Dessert

Hallowed be thy Halwa

in ,

Happy All Hallows Even ! :)

DSC_0046-1 copy
Cracked Rice Saffron Halwa

And may we remember the martyrs, saints and blessings in our life tomorrow. For the we live and life is a treasure.

No, I am not turning soft. I am though fascinated by the history and culture and have been doing a bit of reading on this day that now stands for anything other than the solemnity in which it was originally conceived. Did you know, that the history of the day is marked by Pope Gregory III, who in the Eighth century, designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs. This day is name All Hallows Day or All Saints Day.

Beginning as a celtic tradition, the evening before, the day straddles pagan and Christian beliefs. The day before, hence became All Hallows Eve. In Scottish (I have developed a rather sudden and intense crush on Northern Scotland and hence my enthusiastic researching on all things to do with Celts), the word for Eve is 'even' and is slanged to e'en or een. So, thus was Halloween.

DSC_0018-1
DSC_0026-1

Jack O'Lanterns were representative of souls that belonged to neither Heaven nor Hell. Traditionally, on this evening, fires were lit to guide these souls on their way and deflect them from haunting honest Christian folk. In Scotland and Ireland, it was marked by carving turnips because that was the harvest of the season. This festival was called Samhain, or "Summer's End" in Old Irish, marking the end of harvest season and beginning of Winter and the colder/darker part of the year. In parts of Northern Scotland, winter days are so short that daylight was but a few hours and everything was dark, gloomy and bitterly cold.

The association of Pumpkins began in the Americas, where they are harvested at this time of the year, and these squashes took the place of the turnips. As a casual immigrant I was well taken in by the concept as is the modern application of it here. Since, it typically coincided with Diwali, the festival of Lights for Indians, I was happily taken in by all the glittering pumpkins.

DSC_0081-1
DSC_0084-1
DSC_0042-1
Cracked Rice Saffron Halwa

In fact, I still love it for that reason, rather than the dressing up. I like the idea of light up the way for souls. Diwali is celebrated to bring light into our lives and about appreciating family and friends, those who enrich us and make us thankful. Kind of parallel thinking, eh! :)

Anyway, in honor of all that is Hallowed, and appreciating the confluence of several cultures,

May the Light Shine Through You!

And, I share a recipe for a typical Saffron Halwa that is made on many festive occasions, especially in the South, where I come from. Since I am gluten free, I made this halwa with finely cracked rice, called rava, which, is available in Indian stores. You can also use fine semolina or very fine corn meal to make this. The flavors will be accordingly slightly different but the essence quite the same.

Saffron Rice Halwa

 
Cracked Rice Saffron Halwa
 

1 cup Rava, cracked white rice

1-1/2 cups whole milk, warm

3/4 to 1 cup cane sugar

1/4 tsp saffron threads

1/2 cup mix of nuts and dried fruits

5-6 T of ghee, clarified butter + more for the mold

In a heavy bottomed pot, warm about 4 tablespoons of ghee on low heat. Add the rava and sauté the rice until ever so lightly browned and it does not taste raw, approximately 4 minutes.

Add the sugar and sauté for a few minutes. Add in the milk and whisk briskly to prevent lumps.

Increase the heat to bring the mixture to a quick boil and reduce it back again to medium-low. Cook, stirring continuously, until most of the liquid is absorbed and it is of the consistency of porridge. Fold in the remaining ghee into the cooked halwa.

Spread a little ghee at the base of a 8 x 4 inch baking dish. This will be the mold. Spread the halwa evenly on it and press in to the mold. While the halwa is resting, gently roast the nuts and fruits in ghee until fragrant and golden.

Pour the nuts and any ghee in the pan over the halwa layer and press into it. Let the halwa cool to room temperature. Unmold the halwa on to a plate and cut into pieces to serve.

{Gluten Free} Almond and Peach Cake

in ,
Gluten Free Almond and Yogurt Peach Cake

My apologies for being sporadic last week. I am working full force on the Fall Issue of NOURISHED magazine and super excited about how vibrant it is looking to be! More on it later this week as it gets released in digital and print versions. But, while I take a breather from layouts and editor's note, I thought I would stop by this happy place of mine and share some love with my latest bake..

I have been doing a fair bit of gluten free baking and there are several recipes especially those using nut flours that naturally lend themselves to grain free living. But, the nut I use the most and try to extract the most of is Almonds. I love them. They are indeed my favorite nut and so, using it in as many ways as I can think is sheer pleasure.

DSC_0956-1

Last time, I told you about cracking the whole almond pulp thing and making it stretch beyond just the milk. Ever since I started making my own almond milk, for more than a year now, I have been crafting ways to use it in ways other than granola. These have rested in fudge brownies, deep dark truffles and awesome tart crusts. One thing I failed on time and again was in making cakes.

