HOMEMADE KERALA POROTTA with video!

Porotta! Do I have to give an introduction for this flaky flatbread? I think most of you must have eaten it, if not, you really should! I never knew what it was,rather how it would feel not to have a restaurant ,where you live, which sells a good Kerala Porotta until I moved to the United States. We tried out frozen parathas which looked like the Malabar/Kerala Porotta types but they were all really sad! I wonder where they get their customers from if they sold such oily, sad stuff laden with calories!

Our hunt continued because I didn't want to give it a try at home,yet. We landed in a pretty popular Indian restaurant here in Minneapolis since we heard that they had Porotta's on the menu. I ordered that along with a Keralan Chicken Curry. They were terrible, really horrible! Do you know why? They just barely heated up yet another frozen paratha and served it to us in the name of this wonderful Porotta! It was still cold...well, almost frozen! We rarely go to that place again!

Then one fine glorious day, our friends told us that Trader Joe's have started selling Malabar Porottas. That was the best we ever had outside Kerala. It was awesome and had just one fourth the calories compared to the other terrible ones! The TJ's Porottas filled our freezer for the past 1.5 years. So one day, when the stock got over, we went to TJ's to stock up and that's when we found out the most horrible thing ever...they discontinued it! Our friends were in shock! Imagine e-mails flying across with the subject 'Kerala Porotta'! All of us grieved over it.I was really sad, so was Jobin. Our freezer looked empty. We couldn't accept the fact that it was no longer available. I told Amma about it  and even she grieved along with us! See, we grieve over food ;-)

That was the beginning of my hunt for the perfect homemade ones. Amma's twin, Daisy Mummy was the Porotta maker in our family. She makes really good ones because her boys are big fans of it. I very clearly remember the steps involved in it and thought of trying it out ...and here they are in front of you :-)  A precaution, you really need to be liberal with oil for this recipe. The more, the better!

HOMEMADE KERALA POROTTA
My own recipe
Makes 8

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Scant 1 cup water

Method: In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together and form a smooth dough. Knead for 2-3 mins until it is really smooth,soft ,shiny and not sticky at all. It should be a soft dough and not a stiff one, just keep that in mind. Cling wrap the dough and let it rest for 4 hours. Afterwards, divide them into 8 balls and roll it out as shown below:

Roll out each ball into 6-7 inch discs and cook on a flat hot pan,smearing more oil on either sides as you flip and cook. When done, stack 4 together and bash it up from the sides using your curled fist,to separate the layers. Serve as hot as you can!

Now that I have this recipe with me, I don't have to freeze and bring porotta's from Kannur anymore! I thoroughly enjoyed making this and Jobin absolutely loved eating it. Ian Vaava liked it too because he came back for his little share every time I offered him a piece of this homemade Kerala Porotta. So, there's a small Porotta lover growing up in our house :-) I sincerely hope, this ends your search for that perfect Porotta recipe. I know many of you have requested for this recipe, so here it is, for you ! Enjoy!

TWO INGREDIENT 5 MINUTE PIZZA DOUGH

Just when I thought I found a delicious pizza crust made using my favourite Cauliflower, I found another one! This is made using just 2 ingredients, yes just t-w-o ingredients. How cool is that? That's exactly what I thought too,when I stumbled upon quite a few similar recipes on the big web.I did have my doubts of this recipe working but when I really thought about what went into it, it did make sense to me.

So where's the yeast? Hmm,there's no yeast in this recipe. So, the leavening comes from the baking powder that's present in the flour. The other ingredient is yogurt. The original recipe called for Greek yogurt but I never buy it as I find it too thick for my purpose. I eat yogurt with rice,add it to curries,to my biriyani masala etc. For that I require a slightly more watery yogurt which is our regular homemade types.

Since the original recipe called for Greek yogurt and wanting to make use of the available yogurt, I just took a little more than what was needed and hung it using a cheesecloth for 20 minutes. If you actually don't calculate the time needed for getting the yogurt ready,like in my case, you can pull this off in less than half an hour!

