Baklava

We were invited for New year's party last year at an elderly couples house. After a nice karnatakan food we were offered dessert. Our stomach was so full with the delicious homemade food I didn't feel like eating desserts. They packed it for us. Uncle, told me he had got it baked from a Greek baker who specializes in Greek baking. Next day we tried it out and instantly fell in love with it. I had to try it out and the best part was that my husband who is not found of sweets liked it. I had no clue what this dessert was except that it was from Greek baker. I browsed the internet and figured it out that it was called Baklava. I tried it the very next day and it was an instant hit with my hubby and friends. We have baked it several times for parties, to take to India and just to eat at home.  It's one of those delicious desserts I love baking often. 
It's nutty delicious, yummyyyyy..........you can't stop at one. 

What you need:

1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough (I used half of it)
1 pound chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoon sugar

sauce:
3/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup honey

How it's Made:
Sauce : Make sauce earlier and cool it . I normally put it in the refrigerator once it gets cooled.
Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Until its thick and viscous.
Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Apply butter to the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch baking pan.
Assembly : Start it with lots of patience. The phyllo dough sheets are very thin , you need to be very gentle and patient while handling them. Unroll phyllo dough. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place one sheet of dough in baking pan, spread it gently and apply butter with a pastry brush. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered,while applying butter at every single layer. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, apply butter, sprinkle nuts, than two sheets of phyllo dough, repeat again, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets thick.



The sheet is thin and very fragile

  
Using a sharp knife cut into square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You can than cut it diagonally to get triangle shaped pieces. Bake for about 40-50 minutes until the top crust is golden and crisp. 

Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let it cool. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.
Store in cool place. It tastes better the next day as the layers will absorb the sauce better.

Dry chicken with coconut (Kori sukka)

I was bored cooking my usual chicken dishes and was looking to try something new. I came across this recipe on Indobase website. It said it was karnatakan dish. Quickly noted it down and tried it. Later I was wondering in which part of karnataka do they call this kori sukka and than searched for the origin of this recipe. It's a Manglorean based recipe and chicken in Tulu is Kori. Anyway I liked it and would surely try it out again.

What you need :

chicken pieces with bones preferably (about 800 grams) 

1  large onion finely chopped

8  curry leaves
2  tablespoons ghee / butter / oil
salt to taste  

Masala 1:

2  tablespoon(s) coriander seeds
½  teaspoon fennel seeds

½  teaspoon turmeric powder
1  teaspoon black peppercorns

1  teaspoon cumin and 

1  teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1  tablespoon poppy seeds

5  whole dry red chillies (use according to your taste)

1  tablespoon tamarind paste 

Masala 2 :

1 cup coconut grated ( I used dry shredded coconut)
5-6  garlic flakes

1  teaspoon cumin

How it's made :
Heat little ghee in  a pan and roast all ingredients listed in masala 1 and grind along with tamarind paste and keep it aside.
Coarsely grind the grated coconut, garlic and cumin seeds (for just a round or two) without adding any water at all. Its needs to be as dry as possible.

Mix the chicken with the Masala 1 paste. Cover and cook (without adding water) on low level in a heavy-bottomed pan till the chicken is almost cooked. Add the second masala paste and salt to taste. Cover and cook on low level for about 3  minutes or till the chicken is fully cooked.
Heat the ghee / butter in a pan, add in the curry leaves and fry for a few seconds. Add the finely chopped onions and fry till brown. pour this garnish over the chicken.
Server hot with roti or as a side dish.

Pineapple Gojju

I had heard a lot about pineapple gojju. It was on the top on the menu list for weddings in Bangalore for quite sometime. I always wanted to try it and everytime I mentioned it Sri would say, no it will be sweet. This time when he was not around I decided to try out this recipe. Its a south karnatakan recipe and the same can be done with mango too.

What you need:

1 small pineapple, peeled and cut into small pieces
1 tsp. tamarind paste
1 tbsp. jaggery
1 long spring curry leaves
2 tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
Salt to taste


For the Masala:
1/2 cup grated, coconut
4-6 red chillies depending on the heat of the chillies
1 tbsp. coriander seeds
1 tbsp. chana daal ( split bengal gram)
1 tsp.  urad daal (split black gram)
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
1 tsp. sesame seeds
1/2 tsp. asafoetida
1 tsp. oil



How to make :

Heat the oil in a pan, fry all masala ingredients (except the coconut) until lightly browned.
Grind it with coconut and little water to a fine paste.
Heat the oil in a sauce pan, add mustard seeds, when it pops add pineapple, turmeric,
curry leaves and fry for 5-8 minutes. Add salt, tamarind juice, jaggery, ground paste.
bring it to boil. cook on low heat until the gojju thickens.
Serve with ghee along with chapatis/dose/rice.

