Orange Tart

I had a tin of preserved mandarin oranges lying in my kitchen for months, so one weekend when I felt like baking a light and fruity dessert I searched for a good tart recipe and finally decided to modify a few to get to this one. The tart was light and had a great citrusy punch, next time around I would probably modify the recipe to make sure the curd filling is not as runny as it was.

Ingredients

Orange curd 

Juice from firm oranges - 1/2 cup
Lemon Juice - 1/3 cup
Egg yolk - from 6 large eggs
Whole Eggs -2 large
Sugar - 1 cup
Orange zest -2 table spoon
Butter- cold,cut into small squares - 1/2 cup

Crust
All purpose flour (Maida)- 1 cup
Powdered Sugar - 2 tbl spoon
Salt -1/4 tsp
Unsalted butter -1/2 cup
Whipping cream/ fresh cream -2 table spoons
 Egg yolk -1 large

Decoration 
Orange Juice
Canned orange segments
Strawberry
Chilled fresh cream


Whisk the eggs and egg yolks for 2-3 minutes, add the rest of sugar, orange juice, lemon juice and zest and continue for another minute. Set up a double boiler by placing a vessel filled with water on the stove and let in reach boiling point, place a smaller steel vessel into the bath.
Add the butter, blend and pour into the smaller steel vessel. Constantly whisk the mixture for about 10 min or till it thickens. Remove from the bath and leave it to cool. After it reaches room temperature cover it with clingwrap and place it into the freezer for an hour or the fridge if longer.

For the crust

Pre heat oven to 185'C. Blend flour, sugar, and salt in processor (this can be done by hand as well). Add butter and cut in, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cream and egg yolk and process until dough clumps together. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Roll out dough on floured surface to 13-inch round.

Grease a 10 inch tart dish with butter and line the dough, cut the sides out neatly and pierce the surface with a fork all over.
Place the dish  in the hot oven. Bake crust until cooked through, about 30 minutes. Cool crust completely in pan on rack.

Sprinkle orange juice on the crust to soften and pour in the curd. Decorate with strawberries,oranges and cream / icing.

Chill for minimum an hour before serving.

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients
1.5 cup All purpose flour (maida)
3/4th cup Powdered sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking powder
1/3 cup Oil
1 Egg
1/3 cup Milk
Blueberries can or fresh, you can substitute with cranberry
A few drops Vanilla essence

Method

Preheat the oven to 200'C

Mix all the wet ingredients in a large bowl

In another bowl mix in the dry ingredients (you can sieve them if you want)

Add the wet mixture gently to the dry and fold in . There is no need to use a blender or a mixer. Simply use a spatula.

Leave the mixture for 10 mins. Meanwhile prepare you muffin tin, you can use a paper liner or just use vegetable oil to grease

Add the batter to the muffin cups next, I used a table spoon. First pour enough mixture to fill little less than half of the cup, next add the berry sauce or a few fresh berries.
Next add more batter to fill the cup till the brim( this will result in the muffins spilling out upon baking giving the characteristic shape). If using fresh berries add some more on the top and let them just sink a bit before transferring to a baking pan.

Bake for 15-20 mins in the oven (this time may very , just observe the muffins as they bake, pierce a toothpick to make sure its done.

Cool on a rack and serve !

Chargrilled Broccoli with Chilli and Garlic

Posting on this blog after ages, but I've decided to restart food blogging after I realized how much I enjoy it. It takes some effort to document , picture and then actually post your cooking but I guess its worth doing coz a) it gives me a chance to indulge in cooking which I love b) lets me experiment with another one of my hobby - photography.

With out further ado my newest fav dish - Chargrilled Broccoli with Chilli and Garlic
I got the recipe from gourmet traveller which in turn if from adapted from the Ottolenghi cookbook.
Ingredients
1 medium broccoli
olive oil
7-8 small garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 green chillies red chillies/jalepenos, thinly sliced
coarse sea salt
black pepper

Separate the brocolli into florets and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes – don’t be tempted to cook longer! Remove immediately to a bowl of ice water, then drain and leave to dry completely.

