Homemade French Onion Dry Soup Mix

This is a Vegan and Gluten Free  French Onion Soup  Dry Mix. Watched this recipe on a Cookery show was  excited to make it home.  

This is the powdered version of soup mix.
Onion soup mix is very versatile and can be used in number of things, like soups, pot roast, meatloaf, burgers chicken, dips etc. 
Let's make the - Homemade French Onion Soup Mix

Ingredients

½ cup Dried Onion Flakes / Dehydrated Onion flakes
3 Cubes of Chicken / Veg  Stock Cubes
1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Celery
1 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1½ teaspoon Dried Thyme
1 Tablespoon Dried Parsley
½ Teaspoon Sea salt
½ Teaspoon Turmeric powder

Method

Mix all ingredients and store in a jar.
 I have also used this french onion mix on a meat loaf  and it tasted so good - check this post to see the  recipe soon.
Check the recipes made with this mix

Vegan & Gluten Free French Tomato Soup

Labels : Homemade, DIY, French Cuisine, Dehydrated, Onion Flakes, France 

STRAWBERRY BAVARIAN - EGGLESS - A FRENCH DESSERT

Bavarian cream also known as Bavarois is a dessert similar to pastry cream but thickened with gelatin instead of flour or cornflour which is a custard sauce thickened using eggs. This is delicious and easy to make french dessert and kids love it. A goodness of fruit and cream.   

Ingredients
1 Cup Strawberry puree
1 Teaspoon Lemon juice
1 - 2  Tablespoons Sugar
1 Teaspoon Gelatin
1/4 Cup Water
1/2   Cup Whipped cream
1/2 Teaspoon Strawberry essence
Strawberry  for garnishing
Extra Whipped cream for garnishing

Method
Mix strawberry puree, lemon juice and sugar in a blender till the sugar dissolves. Keep aside.

Soak the gelatin in water till swells up. Then place the pan on medium flame, keep stirring till the gelatin dissolves, keep aside.

Add the gelatin to the strawberry mixture and pulse the blender 3 times till well combined.

Beat cream till stiff,  add essence and fold in the strawberry mixture.   Pour it in serving bowls and chill till firm. 

Garnish with whipped cream and strawberry  . Serve, dig into the  bowl ..... enjoy.  

Small bowl for the kids.

My Notes:

Adjust the sugar quantity according to the sweetness of the strawberry puree.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#55

Labels :  Sweets & Desserts, Kids delight, Blogging Marathon, France

Grape and Almond Clafoutis - Eggless - A French Dessert

Grape Clafoutis, a delicious and light French dessert. Clafouti is a French country dessert, something bewteen a custard and a cake, with fruit thrown in.  The recipe is easy and flexible – throw in any fruit you like, and serve the clafouti warm or at room temperature.

Method

200 Grams Fresh Grapes
1/3 Cup Gulab Jamun Mix
2 Tablespoons Ground almonds
2 Tablespoons Condense Milk
3 -4 Tablespoons Milk
1/2 Tablespoon Sugar powder
1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon powder

Method

Preheat the oven at 150 degrees.

Take a  fluted flan or pie dish and lightly butter the inside surface. Take the stalks off the grapes and place the grapes in the dish. Pack them in quite tightly. Sprinkle the sugar powder over it and keep this aside.

In a mixing bowl add the gulab jamun mix, ground almonds, condense milk, cinnamon powder, mix well. Add milk a tablespoon at a time and lightly beat with a whisk to mix well to make this a pouring consistency.

Pour this batter over the grapes and put into the oven. Cook for 25-30 minutes until the mixture sets and the top turns a golden colour and it starts leaving the sides. 

Take from the oven, allow to cool a little, and serve with whipped cream.

Served straight from the oven with whipped cream, a clafoutis is like a fruit flan without the pastry crust. This is easy to prepare and makes for healthy eating.

Labels : Cakes, Continental Cuisine, Blogging Marathon, France, Grapes, Almond

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51

An InLinkz Link-up

French baguette

This is the recipe that was chosen for this months Tame the yeast challenge. This is Pradnya's recipe who blogs at The Pumpkin Farm. When this was shared I was very thrilled because I love crusty breads. I am great fan of baguette and our Indian brun pav. Whereas my daughter and hubby do not like crusty breads. They say it hurts their pallet. 

When I was in Europe for a brief stay of 45 days what I enjoyed the most was this French baguette. Early morning I use to go to the boulangerie to buy this freshly made bread. I can eat crusty bread with anything, be it dal, soup or butter and jam. I love to dip these slices in hot cup of chai and enjoy eating it. 

Ingredients are sufficient for creating 2 loaves of this size each – about inch length thin bread or 6 inch thick sandwich loaf.

Ingredients

2 cups All purpose flour
3 Teaspoon Honey or 4 teaspoons Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 ¼ Teaspoon Instant yeast
¾ Cup warm water
1 Cup ice cubes (to be kept in refrigerator until the last step)
½ Teaspoon oil only to brush the top of the dough

Method

In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast and salt well.
Add the honey to the flour mixture and mix using a spoon.
Now slowly add ½ cup of water and mix using hands until the flour gathers to form a crumbly dough.

Now gradually add a teaspoon of water at a time while kneading with one hand to smoothen the dough.
Now knead the dough at least 10 minutes till the dough is smooth, elastic and stretches easily. 

Now dip your 2 fingers in oil and lightly rub the top of the dough to cover the exposed surface from drying.

Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 45 minutes or until it doubles.

Now take the dough and punch it using your knuckles and flatten the dough. 

Roll out the dough using a rolling pin on a flat surface. Roughly in rectangular shape, first time about 4 inch in width and 6 inches in length.
Now fold the top lengthwise , until mid way, to look like an envelope

Now fold over the bottom half over the top. Seal the edges well and roll it out width wise and repeat the envelope folds again

Continue until you reach desired length, either 6 or 8 inch or maximum 12 to 14 inch in length

See below
Do not forget the seal the edges well at each step

Now just gently twist it using four fingers of both your hands, right hand moving upwards and left hand moving 

downwards, as if you are wriggling the dough. Do this gently and then set aside for 30 minuts more.

During this time, preheat your oven at 230 C for 10 minutes.

Now after the second rise – roughly 25 minutes, place the risen dough on greased baking tray.

Take ice cubes in a oven safe pan. Open the oven door, and slid the baking tray on the top rack and the ice cubes on the bottom rack.  Close the oven door , cover it with a kitchen towel to ensure the vapor steam does not shatter the glass door. It normally does not happen, but as a precaution, do this, alternatively you can put a barrier to the oven door, to ensure that it does not close fully.Bake it for 20 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.

Look out for the post as to how I served this bread.

This bread was crusty and yummy, but not so crusty like the ones available in Europe boulangeries, may be because of their baking technique and ovens.  But still we enjoyed this bread so did my hubby and daughter. 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#46.


Labels: Breads, Continental Cuisine, Vegan, Blogging Marathon, France

For other recipes on bread check Recipe Index.