DATES YOGURT CAKE

Another easy recipe to whip up a delicious cake. All done by hand, simply mix and bake. The only extra work is removing the stone from the dates and chopped them.  Best to chop up the dates in larges chunk so it is visible on your cake.

Dates Yogurt Cake  is so moist and delicious. I'.m having hard time to preserve the bake before it disappears. Will definitely bake them often.

VERMONT OATMEAL BROWN SUGAR BREAD

One of my favorite ingredients in baking is oat. I had muffin, cake, rolls and bars made with oat. Did you notice that I'm obsessed with bread baking too. When checking a new recipe on the net, I just can't resist to visit KAF since  most of their recipes showed up and really to my liking. They are fail proof and exceptionally good.

This Vermont Oatmeal Brown Sugar Bread recipe also adapted from their site but with slight adjustments. Have baked half of them using muffin pan instead of a loaf.  Despite all the changes,  they turned out fantastic and full nutty flavor of  oat.

POTATO CUPS

Potato Cups make a tasty appetizer.  Prepare them ahead and reheat them  just before serving. You can also freeze them. Run a sharp knife around the edges to loosen them from the cups.

These are made of grated potato, onion, garlic, cilantro and cornflour. It is ready in no time since I have cooked them using microwave. For crusty cups you can bake Potato Cups in muffin pan.

FRUITY COOKIES

Adding dried fruit in biscuits  not only help to sweeten this snack but also add a chewy quality. You can add any dried fruit available like dried cranberries, apricot, fig or fruit mix to them.  Along with dried fruit, chopped toasted nuts can be incorporated in the dough but this is optional.

These Fruity Cookies were very easy to make and so good.  They disappear fast once you laid them on the table.

HONEY WHEAT BLACK BREAD

Sightly sweet and has a subtle flavor of coffee.  Combination of honey, coffee and cocoa make this bread a special treat with your cuppa.

The dough is quite sticky and you need to add extra  flour to work with.  It rose quite substantially  after it has been baked. Give it a try friends! I think you will be amazed at how tasty  and fluffy it turns out.

HONEY WHEAT BLACK BREAD
Adapted from  here
Yield      :     6 rolls

1 and 1/4 C  all purpose flour
3/4 C  whole wheat flour
1/2 C  warm water
1/4 C  honey
1/2 TB  cocoa
1 tsp instant coffee
3/4 tsp salt
1 and 1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 TB melted butter

METHOD

Place flour, cocoa, yeast and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir to mix.

Add in honey, butter and warm water. Mix and forms into soft dough. If too sticky, add 1-2 tablespoons more flour.

Transfer onto floured board, knead by hand for 10 minutes.

Place dough in an oiled and covered bowl, let rise until doubled for about an hour.

Gently punch the dough, divide into 6 ball. Shape as desired and let rise for 60 minutes. Towards the end of rising time, preheat oven @ 180C,

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Enjoy!

Linking to  Yeastspotting 9-23-11

SHAHI MURG (CHICKEN IN YOGURT)

Naan is a favorite of my son and he prefers to eat them with chicken dish. Since I had a bowl of yogurt, so this is an appropriate gravy to cook with.

Perfect blend of spices, makes this dish scrumptious and creamy.  Had used ready made korma powder if not you can use a mixture of ground coriander and ground cumin. We need more gravy to dip so added a little bit of water at the time of cooking but this is not necessary if you prefer thicker one.

This goes well with capathi, naan, paratha or even rice.

SHAHI MURG (CHICKEN IN YOGURT)
Servings     :     4-6
Adapted from Hjh Suraya Bee

1 whole chicken, deskinned and cut into 8-10 pieces
1 TB garlic paste
1 TB ginger paste
1 TB course ground black pepper
1/2 C warm fresh milk
1/2 tsp saffron
500 ml yogurt
1/2 C coriander leaves, chopped
4 cardamoms
4 cloves
5 cm cinnamon
3 large onion chopped
1 TB korma curry spice
1 TB chili powder
2 pieces bay leaves
2 red chili coarsely sliced
2 green chili coarsely sliced
2 tomato quartered
1/4 C silvered almond, toasted
1/4 C raisin
salt to taste
4 TB ghee/ vegetable oil

METHOD

Marinade chicken with ginger garlic paste and black pepper for 20 minutes.

Infuse saffron in warm milk, put aside. Beat yogurt till smooth then combine chopped coriander leaves in it.

Heat the oil, saute cloves, cinnamon and cardamom till fragrant. Add in chopped onion, saute until light brown.

Add in korma spice, chili powder and bay leaves, saute until oil seeps.

Now add the chicken, stir to coat with spices evenly.

Add in yogurt mix, saffron infused milk, red/green chili and salt to taste.

Reduce flame, cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes, stir every now and then.

When the chicken is tender, add the tomato, silvered almond and raisin, stir well.

Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves at the time of serving.

Best served hot with any type of rice or bread.

CHOCOLATE CEREAL BISCUIT

Cereals are a  great ingredient to add in cookies and dessert bars. They add an interesting taste and also a bit of fiber in your diet.

If you have a large box of uneaten cereal, I recommend you to bake a small batch of cookies to test whether this is acceptable to your kid. Later on you can double or triple the recipe if your kid favored them.

