Stuffed Focaccia Bread

 Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Today, I bring a very delicious stuffed flat bread recipe. It's my family favorite. Not just the family, every friend and guest I've served this to love it. It's nutritious and filling, wants you craving for one more slice. 

Here's my simple way to make it. There are a few segments to it:

1. Prepare the flatbread dough

2. Make the filling

3. Bring it all together, create the stuffed bread and bake. 

What you'll need:

Special Equipment: Pizza (or other flat) pan, greased with olive oil and an oven to bake. 

Ingredients:

1. Flatbread dough: 

Bread Flour - your choice of white, whole wheat or a mix - 5 cups

Olive Oil - 1/3 cup 

Yeast - 3 tsp

Sugar - 4 tbsp

Salt - 2 tsp

Water - 2 cups, luke warm

Dried basil, oregano or other italian seasoning - 2 tbsp

2. Filling:

Mixed vegetables: I commonly use

Bell Peppers - all colors - green, red, yellow, orange - one each, sliced thin

Potatoes - 2 large, sliced thin

Green Peas - 1 cup

Pineapple - cubed, 2 cups

Sundried tomatoes - 1 cup

Olives - chopped - 1 cup

Green Beans - Chopped into 1 inch pieces - 1 cup

Eggplant - 1/4 cup - cut as you desire

Carrots - sliced thin and long - 1 cup

Panneer - cubed, 1 cup

Fresh Basil - 1 cup

Pine nuts - 1/2 cup

Cheese - Cheddar, Mozzarella or a mix

Chilli flakes - 2 tbsp

Olive Oil - 2 tbps

Use any combination of the above vegetables, nuts and cheese per your preference. Add others that you may like.

Recipe

Pre-heat the oven to 400F

1. Prepare the dough:

If you have a standard method to make the pizza dough, use that. Here's what I do:

In some lukewarm water, add 2-3 tsps of dried yeast, sugar and salt, wait for it to froth, about 10-15 minutes.

In a large bowl, add the dough, olive oil, salt and the frothy yeast mixture. Knead well to form a loose dough. You can do this in a stand mixer or the dough setting of the bread maker if you have one. If not, no worries, just knead it all well. 

Cover and rest for an hour or two. Punch down after an hour. 

2. Prepare the filling:

In a large pan, add all the vegetables (except sundried tomatoes and olives), olive oil, salt and stir fry. Let this cook, fry in between to ensure it doesnt stick. When it is more than half way cooked, add the sundried tomatoes. When it is more or less cooked, add the olives. When the vegetables are all cooked, add the chopped panneer and chilli flakes and mix well. 

Grind the basil leaves and pine nuts together into a paste. Add to the prepared filling and mix well.

3. Bring it together and bake:

Cut the down into 4 equal parts. 

Take one part, roll it into a ball using your hands and then roll into a large flat round base (similar to how you would roll a pizza base or a large roti or a tortilla, but slightly thick than a roti or tortilla).

Place the dough base on to the greased pan.

Add the prepared filling and spread on the dough base leaving some space on the edge. 

Add grated cheese on top of the vegetables.

Take another part of the dough, roll it down flat and large. Carefully, lift and place on the dough/vegetable base and cover it fully. Stretch the edges to the bottom layer of the dough and press down to close fully. Use a fork or some water to seal the edges. 

Place into the preheated oven and bake for 25-40 minutes, depending on your oven. Bake until golden brown and crisp. Tap the top to feel the crispness. When it is done, take it out, let it cool down.

Cut into slices, offer to Krishna and enjoy.

Notes:

To make vegan stuffed focaccia, omit the panneer and cheese

Basil / Pine nut pesto paste is completely optional, it just adds a lot of flavor, but can be easily omitted if there is an allergy or if you simply dont like the taste

Any of the vegetables above can be substituted or omitted, for instance, I've only used eggplant once. While I eat the vegetable, its not my favorite so more often than not, I skip it.

Gobi Manchurian - No onion no garlic version

 Sri:

Make a thick batter with all purpose flour, corn starch, rice flour, salt , red chilli powder, water, dip the florets , deep fry and keep.

For the sauce, grind tomatoes, ginger, green chillies and add to a pan with oil. Add red chilli powder, crushed red pepper flakes and cook till it’s not raw anymore. When it is done, add some water and bring to a boil. Mix 1 tbsp of corn starch with water, mix without lumps and add to the sauce. Add soy sauce and bring to a boil

Once the deep fried cauliflower cools down, fry it again and let it cool down a bit again. Just before eating mix the cauliflower with sauce and serve

You can add sliced green peppers and shredded cabbage anytime in the sauce and cook to the extent you like

If you want it crunchy add later , if you want it well cooked, you can add earlier

If the sauce or the fried cauliflower is too hot it will become soggy quickly

Kesari

 Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Basic Kesari Recipe:

Ingredients:

Ravai / Sooji, Fine - 1 cup

Sugar - 1.75 - 2 cups, as desired

Water - 3-4 cups

Ghee - ~1 cup

Cardamom - 1 tsp

Saffron - few strands

Cashews, Raisins, Almonds - chopped, optional

Fruits - Banana / Mango / Strawberry / Blueberry / Pineapple - cubed 1 cup - optional

Recipe:

In a thick bottomed pan, add some ghee, dry roast the ravai with cashews, almonds in medium heat until it turns brown and a nice aroma comes. On the side, bring the water, saffron threads and sugar to a boil (see variations). By the time the ravai is roasted, the water and sugar mixture to come to a rolling boil. Turn off the stove and add the water sugar mixture to the roasted ravai slowly and keep stirring. It will sizzle so do it slowly. Once all the water is added, turn the stove back on at medium heat and keep stirring until the mixture comes together. Add cardamom powder towards the end. Add ghee in frequent intervals or at the end. 

