Cheesy crescent rolls

Yes, yes, yes, yes!!! Absolute success!!! These cheesy cresent rolls are always big favorite among my friends, colleagues and in our family. Today I was at a garden party where the 64 fresh and soft rolls were disappeared within half an hour.

Ingredients:
70 dkg flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 dl oil
2 dl yoghurt
2 dl milk
5 dkg fresh yeast

For the filling:
25 dkg butter (room temperature)
1 tablespoon salt

For the top:
+ 1 egg
+ 20 dkg cheese

Place the flour in a big bowl, mix it with the sugar then make a hole in the middle. Pour the fluid ingredients in the hole, the yoghurt, oil, lukewarm milk then crumble the yeast in it. Mix the ingredients carefully with a spoon and let it sit for 10 minutes.

10 minutes later knead the dough with your hands and add as much flour as the dough needs until it gets soft but not sticky.

Mix the butter with the salt and divide into 4 parts.

Preheat the oven into 220°C.

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Take one, put on a floured surface, roll it to a plate-sized and set aside. Take another piece of dough and roll it as well. Grease 1/4 of the butter mix on the dough and place the other (already rolled) piece on this. Divide this round shape dough into 16 equal pieces with a knife (as you slice a cake). Take one slice and  roll it up starting from its wider edge. Place on the oven pan (far enough from each other because they become twice bigger in the course of baking), grease it with some egg and strew with grated cheese.

Repeat this 3 times more.

Put the oven pan into the preheated oven and bake the rolls until the cheese on their tops gets gold.

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Indian Naan Bread

I love naan since our 4-weeks holiday in India in 2010.

During our trip we travelled a lot within the country. We just bought a return ticket to Delhi and back, had a Lonely Planet guide and that's all. Okay, we knew of course some place what we definitely wanted to visit but nothing more. We didn't decide how many days we spend here or there. Just enjoy the country, know and talk to the people and try to understand this culture what is totally different from what we have seen before.

Before we left for India, everyone worried about me and asked "What will you eat there?" I didn't know the Indian cuisine too much at that time but I said "I love Indian foods, so don't worry, I won't die by hunger!" Now I know since I REALLY knew Indian cuisine during this trip, it's one of the most colourful, varied and interesting kitchen in the world.

As I mentioned we travelled a lot (Delhi - Agra - Varanasi - Kathamndu,Nepal - Mumbai - Varkala beach in Kerala - Kochi - Delhi), everywhere 2-3 days (on the beach about 10 days :)), depending on how much we liked the place. Everywhere we stopped we tasted the local speciality therefore I can say we never ate two times the same dish.

Indian food is different from the rest of the world in the whole cuisine, in taste, cooking methods. It's a perfect mix of several cultures and ages. Food in India, just like the Indian culture, has been influenced  by various groups, civilizations during the centuries, leading to the diversity of flavours and regional cuisines what we know in modern India in our days.

One of the most important part of the Indian kitchen is the Indian bread. There is a wide variety of breads which reflects the diversity of the whole country, culture. Different varieties include: chapati, roti, paratha, naan, papdum etc.

Naan is cooked in tandoor from which tandoori cooking takes its name. I have already mentioned tandoor before in the post of Turkish Ramadan pide.

First I bring the recipe of naan what I prepare many times especially for a light dinner, house parties next to dips.

I don't know yet where I had found this recipe on internet but I remember that I tried it with my best friend, E. for New Year's Eve.

Ingredients (5 pieces):
25 dkg plain flour
110-130 ml milk
2 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

+ 1 tablespoon melted butter for brushing
+ cheese (normally I make naan without it)

In a big bowl mix the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Make a pit in the center of the dry ingredients in the bowl then pour in it the milk and oil mixture.

Mix together the dough first by wooden spoon then knead it by hand for 8-10 minutes to make a smooth, soft dough. If it's too thicky, add a little flour to it. Divide it into 5 small balls.

