Vegetarian

Foccacia with garlic and herbs


I have been making Foccacia over and over since few years but I don’t know why it did not occur to me to post it sooner. My family just loves this bread and more than half of it gets gobbled up no sooner it comes out of the oven while still warm and crisp.

Top it with chopped olives, roasted tomatoes, roasted peppers, caramalized onions, etc. Foccacia is best eaten alone as a snack, but you can use it for sandwiches or pair it with dips for a delicious appetizer.

Here are the step-by-step pictures and method.

Mix flour, salt and active dry yeast in a large bowl.  Add the water and with a wooden spoon or whisk, mix till all the flour is incorporated.  Cover the bowl and keep in the refrigerator for 8 hours upto 24 hours. Alternatively, if you wish to bake the same day, leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.

After the dough has risen, add the Italian seasoning and knead the dough to incorporate the seasoning. 

Take two rimmed trays 9” x 12” each and pour a tbsp. of olive oil in the centre of each. Divide the dough into two pieces and place each on the pan. 

Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise for two hours or more till the dough  spreads and covers most of the pan. 

Preheat oven to 220  deg C or 425 deg F.  With your fingers make depressions all over the bread, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. 

Bake for 25 minutes, until tops are golden and edges and underside are brown and crusty.

Foccacia with garlic and herbs

  • Difficulty: Average
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Ingredients

  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
  • 2 cups warm water
  • 4 tbsp. olive oil
  • Italian seasoning, as mentioned below
  • Flaky sea salt

Italian seasoning

  • 2 tbsp. chopped garlic
  • 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
  • 1/2 tsp. Oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. Thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. Basil
  • 1/2 tsp. Rosemary
  • 1/2 tsp Chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • Mix all the above together and keep to infuse until required. I have used dried herbs, use fresh if available. Secondly, you may omit one or the other as per availability, but increase the quantity propotionately so the bread is well seasoned. You may also use chopped olives.

Method

  1. Mix flour, salt and active dry yeast in a large bowl.
  2. Add the water and with a wooden spoon or whisk, mix till all the flour is incorporated. 
  3. Cover the bowl and keep in the refrigerator for 8 hours upto 24 hours.  Alternatively, you can also keep to rise for two hours, if you plan on making it the same day.
  4. After the dough has risen, add the Italian seasoning and knead the dough to incorporate well. 
  5. Take two rimmed trays 9” x 12” each and pour a tbsp. of oil oil in the centre of each.
  6. Divide the dough into two pieces and place one on each pan. 
  7. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise for two hours or more till the dough  spreads and covers most of the pan.
  8. Preheat oven to 220  deg C or 425 deg F. 
  9. With your fingers make depressions all over the bread, drizzle with the remaining olive oil, use more oil if required and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. 
  10. Bake for 25 minutes, until tops are golden and edges and underside are brown and crusty.

Dibba Rotti


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Dibba Rotti… I am so glad I came across this recipe. Didn’t know of this Andhra speciality until I chanced upon it recenly on the net and have already made it a couple of times.

Makes a great breakfast, snack or a meal besides being easy to prepare. All you need is a frying pan! Although the taste seems like a combination of idli and medu vada, you don’t require an idli steamer, idli molds or a medu vada maker. It’s like a huge fried idli! Nice and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Eat as soon as it is made 😉

Would also go perfectly with any curry for lunch or dinner. Try it with chicken or mutton roce curry or sorpatel.

So here’s the video recipe on YouTube..

Dibba Rotti

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 Cup Urad Dal
  • 1 Cup Idli Rawa
  • ½ tsp. Cumin seeds
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 to 3 tbsp. Ghee

Wash Urad dal and soak in water for atleast 4 hours.  Wash the idli rawa, drain all the water and set aside.  Grind the urad dal to a smooth paste adding water as required.  Keep the paste thick. Mix the urad dal paste and idli rawa together,  add salt and cumin seeds.  Mix well.  Leave aside for 30 to 45 minutes.  If you wish, you may leave to ferment overnight but not necessary. 

Heat a frying pan, add ghee and when melted, pour 4 to 5 ladles of batter (to a small pan).  If the pan is larger more batter may be required to get the desired thickness.  The above quantity will give you two small dibba rottis or one medium.

Lower heat, cover the Pan and cook 10 to 15 minutes till the underside turns golden brown and crisp.  When the rotti starts leaving the sides and turns brown, flip and cook the other side for 10 to 15 minutes till golden.  Remove to a plate, cut into wedges or squares and serve with Idli Podi, coconut chutney and or anyother chutney of your choice. Would taste great with some sambar too.

How to make Idli Podi, check out this link: https://youtu.be/epSo2X6c2Vw below

Pao-Bhaji – Mumbai’s Iconic Street-Food!


Pao Bhaji – Pav Bhaji

Published: October 22, 2015

Pao-Bhaji (or Pav Bhaji) is a simple potato and tomato dish, made famous on the side streets of the city that never sleeps and loves to eat out.

I can gorge on street-food anytime and my favorite is undoubtedly Pao-Bhaji. In the late 70’s when I used to work at New Marine Lines, behind the Income Tax Office, the office boy would gladly fetch Pao-Bhaji for my lunch on days I did not carry tiffin from home. This happened very often as it gave me an excuse to have this mouth-watering meal.  Those familiar with this area would have tasted this and many other delicious lunch-time options available on the lane leading to cross maidan.  The food-carts now, most certainly upgraded to food stalls.

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