How to make Cinnamon Rolls with Cooked Frosting | Easy Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

With Christmas around the corner and less than 4 days to go before you can sing Hallelujah, the Lord has come, I thought I'll peep in to help you with a lovely classic breakfast for your family to wake up to this Christmas morning. Its typically Western, hearty and sweet to call your morning off to a good start, supple enough that you may want to lay your head on it and snooze again, gives you the comfort of your bestie's company, and is the festive sorts that you can set up on table for your guests to dessert on.

For the longest time, I've had aversion to cinnamon in all things sweet. Let me not even get to the whys of it, for all I know, cinnamon in my arena existed best in the legion of savories, given the exception for a good Christmas fruit cake where it favorably unites with clove, cardamom and other spices, veiled in a way that it does not hit your senses directly and ruin the flavor. But, here it comes finally, the world coveted Cinnamon rolls looming right out of my kitchen to yours. I’m close to being a convert, convincingly not a cinnamon-dessert-hater anymore. These don’t look a lot like the traditional rolls. I mean they are not enormous in size to consume your palm, certainly not the perfect looking rolls that stand flawlessly edged shoulder to shoulder giving them a clean rip, nor do they bask in the sugary coated frosting that sinks into every groove merrily.

I would probably rechristen these as cinnamon pull apart rolls; owing to the pans I had and the amount of dough I made, they ended up this way. But they are cinnamon rolls essentially, so let's stick to that. They don’t snatch away the authenticity from the traditional ones. They smell great in and out of the oven, are near identical in their recipe, forgiving the eggs in the dough. They sat squishing in an eight inch round baking pan, my ideal dish to bake a nice chocolate cake in, but this time around they doubled up as my bread pan too, saving me gracefully from sunken cockeyed bread had I baked them in my ten inch dish instead. They nudged for space as they puffed up on their second sitting, and, by the time they were out they looked glorious in their golden crevices and sugar burnt hunches, flattering into characteristic pull apart rolls that need to be forked by the thumb and forefinger to tear them apart from their siblings. There’s a fun thing to it, to tear it apart in submission in an imperfect way and dunk it in milk over giggles and laughters with our little girl while tapping our feet to the melodies of Christmas jingles. That’s when you know you are up for a good start to a holiday season.

The frosting is purely optional. As for a daily bread, I would stay away from frosting these. They are sweet on their own and make a wonderfully perfect Sunday breakfast with a slather of some salted butter, or cream cheese and coffee by the side. But we are in a holiday season, and that calls for some adornment on the table to give it a festive ring. I have a clean, less sweeter old fashioned cooked vanilla frosting recipe that works really well for me. Since the bread is sweet by nature, a lighter frosting like this one is pleasing to our tastes. Unlike the traditional frosting where you mix milk to confectioners’ sugar till you get a desired consistency, this one is far better version that gives me a similar thick pour-able consistency, albeit far less sweeter than the original version. Give it a try, may be you'll fall for these too.

Cinnamon Rolls with Cooked Vanilla Frosting

INGREDIENTS

For Cinnamon Rolls:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk (I used full fat milk)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp. active dry yeast (or rapid rise)

For the Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon powder
2 tbsp. melted butter

For the Cooked Vanilla Frosting:

1 cup full fat milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Heat the milk and butter in a large sauce pan till the butter has melted into the milk. Remove from heat and add in the sugar. Stir well and allow it cool down to lukewarm. The milk should be tepid enough to activate the yeast, but not too hot, else will kill the yeast.

Transfer the warm milk to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle yeast into it. Let it sit for 10 minutes, so that the yeast can feed on the sugar and froth.

Next, add flour starting with 1/2 cup at a time and stirring well as you go. Once it forms a loose batter, add the next half cup of flour and stir well. This will help activate the gluten in the dough and yield soft supple dough, resulting in a good, fluffy bread. Continue using all of the flour and stir well with each addition till it comes together to form a sticky dough. Knead it for a minute or two till its soft and supple.

Place the dough in an oiled deep dish and cover it with a dish cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for about 2 hours. By this time the dough should double in size.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. I use the clean kitchen counter top that provides me ample space to work my dough on. Using a flour dusted rolling pin, roll the dough into a thin long rectangle. Brush it generously with melted butter. Prepare a mix of sugar and cinnamon powder and sprinkle it generously all over the dough.

