T.I.L

I tried Dal from this place and I was amazed. It was so good that I wanted to try and some time later I found this recipe. I failed miserably. Again I tried last week using a different recipe, that doesn’t looks like very authentic after reading others but still I went for it.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup of lentils put in water the night before
• 1 can of beans (mixed, kidney, etc)
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 1 tbsp garlic chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger grated
• 2 tbsp medium curry powder
• ping of chilli paste.
• 75g butter
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• salt, pepper
• 150g spinach
• 3/4 cup of rice + 1 star anise

Process:

• Put same amount of rice and boiling water in a pan at medium heat. Put the star anise in the middle.
• After a couple of minutes reduce to low heat the rice. Dont stir and check from time to time to avoid getting burn.
• In a medium-heat frying pan, put half of butter, onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder and chilli paste. Cook until the onions are soft.
• Pour the coconut milk and tomatoes, season with salt/pepper. Bring to boil and then to simmer.
• Add beans, lentils and remaining butter. Simmer for 30 minutes or so.
• Taste it! When ready, add the spinach and stir.
• Ready to eat with the rice!

Ingredients:

• 3 wheat biscuits, crumbled (aprox 50gr)
• 100gr sultanas or prunes
• 150ml milk
• 250gr dark brown sugar
• 2 large free range eggs
• 2 large ripe bananas mashed
• 120g butter melted
• 150g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsb ground cinnamon
• 1 tsb groud ginger

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 170C.
• Prepare a loaf tin and grease it with a bit of butter.
• In a bowl, mix the wheat biscuits, milk and sultanas. Set aside.
• In another bowl, whisk sugar and eggs until pale.
• Then add banana, butter, flour, bicarbonate, cinnamon and ginger. Mix well.
• Then add to the banana mix, the wheat mix. Mix properly with a spoon.
• Pour the mix into the tin. Bake for 1h or until top is golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Let it cool down in a rack.

Very tasty and moist (although the pic is not great…) cake. It is super quick to do too.

Pastry Ingredients:

• 175g plain flour
• 100g cold butter in small cubes
• 25g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk + pinch salt
• 1 tbsp cold water

Filling Ingredients:

• 125ml free range eggs (2.5 eggs aprox)
• 62.5ml double cream
• 112gr caster sugar
• Juice of 2 lemons (do a syrup with the zest)
• icing sugar for dusting

Process

• Start with the pastry. Rub the flour, butter and icing sugar until you get something like breadcrumbs. You shouldn’t have lumps of butter. Tip the bowl and check the surface.
• Add the egg yolk and cold water. Form a dough, flat it a bit and wrap in cling film. Rest in fridge for 1h.
• Pre-heat oven at 220C. Prepare a try with baking paper (just to cover the tin!) and the tin on it. The tin can be from 16 to 20cm diameter. The dough will cover all.
• Take the pastry out of the fridge. With your fingers, bend the edges of the pastry as they will be hard due to the butter.
• In a lightly dusted surface, roll the pastry with a pin. Add flour to the pin not the dough. Roll until you have 0.5cm thick (or so). Clean excess of flour.
• Roll the dough with the pin and then lay it over the tin. Gently push the pastry into the tin with your fingers. Be sure there are not air pockets between the tin and the pastry.
• Trim the top excess with the rolling pin. Then with your thumbs be sure the side of the tin are the same thickness with dough everywhere. Dont make it too thin!
• With a knife, trim the top, be sure that cut is even.
• With your thumbs nail, go through the top an separate a bit the pastry from the tin.
• With cling film or baking paper, cover the pastry. Then fill the pastry with rice, beans or similar. Be sure it is properly full.
• Bake for 20 minutes at 175C. Be sure the edges are golden brown.
• Remove beans/rice and bake for 5-10 minutes until bottom is baked.
• Remove from oven and leave to cool down.
• Leave the oven at 120C
• Prepare lemon filling. In a bowl, whisk sugar and lemon juice.
• Add the eggs, mix with a spoon. DONT WHISK! You dont want bubbles.
• Pour the cream and keep mixing with the spoon.
• Pass the lemon mix through a strainer so the mix is super smooth and there are not bits of anything. You can taste it 🙂
• Put the lemon in the mix if the base is not cool down.
• Once the base is ready, put the tray half way in the oven so you can pour the lemon filling. Stir the filling before pouring if it was in the fridge!!!!
• Pour slowly the filling, until it nearly reaches the top.
• Bake for 25 minutes aprox at 120C.
• Be sure the filling is set, just a slight wobble in the center, before removing from oven.
• Let it rest for 15 minutes, remove the tin.
• Dust the top with icing sugar.

