Paal Paniyaram for Bonjour

This post is exclusively for bonjour series by Jabeen's Corner.  By this time most of us should be familiar with Jabeen's Bonjour series.  I feel very happy to be part of this great series.

When Jabeen asked me to make my signature dish, the first thing which came to my mind was Chocolate Fudge Cake, this cake has never let me down, but the next thing again which came to my mind was I have to buy cream, also my little one ho loves this cake is not well at the moment.  I really didn't want to make it when she can't have this, so I asked my husband to give me suggestion, well he suggested this paal paniyaram.  I have made this only a very few times and every time it's a big hit.

Paal paniyaram is a traditional Chettinad recipe.  Chettinad Cuisine is well known for their spicy, aromatic flavours.  It is also known for this special recipes like paniyaram, idiyappam, murukku etc.  Traditional recipe suggest to use raw rice and urad dhal to make a thick batter, which is then fermented and made as paniyaram.  I have used only idli batter in this recipe, which I found it quite easy method and much more soft paniyarams.  Since idli batter is readily available in most of the South Indian's home I thought this would be better option.  Also these paniyarams gets soaked quickly and you don't have to put them in hot water before soaking in milk.  This has won the heart of my family members, hope it'll win yours too.

Ingredients:
Idli batter- 250 ml ( recipe follows )
Milk- 500 ml
Coconut milk- 250 ml
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Sugar- 75 g
Oil for frying

Method:
Heat the oil in a kadai for deep frying.  Drop small spoonful of idli batter in the hot oil.  Fry them until they look very light brown in colour.  Take it out from the oil and drain it in kitchen towel.  Heat the milk in a pan  for about 5 to 10 minutes.  Add the sugar and stir well.  Finally add the coconut milk and cardamom powder and take it off from heat. Add the paniyaram in the hot milk, let it soak for about 10 minutes and serve it immediately.

Note:
You can vary amount of sugar according to your taste.  Also if your batter is too thin, you can add some rice flour and mix well.  Make sure you don't add too much rice flour which will harden the  paniyaram and it never gets soaked well.
In case if you find that your dumplings are too hard, you can immerse them in hot water for 5 minutes and then soak it in milk. 

Idli Batter:

Parboiled rice-  3 cups
Urad dhal- 1 cup

Soak urad dhal and rice separately.  Grind them separately to a smooth batter.  Then combine both the batter, mix it along with salt and let it ferment over night.  Once fermented use it according to the recipe.
This proportion will yield about 3 to 4 litres of batter.

Linking this to White Christmas Challenge,  Yummy Desserts for New year, Sinful delights, Jingle All The Way- Edible entertainment, SYF and HWS series- Cardamom

 

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Coconut Ladoo / Coconut Truffles

Every since I made the bounty candies  with coconut filling for Daring Baker's, all my dreams were full of this sweet coconut filling.  So I decided to make this coconut truffles with plenty of coconut to satisfy my cravings for coconut.

Coconut Ladoos are nothing but South Indian term for coconut truffles .  This easy to make sweet can easily win the hearts of your friends and family.  Enjoy making this delicious sweet for your next special occasion.

Preparation Time:  10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Makes 15 to 20 ladoos  (depends upon the size)

Ingredients:
Fresh grated coconut- 2 cups
Sweetened condensed milk- 1 cup
Milk- 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder- 1 tsp
Ghee or butter- 1/2 tbsp

Method:
Take a non stick pan or heavy bottomed pan and dry roast the 2 cups of coconut until it looks just dry and shrinks, do not brown the coconut.  Save 1/4 cup of coconut for later use to roll the ladoos. 
 Now again heat a heavy bottomed pan or non stick pan, add the ghee and coconut, then add the milk.  Cook it in medium to low heat until the coconut absorbs all the milk, keep stirring continuously.  Add the condensed milk and keep stirring continuously until it looks like a thick mass.  Finally add the cardamom powder and stir well.  Take it off from heat, let it cool down for a while.  Roll them into lemon size balls and then roll it in the coconut.  Store it in a air tight box and refrigerate it.

Note:
Non stick pan would be a better idea to make this sweet, otherwise the sweet might get burnt easily.  Also refrigerating the final ladoos will give you a firm sweet.  Particularly if you live in tropical climate and leave the sweet outside it might be too sticky and it will get ruined. So please refrigerate it as soon as it cools down.

