Russian Pelmeni

we all connect over our shared love of boiled dough stuffed with a filling of sorts, which is what makes dumplings so universal. And while there are many types of dumplings native to different parts of the former Soviet Union, Siberia’s claim to fame is the Siberian pelmeni.

Total time- 3hr 10min

Preparation time- 100min

Cook time- 60min

Servings- 8 servings

Ingredients-

For the dough-

• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2/3 cup tepid water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 1/4 cups (460 grams) all-purpose flour, divided, plus more for dusting

For the fillings-

• 1 large onion, finely grated
• 8 ounces ground lean pork
• 8 ounces ground beef chuck
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground back pepper, plus more for serving

For servings-

• Melted butter
• Red wine vinegar
• Sour cream

Direction-

Make the dough-

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a food processor, pulse to combine eggs, water, oil, salt, and half of the flour.
• Add remaining flour and process until a smooth dough forms.
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until it is no longer sticky
• Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes. The dough can be refrigerated at this point until ready to roll.

Make the fillings-

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a medium bowl, combine onion, ground pork, ground beef, salt, and pepper and stir until thoroughly mixed.
• Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.

Form the pelmeni-

• Cut dough into 8 equal pieces, about 3 to 3 1/4 ounces each
• Keep the rest covered while you roll one piece of dough into a finger-width cylinder
• Cut dough into 10 pieces
• Roll each of the 10 pieces into a 2-inch circle
• Spread 1 teaspoon of filling on the circle, almost to the edges
• Pick up the circle and fold to create a half-moon
• Pinch edges together, making sure there is no trapped air that could cause them to explode when cooking
• Place formed pelmeni on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling

Cook the pelmeni-

• Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop 10 pelmeni into the boiling water
• When pelmeni rise to surface, boil an additional 1 to 2 minutes
• Remove dumplings from water with a slotted spoon and transfer to a covered dish to keep warm. Repeat with remaining dumplings
• Serve boiled dumplings with melted butter, red wine vinegar, black pepper, and sour cream, if desired. 

Recipe video-

 

Main dishes

0

SPEEDY TERIYAKI SALMON

Major salmon fans over here and this teriyaki salmon recipe is a winner! It’s so simple and doesn’t require any lengthy marinating, but is super flavorful. The Asian salmon turns out flaky, juicy and absolutely delicious with the homemade teriyaki sauce.

Total Time- 20mins

Preparation Time- 5mins

Cooking Time- 15mins


Ingredients-

• Four 6-ounce skinless salmon fillets
• 2 cups teriyaki sauce
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
• 2 limes
• One 8.5-ounce pouch microwave jasmine rice 
• 1/3 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves

Direction-

• Add the salmon to a shallow dish and pour the teriyaki sauce over the fillets. Using a pair of tongs, flip the fillets to coat them completely in the sauce.
• In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the fillets to the skillet and cook on the first side for 5 minutes, being careful not to let them burn. Carefully flip the fillets and cook another 2 minutes on the second side. Remove to a plate and set aside.
• Pour the remaining teriyaki sauce from the shallow dish into the hot skillet. Grate in the zest of 1/2 lime and allow the mixture to bubble and reduce for a few minutes. You do not want it to be super thick or sticky. Once reduced gently, nestle the salmon back into the skillet and spoon the sauce over top.
• Microwave the pouch of rice according to the directions on the package. Pour the rice onto a serving platter.
• Carefully transfer the salmon to the bed of rice. Spoon some sauce over top of the salmon and rice. Garnish the platter with the cilantro leaves. Cut the remaining lime into wedges and arrange along the edge of the platter for serving.

Recipe video-

Main dishes

0

CHICKEN FLAUTAS

Pick up a rotisserie chicken and get dinner on the table quicker than it'd take you to call in an order from your favorite Mexican restaurant. And don't forget the avocado cream!

Total Time- 30min

Preparation Time- 15min

Cooking Time- 15min


Ingredients-

• 1 Hass avocado, halved and pitted
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 limes (1 halved, 1 cut into wedges)
• Kosher salt
• 6 radishes, thinly sliced
• 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1 1/2 cups fresh salsa
• 16 corn tortillas
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Direction-

• Scoop the avocado into a blender. Add the sour cream and the juice of 1/2 lime and pulse until smooth. Season with salt.
• Squeeze the remaining 1/2 lime over the radishes in a small bowl and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Toss the chicken with 3/4 cup salsa in a medium bowl.
• Wrap the tortillas in paper towels and microwave until soft, about 45 seconds. Spoon the chicken mixture down the middle of the tortillas. Fold in the ends and roll up like a burrito; secure with toothpicks.
• Heat 3/4 inch vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 375 degrees F. Fry the flautas, turning as needed, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with tongs; drain on paper towels and remove the toothpicks. Serve with the avocado cream, radishes, cilantro, lime wedges and the remaining 3/4 cup salsa.

