Travels for Taste

Tales of travel and food with a touch of spice

Jerk Chicken and Coconut Rice

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The first time I ate Jerk Chicken, was at a pop up Caribbean food stall near Haymarket Station, it was served with some tasty rice with red kidney beans and the most deliciously sweet plantain. Ever since I have been waiting to experiment and make this spicy chicken at home. Please resist the temptation of using a jerk sauce out of a bottle, it’s almost a crime because in the recipe I used from the BBC Good Food guide, it makes preparing the marinade a thing of joy. Not only will you learn how each ingredient lends its individual flavour but you can learn how to adjust the ”heat” in this amazing marinade. An advance warning, if you have sensitive skin PLEASE use gloves to marinate the chicken as Scotch Bonnet peppers are PACKED with heat. Ensure you THOROUGHLY wash your hands after you handle these ”hot babies” too! Humm now for the recipe, it’s essentially what was in the original but of course, I have added my own touches and I think they make quite an impact 🙂 So read on folks.

Manjiri Chitnis

Jerk Chicken

Caribbean Jerk chicken is an all-time favourite and tastes even better with a home-mademarinade
Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Caribbean
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

For Jerk Chicken:
  • 12 chicken thighs with bone
  • 1 garlic sliced through the middle to go in the oven
  • 2 lemons halved to go in the baking tray
  • 1 pair of clean gloves if you have sensitive skin – to marinate the chicken
For the Jerk marinade:
  • 4 Garlic Cloves de-skinned
  • 1 small red onion
  • 1 bunch fresh spring onion roughly chopped
  • 1 portion ginger size that fits inside your closed fist washed, skinned and roughly chopped
  • 1 tbsp thyme – I had none so I used 1 tbsp of Mixed Italian herb powder
  • 3 scotch bonnet chillies de-seeded if you cannot handle very spicy
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp oil – I used sunflower
  • 4 heaped tbsp brown sugar – I used dark muscovado sugar
  • 1 tbsp ground allspice powder
  • 1 lime Juiced

Method
 

  1. Blitz all the ingredients for the marinade in the mixer/food processor/blender and make a thick paste, do not add water as far as possible to ensure a thick puree like grainy paste
  2. Wash and deskin the chicken thighs and make cuts using a knife
  3. Then generously apply the marinade paste all over rubbing into the cuts made to ensure the flavour really seeps into the chicken
  4. Marinate overnight in the fridge. Cover vessel with cling film
  5. Keep about 2 tbsp marinade aside for adding in the baking tray
  6. When you are ready to prepare the chicken pre-heat the oven to 180 – 200 degree Celsius, I have a fan oven
  7. Prepare the baking tray by greasing with some oil, place the marinated chicken pieces and surround them with the lime slices and place the garlic halved
  8. Cook in the oven for about 45 minutes or until juices run clear
  9. When the chicken is in the oven start with the rice

Coconut Rice with Peas

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g Basmati Rice
  • 400 g Coconut Milk can
  • 1 bunch fresh spring onion finely chopped
  • 2 large sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 2 large cloves of garlic skinned and chopped very fine
  • 1 tbsp ground allspice
  • 200 g green peas

Method
 

  1. Wash the Basmati rice under cold running tap water
  2. In a heavy-bottomed vessel, add the washed rice and coconut milk, chopped spring onions, thyme, garlic chopped and allspice
  3. Add 300 ml water, mix and add salt to season
  4. Cook with lid on a medium flame till water begins to boil
  5. Stir with a wooden spatula and then add the green peas
  6. Reduce flame and do not cover completely, leave a bit of space for the steam to pass
  7. Cook until done

Although the recipe I followed, uses red kidney beans since I was already using them in my Caribbean Sweet Mini Pepper Salad, I choose green peas for my Coconut Rice. I made my own homemade replacement for allspice powder too, it’s very easy and I intend to make it fresh each time I need instead of the store-bought one, simply because it is so quick and easy to prepare! Actually allspice is a spice by itself but it tastes similar to a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and pepper.

