Vendakkai Moru Kuzhambu/ Okra Stew With Buttermilk

          Moru Kuzhambu or Buttermilk Stew is a very popular dish in Southern India, of course next to the 'sambar'. I do two different versions, one is this and the other one is the already posted Kerala Style More Kuzhambu which tastes completely different. Coming to today's one, it's usually prepared using lady's finger/okra or ash gourd or even with vadas/lentil fritters. The buttermilk used is slightly sour, replacing the tomatoes or tamarind which are usually used as the souring agents, but I don't like the buttermilk to be too sour. You can even use the store-bought one, it tastes really good..

Need To Have

• Okra/Lady's Finger - 15, diced into 1" pieces
• Yogurt - 11/2 cup
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Dried Red Chilly - 1
• Curry Leaves - 10

To Grind

• Tuvar Dal/ Split Pigeon Peas - 11/2 teaspoon
• Coriander Seeds - 11/2 tablespoon
• Cumin Seeds - 11/2 teaspoon
• Chopped Ginger - 1 tablespoon
• Green Chillies - 4 or 5 depending on spice level
• Cashews - 4
• Grated Coconut - 1 tablespoon

Method

          Soak the tuvar dal for an hour and grind it with all the ingredients given under 'to grind'. Heat some oil, add the okra pieces, saute on medium heat, till it looses the sliminess and is cooked, add a little salt towards to the end. Mix the ground paste,yogurt and keep.

         Once again heat some oil, add the mustard seeds, once it starts spluttering, add the fenugreek seeds, red chilly and asafoetida, mix and then add the curry leaves. Saute for a few seconds, add the already sauteed okra and mix.

          Add the yoghurt mixture, salt and 1/2 cup of water, once it starts bubbling and getting ready to boil, switch off. Serve it warm with rice.

Note
I prefer sauteing the okra separately, you can add it after the curry leaves, saute it, add a little water and cook.
If using buttermilk, then reduce the amount of water added or do not add water, yogurt is more thicker, so I have added around 1/2 cup.
Also, do not let it to boil, then the yogurt would start to curdle, so switch off immediately, when you see it bubbling.
Also you can increase the amount of coconut to 2 or 3 tablespoons.

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Homemade Bagels

So remember that time I decided to make croissants from scratch using what was probably the most complicated recipe ever?  And remember how it took almost three days to make?  Well this is pretty much the exact opposite of that.

One morning I was craving a bagel with cream cheese, but it was too cold, and I was too lazy to go out to the store to buy some.  So I decided to look up some bagel recipes to see how easy it would be to make them at home.  Really easy, it turns out.  (Yes, you read that right:  I was too lazy to go to the store but not lazy enough to make my own bagels.  Go figure.)  In fact, you can almost whip these up in about 2 hours if you really wanted.  I'd suggest letting them rise slowly (overnight) in the refrigerator, though, for better flavor and texture (see note at the bottom of this post).

I used this recipe from CHOW as a template and altered it based on some of the comments on the post and by the ingredients I had on hand.  First, I noticed a lot of the comments mentioning that 2 tablespoons of salt was way too much, so I used 2 teaspoons instead.  I also added some baking soda to the boiling water because someone mentioned it would give it a more authentic NYC taste, whatever that means.  And because I only had diastatic malt powder, I substituted the malt syrup with 1 teaspoon of the malt powder.

 
I also decided to shape the bagels using the "finger hula hooping" method rather than the "snake biting its tail" method.  Yeah, I just made the name of those two methods up, but I'm sure you can see where I'm going with them.  The finger hula hooping method is just too fun not to do!

 
Homemade Bagels (adapted from CHOW)
makes 12 bagels

1 1/2 cups tepid water (105-110°F), plus 1 tablespoon for the egg wash
1 packet active dry yeast
4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon diastatic malt powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 teaspoons sugar
Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg white
Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or coarse salt for topping

 
Place the tepid water in a small bowl and dissolve the yeast completely; set aside. Combine flour, malt powder, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add yeast mixture, scraping any undissolved yeast out of the bowl with a spatula.

Mix on low until most of the loose flour has been worked into the dough and the dough looks shredded, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium low and continue mixing until the dough is stiff, smooth, and elastic, about 8 to 9 minutes more. (If the dough gets stuck on the hook or splits into 2 pieces, stop the machine, scrape off the hook, and mash the dough back into the bottom of the bowl.) The dough should be dry, not tacky or sticky, and somewhat stiff.

 
Shape the dough into a ball, pour a glug of oil over it, and turn it to coat in oil. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let the dough rise in a warm place, until it is noticeably puffy and springs back when you poke it, about 20 minutes. (The dough will not double in size.)

 
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 425°F and arrange the rack in the middle. Fill a large, wide, shallow pan (about 3 to 6 quarts) with water and baking soda, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium low and let simmer. Cover until you’re ready to boil the bagels. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper greased with oil or cooking spray. Place a metal rack inside of a second baking sheet and set aside.

