Delicious Donuts

My Version

I have heard interesting stories about the origin of donuts/doughnuts, but, I can't recollect where I heard them from.. I bet, it's all made up. Anyway, I'll share with you two interesting stories. One is really silly and the other seems to have a logic somewhere. The first one goes like this - Once upon a time a cow kicked a pot of hot oil onto some dough, and that was how the idea of frying dough into donut evolved..  :) Well, the next story is something like this - A woman used to make pastry for sailors who went on long voyages. On each voyage, she'd make something new. Once, she ran out of time to bake,  so she decided to fry the dough. She fried dough into small cakes and set it off with the sailors. But, on their return, they said that the new pastry was delicious but, the dough hadn't cooked through, and they fed it to seagulls. So, the next time they set out for the voyage, she made the cake and stuck a hazel nut in the centre of each cake and she named it doughnut. But, the captain of the ship hated hazel nuts and thus on their next voyage she decided to make a hole in the centre which turned out to be a hit. On each trip she improvised on her doughnuts. She dunked them into sugar syrup once, yet again she coated them with chocolate and so on.. :)  :D

Well, now let's get back to making our donuts.. Making donuts are easy, provided you use fresh yeast. I have tried many methods of making donuts, but, this one was the most successful one out of them.

Dry Ingredients :
All Purpose flour	-		3 and 1/2 cups
Caster Sugar	-		1/4 cup
Salt	-		1/2 teaspoon
Dry yeast	-		2 teaspoons
Hot water	-		1/4 cup
Sugar	-		1 teaspoon
Wet Ingredients :
Fresh Milk	-		1 cup
Egg	-		1 large
Vegetable shortening	-		4 tablespoons
For the syrup :
Sugar	-		2 cups
Water	-		2 cups
Cinnamon stick	-		1 stick
Vanilla essence	-		1 teaspoon
Other Ingredients : Oil
Icing Sugar	-		3/4 litre
Chocolate
Butter
Sugar strands
Preparation Method :
In a bowl pour in the hot water and a teaspoon of sugar. Then add the yeast. Tip : Always make sure you use new yeast. If your yeast is old, it will not give desired results. If you are using instant yeast, make sure you refrigerate it and store in tight containers once you open the pack. I buy the 11 gram packs. It's very convenient. Don't stir with a spoon, just shake the bowl and allow to rest for 10 minutes in a warm place.
Meanwhile sift all the dry ingredients. When you measure ingredients, be sure to follow exact measures. Then whisk the egg until it fluffs.
Whisk in the Vegetable shortening. I have tried substituting the shortening with both oil and butter, but, trust me, nothing works as good as shortening. By now, the yeast would have risen well. If it hasn't, then, your yeast isn't good enough. Don't risk wasting other ingredients without good yeast. Add the yeast and blend all the wet ingredients well. Then blend in the milk and add the dry ingredients and combine well. We will end up with a sticky dough and that's exactly how we want it. Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and leave to rise for 1 and 1/2 hours as seen in picture below. Flour a clean and dry work surface and empty the dough onto it . Dust the dough with some more flour and start kneading it well until the dough comes out clean and isn't all that sticky anymore. Loosely wrap the dough in the same plastic wrap and leave to rise for another 15 minutes. If your dough is rising well during these intervals, you have a perfect donut dough in hand. :) Dust the work surface with a scant amount of flour. Also dust the dough and rolling pin with some flour and start rolling the dough out. The dough is really elastic and you require some energy to roll the dough out. Roll it out into a half inch thickness and leave for another 10 minutes. It will rise by another 1/4 inch. Either use a donut cutter or you can also use any rounded objects to cut out into the desired shape. Then separate the donuts from the rest of the dough and reuse the remaining dough to roll out into another batch. Place the dough onto a floured surface and leave to rise for another 10 minutes. I like making small donuts for kids. So, roll out the dough into 1/3 inch thickness and cut out small rounds.  Then with your finger make a hole in the centre and stretch out. Repeat the steps again with the left over dough until you use up all the dough. I've made 16 large donuts and 35 small ones with this given measure. Into a saucepan, or a flat pan, pour in the water and add the sugar. Do not stir. Just heat it on medium flame until the sugar dissolves and the water begins to boil. When the water boils and begins to thicken drop in a cinnamon stick for some flavor. Then pour in the vanilla essence. Once the water has reduced and comes down to a syrupy consistency, turn off the flame and allow to cool. We Do not want a sticky and thick syrup. Meanwhile in a shallow pan, pour in the oil and heat it up until you see tiny bubbles at the bottom of your pan. If you have a kitchen thermometer, that should be something like 350-370C.  Then gently and carefully fry the dough. Make sure you test one first. Do not overcrowd your pan. Fry until donuts turn golden brown on both sides and strain them onto kitchen paper towels. When you have finished frying the donuts, and when your syrup has slightly cooled. Dunk in the donuts into the syrup for a couple of seconds each. If you want slightly soggy and really sweet donuts, leave them in the syrup for 1-2 minutes. Strain them out.  Sift few donuts with icing sugar for plain donuts. If you want chocolate glazed donuts - Place chocolate chips or chopped chocolate into a Pyrex dish and microwave for 1 minute.  Remove and stir and microwave for another 1 minute and blend until the chocolate pieces melt completely. Then add a pint of butter and blend well until the butter melts completely.  Dip one side of the donuts into the melted chocolate and sprinkle on some coloured sugar strands or almond flakes..  Be a little creative.. allow your kids too to decorate the donuts.. :)
It's as easy as that to come out with some fancy donuts :) MmMmmm.. I just couldnt resist ;) Had to have a bite.. Want some?? :) What are you waiting for?? Give it a try.. :)

