culinary-food: Baking Partners

Nothing Soothes the sight and taste of freshly baked food coming out of the Oven . I am not a baking person nor do I bake often . But after I started to Blog about my food adventure, my love affair with baking had taken off so effortlessly that I sometimes feel I have been doing this for ages. But the fact is that I am a novice baker and try to learn and understand the science behind the baking and integration of flavours. In order to sharpen my Baking skill I have joined a group of Bakers at Baking partners who every month comes up with a theme on which all bakers has to bake and post their recipe . Though I am always eager to participate every month ,due to some personal reason I could not participate in the November month’s challenge of Skillet Cheese Corn Bread.

For a new bee like me in the world of baking, Cornmeal Bread seems a logical challenge to take up, but the nonavailability of Corn meal and Skillet at home, dampen my spirit a bit. But when I saw my fellow blogger friend Sreelatha’s recipe of cardamom flavored cornbread muffins at http://www.framedrecipes.com/, a ray of hope arises that this recipe can be done without a skillet also. Then a frantic search for Cornmeal ended with a shop who promises to get it for me. I have been waiting to bake this Cornmeal bread for a long time and finally the day came when my house is filled with the beautiful aroma of the freshly baked spinach and cornmeal bread. The whole process of trying this recipe is so satisfying that its worth waiting for all these days.

The original recipe for this month’s baking partner’s challenge has been given by Suja of Kitchen Corner Try It. She has given two recipe one with cheese and jalapenos and other with molasses. While going through the history of Cornbread I came to know that Cornbread is a common bread in United States cuisine, particularly associated with the South and Southwest, as well as being a traditional staple for populations where wheat flour was more expensive.I have changed the recipe and the ingredients a bit to adopt it to the likes of my family and it’s taste bud. However You can find the original recipe at http://kichencorner.blogspot.in/2015/11/skillet-chile-cheese-cornbread.html.

Ingredients:

1 cup Cornmeal
1 1/4^th cup All Purpose flour
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon Sugar
2 nos of egg at room temperature
½ cup sunflower oil
½ cup yogurt
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon fennel powder
1 tablespoon Chilli flakes
1 teaspoon Ground pepper
1/ 2 cup finely chopped baby spinach
¼ cup sweet corn kernels

Let’s Learn how to make this recipe:

Pre heat the oven to 220 degree C for minimum 10 minutes.
Shift the dry ingredients like the cornmeal, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, chilli flakes, ground pepper, fennel powder and keep aside.
Now in a large bowl, break the eggs and whisk them nicely. Slowly add the oil to the egg mixture and whisk till well. now add the yogurt and mix well. Lastly add the milk and mix.
Add the finely chopped spinach and sweet corn into it.
Now fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in small batches. Do not mix too much, just mix easily with a spatula scrapping the sides of the bowl.
Now grease a Loaf Pan and pour the mixture into it.
Bake on a preheated oven at 220 degree for 15 ms and then lower the heat to 180 degree and bake for another 20 mts or till a toothpicks comes out clean.
Allow the bread to cool in the oven for 10 mts and after which you can cool it on a wire rack. This bread is best served warm.

Linking this recipe to baking partners challenge at http://zestysouthindiankitchen.com/.

If you haven't had quiche before, it is time to remedy that situation. Quiche is a savory, open-faced pastry crust with a filling of meat, seafood, vegetables and topped with savory custard with cheese. Quiche can be served hot or cold. It is part of French cuisine but is also popular in other countries, particularly as party food. Quiche is an especially good dish for a Sunday brunch or other gathering. You make it the day ahead, slice it just before serving, and then pass out the plates. This fool-proof recipe has yet to disappoint.

Baking was never my strength and I would find excuse to avoid this...until I cam across this beautiful blog called zestysouthindiankitchen.com by Swathi who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. According to her, Baking a Homemade bread, cake, cookies will give us the best outcome. However in order to achieve the perfect recipe, techniques is required. You can check her recipes at zestysouthindiankitchen.com.

This month challenge was suggested by Arthy Shama of Cook with Arthy shama, make sure to check link for some amazing recipes.

Ingredients for Pie Crust

150 grams of all purpose flour
½ tsp of salt
85 grams of butter, cut into tiny cubes
1 to 11/2 tbsp of cold water

First, cut the butter into tiny cubes and refrigerate them. In a dry bowl, combine flour and salt. Mix them. Add in butter cubes and rub through the butter so that it is dispersed in flour.

Now add in cold water, little by little. Slowly, start combining the dough along with water. After a while a soft dough should be formed. The dough when pinched should hold its shape when pressed, and not fall together. This is an passing test for an crust dough.

Cling wrap and refrigerate for minimum of two hours or overnight. This will help in moisture getting evenly distributed throughout the dough. I have kept the dough in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Remove the dough from refrigerator and let them sit under room temperature for 15-20 minutes. Either you can roll them into an 9’’ circle by dusting the surface with flour, or by sandwiching them in between two baking sheets.

After rolling, remove the baking sheet and turn the silicon mat upside down over the greased pie pan. Adjust the dough and press them down the pie pan, so that they cover the base and sides.

Prick them throughout the base and sides with a fork. Pricking will help in non-raising of the dough during baking. Refrigerate this set up for fifteen to twenty minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven for 200 degree Celsius.
After refrigeration, cover them with baking sheet and add some dried pulses. These weights push down the crust and prevents uneven rising. Bake these for twenty minutes, later on remove the beans and sheet and bake for another fifteen minutes till the base turns brown. You should be able to see the crust has left the edges of the ring. Now our crust is ready for filling .

Ingredients for Filling

Chicken Green Peas Keema

300gms Chicken Mince
½ cup green peas
1 large onion finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbspn of oil
½ tsp of chilly powder
1 tbsp of coriander powder
1/4tsp turmeric powder
Salt, to taste

For the custard

200ml amul fresh cream
1 large egg
½ tsp of chilly powder
½ tsp of pepper
Salt, to taste

For Toppings

50 grams of cheese/ paneer

Let's learn how to do it:

Marinate the chicken mince with salt and turmeric and a 1 tsp of oil and keep aside for 20 minutes.

In a pan, heat oil and saute onions till they turn brown. Add ginger and garlic paste. Saute for another two minutes or till the raw smell of the paste goes away. Finally add chicken mince.

The mince will leave out its stock. Saute and cook till the water content is evaporated. Add all the spices and the green peas. Be careful not to add too much of salt, since we are also going to add cheese here. So, add salt, according to the content of the fillings. Cook till all the water evaporates and the chicken is perfectly cooked.

The reason for cooking beforehand is to get an dry filling, if we use uncooked filling, they may leak out their stock during baking, leaving an soggy quiche.