Multigrain Bread and Pickled Mushrooms

I have always wanted to bake bread. Each time I went to a super store, I would see range of different kinds of breads and most of them were made by home chefs, and I would think, someday I will bake it too.

 Many times I had even bought yeast, waiting for my moods, the yeast aged and I had to throw it away. Then this lockdown happened, I was not able to go to the store to select the loaf of bread that took my fancy, that’s when I decided that I would bake it.

 

The first one I tried was with just plain flour. I watched about twenty different videos on U tube, to understand the techniques. Baked the first one, it took me about five hours, it did come out good but plain flour bread is not my liking.

 

Then I decided to make multigrain bread and voila! It was just the type I wanted.

 

 

So, before I forget the recipe, I decided to write it down.

 

Just soaked 1 tbsp dry yeast with salt and sugar in warm water for 10 minutes for it to ferment

 

Meanwhile take 1 cup plain flour, plus 1/4 cup Wheat flour plus 1/4 cup Rajgira flour

 

Add 1 tsp of Fennel seeds, 1tsp Poppy seeds, 1tsp Cumin seeds,  1tsp Sesame seeds and a pinch of Baking powder

 

Mix it well and add the fermented yeast

 

Mix it well, it should be wet and sticky, transfer to the greased silicon baking dish...smoothen it with wet hands

 

Cover the dough with mixture of crushed almonds walnuts n pistachio.

 

Keep it for one hour..

 

It will rise to double its size

 

Bake it for 30 minutes, cool and cut into slices..store it in the freezer..

 

Although the bread tasted very good but I decided to make Mushroom pickle too so that I could toast this slice of bread and have it with mushroom pickle.

 

This is how I pickled it

 

Clean and blanch the mushroom and chop into thin slices.

Add crushed garlic, chilies, finely chopped dry fruits like walnuts almonds pistachio, veg cube, lime juice. Pour olive oil and keep it bottled for 2 days.

 

Mushroom pickle can be stored in fridge for 15days and I use it for topping pizzas, or add in fry rice or even with pastas. One spoon should be enough for one serving…

 

Better to pickle it rather than to let it go bad with neglect.

Breakfast In Sindhi homes

Before the oats, cereals, muffins, pastries and sandwiches made their appearances at our breakfast table, Parathas, Puri, and rice ruled the kitchens. Early mornings, tea or coffee was paired with home cooked meals.

There was a great variety of paratha made with most inovative fillings, sometimes stuffed with potatoes, sometimes with radish, then, there were cauliflower, cottage cheese, peas and sometimes even fenugreek. There were great varieties of puris too. From plain salt and pepper to more elaborate puris that were stuffed with colorful lentils. Curds, pickle and papads were included with puris and parathas.

But I enjoyed Parathas the most, especially those of potatoes mixed with coriander leaves, green chilies and cumin seeds.

Parathas are basically unleavened dough stuffed with spiced mixture of mashed potatoes/vegetables, which is rolled out and cooked on hot plate with butter. Paired with pickle or curd and a hot cup of tea, it made a perfect Sunday morning.

Puri on the other hand is the unleavened dough usually prepared with wheat flour (atta) or refined wheat flour (maida) or coarse wheat flour (sooji), deep-fried in hot oil till they bloat like a balloon. They can be paired with lentils, or potatoes or pickle and sometimes even with sweets like halwa or jalebi.

In my house, Loli was regularly made. This was made with wheat flour where little ghee/or butter was added before kneading, plain loli had only salt and pepper, while masala loli had finely chopped onions, coriander leaves, pomegranate seeds and chilies. This too tasted great with pickles, papads or curds, but I would enjoy it best with fried eggs, (sunny side up) or sometimes with mutton cooked in spinach and tomatoes.

Pakwan was another great delight where the dough was rolled paper-thin and deep-fried. This was relished with lentils and fried papads.

Nowadays we are too health conscious and will avoid fried stuff out right. Now I see youngsters skipping breakfast or relishing baked crisps of rolled oats stuffed with nuts, honey, raisins, flaxseeds, etc. I too prefer a glass of fresh juice in the mornings. 

Cooked meal early morning is never preferred by today’s youth. Wonder if they know the taste of leftover food that was revamped into different dish the next morning.

Leftover Chappatis were cooked in green masala of coriander leaves, garlic and tomatoes to make a dish called 'Mani seyal'.

Rice was fried into yellow rice by adding garlic, mustard seeds, tomatoes, onions, coriander leaves, green chilies and turmeric powder.

While German households had salami, bacon, ham, eggs and varieties of cheese, French German rolls paired with jam, marmalade, honey. In my house, on the other hand, it was simple dried leftover bread cooked with onion, tomatoes, green chilies and coriander leaves called 'Daboroti seyal'. It tasted heavenly with a hot cup of filter coffee.

