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(Adapted from King Arthur Flour)
First off, I have to apologise for the delay in posting my version of this month's challenge - actually, last month's, now. In my defence, my laptop was on a dreadful go-slow, and on top of that, the Internet connection at home was unavailable all of last week as we'd changed over from AOL to BT... and the engineer from BT could only come last Friday to actually install whatever he needed to install for us to go online. So now we have a superfast connection... but my laptop has not received the memo yet, methinks. It's extremely frustrating to work on photographs when it takes 5 minutes to save every change that's made. But this post had to be published, and I didn't want to risk being thrown out of this group for a perceived lack of participation. (I but jest, I know Aparna is very forgiving!)
Anyway, those of you who are still dropping by my blog might be wondering who's been writing my posts for me. I wonder that myself, because the last few posts show every sign of having been dashed off by someone who didn't know how to write, who didn't want to write in the first place and who had a dozen different distractions. That was me. Distracted and reluctant. And it showed in my writing - hastily done for the sake of doing it, not because I was enjoying the process. I'm still in the reluctant phase, so this probably isn't going to be a long post. I just wanted to make my excuses for the quality of my posts lately. I know I can do better, and I probably eventually will.
On to the bialys. I've made them twice - they're pretty easy to make, but the reason I made them the second time is because the onion filling got burnt practically to cinders. My first mistake was to cook the onions for too long on the hob, and my second mistake was to leave the overcooked onions to cool in the frying pan itself. That was a rookie mistake, really. So the already overcooked onion simply got incinerated when they spent 20 minutes in a 230C oven. The bialys tasted great, so Pete and I ate the bready part after I'd chiselled off the charred onions.
This anecdote is merely to emphasise that it's very important to cook the onions till just soft and no more. And remove the cooked onions to a bowl where they can cool.
The second batch of bialys was spectacularly tasty. You can add chopped, cooked smoked bacon to the onion mix for the non-vegetarians, like I did. Believe me, those bacon bialys just vanished.
Recipe for: Bialys
Ingredients:
For the dough:
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour (use bread flour if you can find it or all-purpose flour + 1 tbsp vital wheat gluten)
1 tsp salt
Milk for brushing the dough
For the Onion Filling:
1 tbsp oil
3 medium onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3/4 tsp garam masala
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Make the dough first. Put the yeast, sugar, salt and flour in a large bowl. Mix well and then add the warm water in a steady stream. Knead until the dough comes together as a mass and then let the dough rest for 10 minutes. This will help the dough absorb water. Knead again, adding a little more water or flour (not too much) if you need it, until your dough is smooth and elastic but not sticky.
2. Shape tre dough into a ball and put it in a well-oiled bowl, turning the dough till it is well coated. Cover and let it rise till about double. This should take about 2 hours. If you’re not making the bialys right away, you can refrigerate the dough overnight at this point. When ready to make them, keep the dough at room temperature for about half an hour and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
3. In the meantime, make the filling. Heat the oil in a pan, and add the cumin seeds. When the crackle, add the onions, and sauté over low to medium heat. Sprinkle a little salt and continue sautéing until they become soft and turn golden brown in colour. Add the garam masala and stir well. Keep the caramelised onions aside to cool.
4. Sprinkle your work surface lightly with flour and place the dough on it. Divide it into 8 equal pieces and shape each one into a roll by flattening it and then pinching the ends together to form a smooth ball. Place the rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet and cover them with a towel. Let them rise for about one hour (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours for refrigerated dough) till pressing with a finger on the top leaves a dent.
5. Work on one piece at a time, while you keep the others covered so they don’t dry out. When the rolls are ready, 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.
6. Remember not to press on the edges, or they will flatten out. Once shaped, you should have a depression about 3” in diameter with 1” of puffy dough around the edge, so your Bialy should be about 4” to 5” in diameter. Prick the centre of the bialys with a fork so the centre doesn’t rise when baking.
7. Place the shaped dough on a parchment lined (or greased) baking tray leaving about 2 inches space between them. Place the caramelised onion filling in the depressions of each Bialy. Brush the outer dough circle with milk. Bake the bialys at 230C (450F) for about 15 minutes till they’re golden brown in colour.
Cool them on a rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
Man, I have to say I'm beginning to find it really difficult to come up with something to say for every post. Usually when I stop thinking too hard about what to write, I tend to unblock the stoppage, as it were... but this is beginning to work less and less often.
