Cardamom Pull Apart Bread & HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

This is another recipe for my december month Event - Cardamom. I never tried a bread recipe with cardamom, but the bread turned out so good and really good and loved the mild sweetness with the rich cardamom flavor. I didn't think of any recipe to combine with this bread for our dinner, but when the bread was baking, just the idea of tomato soup clicked my mind. At first I was not sure how the combo would work, but believe me or not it worked wonders. All three of us liked it so much and we could not stop eating.
I tried making the shape of a cardamom shaped bread which can be pull apart easily, it was looking nice before baking....but once I baked it and saw the shape it looked more like a pumpkin pull apart bread. He he he heeeeee....... Anyways I was happy that I could at least achieve good in trying the pull apart part of the bread. :)

Ingredients:
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4 cups All Purpose Flour
2tsp Yeast
1 Heaping tsp Cardamom (Ground/Powder)
1 stick or 1/2 cup - 1 tbsp or 7 tbsp Unsalted Butter
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Sugar
2/3 Milk
1 tbsp Vanilla essence/extract
1/2 tsp Salt

Directions:
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1. In a large bowl sift the flour, salt, cardamom powder.
2. In a sauce pan add milk and warm it a bit.
3. In a small bowl add yeast, little sugar and some warmed milk, stir it and leave it for about 5 mins.
4. In the meantime add butter in the warm milk and let it melt.
5. In another mixing bowl add eggs and sugar and beat it well with a hand mixer or whisk in medium speed until fluffy.

6. Now add the yeast mixture and milk with butter into the eggs and mix again, now add the flour and knead it, the dough will be sticky, so dust a surface with little bit of flour and transfer the dough onto the flour surface and knead to form a dough for about 6 mins and until the dough does not stick to your hand. Make sure that you do not add more flour for kneading, add only about 2 tbsp or less if you don't that much.

7. Now in a bowl place the dough and cover with a damp kitchen towel and let it rise for about 1 hr in a warm place.
8. Now punch down the air from the dough and again knead it for a min.
9. Preheat oven to 350F.

10. Make the desired shape and place it on a lined baking sheet or loaf pan and baked it for about 30 to 40 mins or until the top of the bread is turned slight/golden brown. I baked it like golden brown, so that it would taste better with soup.
I brushed the top of the crust with butter and served with Tomato Soup (Click the Link for the Recipe)

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Finger Food For The New Year Party - Kuzhi Paniyaaram

FINGER FOOD FOR THE NEW YEAR PARTY

KUZHI PANIYAARAM

Kuzhi Paniyaarams are delicious and addictive snacks. They can easily fit into any party or celebrations. They are a no fuss no mess finger food, and taste yummy with or without dips and chutneys.

INGREDIENTS

Raw rice - 3 cups

Black gram dal - 1 cup

Bengal gram dal - 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Beaten rice or puffed rice - 1 tbsp

Salt - 2 tsps

Sugar - 1 tsp

TO PREPARE THE BATTER

1.Wash and cover all the ingredients except salt and sugar in water and soak for one hour.

2. Grind the soaked ingredients into a thick, smooth and fluffy batter adding water as required.

3. Mix salt and sugar to the batter and store in a big vessel with lid.

4. Rest it in a warm place and allow to ferment overnight.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE PANIYAARAM

Finely chopped onions - 2 tbsps

Finely minced fresh coconut - 2 tbsps

Finely chopped green chillies - 1 tsp

Finely chopped fresh ginger - 1 tsp

Finely chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbsp

SEASONING

Oil - for seasoning and frying the paniyaarams

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Black gram dal - 1/2 tsp

TO PREPARE PANIYAARAMS

1. Add all the chopped ingredients to one cup of the fermented batter and mix well.

2. Heat oil in a seasoning ladle and add mustard seeds.

3. When the mustard seeds crackle add the black gram dal and fry till golden in colour and mix the seasoning into the paniyaaram batter.

4. Heat oil in a paniyaaram pan ( Appa Kaaral ).

5. When the oil is hot enough pour one tablespoon of the prepared paniyaaram batter into every cup like depression in the paniyaaram pan. The paniyaarams will ease out by themselves and start to float in the oil when done.

6. Gently turn over the paniyaarams one by one using a fork and cook on the flip sides.

7. When the paniyaarams are done gently remove them one by one from the pan and drain them on a kitchen towel. 

 

Enjoy the hot and scrumptious Kuzhi Paniyaarams with coconut chutney if needed.

Instant Lemon Pickle

I love pickle and I used to have it daily along with my meal. Now being here, I solely depend on pickles that are bought off-shelf. I find these pickles as too salty and most of the time, I don't eat and it ends up in my bin. When I came across Instant lemon pickle recipe at sashiga's space, I felt very happy and talked about this to my mom over phone. She told that she also prepares it sometimes and described me the method. I found both the methods are same except the way the lemons are cooked. Here I take you through both the methods. You can choose whichever method as it suits you.

Basic Information:

Preparation and cooking time: 10 minutes + 20 minutes for cooling

Makes: 1 and 1/2 cup approx.

Ingredients:



Yellow Lemons - 5 large nos

Red chilli powder - 2 teaspoons/ as per taste

Roasted fenugreek powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Sesame oil - 2 tablespoons / as per preference

Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Asafoetida - a pinch



Method:



1a) Take whole lemons in sauce pan and pour boiling water until the lemons are fully immersed. Cover and keep it aside for 20 minutes. then, drain the water and cut the lemons to desired size.

or

1b) Slice the lemon according to your desired size. Put the sliced pieces in saucepan and add little water. say about  <1/4 cup. Cook just enough to soften the lemon pieces. Make sure not to over cook as they taste bitter. Once it is done, keep aside with water. (Picture shown for this method)

 

2) Prefer any of the above method to cook lemons and bring them to room temperature.

3) Add red chilli powder, roasted fenugreek powder, asafoetida and salt. Toss it well.

 

4) Heat oil in kadai/seasoning pan. Add mustard seeds when it is hot and remove from heat. Allow this seasoning to cool to room temperature and add to lemon mixture. Toss well.

5) Store in sterilised bottle and serve with this rice.

Note:

1) Do not cook lemons for long time. It might taste bitter if you do so.

2) Try to use sesame oil for authentic taste.

3) I prepared it last week and it has stayed good till now. Do not forget to refrigerate.