4 Easy Bakes : Easy cheese bikkies, choco fruit tart, apple pie & mince meat pies

Easy cheese bikkies

This is the easiest tastiest biscuits that I have known.  You can just start making them as you're chatting with your friend over tea & it will be done in a jiffy.  The texture inside the biscuit will be layered & spongy so I prefer to call them bikkies!

Ingredients:

200gms cheddar cheese

1 cup flour (maida)

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper or chilli powder

Method

Preheat oven at 230C.  Mix all ingredients by hand until you get a rough dough like mixture.  It must look something like this :

Make tiny portions out of this dough, give each portion a gentle press & place them on a tray lined with aluminium foil.

Bake them for 10-12 mins until they turn brown on top.  Take them out, wait until they cool down completely & only then take them off the foil.  Store them in air tight containers.  You can make the dough in large quantities & leave it in the fridge for later use.

Basic tart shell recipe

Tarts are easy to make once you get the pastry right.  Once you have your pastry, just bake them in tartlet pans & add whatever it is that you fancy!  Chocolate, fruits, cream, meringue anything at all.

Ingredients 

300gms plain flour

2 tbsp cold water

125gms cold butter cubed 

The crucial bit here is to keep the butter chilled & the dough cool.  The dough must be taken out of the fridge just before you plan to bake.  You can add sugar to the dough if you plan to make a sweet tart & maybe even use unsalted butter.  I am using salted butter and sugar here & it doesnt interfere with the taste of filling.

Method

Mix all ingredients to form a dough & roll it out to form a 1-2 inch base.  Lightly grease the tartlet pans.  Cut the dough into circles & line them inside the tartlets.  My tartlet pans have sharp edges so I use them to cut into the dough.  Press down gently to make the dough line the tartlet pans firmly. Make a few pricks with a fork on the base.  This helps the heat to escape & bake evenly.

To ensure perfect tart shells, layer butter paper over the tartlets & place some chickpeas or pastry weights to hold the base down.  Bake for 10 mins, remove weights & bake for another 5mins or until they turn golden brown.

Fruit chocolate tart

This random tart was just created with the few things I had left in my fridge.  A couple of dried berries that I use in cakes, one good navel orange & I always have stock of cooking chocolate so I just played with these three to create this.  Follow the instructions mentioned above to get the pastry right & fill it with these

Filling

1 orange segment per tart

stewed fruits : I took a tablespoon each of dried cranberries, blueberries, prunes chopped them n boiled them for 5mins in very little water.  

chocolate of your choice

Method

Inside each tart place a spoon of the stewed fruit, drench with melted chocolate & decorate with an orange segment!  You can add brandy to the stewed berries & use whipped cream instead of melted chocolate and make your tart all the more rich!

Apple pie 

This is again an improvised version of the classic apple pie.  In my honest opinion, adding a few spices like nutmeg & cinnamon to apple just takes it to a whole new level in terms of flavour & fragrance.  You will be amazed not just by how it tastes but how your entire kitchen will have that warm fruity baking aroma.  Again, you can follow instructions for the pastry mentioned above.

Ingredients

pastry dough (as directed in the recipe above)

6 tablespoons of butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup water

4 red apples peeled, cored & cut into thin slices.  

handful of toasted cashewnuts

Method

Preheat oven to 230C for 20mins.  Melt butter in a sauce pan.  Add butter, cinnamon & nutmeg powder followed by sugar.  Stir in the sugar until it dissolves & the entire mixture thickens. 

It is better to use tartlets or a single 9" tart pan than deep dishes because the crust does not get the right golden texture at the bottom & will require longer cooking time.

Slightly grease the tart pan & line it with the pastry dough.  Layer the apples on the pastry & pour the sauce over it.  Throw in the toasted cashewnuts. You can either cover the tart pan entirely with the pastry or just cut out stripes & cover it in a criss-cross fashion like I have done. 

I was trying to finish the pastry dough that I had made for the fruit tart but I ran short of it to cover the pie but my random stripes worked somehow! 

Seal the upper stripes of pastry with the bottom lining using a fork & gently pressing it downwards.  Brush the stripes with milk.