In my mind, this is how it worked. Squeeze almond pulp as dry as you can and then adjust liquid measure added to get to batter consistency. It seemed rather straight forward. Right? Wrong! The wetness quite never got baked out. It was always soggy inside. The outside would come out just fine and I'd get my hope high only to find the middle like sodden heather. Mulch! Not pleasant, I'll say. Yet, for some stubborn reason (I am a scorpio, see), I would continue testing more of it in its wet state. Eventually, I realized I was simply wasting too many good ingredients after bad damp flour.

DSC_0065-1

Then, when those tarts came out real nice, I decided to bring back that hope. This time, with the dehydrated and re-floured version. Smack on head! Duh! Why did I not do that before? Oh yeah, I know. Mulish. That's me. Anyway, needless to say, the chemistry worked as it should. In that, in its dry form, the flour of almond pulp behaved simply as almond meal, from simply grinding the nuts into powder, would. And the glorious rise of the cake in the oven was not marred by the flop of damp center. Hallelujah!

So, to make the almond dust, all you need is a bit of time and patience. If you don't have a dehydrator, like me, the oven is a great tool. Simply stick it on low around 175F and leave it there for a few hours. The pulp shrivels up, becomes crusty and look nothing like a light, airy flour. But once you whiz it through a processor, it looks a lot finer. A word of caution; Do not try to speed up the process by drying for less time at higher temperature. I did! Of course, you can trust me to look for shortcuts. It simply zaps the thing into burnt oblivion. Sad, but true!

DSC_0932-1
DSC_0965-1

Once you have the flour as back to its powdered form, you'll see it is actually finer in texture than the meal but it works in equal measures in regular recipes and you can substitute 1:1 with regular flour.

Now, with that, I'll leave you with the recipe for an Almond and Peach Cake. I would recommend grabbing of the last peaches in your market before the frost settles in to make this. On the note of fading seasonal produce, I froze fruits for the first time this year. I am rather kicked about all this forethought and am warmly looking forward to baking with berries and peaches in the middle of Winter and toasting to my smartness.

So, while I bask in my own far-sightedness for a bit, any suggestions of cooking/baking with home frozen fruit? Would love to try your favorites. Please do leave me a note, send a mail or link to your recommendations below. Thank you very much!! :))

Gluten Free Almond and Yogurt Peach Cake

Have a great week. I will be back with more Fall inspirations next!

Meanwhile, you can download the Spring and Summer issues of NOURISHED to get a taste of the magazine, using the links on the side! Cheers!

One Year Ago:

Grain Free Vegan Nut Cookies

Four Years Ago:

Lavender Pannacotta with Pears in White Wine Gelee

 

Almond and Peach Cake

(makes a 5 inch cake, perfect for 2-3)

For the cake:

3/4 cup dehydrated almond pulp or almond meal

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 egg

5 T full fat yogurt

1 T melted butter or olive oil

1 white peach, skinned and chopped 1/2 inch cubes

1-1/2 T honey

1/4 tsp salt

For the frosting:

1/4 cup yogurt for frosting

1 T tsp honey for frosting

1 T lime juice for peach marinade

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix together all the cake batter ingredients other than the peaches.

Fold in half the peach slices into the batter.

Pour batter into prepared 5 inch cake tin and bake for 25 minutes until browned and springy.

Meanwhile, marinade the remaining peaches in the lime juice and set aside.

When the cake is completely cooled, prepare the yogurt frosting by whipping it with the honey and a pinch of salt. Spread on top of the cooled cake, finishing with the marinated peaches. Drizzle with a little honey and serve.

Moravské Koláče (Moravian Koláče)

in ,
Double filling Moravian Koláče with tea

This is a return-to-the-fold post for me. Several years ago, when I was starting out in the blogging community and did not know how to 'meet' people there, I subscribed to a couple of groups on

The Daring Kitchen,

Bakers and Cooks. The idea appealed to me. It was like a secret society, but one where everyone was supportive and we all got a learn a ton through the monthly challenges.

I have to say my learning curve jumped by leaps and bounds after colluding with these guys for a few years. I also met some amazing bloggers through the platform, who continue to be inspirations today. As is inevitable with such groups, one by one, we split away and went our own ways and stopped partaking in the monthly rush of making something new, posting about it and more fun, checking out what everyone else had done with the challenge. I remember in those days, I would bookmark a few hours of the last saturday of every month, for blog-hopping and marveling at the latest creative twist or imaginative styling.

Double filling Moravian Koláče

I remember how

Helene's

pastries were always visually stunning and perfect. That is what I aimed for. I remember

Deeba

being the most loyal member and always helping everyone in the group.

Jamie's

stories were always enthralling and

Meeta's

fresh, clean styling was something to hanker after. My own technical curve angled rather high both in repertoire of dishes as well as in photography. Over the years, I have had some great successes, humbling

disasters

and original sparks (like

avocado mousse entremet

and

eggless matcha roulade

). Most of all, it was incredible fun and a strong sense of belonging. We discussed in hush whispers on private chats and mails. It was all too frat-like to not love.

