Crostata Con La Crema or Custard Tart- Daring Bakers Challenge for November 2010

Hi Everyone,
  I'm back with my late submission for daring baker's challenge. Although I completed the challenge before I left Germany, I couldn't post it on time. So here I'm post it late after coming back from India.
  This month challenge is from Simona of briciole. She challenged us to make Crostata( tart) with her own recipe and use any filling of our choice. Crostata is a Italian dessert, it's basically a tart with fruit or cream filling.
For me the queen of all tarts would be the one and only custard tart, I never enjoyed any other tart so much as a custard tart. Simona also gave us a few ideas for the filling also, I used her pastry cream filling which was simply fabulous. Her pastry also worked very well, I consider this as the best of all the tarts I made so far. The pastry and the cream everything was just in the right consistency except that I break some edges of the tart. Thank you Simona for giving us this lovely challenge.

Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes+ cooling time
Serves 8

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
Wholemeal or plain flour- 235 g / 8 1/4 oz
Caster sugar- 75 g / 3 oz
Unsalted cold butter- 115 g / 4 oz
Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp
1 large egg and a egg yolk
a pinch of salt

For the pastry cream:
Milk- 500 ml / 20 oz
Sugar- 65 g / 2 oz
Plain flour- 3 tbsp
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
2 large eggs
Grated nutmeg- 1 tsp

Method:
Prepare the pastry:
Sift the flour and salt in a large bowl. whisk together the egg in a small bowl. Add the sugar to the flour mixture and mix well. Add the butter cut into cubes in the flour mixture and work with your hands gently until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Finally add the egg and bring the dough together. Flatten the dough, wrap it in a cling film and refrigerate for minimum of two hours or overnight.
Prepare the pastry cream:

Whisk together the egg and sugar until it resembles very pale and creamy. Add the flour to the egg mixture and whisk well until it gets incorporated. Heat the milk and extract in a pan until it reaches just under boiling point. Pour the milk little by little into the egg mixture and whisk well. Return the mixture to  the heat again and keep stirring well until it becomes thick custard. Pour the custard in a bowl and cover the top with cling film to avoid forming film on top. Allow the filling to cool completely, you can make it the previous day and store it in the refrigerator.
Assemble the tart:

Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius.
Take the dough out from the refrigerator, roll it out between two cling film or parchment paper. Gently place the rolled dough in a greased tart tin. Press the edges down. Prick with a fork all over the dough. Trim all the dough in the sides. Place a parchment paper on top of the dough and fill with baking beans. Blind bake for 5 minutes.
Allow it to cool completely. Pour the custard inside the tart case. I made few decorations using the remaining dough which is totally optional. Sprinkle the grated nutmeg on top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown on sides.
Let it cool down for a while and serve it into wedges.

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Break

 Just a quick note, since we are travelling to India for a short time, I'll be not able to blog for the next few weeks. Any One Can Cook is also on a break for the next few weeks. Keep sending your recipes for Eat Well Live Well, whenever I check mail I'll immediately reply. The deadline is also extended till  Dec 15th.
 Will miss you all, blogging, all your delicious recipes..

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Celebrate Sweets- Kheer RoundUp

 It was really a pleasure for me to host this sweet event. I enjoyed a lot by going around the blogs and checking the sweet recipes. I have to thank Nivedita for giving me this wonderful opportunity. This Celebrate Sweets Event was initially started by Nivedita with Halwa as the main sweet and now it's been continued by other bloggers to guest host this event. When it comes to Celebration, whatever your ethnicity, whatever language you speak but a sweet is a must.
     I would also like to thank all our fellow bloggers who supported this event by sending their delicious sweet recipes. The success of every event depends upon the support of the fellow bloggers. This time I have also received one entry from a non blogger friend Aysha from Germany. Thank you Aysha for sending your sweet delicacy.
 Now to the roundup in the order I received, be prepared to make some kheer today.....

Microwavable Caramalized Carrot Kheer  by Amrita Kalyani  of AK's Vegetarian Recipe World , a every delightful recipe which she learned from her Mom-In- Law.

Paal Payasam and Semiya Payasam by Smitha of Tastebuds, this is her special recipe since she got it from her mother, and her mother from her mother. It's been prepared in her family for generation after generation...
which tells the secret of the recipe.

Carrot Macroni Kheer by Sangeetha of Sangi's Food World,  a very innovative kheer made with macroni and falavoured with carrots.

Banana Payasam by Suma of Veggie Platter, a very simple but delicious payasam  which can be prepared in just 10 minutes.

