Bread Paneer Rolls - Step by Step Recipe

The bunch of you who wrote to me asking 'post recipes that we can cook with kids' or kid-friendly recipes, etc etc, I am looking right at you. I don't have kids so I have never really tried this with them but I have a very good feeling about this, trust me you. 

Funky paneer recipes totally float my boat, especially if they are easy to prepare. I saw this recipe in a Nita Mehta book in the library. I didn't borrow the book and didn't have anything to quickly note down ingredients and details AND I made this a whole 2 months later. So this is pretty much my own recipe, coming to think of it. What that also means is, you can make it your own by simply adapting, adding, subtracting and testing out your own variations to the paneer mix used in this recipe. 

Bread Paneer Rolls Recipe

Adapted from some recipe of Nita Mehta's, I think. 

Makes 4 rolls

Ingredients:

1 cup crumbled paneer

1 small onion, chopped fine (I should have added this!)

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp powdered cumin / jeera

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

A small bunch of coriander, chopped fine

1 tsp or a bit more tomato sauce / ketchup

4 slices of bread

Butter to toast

Salt to taste

How I Made It:

Place the crumbled panner in a nice bowl. Mine is from Ikea, thanks for asking.

Add the red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, chopped coriander, chopped onion, and jeera to this. 

Mix lightly with your finger tips. 

Then add the tomato sauce or ketchup and the ginger garlic paste. 

Blend again with finger tips. Set aside while you prep the bread.

Remove the crusts from your bread. Use the regular white commercial variety. 

Roll out each slice as thin as you can. Commercial bread will have tons of leaveners in it so you get to do this quite easily. 

Place about 1 tsp or so of filling on one end of the rolled out bread slice. 

Gently roll in from one end, making sure that the filling stays well within the first turn of the roll. 

Go ahead and roll it all up. 

Repeat with the remaining bread slices. 

This step may be unnecessary but I remember the book mentioning it so I did it. Wrap up the tightly rolled bread slices with filling in a clean, damp kitchen towel. I used my cheese cloth, folded over twice for enough thickness. 

Set aside for about 15 mins. I think this makes the bread moist or something, no idea why we would do this otherwise. If you omit this step, let me know how that turns out, won't cha?

Now, butter up the rolls well on all sides. 

Lightly roast in a pan until all sides are browned. Cut up and serve with tomato sauce. Don't they look lovely? 

If you have store bought paneer in the fridge, then this can be put together in minutes. Imagine a fun evening cooking this with your kids or even better, wow-ing your guests with an appetizer that hardly took more than 30 mins to make. Its easy to do a bulk batch of this too. You can also cut up the rolls into smaller discs, stick a toothpick in, and serve it as a fancier appetizer. 

Spiced Methi Paratha Recipe

I love fresh methi or fenugreek leaves for the slight bitterness they add to any dish. Methi dal is the usual favourite for TH and me. Each time I go to Little India, I scout around for a bunch. They are not very easy to find so when I do get them, I wrack my brain on what to make with it.

Methi Paratha was the outcome one such weekend. I checked out many recipes online and a couple of cookbooks have. There are two ways to make methi paratha:

1. Make a spiced stuffing like you do for aloo paratha or gobi paratha and make methi parathas the same way.
2. Chop up the leaves and add them to the atta while making the dough and make parathas as normal.

I decided to go midway between the two options.

Methi Paratha Recipe
Makes: 6 parathas

What I Used:

4 cups packed fresh methi / fenugreek leaves, cleaned and chopped fine
2 green chillies, chopped fine
1" piece ginger, grated
1/2 tsp powdered jeera / cumin seeds
1 tsp oil
Salt to taste

5 cups atta / wheat flour
Water as needed
Ghee or butter to make the parathas

How I Made It:

1. Heat the oil and add the jeera. After about 5 seconds, add the rest of the ingredients in the list up to atta. Stir until the leaves start to wilt and get lightly toasted. Don't cook it for more than 7 mins. Let this mixture cool.

2. Add the spiced methi mixture to the atta, more salt if needed and enough water to make a soft, pliable dough. Divide into 6 equal-sized balls. Roll out each and cook on a tawa or griddle until both sides are golden brown.

