MUTTON BIRYANI

Ingredients 1 1/2 kg basmati rice 1 1/2 kg mutton 200 gms ginger (ground) 150 gms garlic (ground) 3 tsp garam masala powder (clove, cinnamon, cardamom and shajeera) 500 gms oil 500 gms finely chopped onions 250 gms thick yoghurt 2 lemons 2 sprigs of coriander 1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 2 tsp salt (salt to taste)

Method Cook mutton with salt, turmeric and ginger-garlic paste for 15 - 20 minutes in a cooker or in a thick-bottomed vessel. Heat oil in a wok and fry finely chopped onions until golden brown. To this add the cooked mutton pieces and fry for 15 minutes. Add the beaten yogurt, chopped coriander and juice of two lemons. Take one-and-a-half measures of water for each measure of rice. Bring the water to a boil and add washed and presoaked (for 30 minutes) rice and cook until done. Add the mutton pieces and cook for 10 minutes. Serve hot with raita (yogurt chutney).

new year in malaysia

Pan Pizza

Dough Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk plus 2 additional tablespoons (110 degrees)
1 tsp active dry yeast (heaping is ok)
0.5 tsp kosher salt
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp sugar

Pizza Ingredients:

Basic Pizza Sauce Recipe
Pepperoni
Mozzarella cheese

To start warm the milk to 110 degrees. I did this in the microwave and put a thermometer in the milk. When the temperature reaches 110 degrees add 1 tsp active dry yeast and a pinch of sugar and stir well. This is the proofing step where your yeast will activate in the warm milk.

Only when the yeast looks like the above picture should you proceed. The yeast needs to bubble a bit. This shows that the yeast is alive and ready to get to work in your dough. This should take about 5-10 minutes.

I made some significant modifications to the "America's Test Kitchen" pan pizza recipe in that I like to use an overnight rise in the refrigerator. The original recipe calls for a room temperature rise for 20 or so minutes, followed by another 20 minute rise after the dough is rolled out, followed by a 20 minute bake at 400 degrees. That's too long for me. I like to get the first rise out of the way overnight so when pizza night comes around I don't have too long to wait! Just like most of the pizza doughs that I make I add the milk (with yeast) and oil into the bowl of my stand mixer (the wet team). I then mixed the salt, flour and sugar together (the dry team). Gradually, in thirds I added the dry team to the wet team with the mixing paddle on. After all of the flour was incorporated I put the dough hook on and kneaded for about 5 minutes. The dough looked like this after all of the kneading:

Cover this dough with shrink wrap and place in the fridge overnight. The following day I pulled the dough out and let it sit at room temperature for an hour or so to warm up. The dough looked like this when I was ready to work with it:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Take 3 tablespoons of olive oil and pour it into a cake pan. Swirl it all around to get good coverage on the bottom.

Grab a rolling pin and make a circle that is roughly 9.5-10 inches in diameter. You want the dough to be larger than the cake pan because it will shrink in a little bit. Neatly place the dough in the pan and push outwards to totally cover the bottom.

Next dress your pizza pie as you choose. I went with classic homemade sauce, Mozzarella cheese and pepperoni.

Place the pizzas in the 400 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. Depending on whether you have a non-stick coating on the pan it may be easy to burn the bottom. This pizza was done in 15 minutes.

I almost forgot; check out the bottom of this crust. Really nice. Slightly crisp and greasy just the way a pan pizza should be!

I really enjoyed making this pan pizza. I liked how it was a small personal sized pizza. This recipe could easily be cut in half to make just one.

Of note, if you don't want to do the overnight cold rise, you would need about 2.5 tsp of yeast for a 20 minutes room temperature rise. Then the steps would be the same as what I outline above.

Cauliflower Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. butter, plus 2 Tbsp. for optional garnish
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 head cauliflower, chopped
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground white pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg, plus more to taste
• 1 to 2 cups low-fat or whole milk
• 2 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley, optional

Preparation:

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter. Add the onions and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally and adjusting heat so onions are cooking but not browning, until onions look starchy and a bit creamy, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Add the cauliflower, stir to combine, cover and cook 3 minutes. Add the broth, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer, and cook the soup until the cauliflower is tender to the bite, about 10 minutes.
3. Purée the soup with a hand-held blender. Or, whirl in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth (place a kitchen towel over blender to prevent potential burns).
4. Stir in the pepper and nutmeg. (Note: At this point the soup may be cooled, covered, and frozen for up to 4 months.)
5. Add the milk and cook over medium-low heat until the soup is hot. Taste and add more salt, pepper, and/or nutmeg to taste, if you like.
6. Meanwhile, if you want to add the parsley butter swirl, melt the remaining 2 Tbsp. butter and stir in the parsley.

Basic Plain Sponge Cake

Ingredients

Serves: 8 

• 225g (8 oz) self-raising flour
• 225g (8 oz) butter, at room temperature
• 225g (8 oz) caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

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Method

Prep:20min  ›  Cook:25min  ›  Ready in:45min 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C / gas mark 4.
2. Measure all the ingredients into a large bowl.
3. Mix all of the ingredients using a electric whisk.
4. Pour the mixture into 2 non-stick 7 inch (18cm) tins.
5. Place them in the oven till golden brown 15-25 minutes.
6. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Easy banana cake

Ingredients

Serves: 10 

• 125g butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 190g self raising flour
• 60ml milk

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Method

Prep:10min  ›  Cook:35min  ›  Ready in:45min 

1. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin. Melt butter, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over a medium heat.
2. Remove from heat and add the mashed bananas, mix well.
3. Add the egg, mix well.
4. Stir in the flour and the milk.
5. Pour into the prepared tin, sprinkle with a tablespoon of demerara sugar to give a crunch topping if liked.
6. Bake at 150 C fan oven (or 170 C regular, Gas mark 3) for 35 mins, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool and enjoy!

Hyderabadi nargisi kofta

Ingredients

Serves: 8 

• ½ kg mutton mince
• 1 stick cinnamom (dalcini)
• Salt to taste
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
• ½ teaspoon cumin (jeera) powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander (dhania) powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1 onion, chopped fine

• 3 green chillies, chopped fine
• 3 tablespoons besan (gram flour)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 8 hard boiled eggs
• Oil for deep frying
• 1 teaspoon chaat masala
• ½ cup chopped coriander leaves
• Lime wedges for garnish
• Food safe twine or rope

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Directions

Prep:10min  ›  Cook:45min  ›  Extra time:30min chilling  ›  Ready in:1hr25min 

1. Wash and cook mince with 1 cup water, salt, cinnamon stick, and turmeric powder until cooked and all liquid dries up, about 20 minutes. Let cool slightly.
2. In a large bowl, add cooked mince and onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies, and all spice powders. Add beaten egg and gram flour and mix well. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so the mixture binds well later.
3. Peel the hard boiled eggs. Make 8 equal sized portions from the meat mixture. Take one portion of meat and flatten the meat in your palm like a cutlet. Put a hard boiled egg in the center and wrap the meat tightly around it. Tie a piece of thread around the wrapped egg. Repeat with the rest of the eggs and meat. If possible, refrigerate the eggs again. You can make the koftas till this step and refrigerate overnight.
4. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Fry the koftas. Cut the thread. To serve, slit the eggs in halves lengthwise. Sprinkle with chaat masala and serve garnished with coriander leaves and lime wedges on the side.