Chicken Pizza from the Scratch

(Star shaped pizza adapted from: Pizza Recipe from the Scratch: Sumod Tomz blog)

Kids love pizza. Small kids and....... big kids like me and my hubby.

I have made chicken pizza from the scratch several times but got down to posting it today.
Also, when I saw the star shape pizza on Sumod Tom's blog, I was dying to make it. I also made a regular pizza.

Please pardon my photography. It was not the best today.

You can check his recipe from this link.

Here is how I made it.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough: 1 ball

For pizza sauce:

Tomatoes: 2 roughly chopped
Onion: 1 chopped
Tomato sauce: 3 tablespoons
Tomato puree: 2 tablespoons
Mixed herbs: 1 teaspoon
Salt and sugar to taste
Garlic: 5-6 pods, finely chopped
Butter: 1 teaspoon
White oil: 2 teaspoon

For assemble the pizza/toppings:
Chicken sausages: chopped, 1 cup
Red capsicum: 1 chopped
Yellow capsicum: 1 chopped
Black olives: 2 tablespoons
Mozarella cheese: grated
Oregano

Procedure:

1. First you need a ball of pizza dough. Pizza dough is same as bread dough. To know how to make bread dough, click here.


To make pizza sauce:
2. Heat some butter and white oil. Add the chopped garlic and onion.
3. Fry for a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes.
4. Fry for a minute and add the tomato sauce along with tomato puree.
5. Add salt and sugar to taste. Mix well. Add the mixed herbs and take off the flame. Keep aside to cool.

To assemble the pizza:
6. Roll the dough into a big roti/crepe about 8 inches in diameter.

9. Place a layer of pizza sauce along the edges. Place the chopped veggies and add some oregano. I added chopped chicken sausages. Finally add shredded mozarella cheese on top.

10. Now pull and join the edges from both ends as shown.

11. Once finished, this is what you will get:

11. Pre-heat the oven at 200 degrees C for 10 minutes.
12. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and enjoy the steaming hot pizza.
Yummy!

A Healthy Indulgence: Wholewheat Chocolate Cupcakes

This week, it was Holi. I got an extended weekend and loads of time to rest. Hooray!

Made this wonderfully healthy choco cupcakes with wholewheat.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Whole wheat/ Atta: 1 and a half cups
All purpose flour: 2 tablespoons
Cocoa powder: 3 tablespoons
White oil: 1/2 cup
Eggs: 2
Baking powder: 1 teaspoon (level)
Baking soda: 1/2 teaspoon
Milk: 1 cup
Sugar: 1 cup

For decoration:

Chopped raisins: a handful

Process:

1.Crack the eggs in a bowl. Discard the shells. Add sugar and mix well. You can use a hand/stand mixer to do this.
2. Add oil, milk and vanilla essence. Mix well.
3. In a separate bowl take the wholewheat, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder.
Mix well.
4. Now add the dry mixture to the wet mixture in two batches.
5. Mix well till you get a batter of dropping consistency.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes. Pour the batter in cupcake moulds. Sprinkle chopped raisins on top and bake for 20-25 minutes.
8. After the cupcakes are well baked, take them out of the oven and keep aside to cool.
9. After 5 minutes, de-mold the cupcakes.
Enjoy the warm cupcakes with your hot cuppa.

I am sending this recipe to the Holi Special Recipe event on KFB.

The Magnum Masterclass: In a Class of its Own

Last week I got a wonderful invitation to attend the Magnum Masterclass at the Taj Bengal. A big vote of thanks to Kolkata Food Bloggers to give me this opportunity. Generally, I have to give up all the invites during the week, thanks to the hectic office life..but this time the event was on Saturday..so I just took the plunge!

I reached the Taj Bengal with a pounding heart because I was going to meet the celebrity chef Kunal Kapur (of Masterchef India) fame. Wow! I have been an ardent follower of Masterchef India so it was like a dream come true for me. And to meet the "beauty-with-brains" Soha Ali Khan was an added bonus.

Well the event started off with the chef giving us some info about Belgian chocolates. Belgian chocolates are premium quality chocolates that contain nearly 35% pure cocoa. This chocolate also does not have any bad fats. When you bite into a Belgian chocolate, you will not find any chocolate sticking to the back of your teeth or palate.

The Magnum icecream is made of this premium Belgian Chocolate and believe me one bite of this icecream is pure magic!

Do enjoy some pictures of the event.

The charismatic chef Kunal Kapur and the svelte Soha Ali Khan

The chocolate tasting session with milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate

The star attraction of the evening: The Chocolate Truffle Magnum

The chef preparing a fusion dessert: Patishapta with Magnum

The dessert that we KFBians made using Magnum

The Magnum is going to hit the stores of Kolkata on the 1st of March. The price would be INR 90. But believe you me...this ice cream is mind-blowing! Do indulge.

