Eggless Dinner Rolls

For this month's Baking Eggless challenge, Priya of Enveetu Kitchen suggested the recipe for Dinner rolls from Cooking Classy.First I thought of using mashed potato to replace the eggs,then decided to use Tangzhong method after seeing many lovely breads and rolls in the blogosphere made using this method.I made few plain Crescent shaped rolls,coriander chilli rolls,Jam rolls and we loved both the texture and taste of the rolls. 

 

Ingredients:

All purpose flour	2 cups
Instant yeast	1 tsp
Sugar	2 tblsp
Salt	½ tsp
Milk	¼ cup
Water	¼ cup+2-3 tblsp
Oil	2 tblsp
For the Tangzhong
All purpose flour	2 ½ tblsp
Milk	¼ cup
Water	¼ cup

Method:

Preparing the Tangzhong:

• Whisk the flour,milk,water in a sauce pan and cook in a medium flame stirring continuosly with a spatula.The mixture starts to thicken and once you find some lines at the bottom of the pan while stirring it's done.Allow it to cool and cover till further use.

Preparing the rolls:

• Take lukewarm water and milk,add 1 tblsp sugar and instant yeast and let it proof for 5-10 mins.
• Take the flour,salt,remaining sugar,oil in a mixing bowl.Add the prepared tangzhong mixture,yeast solution and mix well.Sprinkle little lukewarm water if you feel the dough is very stiff.The dough will be very sticky.Knead them till you get a smooth elastic ball of the dough.
• Apply oil on the dough and keep in a bowl covered with a wet kitchen towel in a warm place to rise for 1 hr or till it doubles in size.
• Once the dough doubles in volume, Place it on the counter and gently punch down to remove the air.
• Make smooth balls and proceed making rolls .
• For the crescent shaped rolls,Take a small portion of the dough and roll to a circle.Spread butter over the surface.Cut the circle to four quarters first and each quarter to wedges.Now start rolling each wedge and tuck the sharp end to the bottom of the roll.
• For the coriander chilli rolls,Roll the dough to a circle and apply a mixture of butter,green chilly,coriander and salt over the dough and start rolling to a log as we roll for cinnamon rolls.Cut them to rolls and place the cut side up.
• For the jam rolls,roll the dough to a small rectangle,place small quantity of jam in the center and fold .Pinch the ends.
• Place all the prepared rolls in a baking tray,cover and let it rise for 45 mins to 1 hr.
• Preheat the oven to 180 ºC.Brush the top of the rolls with milk and bake in preheated oven for 15- 20 mins till the top turns golden in colour.Once done apply butter on top of all the rolls and serve.

Note:

• It is not necessary to proof the Instant yeast,you can also directly add it to the flour.

Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer is a popular dish made using Spinach and Paneer.Though there are many methods,I follow this method from Tarla Dalal's cookbook which is simple and tasty too.

Ingredients:

Spinach(Palak) chopped	3 cups
Paneer cubed	½ cup
Onion	1
Tomato	1
Ginger finely chopped	1 tsp
Garlic finely chopped	1 tsp
Green chilli slit	1
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Garam masala powder	½ tsp
Oil	1 tblsp
Salt	as needed

Method:

• Blanch Spinach leaves in a pan of boiling water till it turns bright green.Rinse immediately in cold water and allow to cool.Blanch the tomato in water,remove the skin and puree it.
• Toast the Paneer cubes in a fry pan till golden colour and drop in a bowl of warm water till further use.
• Blend the blanched spinach leaves to a puree.
• Heat oil in a pan,add green chilli,finely chopped ginger and garlic and fry for some time.Add the chopped onion and fry till it turns golden in colour.
• Add the Tomato puree,turmeric powder,salt and cook till the raw smell of tomato goes off.
• Add the spinach puree,paneer cubes,garam masala powder and cook in low flame for 4-5 mins till it blends well with the tomato mixture.serve hot.

Note:

• If you prefer more spicy,you can add some chilli powder while frying the tomatoes.
• you can either deep fry/toast the paneer and add to the gravy or add it as such.

Methi Thepla

Methi Thepla is a flavorful,healthy Indian flat bread made using fenugreek leaves.I like to have it with a bowl of thick yogurt sprinkled with some chat masala powder.

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat flour	2 cups
Gram flour(Besan)	1 tblsp
Methi leaves chopped	1 cup
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Chilli powder	1 tsp
Coriander powder	2 tsp
Cumin powder	1 tsp
Yogurt	2 tblsp
Oil	1 tblsp
Salt	as needed

Method:

• Take out fenugreek leaves and discard the stem.Clean well,chop them finely and keep aside.
• Heat 1 tsp oil in a fry pan and add the chopped fenugreek leaves.Fry for a minute till it just shrinks down.Transfer to a mixing bowl and add yogurt,salt and all the powders.Mix well.Add the wheat flour and gram flour and prepare a dough using water similar to chapathi dough.
• Grease with remaining oil ,cover and rest for 30 mins to 1 hour.
• Take golf ball sized balls from the dough and roll to chapathi of medium thickness.
• Heat a griddle and cook the methi thepla on both sides using little oil till golden brown sides appear on both sides.
• Serve it with yogurt,pickle of your choice.

Note:

• Frying the fenugreek leaves before adding to the flour is optional.You can ddirectly add it to the flour and proceed.

Bhindi Masala

Bhindi Masala is a simple dish of ladies finger cooked with onion,tomato and other spices.It pairs well with chapathi/roti.