I've actually thought about not writing anything at all, just posting the recipe and a couple of photos, but I don't know how well that would work.
I mean, when I go to a food blog and find nothing there but the recipe, I get annoyed, even if the recipe is fantastic. I need at least one photo. If there is a photo or two, or even many photos, but no write-up to go with the recipe, that makes me feel annoyed too.
So you'd imagine that when there is a recipe, a photo or two (or even many photos) and a write-up to boot, I'd be a happy camper? Reasonable assumption, right?
Nope.
You see, I'm unreasonable in my wants. I'm not content with just a recipe, a photo or two (or even many photos), and a write-up. No, I want that write-up to be funny and warm and honest and interesting and readable and at the very least I want the recipe to be fabulous - in other words, pretty much like any post you'd care to choose from the lovely Nupur's wonderful blog One Hot Stove.
Unfortunately it is not given to many of us to successfully combine humour and warmth and honesty and readability and foster a loyal readership of our blog... so we just have to struggle on. And if for some people it's a struggle to write a decent post, it's a struggle for others to read a dull one - even if they know how hard it is to actually write a post, never mind pleasing anyone with it!
And on that philosophical note, I guess I will say a few words about this recipe before I close. You will know some of the words, like "variation of Dan Lepard recipe", "The Guardian newspaper", "minimal kneading" and "tasty", so I'll just say the ones that you may NOT know, which is "tighter crumb because I added spelt flour".
Recipe for: Wheat-spelt milk bread
Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups strong white bread flour
1/4 cup very strong wholewheat bread flour
1/2 cup wholemeal spelt flour
100 ml warm water
200 ml warm whole milk
1 tsp quick-rise yeast
1-1/4 tsp salt
Oil for kneading
Flour for sprinkling
Butter for greasing 7" x 5" loaf pan
Method:
1. Mix together the flours in a big bowl and whisk in the salt and yeast. Then make a hole in the centre and pour in the yeast and warm milk-water mixture. Mix together with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a rough ball. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
3. Lightly oil your work area/kneading board and scrape the dough onto it. It will be quite sticky. Knead lightly for 10 seconds. Then put the dough back in the bowl, cover it and let rest for 10 minutes. Repeat this cycle twice more, oiling the work area lightly each time, if required.
4. After the fourth 10-second knead, the dough should be elastic and not very sticky. This time, let the dough rise in the covered bowl for 40 minutes to an hour, or till doubled.
5. Now punch the dough down gently. Lightly flour the work area and pat the dough into an oblong, then roll it up and place it in your buttered 7" x 5" loaf pan. Flour the top of the dough, cover with a clean tea towel and let the dough rise in a warm draught-free area for 45 minutes to an hour - it should be at least 1" over the rim of the loaf pan.
6, Preheat the oven to 200C/450F and place a dish of boiling water on the floor of the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or till the loaf is golden brown on top and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool before slicing.
This recipe is from... but I bet you already KNOW where it's from and whose it is. You won't even have to guess. Thaaaaat's right. Dan Lepard, the latest man in my life. He's only lately been in my life, though. Until a couple of weeks back, my No. 1 baking man was Hollywood. Paul Hollywood.
I don't know about you folks outside the UK, but in the UK, The Great British Bake-Off is one of the most watched baking shows. And with good reason... one of the judges, the man with ice-blue eyes, Paul Hollywood, is most watchable. Eminently watchable. Even more than the show, much as I love it. So, carried along by the rush of my crush, I bought his book "How To Bake".
It's a good book, don't get me wrong - it's got good photos of him and his breads, and there are recipes I want to try. But a lot of them require a Kitchen Aid-type of food processor (if that's what they're called), with a dough hook. I don't have a dough hook, much less a Kitchen Aid. In my kitchen, my arms are my aid. So until I get one of them Aids (erk... not meant the way that sounds!), or figure out how to get around not having a hook (being fairly sure that Abu Hamza al-Masri would not be amenable to helping me out), I'll just have to stick with recipes that require arm-power, not hook-power.
Which brings me back to Dan Lepard who, going by his photo in The Guardian, is not an ice-blue-eyed killer-smiled baking heart-throb... but - and this is a BIG but - his baking recipes are doable. As eminently doable as Paul Hollywood is eminently watchable. For the time being, doability trumps watchability. And that, my friends, is saying a LOT!
