AWED- BURMA Event Announcement

  Photo courtesy from myanmartravelinformation.com 

I am happy to announce that I will be the guest hosting this month’s AWED started by Divya. You can read more about her and her easy recipes from her blog. I was always enthusiastic about the world cuisines so when I asked DK about hosting AWED, she immediately agreed. She inspires others to cook with easy and simple steps. 

This month we are going to our neighboring country Burma: Golden Land of Pagoda’s. Burmese cuisine is influenced by all its neighbors, Indian, Chinese and Thailand cooking. However, Burma has its own characteristic way of cuisine preparations, distinct flavors and even variations in regional cuisines. Read more from here. 

Burmese cuisine is famous for their salads which are considered as their fast foods and very poular. Beans, seafood, meat and poultry are major source of protein. Like other Asian countries, Burmese street foods are popular among the tourists as well as the locals. Common ingredients used in Burmese cooking are rice, wheat and rice noodles, glass noodles and vermicelli, potato, ginger, tomato, kaffir lime, lahpet (pickled tea), and ngapi (fish paste). Burmese dishes often use fresh fruits and vegetables.

Join me to unravel the vegetarian side of Burmese cuisine without a long flight journey, visa and jet lag. Explore the culinary adventures of the Golden Land of Pagodas (Buddhist worship place) in your little kitchen.

For recipe ideas take a look at these links:

http://asiarecipe.com/burculture.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarden/eat/recipes/burmese_salad.html

http://www.theworldrecipebook.com/index.php?location=recipes&mode=view_recipe&rid=133

http://www.hsaba.com/

http://www.helladelicious.com/recipes/2010/03/burmese-fried-prawn-and-bean-sprouts/

http://www.meemalee.com/2009/06/recipe-burmese-gooseberry-salad.html

http://wvgazette.com/Life/julierobinson/200909220841

http://myanmartravelinformation.com/myanmar-food/myanmar-food.htm

http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/2009/02/the-better-side-burmese-cuisine/

http://www.asianhomerecipe.com/recipecorner/burma/burma.php

http://www.bigbible.org/blog/2008/06/burmese-noodle-salad-warm-salad.htm

http://www.tarladalal.com/recipesearch.asp

Rules

Prepare any VEGETARIAN/ VEGAN dish from Burma and post it in your blog between now and June 30th 2010.

Link it to My Event Announcement and DK's AWED announcement page.

You can send as many entries you want. 

Archives are welcome. Just update or repost and link it to us .

Non Bloggers can send me your entries in a word document with the picture of your dish (j peg).

Send me your entries to iyerswathi9@gmail.com with the below details:

Mail Subject: AWED-Burma

Your Name:

Blog Name:

Blog URL:

Recipe Name:

URL of the recipe:

Picture of the dish:

Bon appétit

Swathi

Vendakka thoran/ Okra stir fry

Vendakka /Okra is one of the favorite vegetables in our household. I can say it is a family vegetable. Everyone in my family as well as his family loves them. There was a funny incident happened in my sister’s house with okra. Last time when I visited in India I was staying with my sister and appa. My niece was 5 years old at that time; she is ardent fan of our hindi movies and serials. Only vegetable she likes is potato and okra at that time. My sister who is lazy cook told me, as you are here; cook something with okra, kunju (my niece) loves that too. So I decided to make stir fry with okra. I used seasoning with mustard seeds and some halved red chilies. 

On the dining table seeing okra, my niece started laughing and was ready to eat the rice. Then when she saw red chili in the okra stir fry she told” Periyamma mirchi dalkar thune muche marana chahathe ho” ( Aunty you want to kill me by adding red chili) I was stunned hearing these long words from a 5 year old. My sister told me it is the influence of TV serial and movies. She practices all the long words they used in serials. Now also she makes me laugh and surprises me once in a while with her statements while talking in the phone. 

