Mushroom Baby-corn Muffin

You must have read in my earlier post that preparing lunchbox for my 8 year old girl has become a nightmare for me. The reason, what ever or how much tasty dishes I share in her lunch box it will be surely coming back home only half eaten. I started spending sleepless nights - 6 hrs +2 hours stay away from home with such a little food consumption, must be badly affecting the lil one's health. So  in the evenings I started making myself occupied by giving trials with different snack idea. If the lil one approves then 'BINGO'.. Next day that will go in her tiffin box. The other day I made these little savoury muffins that did tickle my princess's taste bud and to my surprise the next day I found her tiffin box empty. Not only she but her friends loved it so much and now I have to send few extra so that my princess and her friends can have a snack party everyday. So here is recipe of Mushroom Baby-corn Muffin:

Ingredients

{Yeilds - 3-4 muffin (medium size)}

Egg - 2

Flour - 1 tbspn

Mushroom & Baby Corn - 1/2 cup chopped

Onion- 1/2 of one small chopped

Cream Cheese - 1 tbspn (Optional - See Notes)

Pizza Cheese - 1 tbspn (See Notes)

Nutmeg powder- a pinch (See Notes)

Tobasco/ Chili Sauce - 3 to 4 drops or as per taste.

Salt, Sugar & Black Pepper Powder - As per taste

Butter - 1 tspn

Method

1. Whisk two eggs and flour, add a pinch of salt and keep aside.

2. Heat a pan . Add butter, let it melt down then add garlic. Saute for a minute.

3. Add chopped onion. Fry them for a couple of minutes.

4. Add the Mushroom and Baby corn. Fry for 2 minutes more. 

5. Add salt, pepper, sugar and cream cheese.

6. Cook then in a low flame until the cream cheese gets melted and well mixed.

7. Sprinkle the nutmeg powder, mix well.

8. Cool the mixture for a while then add it with the egg mixture. Add the Pizza cheese and Tobasco/ chili sauce too.

9. Now take 3- 4 muffin cups. Pour the mixture evenly in each cup.

10. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degree C.

11. Serve warm with some dips/ sauce.

Notes:

1. One can mix other vegetables too.

2.  One can add chicken/ bacon or sausages to make it more tasty.

3. To make Nutmeg Powder just take the nutmeg and grate it in a fine grater.

4. I had Britannia Cream cheese at home so used it here. But if it one doesn't have any just increase the cheese portion.

5. Instead of Pizza cheese,  Amul cheese cube can also be used.

Chicken Hotdog Stuffed Buns

  The morning of Kolkata is totally different as it looks in  the busy hours.  It is beautiful, serene and romantic. Less number of vehicles on the road and less crowded. Almost no honking - the morning always weaves a different story. My daily route to romance with the morning is passing by  the Rabindra Sarobar, Southern Avenue, Gol  Park then the Gariahaat Crossing to Kashba. The morning fresh breeze brushes my hair, kisses my face with a tender touch.  I keep on inhaling the fresh breath to store it for the whole day as much as I can before another side of Kolkata faces off pretty fast soon. Surprisingly I get to hear the birds chirping when I pass through the grovy and bushy lanes of Southern Avenue. I see all the young & old  on the road taking the pleasure of a morning walk. Some relaxing on a "Cutting Chai" or sipping hot tea in a Khuri ( small container made out of clay especially for serving tea in Bengal) or some drinking coconut water.  You will see the JhaNkawala Shabjiwala/ Folwala (The vendors who sell fruits/vegetables in a basket) busy in selling their stuffs to the morning passersby and with a hope in their eyes to gain profit as much as they can for the day.  Some devotees will be seen busy in enchanting the Mantras in front of Lake Kalibari. Whoever crosses through the road they will surely slow down their cars to show their respect and faith for god in front of the Temple.  A small and quick salutation will be seen touching the forehead then the chest and again regaining the speed to race with the traffic. I love this lane though I hate so many cars are parked blocking a lane. But here I get to see different kinds of busy morning and people where people are busy in relaxation. They are enjoying their morning walks or chatting with their everyday walking partners or laughing aloud on some jokes.  My car passes by and I keep on watching and storing all the stories of the different Kolkata lanes and the different scenarios in the weekdays. The Gariahat crossing tells a different story. It was then calm and quite. Only the cars and a handful of passersby will be seen. All the stores are deep in their somberness. A smile spreads soon after I cross this road. I smile at the tranquility of this place which in a few hours will be turning in to one of the craziest roads where it will be hard to drive through the road. All the passersby will come on road to either cross the road or to catch a bus/taxi/auto. The honking sounds from each and every vehicle will make your life like a hell. The traffic guards will be trying their best to make the traffic run smooth. But there will be no change. It will remain as busy and unorganized as it is. And here I should blame the people who are always prone to dissuade to make the city beautiful. Sigh...

