BREADS: Garlic bread and French Bread

This post is  dedicated to my friends and anybody who cant cook, learning to cook or struggling to cook



Garlic Bread

My favourite bread

Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

• 250 g flour
• ½  tsp salt
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 oz butter- melted
• 1 tbs milk powder
• 2 tbs crushed garlic
• ½ an egg
• 3 oz cup water

 1. Mix flour, sugar, yeast, salt, milk powder , eggs, melted butter,

       garlic .

2. Next add water and knead the dough for 10 mins using your palm and dragging it onto the surface .

3. Roll the dough flat and toll it like a Swiss roll and let it rise for 15 mins.

4. Apply beaten eggs on top ,sprinkle with sesame seed(optional)

 bake it  in 180˚ for 15 mins or until the bread is done.

5. Once you take it out. Apply butter on top while the bread is still hot

French bread 

Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Same ingredients and method as garlic bread but do not add garlic to this.

HOW I MADE GARLIC BREAD

First I got all the stuff ready: eggs, yeast, butter, milk pwder,measuring spoons.

Next I added all the ingredients into my Kenwood stand mixer and turned on the machine .Its easier than making the dough by hand.



Dough is made .I usually take it out and knead it by hand for a few minutes .

 

Make sure to flour the surface when you are kneading the dough.Next roll the dough flat-but not too thin and roll it like a swiss roll.

The bread brushed with beaten eggs.Sprinkle sesame seed on top.



3 strand braided dough in the oven





Braided bread after its baked



D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S garlic bread......soooooo tasty.
You can cover the bread with foil the last 10 minutes(while its baking) to prevent the bread from turning brown.

A simple way to turn french bread into garlic bread: Just add crushed garlic to softened butter and leave it for about 30 mins or more.The butter will have a garlic flavour.You can spread this on french bread and put the bread in the oven on high heat for abt 5 mins.



Its time for Dinner.Almost 8 'o' clock



 

 

Garlic bread , Stir fried veges, chicken curry and fried fish.Not exactly the perfect combination but everybodyenjoyed this menu. 


I enjoy making bread .
Homemade bread tastes sooooo GOOD.
Try it  



COOKS NOTE: you can turn a plain French bread into a garlic bread by adding crushed garlic to butter and leaving this for a while. Apply this  garlic-butter to French bread and put the buttered bread in the oven for 5 mins on high heat.

Check out you tube for videos on how to make pleated breads(how to shape your bread dough into pleats) and other shapes for your bread .

VIDEOS ON HOW TO KNEAD THE DOUGH

How to knead the dough

VIDEOS ON SHAPING YOUR DOUGH

3 strand braided bread

5 strand braided bread

How to make braided bread with 3, 4, 5 or 6 strands

Shaping the dough

Scoring French Bread


 



Spicy Potatoes and Stir Fried Vegetables.

This post is  dedicated to my friends and anybody who cant cook, learning to cook or struggling to cook :)


The spicy Potatoe recipes is an Indian Dish I got from the cooking site Manjulas kitchen - Manjula’s Kitchen is your home for Indian Vegetarian Recipes and Cooking Videos.
I serve this dish with rice, and chapatis as well.

The Stir Fried vegetable  recipe I got from All Recipes . I serve this with rice, french bread and sometimes noodles.

Spicy Potatoes



 This is an Indian dish that’s  spicy , tasty

and easy to cook.





Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


• 3 Medium red Potato( or any other potato)
• 2 tbs oil
• ½  tsp Cumin seed
• 1 tsp Crushed coriander seed
• 1 tsp crushed fennel seed
• 8-10 fenugreek seed
• 1 tsp shredded ginger
• ¼  tsp black pepper
• 2 green chillie , seeded & sliced lengthwise
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbs chopped cilantro( coriander leaves)

1. Cut potatoes into wedges. Boil about 4 cups of water. Add salt and

the potato to it

2. Boil the potatoes until they are tender not mushy. Drain water and

set aside

3. Heat oil. Add cumin seed and as it cracks add coriander seed,

fennel seed, fenugreek seed, ginger. Stir fry for half a minute

4. Add the potatoes to this and  stir fry until golden brown.

5. Add salt, black pepper, green chillie and roast for a minute.

Turn off heat and add lemon juice and cilantro. Serve hot.