Recipe video-

Rolls recipe

0

CHAMPAGNE CAKE

What better way to celebrate holidays and special occasions than with a bubbly champagne cake?

Total Time- 1hr

Ingredients-

• 2-1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups champagne or the sparkling wine of your choosing
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 6 egg whites
• 3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Make a three-layer, eight inch cake

Direction-

Champagne frosting recipe

The frosting for this cake is a slight variation on this classic buttercream—a great go-to recipe. For the champagne cake, I doubled the recipe and added a bit of champagne for a boost of flavor.

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 9 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons champagne
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup milk

Choosing champagne for your cake

For this cake, you can use any sparkling wine of your choosing. If you enjoy a dry champagne, opt for your favorite brand. If you like something a bit sweeter, try a prosecco or sparkling Moscato. And if you want to add a little color to this cake, pop for pink champagne!

Concentrating champagne flavour for baking

Champagne’s flavor can be easily overpowered in baking, which is why for this recipe, you don’t want to add in a cup of bubbly straight from the bottle. Instead, you’ll want a more concentrated flavor that will really come through in the baking.

Concentrating champagne for baking is simple, though. Pop open a bottle of sparkling wine and measure out two cups into a small saucepan. Bring this to a simmer and let it reduce until there’s only a cup of liquid left. This should take about ten minutes. The result is half the liquid with double the flavor that’s just right for this recipe. Just be sure to let this concentrated sparkling wine cool down to room temperature before adding to your batter.

Mixing up the batter

Mixing the batter for this cake is very simple. You start like you would for any good cake. In one bowl, mix your dry ingredients—flour, baking powder and salt—and set aside.

Then cream together your butter and sugar until nice and fluffy using a stand or hand mixer. Then add in your sour cream and vanilla extract. Once those ingredients are well combined, add in your egg whites. Beat until nice and fluffy. Once those ingredients are well combined, alternate adding your dry mixture with your milk and concentrated champagne. Scrape the sides as needed.

Prepping the Pans and Baking the Cake

Once the batter is ready, prep your cake pans for baking. For this recipe, you’ll need three eight-inch pans. Just grease and flour as normal. Then divide the batter evenly between the three. Pop this in a 350ºF oven for 22 to 25 minutes. To check if the cake is done, just poke a toothpick into the center of one of the cakes. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.

Let the cakes cool in the pans for about five minutes before tipping out onto a wire rack. Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.

Stirring Up the Champagne Frosting

For this cake I wanted more than just a bit of champagne in the cake batter—I wanted some in the frosting, too! Using an American buttercream frosting as a base, I substituted two tablespoons of sparkling wine for milk.

To make this simple buttercream, just beat together your butter, powdered sugar, a smidge of vanilla extract and two tablespoons of champagne. Then beat in the milk until it reaches the right consistency—somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of a cup of milk.

Grab your offset spatula—it’s time to frost! I like to add a small daub of frosting to my cake plate to start. This helps the first layer of the cake stay in place as I frost. Then just layer your cakes and frosting being sure not to over- or under-frost. Once the three cakes are all stacked and aligned nicely, move on to the outside.

For this cake, I kept it fairly simple and just spread on the buttercream with a large offset spatula, but you can pipe or try other decorating techniques if you like! To give it a subtle but festive finishing touch, I sprinkled on some pearlescent jimmies and sugar pearls.

Slicing into the Champagne Cake

When finished, this cake looks simple yet festive—just like a classic flute of bubbles. But the real fun comes slicing into the cake. It’s perfectly moist with a welcome hint of champagne flavor and not too sweet! Combined with the buttercream, it’s the perfect balance of sweet, airy and celebratory. This cake has me thinking that I’ll be toasting friends and family this New Year’s with a glass of champagne and a generous slice of cake.

Cakes

0

MASALA CHICKEN(INDIAN RECIPE)

Masala Chicken is a traditional non-vegetarian recipe, which is a delectable blend of aromatic spices and tender chicken. This North Indian chicken recipe is perfect for special occasions and can be served with rice, butter naan or chapati.