Starting at the longer edge side, roll up the dough as tight as you can till forms a long log. To avoid opening up, place the seam side down. Using a cleaned knife dipped in flour, cut the log into slices of 1.5 inch each. Butter a 8x8-inch round baking tin. Place the rolls into the buttered tin, next to each other. Brush the rolls with some melted butter. Set aside to rise again for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes or until the bread is golden brown in color. If the top of the bread seems to change color sooner, while the underside still seems uncooked, cover the top with an aluminium foil and continue to bake till done.

Remove from oven and allow it to cool completely. Frost as desired.

For the frosting, combine milk and flour in a saucepan. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, for about 3-5 minutes. The mixture should thicken and come to a boil. Add in sugar and stir well. Boil till the mixture coats the back of a wooden spatula, i.e. of custard consistency. Turn off the heat. Stir in vanilla essence. Cool completely. Before serving, whisk the frosting really well and swirl using a spoon on the cinnamon rolls.

How to make Cheese Swirl Brown Bread | Easy Cheese Brown Bread Recipe

What is it like to experience an earthquake under your feet? Feeling of tremors, panic attacks, the aftermath, heart beat thumping harder than anything else you have heard, home crumbling down to rubble, a piece of land that breaches to shatters, where uncertainly prevails, and much more??? I went through nearly the same plight the night day before.

It happens quite often that I drift away from my system unlocked while I attend to other household demands. This night too, like usual, I was part way through my blog when the clock announced it was time for dinner and hence I headed over to the kitchen to prep the table. Little had I known that I would soon be called for a shock. My little girl saw this as an apt moment of play to wiggle around the mouse and hover over a couple of blogger tabs. It threw me in jolts when I realized that a couple of playful clicks had led my painstakingly customized blog interface revert to plain ol' default layout. It may have been a matter of plain fortuity, but it costed me huge heart aches and couple of sleepless nights in return to see my space, my web home collapse to wreck, much like an earthquake. Or a web-quake?

More than a year ago, I completely revamped the look of my blog and customized it to my preference. It was an interface I loved thoroughly - a simple, 2 columned no frill plain Jane look. I worked through days and nights of editing CSS coding to get its final look. When I wished to go back to the backup file, a lot had been added and modified from my original layout. Over time, social icons and new widgets were added manually, which I had now lost them all.

Anyway, all of this comes as a blessing in disguise. I assume, this space needed a new look to kill that long held monotony. After hours of research and relearning CSS coding, I finally have just the right design and I like it every bit. I am still working through those petty modifications, but I am almost there. I hallowed through the past 48 hours untiringly to reconstruct this new look. Let me know, how you like it? Are you facing any issues? Drop your comments. Constructive, critical, whatever; I welcome them all.

Beyond relearning the bits and pieces of long forgotten CSS coding that has kept me busy these couple of days, our summers have been good for now. Weather is warm and sun shines high up on almost every single day. One of the my favorite pastime this summer has been to rent books from the nearby library and read them by the porch. Apart from the usual splurge of novels, I have dug myself into couple of good cookbooks that have been quite instrumental in my kitchen during this vacation. One such inspirational cookbook that has kept me quite on my toes has been 'The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion'. A book that I have come to adore so much. Of the several recipes that I tried, tested and succeeded, this Cheese Bread has been my current favorite. Ofcourse with some minor changes to the basic recipe, here's my version of the same - cheese swirled into basic bread recipe. They are wonderful as sandwiches or open faced toasts with avocados, cucumbers, onions and lettuce.

Cheese Swirl Brown Bread

Inspired by 'The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion'

INGREDIENTS

2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 cup lukewarm milk
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. butter or vegetable oil
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp. Italian herbs
1 cup finely grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

Combine all the ingredients except cheese and knead them together to form a smooth, pliable dough. Adjust the dough consistency with additional flour or water as needed. Cover and let it rise for atleast an hour or two, or till nearly doubled.

Transfer the dough to a well greased work surface and pat it into a 8"x 5" inch long rectangle. Combine both the cheeses in a separate bowl and spread it over the bread dough. Beginning from the closer end, roll the dough along with the cheese to form a tight roll. Pinch the seams together. Place the dough roll into a 9"x 5" inch baking pan, the seam side facing down. Allow to rise again for another 45 mins to an hour. Bake in the preheated oven at 350 deg F for 35 - 40 mins. Should the top brown too quickly, cover the top with aluminium foil and bake till the center sounds hollow. Allow to cool completely and then slice to serve.

