Simple Glazed Donuts

*from Food For Peace by Rambhoru Devi Dasi.  my notes in italics

Dough:

2 tbsp dried yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp yogurt
1 tsp grated lemon peel (i usually leave this out)
3 3/4 cup flour

Method:
1. Mix milk and butter.
2. In a separate bowl mix yeast, sugar, and water.  Leave until foamy.
3. Stir in warm milk, butter, salt, yogurt, and lemon peel.
4. Knead flour into liquids until a pliable dough forms
5. Cover.  Leave for 2 hours (usually only takes about 30-60 minutes on a warm day)

Assembling:
1. On a floured surface, roll dough into a 1/4 inch thick slab.
2. Using a sharp-edged bowl (you can use a cookie cutter or I use a stainless cup), cut circles out all over dough.
3. Cut holes in center of rounds by pressing and twisting with a bottle-cap (i use a small water bottle cap or a film canister)
4. Place rings on a floured tray.
5. Leave 1 hour (or less depending on the temp in your kitchen)
6. Slip donuts into moderately hot ghee or oil7. Fry until golden brown.  Drain
8. In a large bowl, dip donuts in glaze.

Sugar Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
6tbsp hot water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
*you can also add carob powder to this glaze

Creamy Glaze:
1/3 cup melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 vanilla essence
4-6 tbsp hot water

Carob Glaze:
1/3 cup melted butter
4 tbsp carob powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4-6 tbsp hot water

Zucchini Brownies by KM

ngredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts

Frosting:
6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter or vegan margarine
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. preheat oven to 350F/175C. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. in a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 t vanilla until well blended. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 25-30 min until brownies spring back when gently touched.cool.
4. To make the frosting: melt together the 6 T of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, blend together the confectioner's sugar, milk and 1/2 t vanilla. Stir in the coco mixture. Spread on cooled brownies.

This also works well with whole wheat flour. My hiking-junky brother thought these were the bomb!

Malini's Butter Paneer

paneer 250gm
tomato (boil it and blend it) 250 gm
butter (Amul - so its salted I guess) 250 gm
tumeric powder - 2 tsp
chili powder - 1 tsp
salt and sugar to taste
methi powder - 1/2 tsp
corriander leaf - 2 tsp
fresh cream - 100 gm


method


chuck the butter in a wok, with a high flame. once the butter melts,
throw in tomato pure, tumeric powder and chili powder, let it cook in
a low flame till the tomato separates from the butter ( you will see
it emulisfy )


add paneer pieces, cook for a bit add sugar and salt. Cook for a
couple of minutes.


add cream cook for a couple minutes


add corriander leaf and methi powder cook for a couple minutes

Salty Pancake Variations by Rohini

You just make pancakes, then wrap (smoked and regular mix) cheese into it. You know, like an envelop. Then dip into thin flour-milk mix, then breadcrumbs, then deep fry. Scott Richardson you and Cheryl could easily do this! We usually eat it with a vegenaisse-y dip and chips. Hugarian diet is a bit healthy, you know.

There is another really lovely recipe, when instead of water, you make the pancakes with pureed spinach, so they are beautiful and green. Than you layer them on a fire proof dish with a curdy filling in between them (curd, cheese, sour cream, tiny bit of egg replacer powder without any liquid, salt, nutmeg if you wish), pour sour cream over it all, then sprinkle a little cheese and bake it all till warm, crispy at the edges and oozy wonderful in the middle. Slice like a cake.

I bet you could put a spinach-curd filling into the deep fried ones, too.


Note to Americans: these are the thin, crepe like pancakes, not the puffy griddle cakes of the new continent.

Saci Mata's Quiche

8oz of shortcrust pastry


3 cups of mixed veg, (Cauliflower, brocolli, green beans,zuchinni peas, sweetcorn, carrots
fry in oil and butter with some hing, 1 tspn grnd coriander, 1 tspn of tumeric, add veg and cook until tender. Add 4 ozs if grated cheese, then add 2 tablespns if cornfkiur , stir thoroughly then add 8 ozs of sour cream, salt and pepper.
Put in pastry case and cook for 30-35 minutes in oven until brown on top.
Btw i put some grated cheese on the bottom of the pastry, put mixture in them sprinkle some more cheese on top.

