Spicy Naan

Today I have a variation of the recipe I posted yesterday, spicy naan! Spices are mixed into the flour before it is kneaded into dough. And sprinkled over the top. I was tying to recreate the taste of the spicy naan we had at Sanaa, the restaurant in Animal Kingdom Lodge in Disney World. We dined there this past summer and enjoyed their flatbread platter.

I made five different flatbreads garlic naan, spicy naan, plain naan, onion kulcha and aloo paratha. I served them with roasted red pepper hummus and cucumber raita. It made for an filling dinner and allowed us to revisit some of the enjoyable moments from our vacation.

The recipe for this naan is very similar to that of plain naan posted yesterday. The only difference is the addition of cayenne pepper and cumin and coriander powder to the dough.

You will need (4 naan)
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 oz. instant yeast
4 tbsp. yogurt
2 tsp. honey
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 fl. oz. warm water
1 tsp. cumin coriander powder
1 tsp. or adjust to taste cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. onion seeds (kalonji)

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl to form a dough. Follow the recipe plain naan.

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week four, day one of BM #69 for the theme flatbread. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#69.

Naan

Naan, the delicious flatbread leavened with yeast is a great addition to any menu especially if it hot out of the oven. There is a large variety of naan and I have a sampling of a few here in this space. This past summer we were on a vacation to Disney World and decided to dine in at Sanaa, the restaurant in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. They served a flatbread platter - different types of flatbread with chutneys, sauce and dips. I decided to recreate this platter in my house. I served it roasted red pepper hummus and cucumber raita.

There are five different flatbreads in my platter - Garlic naan, plain naan, spicy naan, onion kulcha and aloo (potato) paratha. Recipes for Garlic naan (first bread from left in pic) and aloo paratha (fifth bread from left in pic) can be found on this space. The others are new to this blog. I will post them one by one this week. The first is the naan, it is the third bread from the left.

You will need
For the dough
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 oz. instant yeast
4 tbsp. yogurt
2 tsp. honey
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 fl. oz. warm water

This recipe is similar to the garlic naan recipe. Add all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl. Now mix in the wet ingredients and form a dough. Cover and allow it to rise for about 2 hours. Transfer to a working surface and divide the dough into 6 portions. Allow them to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 F.

Once oven is preheated place a pizza stone or an inverted baking sheet on the second rack. Switch on the broiler on high heat. Take one portion of dough and roll it out on a floured working surface to about 6-7 inches in diameter. Pick up the naan in one hand, moisten the other palm with water and gently rub it over one side of the naan. Place the naan moistened side down on the heated stone/inverted sheet. Place it under the broiler for a couple of minutes watching closely. You can do two naan at a time.

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week four, day one of BM #69 for the theme flatbreads. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#69.

Kid's Delight - Fruit based recipes - Event Announcement

Changing seasons bring with it a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables. The food we cook also changes to accommodate the changing produce in the grocery store. Whether you are enjoying the last taste of summer fruit or the fresh taste of fall fruit, share your recipes with us.

This month I am hosting Kid's Delight, an event started by Srivalli of Spice your life. As part of this event I challenge you to cook dishes where fruit is the primary ingredient and have the stamp of approval from a child. I understand this 'approval' can be subjective. My child has a mature palate and will try anything. Your child may be picky. I will accept all entries as long as they are vegetarian (eggs okay).

Here are the rules.
Prepare a fruit based dish and blog about it between the 16th of October and 15 of November 2016.
Link to this post and Srivalli's Kid's Delight post.
Entries should use fruit and not fruit extracts. Fruit juice is okay.
Multiple entries are allowed.
Children in your life should have approved this dish.
The dish should be vegetarian (eggs okay)
Archived entries will not be accepted.

Bloggers and non-bloggers are invited to send in their entries to varadaskitchen@gmail.com with the subject line 'Fruit Based Recipes'. Please include the following in your email.
Your name and the name of your blog
Name of the recipe
URL of the post
Picture of the dish

I look forward to all your colorful dishes

Cucumber Mint Sandwiches

One of the most popular and very simple sandwich is the cucumber sandwich. A hint of mint enhances the taste. This happens to be one of my very favorite sandwiches. I realized a few months ago that I had not posted this recipe. Today I decided to set that right.

You will need
8 slices of bread
1/2 cucumber peeled and thinly sliced
10 fresh mint leaves
1 tsp. butter
1 tbsp. cream cheese

Leave the butter and cream cheese on the counter top to allow it to come to room temperature. Wash and dice the mint leaves. In a bowl mix together the mint leaves, butter and cream cheese.

To assemble: Cut off the crust on the slices of bread. I left it on. Apply the butter cheese mixture to one side of all the bread slices. Place the slices of cucumber in a single layer on the buttered side of a slice of bread. Place another slice over the top buttered side down. Cute diagonally twice to form little triangles. Repeat for the remaining slices.

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week four, day one of BM #69 for the theme small bites. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#69.

Zatpat Rava Appe

The appe pan or aebleskiver pan is my favorite for quick snacks. And this recipe is great for an evening snack or appetizers for a party. This recipe results in spicy and sour appe that taste great with chutney or pickle. Use the spice/chili pepper liberally as the cream of wheat and yogurt is bland without it. This is one of my go to snacks.

You will need (14 appe)
1 cups Cream or wheat or rava
2 cups yogurt
a handful of cilantro
1/2 inch ginger
1 tsp. cumin seeds, crushed
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 green chili pepper, deseeded and minced
salt to taste
2 tbsp. olive oil

Combine the yogurt and rava in a mixing bowl and keep aside for an hour.

Mix in all the other ingredients except the oil.

Heat an aebleskiver or appe pan on medium/low heat. Add a few drops of oil in each of the wells. Add a tablespoon of batter to each well. Cover and cook on medium/low heat.

When the bottom is brown flip the appe over using a knitting needle or skewer. Allow the second side to brown. Take the cooked appe off the heat. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Enjoy!

This is my entry for week one, day three of BM #69 for the theme small bites. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#69.