Chicken Stew

Hello friends,

Yes, I admit I thought I'd never write again. Probably. It may be apathy or plain, old laziness. But I somehow convinced myself not to let this blog die because I still love to cook and I still love to share my recipes with the world. Maybe, my dream of opening a pop-up restaurant will never materialize or maybe it will. Only time can tell. But in the meanwhile, we can have this, a timeless classic and a sure-shot dish to woo someone in a lazy winter evening. Or afternoon. Don't be picky. If the company is right, it might be 4 o' clock in the morning and you will still be willing to rustle up something for them. If you have a friend like that, don't let them go. Feed them chicken stew with a side of buttered bread.

Preferably in bed! ;)

Ingredients:

400 gm chicken (skinless but bones on)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 a tsp of white pepper powder
1 onion
1 large potato
1 carrot
2 cups of water
1/2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1/2 tsp finely chopped garlic
10 whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 tsp vegetable oil (or any flavourless oil)
1 tsp butter (optional)
2-tablespoon milk
Salt to taste

Preparation:

I generally cook chicken stew in a pressure cooker and I start cooking it in the cooker pan itself. You can easily do it in a deep pan or casserole or even a kadai with a lid. I think in a pressure cooker, the chicken and veggies don't lose moisture fast, which, in case of this stew, is a good thing, for this way everything remains succulent later on.

First of all, I wash the chicken pieces thoroughly. You can use boneless chicken, but half the flavour of the broth comes from the juice that seeps out of the bones and therefore, I would recommend chicken with bones. You can also opt for leg pieces only. Also, please avoid the liver, ribs, neck portion or parts of chicken with clotted blood or impurities because the chicken is mostly boiled and the impurities would rise to the surface making the stew look dirty.

Once the chicken is thoroughly cleaned, I like to marinade it for ten minutes or so with a little white vinegar and a pinch of white pepper powder. This step is optional but I somehow feel it helps reduce the raw smell and make the meat more tender.

While the chicken is marinading, the potato and carrot need to be peeled and cut into large chunky pieces. The onion should be quartered and it should be made sure the petals are separated.

Now, heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the bay leaf and peppercorns but don't let the oil smoke. Once they peppercorns start spluttering, add the finely chopped ginger and garlic and without waiting, add the onions. Stir for thirty seconds (don't wait until your onions become translucent) before adding the chicken pieces one by one (after making sure they are relatively dry). Turn them over with a slotted spoon once and add the rest of the veggies. At this point, you must realize, you are NOT stir-frying them, but sweating them, in their own steam. You can fry the chicken first and then do the veggies and re-introduce the chicken later on, but this is my short-cut method and trust me, it doesn't matter much in the end.

Add salt and two cups of water at this stage, cover the lid and crank up the heat. Bring up to a boil and let it cook until two whistles. Let it cool down a bit and let the steam to escape before opening.

After opening the lid, check if the chicken is cooked and also check the broth for seasoning. If there are any impurities floating on the surface, carefully fish them out too.

Turn the oven on again on a gentle flame and add warm milk (otherwise it may curdle) and a dollop of butter. Give it a gentle mix.

Serve immediately with buttered toast. I'd suggest preparing your toast while you are waiting for the pressure cooker to cool down so that you can serve it immediately after adding the milk and butter and the colur changes to a glorious cream.

Enjoy! :)

Spaghetti with Swedish Meatballs

Hey friends,

It's been a long time since I posted anything and I have no one to blame other than my procrastination. Alipurduar has made me lazy, well, lazier than usual. I promise a regular update from now on because I really need some discipline in my life - like posting a new recipe every Monday or something like that - because everybody knows Mondays are the worst and you need a pick-me-up. And what better pick-me-up is out there other than food! I, at least, whole-heartedly believe in the philosophy of 'we live to eat' rather than the other way round.

