Recipe: Homemade pastry puff sheet

Last time when I made the yummy veg Puff, I used the ready-to-use pastry puff sheet which I brought from Safeway and it costed me $6. It was way to costly for me, so I decided to try it  at home. I searched few online recipe sites and recipe books and all of them were consuming too much time and butter(around 3 days and also the process was so complicated that i skipped reading the recipe after few paragraphs).

Now, when I have started cooking myself, I try to reduce the quantity of oil or butter I am supposed to use in any recipe. When I made this pastry puff at home, I was thinking to experiment this with less butter and trust me, It was much better than ready-made one.

I make plain parathas for my son everyday, thats how I got the idea to try this thing.

Ingredients(For 4 pastry puffs):

1. Maida/All -purpose flour – 2/3  cup

2. Unsalted Butter -1/2 stick (2oz), chilled

3. Salt to taste(1/2 tsp)

4. water – to knead, (around 1/2 cup)

Method:

1. cut the butter stick horizontally into half. Now cut this half stick into three slices.

2. In a large bowl, add flour, salt and 1 butter slice. It should not be kept at room temp, and should be chilled at moment. Using hands, starts mixing butter into flour.

3. Add water and knead the flour into dough. Keep the dough at room temp for 10 mins.

4. Now once your dough is ready after 10 mins, start rolling it using a rolling pin, giving a rectangular shape. Once its around 1/3′ thick, place the butter slices in center and fold it from all four sides covering the butter slices. Press it using hands gently and start rolling again with the pin. Once again, when its around 1/3′ thick, fold it from all four sides and press gently with your hand. Place this in freezer for 15 mins.

5. AFter 15 mins, take the dough out and start rolling again with pin. Again make 1/3′ fold it from all four sides and again fold it. This process with help make the flakes in puff. Place it again in freezer for 15 mins.

6. Repeat the process for around 4-5 times, or you can say you have to fold it again and roll it atleast 8 times. After every 2 times you roll it, place it in freezer for 10-15 mins. I kept it for 15 mins because the butter started melting down as soon as it a roll it once. Also, dont forget to sprinkle some DRY FLOUR every time you find it sticky.

7. Now for last time, roll it, make it around 1/4′ thick, cut into 4 pieces and your sheets are ready to use now.

It was much better than the readymade ones because, it costed me less and it consumed less butter. It was not looking too much flaky from outside when I baked my puffs, but when I took the first bite, it was very falky from inside. I assume that might be because I used less butter. Also, I never like too falky puffs. So this one is perfect for me.

Recipe: Mathi/Matri (Indian Snack)

This is a perfect evening snack when you don’t wanna cook anything but need something to eat with a hot cup of ginger tea. Ah, I love a cup of ginger tea with this snack. Perfect for a rainy cold day.

Generally  its deep fried in oil, so high in calories I guess. But this time i tried the baked version and honestly, I loved it. Taste is almost the same but when you see how much oil you have saved from going to your body, you would say you loved this one better.

So no more boring details, simply here goes this SUPER EASY recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Maida/All purpose flour – 1 cup

2. Vegetable oil – 1/4 cup

3. Ajwain/Bishop’s weed – 1tsp

4. Hing/Asafoetida – 2 pinches

5. Salt – 1/3tsp(or to taste)

6. Water-1/4 cup(for kneading)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F.

1. Heat oil in pan and add Asafoetida  to it. When the color starts to change, turn off the heat. let it cool a little bit.

2. In a mixing bowl, add flour, salt, bishop’s weed and oil and mix well.

3. Using water, knead the mix and make dough of it.

4. Keep kneading for atleast 5 mins so that the dough becomes soft.

5. Take small amount of dough, make a ball and place it on clean flat surface. Using a rolling pin, make a tortilla of it. Cut it with a cookie cutter or any other shape you like.

6. Take a fork and prick each chip/mathi.

7. Place it in baking tray and bake it for 20mins or until golden brown, in preheated oven.

8. Once it changes the color, turn off the oven and let it cool for few mins. Keep it in  a air-tight jar and enjoy it whenever you want. 🙂

Recipe: Carrot/Gajar Halwa(Indian dessert)

Doesn’t it look delicious? I love gajar halwa. Actually I love most of sweets and desserts. My mom used to make this in winters as carrots are winter vegetable. Although now it is available in big stores all the times, but its grown in winter season. So I used wait whole year so that we could eat this yummy sweet in winter.

This recipe is very simple, although the real one, which my mummy used make is quite time consuming. But here I am making it easy way.

Ingredients:

1. Sweetened condensed milk – 7oz

2. Carrots, washed and grated – 2 oz.

3. Clarified butter/Pure Ghee – 3Tbsp

4. Whole green Cardamon- 3

5. Almonds, cut into halfs – 2 tbsp + for garnishing(chopped)

6. Pistachios(optional) – 1 tbsp

7. few Cashew nuts

8. Milk – 2/3 cup

Method:

1. In a wok(wide open kadhai/pan) , add ghee and cardamons. Break the cardamons before adding. Also add almonds. Roast these for few mins and add grated carrots.

