Amdavadi italian bakery bread

Made at home in a pullman bread pan using Peter reinharts Pullman bread recipe from the Bread baker apprentice book beautifully recreates the extraordinary sandwich bread we get in ahmedabad in a place called italian bakery. I have never figured out why it is italian in Gujarat - but the bread is the stuff that English novels get their cucumber sandwiches from. Its become a standard at my home, ive changed up the recipe to half whole wheat , half Bread flour and it stands up beautifully. I also add a couple of tablespoons of gluten when i use whole wheat flour. Freezes well for many weeks. This pullman loaf makes enough for family for two weeks, approximately twice the size of a normal loaf.

Paper- plate- Aholic: A rant

Cooking everyday, for every meal yields nasty, dirty, sink filled to the brim and overflowing sink. This photo is not for the squeamish. No amount of photoshopping can make this sight pretty.








My dishwasher is old and doesnt get out the oil stains and masala, H is always too tired to do the dishes, and I feel guilty asking him to do them because he has a job and im unemployed(Child rearing, bill paying and house renovation carpentry, cooking, laundry do not count).

I never buy bottled water, try to recycle, and yet every week i succumb to this.














Every week when I go to shop at BJs i see multitudes buying similar packs. I know they have replaced normal china or steel thalis in almost every house hold. And every time I reach out to buy them, a familiar war between sparing myself and the environment begins. Must i consign myself to doing dishes thrice a day , everyday, for 365 days a year as I have for the last four years?

Capsicum, Peanut & Besan Sabji

The dry arid regions of gujarat grow little except perhaps green chillies of various sizes. This ingenious sabzi combines pantry staples like peanuts and besan, with these green chillies or capsicum here to create a really delicious sabji. Use different colored capsicums for vibrant dish.

This recipe is from the book Easy indian cooking by Suneeta Vaswani. I highly recommend it for the various sabzis and other vegetarian dishes. More from the same book soon.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chickpea flour(besan)
4 lbs green capsicum or mix of colors
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 tsp coriander pwd
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup coarsely crushed roasted peanuts

1. In a heavy skillet over low heat, toast chickpea flour, stirring constantly to prevent burning until lightly browned and aromatic, 3- 4 minutes . Set aside.
You can put this on the stove over low heat while you cut the vegetables.Parallel processing rocks!!

2. Cut bell peppers into 11/2 inch pieces, discarding stems , seeds and membranes
I also added half an onion for onion crazy H.

3. In a large sauce pan heat oil over medium high heat, Saute peppers until softened.

4. Reduce heat to medium. Add coriander, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, salt and sugar. Mix well. Saute for 2 minutes longer. Sprinkle besan on top of peppers . Do not mix.
The mixture of coriander and jeera is distinctly gujarati - called dhana jeeru powder.

5. Reduce heat to low. Cook, covered until peppers are very soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir to mix. Remove from heat and sprinkle with crushed peanuts if using. Whenever I buy raw peanuts from the Indian store, I roast them in the oven at 425 F for about 8 minutes or until you can smell the peanuts smell and store it. Comes in handy whenever you need roasted peanuts.Here the dish is already seasoned with sugar but I highly recommend the gujju style of finishing vegetables with a pinch of sugar, lemon juice and coriander leaves. Brightens the whole dish.



You can also visit suneeta vaswani at her website
http://www.suneetavaswani.com/