Last weakened we didn’t do our usual shopping as we are out for buying a car. We wanted to change one of our cars to a slightly bigger vehicle, as going out with stroller of little one is difficult in our car. So decided to buy a bigger vehicle and finally bought Honda-CRV. We had to spend long hours in the dealership, first day negotiations and deal happened around 9.00 P.M. When we left from the dealership it was 11.00 P.M. So they didn’t wash the new car, they told us to comeback next day to wash the car and go through the manual. So second day (Sunday) we went again. That means we lost our time for grocery shopping. This Tuesday we went out and bought some vegetables, when I saw fresh okra I immediately put them into the shopping cart and decided to make a thoran with them. I was craving for okra thoran for long time. 

I made this okra thoran slightly different from the usual thoran preparations and it came out tasty. Rani of Pranis Kitchen commented in  CCB thoran recipe that adding fennel seeds will enhance the taste. So I thought I will add fennel seeds to Vendakka/Okra thoran as I did that for  Rajasthani okra fry, I know there is good marriage between both of them. This time I added not only fennel seeds but also cumin seeds along with my usual seasoning of mustard seeds, urad dal, red chili and curry leaves. One more thing I learned that if we cook okra in high heat for some time then the sliminess will be removed fast. Be careful, stir in between prevent the sticking to bottom of the pan. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

Okra/Vendakka: 4 cup (washed and chopped thin round)
Onion : 1 cup ( Finely chopped)
Red chilies : 2 no (halved)
Red chili powder: 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Cumin powder : 1 teaspoon
Coconut : 1/3 cup (I used desiccated one, use fresh or frozen if you have for best result)
Urad dal : 1 tablespoon
Curry Leaves : 1 Sprig ( 12 leaves)
Olive oil : 2 tablespoon (if you want authentic taste use coconut oil)
Salt : 1 teaspoon or to taste
Mustard seeds : ½ teaspoon
Fennel seeds: ¼ teaspoon
Cumin seeds: ¼ teaspoon


How I made

Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds , halved red chilies and urad dal as mustard seeds start popping add chopped onion and cook for another 7 minutes or until they become translucent To this add washed and cut okra and add turmeric powder and salt .Let it cook for 10 minutes in high heat with stir in between to prevent the okra from sticking to the bottom.

If you are using fresh or frozen coconut ground them with cumin and red chili powder to form coarse paste with less water.

Add desiccated coconut, cumin and red chili powder and cook for another 3 minutes. Finally add the curry leaves and switch off the flame.

Enjoy with rice and curry.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serving: 5 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will


Swathi

Savory croquembouche with cream yogurt filling: Daring Bakers Challenge May 2010

The Daring Bakers Challenge for the month of May was to make the piece montée//croquembouche, which is a high pyramid/cone made of profiteroles (cream-filled puff pastries) sometimes dipped in chocolate, bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, sugared almonds, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons. Cat from Little Miss Cupcake is hosting this month challenge, and it is mandatory to use pate a choux (Puff pastry) and crème patisserie and final assembly of piece montée should be looks like a mounted structure with some height to it.

At first I was planning to make a sweeter version with mango and coconut milk crème patisserie. I even made custard with mango and coconut milk with agar as solidifying agent. However my puff pastry fell flat and looked like cookies and there was no place to put my mango custard. I felt that they were telling don’t mess with us; we are not interested in carrying any extra weight of mango custard. Frustration of failing at the first attempt resulted even in the dropping of the idea of making the  croquembouche. A week passed by, and after seeing lots of good pictures of fellow Daring Bakers  croquembouche my mind got interested and started making pate a choux.

The second time got charm, since I got burned thinking of making sweet version, I decided this time I will make savory version. I added grated carrots and finely chopped onion, ginger, red chili powder, cumin powder, black pepper and chaat masala into my cream yogurt filling. Trust me they are really tasty. I reduced the recipe amount into half and used bread flour for pate a choux (puff pastry) with one whole egg and one egg white. Since I made savory version I skipped sugar and added black pepper and salt in the puff pastry. 

Even though I wanted to use the recipe given by Cat, I ended up modifying it due to the version change. I didn’t use any glaze. As I used grated carrots and chopped onions ,piping into the puff pastry was out of question. So I made cut in the top of puff pastry and filled the filling with a spoon. It may look crocodile opening the mouth, no problem not pretty but tasty, that is what I want.

