BEEF IN RED WINE & DOUBLE GARLIC FOUGASSE...for 100,000 hits!

I am so excited today. My bloggie was visited 100,000 times in the last 7 months! I wish I installed that widget to track the no.of visitors per day when I started my blog. But, I absolutely didn't know anything about all these then, expect to write, upload pics and publish the post :)

I am proud of my blog :) Jobin & I were counting the visitors every day till a few hours ago when it actually hit 100,000. He took me out for dinner last night as a part of our li'l celebration :) I must say, that was some real good Chinese food I have had in US.

Last night before I went to sleep, I checked the status and I was short of 600 visitors. I prayed and prayed that it shouldn't hit 100,000 while I was sleeping. And God did hear to  my prayer...

I didn't leave my computer aside for more than 5 minutes at a stretch, because everytime I checked the status, it was increasing by 45-50 . I was constantly over the phone with Jobin, asking him to check . Aaaaand finalllyyyy I hit it! Yeaaayyy! I called home and told my mom as she was the one who picked up the call :) I had been updating them everyday and Appan need not be updated as he checks my blog every single day :)


A few days back I made some yummy beef and bread and I told him that I am not posting this till I hit 100,000.So here it is:

BEEF IN RED WINE 
My own recipe


Ingredients:

Beef (your favourite cut) : 1 lb,cut into 2" long strips or 1" thickness
Soy sauce-3-4 tbsp
Pepper powder-2 tsp
Onions-2 medium ,finely chopped
Garlic -3 large cloves, crushed
Salt-to taste
Red wine- 1 cup


Method:

• Wash and clean the meat and marinate it with soya sauce, pepper and salt for 3 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
• Next day,pressure cook the meat till done. Do not discard the stock.
  
• Heat oil in heavy bottomed pan and add the onions and saute till soft and translucent. 
• Add in the crushed garlic  and saute for 2-3 minutes.
• Add in the cooked beef and mix well. Let it cook for 5 mins.
• Check for salt. Add in some soya sauce if you want some more.
• Reduce the flame to low, add in the wine and cook for 20-30 mins.
• Serve hot with bread.

 DOUBLE GARLIC FOUGASSE
Recipe source: A passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of warm water
5 tsp rapid rise yeast *
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
4-5 cups bread flour ( I used all purpose flour)
Salt & Pepper
1 tsp approx. dried Italian seasoning ( I used oregano)
4-6 cloves of garlic
1-2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup garlic infused olive oil ( I used EVOO)
1 cup small chunks of Parmesan ( optional)

Method:

• Hand whisk water & yeast and let stand 2-3 minutes.Briskly whisk in sugar ,salt ,oil and most of the flour.Knead on lowest speed for 5-8 minutes and form a soft dough.
• Oil the dough, cover and let rise for 45-50 minutes. ( *If you are using the regular yeast and not rapid rise, increase your rising time to1 1/2 hours). 
• Meanwhile assemble the filling ingredients.Divide it into 3 portions.
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate.Pat out a 12" round .
• Smear dough with salt,pepper, Italian seasoning,minced garlic,garlic powder,2-4 tsp of garlic oil and cheese.
• Roll up and rest for 5 minutes. Then roll out into a 10" and repeat seasoning.
• Let rest for 10-15 minutes and roll out tnto 12-15" round or oval. 
• Place on a parchment paper, smear seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper and oil. Cut three lines thorough the dough and open them up. Cover the pan loosely with a clingwrap and let it rise for 30 minute.
• Bake at 375 deg.F for 35 minutes.

Verdict:
I am a HUGE fan of anything-garlic so I loved this bread.The bread had a beautiful crust and tasted fabulous. Jobin ate a good share and he really liked it too, especially the beef. He actually had a small portion of rice along with it. We went out for a drive after our dinner that day and both of us were kind of sleepy...maybe I added a bit too much wine in the meat :) So if you think 1 cup is too much for 1lb of meat, please modify the recipe to suit your taste.

My Double Garlic Fougasse is Yeastspotted!

KERALA STYLE BEEF FRY aka ERACHI ULARTHIYATHU

This is one of the food that I regularly make these days, especially when I crave for that typical Kerala food that we had at home. And whenever I used to see Amma making this, I don't know why,but I always felt that it was kind of a very -precise-calculated recipe. She never went by tablespoon of teaspoon measurements, maybe because of that ;)

So before our wedding, I had asked Amma to write down some of her recipes for me in a separate book. And she did! I must admit I own quite a lot of cookbooks from various authors, but I carried only 3 books with me to US. Those are Amma's handwritten recipes, her favourite Chinese cookbook and my recipe 'collection'. Afterall, that's all that you would really want for your daily cooking! :)

But when I had to make this, I couldn't find Amma's handwritten recipe book was nor did I have the time to hunt for it then. So I went ahead with the proportions I thought would be perfect...sometimes I even go by the smell of the food ;)

The knife that you see above was Jobin's surprise gift for me as soon as we moved into our apartment. It is one of the best gifts he has ever given me...a Wusthof 8" Chef 's Knife. And that's the first knife to enter our kitchen. It is marvelous! I don't think I need to talk about a Wusthof so I quote Jobin's bro here, 'It's the best knife money can buy ! ' It sure is!

So let's move on to the recipe. Finla, this is for you :) I am sorry to have kept you waiting for so long!

KERALA STYLE BEEF FRY/ERACHI ULARTHIYATHU
My own recipe

Ingredients:
Beef - 2 lb ,cut into 1" squares
Onions- 3, medium sliced fine
Tomatoes- 2, medium chopped
Coconut slivers/Thenga kothu- 1/2 cup ( I did not have any, so I skipped them)
Red Chili powder- 1 heaped tbsp (I used the spicy type, so 1 heaped tbsp was enough. Go as per your taste)
Coriander powder- 1 1/2 heaped tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger -garlic paste- 2 tbsp
Salt-to taste
Water- 1/4 cup ( You need not add this at all if you are not draining/ drying the meat after washing it)
Vinegar- 1 tbsp ,optional ( You need to add this only if you feel your curry is lacking it. For me, tomatoes did the work)

For frying/tempering:
Onion- 1, medium sliced fine
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Oil-6-7 tbsp

Method:

• Put all the ingredients into a cooker , mix well and pressure cook it for 2 whistles. (The beef I use needs only 2 whistles, but if you feel your's is still uncooked, give it one more whistle and check.) Do not over cook the beef here, because it might break/crumble while we fry/temper it.
• Once the beef is cooked and if you have water left in the cooker, cook till the water is evaporated almost completely. At this stage you can freeze the beef and thaw and use it later as follows.
• In another pan, heat oil, crackle the mustard seeds and saute the onions in it till soft.
• Add the cooked beef into it and fry it till you get a nice dark brown colour for the meat.
• Serve hot with rice, chapathi , appam or bread!

Verdict: It was fingerlicking, lipsmacking-ly good! Jobin adores it! And I love cooking it! :) Your house would be wrapped in the aroma of it...whether you like it or not! ;)