Pasta Stuffed Calzone

Has it been forever? It has!
Let me wake up from my slumber and give you a sneak peek into my life this past year. It's not that I have not been busy. I sewed a bunch of clothes, read a few books(follow me on goodreads) and tried many a marvellous recipes. But as usual I have been too lazy to blog! Sorry about that!

I have also taken up a new hobby - gardening. Our terrace garden is looking damn neat! May be I will put up a full post on my gardening adventures.

Apart from that here is something we tried today morning for breakfast - Pasta stuffed Calzone.
This recipe makes about 10 calzones.

Dough

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbspn extra virgin olive oil
6 tspn sugar
1 tspn salt
1 tbspn dry active yeast
Warm water to knead

In some luke warm (not hot!) water add 2 teaspoons of sugar and dissolve. Add the yeast to this mixture and set aside for 2 minutes. The yeast with activate and bubble. Add the remaining sugar, salt and oil to the flour. Make a well in the center of the  flour mixture and add the yeast slurry. Knead with warm water to make a soft dough. Knead well for at least 10 minutes to activate the gluten in the dough. The dough should be soft and should spring back if touched. Set aside this dough with a wet kitchen towel on top for about 1 hour in a draft free warm place. Let the dough proof till it doubles in size.

Pasta Stuffing

2 tbspn extra virgin olive oil
10 cloves of garlic
1 large onion
1 green capsicum
4 tomatoes pureed
1 tspn oregano
1 tspn chilli flakes
1 tspn sugar
1 tbspn tomato ketchup
salt to taste
1/2 cup boiled pasta(I used macaroni)
few slices of black olives

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the finely chopped garlic. Purée the onion and capsicum and add it to the pan. Let it cook out for 5 minutes. Add the purée of tomatoes, cover and cook till most of the water evaporates. Add a dash of oregano, chilli flakes, sugar, salt. Add a little bit of ketchup to balance out the taste. This sauce is my default marinara that I use on my pizza's.
Add sliced olives and cooked pasta to the sauce and keep aside.

Caramelized Onion and Capsicum

1 tspn extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion
1 red capsicum
1 yellow capsicum
1 tspn sugar
salt to taste

Cut the onion and capsicum into thin slivers. Heat oil in a pan and add the onion. Add some sugar and let it caramelize. Add the capsicums and caramelize till slightly brown. Add a pinch of salt to taste.

Other Stuffing Ingredients

Mozzarella cheese
Basil leaves

Assembly

Image Source - thekitchn.com

Take a small ball of dough and roll it into a circular form(like chapati). Add the pasta stuffing to one side of the semi circle. Add the caramelized onion and capsicum. Add some mozzarella cheese and a few leaves of basil. Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. Now flip over the other half of the semi circle over this half with stuffing into a half moon shape( just like karanji or gunjiya). Crimp the edges of the calzone to shut them well.

Place them on an oiled baking tray and let them proof for another 15 minutes.
Drizzle some olive oil on top.

Preheat oven to 200C and place them to bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Pannacotta

This is the first time I am trying a pannacotta recipe at home, its a beautiful silky dessert. I loved the texture, it was exactly like it should be - wobbly and creamy! This recipe is completely vegetarian and uses china grass or agar agar instead of gelatin.

Below recipe makes 4 large portions of pannacotta.

Ingredients -

500ml full cream milk
1 cup of water
2gm of china grass strands
1 tbspn cornflour
2 tbspn cocoa powder
6 tbspn sugar
50gm of dark chocolate
1 tspn vanilla extract

Procedure -

Wash and then soak the china grass strands in 1 cup of water for 10 to 15 mins.
Mix cornflour and cocoa powder in a bit of luke warm milk and make a smooth paste.
Bring the remaining milk to a boil. Add sugar and chopped dark chocolate. Simmer till chocolate melts. Stir in the cornflour-cocoa slurry. Stir continuously.
On the side, heat the china grass mixture on a low to medium heat until it is fully dissolved in the water. This may take about 5 mins or so.
Add the china grass mixture to the milk mixture. Stir continously. The mixture would not thicken immediately so let it simmer for about 5 mins and take it off the heat. Add the vanilla extract. Keep stirring while the mixture cools down considerably. The constant stirring would prevent a layer of cream forming on top.
Once down to room temperature, pour into moulds and set in the freezer for about 25 mins. Remove from freezer and keep in the refrigerator. Prettify it as you wish!