Basic Chocolate Cake

My Version

A basic Chocolate cake can be made with both chocolate or coco powder. The one made with Coco is easier to make and the one made with chocolate is a bit more elaborate. If you haven't baked a cake yet, I guess this basic chocolate cake recipe is a simple one to start with. Well, I made this cake for making a Moist Black Forest Cake, which will follow after this recipe. Moist Black Forest Cake is more of a dessert than a cake. But, the recipe given here is for a basic Chocolate Cake.

If you want to proceed to making the Moist Black Forest, you just need to add some milk while whisking. Milk is the ingredient that retains the moisture in cake and makes the crust a bit more firm.


For easy and convenient measures, refer to Kitchen Conversion Metrics.

Dry Ingredients :
Plain Flour	-		220g
Cocoa powder	-		50g
Sugar	-		250g
Baking powder	-		2 teaspoons
Baking soda	-		1 teaspoon
Wet Ingredients :
Eggs	-		4 nos.
Unsalted butter	-		250g
Vanilla essence	-		4 teaspoons
Fresh Milk	-		4 tablespoons

Preparation Method :

Sift all the dry ingredients well. Next, combine the wet ingredients - In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until they fluff up. Whisking eggs well is an inevitable part of a good cake batter. If you do not have an egg beater, it's ok. You can use an ordinary whisk or even beat the eggs in a blender. Bring butter down to room temperature and whisk into the fluffed eggs. Add the vanilla essence. Slowly whisk in the dry ingredient mix to form a creamy batter.  Pour in the milk. (If you do not want a moist cake skip the milk. But, if you are proceeding into making the Moist Black Forest, add the milk). Butter your cake tray and dust with flour. If you are using a silicon cake moulds, just buttering would do. Pour in the batter.                                                                In a 200 degree oven bake the cakes for 15-20 minutes. If you are baking in a microwave, bake on high for 10 minutes or until the surface of the cake cracks Insert a tooth pick to check if the cake is ready. If  the cake is done, the toothpick will come out clean. You can refrigerate the cake and mildly heat them in a microwave to get fresh cake. If refrigerated properly, you can store them for a week or more. When I say properly, I mean, in clean dry containers, when completely cooled. If you want to make a Black Forest, refer to Moist Black Forest.

