Back to baking... with a vengeance

People who do not like my cooking posts... ignore. Come back later.

I went looking for Superman or Batman tee shirts for KC. Don't ask... he wants cartoon tees and has been whining about it for sometime now. During the workshop, one batch had to wear Superman tees. They all had purchased it from some shop in DLF Phase 1 market. I went looking for it last night and came across Modern Bazaar store. I have seen this store in Select Citywalk Mall. It stocks all the imported stuff. I picked up a few things and came across tutti fruti. Few months back I was looking for tutti fruti to add in cupcakes and could not find them anywhere. What a bummer. This time I was inspired- reached home at 8 pm and started making cupcakes batter. The recipe was taken from Maria Goretti's blog (she was a VJ on MTV and is the wife of Arshad Warsi). The batter looked fab and I was looking forward to devouring the cupcakes. Unfortunately, I left the microwave on preheat for a very long time. It conked off and wouldn't turn on. I had to throw away the batter. I was planning to get it repaired on Sunday and resume baking.

But I tried turning the microwave on in the morning and it worked. Yoohoo. I returned from work, did the whole thing again and baked a bunch of lovely cupcakes.
Below is the recipe taken from MG's blog: http://mariagorettiz.blogspot.in/2010/06/night-26-midnight-insanity-muffins.html


Cupcakes
1 1/4 cup , self rising flour
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
3 large egg whites
Tutti Fruti (not in original recipe- added by me)


Pre heat oven to 250 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.. Mine took 10 mins only and then I turned it off.

1.Sift the flour and salt in a bowl and set aside.
2.In another small bowl, stir the milk, vanilla and almond extracts together. I used essence instead of extract.
3.In a large bowl, with the hand mixer on medium, beat the butter and sugar, until it lightens in colour about 3 minutes.
4.On low speed, add the flour to the butter mix in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, till its just about blended and set aside.
5.In another large bowl , beat the egg whites with an electric beater till it is nice and shiny white , smooth and nice and stiff. Stop beating when it starts looking like snow... you will see the peaks. This is the hardest and most boring part.
6. Stir about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter, with the electric beater , then stop and with a spatula , just fold the rest of the beaten egg whites in.
7. Take the tutti fruit on a plate... sprinkle some flour and mix them together. This will prevent them from settling at the bottom. Add into the batter with a spatula.
7. Put the batter into your muffin moulds , they make about 6 and cook them at 160 degrees for 17 minutes, and the little white poppykins are ready , take them out and leave them to cool....


Ta... da... they are ready.

Whats this Sunday about...

Well, I got a lot done and am not even feeling exhausted...

• Woke up 7.30 am and wanted to go to the gym but had to supervise the cleaning and cooking in case the maids turned up early... Relaxed with a book, newspaper, Nescafe Vanilla Latte, True Blood, face pack, hair pack
• Cleaning and cooking started at 9.30 am. The plan was to cook dal bhaati. My native pl
  ace is 3 hours from Rajasthan and I have grown up eating this dish at home... there are numerous dhabas also which serve it in Gujarat (close to Rajasthan). The bhaati is cooked on coals... in bhattis... at home we cooked in a special tandoor. I cooked it in a microwave today. For recipe scroll down
• Once KC woke up, we had b'fast and I headed to the gym. I do not understand the guy... how can someone complain of insomnia at night and sleep so much during the day.
  *Shaking head*
• The AC was not working in the gym... there were only 3 of us working out which was a change 'coz peak hours are packed with people on all instruments... there was 1 instructor
• only... I was sneaking out after an hour of cardio and he stopped me... I had the shame to do my leg work outs for another 15 mins
• After grocery shopping, lunch, a bath which ended with cold water (geyser does not work during power back up... my electricity woes are going to start)... I am now relaxing in the lounge type room. It is not cold but it is cool... I cannot sit on the bare cold floor without a mat... just finished reading latest part of Diary of a wimpy kid and will pick up part 2 of True Blood now.

I will begin with recipes for jam filled muffins which I have taken from Anita's blog

(http://sliceofmylyfe.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/muffin-monday-jam-filled-muffins/). Ok... not posting it here... you can hop onto the link for the recipe. Having some issues with the font color.

I baked around 4 muffins- 4 with jam and 3 without jam. The ones without jam taste less sweet... I guess you need to increase the sugar measurement if not using jam. Just stick to the jam.