Enjoy!

Thai Red Curry

A trip to a friend's farm yielded in a lot of fresh bounty! The inspiration for this curry came from the bunch of lemon grass in the goodies basket. This curry is made from scratch.

Red Curry Paste

Ingredients -

15 odd dry red chillies
10 peppercorns
1 tbspn dry roasted coriander seeds
1 tspn dry roasted cumin seeds
3 stalks of lemon grass(6 inches long)
1/4 cup coriander stems and leaves
1/4 cup onion or shallot
2 tbspn garlic
1 tbspn ginger or galangal
1 tspn minced lemon peel
3 kafir lime leaves or normal lime leaves

Procedure -

Soak the red chillies in warm water for 20 mins. Grind to a spice powder - peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds. Chop lemongrass finely and add to a blender. Add the red chillies and spice powder. Add coriander leaves and stems, onion, garlic, ginger, lemon peel, lime leaves, salt to taste. Grind to a fine paste with very little water.
This curry paste can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Thai Red Curry

Ingredients -

3 tbspn red curry paste
1 tbspn oil
Vegetables of choice - carrots, bell peppers, babycorn, broccoli
1 cup thick coconut milk
2 cups thin coconut milk
salt to taste
jaggery
juice of lemon

Procedure -

Heat oil in a wok, add the curry paste and fry well. Add the vegetables of choice and cook till done. Vegetables should still retain some crunch. Add salt and a small piece of jaggery. Add the thick and thin coconut milk and bring to a boil. Take it off the heat. Add the juice of a lemon. Serve with steamed rice.

Enjoy!

Ravioli

We love Italian cuisine (including the tiny tot who loves pasta!).
This ravioli is made from scratch. Even the pasta dough was homemade and is eggless. It is a tedious procedure but turns out really nice.

Spinach and Cheese Ravioli in Creamy Tomato Sauce

Fresh Pasta Dough 
Makes 27-28 raviolis

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup semolina
Pinch of salt
1 tbspn olive oil
3/4 to 1 cup warm water

Mix the flours and salt. Drizzle in the olive oil and work the dough into bread crumb consistency. Add water little by little so that it keeps resembling bread crumbs. Slowly they will start clumping together. It will form a nice dough. Ensure it is not too soft. If required add more semolina. Set aside covered with a damp cloth for 30 mins.

Spinach and Cheese Filling

1 tbspn olive oil
1 big bunch of spinach leaves
1 cup of mixed cheese (Ricotta, Mozzarella, Parmesan)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a pan, add the spinach. Cover and cook the spinach to wilt it. Once wilted, open and cook to evaporate any liquid.
Once cooled, chop the spinach and move to a bowl. Mix in the cheeses and season with salt and freshly cracked pepper.

Assembly of Ravioli

Roll out the dough on a well floured surface to as thin as you can. Paper thin is preferable (1/3 cm thickness). The thinner the pasta sheet the better the cooked ravioli would taste. However if it is too thin, then it would burst open while boiling. This is one of those hit and try method of figuring out the right thickness. But think paper.
Try to roll out the dough into a rectangle.We need to finally fold the sheet into half length wise. Next place teaspoon worth filling into one half of the sheet at equidistant spaces and cover over the other half to enclose this filling. Remove any air bubbles. I use a cookie cutter to cut them out into circles and crimp the edges with a fork.

Once made, let them dry out on a floured surface for 20 to 30 mins.


