It has been a really long time since I baked something. There were many days when I wanted to bake something, but it was so hard to even just cook minimal things and get out of kitchen after long working days. I had plans of baking breads for my parents which were also kept on back burner till now. Finally this weekend I decided to stop thinking about it and actually bake these breadsticks. I am happy that I got to use the oven for for it’s intended use instead of using it as a extra storage place (yeah, there were many pans and skillets stored in the oven for past few months).
I used wheat flour and all purpose flour for these breadsticks. The herbs give an intoxicating aroma to these. Within few minutes of baking, the entire home filled with bread aroma. The breadsticks came out super delicious. My parents loved it, we all skipped dinner that day :).
Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cups wheat flour 1 cup all purpose flour 1 tea spn active dry yeast 1 tea spn chopped fresh basil 1 tea spn dried oregano 1 tea spn red chili flakes 2/3 cup milk 4 tbl spn water 1/2 tea spn sugar 1 tea spn salt 1 tea spn chopped garlic 1 tbl spn olive oil + some more for brushing Garlic salt (or use fry chopped garlic)
Method: In a large bowl, take the luke warm water. Add sugar, olive oil and yeast. Keep it aside till the yeast becomes active (frothy). Now add both kind of flours, basil, oregano, salt, milk, garlic, chili flakes and knead into a dough. Leave the bowl covered in a warm place till the dough doubles in volume. (Approx 2 hrs). Knead the dough again. Shape into desired sizes. Cover with a plastic wrap and leave for another 1hr till the bread rises again. Preheat the oven at 400F for 10mins. With a brush, apply olive oil/butter to the breadsticks. Sprinkle garlic salt on top (or sprinkle chopped garlic and some salt). Bake at 400F for about 12mins till the bread is done. Serve while it is hot.
Makes 8 breadsticks
Pictorial:
This is one of the very popular Konkani sweets. There are few types of duddaLLis – one prepared with rice and coconut , the second one is made with arrowroot powder ( kachra peet ), the third one is made from ragi flour.
Ingredients: 1 cup arrowroot flour(kachra peet) 1 cup sugar 3 cups milk 1/4 tea spn cardamom powder 2 tbl spn chana dal (optional) 2 tbl spn cashews (optional) Ghee
Method: Cook chana dal and cashews. Keep aside. Take kachra peet (arrowroot powder) in a bowl and add water to it. In few minutes, the dirt particles float on the top and thick white paste at the bottom. Discard the water from top. Add water to the paste again and discard the water from top after few minutes. Add 1 cup milk to the paste and mix it very well. Heat remaining milk till it starts boiling. Add sugar, chana dal and cashews. Now slowly add the paste and keep stirring. Within few minutes, the milk starts thickening (like custard). Add cardamom powder. Switch off the heat. Apply some ghee to the bottom of a flat pan/shallow plate and pour the thick custard on it. When it is cooled down, cut into squares. Serve with some ghee on top (If necessary, decorate with cashews on top).
