11. Pomegranate Sweet lime juice from Appetizing Recipes
  12. Watermelon cooler from Khana Khazana with Malini
Milkshakes and Smoothies


  1. Avocado milkshake from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
  2. Banana Cashew Milk Shake from Appetizing Recipes
  3. Banana lassi from Sai Kitchen
  4. Beetroot shake from Lemon n spice
  5. Quick breakfast Smoothie from Dil Se..
  6. Chikku Shake from Appetizing Recipes
  7. Chocolate Icecream Milkshake from Khana Khazana with Malini
  8. Cocoa Milk Shake from Appetizing Recipes
  9. Honeydew melon smoothie from Usha Nandini's Recipes
  10. Kiwi lassi from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
  11. Malai wali lassi from Asankhana
  12. Mango Shake from Appetizing Recipes
  13. Mango cranberry smoothie from Asankhana
  14. Mango lassi from http://tastespell.blogspot.com
  15. Mango Milk shake from The Temptations
  16. Orange lassi from The Temptations
  17. Pina Colada Smoothie from Khana Khazana with Malini
  18. Purple Shake from SpicyKhazana
  19. Mixed Fruit Smoothie from Ramyacooks
  20. Rose milk with vermicilli from Aathidhyam
  21. Protein rich strawberry smoothie from Delectable Vegetarian Recipes
  22. Watermelon Milkshake from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
  23. Watermelon Milk shake from Bon Appetit
  24. Almond jaggery milk from Usha Nandini's Recipes
Buttermilk Drinks



  1. Neer Mor from Usha Nandini's Recipes
  2. Cucumber buttermilk from Appetizing Recipes
  3. Neer Moar Buttermilk from Appetizing Recipes
  4. Oats-Buttermilk Kanji from Enthaligai
  5. Sambharam/Buttermilk from Cooking up Something Nice
  6. Spicy Green Buttermilk from SpicyKhazana
Hot Drinks



  1. Hot chocolate from My Experience With Cooking
  2. Ragi Malt with Jaggery from Dil Se..
  3. Badam Ragi Malt from Indian Vegetarian Kitchen(my kitchen)
If I have missed out any entry, please let me know. Check your links and see if they work.