Vols-au-vent – Daring Baker’s September Challenge

“After one bite we could die and go to heaven” thats what Vols-au-Vent is all about”.

I seem to have been regularly irregular.This Summer has kept me really occupied.I will surely get back soon with a “Bang”,for now its gona be another Daring Baker’s Challenge.I just enjoy being a part of it,the recipes are so perfect and also very challenging.Puff Pastry makes life alot easier,variety of appetizers can be made in a jiffy.I have always wanted to make the pastry dough from scratch.Thanks to Steph for making this happen.These sheets are not available in all the places,atleast am pretty sure its not available in India.So people take out your rolling pins and get ready:)

Never did I realize that it was so easy to make them all by myself.From now on its gona be “No No to ready made Pastry sheets”!!!

The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ Challenge has been chosen by Steph of a whisk and a spoon. Steph chose Vols-au-Vent, which we are pretty sure in French means, “After one bite we could die and go to heaven!”

She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Puff pastry (aka pâte feuilletée) is something most of us usually buy at the grocery store, but in order to be really daring, we should make our own at least once in awhile, right? Kitchens should be getting cooler in the northern hemisphere, and are hopefully still cool-ish in the sourthern hempisphere, so I’m hoping you will all join me in making homemade puff pastry from Michel Richard’s recipe, as it appears in the book Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. With our homemade puff we’ll be forming vols-au-vent cases to fill with anything we chose.

Puff pastry is in the ‘laminated dough” family, along with Danish dough and croissant dough. (In fact, if you participated in the Danish Braid challenge back in June 2008, then you already know the general procedure for working with laminated dough.) A laminated dough consists of a large block of butter (called the “beurrage”) that is enclosed in dough (called the “détrempe”). This dough/butter packet is called a “paton,” and is rolled and folded repeatedly (a process known as “turning”) to create the crisp, flaky, parallel layers you see when baked. Unlike Danish or croissant however, puff pastry dough contains no yeast in the détrempe, and relies solely aeration to achieve its high rise. The turning process creates hundreds of layers of butter and dough, with air trapped between each one. In the hot oven, water in the dough and the melting butter creates steam, which expands in the trapped air pockets, forcing the pastry to rise.

Once we have our puff pastry dough made and chilled, we are going to roll and form a portion of it into vols-au-vent, which are little puff pastry cases designed to hold a filling. I chose vols-au-vent specifically because I think they do a beautiful job of showing off the hundreds of flaky layers in the homemade puff. They can be made large enough for a full meal, or made small for little one-bite canapés, the choice is yours. Vols-au-vent are typically served hot and filled with a creamy savory filling (often poultry or seafood-based), but cold fillings, such as chicken or tuna salad, work, too. Whipped cream or pastry cream with fresh or stewed fruit often goes into sweet versions. If you are stumped for ideas for your filling(s), a quick on-line search or a glance at a traditional French cookbook will give you plenty of things to consider. I have photos of the ones I made near the bottom of this post.

Mandatory parts of the challenge: You must make Michel Richard’s recipe for puff pastry (as seen below), and form at least part of it into vols-au-vent (instructions below).

Optional parts of the challenge: You may make your vols-au-vent large or small, and may fill them with whatever you choose (savory or sweet).

Equipment:
-food processor (will make mixing dough easy, but I imagine this can be done by hand as well)
-rolling pin
-pastry brush
-metal bench scraper (optional, but recommended)
-plastic wrap
-baking sheet
-parchment paper
-silicone baking mat (optional, but recommended)
-set of round cutters (optional, but recommended)
-sharp chef’s knife
-fork
-oven
-cooling rack

Prep Times:
-about 4-5 hours to prepare the puff pastry dough (much of this time is inactive, while you wait for the dough to chill between turns…it can be stretched out over an even longer period of time if that better suits your schedule)
-about 1.5 hours to shape, chill and bake the vols-au-vent after your puff pastry dough is complete
Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent

In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:
-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d’oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

*For additional rise on the larger-sized vols-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to “glue”). This will give higher sides to larger vols-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.

*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

*Shaped, unbaked vols-au-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).
Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Steph’s note: This recipe makes more than you will need for the quantity of vols-au-vent stated above. While I encourage you to make the full recipe of puff pastry, as extra dough freezes well, you can halve it successfully if you’d rather not have much leftover.

