Butter Shortbread cookies

Yesterday morning I was sitting bored and was thinking of doing something different,new! But dint have anything in mind. After that,I just went and checked our mail box to find few recipe cards that had come in the mail. in that recipe card was the recipe of this shortbread. Thought I will bake them....and here is the recipe of that delicious butter shortbread cookies...Its so delicious,I would just call it 'Simply Irresistible'. Here, I have taken the picture of the recipe card instead of typing it. So, Click on the picture to get a larger (readable)view of the recipe.

Pizza (Serves 3)

I have always wanted to make pizza, but never dared to. Thought it was just for the expert cooks and I had a strong feeling that it might not come out good if I make it. Infact I used to like only the 'Pizza Hut' pizza and dint like any other pizza that I tried else where. But this one is real good. I really liked it. My family too. Give it a try and you wont be disappointed. Best part is that,it doesnt take much effort, the ingredients are readily available everywhere and its not messy. Easy to make for a lazy day!

Update: 18.05.2010
Note: I did not use measuring spoon for this recipe and it tasted different when I made it using measuring spoon. Please bear with me until I get the standard measurements sorted.

For the base
Plain flour – 200 grams or 2 cups
Sugar – 1 tbs
Salt – as required
Yeast – 1 tsp
Butter/oil – 4 tbs
Luke warm milk – half cup
Water – as required

For the topping
Tomato puree – 4 tbs
Soya sauce – 2 tbs
Brown sugar – almost 2 tbs
Salt- as required
Oregano – ½ + ½ tsp
Olive oil – 2 tbs
Paprika powder/chilli powder– ½ tsp
Sausages – 1 cup (thinly sliced and sautéed in oil)
Mushrooms – ½ cup (thinly sliced and sautéed in oil)
Boneless Chicken – 1 cup (Cut into small pieces, stir fried by adding salt and pepper) or 1chicken fillet
Corn – as required.
Capsicum – 1
Black olives – ½ cup (sliced thinly)
Cheddar cheese – 200 gms (May use less)
Mozzarella – 200 gms (May use less)

Preparation

For the base of pizza:
Mix sugar and yeast in lukewarm water and allow to bubble. This indicates the activation of yeast. This may take few minutes. If small bubbles doesnt occur,it shows that the yeast is not activated and you will not get a good dough. So make sure the yeast is good before making. Also take care not to use boiling or hot water because the yeast will not be activated too and again, the dough will not rise.
In another bowl mix salt with flour and add butter. Mix well until the dough looks like bread crumbs. Then slowly add the milk and knead the dough until it reaches the consistency of chapatti dough. Add water if required. Cover the dough with a wet towel in order to avoid drying out and leave in a warm place to rise to almost double the size. The dough should be soft and springy to touch at this stage.

For the topping and assembling of pizza:

1. Heat a sauce pan and add olive oil. Add tomato puree, soya sauce, half teaspoon oregano, brown sugar, salt and paprika powder/chilli powder and cook for few minutes on medium heat (around 4-5 mins).
2. Now, for assembling, divide the dough into two equal size balls. this is to make two 9" pizzas. Take one part of dough; roll it into less than half centimetre thickness. Spread half of tomato sauce very thinly on the dough making sure you leave 1 cms around the edge.

3. Shred some cheese (mixture of both the cheeses) on top of the sauce. Place a layer of sausage on top of cheese, then sprinkle some sliced olives, corn, shredded chicken, mushroom and capsicum all over. Top again with plenty of shredded cheese (Mozzarella and cheddar mix) and sprinkle the rest of oregano.

4. Preheat the oven to 180° C. And bake the pizza for about 20 – 25 minutes or until the base is raised, has a golden brown colour and the cheese is completely melted. Can omit the non vegetarian part if u need a vegetarian pizza.
5. Repeat the same process with the other half of the dough. You can create your own topping with ingredients of your choice!

Lemon Tart

For the base:

Plain flour – 200 grams
Sugar – 3 tablespoon
Butter - 100 grams
Egg – 1 small
Cream – 1 tablespoon

For the filling:

Orange juice – 200 mls
Sugar – 150 grams
Butter – 50 grams
Egg yolks – 2
1 lemon’s rind
Cream – 100 mls
Cornflour – 4 tablespoon
Water – 50 mls+ 4 tablespoon
Gelatine Powder – 2 teaspoon

Preparation:

1. First prepare the base. For that, In a large bowl mix butter and flour and mix well with hands until it looks like bread crumbs. You can use the egg whisker for this. At this stage, add cream, sugar and egg and knead well to make into a dough as seen in picture 1. Refrigerate for an hour or two.

The tart dough

2. Dust the rolling surface with flour and roll out the dough evenly into a thickness of half a centimetre. With the help of the rolling pin, slowly lift the dough and transfer it to the baking flan. Prick all over the pastry inorder to prevent bubbling during baking. Bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees, for about 20-25 minutes or until it turns golden brown.

Tart base pricked all over with fork.Before baking and after baking

3. Meanwhile, for the filling,heat orange juice,sugar and butter until all the sugar dissolves. At this stage mix cornflour with water and add it to the juice mixture. Consequently add egg yolks and mix well. Add 4 tablespoon of hot water to gelatine and mix well. Then add this gelatine mixture, cream and lemon zest to the juice and heat for some more time until all the gelatine mix well.
4. Transfer this mixture on top of the base and chill overnight. Serve cold.

(Tart before setting and after setting)

Chinese stir fried chicken noodles (serves 2-3)

This is something that I prepare normally when I dont have enough time to cook or when I just get lazy....Its so easy and wont take much time....Just less than half an hour to cook...And it's real yummy. What you need more?

Ingredients

Stir fry vegetables – 2 cups
Chicken breast – 2
Soya sauce- 4 table spoon
Thai red chilli sauce- 4 table spoon
Sesame oil/vegetable oil – 2 tablespoon
Onion, sliced thinly – 3 tablespoon
Garlic, sliced thinly – 4 large cloves
Button mushrooms, sliced – 5-6
Noodles – 2* 150 grams.
Salt – as required

Preparation

1. Cut chicken breast into thin strips and marinate in soya sauce and chilli sauce. Add salt if necessary. Marinate for about half an hour.
2. Add noodles in boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions.
3. Heat a wok and add 2 tbs of vegetable oil and stir fry chicken for around 5 minutes in medium-high heat stirring constantly.

4. In the same pan add another spoon of oil and throw in garlic and onion and sauté for some time (2 mins). When pink, (don’t brown the onions) add the stir fried vegetables and mushrooms and sauté for another 3 minutes in medium heat. To this add the cooked chicken strips and mix well.

5. The noodles should be ready by now. When the noodles is cooked well just run it under cold water in order to avoid the noodle strands from sticking to each other.Now add the cooked noodles to chicken and toss well. Keep the lid closed. Serve immediately with chicken fillets.

N.B: Alternatively,for vegetarians, forget the chicken and add the sauces while sautéing the vegetables. It is equally good. Instead of chicken, you also can make an omelette out of one or 2 eggs and strip them thinly and add to the sautéed vegetables. To make an omelette, just break two eggs, add enough salt and pepper and fry it in oil. Then cut into thin strips. You can also use prawns instead of chicken.

Vegetables, I use frozen ones normally.