In Spain, no matter where I went, at every breakfast restaurant was tortilla Esponola. But in my house, we had delicious omelets of onions, coriander leaves and tomatoes, even a simple omelet with just salt and pepper tasted great. Sometimes we had leftover rotis dipped in egg and fried on skillet.

A typical Italian breakfast is made of hot beverages and something sweet to eat like croissant, pastries, cookies and maybe some fresh juice too, but in my house there was thin sweet vermicelli called ‘Sayoon’ cooked with sugar and cardamom.

Every country that I travelled, I saw people relishing different breakfast but there was always similarity between their food and ours to some extend, especially if they were cooked or fried.

Some years ago, One early morning, in Hongkong, it was 5am and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I decided to take a bus to far off busstop and enjoy the breakfast. I still remember the beautiful taste of Congee I had on the street. The congee is a simple rice broth that contained pieces of chicken and some deep fried shrimps. I had seasoned it with vinegars in chilies and some soy sauce. In my house congee is also made but we just add crackled mustard seeds and we called it ‘Kweerni Khichdi’ I love this with sour curd and deep fried papad.

Breakfast is the important meal of the day, but now I shudder to eat fried food, bread and potatoes is too much carb, chappatis and puris are too heavy, so I have reduced my diet to just one glass of fresh vegetable juice with a simple toast or cookie. Lunch is when I will eat heavy food and dinner is just soup and fruits and sometimes if the mood is right, will eat the breakfast selection of parathas, puri or rice..during dinner time….

Our elders would eat four heavy meals to survive, and they had no diet issues, I just cannot eat so much, but then, I don’t work physically that hard like my granny or other women in my family used to do…

Here is sharing a leaflet from my book on #SindhiCuisine…..

Patatey ji manni

    (Potato Paratha)

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 potatoes, boiled

3 cups wheat flour

2 tablespoon oil

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon red chilly powder

1 tablespoon onion, finely chopped

2 green chillies, finely chopped

1 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1. Mash the boiled potato and add salt, cumin powder, red chilly powder, onions, green chillies and coriander leaves. Keep aside.
2. Knead the dough for paratha adding salt and 1 tablespoons of oil to the wheat flour.
3. Roll it on a floured board to about 2 inch circle. Put 2 tablespoon of potato filling in the center and gently pick up the sides, press together to form a ball, covering the filling completely.
4. Roll out carefully into round paratha, cook on tava on a medium flame till light brown, using small quantities of oil.
5. Serve with curd and papad.

When in Spain, You Must Eat ‘Churro Chocolaatey’

We live in a better world. There are hardly any secrets left. World Wide Web answers most of our queries from the easy comfort of our home. We have TV, movies, reality shows, visitors that educate us, transporting us to most weird places which we would never dream of going, exposing us to the customs and culture of world beyond our reach.

but....

Many years ago, when there was no Google, no u-tube, no web connection, World was a lonely place. People met only those who lived just few miles away. Adventurous people travelled to new places to explore different regions of the world. When they returned, they brought back stories to share about the different culture, their dressing style and their food habits.

One theory is that once an adventurous Portuguese man travelled to HongKong, Hunger pangs took him for a walk in search of something to eat. He drooled when he followed the smell of frying bread. There was a group of Chinese men sitting in a way-side restaurant, dipping the fried bread in the hot porridge and eating.

Seeing his hungry expressions the Chinese men invited him to share their meal.

"What is this?" he asked holding the crispy fried bread in his hand.

"This is 'You Tiao'" they said.

He loved 'You Tiao' so much that he started visiting this place everyday. 

He thought that it would be nice if he could take back the culinary technique  to Europe so that people in his country could enjoy it too.

But unfortunately, nobody was willing to share the cooking secrets with him.

The Chinese Emperor had made it a crime with capital punishment to share the knowledge with the foreigners. 

Thus although he relished ‘You Tiao’ he could not learn the Chinese skill of ‘pulling’ the dough. 

As a result, when he returned back home, he tried to explain it in the best way to reproduce the same taste.

They modified the dough, introducing a star design through star shaped die.

Thus Churro came to exist in Spain

Churro are often sold by street vendors, who fry them freshly on the street and sell them hot. They are crunchy and are either sprinkled with sugar or served with hot chocolate.

This is the must-have-snack for me when I come to Spain.

A batter of flour, sugar and salt is piped out from large Churrera through a star-shaped nozzle into the pan containing hot oil. This reminded me of the Jalebi hawker on Indian street who pipe out the batter in concentric circles into hot pot of oil. 

 The chef controls the flow of the batter by moderating the valve.

With the help of two steel rods, he controls the flow into spiral motion forming concentric ring.

he stirs it for even frying of the batter on all sides

When they are crisp and browned, he carefully lifts the fritters

Tosses them on a countertop

 cuts them with the scissors into strips

and serves it either with sprinkled sugar granules or with the cup of hot chocolate.

