It’s been an extended hot summer, really hot in every sense, now humid too. Add a HOT harissa to it and the combination gets teasingly explosive, bearable maybe? The Red Harissa turned out to be quite explosive, flavours that danced on the tongue. It’s become an integral part of my pantry, a sauce that I find myself reaching for more often than I really should be, but well!Once in a while you trip across a condiment, a sauce, an additive that is HOT in every sense! I’m not the only one who thinks so. I often find the dieting diva sneaking some into her ketchup, salsa, sandwich. She claims chili helps you lose weight, burn calories, but I suspect she is quite addicted to it too.The recipe is from a beautiful cookbook called Moorish, which lives up entirely to its name, and covers flavours from Mecca to Marrakesh!Greg & Lucy Malouf seduce your taste-buds with well laid out recipes, beautiful photographs and interesting trivia. They tempt you to churn our a chermoula as easily as you would a pesto, or to get as comfortable with tangines as you are with casseroles. NICE!With more and more pantries stocking up on spices and ingredients no longer considered ‘exotic‘, you would find most of the stuff either at home or at the corner store. The book reflects the cuisine that sprang as a result of the Arabic occupation of North Africa in the 18th century … the very idea of this culinary expedition is moorish!This sauce is more complex than most Moroccan versions, and one of many basic recipes Moorish offers – Dukkah, Za’atar, Preserved Lemons & Limes, Pickled Green Chilies, Tahini, Green Harissa, Toum, Taklia, Chermoula. The Chicken Paillard Fried in Cumin Butter is a recipe I use really often. Simple, quick to make, no do ahead stuff, and the flavours are amazing. A salad, a rustic bread, maybe roasted potatoes with it … We love a good chili sauce, the hotter the better; must be the Indian taste-buds, though a little goes a long way. The Sriracha Style Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce above is amazing and my to go recipe whenever red chilies are in season. This year however, I was a little busy and missed making a batch. With the tiny chilies in my garden in bloom, it was time to try the Red Harissa.
Initially taken aback by the number of chilies it used, dry and fresh, I was intrigued by the fact that it used a roasted bell pepper. Harissa is usually made with tomato paste. I made my first jar with slight hesitation; now on my fourth! Used the first batch on these Lamb & Purslane Pidescombined with a homemade sweet Plum sauce. Was floored by the explosion of flavour!There’s been no looking back. A tiny 1/4 tsp in tomato ketchup makes it sing, and some in a salsa sets the floor ablaze. Even if you don’t like it hot, just a teeny dot perks up the flavours. Are you game?
[print_this]Recipe: Red Harissa
Summary: A flavoursome Moroccan red chili sauce which can be found in restaurants across Morocco. Hot and explosive, it’s worth making. Adapted minimally from Moorish. Makes approx 200ml
Prep Time: 5 minutes Total Time: 25 minutes plus cooling me Ingredients:
1 red bell pepper, whole
10-15 dried long red chilies
4-5 small red chilies {recipe says 10}
3-4 cloves garlic {recipe says 2}
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin seeds, roasted, crushed
1tsp caraway seeds, roasted, crushed
60ml olive oil
Method:
Soak the dried red chilies in just enough water to rehydrate them while you roast the pepper. Crush the garlic with sea salt.
Preheat the oven to 200C. {I usually roast my bell pepper when I am baking something else, or do a large batch together}.
Place thee bell pepper on a tray and roast till blackened and blistered, turning often. Remove and place in a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and leave for 10 minutes. Peel off skin carefully, discard seeds and stalk.
Drain the red chillies and place with remaining ingredients. Puree with the olive oil. Taste carefully for seasoning – it is extremely hot. Adjust sea salt if required.
“I think that you’ve got to make something that pleases you and hope that other people feel the same way.”