So, here it is (and though it's not Monday), a brand-new recipe - Swedish meatballs with Italian spaghetti - a relatively easy recipe which looks as well as tastes wonderful. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did on a wintry evening along with Bhutanese peach wine Zumzin. Ah...that's heaven right there :)

Ingredients:

Italian spaghetti (for two people I took two around 100 grams. I measured it by hand, making a ring with my thumb and forefinger. Remember pasta of any kind tends to be heavier than noodles. If you want to know more about how to measure spaghetti or any dry pasta by hand, visit here)
Minced chicken (150 grams)
2 white bread (without crust)
1 cup of full-fat milk
1 egg
2 cups of chicken stock (See my recipe for chicken stock here)
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I use Keya)
1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper powder
1 sprig of Italian parsley (finely chopped)
1 large onion (finely chopped)
1/4 teaspoon red chilly flakes
1/4 teaspoon white flour
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4-5 button mushrooms cleaned and sliced into half centimetre thick pieces (optional, but highly recommended)
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon of any flavourless cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon good quality olive oil and a few drops more for garnishing


Preparation:

First, prepare the meatballs. Heat one teaspoon olive oil in a deep pan and cook the onion on low flame. As soon as they are caramelised a little, remove them from the pan and keep aside. Don't wash the pan as you will need it soon.

Dip the white bread in 3-4 tablespoon of milk and let it rest until soft. Combine the minced chicken, half of the cooked onions, Italian seasoning, pepper powder, salt, white bread and 1 egg and mix with hands.

Heat oil in the same pan that you have cooked the onion in. Clean your hands and keep a small bowl of water handy. Dip your fingers in it from time to time to moisten them; this way the meat will not stick to your fingers while making the meatballs. The meatballs should be of small size (bite-size, that is you can have one in a single bite) so that there are lots of them and they cook evenly. Shallow fry them in the oil, keeping in mind they don't have to be cooked on all sides. 3-4 minutes on both sides on low flame will do that will make them nice and caramelised. Don't overcook the meatballs as that will make them dry and chewy.

Now, remove them with a slotted spoon or a pair of tongs. Add the mushrooms to the remaining oil and sweat it for about a minute before adding the rest of the cooked onions. Now add the chicken stock and half a teaspoon of salt. Bring it to boil. Add the spaghetti and let it simmer on a gentle heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until the spaghetti is cooked. Remember, pasta of any kind is always cooked al dente which literally means 'to the tooth.' It basically means the pasta should be ever so slightly undercooked because the remaining cooking process will soften it further.

The liquid in the pan should reduce a lot and if not, bring it to boil for a couple of minutes until there is about a 1/2 cup of liquid left in the pan along with the pasta. Add the remaining milk. Now sprinkle the flour all over the surface. Add the butter, meatballs, salt, chilly flakes, chopped parsley and half of the grated cheese. Check the seasoning and if needed, add more salt. Switch off the gas when everything is well-combined. Portion them into two serving bowls (preferably ceramic)  and garnish with a few drops of olive oil and grated parmesan.

Serve piping hot with a drink on the side (fresh lime soda or white wine) and watch your date/spouse's jaw drop to the floor ;)

Basic Chicken Stock

Hey friends,

I use chicken stock in many recipes. It enhances the flavour and richness of any dish and the best thing about chicken stock is that you can prepare it with ingredients that tend to end up in your trashcan. It's inexpensive to make and you can prepare a lot at a time and preserve it for fifteen to twenty days in your refrigerator easily in an air-tight container. You can even make frozen cubes of chicken stock and store them in the freezer for months in a ziplock bag and use them in any gravy items or to rustle up a delicious soup in no time.

Now, many people add bay-leaves, flat-leaf parsley, coriander roots, ginger or lemongrass and many other flavouring agents to their chicken stock, but I don't. I believe, as far as the basic chicken stock is concerned, less is more. As you will notice, I don't use any flavour enhancer or even seasoning to it, but just a couple of ingredients that will neutralise the smell of raw chicken. That way you don't have to worry about the salt-content or flavouring when you are using it in any of your recipes and you can use it for any preparation, be it Continental or Chinese or Mughlai without having to worry about it changing the original flavour of the dish.

