DECEMBER...

I've decided that December is my Pastry month. It's time to try new pastry recipes and if not, buy them from bakeries and break the monotonous trend of the same old pastries everywhere. 

I need a taste bud challenge and i'm going to find it. Despite the fact that i'll add weight and have trouble losing it, i don't care. I'm taking the bull by its horns and do it anyway.

Super excited!!! 

APPLE DANISH PASTRY

My new found addiction

Crust 

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1 egg
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1 egg white plus 1 teaspoon water

Filling

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 apples, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze 

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar for dusting

Method

In a medium bowl, proof the yeast with the warm water and 1 teaspoon of sugar and let stand until it foams. Add the egg, milk, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, and salt to the yeast and stir. Set aside.

Place the flour into a large bowl with the cold butter. Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour into tiny pieces. (You can also use your food processor for this step.)

Add the wet ingredients to the flour and butter and combine with a spatula until the dough starts to come together. Place the dough onto a floured work surface and shape into a square using your hands. Roll the dough into a 9 x 13-inch rectangle. 

Fold the dough lengthwise into thirds like you’re folding a letter to fit into an envelope. Roll the dough into a 9 x 13-inch rectangle, and then fold into thirds again. Repeat this process twice more, until you’ve done the rolling and folding a total of 3 times. Cut the dough in half, wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and place in the fridge overnight.

After a good night’s sleep, you’re finally ready to make your Danish braid! Peel, core, and slice the apples. Brown the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven on the stovetop over low heat. Meanwhile, mix the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Once the butter is brown, add the apples and the cinnamon sugar mixture to the pot and toss to combine. Cook on low heat until all of the liquid has evaporated and the apples are tender. Remove the apples from the heat and let cool for 30 minutes.

Before you begin to make the braid, preheat the oven to 400º F. Remove one piece of dough from the fridge, and save the other for a rainy day. (The dough keeps for one week in the fridge and two months in the freezer.)

On a floured piece of parchment paper, roll out the dough into a 9 x 13-inch rectangle. Place the apples down in the middle of the dough.

With the dough laid in front of you and the shorter side facing you, make 1-inch diagonal cuts down the left and right sides of the dough -- imagine you are drawing a Christmas tree. Once you have reached the bottom, cut away two triangle pieces, so that the dough now has a tree trunk. Fold the tree trunk flap over the apples, then go back to the top and fold each strip over the apples, alternating from left to right and moving towards the bottom.  

Carefully place the parchment paper with the braid on top onto a baking sheet. Brush the top of the pastry with an egg wash of one egg white and a teaspoon of water. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top. 

Now, for the icing. In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of milk, and the vanilla. Add an additional tablespoon of milk if the icing is too thick -- it should be pourable, but not so thin that it drips off of the pastry. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the braid and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm.

If you don't finish the danish braid the day you bake it (which is highly unlikely), store it in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, for 3 to 4 days. Reheat the danish in the oven or microwave before eating.

http://food52.com/blog/10021-how-to-make-bakery-style-apple-danish-at-home

Enjoy!

KASHATA (COCONUT SQUARES) RECIPES

Addictive

Ingredients:

3 cups desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
You also need:
2 cups sugar
1 and a half cups water
Any colour you want
A pinch of ground cardamom

Method:

• Mix the coconut with 1 cup of water and keep aside, skip this process if you are using freshly grated coconut
• .In a pot add the sugar and water, along with the food colouring and the ground cardamom.
• Cook the above ingredients for about 7 to to minutes or until the syrup starts to almost thicken.
• Then add the desiccated coconut along with any water left from soaking the coconut.
• Cook, stirring constantly until the syrup reduces and the mixture starts to come together..You will see when you mix, the mixture kinds of comes on one side, kinds of form a ball shape and the syrup almost entirely dried, then you know it is ready..
• Grease your surface with oil and pour the mixture on the surface, then use the back of your large spoon to flatten the kashata to the desired thickness
• Let the kashata rest and cool for a few minutes, then cut into any shape you want.

Enjoy!!

INDIAN STYLE PASTA FRY

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cup of pasta
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chaat masala
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• few drops of lime juice.

Preparation Time: 5 min 
Cooking Time: 15 min
Serves: 4

METHOD

1. Take 2 cup of pasta and boil it in enough till it is fully tender.

2. Drain the excess water and keep aside for 1 day in room temperature to completely dry the pasta. Wet pasta (with moisture) doesn’t go well with hot oil.


3. In a small bowl, put 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon chaat masala, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder and mix well.