Best time to enjoy this snack is in the cold, winter, early morning, preferably at 5am, if you are awake.....or returning home from late night parties.

Food Demo at Kala Ghoda festival

When I reached 5-All Day restaurant, Apollo hotel, there were just few people inside the room. It was still early, fifteen minutes before the hall would fill up. Small group of women sat discussing the menu. The chairs were arranged in ten rows which could seat about 80 people. I took the seat closer to the work-station. I was to attend the demonstration of Tartine at Kala Ghoda Festival that was hosted by ‘Le PainQuotidien’ the bakery-café.

The table was laden with different kinds of sauces, breads, and other ingredients that the chef would use during the demonstration. A big screen dominated one corner of the room, which would be ideal for people sitting at the back to be able to view the demonstration clearly.

A senior couple sat next to me. They included me into their conversation, informing me the citation of all the events that they would be attending during the 9 days festival, their favorite being food and literature. Gradually the hall began to fill up, all the seats were occupied and there were about dozen standees. Each person was given the menu, recipe card and one pair of muffins. The evening looked good. It is important to watch food demonstration on a full stomach to be able to concentrate on the tutorials.

I munched on muffins.Soft and sweet, they melted easily after the first bite flooding my mouth with sweetness.

With brief introduction of the chef, the restaurant and about the festival, the demonstration began. All eyes fixed on the big screen and an occasional glances at the chef, we all sat enthralled watching each dish, drooling on every presentation.

Chicken and Pesto Tartine with Brie cheese &Pears

1. 1.     Chop the roasted chicken breast into cubes and add pesto (basil+oliveoil+salt+pepper) and Mayonnaise to make chicken-pesto mix.
   2.     Apply butter to the toasted bread.
   3.     Spread the chicken-pesto-mayonnaise mix.
   4.     Place the sliced Brie cheese on it.
   5.     Place thinly sliced pears on.
   6.     Cut into triangles.
   7.     Insert sliced cucumber and thinly sliced radish between the triangles.
   8.     Spread chopped tomatoes on it.
   9.     Add more pesto sauce on it.
   10.   Decorate it with rocket leaves and parsley.
   11.   Serve it cold

Roasted Chicken &Smoked Mozzarella Tartine with Basil Pesto & Tomato

1. 1.     Thinly slice the roasted chicken.
   2.     Apply butter to the toasted bread.
   3.     Arrange the thinly sliced chicken on the bread.
   4.     Spread thinly sliced green apples over it.
   5.     Cover it with thinly sliced smoked mozzarella.
   6.     Put it in the oven for 5 minutes or till the cheese has melted.
   7.     Cut it into triangles.
   8.     Insert thinly sliced cucumber and thinly sliced red radish between the triangles.  
   9.     Drizzle basil pesto on the top.
   10.   Add chopped tomatoes.
   11.   Decorate with arugula leaves and dill sprig.
   
   
   Mushroom & Chevre Tartine with Balsamic Peppers.
   
   
   
   
   
   

1. .     Make the mixture of chopped mushrooms and white sauce.(butter+flour+milk).
   2.     Roast (red+green+yellow) pepper, remove the skin and thinly slice them.
   3.     Mix Balsamic vinegar and salt to it.
   4.     Butter the toasted bread.
   5.     Apply the mushroom mixture to it.
   6.     Cover it with balsamic roasted pepper juliennes,
   7.     Sprinkle goat cheese on the top.
   8.     Bake it for 5 minutes.
   9.     Cut the bread into triangles.
   10.   Insert thinly sliced cucumber and thinly sliced radish between the triangles.
   11.   Place arugula leaves on the top.
   12.   Decorate with salad leaves.
   
   

Buffalo Mozzarella Tartine With Olive Spread And Marinated Tomatoes

1.      Thinly slice the tomatoes and Buffalo Mozzarella cheese.
   2.     Toast the wheat bread.
   3.     Apply butter and black olive paste (Olive tapenade) evenly on the bread.
   4.     Arrange tomatoes, mozzarella slices and arugula leaves alternately.
   5.     Bake it for 5 minutes till the cheese melts.
   6.     Cut it into triangles.
   7.     Drizzle basil pesto on it.
   8.     Garnish with thinly sliced cucumber and radish.
   9.     Serve warm.

Mint Lemonade

1.      Make the basic mixture using 30ml orange juice, 40 ml lime juice, 150ml water and sugar syrup.
   2.     Take a heavy bottom glass and muddle a few sprigs of mint leaves in it.
   3.     Add little hot water to the mint sprigs and allow it to seep for few minutes.
   4.     Add ice to fill up glass.
   5.     Add the lime-orange mixture. 

With demonstration complete it was time to feast.