COOKS NOTE: prepare this dish at least 15 mins before dinner (not longer than that) .Tastes best when served hot and as soon as its done

Stir Fried Vegetables

An easy and tasty vegetable dish that I often make at home. A good side dish to serve with rice and French bread.




Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  Ingredients:

• Carrots
• Red and green Bell Pepper
• Onion,sliced thin
• Beans
• Baby Corn
• Few mushrooms(cut into two or use it whole.I preper button mushroom)
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tbs Soya sauce
• 1 tsp cornflour
• Pepper( the powder one)
• 2tbs ginger and garlic paste
• 2tsp sesame seeds- roasted
• 
  

Mix water, soya sauce, seasoning, cornflour until smooth. Set aside

Heat 1tbs oil in a wok.Add onion,carrots and bens and stir fry for 2 mins.Then add the rest of the Veges and stir fry for 5-7 mins until they are tender crisp.

The veges could be  stir freid separately as well.

Another method: you can boil the vegetable for 2 mins and then stir fry them.Make sure you don’t over cook them .

Stir soya sauce mixture.Add this to the vegetables and bring to boil in medium heat for 1 minute.Sprinkle with semame seed before serving

This dish is best when served immediately.

 

COKS NOTE: You can use cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and even spinach .

You can make this dish with only beans and carrots as well.Make sure to change the name to Bean and carrot stir fry .

Recipes: Chicken Palandy and Salad with Cream Dressing

This post is  dedicated to my friends and anybody who cant cook, learning to cook or struggling to cook :)

Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



"This is a chicken recipe that my family loves. Its easy to cook and tastes good"

"The salad with cream dressing is also one of my favourite recipes."

Chicken Palandy

I love this chicken recipe. A cookery class recipe

  Marinade 

• 1 kg Chicken
• 2 ½ tsp salt
• ½  cup curd (or 3tbs curd)
• 3tbs tomato puree or tomato paste
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp turmeric

Mix all the above ingredients And marinate it for 3 hours

and boil it.  Dont add water when boiling the chicken.

If you want to get more gravy ,then add water and boil the chicken.                                

   Once the chicken has boiled halfway you can take them out  and

deep-fry. Or else add 3 tbs  ghee and 3tbs oil and pan fry it until it turns golden

  brown.

   

    Tempering

• 3tbs ghee
• 3tbs oil
• 1 tbs ginger and garlic paste
• 2 B.Onions
• Handful of Mint leaf
• Handful of Coriander leaves
• 5 green chillie-cut lengthwise
• 2 big tomato
• 2 eggs-slightly beaten

1. Pan fry the chicken in the ghee and oil until golden brown.
2. To the same pan add the G&G paste, onion, green chilie tomato and then add the chicken piece and mix it. If there is any gravy left over from the boiled chicken add it as well.
3. Then let it boil for 2 mins.
4. Next add the beaten eggs and let it cook for 2 mins.
5. Turn off the flame and add the coriander and the mint leaves.

COOKS NOTE: adjust the seasoning to your taste. you can add more water to the gravy while boiling the chicken to get more gravy. Once you add the eggs the gravy thickens. My family can’t eat a meal without gravy  so I adjust the recipe .

Salad with cream dressing



Paul / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



·        6 red raddish

·        1 green pepper

·        Small Zuchchini

·        1 carrot

·        ½ pineapple

·        7 cherry tomato

·        2 tbs parsley

·        Olives

·       Baby corn

·        Apple

·       ½  tsp salt

·       ½  tsp White pepper

·       Lettuce

Salad cream

• 1 tbs boiled yolk-sieved (I dont usually use the egg yolk)
• 1 garlic crushed
• ½ tsp salt 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbs vinegar
• ½  tsp ground mustard
• 325 ml fresh cream
• ½  tsp white pepper

1. Cut the vegetables into cubes.

2. Beat all the cream ingredients with a whisker until the cream thickens.

3. Arrange the lettuce inn a salad bowl/dish and add the vegetables to it.

4. Pour the prepared cream over it.

Or leave the vegetables and the cream separately.

So the guests can pour any amount of salad cream onto their

Salad.



Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



COOKS NOTE: you can add mayonnaise to this salad recipe instead of the salad cream. keep salad cream refrigerated  until  meal is served .or serve it immediately

Homemade Craft Dough

Straberries made using
 homemade craft dough

One of my favourite hobbies is making miniature stuff using craft dough.I've been making this since I was 12.

I use only 2 ingredients to make this dough.Best thing about this is ,it airdries.No need to heat them in the oven like the salt dough .


What you need to make the dough

1. Cornflour

2.White glue(PVA glue-like chemifix Glue)- not the colourless one.

How to make the craft dough:

First mix the flour and the white glue and make a soft pliable dough.If the dough is sticky , add  more flour.If the dough cracks, add more glue.Knead well  until its soft and smooth.Wrap it in polythene and use it within a day.Once you shape this dough ,airdry it.Then leave it to dry completely for 1-2 days(just to make sure).
Next paint it.


You can also add the paint to the dough and mix it and shape it anyway you like.


Apply two coasts of varnish or use the white glue over it .The  glue turns clear when it dries.After it dries apply another layer.


Note: Make sure  it is  DRIED before painting .

WHAT I HAVE MADE USING THE HOMEMADE CRAFT DOUGH:

BEFORE PAINTING THE STRAWBERRY:

I made this for the 'Childrens Party , Childrens Bedroom' exibition.The theme of my group was Strawberry Shortcake.I made the napkin ring, coaster and decorated the place card holder with strawberrries made using the homemde craft dough recipe.





Strawberries after painting and applying glue

Before decorating the Place card holder with the strawberries.

The placecard holder and the coaster after decorating.



Childrens Party Exibition: "Strawberry Shortcake''.
We won second plance at the exibition.
There were 10 themes: Cinderella, Spongebob,Butterfly, Teddy bears Picnic, Tinkerbell, Strawberry Shortcake, Little Mermaid, Pooh,Noddy, 16th Birthday.

This is what the table looked like.I made six napkin rings, Six coasters, Six place card holders.
All handmade with the above craft dough recipe (using only 2 ingredients)



Napkin ring.







I MADE THE FOLLOWING FOR A FRIEND.

These I made for a friend who was doing a hair dressing course.She wanted this for her project book.I made these a month before my wedding.- I was free back then.Its hard to find some free time for myself these days.Time is precious.



This comb is only 2 inches long.

I made 9 of these small items which are not more than 2.5 inches in long-except the scissors

Blow dryer

Coloured and applied two coats of glue.
From Top left to right: Hair brush ,comb , scissor, makeup brush , spray bottle(water)  ,lipstick
Straightening Iron(the pink one) ,curling iron, Blow dryer.

You can make the above using Salt dough as well But I prefer something that can be air dried.The salt dough takes a while to dry For the salt dough you need the following:

1.1 cup all prpose flour

2. 1/2 cup salt

3.1/2 cup water

Mix the three ingredients together and make the dough.The dough should be soft and smooth.if its too sticky add flour .If its too dry add Water.You can add food colorouring or Acryllic paints to the dough and mix.Once you make the dough you can shape it into any designs and bake it in the oven at 225 degrees until they are hardened.

Once they are hardened you can paint them .Seal your finished creations with varnish or with the white glue.The white glue turns clear when it dries.Apply atleast two coat of varnish or white glue.

This coaster I made using the salt dough recipe.After drying it in the oven I let it sun dry.Unfortunately ,a hungry crow attacked it and tried to have it for lunch.
I was able to chase away the crow and save whatever was left.I was'nt going to let a crow eat it even if it was ruined.........

More craft dough recipes:

Salt dough Crafts

Creating with Cold Porcelain - I'm going to try this method.I have'nt tried it but it looks like a good craft dough.


TUTORIALS ON HOW TO SCULT USING COLD PORCELAIN:

Clay Sculpting
Photos of Items made by Cold porcelain

VIDEO: How to make flowers using cold porcelain


VIDEO: How to make leaf using cold procelain

VIDEO: Cold Porcelain decorated boxes

              How to make refrigerator magnets
            
             Miniature Food items made using clay

             More foods made using clay (warning:not edible :D )