Today, Veg Bowl completes 5 years of blogging, crossing yet another milestone that I am immensely proud of. Ever since its commencement since March 15th 2009, the journey till here has been fabulous and entirely satisfying. Like in any relationship, in this journey too there were highs and lows, ups and downs that made it difficult to tread the path - yet the love, the faith and the passion endured and so it succeeded. It’s hard to believe that Veg Bowl is 5 years now with 250 posts.

When I sat down to put together this post I had a hard time to begin this post with. Words did not flow so easily. I was stirred emotionally. You see, over the several posts in the past, I have never thought over so much as much as I did for this one. Nor had I spent so much time reading through my previous blog posts. Nostalgic as I may say, each post reminded me of the time and effort I had spent over each dish, each post; some to create, many to photograph and others to draw a story for the board. Each has its own story to weave. Over these years I spent in blogging, I have learnt a lot and matured in the process. It bettered me as a cook, as a photographer, and as a story teller.

There were many moments when I assumed I would no longer be able to pursue blogging because I was so pressed on time, work pressures and personal demands of life that it felt almost impossible to chase this passion. These were times when I was pregnant and I hated food or its sight, when I became a mother and nurturing my baby was the most important, when I switched jobs and I was busy unlearning and re-learning at work, when I brought back tons of workload home and that kept me occupied for weeks and weekends, when I had to baby sit the toddler all by myself and manage home unaided, when my husband was out of town for weeks and our life demanded more attention to other important matters than just hobbies - these were times I put aside blogging for those whiles. But there was sincere love and an enduring faith that helped me succumb to this appetite of blogging as and when time permitted me. I pursued it not under pressures of being active as a blogger, but as a medium to catalyze my culinary creativity that would help me unleash the diurnal pressures of life. Even during these moments I cooked a lot, but I probably did not make time to photograph or post them. Yet with all these failing reasons, I am here because I just love being here and doing what I love the most. Cook. Click. Share.

Over these years, I have received incredible support from many. A special mention to my husband for all his patience and care shown towards me during the time I am shooting, processing or blogging. Its his constant support and motivation that has inspired me to come this far. My parents, family, friends and many near dear pals have always extended their relentless motivation, many being positively critical about my work. I geared a lot of love and respect from many known and unknowns. The mails, the requests, the thank you notes from you readers have always made me feel special. Your comments aspire me to do better. Keep them coming so that I can keep myself going. Thank you all once again for all your love and Happy Birthday to Veg Bowl.

For this special day, I have some warm and delicious Breakfast Knots for you all. These are buttery and delicious and one of the best breads I have baked recently. Bake them in your kitchen and share them with a dollop of butter or jam with your family over cups of steaming hot tea or coffee. I am sure it will bring in more love and warmth that will help your day going.

Breakfast Knots

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup warm milk
1/4 cup warm water
1 1/4 tsp. instant or active dry yeast
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 cups + 2 tbsp. all purpose flour; more as needed
1 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water and then add yeast. Let this stand for at least 10 min till the yeast is frothy. After 10 mins, the yeast should have frothed and bubbled up. Now add melted butter, salt and warm milk to this frothed yeast and stir well. Introduce the flour into this mixture and stir using fork till a coarse ball of dough forms. Alternatively you may use a stand mixer with dough blades attached for this purpose. When the dough comes together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add a tbsp. flour at a time and knead it gently. If it’s too stiff to handle, add a tbsp. of milk at a time and knead well. Place in a oil greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size. This takes about 2 hours. Once risen and doubled, punch it down. With little or no extra flour divide the dough to 6-8 equal pieces.

On a clean work surface, grease your hands with vegetable oil or butter. Next roll one piece into a 10-inch-long rope. Tie the dough into a loose knot with about 2 inches of dough free at each end. One free end of the dough will go over the knot and get tucked into the center, while the other free end will be tucked under the knot. Ensure they are securely fasted between the knots so that they don't open up while baking. Place them on the baking tray and allow to rise and double for another 1-1/2 hours. Brush milk over these bread knots and bake in a pre-heated oven of 180 deg C for about 15 minutes. Remove after 15 min and brush more milk on top of these knots and bake further for another 5 minutes. The knots will be baked to golden brown hues. Remove from oven and brush some warm melted butter. This helps in keeping the bread soft with a lovely soft, supple crust. Serve warm with butter and jam for your breakfast or with soups for your dinner.

