Chocolate Chip Pull - Apart Buns

Chocolate Chip Pull – Apart Buns

Makes: 5

Please use standard measuring cups and spoons. Fresh ingredients for best results.

Ingredients

 For the  yeast:

5 tablespoons warm water (75 ml)

3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) sugar

1 teaspoon active dry yeast (please use fresh packet with latest manufacturing date)

Method

Dilute 1  teaspoon active dry yeast with 5 tablespoons warm water and 3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) sugar. Gently stir well. Let it stand for 15 minutes, until it fermented and will be doubled in quantity.

 If the yeast is not fermenting as described  never go any further. The flour won’t rise. Get a new pack of yeast (or  2 different brands) with latest manufacturing date and start all over again.

Other ingredients

For the dough:

 1 ½  cups all purpose flour (maida) Indian standard measuring cup of 200 ml / 8 oz capacity)

2 teaspoon butter

½ cup / 100 ml  warm milk

 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon chocolate chips

1 teaspoon extra butter (to grease baking dish)

2 teaspoon butter (for the final stage)

Method

Melt 2 teaspoons butter in 100 ml / ½ cup warm  milk and keep aside.

Place 1 1/2 cups of flour in a large bowl and stir in salt. Make a well in the centre, and pour 75 ml milk – butter mix (first start with 75 ml / approximately 3/4^th cup, later adjust with remaining milk) and fermented yeast mixture .

 Knead into a dough. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoon of reserved milk if required until you have a soft moist dough that can be handled well and soft. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead for at least 10 minutes (make an extra soft dough – softer than a soft toy).  

Finally mix it with chocolate chips. Knead until well combined. Return to the bowl, cover with a wet towel / cling film and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours  (depending upon the quality of the yeast).  Wet towel or Cling film / Plastic wrap should not touch dough.

Punch  the dough down.  Divide into 5 parts. Shape each into a round bun and place it in a round baking dish of 15 cm in diameter.  Cover with a wet towel or cling film again  and let it  rise in a warm place until doubled (see the 2nd photo) about 30 minutes. Leave 1 - inch gap between each bun.

 Decorate with additional chocolate chips if required. Preheat oven (OTG) at 375 * F or 190 * C and bake  for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool. Serve with any accompaniment of your choice.

Tip: To get additional shining and flavour for buns, apply normal butter (@ room temperature) lightly on buns when it's very hot.

Homemade Dishes for Vinayaka Chathurthi

Homemade Dishes for Vinayaka Chathurthi (Modak (ukadiche modak), White chana sundal (Kabuli chana), Milk kheer, Pakkavada, Ammini Kozhukattai (Tamil style kozhukattais with seasoning), Nimki, Chakali (Murukku) and Vada

Idli recipe using Idli Rawa / Rice Rawa

Idli recipe using Idli Rawa – A new idli recipe with Idli Rawa. Idli Rawa is available @ all the supermarkets in Chennai (Price Rs 34 / 500g) !!

Makes: 10

Ingredients

Ratio of urad dal and idli rice is 1 : 3

1 cup urad dal (Here I used Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity)

2 tablespoon poha (vella aval / white poha) or 2 tablespoon cooked and cooled rice (leftover rice)

3 cups rice rawa (Wash and Do not soak it in water)

½ teaspoon salt

Method

Wash and soak urad dal in 2 cups of water for 6  hours  or overnight. Drain out water and reserve soaked water for grinding.

Soak poha with urad dal  just  half an hour before grinding.

Grind the soaked dal  and poha  (if using cooked rice, directly grind along with the soaked  urad dal) until it is smooth and frothy in a mixer bowl.  Add ¼ cup reserved dal soaked water (just to cover dal) during the time of grinding  Transfer this paste  into another bowl ( batter should neither too thick nor too watery).

Now mix it with 3 cups  idli rawa and ½ teaspoon salt. Idli batter is thicker than normal dosa batter. Adjust with extra  ¼ cup water if the batter is too thick and make it normal idli batter.

 Mix well (stir continuously with a thick steel ladle) and set aside in a warm place for 7 - 8 hours ( or overnight ) to ferment (batter will be doubled in volume).

When the Idli batter is well fermented, the idlis are ready to be cooked.

Grease the idli holder / idli thattu  with little oil  and fill each slot with idli batter to up to 3/4th level.

Steam cook  the idlis in a steamer or National rice cooker / pressure cooker (without weight) on a medium heat for about 15 - 17 minutes or until done. Keep aside to cool for 20 minutes.

Use a greased spoon to remove the idlis from the idli thattu /container as they may stick. Serve with Tomato chutney / Sambar / Coconut chutney/ Idli milakay podi (chutney powder for idli). This tasty idli is totally different from normal idlis.

Butter Murukku / Chakali (2nd recipe)

Butter Murukku / Chakali  (2^nd recipe) - A very popular deep fried snack in Indian cuisine!!

Makes: 18

Please use same measuring cup to measure rice flour, urad  dal  and water. Ratio of rice flour and urad dal is 3: 1 (Here I used Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity)

Ingredients

3 cups rice flour (Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity) Nutriyes brand rice flour available in Chennai.

1  cup urad dal flour (first measure urad dal and then make a powder in a small mixer bowl) Please pick good quality urad dal (without any impurities and  latest manufacturing date)

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon black til (black sesame seeds) or 1 teaspoon jeera (cumin seeds)

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

½ teaspoon hing (asafoetida / kaayam)

1 ½ cup water

300 ml oil for deep frying

Method

Sieve rice flour and urad dal flour separately. Sieve twice.

In a wide bowl, mix sieved flours, salt, butter, hing and sesame seeds (til) or jeera. Mix well with finger tips until well combined and forms like soft bread crumbs.

First start with 1 cup water and later adjust with extra ¼ cup water and make a medium soft dough (neither  too hard  nor too soft). If it’s too hard, it won’t come out from murukku mould. If it’s too soft, it’ll break  and we won’t get proper shape of the murukku. If the dough is  become hard when making murukku, remove  dough from the murukku mould, sprinkle little water (1 – 2 teaspoon), knead again (until soft) and then return back to murukku mould. First prepare murukku (approximately 17 - 18 nos).

Put this dough in a murukku / chakali mould and press it to chakali shapes ( long strips, or desired shapes and sizes ) on a paper or a clean plastic sheet / aluminum foil.

Heat oil in a wide kadai / frying pan and reduce heat to medium. Do not fry on high heat. Transfer this chakkulis / murukku into the cooking oil  and fry on a medium heat until light golden color and crisp  in 3 batches, please keep a safe distance from the gas stove (5 or 6 murukku at a time, depending upon the size of the kadai / frying pan). Drain out from  oil and place it on kitchen towel to absorb extra oil. Please use 2 – 3 paper towels to absorb extra oil. Serve as snack or with tea / coffee. It’s a popular snack for Vinayaka Chaturthi..