Eid Mubarak and Sorry. And Baklava Muhalabbiya.

It's been a week since Eid; my grandiose plans for putting up recipes for Eid dishes all over the world have obviously not fallen through. Shame on me.

To make up for the deficit, I'm going to pull out of my Toque blanche a Double-Delight! kind of recipe. I've professed my love for Greek and Middle-Eastern food, time after time. Fallen short at the dessert category, though. Blasphemy after blasphemy.

So. I give you. Baklava Muhalabbiya.

Don't X this tab just yet. I know Baklava (or anything with phyllo pastry in it) sounds scary. Especially since even the most upmarket of Madras's groceries don't stock any frozen phyllo sheets. You can do one step better. Find a friendly neighbourhood bakery and give in your order for "puff pastry", one day before you actually need it. If you're in and around Egmore, you have two options.

Hot Puffs 2010 on Casa Major Road and there's this other bakery in Chetpet (opposite McNichols Road) with extremely humble/kind/unpretentious(you know the kind) that will mix you up an extra batch of puff pastry when they make theirs fresh, each day.

However, I went around searching for it on the eve of Eid, and my luck ran out... I had come too late, they had finished baking (and selling out) their puffs for the day and won't start until tomorrow morning, they were very sorry, but the dough needs to rest and chill, but could they give it to me by noon tomorrow?

With as much politeness as I could muster up, I turned them down. The Baklava Muhalabbiya were meant to be delivered by 10 the next day, and you need to let the baked pastry soak in the sugar syrup overnight. So I took on the herculean task of making my own phyllo pastry.

I can say that I succeeded... somewhat. It won't be as thin as store-bought phyllo and requires a little arm-power, but very worth the effort, I think. The recipe I used gave me around 17 sheets, which I didn't think were enough at all. But I ate enough of the muhalabbiya filling during prep-and-cooking so the recipe got into decent proportions somehow. How could I not stuff my face with a creamy, cinnamon-scented phirni/kesari type thingy? I'm a sucker for most things dairy.

And one last thing I need to tell you about this is that it is kind of a sugar bomb, not unlike a Gulab Jamun. The flakiness of the pastry gets a teeny bit overshadowed by the muhalabbiya, but I could stop shoving the wonky bits that couldn't go into the box,  my mouth. It was Eid, people. Calorie-counting is against the law on Eid.

Baklava Muhalabbiya:

Recipe source:
For the Baklava: Desert Candy
For the phyllo pastry: Daring Bakers' challenge

Making the phyllo pastry *:


1 1/3 cups (200 g) all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar (I used regular white)

*Defrost around 20 sheets of readymade phyllo pastry if buying

Making the muhalabbiya:

1/3 cup semolina (Rava)
1/4 cup white sugar
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp each, cinnamon, nutmeg
pinch salt

Making the syrup:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 tbsp rose water
1 tbsp orange blossom or lemon juice
A stick of cinnamon, 1-2 cloves

Method:

Making the phyllo pastry:

Combine flour and salt in a bowl.

Mix water, vinegar and oil in a small bowl.

Beat it into the flour until it's combine.

Change the paddle attachment to a dough hook.

If you don't have a dough hook, you can knead with your hand.




This is a wee bit dry. A tablespoon of water can be added. Use your discretion!

 
Knead for 10 minutes with a dough hook or 20 minutes by hand. A smooth ball should form.

Coat the ball and the bowl with a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil. Put the oiled dough into the bowl. Cover with cling film. Let it rest at room temperature for around 2 hours.

Rolling out the phyllo sheets:

Divide the rested dough into 18 equal-sized balls.

Flour a smooth surface generously.

Roll out the dough as thin as possible with a rolling pin. The sheets should get almost translucent and see-through.

 It's OK if a few of them have holes in them. The top two sheets have to be perfect because that is what the eye sees.

Making the sugar syrup:

Place sugar, water, flower water and spices in a saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring to dissolve. Let it boil for a couple of minutes, and take it off the heat. Cool completely before using.

