Churro bites

I needed to make some sweet dish but I was bored with the usual Indian sweets that are made to offer during prayers. When I was searching I came across this recipe of Churros and I tried it. It is easy and the churros came out great.
                      Only thing is, next time I will modify the way I pipe the dough into the oil because I did not have a pastry bag, I used a ziplock as one of the comments suggested, but mine tore midway. So I just rolled it into a rope and cut it into bite size churros. Perfect for the little hands at home

Churro Bites (Fried dough rolled in Cinnamon sugar)

Churro bites

Cinnamon sugar

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup each of water and all purpose flour
2. 1 tablespoon each of sugar and oil
3. 1/3 teaspoon salt
4. Oil for deep frying
5. 1/3-1/2 up sugar
6. 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

In a pan over medium high heat, mix the water with salt and sugar and bring to boil. Remove from heat. Add the flour and mix 30-60 seconds until it becomes a ball. Heat oil in a frying pan and pipe the dough into 3-4 inch long fingers or bite size pieces , as you prefer, fry till golden brown. Drain on a paper towel.

Mix the sugar with cinnamon and roll the churros in it. Enjoy warm

Soft Pretzels

The other day, we were watching some cartoon and the show was about saving snacks at the cinema theater from bad guys. And one of the snack items was soft pretzel. Those soft pretzels are so super expensive and I don't think they cost about 50% of it to the stores. Its all the labor that is involved.

Anyway, I made these super delicious soft pretzels today and they are flying off my kitchen counter faster than hot buns. The original recipe is by Alton brown but I made some small changes to the recipe

Home made Soft Pretzel

Home made Soft Pretzel

Ingredients

1. 1 -1 1/4 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
2. 1 tablespoon sugar
3. 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4. 1 package active dry yeast
5. 3 1/2 cups + about 1/2-1 cup extra
6. 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
7. Vegetable oil, for pan
8. 10 cups water
9. 1/2 cup baking soda
10. 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
11. Pretzel salt

Combine the sugar and water and add yeast and mix well. Set aside for 5 minutes or until frothy. Add the salt and melted butter and mix well. Add the flour and mix and knead for 5-7 minutes. Apply oil to your palm and roll the dough ball and also apply oil to a bowl. Cover and set aside for 1 hr until the dough doubles in volume.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and roll it into 14-18 in long rope. Make a "U" shape  and holding the ends cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U shape and a Pretzel is made

After getting a baking soda water dip

Fresh baked Pretzel

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Raw Jack fruit Fry

Long long time ago, when my grand ma was alive , she used to own some farm land. Once or twice an year my father and some of our relatives would go to this little village which was closest to this farm land, and meet the farmer who would be tending our farms. On one of those trips my dad took me along and on that trip, the farmer's wife served us lunch. And that was my first taste of this amazing curry-the raw jack fruit fry.

There was nothing I had tasted before that tasted like this. It was amazing. And most of my elderly relatives also didn't know what it was. Everyone was surprised. But after that day I never had it ever again.

But today when I went to the Indian store, I found a small raw jack fruit. It was close to 2 lbs. Very small compared to how big a jack fruit can grow. But I got it and to tell you the truth I had no idea as to how to cut and cook it. But a little searching on the international-network gave me some answers.

This is a simple fry but it tastes divine I served it along with some Khatti Dal and white rice. Super yummy delicious nostalgic dinner ready

Raw Jack Fruit Poriyal (Simple raw jack fruit fry)

Raw jack fruit fry

Ingredients:

1. 1.5 to 2 lbs raw jack fruit
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, turmeric
3. 2 red chillies broken
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, hing
5. few curry leaves
6. 2-3 tablespoons oil 

Cut the rack fruit into half. Apply oil to your palms and a sharp knife. Slice through the spiky skin of the jack fruit.

Jack fruit half

Peeled raw jack fruit

Cut the jack fruit into quarters. Cut the middle part of the jack fruit and discard.

Raw jack fruit quarters

Grate the quarters. For me a mandolin worked best. But be very careful with your hands, as to not cut them

Grated jack fruit raw

In a pan heat the oil and add the cumin, urad dal, mustard seeds, dried red chillies and curry leaves. Fry till they start to splutter. Add hing and fry for 30 seconds. Add the grated jack fruit and mix well. Cover and fry on medium low for 20-30 minutes till jack fruit becomes tender. Enjoy

Turkey Leg Sandwich

So, there has been a huge gap in blogging my recipes here. Many things have been happening around here. Nonetheless I am back and hopefully I would be adding more recipes here.

Today I made a pulled turkey sandwich and as the name suggests, comes from the turkey leg. And I think the dark meat makes the turkey taste the way it does. Super delicious. The actual recipe I think is a bit different. It is actually from a restaurant called Henry Public in Brooklyn . This was featured in unique eats program .

Turkey Leg Sandwich (Slow cooked turkey leg meat sandwich)

Turkey Leg Sandwich

Turkey leg Sandwich with home made french fried onions

Ingredients

1. 3 Turkey Legs/drumsticks (1 package)
2. 1 large yellow onion sliced into half/quarter circles
3. 2 super large or 4 regular whole garlic cloves
4. 1/2 tsp. thyme
5. 1 tablespoon. parsley
6. 1 cups plain yogurt
7. 2 cups whole milk
8. 1 tsp. black pepper
9. 1 tsp. salt
10. 1 tsp. paprika
11. 6 oz. bag of French Fried Onions
12. pickles to serve
13. Thick sliced Butter Bread or any other thick bread

Start by seasoning the turkey legs with 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. black pepper and paprika. Brown the turkey legs on sides and then remove from the pan.  Next, add the onions, whole garlic cloves, thyme and parsley inside of the same pan and cook until onions are ‘sweated’.  Now place the turkey legs back into the pan.  Mix the milk, yogurt, 2 tsp. black pepper and remaining salt.  Pour this mixture over the turkey legs and onions.  Cover and allow to cook in a slow cooker for 3 hours

After the turkey legs have cooked through, remove from the pan and begin to coarsely shred the meat.  Meanwhile reduce the liquid mixture and then add the shredded meat back into the liquid. Allow the meat to thoroughly soak up the liquid.  Toast the slices of butter bread and then top with a generous portion of the shredded turkey. Top the turkey with a handful of French fried onions and remaining slice of toasted bread. Serve with a pickle on the side and fries or chips

PS: This time around, I made my own french fried onions but they didn't come out right. Because I forgot to but French's fried onions.