MERINGUE KISSES

Hello everyone

Though i am not a fan of baking with eggs but sometimes, few things attract you to such an extent that couldn't stop yourself from doing that. One such tempting thing was meringue kisses for me. Whenever i see these beauties , they lure me to make them. So finally i overcame my baking without egg rule and tried these awesome gorgeous beauties . And to my surprise they came out almost perfect, not only in look but in texture too. I am jumping with joy to see them. My kids are super happy to have these and are proudly sharing with their friends too. 
I am sharing my recipe here and hope you all will love to try it. It is so simple to try with minimum required ingredients.

MERINGUE KISSES

Time: 2-3 hrs
Yield: 40-45 pieces, depending on size

Ingredients

2 egg whites ( at room temp)
1/2 cup fine granules sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla essence
Gel food colours of your choice

Method:

First of all take eggwhites in a big bowl and beat at low to medium speed with a hand beater till it becomes little foamy. Add lemon juice and continue beating.

Add sugar little by little with your beater on. Now increase the speed of beater and beat till stiff peaks are formed.

Refer below pic for understanding stiff peak.

**Never over beat your egg mixture otherwise it will become runny .

Now take a big piping bag fitted with big round/star nozzel.

For colourful pattern , take little gel colours with toothpick and make vertical lines at some distance, inside the piping bag. Now fill it with prepared meringue.

On a baking tray lined with butter paper, pipe 1 1/2 - 2 inch size meringue kisses.

Now bake it in a preheated oven at 100°C for 1 hr 30 mins or till it can be easily lifted without sticking to the butter paper.

Let it cool inside the oven with door slightly open.

When it cooled down completely , store in an airtight jar.

*It will remain good at room temp for 3-4 days. You can keep it in refrigerator or freezer for longer life.

*If you want your meringue kisses of one single colour then can add colour while beating.

So bake these beauties and enjoy with your tea or give in kids snacks box. You can prepare a big batch and store in freezer and enjoy chilled crispies whenever you want.

Do try this simple yet delicious recipe and dont forget to share your experience with me. Your comments and suggestions meant a lot to me.

Happy cooking....

PLUM PISTACHIO DESI DELIGHT- MY FIRST PRIZE WINNING DISH IN CONTEST

Hello everyone

It's too long I wrote in my blog. Having lots and lots of recipe in queue to write but somehow couldn't manage to draft them. Anyways, will try to return back in form again , very soon.

Till then , I have a very good news to share with you all near and dear ones, which made me to come back to my blog once again☺☺....

There was a time , I got scared of even thinking about cooking. But nothing is impossible if you have a loving and supportive family, friends and well wishers. And I am one of lucky fellow to have all these in my life. Thanks is not enough to show my gratitude towards my loving ones ☺☺. You all are treasure of my life and inspired me to such an extent that today I am here with an unexpected achievement, which I could never ever think off few years ago.

Earned first place among dessert category in cookery contest organized by ILA. So delighted to have one of my favorite master chef , Nikita Gandhi and Radio Mirchi RJ Tamanna Wahi as one of the judges.

Would like to thank all of the ILA members, judges and all my loving ones. A big thank you to all of you dear from bottom of my heart.

Here goes the recipe of my winning dish .

PLUM PISTACHIO DESI DELIGHT:

1.Pistachio sponge cake

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour-1 1/3 cups - 2 1/2 tbsp
2 1/2 tbsp corn flour
1/3 cup pistachio, toasted and ground to coarse powder
Granulated Sugar- 1/2 cup
Baking Powder-1/2 tsp
Baking Soda-1 tsp
Salt-a pinch
Milk-3/4 cup
Yogurt-1/2 cup
Oil-1/2 cup
Vanilla Essence-1 tsp

 Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Grease and line a 7″ round cake tin.
In a bowl shift together flour, corn flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda 2-3 times.

Now add ground pistachio to it and mix well . Keep aside for later use.

Take  yogurt and sugar in a bowl and whisk till sugar is dissolved.

Add oil and vanilla essence, mix well.

Now add milk and whisk together.
Now add flour in 2 batches and fold to form a smooth batter.
Pour it into the prepared cake tin.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
Rest it on the wire rack for 10 minutes.
Flip on the wire rack .
Cool it completely before wrapping in cling wrap.
Refrigerate until assembling.

2. Plum filled pistachio kalakand


Plum compote

Ingredients

10-12 medium to big plums, desseeded and chopped in even pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla essence


Method:


Add water and sugar in a pan and boil till sugar dissolve.
Now add chopped plums and cook on low flame till they become soft and mushy. Approx 20-25
mins.
Add vanilla essence and mix well.

Remove from flame and cool ,then chill till needed.

