Garlic Cheese Bread

As typed by Milo…

This post is dedicated to my dear friend and office confidant Laura. She gifted me this bottle of authentic Olive oil which she got all the way from Spain to Norway to India. Thanks Laura. Yet another inspiration to keep cooking with my spouse.

Ingredients –

1.5 cups All-purpose flour/Maida,

1 tsp. active dry yeast,

½ tsp. sugar,

2 tbsp. olive oil,

Pepper powder,

Italian spice mix/pizza masala,

½ cup water,

2 cheese cubes,

4 tsp. garlic paste,

Salt to taste

Method –

Slightly warm ½ cup water and put sugar and yeast and let it stand for 15 minutes till the yeast bubbles up.

Take 1 cup flour and mix it with 1 tbsp. olive oil and the yeast solution. Knead it well and keep the dough covered in a warm place for an hour.

The dough will rise to double the quantity.

After an hour, punch the dough to remove the air and mix in ½ cup flour, salt to taste, pepper and Italian spice mix as per your taste. Knead the dough well for around 5 minutes.

Cover and keep it in a warm place to rise. It will take another 45 minutes to an hour.

Now knead the dough for 2 to 3 minutes and divide it into 2 portions.

Take the first portion on a flat surface and roll it out into a circle using a rolling pin.

Apply 2 tsp. garlic paste evenly on the rolled surface and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Press the cheese lightly with your fingertips so that it sticks to the dough.

Now fold the rolled circle into half, press and seal the edges lightly.

Apply 1 tbsp. olive oil on the outer surface of the bread and sprinkle Italian seasoning over it.

Do the same steps for the other portion of the dough.

Preheat the oven at 220 degree Centigrade for 10 minutes.

Place the bread on the baking tray lined with aluminum foil. Cut it into 4 pieces using a knife and bake for around 10 to 15 minutes.

Relish it when its hot.

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Fresh Garlic Bread – Norwegian Style

 

 

As typed by Milo…

Mid of May 2013 I had an opportunity to visit Oslo, Norway on an official assignment. As always buying local Norwegian ingredients and bringing them back to India and making a custom India-International dish was on my un-official agenda 🙂

Norwegians are very proud to have a variety of bread types, from half-baked to healthy whole grain varieties; they all are always stacked in convenient stores across Oslo. Ready to make bread flour and a packet of yeast was something I picked up to be taken to India. To this I could also add the Norwegian herbs a packet that was gifted by my dear Norwegian friend and foodie Oddlaug Lindgard.

Here is a Norwegian bread recipe customized for the Indian palate, dedicated to Oddlaug.

Ingredients:

1) 500 grams Norwegian ready to bake flour. This variety isn’t available in India obviously, but a close equivalent can be easily made at home. We have a flour making machine (Ghar-Ghanti) at home and making instant healthy flour is therefore very easy. If you don’t get a ready to make whole grain bread mix you could make a 500 grams mix at home by mixing fine whole wheat grain flour 350 grams, coarse whole wheat grain flour 75 grams (having an occasional whole grain gives the very good look, besides the healthy fibre) , oats 50 grams , and 25 grams sesame seeds.

2) Yeast (I used a Norwegian brand but there are several Indian local brands available)

3) 100 grams garlic de-skinned garlic pods, you could reduce this for a milder flavor.

4) 2 table spoons dried red chili flakes; I made them fresh at home by simply cutting dried chilies in 5mm by 5mm pieces.

5) 1 table spoon dried dehydrated curry leaves powder; this was also made at home to ensure authentic freshness. Simply dehydrate the curry leaves in an oven and then crush/grind them in a mixture. Preserve in a deep freezer.

6) Olive oil.

7) Norwegian herbs. This was a gift by my dear friend Oddlaug when she learnt about CookingWithMySpouse. It is impossible to get one in India, but I can suggest an equivalent. Take 2-3 handful of Kasuri Methi, a pinch of Saffron and 2 tea spoons of bay leaf powder. This should give the baked bread a nice texture and flavor.

Preparation:

Activate the yeast by adding the yeast powder to 150 ml warm water set aside for 10 minutes. You should get a fermented smell if the yeast is good to use. Long term refrigeration of yeast makes it dormant and ineffective.

Coarsely crush the garlic pods in a pestle.Mix the Norwegian bread mix (or you Indian equivalent) , Norwegian herbs (or the Indian equivalent), Garlic paste, Curry leaves powder, chili flakes. Add salt to taste. Add a tea spoon of sugar. Now start adding water and knead well. Also add the warm yeast liquid. The kneaded dough should be firm.

Make buns and add cuts to allow the buns to expand well when baking. Place on a baking dish with an aluminum foil. Set aside for 10 minutes to let the yeast do its work. The uncooked buns will rise.

While the uncooked buns rise pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. Place the uncooked buns into the oven and let them cook for 25-30 minutes. The top of the bun may become a little hard and brittle. Remove the buns and brush them with olive oil and put them back into the oven for another 10 minutes.

The buns are now ready to be served plain of with a side dish. We served the hot buns with Tomato Marmalade, and what a dish it turned out to be. One of the best breads I have ever eaten second only to authentic Norwegian bread and original Goan fresh bread.

Cashew Chutney

As typed by Milo…

This is an inspiration from one of Vineet Bhatia’s Twist Of Taste programmes.
The recipe on television looked simple and the taste was intriguing. When I made the
dish it indeed turned out to be delicious.

Cooking time less than 10 minutes if you have all the ingredients in stock!

1) 2-3 handful de-skinned and broken cashew nuts. Recommended to use fresh ones as older/stale
ones tend to have a slight bitter after taste.
2) Carom (Ajwain) seeds 1.5 tea spoons
3) Mustard oil 2 table spoons
4) Asofetida 1 tea spoon
5) Jaggery 2 table spoon

Heat the pan until it starts smoking in a flat pan. Add the Carom (Ajwain) seeds and let them all
pop ensuring the aroma gets released.
Now add the Asofetida.

Add the jaggery. Let it stand on the flame until the jaggery cubes melt. Reduce the mixture by
a 10th (not to be read as to 10th). Add the cashew nuts at this time. Stir continuously as this
easily sticks to the bottom. Cook for the next 5 minutes to allow the cashew nuts to soften.

Serve this sweet nutty preparation as a replacement for pickle.