Chicken filled buns, and sweet bun - Indian fusion recipe

WARNING : A very long and photo heavy post, if you are not into cooking and recipes, kindly avoid this post :) - Thank you.

Hello my cooking recipe followers, I am sharing the recipe of some buns these were requested by Sandy a long time ago, when I shared pictures of the buns on the card post.
Recipes take me awhile to post, as it takes a lot of time and proper planning, so I am kind of lazy to not post frequently.

But here it is:

Ingredients for buns:

3 cups all purpose/bread flour
1TBsp - active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water for the yeast
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 TBspn butter
2TBsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
2TBsp sugar

 utensils:
 a mixer - hand held/standing
big mixing bowl
scraper
baking sheet
baking tray/dish

Procedure:

1. Mix the yeast in the warm water and keep aside.
2. Prepare all the dry the ingredients in the bowl.

 

3. Add all the wet ingredients now, remember to beat the egg before you add.

 

  4. Use a mixer to make the dough.

 

  5. Your dough should be tacky, mix in the mixer for 5 mins and then transfer on counter top, flour it and knead using hands for another 3-4 mins. Greaset he same bowl and add the kneaded dough.

 

  6. Cover with a cling wrap and leave it in a warm place for an hour.

 

  

Now lets prepare the filling both chicken and sweet ones

 chicken filling Ingredients

  about 200gms minced chicken boneless

ginger garlic paste 1/2 tsp

red chili powder 1/4 tsp

turmeric - 1/4 tsp

salt to taste

coriander leaves optional

chopped onions 1 small

  1/2 TBsp oil

(For vegetable rolls, you need cauliflower, peas, carrots, cooked with the same spices in a similar fashion)

Procedure:

 1. heat oil in a pan and saute the onions till medium brown

2. add the chicken to the pan

 

  3. add all the spices, and mix well and cook till the chicken is done

it should be dry

 

 

Add coriander leaves  , your chicken filling is ready

 

 Sweet filling

preserved cherries/tutti frutti a handful 

condensed milk 1TBsp

sugar 2tsp

cardamom powder from 1 pod

dry/fresh grated coconut 1TBsp

Procedure:

Mix all ingredients and its ready

 

Now after an hour your dough should be risen well , and should look like this in the picture below

 Transfer it on a floured counter top, and use a scraper to cut the dough in equal parts, leaving out one big lump for the sweet bun, which is quite big.

 

  Tkae a spoon full of chicken filling nad fill in the dough and roll it

 

  

You can shape it the way you want

 

  

Arrange it on the baking dish lined with a baking sheet.

 

  

Now press down the big dough lump to flatten it up a bit and add all the sweet filling in it and roll it up nicely

 

Flatten it a bit after rolling to give a shape of a big bun.

You can make small buns too, just add a small amount of filling to the dough and roll into buns shapes.

 

Brush some butter after all the buns are shaped , this will prevent them from getting dry.

 

Cover with the cling wrap and leave it in a warm place for 45 minutes

 

Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes and bake for 12- 14mins

brush with butter once out to keep the top moist

 

 

  

All ready - enjoy

 

 

 

  

Cut the big sweet bun like you would cut  a cake, and enjoy.

 

 

I hope you try it and let me know how it turned out. It is a well tried recipe and it had never gone wrong for me or people I had shared with.

Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your kind  feedback :) Have a great day!

Rasam~ south indian tomato soup

Hey everyone, posting a recipe after a long time. Actually I was typing it out for my friends, and thought of adding it to the blog as well.

It is called Rasam, its a south indian dish, it has many variations. Some make it with tomatoes only, some add tamarind too, and at times some lentil stock too.

The one I usually make is with tomatoes and tamarind. So sharing my version, you can adjust the sour taste as per your tastebuds.

In my household, it is a very common plus favorite dish, which I make at least once a week, or more at times. It is a best anti dote for flu.

 

Let's look at the ingredients.

 4 medium sized tomato, halved 

 half a lime sized seedless tamarind

1/2 cup tomato puree

1/2 tsp rasam powder

1/4 tsp red cjili powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

oil for seasoning

2 whole dry chili for seasoning

Fresh curry leaves, a sprig

 Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

for the spice mix

1. 1tsp Black peppercorns(kali mirch)

2. 1 tsp cummin seeds

3. 1/2 tsp coriander seeds

4. 8-10 garlic pods(if big pods, then 3)

Crush the dry spices roughly, and then add the garlic and crush it again.

the mix should be coarse not a fine mixture.

Keep it aside for later use.

Below is the coarsely grounded spice mix.

Procedure

1. Add 2 cups of water and bring the tomato and tamarind to boil and turn off the heat after 5-7 minutes OR microwave on high for 4 mins. Let it cool.

2. Take out the tomatoes and tamarind and blend it in a blender to a smooth paste. Once done, sieve the paste directly into a big pot, add the remaining boiled water, add in the tomato paste too, mix and adjust the consistency. It should not be a thick gravy like consistency. It should be more flowing. By straining, you will get rid of the tomato skin and the seeds.