Also Known as: Jamaican Pepper or New spice

Home made all-Spice Powder recipe

Manjiri Chitnis

Home made all-spice seasoning

Try myeasy to prepare and store home-made all-spice seasoning
Print Recipe
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 7 minutes
Servings: 1 portions
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tbsp Cinnamon powder or cinnamon stick – thumb-sized
  • 1 small tbsp pepper powder
  • 1 heaped tbsp of cloves
  • 1 full nutmeg grated

Method
 

  1. In a pestle and mortar mix the ingredients and grate the nutmeg into it
  2. Then smash together to makes a grainy powder
  3. Some bits of the clove you may not be able to grind fine, I wouldn’t worry about it unless you want a fine powder then the smallest attachment on your mixer. I have an Indian mixer which I use for my coconut chutneys and it has 3 jars I used the one with 3 blades. Or else just use the pestle and mortar it should work.
  4. Store away the remaining homemade allspice replacement powder in a tiny airtight container

A note about the brown sugar vs. dark muscovado sugar

Dark Muscovado sugar is the unrefined form of brown sugar ,its stickier ,heavier,has a longer shelf life than refined sugars and adds a more intense flavour to marinades and since it is stable at high temperatures is great for baking.If you do not have brown sugar its ok to replace it with dark Muscovado sugar. Although as the water content dark muscovado holds is higher one should accordingly taper the use of water in the recipe.

Brown sugar is white sugar and molasses and hence the colour and soft texture. It has the light and dark brown sugar varieties and the lighter it is the milder the flavour.

Muscovado,White & Light Brown Sugar

Caribbean Sweet Mini Pepper Salad

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When I first purchased sweet mini peppers I made a pie with them, well honestly it looked anything but perfect and just about made it to ”ok” on the taste parameters, but I shall leave that discussion for a later date. This recipe is adapted from the one given on the cute resealable bag in which the vibrantly colourfull and tempting  sweet peppers were packaged in by the supermarket.

Serves:6 as a side dish  Prep Time:15 Minutes, allow for at least half an hour of marination to allow flavours to really develop and pack a punch

Ingredients for the salad dressing:Juice of 1 lime

  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 garlic clove – remove skin and crush
  • 2 X 15 ml cooking oil, I used sunflower
  • 3 X 15 ml red wine vinegar
  • 1 X 5 ml hot pepper sauce
  • 1/4 X 5 ml Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 a teaspoon castor sugar
  • Salt to sprinkle
  • Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Ingredients for the salad

  • 6-8 sweet mini peppers, de-seeded and  chopped into tiny cubes
  • 1 can of 400 gm (14 oz) ready to eat  red kidney beans drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 a cucumber, peeled and chopped into tiny cubes
  • 250 gm cherry tomatoes
  • 1 large red onion sliced lenght wise
  • 195 gm (7oz) sweet corn drained

I also added the remaining portion of the organic mangoes,roughly chopped into bite sized pieces, this is an optional add I just needed to use up the mango and it added a sweet-tangy taste which I love.You could also chop fine a small bunch of fresh coriander or skip it totally.

Method:

  • In a large salad bowl mix all the dressing ingredients and add all the salad ingredients into the bowl
  • Mix well and leave to marinate for at least half an hour.
  • Since it’s super hot right now I kept it in the fridge for a bit before serving.

This salad is a super side dish with Jerk Chicken and for those summer evening when you feel you cannot eat heavy meals, just combine it with a portion of roasted meat replacement done lightly spiced.I love my new salad bowl gifted by my aunt on her visit to ours.Love you maushi.

Caribbean Sweet Mini Pepper Salad

Caribbean themed Summer Fruit Smoothie

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There’s no better way to get your summer party guests to cool down and settle in than by offering them a chilled fruity delight that takes away the torture of travelling in summer with the sun not feeling unapologetic as it beats down upon us!

I wanted to create a more complex flavour but settled for a sweet tangy combo with a few ingredients. It’s quick,easy and absolutely exploding with summer fruity goodness.

Makes 1.5 l and the plastic posh glass I served in holds 100 ml.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large organic mangoes
  • 5 juicy strawberries
  • 400 gm Pineapple chunks  with juice – I bought the long life jars since I have a shockingly tiny refrigerator.
  • Juice of 1/4th  lime
  • 225 gm Mango Pulp – I used half of a 450 gm tin of Kesar Mango Pulp

Method:

  • I bought the Mediterranean Mangoes,the ones from a supermarket shelf where the skin appears green but when you gently press down onto the skin and pulp moves easily inside that means, they are ready for consumption, if you buy them a day in advance ensure you refrigerate them minus the plastic packaging to prevent over ripening and also ”sweating” of the fruit inside the plastic packaging.
  • Scoop out the pulp from the ”cheeks” of the 2 mangoes and leave the rest for Caribbean Sweet Mini Pepper salad. Chop into big chunks for the blender.
  • Wash the strawberries, halve them after removing the stalk
  • Blitz the mango pieces, the pineapple pieces and the juice, the strawberries, mango pulp and juice of half a lime ensuring there are no seeds in it.
  • Pour into a jug and leave to cool in the refrigerator.
  • Serve with ice cubes in a fancy glass, I bought these plastic ones on a steal deal from the party section of a discount store. 🙂

This simple but delicious smoothie is perfect as a summer cooler and will not fail to impress your guests and besides its a great way to kick off a summer party!I hope you enjoy making and sharing this smoothie as much as I loved creating and writing about it, each glass refilled made me smile – a lot.

Carribean Themed Summer Smoothie

Why not also have a look at this easy and yum Strawberry Mojito Recipe by Helen who writes the blog Actually Mummy.

Key Lime Pie

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Calling all DEXTER Fans!

Key Lime Pie – or one of Dexter ”victims” last meal, (who wanted to be a well ”victim”, if you watch Dexter as obsessively as I do, you will know! Season 3 episode 8 – Easy as Pie)

Well, this popular American Dessert is very easy to make and a delicious dessert option to serve. Recipe adapted from Martha Stewarts’ recipe for homemade Key Lime Pie and from BBC Good Food.

Key Limes get their name from the association with the Florida Keys and because they are the main ingredients in well, Key Lime Pie! I have used the darker green skinned limes and they give that – much required and tangy citrus taste to the pie.

Ingredients:(Serves 8)

  1. 300gm HobNobs (hob-nobs are the U.K version of the U.S Graham Crackers, use any biscuit/ cracker that will give you a good crumbly base)
  2. 150gm unsalted butter melted and cooled
  3. One 397gm tin of  condensed milk
  4. Four egg yolks
  5. Zest and juice of 4 limes

Method:

  • Put the hobnobs into a thick, strong, food-grade plastic bag and give them a good bashing, what fun, totally de-stressing! Or if you are less violent and do not watch Dexter then please use a food processor.
  • Mix these beautiful crumbs with the soft melted and cooled butter in a bowl, my big orange plastic bowl is so good for this (for a quick peek at the bowl check out my post about cookies and headache ok well just cookies tehehehe)
  • Firmly pat onto a tart tin 22 cm is what I have, I used a thick white ceramic pie pan which I purchased earlier on in the day and ended buying a gorgeous Brita Water Filter with it too, I love low price deals and my old water filter jug needed to be chucked!
  • Bake the base for 10 minutes in a pre heated oven at 160C/fan 140C/gas 3
  • Then separate the 4 egg yolks from the whites and add the entire tin of condensed milk, whisk for about 3  minutes , good if you have an electric whisk , I was making this pie at an obscenely late hour in the night and didn’t dare use my electric whisk ;), so had to mix really well for about 5 minutes.
  • Zest the limes so that some of the zest can go into the mix and some can be used to dress the pie
  • Now add the juice of the limes and some of the zest into the egg & condensed milk mix and whisk for another 3 minutes.
  • Pour onto the cooled base and bake for another 10 minutes.
  • Cool completely on a wire rack and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
  • Dress the pie with some more lime zest, I didn’t want to do the whipped cream bit on the top but ended up using the ready made squeezy ready to use cream from a can, it sits very quickly and if you do not consume immediately it will form a puddle on the top so please avoid !

This is a wonderfull dessert to be shared with friends and family and is apt for weekend meals, make ahead and refrigerate.Great for summers!

Key Lime Pie n some pine cones
Key Lime Pie dug in
Oh so good ...ummlicious

Looking for more inspiration to indulge your sweet-tooth? Why not browse through my dessert recipes:

Easy and healthy one-pot chicken noodles

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It was one of those days when I wished the dinner made itself ,but hey you know what I am saying right?Like it’s ONLY Monday and am wishing it was the weekend again , ya, ya that kind of a horrible feeling- gaaahhh! Happens to the best of us , yes even me , ok ok I will get on with the recipe.I  had this vegetable stock packet in my kitchen cupboard that had to be used or else! And I had some tomatoes, bright red  chillies, half a red onion sliced , some unused tiny onions, a juicy lime and a spanking new bottle of Kafir Lime leaves .