I think this puff pastry is going to be around in our kitchen for a long time. We simply love it. Give a chance to this puff pastry with this cream filling in your kitchen; you are going to go crazy over them if you are love chaat.Here goes the recipe.


Recipe adapted from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

What you need 

Pate a Choux
Water: ¾ cup
Unsalted butter: 3 tablespoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon
Black pepper: ¼ teaspoon
Bread flour: ½ cup
Egg: 2 no (1 whole egg and other egg white)
Ghee/clarified butter: 1 tablespoon






How I made

Pate a choux( Puff pastry)

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine water, butter, salt and black pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

Add in the next egg white. Mix everything until incorporated well. 

Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 15 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 10 minutes or until you hear hollow sound while tapping the bottom. Remove and brush with ghee and cool it in rack.

If you want you can store it in air tight container overnight.

Yogurt cram filling

Grated carrots: 1/3 cup
Red onion: 1/5 cup ( finely chopped)
Ginger: ½ tablespoon( finely chopped)
Salt: ¼ teaspoon or to taste
Yogurt: ½ cup( I used 2% fat)
Heavy whipping cream: ½ cup
Chaat masala: 1/4 teaspoon
Cumin powder: ¼ teaspoon
Chili powder: ¼ teaspoon
Peeled carrot: 2 tablespoon ( for decoration)
Onion: 1 tablespoon (Cut into thin strips for decoration)
Mint leaves: 1 sprig (for decoration)

Hang the yogurt in cheese cloth for an hour to remove the excess water. For better results, try to hang it for overnight in a refrigerator.

In a small bowl mix grated carrot, onion, ginger, black pepper , cumin, chili powder and chat masala and keep aside.

Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then gently fold in yogurt. Transfer the yogurt whipped cream to a bowl and folds in veggies and masala and keep aside.

[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembly of Piece Montée/croquembouche:

Cut the top of puff pastry into half slit and gradually fill in with filling using a spoon. Continue until entire puff pastry is filled with filling.
Place the piece montée, in a plate and decorate with grated carrots, cut onion and sprig of mint leaves.

Enjoy! Bon appétit!

Preparation time: Prepare puff pastry: 10 minutes
To pipe: 5 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes
For cram filling: 15 minutes
Yield: 12
Verdict: Yummy, delicious
Will you make it again: I will?


Swathi

Blinchiki /Russian pancakes

I love to find the similarity in cuisines of the world. It is not possible for me to go to restaurants that cater international cuisines and find out. First of all is lack of time, next going with little one to restaurants is impossible. Furthermore I believe the restaurants outside countries won’t justify the taste and authenticity of dish. They will water down depending upon the countries in which they are serving. My hubby is also curious about other cuisines so it is easy for me to try something in my beautiful kitchen (the place I love most).

I wanted to make some Russian dishes for the this month AWED, first I decided to make bread, since I made two types of rye bread, so another bread is not going to be approved by my hubby. I made some Russian cabbage soup, it taste ok, not great, so decided to give something a try. I wanted something easy and at the same time popular with great taste. So I decided to try Blinchiki. Blinchiki differ from French crepe and American pancakes because of its shape and taste as It can be sweet, savory, with yeast or without them. It is made with wheat, all purpose flour, buckwheat etc. I read that wheat version is more common. If they are made with yeast then they will called as blini. I also read that traditional blini also contain yeast and is baked in oven or cooked on non-stick pans. Blinchiki are usually made with filling like meat, cheese, caviar, vegetables etc. Since I won’t cook any non-veg I made filling with channa masala giving blinchiki an indo-fusion. I know I always end up making chana masala to try with international flat breads and pancakes. I found that there is unique marriage between them. 

I made my Blinchiki based on these two recipes you can find link here and here.

Taste wise, they are similar to our wheat dosa /Gothambu dosa. You can have them with any spicy curry or chutney. You can even stuff them with masala dosa suffing, it will be taste great, and I will try that next time. Here goes easy blinchiki recipe.

