Category Archives: Mint

24 Sep
2013

Whole Wheat Honeycomb Buns with Carmelized Onion Filling

Print
Recipe

Aparna always comes up with interesting breads for the “We need to Bake”. This time it was KHALIAT NAHAL ( HONEYCOMB BUNS OR BEE’S HIVE BUNS ).These are cute little buns structured in the form of a Bee Hive. The whole grain health bug has caught me too. I have started making an attempt to use whole grain though I haven’t been able to completely make the switch.

The original recipe called for 2½ cups all-purpose flour. I have substituted it with 2 cups of whole wheat flour and reduced the milk to ¾ cup instead of 1. While baking with low protein flours like Whole Wheat, adding Vital Wheat Gluten really helps. Since its purely gluten it goes a long way to improve the elasticity of the dough and rising. The wheat buns were a little dense which was expected,thanks to the flour!!.But if you are used to eating wheat breads you wouldn’t be disappointed with this one. I believe they are traditionally made sweet and glazed with honey flavored syrup. I am more of a savory person so ended up baking the Savory buns. While thinking about filling, Caramelized Onions were the first to cross my mind. They are my favorite!!! I love this bun, the filling in every bite balances the flavor and the taste of the buns.

The below mentioned recipe makes 18 small buns which is good to go with a 9” round pan. Usually cream cheese is used as a filling; but there are plenty of other choices like feta cheese/paneer(cottage cheese)/cheese. And for the Sweet ones: Chocolate,dried fruit like dates, raisins, chopped nuts, chopped fruit , sweetened coconut are great options.

Incase you plan to make the sweet one, here is the recipe.Sugar Syrup/ Glaze : 3/4 cup sugar;1/2 cup water;A pinch of saffron; 1 tablespoon honey; 1 teaspoon lime/ lemon juice. Make the sugar syrup/ glaze during the first rise of the dough. For this put the sugar, water and saffron in a small pan and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for a few minutes until it starts thickening a bit. Take it off the heat and add the honey and the lime/ lemon juice. Mix well and let it cool. Keep aside till needed. When the sweet buns come out of the oven, pour the syrup all over the top of the “Honeycomb”. The bread should be hot and the syrup/ glaze should be cool. If you want your Honeycomb Buns to be less sweet, just brush the syrup/ glaze over the top. Let it sit for a while for the syrup/ glaze to set a bit. I plan to try the sweet one next time.

Whole Wheat Honeycomb Buns with Carmelized Onion Filling

Ingredients

¾ cup lukewarm milk
1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 teaspoon vital wheat gluten
3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon butter, melted
2 tablespoon milk for brushing the dough
2 tablespoon white sesame seeds for sprinkling on top
For the filling:
1 red onion sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt
Mint leaves, a few
OR
1 cup of filling (approximately) of your choice

Instructions

Make sure your melted butter has cooled down a bit before using it. Put 2 cups of the flour, salt, sugar (if making the sweet bread only) and melted butter in the bowl of your processor. Run a couple of times to mix well.

Combine the milk, sugar and yeast in a small bowl and keep for 5 minutes. Add this to the processor bowl and knead until you have a smooth and elastic dough which is not sticky. Add as much of the remaining 1/2 cup of flour as you need to get this consistency of bread dough. I used all of 2 1/2 cups of flour for mine.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well-oiled bowl, turning it to coat completely with the oil. Cover and let it rise till double in volume, for about an hour.

Turn the dough out onto your work surface. You won’t really need to flour it as the dough is quite manageable as it is. Cut it into 2 halves. With your palms, roll out each half a “rope” about 9” long. Cut each rope into 1” pieces so you have a total of 18 pieces. Take each piece and flatten it out a little and place half a teaspoon of filling in the centre. Pull up the sides and wrap the dough around the filling, pinching it closed at the top. Smoothen it into a round ball. Place this in a well-greased round 9” cake tin. Repeat with the remaining 17 pieces and the filling. Arrange the filled balls of dough in concentric circles, filling the base of the cake tin. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rise for about 30 to 40 minutes. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle the sesame seeds over this. Don’t use the sesame seeds for sweet bread, only for the savoury one. Bake the buns at 350F for about 25 minutes, until they’re done and a nice golden brown on top. Let them cool in the tin for about 5 minutes and then on a wire rack. Serve them warm with tea/ coffee.

For the Filling – Heat oil in a pan and sauté the onions until pink. Add the sugar which will help to caramelize them. When they are almost done, add the salt; pepper and mint leaves. Mix well.

http://www.thefoodielovers.com/2013/09/whole-wheat-honeycomb-buns-with-carmelized-onion-filling/

Thanks Aparna for the recipe.

Enjoy!!

Nina

Categories : Baking, Bread, Buns, Healthy, Mint, Savory, We need to Bake, Wholegrain | 3 Comments »

4 Sep
2013

Mawa Cake and Masala Herb Cookies - Daring Baker’s August’13 Challenge

Print
Recipe

Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen was our August 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she challenged us to make some amazing regional Indian desserts. The Mawa Cake, the Bolinhas de Coco cookies and the Masala cookies – beautifully spiced and delicious!

