Custard Cookies

It is Christmas time.  It is baking time here – cookies, cakes and plenty of other goodies. So I have also taken to baking to join the bandwagon of festivities. Here is the easiest one for my readers. Try it. It is very easy.

Ingredients:
• Butter – 125g (at room temperature)
• Flour – 125 g 
• Custard powder  (vanilla) -40 g 
• Salt  (to taste)
• Icing sugar – 40 gm
• Pistachio
• Almond

Methods :
1. Cream the butter ,sugar and custard powder to form a smooth mixture.
2. Add the salt . Add little flour at a time .
3. Mix to form a soft dough. Pinch out small portions and then roll into balls. Then put some pressure with palm on the balls. You can make design by using forks. Add pistachio and almonds to decorate the cookies.
4. Place on the butter paper in baking tray. If you don’t have butter paper, grease the tray with oil.
5. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 to 20 minutes .
6. Cool it before serving .

Mulo pata + KacchKola'r Khosha Bata

Awesome Writer. Superb in Recitation. Brilliant Dancer. Lover of the feline. These are a few adjectives to describes chakumchukum's #iamasuperchef of the week Dipashri Bardhan.

Dipashri Bardhan

Dipashri lives in Bangalore,  is a movie critic and writes movie reviews in leading newspapers. Apart from her numerous associations she is a super chef and creates innovative recipes which are healthy and tasty. She has shared one of her favorite recipes with ChakumChukum "Mulo pata + KacchKola'r Khosha Bata" or a paste made of radish leaves and plantain peels.  Here goes her recipe:

BACKDROP: Ideally radish leaves & plantain peels should not be mixed...They are supposed to be cooked separately to make this dish, though here the process is same...Here I mixed up both coz today in the morning, I found a little radish leaves & 7-8 plantain peels are left in my Freeze...So why to waste both ? When a delicious preparation could be made ? ;)

Ingredients:

• Radish leaves
• Plantain peels
• Garlic
• Green Chilly
• Onion Seeds
• Turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• Mustard oil for cooking

Method:

First pressure cook radish leaves and plantain peels. Mash up in Mixer machine, with garlic & green chilly. Then add onion seeds in hot mustard oil, followed by adding these mashed up paste of plantain & radish leaves. Add turmeric powder and salt. Mix up properly till it forms a smooth paste. Its ready :D

HEALTH VALUE: Since its scientifically proven that most of the vitamins stay in the peels of any vegetables (here plantain) + Green leaves are rich source of Vitamin A, C & K, hence this dish can boost your immune system :)

Share your #iamasuperchef recipes with ChakumChukum and get the #superwoman crown.

mail at chakumchukumwithbaishali@gmail.com or Inbox in FB page 

Fulkopir Korma /Cauliflower Korma

Winter is here. Lot of winter vegetables are available in the market now. One can buy fresh aromatic cauliflowers in the market. Keeping in mind the season and its vegetables, here is my recipe. You may find the preparation different and it bring in a different taste.

Ingredients:

• Cauliflower – 500gm
• Peas – 100gm 
• Bay leaf – 1 pcs
• Cardamom – 4 pcs
• Cinnamon  stick – 1 pcs 
• Ginger paste  - 2tsp
• Red chilli powder – 1 tsp or as per taste 
• Ghee – 2 tsp
• Oil – 2 tsp 
• Curd – ½ cup 
• Cashewnut paste – 2 tsp
• Coconut paste – 2tsp 
• Sugar 1 ½ tsp or as per taste 
• Salt – as per taste 
• Garam masala powder – ½ tsp 

Method :

1. Heat some oil in the kadahi.  Fry the cauliflower pieces for some time till it is light golden
2. Now, add  2 spoonful of ghee in the same oil and add 4 pieces of cardamom, 1 1 cinnamon stick, 1 bay leaf. Fry till the beautiful spicy aroma comes out.
3. Now add, ginger paste, red chilli powder, curd.  Fry it till the oil separates.
4. Now add, cashew nut paste, coconut paste. After 2-3 minutes, add cauliflower, peas  and keep stirring. Now add sugar, salt to taste, little bit of water.
5. Now check if the cauliflower is cooked. When it is cooked, and the gravy appears thick, add some garam masala, stir and keep it aside.
6. You can serve the cauliflower korma with Basanti Pulav 

Keema Naan

Naan, a popular Indian bread made with Keema stuffing. Delicious and easy to make.