Creamy Tomato Sauce

1 tbspn olive oil
1/2 medium onion finely chopped
4-5 pods garlic finely chopped
3-4 medium de-skinned tomatoes chopped finely
1/2 cup tomato puree
Salt and pepper to taste
Red chilli flakes
Oregano
1 cup cream
Grated parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a pan, add the chopped garlic and onion. Cook till onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes and puree. Cover and cook for 10 mins. Add the salt, pepper and other spices. Once cooked well, add the cream and grated cheese. This sauce really tastes divine!

Final Assembly

For final cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Put in the raviolis and let it boil for 2-3 mins. They will start to float when done. Remove and add sauce on top. Garnish with more cheese and basil.

Enjoy!

Coorgi Delights

Coorg is my absolutely favourite vacation destination. I am a jungle/mountain kind of person and this spot literally hits the spot!
Its green and untouched. Its full of coffee estates and people living lives I wish I was living! In a farm house tucked far away in a remote corner of the planet. Coorgi people are very warm and have a very rich culture. They are a warrior race (a lot of them still serve in the armed forces) and are proud of their unique heritage. Their food is divine. Here are a couple of recipes I learnt in 2009 during our maiden trip to Madikeri.

The beautiful winding roads

Paputtu

This is a breakfast idli type bread. Its slightly sweet and sumptuous.

Ingredients -
Idli rava - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Grated Coconut - 3/4 cup
Cardamom seeds - 2-3 pods

Procedure -
If you don't have the pre-made idli rava, one can process 1 cup dry rice in a mixer to get the rava (think phirni type rice).
Wash idli rava, soak in 1 cup water for 1/2 hour. Mix the milk, coconut, sugar, salt and powdered cardamom seeds.
Pour the batter in an oiled thali or flat bottom plate with sides. Paputtu is shaped like a pie. Steam for 25 to 30 mins.

Kooru Curry

I am calling this kooru curry, but kooru is rajma. I am using lobhiya here. One can also use butter beans.

Ingredients -
Lobhiya - 2 cups soaked overnight and pressure cooked for about 20-25 mins
Onion - 1 medium finely chopped

For seasoning -
Oil - 1 tspn (We use a non stick hence the less oil, increase if required)
Rai - 1 tspn
Urad dal - 1 tspn
Curry leaves - 4-5

For paste -
Coriander seeds - 2 tspn
Coconut - 1/2 cup grated
Dry red chillies - 3-4
Garlic pods - 3-4
Black pepper - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1/2 tspn

Turmeric powder
Tamarind to taste
Jaggery to taste
Salt to taste

Procedure -


Heat oil in a pan, add rai, urad dal, curry leaves and chopped onion. Fry till onions are translucent. Add cooked beans, salt and turmeric powder.
Grind the ingredients mentioned under paste. Add this paste to the cooking pan. Add water to make a gravy. Boil till ground paste is cooked. Balance out with a bit of tamarind and jaggery to taste.

This is a popular meal in the household. Ajay loves the curry, Adrika loves the paputtu!

Coorg is indeed the Scotland of India. Its a breath-taking place where one can see a million fireflies dance about at night. It is one of those hidden gems. Here is to many more holidays in paradise.

Funfetti Cupcakes

Saturday mornings are leisurely. It's a half day for Ajay's college so there is no rush of packing up his lunch. This Saturday morning we enjoyed a bit of sunshine after days and days of rain. It's a glorious day! Time to celebrate with some dessert for breakfast!

Ingredients:-
Makes 6 large cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 cup milk
confetti sprinkles

Procedure:-

Cream the butter and sugar till light and pale. I used a hand whisk (easier to clean!). Add the vanilla extract and the egg. Beat well till fluffy and light.
Add all the dry ingredients. Mix it in with the milk into a smooth batter. Add the sprinkles at the very end and do not stir too much for they start losing colour.
Bake in a 170C preheated oven for 30 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Tart

This is by far the most decadent dessert I have ever prepared, indulge with caution!
Football fever has gripped the family. This was prepared for the opening night gala.