Sending this recipe to Diwali Special- Sweets and Savouries,  Flavours Of South India and Diwali- Festival Of Lights

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Rose Pudding (Eggless)

When you say a pudding is eggless, there are only few options like custard powder, cornflour, gelatin , agar agar and may be a few other options too.  To me the last one agar agar is always the best.  Agar Agar is a must in Iftar particularly for people in South India.  There are some foods cools you down  when you have it but they don't cool the inside of your body.

  Only a few foods they cools you down when you have it as well as they cool the inside of your body.  Agar Agar is one of the food which has the quality of both.  Agar Agar is nothing but a gelatinious substance obtained from the cell walls of red algae.  Agar Agar is also a vegetarian substitute for gelatin in pudding, jelly, ice cream etc.  You can play with this agar agar and create so many different types of puddings and jelly.  Just flow your creativity and create different eggless pudding using agar agar.  Here goes my simple recipe using agar agar.

Preparation Time: 5  minutes
Cooking Time: approximately 20 minutes
Makes 6 Roses

Ingredients:
Agar Agar- 2 tbsp ( broken pieces or powder)
Milk- 400 ml
Condensed Milk- 2 tbsp
Rose syrup- few drops

Method:
Add the crushed pieces of agar agar to a pan and add about 150 ml of water.  Heat the pan in medium to low heat and let the agar agar dissolve completely.  Once the agar agar looks soft, mash with a back of a spoon to dissolve it completely.  At this stage add the milk slowly and keep stirring constantly .  Once you add the milk you might notice a few bits of agar agar floating on top, to dissolve this completely keep stirring until it dissolves completely and looks smooth.  Finally add the condensed milk and stir well.  Take it off from heat and let it cool down for a while, don't let them cool down completely , it might set.  So after a few minutes taking off from heat, add the rose syrup and dissolve well.  Now you can pour them in different fancy mould or just pour in 9 inch cake tin or plate and let them set.  Once set, keep it refrigerated and serve it chilled.

Note:
Instead of rose syrup you can also  use other flavorings like vanilla, cardamom, saffron, almond etc.

This recipe goes to Joy From Fasting To Feasting,  Iftar Nights

 
Important Note:
I'll be on a break till the end of this week i.e I don't have my laptop.  So it's not possible for me to read or publish your comments, as well as for Any One Can Cook also I'll be not able to visit your links but I'll make sure to read all your entries next week, keep linking your yummy entries.

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Baklava Rolls for Daring Baker's Challenge June 2011

Ha! Back to Daring Baker's Challenge after 2 months.  I missed last two wonderful challenges, but somehow with lots of challenges I made it up this month.  As always I did a last minute job this time also.  This month Erica of Erica's Edibles challenged us to make Baklava's with our own phyllo pastry.  Wow! Now that's quite challenging isn't, yes I really felt the heat this time, baking at nearly 38 degree Celsius.

   If I get a plate of baklava, I can never stop eating that, love it to that extend.  Although I have made baklava couple of times with shop bought phyllo pastry , this is the first time my hands on making the home made phyllo.  I have also previously posted one baklava recipe here,  which is an authentic one without any changes from the traditional.  So this time, I went with baklava rolls with some twist in it i.e Indianized twist.  Baklavas are traditionally filled with an assortment of nuts and soaked in honey and cinnamon syrup.  In this Indianized baklavas I used unsweetened khova or khoya and cashewnut as filling with saffron and cardamom syrup.

 Which was simply amazing, ahem! You can try it and give the verdict off course.  Thank you again Erica for this wonderful challenge, let's sink straight into the recipe now.
I'm not going to mention any preparation time details for this recipe, since it took quite a long time in rolling, was tired of calculating the time.

Ingredients:
For phyllo:
Plain flour- 250 g
Water- 150 ml
Oil- 45 ml
Salt-1/2 tsp

For cashew filling:
Cashew nuts- 100 g
Cardamom- 1
Sugar- 1 tbsp
Butter- 1 tbsp

For khoya filling:
Khoya- 100 g
Sugar- 1/2 tbsp

Note:
Khoya is made using milk in a large pan.  If you can't find khoya use ricotta cheese or paneer.

For syrup:
Honey- 3/4 cup
Sugar- 3/4 cup
Water- 3/4 cup
Cardamom- 2
Saffron- a pinch
Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Butter- 150 g( for brushing)

Method:
Note:
I do have the step by step pictures which I'll post it later this week.