This is the result!

Still the edges are not even…. but it is tasty 🙂

Stock Syrup:

• 50% water
• 50% sugar

Process

• Mix water and sugar. Then heat until boil.
• Add the lemon peel or any fruit peel you dont want to through away.
• Let it at low heat for 30 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• You can taste the syrup and even the peels!

Watched this video and I liked the broccoli dish so I tried!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup of chopped peanuts (any nuts to be honest)
• 1 big broccoli
• 8-9 garlic cloves.
• Optiona: 1 can of chickpeas.
• 25ml soy sauce aprox
• 2 tsp of chilli sauce
• 1 tsp of corn flour
• 1 cup of couscous.

Process:

• Chop the nuts
• Chop the broccoli head. Put apart
• Chop the broccoli stalks. Put apart (nothing wasted!)
• Chop the garlic cloves.
• Boil a cup of water.
• Add the cup of water to the couscous and put apart. You can add some mint, butter, etc.
• In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, chilli sauce and corn flour. Put apart
• In a big pan, at medium heat. Add a gulp of olive oil.
• Add the garlic, saute for a bit.
• Add the broccoli stalks. Cook for a bit.
• Optional, add the chickpeas.
• Add the broccoli floretees and the soy mix.
• Cook for 5 minutes.
• Add the nuts and mix for a bit.
• Taste it, broccoli should be crunchy!

Ready to serve!

My broccoli was quite dark because I used dark soy sauce.

To be honest quite easy recipe, and tasty!

Pastry Cream (creme patissiere) Ingredients

• 250ml milk
• 1 egg
• 2 yolks
• 62g caster sugar
• 37g plain flour
• 8g butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste

Process:

• In a sauce pan, put the milk until boil. Pour a bit of sugar and dont stir!!!
• In a bowl, mix egg, yolks, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Then add flour.
• Add the boiling milk gradually to the egg mix. Whisk properly.
• Return the mix to the heat. Stir until thickens. Dont stop stirring! You should see bubbles.
• Remove from heat and add the butter. Mix properly.
• In a clean tray, pour the mix, wrap with cling film and let it rest in the fridge.

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Chox pastry Ingredients

• 250ml water
• 100g butter in cubes
• 150g plain flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Process:

• In a saucepan, heat the water until boil. Add sugar and salt.
• Melt the butter in the boiling water.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add the flour. Whish properly and return to the heat.
• Keep stirring the mix until if stops sticking to the pan. Be sure is properly cooked the flour.
• Spread the mix in a cold surface to cool down a bit.
• Using the back of a tray, wash it with a bit of melted butter and then dust some flour. Smack the tray in a side so the excess flour falls. You should have a neat unti-stick proof tray.
• With a block of butter, pinch it with your thumb and index finger. Your index finger should touch the edge of the tray. Use this method to make a straight line in each side of the tray.
• Beat the 4 eggs.
• Pre-heat oven at 190C
• Take the dough back into a bowl. This is a critical point! Add a bit of egg at each time. You should stop adding egg once you can create a solid “V” when dropping a big dollop of the mix with the spoon 2-3 times in a row. Maybe you need to bit an extra egg or dont need to add the 4 eggs. So keep it in mind.
• Prepare a piping bag. Twist the bag with a finger, fold the bag around half and add the mix. Tight the bag carefully, twisting it. Hands on the bottom.
• Over the tray where you made the two vertical lines, pipe in each side a small line between the edge of the tray and the vertical line. Leave space between each eclair as they will raise.

• With a fork, dip it in egg wash, an score the top of each eclair length way
• Bake for 35 minutes, they should raise and be golden brown. Then drop to 120C for a couple of minutes before removing from the oven.
• Let the eclairs to cool down in a racket.
• Take the cream from the fridge, put it back in a bowl and whisk until became a cream again.
• Prepare a new piping bag. As usual, use the index finger to twist the bag, fold until half and then pour the cream. Tight the bag twisting carefully.
• Once the eclairs are cold. Using a small knife, on the bottom of the eclair, make two holes in each edge. You will pipe the cream through those holes:

• Be sure the tip of the piping bag is big enough to fit in the hole. If the tip is too small, is very likely the piping bag will break.
• Once piping, you need to feel the eclair filling and become heavy. Try to pipe through both holes.