My last post on a Daring Bakers challenge was

Feb 2011

! I left because I was back working full time and I simply could not find the luxury of time to post on a regimen. I also felt that I was then ready to take flight and do something else.

Collage1--Moravian-Kolache

Over the last year, I have been thinking about the group, off and on and debated re-joining them. I would distractedly check the challenges and not many inspired me. Also, pretty much everyone I knew before had left. But, last week when I checked in again, the recipe inspired me despite the fact that it involved gluten. It was a czech yeasted bread recipe that promised yummy tea treats. I love learning a new regional dish and this one spoke to me. So, I decided it was time to come back.

Also, my inner guilt pulled at me particularly hard. I felt I had forsaken the community and left when it was convenient. I cannot be sufficiently grateful to the founders for keeping up the amazing work and for teaching me so much in the time I was more regular.

Collage---Moravian-Kolache
Double filling Moravian Koláče

Anyway, with that I leave you with the bake of the month. The September Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Lucie from

ChezLucie

. She challenged us to make a true Czech treat –

Kolaches

! Dvojctihodné or double filled Koláče was my chosen bake to show case. I chose them because they are small and cute and I have always loved cream filled pastries. And this came with the double allure of quark (a very traditional European cheese) and jam for a touch of more sweet.

As much as I am allergic to wheat, I could not help biting into the warm kolaches. They were a sincere delight! Soft and yielding as you would expect from a yeasted item (Oh! How I miss yeast!), just enough sweetness and perfect with a cup of warm tea in the nip of Fall!

Double filling Moravian Koláče

I made a few changes to the recipe. I used durum wheat to make the dough and topped the pastry with a gluten free oat and almond crumble. Also, I simply used the jam I had in my fridge and it wasn't plum. But, well, as you can guess, that is obviously up to you. The biggest modification I made was in the quark filling. The quark I found by me (for being a peasant cheese in Europe, it is awfully dear here to buy!) was a too runny to use as filling even after sweetening with powdered sugar. So I added a teaspoon each of psyllium husk and potato starch and refrigerated for 45 minutes. It came out set a bit and more workable as a filling.

With that, I hope you enjoy my take on the Czech Kolach and below is the recipe with the original streusel topping. If you want the one for the gluten free crumble, leave me a note in the comments and I'll add it. Please do check out what

everyone has made

as well.

Moravské Koláče (Moravian Koláče)

For Dough:

3-2/3 cup (880 ml) (17-2/3 oz) (500 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour (use semi-coarse grounded if you can find in your store)

¾ cup (180 ml) (3½ oz) (100 gm) confectioner’s (icing) sugar

1 cup (250 ml) milk, warm

1/3 cup (80 ml) (2-2/3 oz) (75 gm) butter, melted

30 gm (1 oz) fresh yeast or 2 packets (4 teaspoons) (½ oz) (15 gm) active day yeast

pinch of salt

2 small egg yolks

for quark filling

3 cups (1-2/3 lb) (750 gm) quark

1 small egg yolk

confectioner’s (icing) sugar to taste

For Jam filling:

2/3 cup (160 ml) (7 oz) (200 gm) plum jam

rum or hot water to soften jam if too thick

For Streusel topping:

1/3 cup (1¾ oz) (50 gm) plain flour

¼ cup (60 ml) (1¾ oz) (50 gm) butter, chilled and diced

¼ cup (60 ml) (1¾ oz) (50 gm) caster (or granulated) sugar

(in fact I don’t know the exact amount I used because I always make larger batch and store it in the freezer)

To finish:

3 T melted butter or eggwash

In a bowl mix together yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar. Add 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) warm milk, mix well and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 – 15 minutes.

In a bowl of your electric mixer (or in a large bowl) mix flour, sugar, salt, egg yolks, butter, milk and leavened yeast. Knead with dough hook (or with wooden spoon) on low speed for about 10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about one hour to double its volume.

Meanwhile prepare quark filling – just mix all ingredients – and plum filling – mix plum jam with rum or water to soften it. Set aside.

Prepare streusel topping. In a medium bowl, mix together sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add cold butter diced in small cubes and with your fingers, mix all ingredients until crumbly.

When the dough has risen, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and roll it with rolling pin to a thickness of about 2 cm (¾ inch). Cut with 10cm (4 inch) cookie cutter or just with a glass (if you want small kolaches) or divide the dough into 10 equal pieces (if you want large kolaches). Splat each piece with your hands and fill with quark filling. Wrap it into a “purse” shape.

Preheat oven to moderate 340°F/170°C/gas mark 3.

Line 2 – 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Put each kolach onto a prepared baking sheet with seam down. Press each kolach in the middle as you can see on the picture below. Brush it with egg wash and fill holes with plum filling. Sprinkle it with streusel topping.

Bake for about 20 minutes to golden brown. Cool on rack for a few minutes and eat warm.

Kolaches are best eaten within two days on baking.