There is a wonderful on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book. In it, Michel Richard and Julia Child demonstrate making puff pastry dough (although they go on to use it in other applications). They do seem to give slightly different ingredient measurements verbally than the ones in the book…I listed the recipe as it appears printed in the book. http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that’s about 1″ thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10″ square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with “ears,” or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don’t just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8″ square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24″ (don’t worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24″, everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24″ and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you’ve completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.
Steph’s extra tips:

-While this is not included in the original recipe we are using (and I did not do this in my own trials), many puff pastry recipes use a teaspoon or two of white vinegar or lemon juice, added to the ice water, in the détrempe dough. This adds acidity, which relaxes the gluten in the dough by breaking down the proteins, making rolling easier. You are welcome to try this if you wish.

-Keep things cool by using the refrigerator as your friend! If you see any butter starting to leak through the dough during the turning process, rub a little flour on the exposed dough and chill straight away. Although you should certainly chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns, if you feel the dough getting to soft or hard to work with at any point, pop in the fridge for a rest.

-Not to sound contradictory, but if you chill your paton longer than the recommended time between turns, the butter can firm up too much. If this seems to be the case, I advise letting it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to give it a chance to soften before proceeding to roll. You don’t want the hard butter to separate into chuncks or break through the dough…you want it to roll evenly, in a continuous layer.

-Roll the puff pastry gently but firmly, and don’t roll your pin over the edges, which will prevent them from rising properly. Don’t roll your puff thinner than about about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick, or you will not get the rise you are looking for.

-Try to keep “neat” edges and corners during the rolling and turning process, so the layers are properly aligned. Give the edges of the paton a scooch with your rolling pin or a bench scraper to keep straight edges and 90-degree corners.

-Brush off excess flour before turning dough and after rolling.

-Make clean cuts. Don’t drag your knife through the puff or twist your cutters too much, which can inhibit rise.

-When egg washing puff pastry, try not to let extra egg wash drip down the cut edges, which can also inhibit rise.

-Extra puff pastry dough freezes beautifully. It’s best to roll it into a sheet about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick (similar to store-bought puff) and freeze firm on a lined baking sheet. Then you can easily wrap the sheet in plastic, then foil (and if you have a sealable plastic bag big enough, place the wrapped dough inside) and return to the freezer for up to a few months. Defrost in the refrigerator when ready to use.

-You can also freeze well-wrapped, unbaked cut and shaped puff pastry (i.e., unbaked vols-au-vent shells). Bake from frozen, without thawing first.

-Homemade puff pastry is precious stuff, so save any clean scraps. Stack or overlap them, rather than balling them up, to help keep the integrity of the layers. Then give them a singe “turn” and gently re-roll. Scrap puff can be used for applications where a super-high rise is not necessary (such as palmiers, cheese straws, napoleons, or even the bottom bases for your vols-au-vent).

Since I could come up with my own fillings,I made them into different shapes.

Heart shaped ones filled with roasted nuts and sprinkled with Chocolate sauce

Cream Cheese and Jalapenos filling

Larger size with stir fried beans and cheese topping

Stuffed with spicy vegetables

Verdict – As the names says,”After one bite we could die and go to heaven”.Its a perfect appetizer/snack for all occasions.It goes well with practically anything.I love it,love it,love it!!!!

Crispy Onion Rings and FIC reminder!

Two more days to go for FIC – Express your Mood.I have been wondering now for a while about the nature of the event, was it complex?.My apologies to my fellow bloggers if they have found it a li’l complex,however that wasn’t my intention.I really wanted to kindle the creative instincts in each one of us.In any case, I thank the people who have shown interest and I must say am indeed impressed with your innovation.Am looking forward to more entries for the event.

Have you seen “What about Bob”? or its remake the tamil movie “Tenali”.Its about this main character who fears about anything and everything,be it crossing the road,heights,water basically he is someone with multiple phobias. I feel embarrassed to admit but I do,I have some too,though I feel phobias is a very big a word to use,I would say am scared of certain things be it darkness,heights or water.Two weeks back we had been to Wisconsin Dells which is the “Waterpark Capital of the World”.The name says it all,it was water rides and dry rides everywhere.Me not being a ride person,wasn’t too keen on this trip.But P wanted to visit this place and hence the plan was made.We tagged along with our eight other friends and it was surely a fun filled trip.I was ready for any group activities/group rides but nothing alone,I am not all that brave and daring.sigh! I was scared even of Go Karting…can you beat that??? Huh! That’s me.

I thoroughly fell in love with the Dippin’ dots Icecream which i tried there – they are icecream snacks , very tiny beads of icecream,shaved ice and yogurt.I took this pic from the net,this is how they look.