The other day we the parents dropped lil K at her school and enjoying the drive way back home recollecting all the old new stories of our life. The weather was cloudy and the cool breeze made it more romantic to float down in a realm of romanticism. We crossed the ever enchanting Rabindra Sarobar Bridge and heading towards the Prince Anwar Shah Crossing. All of a sudden the Hubby Man hold his break and slowed down the car. A mother cyclist was carrying her little daughter on the back carrier of the cycle, crossing this speedy traffic prone road reluctantly. She crossed our car and the Hubby Man was just about to gear up the speed when we heard a bloodcurdling screeching sound of someone's car who pressed the emergency break and we saw the Mother and the child with a loud shout fell from the cycle. The Driver of that car and the Hubby Man stopped the car and rushed to them. I was sitting standstill and trying to understand what exactly happened in these last few seconds.  I got down from the car and went to the spot. By God's grace both the mother and the kid were fine. It was the driver of the car who had actually saved them. I saw my husband scolding that lady a lot for her recklessness. Frankly speaking I was feeling like slapping the lady for how irresponsible she could be. The way, she was crossing the road as if it was a playground totally ignoring the speedy moving cars.  Being a mother it is the first responsibility to protect your child and to teach all the rules & regulations of life. If we keep on ignoring them then in long run why to blame the kid. And moreover if something would have happened to them, everybody would blame the driver and might be beaten him to death, where the truth was the driver was actually the saviour. With a pounding heart all of us started moving to each other's destination.  The sweet morning within a fraction of second changed in to bitterness. And for few days I was not able to bear the fact of the recklessness of the mother and dreading the fact what worst could have happened. We always blame to reckless driving but every day I travel to and fro 80 kms and most of the time it catches my notice that the passersby are most of the time at fault.

Now let us move to today's recipe: Chicken Hotdog Stuffed Buns. It is very filling and healthy too. For the filling you can go wild with anything after your mind.

Ingredients:

(Yields 4-5 buns)

For the buns:

Flour - 1 cup

Instant yeast-  A bit less than 1 tspn

Warm Milk - 1/2 - 3/4 cup (More or less)
Olive oil - 2 table spoon

Salt - 1/4 tspn

Sugar - 1 tspn

Butter - 1 -2 tbspn

Sesame Seeds - 1 tbspn

For the Stuffing:

Chicken Hotdog - 2-3

Slices Onion - 1 small

Coloured bell pepper sliced - 1/2 cup

Chopped garlic - 2 tspn

Ginger paste - 1/2 tspn

Tomato Sauce - 1 tbspn

Worcestershire sauce - 1 tspn
Grated cheese - 1/2 cup (Optional)
Oil- 1 tbspn
Salt and Sugar ad per taste

Method:

Make the stuffing: 
Heat oil in the pan. Add the garlic and fry. Add the onion saute for a while then add all the other ingrediants apart from the cheese. Fry for few minutes on flame and then take off  from the stove. Make sure it is dry.
Make the buns:

1. Add all the dry ingredients with the flour. Mix well. Add warm milk slowly at a time and keep on needing. Don't pour all the milk at one time. One has to make a semi soft dough so add milk as per requirement.
2. Keep on kneading at least for 10 minutes. Then take a big bowl and cover the dough with a damp cloth or cling fling  and let  rise for 1 hour. After one hour again knead back the dough for 3-4 minutes and then again keep it for 40-45 minutes. Now take the dough and make 4-5 balls (Or more or less) out of it. Make sure the balls should have enough size to be stuffed.
3. Roll each ball in a small disc and then put the stuffing and cheese in it. And then join  together the edges and seal nicely and roll in to a smooth ball again. You can add a bit oil on your palm to avoid the stickiness. Make a nicely shaped buns rolling in between the palms.
4. Pre- heat the oven at 200 C for 6-7 minutes.
5. Take a baking tray. Grease it and put the buns. Brush the buns with melted butter and top with some sesame seeds on each bun.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the buns gets a nice brown tinge and the top is crispy enough.  Take it out and enjoy.