What you need

Whole wheat flour: 1 ½ cup
Egg : 2 no ( I used one whole egg and other only egg white, If you want use only white increase the number of egg)
Sugar: ½ tablespoon+ 1 teaspoon (If you want sweetness increase the sugar amount)
Water: ¾ cup
Milk: 2 cup (I used 1 % fat)
Salt: ½ teaspoon
Oil: 2 tablespoon oil (I used canola oil)



How made

In a large bowl lightly beat egg, sugar and salt. To this add milk and mix again. Keep aside.

Gradually add flour to the above egg milk mixture and mix until everything combined using a whisk, gradually add water to make a loose batter and keep aside for 10 minutes..

Mean time heat a non stick girdle, once it gets hot add a ladle full of batter and spread the batter by turning the girdle in a circular motion( I find it more easy by spread the batter like dosa). Once it get cooked it takes about 30 seconds flip the other side and cook for another 30 seconds.

Continue to cook blinchiki until entire batter is finished. Stack the cooked blinchiki in a plate.

For making stuffed blinchiki

Take one blinchiki and place the stuffing on onside, and gradually fold the other side, then sides just like wraps and keep aside. If you want you can refry them once again in hot griddle. I didn’t refried them.

Enjoy.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Yield: 20 no
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will.

I  am sending this  Blinchiki   Russian Pancakes to  AWED: Russia hosted by Radhika
which is brainchild of  DK .

Swathi

CCB thoran/ CCB stir fry

You will be wondering what CCB is, is it a new vegetable. They are our carrot-cabbage-beet root. If you use a liking meter in our house to measure fondness of these vegetables, beet root gets first place, followed by carrot and cabbage. Amma used to make cabbage thoran and cabbage kootu curry with lentils. However, my hubby likes only thorans/ Stir fry with cabbage, beet root. One day I made beet root pachadi; he did not like it and told me that it is good but not make to it again. However, he likes to eat raw beet in his salad. I don’t like them raw, for me raw taste like eating soil.

I make thoran with all vegetables and beans available in the planet. May be it is because I am from the region of India where everybody makes thoran with everything. I love the touch of coconut and cumin seeds along with spicy chily and aroma of curry leaves. I use garlic only if I am making thoran with beans. I will add onions depending upon my mood. If a thoran and curry is available, I will be happy to enjoy the meal. I like mezhukupuratti (vegetables fried in touch of oil) too, still if thoran is there I will go for it first than mezhukupuratti. 

I had some cabbage left after making Russian lenten pokhlebka/soup and in order to make a curry I needed some more veggies, so I used carrots and beets make my thoran. I like Beets, but I hate them while cooking, they tend to make their mark everywhere, in clothes, kitchen counters etc. This is easy breezy curry you can make within a few minutes. Only difficult part is in chopping them finely, you can use choppers to save some time. I love to chop my veggies. So I chopped cabbage finely and grated carrots and beets to make it uniform.Here goes the recipe

What you need
Cabbage: 2 cup (washed and chopped finely)
Carrot : 2 cup ( grated)
Beet root: 1 ½ cup ( grated)
Green chilly : 1 (finely chopped)
Red chilies : 2 no (halved)
Crushed red chillies: 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder: 1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Cumin powder : ½ teaspoon
Coconut : 3/4 cup (I used desiccated one, use fresh or frozen  for best result)
Urad dal : 2 tablespoon
Curry Leaves : 1 Sprig ( 10 leaves)
Olive oil : 2 tablespoon (use coconut oil for  authentic taste)
Salt : ½ teaspoon or to taste
Mustard seeds : ½ teaspoon


How I made

Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds, halved red chilies and urad dal as mustard seeds start popping add cleaned and chopped cabbage, grated carrots and beet roots. Then add turmeric powder and salt and cover the lid. Let it cook for 10 minutes. 

If you are using fresh or frozen coconut ground them with cumin and red chili powder to form coarse paste with less water. 

Add desiccated coconut, cumin and crushed red chilies and red chili powder and cook for another 5 minutes. Finally add the curry leaves and switch off the flame. 

