Garlic Bread Rolls

My best friend Shweta is in town and I am going to meet her. For this special occasion I thought I'd make something (edible) and take them to her. Bread rolls immediately came to my mind. So I scoured the internet for some good recipes, and stumbled upon this site called The Purple foodie. A blog by Ms. Shaheen Peerbhai. Not only is the lady in question extremely talented, she also helpfully pointed out a few hints as to where I can find the ingredients in Mumbai.

But before I write this recipe, I must MUST thank a few people who have made all the difference into making me what I am today.
1.) First and foremost A BIG THANKS AND LOTS OF LOVE AND KISSES TO MY MOM for  making me who I am today. You are my true inspiration. Love you, Mom!

2.) MY DEAREST HUSBAND SHRIKANT Thanks for eating all the crap called practice, in the way of making what I made today. Thanks for always being supportive even when I am being a giant pain in the ass.

3.) THANKS SAHANA, ANITA AND ANUSHREE the oven that you guys gifted me for my wedding, has unfailingly served me all these years and will continue to be my most favorite kitchen appliance of all times. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

4.) THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO READ MY RECIPES even though sometimes they are downright crappy! Special thanks to Jayanti, Rhythm, and Laxmi, please keep commenting so I know you are reading the recipes. :-)

Now that all the thanks have been said, let's go on to the recipe.

Ingredients

• 400 g plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 and 3/4th tsp sugar
• 210 g milk 
• about 9 g instant yeast (about 1/2 tbsp)
•  1/2 egg (to mix in the dough)
• 1/2 egg (for the glaze)
• 45 g butter
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup garlic minced
• 2 tsp mixed dried Italian herbs
• 2 tsp paprika
• salt to taste

Plan your day. If you are making these for the breakfast, and say, you want your breakfast ready by 9, start the process at 5.30 a.m. That's right, I started the whole thing at 5.30 a.m. at a time when a yellow colored bowl, to me, appeared as pink! But luckily I got the recipe right. Practice they say, makes a man (and a woman) purrfect!

Measure all the ingredients first. Warm the milk to lukewarm. (This is when a drop of milk put on the inside of your wrist does not feel so hot.) Do not heat it too much. Put the yeast in the milk and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile add the salt,  sugar, half the beaten egg and butter to the flour and mix it with your fingers till it resembles bread crumbs. Now pile up the flour to form a mountain. Make a deep well in the center of the mountain and pour a little bit of the milk with the yeast in this well. Start by mixing only a portion of the well keeping the walls intact. It should look like a sludge or a porridge. When it starts getting dry, add some more milk to the sludge, and take in more flour from the sides of the well. Keep doing this till all the milk and all the flour has been used up. Knead well for about 4 to 5 minutes, slapping, punching and hitting the dough with all your might. Think about the person you would like to do that to, and imagine that the dough is your chance to lash out. Your anger will make the dough soft and satiny (kidding :-P)

Now place the dough in a greased bowl and cover the bowl with cling film. Let the dough rest for two hours in which time you should let it prove itself. Pun intended. It does 'prove' itself to double its volume. (Proofing a dough means letting a dough with yeast rise in volume)

You have two hours, you can catnap for one and half hour if you are still feeling groggy. After that, you can make the garlic mixture. Mix the garlic, dried herbs, paprika and salt in the olive oil and keep it aside. That's it.

After the two hours are up, remove the cling film and punch the dough for thirty seconds to remove all the extra air. (It seems like such a shame! I hate doing this!)

Now roll the dough in a rectangle 1/4th of an inch thick. Spread the garlic mixture on to the upper surface. Slice the dough into strips (make cuts parallel to the shorter side of the rectangle). Knot or roll this strip in any way you like. As you can see from the picture I have let my imagination run wild and made many shapes out of the dough. (Which also gave me a great idea for breakfast on Saee's birthday which is coming up!)

Place the dough knots on your baking tray keeping space between them to allow for rising. Cover them with cling film and allow them to rise (or proof) for thirty more minutes. After the thirty minutes are up, brush some of the beaten egg on top of the knots. This gives an amazing shine to your bread rolls.

Preheat your oven to 400 F and place the dough knots into it. Bake for about fifteen to twenty minutes till the topmost part appears nice and evenly browned. Remove and cool them on a rack for about 10 minutes or do what I always do. Serve them hot! Yummy garlic bread rolls are ready for the taking.

Comments from my family
Mom in law: Wow, these look so professional. They taste yummy too. Good job.
Saee: Mummy, they look good!
Hubby: Hmpf!

(Nah, kidding!) Hubby said they looked really great and that he is proud of me! What the hell, I am proud of me too! :-P

Here are the pictures.

Happy Cooking!

Chicken Paratha

It is ridiculously hot and humid here in Mumbai. I heard that it is raining sporadically in Pune and other regions of India. It is phenomenally unfair that Mumbaikars should swelter in heat while the rest of the country enjoy at least spurts of rainfall. :-(

Then again, I live on the top floor of my building. It gets hotter than ever here, and May hasn't even begun. Damn! :-(

Normally I derive immense pleasure from seeing my phulkas puff up on the gas. But in this weather it seems like an inhuman torture of gigantic proportions to stand in front of the stove and make chapatis. I also take pride in the fact that my husband eats a good number of chapatis. Parathas are easier to roll, and faster to make. So today's recipe was going to be parathas.

Now that I am free to experiment with chicken, I decided what could be better than making chicken parathas? They turned out great. The taste was just right. Subtle and zesty in the same breath. Saee loved the parathas enough to eat one and one fourth of it. (Mind you, a paratha is heavier on the stomach than the regular chapatis!)

Ingredients

• 3 cups wheat flour
• 4 to 5 eggs
• 2 cups minced chicken
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• salt to taste
• Oil for frying the parathas
• 1 tsp oil for the dough

Make a soft dough of the wheat flour using enough water.  Keep aside.

In a wok heat a tsp of oil. Add the onions and saute them well for a minute or two till the onions turn golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste and the dry spices and fry well for a minute. Add the minced chicken and cook on low heat, covered for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep aside to cool.

Once the chicken filling has cooled down, grind it without any water in a blender till it becomes somewhat homogeneous.

Divide the dough into 7 to 8 parts. Press down the center of the dough with your thumb and create a depression. Spoon out a portion of the filling into this depression. Bring the edges of the dough together and seal them together. Roll out the paratha till it is about 3 mm in thickness. Do not roll out too much you run the risk of getting the stuffing spilling out of the paratha.

Heat a tsp of oil on a frying pan and fry the paratha well on both sides. You can keep the parathas in a container.

Just before serving, heat the frying pan, add a teaspoon of oil and place the paratha on it. Spoon out a portion of the beaten egg on each side of paratha and fry it for half a minute.

Serve hot with chutney or tomato ketchup!

And yes... even in this sweltering weather...

Happy Cooking!