It should be as thick as Gulab Jamun syrup, but not as thin as Rasagolla syrup either.

Making the Muhalabbiya:

 Place milk, sugar, spices, and salt in a sauce pan, with the heat set on low heat. Stir the mix, bringing it a simmer. Add in the semolina slowly, stirring to combine. Let it continue to simmer for around 6 minutes, just make sure it doesn't become too dry. It'll continue to thicken up as it cools.

Set it aside at room temperature to cool completely before using in the Baklava.

Assembling the Baklava:

Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C

Melt the ghee or make your own clarified butter.

Grease a 9 inch baking dish with ghee or clarified butter. Place a phyllo sheet. Brush on melted ghee using a pastry brush. I used my fingers to dab the globs of ghee over the sheet.

Repeat with 9 more sheets, brushing with ghee for each one.

Pour in the muhalabbiya (completely cooled) on top of the 9th sheet. Smooth the top.

Continue adding the remaining sheets, adding ghee to each sheet.

Brush the final sheet with ghee.

Cut the baklava into pieces, either square or diamond-shaped.

Bake until the top is flaky/crispy for about 30 minutes.

Pour the cooled syrup over the piping hot baklava. This is the only way to get crispy baklava.

Don't flood the whole thing too much... I found the sugar syrup a teeny bit more than I'd want. 0.4 cm above the level of the pastry, maybe?

Let it soak the syrup in, overnight (8 hours minimum). Do not refrigerate.

Sprinkle chopped pistachios or almonds over the top.

This keeps for about 2-3 days, maximum. And yes, you can refrigerate after the soaking-in process... you have no choice with the notorious heat here in Madras/Chennai.

Would I make this again? Maybe if I find someone who likes scented, syrupy things. The muhalabbiya I'll be making very many times on the rare rainy nights. Like I need more comfort (albeit fattening) things in my life.

Sigh.

Zucchini Bruschetta, Greek style.

When I announce I'm making things like Skordalia with feta and parsley for dinner, I expect my family to be just a teeny bit impressed. Definitely annoys me when they appear apprehensive, exchange looks and double-check to see if there's bread and jam in the refrigerator as a back-up plan. But that's mostly because mum goes and announces to the world I'm making Cornella (really, how the heck does she come up with these things?)

Skordalia is one more Greek thing that I'm positive I've tasted before, unaware of its identity and history. One hungry day (a.k.a dosai-for-dinner day), I typed a bunch of things that were languishing in the refrigerator into the Google search box to cook myself a merry little dinner, and a very promising website popped up. Souvlaki for the soul. Poetic or what? Souvlaki, for me, embodies soul food... the grilled chicken and salty fries wrapped with tzatziki in a fluffy pita... Life doesn't get simpler than that.

So I immediately opened up the website, and eye-feasted on Greek recipes I know I'll be trying very soon. The zucchini bruschetta was what I finally decided I had to eat ASAP... took me less than an hour from starting to photographing to eating. Just what one needs after a hard day's work. Pink grapefruit shower-gel, bruschetta, Dexter on TV. I'm happy.

The skordalia is a spread similar to Muhammara. Bread crumbs, garlic, olive oil and walnuts are blitzed to a smooth paste in a food processor. This can be stored in the refrigerator for a bit. Zucchini gets grilled, feta gets sprinkled on, and baguette slices (brushed with Extra Virgin olive oil) broil in the oven. All of this together forms a cohesively delicious appetizer/dinner.

And I hope this post appeases all the health-food fanatics who complain that all my recipes consist purely of butter and sugar and little else. This one is for you. You've no choice but to make it now and let me know how it turns out.

Zucchini Bruschetta:

Ingredients:

For the bruschetta:

1 zucchini, cut into batons.
Extra virgin olive oil, for grilling.
1 baguette or french loaf.
1 small bunch parsley (or mint), chopped.
A few chunks of Feta
Salt and pepper to taste.
1/2 a batch of skordalia(recipe follows)

For the Skordalia:

1 cup of walnuts
1 cup of cut-up stale bread pieces
6 cloves of crushed garlic
2-3 tablespoons of vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

For the skordalia:

Dry roast the walnuts over medium heat for five minutes. Let it cool and set aside.

