Treat for the Holy Month… Bread Rolls!

Its that time of the year again; the most holy of all months, Ramzan is here. We all should feel lucky that we have been blessed with  another Ramzan in our lives.  This is a chance for all of us to pray as much as possible during this holy month, repent for our sins and to gain Allah’s love and likeness. Any ibaadat done in this month has many times return as compared to other months and hence is a chance for us to reap maximum benefits and gather Allah’s blessings. May Allah accept our fasts and our prayers (Ameen).

Now lets come to food! With Ramzan comes the  ritual of trying out new and unique recipes. After a whole day of fast with no food and drink, everyone wants to enjoy  good food. You may hear a lot of people advising to cut down on the fried stuff/ snacks and to instead have food that is high in energy, nonetheless, for me,  iftar seems incomplete without snacks. Its ok to enjoy such food once in a while, if not daily, during the whole month; hence here I am sharing this recipe with all my readers.

It is difficult to take out time in Ramzan for blogging, but I have been desperately wanting to share this recipe and just one request by a good old friend of mine, to share recipes for Ramzan, and here I am doing just that!

As for the recipe, I learned it from my dear eldest sister, who in turn learned it from a cousin of ours. I loved having these rolls when my sister used to make them and once she got married, I tried and started making them myself. After getting married myself, every tea/ dinner party I host, I almost always make these rolls and (please don't mind my immodesty!) there haven’t been a single incident that this recipe wasn’t appreciated and people hadn’t asked me for its recipe!

These rolls have 5 basic ingredients, apart from seasonings and are quite simple to make. Yet, the taste is really unique and delicious.  And for all the diet-conscious friends out there, let me mention that these rolls are quite healthy since unlike most rolls, they require very little oil for frying and are not deep fried.

These rolls store well in refrigerator up to a week. They taste scrumptious as it is, but serving with chili garlic sauce or coleslaw, doubles the taste. Do give it a try and let me know if you agree with me or not. :)

A quick note, I am sharing a few pictures from an Iftar party at my home last year. Hope you all enjoy them.

Bread Rolls

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken fillet 200 gms

Potato (medium-sized) boiled 1

Egg boiled 1

Butter 50 gms

Bread slices (fresh) 12-14

Black pepper 1 tsp

Chinese salt 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Egg beaten (for coating) 1

Bread crumbs as needed

Oil for frying

Method:

• Boil chicken, potato and egg.
• Shred chicken; mash egg and potato and mix all.
• Add seasonings and butter and mix well to form filling.
• Cut the corner of bread slice and moisten it with water (enough for it to be rolled easily).
• Put the filling in the center of the slice (along the length of the slice), cover from both ends of the slice and press with hands to seal. The slice with stick due to the moisture and will take the shape of roll.
• Dip the roll in beaten egg, coat with crumbs and shallow fry till golden brown.
• Serve hot with coleslaw or chili garlic sauce.

Tips:

• Always use fresh bread for these rolls; using bread taken out from refrigerator will result in breaking of the bread when trying to roll.
• For added taste (and look), add sesame seeds to the bread crumbs used for coating.
• To store the rolls, keep them in a container and cover with a clean, moist cloth so that the rolls stay fresh and moist; refrigerate the container.

Fresh Cream Pineapple Cake

There was a time when the only cakes available in most bakeries in Karachi were fresh cream cakes including pineapple cakes and black forest cakes. Be it anyone’s birthday, the occasion of Eid, or congratulating someone on their success in any field, the most popular choice were these cakes.

Later on, with the opening of some modern bakeries, the popularity of these cakes started diminishing and these were replaced by chocolate mousse cakes, chocolate fudge cakes, coffee cakes, tiramisu cakes, and many other such varieties. This was a welcome change since everyone was tired of having the same old fresh cream cake. Even my family shifted to these new variety of cakes and the fresh cream cakes were forgotten.

And then one fine day, when I was chatting with my husband over chocolate fudge cake and a cup of tea, I asked him which cake was his favorite. He said that he loves those really moist cakes, covered with cream. And that’s when I decided that I have to try fresh cream cake for him.

I started searching for a recipe for the cake. During my search I came across a perfect recipe from none other than my dear cousin who’s settled in Melbourne. She has been making these cakes for along time since her husband also loves fresh cream cakes. She thoroughly explained me the recipe step-by-step and apart from a few hitches the recipe turned out excellent.

And the next thing I knew, I even got an order for pineapple cake from a neighbor of mine for another neighbor’s surprise birthday party. All the guests absolutely loved the cake and by the grace of Allah, I got another order for the cake there and then.

The pictures that I am posting with this blog are from last Friday (also included are a few pictures from my first two attempts of the cake, which I made for order) when I made the same pineapple cake for a dinner party at my place. This time, I even got to try out all my newly learned cake decoration techniques, which added further beauty to the already delicious tasting cake.

When my guests saw the cake, it took them a while to believe that it was homemade and after tasting it, everyone told me that it tasted divine. As for my husband, he said and I quote: “After eating this homemade fresh cream cake, I am forced to believe that so far, all such cakes that I have eaten, haven’t been fresh at all!’ He absolutely loved the moist sponge and the thick cream layers in the cake along with pineapple chunks.

To sum it up, I think I’ll be making many more fresh cream cakes in the near future to satisfy my husband’s and my own sweet tooth!

