Baked yeasted doughnuts

We knead to bake #6 June 2013. Half a year is already gone.....and this is the 6th bread, I learnt to bake with success. It was a fool proof and easy recipe. The doughnut glaze was a bit difficult for me, I need to try it again. I made it in a hurry, and dipped and clicked pictures, as I had to take my little one out for his summer holiday activity. The doughnuts were nice and soft. I left the "holes" un-glazed and just dabbed them with melted butter and they tasted lovely just like that. Another beautiful recipe, shared by our host +Aparna Balasubramanian. 

6 months back, I wouldn't have even dreamt about making a doughnut at home... :)  They were so soft and perfect....!!!

Bengali Sunday special chicken curry ( robibar murgir jhol )

I wanted to try a Bengali cuisine recipe for a long time. Regional cuisine of India is totally exotic and different, from what we get in an Indian restaurant in a foreign country. Though Singapore has authentic regional cuisine speciality restaurants which are as good as India. I browsed through google and came across this curry, which is cooked in many Bengali households as a Special Sunday Lunch. They love to eat fish/eggs/vegetables during the week and .....on weekends are special meat based meals. (I got to confirm this with my Bengali friend here...  :) ) ... all my info comes from google. Well, I tried this recipe yesterday and we liked it. I made one big pot of rice and this curry and it was an hearty meal for my family. My older son, who loves chicken preparations had 3 helpings of this curry and gave me a "delicious" stamp. I guess, I would be making this curry often from now on.... !

Samosa

Singapore has been covered with smoky haze due to forest fires in nearby Sumatra/Indonesia for past 6 days now, and I have been house bound with the kids for last 4 days. I haven't been to gym for over a week and have been making calorific goodies.....grrr.... :( My kids and their friends have been helping me polish those goodies, but today was the day nobody visited us, nor did we visit anybody.... so these deep-fried golden triangles were consumed, just by my family and we really enjoyed them.... :)  

Samosa was the first new thing, I tried after I got married....:) My hubby and our friends have been the tasters for all sorts of samosas that I used to make.... burnt, very spicy, not cooked well enough, soggy or greasy.... but I have been making them over 10 years now...and now can turn out good ones.... in a jiffy, if I have all the ingredients.

Blondies

It is beginning of long long summer holidays. My kids are at home all day. I am trying to plan indoor and outdoor activities for them. Baking and eating baked goodies is one of them. My older son was going to an X-box party.... which means a lot of kids will gather in  someone's house and play X-box for hours together. My son asked me to send a snack for the party and my younger one needed an activity, so we decided to make brownies.......! I didn't have enough cocoa powder or chocolate, so decided to make colorful and chocolate chip version of brownies.... called blondies(as they are white in color).

aah yes, we did some printing activity too.... made colorful print paintings....!!! and used them as placemats...!!! :) a perfect match for the colorful "m and m and sprinkle" blondies...!!!

Bialys (Chewy rolls with caramelized topping)

We Knead to Bake : May 2013. I am lagging behind, but I am finally done with the May bread baking project. Bialys(pronounced bee-AH-lee) are Polish bread, similar to bagels, but bagels are boiled and baked whereas bialys are just baked. A bialy is round, with a depressed dent in the middle, filled with caramelized onions and poppy seeds. We do not get poppy seeds in Singapore, so I made the filling with just onions and some tomatoes and yellow pepper. A good bialy should have springy soft crumb and chewy and soft crust with holes inside. Bialys are eaten slathered with butter or with cream cheese. Here is a Video which shows how bialys can be eaten :) It's best to consume them within 5-6 hours of baking. I had them after 5 hours, I reheated in the microwave and they were good as when they were freshly made. 

Bialys are best made with bread flour, but if you do not have it, they can be made with regular all purpose flour with a tbsp of vital wheat gluten for every 3 cups of flour. I didn't have either the bread flour, nor the wheat gluten (I do not know what that is, need to search in the baking section)... I made it with regular all purpose flour and they seemed ok... just like other bakers of the group(similar to their pictures, I mean). I haven't tasted an original bialy ever... :)

Herb cheese pull-apart bread

This is an important and symbolic post for me. When +Aparna Balasubramanian, included me in the "We knead to bake" bread baking project for the year 2013, this was the first bread, she chose for us to bake. I had already tried this bread last year and I loved it. So, I tried to post my facebook album link, on her blog... but, as it was too long, I couldn't post it. So, I thought of starting this blog, which was on my mind for a very long time..... :). Made this bread again, last month for my kid's birthday party...! My son loves this bread. I ate it, the very first time at another popular blogger +Durga Arivan's father's day party. It looks lovely, when made in a bundt pan, instead of traditional bread loaf pan. I followed the recipe from "The pastry affair page". A beautiful and delicious bread in a pizza party....!!!

So here is my blog post ready for the first "we knead to bake" project, of January 2013.

Lemon Chicken Wraps

My son wanted to eat chicken and I wanted to try a new recipe, so after searching different recipes through internet, I settled for Lemon flavored chicken recipe. I didn't really follow any particular recipe, just added things along with the chicken that were in my pantry.I just wanted the recipe to be healthy and "no-deep-fry". The result was refreshing and tasty.

Mango mousse

One more quick-fix dessert, which I made ahead for my kiddo's birthday party. This was super easy and tastes so good, and takes maybe just 30-45 minutes from start to finish. (A bit more, if you are using fresh mangoes. Also, you have to set it for 2-3 hours, but if you make it a day ahead, it's just 30-45 minute work and will feed many people). 

Ginger tofu stir-fry

I love stir-fries. One of the quickest kind of meals. You can make it, as healthy as you want. It has no restrictions about the kind of vegetables or meat you can use. If you do not have one kind of vegetable, you can skip and use the one which you have in your fridge. Also, it is a meal in minutes. This is one such recipe.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Spongy, light and airy ! Beautiful base to do nice frosting ...!!  I make this cake, when I need a dessert to feed many people. It is a beautiful center-piece and show stopping  dessert for any party or special occasion. This time, I made this cake for my kid's birthday party. All the kids, enjoyed it ... and the kids were very surprised to know that it was a homemade cake. I found this recipe, about an year back here. I have made this cake 4 times, with perfect results. I have omitted the coffee in the recipe, as we like the pure chocolate flavor.

Chocolate chiffon cake with mocha whipped cream filling and ganache plus molded chocolate topping

Isn't it, a yummy center piece for children's birthday party...??