Cran-Ginger Biscotti

Baking is always fun, especially during the holidays. It really doesn't matter whether we celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or neither…it’s the joy of the season that is best shared with friends and family.

I had never heard of a biscotti until seeing them at a Starbucks, few years back. I fell in love with their chocolate biscotti and the seasonal gingerbread flavor. I also, of course, had to make it at home. And I did,Gingerbread Biscotti.

This cranberry biscotti has been in my head ever since I bought dried cranberries for my fruit cake about three weeks ago. I was just waiting for the right time. It is not very often that my husband agrees to take food items to share with his colleagues, and I was thrilled when he agreed (without any fuss) to take cookies to work. 

Ingredients (Makes 48 small cookies approx)

Vegetable oil – ½ cup

Eggs – 3

Sugar (white/brown) – 1 cup

All purpose flour – 3 ¼ cups (can be a blend of wheat and APF too)

Baking powder – 1 tablespoon

Ginger powder – 1 tablespoon

Freshly grated nutmeg (optional) – 1 tsp

Dried cranberries – 1 cup (can be substituted with nuts and other dry fruits as per taste)

Method

Preheat the oven to 375⁰F.

In a bowl, beat together the oil, eggs and sugar. In another bowl, combine flour(s), baking powder, ginger powder and nutmeg. Stir into the egg mixture to form a heavy dough.

Divide the dough into half and roll into the length of your cookie sheet. Press down to ½ inch thickness.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Once the cookies are cool enough to touch, slice them into ½ thick slices. The longer slices can then be cut into half or left as is.

Place the cut side facing down,  and bake for another 6-10 minutes or until both sides are crisp and toasty. Enjoy with a cup of coffee of tea. Bon Appétit.

A Paneer Curry Without a Name

Why does this curry not have a name, you might think. Well, that's because it has been improvised from a chicken curry called 'Vattichu Chicken' seen on TV.

The process involved cooking the chicken with just the liquid released from the meat, tomatoes and onions and allowing all the water to cook off.  The procedure was fairly simple and the end product looked delicious. I figured it would taste well with paneer too, hence the trial.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

Paneer cubes – 1 cup (approx)

Finely chopped onion – ½ cup

Diced tomatoes – ½ cup

Ginger-garlic paste – 2 tsps

Red chili powder – 2 tsps or to taste

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Garam masala powder – 1 tsp

Chopped cilantro, mint and curry leaves – 2-3 tbsps

Water – 2 tbsps + 1 cup more for the paneer

Coconut/cooking oil – 1 ½ tbsps

Salt to taste

Method

Bring one cup of water to a boil, turn off the heat and add the paneer to it. Cover and keep aside until required. This will make the paneer softer.

Heat oil in a pan and add the ginger-garlic paste. I learnt, while watching this recipe being made, that adding the ginger-garlic paste before the onions brings out the flavor of the garlic. Sauté for a minute and add the chopped onions.

Sauté for 3-4 minutes, or until the onions are tender. Now add the chili and turmeric powders and salt; mix well. Add the diced tomatoes and stir. Add the paneer, cover and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. Check the gravy in between and if the gravy feels to dry, add a little water.

Once the gravy and paneer look well mixed, add the garam masala. If you would like to retain some gravy, take it off the heat at this point. If you like it more dry, increase the heat and allow all the water to boil off, in an open pan.  Garnish with cilantro and/mint leaves and serve hot. We had it with chapathis but with a little gravy, I think it will complement plain rice or even jeera rice. Bon Appétit.