Prepare the phyllo dough:
Add the flour, salt and oil in a mixing bowl, slowly add the water.  Using a dough tool or hand knead it into smooth elastic dough.  Once the dough comes together smoothly, knead it again for 10 to 15 minutes.  Cover the bowl  with a cling film and let it rest for minimum of 2 hours.

Prepare the filling:
Cashew filling:
Dry roast the cashew nuts in a pan until it gets heated.  Add the cashew nut, cardamom, sugar and butter to a food processor and pulse it until it looks like a coarse powder. Set it aside.

Khoya filling:
Mix the khoya and sugar together like a dough.

Roll the phyllo:
Divide the dough into 12 to 14 equal size balls.  Cover your work surface with plenty of flour, roll each ball into as thin as possible, until it looks quite transparent.  Roll out the remaining dough in the same way.

Form the rolls:
Take a sheet of phyllo pastry, brush it with melted butter and place another sheet on top it.  Make the khoya filling like a log and place it inside the pastry.  Roll out the pastry into a log.  Do the same with the cashew filling.  Place the rolls in a baking tray, brush it with melted butter on top.  Cut the log into 1 inch slices.
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius and bake it for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top looks golden brown in colour.
Pour the warm syrup on top of the rolls and let it soak for 5 to 6 hours.  Since the filling is quite sweet, a little syrup would be sufficient.  You don't have to drench these rolls with syrup like regular baklava's.

To make the syrup:
Add all the syrup ingredients in a pan and bring it to boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

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Baklava- Layered Sweet Pastry

Baklava is a rich sweet pastry, made with layers of thin sheets of pastry, filled with nuts and soaked in syrup.  It has been claimed by ethnic regions , some say it as Greek and some as Turkish....

   Wherever this sweet originated, this is just one amazing sweet.  Everytime when we buy a big box of baklavas, it disappears within a day.  Few times I failed in trying this baklava, however it's not a complete failure, I have to say a bit dry.  Still you can claim that as a type of baklava.  To me this one was perfect, completely soaked, perfectly cooked layers and the right amount of nuts.  If you are planning to make this sweet for your friends and family or any occasion , just make it a day ahead which will give enough time to soak in the syrup.  I made this last week , nothing has left now, still I'm dreaming about this delicious pastry.
So let's go to the recipe for my sweet little sweet.
Here is the link from which I followed the recipe with few variations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6mICkUdelQ

Preparation Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hr 15 minutes
Makes 15 squares

Ingredients:
Phyllo pastry- 500 g( 20 sheets)
Walnuts- 100 g
Almonds- 100 g
Pista- 100 g
Cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp
Brown sugar- 1 tbsp
Butter- 250 g
For the syrup:
Honey- 100 g
Brown sugar- 200 g
Lemon juice- 2 tsp
Cinnamon stick- 1/2 inch stick
Orange blossom water or rose water- 1 tsp

Method:
In a food processor , pulse the nuts along with cinnamon and sugar until looks coarse.
Next prepare the layers of pastry.  Open the pastry cover , place all the pastries in a wide flat surface, cover it with a damp cloth to avoid drying.
Take a 20 cm square tin.  Grease with butter and line with baking parchment paper.  Melt the butter completely until looks runny.
Take a sheet of pastry and lay it in the tin, brush with butter all over the pastry.  If the pastry sheet is hanging out of the tin, fold it over in the tin and brush with butter.  Repeat the same process until you get 8 layers of pastry.  Now spread the nut mixture on top of the pastry and press it with a back of the spoon.
Now again start layering the pastry in the same method as mentioned and finish with 4 layers of pastry.  Now again spread it with nuts and press with the back of the spoon.  Now again start layering the pastry  and finish with the remaining 8 layers of pastry.
Note:
Remember that when you are using a 20 cm square tin, you'll be able to fold each pastry into two layers and for each and every layer you have to brush the pastry sheet with butter.

Continuing...
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.  Make square shapes in the pastry using a sharp knife.  Make just insertions do not cut it out completely. Bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you can see that the pastry will be light brown in colour, at this stage cover the tin tightly with aluminium foil.  Reduce the oven temperature to 160 degree Celsius and bake it for further 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes remove the foil, increase the temperature to 180 again and bake it for further 20 minutes until the top layer of pastry looks brown in colour.  At this stage take it out, pour the syrup all over the pastry little by little.  If the syrup looks floating on top, allow it absorb for few minutes and then pour the syrup again.  Now cut the squares and completely and let them sit in the tin and soak in syrup for minimum 5 to 6 hours. You can leave it in the tin until it gets finished or place them in a separate serving plate.

