Chocolate

Recently during my casual visit to one of my neighbours, I was offered chocolates. Well, who can resist chocolates? At least not me ! I gladly took one and found them to be delicious. She then told me that they were home-made. After hearing that, I took another one and was keen to have the recipe. She apparently, got this recipe from her friend who got it from hers and so on and so forth.

Well to cut a long story short, I prepared it immediately and thought of sharing the same with you all. So here it is.

Raksha-Bandhan is fast approaching, this is a treat to all the brothers.

Happy Raksha-Bandhan day to you all.

Ingredients:

Curd	1 cup
Sugar	2 cups
Wheat flour	1 cup
Butter	1 cup
Cocoa powder	3 tbsps
Vanilla essence	1 tsp

Method:

1. Heat a non-stick pan.
2. Add butter, wheat flour, curds and sugar in it and keeping the flame low, mix it well and stir the mixture from time to time so that no lumps are formed.
3. When the mixture becomes semi-solid and leaves the sides of the pan, add vanilla essence and cocoa powder and keep stirring till the the whole mixture turns into a solid mass. This may take about an hour and a half.
4. In the meantime, prepare a greased plate/tray and keep it aside.
5. When the mixture hardens and turns into a solid mass, remove from flame, and place the contents on to the greased plate and immediately spread it as evenly as possible.
6. Cut it into squares and allow it to cool in the plate.
7. When completly cooled, separate each square and store them in air tight container.

Ingredients

Curd, butter, wheat flour and sugar being mixed together

The mixture being stirred to prevent any lumps being formed

Vanilla essence added

Cocoa powder added

A solid mass formed

Mixture spread evenly and cut into squares

Chocolates ready to be devoured!

 

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 1hour 30 mins.

Makes: 56 pieces ( each pc. approx. 1.5inch square in size)

Note:

• Can be kept for a month or two when stored in an air-tight container and refrigerated.
• To make it more attractive, you can wrap them up individually in coloured /silver foil wrappers.
• To enhance its taste, you can also add chopped nuts and raisins.
• I have noticed that the colour of the cocoa lightens as the mixture hardens.
• I greased a baking tray and also placed a greased butter paper for easy removal of the chocolate pieces when cooled.

 

Healthy (Multi Grain ) Bread

Bread is one of the most versatile bakery item. It can be had as a quick breakfast snack for all those who are on the run and at the same time the humble bread can be converted into a healthy sandwich with assortment of vegetables for the vegetarians or with non-veg fillings for the non-vegetarians. One can also make savoury dishes or even sweets. It is ideal for lunch packs, for parties or even while travelling. The choices are endless. I simply love the bread. Even during my childhoood days, I would always prefer to have bread for breakfast and I was aptly named "Miss Pav" - because in those days in Bombay/Mumbai we would get freshly baked "Pav" early in the mornings and with a dollop of butter spread on it - it tastes heavenly!

According to my opinion, there is nothing to beat the freshly baked homemade bread. The aroma of the bread that wafts through the kitchen while it is being baked is truly amazing and I really do not have words to describe this wonderful aroma.

Freshly baked Multi-grain bread

Tea-time - open sandwiches

Ingredients:

Multi Grain flour	3 cups
All purpose flour (Maida)	2 cups
Dry yeast	1½ tsps
Honey	1 tsp
Warm water	2 cups
Salt	1 tsp
Oil (sunflower oil)	3 tbsps
Warm milk	1-2 tbsps

Method:

1. Mix in a small bowl -  warm water, dry yeast and honey. Set aside to foam.
2. In a large bowl, mix the multi-grain flour, all purpose flour (maida), salt, oil and the formed yeast and mix thoroughly. Knead it well for  about 10-15 mins.( If you have a food processor, your work will be done much quicker).
3. Cover the dough with a wet cloth and leave it to rise for about half an hour or till the dough has doubled in size.
4. Place the dough in an greased loaf tin or you can also form it into any shape and place it on an well oiled baking tray. Leave it to rise for another 20 minutes.
5. Moisten the cloth with the warm milk and brush the surface of the dough.
6. Bake it at 200 degrees centigrade for 25 mins.
7. Allow it to cool before slicing.

Makes: 12 round bread (about 3"-4" diameter each)


Note:

• This is a simple basic bread recipe. It will be slightly dense than those available in the market.
• You can also substitute multi-grain flour with whole wheat flour.
• Variations can be made by adding chillies, some herbs, spices etc. for different flavours.