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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Rosemary Foccacia

Inspired by the abundant rosemary from our backyard and a recipe from a book of fun recipes for kids, we made this recipe with our 6 year old son.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Active dry yeast  - 2 1/2 tsps
Rosemary leaves - a large handful
Olive oil              - 3 tbsps
Salt                      - as per taste
Lukewarm water - 1/4 cup
Sour buttermilk   - 1/4 cup

Put the olive oil and rosemary into a bowl. Infuse the oil with rosemary leaves by squeezing the leaves. Take a bowl add the flour, yeast and salt to mix well. Add about 1 to 1 1/2 tbsps of rosemary infused olive oil and about 1-2 tbsps warm water and mix well with your hands. Keep adding the water with buttermilk alternatively mixing well until you get a soft non-sticky dough.
Knead the dough on  floured surface for 5-10 minutes with flour on your hands to get a smooth,  pliable dough.
Roll the dough into a rectangle using a rolling pin to fit the baking pan. Flour the baking pan and add the dough into it. Cover it with a clean towel and let it rest in a warm place until an hour or until the dough is double the original size.
Pre-heat the oven to 400 F . Make big dimples on the risen dough with your fingers/thumb. Pour the rest of the rosemary oil over the bread to flavour it while baking. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until done.
Remove bread from oven when done and turn it over. Let it cool over the wire rack before serving.
Slice it and enjoy once it cools or it can be stored for 2 or 3 days at room temperature.

Tips

1. For a healthier version you can use whole wheat flour.
2.You can use thin slices of garlic on the top of the bread in the dimples to give an added flavour or replace it for the rosemary.
3. When you turn over the bread upside down after baking on  a wire rack, tap the underside with your knuckles, if it sounds hollow then the bread is cooked. If not bake for another 5-10 minutes.




Mint and red chilli hummus

We have a lot of home grown mint so wanted to try this recipe using some of it.



Ingredients:

Chickpeas      - 16 oz can
Red chillies     - 4-5 (depending on taste)
Mint               - 1 small cup
Garlic            - 2 cloves

Lemon           -  1
sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
Salt                - as per taste

Soak the red chillies in water just enough to cover them. Slice the garlic and toast them lightly.Toast the sesame seeds and powder them. Drain the chickpeas. Add it to the mint, toasted garlic and salt in a processor and grind them to a coarse paste. To this add the red chillies with the water and give a two or three pulses until the chillies blend with the chickpea paste. Finally add the sesame seed powder to this and grind them to a smooth paste.
Transfer to a bowl and squeeze the lemon juice and mix well. This goes well as a dip with pita chips/pita/chapathi/ naan or as a chutney for dosai/idli.

Tips:

1. You can use fresh chick peas instead of canned chick peas. Soak the fresh chickpeas overnight or for 12 hours  and steam cook it before using it for the hummus.
2. For a milder taste you could replace the red chillies with black pepper powder.
3. A lime could be used instead of the lemon.
4. If you prefer to have a non-garlic version of hummus just skip the garlic.