Healthy Carrot and Pumpkin Soup

(Adapted from Creamy Carrot and Pumpkin Soup: Antypasti)

This spring in the air has led to lot of cough, cold, and fever in most households. Are you suffering from cold too? I am. And so is my little one.

Coughing, sneezing, and sore throat made sure that I spent Valentines Day in bed with a muffler around my throat and Vicks vaporub as my date. Highly unromantic to say the least!

The little one has also become jittery and whiny and refuses to eat most things. "Give me something soft and warm Maa", she said.

And I started hunting for some easy soup recipes. I found a very simple, nutritious soup on Antara's blog.


This soup combines the goodness of carrots and pumpkin, two vegetables rich in Vitamin A.
Since Antara was the Star Blogger of the Week for this week so I hit the proverbial "two birds with one stone" by making this recipe. Antara's blog has an interesting collection of food and travel related posts. Her writing style is easy and each blog post has a relaxed pace. It is truly refreshing to read her posts.

This soup recipe can be called soul food. I was able to rustle it up after getting home from work.

You can check Antara's original recipe from here.

Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

Pumpkin: 150 grams, diced

Carrot: one, chopped roughly

Butter: 1 tablespoon

Dried mixed herbs: 1 and a 1/4 teaspoon

Garlic: 2 to 3 pods, crushed 

Fresh cream: a teaspoon for garnishing

Process:

1. Steam the vegetables in a pressure cooker for 2-3 whistles.

2. Remove the steamed veggies from the pressure cooker and do not throw away the vegetable stock. Puree the vegetables in a mixer and keep aside.

3. In a pan, heat butter along with a teaspoon of white oil.

4. Add garlic and dried herbs.
5. Fry for a few seconds. Next, add the pureed vegetables.
6. Mix well. Add some of the vegetable stock if the soup is too thick.
7. Add salt to taste. Finally, add fresh cream and take off the gas.
8. Serve the steaming soup with toasted bread.

I am sending this recipe to the ongoing event in KFB called "Know Your Blogger".

Sunflower Shape Stuffed Bread for the Valentine Week

(Adapted from the recipe posted on Home Baker's guild on Facebook)

Its February! February is synonymous with mild chilly mornings, the Kolkata Book Fair, and of course Valentine's Day.

Though the hubby man and I do not celebrate V day formally, but I love to surprise him with some new bakes. Needless to say, even my little Valentine loves it!

This time I had decided not to post anything sweet. So it had to be a savoury recipe. I got this fabulous recipe for Sunflower bread from the Home Baker's Guild on Facebook. I have forgotten the name of the member who posted it, but she had done a wonderful job of posting the recipe in pictures. Thanks you so much for this lovely recipe.

The sunflower bread can be made with any kind of bread dough and the filling can be altered as per requirement. This bread is not made of sunflowers or sunflower seeds! The name is due to the sunflower shape.

I used a filling of veggies with chopped chicken sausages but you can use paneer bhurji, soya kheema, chicken keema, or mixed veggies. The possibilities are endless. 

This stuffed bread looks beautiful and tastes yummy. 

Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

A ball of bread dough (To check the recipe of bread dough, click here.)

Any kind of dry filling (I used a filling of veggies and chicken sausages): 1 and a half cup

Butter: 2 tablespoon (for brushing)

Process:

1. Knead the bread dough with the ingredients given in this recipe. Grease a deep bottom bowl and dunk the ball of dough in it. Keep in a warm dry place for one and a half hours.

2. The dough will rise to double it's size. Sprinkle some dry flour on the working surface and place the ball of dough on it.

3. Press the ball of dough to release the air trapped inside.

4. Divide the ball of dough into two parts using a knife. 

5. Now follow the step-by-step process as shown in the pictures below:

(You can also refer to the following video to view the steps for shaping this bread.)

6. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C for ten minutes. Place the tray containing the sunflower bread inside the pre-heated oven.

7. Bake for 20 minutes at the same temperature. After 20 minutes, you can grill the bread using Grill mode (for about 2-3 minutes) for a evenly browned top.

8. Remove the bread from the oven and brush the top with butter.

9. Let it cool till it is warm.

Slice and enjoy with your Valentine!

I am sending this recipe to the ongoing event on KFB called "Valentine's Day Special Week".

Portugese Custard Tarts: Anwesha's blog

(Pasteis de Nata Recipe - Portuguese Christmas Custard Tarts: Peanuts on the Road)

This week the blogger of the week is Anwesha. Anwesha has a wonderful blog full of travel and food posts. She is very pretty girl with a lovely smile. I am quite surprised with her amazing repertoire of recipes.