Thomas Keller
Ah summer! With fruit and colour in equal abundance, what more can one ask for! Yet with the Indian summer comes stuff I don’t need! Power cuts, high temperatures and no time to bake! Then 2 days ago, the monsoons appeared, schools reopened, and I got a tiny breather. The first thing I did was to roll out a Rustic Peach ‘n Plum Summer Galette.Whats not to love about a season that offers crumbles, crisps, sorbets, fro yos, cheesecakes, mousse, ice creams, panna cottas, coolers, sangrias, chutneys, preserves, … and so much more! HAPPINESS! And then there are galettes, moorish in every way, full of rustic appeal! A simple free form pastry filled with fresh seasonal fruit has got to be one of my favourite summer desserts {among a slew of others!} There is SO MUCH you can do with stone fruit, it’s amazing! This year the quality has been exceptionally good. I looked at the peaches and wondered if they were ripe enough to peel; I really wanted to see if I could slip ‘them off‘. The fruit was perfect and for the first time in years I looked at a bowl of perfectly peeled peaches. Plums next and success again! I have a friend, an old lady, who spoils me silly constantly sending me stuff from chocolates to tangerines, and everything in between. Her grandson is quite fond of my baking so I try and bake him a little something when he visits from Moscow where he works. He’s visiting these days and this was for him!Made one for him, and then had some fruit left, so made one for us too! Got me high fives from the family. The peach monster said it was ‘really really nice‘, and so did the dieting diva. “Pie, pie, pie“, she screamed, “I want more!“The pastry was nice and crisp despite all the fresh fruit it held. The cornmeal added a touch of texture and crispness. It’s a good tart to make. Serve it warm if you like, though we loved it cold!
Place the fruit in a bowl, add in the remaining ingredients {except flour} and leave to macerate for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
Drain out the juices and reserve the fruit in a large bowl. Place juice in a non reactive pan over low heat and reduce it till it becomes thick and syrupy. Add back to fruit in bowl with the flour and mix well. Chill until required.
Pastry
Combine flour, cornmeal and sugar in the bowl of your processor and pulse 2-3 times. Add chilled butter and pulse 4-5 times, or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With the processor running, slowing pour the chilled water through the chute, processing until the dough begins to clump up. {It should stay together when pinched with the fingertips}
Turn onto a lightly floured surface, and quickly pull together to form a ball, flatten, wrap in film and chill for about 30 minutes or more if the weather is warm.
Assemble
Place the pastry on a large sheet of parchment paper. Starting at the center of the dough, roll out, forming a 14-15-inch wide circle.
Brush about an 8-9″ circle in the centre with the marmalade .{This will prevent the pastry from going soggy with the fruit juices}
Turn the prepared fruit filling over the marmalade keeping it within the inner circle, leaving a 2-inch border.
Gently fold the border over the filling, overlapping where necessary and pressing gently to adhere the folds, using a touch of water if necessary. Place tray in freezer until the oven preheats.
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Before popping the galette into the oven, brush the overlapping sides of the pastry with cold milk and sprinkle turbinado sugar over it.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes till the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. {Tent the top if the pastry browns too fast}
Remove to cooling rack, and brush the visible fruit portion with honey, and top with slivered pistachios, almonds etc.
Cool for at least 30 minutes to allow the pastry to firm up before serving. {Cutting it too quickly will cause the dough to crack}. We had it cold with a drizzle of single cream.
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Albert Einstein
It’s been a summer of discontent here in North India, Gurgaon specifically as we’ve been subjected to the worse power cuts ever in a summer that’s been the worst in 33 years. The temperature touched 43-45C the whole of last week, and we went without power for 48 hours! It took a protest that blocked roads for hours to get heard. Meanwhile, everything in the fridge obviously threatened to spoil! One good thing … the stone fruit got perfectly ‘ripe for dessert’; hence these Stone Fruit Crisps!
Crisps are wonderful light and easy to make desserts that celebrate seasonal fruit. They have a streusel like topping which is baked ‘crisp’ and gives way to soft cooked fruit below! Crisps usually have oats, butter and brown sugar … and mine went gluten free! I love fruit bakes and something as quick as this is amazing! 2 days sans oven was enough to drive the baker in me mad! Even if I didn’t have the energy to bake, just the thought of perishables spoiling got to me. Exhausted with extreme heat, I found myself cooking up most of the stuff in my freezer! So we had good food all the time, and coolers too! Did I forget to tell you that the summer vacation got extended due to high temperatures? Yes, that happened too, so no respite for Mama!
I made a delicious Chicken keema with baingan {mince with eggplant} … strange combination but its what I had on hand, and it came out finger licking good. Incidentally I made it twice on one day as it got polished off the first time around, and I had more mince in the freezer {and no electricity of course!}.
I made summer coolers, many summer cooler … a strawberry mango punch, aam ka panna {Indian mango cooler}, a bel cooler {wood apple cooler which was definitely prettier than tastier}, a watermelon cooler. Anything that threatened to expire was tirelessly salvaged! To kill myself further, I even took pictures!
