Garlic and Red chilly Naan/Flatbread - Oven method

Among all the breads I have posted here, not one is an Indian flatbread (excluding the "chapathis" of course!)
This is where that leaves me... this time staying close to my natural abilities, and came up with my own version of "Naan" which is fondly referred to as the Indian flatbread.
The flour used in this recipe is "Atta", a whole wheat stone-ground flour (Or you may just use the regular whole wheat flour.)
If you are close to an Indian store, try to grab a small bag of this (Atta). They do have heavyweights like the 20lbs. bags! But if you are new to these kinds of breads you may not end up using all of it, so in this case smaller is in fact better! :)

Dried red chillies add a hot zing with the garlicky flavor complementing it perfectly. Being my own creation, I did go a little high on the heat levels, but the recipe listed below uses a saner amount of chillies.

A small tip about removing garlic smell from your hands after peeling them... rub your fingers over a stainless steel spoon keeping both spoon and hands under flowing water. This will remove the stubborn smell from your fingers and prevent it from getting onto other food that you maybe multi-tasking with. Works for me!

And again, this is an oven version of the flatbread, I will be posting other methods of making them sooner or later. This is my first attempt at Naan and I just hope it will get better from now on. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Garlic and Red chilly Naan/Flatbread

Ingredients:

Atta/Whole wheat flour - 3 1/2 cups
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Yeast - 2 tsp
Warm water - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 4 cloves
Crushed dried red chillies - 4-5 (Depending on how much heat you can take)
Salt - To Taste
Olive oil - 3 tbsp + a little for brushing on top of the bread.
Water - To knead bread

Method:

Chop and roast the garlic along with dried red chillies in a small pan with olive oil. Set aside.

Add the warm water to the yeast, add sugar, mix well, and let it sit till frothy (about 10 min)

Mix flour and salt, add the yeast mixture, garlic and red chilly flakes and add water enough to form into a not-so-tight ball.

Knead this dough ball for about 15 min to develop the gluten and it should be smooth when you are done.



Coat with a tad bit of oil, cover and let it rest in a large bowl for about 2 hours. The dough will expand.

After a couple of hours, the dough will look like this.



Preheat oven to 425F.

Take it out on a floured board and fold over for about 4 to 5 times and pinch out large lemon-sized balls and roll it out with the help of a rolling pin or just use your hands to spread it out like a pizza dough.

Place on a baking stone or sheet, and bake for about 10-15 min or till it is brown on top.
Brush with olive oil/butter as it comes out of the oven.

Enjoy warm with your choice of vegetables and yogurt to make a nice balanced meal. Or make it extra special with rich gravies.





Sending it off to Susan's Wild Yeast Spotting event

Low fat Banana Brownie Pizza - Sensual yet casual

Would like to thank firstly all those people who thought my blog and its content was worthy of awards. Thanks everyone, and will get around to passing it soon.

Care for some dessert pizza with chocolate and bananas?

I have had some questions about whole wheat pastry flour recently, to answer those in short, you can find this is the flour aisle (or the speciality flour aisle) in the grocery store (in the US), or in the bulk section of the health food store. I am not sure about the availability in other countries.
They are a finer and lighter than the regular whole wheat flour, and can be used as healthier substitute for all purpose flour in cakes, cookies and brownies such as these. Sifting the flour gives a airier texture and feel to the end product, though not completely necessary.

Another point to note (like I have already mentioned) when making brownies, is not to use a hand mixer of any kind. Brownies are dense and chewy, unlike the cakes which are lighter. Using a hand mixer will only incorporate air into it which won't make for a perfect brownie.

Bananas in the batter add a light fruity aroma and taste to it, and with chocolate is it just the perfect sensual yet casual dessert pizza one could ask for.



Low fat Banana Brownie Pizza

For the banana brownie layer:

Whole wheat pastry flour - 1 cup
Melted semi sweet chocolate chips - 1/4 cup
Unsweetened cocoa - 1/4 cup
Nonfat dry milk powder - 1/4 cup
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Ripe banana - 1 large
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Egg - 1 large
Buttermilk - 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp

For topping:

Bananas - Sliced
Heavy whipping cream - Whipped and chilled
Agave nectar - To drizzle

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease a round cake tin and set aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients, whole wheat pastry flour, cocoa, milk powder and baking soda in a bowl.