And here is the recipe for dal bhati:

Bhati- nos 7 small ones

• Add 1.5 cups flour (regular one), lots of oil (triple the quantity you would use when making regular chapattis), some salt and little haldi. Knead the dough with little water. It has to be very, very hard... as hard as you can make it. Make flat oval shapes (you can even make round ones)
• Boil water in a big vessel. Put the bhatis in them. They will be done once they come on top. It takes around 10-15 mins. Ensure that the water completely covers the bhatis
• You can either cook them in a tandoor (available everywhere) for 10-15 mins. Heat a tandoor, put the bhattis on the grill, cook covered. Once the top becomes firm and brown, turn and cook the other side till they also become brown
• For microwave, mine has an automatic setting and cooked in 15 mins. For others, I guess the convention mode will have to be used. Put bhattis on a tava, place tava on high grill and cook on high for 7-8 mins. Turn the bhattis and cook for another 7-8 mins

Dal (serves 3-4 people)

• Boil 1/4 cup tuvar dal, 1/4 cup urad dal and 1/2 cup moong chilke wali dal. The idea is to use 3 types of dal in this ratio
• Crush the dal once boiled. Add the water leftover from boiling bhattis (why throw away nutrients?)
• Add 1 chopped tomato, salt, green chillies, salt. Boil
• In another pan, heat oil. Add jeera, hing, 1 small chopped onion, red chilli powder, haldi.
• Add the mixture to the dal and let it boil
• After 5 mins add nimbu/tamarind paste

Serve the bhattis with ghee.

Years ago, some guests were invited to our house for dinner. They brought their relatives along who had just come from Australia to visit. We were not aware extra people were coming (Indian culture!!!). Mom had cooked dal bhatti. There were 2 NRI kids who did not know how to eat it. They were dipping the bhattis in dal and having it. It was quite funny. We taught them to crush the bhatti, pour ghee over it, dunk dal on top, mix it well and then eat.

Yum!!!

Disclaimer- There are many, many recipes for bhatti and dal. I don't know how genuine this one... this is how my mom makes it and its good enough for me.

The week in pictures

A pic of the muffins. I experimented with a strawberry sauce filling and nutella topping. Both were tasty. Just need a good recipe for a proper muffin now. I need to try cheese frosting next Sunday.

My library has started stocking Calvin and Hobbes... I am so happy. The comics are really, really expensive and being able to rent them is a dream come true. I ordered one book and was surprised to receive the biggest book I have laid eyes on. It took me a few days to finish it... but I did. Every minute was spent on it... KC called it my Gita since it is so big and I laid it in my lap to read.

I have started reading the book after watching season 1 of 'True Blood'. I had heard a loooootttt about this series, specially from people abroad. Its quite a rage. An acquaintance had read horrible reviews on facebook after watching 1 episode. That got me intrigued. I watched the first few episodes... and was "WOW"... its full of blood, violence and sex... loads of it... dirty sex. Nothing like I have seen on television and I have seen a LOT. After completing 3/4th of the season, I gave up half way since the download speed is too low of the torrents and so is the buffering on tvduck.com. I picked up the book and liked that the series does not follow it strictly. Now I have picked up the 2nd book and am downloading season 2... no matter how much time it takes. Not for everyone. I looked for the book in Om Book Shop in Metropolitan Mall, then at Ambience Mall, then at Reliance Time Out and finally found it in Landmark. Sadly, at every shop the guys helping out were looking for it in the kids section. I would have been mortified if they had stocked it there. I mean, a book about vampires, sex and blood in the kids section? Wow.

New Recipe

I will copy paste the recipe from Anita's blog with minor variations:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour + a little more when you roll out to make the crust
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• dash salt
• 6 tablespoons butter( or substitute 3 Tbsp of shortening)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk

Filling

• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese ( I added less than a cup... you can add more. It will add to the taste)
• 1/2 cups frozen peas and diced carrots, beans cooked and well-drained. I used all cooked veggies- beans, peas, carrots, baby corn. Next time I will add sausages also.
• 1/2 cup frozen paneer... I was reluctant to use this but liking it now
• 3 tablespoons flour... maida
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder(optional)... I didn't have any so used garlic paste
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 4 eggs, beaten.. Used 3 and still had some leftover. I think 2 would have been ideal for the smaller size I made.

Preparation:

• Combine flour, 1/4 teaspoon oregano.
• Cut in 3 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons shortening (or all butter like I did) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Sprinkle with the milk, one tablespoon at a time, mixing until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape dough into a ball. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to form a circle 12-inches in diameter. This is the difficult part. Mine didn't reach the upper edges of the container. Thats why I had to use less eggs. I guess, the egg mixture should not be more than the height of the pastry.
• Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry; turn under edges and flute, forming a rather high rim.

For filling,

• Combine cheese, vegetables, flour, salt, oregano, garlic powder, and pepper; gently toss.
• Place cheese mixture in bottom of pie crust.
• Melt butter in a skillet; saute onion until tender, about 5 minutes.
• Sprinkle onion over cheese mixture.
• Combine milk and eggs; pour over cheese mixture.
• Add the paneer pieces
• Bake at 350° 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. I baked for 20 mins since size was smaller
• Let vegetable Quiche stand 10 to 12 minutes before serving.

This is a simple dish but healthy (if you avoid the cheese) and can be eaten as light dinner or a heavy snack. I was not sure if eggs need to be beaten by a beater. I didn't... maybe I should have.

Try it.