Enjoy with rice and curry.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serving: 6 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will


Swathi

Russian Lenten Pokhlebka/ Soup

I made Russian Lenten Pokhlebka/Soup to enjoy with the braided rye bread. It is one of traditional soup. I read that this Russian soup is light in taste and used mainly as appetizers; not dense to lose the appetite of main dish. It is a clear broth cooked only with water and vegetables. I also read that main ingredients in this soup are potatoes, onions turnips and some lentils. This soup contains only soft veggies that do not have long boiling but is known for their characteristic aromas. It should not be over cooked, and no fats or oils are used; only spicy herbs like parsley, dill, celery as well as garlic is used. It tastes great with freshly baked rye bread. Adding any extras like cream, butter will spoil the taste of Pokhelbka.

After reading all these wonderful things about Pokhlebka, I thought I need to try it immediately, further more I had baked a fresh rye bread. I followed these two recipes link is here and here. I tweaked recipe as I had only dried parsley in my hand, no dill and not fond of having garlic in my soup. I feel frying onions, cabbage and carrot is must to get nice aroma and taste. I spiced the soup with black pepper and Marjoram. 

With lot of expectation I made the soup. Taste wise it is okay somewhat bland, even with my hubby’s Tabasco technique (He adds Tabasco to soup, noodles or some time soy sauce) it taste same. Soy sauce addition is out of question as it is not Chinese soup it is Russian soup we want the original taste.

I don’t think this soup is not going to be on our menu any way. I think if we add some more lemon juice or some more spices it may taste better. If you have any suggestions you are welcome. I will check with my Russian friend’s mom also and let you know to how to improve the taste. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

Pearl Barely: 1/3 cup
Potato: ¾ cup (chopped into cubes)
Cabbage: 1 ½ cup (finely chopped)
Carrot: 1 cup (grated)
Onion: 1 cup (finely chopped)
Parsley: ½ teaspoon (I used dried one)
Salt: 1 teaspoon or to taste
Black Pepper: ½ teaspoon
Marjoram: ½ teaspoon
Oil : 2 tablespoon
Water: 5 cup
Lime juice: ½ teaspoon

How I made

In a medium sauce pot cook the washed pearl barely with 2 cup water and ½ teaspoon of salt until it cooked about 75 % it took me 20 minutes. Drain some water so that soup won't be cloudy.

To this add chopped potato and cook for another 15 minutes or until potato is done not mushy.

In the mean time heat a pan add oil and fry onion until they become translucent or change in color it took me about 7 minutes. To this add grated carrots and cabbage and fry for another 6 minutes.

Add this fried onion-cabbage-carrots mixture to the soup and add rest of water, salt and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes. To this add dried parsley, marjoram and lime juice.  switch off the flame.

Enjoy warm with rye bread. Finish it in same day; this soup is not good for reheating.

Preparation time: 55 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Taste okay, bland
Will you make it again: I don’t think so.

Not so braided bread: Braided Rye bread

I made braided bread yesterday; my prior experience with the braiding is on my hair with 3 strands. I haven’t done any 5 strand on my hair too. Now I got courage the braid the bread not 4 strand a six strand one like Challah. I started with immense preparation watching videos of braiding bread in You Tube more than 6 times, taking notes and so on. But at the end what happened is I got confused and finally made my braided bread according my own way. It turn out pretty even though they are not perfect, just like modern art, nobody knows what they are painting, and spectators do not know what they are looking. Mine is not that bad, still it is not as perfect as I wanted to be. So I am going to make again with my acquired braiding skills. 

When I saw marbled rye bread in bread baking apprentice (The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread) I fell in love with them; I want to make them immediately. I have rye flour in my hand; we love rye breads, so it is pre approved to make them at any time. Since I have only active dry yeast in my hand means I need to proof the yeast. I changed the recipe a little bit by adding ½ teaspoon of sugar to proof the yeast and 2 tablespoon of cocoa to increase the color of my dark rye bread and increased amount of water. I decorate them with caraway seeds, rye bread without caraway seed is impossible for me to think. It came out tasty, and we enjoyed the bread with a Russian cabbage soup and also as a breakfast toast. Here goes the recipe.

