Spiced fruit scone recipe (vegatarian)

Here's a quick recipe for some a brilliant for an egg free fruit some scones which I baked over the is weekend.

(c) 2015 Gita Mistry, all rights reserved

Put oven on: gas mark 6, 180 oc fan assisted 170oc
Grease a non stick baking tray (I find using a roasting tin bakes a softer scone)


Ingredients:


8oz self raising flour
2oz hard butter
1tsp baking powder
1oz caster sugar (more to taste - But I find this perfect as the dried fruit is sweet)
Pinch of salt
3oz dried sultanas or raisins
1/2 tsp of mixed spice
A drop of vanilla essence
120ml cream, milk or butter milk (can be mixture of them)


Method


1. Rub the butter into the in to the flour and add in baking powder and pinch of salt. (Rubbing is a method using your finger tips -take small amounts of mixture and rub the flour into the butter until is resembles breadcrumbs. Raise the mixture to some height whilst doing this over the bowl to aerate it.


2. Mix in the sugar and fruit and spice.


3. Add in 120ml of liquid, vanilla essence and bind it together with a flat knife


4. Using your hand bring it together to form dough.
Pat out in an 8 inch circle (1 inch in height) score the top in 8 pieces like the picture. Brush the top with milk (not the sides to give it colour contrast)


5. Bake for 20 mins and remove onto a cooling rack and simply enjoy with some best butter and jam is desired.


Of course this is not just for vegetarians! I took this bake to a party last night and they went in a shot...

India s independance day

photo:one Indian .com

Today is Indian s Independence day. Marking the end of the British Raj in 1947 in India . Raj means rule.

The Sanskrit name for India is Bharat Ganarajya. Sanskrit  is ancient language of India.

Indian  now has a population of 1.2 billion spread across many regions. From those  regions there is a vast array of mouth dishes.

To help you celebrate Independence day I share with you my recipe for mango pickle with a Gujarati influence..

To make this you will need:

Ingredients:                                                                

1 medium size green mango (firm)

1 tbsp of oil

1/2tsp crushed fenugreek seeds

1tsp chili powder ( less or more to tatse)

A pinch of turmeric

2-3 tbsp sugar

Heaped tsp of coriander powder

A few cardamon pods (slightly crushed)

Salt to taste

50ml water     

Method
Cut the mango into chunks (steam for 10 min's) - cool and mix with the sugar and leave to rest for one day in a jar. Then in a pan add oil and spices. Cook this through until the spices and oil have combined into a loose paste. Add the water 60 ml and stir- then add in the marinated magoes. Simmer for a few 10 mins on a low heat. Cool and store in a jar. The sweet pickle should be sticky and a little orangery brown in colour.  A rested chutney for a couple of days is even tastier so be a patient. This recipe is yum and it can be served simply on fresh Indian bread.

Try this recipe for quick rotlis ( make 4)

Ingredients
2 handful scoops of chapati flour ( 100g)
A knob of butter
Enough warm water to form a dough (100ml)

Method
Form 4 dough balls from the mixture
Roll each into15cm diameter using slightly floured surface
Cook in a non stick flat pan for 40 secs on a medium heat, flip it over for a 1 min until brown flecks have foamed , flip it back over turning the heat up and press on one side of the rotli with a clean tea towel on one half of it allowing the hot air created inside of it to puff the rotli up, and then do the same on the other half - once it has fully puffed up remove it from the pan. The rotli should have brown flecks now on both sides now-  do not cook it for more than 40 secs firstly as it will not finally puff up fully when its turned over.

Slightly cool and spread the rotli with pickle roll it up and enjoy!

Eid Mubarak.

Eid al Fitr (Sweet Eid) is the first Eid of the year and celebrates the end of Ramadan.  It also marks the anniversary of the Quran being revealed. Eid al fitr is the feast of breaking the fast. Ramadam is a period of either 29 or 30 days of fast from dawn to sunset. Muslims around the world embrace this fasting period with great focus and respect.You may remember my article on Global  Festivals and holy days in which I mentioned the second Eid al- Adha (salty Eid) celebrated later in the year. 


Through out the period of Ramadam each day after sunset - the fast is broken usually by eating a date. The date is believed by many Muslims to be a super food and that the best dates come from Medina in Saudi Arabia, which is where the prophet lived and also where he died. See my article 

 Ketupat

There are of course Eid celebrations all over the world and it usually starts with a bath and dressing up in new clothes, after which dates are eaten and then a visit their local mosque for special Eid prayers. According to wikipedia the Muslim community make up 23 %  the worlds population which is a considerable size of  all the religious groups:  There are 1,600million Muslim people. So there are lots of special dishes from a variety of countries on offer like; Ketupat (rice cakes) served in Korea. Dolma (stuffed vegetables) served Bosnia and Brongkos (Oxtail meat tofu and beans (served in Jakarta) 

Some Muslims I have spoken to express how calm they feel through out this period . And that is a time for peace and reflection and that it gives them great focus; including the Birmingham cricketer Moeen Ali   who claims fasting and playing cricket for England is no distraction - in fact quite he opposite.