Recipe for: Wheat-rye cider loaf
Ingredients:
1 tsp fast action yeast
1 tbsp agave nectar or honey
150 ml warm water
175 ml dry cider
375 gm (2-3/4 cups) strong white bread flour
75 gm wholegrain rye flour (just over 1/2 cup)
50 gm olive oil
1.5 tsp salt
a little oil for kneading (if required)
Method:
1. Mix the water and cider in a big bowl, then stir in the yeast and syrup till dissolved.
2. Add the olive oil, bread flour and rye flour to the bowl, and finally the salt. Stir quickly and evenly until mixed, and the dough comes together into a rough ball. Cover the bowl and leave it for 10 minutes.
3. Now lightly oil your worktop or kneading board, and scrape the dough onto the board. Knead lightly for 10 seconds, then return the dough to the bowl. leaving it to rest for 10 minutes. Repeat the kneading/resting procedure two more times.
4. After the third time, put the dough back into the bowl and let it rise undisturbed until it's puffy and looks like it has more or less doubled in size. Lightly flour the worktop/board. Punch the dough down and put it on the floured board. Pat it or use a rolling pin to shape it into a rough rectangle with the long side facing you.
5. Now roll up the flattened dough from the far end towards you, as tightly as you can manage it. Place it seam-side down on a tray lined with nonstick baking paper. Cover with a clean cloth and let it rise for 1-2 hours or till it has risen again.
6. Heat the oven to 220C (200C/425F in a fan-assisted oven). Cut a 1-cm deep slash down the centre of the loaf and bake it in the hot oven for about 40 minutes or till golden brown on top and hollow-sounding when tapped on the bottom.
Let cool before slicing.
I've been on a baking binge over the last 2 weeks - only on the weekends, though, because weekdays are just not long enough for baking bread if you're not demonically organised, which I am not.
Ever since I discovered Dan Lepard's recipes in The Guardian, I've gone through some 300-odd recipes in his column published over the past so many years, and scouted out all the bread recipes that seemed interesting and easy. And printed them. And now I'm trying to bake them all, one by one.
The saffron bloomer got made twice. Then this one, which is really good. There's also a wheat & rye cider loaf, and a loaf made with fresh yeast... but I'm getting ahead of myself. Those recipes will follow in due course.
For this loaf, it was serendipitous that I had half a carton of sour cream in the fridge. It may have been just a teensy bit past its use-by date, but I didn't say that and you didn't read it. Besides, we're both alive, so there was no harm done.
I've never been so pleased with bread I've baked - this loaf could have come from a proper bakery, I kid you not. I SO like Dan Lepard, because he says there's no need to knead like a maniac to get good bread, and believe me, that man speaks true. I'm all for an easier life, and he does make it easier. I may have said that before, but it remains true nevertheless.
Recipe for: Sour cream loaf
Ingredients:
125g (4 oz or 1/2 cup) cold sour cream
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp caster sugar
1 sachet (7g) fast action yeast
550g (1 lb 4 oz) strong white bread flour, plus more for shaping
Oil, for kneading
Method:
1. In a large bowl, mix the sour cream with 150ml cold water and 100ml boiling water.
2. Add the sugar and yeast and whisk it together, then mix in the flour and salt until it forms a rough ball. It will be quite sticky. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to sit for 10 minutes.
3. Lightly oil your working area (worktop or kneading board) and gently knead the dough on it for 10 seconds. Put the dough back in the bowl and let it rest covered for 10 minutes.
4. Repeat the 10-second-kneading/10-minute-resting procedure twice more, oiling the worktop again if required to stop the dough from sticking too much. After that, leave the dough covered in its bowl for an hour or so, until it has doubled in size.
5. Butter the base and sides of a large, deep, 8" (19cm) loaf tin. Line the base with non-stick baking paper.
6. Lightly flour the kneading board now and place the punched-down dough on it. Pat or roll it out into 1 2-cm thick rectangle that's the length of the loaf tin, then roll the dough up towards you as well as you can. Place it seam-side down in the loaf tin, flour the top lightly, cover with a towel and let it rise for 60-90 minutes until it is doubled again.