What you need
White rye flour: 3/4 cup
Bread flour (unbleached): 1 ½ cup
Active dry yeast: 1 teaspoon
Molasses: ½ tablespoon
Shortening: 1 tablespoon (I used Crisco shortening)
Water: ¾ cup room temperature
Water: 1/8 cup (Luke warm water)
Sugar: ¼ teaspoon
Salt: 1 teaspoon

For dark rye
White rye flour: 3/4 cup
Bread flour (unbleached): 1 ½ cup
Active dry yeast: 1 teaspoon
Molasses: ½ tablespoon
Shortening: 1 tablespoon (I used Crisco shortening)
Water: ¾ cup room temperature
Water: 1/8 cup (Luke warm water)
Sugar: ¼ teaspoon
Cocoa powder: 2 tablespoon
Salt:  1 teaspoon


For egg wash and Sprinkling

Egg: 1 no
Water: 1 teaspoon
Caraway seeds: ½ tablespoon

How I made

In a small bowl add active dry yeast in 1/8 cup lukewarm water along with 1/4 teaspoon sugar. Keep aside for 10 minutes or until yeast gets foamy. I kept it for about 20 minutes.

For  light rye

In a large bowl, stir together the rye, the bread flour, the salt, and the yeast. Add the molasses, shortening, and water. Mix until the dough forms a loose ball, adding an additional tablespoon of water or two if necessary to bring the dough together. Knead for 7-10 minutes. The dough should feel supple and pliable but not sticky.

For dark rye

In a second bowl stir together the rye, the bread flour, the salt, and the yeast. Add the molasses, shortening, water, and cocoa powder mixture. Mix until the dough forms a loose ball, adding an additional tablespoon of water or two if necessary to bring the dough together. Knead for 7-10 minutes. The dough should feel supple and pliable but not sticky.

Keep aside knead dough in slightly oiled vessel for doubling.

It took about 1hour and 45 minutes to double.

Next, turn each of the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide each color into 3 equal segments. Roll out into each portion of dough into ropes about 18 inch long, tapered at the ends. By rolling strand in the kitchen table with one hand or in between two hands. If the dough is sticky sprinkle some flour in the kitchen table so that they won’t stick together.

Join the strands at one end and they will occupy positions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. starting from FAR LEFT.  Place each white and dark rye strands alternate each other.

Bring rope from position 1 to position 6 (far right)

Next bring the rope from position 5 to position 1 (far left).

Next bring the rope from position 6 (far right) to position 4.
Next bring rope from position 2 to position 6 (far right).
Next bring the rope from position 1 (far left) to position 3.

Next bring rope from position 5 to position 1 (far left).
(Go back and do position 6 to position 4 and repeat)

Repeat steps until the ropes are used up.
As I mentioned earlier I got confused and not followed the above written rule.
Do not stretch ropes while braiding but keep them together snugly. Tuck ends inside so that it looks neat.

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Once you finish the braiding gently transfer them to baking sheet lined with parchment paper and keep aside for second rising. It took about 45 minutes for braids to double in size.

In a small bowl whisk one egg with water and keep aside.

Using a brush gently and generously brush the egg wash on the doubled braided bread. With one clean hand dipped in egg solution gently press caraway seeds into each section of the braided bread.

Bake them in a preheated 350°F oven for 45 minutes, or until they’re well browned or registered an internal temperature of 200 to 210°F on an instant-read thermometer.(I used meat reading thermometer). Remove them from the oven, and allow them to cool completely before serving.

Enjoy with warm soup or toast.