Jeedipappu Payasam( Kaju Kheer) by Vasavi of Vasavi's Recipes, a payasam which is packed with flavours of Cashews.

Vermicilli Kheer and Akki Kadle bele Kheer by Chitra of Chitranna, a very delicious and healthy looking payasam.

Aval Payasam( Poha Kheer) by Jay of Tasty Appetite, it looked  simply irresistible.

Moong Dhal Kheer by Preeti of Khaugiri , very nutritious and delicious looking kheer.

Next we have Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes, she has send four of her delicious and innovative creations.  Thank you Priya for all your delightful recipes.

Quinoa and MoongDhal Kheer

Carrot and Chanadhal Kheer

Poppyseed Kheer

Caramel Sago Kheer

Kasa Kasa Payasam by Priya Sreeram of Bon Appetit, a very delightful payasam which had a thumsup among her friends and family.
Our next collection of Kheer is from Nivedita of Nivedita's Kitchen who started this event originally, she made four delicious entry for the event. Thank you Nivedita for your lovely entries.

Vermicilli Kheer

Sago Kheer

Basundi( Milk Kheer)

Quick Vermicilli Kheer

A delicious combination of Coconut and sago kheer by Suneetha of Suneetha's Kitchen.

A yummy and healthy Rava Payasam by Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot.

A classic Phirni by Amritha of AK's Vegetarian Recipe World.
Harini Jaya of Tamalapaku has send three of her sweet and delicious looking kheers. Thank you Harini for these delicious entries.

Almond Kheer

Rice Pudding/ Annam Paramannam

Quinoa Kheer

Cracked wheat and coconut kheer by Suma of Veggie platter, her idea of using the leftover ingredients turned up into this delicious kheer.

Appekaradahakkida Payasam  by Pari of Foodelicious, a delicious pooripayasam which she made in the fond memory of her Father in Law.

A delicious Moongdhal Kheer by Sanika of San's Kitchen.

A very classic Kesar Phirni by Aipi of US Masala.

Akila of Learning to Cook has send her yummy combination of Coconut Rava Kheer.

Sindhi Kheer( Kheerni) by Shoba of Food Maza, rich kheer with nuts and saffron flavour.

Pista Kheer by Jaleela of Samayal Attagasangal, creamy combination packed with the flavours of Pista.

Tri Flavoured Kheer by Megha of Live to eat, a very unique kheer flavoured with cardamom, saffron and vanilla.

Gehu Ki Kheer by Samira of My Sonpari, a healthy kheer made with wheat and coconutmilk.

Saboodana Kheer by Nayna of Simply Food, which she describes as a creamy milk pudding made with saboodana and flavoured with cardamom and saffron.

Carrot Kheer by Hema of Chef Hema, which she learned from her MIL, with no ghee and less sugar.

My entries

Walnut and Almond Kheer

Black Jaggery Kheer

Finally to finish of this sweet kheer event we have a recipe from one of my friend Aysha banu from Germany, Parrupu Adai Payasam, makesit healthy with the addition of jaggery and very simple to make.

Paruppu-Adai paayasam

This is a simple South-Indian paayasam. It is very easy to make, but tastes delicious and makes a any
day a festive day.

Moong Dal – 1 ½ cup

Adai – 1 cup (a kind of rice noodles)

Water – 3 cups for daal

Jaggery – 200g

Water – just to immerse the jaggery

Cashews - 10

Raisins - 10

Coconut - an one inch piece, cut into very thin slices

Ghee – 2-3 Tbs

Salt – ½ tsp

Method:

Add water to jaggery in a vessel, heat it until jaggery gets dissolved. Filter it to remove any impurities
and keep this dissolved jaggery(thin paagu) warm.

Cook the daal along with water and salt. When the daal is half-cooked, add the adai to it. Wait until
the daal is completely cooked and the adai has got just soft. At this stage, add the dissolved jaggery
to it and simmer for 2-3 mins.

Heat the ghee in a small kadai and roast the cashews, raisins and coconut until the coconut slices
turn slightly brown. Now, add these to the paayasam. That’s it.

Note:
Care should be taken not to let the adai over cooked. The adai must be edible, but still the
adai flakes must be clearly visible. When it is overcooked, the paayasam becomes cloggy.
When using roast cashews, they can be added directly to the paayasam.
This paayasam tastes best, when served warm. Can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days and it
is enough to heat it up a little, before serving.

One late entry Semiya Payasam by Neeru's.