Ingredients:-

For the pie shell -
90gms unsalted butter cut into cubes
1 tbspn veg oil
3 tbspn water
1 tbspn sugar
1/8 tspn salt
150 gm or 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

For the filling -
300ml cream
2 tspn sugar
pinch of salt
250gm dark chocolate
50ml milk

Procedure -

The pie tart shell recipe is by my favorite dessert chef David Lebovitz. Here is the complete procedure -
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/05/french-tart-dough-a-la-francaise/
Quick summary - In an oven proof bowl combine butter, oil, water, sugar and salt. Place bowl in oven for 10-15 mins till butter is bubbling and starts browning at the edges. Remove from oven and dump in the flour. Stir quickly until it all comes together. Transfer to a 9 inch pie shell and spread it evenly with fingers. Reserve small amount of dough for patchwork later. Take a fork and crimp sides and prick shell. Bake for 15 mins. Cover and patch cracks and bake for 5 more mins till golden brown. Let is cool completely before putting in any filling.

Filling was inspired by Jamie Oliver's chocolate tart filling.
For the filling, boil the cream, sugar, salt on simmer. Switch off and add chocolate pieces. Let is melt on its own, do not over stir or the cream would churn into butter. Add some milk to adjust consistency(want a soft serve type consistency). Fill into the baked cooled shell and refrigerate for 3 hours till set.

Here is our most ardent football fan -

Enjoy!

Bets in the house -
Me - Argentina
Ajay - Germany
Adrika - Don't understand what the fuss is about

Frozen Goodies

I kept scratching my head to figure out what do for Valentine's Day this year. Finally decided to make some frozen goodies.

Low Fat Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

 Ingredients:-
2 cups low fat curd
10 odd strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
 Pinch of salt

Procedure:-
Blend the strawberries and curd in a mixer along with the sugar and a pinch of salt. Pour it out to a freezer safe container. Every 30 mins for the first 3 hours, take out the frozen yogurt and whisk very well to break any ice crystals. Freeze for total of about 5-6 hours.

Creamy Dark Chocolate Ice cream

 Ingredients:-
250 ml low fat milk
1 cup of cream
1/2 + 1/3 cup of milk powder dissolved in 1/2 cup of hot water
2/3 cup of sugar
2 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/3 cup of dark cocoa powder
150gm of dark chocolate
1 tspn of vanilla extract
1 tspn of rum
pinch of salt

Procedure:-
Boil milk, cream,dissolved milk powder, sugar and honey in a heavy bottomed pot. Make a slurry of cornstarch with a little milk and keep aside. Add the cocoa powder into boiling milk and whisk well. Add the slurry of cornstarch and whisk while the mixture thickens. Take the pot off the heat and add chopped chocolate, vanilla extract, salt and rum. Combine well. Let it cool.
Freeze this custard. Every 1 hour for the first 3 hours take it out and whisk well to break any ice crystals. Freeze for a total of 5-6 hours.

And the winner is -

 Enjoy!

Strawberry Jam

It's strawberry season yeah! It's one of those things I love about living in Belgaum. We are fairly close to Mahabaleshwar and get loads of fairly inexpensive strawberries! So this year we got about a kilogram to be precise.

They were the tart variety and pretty good for jamming.

Ingredients:-
Strawberry - 1 Kg
Lemon - 1
Sugar - 2 cups

Procedure:-
Wash and cut the strawberries into chunks (we like chunks in the jam).  Put them into a heavy bottom pan. Add sugar and lemon rind and juice. Also keep the lemon and pips in a muslin cloth for added pectin. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Let it simmer for about 30 to 40 mins. Perform the jam test to check if its done.

Got two large bottles out of it. Ensure to sterilize the jars for jamming. For this, wash the jars with soapy water and leave them in an oven for 10 mins at 100C.

