Varada's Kitchen and Garden

My daughter is home for the winter break. I took the last week and a half off from work and made plans to bake a lot of classic recipes from my bookmarked list. Things didn't go the way I had planned. First my daughter wanted to bake/cook some tried and tested dishes she had been craving. Then I pulled a muscle in my back and had to take it easy. At the end of the day I am glad I got to spend time with her and plan to make the most of the next few days before she heads back to school. I baked this Focaccia as the last baked recipe of the year. The idea for this recipe started with some Brie I had left over from a party. I wanted to use it up and started brainstorming ideas. A few years back I made sandwiches with the classic combination of apple, caramelized onions and Brie. We loved the flavors. We always have apples in the fruit basket so this seemed the perfect way to use the cheese. But then I thought I should try something different. A few years back I had made these mini

My daughter is home from school for winter break and all she wants are my tried and tested recipes. Between cooking those and work there is no time to try anything new. I am posting a recipe today that I made a while back. It was in my drafts and we like it a lot. I have a list of things to try while she is home. Hopefully I will get to it soon. These muffins are made with whole wheat and have no added sugar. The apples and the raisins provide the sweet flavor. If you like muffins really sweet then you could add some sugar. You will need 1 Fuji apple 1/2 cup raisins 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened toasted coconut flakes 1 cup whole wheat flour 1/3 cup All purpose flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tbsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 eggs 2/3 cup olive oil Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease muffin molds with olive oil on a muffin pan. In a bowl mix the flour, cinnamon and baking soda. Whisk the eggs with the oil and vanilla extract in a separate bowl and add it to the dry i

I few years back I baked two woven bread baskets. I have since found this  edible spring basket  referenced in a few easter articles. Both of my earlier versions of baskets used ropes and the weave was tight. I was very happy with those baskets but I wanted to try something different. I wanted a make a basket with open holes that looked like it was part of the weave. This is what I came up with. This basket was not made with ropes. Instead I made the lattice using flat strips of dough. I used a different technique with the weave. Instead of weaving it on the mold I wove it on a flat surface and then transferred it to the mold. This caused the holes to form in between the strips something I was looking for. In the end I was very happy with the result. This basket is a lot easier to make than the two I made before. It is much smaller and uses a small amount of dough. The weaving technique is simpler too. I used my sourdough starter for this recipe but you could use commerci

My post today is another version of crackers. I have few versions on this space already. Crackers are make a perfect snack with a cup of tea or coffee. After baking crackers with wheat flour I decided to try others flour combinations. Two days back I baked semolina crackers. Next I tried crackers with besan or chickpea flour. These were harder to perfect. I first tried with uncooked flour and realized the flour does not cook completely in the oven. The next time I used oil to roast the flour but that did not work either. Finally I tried ghee and it worked out. The crackers are crunchy and delicious. Everyone at home loved the flavor but I think they have had too many versions of my baked crackers. I think I will have to finish these myself. Need to give these cracker experiments a break for a while. But now I have four perfect cracker recipes. You will need (~50 crackers) 1 1/2 tbsp. ghee, melted 1/3 cup chickpea flour 1/3 cup unfed sourdough starter (100%) 1/4 tsp. salt

I usually take a small afternoon snack with me to work. Whole wheat crackers are my favorite. About 10 1x1 inch crackers usually suffice. I would bake the crackers over the weekend. They would make a filling snack. After a few weeks I began to crave variety. So last month I began experimenting with different flours. Some experiments were failures and some were successful. One Saturday my husband decided to make upama for an evening snack. When I saw the fine semolina I realized it was a good candidate for my experiment. Unfortunately the experiment failed. The flavor was really good but you could taste the gritty semolina as an after taste. I realized I had to roast the semolina before I made the dough. The next attempt was a roaring success. You will need  (~50 crackers) 1/3 cup fine semolina  1/3 cup unfed sourdough starter (100%) 1/4 tsp. salt 2 tbsp. oil 1 tsp. onion seeds (kalonji) Place the semolina in a pan and roast it on low flame until it begins to change colo

