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.