Khaliat al Nahal (Arabic Bread or the Honeycomb Bread)

Khaliat al Nahal is basically a very soft bun which is filled with cheese spread and then after it is baked, it is poured/brushed with the honey glaze/syrup. The exotic flavours of the saltiness from the cheese and the sweetness from the glaze makes it very hard for you to stop eating these buns :) :)

You can also add nutella or pieces of chocolate instead of cheese (if using a sweet filling then skip the glaze) or you can also make savory buns by using chicken and cheese filling, like I tried in some buns. Use either of them and you won't be sorry !!

Ingredients :-

For the Glaze -

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp honey
• pinch saffron

Boil sugar and water and saffron together for a few minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and then add honey. Mix and set aside to cool.

For the Bread -

• 3 and half cups plain flour
• 1 cup milk sligthly warmed
• 2 tbsp milk powder
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp oil
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• 1 and half tsp instant yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• cheese spread
• 1 egg for egg washing

- Sieve flour in a bowl. Add to it all the milk powder + sugar + yeast + salt. Mix properly.

- Make a well in centre. Add oil + butter + egg. Mix well.

- Now start adding warm milk, little at a time. Milk should be enough for making the dough but if not then keep some warm water ready and use sparingly.

- Knead the dough for a good time like 8-10 mins. Remember the more you knead, the softer your buns will be.

- Cover the kneaded dough with little oil. Cover and keep aside to rise for an hour.

- After an hour, punch it down and stretch it with your fingers.

- Now make small balls. Spread out a ball with your fingers and place a tsp of cheese in centre and then close your ball. In this way, fill all the buns and place them in your baking tray very close to each other, in a honeycomb pattern. Cover the tray and let it rise for another 30 mins.

- After 30 mins, apply egg wash all over and bake till the buns get a lovely golden top and are cooked thoroughly.

- As soon as the buns are out of the bun, apply the cool glaze all over. Remember your buns should be piping hot and the syrup should be cool.

- And lastly, just sit back and enjoy.

Happy Eating :)

Bread Cups

This Ramadan, I am trying to not make fried stuff for Iftaar ! So daily there's a battle going on in my culinary mind as to what should be the menu for the day. And interestingly, after some hard thinking you get some wonderful results !!

This is one of them ;) Very easy to make and requires little time also :)

So note down the ingredients for the filling please :)

• 500 gms chicken meat, shredded or bite size pieces
• 1 tsp green chillies
• 1/4th tsp black pepper
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1 capsicum chopped
• bunch of chopped coriander
• cheddar or processed cheese

And other than above you will need bread slices and butter

Method :-

• Put all the ingredients in a pot and cook well.
• Cut the bread slices in rounds and butter both the sides.
• Place bread on a baking tray and put a tbsp of filling on top. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake @ 180 degrees or till the bread is crisp and cheese melts.

*** Don't waste the remainder of the bread slices after cutting the rounds. You can use them for making bread pudding or you can simply make breadcrumbs out of them and store it in the fridge :)

Happy Eating :)

Poached Pears with Almond Praline and Honey Cream

Another Masterchef Australia recipe !! So easy and fun to make and tasted good as well.

Ingredients :-
For Poaching liquid-

1. 1 litre cranberry juice
2. 70 gm castor sugar
3. 1-2 cinnamon quills
4. 1 star anise
5. 3-4 strips orange peel

For Almond praline-

1. 200 gm sugar
2. 200 gm almond

For Cream-

1. Amul / Nestle cream
2. Honey
3. Orange zest

Method :-

Poaching -

1. Mix all the poaching ingredients & allow to boil & simmer for a 5 minutes.
2. Place the peeled pears (you need 3 peeled pears, keep the stalk intact) in the liquid.
3. Simmer gently on low flame for 20-25 minutes or till the pear is tender.
4. Set aside in poaching liquid for sometime.
5. Remove the pears and reduce the liquid to a sauce consistency.

Praline -

1. Dry caramalize the sugar. Once it melts add the whole almonds. Spread and set it in a tray.
2. Once set, chop it in a food processor till its crumbly.

Cream -

1. Mix all and refrigerate.

While serving the pears and sauce should be warm and the cream should be cold. Sprinkle the praline on top.

**Dry Caramalization - Place the sugar in a non stick pan. Let it melt and caramalize on its own. Do not stir. Just occasionally swirl the pan for it to mix.

Happy Eating :)

Vanilla Cake with Kiwi and Mango Filling

It was a time of celebration in the house and no celebration is complete without a cake. So, why bother the baker from the bakery when you already have an in-house baker ?! Me Me :)

Here's what it looked like.

I used the recipe of the no-fail sponge cake which I posted earlier. I made a two layer cake. In between I first spread the whipped cream. And then placed pieces of mango (since it was the season of mangoes!) and kiwi. If your kiwis are not that sweet, sprinkle some sugar over the pieces of kiwi in a separate bowl and leave them for a couple of hours. Your kiwis will be sweet and perfect to use !