Soak the bread in water for a couple of seconds, then squeeze out the water and set aside.

In a food processor or mixie, blitz together the walnuts, bread, vinegar and garlic, until it resembles coarse sand. Then add in the olive oil, little at time, until a paste forms. Taste it, add salt and pepper to taste.

Needs way more olive oil than in the photo!

Scoop it out and stash it in the refrigerator, wrapped with cling film until you need it.

For the bruschetta:

Saw the bread into diagonal slices. Spread a teeny bit of olive oil and broil/bake/grill until crisp. Keep it aside.

Mix the zucchini strips with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill or pan-fry then. I used my panini press for convenience's sake.

Spread the skordalia over the toasted baguette slices.

Top with grilled zucchini. Sprinkle over some feta and chopped parsley. Serve.

These would make awesome appetizers or canapes. Or like I said, you can eat half a loaf for dinner.

As always, healthy food can also be loaded with calories (albeit nutritious calories) in form of nuts and olive oil. It is the only way you'll get your Omega 3s and 6s. Unless you can spend loads on Absolut 3G capsules (interesting name, huh? Like vodka they'd serve in a space shuttle). That was totally not a prescription. So now you have two options to avoid the fate of being a stick with no hair and toad skin.

But then again, who says food has to always about nutrition or hunger, anyway?

Greek Chicken(or not) Pizza/Tossing up a weekday wonder.

I promised you a to-die-for pizza recipe on Monday. And Monday, like my fitness levels, has been long gone. Monday doesn't mean Monday. What it stands for is any insipid, tiring, manic-in-a-bad-way weekday. Which today definitely counts as, for me. A day that needs melted cheese to soothe away the crappy-ness of the morning. Here's where my weekend experiment with pizza dough comes in handy.

Or you could stop in at French Loaf after work and pick up half a dozen of their wholegrain pizza bases. Will make life that much easier for you. And from all the whining (in a non-Akon way) I hear from friends, we could all stand for life to get a little less difficult.

The first pizza I wanted to make was this Barbeque-chicken-ranch-cheddar cheese pizza. One of those things that confuse and blow your mind at the same time. Is it a burger? Is it a pizza? No, it's Super-freaking-deliciousness on a plate.

Alas. Time wasn't on my side, so I got to marinating and grilling some chicken (used my Chicken Gyros recipe) and put some pizza sauce to bubble away merrily on the stove. The toppings weren't that demanding to prep for, except for the unpitted olives, half of which ended up in my mouth, any way.

And you can skip the chicken altogether, making it a completely vegetarian pizza, but the whole lemon-oregano-olive oil Gyros wasn't something I was going to pass up on. Maybe you could try the same with mushrooms? Let me know!

Greek Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

1 recipe of the pizza dough (or 6 medium sized bases)
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
6 cloves of garlic, minced
250 g grilled chicken (Chicken Gyros).
1/2 cup sliced pitted olives
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 recipe pizza sauce (or open up a bottle of the same)
2 onions, cut into slices
2 tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 bunch spinach, washed and drained.
2 tsps Extra Virgin olive oil.

Method:

Roll the pizza dough out onto greased foil or parchment paper (NOT BUTTER PAPER).
Alternatively, you can use a readymade base.

Brush the circumference with a teeny bit of Extra Virgin Olive oil. Strew minced garlic, pushing it into the dough.

Spread the tomato sauce on the pizza base.

These are the toppings that I used.

Make sure the spinach has been washed and scrubbed!

Top with tomatoes, onions, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, olives and spinach. Add a drop of olive oil over the onions, so they caramelize as they bake.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius. After the edges become brown and the cheese bubbly (it took me 12 minutes), take the pizza out.

Top with the shredded chicken. I prefer to do this after the baking is over, so the chicken won't dry out or go rubbery due to overcooking.

Sprinkle with oregano, and enjoy/attack!