Place the pie in the preheated oven & reduce the temperature to 175C after the first 10mins & continue to bake until the apple mixture is bubbling, the caramelised juices ooze out & the upper stripes turn golden.  The total baking time should not exceed 40mins.  This is what it looks like at the end 

If only I had spent some extra time getting the stripes set in an orderly fashion it could have looked a lot better but I was in a hurry & running short of pastry dough :(  The looks went unnoticed thanks to the awesome aroma in my kitchen & awesome taste ;)

Mince meat pies

Ingredients 

250gms minced meat

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup fresh green peas

2 onions finely chopped

1" piece ginger grated

4 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 green chillies slit length-wise

1 tsp garam masala powder or 5 spice powder

1tbsp coriander leaves (cilantro)

salt to taste

1 egg to brush the pastry

Method

Heat oil in a heavy bottom frying pan.  Stir fry onion until they brown.  Add garlic, ginger, chillies, garam masala powder & salt.  Add mince meat & mix thoroughly so that they dont form lumps.  Keep stirring until they change color evenly.  Add 3/4th cups of water & let it simmer for 30mins.  Finally add the green peas, lemon juice, coriander leaves & simmer until the peas are done. Adjust seasoning.  You can add pepper if you prefer it to  be more spicy.

Follow the tart pastry recipe mentioned above.  Slightly grease the tartlet pans & line them with pastry dough.  Fill each tart with the mince meat mixture.  I used potatoes instead of peas in my recipe.

Cover each of these tartlets with some more pastry dough & bind the edges with a fork.  Pierce the top of each tartlet.  Brush each tartlet with beaten egg.

Place these in a preheated oven at 200C & bake for 20mins or until they turn golden brown.  Remove them from the oven, allow it to cool & store them in air tight containers.  They will remain good for 3-4days.

One whole chicken can make you lunch & dinner

A whole chicken can help you through an entire day in so many ways.  Here is how I would use an entire chicken & not feel like I've eaten too much!  This is for all chicken lovers like my husband who can never say no to chicken!  Its just the right amount of chicken in each dish which you can devour over lunch & dinner.

Lets begin with the different portions of a whole chicken.  The chicken breasts will make you a quick light lunch, the two drumsticks & thighs will make for fried chicken with your aperitif.  For dinner, the other bone+flesh parts like the wings, leg quarter back bone etc can be used to make the smokey chicken gravy & all other boney bits, gizzard, liver, tail will go into a lovely comforting chicken soup.

Stuffed chicken breasts

This is a low-fat lunch deal that is tasty, healthy & can be made in a jiffy.

Prep time: 5mins
Cooking time: 15mins

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts (without skin)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch of spinach leaves
2 tablespoons cream cheese
2 cloves of garlic crushed
wooden toothpicks

Method

Preheat oven at 350C.  Wash & pat dry the chicken breasts.  Season with olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper and set aside.  Be very cautious with the use of salt as the cream cheese could be salty already.  Drop the spinach leaves in boiling water until they soften. Drain them thoroughly (you can use some of the drained water in your chicken soup later), chop them & add cream cheese.   Make a slit across chicken breast on the thicker side.  Do not slit it end to end, just the mid-section will do.

Stuff the cream cheese spinach mixture in the slits.  Seal the slits with toothpicks inserted sideways. 

Heat a grill pan & sear the stuffed chicken breast on either sides for about a minute.  Transfer them to a baking dish & bake until cooked through (7-8mins).  Remove toothpicks & serve.

Chicken soup

Prep time: 10mins
Cooking time: 1hr 15mins

Ingredients

1 bowl of chicken (liver, gizzard, tail, giblets, neck, wing tips, boney rib sections)
5-6 baby shallots/onions
1 carrot sliced
2-3 babycorn sliced (optional)
1 turnip quartered
2 tablespoons of cornflour to thicken

seasoning 

3-4 pepper corns
1" cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon finely chopped coriander (cilantro)
crush these in a pestle & mortar

Method

In a large cooking pot, add all of the ingredients to 1litre of water & allow it to boil on low heat atleast for an hour.  Add salt & pepper to taste.  Remove the chicken pieces out of the soup.  Extract only the fleshy bits & discard bones and things you dont like to eat.  Put the edible bits back in the soup.  Add corn flour to the soup & ensure they dont get lumpy (I add 2 tablespoons of water to cornflour, mix it well & then pour it into the soup slowly).  This soup is just so simple & comforting with all the goodness from the chicken.

Smokey chicken gravy (Koyla chicken) 

This lovely recipe was given by my sister & is a huge hit in the family.  I dont know if anybody could hate this.