Variations:

For fruit flavored kesari, when the ravai is more than half way roasted, add the chopped fruits and roast them all together well. Mash the fruits as part of the roasting process to bring it all together nicely and then add water.

Sweetness - For large quantities, 1:2 ratio of ravai to sugar is recommended. For smaller quantities or just for the household, 1.75 is alright

Water - For large quantities where prasadam will be prepared several hours in advance, 1:4 water is recommended. It will hold up the heat and the amount of kesari that this makes will be large. 

Three ways to add sugar and water

1. You can boil just water in a pan on the side. Once the ravai is roasted, you can add the water first to cook the ravai, then add the sugar once the ravai is cooked and stir together

2. You can boil just water in a pan on the side. Once the ravai is roasted, you can add sugar first, let it melt, stir for a bit and then add water and cook them all together

3. You can boil both water and sugar in a pan on the side. Once the ravai is roasted, add the mixture together and let it cook (this is the method I've posted above)

Offer to Krishna

Stuffed Snake Gourd (Pudalangaai)

 Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

If you are a pudalangaai lover, this dish will blow you away, if you are on the fence, you’ll be giving it another chance and might actually like to eat this vegetable this way. Try it out and post your comment.

Ingredients:

Snake gourd (pudalangaai) : 3-4 medium sized or 1-2 long , as much as your family can consume 

Peanuts - 1 cup

Channa Dal - 1/2 cup

Red chillies - 4-5, adjust to suit your spice tolerance

Coriander seeds - 1/2 cup

Coconut shreds - dry or fresh - 1/2 cup

Sesame - 1 tbsp

Salt - 2 tsp , adjust to your taste

Each of the above ingredient is optional and you can mix and match to pick the combo you prefer  

Recipe:

Wash and cut the snake gourd into finger length sized rings. Remove the inner mushy material and keep aside.

From the inner mushy material remove all the seeds and discard. 

In a thick bottom pan, add the sesame seeds and let it splitter, remove from the pan and keep aside. Then, dry roast all the peanuts, when they crack open, add the channa dal and roast. When they turn brown, add the coriander seeds and roast for 1-2 minutes, then add the shredded coconut and fry for another minute or two. 

Remove from the pan. Now add the snake gourd’s inner mushy material and fry it to remove the raw taste, it might lump up and that’s ok. Water will release, continue sautéing until well cooked.

Now powder the roasted sesame coarsely and then add the remaining spices and powder them coarsely as well. To this, add salt and the sautéed snake gourd inner mushy material, grind together and keep ready.

To the cut and prepared snake gourd rings, now start stuffing this powdered mixture, repeat until all the snake gourd pieces have been stuffed.

Take a wide bottomed sauté pan, add some oil and place these stuffed snake gourd pieces on the pan such that the skin of the gourd touches the pan. Place them all and cover the pan. Let it cook in low to medium heat. Every few minutes, turn the snake gourd pieces to let the other sides touch the pan and cook. Some of the stuffing may start coming out. Gently push it back in with the ladle. Cover and cook until the entire gourd is soft. You will see some charring and that's ok. 

Remove from the pan when fully done, offer to Krishna and serve with hot rice or rotis or by itself as a snack.

 

Omavalli Pakoda (Mexican Mint / Cuban Oregano Pakoda)

 Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

My omavalli / karpooravalli plant has been growing well with a lot of leaves, I trimmed it today and wondered what to do with all those leaves. A friend suggested Omavalli bajji in the past and it turned out quite well. Extending that, I tried to make Omavalli pakodas and it came out quite well. 

Wash the leaves, trim the stalk and chop into long pieces. Add gram flour, rice flour, salt, chilli powder, chopped cashews, any oil (I used coconut oil) and knead well. I didnt add any water, the moisture from the leaves was sufficient to bring it all together in a ball. 

In a thick bottom pan, add oil for deep frying and heat in medium flame. When the oil is ready, add small dumplings from the dough and deep fry until the pakodas start floating. Remove from the oil, let the pakodas drain and slightly cool. 

Offer to Krishna and enjoy.

Saatvik Pizza - My Style

 Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

As I sit here on a friday evening wondering when I'll get off work and what I should make for dinner, the thought of warm cheesy pizza crosses my mind. Then, I realize that I've been making this family favorite for 12+ years now. I would have probably made 500+ pizzas in all these years. 

The most common way for someone to have a pizza is to order in - well, not in our family. 

