Cottage Cheese (paneer) Chocolate Bar

Usually the chocolate - nuts or chocolate - dry fruit combo’s are quite popular. But, I wanted to try chocolate, nuts and cheese combination. I tried to eat different kind of cheese cubes along with chocolate and found our paneer is the perfect combination. 

After a couple of tries, I could make a perfect choco cheese nut combo and I’m glad to share. Trust me; Cottage Cheese (paneer) Chocolate Bar won’t disappoint you.  It can be served as a dessert or snack. 

Ingredient – 150 gms of dark chocolate (70 % coco) melted      ;      1 cup of crumbed Indian cottage cheese (paneer)    ;      2 tbsp of sugar      ;     1 tbsp of butter ;     ¼ cup of chopped nuts (walnut, almond & cashew)

Place the fry pan on a medium flame and add cottage cheese, butter, sugar stir it till cheese become yellowish then add nuts fry till cottage cheese become caramelized. Turn off the flame and allow it to cool.

Melt chocolate by double boiler or in microwave oven then pour chocolate in rectangular pan, which is linen it with parchment paper. Then sprinkle evenly the caramelized cottage cheese and nut mixture. Transfer the pan into refrigerator to set.

Bear Bread with Paneer Bhurji

This month challenge in we knead to bake was Different Shape bread with Savory filling. I decided to bake bread that (shape) attracts the children. The bread recipe, adopted from notquitenigella. 

I am quite happy with shape and softness of the bread. With the savory filling and cup of tea this bread is a divine.

Ingredients for Bear Bread  :   2 ½ cup  of All purpose flour   ;   1 tsp Instant yeast   ;     1cup of Luke warm water ;    2 tbsp of Honey    ;    20 gms of soften butter   ;    tsp of Salt   ;   1 egg for glaze (optional)   ;  few pepper corns for eyes / nose

Ingredients Paneer (Indian cottage Cheese) filling :  150gms of Paneer crushed ;    1 small Onion (finely chopped)    ;  ½  Capsicum (finely chopped)   ;  1tsp Chilly powder    ;     1tsp  Oil   ;  ½ tsp Tomato sauce   ;   Salt to taste

Bear Bread preparation : In the bowl add honey, yeast, salt and water and mix. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes in a warm place.

Add flour little by little to make dough. Add butter and start knead the dough till become soft.

Shape the dough into a ball and cover with cling wrap and allow it to rise for double in size. (may take up to one hour)

In the meantime, let’s do the filling…… In pan add oil, sauté onion and capsicum till onion changes to pink color then and chilly powder, sauce, salt, paneer and stir for 1-2 min or till all combine well and dry.

Now back to the Bread dough……remove the cling wrap and punch down the dough and knead for a minute.

Shape the dough into eight equal small balls (keep some dough for nose and ears) Roll the dough into 3 inch disc keep 2 to 3 tbsp. of filling and close. Try to maintain the ball shape even after filling.

Now prepare the ears and nose and fix them. Also fix the pepper corn for eye and nose. Keep the bears on a greased baking tray and cover with the damp cloth for about 45 min.

Those who don’t like egg and glaze, they can bake the bread at 180°C in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.

Those who don’t mind egg in the bread, they can glaze the bread with beaten egg, just before baking. The Glazing will give the fabulous finish. 

Flaounes - Cyprus Pastry

Flaounes (plural of Flaouna) are Easter and Ramadhan food of Cyprus. Basically it’s a (Hard) Cheese filled pastry garnished with sesame seeds.  – This is what Wiki says.

I never tried this before; this is my first attempt on Flaounes for We Knead To Bake #16. Thanks to Aparna for introducing the new recipe and the recipe source from travelerslunchbox.com

The Making process split in to two, the Dough making and Cheese filling Process.

The Ingredients to make dough,   2  1/2 cups of  All-purpose flour    ;    3/4 tsp  - instant yeast    ;    3/4 tsp  - salt   ;  1  1/2 tsp  - sugar   ;   1 – egg   ;   1/4 cup  - milk   ;   60gms of butter (melted and cooled)    ;    1/4 cup  lukewarm water   ;   Oil, for greasing bowl and rolling dough

The Ingredients  For filling,   1  of cup grated cheddar cheese    ;     1/4 cup grated  Mozzarella cheese   ;   1/3 cup - crumbled paneer (Indian Cheese)    ;   2 tsp All-purpose flour    ;   1/4 cup - semolina    ;   1 tbsp  - fresh mint    ;   1/2 tsp  - red chilly flakes (optional)   ;  3/4 tsp  - baking powder    ;   1 to 2 tbsp milk   or   1  - egg (optional)   ;   1 tbsp flour + less than 1/8 cup milk (for sealing paste)  ;  1/3  to  1/2 cup sesame seeds  ;  A little milk for brushing 

Dough Making process, Add the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, into the bowl and pulse a couple of times to mix. Whisk together the egg, milk and melted butter in a small bowl and add it to the flour. Knead, adding just enough water, till you have a soft, smooth and elastic dough which is just short of sticky. Add water/ flour as necessary to get this consistency of dough. Too much flour will spoil the texture of the pies.

Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl, turning to coat it well. Cover with damp cloth and leave it for about 1 to 2 hours or until it is double in volume. Once it has risen, deflate the dough by pressing it. Then place it in a container (the dough will rise so use a large enough container) and cover loosely and refrigerate for about 2 hours or overnight. (the purpose to keep in fridge  is to make the dough easy to handle and shape because it has butter in it).

Cheese filling making process, Mix all the ingredients for the filling, except the milk (or egg if you’re using it) with a fork. Add the milk only when its ready to use the filling. The filling should be somewhat like a stiff paste

To shape the Flaounes, Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces lightly oil your work surface and rolling pin. Then roll each piece into a 5 to 6” round. The round of dough should be thinner rather than thick. If it is too thick you will have a very “bready” pie, but make sure that your round of dough is not too thin to support/carry the weight of the filling.

Spread the sesame seeds on a large plate and place the round of dough on it, in the centre, and press down lightly. This makes for an easy way to coat the Flaounes with sesame seeds. Now place the round on your working surface and put one portion of filling (about a tablespoon) in the middle of the round of dough and spread it lightly, leaving about 1” free at the edge. 

Fold the two opposite edges over the filling leaving the centre exposed. Now fold over the other two edges as well so you have a square pocket with the filling showing at the centre. Press down the sealed points with the tines of a fork.

Use the paste of flour and milk (or beaten egg) to seal the flaps of dough well. Press down the sealed points with the tines of a fork. It is important to seal the pies well or they will open up during the second rise/ baking. 

Place the shaped pies on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving 2 to 3” between them, and let them rise for about 40 minutes. Just before baking them, brush the sides (dough part) with milk (or beaten egg) and bake the Flaounes at 190C (375F) for 25 to 30 minutes till they’re done, golden and the cheese filling is puffed up.

 

I not only enjoyed baking(making) these Flaounes, also by eating!

Whole Wheat flour Pizza

I heard the word “Pizza” only at the end of my teen and tasted only at 22, if I am not wrong. 

According to me, Pizza is nothing but adding load of cheese on bread and veggies or meat or even both. By the way, What is Indian Pizza ?  (Answer at the end of this post)

I was told by an Italian friend that, the original origin of Pizza was not known; however, the modern Pizza (the one the “Hut, Papa and Dom’s” selling and the one I’m going to bake) is invented & Popularized by Italians. If anyone knows more stories about Pizza, welcome to share.

It’s my Son’s favorite, I am sure not only mine. But, my husband always worried about the ingredients (Pizza  Base is of processed Carbs.) in it. I could convince both Son and Father by making this “Healthy” version of Pizza. –  A Win – Win situation !!. 

Okay……..Lets move in to Kitchen.  It may take about 60 min.

Make sure you have all the following Ingredients are available for the Pizza base. 

All-purpose flour -1 cup ; Whole Wheat flour - 1 to 1 ½ cup ; Water - 1 ½ cup ; Sugar - ½ tsp.; Salt- 1 ½ tsp. ; Yeast- 1 ½ tsp. ; Egg- 1 (option) ; Olive oil -1 tbsp.  ;  Pizza sauce –1/4 cup

Following Ingredients are required for Topping. 

Onion, sliced 1 medium ; paneer (Indian Cheese) crushed- ¼ cup ; Tomatoes cut into thick strips 1medium ; Green capsicum cut into thick strips 1 medium ; Low fat Mozzarella cheese, grated - ¾ cup ; Olive oil 1 teaspoon ; Dry oregano 1/4 teaspoon ; Chili flakes -1 tsp. 

Of course, first let’s start with Pizza base…..Mix yeast and sugar with Luke warm water and set aside until it become frothy.  Thanks to the process fermentation (process that converts sugar to acids, gases)

Add salt, olive oil, egg, whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour to the yeast mixture and kneads into soft dough.

Leave the dough covered with a damp cloth in a warm place until dough is about double in volume.  It may take about forty five minutes, depends on the atmosphere temperature. Our friends yeast and bacteria, acts much faster in tropical conditions (around 100°F or 38°C).

Divide the (pizza) dough into two equal half, roll out each portion into medium thick discs. Prick with a fork all over. (If you don’t prick, Pizza base raises like a bun while you bake. Resulting, the toppings to fall)

Preheat oven to 220°C... …….Meanwhile, let’s do the topping.

Spread prepared pizza sauce on rolled pizza base, top it with sliced Onion, Paneer, Tomato, Sliced Olives and Capsicum strips. Finally sprinkle grated low-fat mozzarella cheese to evenly cover the pizza top. 

Sprinkle chili flakes on top with olive oil. Place it on greased ovenproof tray and bake in the preheated oven at 220°C until the pizza base is crisp and the cheese melts and starts bubbling.  (May take about twenty minutes) Remove from oven, sprinkle with dried Oregano and serve hot with preferred sauce.

Specially, in the cold weather and rainy evenings, Pizza will be my ultimate choice. 

For meat lovers, can add thin sliced Grill chicken, Smocked Sausage, Tuna Chunks, Boiled minced meat.

Hope, this post helps to make healthy pizza. Do let me know if you like it. 

Answer to the Quiz :  Uttappam.  It’s pretty close to pizza. Thick base with veggies (without cheese) topping !  Did you ever tried Uttappam with the above (Pizza) topping ? If not, it’s worth trying.