I had once prepared chicken sweet-corn soup using Maggi chicken stock cubes and I forgot they already have salt. Of course, I hadn't checked the instructions on the packet and I added salt resulting in an inedible soup which was way too salty.

Therefore, I don't add any seasoning to my basic chicken stock so that mistakes like this won't happen and it will take the flavour or any dish that I am preparing without overpowering them.

Now, about what parts of the chicken you should use for chicken stock - whenever I buy one whole chicken, I request my butcher to make it boneless and to give me the bones separately so that they don't go to waste. There is no problem if you make the stock with the whole chicken or chicken with bones and use the boiled meat for preparing something else (like a chicken sandwich or chicken bharta or olivier salad). Remember, there must be a lot of bones and the meat portion doesn't really do much for the chicken stock. It's the marrow that seeps out of the bones that makes a rich and flavourful chicken stock. Also, I forgot to mention before, don't use the chicken fat as it will make your stock disgustingly oily.

Ingredients:

Chicken bones (at least 300 to 500 grams)
1/2 litre water
4-5 whole black peppercorns
1/2 onion (don't bother to chop it, but I peel it to ensure it's nice and clean)
2 heads of carrot (discarded parts which are not used in cooking)

Preparation:

Clean the chicken bones and carrot heads thoroughly. I let the bones sit in water (not brine, but plain, cold water) for at least fifteen minutes and rinse them twice or thrice under running water so that there is no clotted blood or impurities stuck to the bones.

Place all the ingredients in a pressure cooker and bring it to boil. Cook it until seven to eight whistles (depending on your cooker, but at least you don't have to worry about overcooking the stock as the more the bones are boiled in the liquid the better) and let it cool completely before opening the lid.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can easily make it in a deep casserole/sauce pot/pasta cooker or anything with a fitted lid. Of course, in that case, you have to boil it for around 45 minutes (at least) on low flame, and you may need to add half a cup water because of the longer cooking time.

Strain the liquid with a fine mesh and voilà, your chicken stock is ready.



P.S. - I am sorry that I don't have an image as of now, but I will upload it soon.

Singapore Mei Foon (Rice noodles, Singapore-style)

Hello friends,

Have I told you about New Market located at Esplanade, Kolkata. It is a magical place where you can find the rarest of ingredients that you haven't even heard the names of, for example: a napa.

I know, I too went 'what in God's green earth is that', when I saw the vegetable on display. To me, it looked like a hybrid version of a lettuce head, but it was a won bok or napa or Chinese cabbage. Well, what do I know!

I didn't even know what exactly happened, but after five minutes I found myself carrying a napa, a bok choy (don't ask, just Google it!), a sprig of spring onion (which was obscenely expensive for it was not in season) and a beautiful red carrot.

It must have been some Chinese voodoo.

Anyways, since I had all these ingredients at hand I remembered an excellent meal I had at the Singapore Airport back in 2008, with Singapore mei foon (how I loved the cliché) and naturally I started hunting for rice noodles next (I totally went about it in reverse, didn't I?). Naturally, I found it at New Market, rice noodles that was of excellent quality and imported from...somewhere, for I definitely didn't recognise the language written on the packet when I tried and failed to look for the expiry date. The shop-keeper assured me it was fresh and I believed him for he looked elderly and kind and not the murdering-the-customers-in-their-sleep-or-when-they-unsuspectingly-have-mei-foon-one-fine-day sort.

As usual I tweaked it to suit my taste buds and the availability of ingredients. I used shrimp (fresh ones, not the frozen ones) in stead of meat of any kind and Sunrise Chow Mix in stead of curry powder (it has loads of garlic powder and some other spices including cinnamon and cloves). I didn't have hoisin or oyster sauce either. I used a little bit of Schezuan sauce for I love it hot and spicy.

