Home Baked Bread

Makes three loaves.

In a large bowl pour:                       1 cup lukewarm water

In the water dissolve:                      1 tsp white sugar

Over the water sprinkle:                 2 tbsp’s yeast granules

Let stand for 10 minutes. By that time yeast will have risen to the surface. Stir to mix, and don’t stop till the yeast is dissolved.

Into the yeast mixture stir:           2 cups lukewarm water

1/2 cup white sugar

1 heaping tablespoon salt

1/2 cup salad oil or melted butter

Beat, then stir in, 1 cup at a time:  9 cups all purpose flour

Mix till it requires muscles. You may need to add another 1/2 cup of water to work in the last two cups. Gather ball together and move to a floured surface. Knead it for about 5 minutes. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover it and keep it in a warm place for 1-2 hours. Then punch it down and let it rise all over again.  You want to let it rise in a warm place so if you don’t have one, put the oven on its lowest for 5 minutes and then turn it off and stick the bowl of dough in there.

It should take slighly over an hour for the second rising. You will want to let it rise in the pan you are baking it in. Once it has risen over the top of the pan, take it out and heat the oven to 400 F.  Bake in a 400 F oven for 20 minutes or until the top is nice and brown. Take it out and immediately flip it onto a rack. And your done!

Tandoori Chicken – Spiced Oven Roasted Chicken

3 lbs roasting chicken, cut up

1 large onion

1 tsp fresh ginger root

3 cloves garlic

2 tsp. cayenne

2 tsp garam masala

1/3 cup plain yogurt

2 tsp. salt

2 tbs tomato paste

1 tbsp corn starch

2 tbsp butter melted

Wash and dry chicken well with paper towel. Prick pieces all over to allow spices to penetrate.

Mince together onion ginger and garlic. Add cayenne, garam masala, yogurt, salt and tomato paste.

In mixing bowl, combine chicken and spice mixture, cover and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Before roasting, add corn starch and butter to chicken.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Arrange chicken pieces in roasting pan, side by side, but not touching. Roast in hot oven for 20 minutes. Baste occasionally with marinade until chicken pieces are golden brown. Cooking time is approximately 35-40 minutes.

Vegtable Koftas – Curried Zuchinni Balls

Koftas:

2 cups zuchinni, coarsely grated

1/2 cup pea flour

1 tsp garam masala

oil for deep frying

Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl and mix into smooth batter. Heat oil in wok. Drop tablespoonfuls of batter into hot oil, a few at a time, and fry until golden brown on both sides. Drain and set aside.

Sauce for Koftas:

2 medium onions, minced

2 tbsp clarified butter

1/2 cup tomatoes, cubed

1 tsp garlic, crushed

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

1 tsp salt or to taste

3 1/2 cups water 1 tbsp fresh  cilantro, chopped for garnishing

In saucepan, fry onion in butter until translucent. Add next 6 ingredients and cook until butter separates from sauce. Add water* and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes.

Add zuchinni balls and garnish with cilantro.

*Zuchinni balls absorb a lot of liquid so adjust about of liquid as needed.

Serve with plain paranthas or rice pilaf.

Spinach with Indian Cottage Cheese – Palak Paneer

This one is by request – my Mother keeps trying to steal my Indian cookbook – actually everyone in my family does, and so I am posting this recipe (and a few others) for them.

Ingredients

4 cups spinach, finely chopped

1 cup split green peas

3 cups water

3 tbsp butter

1 med. onion finely chopped

1 tsp garlic, crushed

2 tbsp whole wheat flour (or thickener of your choice)

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt or to taste

2 cups paneer, cubed OR 2 cups tofu lightly covered in flour & pepper mixture and pan fried

Wash spinach in several changes of water. Discard tough stems and chop finely.

Wash peas, checking thoroughly for foreign objects. In saucepan, combine peas and water, bringing to boild. Reduce heat to simmer. Partially cover and cook for 10 minutes or until peas are half cooked.

Add spinach and continue cooking until peas and spinach are fully cook, about 10 minutes.

In saucepan fry onion in butter until golden brown. Add ginger and garlic, frying for a few more seconds. Add flour and cook for another couple of minutes.

Combine peas and spinach mixture, paneer, cayenne pepper and salt.

Cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until smooth in consistency.

Serve hot with rice or Chapatties

Watermelon Lemonaid with Ginger

Okay so this may sound like too much. But it is absolutely amazing. I have become a believer. It is all thanks to Charlotte Ruttle, culinary/lemonaid genious.

Syrup:

Watermelon Lemonaid with Ginger

2 c sugar

2 c water

combine in sauce pan. disolve and let simmer with zest of 4 lemons and 3 tbsp fresh grated ginger. let simmer on med/low until all sugar is disolved (roughly 10 min)

Lemon Juice:

in meatime juice about six lemons for 250 ml of lemon juice.

*Add a pinch of salt to the syrup at the end of cooking to make sure it disolves. Then strain the syrup to get out the pulpy bits.  Combine lemon juice and syrup, and add 6 more cups of water, and chill.

