Black Forest buns - 1 Black Forest buns - 2

Black Forest Buns

The bread of the month in We Knead To Bake group were these delicious Black forest buns. I had never heard about these buns before. Since V loves Black Forest cake, I thought this would be a good fit for the Valentine’s day (I baked it on the weekend before Valentine’s day).

I have realized how hard it is to concentrate on anything these days, with 2 small kids around. I usually start with full interest and by the time I am half done, I literally start rushing things because one of them or both would have lost their patience by then. Same happened with these. I did not pay attention to some of the main details. So these turned out like pull apart rolls in shape instead of the buns that you can see in Aparna’s blog . I used little too much cake in them, so it was a little hard to roll into a log and then cut into pieces. But they were so good, I did not mind the shape at all. They looked rustic (ahem!!) and kind of cute after I drizzled the chocolate on top.

They tasted so much better on the next day. I sent some for Ishaan’s teachers and some for V’s colleagues. I think I was the one who finished the most. The bread, cake and cherries all were delicious together. I am sure I will make these again, may be with a little less cake next time.

Black Forest buns - 3

Black Forest Buns

Ingredients

For dough

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 50 gms 3.5 tbl spn butter
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg optional
  • 3/4 tea spn salt
  • 1 and 1/2 tea spn instant yeast
  • 3 to 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

For Filling

  • 3/4 cup strawberry/cherry jam I used cherry preserve
  • 2 and 1/2 to 3 cup crumbled chocolate cake I used 1/2 recipe of black forest cake

For Drizzling

  • 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Heat milk and water till it is warm.
  • Take off heat and add butter, mix till it melts. (I transferred it to stand mixer bowl).
  • Add sugar and beat till it is dissolved.
  • Cool down the mixture and then add yeast, egg and beat till mixed.
  • Add 1 cup of flour, salt and mix.
  • Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time till everything is mixed well.
  • Knead the dough for about 10mins.
  • Lightly apply oil to the surface of the dough and leave it aside covered for about 1 and 1/2 hrs till it doubles in volume.
  • Now punch down the dough and roll it into approximately 18" x 12" rectangle.
  • Spread the jam (or cherry preserve or compote) on it.
  • Spread crumbled cake on top.
  • Roll the dough as tightly as possible.
  • Cut into 12 equal pieces.
  • Place them in a cake pan leaving some space between them for them to rise(there was not much space left in my cake pan, so I kept them pretty close).
  • Leave them aside loosely covered for another 45mins-1hr to rise.
  • Preheat the oven at 350F for about 10mins.
  • Bake at 350F for 25-30mins.
  • Cool them completely. Then drizzle melted chocolate on top.
Black Forest buns - 4

Black Forest Buns

Ingredients

For dough

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 50 gms 3.5 tbl spn butter
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg optional
  • 3/4 tea spn salt
  • 1 and 1/2 tea spn instant yeast
  • 3 to 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

For Filling

  • 3/4 cup strawberry/cherry jam I used cherry preserve
  • 2 and 1/2 to 3 cup crumbled chocolate cake I used 1/2 recipe of black forest cake

For Drizzling

  • 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Heat milk and water till it is warm.
  • Take off heat and add butter, mix till it melts. (I transferred it to stand mixer bowl).
  • Add sugar and beat till it is dissolved.
  • Cool down the mixture and then add yeast, egg and beat till mixed.
  • Add 1 cup of flour, salt and mix.
  • Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time till everything is mixed well.
  • Knead the dough for about 10mins.
  • Lightly apply oil to the surface of the dough and leave it aside covered for about 1 and 1/2 hrs till it doubles in volume.
  • Now punch down the dough and roll it into approximately 18" x 12" rectangle.
  • Spread the jam (or cherry preserve or compote) on it.
  • Spread crumbled cake on top.
  • Roll the dough as tightly as possible.
  • Cut into 12 equal pieces.
  • Place them in a cake pan leaving some space between them for them to rise(there was not much space left in my cake pan, so I kept them pretty close).
  • Leave them aside loosely covered for another 45mins-1hr to rise.
  • Preheat the oven at 350F for about 10mins.
  • Bake at 350F for 25-30mins.
  • Cool them completely. Then drizzle melted chocolate on top.
Lasuni Dal Palak - 5

We have always loved the very aromatic Lasuni Dal Palak in restaurants in India. When we moved to US, I tried different recipes to get the same strong aroma of garlic to my dals/gravies. Somehow I could not reproduce the same. Then I read about this recipe where garlic is used in 3 ways on some blog (for the life of me, I am not able to locate that recipe, I will update this post with the link when I find it). I made few twists to it over the years and finally I came up with this recipe which we absolutely enjoy. Garlic is added to the dal in 3 stages – once while cooking dal, then with onions and then again in a seasoning which is poured on top. This is not the regular lasuni dal palak but a mix of that and the Andhra style spinach pappu. Finally I have a recipe of spinach dal which no one complains about. When I make this, I make some extra rice since everyone at my home seems to enjoy this very much.

Some variations of this dish – Nupur’s Lasuni dal palak , Sailu’s Lasooni dal palak , a simpler dal palak by me .

lasuni dal palak3 - 6 lasuni dal palak3 - 7 lasuni dal palak1 - 8 lasuni dal palak1 - 9 lasuni dal palak2 - 10 lasuni dal palak2 - 11 lasuni dal palak4 - 12 lasuni dal palak4 - 13 lasuni dal palak5 - 14 lasuni dal palak5 - 15 lasuni dal palak6 - 16 lasuni dal palak6 - 17 lasuni dal palak7 - 18 lasuni dal palak7 - 19

Pictorial: Cook dal with spinach, garlic, turmeric. Heat oil, add cumin, urad dal, methi seeds. Then add onions, tomato and fry. Add dal, chilli powder, cumin powder, salt. Cook. Slightly crush garlic and chop. Make a seasoning of mustard, curry leaves, garlic and pour over dal.

Spinach Dal with Garlic (Lasuni Dal Palak)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup toor dal
  • 2 cups packed spinach
  • A pinch turmeric
  • 2 big cloves garlic
  • 1 tea spn cumin powder
  • 1 tea spn chilli powder
  • Salt

Seasoning 1 :

  • 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tea spn methi fenugreek seeds
  • 1/2 tea spn urad dal
  • 1/2 cup onion
  • 1/2 cup tomato
  • 1 tea spn chopped garlic
  • 1 tea spn chopped ginger
  • Oil

Seasoning 2:

  • 1 tea spn crushed and then chopped garlic
  • 1 tea spn mustard seeds
  • 5-6 curry leaves
  • Ghee

Instructions

  • Pressure cook toor dal, chopped spinach with garlic, turmeric, adding enough water till dal is cooked.
  • Mash it well and keep aside.
  • Heat a little oil and add cumin seeds, methi seeds, urad dal.
  • When they are fried, add ginger, garlic, onion.
  • Fry till onions are brownish.
  • Add tomato and cook till it is mushy.
  • Now add the cooked dal, cumin powder, chilli powder, salt.
  • Add enough water to make it a thick dal.
  • Bring it to bowl and take off the heat.
  • Separately, heat ghee and add mustard seeds.
  • When they start popping, add garlic, curry leaves.
  • When garlic turns brownish, pour the seasoning over the dal and close the lid immediately.
  • Serve hot with rice and a dollop of ghee.

Notes