To make the syrup:
Add the honey, sugar, cinnamon stick and lemon juice along with 150 ml of water.  Bring it boil in medium heat.  Stir continually until the sugar gets completely dissolved.  Boil for 5 minutes until it looks syrupy.  Finally add the rose water to the syrup and take it off from heat.
You can prepare the syrup when the baklavas are baking in the oven.

This recipe goes to 17th Mediterranean Cooking event by Tobias Cooks, also sending this to best recipe of the month by Nancy.

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Strawberry Pizza

Well this is not a brand new idea of using fruits in pizza or making a sweet version of pizza.  You might have come across so many sweet pizzas in online or television , may be cook books.  There are so many sweet version of pizzas like using chocolate, fruits and cheese, coconut, dry fruits etc.....

The recipe which I have given here is just my own version.  My sweet version of pizza doesn't contain any cheese, rather I used homemade strawberry syrup and custard.  You can enjoy these as a naughty breakfast or as a snack.  Without any doubt my kids loved it, since they had everything which they needed i.e. jam, custard and strawberries...

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes+ rising time
Makes 8 wedges

Ingredients:
For the dough:
Unbleached bread flour or wholemeal flour-  300 g
Dried yeast- 1 1/2 tsp
Honey- 1 tbsp
Olive oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Warm water- 120 ml

For the sauce:
Strawberries- 200 g
Maple syrup - 3 tbsp

For the custard:
Custard powder- 1 tbsp
Milk- 150 ml
Honey-1 tbsp or Sugar according to your taste

For the topping:
Strawberries- 10

Method:
Prepare the dough:
Sift the flour in a large bowl, add the salt and yeast mix it well.  Make a well in the center add the oil, honey and warm water little by little to make a smooth elastic dough.  Knead the dough for 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic.  Place the dough in a clean and oiled bowl, cover with a cling film and allow it to rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours or until doubled in size.
Prepare the sauce :
Place the strawberries and syrup in a sauce pan, heat it in medium to low heat.  After few minutes the strawberries get mashed and looks like a liquid.  At this stage remove it from heat and let it cool down completely.  When it's completely cooled it looks like a jam and easy to spread.  You can even prepare the sauce a day before and put it in the refrigerator.
Prepare the custard:
Mix the custard powder, milk and honey without any lumps.  Heat it in medium to low heat, keep stirring continuously until it looks like a thick custard consistency.  Take it off from heat and let it cool down completely.
Prepare the pizza:
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius.  Take the dough punch the air back.  Take a 10 cm round pizza tray or any baking tray.  Grease and dust it with flour.  Spread the dough in the shape of the baking tray.  Spread the sauce on top of the pizza.  Then spread the custard gently on top of the sauce without any mess. Bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.  Take the pizza out and spread the freshly cut strawberries on top it.  You can serve this warm or cold.  If you are planning to serve cold, arrange the fruits once the pizza gets cold.

This recipe goes to Yeastspotting, Only Cooking With Bread, Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Strawberries hosted by Foodelicious started by Priya Mitharwal, also linking this with Home Maker Monday , Made by you Monday, it also goes to the event Cooking With Fruits by Tastebuds

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Chum Chum

Chum Chum the name itself makes me happy.  I don't know what exactly the meaning of the word is but it's traditional Bengali sweet.  Chum Chums are made with Indian Cottage Cheese( Paneer) which is cooked in sugar syrup .  This is something very similar to rasgullas, rasgullas are served with syrup  and this without syrup.  I know a typical Indian may not need these explanation for this well known popular sweet, I'm just saying these for those who doesn't know what is a chum chum.

   You can make these Chum Chum for any special occation, it can be made easily in minutes, that too if you want to make something in bulk, you can definitely go for this.  You can also make these as a special gift for your   better half instead of regular chocolate box.

  Any way this is a recipe which I adopted from  Manjula's Kitchen.  I have failed so many times making this rasgullas or rasmalai,  but Manjula's recipe was perfect the very first time I got this right.  Thank you Manjula for your clear instructions.
Also don't forget to check our bloggers in marathon  Priya Suresh,Jay, Gayathri, Monika, PJ, Priya Vaasu, Azeema, Reva,Veena, Usha , Srivalli; Soumya.

