Love and Rusk!

So well it turns out starting a blog is difficult, but keeping up with regularity in posts is an even greater challenge. Honestly, for me the biggest issue is taking good pictures (Im not joking!). That means taking time out to set up the table and do some trial and error business with light effects (yeah, trial and error, Im not good at photography you see :-( ). Anyway, moving on...

So, you see you need some kind of inspiration to go the extra mile and actually click pictures AS you cook. Rain turned out to be that source of inspiration this time. Now picture this - 

Rain. Amazing weather. Sunday afternoon.  All these things scream just one thing - Chai! (In big bold italics!). Now, tea or chai needs an accompaniment on a rainy sunday afternoon, right? It could be vada pav or ParleG biscuits or 'toast'...wait.. did I say toast! Oh yes...

Now if you have good proximity and sufficient availability of 'toast' or tea rusk then you might shrug it off saying "What's the big deal!". But if you don't, then the craving for it will kill you! It does. You start visualizing it...you sitting cozy on the recliner, and the rain pouring outside - you need oh you so Need that 'toast'. Seriously - dunking it into a cup of steaming chai and devouring that heavenly crispy rusk is the ultimate joy! 

Which leads us to --> Necessity is the mother of invention and culinary experiments

Why else would I think of making rusk out of hot dog buns? Yes... that's what I did. And it's super easy. It's not that rusks were a by-product of the invention of hot dog buns, but turns out it's a pretty good match to how you would make rusk from scratch. Then what's the harm if we engineer a recipe using a readily available product, right? 

Let's get to business then. All you need is hot dog buns, some butter and sugar. Apply soft butter to the inner sides of the bun slices and cut halfway. This way you will end up with 4 pieces of each bun. Arrange all these pieces on a baking tray, buttered side up. Sprinkle very little sugar on all these and stow it in a 275 F preheated oven. Bake for an hour approximately (Keep an eye from 40 minutes onwards). You can test if its done by breaking a piece into two. It should easily break up.

Baking time depends on - 

1. your oven - every oven is different, what shelf you have chosen to place the tray also matters

2. quantity of food being cooked. If you are using say the upper and lower shelf both, make sure you rotate the trays to ensure even cooking.

3. the thickness of the slices

4. what color rusk you want to achieve - I like rusk with a slightly bitter taste and hence the golden brown color

The idea is to remove all the moisture from the bread very slowly without burning it. That explains why we set a relatively low oven temperature. I experimented with both salted and unsalted butter. Honestly I liked the one with salted butter, but I leave that to one's individual preference.

Also, it is not necessary to use hot dog buns. You could very well use burger buns (the ones which are plain, no sesame seeds, nuts etc). Using regular sandwich bread is also a choice, but the possibility of the bread burning out is very high, so its good to stick to a slightly thicker bread variety.

Storage - Hide it in a SAFE place :D 

Storage was never an option when I made them the first time, they only lasted that day! But with all the moisture content from the bread removed, they easily last for over a week in an airtight container (never tried for longer than that). I now make a batch of these every other weekend. It really takes 15-20 minutes of your time, once you know what temperature/how much time it takes.

Prep - 15 mins  Cooking - 60 mins

Ingredients

Hot dog buns

Butter (Salted or unsalted)

A dash of sugar

Method

Apply softened butter on the inner sides of each bun/burger. Cut into half and place on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper, buttered side up. Sprinkle sugar on all the pieces of bread and bake it for an hour approximately in a 275 F preheated oven. Vary oven time depending on the rusk color you would like to achieve. 

Dunk it in a cuppa chai and enjoy!

Vegetable Stir Fry - Tuscan Style

Yayy to my first blog post! After attempting to start my own blog for years, glad I'm finally making it! Working on the new year's resolution, 2 days before new year - kudos to myself :D

6 months ago I hadn't imagined myself cooking 'full-time'. Let alone stirring up good food regularly ;) But then 'the boy' entered my life and I made an exit from the comfort of mom's yummy home cooked food. I have always been a fan of making desserts, but main course - naah - its too much work and it gets shadowed under glossy desserts. That was my philosophy then. 