I was really kicked about the Mawa Cake and worked on it as soon as I read the post. In a hurry I ended making a stupid mistake. I read 4 cups of milk as 4 litres of milk(that was alot of MILK!!!). Mawa requires patience and lot of stirring. Mine took almost 3-4 hrs; that’s when I felt something was wrong;logged into the DBC site to check and that’s when I realized how dumb I was!!!.Now that I was left with a huge batch of Mawa,I saved up a cup for the cake and added a little sugar to the remaining. Mixed it well and made small flat disc and refrigerated it for sometime. These are called Pedas and they make agreat dessert. But yes…not to forget they are made with whole milk so very very HIGH in calories.

Mawa Cakes are a speciality cake that is the hallmark of Irani cafe’s in India. Mawa (also known as Khoya/ Khoa) is made by slowly reducing milk (usually full-fat) until all that remain is a mass of slightly caramelized granular dough-like milk solids. Mawa is used in a wide variety of Indian sweets like Gulab Jamun and Peda, to mention just two. Mawa is pronounced as Maa-vaa; Khoya is pronounced as KhOh-yaa.
In this cake, Mawa lends a rich and a caramelized milky taste to this cake which is slightly dense and reminiscent of a pound cake. Cardamom and cashewnuts are typical of a Mawa Cake; but almonds can be used too. I had a whole pack of blanched sliced almonds from Trader Joe’s that came into use. The batter can be used to make Cupcakes as well. They were totally moist and the cardamom flavor was to die for. Even my little enjoyed this cake.
Masala cookies are something that features very often at home. So these were not something new; however I just baked them with the flavors I like.The word Masala means “Spice Mix”, they are savory and spicy Indian snack. These were quite spicy because of the chilies and pepper that went into them. They are loaded with flavors and are super crunchy on the outside;soft and flaky in the inside. I used Mint and Dill leaves which added a zing to the cookies. I made the Mawa two days ahead of time and stored it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Allow it to come to room temperature before you make the cake. Instead of cardamom you may choose to use nutmeg also.For the Masala cookies I didn’t have curry leaves handy; Cilantro,Dill and Mint leaves did their flavoring magic:)

Mawa Cake

Serving Size: Makes One 8 inch Cake

Ingredients

For the Mawa:
1 litre (4 cups) full fat milk
For the cake:
1/2 cup unsalted Butter (soft at room temperature)
3/4 cup packed crumbled mawa
1-1/4 cups castor sugar
3 large eggs
5 to 6 cardamom pods, powdered, (about 1-1/2 tsp powdered cardamom)
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Blanched Sliced Almonds / Cashewnuts to decorate

Instructions

First make the “Mawa”. Pour the milk into a heavy bottomed saucepan, preferably a non-stick one. Bring the milk to a boil, stirring it on and off, making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Turn down the heat to medium and keep cooking the milk until reduces to about a quarter of its original volume. This should take about an hour to an hour and a half.

The important thing during this process is to watch the milk and stir it frequently to make sure it doesn’t stick to the sides or bottom of the pan and get burnt. The danger of this happening increases as the milk reduces and gets thicker.

Once the milk it has reduced to about one fourth, 1/4 quantity, lower the heat to low and let cook for a little while longer. Keep stirring regularly, until the milk solids (mawa) take on a lumpy appearance. There should be no visible liquid left in the pan, but the mawa should be moist and not stick to the sides of the pan.

Remove the pan from heat and transfer the mawa to a bowl and let it cool completely. Then cover and refrigerate it for a day or two (not more) till you’re ready to make the cake. It will harden in the fridge so let it come to room temperature before using it.You should get about 3/4 to 1 cup of mawa from 1 litre (4 cups) of full-fat milk.

Now start preparations for the cake by pre-heating your oven to moderate 350°F . Beat the butter, the crumbled mawa and the sugar in a largish bowl, using a hand held electric beater, on high speed until soft and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat on medium speed till well incorporated. Add the vanilla and milk and beat till mixed well.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt onto the batter and beat at medium speed and well blended. If you cannot find cake flour, place 2 tablespoon of cornstarch in the bottom of your 1-cup measure and then fill it with all-purpose (plain) flour to make up to 1 cup.

Grease and line only the bottom of an 8 inch (20 cm) spring form pan. Pour the batter into this and lightly smooth the top. Place the cashew nuts (or blanched almonds) on top of the batter randomly. Do not press the nuts down into the batter. A Mawa Cake always has a rustic finished look rather than a decorated look.

Bake in a preheated moderate oven for about 1 hour until the cake is a golden brown and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Do not over bake the cake or it will dry out. If the cake seems to be browning too quickly, cover it will aluminium foil hallway through the baking time.