Sanki's Butternut Squash Lasagna by Michael

1 and ½ cups of corn
1 and ½  cups of spinach
1 pack of Boca mince
1 can of condensed milk
9 long lasagna sheets
Evoo
Vegetable stock
Pepper Jack cheese
Butternut squash

Remove the mince (and corn if it’s frozen) from the freezer and let it sit at room temperature.

Cut the squash into small cubes and cook in a pot with water, as well as the spinach, condensed milk, vegetable stock, and evoo. I don’t have a measurement for these quantities, as it depends on
how many serving sizes you want.

Prep the cheese and lasagna sheets and pre heat oven to 360F.

Once the squash has cooked to your desired softness, let it cool down, and then pour the contents into a blender, and blend until smooth.

As it should still be relatively hot, pour the contents of the blender back into the pot, and add the corn and mince (which should be thawed out by now) to it.  Fold everything in well, ensuring there are no lumps of frozen mince. You will then have your ‘sauce’ for the lasagna.

Layer sauce, lasagna sheet, cheese.  As you get to the top of the tray you are using, don’t worry if it looks a little runny. This enables the uncooked lasagna sheets to cook thoroughly. Even with the sauce, you should still be able to see the top layer of lasagna, and cheese. If you run out of ‘sauce’ just add a little milk.

Place in the oven with a sheet of foil covering the top of the tray, and cook for an hour.

Remove, (sprinkle some parmesan/cheese if so desired) and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

The tray I have is not so big, and when complete, I have 9 pieces of lasagna. What you see in the picture is two pieces on top of each other. I prefer to dig into one big chunky piece as apposed to two slim, flat one's :-D

No-knead Bagels by Rohini

This recipe is from Artisan Bread in Five minutesI will list my alterations at the end.

Dough:
3 c lukewarm water1 1/2 T yeast
1 1/2 T salt
1 1/2 T sugar
6 1/4 bread flourTheBoiling pot:8 qt boiling water
1/4 c sugar
1 t soda
poppy or sesame seeds

mix all the ingredients for the dough and put a lid on the bowl/container. You can use your hand or a mixer. Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

The dough can be used immediately after after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 14 days.Forming, boiling and baking the bagels:

Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450 F, with a baking stone placed near the middle. Place an empty broiler pan on another shelf.

Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 3 oz piece of dough (about the size of a small peach). Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go.

Repeat to form the rest of the bagels. Cover the balls loosely with and allow to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Prepare the boiling pot: bring a large saucepan or stockpot full of water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add the sugar and baking soda.

Punch your thumb through the dough to form the hole. Ease it open with your fingers until the hole's diameter is about triple the width of the bagel wall. Drop the bagels into the simmering water one at a time, making sure they are not crowding one another. They need enough room to float without touching or they will be misshapen. Let simmer for 2 minutes then flip them over with a slotted spoon to cook the other side. Simmer for another minute.

Remove from the water, using the slotted spoon, and place on a clean kitchen towel that has been lightly dusted with flour. This will absorb some of the excess wter from the bagels. Then place them on a peel covered with whole wheat flour. Sprinkle the bagels with poppy or sesame seeds.

Slide the bagels directly onto the hot stone. Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake with steam for about 20 minutes, until deeply browned and firm.

Break the usual rule for cooling, and serve these a bit warm - they are fantastic!


Rohini's notes:

I don't like to use a lot of yeast, so I just add a pinch (about 1/4 t) and leave the dough to rise overnight. I don't bother refrigerating it. I used about 1/3 white flour and 2/3 whole wheat. I added a T of cinnamon and a bunch of raisins for cinnamon raisin bagels for about half of that much flour (ie about 3-31/2 c). I also used brown sugar.

I formed the bagels after the dough roze, including the hole, and didn't make the hole so huge. After forming them, I left them to rise a little too long before boiling, because I was busy chatting with Rasa :) I liked them that way, though, they still had that characteristic chewiness. Of course with the little amount of yeast they rise slower, so it is not the same as leaving a dough with large quantities of yeast rise too long. And yes, they were fantastic, it is true.