THE PERFECT AMERICAN BISCUITS

Idon't have many favourite things to order when we go to an American restaurant and more so when there are Biscuits on the menu. When I say Biscuits please don't get confused with the Biscuits/Cookies we get everywhere else. Here Biscuits are considered to be a part of a meal. They are eaten along with gravy, soup or simply slathered with butter and jam OR if you are like me, just on it's own.

I can go on an on about how much I adore these buttery little round things. They are so light and puffy that every time I ate these at a diner I thought they were hard to be replicated at home.I was proved terribly wrong when I tried baking some at home. It definately was one of the easiest things I have ever,ever made.

Since I like them a LOT, I thought of making it our Anniversary breakfast. So the previous night, I decided upon the recipe and the next day, I woke up around the usual time (7.30 a.m) and went straight to our pantry to grab the things needed. Within 5 minutes I was cutting out and placing the biscuits onto the baking sheet . The oven was preheated by then so all I had to do was to pop them into the oven and get rest of the things ready!

Rest of the things. Yeah right! Store bought jam and some tea for Jobin and some yummy Bru Kaapi for myself :-) He slathered the jam on and I ate them plain. Poor thing, he had to listen to my excitement for having baked these in no time, that too by myself from scratch! I couldn't stop blabbering about how puffy they were and how buttery they tasted and how beautiful they looked  and how better homemade ones are than it is at the Diners and blah blah! He nodded in agreement to all what I had to say :-)

THE PERFECT AMERICAN BISCUITS
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup - 1 cup milk

Method: Preheat oven to 425 F/ 225 C.
In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients together and cut in the butter with your fingertips until it resembles coarse meal.Gradually stir in the milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Turn out onto a floured surface and gently knead 20 times. Pat the dough into 1 inch thickness and stamp out rounds using a floured cookie cutter. Dust the excess flour and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until light golden brown at the egdes. Remove from oven.Use warm or at room temperature.

As always, Ian Vaava got a fair share of these Biscuits and he drooled for more.It was my first attempt at it and I am might pleased with the results. I don't need another recipe for these.Period.If you want to host an American style Brunch at home,for your friends or anyone you care cooking for,bake these and plate them alongside some bacon,sausage links,hashbrowns/fried diced potatoes (in bacon fat,if you prefer),scrambled eggs and orange juice. It is going to be a perfect Brunch!

It's bed time here, for us and I am going to bed thinking of Biscuits & Sausage Gravy. Sigh.

BARBECUE CHICKEN MEATBALLS... Chak De India!

Last Wednesday was a fantastic day for all the Cricket lover's from India. I didn't wake up early to watch the match but followed it closely after I woke up. All thanks to Namitha for sending me the link to watch it online. It was fun watching the match and it was great fun to see the live updates on Facebook about it. That's when it all began...

A simple innocent question of mine 'Who was Vivek Oberoi with?' just to find out who he really was with then, in the stadium lead to a 'wild' discussion ranging from Bollywood to Cricket to The Royal Wedding (William & Kate) to Bollywood (about John Abraham & Arjun Rampal this time) to Dr.Ria ( ahem! ME!!) prescribing medicines . That simple question of mine currently has 427 comments (and it's still counting)! I didn't even realise that until someone along the way pointed it out to us. I don't think I have the energy to go back and see who it was because I'm sure I'll get lost in between all that discussions once again!

Later, in the cricket spirit, I thought of asking my fellow Indian Food Bloggers if they wanted to join me in cooking something to add to the spirit of cricket as we watch the World Cup Cricket 2011 Finals today (India Vs Sri Lanka). So now, 'we' are cooking together to munch on and will be posting one by one in our respective food blogs. No rules, nothing...it's just for the fun of it! So here am I...with my Barbecue Chicken Meatballs...perfect for a game day!

BARBECUE CHICKEN MEATBALLS
My own recipe

Ingredients:
1 lb/500g ground chicken
1/4 medium onion, grated or ground to a smooth paste (It makes the meatballs moist,so go for it!)
1 pod garlic, grated ( You can sub it with 1 tbsp garlic powder)
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp lime/lemon juice
Salt to taste

1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 c Barbecue Sauce ( I used Famous Dave's)

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 450F and oil a cookie sheet, lightly.

In a large bowl,mix together the ground chicken,onion,garlic, cumin,lemon juice and salt.
Divide it into 18 balls (you can wet your hands to make it easier) and bake for 12 mins (Do not over bake it, it will become hard).
Melt butter in a pan on high,add the barbecue sauce and mix.
Add the meatballs to it and mix well for 2-3 mins until they are well coated.
Serve hot*!

*You can serve it with a dip but I chose not to.