Ingredients:

Ladies finger cut into pieces	1 ½ cups
Onion	1
Tomato	1
Chilli powder	½ tsp
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Garam masala powder	1/2 tsp
Amchur powder	1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves	to garnish
Salt	as needed
Oil	3 tsp

Method:

• Wash the ladies finger and pat them dry.Cut into 1 inch pieces.
• Heat a fry pan with little oil and add the ladies finger,sprinkle little salt and cook for 3-4 mins.Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a kadai,add the onions and fry till it turns golden brown.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and fry till tomatoes become soft.Now add all the masala powders,salt and cook well till the raw smell of the masala goes off. 
• Add little water,salt and cook for 2-3 mins.
• Finally add the ladies finger and mix well with the gravy and cook in low flame for 3-4 mins.
• Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve.

Note:

• Frying the ladies finger separately in a pan and adding to the gravy is optional.You can add the ladies finger directly after frying the masala,but I prefer frying separately before adding to the gravy.

My First award

    I am very happy to receive my first award. Charul of Tadka Masala passed me a "Very inspiring Blogger" award.Thank you charul for this wonderful award.

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Rules to accept this award:

1. Link back to the person who nominated you.
2. Post the award image to your page.
3. Tell 7 facts about yourself.

•  I enjoy baking.
•  I have great interest in health,fitness and beauty.
•  I enjoy listening to music.
•  Love shopping and going out.
•  Ina garten's cookery show is one of my favourites.
•  Love to visit places with natural beauty.

4. Nominate 15 other blogs and inform them about that they have been   nominated.
 Here are some of my favourite bloggers..

• kitchen delicacies
• zestysouthindiankitchen
• nansyum
• uma kitchen
• Gayathris cookspot
• en veetu kitchen
• Priyas versatile recipes
• Padhus kitchen
• Raks kitchen
• Nivedanams
• Jeyashris kitchen
• laavys kitchen
• chitras food book
• Great secret of life
• The chef and her kitchen

Strawberry Blackberry Pie

Making an Apple Pie was in my wish list for a long time but when I bought fresh strawberries and Blackberries,I instantly decided to make a Pie with berry filling.The Pie crust came out good,flaky and melt in the mouth with rich buttery flavour.I adapted the recipe for the crust from here and used food processor for making the same.I am happy with the result and definitely Apple Pie is next on my list.

Ingredients:

For the pie Crust
All Purpose flour	1 ¼ cup
Cold butter	½ cup(100 gms)
Salt	¼ tsp
Sugar	1 tblsp
Ice water	1/8  to ¼ cup
For the Berry filling
Strawberries sliced	1 cup
Blackberries halved	½ cup
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Sugar(see note below)	¼ cup
All purpose flour	1 tblsp

Method: 

• Cut cold butter into small cubes.
• In a food processor,add flour,salt,sugar and process to combine.
• Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles bread crumbs Now add 1/8 cup of ice water water slowly through the feed tube until the dough just holds together when pinched.If necessary,add more water.Do not process more.
• Transfer the dough to a clean counter,bring them together and cover it with a cling wrap.Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• While the dough is resting,slice the berries and take them in a bowl.Add sugar,flour,lemon juice.stir well and keep aside.
• Preheat oven to 200 ºC .
• After 1 hour take the dough and divide into two portions. I divided one portion slightly bigger which I used for the base of the pie.Dust the counter with some flour and gently roll the dough to a circle to fit the pie dish.Transfer carefully to the pie dish.prick all over with a fork,cover with a cling wrap and again refrigerate for 10 mins.
• After 10 mins take out the pie dish and bake in preheated oven for 20 mins.Allow to cool for 10 mins.
• Take out the other portion of the dough,roll it to a circle and make strips out of it.Cover and refrigerate till further use.This is for covering the top of the pie.
• Take out the excess liquid from the berry filling if any.Spread it evenly on the pre baked pie crust.Sprinkle little sugar all over.Now cover the top of the filling with the prepared strips.
• Brush Milk all over the pie crust and bake in a preheated oven at 180 ºC for 25- 30 mins till the top is golden in colour.Allow to cool for some time,slice and serve.

Preparing dough without food processor: 

    Take the flour,salt,sugar in a bowl and whisk well.Add the cold butter and using a pastry cutter or with your finger tips,rub the butter to the flour till the mixture resembles bread crumbles.Now sprinkle ice water little by little till the dough comes together.Don't knead.Cover with a cling film,refrigerate and proceed.

Note:

• The main thing to note is to use cold butter and Ice water.Use fresh good quality butter.
• Don't pour all the water when making the dough.Just use little by little enough to bring the dough together.
• It is essential to refrigerate the dough.If not the dough may tear while rolling.so don't skip this step.
• Pre baking the crust before adding the filling is not needed.But I pre baked to avoid soggy crust.
• You can make the filling with strawberries alone or combination of berries as you wish.Increase or decrease the sugar quantity based on the sweetness of the berries.

Rava Khichdi

Rava khichdi is a simple and easy to prepare tiffin.It is a mushy variant of rava upma with some vegetables.Lets see the recipe.

Ingredients:

Rava/sooji	1 cup
Water	3 cups
Onion	1
Tomato	1
Peas(optional)	handful
Salt	as needed
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Oil	1 tblsp
To temper
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Green chilli slit	1
Ginger finely chopped	1tsp
Channa dhal	1 tsp
Asafoetida	A pinch
Curry leaves	few

Method:

• Heat oil in a kadai and add the items given under "To temper" table one by one.
• Add the onions and fry till translucent followed by tomatoes,peas and fry till the tomatoes are cooked well.Add the rava,turmeric powder,salt.
• Boil 3 cups of water seperately and now add this boiling water slowly to the rava mixture and mix well.cover and keep in low flame for few minutes till rava is cooked well.

Note:

• I have used roasted rava. If you are using plain rava,roast them seperately in a pan till nice aroma comes and use in the recipe.