Ingredients:
Milk- 1 litre
Lemon juice- 2 tbsp mixed with 1 tbsp of water
Sugar- 2 cups
Water- 5 cups
Kalakand- 2 cups( Kalakand recipe here)
Few drops of food colouring
Coco powder- 1 tbsp
Dessicated coconut- 3 tbsp

Method:
Boil the milk and the add the lemon juice slowly.  You can see the curd separates from the water.  At this stage pour it in a clean muslin cloth and separate the curd from the water.  Squeeze the water gently, don't squueze too much, it will dry the paneer.  Place a heavy bottomed pan on top of the paneer for 1 hour.
After 1 hour take the paneer and pulse in a food processor until it forms a dough. If it doesn't come together add a few drops of water until it forms a dough.
  Take the dough and knead it again and roll it into small balls.  Boil the water and sugar together in a pressure cooker.  Add the balls leave enough space to spread.  Close the lid and cook in high until you steam on top, once you see steam on top, reduce the heat to medium and cook for further 7 minutes.  Switch off the flame and keep the pressure on cold tap water.  Let it sit for few minutes.  Then open the lid and see if the chum chum looks spongy and big in size.  Take it out from the water.
  Add  a few drops of food colouring to the dessicated coconut and coat the chum chum in it.
For kalakand coating, add few drops of food colouring or coco powder to the kalakand.  Grease your palms with ghee,  take a small size ball of kalakand,  flatten it.  Place a chum chum inside and cover with kalakand.
To make the flour shape and heart shape, I used a cookie cutter to cut those shapes. You can serve it just like this or coat the kalakand with dessicated coconut again. Chill the chum chum in the refrigerator for minimum 5 hours before you serve.

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Dates and Almond Truffles for Winning Manjula's Cooking Contest

Hi everyone,
  I'm in immense pleasure to announce that I won the cooking contest in Manjula's Kitchen for the month of December. Taking part in events and recipe contest is really a fun activity for me, that too if I win the contest, I get over excited. Probably this is the first time I won a cooking contest,  I'm really happy about that on top of all critical comments for my recipe .
Anyway my Orange and Almond Sponge is the winner, thank you Manjula madam for selecting my recipe as the winning recipe.

    Dates and Almond Truffles

I have seen many form of this dates balls in many blogs. This recipe I followed from Cooking With Alia in youtube. A very simple recipe which is so easy to make and sugar free. You can watch the video from here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-KxJeAGx4o&feature=channel

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Makes 20 balls

Ingredients:
Pitted dates- 1 cup
Blanched almonds- 3/4 cup
Honey- 1 tbsp
Ghee- 2 tsp
Cinnamon powder- 1 tsp
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Dessicated coconut- to roll the balls
Method:
Steam the dates in a steamer for 10 minutes. Mash it with a masher or fork while they are still warm. Roast the almonds for about 3 to 4 minutes. In a food processor combine all the ingredients except dessicated coconut and pulse it to smooth.
  Roll the mixture into small lemon size balls, then roll it in the dessicated coconut.

This recipe goes to Any One Can Cook, Heart and Soul  and Bookmarked recipes by Priya and Aipi.

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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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Mango Appam( Steamed Mango Rice Cake)

I tried this from Kothiyavunu blog with a few changes. The very first time when I saw in her blog, I knew I'm definitely going to try this and I did nearly two weeks back which is been sitting in my drafts for a long time. It's actually called  Vattayappam, which I came across in a few blogs before. Every time when I looked at this recipe it tempted me a lot to try, I really wanted to try the exact same version but somehow I  the mango puree sitting in my store cupboard tempted me a lot too add it to this appam.
  Vattayappam is traditional Kerala  dish, a soft spongy steamed rice cake. You can make this as savoury and serve with curries or make it as sweet by adding sugar.
Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 40 minutes + Fermenting Time
Cooking Time: 35 to 40 minutes