Ingredients

For the naan bread 

• Plain Flour -500gm
• Salt – ½ tsp or as per taste 
• Baking Powder – 1 tsp
• Active dry yeast -2 tsp
• Milk -150ml (Lukewarm )
• Oil or butter – 4 tsp 
• Curd -150 ml (lightly beaten )
• Egg -1 ( Lightly beaten)

For the keema stuffing

• Chicken Mince – 250 gm
• Oil- 3 tbsp
• Onion – 1 ( chopped)
• Chillies – 3 (chopped)
• Garlic cloves-2 (chopped)
• Tomato puree – 2 tsp
• Chili powder – 1 tsp
• Coriander powder – 1tsp
• Garam masala – ½ tsp 
• Tandoori masala 1 tsp 

Method

To make the naan bread:

• Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, yeast and sugar in a bowl and pour in the lukewarm milk, oil, yoghurt and the beaten egg and mix it all together to form a ball of dough.
• Place the dough on to a clean surface and knead it for 10 minutes or more, to make it smooth.
• Pour  1/4 tsp oil into a large bowl and roll the ball of dough in it.
• Cover the bowl with a piece of cling cloth or kitchen towel and set aside in a warm  place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

To make the keema filling:

• Heat oil in a pan and on medium heat, fry the finely chopped onion, minced ginger and garlic till lightly golden browned.
• Add the mince meat, chopped chillies, spices and salt and stir fry till nicely browned.
• Add in the tomato puree and about 2-3 tbsp water and let the mixture cook thoroughly, stirring occasionally, till all the liquid have evaporated.
• Remember, NO LIQUID SHOULD REMAIN. If the mince stuffing is ‘wet’, it will be impossible to roll out the naans without bursting them.
• Keep aside to cool completely then 

Back to making the naan bread:

• Pre-heat your oven to the highest temperature. Put the heaviest baking tray to heat in the oven.
• Punch down the dough and knead it again and divide into 8 equal balls.
• While working on 1 ball, keep the remaining balls covered.
• Flatten the ball using your hands (or rolling pin), roll it out slightly and then place about 1 heaped tbsp of the mince stuffing in the centre and pull the edges up, seal and shape into a ball again.
• Dust will a little flour if needed and roll out into a tear-shaped naan, about 15 cm in length and about 12 cm at its widest.
• Brush the top with melted butter.
• Remove the hot baking tray from the oven, grease it well with butter and place the naan on to it (I cook 4 naans in one batch).
• Put it into the oven on the top rack for 2-3 minutes. It should puff up and brown slightly (do keep an eye on it after 2 mins).
• Once puffed up and browned on one side, flip the naan and back into the oven again for another 1-2 minutes till the top of naan goes golden brown (keep an eye after 1 minute). Now, serve hot.

Egg Salad by Purba Das

There goes a common phrase in Bengali "Je Rnadhe Se Chul O Bnadhe" - which means a lady well adept in cooking as well as in adorning her hair. We start our special post series dedicated to such awesome ladies who have created a niche in their own field and are also super chefs at home.

Purba Das

We start the #iamasuperchef series with Purba Das. Purba lives in Mumbai and is an entrepreneur and a superb dancer and mother of two bright kids. She juggles work and home and churns out innovative recipes. She shares one of her recipes with ChakumChukum which she learnt from a Malayasian friend. Egg Salad - The salad is loved by all and is especially popular among kids. 


Here goes Purba's special egg salad.

Ingredients

• Egg
• Mayonnaise
• Tomato ketchup/chilli-tomato ketchup as per choice
• Gram flour
• Salt
• And veggies as per choice

Procedure

• Boil the eggs and cut it in two halves. 
• Make a batter of gram flour and salt dip the eggs and fry it. Keep aside. 
• Take a bowl mix good quantity of mayonnaise and tomato ketchup/chilli tomato sauce as per choice. Then dip those fried eggs or you can pour from above as well. 
• Chop veggies like carrots, beetroot, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and mix them.
• Plate the eggs along with the veggies.

Share your #iamasuperchef recipes with ChakumChukum and get the #superwoman crown.

mail at chakumchukumwithbaishali@gmail.com or Inbox in FB page 

Fresh Buns for the perfect Breakfast

Good Morning everyone! The morning can be awesome if you can bake fresh buns and have it in your breakfast with milk, jelly or jam, butter and other assortments. Here is the easy recipe  to try it at home.

Ingredients :
• Flour – 4  cups 
• Dry yeast – 4  teaspoons 
• Milk – 1 cup
• Water – ¾ cup
• Butter or oil -1/2 cup 
• Sugar -1/3 cup 
• Salt -1/2 teaspoon
• Sesame seeds – 2 tablespoons

Method:
1. Mix 3 cups flour and 4 teaspoons of yeast in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix milk , water ,oil ,sugar and salt and then put it in microwave and heat till it is lukewarm .
3. Add all at once to flour mixture and beat till it is smooth.
4. Mix remaining flour  to the above to  make a soft dough .  Mix well until dough is soft and slightly sticky
5. Now ,  let the dough rest in  a large greased bowl and cover with a fresh cloth. Let it rest for about 30-45 minutes .  It will double up in size.
6. Shape dough into 12 -15 small balls and place on greased baking sheet to rise until doubled in size .(Approx one hour)
7. Now sprinkle the sesame seeds on the balls. 
8. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 15 minutes.

If you like my recipe, do leave a comment here or press the ‘like’ button. 

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