Happy Eating :)

Cola Baked Chicken

I am a huge fan of Masterchef Australia and I always look around to try some of their recipes (which are easy and quick to make hehehe). So here I go !! And before you ask, yes it was very tasty and something new for the taste buds :)

This is what it looked like and I decided to do some Masterchef kind of plating, don't know how far I succeeded !! (Please comment and let me know)

Ingredients :-

1. 750 ml Coco cola or Pepsi
2. 1 cup brown sugar (it turned out to be very sweet for us so next time I am gonna use just half a cup)
3. 5 cloves finely grated
4. 1 large onion grated (if your onion is small, use 2)
5. 2 tbsp soy sauce
6. 1 kg chicken
7. Juice of 1 lemon

Method :-

• Mix all the ingredients and pour over chicken in a baking tray. Bake til sauce is reduced nicely and the chicken is cooked properly.

And ! It's ready to eat.

I made some mashed potatoes with it. You can also have it with stir fry vegetables or just a fresh salad and YumM !!

Happy Eating :)

No-Fail Sponge Cake

This is a sponge cake recipe even beginners can't fail with !! So, go ahead, start impressing :)

Ingredients:

• 1 and half cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 and half cup plain flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• half tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 65 gm butter (if you are using salted butter then use jus two pinches of salt)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

• Beat eggs + sugar until thick and till it turns to a pale yellow color.
• Now, heat the milk + butter + vanilla essence to boiling point and then cook for 2mins.
• Add all the dry ingredients and hot milk slowly and mix till batter is smooth.
• Bake @ 180 C for 45 mins or till a toothpick/knife cums out clean.
• Now, if you want to bake a chocolate cake, then use only 1 cup of plain flour and add 3/4th cup of cocoa and proceed the same way.

This sponge cake comes out to be really tasty and soft. Very ideal for making cupcakes and swiss rolls.

Happy Eating :)

Egg Salad

INGREDIENTS:

6 hard boiled eggs, chopped roughly
1/4th cup mayo
1/4th cup green onions (regular onions will also be just fine)
1 1/2 tsp mustard sauce
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all the above ingredients except the eggs.
Once everything is mixed well, add eggs + spring onions + salt + pepper 
Serve it on iceberg lettuce as starter for a meal or also its great as a breakfast on bread toasts.

Happy Eating :)

Naan -- Flat bread

Ingredients:
500gm flour
1 tsp salt
3tsp sugar
1 pkt instant dry yeast (app. 10-11gms)
125 gm butter
1 egg

Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients.
Melt the butter and add it to the dry ingredients.. Rub well to form bread crumbs.
Add egg and knead well by adding enough water to bring the dough together.
Cover and allow to rise for an hour.
Bake and serve with a generous serving of butter on top.

Happy Eating :)

Buttery Creamy Chicken

Chicken Marination Ingredients:

1 kg boneless chicken (small pieces)
2 tbsps ghee (melted) 
2 tbsp yogurt
4 tbsps fresh cream 
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
Few drops of yellow food colour
1 tbsp aamchoor (I did not have amchoor so I used chaat masala)
Salt (according to taste)
1 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
1 tsp paprika powder (you can skip this ingredient if you wish to)
1 tsp kasoori methi
1tsp each- whole spices: zeera, dhania, 1 large elaichi, 3 green elachis, 1 piece darchini, a few strands of mace, a few scrapes of nutmeg, 1 small starnanise. (Dry roast and grind) - USE 1 FULL TBSP.

Gravy Ingredients:

Upto 1/4 cup oil
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 can / pack of tomato puree
1 onion (pureed)
Salt to taste
2 fresh green chillis, slit..
1/2 cup fresh cream 
some butter (to be used while baking - sum small cubes of butter)

Directions: 

Step one:

Mix all ingredients for the marination and let it marinade either overnight or an hour if in a rush..

Step two:
Heat oil. Add ginger garlic paste on low heat, add chicken..fry.. once golden remove chicken.

In the same pan, add onion puree. Cook the onion paste till it dries out a bit. Add tomato puree and the remaining marination. Cook and add slit chillies + chicken. Cook on low heat. When almost done, add cream. Mix in well and let it cook for one minute. Close heat. Cover and bake in preheated oven of 200 C for 5mins. Uncover and chop butter, spread on top and bake for a few more mins.

As soon as the top of chicken turns to a beautiful baked golden color, its done. 

Garnish with Coriander leaves...and serve with hot naans :)

P.S: You can totally skip the oven baking part with the butter , it still tastes yummy :)

Happy Eating :)

Basbousa

Basbousa is an egyptian semolina cake which is really moist and light. Making it was just like a piece of cake ;)

So here is the recipe !

Ingredients :

• 1 n 1/4th  cup semolina
• half cup flour
• 1 and half cups of unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup milk
• three forth cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp almond extract or vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 8 tbsp butter

For the syrup -

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• half tbsp rose water

Method :

Cake-

• Mix together semolina + flour + coconut + sugar + baking powder.
• Melt butter. Beat egg and keep aside. Add the milk and egg and melted butter and the extract to the dry mixture and mix until well combined and smooth.
• Grease the baking pan. Pour mixture. Using a sharp knife, cut basbousa into diamond shapes.
• Bake for 30-40 mins or till golden brown.
• After baking, retrace the cuts.

