Oven-Baked Crisp Cauliflower

D loves cauliflowers, as I’ve already mentioned here. I tend to pick it up whenever I come across a fresh one in the market. And apart from D’s trademark Aloo-Gobi dry, which he makes to perfection, I like try out other different varieties. A pulav with Gobi was great - got some messages from friends who tried it and liked; A starter, Gobi 65 was awesome too, but of course involves a bit of work and also more oil. I do add these little florets along with other veggies in many other items as well, but wanted something easy and with little effort. And of course with lesser oil too. Something using the oven to do the time consuming job??

A quick search yielded me a lot of recipes for oven roasted cauliflower and I figured it is a very adaptable recipe. One can play around with the ingredients as much as one wants, to get different varieties… And here’s what I tried. I made it twice in two weeks and do check the notes for variations.

The pics do not do any justice to the dish, I know - can’t help much till the Sun decides to grace us here in Scandinavia!

Happy Baking!!

Oven Roasted Cauliflower

Preparation Time: 10 min

Baking Time: ~30 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1 medium, cut into medium size florets

Oil - 1/4 Cup; I use olive oil (See Notes)

Cornflour - 1-2 Tbsp

Besan / Chickpea flour - 1 Tbsp (Optional)

Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp

Jeera / Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Hing / Asafetida - 1/4 tsp

Salt - As per taste

Method:

• Preheat the oven at 200 deg C. Line and grease a big baking tray.
• Cut the cauliflower into medium size florets and clean it by soaking in a mixture of warm water and salt.
• In a bowl combine all dry other ingredients and whisk well.
• In a large bowl, take cauliflower florets and pour oil over it, mixing well
• Now add the dry mixture over the cauliflower while tossing it well, to coat all the cauliflower pieces well with the mixture.
• Spread it evenly on a greased baking sheet.
• Roast the cauliflower for 25 minutes, tossing it once around 15 minutes.
• To get a crispy texture, turn the oven switch to broil mode for 3-5 minutes, again tossing once in between.

Notes:

• Using this method, a bunch of varieties can be prepared, with a mix of different herbs and spices and varying the amount of flour.
• I once tried using a bit more of besan and using a bit of yogurt as well to make crispier fritters. The additional spice used was garam masala.
• Quantity of oil can be reduced by using a bit of yogurt
• Can try out with Italian herbs as well.

This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 
Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar and Preeti Deo.

Garlic Bread Exotica - Pizza hut style

I love garlic bread. And especially the ones from Pizza hut. And specifically the Garlic Bread exotica they have, loaded with veggies and topped generously with cheese… A generous sprinkle of mixed herbs on top… and may be some chili flakes to add to the heat… and it’s one perfect starter…. Especially to an Italian course.

When I bought the baguette bread last time - well, I wanted to make it myself, but was tempted to buy it when the store smelled of freshly baked bread - a piece of heaven. So when I bought it, I knew I had to make the Garlic Bread Exotica with it. Had all the lovely colored bell peppers/capsicums; and we both love loads of garlic… So the weekend brunch featured this.

It is quite an easy thing to fix - just chop the veggies, make the garlic spread… top with toppings and bake - that’s it! Of course, if you’re a food blogger, u have the additional task of arranging them beautifully and clicking them - in my case, I outsourced it to D, while I prepared the salad :D

So here goes the recipe…

Garlic Bread Exotica

Preparation Time: 10-15 min

Baking Time: ~15 min

Serves: 2 as a meal; 4 as a starter

Ingredients:

Colored bell peppers/Capsicum - 3/4 cup, chopped (I used a mix of green, red and yellow)
Onions - One small, chopped
fresh/frozen corn kernels - 1/4 cup

Cheese - 1/4 -1/3 cup, grated (mozzarella or cheddar)
1 tsp red chili flakes

Salt to taste
A Baguette or French/Italian bread

For Garlic Spread:
Olive oil or Melted Butter - 3 Tbsp, at room temperature
Garlic - 6-8 pods, very finely chopped
Mixed Italian herbs - 1 tsp -  I use thyme and oregano
Coarsely ground pepper - 1/2 tsp (vary acc to taste)
Green chilies - 2, finely chopped (only for an added extra-spice)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 170 deg C
• Line a large baking tray with foil or parchment and set aside
• Heat butter /olive oil on a low flame and add the finely chopped garlic, Italian herbs and green chilies, ground pepper and let it warm and keep aside.
• Cut the baguette into 1" thick slices diagonally
• Mix all the chopped vegetables peppers, corn, onions in a bowl, add salt
• Take each slice of the bread and apply garlic spread with a silicon brush and put a Tbsp of mixed vegetables over it
• Sprinkle red chili flakes and top it with cheese (the more, the merrier ;) )
• Arrange on the prepared baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes and then broil it for 2-3 min until the edges of bread are slightly crisp and the cheese starts melting.
• Have warm as a side with a pasta dish or a pasta salad or a starter for a pizza meal
• Or best, have it as a snack, all by itself :)

Notes:

• Can use tomatoes as well, but I am averse to them :)

This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 
Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar and Preeti Deo.