In a food processor, combine banana, melted chocolate chips, sugar, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla till smooth.

Whisk in the dry ingredients into the wet mixture just until combined, do not over mix.

Bake at 350F for 20-25 min or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center. Do not over bake.

Allow to cool completely. Top with whipped cream, and bananas and drizzle a little agave nectar (or honey would work fine too) on top. I added a wee bit of chopped chocolate as well.

Cut into pizza like wedges and indulge.



This goes to Aparna's Sweet celebrations and Mansi's Vegtarian Thanksgiving

Wild Rice Salad with Cashews and Lemon-Mint Dressing

I took this amazing cooking class instructed by Omid Roustaei, (who is also a personal chef) a few weeks back. As healthy and nutritious as all his creations that day were, there was one particular dish that caught my attention "The wild rice salad".
It was a sensual burst of flavors in my mouth, almost like a perfect medley of sweet, bitter, nutty and every bit pleasantly Herby.

Wild rice is a different variety of rice that grows in water, and only the flowering part is above the water. It is black in color and high in protein, amino acids and dietary fiber, and low in fat. Gluten-free like every other rice.
They are normally used in sync with other rices and sold like a medley, but they can be brought separately too, and can be used in salads like these. They are harder than normal rice, and thus takes longer to cook.
I don't use wild rice on a regular basis, so got what I needed in the bulk section of the grocery store, that works out cheaper too.

The original recipe called for cranberries which I omitted, added green bell peppers, and subtituted zucchini with raw mangoes. And it turned out just the way I liked it.
Mangoes did add its own magic to the whole salad. It is a must try. And super healthy too.

Wild Rice Salad with Cashews and Lemon-Mint Dressing

Ingredients:

Salad:
Wild rice -1 cup
Vegetable broth - 2 1/4 cups
Raddichio/any bitter greens - 1/2 cup
Raw mango - 1 small (diced) (Could substitute this with zucchini)
Red pepper - 1 (diced)
Green bell pepper - 1 small (diced)
Carrot - 1 (diced)
Roasted salted cashew nuts - 1/2 cup
Salt - To taste

Dressing:
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Lemon juice - From 2 large lemons
Garlic - 4 cloves (finely chopped)
Mint - 1 bunch chopped
Pepper - 1 tsp
Salt - To taste

Method:

In a cooking pot, combine wild rice, salt and broth and bring to to a boil. Simmer, and cover. Cook for about 40 - 60 min or till the grain is soft.
I used a rice cooker to cook the wild rice, so did not have to keep checking.
Cool completely.

In another large bowl, mix all the ingredients listed in the dressing section.

To this add the cooled wild rice, the rest of the vegetables, (except cashews), salt and pepper and let it sit for an hour in the refrigerator.

Just before serving add the roasted cashew nuts and serve.

Yields 4 to 6 servings.



This goes to:

Sangeeth's Eat Healthy Fight Diabetes event
Srivalli's Rice mela event
Kimi's Nourishing Holiday Food event
Ivy's World Food Day event
Suganya's Vegan Ventures event

Whole-wheat Chocolate Linzer cake - Photography in the dark

Any good food photographer will stress the importance of good lighting when one is doing food photography. (I am not one!) But what does a person like me do when the sun just won't shine???
With the cold gloomy winter setting in (if you have ever been/lived in the Pacific NW, then you would empathize with me) , taking photographs of food is getting challenging every day. I just have a normal digital camera, and I am so lost.
I have seen the food lighting project in a few blogs, but I just haven't got around to figuring it out, unless someone would do it for me. ;)
And the "white balance" feature in the camera just makes the food look eerie. LOL.

I would love to hear from you, how do you take good pictures when the right amount of lighting is not there?
I will update this post with good suggestions and ideas as I get them, that way everyone can benefit.