Kinnow Marmalade

I abhor kinnow! Its difficult to eat and doesn't taste like an orange. When I asked Ajay to get oranges, guess what he thought was an orange! Apparently its a type of Mandarin orange. The best thing I found out to do with kinnow is to make marmalade. Jamming transforms this fruit. This marmalade is made with natural pectin and sets beautifully. Also it has a slight bitter component due to the rinds, that makes it delicious.

Ingredients:-
Kinnow - 4
Lemon - 1
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Water -1 cup

Procedure:-
Wash and peel the kinnows. Keep peels of two kinnows, cut them into thin strips. Slice the kinnow right in the half like slicing into two hemispheres! This makes it easy to remove the seeds which are generally in the center. Also remove and keep as much of the white pips as possible. Put the sliced fruit into a heavy bottomed pan. Add the juice of a lemon and strips of kinnnow peel.
In a muslin cloth or handkerchief put all the seeds and pips, including the seeds of the lemon and also the squeezed out lemon itself.  Tie this into a nice bundle and throw it into the pan. All the natural pectin is released from this bundle.
Add the sugar into the pan along with the water. Boil on slow flame for about 1.5 to 2 hours. At 1.5 hour stage check for the consistency. To do this, keep a small plate in the freezer. Add a drop of the marmalade onto this chilled plate and check if it sets into a jelly. If it does, then the jam is made otherwise cook for a further 15 mins and repeat setting test.
We got 1.5 small jars of marmalade.

Pecan Pie

Please excuse my torpidity lately! I have been meaning to put up many posts. Have been fairly busy baking. Here is something I tried by pure coincidence on Thanksgiving day!

It all begins with the story of how I got hold of pecans. Well these nuts are non existent in India. Ajay's aunt was visiting us from London and she is known to come bearing many gifts! Thank you auntie! We are enjoying your presents. Pecans down, only if I could figure how to finish off the truck load of spanish saffron now!

Ingredients:-

For Filling
Brown sugar - 1 cup
Normal sugar - 1/4 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1 tbspn
Eggs - 2
Vanilla extract - 2 tspn
Milk - 3 tbspn
Melted butter - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/4 tspn
Chopped Pecans - 1 cup
Rum - 1 tbspn

For Pie Crust
Whole wheat flour - 1.5 cups
Sugar - 1/2 tbspn
Salt - 1/8 tspn
Oil - 7 tbspn
Liquid (Milk or Water or Juice) - 1/4 cup

Procedure:-

For pie crust - Mix in a bowl all the ingredients till moist clumps form. Add the liquid slowly into the dry ingredients. There is no need to refrigerate this pastry. With your hands press down the dough on the pie mold evenly on the bottom and up the sides. Score with a fork. Pie crust is ready for filling.

Filling - In a mixing bowl add both the sugars, flour, salt and two eggs.  Beat very well till all the sugar is dissolved. If the sugar is not dissolved it would sink to the bottom of the pie during baking. So ensure it is nicely mixed. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Pour this filling into the pie shell and sprinkle with pecans on top. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 40 - 45 mins. Cool completely before cutting the pie.

For a variation, one can add a bit of chocolate to the filling.

Bagels

The alarm went off and I indolently stare at the arms of the old pest. It always feels like you only just slept. I am sure you can empathize. Once your organs kick back into action, you realize there is indeed a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I have spent lot many Saturday's getting up early trying to get some freshly baked bagels from "Daily Bread" bakery. This was the "Before-Oven" era and bread and bagels were the food of gods. I am glad in the 2013 AO (After-Oven), we can do this at home!

Here is my attempt at homemade mini bagels. They did turn out quite scrumptious! I like them with sour cream instead of cream cheese. And yes we also make the sour cream at home.

