Japanese Milk Bread Rolls / Hokkaido Milk Bread

Due to Covid19, we are under complete curfew and we are allowed to go for grocery shopping only once a week after taking an online appointment.... So I have been baking different types of breads and buns almost every day.... Seems like my family is enjoying freshly baked homemade breads versus store bought now.... I will post those successful bread recipes I tried in coming posts.... 

Japanese Milk Bread or Hokkaido milk bread is made with a simple technique involving a roux "starter" known as tangzhong.... The roux is mixed into the final dough, producing wonderfully tender bread each and every time... I have made their rolls several times with different shapes over the years.... This bread recipe was used in Sausage Rolls recipe which is one of my initial posts.... Do try these incredibly soft rolls with any shape, be it simple round buns, braided or loaf, you will not regret it....  

Japanese Milk Bread Rolls / Hokkaido Milk Bread

(Recipe from here)

Yield -8 Rolls

Ingredients:

Tangzhong (starter)

3 tablespoons (43g) water

3 tablespoons (43g) whole milk

2 tablespoons (14g) Unbleached Bread Flour / All purpose flour

Dough

2 1/2 cups (298g) Unbleached Bread Flour / All purpose flour

2 tablespoons (18g) Milk Powder

1/4 cup (50g) sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1/2 cup (113g) whole milk

1 large egg

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons, 57g) melted unsalted butter

Method:

To make the tangzhong: 

• Combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan, and whisk until no lumps remain.
• Place the saucepan over low heat, and cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until thick and the whisk leaves lines on the bottom of the pan, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Transfer the tangzhong to a small mixing bowl or measuring cup and let it cool to room temperature.

To make the dough: 

• Combine the tangzhong with the remaining dough ingredients, then mix and knead — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — until a smooth, elastic dough forms.
• Shape the dough into a ball, and let it rest in a lightly greased covered bowl for 60 to 90 minutes, until puffy but not necessarily doubled in bulk.
• Gently deflate the dough, divide it into 8 equal pieces, and shape each piece into a ball, or any desired shape.
• Place the rolls into a lightly greased 8" or 9" round cake pan. Cover the pan, and let the rolls rest for 40 to 50 minutes, until puffy.  
• Preheat the oven to 176°C / 350°F. Brush the rolls with milk or egg wash (1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water), and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown on top; a digital thermometer inserted into the center of the middle roll should read at least 190°F.
• Remove the rolls from the oven. Allow them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a rack and cover with a cloth to cool completely.

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Fish Tikka

Tried this recipe after seeing a popular cookery show, Annie’s Kitchen.  It came out really well so thought of sharing it with you. You can either grill or bake tikkas in the oven, use an electric toaster grill or on stove top. It’s a very easy and hassle free recipe. You can marinate the fish pieces and keep it overnight in the fridge before grilling. It is a perfect recipe to serve as a starter or as a main or side dish. A great addition to a party menu :) :) ...

Fish Tikka

Ingredients:

Boneless Fish - 1kg {can use Neymeen (Seer fish),  Motha (King fish) or any thick boneless fish pieces}

Onion -1 cup, cut into 1 ½“pieces

Tomato -1 cup, cut into 1 ½“pieces (remove seeds)

Capscium – 1 cup, cut into 1 ½“pieces

Butter – 3 tbsp

For the marinade:

Ginger paste - 2 tsp

Garlic paste – 2 tsp

Green chilly paste- 4 tsp

Mint leaves paste – 2 tsp

Ajwain powdered / Ayamodakam podi -1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Dried fenugreek leaves / Kasoori methi- ½ tsp

Lightly roasted Besan/ chickpea flour/ kadala maavu - 2 tsp

Hung Curd (yogurt) - 4 tsp

Vegetable oil – 1 tbsp

Lemon juice -2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method:

• Cut into 1 ½ inch pieces and rub the fish with little salt and vinegar to remove the fishy odour. Keep aside for 5 minutes. Wash well and pat dry on a kitchen towel.
• Mix all the marinade ingredients in a big bowl and add fish pieces and mix well to coat all the marinade to the fish pieces. Keep aside for half hour. (you can keep this marinated fish overnight in the fridge).
• Just before grilling, add onion, capsicum and tomato pieces to the marinated fish and well.
• Skewer the fish and vegetables alternately on skewers or tooth picks.
• If you are using an oven, place the skewered tikkas on the wire rack. Brush tikkas with melted butter and grill for 10-15 minutes overturning them every few minutes.
• If you are using stove top, melt little butter in a non-stick tava, add skewered fish tikkas and grill on medium flame until all sides are lightly browned and fish is cooked well.
• Serve hot decorated with lemon wedges and pudina chutney or sauce.

