Saturday 25 January 2014

Beer Bread!

This recipe combines two of my favourite things; beer and bread!

There is nothing like fresh baked bread. Dipped in a nice thick soup or chili, toasted with butter or just on its own. I was always under the impression that unless I wanted to have a big bulky bread maker sitting on my counter- this was nothing more than a pipe dream. Well friends, the dream has become a reality! 

Beer bread!

3 cups of flour
3 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup of sugar
12 oz of beer
1/4 cup melted butter (optional)

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. You can sift if you have one, or I simply use a whisk to mix thoroughly. Then pour in beer and stir. If you'd like you can pour the melted butter over the top for a buttery crust- I prefer it crusty and "dry". Put mix into a greased loaf pan and bake at 375 for one hour or until golden brown.

I made mini loaves and divided the batter and baked for 40 minutes. 



Voila! DELICIOUS FRESH BREAD!

UPDATE:

I made this a little different; in muffin tins with 2 tbsp of garlic powder and 2 tbsp of jalapeño flakes. AMAZING!



Monday 20 January 2014

Orange Ginger "Chicken"

This post is the reason that I don't make blog posts on experimental dishes.

Tonight while trying to figure out what to make for dinner, finishing up some extra pulpy orange juice and using my new "garlic and jalapeño" blend sauce I came up with orange chicken. This is where things get dicey: I cook like the Swedish chef. This is the recipe to the best of my recollection.

First, preheat oven to 425 and bake the "chicken". I buy a preservative free one, but there are lots available on the market or you could make your own with vital wheat gluten. While that's cooking, make the sauce.

In a medium sauce pan in medium heat add:

1 tbsp of vegetable oil 
1 tbsp of garlic/jalapeño mix (or just garlic) 
1 tsp of fresh ginger (grated)
1 tbsp ketchup

Let simmer and then add:
1/2 cup of orange juice (with pulp adds texture)
1 tsp potato starch (or corn) dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water
1 tbsp agave nectar (to taste)

Once the sauce has thickened and the chicken is done, add the crispy chicken into the sauce and stir to coat. Eat alone or over rice. DELICIOUS! 






Saturday 11 January 2014

Cranberry Orange Scones

When I hear the word "scone", I immediately think about choking to death on dry, stale-tasting biscuits. 

Many people have told me that my feelings on this food are unwarranted and so I decided that the best way to confirm or deny my theory was to bake some scones and see for myself. 

Mission SUCCESSFUL! After inhaling three scones and talking myself out of a fourth I am ready to blog about it. Huzzah! 

I'll have to apologize, because one of my ingredients was previously made, so if you make these with dried cranberries they may taste different. Just a heads up.

Ingredients:

-2 cups flour 
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-4 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-6 tbsp vegetable oil 
-1/2 agave nectar 
-2/3 orange juice w/pulp
-1/2 cup dried cranberries (*I used a boozy cranberry sauce, recipe at the bottom)

Preheat the oven to 425. 

In one bowl mix the flours, baking powder, salt and cranberries, if you're using the dry ones. 

In another bowl mix the oil, juice, and nectar and cranberry sauce. 

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and spoon in tablespoon sized dollops onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. 

Bake for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown and then inhale with vegan butter, jam or on their own.


Boozy Cranberry recipe:

12oz bag of fresh cranberries
1/2 cup of sugar
2 large oranges, juiced
1 1/2 shots of brandy or triple sec

Mix all ingredients in a bowl coating the cranberries well. Pour onto middle of a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. VOILA. Amazing cranberry sauce, great on toast, in scones or on tofurkey! 



Cheers!


Friday 3 January 2014

Stuffed Parathas!

Ok, so this post gets dedicated to my friend at work, Chandra. She has been trying to get me to make roti and parathas for a while and I finally did it! And she was right! It was super easy! 

First, I made my curried veg. In a pan I fried up some diced onion, garlic and potato. I seasoned it with yellow curry powder, turmeric, chili powder and a pinch of salt. 


Now that the stuffing is done, I took it off the heat and set it aside to make the dough. To make the dough;

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water
Pinch of salt

In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt and vegetable oil. Slowly add water until dough is formed. Knead dough to an even consistency and set aside. 


Break off a piece of dough and roll Into a ball. On a well floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1/2" thick and place a spoonful of the filling in the middle.


Fold the corners over and "round out" while flattening with a rolling pin. It should be about twice the circumference and half the thickness. 



Place the paratha into a pre-heated, non oiled pan, on medium-high heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes, flip and cook again for another 1-2 minutes. The paratha should have a nice brownness to it and puff up slightly. 


TA-DAAAAA! Parathas! I can't wait to make more with all different fillings. Don't be discouraged if they don't look "pretty" at the beginning. It took me a few tries to get the technique down. For your laughing pleasure, my first one looked like this:


At least it tasted good! Cheers!