Also, Happy Birthday to our dear little princess daughter who turns 3 today. You make our life so special and worthy! Wish you loads of love, luck and happiness!

I kind of cheated here. Some leftover delicious pesto was stuffed into the yeasted dough, then let it rise and baked it for our breakfast. That made up these delightful bread rolls paired with a cheesy mayo dip. When breakfast gets so simple and easy, there can never be a complain!

As I write, my freezer is loaded with walnuts right now. So do expect to see some walnut recipes back to back, which I hope you will love.

A while ago I was crazy to have an organic kitchen garden of my own. The kinds that could supply me few tomatoes, chillies, spinach, mint, curry leaves, and some greens. But I have given up on my tiny kitchen gardening now. Over these months I made frantic attempts to get my plants all the nutrition they needed in behest of keeping them organic. I aerated the mud, replenished them and fed them field fetched dungs. They grew well, but only for a part of the time. Then my life got so busy that pursuing the weekly routine of caring for them seized. Just watering did not help as they needed extra effort and care when gardened in pots. While many other plants failed to grow as much I would have loved them, it was the mint that surprised me the most. She spread wild and nice, her leaves bursting in depth of greens, the stalks emanating the peppery aromas of mint, making it such a delight to watch her each time I nutured her. I basked in the happiness of watching her bloom and contemplated on how much beauty she would bring to my dishes. Sauces, chutneys, desserts, and this pesto. Such small joys give bounty happiness.

So one evening this pesto was made; mint, some leftover dill and coriander stalks ground with walnuts and garlic, seasoned with salt and pepper and liberally flavored with a dash of grated cheese. I've used the leftover dill and coriander stalks in making this pesto, but I recommend, you skip dill and only use coriander since both mint and dill have a unique strong flavour. Nevertheless, it's a comfort food that goes well with Garlic Spaghetti or into making these bread rolls for our breakfast.

Walnut Mint Pesto Bread Rolls

INGREDIENTS

For the dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup warm milk (maybe a little more or less)
2 tsp. active dry yeast (I used Baker’s here)
1/4th cup melted salted butter
1/4th cup powdered sugar

For the Pesto filling:

1 garlic clove
1 cup fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup mix of dill leaves and coriander stalks
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup walnut halves, lightly toasted
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup finely grated cheddar

DIRECTIONS

Dissolve 2 tsp. of active dry yeast in half a cup of warm water and a teaspoon of sugar. Keep it aside for 10 minutes till the yeast is active and frothy. If the yeast fails to froth, discard and start again.

After 10-15 minutes, in a separate glass bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dough; the frothy yeast, sugar, butter and flour, pouring just as much milk in small additions so as to form a sticky soft dough. The dough will initially be sticky, but later will begin to leave itself from the sides of the bowl. Knead into a smooth elastic dough with as little flour as possible. Stickier the dough, lighter will be the bread. Knead the dough for atleast 5-7 minutes so as to release its gluten which helps in a nice, light bread.Place the dough in a bowl, cover it and allow the dough rise until it has doubled in size (should take about 90 minutes in warm condition).

Meanwhile to prepare the pesto filling, grind all the ingredients except the cheese mentioned under pesto above. I like some bits of walnuts coming through, hence I used a mortar and pestle for this purpose. Set aside.

After about 45 min the dough should have risen. Give it a punch and knead it further for 5 more minutes. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a rough rectangular shape with uniform thickness. Spread the pesto filling all over the dough. Sprinke over the grated cheese. Beginning with the long edge closest to you, roll the dough into a tight roll. Slice the roll into 9 even pieces. Gently poke some more grated cheese into the rolls. Place them on the baking tray and keep them in a warm place for at least 1 hour, until they've roughly doubled in size. Bake them at 180 deg C for 30 to 35 minutes.

Last month, my husband moved to the United States on a long term assignment, where he is expected to be stationed for atleast a year. With heavy hearts, we bid him a bye till we meet again next year. It wasn’t an easy decision for us to make collectively, to move or not to move with him. But we made a conscious decision and chose not to, at least till he settles himself to the new place and the biting chill weather. We will join him later, may be for a short term of a month or two, but that will have to wait. All through the last year, he had been frequently traveling to the States for work related, while our little girl and I made pace with the fact that daddy dear would be out of country, but be back soon with us for a good time.