While selecting the recipes, I hit upon this wonderful recipe of custard tarts.

These tarts are pretty easy to make. The filling is a wonderfully creamy custard which complements beautifully with the biscuity short crust pastry base.

You can refer to Anwesha's original recipe here.

Here is how I made it.

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/3 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon  vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks, whisked
Pinch of cinnamon powder
1 ball of short crust pastry base

Process:

1. First you need to make the short crust pastry base. To know how to make this short crust pastry, refer here.

2. To make the custard base, add flour with the powdered sugar. Now add the egg yolks to this mixture.

3. Next, slowly add lukewarm milk and mix well.

4. Place this mixture over the gas on a low flame. Keep stirring to avoid formation of lumps.

 

5. The mixture will thicken. Take off the gas and keep aside to cool.

6. Now divide the short crust pastry into small balls, about 13 in number.

7. Roll the balls into small roundels (rotis). Grease small ramekins and place each roundel in the ramekin.

8. Spoon some custard into each ramekin. Make sure that the custard should not be filled to the brim.

9. Pre-heat the oven at 200 degrees for ten minutes. Place the ramekins in the oven (on the middle rack) and bake for 15-20 minutes. (I baked for 15 minutes)

10. Once the sides turn golden-brown, take the tarts out of the oven. Let it cool till you can touch the ramekins.

11. De-mold carefully and serve while warm.

Enjoy!

I am sending this recipe to the ongoing event on KFB "Know Your Blogger".

Lemon Tarts @ Home: Ume's Blog

(Adapted from: Lemon Tart: Ume's Kitchen)

This week, the blogger of the week is Urmi. Urmi is a pretty mom of the cutest daughter ever. She has a blog full of beautiful baked and non-baked recipes. Check out her blog here. She also bakes professionally. Her cake decorating skills are amazing. I am dreaming of making the Marzipan cake that she has posted,

When I was poring over Urmi's blog, I decided to make the delicate lemon tarts. I have made jam tarts and savoury pies before, but have never attempted the lemon tarts before. So now, was a good time to try. 

The process of making lemon tarts has two essential parts. Making the pastry base and making the lemon curd filling. You can check out the original recipe from Urmi's blog here. For making the shortcrust pastry base, I also referred to Tarla Dalal's recipe for the pastry base here.

Check out the lovely tarts here.

Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

For the short crust pastry base:

Maida/APF: 1 cup

Buttter: 1/2 cup

Powdered sugar: 2 tblsp

Baking powder: 1/4th teaspoon

Cold water: 1-2 tblsp

For the lemon curd:

Juice of large lemon 

Lemon zest (Grated):1 tsp

Sugar (caster/powder):½ cup

Egg:2 pcs

Butter:4 tbsp. (40 gm. approx.)

Whipped cream (alternately Amul fresh cream):4 tbsp

Lemon yellow colour:few drops

Process:

To make the short-crust pastry:

1. In a pan take APF/ maida and add salt, powdered sugar, and baking powder. Add butter to the flour and mix with hands till the flour resembles bread-crumbs.

2. Now add the chilled water and knead the flour till it comes together as a ball. Don't add too much water. For 1 cup of flour, I used only 1 tablespoon chilled water. Knead into a firm, smooth dough.

3. Cover this dough in cling film and keep in the freezer for 10 minutes.

4. Take this dough out of the freezer and divide into 14 small balls.

5. Roll into small rotis and place into greased ramekins.Prick the pastry base with a fork.

6. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C. Bake the tart shells for 10 minutes, till the edges start browning.

7. Keep aside to cool.

For the lemon curd filling:

1. Beat the eggs well. In a pan, place hot water to boil. On top of this pan with boiling water place another non-stick pan. This is known as the double-boiler method.

2. In the non-stick pan, take the lemon zest, sugar and butter. On a low flame, stir the sugar and butter till the sugar has melted,

3. Now add the beaten eggs slowly and keep stirring. As you keep stirring, the mixture will thicken. Finally add the lemon juice and a few drops of edible yellow color.

4. Keep aside to cool. Once the mixture has cooled down, add the whipped cream. I did not have whipped cream, so I used Amul Fresh cream.

5. The lemon curd mixture is now ready. Add the lemon curd mix to the tart shell carefully with a spoon. Alternatively, you can pipe the filling using a piping bag.

6. Decorate with tutti-fruiti. Keep the tarts in the fridge for about 10 minutes to firm up.

Voila! The lemon tarts are ready. Enjoy with your loved ones.

I am sending this recipe to the ongoing event on KFB called "Know Your Blogger".