Since I had spent the better part of the day, well on facebook 😉 I got my lazy,fat a** out of my house and walked to the supermarket.Some chocken thighs ,a mixed bag with chopped carrot and brocolli on reduced price , just what I was looking for!

Ok so here’s a list of all the ingredients I threw in and managed to make something that made hubby go from ”hummm ummm” to ”interesting” to ” u came up with this recipe like now?” the best compliment, ok am showing off and that sickening right?

Serves:2 , Cook time including serving time :25 miutes

Ingredients:

  1. 500ml vegetable stock
  2. 100ml water
  3. 1/2 of a medium sized red onion sliced lengthwise
  4. 2 -3 shallots chopped lengthwise
  5. 2 cloves of garlic with the skin on
  6. 1 tiny pinch of cumin seeds
  7. 2 Kaffir lime leaves – no more ,they are POTENT!
  8. 2 bright red chillies slit lenghthwise
  9. 1 small tomato chopped into tiny pieces
  10. 3 pieces of chicken with the skin taken off
  11. Red chilli powder as per taste
  12. Salt as per taste
  13. 1 portion of thin egg noodles  – 100 gm approx
  14. 1 small palmfull of diced carrot  – 100 gm approx
  15. 2 -3 bits of broccoli cut into smaller bite sized portions – 100 gm approx
  16. 1/4th of piece of lime to squeeze onto the chicken
  17. 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  18. A smile on your face because you are going to make a new yum dish super quick and you n yours are gonna love-uh it!

The Ingredients

Preparation:

  • Wash the chicken pieces and remove the skin
  • Pan on hob and add one tbsp oil ,saute the thinly length-wise sliced red onion saving a few bits to go into the stock pot.
  • place the chicken pieces and lower the flame, turn the pieces in a few minutes after they start to fry, do not cook them fully as this pan fry bit is to ensure flavour on double impact and get the chicken to release it’s juices
  • at this stage add the tomato bits into the pan and flatten with a spatula after they have sizzled for a bit, this will make the sauted onion flavour marry with the tomato and lock in the chicken juices,squeeze the lime onto this
  • add about 2 tbsp of the vegetable stock to the chicken in the pan and simmer on  as low a flame as possible,keep checking to ensure it does not dry up!
  • Now add 1 tbsp in a saucepan and when it’s hot throw in the 2 big red chillies which have been split lengthwise,followed by the cumin,crushed garlic cloves with skin, some of the red onion chopped leftover from what went in the pan and the shallots chopped lengthwise.Keep the saucepan on a low flame to prevent burning of these ingredients.

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  • When the garlic is done and the pungent chilli and garlic gives off its trademark punch of aroma throw in the Kaffir lime leaves ,when the onion is totally pink n garlic crisp , throw in some of the vegetable stock and some water , add the noodles carrot and broccoli ,cover and bring to a boil, at this stage the carrot is almost cooked and the noodles too, scoop in the chicken and the thick onion-tomato gravy it was in, ensure you get every last bit of the thick sauce from the pan to not loose any of that wholesome goodness!

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  • Now throw in all the remaining vegetable stock and water and add salt and red chilli powder as per taste.
  • cook on a low flame with lid till done, the chicken should just fall of the bone easy and the carrot should be well cooked but not squidgy.
  • Serve hot with soft boiled potatoes in butter and herbs or a crisp baguette.

At 2 small spoons of oil and how it fills you, this one dish stock pot is filling, wholesome,relatively easy and a good for a weekday dinner when you are feeling  well BLAH 😉

please leave comments to let me know if this recipe rocked your boat or totally sucked !

Love,peace and good night bloggy world ,I love ya !

One stock pot chicken and noodle dinner

Father’s Day Breakfast – Asparagus Soldiers and soft boiled eggs

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As far back as I can recollect Sunday was my daddy’s fav day to cook, he is so good with food and flavours and is meticulous to the point to military precision, he always left the kitchen very clean and explained the health benefits of whatever he rustled up, which actually wasn’t necessary considering the food was so tempting always that my sister and I barely heard what he spoke while we stuffed our faces 😉

Even now in his 70’s he is still as enthusiastic in the kitchen and now loves cooking for my sisters kids,his family favourite dishes are biryani, chicken curry and a simple dessert made with china grass.