They come in different flavors chocolate,cookie dough,vanilla,banana split and bubble gum to name a few.The craze for this continued even after I got back from the trip.I looked for this icecream on the net,found the nearest location,with few other friends I ended up going and to my surprise it was not a shop but jes an vending machine inside a movie theatre.What amused me was the fact that the details of a small vending machine was available on the net.Wow!!!!

Onion rings are my all time fav appetizer.I have had them in “n” number of places but the best one would always be in Applebees.Tried this out at home, keeping the taste in mind and I was very excited,it was jes perfect!

Prep time – 5 min
Start to finish – 15mins
Servings – 2 to 3 (as an appetizer)

Ingredients:

White Sweet Onion – 1 large sliced into ½” thick pieces and separated into individual rings.
Buttermilk – 1 ½ Cups
All Purpose Flour/Maida – 1 ½ cups
Breadcrumbs – ½ cup
Black Pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Oil – for frying
Salt – as per taste

Method:

Soak the Onion rings in buttermilk for about 20 – 30mins. Mix all the dry ingredients together except for the bread crumbs which has to be kept in a wide plate separately. Heat oil in a wok/skillet.Take one ring at a time,coat them with the flour,dip it again onto the buttermilk and coat it back with the flour,immediately drop them onto the breadcrumbs,coat it well and drop them in hot oil and fry until golden crown. Don’t crowd them in the fryer.Use paper towel to drain off the excess oil.Serve hot with any sauce.

Note: Soaking the rings in buttermilk for long might end with sour onion rings,so be careful.Adding breadcrumbs surely makes a difference in the taste,however this can be avoided.As the flour by itself will make the rings crispy,but adding crumbs might help it stay crispier for a li’l long than usual. Dropping them one by one for frying might be a li’l time consuming,instead keep about 5 to 6 rings ready and fry them at once,in the meanwhile keep the next batch ready.

Verdict : Its simple awesome….i have no other words to say:)

Sending this to CLICK Allium hosted by Jugalbandhi,FIC Express your mood hosted by me and to WYF – Fried Snack hosted by EC.

Tandoori Gobi

I have been waiting over a month to see some snowfall for all the hype P had given. Am I crazy to wish for it???? Nah,all I wanted is to make a Snowman. Living in the Midwest that is certainly not a big ask.Though the weather has been cold,we haven’t witnessed much snow this year. The nature’s way of creating it white, reflects so well in the night. I wish to have a snowball fight, taste the icicle, skiing and enjoy the wondrous splendor of the nature, there’s always a next winter for these activities. Remember the fairy tales – Little Match girl, trying to sell matchsticks on a wintry New Year’s eve? I have fond memories of my school Annual Day celebration where I won this book as first prize in the Drawing competition while in Class I .My first tryst with snow was through this book.Little did I know that this would turn to reality many years later!

God was kind enough to shower some last week. I was freezing but knowing the stubborn I am didn’t quite listen to P, after a lot of “to do” and “not to do”, went ahead with it . I had a tuff time making one, the snow wasn’t wet (wet granular one is the best one to use),it was difficult to assemble them together. I finally ended up making a snow baby and not a snowman:-D. And the wonderful coincidence to this is the state wide alert for heavy snow storm today:-P

In this weather, what could be more delicious than a hot Tandoori Gobi?

Ingredients –

Cauliflower – 1 (carefully cut into large florets,big chunk would be good)
Thick Curd – 1 cup (I used low fat curd)
Ginger Garlic paste – ¼ tsp(Optional)
Coriander powder -1tsp
Chilli Powder – 2 tsp (Change the spice level as per your taste)
Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
Besan – 2 tbsp
Garam Masala – 1tsp
Chunky Chaat Masala – 1 tsp(I used MDH chunky chaat masala)
Green Chillies – 1tsp (Crushed/minced) This is optional.
Olive oil – 1tsp
Lemon juice – 2tsp
Asafoetida/hing – a pinch
Onions – ¼ cup(thinly sliced)
Cilantro – For garnishing
Salt – as required