Watermelon:

Take a watermelon, cut up into chunks, blend and mix 50/50 with lemonaid.

Serve chilled or over ice. Garnish with mint if you like or spike with a little white rum. Mmmm. Sounds good doesn’t it? You want to make it right now don’t you. Well it should make you green with envy then to know that i am enjoying a tall glass of it myself.

What to Cook For Fathers Day

I need some fathers day menu ideas. I am all out. Any suggestions?

He can’t eat red meat. I know right? So I am thinking Salmon. Ideas? Please?

I should probably mention that I don’t like fish so I don’t cook it. So I REALLY need some ideas.

Merlot Braised Beef

*from Canadian Living February 2002*

• 1 lb stewing beef cubes (500 g)
• 1 each onion and stalk celery and leaves, sliced
• 3 each cloves garlic, smashes, and sprigs parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 juniper berries
• 1 1/2 c Merlot or other dry red wine (375 ml)
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4  tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 c beef stock or water
• 2 carrots, cut in 1 inch lengths
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 c. pearl onions
• 1 c.  button mushrooms
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

-In a large bowl, combine beef, sliced onion, celery, garlic, parsley sprigs, bay leaf juniper berries, wine, thyme and pepper; cover and marinate in refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.

-Remove beef; sprinkle with flour and set aside. Strain marinade through sieve into bowl, pressing solids, set marinade aside. In skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; brown beef, in batches. Transfer to bowl.

-Add 1 tbsp butter to pan. Stir in sugar;cook until deep nutty brown. Stir in  reserved marinade and stock, averting eyes to avoid splatters. Add beef, carrots and salt . cover and simmer over low heat stirring often, until beef is tender. about 11/2 hours.

-Brown onions and mushrooms and add to pot. Simmer for 10 min.

My Veggie Garden

So what sounds more appealing than a summer meal of fresh vegetables grown entirely in your own garden? A real garden party. Okay picture a beautiful backyard, twinkle lights, some wine, and some freshly picked fruits and vegetables.

Yeah well that’s what I imagined and that is why I am doing my own vegetable garden this year.

I have already started the seeds and they are currently living on top of my fridge. (Yes the beer bottles and used yogurt containers had to find a new home). Some of them are sprouting magnificently. It is so very exciting.

I am doing:

• tomatoes
• butter lettuce
• arugula – rocket
• sunflowers
• mint
• thyme
• rosemary
• 3 types of Basil – thai, lemon and regular
• lemon cilantro
• lavender
• cauliflower
• 2 types of carrots
• beans
• peas
• squash
• green onion

Things I want to do but haven’t decided on:

• corn
• potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• strawberries
• celery
• garlic
• onion
• asparagus
• peppers

I have to do some more research on the above plants before I add them to the list – to see how hardy they are and what they require.

I would like to find out if corn needs to be planted quite deep because I would love love love to do fresh corn.

Either way. It is a very exciting time. I will update the blog with pictures of my growing garden and stay tuned for pictures/recipes when I get down to cooking.

Roasted Carrot Soup

I can take no credit for this soup, it is the genius of chef/author Angela Tunner – you may think it looks simple, but you haven’t tried it yet. It turned my carrot hating husband into a believer. Try it. You will see.

Roasted Carrot Soup

Ingredients
10 carrots
1 entire Tetra pak of chicken broth (size??)
Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Olive or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic (optional)

Method
1. Cut up carrots into slices discarding the ends. Leave aside.
2. Heat up saucepan. Add in oil and garlic if desired. Add in carrots and toss in to lightly brown them alternatively you can roast them in a pan in the oven. * this step is very important because it changes the flavor of the carrots.
3. Add in entire Tetra pak of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until carrots are softened or about 20 minutes or more. Test carrots using a knife to test for doneness.
4. Take off the heat and blend using an immersion blender until carrots are completely pureed.
5. Garnish with chopped parsley and/or a dollop of sour cream. Serve and enjoy!

PS: Vegitarians out there can do vegtable broth instead of chicken.

Indian Butter Chicken

(Serves Four)

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tsp ginger grated
• 1 tsp green chili peppers finely chopped *
• ½ tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp commercial curry powder
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tsp salt to taste
• 1 cup whipping cream or half and half
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander finely chopped **

*(green chilies can be found in Mexican food isle usually in a little can, I always use them because they add something special to the mix.)
** (I usually just use cilantro, as I’m not sure how to find coriander and if it’s just a British Indian thing to call cilantro by another name or not… so I use cilantro and turns out tasty either way)
***I usually double the sauce mixture for this recipe as people tend to like more sauce on their rice and for dipping.

Start by cutting the chicken into bite sized pieces and set aside. In a saucepan fry up the onions till golden brown. Add garlic, ginger, chilies, paprika and curry powder. Fry for a few seconds and then add tomato sauce, salt and chicken, slowly bringing it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20-45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. A whipping cream and stir and simmer it until the chicken is tender, garnish with coriander. ***
(This is really nice if served with rice or naan or something. If you want it spicier add a pinch of cayenne pepper for spice. Though butter chicken need not be spicy.)