2. Cover the wok with lid and let it cook for 10 mins. Stir the carrots every 2 mins.

3. Now when you can smell the aroma of cardamons and carrots, add the milk and condensed milk. Mix this well and cover the wok again.

4. Keep stirring and let it cook for approx 20 mins or until the milk becomes thick and no water or left out. Also keep checking if the carrots are cooked properly or not. It should take about 20 to 25 mins.

5. Once whole water content is evaporated, your halwa is ready to be served. Garnish it with cashews and almonds and serve it hot.

Note: If you think its not as sweet as it should be, add some sugar to it. And its too sweet, more milk can added.

My mom used to make it only with milk. It used to take 2 to 3 hours to cook this halwa as you need to cook it until whole water is evaporated and dry and thick milk(called Khoya) is left out. In that case you need to add sugar also. And nothing can taste better than a dessert made of Khoya.

Mommy in trouble

My 16 months old has reduced the liquid intake very much, and now his mamma is in so much tension. I am not able to understand the reason, but he is not drinking his milk properly, no juice and no water. He hardly consume 2-3 ounces of water/juice in a day i guess. He never liked drinking water or juice earlier also but he always drank his milk properly. I fed him bottled milk, 4 times a day along with other solid foods. Now he is eating the solids properly, like earlier but very little liquid consumption. Now I try to feed him milk 4-5 times a day but he wont have it more than 4-5oz. I don’t see any other changes in his behavior except light weighted diapers.

I am so worried about this, so when I asked my mamma, she said it might be because it is cold here( although its cold here since we have arrived here 6 months back). I don’t know if I am worried of no reason or it is a problem. He is otherwise very active like earlier and eating his food fine. 

Any suggestions would be real great from fellow parents.

Recipe: Sandwich bread pizza

This is something I tried out in free time and loved it. I know many would know what to call this thing exactly but all I know is it tastes like pizza, somewhat like garlic bread and sometime like normal sandwich toast.

For me, this is the perfect and easiest evening snack for my husband who he is back tired and hungry after a long day in office. 

So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Bread loaf of your choice – 1

2. Cheese, grated( I use Parmesan cheese) – 2 tbsp

3. Butter, low fat – 2 tbsp

4. Garlic cloves, minced(or Garlic paste can be used) – 6  or 2 tbsp

5.  Capsicum/Green bell pepper , chopped – 1

6. Carrot, chopped(optional) – 1

7. Tomato , chopped – 1/2 cup

8. Onion, chopped – 1

9. Oregano – 1 tbsp

10.Salt to taste 

11. Red Chili sauce(optional) – 2 tbsp

12. Veg oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. In a skillet, add oil and garlic and saute it for few mins, until golden brown. Turn off the heat.

3. Take a mixing bowl and add capsicum, tomato, carrots,cheese and onion. Sprinkle salt, oregano and mix well.

4. Cut the bread into slices. Now take a small bowl and add butter into garlic. Mix well

5. Apply the butter on one side of each bread slice. Now apply the red chili sauce.

6. Place the slices in baking tray. Now using a spoon, put some veggie mix on each slice.

7. Place the tray in oven and bake it for 20-30 mins. 

Crispy pizza toast is ready. 

 

Recipe: Veg Puff(indian Style)

 

When I was in college , we use to eat this snack all the time in canteen because it was hardly a day when food was good in hostel’s mess. Even now, whenever I don’t find anything edible in office cafeteria , I simply buy this from Coffee shop and enjoy it with hot coffee or tea. 

Few days ago I thought to give it a try, but the only problem was pastry puff sheet. I brought the wrong package(with extra small sized sheets which were also extra thin) from store and it was too big to finish. Had to discard that, so took almost 2 months to find the right puff sheet(which was available in store next to my home. 😛 ) I was searching that in indian store but it was available in every english store. 🙂

So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients(for 6 puffs)

1. Frozen Pastry sheet(A4 size)- 1 1/2, thawed at room temp for 40 mins

For Filling:

1. Indian cottage Cheese/Paneer – 1/2 cup

2. Boiled Potato – 1

3. Shredded/Grated Carrot – 1

4. Capsicum/Green bell pepper – 1/2, chopped nicely

5. Salt – to taste

6. Vegetable oil – 1 tbsp

7. Green coriander leaves, chopped – 1tbsp

8. Coriander powder – 1/2 tsp

9. Roasted cumin powder – 1/2 tsp

10. Green chili – 1 

11. Garlic cloves, minced – 4

12. Onion , chopped – 1/2(medium sized)

Method:

Thaw the pastry sheet and meanwhile prepare the filling mix.

