Savoury tart with beetroot and goat’s cheese

Ingredients

• 250 g flour
• 125 g cold butter, in cubes
• 5 eggs
• 15 g (flat leaf) parsley
• 100 ml Greek yoghurt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cooked beetroots
• 200 g soft goat’s cheese
• 15 g fresh basil
• 10 g fresh chive
• - 1 shallow pie tin, 26 cm, greased
• - food processor with kneading accessory

Method

1. Place the kneading accessory in the bowl before adding the flour, ½ teaspoon salt, the butter and 1 egg. Let the food processor run until the dough comes together.
2. Add 1-2 tablespoons cold water if the dough is too crumbly. Shape the dough into a ball and cover withcling film. Put the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Chop up ¾ of the parsley. Beat 4 eggs with the yoghurt, season with salt and a generous helping of black pepper and the cumin. Stir in the chopped parsley. Rub the skin off the beetroots and cut the beetroots up into 6 pieces each.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 200 °C. Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a thin 30 cm circle. Place the dough in the pie tin, press down along the edges and cut away any excess dough around the top. Pour the egg mixture over the bottom and place the pieces of beet in a circle. Crumble the goats’ cheese on top and add some extra black pepper.
5. Place the pie tin one shelf under the centre of the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes until golden. Coarsely chop up the rest of the herbs and mix. Take the pie out of the oven and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
6. Place a large handful of herbs in the middle of the pie, or, alternatively, cut the pie into pieces and serve each piece with an individual portion of herb salad.
7. 50 minutes preparation time + 30 minutes proving

French apple tart

Ingredients

• For the pastry:
• 250 g flour
• 125 g cold butter, in cubes
• 1 egg
• For the filling:
• 150 g almond paste
• 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
• 1 kg apples (Elstar)
• juice of half a lemon
• 3-4 tablespoons runny honey
• - 26 cm round, loose-bottomed cake tin, greased

Method

1. Place the kneading knife in the food processor and put the flour and butter in the bowl. Add a pinch of salt and the egg. Let the food processor run until the pastry comes together. Add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water if necessary. Finish off by kneading the pastry by hand for a few minutes on a floured surface. Wrap the pastry in cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a width of about 30 cm across. Line the bottom and sides of the cake tin with it. Cut away any excess pastry around the top. Mix the almond paste with the crème fraîche and pour in the cake tin, spreading it over the bottom.
3. Peel and quarter the apples and remove the cores. Place the slicing disk in the food processor. Push the apple pieces through the feeding tube to finely slice the apples. Empty the bowl halfway through, to prevent the slices from getting pureed. Sprinkle the apple slices with the lemon juice and arrange them in overlapping circles in the cake tin. Place the cake tin one shelf under the centre of the oven and bake the tart for 35-40 minutes until golden.
4. Take the tart out of the oven and generously brush the apple slices with honey. Leave to cool until lukewarm or cold. Serve with a scoop of ice cream or crème fraîche.
5. 1 hour preparation time + 30 minutes in the fridge

Dhokla

Ingredients

• 150 g besan (chick pea flour)
• 100 ml buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon fresh coriander, finely chopped

Method

1. Mix the besan with the buttermilk in a large bowl and season to taste with salt. If possible, leave for 1 hour. Then add the sugar, lemon juice and baking powder and mix.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the rice cooker and then add the besan mixture. Bring to a boil, stir and leave to steam for 5 minutes on the "warm" setting.
3. Remove the mixture from the rice cooker, spread it out on a (marble) work surface and leave to cool. Cut into diamonds.
4. In the meantime, heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan and roast the mustard seeds and chilli until the mustard seeds start jumping. Leave to cool and then stir in the coriander.
5. Sprinkle the roasted mustard seed mixture onto the dhokla.
6. 25 minutes preparation time + 1 hour waiting

Profiteroles

Profiteroles Recipe 

Ingredients

* 1/2 C water

* 1/2 stick butter

* 1/2 t sugar

* pinch salt

* 1/2 C flour

* 2 L eggs

Preparation 

* Heat the milk, butter, and salt over medium heat until scalded.

* When the butter is melted, add the flour all at once and beat it with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together and forms a dough.

* Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat for 2 minutes.

* The flour will begin to coat the bottom of the pan.

* Dump the hot mixture into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade.

* Add the eggs and pulse until the eggs are incorporated into the dough and the mixture is thick.

* Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip. Pipe in mounds 1 1/2 inches wide and 1-inch high onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

* You should have about 18 puffs. With a wet finger, lightly press down the swirl at the top of each puff. (You can also use 2 spoons to scoop out the mixture and shape the puffs with damp fingers.)

* Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned, then turn off the oven and allow them to sit for another 10 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

* Make a small slit in the side of each puff to allow the steam to escape. Set aside to cool.

* For the chocolate sauce, place the cream and chocolate chips in a bowl set over simmering water and stir just until the chocolate melts.

* Add the honey and coffee and stir until smooth. Set aside.

* For serving, cut each profiterole in half crosswise, fill with a small scoop of ice cream, replace the top, and drizzle with slightly warm chocolate sauce.

Bisi Bele Bath and Samosa

Bisi Bele Bath and Samosa 

Ingredients 

(for 30-40 samosas)

* Potatoes (4-5 big ones)

* 3 small Bay Leaves

* Green Peas (About one bowl full)

* Desi ghee (2 teaspoon)

* 7 Green chillis

* One small slab of ginger (to know the measurements m talking about, look at your index finger. The slab should be as long and as wide as the first 1/3rd of your finger)

* 2 bowls full of maida

* 1 teaspoon oil

* Black pepper (half a teaspoon)

* Garam Masala (half a teaspoon)

* Salt (to taste)

* Aamchoor (Dry mango powder) (1 teaspoon)

Preparation 

* Take Maida. Add 1 teaspoonfull of oil and salt (according to taste) to it. Make a hard dough. Try using as little water as possible. After it is done, keep it aside. Make sure you keep it in a closed vessel, else it starts to crack!

