Well, it took me a while to figure this out, but here it is...
If you want a soft dough using plain, all-purpose flour, then whether or not you add egg, milk, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oil, anything.... doesn't matter... to get soft dough.... (drumroll)....
... Mix the dough with
........................WARM WATER.
The dough will form easily, then let it rest for 15 minutes. The dough will be soft, pliable, easy to work with and will have a very pleasant texture.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Finally! Successful Empanada & Chibureki Dough
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour (unbleached)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp oil/butter
3/4 to 1 cup of luke warm water (tap water is fine)
Method:
1. Mix the dry ingredients.
2. Mix in the oil thoroughly. It should be distributed throughout the flour.
3. Add 1/2 a cup of water and start mixing the flour. Depending on your flour, you could need between 3/4 to 1 cup of water. The dough should NOT be hard.
4. Let rest for 15 minutes.
Tip: When frying Empanadas or Chibureki, the oil has to be quite hot. All this time, I've been frying in oil that wasn't the right temperature. The oil must be so hot that the empanadas will colour in the oil after roughly 2 minutes of frying. That's quite hot!
That's it! Enjoy!
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Easy Delicious Strawberry Pie
This has now become a staple in our menu.
Ingredients:
1 prepared pie crust, thawed
2-3 cups strawberries, fresh or frozen
2 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp brown sugar or regular sugar
3 tbsp corn starch
1 package fat free cream cheese, room temperature
Method:
1. Prepare the pie crust as per package directions.
2. Place strawberries, 1 tbsp lime juice and sugar in a pot and set on medium-low heat. Cook for 20 minutes until it gets fairly thick.
3. Mix the cornstarch with 3 tbsp of cold water. Add to the strawberry mixture and stir till it thickens. Cool for 30-45 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl, add 1 tbsp of lime juice to the cream cheese, add 1 tsp of sugar and mix thoroughly.
4. Assemble: Take the pie shell. Spread the cream cheese on the pie. Top with strawberry mixture.
Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes at least. Makes 8 servings at least.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 prepared pie crust, thawed
2-3 cups strawberries, fresh or frozen
2 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp brown sugar or regular sugar
3 tbsp corn starch
1 package fat free cream cheese, room temperature
Method:
1. Prepare the pie crust as per package directions.
2. Place strawberries, 1 tbsp lime juice and sugar in a pot and set on medium-low heat. Cook for 20 minutes until it gets fairly thick.
3. Mix the cornstarch with 3 tbsp of cold water. Add to the strawberry mixture and stir till it thickens. Cool for 30-45 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl, add 1 tbsp of lime juice to the cream cheese, add 1 tsp of sugar and mix thoroughly.
4. Assemble: Take the pie shell. Spread the cream cheese on the pie. Top with strawberry mixture.
Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes at least. Makes 8 servings at least.
Enjoy!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Awesome & Quick Bruschetta
This is a bruschetta that is absolutely delicious, very quick to make and has quite a strong flavour to it. Instead of doing the traditional thing and toasting sliced bread, my girlfriend put the bruschetta on a triscuit. I modified and put it on a melba toast instead, and it was incredible!! The only thing is, don't put the tomato preparation on the toast until you are about to put it in your mouth, otherwise the toast will get soggy.
Ingredients:
2 medium Hot house tomatoes, diced
2 Tbsp red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
fresh or dry basil
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all the above ingredients up. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Put it together:
1. Take 4 pieces of melba toast.
2. Spread 1 tsp of goat cheese on each toast.
3. Just before you are ready to eat, place as much tomato mixture on each toast as you want.
Bite in and enjoy!!!