This year will be a challenging one for me, to manage work and home single handedly. In his absence, I wish not to be torn between several things of our mundane lives, the intensity of which I did feel over the past one month since he left. I felt the forces that pushed me out of the comfort of living life of interdependence earlier to being an overly independent woman now. As a working mother, handling things singlehandedly doesn’t get easy – managing home, paying off bills, buying groceries, dropping off my toddler or taking her out for a walk, singing her lullabies, or greeting guests, waking up late nights to neaten my home (as that’s the only free time I get for myself), or taking official calls late evening after work. It’s not any easy, but life has to go on. At this moment, my life is mix of chaos and fatigue.

I never thought I would visit a dentist with a toddler in hand. But I did. She pulled out a few cables here and there while the doctor got busy drilling my tooth. I was prepared to face the doctor getting frantic pacifying my naughty girl while at work on me, but she amazed me by being a decent kid, except for pulling out the few cables of course!

In essence, I have learnt to stride with the new changes in our life. In this whirlwind of changes, I am learning to prioritize my time and being efficient, and yet be able to strike a balance. There are no long drives or movies we can go now. These days our weekends and holidays are dedicated to pillow fights and teddy plays. The only movies I watch are in the noon on the television when my toddler is off to sleep for an hour or two. On a positive side, since I am home now on most weekends I get to bake.

I baked some rolls for breakfast recently. I probably realized that since my last post on Cinnamon Pretzels, I have never baked anything with cinnamon solely. Cinnamon rolls topped my to-do list of recipes for long. I kept pushing them for a while since I had no fondness towards anything pronouncedly cinnamon-y in my bakes. My husband often reminded me how much people in the West, particularly in the US consider cinnamon a staple and how popular cinnamon rolls are. I honestly thought these rolls would change my perception towards cinnamon, but oh boy, I was so wrong. I hated them and I still do.

These probably may not be my favorites for my aversion toward this spice in particular when used solely and paired with anything sweet, but that does not necessarily mean you will not love them. I think I was too desirous to add a whole lot of cinnamon to these. Probably I would have loved them milder. But then these are nothing less than delicious. The little one relished them in numbers. I camouflaged the cinnamon-y flavor with a vanilla custard. They taste delicious and can be great for a gathering.

Cinnamon Bread Rolls

INGREDIENTS

For the dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup warm milk (maybe a little more or less)
2 tsp. active dry yeast (I used Baker’s here)
1/4th cup melted salted butter
1/4th cup powdered sugar

For the filling:

2 tsp. cinnamon powder
2 tbsp. brown sugar
Butter for brushing the dough
Couple of walnuts

Homemade custard or melted chocolate to drizzle (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Dissolve 2 tsp. of active dry yeast in half a cup of warm water and a teaspoon of sugar. Sugar aids in providing food to the yeast and the warmth helps it breed. Keep it aside for 10 minutes till it turns active and frothy.

After 15 minutes, in a separate glass bowl, combine all the ingredients for the dough; the frothy yeast, sugar, butter and flour, pouring just as much milk in small additions so as to form a sticky soft dough. I use a fork to mix the ingredients. As you beat the ingredients, the dough will initially tend to be sticky, but later will begin to leave itself from the sides of the bowl. Knead into a smooth elastic dough with as little flour as possible. Stickier the dough, lighter will be the bread. Knead the dough for atleast 5-7 minutes so as to release its gluten which helps in a nice, light bread. Place the dough in a bowl, cover it and allow the dough rise until it has doubled in size (should take about 90 minutes in warm condition). Once risen, punch the dough down. Knead it further for 5 more minutes. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a rough rectangular shape with uniform thickness.

In a small bowl mix equal amount of cinnamon powder with brown sugar. Slather some melted butter on the rolled dough and spread this cinnamon sugar all over the dough. Beginning with the long edge closest to you, roll the dough into a tight roll. Slice the roll into 9 even pieces. Gently poke some walnuts into the rolls. Place them on the baking tray and keep them in a warm place for at least 1 hour, until they've roughly doubled in size. Bake them at 180 deg C for 30 to 35 minutes.

Hope you had a happy long weekend folks! And wish you a Happy Monday!

