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Sourdough bread again

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Chura Ghasa Another sweet dish typical to the state of Odisha . This is another raw dish with no cooking required. This is my version as I had to substitute ingredients that I didn't have in my pantry . Here goes 1 cup of Chura ( beaten rice) - blitzed in a bender to a coarse powder 1 cup of coconut flakes ( original recipe says grated fresh coconut ) blitzed to a powder . 2-3 tsp sugar 3-4 tsp ghee 1 piece of camphor powdered . Mix all together throughly . The word Ghasa comes from here ... it means rubbed in . The ghee needs to to incorporated into mixture . I added 2-3 tsp of coconut milk to the mixture to make up for the dried coconut I added earlier . Blitz in a blender . Enjoy

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Chaula Makara Today is Makar Sankranti , the harvest festival celebrated all over India albeit by different names . I wanted to surprise my hubby with typical Odia Makar Sankranti food , so here we are. Chaula (Rice) Makar is the most common Odia Makar Sankranti food , taking its name from the festival itself .

This is my version of the recipe . I’ve had to make changes as I didn’t have some of the required ingredients on hand .

½ cup basmati rice soaked overnight (original says arwa chawal) ½ cup coconut milk ( original recipe calls for grated fresh coconut ) 1 mashed banana 1 slice of fresh ginger A few peppercorns ground Sugar or jaggery to taste (I've used 2tbsp) ½ cup milk Cut fruits : apples and grapes ( original recipe calls for cubes of sugarcane , grapes and pomegranate)

Drain the water off the rice and grind coarse. Add the rest of the ingredients except the fruits and blitz in the grinder. To serve , mix in the mashed banana and pour into a bowl . Garnish with cut fruits. Serve chilled As an afterthought I realised this is actually rawfood .

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Sourdough scoring patterns

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Caramel Custard Started the new year with something sweet. Made caramel custard for the first time in my life . This is one of the desserts my mum always makes . I was feeling nostalgic today so I made this . To make caramel : Caramelise 4 tablespoons of sugar mixed with 2 tsp of water in a heavy bottomed pan. Do not stir with spoon. Just swirl it about to prevent burning . Turn off the fire as soon as the sugar changes to a golden colour . Pour the caramel into a container with a tight lid in when you want to make custard . This container should be able to fit into a pressure cooker . The caramel should coat the bottom of the container . Keep the container i the fridge to cool down . Custard : Whisk 4 eggs with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla essence. Add 2 cups ( 500 ml) milk. Pour the custard mixture into the container that has the caramel and close lid. Place the custard container into the pressure cooker with a little bit of water. Water level must be much below the container so that the boiling water cannot get into the container . Close Pressure cooker lid and steam without whistle for about 20-30 min until the custard has set. Let the custard cool in the container. Chill in the fridge . Invert the custard over the serving plate when you want to serve .

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Fermenting onions First attempt at fermenting onions . This is a small batch of about 1 and a half yellow onion . These are sliced into rings and kept in a 2% brine. That is 5g of sea salt ( avoid iodized salt) in 250ml of water . Now we wait for 3 weeks .

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Ajwain water Ajwain water helps with digestion . Boil 1 tsp ajwain (Carom) with 1 cup of water . Cool , stir in some rock candy if you like and sip the water all day .

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Milk Kefir Cheese This is simply milk kefir strained in a cheesecloth and left to hang overnight . Next morning you get this delicious creamy , slightly tart melt in your mouth goodness , chock full of healthy probiotics

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Of Homemade Playdough and Playdough Rangoli

They say necessity is the Mother of invention..... or innovation.... they couldn't be more true !! This Diwali morning saw m rushing around in the mall for last minute grocery shopping which included,  among other things , Playdough !! And it seemed that the Playdough stars were not in my favour as I returned empty handed from two shops . And why did I want Playdough.... well I wanted my 3 year old Daughter to participate in the traditional rangoli making,.... and powdered colours would've been a disaster . So here I was heaving my shopping around and searching frantically for Playdough. Well it was not to be , so I decided to make my own .  I had known about home made Playdough for quite a while but hadn't got myself to making it yet .... until now when I had no other option but to just do it !!! 

I got the recipe from the internet .... no claims to the recipe here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Playdough-Play-doh/

I followed the recipe exactly.  Mixed 2 cups flour with 2 cups warm water , added 2 tbsp oil , 1 cup salt ( avoid coarse salt ) and 1 tablespoon cream of tartar . Cook it over gas for 10 min till the dough clumps together then take it out and knead the life out of it . Till everything is all incorporated and smooth .  Add food colouring of your choice and you have Playdough . 