Ok, enough talking! Here are the pics and the recipe itself:

You see how the noodles have broken into little pieces. Well, it was because I didn't have a Chinese wok which is the best utensil for cooking noodles. If you try to do it in your saucepan like me, you will end up breaking up the noodle threads. A pity, for as it turned out, the noodles were indeed of excellent quality.

Ingredients:

100 gram rice noodles (should feed two people)

1 egg (cracked and beaten)

1/2 a cup of carrot (julienned)

1/2 a cup of napa (julienned)

1/2 a cup of regular cabbage (julienned)

2 sprigs of spring onion

1/4th of a green capsicum (julienned again)

10 shrimps (peeled and de-veined and thoroughly cleaned)

10/12 cloves of garlic (peeled and chopped finely)

1 large onion (cut into long strips)

3/4 teaspoon of white pepper powder

Salt to taste

4 tablespoon of vegetable oil

For the sauce:

Mix 1/2 a teaspoon of Schezuan sauce with 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce, 1 teaspoon or light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar and 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar. Mix well and keep aside.

Preparation:

Boil water and let simmer. Cook the rice noodles in gentle heat for a couple of minutes and take off the flame. Let it sit in the warm water for another five minutes or until softened. Drain and keep aside.

Cut the white and harder part of spring onions into 1 inch long pieces and finely chop the leaves portion. Keep them separate.

Add one tablespoon of oil in a wok (I used a large saucepan, but I strongly urge you to use a wok instead). Add the beaten egg. Cook on high flame, but don't overcook it. Take the omelette off the wok as soon as it gets cooked. Set aside.

Add oil if necessary and add the shrimp. Stir-fry for one minute in medium heat and remove the moment they turn opaque and pink. 

Now crank up the heat to the highest degree, have all your ingredients ready at hand including salt and pepper. Add oil to the wok and let it smoke. Let the oil coat your entire wok before you start adding the vegetables. Start with chopped garlic, onions and carrots. When the aroma of the garlic comes out, add the white part of spring onions and cabbages (both types) and stir-fry again. After around half a minute add the capsicum and add a tiny pinch of salt. Stir on high-heat for 10 to 12 seconds before adding the drained noodles and shrimps.

Add 1 tablespoon of curry powder or Sunrise Chow Mix, salt, white pepper and mix. After a few seconds add the sauce and stir-fry again. 

The entire process shouldn't take more than five minutes.

Now add the shredded omelette on top after taking off the flame.

Serve hot.

And you have a piece of Singapore on your plate :)

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Caramel Custard (Flan)

Hello friends,

Imagine tucking into a sugary delight that looks like edible silk and tastes like world's most decadent cream. Imagine a desert bathed in dark amber caramel, which can make you salivate by simply looking at it. Imagine a desert that is made of only three ingredients and is ridiculously easy to prepare, but is full of drama.

Yes, I am talking about caramel custard or caramel pudding or flan!

There are so many different names and so many different variations of the beautiful desert that looks as well as tastes like a piece of heaven.

And I will teach you the foolproof method of preparing the famous desert so that you get it right every time.

See the beautiful toffee coloured top and the dark caramel around. That is what I am talking about :)

Ingredients:

500 ml milk
3 eggs
50 grams of sugar
3 to 4 tablespoon of sugar for making caramel (I always make more for I love to bathe my pudding with caramel)
1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla essence (this time I used almost one teaspoon and the result was quite good as the flavour of vanilla came out really well)

Preparation:

First, prepare your caramel. Place a heavy bottomed sauce-pan on high heat along with four or five tablespoon of sugar. Make sure the sugar is placed in an even layer in the pan.

Wait patiently (without stirring) for around four to five minutes or until the sugar starts to melt from the sides. When it does, swirl the pan (again, DON'T stir), so that the caramel is cooked evenly. Keep swirling it and you can see the magic happening in front of your eyes as the sugar starts melting, giving way to the rich, deep, caramel. At this point, don't leave your hold on the pan-handle for your life because it will take about 3 seconds for the caramel to burn.