Here is my basic recipe of Chocolate Cereal Biscuit  using nestum (breakfast cereal) but you can fiddle around with it to fit your own
taste.

GOLDEN PULL APART BUTTER BUN

                                                                    Before baking

                                                                   
There is nothing more satisfying  for me  than making a successful batch of bread. Once you start to get the feel of making bread, you are addicted.

If you are new to bread-making, this is really good recipe to start with. It produces beautiful and fluffy bread though it takes more than 3 hours to bake them.

If you want to use active dry yeast increase the amount  to 1 1/4 teaspoon and mix the yeast with 1/3 cup of warm water. Let it proof for 5-10 minutes before you add it to the flour.

RENDANG PADANG

Rendang is a dish using  chicken, beef, mutton or even seafood slow cooked with dried/fresh  chili, onion, ginger, galangal, fragrant leaves in coconut milk until the the liquid is dried up and the meat is tender. It is part of  essential meal for festive occasions in South East Asian countries.

There are many variations to cook this dish.  For spicy food lovers, this Rendang Padang uses  bird's eye chili (chili padi)  which can be varied according to your taste.  The slow cook process allows the meat to absorb all the spices and becomes soft. This also requires  frequent stirring so it does not stick to the bottom of the pan..

CHECKERBOARD COOKIES

I have decided to spend my afternoon making this Checkerboard Cookies. At first glance, I thought it will be complicated to prepare, the more different recipes found on the net  driving me more confused especially all those measurements.

This requires a little bit of extra effort to make these fanciful cookies but it is worthwhile.  Really enjoyed and pretty simple to bake them. The rectangle dough of plain and chocolate is cut into 2 then stack on top of each so you have 4 layers.  Now slice each log about  1/2 in thick  then stack them  alternately to obtain checkerboard pattern.

Checkerboard Cookies  is mildly sweetened with half a cup sugar but you can add more if you want it sweeter. Another tip is to place the dough into clear storage bag, roll out into rectangle about 7 x 9.5 in  for both plain and chocolate dough. After chilling, using a scissor,  cut open from the center of the bag. This way we need not use any flour and avoid sticking to your board. Line your board with plastic when you did the stacking job.

ONION BIALYS

This is totally unknown to me until I saw them on the net. Originated from Poland, this bialys  uses less ingredients compared with other rolls and no added fat. It is similar to bagel but without the hole and not boiled.

They are soft and had chewy crust. Though my onion turned extra brown but they remained delicious and sweet, came  from the fried onion. At the time of baking, nice aroma filled the entire kitchen.. It is best eaten right after it has been baked.

ONION BIALYS
Adapted and modified from The Bread Bible
Yield     :      6 bialys

2  C  high gluten bread flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
3/4  C plus 2 TB warm water

ONION FILLING
2 and 1/4 tsp oil
6 TB  chopped onion
1/4  tsp salt
black pepper to taste

METHOD

Mix together flour, instant yeast and salt. Gradually add the water and forms into a dough.

Knead the dough by hand for 10 minutes and place it onto greased and covered bowl.

Let rise for 1 1/2-2 hours until doubled. Punch the dough down, let sit for another 45 minutes.

Prepare the filling by heating the oil, saute the onion until translucent. Remove,  add salt and black pepper. Cool.

Punch the dough down, divide into 6 balls. Shape each ball into 2 1/2 in-4 in  round and make a deep indentation in the center leaving 1 in rim.  Spoon the filling in the center..

Let sit for 15 minutes. Preheat oven @ 180 C.

Bake the bialys for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on rack.

Serve warm.

Linking to  Yeastspotting 9-9-11  

DAISY COOKIES / BISKUT DAHLIA

One of popular cookies served during  festive occasions. Made with regular ingredients available from your pantry.

It requires a bit of time, since you have to press the cookies one by one but it's worth your effort. Turned out tasty and handsome too.  One thing I love about this cookies is that you need not use any  frosting /icing since they're pretty once you had pressed them out of the mold. Pearl sugar, dragees and sprinkles can be placed on top of this cookies to dress it up a bit and give it more festive appearance.

DAISY COOKIES / BISKUT DAHLIA
Yield        :       50 cookies

180 g  corn flour
  50 g  all purpose flour
110 g  condensed milk
125 g  softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
glace cherries for decoration

METHOD

Combine all purpose flour and corn flour in a mixing bowl.

Using a whisk, beat butter, vanilla and condensed milk until just combined. Don't overbeat.

Now mix milk mixture with the flour and forms into soft dough. If it is still very soft, add 1-2 tablespoons of cornflour. You must be able to shape the dough into a ball.

Using  daisy mold,  press the dough onto baking sheet. Complete the rest of the dough. Preheat oven @ 160 C. Dot each cookies with cherries.

Bake for  15 -20 minutes. Transfer gently and let cool.

When completely cool, store in an airtight container.

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PORTUGUESE SWEET BREAD ROLLS

There are so many version of Portuguese Sweet Bread found on the net. Some used a starter but now I had baked them using straight forward method from King Arthur Flour. Originally a bread machine recipe but made slight changes to suit my taste.

This  dough is easy to work with and not so wet. You can easily shape them into a loaf or as a roll. They turned so  fluffy and smell so good while baking. Even my son can't resist to taste them. Incredibly delicious!