Method –

1.If you don’t have thick curd, hang curd in a muslin cloth for about half an hour to drain water.
2.Mix the curd along with all the powders (Chilli,Turmeric,Besan,Garam Masala, coriander powder & chaat Masala)in a bowl.If using ginger garlic paste & green chillies,add them too.Add salt & hing.The addition of Turmeric & Chilli powder gives it a nice Orange Color.
3.Cauliflower needs to be steamed so that it turns out to be l’il soft while eating.Either use the microwave or use our conventional method,parboil it with salt water.Ensure not to overcook.
4.Drop the Cauliflower to the mixture and mix well.Use a plastic wrap/a lid and close the bowl and allow it to marinate for about 4-5hrs in the refrigerator.
5.These are made in the Tandoor/Griller. If using a griller,push the florets onto bamboo skewers,keep some marinate mixture aside & brush the florets once in a while and grill them.I used the broil option in the Oven.Place the florets on a baking tray, sprinkle Olive oil and broil at 350F until color changes.In between flip the florets.Be watchful as it might get charred soon,as the heat is directly applied to the food in this method.However,the charred ones taste a lot better.
6.Toss sliced onions and lemon juice together and garnish it on the Gobi along with Cilantro.Serve it with Mint Chutney.The hotter the better:)

Oil can be avoided as broiling doesn’t need oil.Broiler is a process of cooking food in high heat, so be very careful. In fact while making this, the smoke alarm got triggered at home:-P.It ain’t that bad,its just that I wasn’t paying attention to it. You may also place a silver foil on the baking tray, as the cauliflower has a tendency to stick to the tray.

This is off to JFI,Cauliflower is the theme for JFI:Cauliflower,hosted by Mythreyee of Paajaka Recipes.The event was originally started by Indira of Mahanadi.

Since this is orange in color,this goes to FIC Orange hosted by Aparna of Diverse Kitchen,originally started my Harini of Tongueticklers.

Also,Rachna of the Gourmet Launchpad is hosting A Healthy Bite event,this is off to her event too.Rachna this appetizer is neither fried nor has any fatty food,am not sure if this qualifies,you may take a call.Thanks!

Easy appetizers – Spring Rolls & Dim sum

A recent visit to one of the Chinese Grocers here was such a revelation, I found almost all the veggies that I’ve been missing here.It was actually my Bro’s engagement in India, I was feeling pathetic sitting here and to cheer up my mood P took me for shopping,which always helps me:-P. Apart from the other shopping,I thoroughly enjoyed my veggie shopping too.I picked up Banana Flower(Vazhai Poo),White Pumpkin,Small Green Brinjals to name a few. I also picked up Wanton wraps and spring roll sheets from there and made these yummy appetizers:-P

Dim sum which is a Cantonese word literally means “Touch the heart” .This appetizer has surely touched my heart,an all time fav one:) Remember Mainland China/Beijing bites in India???? These are served in small steamer baskets. In most of the places these are ordered from a menu,in few other places these are brought & served by the servers in a trolley, one such restaurant that I remember visiting is Civet in Bangalore,India which followed this.Dim Sum can be made by steaming or frying ,even pan fried ones are very common. The Chinese prefer having Chinese tea (Jasmine Tea to be precise) along with them, because it helps in digestion. Here in the US, the shallow fried ones are called “Potstickers”. Nowadays things are getting Indianized, but still Dim Sum rules! Its believed that making Dim sum is an art by itself.These days it’s a lot easier to make one,thanks to the wraps which are easily available. In India they are quite popular as “Momos”. I’ve personally known these as Momos only,which are mainly made with rice flour.Dim Sums however, use some kind of specialty rice flour.

They are called Wantons & Dumplings too. Momos are Tibetan name for Dumpling. And Wantons are type of dumpling common in Chinese cuisine.Huh…..confusing,eh? Well I made both steamed and the fried ones. As far as I’ve known Wantons are always associated with the fried and Momos with the steamed ones. Whatever the name is, it’s surely is a winner. For the sauce, I just randomly added the ingredients, didn’t actually have any definite recipe in mind, the outcome was super duper!

Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

Spring Roll Pastry Sheets – As many as u need. I used 10 of them
Cabbage – 1 cup(shredded)
Carrot – 1 (grated)
Noodles – ½ cup cooked (I used veg hakka noodles)
Capsicum – ½ cup(finely chopped)
Onions – ½ cup(finely chopped)
Ginger Garlic Paste -1 tsp
Soy Sauce – 2 tsp
Green Chillies – 4 (finely chopped/crushed)
Oil – 2tsp + for frying
Salt – as per taste

For the sealing –

Cornstarch – 1 tbsp mixed with 5tbsp of water.

Method :

1.In a wok/pan,heat 2 tsp of oil.Add Ginger Garlic paste and Onion, sauté for a minute. Add the remaining ingredients one by one.Saute it well for 3-4mins,do not overcook the veggies they need to be crispy.Allow it to cool.
2.Remove each pastry sheet carefully and place a spoon full of mixture and roll it tightly. First from the end, then the sides and then the opposite side. Mix cornstarch with water and use it for sealing.
3.Deep fry in hot oil, until brown.