So just keep on swirling the caramel and sometimes remove it from the heat, but again, keep on moving the liquid so that it doesn't stay in touch with the overheated bottom of the pan for more than a few seconds at a time.

Soon the entire sugar will melt and there will be tiny bubbles in the liquid and your caramel is done.

Your eyes and your nose should be your guide to make the caramel for as I said, it is risky to make caramel without water, but where is the fun in that! I, for one, love to live dangerously.

So, a strict and resounding 'NO' to adding water to my sugar.

Also, I don't like the washed up colour of the caramel made with sugar and water. However, if you would rather not take the risk you can (read don't ever) add a couple of teaspoons of water to your sugar for the caramelisation. Totally your choice (don't do it, don't do it, don't do it!).

Now that you have made the caramel, pour it immediately into your glass baking dish (a regular cake tin won't do) or ramekins if you have them around (what kind of people have ramekins lying about at their home!). Make sure the entire bottom is coated with the caramel.

Cool it until the caramel becomes hard.

Now, to make the custard break three eggs in a large bowl. Add the vanilla essence to it and mix them gently. Don't beat them vigorously for we don't want bubbles forming. It is not a cake people, it is a custard and you don't want bubbles in your custard for it will be holey (I hope nobody likes a holey custard).

Bring the milk to a boil and let simmer for a few minutes. It will thicken up the milk a tad bit. Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves. For some weird reason the recipes I have read on caramel custard always suggest mixing the sugar with the egg. I am sure there must be an explanation, but it is beyond me. I find it much easier to melt it in my milk.

Take the milk off the heat and wait for a couple of minutes so that it is not boiling hot, but still pretty warm. Now pour the milk into the egg mixture with one hand and stir with a whisk (what did I say people, about the magic utensil?) with the other one. If you end up with scrambled egg then:

1) Don't blame me.
2) You have excellent scrambled egg (I mean you must look at the bright side) and so just add salt and pepper and have it with bread.

Wait, I am just kidding!

It won't become scrambled. I mean, have some faith please! Trust in yourself and in your whisk (magic utensil man).

So all kiddings aside, stir the entire mixture until the milk is thoroughly incorporated into the eggs and let it cool.

Only when it has cooled down, strain and pour it into your baking dish which has already been layered with crystalised caramel at the bottom.

Now preheat your oven to 180 degree Celsius and pour hot water into your baking tray. Place the baking dish carefully into it and bake for around 40 minutes. your baking time will totally depend on how thick your custard is (mine was around 1 inch). It is better to err on the side of caution. After forty minutes, open your convection and give your baking dish a little shake. If it is liquid in the middle, it will be pretty obvious. The custard will still wiggle a bit if it is done, but it will be a different kind of wiggle. Still, if you want to be extra sure, just pierce it with a knife in the middle and if it comes out clean, your custard is done, if not, it goes back into the oven for another five minutes or ten depending on how underdone it is. If you see a dark film forming on top, don't panic, for you can remove it easily after you take it out of the oven.

After it comes out of your oven, let it rest on a wire rack for at least ten to fifteen minutes before demoulding. Traditionally it is done after chilling the custard, but I have never dared to do it lest it sticks to the bottom or something. It is probably a groundless fear, but well, I just do it this way and it works for me.

So, demould it from the sides using a sharp knife. Place a plate on top of the baking dish (use gloves or a thick towel while handling it for it is still pretty hot) and reverse it in one quick motion.

And pray...

Now slowly, ever so slowly, pull your baking dish up. so that the pudding remains on the plate and the caramel gathers all around it.

I wish I could show you a video for it is SUCH a glorious sight!

Now place it in the refrigerator for an hour or until thoroughly chilled. cut into pieces and serve chilled, spooning a little bit of liquid caramel on top.