Lemon Rice

  My Version

Refreshing Lemon rice, south Indian style. As a kid I never liked lemon rice. I had north Indian friends who'd bring it to school for lunch. The moment they open their snacks boxes, I used to run away from the place. So, I was very keen on selecting the right flavours and spice blend when I tried my hands on lemon rice. Finally, I love lemon rice now, provided it's made by me. If you too are among those who hate lemon rice, you might like this one. try it out.

Ingredients :
Basmati rice	-		2 cups
Coconut oil	-		2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds	-		1 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds	-		1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida powder	-		1/2 teaspoon
Toor dal	-		2 tablespoons
Urud dal	-		1 tablespoon
Dried red chillies	-		4-5 nos.
Turmeric powder	-		1/3 teaspoon
Saffron	-		1 pinch
Ginger (chopped)	-		1 tablespoon
Curry leaves	-		2 stems
Kasoori methi	-		1 tablespoon
Pistachio	-		2 tablespoons
Lime juice	-		of 2 lemons
Water	-		4 cups
Salt	-		To taste.
Coriander leaves	-		1 bunch

Preparation Method :

In a skillet, heat coconut oil. Crackle the mustard seeds. Throw in the cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, toor dal, urud dal, dried red chillies, and asafoetida powder.  Add the ginger, curry leaves, kasoori methi and sauté for a minute on medium-low flame. Add the pistachio. Pour in the lemon juice and salt. Add the rinsed and drained rice and fry the rice for 2 minutes, slowly turning the flame to medium-high. Throw in the saffron and turmeric powder. Pour in the boiling water. Once the rice starts absorbing water and the rice plumps up, reduce the heat and cover the skillet with a lid and allow the rice to simmer and cook slowly in the rest of the water. Once the rice is 95% cooked, put the lid back on and after a minute turn of the flame and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Open the skillet and fluff up the rice to avoid it from sticking together.

Garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Serves 4-5

Garlic Bread with Cheese

  My version

Crispy yet soft slices of French loaf infused with garlic flavour, topped with cheese and herbs.. MmMmm.. :) As soon as you pop it into the oven, the garlicky, cheesy aroma will bring everyone in your house over to your kitchen.. As soon as it's done, make sure you grab a piece for yourself, 'coz even before you know, it's all going to disappear!! Its amazingly delicious, and make sure you serve it fresh and hot out of the oven.

Well, when I started typing this recipe, I realized that it's really hard to give exact measures of the ingredients. Well, I'll try to do my best to give an approximate measure, but, try using your logic to incorporate an appropriate measure.

Ingredients :
Fresh Baguette (Crusty French Loaf)	-		Large/Medium/Small loaf as per your requirement.
Mozzarella cheese	-		As required
Margarine or butter	-		for 1 large loaf - 1 tablespoon
Olive oil	-		1 tablespoon or more
Garlic	-		1 clove crushed into fine paste
Salt	-		to taste
Fresh Parsley	-		Finely chopped
Dried Oregano	-		1/2 teaspoon

I like Whole-wheat breads. So I've used whole wheat French loaf. You can also use loaf made with plain flour. If you do not want cheese, you can skip the cheese.

Preparation Method :

Pre-heat your oven. I only ignite the top burner, just to melt the cheese and maintain the softness of the bread. Diagonally slice the loaf into1 inch thick pieces. Use a serrated knife.  Finely chop fresh parsley. Blend in the margarine, garlic paste and some olive oil into a fine mix. Lay foil on a baking tray and place the bread slices. Brush the top of each slice with the garlic mix. If you are in a hurry, you can also use ready-made garlic paste instead of this mix. Top each slice with a generous amount of Mozzarella. Sprinkle on top the chopped parsley, salt and dried oregano. Drizzle some olive oil on top. Place into oven a little away from the flame. When you see the cheese bubbling and having golden brown burns on top, its ready. If you don't want it to brown you can remove as soon as it bubbles.  I like it brown and the bread delicately crisp. Believe me, it smells really tempting.  Serve it hot and quick. Kids are going to love you for this one! :)

Enjoy!! :)