Nolen Gurer Til Gajak

Getting back to a normal routine after an amazing and relaxed holiday is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do. I have been back from a splendid time spent in Allahabad for almost a week now and am struggling to find  enthusiasm to click and share some food on the blog. I am literally rubbing my cold fingers to warm them up and start the new year with a bang. 

Well, a bang it was, as Vaanya started Montessori last week and I as a typical Indian mother had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat to see my little pumpkin being taken away to her class. She cried most naturally being taken away from the warmth and protection that she has known since birth but I cried even more and tried my best to hide my tears from other parents who perhaps have gone through the very same thing. 

Vaanya is still taking time to adjust and will hopefully very soon love the idea of going to a place called school, a place to make new friends, learn new exciting facts of life and thus enter the inevitable social world. 

Amongst all the craziness in our world nowadays, I just realized that it time of the year to feel cozy warming yourself against the heat of the bonfire, munch on loads of gajaks, rewadis and popcorns and sing merry songs. It is Lohri time. 

Lohri is celebrated to denote the last of the cruel coldest days in North India. It is celebrated in lieu of the harvesting of Rabi crops. All over India, this time of the year is festival time which is known by different names. For Sikhs it is Lohri while for Hindus it is Makar Sankranti just like it is Pongal down South and Bihu in Assam. 
When Kolkata Food Blogger's got together to celebrate Poush Sankranti by sharing sweet delicacies, I was in pretty much a fix as I have never tried the regional sweets devoured at this time of the year. Since the same is celebrated as Lohri by us, I decide to put my hands on this extremely easy and quick recipe called Til Gajak. To add some Bengali flavour to this Punjabi sweet, I made one batch with Nolen gur. For the other batch I used normal jaggery. Both came out wonderful but the Nolen gur ones had a lovely deep colour and looked amazing with the white sesame seeds doing a peek-a-boo. The normal jaggery ones hid the sesame seeds in its own colour and so needed some extra sprinkling on top while rolling thin. 
Both ways it is the easiest way to spend a wonderful cozy time with family doing chit chat, warming yourself against the fire and munching endlessly on goodies  enjoying the last day of the cold winters.

Ingredients : Serves 4-5

• 1/3 cup grated Nolen gur/normal jaggery (I made 2 batches with both)
• 3 tbsp white sesame seeds

Procedure : 

Take a pan and dry roast the sesame seeds on medium heat till they begin to change colour.

Transfer to a plate and allow to cool.

Heat the pan and add Nolen gur/normal jaggery. Stir continuously till it dissolves.

Remove from heat and add the roasted sesame seeds.

Quickly spread the mixture on an oiled surface like your kitchen counter or a plate. 

Allow to cool for 5-10 secs and then put a sheet of plastic on top and roll with a rolling pin as thin as you want. (For the normal jaggery batch I had to sprinkle some extra sesame seeds on top as they hid in the colour of the jaggery, but this is completely optional)

Trim the edges with a sharp knife and make desired shapes out of it. I made rectangles. 

Gajak with Nolen gur

Gajak with normal gur/jaggery

Notes : 

• You can make rewadis out of the same by simply rolling the gur-sesame seeds mixture into round or flattened balls. Be careful as the mixture can be very hot for your fingers.
• Try your hands on Moongfali gajak by substituting sesame seeds for halved moongfali/groundnuts. 
• You can make the same with sugar in which case you will get white gajaks. 

Check out here to see some amazing sweets served for the festivity by my friends at Kolkata Food Bloggers.

Happy Lohri

Amrita

Soft Pretzels

Every month my diary gets enriched with some amazing new baking recipes. That is because I am part of some of the most wonderful baking groups. Its exciting and an enriching experience to learn new bakes and recreate them. The only downfall of being part of the challenges is trying to keep a pace with them and post them. Today's post is actually a part of my baking challenge which was meant for the month of August! 

Pretzels was the choice of yeasted bake for 'We Knead to bake'. The choice was between the hard and the soft ones. Having never tasted pretzels, I assumed the soft ones would be better to attempt. In fact, that is what most of the members felt.   

Pretzel, having originated from Europe, is a type of baked bread which has a traditional and unique knot-like shape called the 'pretzel loop'. They are often seasoned and flavoured with salts, sugars or various seeds/nuts.

The shape of a Pretzel is though to resemble folded arms during prayers with the three holes in it representing the Holy Trinity.