3. After removing from fire, pat ghee or butter on both side and keep covered to maintain softness.

Serve warm with mango pickle and curds.

Nan On Tawa or Tawa Naan Recipe - Step by Step

Naan or Nan is TH's favourite bread. That and palak paneer are his absolute favourite dishes to order in a restaurant. I recently got the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day from the library and got totally smitten by it.  I don't have most of the stuff that they have mentioned as requirements, like pizza peel and oven thermometer and baking stone and even a proper oven to do broiler method of baking in but this, this Tawa Nan I could try.

The dough is the master Boule recipe mentioned in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I halved the recipe since I only wanted to use it for Nan the first time around. 

Here's what we need first - 3/4 tbsp of active dry yeast. Please make sure that its fresh and not past the expiration date. Why do I mention this explicitly? Err... no particular reason. Let's move on. 

Throw the yeast in a bowl with 1.5 cups of lukewarm water. I warmed my water in the microwave for a minute on medium-high powder. The recipe says no need to dissolve the yeast or anything but I secretly made sure it is dissolved. You see, nothing wrong in being extra careful. 

Yes, I check atleast twice if the front door is locked before I go to bed. Why do you ask?

Btw, the below picture is not pretty. 

Told ya! Just add 3 and 1/4 cups of all purpose flour and a generous pinch of salt to it and the prettiness factor increases exponentially. 

See? 

Ok, now bring the mixture together with your fingers. No need to knead. Heh. You'll be left with a sticky mass of dough. Just leave it covered somewhere for about 20-30 mins. 

I left it alone for around 20 minutes and it almost doubled. The recipe says not to worry about doubling, etc so I didn't. I always listen to what cookbooks say. Ok, almost always. 

The dough will be sticky and very elastic. Dig your hand in some flour and tear off a peach-sized piece. 

Lay it on a floured surface (my 'surface' is this). 

With the use of your hands and/ or your rolling pin, stretch out the dough till you form a nan shaped... err.. thing. Mine is square cuz TH wanted square naans. What? You don't believe me? Its true!

Heat a skillet on high heat, brush on some ghee or oil, lower the heat to medium and lay the nan on carefully. 

Flip over in about 2 mins when the first side starts browning. 

Cook closed for 30 seconds to a minute now, depending on the thickness of your nan, which shouldn't be too much, btw. 

That's it! Yummy, spongy, soft nans are now ready. 

The texture and taste was awesome and we loved it. Just make sure to have it when still hot otherwise the nan may turn a bit rubbery. That's to be expected right, even the ones baked in tandoors that we get in restaurants turn all hard on us if we don't eat it immediately. 

Reminds me of pizza base. Ahh.. pizza base from scratch! That's what I am making next. 

Here's the recipe, all in one place. 

Tawa Naan / Nan Recipe

Source: Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

What I Used:

2.5 cups lukewarm water

3/4 tbsp yeast

3 and 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

A generous pinch of salt

How I Made It:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add in salt and the flour, incorporate well until a sticky dough is formed. No kneading necessary. 

2. Set aside covered for 20-30 mins. 

3. Tear or cut off with a serrated knife peach-sized amounts and transfer to a floured surface. Shape into oblong nans with help of rolling pin if necessary. Make sure there are no holes in the nan once you are done rolling it out. 

4. Heat a skillet on high heat, brush on some ghee or oil, lower the heat to medium and lay the nan on carefully.

5. Flip over in about 2 mins when the first side starts browning. 

6. Cook closed for 30 seconds to a minute now, depending on the thickness of your nan. 

Serve HOT. 

Simple White Bread - Step By Step Recipe

I first made bread when I was in Hyderabad. I'd tried no-knead bread and I used my OTG to bake it in. I didn't have a proper bread tray or any idea whatsoever what on earth I was doing! Yet, it came out fine and most importantly, edible.

Baking bread can be a bit daunting, especially for beginners. But something remarkable about it is the use of minimum ingredients, ones that are available all around the world! The technique and other stuff can be perfected in time but the idea is to take the first step.

Everyone loved my Butterscotch Blondies Step by Step Recipe and gave good feedback saying since it was step by step, it made it look less daunting. A lot of people tried it even though butterscotch chips was not easily available where they live. Many of you wrote to me with creative substitutes you used and some even sent me pictures. That was probably one of the most encouraging set of comments I have ever received.