There's one more good thing about this crust. It needs absolutely no kneading or proving. Isn't that a blessing? For me, a big YES! since I feel like eating all these kind of things at the most odd hours possible! I topped it with some tomato-basil marinara,oven roasted garlic-red onions-red bell pepper trio,hot Italian sausage and a handful of shredded mozzarella cheese.It made one big yummy pizza for us to relish!

TWO INGREDIENT PIZZA DOUGH
Makes one thick 8 inch pizza base

Ingredients:
1 1/2 to 2 cups self rising flour
1 cup Greek Yogurt OR 1 almost overflowing cup of regular yogurt,hung in a cheesecloth for 20 mins.

Method:In a medium bowl,mix together the two ingredients and form a smooth,soft,non-sticky dough. You may or maynot need more flour depending on how you measure both the ingredients. The pizza dough is ready. Use it just as you would, with your regular pizza dough. I baked mine for 12 minutes at 500 F on my cast iron pan which was dusted liberally with semolina.

When I started out with this recipe, Ian Vaava was fast asleep. I was just hoping he would sleep till I put everything into the oven because I needed to work with my super hot cast iron skillet for the pizza. Well, he woke up as soon I finished thinking about it :-) I put him on his almost 52 year old wooden high chair while he watched his Amma make pizza for the 3 of us.I couldn't wait to see how this would turn out. My heart told me it would be just fine and it was! I couldn't wait until Jobin came home from work, so I sliced it up and shared it with Ian Vaava and not to forget, take photographs to share with you all. We really liked it. I hope you guys try this out. It's awesome , easy and very quick too!I will not be surprised if you tell me it's the easiest pizza dough ever! :)
 

DIY COLOURFUL EASTER EGGS

I've never enjoyed Easter as much as I enjoyed yesterday. Do you know why?It's because it was our Little Boy's first Easter. did everything I could to make it perfect for him. I know, I know,a baby need not understand all of that but as a mother I think he knows and understands what we do with love, for him.Anyhow, it was a day of special's for him...starting from breakfast!
We had Appam and Chicken Stew for breakfast and it was the first time that he had a share of the real chicken.He is a big time foodie,so he did get his share of chicken in the form of soup a while ago. But this was new for him and he seemed to have really enjoyed it.And I enjoyed my breakfast enjoying the way he was relishing his little meal.

We had a get together on Easter Eve in our house for our friends. I started planning it as a party where I would cook everything but our friend's wanted to bring something over, so I gave the appetizers to them and cooked the rest of the meal by myself.I planned for almost a week as to what the menu should be,see,it's my Little Man's first Easter! There was Chicken & Bacon Bruschetta,Spiced Drumsticks,Baked Orange Ham,Green Beans in Chicken Broth,Scalloped Potatoes,American Biscuits -Gravy & a delicious Carrot-Pineapple Cake for dessert.The whole meal can be summed up in just one word - Delicious!

I made these Easter eggs for him,just for him to experience the fun of holding and feeling it.He absolutely loved the plastic eggs that I used as moulds for moulding these Easter eggs.I also hid some M&M's inside the eggs which would also act as a rattle if he shook it.I am so glad I found this recipe!

DIY COLOURFUL EASTER EGGS
Makes 8 large eggs

Ingredients:
3 tablespoon unsalted butter
16oz bag mini marshmallows
6 cups rice krispies

Method: In a large non stick pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the marshamallows and still till they are completely melted. Add the rice krispies and switch off the heat. Stir well to mix.
Spray some oil inside the plastic eggs and oil your hands really well. Now,stuff each halves with the rice krispie mixture.Make a small well in the centre of each halves and place 2 candies in it and squish close the 2 halves together.Open the moulds and release the fresh eggs. Roll them in sprinkles if you like.