Ingredients:-
Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Dry instant yeast - 1/2 tablespoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Sugar - 1/2 tablespoon
Warm water - 1 cup

Procedure:-
Combine all the above ingredients and knead vigorously  for 15 mins till you get a stiff but pliable dough.This dough should not stick to your hands. It should be slightly springy and stay indented if you gently prod it with your finger. Let this dough proof for about 1.5 hours or till doubled in size.
Punch the dough down. Split the dough into small balls and shape as bagels by punching small holes in the center of the ball using your finger. You can also roll out the bagels by shaping the dough into a pipe and then rolling them into rings. I tried the first shaping method. Let these bagels proof again for 1 hour or till doubled.
Preheat the oven at 220C at this point while preparing the water bath.
For the water bath, boil water with 2 heaped tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of salt. When it is at a rolling boil, drop your bagels into the water and after 2 mins flip them over. Cook for 1 more minute on this side.
Remove the bagels on to a greased cooking sheet. You can sprinkle any toppings at this point. I used sesame seeds and sharp cheddar cheese on a few. You can also use poppy seeds, nigella seeds etc.
Bake in a 220C oven for about 20 to 30 mins. Enjoy your fresh bagels!

Vanilla Extract

Some years ago we went vacationing to Hampi. Its one of those long lost cities, where ancient kingdoms(Vijayanagar Empire) flourished. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and is truly stupefying.

And after our grand tour of the lost city, we settled to eat lunch at this quaint place called the Mango Tree Restaurant. Yes, you have to see it to believe it.

While walking through a dense banana plantation one begins to doubt if there really is a place to find a hot meal or was that an urban legend. Once the thicket clears up you see a mundane entrance to a place that doesn't look too appealing. Appearances believe me, are very deceiving.
Gobbling up a handsome meal while lounging on stone benches perched on the cliff of a small hillock overlooking the Tungabhadra river. A place to relax and see the world go by. Swing away into the river like a 4 year old. Spend sleepy afternoons reading books under the canopy of the mango tree. Watch people enjoy coracle rides in the river. Breathe in the fresh air and clear all the city smoke filled lungs. It is a hidden gem. An experience you cannot miss. Magnificent is an understatement.
It was here I bought a packet of a couple of vanilla beans grown locally.

Now that the story of the source is over, lets get onto the extract.

Ingredients:-
Vodka - 150ml, 70 proof , vanilla flavored is a plus
Vanilla beans - 2 pods

Procedure:-
Split the vanilla beans in half lengthwise. Scrape the beans. Also chop the remaining beans into small pieces. Add this to 150ml of Vodka (we got a 180ml Vodka bottle, and ended up using 30ml for macerated strawberries with vanilla ice cream!). Shake well and leave in a cool and dark place for 2 months.

We have a beautiful homemade vanilla extract that we use in all our baking! I plan to follow the same procedure to make lime and orange extract soon. Stay tuned for those updates!

Homemade Swiss Style Muesli

Finally got on to making my own muesli at home. I love muesli, its truly my go to breakfast.

Here is the recipe that makes about 400 gms or so of muesli -

Ingredients:-
Oatmeal - 3 cups
Flaked or chopped almonds - 30 odd almonds
Coarse dried fruit mix - 1 cup
Honey - 1/2 cup
Raisins - 30 odd

Procedure:-
For the coarse dried fruit mix, coarsely chop/grind pistachios(20 odd), cashew(20 odd), cardamom (10 pods), peppercorns(5-6 or omit altogether).
Mix all of the above mentioned ingredients except raisins in a bowl.
Spread it out on a baking tray.
Preheat oven at 180C for 10 mins, bake the oatmeal mix for 20-25 mins at 180C(fan aided). In the middle toss it about a bit in the oven to ensure even roasting. Keep checking that it is not burning towards the end.
After baking, let it cool. Add raisins.

Optionals:-
There are so many other optional items that can be added to this mix - flaxseed, sunflower/pumpkin seeds, dates, dried apricots or figs. Let your imagination set the limits.

It tastes divine with cold milk or cold yoghurt with added fresh fruit. There is no added sugar. Its a power packed snack. Enjoy!