The filled rolls can also be frozen and fried as and when required.

Chilli Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:

Ginger – 1 inch piece
Garlic – 2 small pods
Red Chillies – 5-6(increase as per individual spice levels)
Onions – ½ cup(roughly chopped)
Soy Sauce – 2 tbsp
Tomato Ketchup – 2 tbsp
Salt – as per taste

Method –

1.Grind the onions,redchillies,ginger and garlic together.
2.Heat a cup of water,add the paste and the remaining ingredients.
3.Allow it to boil and switch of the flame when it turns thick.

This was actually red in color,because of the bright light it looks orangish.In the final display with the Dim sum it looks fine.

Steamed Dim Sum

Ingredients:

Wanton wraps – 10 (use as many as u want)
Cabbage – 1 cup (finely chopped)
Onion – ¼ cup (finely chopped)
Tofu – ¼ cup(crumbled)
Oil – 2 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Green chillies – 4 (finely chopped/crushed)
Soy Sauce – 1 tsp
Salt – as per taste

Method

1.In a Wok/pan,heat oil,add ginger garlic paste,green chillies and onions, sauté for a minute,add the remaining ingredients. Sauté well, don’t overcook the veggies. Allow it to cool.
2.Remove each wrap carefully, place the filling in the centre and fold as per your choice.

Moisten the ends of the wrapper with a dab of water.Fold the wrap as per your choice be it a single fold/similar to our very own Modaks(Kozhakattai) or even fold it into half and press/crimp the edges forming a pleat(saree pleat) like structure.

3.Steam it for about 10-12mins.

Always serve these hot,else it looses its taste.

Fried Dim Sum

Ingredients:

Wanton wraps – as per requirement
Cheese – 3 tbsp

Method –

1.Place l’il bit of cheese in the centre and fold it as per your choice.Just like the steamed ones,a single fold would do good too ie., fold it diagonally than seal the edges using water. Ensure it is folded well, else the cheese would ooze out and melt.
2.Deep fry in hot oil until brown. Serve hot with the sauce.

Any kind of cheese can be used. Instead of cheese,the filling used for steamed ones can also be used.The Spring Roll Pastry sheets and Wanton wraps can be found in the frozen section in any Chinese grocers. Wanton wraps are available in different thickness; I used the thin ones.Instead of Frying these can be Pan fried too.

Onion Pakoda

If Potlucks are based on a theme, it makes it all the more fun…something to do with a particular region,the same color,same cuisine,ethnic food,Americanized Indian food etc.My personal favourite would be one revolving around a particular vegetable/ingredient…eg – Potato,Eggplant ,Pepper. I also prefer the Indianized American food or vis-à-vis …….there is so much to do.While browsing I came across an interesting theme which is calling it “The Best Story dish” meaning whatever dish is brought it should have an interesting story behind it,as to how it was created,when was it made,where was it tried etc. I will keep this in mind,when I host the next Potluck!

Today at my Husband’s work place, there was a Potluck lunch organized with the clients. There were people from this country, Latin America and India. So I had to think of something which would suit everyones taste buds .I decided on Appetizers and what could be more better than our very own Onion Pakodas.

Ingredient-

Onion – 2 large thin sliced
Besan – 2tbsp
Rice Flour – 1tsp
Corn Flour – 1 tsp
Green chillies- 2 finely chopped
Red chilli powder – 1tsp
Curry leaves – few
Mint/ Pudina Leaves – Optional (few leaves)
Asafoetida powder/hing- A pinch
Oil – for deep frying
Salt to taste

Method :-

1.In a large vessel, mix Onions,asafoetida(hing) and salt. Keep it aside for 10mins…this is something like marinating it.
2. Add green chillies,chilli powder,curry leaves and Pudina leaves.Mix well.
3.Heat oil in a kadai. In the meanwhile add besan ,cornflour and rice flour to the above .By default the Onions would have left some water as they were marinated with salt, so excess water wouldn’t be required to make the mixture.The flours should just stick to the Onions.
4. Take the mixture in hand and sprinkle them onto the hot oil.
5.Deep fry the pakodas .Crispy Pakodas are ready to eat.

If the besan is added well in advance, the Pakoda’s turn out to be a li’l soggy.Mint/Pudina leaves is optional. If we are left with excess mixture, we tend to refrigerate and use it later, but this recipe doesn’t hold good for that. The entire mixture should be used at once, else it gets soggy instead of crispy.

These crispy Pakodas are off to Trupti‘s Winter Treat Event