Tuck in  :)

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Focaccia (with black olives and tomato)

Hey friends,

Today I proudly present you one of the most beloved breads of the entire world, a closely guarded secret of the Italian kitchen, a litmus test for all amateur cooks like me, the deceptively simple bread layered with flavours that are subtle yet breathtaking in its simplicity...

Focaccia!

I am yet to get over the fact that I got it right the first time and it came out oh-so-moist and super soft and way better than the store-bought variety.

Now, focaccia dough is almost similar to a pizza dough. It is also a very flexible bread as you can top it with almost anything you like. I like the combination of black olives and sun-dried tomato in my focaccia. I didn't have the latter one and so I just used fresh tomato instead. I used a non-hybrid, desi (indigenous) tomato which is tastier and more sour than the regular ones (that is my preference but if you want, you can use a sweeter variation). Also, I used basil in stead of rosemary because it goes well with tomato (I am not a great fan of rosemary), though if you want to go traditional, please use rosemary.

Now let us discuss the recipe:

[I know there are too many pictures. It was such a thing of beauty that I just couldn't help myself :) ]

Ingredients:

200 grams plain white flour
1 teaspoon of fine-grained semolina flour
3 grams of dry active yeast
1/2 a teaspoon of sugar
1/2 a cup of extra virgin olive oil
70 ml warm water (110 to 120 degree Celsius or micro it for 30 seconds)
Italian seasoning (optional)
1/2 a teaspoon of salt
1/2 a teaspoon of dried basil
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt (I used table salt and it tasted perfectly OK so don't freak out if you don't find it in the super-market)
8 to 10 pitted black olives (cut into half, lengthwise)
1/2 a tomato (de-seeded and diced into cubes to match the size of the olives)

Preparation:

Start with mixing the yeast with warm water, sugar and a little bit of flour in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside at a warm place for ten minutes or until bubbles form. Pour in a tablespoon of olive oil, salt, dried Italian herbs (about half a teaspoon or to taste, but again it is completely optional), flour, semolina flour and combine with a spatula. It should be sticky, if not, add a little bit of water. Tip the dough on to a floured surface and knead with your hand. Add another teaspoon of olive oil at this stage and knead for a couple of minutes again. If it is too sticky, dip your hand in the flour bag and knead again. Once the oil is incorporated entirely into the dough place it in a well-oiled (use olive oil of course) bowl and cover with another teaspoon of olive oil and let it rest for at least one hour at a warm place. It should be double in size after that.

Grease a baking tray with olive oil. Sprinkle some salt and tip the soft dough on the tray. It should be very soft and elastic. Press it gently to shape into a roughly rectangular size and poke with your fingertips to make deep dents on the entire surface. Brush olive oil on top and let it rest for another forty five minutes.

After that, place the pieces of tomato and olive on top and press down with your fingers. Brush generously with olive oil again (it is absolutely essential to bring out the flavours of the tomatoes and olives). Sprinkle with herbs and a little bit of salt (traditionally it should be rosemary and kosher salt, but I used dried basil and table salt).

Preheat the oven at 200 degree Celsius and bake for fifteen minutes. Take it out and brush with olive oil again (patience, people, this is focaccia!).

Put it back in the oven and bake for another five minutes at 180 degree Celsius.

Take out the bread and place on a wire rack and let it cool for at least ten minutes.

Cut it into rectangles and server warm.

Enjoy :)

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Garlic Breadstick with Cheese Dip

Hello people,

Monsoon is here, the season of waterlogged streets and ever-grey sky and bad lighting and mood swings and long drives and khichri with begun bhaja.

We celebrated the monsoon a little bit differently last weekend; with oven-fresh garlic bread-sticks with cheese dip and trust me it was exactly like the Domino's.

It is not only super yummy but a sure-shot way to impress your friends who would never guess how easy it is to prepare this beloved snack item.

I am sorry that I was so busy admiring my handiwork and then I was too busy to pounce on it before others could grab it that I did not get a good picture. I promise to upload a picture series later explaining the process step by step.