To chargrill the broccolli I used a thick bottom anodized pan, Take olive oil in the pan and let it warm for a minute , toss in the dried broccolli into it and let it grill. Do not cover the dish as it will not be crunchy.

If required do this in batches so that it does not become soggy. It took me about 5 mins per batch to char grill this to medium.

While the broccoli is cooking, place some more oil in a small saucepan together with the garlic and chillies and cook on a medium heat until the garlic begins to turn golden brown. Be careful not to let the garlic and chilli burn – they will continue cooking in the hot oil even when off heat.

Pour the garlic and chilli oil over the hot broccoli and toss well. Season to taste and serve immediately or at room temperature

I served it with a tasty readymade tzatziki sauce.

I'm gonna be back

Watch this space !!

Coconut chutney

Remember the dosas in India? the expert cook making crisp pancakes in the svelte ring heat of a udipi restaurant kitchen, bowls full of sambhar to dip dosas and eat like a soup when the dosa's no more, the spicy yet bland coconut chutney that proves to be the best accompanist to the mashed and spiced potatoes.
I'm not great at making dosas from scratch but can use a mix at its best, same goes for sambhar but chutney is a different ball game. So here goes a recipe for a simple coconut chutney south Indian style.



Ingredients

Chutney
1 cup coconut ( you can use fresh coconut and grate it or unsweetened dry flakes, try and avoid frozen)
6-8 serrano / indian chillies
1 tiny red onion or shallot
1/3 cup coriander and mint chopped)
1 tablespoon coconut milk or yogurt
1/4 cup of tamarind extract ( imlee or tamarind soaked in water)
¼ tsp of salt
Salt to taste


Baghar,tadka,tempering

1 tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal, fresh curry leaves and few pieces of dried red chilli.


Method

Take all the ingredients under chutney and in a grinder and coarsely grind.

Taste and adjust spice level according to your taste

Take a small pan or kadhai heat two tablespoons of oil

Add the ingredients under tadka into the oil

Let them fry till dark, add to the chutney

Serve with dosa , idly ,upma , anything !

Chatpate Chicken kabab

This is a very simple dish that goes well as a snack as well in sandwiches. Its chicken kabab with a lot of sweet and sour masale. It does not require a lot of oil so I basically just added a few drops of oil and a good non stick pan to cook. Also its super quick to make.

Ingredients
1 pound minced chicken
1 tbl spoon chaat masala
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tblspoon lemon zest
2 tsp amchur (dry mango)
2 tsp anardana powder (pomegranate seeds powder)
4 Green chillies chopped finely
salt to taste
oil for frying




The kneaded chicken



The kababs after frying

Method
1 In a big mixing bowl mix all the ingredients except for oil
2 Mix it well to make a uniform 'dough'
3 Make out small kababs in your desired shape
4 Heat a flat non stick pan to high
5 Reduce the heat to medium and add a few drops of oil
6 Lightly fry your kababs in the oil
7 Serve hot

Gobi Manchurian

I got a few requests for desi Chinese dishes. So here goes the first of the dishes. Please pardon my lack of pictures, I made this for a friend's dinner and was running late to click any pics.

1/2 pound frozen cauliflower florets
1 cup corn flour
5 Green serrano chillies
4-5 pods of garlic crushed
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 table spoon any hot sauce
1 teaspoon redchilli powder
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Oil for frying


Preparation
1) Thaw and pat dry the gobi with paper towel
2) Heat oil in a kadai/ deep pan/wok
3) Take cornflour add salt , pepper and red chilli powder
4) Mix with water to make a streaming consistency batter
5) Add cauliflower in batches and deep fry
6) In the same wok using about 1 tablespoon oil fry , chopped chillies , add crushed garlic shallow fry till done .
7) Add the fried gobi
8) Add soy sauce and hot sauce
9) Adjust the spices and serve hot

Frittata

Frittata is a finger licking good breakfast dish that won't make you slog till lunch time. Very simply put its a baked omelet ! I used mainly bell peppers,mushrooms and herbs to make this but you can practically anything potatoes, sausages, spinach or chicken.



