Golap Pitha

Fish Shami Kabab

Chomchom

Orange Chiffon Cake

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Vapa Pitha (ভাপা-পিঠা)


Ingredients:

  1. Rice flour -2 cup
  2. Warm milk or water-1/2 cup
  3. Salt- 1 ts
  4. Sugar- 2 ts
  5. Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
  6. Shredded Jaggeryr- 1/2 cup 
Accessories needed:
  1. Vapa pitha making pan 
  2. (if you do not have the pan, take a
    saucepan with lid and some aluminium
    foil; and follow the alternate way
    described in the below
    )
  3. Small bowl
  4. One piece of cloth
Procedure:
  1. For this pitha the rice flour have to be little coarsely grinned  Back in our country there are lots of place where we can grind the rice grain for this kind of pitha. But in USA I have to make my own coarsely grinned rice flour. So here is the procedure to make your rice flour for this pitha. Take 3 cups of Bashmati rice, wash them well and put in a strainer to drain the water completely   Now place some paper towel on a large tray and spread the washed rice on it. Keep in a warm place to dry the rice.Occasionally spread them. When the rice dried up completely grind them in your coffee grinder. (Remember grind them little bit coarsely, but this rice flour will niether be too coarse nor too fine
  2. Now it is time to make the delicious pitha. Take 2 cups of rice flour in a mixing bowl, add the salt and sugar, and mix them. Now slowly add the milk in the dry mix and start to mix them. This mixture will neither be like a dough nor like a batter, it will just be wet. When you take some mixture in your palm and press them, it will form a ball at first and then break down.
  3. Now cover the bowl and set it aside for around 6-7 hours. (In our country this pitha is specially made in the morning in Winter season. Everyone likes to make the mixture at night and make their pitha early in the morning. So if you want, you can also prepare your pitha mixture at night and make delicious pitha early in the morning)
  4. Now pour water up to the half of the pan and put the pan on the burner to boil the water. In the mean time grate the coconut and jeggary and set aside. (here I used the special vapa pitha making pan. If you do not have that do not be upset..:) just follow the alternate way describe in the below)
  5. Now take a strainer, place it on top of a bowl and put some rice flour mixture (which you prepared earlier) and sieve it trough the strainer with the help of your hand.
  6. Take the small bowl spread some flour mixture on it to cover the bottom, put some shredded coconut and shredded jagger, and then again put some rice flour mix on top of them and gently press the top to make it plain. Now cover the top of the bowl with the piece of cloth and carefully flip the bowl with the help of the cloth on the the hole of the pan where vapor started to come out. Then carefully take out the bowl and cover the pan with the lid. (The piece of cloth will hold the bowl shaped pitha on top of the covered saucepan) Wait for around 4-5 minutes to cook the pitha in the steam. Then carefully take it out  from the pan with the help of a big spatula or big spoon.(you can see the whole procedure in the video attached in the below)
  7. If you can not see the video in the YouTube, please click here to see in the vimeo.com.
  8. Prepare rest of your pitha and enjoy with your family .
Alternate way if you do not have the pan:
Take water up to the half of a saucepan and cover it with the aluminium foil (use double layer of foil and try to fold the side of the foil tightly so that vapor can not be come out ) . Take a fork and make some holes in the middle of the covered foil. Those holes will be the only way to come out of the vapor from the saucepan where you will put your pitha to make. Put your saucepan on the burner to boil the water.
.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Goja (গজা)




Serves: Around 125-130 pieces

Ingredients:
For dough:
  1. Flour-3 cup
  2. Warm water- Around 2 cup
  3. Oil/butter/ghee-5 Tbs
  4. Salt-1/2 ts
  5. Oil- For deep fry
For Syrup:
  1. Sugar-2 cup
  2. Water-1 cup
  3. Cardamom powder-1/4 ts
Procedure:
  1. Take flour in a bowl, add salt and oil/ghee/clarified butter, and mix them well so that oil/butter/ ghee incorporated with flour.
  2. Now slowly  add warm water with flour and knead well to form dough. Knead the dough well to make it smooth. Divide the dough into 3 balls.(for best result cover the dough and keep it for 20 minutes)
  3. Take one ball on the rolling board and roll it around 1/2-3/4 inch thickness. Cut 3 times from the roti and again cut around 1 inch pieces.(see the picture)


