Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A bunny stewy surprise!

I'm tired of people telling me how lucky I'm to have a husband like A who cooks and not just that, cooks up surprises for me. Once, my father-in-law told me that it was better to have a husband who could not cook because that is when he will appreciate your cooking and the effort that goes into it! So true man! However, I must admit that A quite appreciates even my failures in the kitchen. I've made bread a couple more times than he has. Not a single time has it risen. If it did rise by mistake, it'd turn out hard or doughy inside. He whipped up surprise after surprise, while I was left gaping while all of you left compliments in the comments section. I knew I had to act fast or this blog would soon be known as A's blog. How can I let that happen!?!? So, I planned and plotted and came up with a surprise for him (I swear, if you guys do not talk about how lucky he is, to have me as his wife, I will...hmm...kill him ;) That way, you cannot compliment him anymore!)

As I watched Emeril Lagasse's show the other day when he baked up these buns, I knew I wanted to eat one right away. It reminded me of the warm masala buns of those Iyengar bakeries in Bangalore. Only this was Italian masala ;) So, I decided to try it out as a surprise for A. It came out beautiful and how! I loved it and so did he. This is the original recipe.



I did make some changes like addin
g more spice and some potatoes. No, it wasn't inventive or anything! I tried out baked samosas and the potato mix with all the very Indian spices (fennel, coriander seeds, jeera, chilli powder, turmeric) was left over. I mixed that with this dough and made it an Indo-Italian treat! Yeast has NEVER, I repeat, NEVER, behaved well with me. This time, around, the yeast with the warm water and sugar frothed beautifully, and the dough was SO easy to mix and once that happened, I left it to rise. Now, I'm not the one with any patience. So, I quickly switched on the oven for a good 1 minute at 350 F and switched it off and then popped the dough into the oven ;) The dough rose in 30 mins, much shorter than the 2 hours as specified in the recipe. Did you see that in the above picture? The amount of dough initially only filled half that dish! And now? Its overflowing! However, I did leave it for 2 hours since I wanted to bake it for dinner.

Meanwhile, A came home, wondered about my dough (my surprises are never full surprises!), gave me some tips (I have a dry smile on my face now!) and went on to watch sports on TV. I made buns of this dough, let them be for some more time, and watched it rise. Its a beautiful feeling to watch them rise, you know? And then put those tomato rings on them and baked them for a good 20 mins. I was not disappointed at all. They looked beautiful!
















The recipe again asks for Fontina or Gor
gonzola cheese. I did not have any. So, I made do with some Mozzarella, and boy, did I love it or what! :) Also do NOT miss on the tomato on the top. It tastes delicious after baking with cheese! Do try it and let me know how it works. If I could bake this without any difficulty or impatience, you sure can! We had ours with some thick bean stew, and it was SO filling!















The bean stew was a simple random recipe we put together in the last minute

Ingredients:
1 can pinto beans
1 tomato cut into chunks
1 small onion cut into chunks
1/2 boiled and cubed potatoes
2 tbsp pepper
1 tsp herbs ( I threw in random ones :P)
1 tsp butter
1 cup water/milk
Salt to taste

1. Heat the butter, throw in the onions and let it cook.
2. Add the herbs, pepper and tomatoes.
3. Add the beans and salt and let it cook.
4. Add the water/milk and stir and let it cook on slow flame until it thickens and gets cooked. Simple!

In fact, there was so much dough left over (this full dough makes 12 buns) that I froze it, and baked some for dinner another night. This time around, I baked bread out of it, and made a rustic sandwich with the bread! Only, it takes half hour to thaw and much, much longer to bake!

P.S. - I know we haven't respon
ded to comments for a few posts. And mentioned all the awards received, and all those memes. We will get to it in the next post, promise!

P.P.S - Okay, I wanted to have a P.P.S and also a reminder for all of you to give me those compliments on how lucky A is. Remember?

31 comments:

A_and_N said...

Sorry for the skewed up picture formatting. I originally posted this on my personal blog by mistake and was too tired to do it all over again here, and just copy-pasted and now the pics - something went wrong!

amna said...

ur pics are getting so much better N :) love the dough pic! nice going :) and i read it on ur personal blog in reader but when i clicked to comment, u had already removed it :)

Shreya said...

hi N, Congratulations, dear! This beats anything A has done till date, and I mean it. It is amazing that you planned this surprise for him. The 'masala buns' look so delicious, I like the pic with the spicy tomatoes on top, without the cheese. But I won't go a step further and say A is truly lucky to have you, I would rather be honest and say that you both truly deserve each other (are meant for each other), lucky for each other. I love your blog just for that fact, that you guys truly rock as a couple!