Stuffed bread rolls are perfect for weekend brunch. Most of the prep work happens the night before. The day you want to bake these all you have to do is heat the oven and pop them in. This is the reason they are my favorite when my daughter is visiting. I can prep everything ahead of time and let the refrigerator and then the oven do all the work. I like to make something new and different when my daughter visits from college. I have made stuffed rolls before but changing the stuffing makes for a completely new recipe. This time I used tomatillo and red bell pepper chutney mixed in with some cauliflower. You can take any chutney/sauce you have on hand, mix it with minced vegetables, saute until almost dry and use it as stuffing for these rolls. The sourdough rolls are my recipe made with whole wheat flour. The end result is wholesome, filling and flavorful. You will need (for 6 buns) For the bun 100 gm 100% sourdough starter 190 gm water 20 gm sugar 30 gm olive oil

Last week I had the sudden urge to have sandwiches for breakfast. I decided to bake myself a loaf of bread. I got some fresh squeezed orange juice from Whole Foods to go along with the breakfast sandwiches. I put the sourdough starter out on the counter top to come to room temperature and bubble up. That is when I realized my favorite loaf recipe uses commercial yeast. I don't buy that stuff anymore so I decide to convert my old recipe to use the starter instead. In case you are not into baking with sourdough here is the  original recipe . It is simple and makes a super flavorful loaf. Do not get intimidated with the time it takes. That is what makes it so flavorful. I followed  these instructions  that I had written up long ago to convert recipes to sourdough. The original recipe I had was in cup measure so I converted it to weight. I got 560 gm of flour and 430 gm water. Once you have these two numbers you can easily convert the recipe. If you are interested the mat

This month I am going to post a few baked recipes as part of bakethon, an excuse to post recipes of baked goods with a few blogging friends. I am starting with a sweet basic banana bread. I baked this version of banana bread during the summer with my daughter. She was home for the summer and needed an afternoon snack when she got home from her EMT training. I did not have eggs and so I decided to bake the bread without eggs. I used mostly whole wheat flour so it was filling and tasted perfect. Banana bread is one of the simplest sweet breads you can bake. It is almost impossible to get the recipe wrong and it tastes great. This is a great place to start your baking journey. This was one of my first breads. Whenever a banana is overripe I put it in the freezer to use later. We usually buy the medium or small bananas so I have to wait for 3-4 to be able to use them. You will need 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 1/4 cup olive oil 1 tsp. cinnam

My husband loves tea, strong tea, especially Masala Chai. I dislike tea and have never taken an interest in making strong tea. My husband makes his own cuppa every morning and evening. Unfortunately, some times he forgets he has the pot on the stove and leaves the kitchen. Many a time he has had to spent time cleaning up the mess. When I heard chai can be made in the instant pot my immediate reaction was "No hovering around the kitchen stove!". This is my attempt to make two cups of tea using the instant pot. My husband liked it. My opinion does not matter as I am not a fan. If you had guests or had a lot of cups of tea to prepare in a hurry then this would be a really good option. You will need 1 cup water 1 cup milk 1 1/2 tsp. tea powder 2-3 peppercorns 1/4 in cinnamon 2-3 pods cardamom, shelled Add all the ingredients to a small stainless steel pan. Insert the trivet in the instant pot and add 1 cup of water. Place the pan with the ingredients for tea on the

I first tasted these baked peaches at a restaurant and fell in love with them. I have always wanted to try this recipe at home. The caramelized sugar infused with the juices of the fresh peach makes a fabulous sauce for the soft baked peaches. It is a very simple recipe but every summer for some reason or the other I never got around to making it. Last weekend on our weekly grocery trip I insisted on taking my time finding perfectly ripe peaches that were perfect for this recipe. I also bought a small tub of vanilla gelato made by a company called Talenti. It was the perfect combo with the baked peaches. You could use any stone fruit for this recipe like nectarine or apricot. Make sure the fruit is ripe. The recipe works even if the fruit is not ripe, but for best results use ripe fruit. You will need (4 servings) 4 small ripe peaches 8 tbsp. brown sugar 2 tbsp. butter Preheat the oven to 400 F. Cut the peaches in half and remove the seed. Keep aside. Cut the butter i