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Chemmen Ularthiyathu with Thenga Kothu / Kerala Style Prawn Roast with Coconut Pieces

This is another version of the Prawn Roast I had posted earlier. Prawn is briefly cooked with coconut pieces and masalas and is then roasted in coconut oil. This is a famous dish of the "Shappu Kada" (Toddy shops) across Kerala. This dried and spicy prawn dish goes very well with rice and moru curry, as a side dish or as a wrap with chapathi and is also a great cocktail snack along with thengin kallu (coconut toddy), or with scotch or beer. Do try this for Christmas or New Year and let me know which way you liked it :) :)

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Saffron Focaccia

Focaccia is a traditional flat Italian bread that can be flavoured with olive oil and salt and often topped with herbs, onions, or other items. It is usually served as a light snack with seasoned olive oil, olives and feta cheese, or with soup or salad and can also be made into sandwiches. 
The Saffron infused Focaccia has a dazzling yellow color, is light in texture and distinctive in flavour. The olive oil drizzled over the top makes the bread moist and generally keeps it well for longer. 

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Vettu Cake Recipe / Deep Fried Sweet Cake ~ A Special Chayakkada Palaharam of Kerala ~ Step by Step Recipe

Vettu (Cut)Cake is a famous chayakkada / local tea shop palaharam (snack). Amma used to make this when we were kids and I used to help her cutting and shaping the dough while she fried them in hot oil. The cross like cut on the square shape should be deep, so that when we add the dough to the oil it will puff up and the cut will open up and resemble a flower.... Well mine didn't come out perfect in shape as I was doing it all alone and by the time I started frying the cuts had started joining back :D.... So the point is if you want a perfect shape like a flower ask someone to help you while you are frying them :D.... Eggs used in the original Vettu cake recipe are duck eggs and since I don’t have duck eggs I used large chicken eggs. Another important point while frying is that the heat should always be on medium low; do not over fry vettu cake.... Since its summer holiday time in Kerala make this for your hungry kids and their friends while they are enjoying their holidays! 

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Onion and Poppy Seed Crackers ~ Daring Bakers’ challenge, February 2013

Sarah from All Our Fingersin the Pie was our February 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to use our creativity in making our own Crisp Flatbreads and Crackers!  

I missed the last DB challenge and I didn’t want to miss this month too… February was a very busy and hectic month for me, birthday, Church Harvest festival and 5 days of long holidays and I somehow managed to bake these crackers on time… Thanks to Sarah for making this month’s challenge so simple and easy! These onion crackers are very easy to make and are very addictive to munch on… I also served these with little cream cheese topped with some fresh vegetables and herbs… Instead of cream cheese you can mix some Mayonnaise with a dash of Sriracha sauce too… I served these crackers with wine to my guests and they all loved it!

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Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

If you like chocolates and bananas you will definitely like this chocolate banana bread :)...had some over ripe bananas in hand and I didn't want to make regular banana bread or cake..... I wanted something chocolaty that day and hence chose to make this chocolate banana bread..... basic recipe is from Joy of Baking and I did some alterations..... Original recipe calls for walnuts, I didn't add any as I don’t like walnuts but I doubled the chocolate chips instead, also reduced the amount of egg and butter than the original recipe… this cake bread turned out perfect...... 

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Armenian Kabab Recipe

A great Appetizer / Snack for a cocktail party which can be made ahead of time and fried just before serving. I used minced chicken but you can use any minced meat. Try this with your choice of meat when you plan a party next time.....

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Empanada Gallega ~ September 2012 Daring Bakers’ Challenge

Patri of the blog, Asi SonLos Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family’s favorite recipes for Empanadas! We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our Empanadas as creatively as we wished!

Empanada (or empada, in Portuguese) is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Western Europe, Latin America, and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the Galician, Portuguese and Spanish verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread.The filling for empanada can vary, meat, chicken, cheese, fruit and vegetables. It is really up to your taste and preference and there is plenty of room for creativity. It can be served warm or cold. I chose to make individual sized empanadas instead of one big one and I used ground meat filling with some slight differences.

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Pan Roasted Baby Potatoes

During a casual talk with my cousin cum neighbor Saira, she told me to try this pan roasted baby potatoes and gave me the recipe for the same.... These potatoes are a great choiceas a vegetarian appetizer along with other non-veg appetizers for cocktail parties..... This is a very basic recipe and you can add any spices according to your personal taste, eg. if you wish you can add coriander powder or cumin powder or garam masala.... Addition of fresh cream gives a unique and rich taste to the potatoes.... This goes well with Indian flatbreads or Pulav too..... 