Total Time- 45min


Ingredients-

• 1 1/4 kilograms washed & dried chicken
• 5 tablespoon refined oil
• 3 cup sliced onion
• 1/2 cup curry leaves
• 2 cup minced tomato
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup finely chopped coriander leaves
• 2 inches ginger
• 1 tablespoon garlic flakes
• 3/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon chilli powder
• 3 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered turmeric
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup grated coconut
• 1 1/2 tablespoon poppy seeds

Direction-

• Soak the chicken pieces in some lukewarm water with a small pinch of salt, this will reduce the time required to cook the chicken and will make the pieces soft & tender.
• Then clean and rinse the pieces properly. Keep this cleaned chicken aside and make a paste of 2 pieces of ginger, garlic, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and black peppercorn. Then take chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and a quarter cup of water. Grind them all and make a paste of it. Now grind together grated fresh coconut and poppy seeds and make a fine paste of them.
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker, fry onions till they turn golden brown. Then add curry leaves and salt, mix in the ginger-garlic spice paste and fry for three minutes. Now add chilli-coriander-turmeric powder paste. Mix thoroughly and add the chicken pieces. Fry for five minutes.
• Add tomatoes and fry for another five minutes with one and a half cups of water and cook for about 10-15 minutes. When the chicken is tender, mix in the coconut-poppy seed paste and cook over medium heat for five minutes.Finally, add coriander leaves, mix well and remove from heat. Serve it hot with butter naan and raita.

Recipe video:

Main dishes

0

EASY-PEASY FRUITCAKE (Alcohol)

Try this lighter version of a classic Christmas fruitcake, bursting with festive spice and juicy fruit. Decorate with candied fruit and glacé cherries

Total Time- 3hr 30min

Preparation Time- 30min

Cooking Time- 3hr


Ingredients-

• 4 tbsp rum
•  or brandy
• 1 orange
• , zested and juiced
• 600g mixed dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, apricots, cherries, cranberries)
• 200g butter
• , very soft
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 50g ground almonds
• 200g plain flour
• 100g pecan nuts or whole skinned almonds, chopped
• 100g candied peel, chopped
• 75g crystallised or candied ginger, chopped

Direction-

• Put the rum (or brandy), orange zest and juice and mixed dried fruit in a bowl and stir. Leave to soak overnight.
• Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3½. Double line a 20cm tin with baking parchment. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whisk in the eggs one by one, then fold in the almonds and flour. Add a pinch of salt and fold in the soaked fruit mixture (and any remaining liquid in the bowl), along with the nuts, candied peel and ginger. Spoon the mixture into the tin and level the surface.
• Bake for 1 hr, then turn the oven down to 150C/130C fan/gas 2 and bake for a further 2 hrs. Check the cake to see if it's pulling away from the sides of the tin and feels firm on top. If you need to, keep cooking for a further 15 mins. Cool in the tin. If storing in the tin, wrap the cake tightly first. Will freeze for up to two months.
• To decorate, brush the cake with the apricot jam (or glaze) and arrange your choice of candied fruit on top. Will keep in a sealed container for up to three weeks.

For decoration-

apricot jam (warmed and sieved) or apricot glaze

candied pineapple, candied angelica, glacé cherries (a mixture of red, green and yellow if you can find them), crystallised ginger

Cakes

0

MEDITERRANEAN MEATBALLS

Keftedes, Kofte, or Kofta. Whatever the name, they all represent exquisite Eastern Mediterranean variations on meatballs. A mixture of ground meat infused with spices and flavors of whatever region they come from.

Total Time- 45min

Ingredients-

• Nonstick cooking spray, for coating the baking sheet
• 2 cups frozen spinach (from a 10-ounce package)
• 1 pound 80 percent ground turkey
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill fronds, chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
• Juice of half a lemon
• 3 pitas with pockets, cut in half and warmed
• 2 cups shredded romaine lettuce 
• 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced

Direction-

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and coat with cooking spray.
• Cook the spinach in a large bowl in the microwave according to the package instructions. Let cool slightly.
• Add the turkey, breadcrumbs, cumin, garlic, carrot, egg, 1 tablespoon of the dill, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Mix with your hands until just combined. Scoop mounds of the meat mixture (about 2 tablespoons each) onto the prepared baking sheet. With damp hands, roll the mounds into balls and space them evenly apart on the baking sheet. Bake until cooked through, 12 to 14 minutes.
• Meanwhile, stir together the yogurt, lemon juice and remaining dill in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. 
• Serve 3 meatballs in each pita half. Pack in shredded lettuce and sliced tomatoes. Drizzle with the yogurt sauce.

Recipe video:

Main dishes

0