Then came …… another jar of HOTred harissa and some very reduced fat KFC style burgers! Sometimes one can hardly believe all the work that gets done when there is no electricity!! {In case you are wondering, we don’t use electricity for the stove. We use a gas supplied through a cylinder … so that is is probably a good thing!}
Oh and I made a Quark & Cherry Verrines too … no bake stuff!!Then sometime yesterday we had power restored and the kids looked so relieved, as did the poor dog in a fur coat. She was the first to race for the air conditioner, and slept the whole day through! So did the teens. It’s uncanny to think that as kids we lived through this as an accepted normal situation! Not a whimper, no backup yet happy go luck! Anyway, woke up this morning and my load of of stone fruit were ripe, ripe for dessert, so I set to work on something quick. While mixing the fruit I was curious to see if I could make the bake gluten free, so I tossed in some almond meal instead of plain flour to absorb the extra moisture. In the topping as well, I skipped the flour and added some almond meal. It’s always fascinating to see fruit crumbles and crisps bubble over the fruit juices! The crisp was delicious, bowl scraping good! Beautiful flavours!
Then I noticed that the colours of my little ceramic pots and bubbling juices were white, blue and red, so what better time to post this but now! Happy 4th of July to my readers from the US! Have a wonderful day.
Rustle up a crumble if you have 10 minutes, else stay cool and try this Summer Fruit Jelly that I created for Del Monte. You can find the recipe on their website here. It was fun and was made by my lad! Simple as can be yet stunning to look at, and delicious beyond expectation {if I may say so}!!
[print_this]Recipe: Stone Fruit Crisp
Summary: An easy, quick dessert baked with seasonal stone fruit. It’s quick to make and full of flavour… a summer classic with stone fruit which is gluten free too!
Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
Filling
700g mixed stone fruit {6-8 peaches, 4-5 plums, handful of cherries, maybe two
Juice of 1 lime
20g demerera sugar
20g almond meal
1 tbsp Kirsch {optional}
Crisp topping
20g almond meal
20g demerera sugar
60g rolled oats
60g unsalted butter, chilled, cubed
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C. Place 6 ramekins on a baking sheet.
Filling
Stone the peaches and plums, chop with skin and place in a big non reactive/glass bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and toss well to mix. Divide between 6 ramekins, pressing down gently to level out.
Crisp Topping
Place all ingredients in bowl and food processor and pulse briefly in short intervals until a breadcrumb like mix is achieved.
Divide the topping between the ramekins to cover the surface. Gently press into place.
Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly and golden brown on top. If the top begins to get too brown, tent with a sheet of aluminum foil.
Serve warm or at room temperature. We are happy to have them chilled too!
Note: For gluten free baking, please ensure the oats are from a gluten free source.
“Food is a central activity of mankind and one of the single most significant trademarks of a culture.” Mark Kurlansky
These are literally hot off the press oven! Delightful little bites, crisp, flavourful, completely unexpected and a window to yet another culture. Trust Daring Bakers to throw up another fabulous challenge, this time an Armenian pastry full of infinite promise. Nazook, something I had never heard of. I went sweet and savoury, two ways – Nutella, Almond, Vanilla Bean Nazook and Cheddar Chimichurri Nazook, both delicious!
The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.
I read up the challenge pretty early in the month but this has been a tiresome month with plenty of kid issues. Have kids, will fret. Just as the ‘not so terrible anymore teen‘ has begun settle down, the preteen is offering us ‘challenges‘ galore. Not a moment of rest for the wicked I chide myself, and life goes on!Last night as I read the DB forum about all the wonderful Nazook experiences, I reached the kitchen in a trance and made the dough. ‘Rest the dough for 3-5 hours‘ said Aunt Aida.
Seemed like the challenge was tailor made for me, giving me time to relax too! I love make ahead bits of recipes as they make the work look so easy. The recipe called for sour cream and it was time for substitution as it isn’t locally available here! With help from Google, I settled for hung yogurt and butter. I have yet to experience such a smooth fine pastry dough, pliable, flexible and so unassuming. It made me sit up and take notice. The texture seemed to hold a lot of promise especially in hot weather like ours in North India.