I wanted to post this before Easter so that if any of you were planning for it , you would have been able to make these even at the last minute. But I was so lost in the kitchen scrubbing potatoes and baking that delicious ham. Jobin did remind me once in a while about it but it had to happen post Easter :-)

Oh yes! For all those who are reading this section of my post just to know what Ian Vaava has been upto...well, he is now very fond of wires,phone chargers to laptop chargers to our lamps. He has started to crawl and it's quite funny how he crawls into the kitchen to find me when he needs me. That makes me so happy no matter what state I am in, in the kitchen ;-)

 

CAULIFLOWER RICE PIZZA

That's the same expression I had on my face when I read about this Pizza.Yup, this pizza has Cauliflower. By the way, it's not the pizza topping that's made using Cauliflower.It's the pizza crust that has the veggie a lot of people hate. Please don't include me in the Cauli-hater gang,I adore Cauliflower. It's one veggie you will always find in our veggie tray. My most favourite way of eating it is in the form of a Gobi Manchurian. I'm afraid now that this Pizza has taken over it. Yes, this is to die-for! ;-)

There's absolutely no trace of flour in this pizza base. It's made using grated/food processed Cauliflower which is cooked without a trace of water and then blended along with a few wonderful things and then baked into this very good pizza crust. Isn't it such a great way to reduce the intake of refined flour, when you have such a great option? It's a great way to include veggies too, in your diet.

Do you need a pizza under 30 mins from scratch? Here's your answer! The great Cauli Rice Pizza. Cauli Rice, now what's that? You need to make that first inorder to make this wonderful pizza base.It's very simple. Buy some cauliflower, clean it, grate it, cook it, squeeze out the water and that's it. That's the Cauli-Rice for you.Thank you,Megan!You've given me a chance to love Cauliflower, once again.

CAULIFLOWER RICE PIZZA
Makes one 8 inch pizza

Ingredients:
1 medium head cauliflower
1 egg
1/3 c grated mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Pizza sauce of your choice
Pizza toppings of your choice

Method: Preheat the oven to 450F. Prepare a baking stone/ baking sheet for baking the pizza.
Clean the cauliflower and separate them into florets. Discard the hard stem. Dry the florets completely. You can either grate the florets or run through a food processor/blender and process it until fine and rice like. Transfer this to a microwave safe bowl,cling wrap it tightly and cook for 7 mins.Let it cool. Transfer the cooked veggie onto a tea towel and squeeze out as much water as you can. There will be lots! It should be as dry as possible. Or else, the crust will be soft.
Add the egg,cheese, oregano, salt and black pepper to it. Stir well and spread it out thin with your fingers onto the baking surface and bake for 15-18 minutes or until crisp and golden with some brown spots here and there.Top with your favourite stuff and broil until the cheese melts.
Slice and devour!

We absolutely loved this pizza. You really need to try it to see what I am talking about. The crust is unbelievably good.It holds up so well when cut and lifted. It bends and folds like a regular pizza crust. If you share this with someone who doesn't know what went into it, they will never know. It's that good. I hope you get the point ;-)
 From the time the crust was baking,our Little Man was restless. These days I've noticed that he wakes up from his deepest sleep if he smells something good. It could be a Meen Vevichathu or a Pork Vindaloo or anything that smells good (yeah! even a noodle soup!). Noises like a working blender or my standmixer doesn't seem to bother him.But a good aroma, oh yeah! So,yes, I allowed him to lick the pizza sauce off my fingers. And of course, he wanted more. Nothing new ;-)                             

TARTA MAGICA / MAGIC CAKE

By now,most of you all might know that I love cakes with a twist and I like the twist to be revealed when the cake is cut into. It could be a simple twist like my Checkerboard cake or a slightly crafty twist like my Hearts & Roses Cake. I cannot tell you the fun I have in crafting such cakes and the anticipation I have when I cut into it.My search for such cakes never ends. I need some fun in the kitchen when I play with flour, sugar, eggs and butter!

This time the search time ended at Mabel's blog. Language can never be a barrier for me when it comes to food,baking in particular.Everything can be translated with a click of a button,so why worry?

So what's special with this cake? Did you look closely enough to see the 3 layers? Those 3 layers came from one batter. Yes, the cake is made using a single batter but when baked, it separates itself to create 3 layers. The first layer resembles a good sponge cake, the middle layer is like my favourite firm custard and the bottom layer is a much more firmer custard which lets us slice into the cake beautifully and lift the slices off the serving plate.

Isn't that a smart idea to wow your guests ? Isn't that a smart idea to impress yourself? Isn't that a smart idea to get 3 textures from one cake batter? Isn't this cake MAGICAL? :-) Yes! It clearly justifies it's name. This is a Magic Cake.

