Sourdough dinner balls

Thanks to my dear friends, Isabella and David,  for  helping me acheive my long time dream come true. Bread making was always foriegn to me and I came to a conclusion that breads are commercial products which need a lot of skill and perfection. My conclusion was rewritten when  I tasted David’s homemade sourdough pizza at Liam’s (their precious lil one’s)  birthday party.

 

One beautiful day , David  gave me the starter and the cookbook to learn bread making.(Classic Sourdoughs by Ed Wood). I could not wait to finish reading the book. I made a thorough reading, felt confident and started experimenting   The first one I tried was not edible :-< and was immediately dumped  in trash. The second one was too sour. Isabella kept saying me “patience is the key for a good bread”. One 100 % true.

So….

 

 

 

This is the first success I had in sourdough bread making!

 

The flavor  was more satisfying than normal yeasted bread and taste of a warm bread was so heavenly.If you love to bake , you must give sourdough a try. I wasted almost 5 cups of flour but now I bake almost twice, thrice a  week and get fresh , perfect results all the times.

 

Thank you Isabella and David for opening the doors of wonderful world of bread making!

 

Ingredients

2 cups  cold liquid  culture

4 cups all purpose flour

½ cup water

½ cup milk

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

 

Mix the liquid culture with 1 cup of the flour and 1/4 cuo of the water in a large mixing bowl. This is the working culture. Proof for 12 hours at room temperature (68 to 72 deg F ) .

 

Add 1 cup of the flour and the remaining 1/4 cup of water. Mix and knead until smooth. Proof 8 hours at room temperature. After  proofing this is the fully active culture.

 

Punch down. Mix together  the milk , salt , sugar, 2 tablespoons of the butter and the egg. Add to the dough and mix well. Reserve 1 cup of the flour for flouring the board.Mix and spoon knead the remaining 1 cup into the dough. Transfer to the floured board and knead in the remaining flour.

 

Divide the dough into 16 to 20 balls. Place them side by side in an 8 inch baking pan.Proof for two hours or until they risee above the sides of the pan.

 

Bake  in a preheated oven at  375 deg for 20 to 25  minutes, or until browned. Remove the rolls from the pan and cool on wire racks or serve hot.

 

You can get the starter by capturing the wild yeast from the air. Visit here for a  good intro! Remember, practice makes everything perfect! Good Luck!

Neverfading love of my Grandma / Urad Dall Chutney

Our Grandma ,Lakshmiammal is one great personality known for selflessness, love and  generosity. Even when she was young she had made several sacrifices that no other normal girl would do in her personal life. Many days she used to feed the food she had for her to the  poor begging at her door.

When we moved to Chennai, to a highly compact apartment, she made many new friends. When the young ladies return from their work , they got to  pass by our apartment. So they will stand by to say ‘Hai’ and ‘Bye’. My Grandma knowing how tired they will be and will make/ share her tea with them. Such was her thoughtfullness. She never had a selfish motive or desire. All her life was spent  in the  kitchen making delicious food  and her happiness was in making people happy  through her ‘kaipaagam’. She  is more than Grandma to me and my three brothers for she brought us up  since our primary school.

It is now 10 full years  since she left the world (April, 8, 1998) but  memories of her love has not faded even a bit. To any women who know her , she  was a great inspiration and an ideal women.

 I started this blog to honor her and her unique recipes. At this point of time of remembrance, here is another classical chutney recipe of my grandma.

URAD DALL CHUTNEY

 INGREDIENTS

Urad Dall/ ulutham paruppu- 1/2 cup

Medium onion- 1 no

Medium tomato- 1 no

Red chilli- 3 /4  no

Coconut- 4 long slices

Tamarind- amla size

Salt to taste

Heat a skillet , add a tablespoon of oil, roast the dall, keep it aside.

Simlarly roast the chillies. Slice the onion and tomato and fry them till they are cooked well.

Grind all with tamarind , coconut and salt to a grainy/smooth texture.

For those who like crunchy bits, (My mother does  this)  fry another 1/8 cup of urad dall till golden and add to the mix at last . Do the tallipu and add it too. Pulse the mixer for once or twice.

Yummy chutney is ready to be served with Idly or rice as thogaiyal.

Neverfading chutney like my Grandma’s love

Paruppu kuzhambhu / Spicy lentil soup

             In my childhood , our village often suffered powercuts. On those occasions, my mom used to compensate the ‘Edison’less nights  with her moonlight dinner(Nila Choru). My brothers and me sit around her in the moon lit hall , speaking about all good times .The menu would be rice with either this kuzhambhu or our other favourite, Varutha paruppu kuzhambhu with arisi vathal. The simplest menu though , will taste like heaven when she gives us those balls in our palms. Just wait for your turn for a big rice ball in your palm and eat till she finishes a round. No calorie calculations, just keep chatting and eating till your heart and stomach is filled with joy and food.

Ingredients

Toor dall- 1/3 cup

Medium yellow onion-1

Medium tomato- 1

Tamarind- amla size

Dry red chillies- 4/5 nos

         Cut the onion and tomato into wedges and cook the dall , onion, tomato and chilies in a pressure cooker till the lentils are cooked soft. My mom usually adds a few drops of oil when cooking for some good reason.  Add tamarind/ tamarind extract and salt  to the dall and grind it to smooth paste. Back home, my mom always uses a  chatti and maththu  to mash the dall. If you are lucky to have those ,  you may prefer to use them for better taste.  Dilute it to the consistency of rasam. 

           Do the thalippu with vadagam , add and heat . When the kuzhambhu is about to start boiling , turn off the heat. 

           The trick is to balance the heat , salt and sour . If you can hit the correct balance, this will be a great hit in your home. To me, this is my ULTIMATE COMFORT FOOD. 

The knitathon…

Behind my silence…

Thank you all for your caring inquiries and  power boosting comments!

The blog had been dormant for  a long time. I should admit that my interests take different directions and I was thrilled by this new hobby. Even the tiny bit of free time gets eaten away by this(?!). My broken camera is another reason to hold me back from blogging.

 Yet, I don’t want to let my blog  fade away.. So, here am I, with a resolution of atleast  updating very special recipes. See you all  after the holidays.Happy New Year!