1. Add oil to a wok and add garlic to it. Saute it till golden brown.

2. Now add onion and saute it for few mins.

3. Add pepper bell and paneer and mix it well. Cover the wok with lid for 2-3 mins and let it cook.

4. Now stir the mix once and cover again for 2 mins.

5. capsicum is almost done now, so add salt, turmeric powder, corriander leaves and powder, cumin powder and mix well. Now add carrot and mashed potato into wok and mix well. Let it cook for 5 more mins.

6. There should not be any water in mixture, if you feel its watery, cook it on high flame for few mins and let the water dry and turn off the heat.

7. Now cut the pastry sheet into squares shapes. If you want to give a triangular shape, cut a big square shaped sheet and put some filling mix into center of sheet. Now fold it giving a trianguular  shape. At ends, press it with fingers dipped into water and then take a fork and press the ends properly.

Place this into baking tray and bake it in preheated oven(400F) for 20 mins or until golden brown.

Puffs are ready to serve. 🙂

 

 

Recipe:Whole wheat peanut butter cookies

I love peanut butter and I love cookies. And being a Punjabi, I love whole wheat flour. 😀 Another reason for whole wheat is, my love, he doesn’t like to eat things made with all purpose flour. So have to try everything with whole wheat.

Today I tried whole wheat peanut butter cookies, and again my hubby is not a big fan of peanut butter. But I knew if I tell him that these cookies are made of whole wheat, he will eat them. So I used both of things and cookies turned out really good. And when he tasted these delicious cookies, he couldn’t guess these had peanut butter. And he said,,’ wow..these are good..and different than normal whole wheat cookies you make’ and my hard work was paid off.

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Whole wheat flour – 1 cup

2. Semolina – 2 tbsp

3. Peanut butter – 1/2 cup

4. Unsalted butter – 1/2 stick(4 oz)

5. salt – 2 pinches

6. Baking Powder- 1/3 tsp

7. Brown sugar – 1/3 cup

8. White sugar – 1/3 cup

9. Egg – 1

10. Milk – 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Add salt and baking powder to flour. Sift this mixture and add semolina.

2. Heat the butter for 15 secs in mircowave and add peanut butter into this. Mix well.

3. Add the flour into butter and mix it very well using your hands.

4. Now add sugars and egg. Make a dough of this mix by adding milk. Amount of milk can be increased if needed but make sure the dough is not very soft. Dont overdo the dough.

5. Keep the dough in fridge for 30-40 mins.

6. Preheat oven to 350F.

7. Take some portion of dough and make small balls of it. Press it on cookie sheet using a fork, or you can roll it on plain surface using a rolling pin and cut the cookies using a cookie cutter.

8. bake it for 12-15 mins, until brown.

Cookies are ready . 🙂

Recipe: Chole/Chana Masala with Kulche

Finally, I learnt to make perfect Chole(chickpea) curry, because last time when I made that, my hubby said, ‘it is perfect this time.’ So I decided to make some bread along with chole curry this time.

This time I prepared Kulche,(sorry couldn’t click a pic. We were too hungry to wait and click a pik when it was looking so delicious).Next time def, gonna click a pik. I made Chana(Chole) Masala instead of chana curry this time, with this Kulcha bread.

Here goes the recipe:

A. Chole/Chana Masala(Chickpea) recipe:

1. Chickpea- 1 cup(soaked overnight)

2. Oil – 2 tbls

3. Salt to taste

4. Onion, chopped finely- 1 cup

5. Ginger, chopped/grated- 1tbsp

6. Garlic, crushed and chopped- 2tbsp

7. Lemon -1tbsp, or to taste

8. Bay leaf – 1

9. Green cardamon – 2

10. Black cardamon – 1

11. Black pepper powder -1/2 tsp

12. Green chili, cut finely – 1

13. Coriander powder – 1tsp

14. fresh coriander, chopped – 1 tbsp

 

Method:

1. Pressure cook the chickpeas for 20 min. Meanwhile, in wok, add bay leaf, cardamons to oil on medium flame. Let it saute for 2 mins and then add ginger and garlic.

2. When the color of ginger and garlic starts to change, add onions. Saute it until golden brown.

3. Add coriander powder, black pepper, salt and chili to mixture.

4. Now add chickpeas(drained first) and lemon to wok. Turn off the flame.

5. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Chole/Chana Masala is ready.

B. Kulcha Recipe:

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour – 1 cup

2. Oil – 1 tbsp+ 1Tbsp

3. Salt – 1/2 tsp

4. Baking soda – little less than 1/2 tsp

5. Curd/Yogurt – 1/4 cup

6. Warm water- for kneading

7. Sugar – 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt and oil. Add curd to center of this flour. Now add sugar to yogurt and make sure the sugar is dissolved completely before mixing the rest of flour with yogurt.