Cut to the present. I now cook regularly, trying to keep it --> 1. Simple 2. The least time consuming 3. Healthy wherever possible.

And so, I decided to make my first blog post a dual purpose recipe. A vegetable stir fry that you can eat as it is or incorporate with rice to make a stir-fried rice recipe. 

Note: wherever possible I will try to include *shortcuts* such as the ready frozen veggie pack..just an example - especially for folks who are pressed for time but want to switch to home cooked meals , bachelors tired of eating cafeteria meals etc. These tips would include doing a bit of prep work on weekends, using ketchup instead of tomato puree (yup Ive done that a couple of times :D) and so on.

An example of shortcuts you could use --->
 

Stir frying vegetables is very simple. Trust me. And it tastes great.
For this recipe I have used broccoli florets, onions, red bell peppers, yellow sweet peppers and mushrooms (These are all found in 1 section in Safeway or the local store, yes! 'the boy' is surprised to know this :P) Stir fried in lite olive oil (I prefer it lite for its lesser aroma), along with garlic, chopped basil and salt n pepper to taste. I am not a big fan of it, but you could try throwing in some thickly sliced zucchini which goes nicely with this combination of vegetables.

You can prep all these vegetables wash, pat dry, chop/dice a couple of days earlier, say on the prior weekend and freeze them in an air tight bag.

Incorporating this stir fry in rice is fairly easy. To prep the rice however is a bit time consuming if you go the traditional way. When making rice fresh for a stir fried rice recipe/pulav/pilaf/biryani, the trick is to cook the rice half way at first (If you use a pressure cooker, take it off heat after half the number of whistles you otherwise cook it for). Prep a tray/plates with very little oil the way you would coat a baking dish. Spread out the rice on the plates such that you do not form clumps of rice, use a fork to do so. Allow this to cool till the rice starts appearing dry ~half an hour under the fan :-/ (you can do this before you start with the vegetables). This rice when now incorporated will not form a sticky lump. Wet your hands when removing the rice or use a rubber spatula.

Shortcut! Cook rice the same way as above the night before. Take it off the pressure cooker, once cool cover it and store in the refrigerator. The next day, before adding rice, break it in bigger chunks first and then loosen up the rice grains with wet hands. Easy Breezy!!

I always pressure cook the rice with salt, when making such a recipe - Adding salt later makes it difficult to combine it evenly, and mashes the rice in process.
 

 

Once you have combined the rice and vegetables, you can drizzle a bit of olive oil or melted butter and cover. Let the combo cook on low heat for around 10 minutes. This not only allows the rice to cook completely, but also allows it time to absorb the juices from the vegetable stir fry. Once done, check for flavor and add salt/pepper as needed. Only make sure you do not mash the rice in the process of mixing.

Voila! there you have it!

(Pardon my camera phone photography)

 

   

I hope you enjoyed this post and hope it inspired you to try this out yourself. Please let me know whether you liked it or didn't. I will really appreciate your feedback and suggestions!

And a very happy new year to all!

Prep - 1/2 hour   Cooking - 1/2 hour

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil + extra

2 cloves garlic minced

1 cup each of broccoli florets, mushrooms halved, red bell peppers chopped length wise, sweet  yellow peppers, onions

1/4 cup chopped basil

salt, pepper to taste

1 cup rice 

2 1/2 cup water

Method

Heat oil in a large skillet or pan at medium high heat. Stir in onions and garlic for a minute. Reduce heat and add the other vegetables. Cook for around 5 minutes until vegetables are just tender. Stir often. Reduce heat and add the chopped basil, salt and pepper. Another minute. The vegetables should be just cooked through. Serve with chopped parsley or set aside if you wish to make stir fried rice. 

Prepare the rice as described above and incorporate with the prepared vegetables. Add a dash of oil/melted butter, cover and cook for 7 to 10 minutes. Add more time if the rice seems uncooked.