As of now, here is what I have:

Pretty impressive, huh?

Enough patting on my own back, let us get back to the actual recipe...

Ingredients:

500 grams of plain white flour
2 tablespoon of olive oil (Extra Virgin) of any good brand
3/4 cup of melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
10/12 pods of garlic (finely chopped, please resist the urge to blend them or to mince them)
1 tablespoon of Domino's oregano seasoning (or make your own seasoning by combining Italian Seasoning mix, salt, pepper and dried oregano)
7 grams of dry active yeast
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 and 1/2 cups of warm water (around 100 to 120 degree Celsius)
Semolina or suji (the super-fine variety), roasted on low flame for a couple of minutes [you should use cornmeal for that is what is traditionally used. I couldn't find it in the market and so I substituted it with semolina.]

Preparation:

Prepare a mixture of warm water, yeast, sugar and a teaspoon of flour. Mix and set aside. After ten minutes or once bubbles start appearing and the mixture thickens up, add oil and butter (keeping a tablespoon of butter aside for basting the bread later), the finely chopped garlic, salt, pepper, half of the oregano seasoning and flour and mix with a wooden spatula. After a couple of minutes or when everything is combined well, tip the dough on a floured surface and knead with fingertips for at least ten minutes. If the dough keeps sticking to the surface, keep flouring it generously. Now make a smooth ball (it can be somewhat sticky) and place in a well-oiled bowl (olive oil, of course). Cover and put aside for one hour for rising.

After an hour or so, the dough should increase in volume, If not, let it rest for another half and hour. Now punch the dough to knock out the air and knead it for a few minutes again. Divide into two equal portions. Make a smooth ball out of each portion and let them rest for another fifteen minutes.

Now sprinkle semolina flour on a surface or a large plate and place one ball of dough. With your fingertips, start to flatten it out. You should aim for a round shape, just like a pizza, but not so thin.You may roll them out with a rolling pin too, but for me the fingertips method worked better.

Once you have achieved a roughly round shape, fold it into half. The semolina flour/cornmeal that is stuck to the bottom and the upper surface will give the bread a good crust. Grease a baking tray with butter and place the semi-circle breads on it. Now slather them generously with melted butter and sprinkle the rest of oregano seasoning on top. If you like it spicy, you may also sprinkle some red chilli flakes on top along with the spice mix. Now with the help of a sharp knife cut grooves on the bread (1/2 inch apart), like the ones you can see on the Domino's garlic bread.

Now bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree Celsius for ten minutes. You will see that the bread has risen, but the colour is still whitish. So crank up the heat to 200 degree Celsius and bake it for five more minutes. If it still looks under-cooked (which it shouldn't), bake it again at 180 degree Celsius for five minutes more. Again, remember if you overcook the bread, it will be very dry.

After you take it out of the oven, let it rest for five minutes. Then serve with the cheese dip and impress your friends :)

Cheese dip:

Combine 4 grated cheese cubes, 3 tablespoon of milk,1/2 a tea-spoon of milk powder and a tablespoon of melted butter in a large bowl. Place a saucepan with half a cup of water on the gas oven and bring to a simmer. Place the bowl on top of the saucepan in such a way the water simmering in the saucepan doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Now stir the cheese mix with a whisk (Now you will probably ask me if a fork will do. The answer is 'no'. You must invest into some kitchen essentials and TRUST me, a whisk is almost a magic utensil and I will rave about it at some later date).

Stir, stir, stir...

Stir, stir, stir..

Stir, stir, stir...

Go on....keep stirring...

I know your arm is hurting, but...

Still keep stirring...

Until the cheese melt (believe in yourself, it will melt eventually and please refrain from increasing the heat for you will end up with and inedible cheese mixture).

Finally after fifteen minutes of stirring the cheese mixture will reach a smooth, velvetty texture. Even if there is a single small lump, you need to keep on stirring.

Your cheese dip is ready!


Enjoy :)