7. Bake at 200C (180C/350C for fan-assisted or convection ovens) for about 45 minutes till it is golden brown on top and sounds hollow when you tap the loaf on the bottom (you gotta remove it from the baking tin for this, so definitely use oven gloves!).
Let cool before slicing.
This recipe is pretty much exactly as detailed by Dan Lepard in The Guardian newspaper. It just seemed like a simple thing to make, and it pretty much was. While I like kneading bread, it's also a nice change to NOT have to knead bread. This bread doesn't need much effort, just 30 seconds of light kneading in total, 10 minutes apart. What's not to like?
The saffron taste and aroma was gentle but there, and the bread was just lovely. The most it takes up is time, and I watched two movies while waiting for the dough to prove. They were "Premonition", starring Sandra Bullock, and "One Small Hitch", starring an actor called Shane McRae. The first was a sort of paranormal suspense move, and the second a light comedy. While I really like Sandra Bullock, the movie itself was pretty much a clunker - I don't like unhappy endings, so that just made it worse. Shane McRae was pretty cute, though. I thought "One Small Hitch" was a good timepass movie.
And now, because this is meant to be a food blog, I will stop here and dream about Shane McRae in private. Do try this lovely bread, though. I'll be making it again for sure.
P.S. It makes fantastic toast! Try it with marmalade and peanut butter (or ok, maybe that's just me).
Recipe for: Saffron bloomer loaf
Ingredients:
A good pinch or two of saffron
150ml boiling water
150ml cold water
1 tsp fast-action yeast
100g ricotta
500g (4 cups) strong white bread flour, plus extra for shaping
50g (1/2 cup) wholemeal flour
2 tsp fine salt
Oil, for kneading
Method:
1. Put the saffron in a large mixing bowl, pour on the boiling water and leave for 10 minutes. Then add the cold water and yeast, stir well to dissolve the yeast, crumble in the ricotta and mix well.
2. Add the flours and salt, mix everything to a smooth dough, then cover and leave for 10 minutes.
3. Now lightly oil a kneading board or your kitchen worktop, and knead the dough lightly for 10 seconds. Return the dough to the bowl, leave for 10 minutes, then repeat this light knead twice more at 10-minute intervals, before leaving the dough, covered, for about an hour.
4. Lightly flour the worktop, pat the dough into a rectangle and roll up very tightly. Place the dough seam-side down on a tray lined with nonstick paper, lightly flour the top, cover with a cloth and leave for an hour until it nearly doubles.
5. Slash the risen dough three or four times with a sharp knife along the top,
and bake at 220C (200C fan-assisted)/425F/gas mark 7) for about 40 minutes.
Tip: Fill a metal dish with boiling water and place on the lowest shelf of the oven, before putting the dough in to bake, to help give the your loaf's crust a golden colour.
I usually opt for the simplest cake recipes, as I’ve said before (often) (TOO often, sigh regular readers – and if you’re not sighing, regular readers, you should be). The simpler, the better. My most favourite cake recipes are one-bowl affairs where fussy sifting and beating and careful folding and so on do not figure in the instructions.
But this time, in a dramatic departure from my usual modus operandi, the recipe involves fussy separating, AND beating, AND sifting, AND careful folding AND plenty of elbow grease. Sounds disgusting, doesn’t it, especially the elbow grease? If you usually make use of an electric egg beater, you can safely omit the elbow grease, but the rest of the dramatic departure method still holds good. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. And don't ask why I went for the dramatic departure. I still can't believe I chose a recipe where I had to whip the egg whites by hand...
Anyway, after seeing the finished cake, I thought that the procedure had been fussy for no real reason… but on reflection (and after tasting), I think it resulted in a lighter, fluffier, higher rising cake – especially considering that the cake tin I’d used had seemed a bit too big for the amount of batter involved.
And what a delicious cake it was, too.
Recipe for: Blueberry cake
Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup + 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter/margarine, softened
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp flour to coat berries
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1-1/2 cup fresh blueberries
cinnamon sugar for topping
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Beat egg whites until it forms soft peaks.
Beat in 1/4 cup of sugar.
3. In another bowl, cream margarine/butter.
Add salt, vanilla, and remaining sugar gradually.
4. Add egg yolks and beat until creamy.
5. Mix flour with baking powder.
Add alternately to creamed mixture with milk.