  4. Repeat the rest of the dough.Keep these covered.
  5. Heat oil in a deep,heavy bottom pan. Fry goja in a lower medium heat. Fry till nice golden brown color comes out. Drain the extra oil in a kitchen tissue. When you are done with the frying let it cool down.


  6. In the meantime make the syrup by boiling the sugar and water together.Add cardamom powder. When the syrup become thick check by putting a drop of syrup in a bowl of cold water; if it doesn't dissolve and immediately comes on the surface the syrup is ready.
  7. Add all the goja and very quickly stir to coat them evenly with the syrup. The syrup will solidify once the goja comes in touch with it.


     
  8. When done spread them on greased plates and let it cool down.
  9. You can store it in the airtight container.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Honey-comb Bread


Ingredients:

For Bread:
  1. All-purpose flour -3½ cups
  2. Milk powder - 2 Tbs 
  3. Oil - 4 Tbs
  4. Milk - 1 cup
  5. Water - ¼ or little more
  6. Egg - 1
  7. Sugar -3 Tbs
  8. Salt - ½ ts
  9. Melted butter -4 Tbs
  10. Dry active yeast - 1½ ts
  11. Cream Cheese
For Syrup:
  1. Sugar – 1/2 cup
  2. Water – 1/4 cup
  3. Honey - 1 Tbs
  4. Pinch of saffron (optional)

For glossy finish:
  1. Egg -1
  2. Milk - 1 ts
  3. Sesame seed - 1 Tbs
Procedure:
  1. Take the sugar, water and saffron in a pan and boil them together for around 5-6 minutes or until it is slightly thickened. Remove the pan from the heat, add the honey and mix it. Then set the syrup aside to cool down completely.
  2. Take yeast in a large bowl, add around ¼ cup warm water and a pinch of sugar and stir it until yeast dissolve into water. Leave it aside for around 10 minutes.
  3. In the meantime,the flour and milk powder.
  4. Now add oil, sugar, salt,milk, melted butter and egg (beat in a separate bowl before add to the mix) into the dissolved yeast and stir them to mix well.
  5. Now slowly add the flour to the liquid mixture and start to mix them to form a dough. Start kneading together and if needed gradually add the water a little at a time. You might not need it all, so add it sparingly until your dough is nice and soft. Give the dough a good knead for around 8-10 minutes. The more you knead your dough the softer the buns will be. Then touch a bit of oil with your fingertips and apply all over the ball of dough. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and set aside (try to keep in a warm place) for 50-60 minutes to rise the dough to double in size.
  6. Brush the baking pan with oil or butter. Now punch down the dough, and break it off to tiny bits of dough. Take each piece of dough, and stretch it out with fingers, then place a small amount of cheese in the center and bring the edges together to form a ball so that the cheese is completely enclosed within the dough. Place it on the greased pan. Repeat this for all the dough and place the balls of dough in a ‘honeycomb’ pattern (see the picture below). Try to get them close to each other so that there are little spaces in between. 
  7. Then cover the pan and set it aside for a second rise, about half an hour.
  8. Now brush the egg wash (beaten egg with milk) on the balls and spread the sesame seed on the top. 
  9. Preheat your oven to 180C or 350F and put the pan in the oven to bake your buns. Bake it for about 20-25 minutes, or until the bread gets a nice and golden color on top.
  10. Remove your buns from the oven and pour your syrup all over the hot bread. (Must remember that the syrup needs to be cool and the bread needs to be steaming hot straight from the oven.). If you prefer less sweetness in your buns you can brush the syrup on the top instead of pouring it all over the buns.
  11.  Now keep the buns aside to cool down and the syrup to glaze slightly .