Ingredients:
2 medium Hot house tomatoes, diced
2 Tbsp red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
fresh or dry basil
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all the above ingredients up. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Put it together:
1. Take 4 pieces of melba toast.
2. Spread 1 tsp of goat cheese on each toast.
3. Just before you are ready to eat, place as much tomato mixture on each toast as you want.
Bite in and enjoy!!!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Another vegan breakfast idea: Mushroom Bruschetta
However, I've been slowly shifting my focus. I don't need to be filled with any one food group all the time. In our society, the stress on proteins is quite high. All this time, I was leaning towards it because a small quantity keeps one full for a long time. But now, I'm seeing that that is useful if you eat little quantities everyday or don't have access to food for long periods of time (4-6 hours). Otherwise, there is nothing wrong with eating complex carb meals that have some protein in them. The roughage from vegetables does the trick of keeping you full longer. And more vegetable roughage helps prevent colon cancer. Yay!
So, yesterday while YouTubing, I found this mushroom bruschetta idea. There are two versions. I just married them together.
The two original ideas are:
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZCBQQ-gkQE
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ8XJzi2h24
This is my version.
Ingredients:
2 slices bread, 1-2 tsp butter
2 cups Mushrooms sliced (I had 2 large portabella mushrooms)
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup white wine or any wine
1/4 cup red onion diced
2 tsp lime juice
2 tbsp parsley chopped
1. Heat the skilled on medium high. Add the olive oil and garlic.
2. When garlic starts to sizzle, put in the sliced mushrooms and cook till the liquid evaporates and there's a nice light brown colour on the mushrooms. This can take 10 minutes or so.
3. Add the wine and let it evaporate. About 2 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and place the mushrooms in a glass or metal bowl.
5. Let it cool for 5 minutes.
6. Once cooled, add the onions, lime juice, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
I didn't toast my bread in the toaster. I pan-toasted it with some butter. You can do either. There's a difference in the amount of moisture that is retained in the toast. The pan-fried version tends to be a bit chewier on the inside. Do whatever appeals to you that day.
Place mushrooms on Toast and ENJOY!!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Crisp, Clean, Carrot Salad
I really dislike carrots, so for me to make this is a testament to how delicious it is. It is light, not too carroty, crisp, refreshing, and tart.
Ingredients:
0.5 kg carrots (roughly 6 medium)
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
salt
1. Peel, wash and grate the carrots.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Add salt to taste. Mix thoroughly.
3. Refrigerate the salad for 20-30 minutes.
This goes well with anything. And it's so easy to get 1 serving of vegetable by serving 1/2 a cup of this. So easy. So good.
Ingredients:
0.5 kg carrots (roughly 6 medium)
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
salt
1. Peel, wash and grate the carrots.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Add salt to taste. Mix thoroughly.
3. Refrigerate the salad for 20-30 minutes.
This goes well with anything. And it's so easy to get 1 serving of vegetable by serving 1/2 a cup of this. So easy. So good.
Really Great Potato Salad
I saw this recipe on Cook's Country (America's Test Kitchen).
The two main tricks are: cooking the potatoes and dicing them well ahead of time so they get cool and retain their shape, and using some sour cream instead of mayonnaise only.
Ingredients:
3-4 large potatoes
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
1/4 cup: combine fat free and low fat mayonnaise
3 scallions, chopped
1 celery stalk, minced
2 eggs, hard boiled, chopped
1-2 tsp mustard
salt
pepper
1. Boil the potatoes with skin on. When the potatoes are tender, drain the water and cool the potatoes in the fridge.
2. Once cooled, peel the potatoes, and chop into 1cm cubes.
3. Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
This potato salad has a great texture whereby the potato doesn't melt in your mouth, but retains it's shape and character. The refreshing near tartness of the sour cream is so soothing. The scallions are milder than onions and the celery is, again, very refreshing.
The two main tricks are: cooking the potatoes and dicing them well ahead of time so they get cool and retain their shape, and using some sour cream instead of mayonnaise only.
Ingredients:
3-4 large potatoes
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
1/4 cup: combine fat free and low fat mayonnaise
3 scallions, chopped
1 celery stalk, minced
2 eggs, hard boiled, chopped
1-2 tsp mustard
salt
pepper
1. Boil the potatoes with skin on. When the potatoes are tender, drain the water and cool the potatoes in the fridge.
2. Once cooled, peel the potatoes, and chop into 1cm cubes.
3. Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
This potato salad has a great texture whereby the potato doesn't melt in your mouth, but retains it's shape and character. The refreshing near tartness of the sour cream is so soothing. The scallions are milder than onions and the celery is, again, very refreshing.
