Naan

This was my 2nd time attempting naan, and it wasn't nearly as bad as the first time! I can't really remember what went wrong last time, but I know it didn't puff up as much as I would've like it to. Perhaps I didn't add as much yeast as I should have, I don't know, but I'm not complaining this time :D And as usual, when something doesn't turn out right, I keep trying until I get it.

I figured butter chicken would go perfect with naan, but I wasn't feeling up to it tonight. I made my 2nd favourite side with naan, which I will reveal in a few days when I type up the recipe :)

Until then, try naan out for yourself and serve with your favourite side!

I shopped around for recipes and eventually decided to use this one. If you do a search on youtube, there are multiple videos showing you how to make naan. This video led me to that website. Here is the recipe, courtesy of the website above.

3	cup	All purpose flour
1	tsp	Instant dry yeast
1	cup	milk (optional)
1	tsp	Oil
1	to taste	Salt
1/2	tsp	sugar
50	ml	Water to knead approx

1. Sieve the flour
2. Now add 1 cup warm water into dry yeast and set aside.
3. Add sugar, oil into salt and mix well with yeast and water.
4. Now add water little at a time to make a soft dough.
5. If dough sticks to hand too much then use little bit of oil on hand and then punch into dough. .
6. Now to make naan, set oven at broil and roll oval shape out of dough. Then place it into oven and flip it after 2 min. after taking it out apply some butter on them. And they are ready to eat.

* I took it out of the oven earlier than the recipe states just because I prefer it to be golden brown rather than dark brown/blackish.

* I also spread my naan out too thin... so it wasn't as fluffy on the inside as it should've been... but I have some dough left over and will try again soon!

Enjoy!

Spanish Rice

A few days ago my husband surprised me with my very first cookbook. I was extremely eager to try it out, and even though I was taking a 'break' from trying new recipes that day, I couldn't help but notice the convenient prep time of 15 minutes for Spanish Rice. I've been craving Spanish rice lately even though I've never had it before! So I removed page 87/88 from the Beans, Rice & Grains chapter and into the kitchen I went.

The recipe is as follows:

Prep: 15 minutes

Cook: 20 minutes

Makes: 6-8 side-dish servings

1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)

1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 teaspoon chilli powder

1 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cup of water

3/4 cup uncooked long grain rice

1 4-ounce can diced green chile peppers, undrained (I skipped this part)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

several dashes bottled hot pepper sauce (optional)

I tossed in some frozen veggies I had in my freezer. (carrots, green beans, and corn)

1. In a large skilled cook onion, sweet pepper, and garlic in hot oil until tender. Add chilli powder; cook 1 minute more. Stir in undrained tomatoes, water, rice, undrained chile peppers, salt, black pper, and, if desired, several dashes of hot pepper sauce. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 20 minutes or until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. If desired, sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Bites

When people ask me about my mom's BBQ chicken bites, I don't have much of answer for them cause I've never tried it out- until now. To be honest, I didn't even know my mom could make this until she opened up her restaurant and began to experiment. I grew up disliking barbecue sauce and anything that tasted like it. I don't even remember ever seeing a bottle in the fridge. We were more ketchup people than anything else. So when I tasted my mom's BBQ chicken bites, that was all I ever ordered at the restaurant.



There were a few times I went back to the kitchen and took a glimpse at my mother making this. She even asked on multiple occasions that I stir the chicken and add in the BBQ for her. But I felt I had no reason to learn at the time, I had my wonderful mom who would make this for dinner and other occasions, so why learn, right? Wrong :)

Long story short, I've been craving this lately and determined that I could make it on my own. I phoned up my mom and jotted down the ingredients and steps to this recipe.



What you'll need:

1. 1/2 pound of chicken sukhaar (bite sized chicken pieces)
2. 1 egg
3. 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
4. 1/2 of a chicken maggi square
5. 1 cup of Kraft's Original BBQ Sauce (you can use any brand I suppose...)
6. 1 cup of vegetable oil
7. red and green bell pepper, sliced (or veggies of your choice)

Steps:

- take your chicken pieces and mix 1 egg in them, mix well.
- add 1/2 cup of all purpose flour and mix well
- pour 1 cup of vegetable oil into a skillet and let it heat up for a few minutes
- pour your chicken pieces on the skillet, continue turning for 10 minutes, making sure the chicken pieces don't stick to the skillet.
- 10 minutes later, add your 1/2 chicken maggi cube and stir well
- then add 1 cup of any BBQ sauce of your choice and add your veggies at this point
- fry for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent stickage (I made this word up, but you know what I mean!)