Ingredients:
Raw rice- 2 cups
Mango Puree- 4 tbsp
Cooked Rice- 1/2 cup
Grated Coconut- 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
Sugar- 3/4 cup
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Ghee- 2 tsp
Almonds- 10 to 15
Method:
Prepare the batter:
Soak the rice in water for 4 to 5 hours. Drain the water , grind it along with coconut, cooked rice and mango puree until you get a smooth batter. Add the sugar and salt, grind again. Pour the batter in a vessel, cover it. Allow it to ferment 1 whole night.
Make the appam:
The next day, just before making your appam, add the soda by mixing it in 1 tbsp of water. Mix it well. Grease a stainless steel bowl with little ghee. Mix the batter with some water if it's too thick. Pour it in the bowl, sprinkle with cardamom powder.
Steam it in a steamer or pressure cooker for 30 minutes. To check if it's cooked, insert a skewer and if it comes out clean, then the appams are cooked. Garnish with crushed nuts.
Serve warm or cold, either way it's good.

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Go Nuts For Doughnuts- Daring Bakers Challenge For October 2010

  


This is my successful third month with Daring Bakers. I never expected I would be able to complete three challenges with Daring Bakers. I know there are some brilliant bakers who have been baking with Daring Bakers for years completing so many delicious challenges but for me three itself makes happy ( Alhamdulillah). 

 This month our challenge is by Lori of  Butter Me Up.  She challenged us to make doughnuts. A person with sweet tooth will definitely go nut for doughnuts. We were given two options one with yeast and the other one is old fashioned buttermilk doughnuts. Since I had everything available for yeast doughnuts, I went for the yeast option. We were also given other options to change the flavour and shape of the doughnuts. I just used the traditional one , I dint go for any additional flavours or  shape. Actually I dint have the regular doughnut cutters, so I used a glass for the bigger round and and small cap of the bottle for the small round.

 Since doughnuts are my favourite which I always enjoy from a bakery, these freshly home made doughnuts are simply irresistible. There is something really special when it's fresh and homemade...


Ingredients:
Dough:
White bread flour- 400 g /  16 oz
Wholemeal flour- 250 g / 10 oz
Dried yeast- 14 g/ 6 tsp
Warm water- 80 ml/ 1/3 cup
Milk- 300 ml/ 1.5 cup
Eggs- 2
Sugar- 50 g/ 2 oz
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Butter- 70 g/ 3 oz
Nutmeg- 1/2 tsp grated
For the icing:
For the vanilla glaze:
Icing sugar- 250 g/ 10 oz
Warm water- 1 tbsp
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
Pink colouring- a pinch
Sugar sprinkles( optional)
For the chocolate glaze:
Plain chocolate- 50 g / 2 oz
Butter- 1/2 tbsp
Icing Sugar- 150 g / 6 oz
For sugar doughnuts:
Sugar- 1/2 cup
Cinnamon powder- 1 tsp( optional)

Oil for deep frying

Method:
Prepare the dough:
Sift the flour in a large bowl, add the sugar, yeast and salt mix well. Heat the milk, add the butter to the warm milk and mix well until the butter  gets completely melted. Add the eggs to the flour mixture, add the warm water and milk mixture. Beat with the electric beater fixed with dough hook until you get a smooth dough.
 Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl and cover with a cling film allow it to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Prepare the doughnuts:
Once the dough has risen knock the air back. Divide the dough into two equal halves. Roll out the dough into 9mm thickness. Cut the doughnuts using a doughnut cutter. I used a glass and small cap of bottle to cut the circles.

 Place the doughnuts in a tray, cover loosely with a cling film and allow it to rise for another 30 minutes or until it looks puffed up.
 Heat the oil in a skillet or whichever pan you use for deep frying would be good. Drop the doughnuts one by one and deep fry it until reaches a golden brown in colour.

Prepare the glaze:
For the glaze:

Vanilla glaze
Sift the icing sugar in a bowl, add the extract and hot water, mix well. Pour the glaze on top of the doughnuts, or dip the doughnuts in icing.
For colouring, add a drop of colouring to the icing.
Use any sprinkles of your choice.
Chocolate Glaze:
Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl sitting on top of pan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate and butter gets completely melted.
Remove the bowl from water. Add the sifted icing sugar and mix well without any lumps. Dip the doughnuts in the icing and sprinkle with sugar sprinkles or chocolate or chopped nuts.
For Sugar Doughnuts:

Mix the sugar and cinnamon powder together. Roll the doughnuts in cinnamon sugar.


Have fun in making the doughnuts and enjoy the doughnuts.

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This recipe goes to Yeastspotting.

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