Varada's Kitchen and Garden

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 dip. 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. almond milk 2 tsp. thick maple syrup 1 tbsp. olive oil 3 fl. oz. warm water

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

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 allow

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 e