Cinnamon Swirl Bread

 Overview

A delicious bread that taste just as cinnamon rolls. The same good taste and swirls of cinnamon brown sugar that you find in cinnamon rolls.  This bread is soft, fluffy and delicious that you can pull apart and enjoy. This is easy to make for beginners and uses yeast, the very first time I tried it it came out so good my whole family enjoyed it. 

Ingredients

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

2/3 cup room temperature butter

2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon olive oil

Steps

1. In a large mixing bowl add the yeast, warm water and sugar. Stir and keep it aside for 10 - 15 minutes till the yeast is bubbly.

2. Add the flour and salt to this mix well and knead to make a soft dough. Make a smooth round ball of the dough, coat with oil, cover with a wet towel and keep aside to rise so that the dough doubles in size.

3. In a small bowl mix the soft butter and cinnamon to a smooth paste.

3. Once the dough is doubled. Knead the dough again on an oiled surface and roll to make a 9x13 rectangle sheet.

4. Spread the butter cinnamon evenly on the rolled out dough and roll in tightly pinch the seam and make a roll.

5. Place the rolled dough on a baking pan with butter paper. With a sharp knife cut the dough from bottom to top leaving 2 - 3 inches of the top intact. Swirl the two cut pieces with the cut side facing up to make a nice braid.

6. Cover with wet towel and let it rise for 20 - 25 minutes.

7. Bake in 350  degree oven for  20 - 25 minutes till it is golden brown.

Serve warm.

Turkey Cutlets (Indian style)

Overview 

Spice up your left over turkey to a new dish which is very flavorful and can be served as an appetizer or snack. Fresh green onions and finely chopped celery adds a very nice aroma and taste to these cutlets. I used finely chopped smoked turkey but you can use any form of turkey even ground turkey. If using ground turkey brown your turkey first before mixing all ingredients.

 

Turkey Cutlets

Turkey Cutlet Ingredients

Ingredients 

Finely chopped smoked turkey - 2 cups 

Potatoes boiled and mashed - 1 cup 

Finely chopped green onions - 3/4 cup 

Finely chopped celery - 1/4 cup 

Finely chopped green chillies - 2 - 4 

Finely chopped ginger 2 inch piece 

Finely chopped red onions - 1 cup 

Fennel seed powder  - 1 teaspoon

Black pepper powder  - 1 teaspoon

Panko bread crumps  to coat cutlets

Oil for deep frying the cutlets 

2 egg whites lightly beaten

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 

Salt to taste 

Steps 

1. Use a food processor to finely chop the smoked turkey and keep aside. 

2. Boil the potatoes peel and mask and keep aside 

3. Heat 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a pan. Saute the red onions, ginger and green chillies till soft add celery and saute few more minutes. 

4. In a big bowl mix the smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, sauted onions ginger, green chillies and celery. add finely chopped green onions. Mix well. Add salt as needed and black pepper powder and fennel powder. 

 5. Mix all ingredients well and shape into ovals or round cutlets. Dip each cutlet in the lightly beaten egg whites and then in panko bread crumps. Deep fry them till golden brown. 

Serve hot with red onion salad.

Smoked Turkey Soup with Barley and Vegetables

 Overview

A delicious soup to make with leftover turkey after Thanksgiving. We got smoked turkey this year for thanksgiving so shredded the left over turkey meat for this soup. Celery, carrots and barley adds a delicious aroma and flavor which compliments the smoked turkey. Moringa Leaf Powder which I got from GNC is a good addition to all soups. It adds its own aroma and flavor to the soup. If you like moringa leaf flavor you can use this. Hot turkey soup is good to have during this cold weather.

Smoked Turkey Soup with Barley and Vegetables

Turkey Soup Ingredients

Ingredients

Shredded smoked turkey meat  3 cups

Barley - 1/4 cup

Celery diced - 1 cups

Red onion - 1 large chopped

Carrots diced - 3/4 cup

Garlic finely chopped - 2 tablespoons

Crushed red pepper flakes - 1 - 2 tablespoons

Black pepper powder - 1  - 2 tablespoons

Chicken broth - 32 oz - 2 boxes

Moringa powder (optional)- 2 tablespoons

Olive oil - 2 tablespoons

Steps

1. Cook barley is 2 cups of water till cooked well and keep aside.

2. In a pan heat olive oil and add the finely chopped garlic to it and saute well. Add the red pepper flakes to this and saute few more minutes . Add the chopped red onions, celery and carrots to this. Add salt and black pepper powder, mix well and lower the heat, cover the pan and cook till the vegetables are just soft.

3. Add the shredded turkey, chicken broth and cooked barley along with the water to this and mix well. Add moringa powder if using and mix well and bring the soup to boil. Simmer and let it cook for 10 more minutes and turn then turn off heat.

Serve hot garnished with chopped celery or cilantro

Home made Baklava

 Overview

I love Baklava the layered pastry dessert made of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey.  I found this recipe in one of my cook books and wanted to make it for a long time. This is the first time I made it and recipe was real good followed and it came out as good as you buy from the store. My whole family loved it.