It's not even that hard to make, so, I figured I should share the recipe and hope that I've inspired someone to try it.

Notes: 

I use canned tomato paste to recreate flavorful pizza sauce, somehow fresh tomatoes dont seem to cut it for me, but if you are ok with it, please go ahead.

You can use bread flour, all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, a combination of these flours, whatever suits your palate and mood on that day

I generally use perforated pans, they seem to produce the best results if you need to make multiple pizzas. I've also tried with cast iron pans, they seem to work for the first pizza, but from the second one and beyond, you'll need some skill to transfer the pizza base without burning your hands

You can precook just the base and keep it ready. Add sauce and toppings and cook just before pizza is ready to be served. I use this method when I'm making for pizza for multiple families and have to cut down my cook time

You can make the dough by kneading manually with your hands, or a stand mixer or using the dough setting in a bread maker

Equipment Needed:

Pizza pans (or cast iron pans), oven, knife or pizza cutter, stove for the sauce.

Ingredients

Pizza Base:

 All purpose, bread flour, whole wheat flour or a mix of these - 6 cups

Water: 1.25 - 2 cups, depending on the flour type

Salt: 1 tbsp

Sugar: 3 tbsp

Olive oil: 1/2 cup

Yeast: 1.5 tsp ( 2tsp for quick rise)

Pizza Sauce:

Canned Tomato Paste - 1 can

Italian seasoning - 2 tbsp

Water - 2 cups

Salt - 2 tsp

Olive oil - 1/4 cup

Toppings :

Cheese, grated - 2 cups

Vegetables of your choice - cut into any shape you prefer. Our family favorites are

Green bell peppers - cut into finger length and width sizes 

Jalapenos - sliced

Black olives - sliced

Pineapple - cubed

Spinach

Sun dried tomatoes

Recipe: 

Pizza Base

Combine the water, salt, sugar, flour, olive oil and yeast and knead well. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour, if the dough is too dry, add more water. You can use  a stand mixer, knead with your hand or use the dough setting on your bread machine. 

Knead well, cover with cloth and put in a warm place for the dough to rise. In about 2 hours, the dough would have doubled, punch it down and knead again, set aside for another 30-45 minutes. This is called double rise. The dough has to rise atleast once, optional to let it double rise. Keep this covered until you are ready to bake.

Sauce:

In a thick bottom pan, add the tomato paste, water, oil, salt, italian seasoning and mix well. Bring to medium heat, stir and let it cook. Once it thickens, in about 10 minutes, turn off the heat. 

Rolling out the pizza and baking:

Preheat oven to 425F. 

Cut the dough into 4-5 equal size portions. Grease your pizza pan and keep ready.

Take each portion of the dough, give it a quick knead and roll using a rolling pin to desired thickness and diameter. Lift and place on the greased pizza pan. Adjust the sides as necessary. If using a perforated pan, the dough may peak out from the holes, gently lift once and lay flat on the pan. 

Brush some oil on the edges of the dough. 

Add 2 -3 ladles or desired amount of sauce. 

Top with your choice of vegetables followed by cheese. 

Ensure the vegetables or not too crowded. 

Sprinkle some oil. 

Place the pan into the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the pizza and the efficiency of the oven. 

You'll know pizza is done when you start seeing brown spots on the cheese. 

Use oven mittens to remove the pizza, place on a cooling rack or other surface to cool slightly. Transfer to a cutting board and make slices using a knife or pizza cutter. 

Offer to Krishna and enjoy. 

More Notes:

I use tomato paste rather than fresh tomatoes. The tomato paste provides more of the dense italian flavor that is somehow missing when I make with fresh pureed tomatoes. The fresh pureed tomatoes have more of a rasam or north indian gravy flavor than Italian. 

For alternate flavors, you can use panneer butter masala gravy, pesto sauce, palak panneer gravy etc. instead of the pizza sauce

I prefer to top with vegetables and then cheese, thats just a preference, you can add cheese first and then vegetables as well

Amount of sauce, vegetables, cheese etc are personal preferences... I like to add generous amounts of sauce while my children like light sauce on their pizzas

It's a great way to engage kids during parties, they love crafting their own pizza.

If you tried this or have a question, please drop a comment. 

 

Homemade Ginger Ale

 Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

I had some Pomegranate Ginger Ale at a work dinner event and was very impressed. Wanted to try out a simpler version and checked out some recipes on the internet. Tried the following and it worked great.

Measures below make about 4cups ginger ale

Ingredients:

Ginger - peeled and grated - 1/2 cup

Water - 2 cups

Sugar - 1/2 cup (adjust to taste), can substitute with monk fruit sweetener

Lime - about 1 (adjust to taste)

Water / Soda - 3 cups

Add the grated ginger and 1 cup water to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Let it boil until the water reduces to half. In another pan, add the sugar and the remaining cup of water, bring to a boil and let it thicken. 

Add the sugar syrup to the ginger / water liquid. Steep for atleast 30 minutes. I left it sitting on the counter for 4-5 hours.

Filter and keep - The ginger ale concentrate is ready. 

When ready to serve, add lime, the ginger ale concentrate and water or soda together. Serve chilled.