Desi Fiesta

Puff

Spicy Corn Braided Puff

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Here i am with another interesting puff with spicy corn filling .. Whether savory or sweet, dishes made with puff pastry tend to elicit plenty of “yummms.” Here’s a technique that’s guaranteed to add “oohoos” and “ahhaas” to the chorus. And it’s ridiculously easy and tremendously tasty!!!!

Served at Christmas dinner/ lunch, it will definitely make the vegetarians at the table feel like we are getting something special! And yet the technique is simple enough to use for everyday snack, not just holidays.

Ingredients

Puff Pastry -1 sheet (For home made eggless puff pastry click here)
Boiled corn kernels 1 cup
Capsicum 1 cup (I used red capsicum)
Cheese (mozarella/proccessed)  2 tbsp
Oil-1tsp
Green chilli paste 1 tsp
green chilli sauce 1 tbsp
tomato sauce 1 tbsp
red chilli pd 1tsp
Salt to taste
Milk to brush on top the puff pastry

Method

Filling :

  • Heat oil in a pan ..
  • Add green chilli paste n capsicum saute for while, then add boiled half crushed corn kernel .
  • Add salt , green chilli sauce , tomato sauce , red chilli pd and saute till all ingredients are combined together.At last add cheese and mix well.
  • Filling is ready!!!

Assembling the puff pastry :

  • Place the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface.  
  • Cut slits 1-inch apart from the outer edge on each side of the pastry sheet.( Refer the pics)
  • Spoon the filling down the center of the pastry. Starting at one end, fold the pastry strips over the filling, alternating sides, to cover the corn filling. 
  • Heat the oven to 375°F.
  • Place the pastry onto a baking sheet.  Brush the pastry with the milk.
  • Bake for 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.  Let the pastry cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
Tips
  • You can give these puff pastries any shape you like.
  • Paneer can also be included in the filling.

Sending to Learning to cook

Sending to Nivedhanam and UK rasoi 

Apple Strudel

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This apple strudel  is a classic, from the scrumptious filling to the flaky pastry crust. It is the  homemade goodness at its very best. Well, If you want to make this in authentic way of German/Austrian style,It is quite of work, I learned.You need to roll out the dough into a very thin layer.It has to be translucent enough to read newspaper behind it.You can not do this on the counter top you have to use your dinning table. I decided to do the easier way using a puff pastry..

Ingredients

1 pastry sheet (It can be store bought else you can make  home made pastry sheets  )

For making HOME MADE PASTRY CLICK HERE

Filling (Apple pie filling )

1/4 cup sugar
 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
a pinch of salt
4 cups chopped peeled tart apples (8 medium)
1 tablespoons butter or margarine

Method

  • In a large bowl, mix sugar, 1 tbsp  flour,  cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of salt. Stir in apples until well mixed.  Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over filling.
  • Take a rectangular strip of rolled out puff pasty sheet and spoon in some filling on one end, leaving enough space on all sides to ‘seal’ the puff.You can also fill the whole pastry sheet and fold the corners like a log shaped or give them any shape as you want. I even made them in Christmas tree shape using a cookie cutter.. 
  • Bring in the other end and seal off the sides. The puff pastry is usually sticky so you wouldn’t need anything else to seal it up.But  if you feel its not sticking then you can spread water in the  corners of the sheet and try to seal them..
  • Bake in a preheated oven at 350 Centigrade for 40-45 mins until the top is golden brown. 
  •  Serve warm if desired with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream .

 Tips

For a pretty glazed top crust, brush this with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar before baking.

Vegetable Puffs

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I made all time favorite snack of mine .. yumm  it was really delicious..Vegetable Puffs are a wonderful snack option for the days that you want something substantial and you can’t wait very long for it to be made!!They will take you back to the nostalgic ‘college days’. Relive the memories, at least the good parts with this easy recipe! I made the puff pastry sheets ahead and used them as needed..