Fake Fried Chicken (using Seitan)
Ok. So: Does deep fried Seitan really taste like fried chicken? The absolutely honest verdict: YES. (If the Seitan has been cut to 1-2cm size cubes.
I was quite shocked. This is really good. You just have to try it out to believe it.
Ingredients:
Seitan
Oil for frying
flour for dredging
egg substitute or 1 egg
bread crumbs + Italian seasoning
1. Make sure all the excess moisture from the Seitan has been thoroughly dried with a paper or cloth towel.
2. Heat the oil on medium heat.
3. Cut the seitan into 2cm cubes.
4. Dredge it in flour.
5. Coat it with egg substitute (mixed with water) or beaten egg.
6. Coat with breadcrumbs you have flavoured.
7. Shallow fry in oil.
That's it.
So so delicious. Gotta try it to believe it.
I was quite shocked. This is really good. You just have to try it out to believe it.
Ingredients:
Seitan
Oil for frying
flour for dredging
egg substitute or 1 egg
bread crumbs + Italian seasoning
1. Make sure all the excess moisture from the Seitan has been thoroughly dried with a paper or cloth towel.
2. Heat the oil on medium heat.
3. Cut the seitan into 2cm cubes.
4. Dredge it in flour.
5. Coat it with egg substitute (mixed with water) or beaten egg.
6. Coat with breadcrumbs you have flavoured.
7. Shallow fry in oil.
That's it.
So so delicious. Gotta try it to believe it.
Vegetable Pot Pie
I don't know why I didn't find a simple recipe like this online. So I went and did it as per my imagination... which wasn't very wild, really. Chicken Pot Pie, a fantastic dish, usually has very little chicken in it. Adding too much chicken doesn't help the pie, because the pie is about the gravy and the texture of the pie crust (at least to me). Theoretically, removing the chicken should also produce a really nice pie. And it did. Here it is:
1.5 cups of steamed vegetables (more on that below)
2 tbsp oil (canola or olive)
2 tbsp flour
1.5 cups of skim milk
30-60 g of cheese (I had mozzarella cheese, you can use anything you like)
1/4 tsp of dry thyme, oregano and basil
salt
pepper
To assemble the pies:
3 ramekins
Prepared pastry dough - I used the individual sized pastry shells from the frozen section of the grocery store. You can either make your own, or buy the full sheet and cut it to fit your ramekins.
Fresh Vegetables: I like to use the fresh stuff as much as I can, mostly for the flavour. There is a big difference between fresh veges and frozen veges.BUT if you're in a bind and need to use up the frozen stuff, feel free to do so.
For this recipe I used what I had in my fridge: mushrooms, orange bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, half a large potato, green beans and a handful of pitted black olives. I cooked each one individually in the microwave as my roux was cooking. I like my pie filling thick, so I drained the cooked vegetables of any excess water, so that it wouldn't water down my pie filling.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees C.
1. The Roux: Warm your pot on medium-low heat and add the oil.
2. Add the flour to the pot and stir frequently. As it is cooking, you want the flour to change colour a little, and have a slightly nutty smell.This took me a good 8-10 minutes on medium-low heat. It's too easy to burn the roux, so keep an eye on this as you stir.
3. Add the milk, 1/4 cup at a time, and stir incessantly. May no lumps form. And may the mixture be a smooth consistency once all the liquid has been added. Let this cook for 5 minutes and stir every minute.
4. Add the cheese and stir till it all melts and becomes a homogenous, smooth mixture. Cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the spices. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remember you haven't salted your vegetables, but you have added cheese.
6. Add all the vegetables and cook this wonderful concoction for another 3 minutes or so.
Taste this now. Add salt/pepper as necessary.
Putting the pie together:
7. Divide the pie filling amongst the ramekins.
8. Neatly lay out your pie crust on top. Cut a generous cross on top to let the steam out.
9. Place in middle rack of oven. Bake for 10 minutes.
10. If the crust isn't golden yet, broil for another 30 seconds to a minute. Keep an eye on it, so that the crust doesn't burn.