The pretzels are actually fairly simple to make and involve a unique process of boiling the proofed and shaped dough in baking soda bath before baking it. This step is supposed to give the pretzels a deep brown colour and a soft and chewy texture.

Pretzels are served with a mustard based or cheese based dips or else enjoyed just as they are. I loved dunking them in my evening milky tea and enjoying them the Indian style!

Ingredients: I halved the recipe to yield 6 pretzels

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 3 cup water
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• milk for brushing
• white sesame seeds for sprinkling

 
Procedure :
In a bowl, take flour, salt and yeast. Add warm milk and mix till a soft dough forms. Knead for 10 mins to get a smooth and elastic dough. 
(If using active dried yeast, dissolve it in the warm milk and sugar and allow to stand for 5-10 mins. Add it to flour and add salt and knead to form a smooth dough.) 
Form the dough into a ball and place in a well oiled bowl, turning to coat all sides. Allow to double in size for around 1 hour
Deflate and divide into 6 equal portions. 
Roll each (while others are covered to prevent drying) 
to around 18" long rope with tapered ends. 

Cross the ends, one with the other.

 Twist the overlapped ends.

 Fold the ends over the circle and secure them by pinching well.

Repeat the same for all the portions.
Allow to rise for 10 mins.
Meanwhile pour 3 cups of water with 1 tbsp baking soda in a pan and let it boil.
Turn down the heat and let it simmer.
Gently lower one pretzel and cook for 15 secs each side.

Remove and place on a greased wire rack repeating the same for all.

Preheat oven to 220 degree Celsius and place the pretzels on a greased and lined baking tray.
Brush the pretzels with milk and sprinkle white sesame seeds on top.
Bake for 10-12 mins or till they brown up well.

Happy Soft Pretzel eating
Amrita

Masala biscuits

This month our Daring Baker's hostess Aparna challenged us with not one but two amazing challenges. There was this terrific Mawa cake(that I made into cupcakes) and two very traditional in flavour biscuits/cookies-Bolinhas de coco(Coconut flavoured semolina biscuit) and Masala biscuits. My personal hatred to coconut cookies made me jump straight to the Masala ones.
These biscuits(as I would rather call them over cookies) burst with very Indian flavours. These are just throw ingredients in the bowl kind of recipe. I rolled them extra thin to achieve such crisp and yummy biscuits and regretted trying just 1/4 of the recipe. The curry and coriander leaves along with roasted and crushed cumin seeds and black peppercorns with a dash of chopped green chillies lend such an amazing Indian taste to these biscuits. 
All it needs is a hot cup of strong milky tea and you will not be able to stop at just one. I personally had the most difficult time trying to save some to take pictures.

 Ingredients : I reduced the recipe to 1/4 and added whole wheat flour(atta)

• 4 tbsp all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp whole wheat flour(atta)
• 2 tsp rice flour(chawal ka atta)
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar, powdered
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cold
• 1 tbsp yogurt, cold(I used homemade dahi)
• 1 green chilly, deseeded and chopped
• 1/4" piece of ginger, grated
• 1/4 tsp whole black peppercorn
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 sprigs curry leaves, chopped
• 1 sprig coriander leaves, chopped
• white sesame and nigella seeds for sprinkling on top

 Procedure : 
Add all purpose, whole wheat and rice flour in a bowl and mix with salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. 
Add cold butter and rub the flour in the butter till it resembles breadcrumb like texture.
Dry roast whole black peppercorn and cumin seeds and coarsely crush them.
Add chopped green chilly, grated ginger, roasted and  crushed peppercorn and cumin seeds, curry and coriander leaves. Mix well.
Add cold yogurt and mix well to make a dough.
Cover in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius and line a baking tray with parchment/butter paper.
Using little flour, roll out the dough to 1/8" thickness. (I rolled as thin as I could)
Sprinkle white sesame seeds and nigella seeds and press them lightly with a rolling pin.
Cut with cutters of your choice (I used a round cutter and a rectangular tart tin) and place on the baking tray.
Bake for 20-25 mins or till the biscuits brown up well.
Allow them to cool to get crispy.