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Lovers

I may be the biggest peanut butter lover on earth. I can eat anything made with peanut butter, so it's no surprise that I would try this very easy recipe. This was my inspiration. The only thing I did different was dip one half of the cookie in chocolate and peanuts instead of both sides. I also only baked it for 10 minutes and let it cool down for 10-15 minutes. Preparation time was no more than 5 minutes, and then kept the batter in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking.

What you'll need:

1. 1/2 cup of sugar
2. 1 cup of peanut butter
3. 1 egg

- Mix the sugar, peanut butter, and the egg until the batter is smooth.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove from the refrigerator and shape into small balls, and place them 1 inch apart on a cooking sheet
- Bake for 10-12 minutes (depending on your oven)
- When the cookies cool down, dip the cookie in chocolate (I used chocolate ice cream syrup) and then into a bowl of peanuts
- Let it dry for a few minutes
- Enjou :)




Enjoy with a cold glass of milk. Let me know how it works out!

Rich Concoctions

I'm good at following recipes, but not at coming up with my own, especially where baking is concerned, since baking is more of chemistry than art, unlike cooking. But I can say that this is an exception. I came up with this recipe on my own, and to this day, (I'm embarrassed to say) this is one of the very few dessert items that are actually of my own concoctions.

The inspiration came from a cream pie from McDonald's a sister was serving at a gathering. As I devoured the smooth and velvety pie, I thought to myself, I can make something like this. I know the properties of most of the baking ingredients I have been using all these years.

So, I ventured on that experimental path, using heavy cream as the main ingredient that will provide structure, well, somewhat of a structure. My original recipe was raspberry cream cheese layer topped with a whipped cream chocolate layer, but in this one, I was out of raspberry puree, so I changed the flavors a little bit.

I cheated too. I used the pre-made graham cracker pie crust instead of making my own. Oh well. Maybe when I'm feeling 'from scratch' I can make my own.



The bottom cream cheese layer is tangy and embodies whatever flavor I have incporated into it, in this case, plain and chocolate. One recipe make two 9 inch pie plates of Luscious Trifle Pie. The top layer is a whipped cream layer, yes, this one from scratch. I have never used the ready version. So the top layer is both creamy and somewhat light. A combination of the two, along with the crust is pure richness! Rich, rich, rich! I call it my Luscious Trifle Pie. Though, because I was out of raspberry puree, I alternate the flavor for the bottom layers, since one recipe makes two pies (or you can half it and just make one). One is chocolate flavored on the bottom and plain on top, and the other is the yang of the yin.

Luscious Trifle Chocolate Pie I and II

The bottom cream cheese layer:

2 8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 14 oz sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C heavy cream

5 Tbs cocoa

The whipped cream layer:

1 1/2 - 2 C heavy cream

1/2 C powdered sugar

3 Tbs cocoa

2 9 in pie crusts

Cream Cheese Layer

1. Beat softened cream cheese till there are no lumps
2. Add condensed milk , vanilla
3. Add flavoring (the 5 Tbs cocoa for one of the pie, and none for the other one)
4. Drizzle in heavy cream
5. Beat till smooth and thick
6. Pour this onto the premade crust

Whipped Cream Layer

1. Beat heavy cream , sugar, and cocoa (for one of the pie) till it reaches the consistency of whipped cream
   
2. Spread on top of the cream cheese layer
3. Garnish with grated chocolate or drizzle with chocolate syrup if you wish
4. Refrigerate overnight to firm it up

Cook's Notes:

• Don't overwhip the heavy cream. If you overwhip the heavy cream, it will curdle. To rectify this, add some more heavy cream and beat till it reaches the whipped cream consistency and STOP whipping, especially if you have no more heavy cream left.
• It's best to refrigerate this overnight to get a firm slice, otherwise, you will just get a blob of a slice.