Garlic 'N Onion Rolls

Originally this was a garlic roll, I wanted to add a little more punch into this roll so I added some green onions/spring onions to the garlic spread.Voila I had a yummy roll.
Source:My Singapore Kitchen
Ingredients: (makes 8 rolls)
Plain Flour- 3 cups
Warm Water- 1 cup*
Yeast- 1tbs **
Salt - 1tsp
Sugar- 2 tbps
Extra Virgin Olive Oil- 2-3 tbs

For Garlic n onion spread
Salted Butter- 50grams
Garlic- 3 grated
Coriander leaves - 2 tbs (chopped)
Spring onion 2 Chopped
Bring butter to room temperature.
Mix everything together.Can be stored in the chill tray for upto one week
Method:
Mix everything together except oil with warm water and knead  until you get a smooth dough.
Add oil and knead until the dough springs back when you press with yreour finger.
Apply oil and allow to rise for 40-45 minutes. By this time it will be double its initial size.
Make the garic spread.
Knock down the air in the dough and divide the dough into two equal portions.
Grease a baking pan or loaf tin with butter.
Roll the dough using a rolling pin. Apply flour to prevent sticking.
The rolled out dough must be at least half inch thick.
Try to make it more like a rectangle. Apply one tablespoon of the garlic spread on it.
Roll it and cut it into two equal parts and further cut the two parts into two, so that you get 4 equal rolls.
Now place the rolls with the cut side up in the greased pan.
Repeat the same procedure for the remaining dough.
Apply the balance garlic spread on top and apply milk or egg wash which ever you prefer.
Sprinkle sesame seeds (optional)
Allow to proof for another 20 minutes.
In the mean time preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the house is filled with the aroma of roasted garlic and bread..
Take a bite into this lovely soft and flavourful rolls. You will surely fall in love with it.
* The quantity of water depends on the brand of flour used. I sometimes use less than a cup, sometimes more than a cup for the same 3 cups of flour.
**I add 1 tablespoon yeast for a quick rise. You can reduce the quantity of yeast(say 1tsp) and let it rise slowly too.

Papaya Smoothie

This is one smoothie that will be loved by both papaya lovers as well as non lovers. Its also easy and tasty what more reason do a person need to try this out.
Ingredients:
Ripe Papaya-1 cups
Cold Milk -2 cup(or substitute it with vanilla icecream)
Brown sugar -3 tbs or to taste
Vanilla essence- 1tsp
Method:
Blend all together in a blender till smooth and silky.Your Papaya smoothie is ready.

Fried Nan

Ingredients:
All purpose flour-2 1/2 cups
Egg-1
Milk-1/2 cup
Butter-1tbs
salt-to taste
Yeast -1tsp
Sugar-1/2 tsp
Vegetable oil -for deep frying
Method;
Ferment yeast in lukewarm milk mixed  with sugar .Mean while sieve flour and salt and mix it with butter (should rub in the butter to the flour)Add the  fermented yeast along with a well beaten egg .Knead into a smooth ball.When the doubles in size divide the dough into even portions and roll out into small round or oval shape about 1/2 "thick.Deep fry in hot oil until light brown.Drain and remove.
Serve it with any spicy Indian curry of your choice.

Parippu Pradhaman (Split-Moong Dal Payasam)

I am now on a vaccation but posting will continue as usual though at a slightly decreased frequency.  I worked in advance and have lots of great recipes to share with you throughout the coming weeks.   I’ll still be here reading your comments  and also hope to sneak in your places as time permits.
Today is the 40th wedding anniversary of my parents. To celebrate this special day, I thought of making a sweet delicacy, which I knew everyone would enjoy.
Ingredients:
Split mung dal - 3/4 cup
Jaggery - 1 & 1/2 cup or to taste
Thick coconut milk -1  cup
Thin coconut milk-1 cup
Milk -1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts - 10 - 15
Coconut slices-2 - 3 tbsp
Raisins - 10-12
Ghee - 1 tbsp +2 Tbs
Method:
Dry roast the Mung dal till the dal starts to brown add water about 2 1/2 cups and cook till done in a pressure cooker (for one whistle). Heat  ghee in a pressure cooker. Meanwhile melt the jaggery in 1/2 cup water, at medium heat. Stir until it reaches a light syrupy consistency. Seive this syrup to remove any impurites. Open the pressure cooker when the pressure releases. Add the jaggery syrup along with 2 tablespoons of ghee. Cook this while stirring for about 2 minutes. Add the thin coconut milk to the dal and stir continuosly and when this starts to boil add the thick coconut milk while continuing stirring. When this starts to boil, remove from fire, add the milk and set this aside. Now add cardamom powder. You can add a pinch of salt to bring out the taste.
Heat 1 tbs ghee and fry cashews, coconut slices and raisins. Add this to the prepared payasam. If you find the payasam thick to your taste, you may add some milk to get the desired consistency.

