pumkin scones

I love pumpkin season, although I live in the desert and we don't celebrate thanks giving. But my home town is known for its heavy use of pumpkins, so I think it might be my DNA acting up (chuckle ).

Pumpkin scones makes 6 

Ingredients:

• • 2 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp powdered  nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp cloves, ginger
  • 6 tbsp cold butter, cubed
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 1 L egg

• sugar glaze

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tbsp milk

• spiced glaze

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 to 2 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp powdered cinnamon
• Pinch powdered ginger
• Pinch of powdered cloves
• Directions
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• Mix all the flour and other dry ingredients, then rub the butter and flour mix together until it takes the consistency of bread crumbs.
• 
  

Add in the pumpkin puree, milk and egg, with a wooden spoon mix in the flour/butter, and dump the whole lot on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until it just come together (make sure that you don't work the dough too much otherwise you'll end up with tough scones).

shape the dough into a disc that is 1-2 inches thick and then slice it like a pizza into 6 equal pieces, place them into a baking sheet and bake at 180 C for 12-15 minutes   
let it cool a bit before you glaze it

for the glaze:
dissolve the sugar into the milk completely  add the spices for the spiced glaze. cover the scones with the spiced sugar glaze and then pipe over it the plain sugar glaze in a zigzag pattern .

enjoy with a cup of coffee :)

• 
  

عيدكم مبارك

تقبل الله منا و منكم صالح الاعمال، عيدكم مبارك

The bread budding of the Arabs: Um Ali

Every Ramadan my mother will announce that she "at last" found the perfect recipe for Um Ali. While she still searches for the perfect recipe I found mine, when it comes to cooking I follow the motto " if it ain't broken , don't fix it", if it tastes good I stop my search. The only change I made is that I don't use raisins, I never have been a fan of them as a child and I still don't like them much. 

Potato filled flat bread: aloo paratha

 For a long time my family always have had paratha plain and only accompanying keema, sometimes we will be "adventurous" and eat it with some egg and cheese. But it was always plain unfilled, and never homemade.
when I graduated from the university I was unemployed , so I started exploring cooking and world cuisine, and started learning more about types of bread and cheese etc. And there was a world of parathas to explore. but of all the types out there, aloo paratha stole my heart; it's a carb feast: bread filled with potato, perfect.


I personally don't like my potato filling to but overly spiced , for a more authentic paratha check the recipe from the source

Aloo Paratha Adapted from ( Manjula's Kitchen) 
makes 6
Ingredients

[Dough:]
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup water 
Pinch of salt

[Potato Filling]
2 medium potatoes, boiled
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
2 tablespoons chopped parsley or coriander
1/2 teaspoon garam masala 

Directions:
Mix the flour and salt, and add the water bit by bit and mix until a soft dough is formed, knead it on a lightly  floured surface for 5 minutes, let it rest for 10 minutes 

divide the dough and roll it into 6 golf sized balls and cover with a wet tea towel and again let it rest for 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.
for the filling, mush the potatoes with the salt, herbs and all the spices, and divide in 6 balls that are slightly larger that the dough balls.

now to make the bread, take one dough ball and flatten it a little with your hand and then place the filling ball in the middle and wrap it with the dough, try to cover the filling completely, roll it a bit. press it to form a disk and roll it with a rolling pin untill it's as thin as possible, the filling might poke out of the dough but it's a;right.

heat a frying pan, once it's hot enough (drops of water should sizzle) place the paratha and fry for few secons, once it starts to puff flip and press it to let the air out. prush it lightly with oil (or ghee) and flip while pressing the air pockets few times to get an even colored bread.
enjoy it with milk-tea

Yamanote atelier

Not to long ago something amazing happened in my city, the first proper Japanese bakery opened.
Four years ago I had my first taste of a Japanese cake, it was a bite of a vanilla roll cake, but it changed the way I think of cakes; it was fluffy and airy while the cream was so light , the whole thing melted away in my mouth like a piece of cotton candy.

new start

Boy how time moves so fast, or as put by the brilliant Hugh Laurie : "time...where  did you go?" . few things happened since I last updated this blog, I'm not sure anyone will notice; I got married , moved 100 Km away from my hometown (To Dubai) and now one year later I became a mother to a little bunny who takes up most of my time. so, eh ...what's new? not much.

Hopefully in the few days to come I'll have more energy and creativity to update this more often, till then... ta ta