Anyway, after my first attempt at bread, I tried agian about a month ago, but this time I decided to go for the normal bread, the one where you need to knead it. The good part is, the ingredients are very very simple and easy to get everywhere.

I hope the step by step recipe makes it less scary for people to take the first step :) If you need to skip the pictures, please scroll to the end of the post for the complete recipe, in one place.

Simple White Bread - Step By Step Recipe

Make sure that you get some good quality active dry yeast.

1. Mix together 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast (1.5 tsp), 1 tbsp sugar and 1/2 cup warm water. Let it stand for 10 - 12 mins until the mixture starts to froth, like so.

If your yeast is not good enough or is nearing its expiry date, it won't froth much so that should be a good indicator.

Also, this mixture doesn't smell so good so if your husband or anyone else at home comes around saying "what the heck is that smell? what on earth are you making?", don't let that deter you. We can get back at them with the heavenly smell of baking bread very soon.

2. Measure out your flour next. You will need 2 cups of maida or all - purpose flour.

You can substitute half of this with atta or whole wheat flour if you want. Since atta is coarser than whole wheat flour, or so she says, run it through your mixer once before using it. (Thanks Nandu!)

3. Mix the flour gently into the yeast mixture with about 1/2 tsp salt, and knead until it all comes together. This dough will feel unbelievably silky. Sprinkle some flour while kneading it gets too sticky.

Ok, it may not look so silky or even smooth because I suck at shaping it out nicely and making it look pretty. But this is good enough, you will see. Make sure you rub in some olive oil (or butter) on the sides of the bowl to prevent the dough from sticking on too much.

Let this sit for an hour. You can cover it with some cling wrap. I didn't have any, so I cut up a thin plastic bag and used that instead.

5. After an hour, you will see that the dough has risen to almost double its size and that it looks quite uniform and pretty, unlike the previous picture. Always let nature (or yeast, in this case) do its own thing.

Note: its still not going to smell so good but like I said, ignore and keep going.

6. The next step is to knead down the dough a bit, on a floured surface.

If you are anything like me, you will be a bit tired by now, with all the measuring and the waiting and the photography. So call in your husband, or anyone else you can boss into helping you knead. You don't need to knead your palms off, just be slow and firm.

Make sure you interfere them while kneading and ask them to pose for a few pics. Its all in the game of bread-making.

PS: If you have a bread-making machine, then you fall into the category of people who I am jealous of, so don't rub it in by commenting and gloating about it, please.

7. After about 10 minutes of kneading, transfer the dough to a loaf tray that's dabbed with olive oil or butter on all sides. Don't go overboard with the dabbing though.

I used a pyrex glass loaf tray, and I blame it for this ugly picture. Cover this again with cling wrap / cut up plastic bag and let it sit for another hour.

8. It will rise again to almost double its size, like so.

If you touch the top of the dough, it will be s-o-f-t. Resist temptation to punch it down and play with it. Its time to bake your bread!

9. Pre-heat oven to 200 C / 390 F and bake for about 20 mins. The crust will turn a lovely golden brown.

This, my friends, will be the best smelling thing you have ever made! Trust me!

My crust got a little dry, but you can dab some butter when it just comes out of the oven. I didn't, because I was too busy taking pictures!

10. Cut it into slices and store in an air-tight container for upto 3 days. I got about 9 slices so it didn't last that long.

Here is the recipe again, all in one place.

Simple White Bread Recipe

What I Used:

2 cups all-purpose flour / maida
1/2 tbsp (1.5 tsp) yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp Salt
Olive oil or butter to grease

How I Made It:

1. Mix sugar, warm water and yeast together and leave aside for 10-12 mins until the mixture froths.

2. Mix in the flour and salt and knead gently. Place in a greased bowl covered with cling wrap for an hour, until the dough doubles in size.

3. Knead on a floured surface for 10 mins and transfer to a greased loaf tin. Cover with cling wrap and let it rise for another 1 hour. It will again double in size.

4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 C / 390 F for about 20 mins until the crust turns golden brown.

5. Slice and enjoy!

We had this with some home-made hummus when it was still warm, and let me tell you, the feeling that I created all this, was awesome!