Spicy Kishimen Noodles

What I love about this noodle preparation is that this tastes so refreshing. It is just right for spring or summer and can be prepared ahead with things that are in your kitchen.
This is great for pot-lucks as it tastes good hot or cold and goes well with grilled items.
Ingredients:
Dried kishimen noodles - 8 oz. (can be substituted with Soba or Udon noodles)
Cabbage - 2 cup, sliced
Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp
Sliced ginger - 1/4 cup
Fresh cilantro - 2 tbs chopped
Green onions - 2, julienned

Dressing :
Vegetable oil - 2 tbs
Fresh lemon juice - 2 tbs
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Sweet chilli sauce - 1 1/2 tsp
Ground turmeric - 1 tsp
Grated ginger - 1 tsp

Method:
Heat a pan to medium heat; add the sesame oil, sliced ginger; after 30 seconds add cabbage and cook till 3/4 done. Set this aside.
Cook noodles per package directions; drain and rinse with cold water and then drain again. Mix it with the cooked cabbage.
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the dressing together and pour this over the noodle mixture. Add the cilantro and green onions and toss to coat evenly. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate to serve later.

World Peace/Korova Cookies

I came across this recipe in my blogger friend Magpie's blog. There is a big fan of chocolate chip cookies in our house, my daughter ; and her dad loves brownies ; and as for me anything sweet and chocolaty is fine with me any day. So I thought that this was something I can make that would please all three of us. I am not too sure if this cookies would bring world peace, as at least in our house it almost lead to a third world-war: fighting over who gets to eat the last cookie...:). It tastes awesome fresh out of oven or you can reheat it in the microwave and have it while the chocolate chips are still a little molten.

Recipe source: From Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets, via Magpies Recipes
Makes about 36 cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (30 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons or 150 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (120 grams) (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces (150 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
Method:
In a medium bowl sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together. Beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more. Add in the flour, cocoa and baking soda mixture and mix it all well together. Mix it just until the flour disappears into the dough (don't over-mix even if the dough looks a little crumbly). Add the chocolate chips and mix gently. (Overworking the dough can make the cookies tough).
Put the dough on the work surface and divide it into two equal logs 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wraps or wax paper and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you have frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.
When ready to bake, slice the logs into rounds about 1/2 inch thick. Bake these in the oven preheated to 325°F for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes they won't look firm or done. Yet take them off the oven and let them cool on a cooling rack and it will be just right.

Rosti

Rösti  is a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes. It was originally a common breakfast eaten by farmers.It is almost like Hash browns.It is an easy dish to put together for breakfast and requires very less ingredients.
Ingredients:
Potatoes -3
Butter-3 tbs
Pepper-1/2 tsp
Salt-1/2 tsp
Method:
Microwave the potatoes along with the skin for 8 minutes.Peel of the skin from potatoes and grate them using a vegetable grater.Heat a non stick pan with 1 tablespoon of butter and gently add the potatoes to it add the seasoning  and gently give it a stir then pat down the potatoes to form a circular shape and cook at medium heat for 3 minute.Put a plate on top of the pan and turn it over. Then add the remaining butter to the pan and slide the röstis back to the pan, to cook the other side.Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes and remove it by placing a plate over the pan and turning over.Serve hot with some spicy ketchup.
Sending this over to AWED Swiss may at Sweet artichoke

Flattened Rice with Banana 'N Coconut / Aval Nanachathu

Everyone in my family loves this as an evening snack - but surprisingly, I make this seldom as I tend to forget all about this simple, yet delicious and healthy snack. So my daughter suggested that I should blog this so that I will at least be reminded about this seeing some of the comments I get from you people.
Ingredients:
Flattened rice /Aval- 2 1/2 cups
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Sugar- 3 tbs or to taste
Banana chiquita mini or plantain-1
Cardamom (optional) - 2, powdered
Method:
Mix coconut,sugar and cardamom in a bowl. Better to rub-in the sugar well with the coconut. Add the flattened rice to this and mix well with hand. Cut the bananas into small pieces and add to the mix. Combine this with rest of the mix applying slightly less pressure so as not to mash the bananas entirely.

Sending this over to Kerala Kitchen, hosted by Sarah

Eggplant in Plum Sauce

Last summer, when we were on our way back from our vacation in Hawaii, we got stranded at the airport for over 5 hours, owing to some snag with our aircraft. We had lunch from the Chinese deli at the airport and this was one of the dishes that we had then.  I enjoyed it so much that I had been trying out various recipes to recreate that taste. Though I came closer, there was something missing in all those. So I had been on the lookout for the authentic recipe for the eggplant dish.
My husband came upon this recipe while searching for something to make for Mother's day, so he surprised me by making this for me today for dinner, as he knew I had been on the lookout for this. This tasted like the one we had that day at Hawaii..
(Now, I realize that the secret ingredient was the Plum sauce.)
This goes well with fried rice.
Source: Martin Yan's Quick and Easy
Ingredients:
Egg plant - 1 lbs, roll cut
Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped
For the sauce:
Plum sauce - 3 tbs (can be substituted with date sauce)
Rice wine - 2 tbs
Sesame oil - 2 tsp
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Dark say sauce - 1 tsp
Chilli sauce-1 tsp
Method:
To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients and whisk to blend evenly and set it aside.
Deep-fry the egg plant pieces until golden brown, about 3 mts, at 350 degree F. Drain on a paper towel.
Heat a frying pan, add 2 tsp of oil, add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 20 sec). Now add the egg plant and sauce and bring to a boil. Cook stirring for 1 minute.

