Focaccia caprese / Rosemary and onion focaccia

Focaccia is the bread, I always wanted to make since I started baking. It is said to be a very easy one, and one of the very first bread, you should try when you start learning bread baking. I am learning to bake a bread a month, since I joined +Aparna Balasubramanian 's bread baking group and this is the bread we are baking in January 2014. Focaccia is kind of a flat bread which originated in Greece, though it is made in different ways in different parts of Italy. There is even a sweet version.

Focaccia Caprese

Rosemary and Onion focaccia

It looks similar to a pizza, some of the differences are that focaccia is usually has a thicker and more spongier crust and pizza has a thinner and crispier one. Focaccia is usually topped with herbs, oil and garlic and pizza has different toppings. Focaccia is served warm or at room temperature and pizza is generally served hot, right off the oven... well, that's the trivia and more about it here.....:)

I made Focaccia Caprese, a version of focaccia made in the Capri region of Italy. The toppings used for this version of focaccia are tomatoes, fresh basil and buffalo mozzarella cheese. I also had some fresh rosemary leaves, so I made another one with the topping of herbed oil, rosemary and onions. Both, versions of bread were very tasty and were gobbled down by all of us in matter of minutes. I served it with "Couscous and chickpea salad" and it was a wonderful meal. Recipe adapted from "The kitchen whisperer" 

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp of sugar
• 3 and 1/2 cups of bread flour(I used regular all purpose flour)
  
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 to 1 and 1/2 cup warm water
• A little more olive oil to knead and brush on the dough (1-3 tsps)

For the herbed oil:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp of mixed dried italian herbs like dried basil, oregano, etc
• 3-4 garlic cloves grated
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the topping:

• 2 tomatoes cut in thin slices
• buffalo mozzarella cheese cut to disks(I used the regular mozzarella)
• fresh basil leaves to garnish
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 onion cut to discs, or chopped to thin long slices and separated.

Recipe:

• Grate the garlic and whisk all the ingredients for herbed oil together and keep it aside.

• You can make the dough with hand or by machine.
• Take the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and oil in a food processor or a large bowl.

• Mix them well, with hands or a whizz in the machine for about 30-40 seconds.
• Add water and continue mixing, till it comes together as a non sticky dough.
• Take it out in a well oiled bowl and knead with hands for about 2-3 minutes till it comes together as a smooth ball of dough. 

• Keep it aside, covered with a plastic wrap or kitchen towel till it doubles up in volume. It will take about an hour or hour and half.

• I used a rectangular pan 22 cm by 18 cm and a square pan with 20 cm sides.
• Divide the dough according to the size of the pan u use. I divided the dough in 3 parts.

• Oil the pan and stretch the dough by patting it. Top with a tsp of olive oil and keep it to rise for another 20-30 minutes.

• Make some dents/dimples on the surface of the dough with your finger and pour about 2-3 tsp of herbed oil on top of the dough.

• Bake it for 18-20 minutes in a preheated oven at 210 degrees centigrade.

• Take the focaccia out when the top is golden.

• Get the ingredients ready for topping. Slice tomatoes and cheese to thin slices. Wash and clean the basil and rosemary. Chop the onions.

• Layer mozzarella slices, tomatoes, rosemary and onions and top with more herbed oil. 

• Increase the oven temperature to 230 degrees and bake for another 5 minutes till the mozzarella is melted and the top is golden brown.

• Serve cut into slices or squares warm or at room temperature.

Quantity:

• about 3 focaccia breads... 2 of 22cm*18cm and 1 square pan size of 20 cm.
• serves 4 people along with a side comfortably.

Notes:

• You can make 4 small individual serving breads. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions are roll them(press them) to 5 by 7 inch ovals.
• Cut them out in squares or slices for easy "pick me up" snack.

Gajar koshimbir (Carrot salad)

Koshimbir is a salad, served as a side in a full Maharashtrian meal.( Maharashtra-- a state in India). It is generally made with different crunchy vegetables like cucumber, carrots, tomato, onion, etc which are grated or chopped to tiny pieces and mixed with simple seasonings like salt, sugar and lime juice. Peanut powder or yogurt are also part of this salad. It tastes yummy just by itself, but I usually make it as a part of the meal with chapatis, dal, dry vegetable curry, etc.