Chocolate Foundant Ingredients:

• 100g of dark cooking chocolate (at least 65% cocoa)
• Sugar glass for decoration

Process:

• Melt the chocolate using bain-marie.
• Dip the top of the eclairs in the melted chocolate. Use your thumb and index fingers. Try to dip just a third of the eclair. Till the eclair so the chocolate drops by one side and then with a finger smooth the chocolate run so it stops and looks smooth.
• Let the eclairs rest until the chocolate settles.
• Powder a bit of sugar glass on top of the dry chocolate.

Ready to eat!

They were tasty and not bad for the first time. The pastry didnt raise much to be honest. It seems the oven needs a bit of steam for that.

Pastry Ingredients:

• 175g plain flour
• 100g cold butter in small cubes
• 25g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk + pinch salt
• 1 tbsp cold water

Filling Ingredients:

• 200g dark chocolate finely chopped (min 60% cocoa solids)
• 75ml full fat milk
• 125ml whipping cream
• 1 egg lightly beaten

Process

• Start with the pastry. Rub the flour, butter and icing sugar until you get like breadcrumbs. You shouldn’t have lumps of butter. Tip the bowl and check the surface.
• Add the egg yolk and cold water. Form a dough, flat it a bit and wrap in cling film. Rest in fridge for 1h.
• Pre-heat oven at 220C. Prepare a try with baking paper and the tin on it. The tin can be from 20-28cm. The dough will cover all.
• Take the pastry out of the fridge. With your fingers, bend the edges of the pastry as they will be hard due to the butter.
• In a lightly dusted surface, roll the pastry with a pin. Add flour to the pin not the dough. Roll until you have 0.5cm thick (or so). Clean excess of flour.
• Roll the dough with the pin and then lay it over the tin. Gently push the pastry into the tin with your fingers. Be sure there are not air pockets between the tin and the pastry.
• Trim the top excess with the rolling pin. Then with your thumbs be sure the side of the tin are the same thickness with dough everywhere. Dont make it too thin!
• With a knife, trim the top, be sure that cut is even. Again with the edge of the knife, go through the top an separate a bit the pastry from the tin.
• With cling film or baking paper, cover the pastry. Then fill the pastry with rice, beans or similar. Be sure it is properly full.
• Bake for 15 minutes at 175C. Be sure the edges are golden brown.
• Remove beans/rice and bake for 5-10 minutes until bottom is baked.
• Remove from oven and leave to cool down.
• Prepare chocolate filling. Melt the chocolate using bain-marie.
• In another bowl, heat the milk and cream until boil.
• Pour the milk mix on to the chocolate. Whisk well until you have a smooth, glossy mix. Then add the egg and mix.
• Pour the chocolate mix into the tart and bake at 175C for 20-25m.
• It is ready when you tip the tart and the center hardly move. As well, the chocolate filling will raise a bit. Dont over bake it, the chocolate will break.
• Let it rest for 10 minutes until the chocolate is even with the tart. Remove the tin.
• Dust the top with icing sugar.

“Vuala”!

It was tasty. Although my “edges” were not great.

Another recipe where you can use puff pastry. For visualization, this video.

Pastry Cream Ingredients:

• 500ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 4 yolks
• 125g sugar
• 75g plain flour
• 50g butter
• 1 ts vanilla paste
• pinch of salt
• glass sugar to cover the cream

Process:

• In a pan, put the milk to boil. Add a bit of sugar and dont stir it!
• In a bowl, mix eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla. Then Add flour. Mix all well. Add a pinch of salt.
• Just when the milk starts boiling, remove from the heat, and pour it bit a bit in the egg mix.
• Return the mix to the pan, and dont stop stirring, this is the key for cooking the flour!
• Keep stirring until the mix thickes up. You should see bubbles forming up.
• Remove from the heat and add the butter. Mix until all combined.
• Spread the cream in a clean tray, spread sugar on top so a crust doesnt form.
• Cover with cling film and put into the fridge.

Baking pastry layers:

• Pre-heat oven at 200C
• Cut a baking paper with the shape of your baking tray.
• In a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry in a long rectangle like your tray using the paper mould.
• Using the paper as a mould, trim the sides. Put the paper back in the tray and then put on top the pastry.
• “Docker” the pastry with a fork.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
• Using another tray, place on top of the pastry and push it so the pastry keeps flat. Bake for another 15 minutes or so.
• Remove from oven, remove top tray and check the pastry in golden brown and flat. Cool down in a rack before next step.
• Using a paper mould (rectangle) cut three pieces from your pastry. Use a serrated knife and be careful.
• Chop very finally left over pastry
• Assembling time. Take the cream from the fridge, put it in a bowl and mix so takes a bit of room temperature. Using a piping bag, fill with one cup of cream. Using your hand on the bottom of the bag and dont put too much cream. Use the index finger to roll the bag in the nozzle before adding the cream.
• Using one piece of pastry as the bottom layer, in the middle, make a line with the cream. Then two layer on top, and two bottom. Total 5 layers. Add another piece of pastry on top. Trim the sides of cream with a spatula or small knife, fill the pockets with cream.
• Using the left over pastry crumbs, cover the cream sides with it.
• Add the cream again in the middle pastry layer like in the bottom. One line in the middle, two top, two bottom. Add the final (be sure it is the best piece) pastry piece on top.
• Again, trim the side of cream with a spatula or small knife, fill the pockets with cream.
• With a shiver, spread glass sugar on top.

