Khari Biscuits or Puff Biscuits

As I was making these biscuits, all fond memories came to my mind. When I was young and stayed in a village in Mumbai which is now a concrete jungle, twice a week the biscuit man would come to our compound with a big aluminum box on his head and sell variety of biscuits. But the first thing we would tell our mother is to pick these biscuits for us. I simply loved these khari biscuits, as an accompaniment to afternoon chai.

These are all time favorite of my hubby and daughter too. If I buy a 1/2 kg packet these get over in 2 to 3 days.

Puffed salted biscuits often known as Khari biscuits,are a common hit as a tea-time snack. They are also known as namkeen biscuits as they are crispy, flaky, fluffy, salty and mouth-melting. They are baked calorie-rich biscuits, which are made using all purpose flour. Several layers of dough are kept on each other with a layer of ghee or vanaspati in between each layer.Then they are baked to perfection. These khari biscuits are perfect accompaniment for tea/coffee.

Ingredients
1 sheet Puff Pastry dough

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200° C and line a baking tray with butter paper.
Lay out the puff pastry sheet onto it a board.  Cut the dough into little rectangles about 2″x 1/2″ or so, using a pizza cutter. You can also twist the pastry rectangles to give them a different look.
Lay out the rectangles onto the lined tray.
Bake for about 15 to 17 minutes, until golden brown and flaky. Check them after 15 minutes or they will get too brown and the taste changes.  Enjoy them with a cup of chai.

This is my entry for the BM #48, theme Kid's Delight - Holiday Special Recipes. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#48.

Labels : Biscuits & Cookies, Blogging Marathon.

Sourdough Pizza Pie

After reading Varada's sourdough French loaf I wanted to try the sourdough starter. Goggled and found this site, from where I made the sourdough starter using pineapple juice. After 15 days I used this starter to make the Pizza Pie. When I made this Pizza pie and sent it for my beta, he was trilled since he loves pizza and cheese, to top it all it was made of chicken he was even more happy.

What made me happy is that I tried and succeeded in making a sourdough starter. So here goes the recipe.


Ingredients for the dough
½ Cup Sourdough starter - well fed
1.1/2 Cup Flour or may a little more
1 Teaspoon Oil
1 Teaspoon Sugar

Water if required

For the filling
1 Teaspoon Butter
1 Teaspoon Oil
1/2 Cup Chicken - cut into small pieces
1 Tablespoon Peas - boiled
1 Tablespoon Carrot - cut into pieces and boiled
1 Teaspoon All purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 Teaspoon Mixed herbs
Salt and pepper to taste.
Cheese for topping

Method for the filling

In a pan heat the butter and oil add the chicken and saute for 2 -3 minutes on medium flame, then add the peas, carrot and saute for another 2 -3 then add the flour and saute till flour is cooked.  Add the milk, stir continuously till sauce is smooth and lump free. Add all seasonings and let it cook stirring till the sauce thickens slightly. Bring down from flame and cool.

Method for the Pie:
Mix together flours, salt, and sugar.
Place dry ingredients and starter in the fridge for 30 minutes. I wanted them to be very cold. Stir starter into dry ingredients add the oil and mix until it just comes together in to a ball. Since your starter may be more or less liquid than mine, you may need to add a little ice water or slightly more flour. Use a bench scrapper to brin  the dough together  since this dough is sticky. Refrigerate dough overnight ( I kneaded the dough at 6 pm). Next day in the afternoon I rolled out dough and placed into pie pans, prick the pie with a fork and bake at 180 degrees for 10 minutes, remove and cool.

Then add the filling make a lattice pattern and again bake for 20 - 25 minutes till the crust is brown on top. 

Note:
This amount of dough makes at least two medium pie crusts.
The thickness of your sourdough starter can determine how much water or additional flour needs to be used. If you think the dough is too moist, add additional flour (a tablespoon at a time). The same, if the dough is looking dry. Add warm water (a tablespoon at a time). I did not have to add water as I had a fairly thick starter.

This is my entry for the BM #48, theme Kid's Delight - Holiday Special Recipes. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#48.

Labels : Pie & Quiche, Breads,  Blogging Marathon, Sourdough

Kerala Beef Curry

Beef Curry is quite popular in the Indian state of Kerala, this spicy curry tastes best with Kerala Porotta. This is a very tasty and easy to make.