Jayashree said...

It really is irritating, isn't it, when people tell u how lucky you are that the hubby does things for you while you are just expected to do it???
The masala bun looks delicious....so does the stew. Oh...and before I forget and get A killed in the process, A really is lucky :-))

Anisheetu said...

Nice name and looks good too....

Deepthi Shankar said...

you are really lucky .. mine does not even enter the kitchen .. max he can make is anna saaru .. poor me :( masala bun looks yum ...

sra said...

What a funny post! And A is truly lucky - he knows now where the danger lies!
That cheese is so droolworthy!

Deeba PAB said...

Hey great buns...LOL; did I just say that? Great to read that this has been a battle with multiple wins...yeastly & beastly!! Actually I thought you had made a bunny stew & was SHOCKED!!These buns do look great & even better with the tomato & mozzarella on top! YUM!!

Indian Khana said...

Bun looking so yum..loved the tomato..I know how it feels when our surprises are not left as surprise!

Cham said...

N that is the way to go. Those are the yummy buns, A has more voice in midlle of women group! U should cut his popularity...
I ve a husb who cook only 4 or five items , but rarely (that means once in year). But still comments not compliments for wife cooking!

PG said...

The buns look really yummy! A very nice recipe too. And a lovely combination with beans. The pictures look very tempting.
And the post is really sweet. A is surely lucky to have you. God bless you both! :)

Jaya M said...

N,
I am writing to you , Your FIL is quite right , and this time A is lucky to have you as his wife ..
Nice funny post and the masala Bun Indo-Italian fusion , worked great here ..
hugs and smiles
jaya

Suganya said...

WOW..... This is a very creative recipe. Look so good. The buns have turned out so cute.....

Happy Independence day!.....

Mansi said...

the masala buns look groovy girl! I made somethign similar with garlic bread last week...yet to post it:)

happy independence day gal!:)

Laavanya said...

They look delicious and I love the idea of topping them with tomato and cheese... what a fabulous surprise N.
And A - you are such a lucky guy (see N i said it!)

Cynthia said...

You have outdone yourself! These look fantastic! A is truly blessed and lucky to have a wife like you :)

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

I think your cheese and tomato capped buns look very glamorous.
Bet N would have never come up with anything so exotic.
A, look at this way. If you had to do all the cooking? So you are lucky!:)
After all, not everyone has this kinda luck, so I say make the most of it.:D

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Sorry, I just got the A and N mixed up. Please substitute one for the other in the above comment.
Next I'll be forgetting my named!:)

Deepa said...

Nandu!!!!!!!
ypu have a cooking blog!!!!
wow! i havent had time to read through the whole thing, but am amazed!!!!

is this my old friend????

wow!!!

Lakshmi said...

great looking buns and ya I think both of you r lucky for having each other ;) ...

Sia said...

they look incredibly wonderful :) u should be proud of urself:)

Dibs said...

Arey wah! Photos look good! I am off baked stuff at least for a week. I had some crossiants this weekend - and man they are so HEAVY! Been doing molagu rasam religiously since Saturday!

lubnakarim06 said...

Photos are tempting. Wow simple to make iam gonna try this out.

ST said...

Great looking buns and photos are tempting and inviting......

lubnakarim06 said...

There is a suprise for you in my blog. Click here to know what the suprise is, http://kitchenflavours.blogspot.com/2008/07/fruit-chaat.html

A_and_N said...

Thanks so much for all your compliments. Things have been busy for us, and not been able to blog or comment in your blogs! We are back this week, and hopefully should see you often and vice versa :)

Kitchen Flavors: Thank you!

Beyond Curries said...

The bun looks so good! Even I'm so reluctant to use yeast while baking, that I have'nt even tried.

Unknown said...

bun looks superb!!am going to try it!!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Really comforting and delicious! I love beans...

Cheers,

Rosa

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Oh yes! Defenetly A is a lucky man, lol! Congratulation on getting it right! But my favourite part was your father-in-law theory, lol! I think he might be right!

Sig said...

hehe, so there is some competition going on here between A and N, huh? Well, I guess we readers are the real lucky ones here.... We get to see such wonderful creations from both of you... :)