Mushroom Pie

My first few attempts at baking a pie.....and it was gooodddd :))))

Lets get down to the recipe right away, before I forget any details!

For the pie pastry:

200gms butter

250gms maida

135ml sour cream

For preparing this pastry, I searched high and low for sour cream, but just couldn't get it in any decent store. So finally had to make it at home itself. For making sour cream, just add a teaspoon of curd/ dahi to 135ml of fresh cream (I used Amul fresh cream, and it turned out quite good) and let it stand for about 24 hours - Your sour cream is ready to use!

To prepare the dough, the butter has to be chilled. Place the butter and the maida in the food processor and grind them till the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Then add the sour cream and form a dough. Once the dough is ready, fold into a rectangle and wrap in a plastic film and place it in the fridge for a minimum of 15 mins.

For the mushroom filling:

1 packet of button mushrooms

3 small onions

3 green chillies

5 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons maida

1 cup milk

salt to taste

pepper to taste

coriander

olive oil

1. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add in the garlic. Saute for a few seconds.
2. Add in the finely diced onions and green chillies and saute till soft and transparent.
3. Chop mushrooms into big pieces and add them to the onions. Cook till the mushrooms are done.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add maida, fry for a few minutes.
6. Add milk and cook till it forms a thick sauce.
7. Add finely chopped coriander and get off the flame. Allow to cool.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll out into two 3 mm discs. Measure the container in which you would be baking the pie and make one circle a couple of inches larger than the base, as it needs to cover the sides as well. The second circle needs to be the exact diameter of the container, as it forms the lid of the pie. Place these two circles in the fridge till the filling is ready and cooled to room temperature.

Place the larger circle in the container and let the extra part hang off the sides. Pour the mushroom filling into this. Place the smaller circle on this filling and seal the ends with the extra ends of the first circle. Brush the top of the pie with a mixture of egg and milk to give it a lovely glaze on baking.

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Bake the pie for around 16-20 mins. Done!

Eggless Chocolate Cake

It was my birthday yesterday, but unfortunately Mom has turned pure vegeterian this month (Karthik masam). So had to do a good search for an eggless cake which could taste as good as the real cake. Luckily, found this really simple and easy recipe on www.trustedrecipes.com. It is very very easy to make and makes a decent cake!

Ingredients:

• 2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine softened
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whisked yogurt (curd)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup warm milk

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).
• Lightly butter two 9-inch-round baking pans or one 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Dust its sides of cake pan(s) with cocoa powder. In a large bowl, combine cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add whisked yogurt, a very few spoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture alternately with milk. Pour into prepared pan(s).
• Bake until cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-35 minutes. Cool in pan(s) for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to loosen cake from pan. Invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I prepared two of these cakes as my elder daughter loves a layered cake. And I am not yet very successful in preparing the perfect chocolate icing, so I took the easy out and used Hershey's chocolate sauce instead :)

• Place the first cake upside down and smear it with the chocolate sauce and place the second cake over it.
• Pour some more chocolate sauce over the second cake in an irregular fashion to get a design of sorts. I was going to spread it out evenly but my daughter felt it looked better as modern art :) I must say I agree with her :)
• You can go ahead and decorate it with any cake decorations, but I chose GEMS (again, influenced by my daughter's love for GEMS). I gave P2 the chance to get creative and she ended up giving the finishing touch to my birthday cake!!

Home made Bread

I am total fan of home made buns!! I remember mom making these for us when we were kids...........the lovely aroma of the fresh yeast and the baking..........is so very nostalgic!!! I wanted my kids to have similar memories :) So off I started on my quest for the perfect bread recipe! And I found it at my favorite place................the Travel & Living channel!!! Rachel Allen - Bake :) Lovely show with some great recipes and tips on baking!

Well, the recipe I perfected is:

Ingredients:

Flour (maida) - 250 gms

Yeast - 10gms (dried yeast) or 2ogms (fresh yeast)

Warm Water - 100ml

Olive oil - 4 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Sugar - 3 tsp

Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp (optional - I am a die hard fan of cinnnamon, so that's why it is featuring here. You can omit it if you do not want it)

Method:

1. Mix the salt and cinnamon powder (optional) into the flour. This has to be done before adding the yeast, as direct contact with salt will kill the yeast.
2. Add sugar to the warm water (not hot, just lukewarm), mix well. Add the yeast to this mixture and wait for a few mins till you see the yeast bubbling on the water surface.
3. Add the olive oil to this yeast mixture and mix well. Add this emulsion the the flour and knead to a soft dough.
4. The dough initially will be very sticky. Keep kneading with a good amount of force and add a spoonful of flour if required. By the end of 5-6 mins, the flour should be well kneaded and soft and fluffy.
5. Grease a deep bowl, place this dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl and keep in a warm place for around 2 hours.
6. After 2 hours, the dough would have fluffed to twice its size. Punch the dough into the bowl and knead well again. Make into desired shapes and keep aside for another 30 mins.
7. Bake these at 175 degrees centigrade for around 10 mins.

Delicious, fluffy buns ready!!!!