Freshly baked white bread with hummus

Try it and drop me a line, won't you? 

This goes to Susan's Yeastspotting, a weekly event that showcases all the yeast-y goodness out there!

Gobi Paratha: Step By Step Recipe

I have been putting away this post for the longest time possible. I made this over a month back and took step by step pictures. I was too lazy to edit and upload and post so kept picking the simple recipes to post. Today I had to share this with you because I tried making layered gobi paratha in a different way and it was so much better than the traditional method of making the paratha, addng the filling, bringing the edges together and rolling it out again before cooking it on the tawa. I have given the shots of the usual method below.

Now for the different method I tried, you have to endure the whole post :D

Let's start with 1 cup minced cauliflower or gobi. Make it as tiny as possible. Like this.

I recently got a Philips chopper/blender/whisk set and used the chopper blade to get it minced. Its super quick and I use this for pretty much all my chopping now.

Since my kitchen has lousy lighting, I don't have step-by-step pics of how I made the filling but its quite straightforward. Here is the recipe:

Minced cauliflower - 1 cup

Onion - 1/4 cup, minced

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Cumin / jeera - 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Heat oil, add the jeera and when it starts spluttering, add the minced onion and fry till golden brown. Next add the ginger garlic paste, garam masala and the chilli powder. Mix well with salt for a few seconds. Then add the cauliflower, sprinkle some water and cook covered on sim for about 10-12 mins. The cauliflower should be cooked well by now.

It should like this at the end. I added some crumbled paneer for good measure. You can add some chopped coriander leaves as well. I just didn't have any.

Now you need to make the dough. You will need 3 cups atta/whole wheat flour, salt and about 1 cup and a little more water. Mix in the salt and add water little by little to to the atta to make a firm dough. Let it rest for about 30 minutes.

Make lime-sized balls and divide each ball into two, like below. Now, for all those smart ones who ask "why can't we just make smaller balls instead of making a big one and dividing into two?" the answer is: we need the two halves to be of the same size because we are going to roll out the halves and then superimpose them with the filling in between.

Ok let me show you that. Let's start with halving each lime-sized dough ball.

Then roll out each half. I know this is not a perfect circle. I like it this way.

Ok I admit, I can't ever get a perfect circle. You caught me. I forgot this is why I never take step-by-step pics while making rotis or parathas. Well, too late now. Damn!

Once both the halves are rolled out, spread some prepared filling on one half..

and super-impose it with the other half. Like so.

I know I haven't done a perfect job of super-imposing either but I am going to ask you to stop finding fault if you genuinely want to learn how to make gobi parathas. Great gobi parathas!

Good. Now dust with some flour..

.. and roll it out. Some of the filling will come out and that's fine. The edges will be slightly thicker so make sure you give some extra rolling-time there.

Once you have rolled out all the parathas you can out of the prepared dough, cook them on a hot griddle or tawa until both sides are golden brown. Most of my parathas fluffed beautifully, more than parathas made the traditional way ever did.

I should probably hook up some studio lights in my kitchen. I so wanted to show off how well they fluffed. Anyway..

See how lovely the filling looks inside once they are done? I didn't add any extra oil while cooking. The filling gives out some and that was enough for me. If you want, go ahead and indulge by dabbing the cooked parathas with some butter while they are still hot.

I couldn't get over how the layers separated while eating and showed the lovely filling inside. Make sure you dip them in some curd / raita and pickles while eating.

Here is the recipe with measurements again in case it was lost up there among all those pictures.

Gobi Paratha Recipe

For the dough:

3 cups atta/whole wheat flour

1 cup and a bit more water

Salt

Mix in the salt and add water little by little to the atta to make a firm dough. Let it rest for about 30 minutes.

For the filling:

Minced cauliflower - 1 cup

Onion - 1/4 cup, minced

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Cumin / jeera - 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Heat oil, add the jeera and when it starts spluttering, add the minced onion and fry till golden brown. Next add the ginger garlic paste, garam masala and the chilli powder. Mix well with salt for a few seconds. Then add the cauliflower, sprinkle some water and cook covered on sim for about 10-12 mins. The cauliflower should be cooked well by now.