Prep time: 10mins
Cooking time: 25mins

Ingredients

300gms chicken (curry cut)
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 onions sliced
2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon chilly powder (make that 2 if you prefer spicy gravy)
3 cloves
1" cinnamon
1 cup cashew nut paste (cashew nuts blended with water to make a fine smooth paste)
1 teaspoon ghee (clarified butter)
1 cup coriander leaves finely chopped
1 small piece of charcoal

Method

To a heavy bottom frying pan add the vegetable oil & saute the sliced onions until they soften.  Add the ginger garlic paste, bay leaf, chilly powder, cloves & cinnamon.  Add the chicken & fry until they turn brown.  Season with salt.  Add the cashew nut paste & a cup of water.  Allow it to simmer with lid closed until the chicken is cooked.  Add the chopped coriander & give it a good mix and turn off the heat.  

Heat the piece of charcoal until its red on the edges.  Place this in a tiny metal plate or bowl in the middle of your frying pan (over the chicken gravy)  immediately drop a teaspoon of ghee & cover lid.  Ensure the lid is firmly covered & the fumes dont get out of the lid.  The smoke will infuse into the chicken gravy & add that lovely smokey texture to your chicken.  Take the charcoal & the metal plate/bowl out after 3-4mins & your smokey chicken gravy is ready to serve.  It goes well with rice or bread.

Home style fried chicken

I just call this one homely because its all natural ingredients & gives great taste with no artificial flavor or coloring.

Prep time : 30mins
Cooking time : 10mins

Ingredients
2 chicken drumsticks & 2 thigh pieces

For masala marinade
1 large tomato peeled & de-seeded
1 tablespoon red chilly powder
1" cinnamon
2 cloves
1"ginger
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds (jeera)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon lemon juice


To fry
cornflour to dust the marinated chicken
300ml vegetable oil

Method

Blanch the tomato by dropping it in boiling water for minute & by taking off its skin & seeds.  In a blender, add all the ingredients for the masala & grind into a thick paste.  Do not add any water while blending.   Wash & pat dry the chicken pieces.  Make some slits on the fleshy slides.  Coat them well with the masala & set aside for 30mins.  Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt 15mins before you plan to fry your chicken.  Heat oil in a shallow dish.  Dust each drumstick with corn flour & deep fry until its cooked through & until it turns reddish brown.  Garnish with lemon slices, coriander leaves & serve immediately.

 

Tasty & crunchy vegetable recipes

Who says vegetables are boring?  In my opinion, there is no vegetable that tastes bad!  There are so many vegetables coming from different parts of the world & across different cultures so there is definitely different ways of cooking them.  I will focus on the most hated vegetables & how to make them yumm in my coming blogs.  Do you hate any particular vegetable? Let me know.... I will find you a tasty recipe! For now I have for you some ways of cooking veggies that are not just tasty but even healthy.

Grilled baby eggplants/aubergines/brinjals

Ingredients

3-4 baby eggplants/aubergines/brinjals with stalks 
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large tomato finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
salt & pepper to taste

To garnish
feta or mozzarella cheese & finely chopped basil (or coriander)

Method

Wash the eggplants & retain the stalk.  Slit each into two & make criss cross marks on the flesh side of the eggplant with a knife. Dunk each half, flesh side down into olive oil, season with garlic, salt & pepper and line them on a baking tray. Grill in an oven on high heat for about 10-15mins until they are slightly charred.  

Add a teaspoon of olive oil to the finely chopped tomato & basil and place a spoon of it on each grilled aubergine.  Crumble some cheese over them & serve immediately.  

To know another yummy salad recipe with eggplant click here

Crunchy cauliflower masala

Ingredients

1 large cauliflower, cut into florets & washed
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon coriander seeds (dhaniya)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon curry powder or 5 spices powder or garam masala
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Method

Preheat oven at 250C.  Into a large bowl, add olive oil, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, curry powder, turmeric & ginger. Mix well.  Toss the cauliflower florets into the bowl until it is evenly coated.  

Line them onto a baking tray & bake for about 20mins until the florets turn brown & crisp.  Add some lemon zest give it a final mix garnish with coriander leaves and serve immediately.  

Grilled veggies platter

Ingredients

2 carrots

2 potatoes

5-6 baby corns

2 tomatoes

1/2 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

mixed dried herbs

Dressing

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Method

Preheat oven at 200C.  Ensure you wash all veggies well as they dont have to be peeled.  Cut carrots into 2 inch blocks.  Cut potatoes length-wise in quarters (wedges). Cut bottom & top of the tomatoes & slice them breath-wise in two  so that they sit comfortably.  Place the veggies in a baking tray & drizzle olive oil.  Toss them until they are evenly coated.  Sprinkle chilli flakes & dried herbs & toss again.  