Preparation time: Preparation time: 30 minutes for preparing dough,
Doubling time: 1.45minutes + 45 minutes for second rise
Baking time: 45 minutes
Yield: 1 braid
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am sending this bread to


 Yeast spotting event  hosted by Susan

 Bread Baking event # 30:  Twisted bread hosted by Natashya


Swathi

Ras Malai/Rasa Malai/Indian Cottage Cheese in Milk Syrup for ICC

Ras malai was selected for this month’s Indian cooking challenge by Srivalli. I haven’t tasted ras malai, and seen them only in pictures and other blogs. So I decide to give a try. It is one of east India’s famous dessert dishes. It is popular in West Bengal, Orissa etc along with neighboring Bangladesh. Ras malai usually consists of two parts: first one is cheese balls/paneer/cheena balls , the second part being the syrup/rabdi in which paneer/cheena balls are soaked.

Lavi’s recipe was chosen for making Ras malai, however, it is in large quantities. I wanted to make only 2-3 serving rather than 10-12 serving, further this recipe asks to heat the milk on first day and keeping it for 12 hour in refrigerator. I have no time to do that, with my little one. I needed to do everything in one day. So I used Simran’s recipe with slight modification of adding 1 teaspoon of corn starch instead of ½ teaspoon and reducing some sugar in Ras and garnish with them pistachios and saffron.

I made paneer and hung it in my kitchen sink, supposed to hang it for 1 hour, however I hung for 3 hours as my little one’s 12 month check up was on the afternoon and poor girl got some shots too so I was holding her until she took nap.

Even though the recipe feels long and tedious, actually it is quite simple and easy to follow as you start making them.

I didn’t use the pressure cooker to cook the paneer/cheena balls. As I was afraid of breaking them, I only cooked it in on stove stop. Cooked for 20 minutes instead of 15 minutes mentioned the recipe. They came out really good. I am going to making more often, as both my hubby and little one liked it very much. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

For making paneer/cheena balls

Milk: 2 cup
Lemon jucie/ vinegar: 1 no ( I used juice of one lime)/ ½ teaspoon of vinegar
Corn starch: 1 teaspoon
Water: 1 cup

For Sugar syrup

Water: 2 cup
Sugar: ½ cup

For Ras/Rabdi/Milk syrup

Milk : 2 cup
Saffron: 5 nos
Sugar: 1 ½ tablespoon
Heavy whipping cream: 1 tablespoon
Cardmom: 2 no( crushed )
Pistachio: 1 tablespoon (crushed finely).

How I made

For making paneer

Boil 2 cup of milk in sauce pot with occasional stirring. Once it starts boiling add lime/lemon juice/vinegar and stir until it curdles.

In a strainer lined with cheese cloth pour the curdle cheese along with whey water. Collect the drained whey water using container. You can use this whey water to make chapathi dough or to cook don’t throw away, it is rich in nutrients. Wash the paneer with 1 cup of water so that sourness from lime juice will be removed.

Hung the cheese cloth along with paneer in kitchen sink for one hour or until entire whey water is removed. However, I hung for 3 hours.

Remove from the cheese cloth and add corn starch and knead them into a soft dough or until you won’t see any grains in them.

Divide the soft paneer dough into 6 equal sized rounds (I made 7 round balls with last one being small). Slightly flatten them in the center and keep aside.

For Making sugar syrup

In a sauce pot add 2 cups of water and ½ cup of sugar and let it boil, it takes about 10 minutes to boil. Continue for another 5 minutes of boiling.

Gradually drops the flattened paneer balls into the sugar syrup and continue to cook for another 20 minutes or until its doubles in size.

Then add ½ cup cold water and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Switch off the flame. Once it cooled remove the paneer balls along with some syrup and keep aside.

For Making Ras/ Milk Syrup

In a sauce pot preferably a nonstick one add 2 cup of milk and boil it in medium flame. Once it starts boiling reduce the fire and simmer it with occasional stirring until it reduces to half. It takes about 30 minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon of heavy cream, saffron and sugar and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or it becomes thick.

Once it is cooled add gently squeezed paneer/cheena balls into milk syrup and let it chill in refrigerator.

At the time of serving garnish them with chopped pistachios.

Enjoy chilled.

Preparation time: 1 hour 55 minutes ( In my case 3 hour 55minutes)
Yield: 7 no
Verdict: Really yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

Swathi