* Boil potatoes and mash them so that no lumps can be seen.

* Boil Green Peas and strain away the water.

* Crush the green chillies and ginger together. Keep aside the paste.

* In a pan, add 2 teaspoonfulls of desi ghee. Add bay leaves to it.

* Add mashed potatoes, green peas, Ginger-Chilli paste, Aamchoor, Salt, Garam Masala, Black Pepper to it and mix it well. Once done, leave it for a half an hour for it to cool down.

* Put some oil in a pan (oil should be sufficient to deep fry the samosas). Put it on low flame.

* Now, roll out thin-round chapatis of the maida dough.

* Use a knife to cut the round chapati from the center and make two semi circular shapes.

* Take one semi circle, join the line that runs along the diameter, so that its apex is at the center of the semi-circle! Please refer to the pic if confused.

Pitchatlu, a variety in dosa

Pitchatlu

Pitchatlu, a variety in dosa, are best accompanied with coconut chutney. They are made with mixing of all varieties of flours.  They look like rawa dosa only, but they are not as crisp as rawa dosa. They are soft and taste good.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour-1cup
Rice flour-1cup
Wheat flour-1cup
Suji-1cup
Besan-1/2cup
Cumin seeds-1/4tsp
Salt-to taste
Red chili powder-1/2tsp
Green chillies-2 chopped
Water-as per requirement

Ingredients for coconut chutney:

Grated coconut-1tbsp
Roasted dal-2tbsp
Green chilies-5
Ginger-1/4tsp
Salt-to taste
Mustard seeds-1/2tsp
Black gram-1/2tsp
Red chilies-2
Curry leaves-5
Oil-1tbsp

Procedure:

Blend coconut, roasted dal, green chilies, ginger and salt in a blender. Add water to make a smooth paste. 
Heat oil in a frying pan add mustard seeds, black gram, red chilies, asafoetida and curry leaves. Add this to the above paste. Coconut chutney is ready.

Procedure for dosa:

Take all the ingredients in a huge bowl and mix them well. Add water to the mix to make thin consistency batter. Once the batter settles water will come up.

 Heat tawa pour the batter around the pan with a small glass. Batter should be poured on the tawa from outward base in a circular motion to the center.

Pour oil on the dosa. Fill the gaps of dosa with a little oil on them also. Cook the dosa for 2 minutes or till the dosa turn to golden brown colour. Turn the dosa and cook for one minute. serve this hot dosa with above given coconut chutney.

Idly sambaar with coconut chutney

Idly sambaar is a very interesting breakfast.  Normally idly is a healthy and with no oil breakfast. It is very easy to digest so is also known as patient friendly breakfast.  For prepare idly we have to plan it a day before.

Ingredients for idly:

Black gram – 1cup
Idly rawa – 2 cups
Salt – to taste
Separately soak black gram and idly rawa for 4 hours. Make a smooth paste of black gram with adding sufficient water. Remove excess water from idly rawa and add this to the black gram paste and also add salt. This will make the idly batter. This batter should be loose in consistency. Allow this batter to ferment 12 to 14 hours naturally be leaving it to the room temperature.

Ingredients for coconut chutney:

Grated coconut-1tbsp
Roasted dal-2tbsp
Green chilies-5
Ginger-1/4tsp
Salt-to taste
Mustard seeds-1/2tsp
Black gram-1/2tsp
Red chilies-2
Curry leaves-5
Oil-1tbsp

Procedure:

Blend coconut, roasted dal, green chilies, ginger and salt in a blender. Add water to make a smooth paste. 
Heat oil in a frying pan add mustard seeds, black gram, red chilies, asafoetida and curry leaves. Add this to the above paste. Coconut chutney is ready.

Ingredients for sambar:

Cooked toor dal – 1/2cup
Tamarind pulp-2tbsp
Salt-to taste
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Sambaar masala paste-2tbsp
Sliced onions-1 big
Sliced tomato-1 big
Mustard seeds-1/4tsp
Cumin seeds-1/4tsp
Red chilies-2 (splits)
Jagery-1/4tsp (soak this in water)
Ghee-2 drops

Sambaar masala:

Coriander seeds-1tbsp
Bengal gram-1tsp
Black gram-1tsp
Til-1/2tsp
Cumin seeds-1/2tsp
Black pepper seeds-1/2tsp
Fenugreek seeds-1/2tsp
Grated coconut-1tsp
Garlic-5flakes
Asafoetida-a pinch
Red chilies-4 
Roast all the above ingredients. Blend it in a blender to make a smooth paste of it. 

Procedure for idly:

Idly moulds are available in the market. We can take microwave safe or normal steel ones also. Pour the batter into the idly moulds and pressure cook them for 15 minutes.

Procedure for sambaar:

Heat oil in a thick bottomed vessel add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and red chilies. When they splutter add onions and tomatoes. Toast them for 2 minutes. Add 4 cups of water and allow it to boil for 10 minutes. Add tamarind pulp, salt and asafoetida. Allow it to boil for 10 minute more. Once onions soften add sambaar masala and boiled toor dal. Again allow it to boil for 10 minute more. Add jagery and put 2 drops of ghee.