Once again thank you everyone for sending your sweet recipes and making this event a successful one. I'm sure you must have a long list to be book marked from this collection of recipes.
I  cared a lot to miss any of your recipes, if I have missed any of your recipes my apologies, please let me know immediately so that I can make the changes. Also if there is any mistake in your name or blog name also please let me know.
 Thank you Nivedita for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

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Tomato Souffle: Sweet Punch for November 2010

I drafted this whole post yesterday writing all my stories, today when I made a few changes to post it, everything got deleted. So now I don't have ant patience to type everything again.
  Anyway this month challenge is from Ria of Ria's Collections. This month it was really exciting since we were given three options to choose.
Tomato Souffle
Chocolate Mousse with egg and without egg.
 Since Tomato souffle is something totally new to me and I have never tried or tasted it, I went for tomato souffle, which was lovely. This month Sweet Punch is Savoury.. Even my fuzzy eating little ones enjoyed having it from the warm ramekins, I can't give any more better compliment than this.

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1. Bread crumbs – 1/2 cup, firmly packed
2. Butter – 15 gm
   Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped
   Plain flour (maida) – 2 tbsp
   Milk – 1 cup
3. Tomato paste – 3 tbsp
   Basil – 1 tbsp, finely chopped (optional)
4. Eggs – 3 egg whites and 2 egg yolks
5. Grated Cheese – a handful ( I used cheddar)
6. Method:

Grease 4 souffle dishes (1/2 cup capacity), sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Melt butter in small saucepan, add finely chopped onion. Stir over low heat for 2 minutes . Cook until onion is soft, it doesn’t have to become brown. Stir in flour and stir over medium heat for a minute. Remove from heat, gradually stir in milk, bring back to heat and stir over high heat until mixture boils & thickens & reaches a thick sauce like consistency. 

Transfer to large bowl, stir in tomato paste & basil leaves. Cover the dish & let it stand for 5 minutes. Beat egg whites in a small bowl until soft peaks from. Add egg yolks to the onion & milk mixture & mix well. Fold the egg whites into the mixture in 2 batches. Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared dishes. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake in the preheated oven for 20- 25 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Serve warm with bread.

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Cheesy Herb Pullapart and HAZARDS OF WHITE FLOUR

We all love the smell of freshly baked bread whether it's fresh from our own kitchen or from a bakery. Everybody who bakes will definitely try to get their hands work with yeast and at some point they might get addictive to the fresh breads. I know atleast 80 percent will agree with me fresh breads are always good, but there is something we must remember about breads.
  What our fresh bread is made of? ? ? ? ? ?  Most of the time in home or shop bought it's White flour.
 We love the look, smell and taste of freshly baked white bread, but how did the white bread come????
What is the process behind the white flour???????? Which I completely forgot after coming to Germany. I have been making breads....... with only white flour for the last few months. A few backs when I was talking to one of my friend she said all your baking and blogging is good but try to avoid white flour, which alarmed me. Although it's not possible to avoid white flour completely for some bread, it's definitely possible to substitute with whole wheat at least more than half a level. A bread made with whole wheat may not be as appealing to whiteflour, but it makes your body feel inside good.
  
Hazards of white flour: The information about this white flour is from here.

A wheat grain kernel is composed of three layers: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm layer.
The bran is the outside layer where most of the fiber exists. Most of the nutrients and fats are in germ layer. The endosperm is the starchy middle layer.The natural nutrition associated with whole grains exists only when these three layers are eaten together. Old time stone mills ground the flour slowly, and the resulting flour had all three layers mixed in. (This result is called "100 percent stone-ground whole-wheat flour").
But in mass production flour mills, stone grinding isn’t efficient enough, so high speed, high temperature steel roller mills are used.
These high speed mills remove the bran and germ, and the resulting flour is made up of mostly the starchy endosperm layer.
Ironically, much of the bran and germ "waste product", which is the most nutritious part of the grain, is sold as animal feed.
The resulting white flour contains just a fraction of the nutrients of the original grain, with the heat of the steel rollers also playing a role in the nutrient destruction.