6. Fold in beaten egg whites.
7. Turn out half the batter into an 8" round pan that has been sprayed with Pam.
8. Coat the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of flour,
then add half of the berries to the batter in the pan, as far as possible spacing them out evenly without letting them touch the edges of the pan.
9. Pour in the remaining batter over the berries, then sprinkle the rest of the berries over the top.
10. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top of the batter.
Bake in the oven for about an hour or so, or till a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
11. Let the cake remain in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack.
Serve warm with a cup of coffee or tea.
RECIPE: BLUEBERRY CAKE
Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup + 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter/margarine, softened
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp flour to coat berries
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1-1/2 cup fresh blueberries
cinnamon sugar for topping
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Beat egg whites until it forms soft peaks.
Beat in 1/4 cup of sugar.
3. In another bowl, cream margarine/butter. Add salt, vanilla, and
remaining sugar gradually.
4. Add egg yolks and beat until creamy.
5. Mix flour with baking powder.
Add alternately to creamed mixture with milk.
6. Fold in beaten egg whites.
7. Turn out half the batter into an 8" round pan that has been sprayed with Pam.
8. Coat the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of flour, then add half of the berries to the batter in the pan, as far as possible spacing them out evenly without letting them touch the edges of the pan.
9. Pour in the remaining batter over the berries, then sprinkle the rest of the berries over the top.
10. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top of the batter. Bake in the oven for about an hour or so, or till a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
11. Let the cake remain in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack. Serve warm with a cup of coffee or tea.
“Perfectly ripe nectarines – ready to eat now” is what the label on the package said. HA! The nectarines were anything but perfectly ripe… and unless you like your tongue twisting itself into a knot while your eyes do the Lalita Pawar squint, they most certainly were NOT ready to eat “now” or any time in the near future. Man, were they sour or what!
So there were these four nectarines taking up valuable fridge space and not getting any riper for being in there… and I had to do something with them before I forgot about them. Naturally, the first thing that came to mind was “CAKE”. To my husband’s mind, that is, not mine.
To add to the nutrition quota of fresh fruit cake (and thereby pay lip service to the "healthy" aspect), I threw in a cupful of blueberries left over from a previous muffin making day.
I have only one thing to say about the cake – actually, it’s Pete’s thing I’m going to say because I don’t want to sound like I’m praising my own effort – “It’s sensational”.
I think that about covers my opinion, too.
Recipe for: Blueberry nectarine cake
Ingredients:
1 cup butter/margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 cup cream/milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tbsp flaked almonds
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 large nectarines, chopped
Method:
1. Beat butter/margarine until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until the yolk disappears.
3. Add vanilla, beating just until blended.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring well.
5. Add cream/milk and stir it in, then beat the batter fo 2 minutes till well blended.
The batter will be fairly thick.
6. Gently fold in nectarines and blueberries. Pour batter into a deep 8" round cake pan.
7. Sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the top, then press them in lightly. Not ALL the way in, but just enough that the batter rises over the edges when the cake is in the oven.
8. Bake at 180°C for 40 minutes or so, until a wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack.
Serve warm. For a decadent option, serve warm with vanilla-flavoured double cream.
Note: For the best taste, warm every subsequent cake slice for 20-30 seconds in the microwave before serving.
RECIPE: BLUEBERRY NECTARINE CAKE
Ingredients:
1 cup butter/margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 cup cream/milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tbsp flaked almonds
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large nectarines, chopped
1 cup fresh blueberries
Method:
1. Beat butter/margarine until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until the yolk disappears.
3. Add vanilla, beating just until blended.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring well.
5. Add cream/milk and stir it in, then beat the batter fo 2 minutes till well blended. The batter will be fairly thick.
6. Gently fold in nectarines and blueberries. Pour batter into a deep 8" round cake pan.
7. Sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the top, then press them in lightly. Not ALL the way in, but just enough that the batter rises over the edges when the cake is in the oven.
8. Bake at 180°C for 40 minutes or so, until a wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack. For a decadent option, serve warm with vanilla-flavoured double cream.
Note: For the best taste, warm every cake slice for 20-30 seconds in the microwave before serving.