2. Using little amount of warm water, knead this flour into dough and cover it all around with some amount of oil.

3. Preheat oven to 170F and turn it off. Now put this dough into oven after covering it and let it in oven for 5 hours.

4. Dough is ready, take small amount of it and make a ball. Now using a rolling pin, make a tortilla of this ball. Apply little amount of oil at one side of tortilla and water at other side. Can add few leaves of coriander at this side. It will increase the taste. Put it on Tawa(a utensil to bake tortillas in India). Bake it from both sides.

Kulcha is ready to be served with Chana Masala.

Recipe:Rasgulla

I love eating desserts, and one of my favorite is Rasgulla. It is a Bengali Recipe, and a very famous one. But I never knew this is so easy to make. Also, mostly if you order a Bengali Rasgulla, they will present the spongy one, and I don’t like that very much. I don’t know if its an original Bengali sweet or modified one, but I love this one. So I searched this recipe for long time, but all were present for spongy Rasgulla. So I don’t know when and how I found this, but that time I learnt it by heart and didn’t save that link. So I cannot say where I have adapted this from, but I would thank that person who posted it on internet.

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

To make Chaina(Cheese):

1. Milk -2 Lt.

2. Lemon juice -5 to 6 tbsp

Rasgulla:

1. Chaina

2. Corn starch -2 tbsp

Syrup:

1. Sugar.- 1 cup

2. Water -1 cup

3.Green cardamon -3/4

Method:

1. Boil the milk in a large pan. Once done, set it aside for few mins.

2. You can add 1/2 cup of cold water or wait for 15 mins and let it cool.

3. Now start adding the lemon jucie little bit at a time and start stirring with a spatula.

4. Keep adding lemon until the chaina(cheese) starts separating from milk.

5. Stop adding lemon when the water and cheese is separated.

6. Now take a sieve, cover it with a fine cotton cloth, and pour the milk/cheese into it.

7. Wash the cheese with cold water, so that sourness of lemon can be reduced.

8. let the water drain completely from cheese.
9. Take a bowl and start mixing the cheese with your hands. Try to knead into a dough, it would be sticky, but keep doing it for 3-4 min.

10. Add corn starch to it and mash and mix with hands. Keep doing it for 4-5 mins.

11. Make small sized ball from this dough and set aside.

12. On a medium flame, set a pan with sugar and water and bring it a boil.

13. Once it starts boiling, add cardamon and cheese balls into it.Cover the pan with lid and let it boil for 20 mins.

14. check the pan every few mins for thickness of syrup. If you feel the syrup has become too thick, add little water and cover the pan again.

15. Turn off the heat after 20 min and let the Rasgulla cool. Once cooled, take these out of syrup and can be garnished with pischatos and almonds.

Rasgullas are ready to be served.

how do you handle them?

My son is now 14 months old, and I still feel like he was born yesterday :D. He is getting naughtier day by day and I don’t know anymore how should I handle him, which results in me shouting at him or my darling hubby who is very understanding(maybe more than need, don’t worry he doesn’t read my blogs, so I can write the truth). My son Gurshan, he started walking when he was 11 months and since then the things are getting difficult to handle. He is all the time running in the house, breaking things, wanting things he cannot have, like laptops, Mobile phones(that too the smart phones, not the simple ones. he is not interested in them :D). I cannot play any movies, because he will not let me watch it as me watching movie means he is not getting any attention. I cannot read any book, which again means I am not giving him attention or we can say I cannot do anything for my own entertainment.

Now sometime back I decided to learn and cook new recipes, just so that I can kill my time while I am on leave period. Now he can almost touch the stove top and also knows how to open Oven, I cannot cook also while he is around. 😦 I just don’t know what can I do to make him play with his own toys. He will play with them, only when I am sitting next to him or I am not doing anything at all. Whenever I go to kitchen, even if to drink a glass of water he will come following me and start opening dishwasher(he knows how to unlock it) or throwing the stuff out of closets and what not.

I have just one question, if anyone is reading this, how do you manage your children? Whenever I ask my mom, she says every child does the same. Now what I don’t understand is what every parent do in such case? Whenever I ask my sisters, they say the same thing. Nobody tells me solution. They say I will learn with time. I am always worried that he will hurt himself if I am not watching him.

Whenever we go to shop, he doesn’t want to sit in his stroller anymore. He wants to run and touch the things. And I really love his enthusiasm . He looks so happy whenever he touches things or sometimes put them in his mouth. I love the feeling when I think how carefree he is right now. He knows his parents will take care of him, so he tries to walk down a slide, instead of sliding down like it is supposed to be. He tries new experiments without worrying of result because he let his mom and dad worry about it. I just love this feeling when I know my child is enjoying without any worries.

The only question which makes me worry is how can I handle him when he is being naughty.