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I am quite in a relaxed mood after the biryani / pulao / khichdi themed month long blogging marathon. I am back onto the weekly BM series and this month marks a special milestone for the blogging marathon group as it hits the '100' mark. Kudos to Srivalli, the group creator and coordinator who has managed to sustain the interest and enthusiasm of the group, for eight long years now. I am going with the theme of 'stuffed dishes' for this week and the first one in the series is going to be a spicy and yummy sandwich using an Indian inspired potato and spinach curry. One can easily modify the recipe to suit their preferences. The curry can be made ahead the previous night so that one would end up with a fuss-free, filling and tasty breakfast in the morning rush hours with little work. The curry also goes well with rotis / pooris / rice or even can be used as a paratha stuffing. I had made more curry than needed for the sandwiches.
Ingredients: (Yields about 2.5 cups of curry)
2 cups cooked and mashed potato *
1 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
A pinch of asafoetida
1 big onion, chopped fine (about a cup)
1/8 tsp. turmeric powder
Salt to taste
1 tomato, diced (about 2/3 cup)
1 cup, chopped and tightly packed spinach
1 tsp. garam masala
Red chili powder to taste
Bread slices as needed
* I used about 3 medium sized potatoes.
Directions:
* Peel, dice and cook potatoes in water until fork tender and place them in a colander. The water used to cook potatoes can be saved for other things if preferred. Mash the potatoes roughly and keep aside.
* Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When mustard seeds start to sizzle and splutter, add asafoetida, onion, turmeric and salt. Saute until onion turns golden brown.
* Next add tomato and spinach. Cook until tomato is mushy. If the mixture is getting stuck to the bottom of the pan, scrape and add a tbsp. or two of water if needed. (One can use the potato water from step 1).
* Add garam masala, chili powder and saute for about 20 to 30 seconds. Then add the mashed potatoes and stir well. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Cook for a couple of minutes on low to medium flame and turn off the stove.
* Use the curry as filling and prepare the sandwich in a sandwich maker. Or toast the bread slices in a bread toaster. (One can apply butter and toast them on a pan if preferred. ) Spread as much curry as preferred on a toasted bread slice and cover it with another toasted slice.
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Here is a quick breakfast / treat from Netherlands with hagelslag aka a 'hailstorm' of Dutch sprinkles on buttered bread. I have been making these sprinkles n' bread for my daughter ever since I came across the Australian version, fairy bread. While fairy bread is considered a kids' treat, this bread with hagelsag is commonly eaten in Netherlands by all ages and is a popular one. Dutch hagelsag (sprinkles) were invented in 1936 by a Dutch company named Venz which became popular because of it. They created the first machine to produce the tiny cylindrical shaped treats and named them after their resemblance to a local weather phenomenon of hail. All sprinkles seem to not qualify for being called hagelsag. Only those sprinkles with cacao percentage of more 32% can bear the name chocolade hagelslag. Nowadays hagelslag comes in all shapes, sizes and flavors.
A good quality chocolate sprinkles should do for those who don't have access to the original deal. All one needs to make this treat are some bread slices, good quality butter and sprinkles. One can use the white bread or the brown one. (They can be toasted if preferred.) Slather the bread slices with softened butter generously and sprinkle on hagelslag.
These potato scones aka tattie scones come from Scotland and are a variation to the griddle scone. They have nothing to do with the English tea time baked scones most are familiar with. These unleavened scones are made with liberal quantities of boiled or left over mashed potatoes and butter combined with enough flour to bind. They are then rolled out into about 5 mm thick circles or further cut into quarters and are cooked on a griddle.
These scones are served warm as a part of a full Scottish breakfast or eaten as a roll with fillings. Alternatively, it is eaten with jam and tea like a baked scone. Potato scones contain a small portion of flour to a large portion of potatoes according to traditional recipes. However I noticed many home cooks mentioning to add the flour until all the ingredients come together which sounds more sensible when rolling out the dough. I used less butter than the recipes mentioned. They tasted like potato rotis made with flour and Indians would enjoy it with a spicy side dish to go with.