My husband loves fruitcake in all forms – heavy and dense, light and fluffy, dry and crumbly, with exotic dried fruit or just with currants, with nuts or without, egg-free or eggful, fancy or homely, buzzing with alcohol or completely teetotal… you name it, he’ll eat it. Of course it goes without saying that he prefers fruitcake that's well-made to one that's second-rate... but in a pinch he'll eat the second-rate one too. In general he can be as nutty as a – pardon me for this – fruitcake when it comes to this variety of cake. Me, on the other hand… I can take fruitcake or leave it. It’s marginally more “take it” if it’s got nuts in it that cut the sweetness of all the dried fruit, so I usually add some to most fruitcakes I make.
And because Pete mostly doesn’t mind how his fruitcake turns out, as long as it’s not turned to coal, I feel free to experiment without worrying about “what ifs” like “what if the cake’s heavy like a brick”, or “what if it’s so crumbly that you choke on fruitcake dust”, and so on. (I’ve even made fruitcake with dark chocolate that needs to see the light of day at some point.)
Anyway, this cake combines the best of what Pete likes (dried fruit) with the best of what I like (banana) with some dried sour cherries (bought in the YewYessYay, naturally) thrown in for that “exotic” touch. The addition of mashed overripe bananas was a touch of genius if I do say so myself, because the flavour it gave the fruitcake – helped by the addition of cardamom powder – was luvverly. It was almost like an Indian fruitcake, if there is such a thing. If there isn’t, there is now.
The cake keeps well and stays moist at room temperature (under cover, that is, not left open to the elements) for at least a week that I can vouch for. We both think it tastes gorgeous too – let me put it this way, we’re all three made for each other because if he’s nutty about banana fruitcake, I’m bananas about nutty fruitcake, and the fruitcake is bananas and nuts anyway. See what I mean?
Recipe for: Banana almond fruitcake
Ingredients:
2 medium overripe bananas, mashed well
1-1/2 cups plain flour or wholewheat cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda 1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (I used currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp baking powder
Method:
1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt. 2. Add the dried fruit
and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.
3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana.
Mix again.
4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go.
The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,
5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased with butter.
Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently. 6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.
7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.
RECIPE: EGGLESS BANANA ALMOND FRUITCAKE
Ingredients:
2 overripe bananas, mashed
1-1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup Splenda
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit (currants, dried sour cherries, chopped mixed citrus peel)
1/4 cup almond slivers
1 cup + 2 tbsp milk (or as needed)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Method:
1. Sift the flour and spices together with the Splenda, sugar and salt.
2. Add the dried fruit and the dried cherries, mix them into the flour.
3. Make a well in the flour-fruit mix, then add the almond slivers and the mashed banana. Mix again.
4. Add milk little by little, mixing as you go. The batter should be thick. It is the correct consistency when it drips slowly off the back of a spoon. Mix in more milk if it's too thick, to get it to the right consistency,
5. Pour the batter into an 8" square or round pan sprayed with Pam or greased well with butter. Bake at 180C for about an hour, or till the cake tests done. Start checking at the 45-minute mark as different ovens work differently.
6. Remove the cake tin from the oven, and let the cake sit in the tin for 10 minutes.
7. Unmould the cake onto a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. This cake stays good at room temperature for a few days.
And by that I mean "fries" (for you American-style people out there). Us Brits know that chips are not the crunchy kind of fried potatoes - those are called "crisps"... probably because they ARE. Crisp, I mean.
Anyway, I made this months and months and months ago, possibly even as far back as some time last year, and the photos have been sitting in my "Unposted" folder for all that time. There were very few photos and in any case it was not much of a recipe, so I kept postponing using it. But hey, every recipe has its day, and posts DO see the light of publication... eventually.
For this post, the time had finally come.
Recipe for: Chunky potato chips (fries)
Ingredients
2 baking potatoes
Oil to deep fry
Method
1. Peel and cut the potatoes into finger-width sticks. Place in cold water for 5 minutes, then drain and dry the potatoes well with paper towels.
2. Heat the oil in a deep pan. When a small piece of bread dropped in the oil rises immediately to the surface, the oil is ready.
3. Drop the potato pieces in the oil carefully, without crowding the pan.
After 3-4 minutes, when the potatoes are partially cooked but not brown, remove them from the oil with a strainer and drain on paper towels.
4. Now heat the oil again, and return the partially fried chips back into the pan.
Cook for 3-5 minutes or till golden and crisp. Drain again on paper towels, sprinkle with salt and pepper (or paprika, chilli powder or whatever else takes your fancy) and serve immediately.