Chlorine and Alloxan

Not content with applying pesticides and ditching most of the nutrients, the flour manufacturers then subject the starchy flour to a chlorine gas bath.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies chlorine gas as a flour-bleaching, aging and oxidizing agent that is a powerful irritant, dangerous to inhale, and lethal.
The flour manufacturers use a form of chlorine gas to bleach and artificially "age" flour. The goal, of course, is a clean, white product. The chlorine gas reacts with the flour, oxidizing, whitening it and reducing the gluten.
But it also converts an dough additive called xanthine into a toxic substance called alloxan. The alloxan is an unintended byproduct.
So what is alloxan? Alloxan is a toxin which destroys pancreatic islet cells, resulting in diabetes. In fact, Alloxin is specifically used in research labs to induce diabetes in rats and mice for study purposes.
After the chlorine bath, we get nice, white flour completely devoid of any natural vitamins. And since all the natural vitamins have been destroyed, the bleached flour is mixed with synthetic vitamin and mineral supplements to "enrich" it.
These synthetic vitamins are made from petroleum, elemental ores, bacteria, fungi, and ferrous iron, which is created from sulfate refined out of high sulfur crude oil.


The same applies to white sugar, which undergoes so many process. Any food which by itself created by God is good for health but when it undergoes all the process created by man it loses it's goodness and results in all these hazards to health. I know when most of our diet depends upon grain it's hard to avoid it totally but we can reduce the consumption and use whole grain foods which are available in market and less processed foods.

Right after reading all the hazards about white flour and the processing we are going to recipe made with 100 percent whole  wheat which is considered as less hazard.

Serves 2
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes + rising time

Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour- 150 g / 6oz
Dried yeast- 3/4 tsp
Warm water- 75 ml/ 3 oz
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Olive oil- 2 tsp
Honey- 2 tsp
Cheddar cheese- 2 tbsp grated
Garlic- 2 cloves grated
Fresh chopped herbs- 1 tbsp( parsely or coriander or chives)
Method:
Prepare the dough:
Mix the whole wheat flour, salt and yeast together in a bowl. Add the honey and warm warm water to make a smooth dough. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl, cover with a cling film and allow it to rise in warm place for 1 to 2 hours until double in size.
Prepare the loaf:

Mix the cheese, herb and grated garlic together. Divide the dough in to 10 equal parts. Roll them like small discs. Dip one disc in the cheese and herb mixture and place the other disc on top. Repeat the same with the remaining dough. Grease and line a 1 lb loaf tin. Place the discs inside the tin. Cover with a cling film and allow it to rise for another 20 minutes until puffed up.

 Preheat the oven to 200 degree celsius. Bake the loaf in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until golden brown top.
I served the bread with Tomato souffle which I made for sweet punch, you can serve with any curries or stew of your choice.

This bread goes to Champa's Bake Off and Yeastspotting

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Black Jaggery Kheer

 This is just like regular rice kheer or rice pudding, instead of normal sugar I have used Black Jaggery .  Jaggery  is an unrefined cane sugar. Jaggery is considered to retain it's mineral values than the refined sugar. It does not involve any chemical agents when processing. It's also known to treat throat infections.
  So Jaggery is considered as a healthier option to use for your sweets than your normal white sugar. For more information about jaggery click here.

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time:
Pressure cooker: 20 minutes
In normal pan: about 1 hour

Ingredients:
Raw rice- 1/2 cup
Whole milk or coconut milk- 2 cups
Jaggery- 3/4 cup( adjust according to your taste)
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Ghee- 1/2 tbsp
Cashew and raisins- about 10 to sprinkle on top
Method:
Using Pressure Cooker:
Powder the rice coarsely in a blender. Add the powdered rice and milk in a pressure cooker, cook up to 4 to 5 whistles. Add the jaggery in a pan and heat in low heat until the jaggery is completely melted. Add the cooked rice mixture to the melted jaggery and mix well in medium to low heat until it gets well incorporated.
Heat ghee in another pan, add the cashew and raisins, when it turns golden brown, add it to the kheer along with the cardamom powder and mix well.
Serve warm or cold.

In normal pan:
Use a heavy based pan if you are using a normal pan. Add the rice and milk, keep stirring in medium to low heat. Cover the pan, keep it in low heat and cook until the rice gets completely cooked and mashed up. Keep an eye so that the milk doesn't overflow.
Then melt the jaggery with 1 tbsp of water until it gets completely melted. Add the cooked rice mixture to the melted jaggery and mix well in medium to low heat until it gets well incorporated.

Heat ghee in another pan, add the cashew and raisins, when it turns golden brown, add it to the kheer along with the cardamom powder and mix well.

Serve warm or cold.

This recipe goes to Celebrate Sweets- Kheer hosted by me started by Nivedita and Complete My Thali- Sweets hosted by Authentic Vegetarian Recipes started by Joy Of Cooking

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