Remove from oven and allow it to cool for 10 min in the tin. Release the cake, peel off the parchment from the base and let it cool completely.

http://www.thefoodielovers.com/2013/09/mawa-cake-and-masala-herb-cookies-daring-bakers-august13-challenge/

Masala Herb Cookies

Yield: Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1-3/4 cup all-purpose (plain) flour
2 tablespoons fine white or brown rice flour (optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (or according to your taste)
1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
3 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
3/4 inch piece of ginger, finely grated
1-1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorn, crushed coarsely
1-1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and crushed coarsely
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons finely chopped curry leaves
1 tablespoon each finely chopped fresh cilantro,mint and dill leaves
3 to 4 tablespoons cold yogurt
A little oil to brush the tops of the biscuits/ cookies

Instructions

Put both flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda into the bowl of a food processor and add the pieces of chilled butter. Pulse until the mixture takes on the texture of breadcrumbs.

Now add the chopped green chillies, finely grated ginger, crushed peppercorn and cumin, sugar, the chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves. Pulse a couple of times to mix well.

Then add 2 tablespoons of yogurt and pulse again. Add one more tbsp of yogurt (or two, as much as needed), and pulse again until the dough just comes together and clumps together. You want a moist dough, not a wet one – somewhat like pie dough.

Do not over process or knead. The dough should be just moist enough for you to use your hands and bring everything together to shape into a ball. Flatten it into a disc and cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least hour. You can also leave it overnight (up to about 24 hours) and work on it the next day.

Pre-heat your oven to moderate 350°F and line your baking trays with parchment or grease them with oil.

Lightly dust your working surface and roll out the dough to 1/8”(3 mm) thickness, not more or your biscuits/ cookies will not be crisp. If using Sesame seeds, sprinkle it uniformly over the dough and use your rolling pin, very lightly, to press them in.Using cutters of your choice (about 2-1/4 inch in size), cut out biscuits/ cookies and place them on lightly greased baking trays. Brush a very thin coat of oil over them. This will help them brown while baking. Bake them in a preheated moderate oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or till they’re done and golden brown on the top. Remember the baking time will depend on the thickness and shape of your biscuits/ cookies. Let them cool on the trays for about 5 minutes and then cool them on racks. Once they’re completely cool, they should be a bit crunchy and not chewy.

http://www.thefoodielovers.com/2013/09/mawa-cake-and-masala-herb-cookies-daring-bakers-august13-challenge/

Note - I was traveling so posting very late. Its better late than never:)

Bon Appétit
Nina

Categories : Baking, Cakes, Cookies, Daring Bakers Challenge, Dessert, Easy Baking, Herb, Indian Cuisine, Mint, Nuts, Savory, Snacks, Sweets | 3 Comments »

21 Jan
2013

Minted Yogurt Bread

Print
Recipe

Subzero Wind Chill Grips Midwest - MN endures tremendous amount of cold weather. So far this winter was a mild one, we had only one subzero low all winter!.But now Sunday through Tuesday is supposed to be the coldest days in the last four years.It’s about -15F/-19C now and going to be 3F/-16C tomorrow. I am looking outside my window and it is so sunny yet so chilly. Urgh!! The weather is so damn contradicting. How I wish Spring was here soon:(

Baking is something that has been keeping me busy this season, atleast I get to take my mind of the bitter cold temperature. Mint has always been my favorite herb and that is what caught my attention when I came across this recipe. I have baked two versions of the same bread. First time was the exact recipe as mentioned below and the last time was a Savory one which you see in the pictures below. {For the savory one instead of 2 ½ cup bread/all-purpose flour – I used a cup of whole wheat flour along with 1 ½ cup of bread flour; added 2-3 minced thai green chilies; avoided the honey; added salt and 1 teaspoon butter}. As you can see in the pictures, due to the addition of wheat flour, the bread is light brown in color. Both the breads tasted great. However the savory one had a little hard crust, but was soft inside and turned slightly hard the next day. The original recipe yielded very flavorful and delicious bread which was very soft; I felt as though it had a brand new taste:)

MINTED YOGURT BREAD
Makes 1 medium (8 ½ x 4 ½”) loaf pan

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups bread/all-purpose flour
1 package dry yeast
1 cup plain yogurt, room temperature
3 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh mint
Zest of a lemon
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon butter,melted

Directions: In a mixing or mixer bowl of a stand mixer, measure 1 cup flour and the yeast ( if you are using whole wheat flour too, mix the flours and then measure). Stir to blend. Pour in the yogurt, mint, lemon zest and honey. Beat together with a wooden spoon or mixer flat beater until thoroughly mixed into a batter like dough. Add additional flour, ¼ cup at a time, first stirring with the spoon and then working with your hands, until a rough ball of dough has formed. This will be too thick for the beater blade, so attach a dough hook and stir with it. Knead for a minute. The dough may be somewhat sticky when turned out of the bowl, but a few sprinkles of flour as you shape the dough under your hands will make it less so.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise to double in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch down the dough. Shape into a ball; flatten the dough into an oval roughly the length of the pan. Fold in half lengthwise, pinch the edges into a seam and place seam down in the pan. Cover the loaf pan with a length of wax paper and leave until it has doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. The center should rise slightly above the edge of the pan. Preheat oven to 350F. Bake the loaf until it is lightly golden in color and tests done when tapped on the bottom crust with a forefinger, about 35 minutes. It should sound hard and hollow. Remove the pan immediately and brush with the melted butter. Cool on rack before slicing.