I often wish Sunday's don't go by so quickly and Monday's don't come by so soon. More often, I wake up to a thought of having yet another Sunday that is an extension of the previous day or a hope that the week passes by steadily, merrily and fruitfully, welcoming yet another weekend, and that too a happy, jolly one like the one we just had.

Last week with Eid on Friday, we had a long weekend. The week that went by, we had Independence day falling on Thursday and a quick Friday that that did not seem like a working day, so that counted for yet another lovely long weekend, or at least I like to think that we had one. :)

To make this holiday worthy, we made a day's trek to the nearby outdoors and that was such a welcome break. This Dal ki roti, whipped up from the previous night leftovers made up for our outdoor brunch, just apt as a wrap-up-take-away for any time munch.

Dal ki roti is an excellent way to use up left over dal from the previous day and translate it to a delicious snack or a breakfast dish. Being a popular dish in the North, this was one of those recipes I learnt from my mother in law, who makes it extremely well and is often accoladed for the variety of delicious parathas she makes. Since I have come to learn this, it's been a regular at my home, way too often when I have left-overs of dal from the previous day. It's versatile, easy to put together, healthy and delicious. You may use any simple dal recipe for this one, either moong, tuvar or masoor dal. The one I used is here, however you can use the ones with onions in them or heavier seasoning. A thicker one makes softer and tastier parathas, so I suggest you drain off the excess water if the dal is thin. I like to pep up the seasoning a bit here with some chopped onions, a few hot chillies, garam masala, fresh coriander leaves, but it really up to your choice and taste.

Dal ki Roti

INGREDIENTS

1 cup leftover dal
1 onion, finely chopped
2 to 3 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp. red chilli powder
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1 chopped onion
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tbsp. fresh coriander leaves
2 cups whole wheat flour (varies depending on thickness of the dal)
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking

DIRECTIONS

Drain the dal if there's excess water and combine the dal with onion, green chillies, red chilli powder, cumin seeds, garam masala, finely chopped coriander leaves and salt. Combine the wheat flour into this and knead into a soft dough. Set aside for 20-30 mins. Pinch out the dough into equal lime sized portions and with the help of wheat flour, roll out into a circle of 6"-8" using a rolling pin. Heat an iron griddle and cook each roti, flipping each side as they cook. Brush oil on each side of the roti and cook till golden brown on both the sides. Serve hot with onion rings, fresh curd and pickles.

It's frustrating when I have the urge to blog to keep my space brimming with recipes, yet I can't seem to make time to load my webpage even occasionally. That's how hectic the past couple of weeks have been. Crazy and way too swift to fuel this space aptly. I hope I'll be back to blogging routine soon, but till then I leave you with a nice Chilli herb bread for a lovely Sunday morning.

I have no talks for you today, but just the right recipe for this bread and some quick snaps clicked to share with you. This delicious herb bread with a dash of cheddar cheese is great served with flavoured butter and accompanies well with soups and dips. Even better toasted.

Chilli Herb Bread

1 tbsp. yeast
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. chopped red chilli / chilli flakes
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs
2 tbps. grated cheddar cheese* (optional)
Salt to taste

Dissolve yeast in half a cup of warm water and sugar and set aside for five minutes. The mixture will become frothy.

Stir in olive oil, salt, chilli flakes, cheese, dried Italian herbs and flour into the yeast mixture. Gradually mix in the next half cup of water. Using a wooden spoon, stir to form the dough. Bring the dough together and knead for roughly 10 minutes. If the dough is loose and sticky, add in more flour and knead further. The dough should become elastic. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to cover the surface of the dough with oil. Cover with a damp dish towel and let it rise for an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled, punch it down to release all the air. Shape into an oval shaped loaf or a free form as you prefer. Place the loaf on a greased baking tray and let it rise until it's doubled in size again, about a 30 minutes.

Bake at 180 degrees C for 35 minutes. Remove and let cool on baking rack. Slice and serve with dollops of butter and cheesy dip to accompany.

*For a Vegan option, skip the grated cheese totally.

I am not entirely a bread lover. Given an option I prefer Indian flat breads or rice on any given day. But considering the number of bread recipes I bake, I see myself being a convert, probably soon. Baking them is entirely fun. There's a profound joy in kneading, proofing, watching it rise, punching it down, rise again and bake to golden hues. There's immense satisfaction one gets out of home made bread, the joy only a home baker knows best.