My Daughter was mighty excited , and we had a lovely time making the rangolis. 

Happy Diwali 

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Artisan “Boule” Sourdough Bread

This has been one of the easiest sourdough breads to make . It so incredibly easy I wonder how anyone didn’t think of this earlier. This recipe has been adapted from the ‘Boule’ bread mix from the book “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Their recipe was was a yeast bread , I have just replaced the yeast with sourdough starter and viola …. I have sourdough bread . The yeast bread recipe is actually copyrighted so I wouldn’t want to publish it here . What I am going to put here is my sourdough version:

3 cups of wholewheat flour 1.5 cups of lukewarm water ( just warm enough to stick your finger in) 1 - 1.5 tsp of sea salt 50 gm of sourdough starter

Mix flour and salt . Add water and mix with a spatula, just enough to incorporate the flour and water and you don’t have dry patches of flour and then that’s it. Leave it to rise for an hour .

At this point you can bake or if you don’t want to just put it in a plastic container and store it in the fridge . This can be stored for up to two weeks .

Whenever you want to bake take out the amount you Want to bake . Form it into the desired shape and leave it to rise on the counter for 20 min . Meanwhile preheat the oven with Dutch oven in it to 260 degrees C for 20 min . After 20 min , take out the Dutch oven , dust it with Flour and place the dough in it . Also place a small metal glass with water in the Dutch oven . Close the lid and place the Dutch oven in the oven . Let it Bake at 260 degrees C for 20 min . Reduce temperature to 220 , remove the Dutch oven lid and bake open for 20 min .

The bread is done . Love this method . It is convenient, easy and best of all not so sour .

This is the link to the yeast version of the Bread http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018203-simple-crusty-bread

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Homemade Sunscreen

Sunscreen is a necessity in sunny Singapore. I have been worried about having to slather my little one with this chemical gloop every morning, ever since I started reading up on the nasties that are present in the commercially available sunscreen . But as I didn't have an alternative, I just had to .... well now I don't !!!!   

Presenting home made sunscreen... No Nasties

I saw this recipe on Dr Axe , it was incredibly simple , I couldn't not try it. I added an extra ingredient to make it waterproof... 😉... coz Little Miss 3 year old loves water play.

Here is the recipe :

3/4 cup coconut oil

2 tbsp Shea butter

2 tbsp beeswax (this is the extra ingredient ... so this is optional)

10 drops lavender oil ( therapeutic grade)

2 tbsp zinc oxide ( non nano ... very important)

1tbsp pomegranate oil

That's all 

In a double boiler , melt the bees wax first , coz that takes the longest.

Then the shea butter . Once both have melted to a clear liquid, add the coconut oil. Then the lavender oil and pomegranate oil. 

(I didn't have pomegranate oil so skipped it)

Once all are mixed , add the zinc oxide and stir vigorously. 

Pour into containers you want to store it in ... and you are done . 

Enjoy ....

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Balsamic Strawberry Jam Cooked up leftover balsamic strawberries with sugar and came up with delicious jam . The secret ingredient ... Wait for it ... Banana !!! Here is the approximate measurements 2 cups of chopped strawberries ( Fresh or frozen) 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 5-6 chopped basil leaves A pinch of pepper 2-3 tablespoon of brown sugar . 1/2 tsp of sea salt Let this macerate for about an hour at room temperature Cook this mixture over a slow fire . Keep tasting all along to adjust sweetness When the mixture is cooked through , and the strawberries have blended into a syrupy ,gooey mass , add one big ripe mashed banana , the riper the better . Cook till the banana is incorporated . Cool and store . The banana definitely makes a big difference. I have made this both with and without the banana ... The former got the family's vote . It kind of confers the tartness and brings the flavour together without imposing itself .

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Sourdough Bread

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The joys of crafting your own food . This is sourdough bread made by moi with balsamic strawberry and basil jam and goat cheese . I did not make the Goat cheese .

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The Adrenal Cocktail

Unknown to us , many of us suffer from adrenal fatigue . one of the symptoms of this is inability to sleep at night . Many people have found that drinking this adrenal cocktail helps them relax and sleep better at night . It's the simplest recipe and I have had friends swearing by the effectiveness of this drink . 

Here is the recipe :

4 oz  orange juice ( vitamin C) - roughly 2 medium oranges should be enough 

1/4 tsp cream of tartar ( for potassium )

1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt or sea salt ( sodium and other minerals )

Just mix it up and drink .

It's yummy and help you to sleep.