 

 

Lets look for ingredients and method to fill in our puff Pastry’s

Ingredients

Home made puff pastry( Eggless ) click here for the recipe
You can even use store bought frozen pastry sheets .. just thaw it for 30 mins and then use  ..
Mixed vegetables – 1 cup (I used carrots, French beans, potato and green peas)
Onions – 2, sliced long
Tomatoes – 2, chopped
Capsicum / green bell pepper – 1/2 cup, chopped
Coriander powder /malli podi – 1 tbsp
Jeera /cumin seeds / jeerakam – 1 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp or to taste
Pav bhaji masala – 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – a few
Oil – 1 tbsp
Sugar – a pinch
Salt – to taste

Method

  • Boil the vegetables until soft and keep aside.
  •  Heat oil and saute the onions until golden brown. Add the curry leaves, coriander powder, chilli powder and jeera. Fry for 30 seconds.
  •  Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for another minute.
  • Now add the tomatoes and capsicum and fry well till its blended well.
  •  Finally add the vegetables and salt and sugar and mix well. Cook on open fire for about 5 mins. Don’t add water at any stage. The filling should be moist yet thick

 

To Assemble Puffs Before Baking:

– Take a rectangular strip of rolled out puff pasty sheet and spoon in some filling on one end, leaving enough space on all sides to ‘seal’ the puff.

– Fold them and seal the corners. The puff pastry can be sealed by pressing the corners using your fingers.

Baking

Bake in a preheated oven at 220 Centigrade for 30 mins until the top is golden brown. You can brush on some milk while still warm out of the oven to make it look prettier and glossier.

 

Home made puff pastry (Eggless)

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Puffs are one of the scrumptious snack i crave for .. I remember in school days we friends used have veggie puff aft we left school in the evening at least once in a week .. I used to love those flaky wafer’s stuffed with a spicy vegetable curry .. yummmm … I wanted to try home made veggie puff , so  I was looking  for puff pastry sheets while grocery shopping but i found tat all the pastry sheet contained egg in them..So i prepared tried the eggless version of puff pastry @home .. they where very very tasty and flaky too.. I have learned this recipe in my home science studies. There’s no reason to fear puff pastry. It only contains 5 ingredients (including the water) and the major effort is waiting for it to chill several times before you can make it into flaky croissants, crisp palmier stuffed veggies puff or delicious fruit turnovers, to name a few.

 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups maida
2 sticks  unsalted butter
25 gm unsalted butter ( to be added in the dough)
1 cup maida (for dusting)
1 tsp salt
Water as needed
1 lemon

Method
Place the two cold sticks of butter, straight out of the fridge, on a chopping board or the kitchen platform. Sprinkle some flour over it and, using a rolling pin or something heavy, beat the butter until it flattens out quite a bit but is still quite solid.
Pat the edges of the butter to form a square. Place in a container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
In a bowl, place the 2 1/2 cups of flour, butter,salt, squeeze lemon  and, using enough water, knead into a smooth and pliable dough.(lemon is added for the gluten formation)

 

 

Allow the dough to rest for a 15 mins, then roll it out into a square large enough so you can wrap the square of butter in it.

Once you have wrapped the butter, making sure it is well-sealed, then roll out the dough into a rectangle about 7 inches wide and 10 inches long. Do this preferably on a metal baking sheet so you have a cool surface and also so you can easily transfer the dough to the fridge. The rolling might take a little work because the dough can be resistant, but be patient.


Now lift the edges of the rectangle along the long side and fold over one another so you have three layers. Place the sheet with the puff pastry in the fridge (cover it with a cling wrap ) and let it stand for at least 20 minutes. Then remove and roll out again and fold again to make three more layers. Repeat four more times.

 


After you’ve let the dough stand in the fridge for the last time, divide the puff pastry  and roll them to rectangular sheets and Use them as  required..Freeze the leftover pastry sheets and use them when needed ..

 

Puff Pastry Tips:
  • When preparing the dough for baking, make sure all edges you want to puff up are cut cleanly with a sharp knife or the layers may stick together and have a tough time rising.
  • Using unsalted butter is preferred because it is the moisture in the butter, turned to steam, which helps the dough to puff. Apparently salt inhibits this somewhat by making the water take longer to convert to steam. Don’t substitute margarine or whipped butter spread.
  • It is best to make puff pastry in a cool room. Heat and humidity will make the dough more difficult to roll out because the butter will try to melt on you and make a mess, fast.
This is one basic and classic recipe, but there are a variety of puff pastry versions. For example, you can substitute cake flour or cornstarch for a portion of the all-purpose flour for extra tenderness. There is also a variation for croissants which includes a yeast dough. One method incorporates part of the flour into the butter pat to help stabilize the dough while rolling out. Experiment and find the one that works best for you.

Vegetable puff and plain puffs for tea time .. They where yumm and you can see the flaky texture they where scumptious .. Do try this n  drop me your valuable comments 🙂 ..