Verdict: Very succulent meat balls!The cumin flavours the meatballs really well, you don't need any other spice/herb in it.  I always imagined how restaurants got it so soft and nice...the trick is to bake it only for a short time . You might get tempted to bake for some more time to get a nice crusty meat ball but that will just ruin them. It will turn out dry.

We love anything with BBQ flavour so this was a hit with us!I can't wait for it to be Summer so that we can grill to our heart's content. If you get a chance, do try this. It's a perfect party appetizer as it tastes and looks like your fingers have some sort of a magical touch  :)

Go India, go! Wishing you all the luck!

CINNAMON ROLLS...tops my current fave list!

I've always complained about American goodies having a lot of Cinnamon sprinkled on them. Whatever I pick to eat, it has cinnamon. Whatever I order to drink, they sprinkle cinnamon over it. I used to tell Jobin it was one of the most misused spice here and there was a phase that I just couldn't bear it anymore.I used to frown at anything with Cinnamon in it, except for when it is used in Indian cooking,which is subtle.

2 weeks ago, we had gone to a lovely cold place called Duluth and on the way we stopped by Tobies ,a restaurant cum bakery in Hinckley,MN. We were told by a person in church that they are the best place to stop for brekky and that they also sell Cinnamon Rolls and Caramel Rolls if we needed a quick grab. I frowned again. Too much Cinnamon, I say! Anyhow, we reached there and I was bowled over by their food! It was so old-fashioned.The waitresses were all 80+ and they were so kind and the entire restaurant was filled with the aroma of freshly baked breads, rolls, cookies, cakes and deep fried doughnuts! I was immediately transported to the Enid Blyton's Famous Five Era...all those homemade stuff she mentioned in her books had me drooling all these years, even today!

On the way back, we stopped at Tobies once again for a late lunch. I couldn't hold on to it anymore, I had to taste some of their baked stuff.When I went to the counter, I could see a long line of waiting customers who came to buy their Cinnamom Rolls and I thought,' Now what's with this Cinnamon Rolls everywhere?Maybe these people like the strong Cinnamon flavour because they must have grown with it!'.

Anyhow, the foodie in me persuaded me to go join that line to buy their famous Cinnamon Rolls. I was so hesitant to take a bite thinking I might end up having a headache...but boy! I was proved SO wrong! They were so so good that me and Jobin were literally fighting over that one roll. It got over even before we got onto the highway!

From that day on, it haunted me...Cinnamon was sprinkled over my dreams too! I had to make it somehow and the other day, I finally did.I'm so glad that  I have a recipe now to look upto when I crave for these yummy rolls.

SINFUL CINNAMON ROLLS
Recipe source: All Recipes

Ingredients:
1/2 c milk
1/2 c water
2 tbsp butter
3/4 tsp salt
3 c all purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/4 c sugar
1 egg


3 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 c sugar 

• 
  
• For the frosting:
• 1 c powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tbsp milk
• 
  

Method:
In a saucepan , heat milk,water and butter till very warm.
Mix together the dry ingredients and break the egg into it. Pour the milk mixture and stir to form a sticky dough. You can just break up the egg while you mix everything together. Let it rest till the dough doubles in bulk (about an hour or so).
Punch down the dough and roll it out into a rectangle (keeping it parallel to the counter edge) on a floured surface. It will be a long rectangle and that's how we want.
Mix together the cinnamon and sugar.
Pour the melted butter over the rolled out dough and spread it out using your fingers. Slather it!
Sprinkle over the cinnamon sugar,evenly.
Roll the dough in a jelly/jam roll fashion from the longer side towards you.Pinch the ends together. Cut them into circles and lay them flat on an 8"square baking tray.Let it rise for 45 mins or almost doubled.
Pre-heat the oven to 375 F and bake the rolls until golden, 20-25 mins.
Meanwhile make the frosting by mixing all the ingredients together.
Once the rolls are baked and are out of the oven, let it cool for 10 mins. Pour the frosting over it.
Enjoy!

Verdict: My fingers,toes and eyes were crossed when I was making it because I really wanted to replicate that same thing in my house.I didn't eat the first one, I made Jobin eat it and hear what he had to say. I was standing by his side and pestering him to tell me if it tastes like Tobies and he said ' Athinte ezhu aiylokkathu koodi poyitilla'! (it has not even gone anywhere close to it).
Then he smiled and said,'It's good!'. I was a happy girl! When I had mine, I wanted that fresh out of the oven feeling, so I microwaved it for 15 seconds and boy! It was really really good!!

Try it if you have tasted one before and liked it.Try it if you have never tasted one before but always wanted to.Just simply try it, you will like it for sure!

I must mention that your house will smell like a bakery when you bake these soft,delicious cinnamon rolls!
These rolls are Yeastspotted!