Pineapple Cake

Ingredients:

Sponge
Eggs 3

Castor sugar 3/4 cup

Flour 1 cup – 2 tbsp

Corn flour 2 tbsp heaped

Baking powder 1 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Essence 1/2 tsp

Water 2 tbsp

Icing

Fresh cream 500-600 gms

Icing sugar 5-6 tbsp

Pineapple chunks

Pineapple syrup

Cherries

Method:

Sponge

• Preheat oven at 180C.
• Grease an 8 inch pan with butter and coat with flour; remove excess flour.
• Out of 1 cup flour, take out 2 tbsp and replace it with 2 heaped tbsp corn flour.
• Sieve flour, add baking powder in it and mix with spoon.
• In two separate clean bowls, separate egg whites and yolks carefully without dripping yolks in the whites.
• First beat egg whites on high speed till soft peaks are formed.
• Add sugar and beat again till hard peaks are formed (total beating time approximately 15-20 minutes).
• In another bowl, beat yolks till it changes color to light yellow (approx. 6-8 minutes).

• Add essence and water and beat again.
• In whites, add yolks mixture and fold gently with spoon in clockwise direction.
• Slowly add flour in 3 parts and again fold with very soft hands in clockwise direction; do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.
• Pour in prepared pan and smoothen the top with a spatula or spoon.
• Bake at 180C for around 20-25 minutes till the cake leaves the sides of the pan.
• Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Cool the cake completely before frosting.
• Cut in three equal layers with a leveler or sharp knife.
• On cake plate, put the first layer (topside down) and pour pineapple juice, specially around the edges; apply prepared cream (method given below) and arrange pineapple chunks on top.
• Put the second layer (topside down) and repeat the above step.
• Put the third layer, pour syrup and apply cream on top and on sides, covering completely; level with a spatula.
• Decorate with pipin bag, pineapple chunks and cherries or as desired.
• Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours and serve chilled.

Icing

• Chill the bowl for beating.
• Place the bowl on top of a bigger bowl filled with ice cubes.
• Add chilled cream and sugar and beat on high speed till hard peaks are formed (approx. 20-25 minutes).
  
  

Tips:

• Do not drip egg yolks in whites or else, the cake will not be spongy. Its easier to separate eggs when they are cold.
• Egg whites should be beaten till hard peaks are formed; if the bowl is inverted, the whites should not fall.
• Folding should be done with very light hands and in clockwise direction to avoid batter from deflating.
• Sponge should be completely cooled (and preferably chilled) before filling and frosting.
• Use chilled cream for better results; if the cream gets loose while icing, beat it again to make it stiff.

My first two attempts of Pineapple Cake, both made for order.

Vanilla Tea Cake… the name says it all!

Week before the last, my father-in-law (who is settled in Karachi, Pakistan) called us up and said that he is coming to our place (Dubai, UAE) for a short trip of 5 days. We were both excited and started planning for his trip. But as always, the very first thing that came to my mind was (you guessed it right!!) ‘food’!! And for me, with food comes baking. Since I knew that Papa avoids creamy/ fatty stuff and that he prefers desserts, which are lighter, I decided to make a plain vanilla cake for him.

Before I dwell on more about the cake, I want to talk about one thing, which is a little out of context; whenever I bake cakes or am about to bake, my husband and me often argue over the size of the cake. Since its just the two of us living here, he wants me to bake really small cakes, something, which can be finished by us and not thrown away after reaching its expiry date. And somehow, I always end up making a minimum 8 inch cake, since i haven’t bought smaller cake pans! So, as I was saying, I planned to make a vanilla cake and since I knew that we’ll argue once again on whether to make a big or a small cake, I suddenly thought of an idea.

I had a few aluminum foil containers in my kitchen cabinet which I normally use for storing food, or for sharing food with neighbors. So I took out one medium sized container and decided to bake the cake in that! The foil container reminded me of the ‘plain cake’ (as it is usually referred to in Pakistan, or at least in my family, and is used extensively, either of the plain variety or the one with dry fruits, etc) that my Mom always used to get from the nearby bakery, to be served as refreshment in case some surprise guests came, or for that matter, to be used in fruit trifle’s layering. I suddenly had a nostalgic feeling about my family back in Karachi, my old house and the nearby bakery’s ‘plain cake’ and that got me further excited about baking in foil container.

Now, for the recipe, since I had to make a smaller cake, I decided to use the recipe of ‘Classic Yellow Cake’, which I have borrowed from my mentor Nadia’s blog and which, I normally use for making cupcakes. The only change I did to the recipe was adding yellow food color to the prepared batter and mixing it. This step I did only to make my cake look as close as the ‘bakery wala’ cake, and to my utter delight, it looked almost exactly like that!

As for the taste, it even tasted exactly like my childhood cake. The cake was light, soft, and very delicious and in the words of Papa, and I quote, “If you hadn’t mentioned that you have baked it at home, I would have certainly thought it was from some bakery.’ His compliment made me all the more excited and jubilant.

This cake serves as a perfect compliment with tea, to be used in trifles, or even to be served with chocolate ice cream and whipped cream (something which I tried, and was a hit with everyone). It stores well up to a week in a cooler kitchen, but if its hot, you can always store it in fridge and take out from the fridge 15-20 minutes before serving to bring it to room temperature. 

Do give this easy recipe a try and give me your feedback. I shall wait for your comments.

Vanilla Tea Cake

Ingredients:

Flour 1 cup
Baking Powder ¾ tsp
Salt 1/8 tsp
Milk ½ cup
Butter 1/3 cup
Castor Sugar ½ cup + 1 tbsp
Vanilla Essence ½ tsp
Egg 1

Method:

• Preheat oven at 190C (no. 5) and prepare a foil/ pan by greasing it.
• Beat butter till fluffy.
• Add sugar until well combined and creamy.
• Add in essence and beat; add in egg and beat well. 
• Sieve flour, salt and baking powder.
• Add in sifted flour alternately with milk while beating.
• Also add food color and beat.
• Pour the batter in the prepared pan.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.