Ready to eat!

Doesnt look like in the video but it was tasty!

Using the puff pastry recipe. We can do the following:

Sausage Roll ingredients:

• 400g puff pastry
• 450g sausage meat
• salt, pepper, extra spices of your choice
• 60g pickle, (Stilton cheese optional)
• 1 egg beaten
• sesame seeds

Process

• pre-heat oven at 200C
• mix meat, salt, pepper. Roll it a long shapped sausage.
• Roll out pastry to the length of your sausage. And 3-4 times wider. Trim edges to make it neat.
• Spread the sausage nearly in the middle of the pastry. Add the pickle lenghtway the sausage (and cheese). Roll the pastry on top the meat until enclosed, you will have some left over pastry. Leave only aprox 3cm, trim the rest (but dont throw it away!)
• With a fork (and a bit of flour), flatten the edge so it is enclosed properly.
• Eggwash the pastry, then score in diagonals (both directions).
• Spread some sesame seeds on top. Cut in 4 pieces with a sharp knife.
• Put the rolls in a tray with baking paper.
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden-brown. If you have a thermometer, the meat should reach 165C to be cooked (I think).

This will make 4 big sausage rolls

Eccles cakes ingredients:

• 15g butter
• 75g dried currants
• 1 tbs of mixed peel fruit
• 25g demenara sugar
• 1/2 ts mixed spice
• 250g puff pastry
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs sugar

Process:

• pre-heat oven at 220C
• in a small sauce pan, over medium heat, melt butter. Add currant, mixed peel, demenara sugar and spice. Stir until sugar is disolved and fruit properly coated. Remove from heat.
• Put a bit of flour in a work surface and roll out the pastry to 1/2cm thick. Using a circle mould (10-13cm diameter), cut as many pieces as you can.
• Put the fruit mix in the middle of each circle. Wash with a bit of water the edges. Pull all edges together in the middle like a parcel. Pinch it so it doesnt open. Invent the parcel and flatten it with slap of your hand.
• Brush each cake with eggwash and sprinkle with sugar.
• Score each cake with 3 cuts. Put them in a tray with baking paper.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Quite tasty everything!

This is a good example for a visualization of the process:

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 5g salt
• 135ml cold water + squeeze a bit of lemon
• 200g cold butter

Process:

• Mix flour and salt in a bowl
• Gradually add water, mixing with one hand. Mix all together.
• Put the dough in a work surface. And knead (bull method) with both hands, until smooth. Aprox 10-15 minutes depending on conditions.
• Put the dough back in the bowl, cover and leave it rest.
• We are going to make a parcel with the butter. Take a baking sheet paper and fold it in 3 parts horizontally, then do the same thing vertically. Once you unfold the paper, you will have 9 “squares”. Put the butter in the middle square, and fold again the paper until you have a parcel. With a rolling pin, flatten the butter until forms an uniform square thanks to the baking paper.
• Take your dough, with a rolling pin and using the butter parcel as a reference, spread the though to make a rectangle 1cm wider in each side compared with the butter and in double in length (plus 1cm extra on top and bottom). The goal is to enclose the butter with the dough.
• Once you have your dough spread out, put the butter (be sure is cold), in the top part, use the bottom part to cover the dough. Be sure the butter is covered by the four sides.
• With a bit of flour in your rolling pin, start to press down the pastry to squash the butter gently.
• Roll the pastry into rectangle lenthways.
• Folding process. Take the top 1/3 of the dough and fold it down the center. Now take the remaining bottom half and fold it up. Turn the pastry 90 grades like you have a book (the seam on the left). Repeat the process, spread lengthways and fold as book. This is a double fold.
• Rest 30 minutes in the fridge (wrap in cling film) (important the butter is firm and never melts!) and do another double fold.
• Again 30 minutes rest and another double fold.

Now the dough is ready for action. You can keep in the fridge for at least one week before you use it. Always keep it wrapped properly in cling film.