The original recipe said we should set aside, cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave for at least 1 hour in a warm place to double in size. I experienced there is no difference between we don't wait at all or we leave the dough for 1 hour so do not worry, as soon as you finished kneading the dough you can start to bake them.

For the lack of tandoor at home preheat a simple frying pan. Start to roll out the dough balls into oval, teardrop shapes (as you like) and place the naan in the hot frying pan and grill for 1-2 minutes or until there are brown spots on its surface then turn to grill the other side of naan. If you want at the step you can put some grated cheese on the top.

Brush them with melted butter and serve hot.
 

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15 minutes broccoli rolls

I had some left-over broccoli dip from the farewell party of Friday. I wanted to prepare something quick, but light dinner consuming the broccoli dip as well. When I found the puff-pastry in the fridge, I had already known what to do.

Ingredients (8 small rolls):
1/2 pack of puff pastry
2 dl broccoli cream
1 egg
Butter for greasing
Flour for dusting

Heat the oven to 200°C.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Grease the pastry thick with the broccoli cream, then coil it up carefully and cut about 2 cm wide rolls.

Place them on greased baking sheets, spaced apart. Brush each roll with egg and bake for about 15 minutes, until the pastry is golden and crisp.

Afiyet olsun!

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Broccoli dip with joghurt

For E's farewell party I prepared this dip besides hummus. We love it, it's fresh, light and death easy to prepare. It fits perfectly to naan, tortilla, I often prepare it for house and garden parties.

Ingredients
250 g broccoli (fresh or frozen)
175 g yoghurt
Salt
Pepper

Cut the broccoli into its roses, wash them properly then cook it in boiling, salty water for about 15 minutes until it soften completely.

Spill the cooking water out from the saucepan, then mix it with the blender until you get a smooth cream. Add the yoghurt, as much salt and pepper as you like and stir properly.

Put it in the fridge for at least half an hour to chill it then you can serve it with warm naan, pide or tortilla.


Afiyet olsun!

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Hummus

Hummus is one of the most popular and widely eaten food in the Middle Eastern countries, . Hummus is the Arabic word for chickpea which is the main ingredients of hummus.

The origin of hummus is controversial. The fact is that because hummus has been around for a long time and it has soo many variations, the exact origin has been lost over the centuries. Some sources say hummus is one of the oldest known food because there are resources which say chickpeas were consumed in the ancient Palestine and was one of the earliest crops in Mesopotamia, as well as a common food in the ancient Rome. Others speak of Saladin prepared first in the 12th century. (Saladin was a Kurdish Muslim who became the first sultan of Egypt and Syria.) The earliest written recipe dates to 13th century Egypt.

Hummus has many variations, tastes different everywhere. Some types have a strong lemon flavor, some have special garlic flavour or a spicy tone.

Hummus is served mostly as appetizer  with pita breads or fresh vegetables, makes a good alternative to dips.

Yesterday for my best friend, E.'s farewell I prepared hummus, broccoli cream with our favorite naan (Indian bread).

First of all I share the hummus' recipe for what I used BBC Good Food as the always reliable source.

Ingredients:
250 g chickpeas (dried or in can)
100 g tahini paste
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon chili powder (I used dried chili seeds)
3-4 tablespoon lemon juice
1,5 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
(+ about 2 dl cooking water)

Wash the chickpeas several times and soak them in clean water over a night. Leave enough water in the bowl because the chickpeas absorb most of the water and double their size. (You can use canned chickpeas as well then you save the soaking time.)

Next day put the chickpeas in a large saucepan and simmer for around 1 hour. (A useful tip: put some baking soda in the cooking water so it will cook sooner.) Cook until the grains are easily smashed when pressed with a fork. When it is ready, sieve the chickpea grains and keep the cooking water.

Put the chickpeas into a food processor or use a blender and grind them well with a little cooking water until smooth. Add tahini, salt, olive oil, lemon juice and chili powder and blend it again with the spices too. If it is needed you can add some more water to it to get the desired texture.

For serving drizzle it with some olive oil and warm pita breads.

Afiyet olsun!

 

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