3. Add the rasam powder, turmeric, red chili powder and salt to the sieved tomato mix and heat it for about 10 minute. Fine white bubbles will start to appear on the rasam. Once the bubbles are formed , switch off the heat. DO NOT BRING IT COMPLETE BOIL.

You can see in the above picture.

5. Take a small pan to prepare the seasoning.

heat the oil, add mustard seeds, let those splatter.

then add the dry red chili and curry leaves, once fried, add the grounded spice mix.

fry till the garlic is light brown, then add this  to the rasam mix. See below.

Rasam is ready. Enjoy it with steamed rice, and a side dish of veggies. Or simply serve it in a bowl and savor it like a soup.

Hope you try out this recipe, and enjoy it.

Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your kind  feedback :) Have a great day!

Palak pakora~ Spinach fritters

Hello, sharing a recipe after a very long time. I feel very bad for not adding recipes, I should change my blog name ....lol. 

Its a veggie dish, a finger food. Palak pakora or spinach pakoras.

Super easy and super yummy too! An all time favorite in my family.

Lets look at the ingredients:

You will need :

fresh chopped spinach - 1 1/2 cups

besan / chickpea flour - approx 3/4 cup

cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

salt to taste

water - 2 Tbsp or as needed

Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

1. Cut spinach in small pieces, wash and drain and keep aside in a colander for a while, till the water runs out.

   

2. Transfer spinach into a medium sized bowl, add the above mentioned spices ans salt on the spinach. Mix with your hand.

3. Now add the chickpea flour/ besan to the spinach, knead it by using a very little water, you might want to start with one Tbsp.

4. This is how your mixer should look, kind of dry. Do not add more water, or else your fritters/pakoras won't be crispy. More water soaks up more oil too.

5. Heat oil in a deep frying pan, take a handful of mixture, and drop small portions of it in the hot oil.

6. Turn sides at least once, it should be done in between 5-8 minutes. Once the leaves look crispy, its done. take it out on a kitchen towel to drain any excess oil.

A close up, by looking at it, you can tell that it is crispy. I hope you try and enjoy this simple and delightful dish.

 

Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your kind  feedback :) Have a great day!

Samosa - A savory treat

Hello everyone, I am in Hyderabad for my summer and away from my crafting supplies,  so will be adding a recipe every now and then.

 Adding a picture of Hyderabad, it is very hot and bright,  I wish I have this house in Macau, I will have my own room for crafting!

There are a couple of people who are following my recipes,  and I feel bad for them for not adding, but most of them are family and close friends, so I will be forgiven ;)
Today I am sharing the recipe of Samosas, it is the most famous Indian snack. Plus very famous among my cooking class girls too. Traditionally it is a veg dish, with potatoes filling, but nowadays you can find meat samosas too.

 

But I stick to the tradition and make only veg samosas. There are tons of variations available for this recipe.  This one is my home recipe,  and will be definitely different. 

Ingredients and procedure :

For the pastry:

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Caraway seeds - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1/2 TBsp
Water to knead the dough

Procedure :

In a medium sized bowl,  mix in all the ingredients except water. Add water little by little and knead the dough. Your dough should be on the harder side, so my advice here is add water sparingly.
Once you knead the dough, cover it and put aside. 

For filling:

Boiled and mashed potatoes - 1 cup

fresh peas - 1/4 cup

1 green chili finely chopped

1 small onion finely chopped

turmeric - 1/4 tsp

red.chili powder - 1/4 tsp (if you don't want too spicy then choose only r. chili powder, no green chili)

mint leaves  - 1/2 TBsp(no need to chop)

fresh coriander leaves chopped

Chat masala - 1/4 tsp

Amchoor(dry mango powder) - 1/4 tsp

salt to taste

1 tsp oil

Procedure:

Heat oil in a medium sized pan, and fry the onions till golden brown, add the peas, and saute for 5 minutes. now add the potatoes and all the above ingredients and mix well and cook for about 5 minutes and remove from heat. your filling is ready.

I don't have the pictures for the fillings, will click and update when I make next.

                      About to knead the dough

After kneading the dough and letting it sit for 

sometime, knead again for 5-10 minutes till it is soft, and looks like this.

 

 Take a small lime sized dough and roll it in between your palms to make a ball.

Roll it in  an oval shape.

Now cut this in half.

Scoop in a TBsp spoon full of filling

This fold is the most important part, fold from the middle, and then take the bottom and seal it in. If you take long time to do this, then I would highly recommend you to apply a bit of water on the rolled pastry before folding to ensure that it sticks well.

A good fold will let your samosa sit on its own.

I always make quite a few, these are now ready to be deep fried in oil.

I usually fry some and freeze the rest for later use, all you need to do is remove from the freezer and fry immediately, no need to thaw.

Heat oil in a deep pan to a low temperature, and fry the samosas, it will take at least 15 minutes for the pastry to become golden brown and crisp.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup , or any chutneys..I like it with Indian tea.

I can guarantee you that if you follow the recipe and make, you will be treating yourself to a very yummy savory treat.

Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate your kind  feedback :) Have a great day!