Yet another Daring surprise from another beautiful culture, this time Armenian cuisine. Last month we walked the wild side with an exciting Dutch Crunch Bread or tijgerbolfrom the Netherlands. Some time before that we made the stunning Povitica, a Croatian sweet bread that was unforgettable! I absolutely love the way Daring Bakers is embracing food cultures in the most amazing way!Our talented host this month, Jason, is half Croatian and grew up eating Povitica! Jason decided to share his Armenian heritage with us and introduced us to his Aunt Aida’s nazook recipe of which he wrote … “I’ve tried a LOT of nazook, and have to say hers is the best I’ve tried.” I halved the recipe even though all the reviews were great but it’s beginning to warm up a lot here, and I didn’t know how the butter would behave! The result was so good. The crust is almost like a flaky shortcrust or shortbread, maybe somewhere in between, but quite amazing!
It’s always a sweet vs savoury tug of war for me in the kitchen. Even though I had chocolate something in mind for half, and pistachio for the other half, I reached for cheddar and went savoury on the first lot. So good! The flour in the filling intrigued me, so unusual, but like it needed to be there. The end result was crisp, buttery, flaky and full of good pizza flavour!For the second bit of the dough, Nutella called my name, and with a last minute almond distraction I ended up with Nutella, Almond, Vanilla Bean Nazook. I have stayed eggless with the challenge as I get loads of requests from my local readers to offer more eggless/vegetarian recipes. If you like, give the pastry an egg wash to get the characteristic shiny finish that nazook has.
Thank you Jason of Daily Candor {and your sweet Aunt} for a wonderful window to your rich heritage. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the beautiful nazook and nutmeg cake our other daring bakers have done!
[print_this]Recipe: Nutella, Almond, Vanilla Bean Nazook and Cheddar Chimichurri Nazook
Summary: An Armenian yeasted dough sweet traditional pastry. The result was so good, the crust is almost like a flaky shortcrust or shortbread, maybe somewhere in between, but quite amazing! {Adapted from Aunt Aida’s recipe from Jason}. Makes 20-22 nazook.
Prep Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes { plus resting time} Ingredients:
Pastry dough
210 gm all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
100gm hung yogurt {thick}
125gm softened butter (room temperature)
Savoury filling
55gm all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted
50gm cheddar, grated
1 tsp chimichurri seasoning or dried Italian herbs
40gm butter,room temperature
Sweet filling
100gm Nutella
55gm all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted
55gm vanilla sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
40gm butter, room temperature
25gm almond meal
Wash
1-2 tsp low fat cream or yogurt {or an egg yolk, or 1 whole egg}
Place the sifted flour into a large bowl. Add the dry yeast, and mix it in.
Add the sour cream, and the softened butter.
Use your hands, or a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, to work it into a dough.
If using a standing mixer, switch to a dough hook. If making manually, continue to knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl or your hands. If it remains very sticky, add some flour, a little at a time.
Cover the dough and refrigerate for 3-5 hours, or overnight if you like.
Make the savoury filling
Mix the flour, dried herbs, grated cheese and the softened butter in a medium bowl.
Mix the filling with a fork until it looks like clumpy, damp sand. It should not take long. Reserve.
Make the sweet filling
Mix the flour, almond meal, vanilla bean and sugar, then add the softened butter in a medium bowl.
Mix the filling until it looks like clumpy, damp sand. It should not take long. Set aside.
Make the nazook
Preheat the oven to moderate 175°C.
Cut the refrigerated dough into two.
Form one half into a ball. Dust your working surface with a little flour.
Roll out the dough into a large rectangle or oval. The dough should be thin, but not transparent.
Savoury version:
Spread the filling mixture across the rolled-out dough in an even layer. Try to spread the filling as close as possible to the edges on the short sides, but keep some of pastry dough uncovered (1 inch/2.5 cm) along the long edges.
Sweet version:
Spread the filling mixture across the rolled-out dough in an even layer. Try to spread the filling as close as possible to the edges on the short sides, but keep some of pastry dough uncovered (1 inch/2.5 cm) along the long edges.
Continue for both versions…
From one of the long sides, start slowly rolling the dough across. Be careful to make sure the filling stays evenly distributed. Roll all the way across until you have a long, thin loaf.
Pat down the loaf with your palm and fingers so that it flattens out a bit (just a bit).
Apply the wash with a pastry brush.{Sprinkle with dried herbs or vanilla sugar etc if desired}
Use your crinkle cutter (or knife) to cut the loaf into 10 equally-sized pieces. Put onto an ungreased cookie sheet,
Place in a preheated moderate oven for about 30 minutes, until the tops are a rich, golden brown.
“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.”