Ingredients
250 gms Beef – cubed
1 Medium Tomato – chopped
1 Large Onion – sliced
2 Green chillies – slit
3 Cardamoms
3 Cloves
4 Black Peppercorns
1 Bay leaves
1 Stick Cinnamon
1/2 Star anise
1 Teaspoon Ginger - Garlic paste
2 Tablespoons Oil -
1 Teaspoon Chilli powder
1 Teaspoon Coriander powder
¼ Teaspoon Turmeric powder

A sprig Curry leaves 

Coriander leaves – for garnishing 

Method
Roast the bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black peppercorns, star anise lightly and powder it.

Heat oil in a pan add onion, curry leaves and saute till brown.
Now add the ginger- garlic paste, saute till oil leaves the sides. To this add chilli , coriander and turmeric powder, again saute for 2 minutes, add water a little to cook the masala and then add the tomatoes, green chillies and beef. Fry the beef till the water is all absorbed, and the beef is brown in color.

Transfer this to a cooker and add water till the level of the meat and mix. Pressure-cook it till on high flame for a whistle reduce, keep it on slow flame and cook till done. Now add the garam masala (the ground powder) and salt , check if the meat is cooked properly, if the meat is not cooked add a little water if necessary and cook till it becomes tender. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve it with rice, porotta or chapattis.

Labels: Beef, Kerala, Main course, Pressure Cooker

Egg White Cake (Munavalgekook)

This is an an Estonian recipe, also known as "Egg White Cake". Light and baked in a tube pan, like traditional Angel Food cakes.I made mousakka on two days and was left with four egg whites. These egg whites were lying in the fridge for a week. I was thinking what to do with these egg whites. Googled and found this recipe here. I halved this recipe but used four egg whites. This cake turned out delicious and soft. My daughter Loved the texture and flavor. I just add two extra ingredients, pineapple essence and yellow food color.

Ingredients
3 Egg whites
125 grams Sugar - powdered
80 Grams All-purpose flour
1/2 Tablespoon Cornflour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking powder
50 Grams melted butter - slightly cooled

1/4 Teaspoon Pineapple essence
1/4 Teaspoon Yellow food color

Method
Whisk the egg whites with 2 Tbsp of sugar until thick and pale and very foamy. 

Mix the rest of the sugar with flour, cornflour and baking powder, then sift into the egg mixture and fold in gently.
Finally fold in cool melted butter.

Pour the batter into a buttered bundt-form and bake in a pre-heated 180 C oven for 20 minutes. Test for doneness with a wooden toothpick.

Cool slightly before turning out of the cake tin.

Labels: Cakes, Continental Cuisine, Bake a thon, Estonain

Bake-a-thon 2014

An InLinkz Link-up

Italian Chicken Pot Pie

Had a small packet of chicken in the deep freezer and only 4 puff pastry sheets remaining, since there was Bechamel Sauce too in the refrigerator I decided to make this pot pie for our evening meal.  I got only two pot pies.    In this pot pie I used different type of spices, dill and steak pepper.

Earlier I used to never like the smell of dill but after using the dry dill, started to like the flavour of the same.  In this pot pie even the  steak pepper gives a very awesome.  If you do not have this do not hesitate to prepare this pie you can use pepper powder.  This was very filling and complete meal with veggies too.  We enjoyed this for our dinner.   So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

4 Sheets Puff pastry - square sheet
1 Egg - beaten
1 Cup Chicken – cut into small pieces
½ Teaspoon Ginger- Garlic paste
½ Teaspoon Black pepper powder
1 Teaspoon Lime juice
1 Tablespoon Oil
1/2 Medium size Onion - minced
1 Tablespoon frozen Green peas,
1 Tablespoon chopped carrots- chopped in small cubes
2 Tablespoons Red, yellow and green capsicum – chopped in small cubes
Pinch  grated Nutmeg
A pinch dried Celery
A pinch dried Dill
A pinch dried Mint

 A pinch Steakpepper
A pinch White pepper powder
Salt to taste
½ Cup Bechamel Sauce
1 Cheese cube

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Season chicken with ginger – garlic paste, lime juice, salt and pepper. Heat oil in a pan add onion and all the vegetables saute for a minute then chicken and all the spices and saute add water a little cover and cook. Check if cooked then on high flame dry all the moisture and add the béchamel sauce cheese and mix well add nutmeg and mix well. Remove from heat and cool.

Roll out the puff pastry sheet. Brush the bowl with the oil, then place the dough.  Add the filling in the centre.  Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick cover it a another piece of dough. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Bake until the crust is puffed and golden brown and the filling is bubbly, another 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before serving. 

Labels: Chicken, Continental Cuisine, Bake a thon,Pie & Quiche, Italy

Bake-a-thon 2014

An InLinkz Link-up