Ingredients: (Yield 8 scones)
1 cup peeled, boiled and mashed potato
1 tbsp. butter
Salt to taste
All purpose flour as needed (I used more than 1/2 cup.)
Method:
* Greasing palms with oil would help if the dough is going to be prepared manually. Combine potato, salt and butter in a mixing bowl and mash together. Add flour to the mixture in small increments and mix, until the mixture holds together without sticking to your hands and the dough is easy to roll.
* The scones can be either circular or triangular shaped ones. If rolling out into circles, divide the dough into 8 portions and roll out into about 5 mm thick, 5 inched circles, dusting the work surface with flour.
For triangular ones, divide the dough into two portions. Roll out one portion into a big circle and quarter them using a knife. Repeat it with the remaining dough.
* Heat a griddle or non stick shallow pan on medium flame and spray with some oil. Toast each rolled out piece, flipping once or twice until brown spots appear on both sides. Serve them warm.
This goes to Blogging marathon #85, under the theme 'Breakfast Recipes'. Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.
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I ended up trying a few Greek recipes recently owing to my 'Greek recipes' themed marathon this week and among them were a few bread recipes from the region. A stuffed bread named sfakianopita was one of those. These bread are stuffed with the local variety cheeses and in lieu of those, feta cheese would be a great substitution here. These sfakianopita proved to be a quick and easy deal as I am adept at making the Indian stuffed breads aka parathas. The toasted, cheese stuffed breads are served with chopped nuts, a dusting of cinnamon and a drizzle of honey, which makes it a treat.
Recipe source: Here
Ingredients:
1 & 1/3 cup flour + extra for dusting (I used wheat flour.)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. olive oil + extra for toasting
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Ground cinnamon
Honey
Method:
* Combine flour, salt, lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl and mix. Next add water in increments and knead it into a soft, pliable dough. If the dough is sticky, add some extra flour and knead. If it appears too dry, add extra water.
* Knead the dough for about five minutes and divide the dough into 6 or 8 portions. Roll the portions into balls. Work with one portion at a time and keep the rest of them covered.
* Roll the ball into a round shape of about 1/4 inch thickness and 6 inches wide. Place a tbsp. or more of cheese at the center and then fold side over. Knead the cheese and the dough together until the cheese is well mixed in. Again roll it back to the round shape as earlier.
* Toast the rolled out sfakianopita on a heated pan pouring a tsp of olive oil around the edges and spreading it over. Cook it until both sides turn golden brown, flipping in between.
* Repeat the steps and cook the remaining sfakianopita
* Sprinkle chopped nuts and cinnamon as needed over sfakianopitas before serving and drizzle with honey.
This goes to Blogging marathon #76, under the theme 'Greek Recipes'. Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.
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My daughter in general is not a fan of breakfast sandwiches but loves this version of toast. It is a super quick and easy breakfast recipe for kids during the morning rush hours. I used some leftover whole wheat bread slices for this toast but any version of bread, cut slightly thicker would work good for this toast. Serve it with some fruit and milk to make it a wholesome breakfast.
Ingredients:
4 Bread slices
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp. sugar (or adjust as needed.)
2 tbsp. custard powder or corn starch *
Vanilla extract if using corn starch
2 tbsp. butter
* (I used vanilla flavored custard powder and omitted vanilla.)
Method:
* Whisk sugar, custard powder / corn starch and vanilla if using into milk in a wide pan or a pie plate.
* Heat a flat griddle / pan and melt 1/2 tbsp. butter on it.
* Meanwhile, dip a bread slice quickly in the custard powder mixture to coat well on both sides. A few seconds extra soaking will make the bread slice soggy.
* Place the bread slice on the griddle and cook on both sides on low flame, until golden brown.
* Repeat the steps with the remaining bread and custard powder mixture.
* Serve with maple syrup / honey if desired. (If the sugar quantity in the recipe is increased, the toast would be sweet as it is and may not need any garnishing.)
This is going to be my contribution to
1. Kids' Delight event under the theme 'Breakfast for Kids', hosted by Nisha.
2. Blogging marathon #67
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