They need about 40mins of baking but since each vegetable cooks at a different time, you need to check on them often.  At the end of 20mins bring them out, change their positions & check seasoning.  At the 25th minute get the baby corn out.  Cover aluminium foil over the remaining veggies & continue baking until they are just about cooked.  

Place all the veggies in a serving tray.  To the juices remaining in the baking tray, add balsamic vinegar & lemon zest.  Drizzle these juices over the veggies, garnish with coriander leaves & serve. 

Chocolate mousse & all its avatars!

6 eggs + 200gms of chocolate + pinch of salt = chocolate mousse.

Chocolate mousse is as simple as this equation.  This is what gives rise to the basic mousse.  Apart from some rigorous whisking & waiting for the mousse to set there really is nothing so complicated about it.  The eggs have to be fresh & the chocolate of really high quality.  I prefer Nestle & Lindt cooking chocolate that come with 90% cocoa.  Remember the quality of chocolate plays a massive role in getting the supreme chocolaty taste to your mousse.  

Here we go again with the ingredients :

• 6 eggs
• 200gms of chocolate (90% cocoa)
• pinch of salt
• 50 gms of castor sugar
• vanilla essence or pod to perfume

Method

Separate the eggs - yolks in a small bowl & egg whites in a larger bowl.  Add sugar to the yolks & beat it well.    


In a large salad bowl, melt the chocolate following the instructions given here. Gently add the egg yolks, vanilla & mix well.  

Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites & beat it thoroughly until you have soft white peaks as shown below.  Now, if you don't get your snow peaks as shown below, be assured, you will not have the right texture for your mousse. When you lift the beater, the egg whites must stick to the beater & not fall off.  That is the firm texture we are looking at.  Fold in the snow peaks into the melted chocolate1/3rd at a time.  Mix gently by moving from the bottom upwards so that they mix well.  Be gentle as too much movement might break the snow peaks.   

Pour the mix into ramekins, margerita glasses, shot glasses or whatever dish you fancy & refridgerate for atleast 4hrs.  

SERVING IDEAS

Now that you know how to make the mousse you can experiment with a zillion things.  Mousse is a gourmet dessert today thanks to endless possibilities of layering it.  

Make batches of mousse using 3 different kinds of chocolate & layer them as shown in the pic below

You can even more experimental & scoop the mousse into a cone & twirl it out on a biscuit or tart base like this one that I ate at a fancy restaurant

5 simple summer salads

Salads form a very important part of our diet & it is essential to incorporate them in our meals at least twice a day.  They help to keep the body hydrated, help in digestion, cut down on fats & help you stay younger and fit.  

Again I would like to re-emphasize on preparing your own vinaigrette. 

Avoid adding mayonnaise in your salads often as they are rich in fat.  1 teaspoon of mayonnaise contains approx.5g of fat!

It might seem like you need different kinds of vinegars for different salads, but since you use so little out of each bottle they normally last you long.  Red vine vinegar, balsamic & cider vinegar are the popular ones.    So stock a bottle each & prepare enough quantity to last you the whole day.  A vinaigrette mixer like the one shown below could come in handy.  This model even comes with a few vinaigrette versions mentioned over the mixer!  

Cucumber cream salad

This is probably the simplest summer salad I know of!  Its refreshing & so easy to make. Here we go:

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh cream or sour cream
• 1 large cucumber thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (mix of herbs isnt too bad either)
• 1 tablespoon of finely chopped spring onions (i'd say anything green... coriander, mint..)
• salt & pepper to taste

Method

Cut cucumbers on either ends & clean the ends.  Cut cucumbers into really thin slices using a potato slicer.  The thinner slices you have the lighter the salad will be.  Add the fresh cream, thyme & minced onion.  Refridgerate.  Add the salt about 5mins before you plan to serve. 

Orange & avocado salad

Ingredients

• 1 avocado cut into segments/wedges
• 1 orange peeled & de-seeded segments
• 2 cups of lettuce

vinaigrette

• 1 teaspoon finely chopped coriander/cilantro
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (can use sunflower oil too)
• 1 clove of garlic minced (optional)
• salt & pepper

Mix all core ingredients, drizzle with the vinaigrette & serve.

Balsamic Cauliflower

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups of boiled & cooled cauliflower florets

Mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar & salt.  Drizzle over the florets & serve.