Syrup-

• Bring the water and the sugar and lemon juice to a boiling point.
• Once it boils reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5-6 mins.
• After it thickens add rose water and let it simmer for another 1-2 mins. Cool.
• Pour the syrup all over the basbousa.

Tip: You can garnish the basbousa with shredded coconut or simply with almond slices before serving or you can also place almonds and apple slices on the top of basbousa before putting it in the oven.

Bon Apetite :)

Fig tart wit Pistachio Crumble and Frangipane

And yes, I finally managed to make a recipe from Masterchef Australia !!! Cooked by none other than Gary Mehigan !!! 

It's a four element dish and every step is really easy :)

And heres the recipe :

Ingredients :-
For the sweet shortcut pastry, you need :

1. 120 gm butter, chopped 
2. 30 gm icing sugar
3. pinch salt
4. 240 gm plain flour
5. 1 egg + 1 egg yolk

For the pistachio crumble you need :

1. 1/3rd cup slivered pistachios
2. 40 gm castor sugar
3. 40 gm plain flour
4. 30 gm chilled butter, chopped

For the pistachio paste you need :

1. 250 gm pistachio paste
2. 125 gm castor sugar
3. 2-3 tsp glucose syrup (if you do not have this, you can also use honey)

For the frangipane filling you need :

1. 120 gm butter, softened
2. 120 gm castor sugar
3. 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
4. finely grated zest of 1 lemon
5. 120 gm ground almonds
6. 40 gm plain flour
7. 2 tbsp pistachio paste
8. 6 (or more) fresh figs, cut into wedges
9. 1/2 cup honey, warmed, to glaze

METHOD :

1. Preheat the oven to 160 C
2. For pastry, place butter + sugar + salt in a food processor and process until creamy. Add flour and process until coarse breadcrumbs. Add egg and egg yolk and process for  10 secs or until the dough comes together to form a ball.
3. Tip pastry onto a lightly floured surface and bring together with hands. Flatten gently and wrap in a plastic sheet. Refrigerate for 20 mins to rest.
4. Roll rested dough to 3mm thick and wrap loosely around a rolling pin. Gently roll over a tart tin and press pastry into the tin. FIll in any cracks with excess dough. Refrigerate for 30 mins.
5. Place a sheet of baking paper into the chilled pastry and half fill it up with baking beads or rice and bake for 15mins until edges are light golden. Remove weights and baking paper and bake for 5-10 mins or until base is dry. Set aside.

For the pistachio crumble :

1. For pistachio crumble, place pistachios in the chopper and process to a meal. Add sugar + flour and process to combine. Transfer to a bowl. Rub in butter with your fingers leavin some small lumps of butter.
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper, tip crumble over tray. Bake for 5-7 mins or until it turns golden. Set aside to cool.

For the pistachio paste, process all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. You can add little water if you want.

For the frangipane filling :

1. Whisk butter + sugar in an electric mixer until creamy. With the motor running add the eggs and egg, one at a time, continuing to mix after each addition. Add lemon zest, almond powder, flour, pistachio paste and whisk until well combined.
2. Spoon almond mixture into the tart shell. Gently press in fig wedges. Bake for 30mins or until golden.
3. Remove tart from oven, brush with warm honey and leave to cool. Sprinkle the crumb generously over the tart.
4. You can serve this with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Happy Eating :)

Hershey's 'Perfectly Chocolate' Chocolate Cake

And this is my all time yummy fave !!!

Ingredients:_

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 cups sugar

Directions

1. 1
   Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. 2
   Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. 3
   Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.
   
   
4. "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
5. 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
6. 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
7. 3 cups powdered sugar
8. 1/3 cup milk
9. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10. Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
11. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Happy Eating :) :)

Caramel & Fruit Puffs

This is a very simple yet elegant recipe & can be used when you guests coming over & want to impress them with your culinary skills .

Things you need :

1. Puff pastry sheets (you get frozen ones in the market, but you can also make the sheets at home, I have a recipe of it and once I try it will post it! )
2. A tin of condensed milk 
3. An assortment of fruits. (it could be a handful of your favorite ones)
4. Whipped cream
5. 1 beaten egg for wash

Method :

1. Firstly, you will have to prepare the caramel sauce out of your condensed milk tin. Place the tin(unopened) in a pressure cooker, with enough water to submerge the tin completely. Close the lid of the cooker & first cook on high flame for 30 mins and then medium flame for another 30 mins. Remove, cool completely before opening the tin.(Careful that the tin should be completely cooled down as you do not want the caramel sauce to pop out and burn you)
2. Next step is to bake the puffs. Before placing the puff sheets in the oven, brush generously with beaten egg. Bake till they are golden brown.
3. After the puffs have cooled down, spread the caramel sauce on the pastries, then place your fruits, and then finish off by decorating it with whipped cream.
4. Cool and serve, with the caramel 

So you see, simple yet delicious !

Happy Eating :) :)