Ingredients
4 eggs
3 tablespoon milk
butter for greasing
1/2 a bell pepper chopped into small cubes
1 tomato diced
1 cup mushroom (Any kind) chopped
2-4 serrano chillies slit
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 pinch oregano
2 springs thyme
1/4 cup chopped parsley + cilantro
(Any herb that you want to add)
A sprinkle of parmesan cheese



Method
1) Pre heat you oven ot 350 F
2) In a suitable dish whisk the eggs, add milk , salt pepper and all the herbs (parsley , cilantro,oregano, thyme )
3) OPTIONAL - you can lightly saute the vegetables in a pan if you are not a raw veggies person
4) Add all the vegetables ( bell pepper,tomato, mushroom and serrano chillies ),and mix in.
5) In a (preferably round) baking dish, apply liberal greasing of butter
6) Add the egg mixture
7) Place it in the middle rack of the oven, let it cook for 5-7 minutes
8) Add the sprinkle of cheese ( if done earlier the cheese sinks )
9) Bake for an additional 8-10 mins
10) Remove, cool for 3-4 mins and cut out wedges to serve

So enjoy your next brunch with a hearty frittata !

White bread

Yipee this is my first bread !!! yes an actual bread that you make sandwich from .I got the recipe from the this website and here is the modified version. The bread turned out pretty decent for a first time albeit a little bland but who cares the doors of bread baking are open!!!

Ingredients

* 2 1/2 cups water (105-115 F)
* 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 7 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 1/4-1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Directions

1.Pour 1/2 cup of the water into a bowl and mix with yeast and sugar til foamy.
2.Let sit for 5 minutes until creamy.
3.Put the yeast mixture, rest of the water and 3 1/2 cups of the flour into the mixer with the dough hook.
4.Mix slowly until blended then add the rest of the flour.
5. Add salt and mix at medium speed for 10 minutes (or do half in mixer and half kneading) til dough is smooth and elastic. ( you can do all this by hand too
6. Back in mixer add butter 1 tbsp at a time (dough may come apart, but mixing will pull it back together).
8Turn dough out on lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball then place in a large buttered or oiled bowl.
7.Turn dough so it is completely coated in the fat, then cover in plastic for 45 minutes to an hour (I did an hour and half), til it has doubled in size at room temperature.
8. Roll out into a 9 x 12-inch rectangle.
9.With the short end facing you, fold the dough into thirds like a sheet of paper to go into an envelope, creating a roll.Place on a aluminum foil sheet.
10.Cover the loaves with buttered plastic wrap and allow to rise again in a warm place (80°F) for 45 minutes, until they double in size.
11.Preheat the oven to 375°F and put the rack in the center of the oven.
12.Bake for 35-45 minutes til they are honey brown.
13.Immediately turn out of pans onto a rack to cool.

Aloo sabzi with kalonji

INGREDIENTS :
Potatoes - 500 gm.
Nigella seeds - a pinch.
Green chilies - 6 gm.
Sugar - 4 gm.
Poppy seeds - 20 gm.
(heaped)
Oil - 30 ml.
Ghee - 25 gm.
Red chili powder - 5 gm.
Salt to taste.
METHOD :
Heat oil and add nigella seeds. Add diced potatoes and fry lightly for 10 mins. Grind poppy seeds with a little water and add to the potatoes. Cover with lid, stirring occasionally and adding 2 tbspn. of water. When water dries and potatoes are done, add green chilies, sugar, salt and red chilly powder. Top with ghee and allow to cook for one minute. Serve hot with rice.