 
Turn the risen dough out onto a dry surface. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, about 3 ounces each.  (While you work, keep the dough you’re not handling covered with a damp towel to prevent drying.)

 
Roll each piece into a ball, then poke a hole through the middle with your index finger.  With the dough still wrapped around your finger like a ring, rotate your hand upright and start twirling it around to enlarge the hole (you can also do this with your finger touching the work surface, but it's not as fun because there's no risk of the dough accidentally flying off your finger!).

 
Widen the hole in the middle so it is approximately the size of a quarter. Cover the shaped bagels with a damp towel and let rest 10 minutes.*

 
After resting, stretch the dough to retain the quarter-size hole (the dough will have risen a bit) and boil the bagels, making sure they have room to bob around.

 
Cook for about 60 seconds on each side until the bagels have a shriveled look, then remove to the baking sheet with the rack in it. Adjust heat as necessary so the water stays at a simmer.

 
Whisk together the remaining 1 tablespoon of water and the egg white until evenly combined. Brush the egg wash all over the bagels, then sprinkle as desired with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or coarse salt.

 
Arrange the bagels on the lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart and bake.

 
Rotate the pan after 15 minutes and bake until the bagels are a deep caramel color and have formed a crust on the bottom and top, about 10 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes so the interiors finish cooking and the crusts form a chewy exterior.

 
These bagels were exactly what I think of when I think bagel:  dense and chewy with a thick crust that has a "snap" to it.  As you can see in the pictures, they weren't kidding about making sure the hole in the middle was the size of a quarter before boiling and baking.

These aren't delicate, little pastries.  They'll stand up to a good schmear and go great with the bacon scallion cream cheese from the Momofuku Milk Bar Bagel Bombs, but even with plain cream cheese they're wonderful.   

*At this point I decided to freeze some of the bagels.  The night before I wanted to eat them, I would remove however many I wanted from the freezer and put them in the refrigerator to thaw overnight.  Then the next morning I would let them come to room temperature, widen the hole if needed, and proceed with the boiling step.  I found that the bagels I made this way had a deeper flavor and more textured crust (compare the bagel below with the bagel at the top of the post).

Four years ago:  Clementine Cupcakes

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Eggless Drommekage Fra Brovst/ Danish Dream Cake

          Drommekage Fra Brovst or Danish Dream Cake was this month's challenge for the Eggless Baking Group, thanks Meena (Chettinad Fiesta) for choosing such a lovely cake. There cannot be a better name to this cake, it was truly delicious and out of this world. Baking eggless has become easier now, and personally I like orange juice or buttermilk for replacing eggs. The cake is a basic vanilla cake, but the topping was amazing, brought the basic cake to another level. Try this, when you have a lot of people to share with, otherwise you'll end up finishing the whole thing, it was that good..

Recipe Source: Diana's Desserts

Need To Have
For The Cake

• All Purpose Flour Or Maida - 1 + 1/4 cup
• Orange Juice - 3/4 cup
• Oil - 1/4 cup
• Caster Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Baking Soda - 1/2 teaspoon
• Vanilla Extract - 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt - 1/8 teaspoon

For Topping

• Butter - 4 tablespoons
• Dessicated Coconut - 1/2 cup
• Light Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 2 tablespoon

Method

          Sieve the flour, baking powder and baking soda and keep. Prepare the baking pan by greasing with oil and dusting with flour. Take the oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla extract and mix well. To this, add the sifted flour and the salt and mix really well.

          Pour this in the prepared pan and bake it at 180C for 25 minutes or till a toothpick stuck in the middle of the cake comes clean.

          Take all the ingredients given under 'topping', mix and keep it ready.

          As soon as you remove the cake pan from the oven, spread the topping all over the cake. Put it back in the oven and bake it for another 10 minutes at 200C. Remove, cool the cake and slice it.

Note
The cake tasted good the next day too, but I am not sure after that because of the coconut in the topping, I would prefer to refrigerate it, if you have leftovers.
I didn't have dessicated coconut, I used grated fresh coconut, microwaved it for 7 or 8 minutes, till it became dry and crumbly and used it instead, it was perfect, also melt the butter before mixing in the other ingredients.

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Chilli-Garlic Quinoa

          Last week I had cooked about a cup of quinoa, and it was just me and my daughter, we couldn't finish up the entire quantity between us, so I had some leftover cooked quinoa. I didn't want to have it in the same way, mixed with some curry or sambar, I wanted to make something different with it and I came up with this Chilli Garlic Quinoa. It's a very simple dish but tasted really good, and was given a 'A+' by my daughter. Cooking quinoa al dente, can be a little tricky, refer here, you don't want to have a mushy dish. Try this out if you like the chilli and garlic flavor..