This recipe is also a part of the amazing KFB blogging marathon that I am part of, along with my fellow members. Do drop in to check what they are doing here : 
A Homemaker's Diary
Silence Sings
My Food My Life
Recipe Junction

Happy Biscuit Eating
Amrita

Bialys-Chewy rolls

Bialys(bee-ah-lee) was our bake for the month of May from the 'We Knead to Bake' group. This yeasted bake was unheard to almost all the members. Bialy, a Yiddish word short for bialystoker kuchen, from Bialystok(a city in Poland) is traditional to Polish cuisine. A traditional Bialy is a chewy yeast roll similar to a Bagel. Unlike A Bagel, which is boiled before baking and has a hole in the middle, Bialy is simply baked and has a depression in the middle filled with cooked onions and poppy seeds.
Bialys gets its signature chewiness from the use of bread flour which is high in gluten. Alternatively, vital wheat gluten may be added to all purpose flour. Since, I had neither I went ahead with just all purpose flour and the result was good. 
I was in the mood to experiment with a different filling so I used some leftover Keema matar from my fridge. I added some soya sauce to the caramelized onions to give that distinct colour and sprinkled white sesame seeds which gave an amazing slight crunchiness.

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:I halved the recipe to get 4 Bialys

• 1/2 tsp Instant yeast
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup+2 tbsp lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 cup All purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Milk for brushing 

Caramelized Onions Filling:

• 2 small onions, sliced
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• few drops of soya sauce
• 1/2 tsp Vinegar
• salt to taste

Keema matar Filling:

• 50 gms Mutton mince/keema
• a handful Peas
• 1 clove
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1/2" cinnamon stick
• 1/2 dried red chilly
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 medium sized onion, chopped
• 1/2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• a pinch of turmeric powder
• a pinch of coriander powder
• a pinch of garam masala powder
• salt to taste

Procedure:

Bialy:
Put yeast, sugar, salt and flour in a bowl and mix. Add lukewarm water little by little and knead the dough till it comes together as a mass. 
Allow to rest for 10 mins.
Knead again till dough becomes smooth. If required add more flour/water.
Shape into a ball and place in a well oiled bowl, turning dough till coated properly. 
Cover with a damp muslin cloth and allow to rise till doubled in size for about 2 hrs.

Meanwhile make your filling

Caramelized Onion Filling:
Heat oil in a pan and add sliced onions with a pinch of salt. Lower the flame and let the onions cook stirring occasionally till they attain a brown colour. This is Caramelization where the sugar in the onions oxidizes resulting in a golden brown colour.
Add vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and stir well. 
Allow to cool.

Keema Matar Filling:
Take 1 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker and add clove, bay leaf, cumin seeds, dry red chilly, cinnamon stick. Add chopped onions and let it cook till they tun pink. Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt, coriander powder and garam masala. Let it cook for some time and then add the washed and strained Keema. Cook for 5 mins on low flame. At this stage, if there is any water, dry it on medium high flame.
Add tomato puree and cook for another 5 mins on low flame. 
Add little water(2 tbsp) and close the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook for 2 whistles on medium high flame and then reduce the flame to low and cook for 10-15 mins.
Boil peas separately and add to the keema. Close the lid and let it absorb the flavours.
I like to boil peas separately to preserve their colour. You may add them to the keema before closing the lid too.

Bialy Dough: Sprinkle work surface lightly with flour and place the dough. 
Divide dough in 4 equal parts  and shape in a ball. 
Place them on a baking tray lined with aluminium foil and lightly greased.

Cover with a damp muslin cloth and allow to rise for an hour.

Work on one piece at a time, while others are covered. 
Pick them up one at a time and using your fingers, form the depression in the middle. Hold the roll like a steering wheel with your thumbs in the middle and your fingers around the edges. Pinch the dough between your thumb and fingers, rotating as you go and gradually making the depression wider without actually poking a hole through.
Remember not to press on the edges, or they will flatten out. Once shaped, you should have a depression 3" in diameter with 1" of puffy dough all around.
The Bialy should be 4" in diameter.
Prick center of Bialy with a fork all over.

 

Put filling in each depression. I put caramelized onions in 2 and keema matar in the other 2. I sprinkled white Sesame seeds on the caramelized onion filling Bialy.
Brush outside circle with milk.

Bake at 230 degree celsius for 15-20 mins or till the Bialy browns well.
Allow to cool and serve.

They are best eaten on the same day. If eaten later, consider warming them up in the microwave.


Happy Bialy Eating
Amrita