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Kerala Fish Cutlets

A very common appetizer in Malayali Christian homes after Meat cutlets.....Perfect as a side dish with rice, chapathi or as an afternoon snack or a party cocktail snack..... the best part of making cutlets is that you can freeze it really well and fry as and when needed..... 

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Baked Mini Donut Muffins

For quite some time I have been planning to make these beauties after seeing it on several blogs around the net. These cuties are really yummy and very easy to make and resemble cinnamon sugar doughnut holes. The best part is these are baked and not deep fried.... Addition of nutmeg in the muffins was really great and it nicely complimented the cinnamon sugar coating..... really loved it and couldn’t stop munching them one after another ;).... These are very addictive and I must warn you that you will end up eating a lot!  Instead of mini muffin tins I baked these in my seashell pan and I got around 30 mini muffins..... 

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Nazook / Armenian Pastry ~ Daring Bakers Challenge Part -1

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.

Nazook is a flaky pastry, with a sweet filling, that is very common in Armenia, Russia, Iran, Ukraine and many other places around the world. It is a delicious snack with afternoon tea or coffee. I only made a quarter amount of the pastry and got 12 pieces of Nazook. I really enjoyed making this super easy sweet pastry.

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Chicken Croquettes Recipe

These Chicken Croquettes can be made ahead of time and fried just prior to serving. Kids will love this as an evening snack / nalumani palaharam or in their tiffin box along with some ketchup or wrapped in chapathi or bread.... This recipe was shown on a Malayalam TV channel by Lakshmi Nair sometime ago.... I have been making this since then with some changes as I lost her original recipe... When I made this recently I thought of posting it here so it will be easier for me to find it instead of searching through a pile of books :).... Try this when you host a party next or for your kids....I am sure you will love it....  I made this with chicken but you can even use minced beef....

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Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers Recipe

Looking for an Appetizer recipe for Easter or for a party? Try these Jalapeno Peppers for a change.... You can make these ahead of time and you only need to fry just before serving.... You can add some Bacon too in the filling if you wish....

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Homemade Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

My son loves Cinnamon Rolls more than anything else! If I ask him what I should make for teatime, the first answer I get is Cinnamon Rolls and the second Doughnuts! He will be very happy if I gave him cinnamon rolls every day and it will fetch me lots and lots of bear hugs and kisses in return :D.... I make these for him at least once a month and I have tried several recipes till date.... I have also posted an eggless version earlier... This particular recipe I have been using for the last one year since Ria posted it.... I took step by step pictures last summer when I made these in Kerala.... but never got a chance to take the final product’s picture..... finally I took these pictures when I made it last week... 

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Ari Vada Recipe / Deep Fried Savory Rice flour Fritters

Mom used to make this simple snack for us while we were kids… She used to make Savory Orotti (Flat Rice Bread) too with the same recipe. While Ari Vada needs deep-frying, Orotti is made on a skillet.  You have to adjust the amount of water according to the rice flour you use. Also if you are making this vada for small kids reduce green chillies or completely omit it. We used to have this with ketchup…..You can even serve with Coconut Chutney.

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Spanish Tortilla (Tortilla Espanola) Recipe

Are you looking for a nutritious, easy to make tasty and filling breakfast or brunch on a lazy weekend? Then try these Spanish Tortillas :)..... Spanish Tortilla is a thick omelet made with eggs and potatoes. I have this small book named “Pancakes Made Easy” which has a collection of 15 different pancake recipes..... I have tried all the recipes from this book and all of them taste really good...... I make pancakes from this book once in a while on weekends which we all love along with a glass of fruit smoothie......

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Diamond Cuts Vilayichathu / Diamond Cuts coated with Sugar Syrup

This is another snack Kerala Christians make during Christmas time. It is a diamond shaped deep fried snack coated with cardamom flavored sugar syrup. It was a regular snack at home when we were kids; and I always used to pick up and eat the ones that are fully drenched in the sugar syrup :)..... Even without coating in sugar syrup it is a great snack especially with drinks....

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Erachi Unakkiyathu / Sundried Beef with spices & Unakka Erachi Chammanthi Podichathu (Thoran)/ Dry Beef Chutney Powder

Unakka Erachi or Sun dried beef is a specialty of Kerala cuisine especially among Kerala Christians but not as popular as unakka meen / sundried fish that is easily available in shops. My grandmother and aunt used to sun dry beef and we used to always get a share of it. With that mom used to make these awesome side dishes that goes very well with boiled rice and kanji (rice gruel) which is undoubtedly an ultimate comfort food. Also these Unakka Erachi side dishes are excellent as short eats with alcohol and Kallu (Toddy)..... I am sure if I have any male readers, they will totally agree with me on this :).....

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