This recipe in particular comes from my drafts, long standing in nature that was baked late noon to satisfy the urge to bake bread couple of weeks ago. Clicked late in the evening and hence my dissatisfaction with its photography, it went into hiding for sometime into my drafts. But then that doesn't rule out the fact that this herbed bread is delicious and can jazz up any meal. This bread has a nice tang from homemade sun-dried tomatoes and herbed flavors from dill leaves. Pair it with soups, salads or pastas, they'll make a meal complete.

Sun-dried Tomatoes and Dill Focaccia

INGREDIENTS

250g plain flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried yeast
1 tbsp. olive oil
Approx. 160 ml. warm water
1 tbsp. sun-dried tomatoes
1 tbsp. dill leaves, chopped
1 tsp. red chilli flakes

DIRECTIONS

Dissolve the yeast in half a cup of warm water and teaspoon of sugar. Stir well and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. By then the yeast will activate and bubble up. Place the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add in the yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon to form a dough. Gradually add the remaining water and bring the dough together. Knead it for a 4-5 minutes. Place it in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and place it in a warm place to rise for a 3-4 hours. The dough will rise and double in size. Once risen, give the dough a punch, deflate it and knead it on an oiled surface for five minutes. Place the dough on a baking tray, shape it to your desire and press dimples on top of the bread dough. Mix a tbsp. of olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, chopped dill leaves and red chilli flakes in a bowl. Top the dimpled bread with this topping, spread it gently and allow the bread dough to sit in a warm place for an hour to rise. Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C. Bake the bread at 200 deg C for 30 minutes, or till the edges crisp and the bread is golden brown.

Sunday morning we made a picnic to the nearby animal farm. The little one had been excited about it all through the Saturday as she played and constantly babbled the names of the animals she was supposed to pay visit to. Frisking through her set of animal toys, she managed to identify most of them by names, and we bribed her to take her out for that feat.

We left early on Sunday. The morning I woke up and quickly toasted these sandwiches for the munch. A slather of butter for the richness, few onions and cucumber slices for the base, some fresh basil that I plucked off from the budding plant for flavour, some grated cheese to top it and some herbs paired with fresh crackled pepper to finish, as simple and quick it can be. Shouldn't that how a picnic be? Quick and stress free.

We shoved the picnic basket with these sandwiches and fruits, the rug, paper plates, sauce sachets, napkins and water bottles into the back-seat of the car, put on our sunglasses and drove off to the farm.

It was fun as we saw her enjoy the company of turkeys, rabbits, donkeys, horse, goats and hens. She fed the goats some fresh peas and beans and loved the company of emus. As we munched on these fresh basil and cucumber sandwiches, she fed and shared her little bites to the rabbits too. I’m sure they loved it. In turn she devoured these happily, animating the little bunnies and teaching them how to eat. By the end, she made several babbling conversations and had almost made best friends with them.

Incidentally, on our drive back home, she managed to identify a faded white plastic rabbit thrash bin along a road side and she screamed in joy pronouncing “mama, labbit, labbit!”. Almost like she was united with her long lost friend! A day worthy that was ought to be.

Fresh Basil and Cucumber Sandwich

INGREDIENTS

Couple of slices of whole wheat bread
Butter, to slather over
Couple of leaves of fresh basil, torn
Thin slices of cucumber
Thin rings of onions
Grated cheddar cheese
Fresh crackled pepper
A dash of Italian dried herbs

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the toaster / grill / sandwich maker for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place 2 slices of bread on a chopping board. Trim the edges and slather butter generously on either sides of these slices. On one of the bread slice, place couple of onion rings, followed by torn basil leaves. Top them with 2-3 cucumber slices, placing them side by side. Top them with more torn basil leaves, some freshly grated cheddar cheese and freshly crackled pepper. Sprinkle a dash of Italian dried herbs. Top it with the second slice. Press down gently and place it in the toaster / sandwich maker. Prepare the following sandwiches the similar way. Toast till they are golden brown and serve hot with tomato ketchup or chutney of your choice.

Four years up with blogging on Veg Bowl and it almost feels unreal. Why? Because I admit I never thought I would take up blogging seriously. I began blogging more than five years ago. Before writing on Veg bowl, I blogged privately on a personal space which was limited to few of my family and friends. The huge inspiration came when I accidently stepped on a couple of family blogs and took hours to read through them. I was awestruck, and almost felt one with them. I thought it was a great idea to maintain a diary of memories that could be cherished later in life. I jotted down reminiscences of our travel, our family gatherings, weekly happenings, musings, and a bit more. But my blogging on it was quite temperamental. I spent a year on that, though not so passionately and unfolded Veg Bowl in parallel to jot down recipes I created eagerly in my little kitchen, penning down the recipes that were appreciated by my family and friends and posting pictures of dishes that came out of my kitchen.