Note:

1. You can use egg white too to brush the top of the buns to get a nice brown top while baking.
2. For the stuffing anything can be added. You can go for a veg or a non- veg too.

Photography Notes::
I clicked it on Program mode. The ISO was 1600. I shot it at night time. It was clicked in normal Tube Light that we had in every house. The light was coming from far left and I had kept the right side dark. From my experience - dark background for night shoots suits best.

Chicken Quiche

Quiche (Keesh, how it gets pronounced), is one of my favourites and many a time I thought of giving it try at home. But I was too much fascinated with all the easy recipes that rivet to spend no time in the kitchen. Being a Food Blogger I may sound queer, but I have seen my most popular recipes are those which are easy to cook in minutes kind of dishes. That means many are there like me who always seek for easy and short time taking recipes. Believe me I found this Chicken Quiche very easy and less time taking too. One day I read a Recipe on Quiche which one of my blogger friends Antara who blogs at Antypasti.com, had posted. I got quite inspired and bookmarked it to try.  Yesterday I had a small Tea Party at home so I decided to offer some different small savoury bites to them. I was bit of scared how the dish would come up or it would taste. But I was too happy with the success. I prepared the dish in my way. But thanks for many inspiring recipes which I combined and created mine. Next time I have thought of giving an Indianised version to the Chicken Quiche.

Few lines about Quiche:

Although known as a classic French dish, the quiche originated in Germany. The word quiche means "cake" which came from the German word Kuchen. Today, quiche is considered as typically French. However, savoury custards in pastry were known in English cuisine at least as early as the 14th century. Recipes for custards baked in pastry containing meat, fish and fruit are referred to Crustardes of flessh and Crustade in the 14th-centuryThe Forme of Cury and in 15th-century cookbooks as well. (Source: HERE)

Let us now move on to my recipe. Chicken Quiche is very easy to make and you will fall in love with it that I can bet. Quiches are such a great stunner for small Tea Parties that I realised yesterday. So here is the recipe of Chicken Quiche: 

 Ingredients:

(Yields 9-10 cup cake size Quiche )

For  the Shell:

Flour: 1 & 1/2 cups

Egg: 1

Butter: 50gm (Room temperature)

Salt: 1/4 tspn

Water: As per requirement

For the Stuffing:

Minced Chicken : 200-250gm

Chedder Cheese: 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup, Grated  (I used Britannia one)

Onion : 1 Medium Size (Chopped)

Mushroom : 4-5 (Chopped)

Mayonnaise : 2 tbspn

Sweet Chilli Sauce : 1 tbspn (You can add more)

Egg : 1

White Pepper Powder : 1/4 tbspn (Optional)

Salt & Sugar according to taste

Method:

1. First make  the dough as with make for Roti/Bread. First mix all the dry ingredients nicely then add the butter . Knead. Then add Egg. Knead again then add water little bit at a time. Keep on kneading unless the dough becomes smooth and soft.
2. Make the stuffing: Add everything under the stuffing section except the 1/4 cup cheese and mix well.
3. Take a muffin/ cup cake pan. Grease it well.
4. Pre-heat the oven at 200 degree C.
5. Make 9-10 a little bit bigger than a ping pong size balls and with a help of a rolling pin roll them like a flat bread/Luchi/ Pizza base. The thickness will be not much but not so thin too. Take each base and put it in each cups shaping them according to the size.
6. Put stuffing in each cup and bake for 20mnts.
7. Take the pan out and top little bit of grated cheese on each Quiche.
8. Bake for another 2-3 mnts. And serve with sauce.

Notes:

1. You can add loads of vegetable in the place of chicken.

2. To make the stuffing more soft and creamy you can add milk too. Add milk with the egg and beat together. And then add.

3. You can add many more spices and sauces to enrich the taste.