4. Take a non-stick frying pan, heat 1 cup of vegetable oil and fry the pasta in low flame, till it become golden brown in color. Place it in a tissue paper to soak extra oil.


5. Now sprinkle the mixture (step 3) over the fried pasta with few drops of lime juice.

Pasta Fry is best eaten with Tea or Coffee as  evening snacks.

Enjoy!

MASALA CHAI

MASALA CHAI

PREPARATION TIME 

10 min 

TOTAL TIME

 

15 min

INGREDIENTS

1. • 10 green cardamom pods, cracked, seeds removed, and pods discarded, or 1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds or ground cardamom
   • 1 (1 1/2-inch) piece cinnamon stick
   • 4 peppercorns (preferably white)
   • 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
   • 2 cups whole milk
   • 3 1/2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar, or to taste
   • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
   • 2 cups water
   • 5 teaspoons loose orange pekoe tea or other black tea
2. • Equipment: a mortar and pestle or an electric coffee/spice grinder

PREPARATION

1. 1. Grind together cardamom, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, and fennel seeds with mortar and pestle or coffee/spice grinder.
   2. Bring milk just to a simmer in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir or whisk in brown sugar, ground spice mixture, ginger, and 1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes to infuse flavors.
   3. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a 1-quart saucepan, add tea, and boil 1 minute.
   4. Pour tea through a fine-mesh sieve into hot milk mixture (discard tea leaves) and cook over low heat 1 minute. Stir before serving.
   5. Enjoy!

HALWA RECIPE

 SOMALI  HALWA 

Ingredients:

• White sugar: 2 ½ cups
• Light brown sugar: 1 cup
• Water: 3 cups (for the sugar)
• Corn flour: ¾ cup
• Water: ¾ cup (for diluting corn flour)
• Oil: 4 tbsp
• Unsalted butter: 4 tbsp
• Cardamom: 3
• Nutmeg: 3
• Yellow and orange food color: a pinch

Preparation:

• Heat the butter in a pan. When it melts, remove from heat. Add oil to this ghee and keep aside.
• Mix the corn flour with ¾ cup of water without any lumps. Add the food coloring to this mixture and mix well and keep aside.
• Break the nutmeg shell and crush and grind the nuts.
• Remove the skin of the cardamoms and powder the seeds.

Method:

• Heat a pan. Add white sugar and light brown sugar. Add 3 cups of water and mix the mixture well. Allow the mixture to boil till both the white and brown sugars are completely dissolved.
• Add the powdered nutmeg and cardamom.
• Reduce the flame and add the corn flour mixture slowly.
• Cook by continuously stirring.
• Now start adding the butter-oil little by little at regular intervals without stopping the stirring. The butter-oil will get absorbed in the halwa.
• Continue to cook and stir, making sure that the halwa is cooked evenly, till the halwa leaves the sides of the pan and becomes a whole mass.
• Remove from heat. Delicious Somali halwa is ready.
• Wait for the halwa to cool a bit and serve warm.
• You can also pour the halwa into a greased tray and allow it to cool and then you can cut them into pieces and serve.

You can use cardamom powder and nutmeg powder, instead of powdering the seeds. You can also use 6 tbsp of ghee instead of butter and oil. The halwa can be garnished with roasted peanuts or roasted sesame seeds to enhance the taste and flavor.

MABUYU RECIPE

MABUYU (Baobab Seeds)

First coating:

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 cup mabuyu flour
4 cups mabuyu
1/4 tsp chili powder(optional)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cardamom(optional)
Red or any color food colouring.

Method:
In a pot, add the water, sugar, salt, chili powder, food colouring, ground cardamom and cook on high heat stove.
Mix the mixture and let it cook.
Once the syrup starts to cook, you will see lots of bubbles foaming up the pot. Keep mixing and stirring and let it cook.
When the syrup starts to bubble down, it means the syrup has started to thicken, check to see if the syrup is sticky (not too sticky), then add the mabuyu seeds and mix well.
Continue to cook and mix and then add the mabuyu flour and mix very well.
Continue cooking until the syrup starts to crystallize and starts coating on the mabuyu seeds.
Then remove the sugar coated mabuyu and place them on a big plate (sinia).
Let the mabuyu cool completely..The mabuyu is ready to be eaten or you can coat them with a second coating of sugar to get the same results as in this picture

Second Coating
Now for the second coating:
You need:
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
Red food colouring

Mix the above ingredients and cook the same way you cooked the mabuyu in the first coating, but in this case you will use the cooked mabuyu, to give it a second coating of sugar..
Enjoy!!!