A peek into my Mother's day breakfast-in-bed (courtesy my husband and daughter):

Mocha Coffee Cake

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers"--Jewish proverb.
How true! I know all of you would agree with me on this.
Happy Mother's Day for all the mothers out there and all the would be ones !!
This post is for you all.
For this month's Sweet Punch challenge, we were given the choice of baking anything of our own liking.So this Mocha coffee cake is what I choose.Its a breakfast cake and has  three delicious flavors marbled together: vanilla, chocolate and espresso with a wonderful coffee glaze.
Recipe Source:Joy the Baker 
Ingredients:
1 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder dissolved in 1 1/2 Tablespoons hot water
2 Tablespoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 Tablespoon hot water
For the Glaze
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
2-3 Tablespoons strong brewed coffee
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Method:
To make the Cake
Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Generously butter and flour 8- inch (6 cup) Bundt pan.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla.  Add flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just incorporated.
Transfer about one third of the batter to a small bowl.  Add espresso mixture and stir until combined.  Transfer 1/3 of the remaining vanilla batter to another small bowl and add the cocoa mixture and stir until combined.  Spoon all three batters into the Bundt pan, alternating so each flavor is distributed through the pan.
Bake until cake is golden, or until a wooden spoon inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes.  Cool in pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely.

To make the Glaze
Stir together espresso powder and 2 tablespoons coffee in a bowl until powder is dissolved.  Add confectioners’ sugar and stir until well combined.  If glaze is not pourable, thin with remaining coffee if necessary.Pour glaze over coffee cake and let cake stand until glaze is set, about 10 minutes, before serving.

(This recipe can be doubled and baked in a 10- inch (12 cup) Bundt pan.  Increase the baking time to about 1 hour.)

Sweet Corn Cake

This is the Cinco de Mayo special from my kitchen to yours. Sweet corn cake is more of a pudding than a cake. Wishing you all a yummy and fun-filled Cinco de Mayo!!
Original recipe: All Recipes
Ingredients
6 tablespoon butter, softened
1/3 cup All purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed +1/4 cup to top
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Method:
In a medium bowl beat butter until it is creamy. Add the all purpose flour and water and beat until well mixed.
Using a food processor, process thawed corn, but leave chunky. Stir into the butter mixture.
In a separate bowl, mix cornmeal, sugar, cream, salt, and baking powder. Add to corn flour mixture and stir to combine. Pour batter into an ungreased 8x8 inch baking pan. Smooth batter,top with corn  and cover with aluminum foil. Place pan into a 9x13 inch baking dish that is filled a third of the way with water.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven F (175 degrees C) oven for 50 to 60 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Use an ice cream scoop for easy removal from pan.

Sweet Corn Vegetable Soup

You would have known by now that I am crazy about sweets. I am willing to try out anything sweet any time of the day. But the only problem with this is that I tend to put on extra pounds. So the solution I found was to have soups and salads for lunch so that my calories are balanced.
This soup below is an easy one that has both proteins and vegetables and is tasty too.
Ingredients:
Sweet corn, cream style - 1/2 can
Vegetable broth - 4 cups
Carrots - 1/4 cup, diced
Corn - 1/4 cup
Beans - 1/4 cup
Corn flour- 1 tbs
Egg - 1
Rice vinegar - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - to taste
Method:
Bring to a boil the sweet corn, vegetable broth, carrots, corn and beans together in a pan. Remove the scum if any forms while boiling. When the vegetable are almost 3/4 done, add the vinegar. Mix the corn flour in 2 tbs of water and add to the boiling soup, little by little, stirring continuously. When the soup thickens, add a well beaten egg, little by little and mix it thoroughly with a spoon. You can add salt and pepper to your taste. If you want the real "restaurant" taste, add a pinch of ajinomoto (MSG).

"Cooking with your Little Sous-chef " Curtain Call

A big thanks to all my blogger friends who contributed to my first event, by sending in your wonderful recipes that you enjoy making with your little ones.
The  article "Eat, Play, Love" in the Parenting Magazine (March, 2011), lists, "kids will behave better, their listening skills improve, science and math comes to life, and it broadens their understanding of the world", as some of the benefits of making your little chef's help out in the kitchen. What more reason you need to have these little helpers in the kitchen? It is totally worth the mess and extra effort.
For those of you who want to try out cooking with little ones, here are some tried and tested recipes.

Below are blogs who sent in the excellent entries:

• Bon Appitit-2 entries
• Cooking Fundas-1 entries
• Magpies Recipes-2 entries
• Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes-2 entries
• Spoonful of Delight-1 entry
• Tickling Palates-1entry
• TipNDeal-1 entries
• US Masala - 2 entries
• What's Cooking ??-1 entry
• Sugar 'N Spice-4 entries

Let us give a BIG applause to the wonderful chefs and little sous chefs!!