Varada's Kitchen and Garden

I have always been fascinated with fancy braids. In my college dorm I used to braid my roommates long hair. My daughter has waist length hair but she would not let me play with it. Then I found braided bread. I really like the bread with 8 or 9 strands. Today I present braided bread with 6, 8 and 9 strands along with a 4 strand round bread. The turtle was made by my daughter. She said the round braid looked so much like a turtle she had to give it a head, hands and feet. It was a lot of fun making these as my daughter was a very willing participant. Guess she loves braiding as much as I do. You will need Dough prepared using my basic dough recipe To make the braided bread you need rolled strands. I find it it easiest to roll the dough in a flat rectangle, cut out strips and roll each one into shape. This gives me ropes of the same size and diameter that are evenly finished. To start place all the ropes parallel to one another. Bring one edge together and squeeze tog

This recipe is a family favorite. There is no sauce on this pizza, just a bunch of vegetables and a sprinkling of aged parmesan cheese. I first made it after we had something similar at a gourmet pizza joint and hence the name. I made it regularly as a Friday night special. We either had family Pizza and movie night or Pizza and game night. The crust is made of whole wheat flour. What I really like about this recipe is that it is not loaded with cheese and sauce and yet it is delicious. Use sundried tomatoes that are not stored in oil. I get mine from Trader Joe's. You could also make your own. If you do not have sun-dried tomatoes you can use a regular tomato. I use good quality parmesan cheese that I buy as a block from Costco when they have their annual imported cheese sale. Parmesan is aged cheese and stores well. Use in small amounts. A little goes a long way. You will need 1 300-340 gm ball of pizza dough (recipe here ) 1 onion 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes or

Hungarian ring bread is made for special occasions like weddings. There are seven rings, one on the outside and six on the inside, that intertwine with no apparent start or end. I have always wanted to try this bread and have had it on my wishlist for a very long time. I made a decorative bread without sourdough after a long time. I am now used to sourdough and its long rise times. I let this bread rise a little longer than I should have before I shaped it. The end result was a delicious flavorful bread that was not exactly suitable for shaping. The dough kept rising. I am glad the shapes are still visible and did not blend into each other completely. The bread was pretty easy to shape and I always have fun when I am playing with dough. You will need 500 gm bread flour 40 gm sugar 37 gm egg yolks 70 gm whole eggs 37 gm vegetable oil 160 gm water 7 gm salt 15 gm fresh yeast Combine the wet ingredients in a mixing bowl. Sift the flours and add all the dry ingredie

I have made sourdough pizza before but this recipe uses whole wheat flour as opposed to all purpose flour. The pizza is heartier and tastes great. Pizza dough is flat bread that is very versatile. I used a mix of mostly white whole wheat and all purpose flour for the dough. I fed my starter in the morning. At around 4 pm I mixed the dough. At night before going to bed I divided the dough and rolled it into smooth balls. I covered them and put them in the refrigerator. The proportions I used 700 gm white whole wheat flour 200 gm all purpose flour 700 gm water 200 gm fresh fed starter 20 gm salt The next day around noon, after 12 plus hours of refrigeration, I was ready to bake the pizza. Sometimes if I can, I keep the dough refrigerated longer; until dinner or maybe even lunch the day after. The pizza tastes better. Today I made pizza topped with my  favorite pizza sauce  and shredded cotijo cheese. That was the only cheese I had on hand. Preheat the oven to 475 F.

Gozleme or the pastry with brown eyes is a delicious Turkish dish. It can be stuffed with a sweet or savory filling. Today I made it with cheesy potato. This recipe is very similar to  paratha . The difference being the paratha is rolled out after it is stuffed. Gozleme is rolled out first and then wrapped around the filling. The thought of using potato and cheddar cheese was really last minute. I was going to make a spinach filling with feta cheese. It would have been authentic for sure. But at the last minute I felt like eating something cheesy so switched to a pirogi type filling instead. Once I realized what gozleme was I pretty much made up the dough and filling recipes. I knew what consistency and texture of dough I was looking for and pretty much added a little of this and that until I had what I knew would work. That comes with making flat breads almost everyday and stuffed ones on a regular basis. The leavened dough added a little spring to the gozleme. Everyone in t

What is a dhirda (or plural dhirdi)? It is a kind of crepe popular in Maharashtra. It can be made with any flour or a combination of flours. I have a couple of other dhirdi in this space, bajri and nachni dhirdi  and wheat flour and besan dhirdi . We love the taste of the two flours nachni (finger millet) and urad dal (black gram) together as the result is a soft light dhirda. I do not mill the flours, I use ready made flours available in my local grocery store. You may want to roast the flours before use but I did not do that today. I soaked them a little longer than usual, about 6-8 hours. They made an excellent and filling breakfast. You will need For the dhirda 1 cup nachni flour (finger millet flour) 1/2 cup urad dal flour (black gram flour) salt to taste For the chutney 1 tbsp. oil 1 tsp. channa dal 1 tsp. urad dal 1 dried red chili pepper 1 Serrano pepper 1 cup shredded coconut For the tempering 1 tbsp. oil 3-4 curry leaves 1 tsp. cumin seeds 1 t

Thalipeeth is one of the healthier pancakes. This is a traditional authentic Maharashtrian recipe. To make thalipeeth you need a combination of roasted flours. You will need For the bhajani 1 cup wheat flour 1 cup urad flour 1 cup roasted channa flour (dala) 1 cup nachni flour (finger millet) 1 cup bajri flour (pearl millet) 1 cup jwari or jondhala flour (sorghum) 1/2 cup coriander and cumin powder (instructions below) For the thalipeeth (to make 6) 3 cups bhajani 1/2 onion handful cilantro 1 Serrano pepper, minced salt and paprika to taste Bhajani is the flour used to make thalipeeth. To make the coriander cumin powder roast a handful of coriander seeds with a scant handful of cumin seeds until fragrant and seeds start changing color. Grind to a powder when cool. Keep aside. Roast each of the flours separately and keep aside. When cool mix them all together. The bhajani can be stored in an airtight container for a few weeks. To make the thalipeeth combine all t