Few Updates: (For the rest, pls check the "comments" section)
I would have loved to link back to you guys (like I normally do), but the "post options" is screwed up right now in blogger! So frustrating!

"Priya of Akshayapatram": Lighting is a major problem and you can never beat good sunlight. I made the lighting system based on Lowel ego lights following Jai's instructions. It works very well, but I find it bulky to move around my apartment, as I don't have a dedicated place to set it up in. For now its lying on my bedroom floor and I usually don't have the patience to carry the food there to set it up and take photos. So size it based on your needs.
I have been managing at my kitchen counter with the tube lights ON,white light is the best! Planning on getting a smaller lamp that will be brighter, use a thin paper to diffuse the light coming out of table lamps though to avoid its harshness. You could also make use of the thermacol pieces that come with packages to bounce the light off surfaces to get good shadows/even lighting.
And then there is always an editing/post processing software to help you out a little. If you have a decently good capture, you can make it work by adjusting the brightness/contrast/exposure settings on it.

"Purva of Purva's Daawat": Softwares like picasa helps you making adjustments in the brightness of your picture.

"PG of My Kitchen stories": Try to optimise the colour balance in Adobe photoshop. It does no magic, but you can improve them a bit.

"Nirmala of Passionate Trials": Install a photo editor like Gimp (free) or Photoshop and you can add brightness to your photos very easily.

"Uma of Essence of Andhra": When you want to take a picture at night, just switch off the light in the room! Then switch on the flash of the camera and click the photo. You'll definitely get a perfect picture. I clicked a few pictures using this method and they are just perfect and bright. Will post those pics soon!

Cake, my dear loving cake... (I had ample sunlight when I took these pics, so I am not complaining about this one)

This is a cake modification of the "Austrian Linzer tart" recipe, and I have tried to take on a guilt free variation with a "no-butter", and "less-sugar" version made entirely with 100% whole wheat flour. What better than indulging in a cake without having to worry about your waistline!

Whole-wheat Chocolate Linzer cake

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 2 round cake pans (maybe 8-9" diameter)/line them with parchment paper.

Dry Ingredients:

100% whole wheat pastry flour - 3/4 cup (Try not to use the regular whole wheat flour, unless you want a very dense cake)
Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp

Wet Ingredients:

Whole almonds - 2/3 cup
Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp
Skim milk - 2 tbsp
Almond extract - 3/4 tsp
Large eggs - 4 (Separated, meaning white and yolks in separate bowls)
Sugar - 3/4 cups (I use a little less)
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

For finishing:

Strawberry preserves - 3/4 cup
Confectioner's sugar - Just enough to cover the top of the cake
Fresh strawberries - As many as you like!



Method:

Sift all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Take the egg whites and beat them on low speed in a hand mixer till soft peaks form, slowly add 1/4 cup sugar and beat till you get stiff peaks.

Grind the almonds in a food processor, then add the milk, almond extract and vegetable oil and pulse till it forms a wet mass.

Beat the egg yolks & 1/2 cup of sugar separately in a bowl till the mixture turns pale yellow and creamy. Add vanilla essence.

Now add the almond mixture and mix till incorporated with the egg yolk mixture. Then add the flour mixture and fold/mix evenly.

Add one-third of the beaten egg whites and fold into the above mixture. Do not beat/whisk (as tough as it may be), then add the rest of the egg whites and fold till the batter looks even.

Divide equally into the two prepped pans and tap gently to settle the air bubbles.



Bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 min, turn the pans midway, then bake for another 10 min.
Cool completely on a cake rack for atleast an hour.



Spread the strawberry preserves evenly on top of one cake, and then place the other cake on top and press firmly.
I did have pre-powdered sugar with cardamom (Indian spice) and it co-ordinated pretty well with the cake.
Dust the powdered sugar on top and decorate with fresh strawberries. Cut yourself a slice and enjoy!



This goes to:

Aparna's Blog anniversary
Mansi's Vegetarian Thanksgiving
Not Quite Nigella's The Ultimate Chocolate Cake
DK's AWED American