Recipe source: barely adapted from Food Network

And while this is Mmm-Mmm-Mmm, I can't wait to try the Ranch-Barbeque thing.

Make this, don't think about it. You know you want to. Don't blame me if you can't eat at the Hut again, though.

Moussaka/It's all Greek and Greek to me.

Logically, I should be exploring/exploiting my heritage/roots, in a Kylie Kwong-esque way (who I have total respect for, by the way). I should be telling you how to make idi appams (String hoppers) and coconut-milk stew. Or at least do a post on how to make 13 different types of chutneys to accompany your idlis. Instead, I give you yet another Greek-style dish.

I'm not crazy. Hear me out.

I'm sure you can make vadais better than I can. And I bet you anything there's a good Idli-Dosai kadai within a ten minute radius of your house. Assuming you're in Chennai/Madras, of course. If not... I'll work on it another night? Tonight, it's Moussaka.

The only time I've had Moussaka in Madras was at Kryptos. If you've read the post, you might remember how I raved like a lunatic over it. Meat and cheese in a tomato-onion-garlic broth? You seriously didn't think I'd be Googling around for Moussaka recipes and shoving one into the oven very, very soon?

It's like Lasagne, only with zucchini and Aubergines/Eggplant/Huge-ass Brinjal instead of the pasta sheets. It's hard to top that argument. Another thing Moussaka has going for it is that it is very Veggie-friendly. You can make a show-stopping, centre-piece style dish without any meat. I doubt even hardcore carnivores would miss the meat too much.

That's how thick the zucchini/courgette should be cut if you want it to stand out in the dish and have a bit of a bite to it. Replace with more potato and aubergine if you can't track it down at the greengrocers'!

Salt the aubergine well and let it drain the bitter juices out. Not dehydrating these babies and roasting them prior to using them in the Moussaka would be disastrous!

 This recipe is relatively healthy; I don't fry the potato or aubergine. I also sneak in a little garam masala because having an Indian palate, I can't eat meat unless it's well-spiced and well-cooked. Old habits don't die, let alone hard or not.

Moussaka.

Serves 6-8 hungry people.

Ingredients:

Method:

3 medium-sized potatoes, parboiled.

2 aubergines, sliced 

1 zucchini, sliced

500 g lamb meat, minced (can substitute with veg or tofu) 

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 onion, finely chopped

400 g tomato, pureed in the mixie

4 tbsp tomato paste or ketchup 

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp garam masala (yes, GARAM MASALA)

1 stick cinnamon

4-5 cloves

2 bay leaves

Olive oil, as required

For the bechamel

3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp butter

750 ml milk 

1 tsp nutmeg 

2 egg yolks

A handful of grated parmesan cheese or crumbled feta.

Salt and pepper

 Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 250° degrees centigrade.

2)Prepping the veggies:

Potatoes: Parboil for 15 minutes or so, so that it is cooked but not falling apart. Peel, cut into slices.

Brush with a little olive oil on both sides, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in an oven at 250 for 10-15 minutes.

Aubergines: Can be used peeled or not. Cut into slices. Salt them well and let it drain over a colander for 30 minutes. Discard the juice. Rinse the slices well. Pat dry with a kitchen towel or tissue. Brush with olive oil on both sides and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

Zucchini: Slice and use.

3)For the meat filling:

In a hot pan, add the meat, little at a time, so it sears/sizzles the second it's put in the pan. Add a teaspoon olive oil if necessary.

When the meat is nicely browned, add the onions. Saute. When the onions are pinkish, add the garlic. Saute for a couple of minutes.

Add the tomato paste, mix well with the meat. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the tomato puree, mix well. Add the spices-bay leaves, cloves, cumin, cinnamon and garam masala(if using). Add salt and pepper, as per your taste. Mix until well combined.

Cook for 20-25 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally so that the bottom doesn't burn. Taste and adjust seasoning.

4)Bechamel sauce:

Heat the milk until warm, not boiling. Set aside. Bring another pan to heat. Add the butter. When melted, add the flour and stir.