Much before I got into mainstream blogging on Veg Bowl, I hadn’t explored my skills in food photography. I realized where my passions lay as I gained more readers and many friends through VB, and that was even before I existed on Facebook. My blogging on Veg bowl got more consistent than my personal blog and I lost interest in the other space with time. Somehow I wondered if VB would see the same fate soon, but it didn’t. There was a joy to learn, to connect with like-minded bloggers, to explore and do a lot in cooking and photography. Somewhere I believe that my interest in this blog was linked to this urge to learn photography.

Down the lane 4 years now, I still feel there’s a scope to learn and explore. I still enjoy the art of blogging that’s so creative and therapeutic. I have grown older and matured to better from where I started. On the flip side, I am not a social networking bee yet, and that explains why I am never so active on Facebook. But I love your emails and genuinely go through your comments. I am not on twitter yet, neither on instagram or googleplus or any other networking sites and pardon me on that. After a lot of persuasion, I finally have a VB like page on FB, but I’m not serious about it. Clichéd I know, but I don’t fit well into the whole concept of social networking well. Somehow it leads me to believe that social networking has become a wide spread web syndrome, with most of us hooking our precious time into the web mesh. We are so busy socializing and connecting on FB that we will miss out on living those beautiful moments of our life that can be cherished later. There are times I feel guilty while I’m busy blogging, because I should probably use that time to cater to my daughter and not miss watching her grow.

Yet with all that said, I do not intend to give up blogging in the near future. Because this space has given me a lot more than I expected. Like it keeps me active and thinking all the time. What began with just a food and photography site has grown to share a lot on my personal front apart from just recipes. VB was not meant to be a commercial blog, that’s why I choose to keep it clutter free, clean and minimal as possible. I vent out here, I speak a lot of my mind, share fond memories close to my heart, unleash the joy of cooking and creativity, and I love to part away with my most loved recipes and photographs with you all. That means a lot to me since it keeps me going, and connects with you all.

For the joy of completing 4 successful years of blogging and for more to come, I am celebrating this day with this Whole Wheat Banana Bran Loaf. Coincidently, it’s my daughter’s birthday today. What can be a greater joy than this? As I see her geared up to celebrate her big day this evening, I baked this easy and delicious, yet an all healthy loaf last evening so that we could wake up to treat her with a quick bite of this loaf and wish her good luck, the best of health and bounty happiness in life she deserves. Time is fleeting by unbelievably fast. From a new born baby to infancy and now a swift intelligent toddler that she is, she turned two today. Happy Birthday to both my sweethearts! Life cannot be better without you!

Whole Wheat Banana Bran Loaf

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cup whole wheat flour (150 gm.)
1 tbsp. wheat bran
1/3rd cup vegetable oil (35 gm.)
2 very ripe bananas (60 gm.)
½ cup milk (40 ml.) {replace with vegan milk of your choice for a vegan version}
2/3rd cup organic dark jaggery (60 gm.)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cardamom powder

DIRECTIONS

Prepare a 8 inch pan by greasing and lining it with baking paper. Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees C.

Pulse the bananas along with milk and jaggery in a food processor. Next add in the vegetable oil and blitz again. In a separate clean bowl, sift the whole wheat flour twice. Add baking soda, wheat bran and cardamom powder to this. Make a well and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir well till combined. The batter will be thicker than regular cake batter, but not stiff. At this stage you may add in nuts if preferred. Finally pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C.

Notes:

* Jaggery has a typical rustic and earthy sweet flavour that’s customary to South Indian cooking. Hence pairing it with bananas and cardamom powder brings out a traditional aroma to this cake.
* I’ve used high quality organic jaggery here. The local jaggery available generally contains high amounts of impurities. Hence to remove the sediments, soak the jaggery in milk, dissolve it and strain it through. Alternatively, use brown sugar if jaggery is not available.
* To make a vegan version, replace milk with any vegan milk of your choice.
* Wheat flour and wheat bran bring out a nutty flavor to this cake, although you may replace them with plain flour altogether.