And there you have it. Just absolutely wonderful stuff. Makes 3 servings. Each has 1 (daily recommended) serving of vegetables. This is not a low-fat dish, but it is quite delicious.
Enjoy!!
1.5 cups of steamed vegetables (more on that below)
2 tbsp oil (canola or olive)
2 tbsp flour
1.5 cups of skim milk
30-60 g of cheese (I had mozzarella cheese, you can use anything you like)
1/4 tsp of dry thyme, oregano and basil
salt
pepper
To assemble the pies:
3 ramekins
Prepared pastry dough - I used the individual sized pastry shells from the frozen section of the grocery store. You can either make your own, or buy the full sheet and cut it to fit your ramekins.
Fresh Vegetables: I like to use the fresh stuff as much as I can, mostly for the flavour. There is a big difference between fresh veges and frozen veges.BUT if you're in a bind and need to use up the frozen stuff, feel free to do so.
For this recipe I used what I had in my fridge: mushrooms, orange bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, half a large potato, green beans and a handful of pitted black olives. I cooked each one individually in the microwave as my roux was cooking. I like my pie filling thick, so I drained the cooked vegetables of any excess water, so that it wouldn't water down my pie filling.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees C.
1. The Roux: Warm your pot on medium-low heat and add the oil.
2. Add the flour to the pot and stir frequently. As it is cooking, you want the flour to change colour a little, and have a slightly nutty smell.This took me a good 8-10 minutes on medium-low heat. It's too easy to burn the roux, so keep an eye on this as you stir.
3. Add the milk, 1/4 cup at a time, and stir incessantly. May no lumps form. And may the mixture be a smooth consistency once all the liquid has been added. Let this cook for 5 minutes and stir every minute.
4. Add the cheese and stir till it all melts and becomes a homogenous, smooth mixture. Cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the spices. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remember you haven't salted your vegetables, but you have added cheese.
6. Add all the vegetables and cook this wonderful concoction for another 3 minutes or so.
Taste this now. Add salt/pepper as necessary.
Putting the pie together:
7. Divide the pie filling amongst the ramekins.
8. Neatly lay out your pie crust on top. Cut a generous cross on top to let the steam out.
9. Place in middle rack of oven. Bake for 10 minutes.
10. If the crust isn't golden yet, broil for another 30 seconds to a minute. Keep an eye on it, so that the crust doesn't burn.
And there you have it. Just absolutely wonderful stuff. Makes 3 servings. Each has 1 (daily recommended) serving of vegetables. This is not a low-fat dish, but it is quite delicious.
Enjoy!!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Food that is Surprisingly tasty
This morning I made myself some multi-grain toast and as a treat, decided to spread a little bit of butter on it. As I washed a small cucumber, I decided not to eat it. But after I sat down, and then bit into my delicious toast, I thought the cucumber would go well... and did it ever! It tasted refreshing and divine. I felt full for a while after eating this. I did have an egg with this too, but I really wasn't enjoying the taste at all.
Other vegetarian dishes that have worked for me in the last few days have been:
1. Sarson Ka Saag
2. Rice and stir fried Gui lan
3. Rice and Fresh Soft Tofu boiled with bean sprouts. Accompanied with a sauce of chilli paste/soy sauce/vinegar
4. Tomato, Cucumber, Lettuce Sandwich
5. Falafel, Tabbouli Sandwich
6. Rice, Dal, Tomato Chutney, Sabji
Read The China Study. Do it.
Other vegetarian dishes that have worked for me in the last few days have been:
1. Sarson Ka Saag
2. Rice and stir fried Gui lan
3. Rice and Fresh Soft Tofu boiled with bean sprouts. Accompanied with a sauce of chilli paste/soy sauce/vinegar
4. Tomato, Cucumber, Lettuce Sandwich
5. Falafel, Tabbouli Sandwich
6. Rice, Dal, Tomato Chutney, Sabji
Read The China Study. Do it.
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