Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Semolina Cornflour Sweet Bread


Ingredients :

1. Semolina/Rava - 2 cups
2. Cornflour - 1 cup
3. Powdered Sugar - 1 cup
4. Yeast - 1 tbsp.
5. Water - 1/4 cup
6. Oil - 1/4 cup
7. Salt - 1 tsp.

Method:
1. Add the yeast and sugar to warm water and let it rest for 5 minutes.
2. Make a soft smooth dough using semolina, cornflour, sugar, oil, salt and the above mixture.
3. Apply little oil on the dough and let it rest for around 2 hrs so that it doubles in size.
4. Now shape it in the form of a bread or place it in a loaf pan if u have one, otherwise place it in a baking tray like I did.
5. Since the temperature and duration entirely depend on the oven, I would say, bake at 180 degree celcius until the bread turns golden brown.
6. Perform the toothpick test - Insert a toothpick, it must come out clean.
7. Dust the bread with powdered sugar.

Palak Paneer


Ingredients:

1. Spinach - 1 bunch
2. Green Chillies - 2
3. Turmeric Powder(Haldi) - 1/4 tsp.
4. Medium Sized Onions - 2
5. Ginger-Garlic Paste - 2 tsp.
6. Cumin Seeds(jeera) - 1/2 tsp.
5. Medium sized tomatoes - 2
7. Corriander Powder - 1 tbsp.
8. Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
9. Black Cardamom(badi elaichi) - 2
10.Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp.
11.Bayleaf(tejpatta) - 1
12.Paneer(Cottage Cheese) - 250g
13.Garam Masala Powder - 2 tsp.
13.Salt

Method:

1. Thoroughly wash the spinach leaves after removing the stems.
2. Chop the green chillies and boil them with turmeric powder and the spinach leaves for 8-10 minutes. Don't let the leaves turn black.
3. Cut the onions and tomatoes.
4. Add little oil in the kadhai(frying vessel), add cumin seeds,cinnamon and ginger-garlic paste and corriander powder.
5. Add the onions and fry till they turn light brown. Then add the tomatoes and continue frying for a few minutes.
6. Let the mixture cool and then grind together this mixture and the boiled spinach.
7. Then transfer this into the kadhai and add some water to make a thick gravy.
8. Add black cardamom, red chilli powder, bayleaf, garam masala powder and paneer and let the mixture boil.
9. Once it boils, let it get cooked on simmer for a few minutes.

Your dish is ready :-) Serve hot with rotis or rice.

Fruit Squares


Ingredients:

1. Plain Flour(Maida) - 1 cup
2. Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp.
3. Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp.
4. Sugar - 3/4 cup
5. Water - lesser than 1/2 cup
6. Pureed cheeku(suppota) - 3
7. Butter - slightly lesser than 1/2 cup
8. Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
9. Egg - 1

Method:

1. Mix thoroughly the butter and brown sugar.
2. Make sugar syrup by boiling the sugar and water and once it starts getting thick, reduce the heat and continue stirring till you get a thick sugar syrup.
3. Mix the flour and baking powder.
4. In a pan/vessel, add the butter mixture and the sugar syrup. Slowly add flour to it and heat this mixture for a few minutes.
5. Turn off the gas. In a separate vessel, add the egg and beat it properly.
6. Add this to the mixture and stir well.No need to heat it.
7. Pre-heat the oven for 3-5 minutes. Pour the mixture to a greased baking container.
8. Bake the mixture at 180 degree celcius for 15 minutes.
9. Once done, let it remain in the oven for a few minutes. Then take it out and insert a tooth pick. It should come out clean. Otherwise, bake it for a few more minutes on a lower temperature.
10.Cut it into squares and serve hot.

Kids will love it :)

Variation : You can replace suppota with pureed mango or pureed banana.
You can combine whipped cream and icing sugar, or heat butter, icing sugar and flour, to prepare the frosting and spread evenly on the squares.