Etty Hillesum
The other day I got a package from Britannia Foods with samples of their recently launched snacks, which offered the promise of a break from baking; something that looked like the kids would enjoy. I must be a glutton for punishment because even though I was absolutely exhausted, I decided to make some Caramelised Onion & Garlic Jam to go with it!The morning saw a tiring pizza session, absolutely delicious, but gosh, so much work!! Preheating the oven to make a batch of balsamic roasted strawberries for these Hot Cross Buns I was annoyed with myself. It was bugging that the oven was on, had some extra room and I hadn’t got my act together in time to bake something alongside. It’s a happy feeling to know you can kill two birds with one stone … catch my drift?Does that happen to you sometimes?Pouring in the balsamic vinegar I remembered earlier references to an onion jam that used balsamic vinegar but the recipes I recall were all stove top. Figured I could roast onions in balsamic vinegar and brown sugar alongside the strawberries. Something sweet and something ‘savoury sweet‘ …nice!
Garlic had to be in there because roasting garlic brings out the sweeter side of it. We are a garlic loving family. It’s something that just seems to make life better, even on tiring old days! Being in the kitchen, creating, baking, stirring is all pretty unwinding and relaxing on most days! Summer is here so I’m up pretty early much to the dogs excitement. She takes a chunk out of my earlier free mornings, but she is so CUTE that I don’t mind it!
I served them with the Caramelised Onion & Garlic Jam and the ‘now beginning to get pretty tiresome‘ pre-teen lapped it up asking for more.
Ran them past the ‘not so tiring any more’ teen and she loved them. Offered her onion jam, and she went “EWWWW. Nevah!!” After much cajoling and convincing, a little blackmailing, I finally got her to taste some. She enjoyed it, though hesitatingly said, “Would you mind not calling it jam please? I don’t like the idea of onions in jam!!” Hmmm …So go on, grab some onions and make some Caramelised Onion & Garlic Jam. Make more than what I made because its pretty darned addictive and hits all the good spots in the most delightful way. I LOVED it. Sweet and savoury is right up my street, add garlic and I sing out LOUD! This did not disappoint!
{Disclaimer: I have not received any remuneration from Britannia or any agency for this post. This is my personal opinion on the product which I have reviewed.}
[print_this]Recipe: Caramelised Onion & Garlic Jam
Summary: A different take on what we traditionally think of as jam. This is pretty darned addictive and hits all the good spots in the most delightful way. A ‘smoky oniony garlicky’ jam that pairs well with crackers, rolls, canapes, bread, pizza etc!
Toss the onions in 2 tbsp olive oil, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Place the whole garlic cloves in a piece of foil and drizzle the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil over it.
Turn the onions into an oven proof casserole, make a small nest in the centre and place the foil in the middle.
Roast at 190C for about an hour until the edges begin to brown. {I like to do this as I bake something else alongside, or then bake a large portion as this keeps for long}
Remove from oven. When the garlic cloves are cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out. Discard the peels and place the roasted onions, garlic and sea salt in a heavy bottom pan.
Taste and adjust the brown sugar or/and balsamic vinegar as required. Simmer on low with little water added if it is too dry for about 10 minutes for the flavours to mature. Cool and store in a glass jar in the fridge.
“Happy Easter. May happy thoughts and springtime flowers brighten all your Easter hours.”
Author Unknown
So what are you making for Easter Mr PAB asked, referring to the ever ‘hungry’ blog!Moi? I had no plans but he talked me into some. Having studied in convents all my life, I’ve been charmed by hot cross buns for long, long, but never baked a batch. Maybe this was the time! Soon enough, the sweet aroma of Hot Cross Strawberry Chocolate Chip Buns wafted gently through the house!
A hot cross bun is a sweet, spiced bun made with currants or raisins and marked with a cross on the top, traditionally eaten on Good Friday. In many historically Christian countries, buns are traditionally eaten hot or toasted on Good Friday, with the cross standing as a symbol of the Crucifixion. Sharing a hot cross bun with another is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year, particularly if “Half for you and half for me, Between us two shall goodwill be” is said at the time. Because of the cross on the buns, some say they should be kissed before being eaten.
My version is non traditional yet quite delicious! I bookmarked a few recipes including one in my Thermomix cookbook, but eventually went for an oft used basic recipe. It’s the one I adapted for Apple Cranberry Almond Olive Oil Pull-Apart Loaf & Popovers from The Pioneer Woman, a ‘light as air’ flavourful dough, one that can take a stuffing, and is quite a fun dough to play with!