Pistachio Kalakand

Ingredients

400 grams soft and crumbled paneer
400 ml condensed milk
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup pistachio, toasted and coarsely powdered

Method :

Mix condensed milk, milk and paneer in a non stick pan and cook at low flame, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking to bottom.
When it starts leaving sides of pan add vanilla essence and pistachio powder.
Mix well and switch off the flame.

Layering:

Now spread half of the kalakand mixture in  a greased tray .
Now spread chilled plum compote all over it evenly, reserve some for final garnishing.
Finally spread remaining half kalakand mixture over compote , and spread evenly.
Let it chill till needed.

3. Creamy plum Custard

Ingredients

1/2 lt milk
25 gm custard powder
Sugar to taste
Fresh plum pieces for serving

Method:

Boil milk in a heavy bottom pan.
Make smooth paste of custard powder in little milk.
Pour prepared paste in milk, stirring constantly to avoid lump formation.
Cook till desired thickness .
Add sugar and cook for another 2-3 mins.
Switch off the flame and cool.
Chill till needed.

4. Pistachio Brittle

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup toasted pistachio

Method:

Take sugar, corn syrup and salt in a non stick pan. Cook on low flame till it turn amber colour .
Be careful not to burn it.
Take off the flame and immediately add pistachio, butter and soda. Quickly mix well and pour over greased foil.
Spread with help of greased spatula.
Make desired shapes using cookie cutter.
Let it cool completely and use when needed.

Final assembling:

Put spoonful plum compote in a dessert glass . Round cut cake slice and place over it . Pour a little custard over it.
Now place round kalakand piece.
Pour more custard over it with some fresh plum pieces, followed by spoonful of plum compote.
Spri
nkle some roasted pistachio and top with pistachio brittle.

Enjoy and happy cooking☺☺☺☺☺

SOFT AND FLUFFY PAV ( FROM CHAPATTI FLOUR)

Hello everyone

Pav is one of the most common bread used in many delicious street foods in India,like  vada pav, pav bhaji , dabeli etc. Generally we purchase pav from market whenever plan to make any of these street foods at home. But have you ever tried baking your own pav at home? No , then try this simple recipe of perfectly soft and fluffy pav at home and I bet , you will never buy these from market from that day onwards. The aroma of freshly baked pav will enhance your craving for these foods. I also used chapatti flour to make these instead of apf , which makes it more eligible to try at home recipe. Chapatti flour has intermediate texture of apf and whole wheat flour, so I prefer it for all my baking experiments and results are always awesome. You can use any flour as per your preference and availability. Hope you will definitely give it a try and come up with your feedback too.

Stepwise recipe is given below, do try ☺️.

SOFT AND FLUFFY PAV ( FROM CHAPATTI FLOUR)

Serves: 3-4

Time: 40 mins ( excluding proofing and rising time)

Ingredients 

4 + 1/3 cup all purpose flour or chapatti flour

1 cup warm milk/ water

1/4 tsp yeast ( for quick rise use 2tsp)

3 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup Luke warm water+milk ( 50:50)

1 /2 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil or butter

Method: 

First of all add 1 tbsp sugar to 1/2 cup water+milk, now add yeast and stir gently. Keep it at warm place for 10-15 mins or till it become nice frothy.

Now take 4 cup flour , butter/ oil , salt, remaining sugar, milk and yeast mixture. Mix it to a sticky dough. 

Now knead the dough for 5-7 mins, if you find it more sticky even after kneading then add remaining flour , little at a time. Generally dough become less sticky after kneading some more. Now let it rest for 5-7 mins and then again knead for 4-5 mins. Till then your dough will become nice bouncy and non sticky. Now apply some oil all over the dough and cover it. Place the dough at some warm place like inside your oven or microwave. 

Let it rise for 4-6 hrs if you used 1/4 tsp yeast and 2-3 hrs if used 2 tsp yeast. It must become double  the initial volume, so give sufficient time to rise for perfect pav. 

**Rising time depend on weather too, if you are in colder place then better keep the dough in closed oven or microwave or in tightly tied plastic bag. For warmer places, you can keep on your counter top.

When it rose to double, punch the dough and knead for another 4-5 mins. 

Now cut the dough in equal size balls , nearly 16- 20 regular size pav will be prepared from this much dough. I made small , so got 32 pav. 

 Make nice round balls and place on a greased or butter paper lined baking tray. Arrange all balls at some distance as it will rise again and fill the gap itself. 

Now again cover the tray and place on a warm place for another 1/2-1 hr for second rise.

Give ample time for second rise too, it should almost rise to double for soft pav.

Now brush each pav with milk and bake for 15 mins at 200degree C in a preheated oven. If your pav is not enough golden after 15 mins then increase the temperature to 230 degree C and bake it for another 2-5 mins or till you get your desired color.

Now take it out from oven and brush it with butter to maintain its softness. Let it cool on a wire rack and then enjoy making your favorite street food with these homemade beauties.