Add the milk now to the roux and whisk until completely blended. Heat until the sauce is thick and bubbly. I used my Braun blender to get rid of the lumps.

Take the pan off the heat. Add the egg yolks, mix well.

Add salt, pepper, grated nutmeg and half the cheese.

5)Assembling the moussaka:

Layer the baking dish with half the potato slices.

Place on top, a layer of aubergine and zucchini slices.

Make a layer out of half the meat filling.

Place the remaining aubergine, zucchini and potato.

Add another layer of the meat sauce.

Finally, drown the whole thing with bechamel.

Sprinkle over the parmesan cheese.

6)Reduce the oven's temperature to 180 degrees centigrade. Bake the moussaka for 30 minutes. The top should be golden brown.

7)Take the moussaka out, and rest it at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Recipe source: loosely adapted from videojug.com

The moussaka is eaten warm, not hot. The resting stage is important, as the spices need to meld together. This is one of the dishes that taste best the next day, when all the components have marinated well in the tomato-y goodness. Sort of like biryani.

Speaking of biryani, that is also something we don't make at home because it'll be an insult to the marvel that biryani is. I grew up eating a lot of biryani, though, so if I come across or manage to cook up great biryani, I promise to share it with you guys. You don't even have to keep it a secret.

Chicken Gyros/OPA!!!

This is the spark that set off the food blog. On one of those days, when I wanted a really fancy dinner, with specially fitted studio lights switched on and company china set out on the table. And forks and knives. The kind of meal that starts with a piece of Feta and ends with dainty helpings of mint chai.

So I cooked all evening. Chicken Gyros, the souvlaki-type Grecian kebabs. Whole wheat Pita bread. Tzatziki. Hummus. And yes, mint chai. Feeling extremely pleased with myself and not having had enough gratitude/raves from the family, I put up pictures on Facebook. It's embarrassingly narcissistic, but that is what I did. So many kind, kind people said so many kind, kind things, and a month or so later, I had enough material for a food blog. It's been almost three months since this has been up and running, and what better way to celebrate it than to return to the root of it all?

This is how Tzatziki should really look like. The one on the older post wasn't
thick enough.

Chicken Gyros is one of the most fuss-free kebabs I've ever made. It's incredibly light, minimal and full of the flavour profiles I so adore. It doesn't go rubbery on you, it's hard to under-cook it, you can make it in a skillet over the stove top, but if you have an impressive piece of grilling equipment, you're in for a real treat.

Chicken Gyros:

Ingredients:

Method:

500 g boneless chicken, cubed.
6 cloves of garlic, smashed.
Juice and zest of 1 lemon.
2 tsp white vinegar.
2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil.
2 tbsp unflavoured yogurt
2 tbsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste.

Accompaniments:

Tzatziki
sliced tomatoes
sliced onions
Pita bread.

Method:

Luscious, full-fat yogurt. Plump cloves of garlic crushed. Extra-virgin olive oil
from Italy. This is truly the start of a beautiful meal.

In a bowl, combine the yogurt, garlic, olive oil, herbs, salt, pepper, vinegar, lemon juice+zest and dried oregano.

Whisk until everything is well-combined.

Rub the marinade into the chicken pieces. Cover with cling film/lid and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. The oven setting should be on Broil/Grill. If you don't have those options go with Bake. If you don't have an oven, use a non-stick skillet, and pan-fry the pieces.

It gets done quite fast. Make sure the chicken pieces are of the same size so they cook evenly. Try a piece to see if it's cooked. Don't discard the juice.

Let it rest in the juice for 5 minutes. Sprinkle some more oregano, salt/pepper if needed.

Heat the pita bread for a minute or two in the oven. Serve with tzatziki, tomatoes, onions and extra lemon juice.

Source: Elly Says Opa

Get everyone to make pita pockets or pita wraps (a little risky though if you've made limited portions, and your family does not believe in portion control). Get somebody else to brew the mint tea. Get somebody else to pick up dessert. You won't have trouble with any of the above (except the portion control), after the meal.