Stuffing? Yes indeed! I had a small idea creeping into my head as I had strawberries calling to be roasted yet again. I wanted to try adding a small ‘heart‘ of that roasted goodness into my hot cross buns. I cooked the syrup to a thick reduction to ensure the filling stayed ‘stuffed’ in! Also, instead of traditional currants I opted for chocolate chips.
The recipe never fails. For the ‘cross’ on top I piped some thick stirred plain flour and water. The buns were delicious and disappeared pretty soon. The red heart of roasted balsamic strawberries was a nice surprise as you bit through the bread flooding your palette with flavour and balsamic sweetness. It paired well, as does the chocolate, with an otherwise not too sweet bread.Buttermilk keeps the dough light, and the vanilla bean adds gentle, beautiful flavour. If I had placed the buns apart on a large baking sheet I’d have managed individual hot cross buns, but since I used a smaller baking pan, they rose into each other and resulted in a pull apart bread. No regrets however!!I like this dough recipe, and keep simplifying it as I use it more and more. The basic dough is eggless, butter free and light. Yeast, soda and baking powder combine to make sure it rises well. Its versatile too as I’ve used it in Savoury Chili Cheese & Garlic Olive Oil Pull-Apart Bread some time ago. More recently it popped up on PAB as the base of Sweet Orange, Roasted Strawberry and Chocolate Buttermilk Rolls.It’s one those recipes you can keep returning to, experiment with and enjoy in different avatars. I might try using the dough for a slow overnight rise sometime soon. So many ideas to keep the hungry PAB and kids happy, but often the lack of time!
[print_this]Recipe: Hot Cross Strawberry Chocolate Chip Buns
Summary: Light and airy hot cross buns made with a yeasted {eggless] buttermilk dough flavoured with vanilla beans and chocolate chips. A sweet roasted balsamic strawberry reduction floods the palette as you bite through the otherwise not so sweet bun.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes plus resting time Ingredients:
Buttermilk Dough
240ml {1 cup} buttermilk, room temperature
70gm {1/4 cup} granulated sugar
60g {1/4 cup} extra light olive oil, or any neutral oil
Enough water to make it into a thick paste {approximately 1/4 cup or less}
Roasted Balsamic Strawberries
225gm strawberries
30gm {2tbsp} brown sugar
15ml {1tbsp} balsamic vinegar
Method:
Buttermilk Dough
In a large bowl or your food processor, place all the dry ingredients, followed by the oil and buttermilk. Knead to a soft pliable dough. It will be sticky. Cover and let it rise for at least an hour.
{Thermomix: Place all ingredients in TM bowl. Mix at Speed 6 for 5 seconds. Knead at intermittent speed for 2 minutes. Leave dough in TH for an hour until it doubles. Cover TM if weather is cold.}
Assembling:
Roll the dough into a large rectangle. Spread 1/3rd of the butter over it, and sprinkle half the chocolate chips over. Fold over twice like you would do puff pastry and repeat again with 1/3rd butter and the remaining chocolate chips.
Divide the dough into half, then into 6 equal portions each. You should have 12 portions. On a lightly floured surface, gently roll the dough into balls.
Take a ball of dough, flatten on the palm of your hand, place a scant tsp of completely cooled roasted balsamic strawberries on it, and pull the edges over it to cover the filling. Gently roll back into a ball, ensuring that the filling is trapped in. Place seam side down on a parchment lined baking sheet/pan.
Repeat with remaining balls of dough.
Allow to rise covered while you make the flour mix for the cross and preheat the oven to 220C.
Mix the flour gradually with the water to get a thick paste. Place into a ziploc bag, snip off a corner and pipe crosses over the dough balls.
Bake for 10 minutes on 220C, reduce the heat to 200C and continue to bake for a further 10-15 minutes until nice and golden. Paint with the remaining butter as soon as the buns come out of the oven.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
{Caution: Don’t be tempted to bite into a hot ‘hot cross bun’ as the filling might burn your mouth.}
Roasted Balsamic Strawberries
Toss the quartered strawberries well with the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Bake at 180C for about 45 minutes until nice and bubbly, stirring once or twice. Strain the strawberries and reserve in a bowl. Place the liquid in a pan and reduce over heat until nice and thick. We need a thick strawberry reduction for the stuffing! Cool completely, transfer to a clean glass jar and refrigerate until needed.