He used this massive skillet to make biryani’s and its gathering dust now somewhere at home. Baba – as, we call him makes the best soft boiled eggs ever and the most scrumptious omelettes and runny scrambled eggs with cheese.(I want a skillet real bad now!)

Baba , I wish you were in London with us, I would love to have made this simple breakfast for you, I love you daddy.Happy Father’s day, but then you do know that you are the nucleus of my life, don’t you?

Manjiri Chitnis

Asparagus Soldiers and soft-boiled eggs

A childhood favourite and one of the many things my darling Daddy rustled up for me and my sister
Print Recipe
Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Servings: 1 Person
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: Continental
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 strips Bacon / Prosciutto
  • Small bunch Fresh Asparagus
  • Sea salt to season

Equipment

  • 1 Saucepan
  • 1 Knife

Method
 

  1. Boil the asparagus after you chop off the woody bit, check if they are done in about 7 minutes, drain water, wash in cold water for a few seconds and leave aside, covered
  2. While the asparagus is boiling, boil the eggs in another pan, do not cover them and cook them for about 4-5 minutes, drain the hot water and add cold water so that you can hold the egg easily and quickly ”behead” the eggs
  3. The beauty of a soft-boiled egg is the runny interior which is prefect for dunking the asparagus soldiers into
  4. Wrap the crunchy bacon strips around the asparagus
  5. I keep some sea-salt aside to add some flavour , I love eggs so I prefer them without any salt sprinkled

Baba makes the perfect ”quarter” boiled eggs which are runny and soft and he removes a bit of the shell and pours out the egg into a tiny bowl, it goes so well with Pohe (puffed rice used to make a tasty cooked breakfast with finely chopped onion,curry leaves , lime and tiny bite sized potatoes, garnished with finely chopped coriander) … I remember sitting around this tiny table in our first house in Bombay with my sister and Baba would give us these yummy eggs for breakfast on weekends.I love going back in time and reliving those happy days of simple family togetherness.

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Why not try my other recipes with Eggs as the star ingredient?

I VISISTED A BUSY EGG FARM WHERE HENS ROAM IN RURAL ENGLAND, HAVE A READ AND BROWSE THROUGH SOME PICTURES FOR A VIRTUAL TOUR

Behind the scenes at an Egg Farm

Baked Courgette Chips

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I often crave to munch on something like most of us do and just munching on something so different and bursting with flavour is satiating.

Plus there’s a lot less guilt munching on something that’s baked rather than deep-fried right?? Well, ahem! This recipe was adapted from one I found on All Recipes.

What I love most about this is that it’s done quickly, give it a prep time of 5 min, a cook time of 15 mins, and is ready in 20 minutes! What more can one ask for, just get that oven fired up people!

So here’s what you will need :

Manjiri Chitnis

Baked courgette chips

Easy, delicious and fun to make
Print Recipe
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Fusion
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 medium courgettes
  • 2 tbsp Grated parmesan cheese
  • 100 gm Golden Breadcrumbs
  • 2 Egg whites
  • SmokedSea Salt as per taste
  • Groundblack pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Mixed Italian herbs
  • Olive Oil

Method
 

  1. Add the breadcrumbs, cheese, herbs, smoked sea-salt ( I use Oak-smoked Anglesey sea salt, it really packs a punch) ,ground black pepper, Italian herb-mix into a bowl and mix well
  2. Pour the egg whites into another small bowl
  3. Slice the courgettes fine, I use a mandolin to get wafer-thin round slices
  4. Dip the courgette slices into the egg whites and then quickly into the bread crumb mix
  5. Pre heat the oven
  6. Line a baking tray with foil and using a brush apply some olive oil to the foil or use a low-calorie oil spray
  7. Place the courgette slices onto the baking tray
  8. Bake each side for 5 minutes at at 240°C / Gas Mark 9
  9. Once completely cool, transfer to an air-tight container and consume within 1-2 days

:

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I gobbled them up in one sitting! All washed down with a big cuppa of my steaming hot and sweer masala Chai, perfect for a summer afternoon when all you want to do is read that ”unputdownable” book! I am currently reading Dan Brown’s Inferno, what’s on your reading list?

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I am guest hosting the blog linky ‘In My Veg Box’ again this year in March 2015 on my blog, an event run by Vegetarian food blogger Nayna Kanabar of Citrus Spice UK and the theme this month is Courgettes. Just added in my favourite Baked  Courgette ‘chips’  recipe to the linky.