Pita Bread!

I wanted to make a complete meal of Middle Eastern Cuisine, when i planned for the Falafel and Hummus. So Pita bread it was, to stuff the falafel in, along with a few veggies and served with Hummus, as a main course. Saw these beautifully puffed up Pita Breads at Deb's Smitten Kitchen and totally fell for them. They looked like almost, deep fried pooris - puffed up completely and inviting. Only difference being they were baked and had a small fraction of the fat that would go into a poori :)

Well, i followed the recipe almost the same - but substituted half of APF with WWF, and the texture was good. It tasted good with Hummus and the stuffed ones were a hit. All of them puffed up and gave me beautiful pockets to put in the stuffings. The stuffing was Falafel, Hummus with Tahini, Lettuce, chopped tomatoes and a few slices bell pepper. It made for a heartening meal and we loved it.

Pita Bread

Preparation Time: 1 hr active time + a lot of waiting time
Baking Time: 3-4 min per batch of 3-4 pitas
Source: Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
All-purpose flour - 3 cups plus a scant 1/4 cup  (16 oz./454 grams) [I used half of Whole wheat flour and half APF]
Salt - 2 tsp
Instant yeast - 2 tsp (6.4 grams)
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp
Water - 1 1/4 cups, at room temperature

Method:
Mixing the dough:

• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except for a scant 1/4 cup of the flour. 
• With a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until all the flour is moistened. Knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together.
• Sprinkle a little of the reserved flour onto the counter and scrape the dough onto it. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, adding as little of the reserved flour as possible. At this point it will be very sticky. 
• Cover it with the inverted bowl and allow it to rest for 5 to 20 minutes. (This rest, Deb says, will make the dough less sticky and easier to work with.)
• Knead the dough for another 5 to 10 minutes or until it is soft and smooth and just a little sticky to the touch. Add a little flour or water if necessary. 

Let the dough rise: 

• Transfer the dough into an oiled large container/bowl, smearing a little oil over the dowgh as well. 
• Keep covered with a damp towel or a plastic wrap. 
• Let it rise till double in volume.
• If using it later, refrigerate the dough overnight (or up to 3 days), checking every hour for the first 4 hours and pressing it down if it starts to rise.

Getting Ready to Bake:

• Preheat the oven to 250°C. Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking baking sheet on it before preheating.
• Cut the dough into 8 or 12 pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the rest covered with a damp cloth. 
• On a lightly floured counter, with lightly floured hands, shape each piece into a ball and then flatten it into a disk.
• Cover the dough with oiled plastic and allow it to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
• Roll each disk into a circle a little under 1/4 inch thick - almost like a poori. 
• Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes before baking.

Baking the pita:

• Quickly place 1 piece of dough directly on the stone or on the baking sheet, and bake for 3 minutes. The pita should be completely puffed but not beginning to brown. 
• Proceed with the remaining dough, baking 3 or 4 pieces at a time if using a stone or baking sheet. 
• Transfer the pita breads to a clean towel, to stay soft and warm. Allow the oven to reheat for 5 minutes between batches. 
• The pitas can be reheated for about 30 seconds in a hot oven before serving.

Notes:

• The dough will not puff well if it is not moist enough. If the pita does not puff up fully, here's Deb's trick. I tries it too on one of the pitas that had gotten dry.Spritz each rolled-out pita with water two or three minutes before baking it. And bake as usual - pitas will puff perfectly. 
• This bread can also be made on stove top on a hot skillet. The results were not as great as the oven baked ones, but was good never the less. Can try if you don't have an oven or just want to make a couple of them and do not wish to turn on the oven.

This post is for the Bake-A-Thon event by Champa. These are the other co-bloggers baking with me... 
Champa, Srivalli Jetti, Priya Suresh, Veena Krishna Kumar and Preeti Deo.