For this recipe, I found the unusual purple carrot. (It looks a bit dark pink in pictures here) Any other variety of carrot like the regular orange one or the deep red one can also be used. I thought that purple is some new variety of carrot, but I googled for this information about them and was really surprised to know that they were grown as early as 2000 BC. The orange carrot that we know and use are of much newly modified variety. More information about PURPLE CARROTS HERE.

Ingredients:

• 1 large purple carrot (or orange or the red one)
  
• 1/2 -1 tomato
• 1 green chili
• a bunch of coriander 
• 1-2(or more) tbsp of roasted peanuts crushed to powder
• salt and sugar to taste (about 1 tsp each)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• A seasoning made with 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds,1/4 tsp asafoetida and some curry leaves added to a heated  tsp of oil/ghee) --- optional

Recipe:

• Wash, peel and grate the carrot after chopping off the top part.

• Chop tomato and green chili.
• Add it to the grated carrot. 

• Add crushed peanut powder and mix it well with a spoon.

• Add salt, sugar and lemon juice.
• Mix it well.

• Garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves.

• Serve it as an accompaniment to an Indian meal or as a meal by itself.

Quantity:

• 4-5 servings as a side to a meal with other accompaniments.
• 2 servings as just a meal by itself.

gajar koshimbir with black urad dal, chapati and onion

Notes:

• You can use other colored carrots.
• Increase chilies, peanut powder and seasoning according to taste.
• Chill it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes or so before serving.
• You can add a "tadka" made with mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves heated in some ghee or oil and pour it over the salad at the time of serving. I served it as is...without this optional seasoning.

Tofu Chocolate Mousse

When my friend +Meenoo Joshi  suggested that I try out tofu chocolate mousse for a vegetarian version of chocolate mousse, I was really surprised. I had heard about tofu as a replacement for eggs, but I never believed that it would blend in so well and can be used for a dessert. I am not a vegetarian and neither am I a big fan of tofu, but this easy "made in minutes" dessert  recipe is a keeper. This is so simple dessert, just mix 2-3 ingredients and you are done. Even your kids can make it ....!!! The texture of the mousse is not as light and airy as the one with eggs, it's more like a pudding, however it tastes awesome. A chocoholic heaven!! and best of all it has only 1/4 cup of sugar.(or lesser if u prefer it that way) I googled for the recipe, I liked this one and finally came up with this recipe made with the ingredients I had in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 1 pack (about 300 gms) silken tofu
• 100 gms dark chocolate (I used Lindt 90 percent cacao)
• 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (or u can use another 50 gms of dark chocolate)
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup of dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar

Recipe:

• Take out tofu from it's pack and put in on a strainer to remove all the water.

• Break the chocolate into pieces, put it in a microwave safe bowl and melt it in the microwave along with the chocolate chips. You can melt it on stove top, using the double boiler method too.

• Puree the tofu in a food processor.

• Heat 1/4 cup of hot water. Add a tsp of instant coffee. Once it is blended add cocoa powder and mix it well. 

• Add the coffee-cocoa mix to the melted chocolate.

• Whisk it with a hand blender, it will start thickening.

• Add the tofu puree and the vanilla essence and whisk it well.

• Add about 1/4 cup(or less or more -- according to your taste) of sugar and blend well with a hand whisk. Tadaa !!! Done !!

• Pour about 2-3 tbsp of the mix to nice bowls and glasses and allow it to chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours or overnight.

• Serve it garnished with grated chocolate, whipped cream or fruits /berries of your choice.

Quantity:

• Makes about 5 (3 tbsp) servings.

Notes:

• I used exactly 3 tbsps of sugar. With this combination you get a bittersweet dark chocolate kind of taste. Do increase the sugar content if you like the mousse on the sweeter side.
• Use good quality dark chocolate with more than 70 percent cacao. 
• There is a lingering tofu flavor. It will lessen with a better quality chocolate and once it is chilled for about 12 hours.
• Also, use pure vanilla extract and increase quantity to 2 tsps.
• You can also add 2 tsp of coffee powder or additional 50 gms chocolate(making it 200 gms in all )
• Instead of coffee, you can use 1/4 cup of orange juice and 1 tbsp of orange zest.
• You can add about 1/2-1 cup of whipped cream to make it richer.
• Chilling it overnight, will give a better taste and better texture. I photographed it within an hour and half of chilling so it's kind of melting, but after 7 hours or so it was of firmer texture.