** Kneading and resting and again kneading is very important step in gluten formation, so don't skip it to get perfect fluffy pav.

*you can also use water to knead your dough but using milk will enhance the flavour and aroma to many folds.

* For nice buttery flavour use butter instead of oil while kneading.

** Always check your yeast, if it's not getting frothy then discard it and use another yeast.

Water used to dissolve yeast must be Luke warm, neither cold nor hot other wise your yeast will not bloom.

* I don't like too much yeasty smell in my bread so used less yeast and gave more resting time. But if you want to prepare it in less time then use more yeast as suggested.

Keeping these points in mind, just try this recipe , you will never fail. 

Kids love this utterly butterly pav, so you can give this in their tiffin or in evening snacks. You can bake it in advance and serve different types of street foods on demand. 

Hope you will love to try your hands on this bread and please don't forget to share your experience with me. Your valuable comments and suggestions are precious to me, so keep pouring.

Happy cooking....

 

PANEER, SOYA AND VEGGIE STUFFED BRAIDED BREAD

Hello everyone

Who don't like freshly baked bread... And if it is home made and stuffed too then just heaven to bread lovers. This bread is a complete meal in itself as full of cottage cheese, soya granules and lots of healthy veggies. You can use any stuffing of your choice to make it of your taste. Kids too love to gobble these bread slices in minutes as these are yummy and also an eye treat too.

Recipe is given below, hope you will definitely give it a try.

PANEER, SOYA AND VEGGIE STUFFED BRAIDED BREAD

Serves: 4-5

Time : 50 mins ( leaving resting time)

Ingredients 

For dough:

3 cup all purpose flour/ chapatti flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp oregano ( optional)
1/2 tsp rosemary ( optional)
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup Luke warm water
1 tsp dry yeast
More warm water to knead dough

For stuffing:

1 cup cottage cheese( paneer), crumbled or cut in small pieces 

1 cup soya chunks, soaked then grind to small pieces 

2 cup mix veggies ( carrots, cabbage, spring onions, beans, capsicum, peas, corns etc), finely chopped

2 medium onions, finely chopped 

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

3-4 green chilies, finely chopped 

1/2 tsp Garam masala powder

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp red chili powder 

1/2 tsp chaat masala

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp asafetida ( heeng)

Salt to taste

Some sesame seeds to sprinkle ( optional)

Little milk to brush on top

Method:

First of all add  sugar and yeast in 1/2 cup Luke warm water and stir. Let it rest for 10 to 15 mins or till it become frothy.

Now mix all ingredients of dough section and mix well, using sufficient water make a soft dough. Knead the dough for atleast 8-10 mins or till it become non sticky and shiny. Now apply some oil all over the dough. Cover it and place at a warm place , like closed oven , for 2-3 hrs or till it become double in volume.

 In the mean while lets  prepare stuffing. Heat oil in a wok, add cumin seeds and asafetida let it crackle, then add chopped onions and chili.

 Fry till golden then add ginger garlic paste and saute for a min. Now add all dry masala powders except chaat masala and saute for a min.

 Add chopped veggies, saute for 3-4 mins. Now add ground soya granules and again saute for 5 minutes. 

Now add paneer , salt and chat masala . 

Add chopped green coriander leaves , Saute for 5 more mins and done. Let it cool .

Dough is doubled in 3 hrs. This time may vary according to weather conditions so make sure to let dough rise to its double volume for nice spongy bread.

Now punch the dough and cut it in 4 equal parts. Now sprinkle some dry flour on working surface and roll one dough in a thick rectangular shape. 

Now with help of a pizza cutter or sharp knife ,cut 1 inch thick strips as shown in pic.

Now spread 1/4 of stuffing on uncut portion of dough and make braid in crisscross pattern as shown in pic.

Similarly make all the four parts. Now gently transfer it in a baking dish, sprinkle some sesame seeds on the top, cover it and let it rest for another 1/2 hr. 

After second rise ,brush some milk on its top and bake the bread in preheated oven at 180 degree C for 15 mins , then increase the temp to 230 degree C and bake for another 5 mins or till the top of bread become nice golden brown. Keep an eye on it after 15 mins as different oven take different baking time.

You can also knead the dough by half water and half milk. I used only water.

You can use any stuffing of your choice, like potato stuffing or only paneer stuffing or chicken stuffing. Let your imagination work and discover new tastes of your own.

Transfer it on a wire rack and let it cool. Then slice and serve with your choice of chutney or sauce.

It tastes good as it is , no need anything to accompany. This is a full healthy meal you can have any time. Can be given in kids tiffin or as picnic snacks, enjoy this as you like.

Hope you all will like this yummy bread ,and definitely going to try it.  Please pour your valuable comments and suggestions here, they meant a lot.

Happy cooking.....