Would love to see all your lovely creations with Courgettes, do link up, all details on how to link up are available on my post here.

In my veg box courgettes event logo

Prawn and Samphire in butter and chives

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I first came upon this delightfull crunchy and salty coastal plant –Samphire -when I went into a tiny  shop which sells some amazing fresh sea food on Marylebone Street on my way to the Daunt Book store ( click on the hyperlink to read that blog post)

I found it a supermarket aisle and had to bring it home! I had a few prawns remaining and it was a great way to use them and create a side dish which is no fuss and really quick.

Simply saute the Samphire on a pan when it’s not very hot on a low flame in butter, then add another dollop and saute the prawns add a tiny bit of salt and sprinkle with Chives, Serve by squeezing some lime to add a zing, easy and quick isn’t it? Just what one needs to create good tasty meals without the fuss !

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Sun Dried Tomato and Chilli Spiced Bread

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It’s amazingly sunny this week and my spirits are up so I decided to make some  spiced bread with sun dried tomatoes and chilli, it turned out so yum I want to gobble it all up! This bread is a very filling,wholesome bread and is great for mopping up a thick gravy or having perfectly scrambled eggs with asparagus sprigs a dollop of butter – ah – sounds heavenly, my breakfast tomorrow for sure!

The oil from the sun dried tomatoes and the oil that goes in dough and really adds to the taste. It takes some kneading as I don’t own a bread maker (yet !) and didn’t really want to get into the hassle of trying the dough function on my food processor, still if you do possess one the bread bread dough tools, good for you!Recipe adaptation from here

Considering it was my first ever homemade bread, it turned out really nice, bursting with aroma and rich flavours and am now prepared to move on to well more bread making!

Ingredients:

  • 500 gm strong bread flour
  • 25 gm butter
  • Sun dried tomatoes and chillies about a large spoonfull
  • A sachet yeast
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 280 ml water at room temperature
  • Plain white flour for kneading
  • Oil from the chillies and tomato
  • Oil to grease loaf tin
  • Cling Film

Method:

  • Sift the flour and add the yeast salt and sugar with a wooden spoon.
  • Ensure butter is soft and rub in the butter with your hands till the mix looks like breadcrumbs.
  • Add the finely chopped sun dried tomatoes and chillies and some of the oil and mix well.
  • Now add the water slowly, folding it using a wooden or plastic spatula and then knead to make the dough.Keep kneading till a soft dough forms, fold in some oil and plain flour as and when needed.It will take about 15 minutes, yes I know but its worth it!
  • While kneading use the same process as you would while kneading chapati/roti aata , kneading out from center and then folding sides back into the center.
  • Cover in cling film and coat with some more oil. Leave to rise for about 2 hours in  a warm and dry place.
  • Now remove the cling film and knead the risen dough again at least for 8-10 minutes, you will notice that the dough will loose air and will almost go back to its original size.Its like mini air pockets getting tiny punches with your hands.
  • Repeat the cling film process and leave to rise for 30 minutes in a loaf tin in a warm place.
  • Preheat oven to 210 degrees , I have a fan oven,bake for 25 minutes,to ensure it’s well risen.
  • Cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then on the wire rack.
  • Serve sliced and enjoy with curries as a great alternative to regular wholemeal bread or as I plan to tomorrow with soft, perfectly done runny scrambled eggs, thinly sliced ham and asparagus sauteed in butter!

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Excited about Food Blogger Connect, yes am going back!

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Hello hello! Along with my efforts to get things out of my drafts folder, I thought I must share that I am super excited to be going back to the Food Blogger connect, it’s happening this July. Last year I managed to only attend the LAST day but what a day it was! Action-packed and so full of activities, I met some really fun bloggers. I wish to especially mention Grace who blogs at ‘A life unhurried’ and takes the most amazing pictures!

It was a power-packed day with really informative and motivating sessions. The whole place had crazy vibrant energy going around and I came back power-packed with ideas for my blog.

I hope that this year I can really ”connect” with the other bloggers and enjoy my time and yes learn a whole lot of new stuff!

Well, let us get going then, oh yes, I will soon share pictures about FBC 4, a ”Quick Byte” with a fellow food blogger (that’s a secret for now!), and lots more! 3 cheers to Food Blogger Connect!

Im-Going-To-FBC5-Badge

Check out the Food Blogger Connect Facebook page

Follow them on Twitter  – @bloggerconnect

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