Turkish eggplant salad (Tuncilik)

I normally hate eggplants but this is my version of the turkish salad that will make anyone fall in love with eggplants


Ingredients

• 2 eggplants (aubergines/brinjal)
• 1 big red bell pepper (capsicum)
• 1 tomato finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 teaspoons finely chopped coriander
• salt to taste

Method

Roast the eggplants & bell peppers in 200C oven until the skin of the eggplant is charred.  Turn sides of the eggplants every 2mins so that they get evenly charred.  Allow them to cool.  Peel the charred skins off from the eggplant & the bell pepper.  If you find seeds in the eggplant, remove them.  Mash them together in a bowl with a fork.  Add minced garlic, olive oil chopped tomato, salt & mix well.  Garnish with chopped coriander & serve with pita bread.

Beetroot & goat cheese salad

Ingredients

• 2 large beetroots
• 4 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon pickles finely chopped (gherkins or baby onions or chives)
• 1 tablespoons milk
• 80gms of goats cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Garnish

• salad leaves of your choice

Method

Peel the beets & place them in boiling salted water until its cooked through.  Take them out slice them into thin circles.  Make a vinaigrette out of the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper.  Drizzle over the beets & keep aside.  
In a bowl, add the goat's cheese, milk, parsley & pickles.  In a serving plate place the goat's cheese mix in the middle & flatten it to form an inch thick square.  Layer the beetroot slices over the cheese bed, add another layer of cheese & another layer of beetroot.  Drop the salad leaves into any remaining vinaigrette & arrange them around the plate. 
You can even stack them individually --> one slice of beetroot, over cheese in perfect harmony to give you salad a true gourmet touch!

Top 10 time & money savers for your kitchen 2013

Kitchen equipments are evolving by the minute & have optimized time spent in the kitchen in a zillion ways (not to mention saving your pocket!)  It would only be foolish to remain ignorant & slog in the kitchen. An action like kneading takes half the time than it normally does & the end result is a perfect dough rolling out your dream bakes.  Here is my selection of the top 10 must-haves for your kitchen or shall I say your doorway to simplified cooking....

1. Food processor : It chops, slices, grinds, shreds, purees, mixes & kneads! Meaning... no tears while chopping onions, perfectly proportionate chopped veggies, smooth purees, perfect slices of any veggie you want!

   

2. Box grater : I know you already have one such thing but you probably need to upgrade the one you have to the new models available in stores.  You even have hexagonal ones that can grate in whatever proportion you want it to be.  Some even have collection trays at the bottom.  So handy!

   

3. Scraper-beater : This is any baker's dream.  Its large bowl is perfect for mixing baking ingredients as they increase in volume gradually.  Especially snow peaks for your chocolate mousse! A food processor also has kneading options but if you are more of a baker then I suggest you buy any kind of smaller, cheaper slicer equipment & have this instead.

   

4. Garlic crusher : One of the things I've always hated is peeling garlic.  It is such a popular ingredient especially when you're cooking something special & plenty, and your hands get stinky euuu.  A garlic crusher is such a miracle, you just place the garlic with its peel on & crush!

   

5. Hand Blender : This is meant for smaller things like making a quick smoothie in the morning, blending boiled veggies for soup, mixing batter, easy bake mixes etc. The greatest benefit is the sleek design which can be dropped into any vessel that you have been cooking in.

   

6. Pasta Maker : Pasta is probably one staple that suits any palate anywhere in the world.  It might be a little laborious to get the right dough but most chefs would like to experiment.  You will be amazed at how much you would spend to make your own pasta & how much a pack of it could cost in a super market.  Of course freshly made pasta tastes way better than ready-made pasta.  The texture is smooth & it feels a lot lighter in the mouth.

   

7. Colander : Well this one is a small addition but the beauty about this particular model shown below is that it sits comfortably on its own. There is also a foldable variety that is not too bad.

   

8. Knife block : I'm sure we all have good collection of knives & we know the big brands pretty well but a knife block  is all about convenience.  Its compact, comes with scissors & sometimes even a knife sharpening tool. Knives of every kind stacked in one compact block right beside your cooking range, in my opinion, makes your kitchen look so well equipped.

   

9. Rabbit salt & pepper grinders : This one has been around for a while now but they are just so cute!  The ears of the rabbit act as grinders so you just have to press the ear handles & there goes the freshly ground salt & pepper. Some models have magnets so you can even stick them on your fridge.  

   

10. Home soda-maker : We all know how soft drinks are made commercially & how often times contaminated water has been used to prepare them.  This is no new machine & has seen a dip in sales in the last couple of years but the current models seem to be doing well.  Atleast they are safer, they cut out on buying plastic bottles & eventually super economical!

    

Well these are my top 10.  There are some interesting crock-pots, kettle, handle holders, timers etc but these are my favorites. Let me know if you liked my top 10 & also if you can think of other equipments!