Need To Have

• Cooked Quinoa - 3 cups
• Shredded Cabbage - 5 cups
• Raw Peanuts - 1/4 cup
• Coriander Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Thick Soy Sauce - 1 tablespoon
• White Pepper Powder - 3/4 teaspoon
• Salt - to taste

To Grind

• Dried Red Chillies - 4
• Garlic Cloves - 8 small

Method

          Toast the peanuts, remove the skin, pound it coarsely and keep. Grind the dried red chillies and the garlic cloves.

         Heat some oil, add the shredded cabbage and some salt, saute it uncovered, till it's cooked but with a slight crunch.

          Heat some oil, add the ground chilli-garlic paste, saute it well till it gives a nice smell, for about 5 to 7 minutes. Then add the coriander powder and mix it well.

          Now add the soy sauce and mix for a minute, then add the sauteed cabbage and mix well.

          Now add the cooked and cooled quinoa and mix it well. Finally mix in the coarsely pounded peanuts and white pepper powder and serve it warm.

Note
Add more or less white pepper powder depending upon the spiciness of the red chillies added in the paste.
5 cups of cabbage might look like too much, but it shrinks a lot when you saute it, and also it's the cabbage and the peanuts that give the taste to the dish, so do not reduce the quantity.

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Bagel Bombs

So far I've made the crack pie, compost cookies, cereal milk, cereal milk panna cotta with cornflake crunch, cereal milk ice cream pie, grapefruit pie, and pretzel milk ice cream pie from the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook.  Can you tell I really like this cookbook?

For something a little different, i.e. savory, I tried making the Bagel Bombs.  Think freshly baked bread stuffed with bacon and scallion cream cheese and topped with an "everything bagel" mix of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion powder, garlic powder, and flaky salt.  Yum, right?

 
Bagel Bombs (adapted from Momofuku Milk Bar)
makes 8 buns

For the cream cheese stuffing
2 strips bacon
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 bunch scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the buns
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
7/8 cups water, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

For the everything bagel topping
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon water
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds
2 teaspoons black sesame seeds (I couldn't find any so I just added more white sesame seeds)
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon dried onions
3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

 
Place the bacon strips on a cold pan and place on low heat.  (Mine were really long so I had to halve them to fit in the pan.)  Cook until nice and crispy, flipping over once the bottom is cooked.

 
Transfer the bacon to a cutting board and finely chop.  Reserve the bacon fat left in the pan.

 
Put the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand up mixer with the paddle attachment and cream on medium speed until fluffy.

 
Pour in the reserved bacon fat and continue creaming on a lower speed.  Add the chopped bacon, scallions, sugar, and salt and mix at low speed to combine.

 
Scoop the cream cheese mixture onto a parchment-lined sheet pan in 8 even lumps and freeze until rock hard, 1 to 3 hours.

 
To make the dough, stir together the flour, salt, and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer using the dough hook like a spoon.  Continue stirring as you add the water, mixing for 1 minute, until the mixture has come together into a shaggy mess.

 
Engage the bowl and hook and have the machine mix the dough on the lowest speed for 3 minutes, or until the ball of dough is smoother and more cohesive. (If it just looks like a big wet mess, add some more flour until it begins to look more like a ball.)  Then knead for 4 more minutes on the lowest speed.  The dough should look like a wet ball and should bounce back softly when prodded.

 
Brush a large bowl with oil and transfer the dough ball into it (um, yeah, I might have accidentally poured a little too much oil into the bowl as evidenced in the pictures). Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough proof at room temperature for 45 minutes.

 
Make the everything bagel mix by mixing together the salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onions, onion powder, and garlic powder.

 
Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Punch down and flatten the dough on a smooth, dry counter top.  Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.

 
Put a cream cheese plug in the center of each piece of dough. 

 
Bring up the edges of each round and pinch to seal so that the cream cheese plug is completely contained, then gently roll the ball between the palms of your hands to ensure the bomb has a nice, round, dinner roll-y shape.

 
Arrange the bombs 4 inches apart on a parchment- or Silpat-lined cookie sheet.

 
Whisk the egg and 1/2 teaspoon water together and brush a generous coat of egg wash on the buns.

 
Sprinkle a heavy, even coating of the bagel mix all over the bagel bombs–every possible inch, except for the bottoms, should be coated.

 
Bake the bagel bombs for 20 to 30 minutes.  While in the oven, the bombs will become a deep golden brown and a few may have cream cheese explosions.  Continue baking until you see this happen.

 
As you can see in the picture above, the bottom right bun burst, so I pulled the baking sheet out, but I probably could have left the buns in there a little longer to get a little brown.

I found that while the buns were really delicious, the dough didn't really remind me of a nice, chewy bagel.  If anything, it kind of reminded me of my mom's hua juan buns.  I went back to the Milk Bar recently and tried the Bagel Bomb there to compare it with the ones I made.  The one I had had probably sat in their display counter for a few hours so it wasn't really a fair comparison, but I really think my homemade ones were better!

 

Four years ago:  Dutch Babies

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