Eid - al Fitr is a celebration with many types of food and dishes which may be eaten with friends and family. In my last artcle about Eid - al Adha I gave a recipe for  Tal Hue Ghost. Here is a quick sweet recipe for you to try that  help  celbrate this sweet Eid al Fitr

Barfi

Ingredients

125g Full cream Powdered milk

250 Caster sugar or add less

125 Water

 5 Green Cardamoms pods - seeds crushed

12  pistachio nuts shelled and chopped( unsalted)

Butter for greasing

Equipment

Sallow dish or baking tin lined with grease proof paper

Pan

Wooden spoon

Knife and chopping board

Method

1. Place the sugar and water into the pan. Boil and then allow to simmer for 6-7 minutes, until the mixture turns into a  sticky syrup
2. Add the powdered  milk, crushed cardamoms. pistachio nuts and mix well
3. Pour this mixture into the dish and leave to cool pistachio flakes on top
4. When the barfi has set cut into diamond shapes pieces

Tip:  Try adding a drop of rose water for a subtle fragrance, or desiccated coconut to the mixture before setting it. Or you could be very indulgent and cover the top with melted chocolate 

 Eid Mubarak

.

Eid Mubarak.

Eid al Fitr (Sweet Eid) is the first Eid of the year and celebrates the end of Ramadan.  It also marks the anniversary of the Quran being revealed. Eid al fitr is the feast of breaking the fast. Ramadam is a period of either 29 or 30 days of fast from dawn to sunset. Muslims around the world embrace this fasting period with great focus and respect.You may remember my article on Global  Festivals and holy days in which I mentioned the second Eid al- Adha (salty Eid) celebrated later in the year. 


Through out the period of Ramadam each day after sunset - the fast is broken usually by eating a date. The date is believed by many Muslims to be a super food and that the best dates come from Medina in Saudi Arabia, which is where the prophet lived and also where he died. See my article 

 Ketupat

There are of course Eid celebrations all over the world and it usually starts with a bath and dressing up in new clothes, after which dates are eaten and then a visit their local mosque for special Eid prayers. According to wikipedia the Muslim community make up 23 %  the worlds population which is a considerable size of  all the religious groups:  There are 1,600million Muslim people. So there are lots of special dishes from a variety of countries on offer like; Ketupat (rice cakes) served in Korea. Dolma (stuffed vegetables) served Bosnia and Brongkos (Oxtail meat tofu and beans (served in Jakarta) 

Some Muslims I have spoken to express how calm they feel through out this period . And that is a time for peace and reflection and that it gives them great focus; including the Birmingham cricketer Moeen Ali   who claims fasting and playing cricket for England is no distraction - in fact quite he opposite.

Eid - al Fitr is a celebration with many types of food and dishes which may be eaten with friends and family. In my last artcle about Eid - al Adha I gave a recipe for  Tal Hue Ghost. Here is a quick sweet recipe for you to try that  help  celbrate this sweet Eid al Fitr

Barfi

Ingredients

125g Full cream Powdered milk

250 Caster sugar or add less

125 Water

 5 Green Cardamoms pods - seeds crushed

12  pistachio nuts shelled and chopped( unsalted)

Butter for greasing

Equipment

Sallow dish or baking tin lined with grease proof paper

Pan

Wooden spoon

Knife and chopping board

Method

1. Place the sugar and water into the pan. Boil and then allow to simmer for 6-7 minutes, until the mixture turns into a  sticky syrup
2. Add the powdered  milk, crushed cardamoms. pistachio nuts and mix well
3. Pour this mixture into the dish and leave to cool pistachio flakes on top
4. When the barfi has set cut into diamond shapes pieces

Tip:  Try adding a drop of rose water for a subtle fragrance, or desiccated coconut to the mixture before setting it. Or you could be very indulgent and cover the top with melted chocolate 

 Eid Mubarak

.

Sushi and sashimi are often confused sashimi

I often hear people say that they have eaten Sushi when in fact they have eaten raw fish. That is not Sushi .
Sushi  is short grain sticky rice mixed with sushi vinegar. Sushi vinegar is basically rice vinegar with the added ingredients of salt and sugar. Rice vinegar is used to add a mild acetic taste to dishes such as Namasu, Tsukemono . And try not to get the vinegars confused with rice wine (Sake) or liquor (Miran) .

Sashimi means "thinly slices" its often refers to uncooked seafood but it can include cooked seafood and vegetables and certain meats such as beef or deer and cooked egg.

Sashimi http://foodswol.com/

Sushi can be eaten with any of these, in rolls or as topping. Sasmi however can be eaten in its own right.

Sushi http://foodswol.com/

One possible reason for this confusion could be that sushi topped with raw seafood is the most popular sushi in Japan and raw fish thinly sliced is the the most common sasmini as seafood is widely available and eaten by most of the population..

I was once told by a Japanese chef I must use sushi vinegar when making rice for sushi rolls to flavour the rice and not rice vinegar as its vital seasoning of sugar and salt that enhances the flavour of the rice otherwise its dull bland flavour. Its mind boggling as there are so many vinegars to choose from, however by following this simply rule it works a treat each time.Click on this link for a lovely sushi rice recipe and sushi vingar recipe

Happy Rolling