I personally liked it with whole wheat bread rather than rice.

kluski pasta with indian sauce

My little one loves pasta. So I try to make pasta often at home these days. I am not a big fan of oregano or cheese so I end up making pasta with Indian spices. Indo - italian version. We have a new grocery store downtown and they sale variety of home made pasta. I found this Kluski  pasta and wanted to try it. Its a dense egg and wheat noodle.

 

 

What you need:

Kluski pasta or any other pasta of your choice

crushed Tomato paste- 2 cups

onions - 1 finely chopped

garlic- 4 cloves finely chopped

carrots- finely chopped

black pepper powder- 1/2 teaspoon

garam masala- 1 teaspoon

red chilly powder- 1 teaspoon

olive oil- 1 table spoon

salt to taste

How to make :

In a big pot of boiling water add pasta and cook according to the packet instructions. In a pan heat oil, add onions, garlic and saute till onions turn transparent. Add the carrots or any vegetable / meat of your choice and saute. Add the tomato paste, garam masala, chilly powder, salt and cook till it turns to sauce consistency. You can add water that the pasta is cooked in, if needed while cooking. the starch in the water give a nice consistency to the sauce. Add the cooked pasta into the sauce and stir it up, sprinkle some freshly ground pepper. you can garnish with cheese or some fresh cilantro. 

Spinach Daal

We love eating daal, so we have daal in some form everyday. With life getting so busy, I end up cooking daal in large quantities in pressure cooker on sundays and leave it the refrigerator and every day make something different with daal. This is one quick version of it. You can make this with methi leaves and with any other kind of lentils you like.

What you need :
Spinach - 2 cup (fresh or frozen )
Toor daal ( split pigeon peas)- 2 cup steamed.
mustard seeds- 1 tea spoon
cumin seeds- 1 teaspoon
asaefoetida- a pinch
curry leaves- 5-6 leaves
onions- 1/2 cup finely chopped
garlic- 3 cloves finely chopped
tamarind paste- 1 teaspoon
Sambar powder- 1 teaspoon
salt to taste
butter or oil- 2 teaspoon



How to make:
Heat oil or butter in  a pot. I like butter since it gives a nice aroma to the dish. Add mustard, cumin seeds and let it splutter. Add asaefoetida, curry leaves , garlic and onions and saute till the onions are done. add spinach and fry till the raw fragrance is gone. Add tamarind paste, sambar powder, salt and a  cup of water and cook the spinach for 3-5 minutes. Add the boiled daal,  cover the pot cook it for another 5 minutes.
Serve hot with steamed rice or roti.

You an use  red chilly powder and coriander seeds powder instead of sambar powder. You can add tomatoes if you like instead of tamarind paste.

Braided puff pastry dessert

Happy Holi!!!
Got an invitation for dinner to one of my Indian friends here.
Thought of making Baklava but did not have sufficient time to do with Adwi around me. I had just 2 hours let before I would go there didn't know what to make. I was flipping through Better Homes and Garden magazine and trying to get Adwi to nap. Saw this braided dessert recipe with puff pastry, looked pretty.Thought I should try it out, since it was holi wanted to make something with Indian touch, so here is my version of it. Let your imagination wild and try whatever filling you like.

What you need :Frozen Puff Pastry sheet - 1
butter- 1 tablespoon

For the filling:
butter scotch chips- 2 Table spoon
raisins- 2 Table spoon
walnut - 2 table spoon finely chopped
almond-2 table spoon finely chopped
dates - 5 finely chopped
cinnamon powder- 1 teaspoon
cardamom- 2 pods, finely powdered
sugar- 2 teaspoon

How its made:
Line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Unfold a puff pastry sheet and place in the tray. Mix all the ingredients in the filling list  and place the filling in the centre portion. Using a sharp knife, make 3- inch long cuts at 1 inch intervals right upto the filling in pastry on each side of the filling.starting at one end alternately fold opposite strips of dough at an angle over the filling, overlapping ends  of strips in the middle. Press down gently on strips to seal. Cover with a plastic wrap and keep it aside for 20 min. Discard the wrap, brush a little melted butter over the braid and sprinkle sugar and cinnamom powder mixture over it.

Preheat oven 375 F, bake the braid for 30 min or until tops and bottoms are golden brown. Cool braid and cut into slices and serve.

Peanut chutney powder

I love dry chutney powders. They were a great saver at times when you live in hostels and have to eat there. I particularly like this groundnut chutney powder and I make and stock it at all the times.

You can eat it with ghee along with rice, roti, chapthi or just like that :).

What you need :

Peanuts- 2 cups

Red chillies -2 or depending on the spice level

Garlic- 3 cloves

curry leaves- 6-8 leaves

salt to taste

How its Made:

Dry roast groundnuts on a hot skillet. Rub them to remove the peel off. roast the rest of the ingredients except salt. Cool and grind to a course powder. Store in a airtight box.