TARTA MAGICA
Ingredients:
4 eggs,separated at room temperature
150grams sugar
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick unsalted butter,melted
115 g flour
500 milliliters / 2 cups warm milk
Method:Preheat the oven to 325 F and lightly grease an 8 X 8 inch square or an 8inch round tin.
In a large bowl, beat  together the yolks,sugar,water and vanilla.Add the melted butter to it and beat to mix. Add the flour in 3 batches and beat till incorporated. Add the warm milk and stir well.
In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until firm but not dry. Fold it into the batter in 3 batches. The batter will be very very runny and it will be impossible to fold in the whites without having some lumps floating around. But that's OK. Go ahead and pour the very runny batter into the tin and bake for 60 minutes (My oven took only 45 minutes) or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 3 hours.Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.
The key here is to look out for the golden brown colour for the cake. It will be soft and lightly giggly in the centre when pressed. That's how it should be. That's what becomes the custard centre.

So now, what are you waiting for? Take a note of the recipe and go bake one! This cake is delicious. I like things with custard in it so I really loved it.Ian Vaava as usual was my kitchen assistant and I really think he pays good attention to what's happening around him. So once the cake was left in the oven to bake, we sat in front of the telly catching up with some shows. The timer was set for 45 minutes just to be sure we don't over bake the cake. When the timer ticked off,Ian Vaava turned around to see what's happening and he looked at me as if to tell me,'Amma, I think it's done!'

So he was promptly rewarded with a small share of this cake. Not to mention how he drooled over it. I gave him only the soft set custard from the centre and he was bending over the cake tin to have more!
  

FAKE BUTTER COOKIES

Do you know how I spend my time these days? I browse cookbooks and websites and drool over all the yummy stuff people create. And ask me what happens after that.Nothing! I feel full. I feel I've eaten everything. I feel happy and sad at the same time thinking I should have done something about it and write about it on my blog. See,I have a LOT of free time these days!

So during one such free time, I thought of searching for cookies. Found many pictures of them and everything looked like a modified chocolate chip cookie,to me. Either they were way too buttery or they had too much frosting or they had too much sugar or they made a lot of cookies. I don't know whether it's the butter or is the amount of refined flour or refined sugar in a recipe which turns me off. I really wonder how people,those people who makes sugary cakes covered with even sugary frosting (I've even read 8 cups of confectioner's sugar in a frosting recipe)live. Maybe they bake it for someone else.If so, how do they cut into it and show us the slice? Hmmm...too many questions and no answers to it. Well,now getting back to these Faux Butter Cookies. My search got modified into Indian cookies and it lead me to various blogs carrying similar recipes for butter cookies but Sum's recipe grabbed my attention.It made butter cookies without butter! Yes, without butter.It called my name and I baked it.We devoured it. Heaven was right in between my fingers then. Yum. It was totally yum.

FAKE BUTTER COOKIES 
Yields 20 nos.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar/ finely powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of salt
Scant 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Method: Preheat the oven to 350F/180 C and line a cookie sheet.
In a medium bowl,whisk the dry ingredients together. Drizzle in the oil little by little until the dough looks crumbly, like a tart dough. Do not add any more oil. Form small lime sized balls and roll it out smooth in between your palms.It may look hard to roll but if the dough is made properly,it smoothens into perfect round balls. Place them on the prepared baking sheet,1inch apart from each other and bake for 15-18 mins. Mine were done at 17 minutes. Take it out and let them cool completely on a wire rack.Store in an airtight tin.

These are really really good and made me think of a cookie we get in a bakery in Kannur. They have a melt-in-the mouth feel and also have a soft powdery texture over it. It sticks to your fingers making you want to lick it off after the cookie is done with.So as soon as the cookies came out of the oven, I set them out to cool. When they were cooled, we both, Amma and Vaava thought of taste testing it. He absolutely loved it. No doubt about his Amma too.

So just now,before I photographed it,he woke up from his sleep and found the cookies sitting pretty in the bag. You will not believe the fuss he made until I broke one and shared it with him. He was at his best behaviour after that :-)