Home Made Baklava

Baklava Square

Ingredients

For Filling

2 cups walnut halves

1 1/4 cup shelled pistachios

3/4 cups almonds

Finely grated rind of a large Orange

6 tbs sesame seeds

1 tbs sugar

1 tbs cinnamon powder

23 sheets filo dough thawed if frozen

1 cup melted butter

Syrup

3 cups superfine sugar

2 cups water

5 tbs honey

3 cloves

2 large strips lemin zest

Steps

1. To make the filling put all the nuts in a food processor , process gently until chopped but ground coarsely. Transfer the chopped nuts to a bowl and stir in the orange rind sesame seeds sugar and cinnamon.

2. Preheat over to 325 F. Grease a baking dish rectangular in shape almost same size filo sheets. Keep the.  filo sheet covered with a damp towel.Place a sheet of filo on the bottom of the dish and brush with melted butter. Top with seven more sheets brushing with butter between each layer.

3. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the filling. Top with three sheets of filo, brushing each time with butter. Continue layering until you have used up all the filo and fillings, ending with a top layer of three sheets of the filo, brush with butter.

4. Using a sharp knife , cut the baklava into squares. Brush again with butter. Bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes till top layer is golden brown.

5. Meanwhile put all the ingredients for syrup in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar and bring to boil. then simmer heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes. let cools.

6. Remove baklava from the oven and strain the syrup over the top. Let the syrup soak in overnight.

Cut and remove squares and serve

Eenthappazham Payasam (Dates Payasam)

 Overview

This is the payasam I made for this Onam. A very unique and delicious payasam different from the usual payasams we make for Onam. Payasam is a sweet dessert severed after meals. This recipe has few simple ingredients but the payasam is really delicious . If you want to try a new payasam different from the usual traditional ones this is a must try.

Dates Payasam

Dates Payasam Ingredients

                          

                            

Ingredients

Dates chopped one cup

Jaggery or Brown sugar - 1 cup

Fresh grated coconut for coconut milk 2 cups

Cardamon 4 - 5 pods

Cashews - 10 - 12

Ghee or butter - 3 table spoons

Salt a pinch

Steps

1. Add 1/2 cup water to the dates and cook on low flame till is it very soft. Mash it well and keep aside.

2. Add 1/4 cup water to the brown sugar and melt and keep aside.

3. Take first and second milk from coconut adding little water at a time and keep those two milks separate.

4. Grind the cardamom seeds to fine powder and keep aside.

5. Melt butter or add ghee in a heavy bottom pan and fry the cashews and keep aside.

6. In the same oil add the well cooked dates along with the melted brown sugar and mix well. Keep stirring till all the liquid has evaporated and the oil starts to separate.

7. Add the second coconut milk to this and mix well and bring it to a boil. add the cardamom seed powder and salt to this and mix well.

8. Add the first coconut milk and mix well. as soon as it starts to boil turn off flame. Add fried cashew  to this and it is ready to serve.

Serve warm or cold. Enjoy.

Sweet and Spicy Mango Chutney

 Overview

A delicious sweet and spicy mango chutney that goes very well with grilled fish or meats. Ripe mangoes gives the sweetness to this chutney and fresh green chilies adds the spiciness to this chutney. You may increase or decrease the amount of green chilies based on the spice level you can handle.

Mango Chutney Ingredients

Mango Chutney

Ingredients

Ripe mango pieces- 1 cup

Fresh mint leaves  - 1 cup

Green chilly- 4-6

Fresh Ginger - 1 teaspoon

Olive oil - 2 tablespoons 

Salt to taste

Steps

Grind all ingredients to a smooth paste and serve at room temperature or refrigerated with any meat or seafood dishes.

Enjoy

Chinese Chicken Dumplings

Overview

Healthy steamed dumplings made from ground chicken makes very good appetizer. You can pan fry these dumplings too to change the texture of these dumplings. I created two batches one steamed and one pan fried. Served with this spicy soya sauce this makes a very delicious appetizer.

Chicken Dumplings - Steamed and Pan fried

Ingredients

All purpose four - 1 cup

Vegetable oil - 2 teaspoon

Ground Chicken - 1 pound

Green onions - 4 stems finely chopped

Cilantro - 2 tablespoons

Garlic - 1 clove finely chopped

Ginger 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped

Red onion - 1 medium sized finely chopped

Sesame oil - 1 tablespoon

Fresh ground pepper  - 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Ingredients for sauce

1/4 cup soya sauce

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 garlic cloves finely chopped

Jalepeno or thai chilly finely chopped 1 - 2

Steps

1. For the dough mix flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoon vegetable oil and enough water to make a smooth dough. Knead well and keep to rest for one hour. 

2. Mix all the ingredients with the ground chicken and keep aside. 

3. Knead dough some more to make a smooth elastic dough and make small balls. Roll to small rounds. Place a tablespoon of meat mixture at centre. wet half circle of the tip of the circle with water and  and fold down the stuck it. wet the round again and and keep folding to make dumpling shape

4. Steam in  steamer and  use with sauce

5. Steamed dumpling can be added to a pan with one teaspoon oil and browned too.

Serve hot with dipping sauce.