Dominos Style Garlic Bread Sticks

Garlic Bread needs no introduction. Yet, Garlic bread is mouthwatering, crunchy on the outside soft on the inside, baked from scratch, infused with the yumminess of herbs and garlic.

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus 5-6 hours

Cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Makes: 4 breads (like in the picture above)

Ingredients	Quantity
Maida (all-purpose flour)	500 gms approximate
Garlic Bread Seasoning	1 tbsp. or to taste
Instant Dry yeast	1½ tsp
Water	1½ cup
Sugar	1 tbsp.
Garlic (minced)	8-10 medium sized cloves
Olive oil	4 tbsps.
Butter	2 tbsps.
Salt	1 tsp
Corn meal	About 3-4 tbsps.

Method

To make dough:

Warm water slightly or till its luke warm.

In a large bowl add 1½-cup water, 1½ tsp yeast, 1tbsp. sugar and ½ cup all-purpose flour. Mix and let the yeast activate for 15 minutes. Add 2 tbsps of Olive oil, 2 tbsps of melted butter, minced garlic cloves, 1 tsp. salt and 1 tbsp. garlic bread seasoning.

Add 1 ½ cups of flour and combine, keep adding more flour as you go and you will probably need somewhere around 2 or 2 ½ cups of flour in total. Try to make soft dough. Dust a flat surface with some flour and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Keep dusting as you knead so the dough becomes stiff. Knead the dough well for 15 minutes (to activate gluten). Add 2 tbsps. Olive oil and knead for 2 more minutes.

Coat the dough with generous amount of oil and transfer the dough to a greased deep bowl, cover it with cling film. Let the dough rest in refrigerator for 5-6 hours (very important).

After 5-6 hours

Take dough out of refrigerator. Punch down the bread and cut it into 4 equal size balls, dust with some flour, and cover with cling film, let it rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle corn meal on a flat surface (for crunchy outer coating). Flatten the dough to form a round shape about the size of 6 inches and fold in half from 1 side to make a semi-circle. Dip your fingers in water and apply on the edges of the fold and lightly press to seal the bread. Dust off excess corn meal. Grease a baking sheet with butter, sprinkle some garlic bread seasoning and transfer the dough onto the baking sheet. Cut the dough into bread sticks; do not cut all the way. Brush with butter and drizzle garlic bread seasoning.

Preheat the oven to 180°C for 10 minutes. Use a high rack to place the bread in the oven. Bake the bread at 180°C for 8 minutes and again at 220°C for 4 – 5 minutes or until you have a nice golden color on the surface of the bread.

Onion Pakoda

Scrumptious, crispy onion fritters, deep fried and a perfect tea time snack. Sliced onions are mixed with finely chopped green chilies, gram flour and coriander powder and deep fried till crispy. Pakodas are very popular in India as street food. Among all the pakodas, onion pakodas are everyone’s favorite. These are easy to prepare when you have a sudden guest or friend at home and you want to make them feel special.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serves: 2-3 people

Ingredients	Quantity
Onions	2 large
Chana(chickpea) Flour	2-3 tbsps.(approximately)
Green chilies(finely chopped)	2 or 3
Coriander powder	1 tsp
Chili powder	1 tsp or to taste
Salt	1 tsp or to taste

Method

Cut the onion in half and slice them. Try and separate the layers a bit.

In a bowl add the onions, green chilies and about 1tsp of salt and mix well. Keep for 5 minutes. Then add the chana flour, coriander powder, chili powder and mix well. You need not add water as the onions let out enough water to make the batter, but if it’s too dry then sprinkle very little water. The batter should look something like this:

The batter should not be runny or it will absorb lot of oil. Check for salt and adjust the batter if needed.

Heat oil in a frying pan on high heat for 3-5 minutes, reduce flame to medium. Drop little bit of mixture in the oil and it should sink at first and float to top immediately (in less than 1or 2 seconds). If not wait for some more time till the oil is hot. Refer my tip how to check if oil is hot enough for deep frying.

Then loosely make pakodas and drop them in oil and fry on medium to low heat till they become crispy and golden. Serve hot.

Points to remember:

If the oil temperature is not right the pakodas will not fry properly and absorb lot of oil. So here's a tip for that!

How to check if oil is hot enough for deep frying?

Eggs Kejriwal

Eggs Kejriwal is fried egg (sunny side up) served with some mushroom sauce and cheese on top of a garlic toast. This is my version of Eggs Kejriwal. I found this on the menu of Soda Bottle Opener Wala in Bangalore. I tweaked the recipe to suit our family. This dish is filling, healthy, simple to make and has wholesome nutrition. It is packed with nutrients in the form of mushrooms cheese and eggs. Like most classic dishes that have a cult following, the Eggs Kejriwal is as brilliant as its simple. How more simple can it get than eggs, cheese and bread?

Yet, here’s the real story behind the name Eggs Kejriwal…

Arvind Kejriwal might be Delhi’s most famous Kejriwal and he might’ve had a few eggs thrown at him early on in his political career. But that’s not the Eggs Kejriwal we’re talking about here. India, rather Bombay’s most famous Kejriwal was the Eggs Kejriwal. This dish was invented and most likely perfected at the Willingdon Sports Club at Tardeo in Mumbai. The story of the Eggs Kejriwal is as peculiar as the name. A certain Mr. Devi Prasad Kejriwal was a very regular visitor to the Willingdon Sports Club. Aggarwals-Kejriwals are a strictly vegetarian community and non-vegetarian dishes of all kinds including eggs are frowned upon. But Mr. DP Kejriwal was a bit of a rebel and went against norms of his community. His favorite dish at Willingdon Club was Eggs on toast with cheese thrown in between and a healthy sprinkling of chopped green chilies on top. But how well its wonderfully put together and the healthy dose of green chilies makes this both, very Indian and brilliant.

Mr. Kejriwal is rumored to have this dish on a daily basis. And soon enough, its popularity grew first among his friends and then later to the other club members. And at some point, got added to the Club’s menu as Eggs Kejriwal. A fitting tribute to the rebel and his favorite snack. I believe this is also on the menu at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) and The Bombay Yacht Club, and now also on the menu of Soda Bottle Opener Wala.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2 people

Ingredients	Quantity
Bread	4 slices
Eggs	4 large
Butter	2-3 tbsps.
Garlic Bread Seasoning	to taste
Salt	to taste
Cheese	4 slices
Pepper Powder	to taste
For the Sauce
Button Mushrooms	8 medium
Milk	1 tbsp.
Corn Flour	1 tsp
Salt	to taste
Pepper Powder	to taste

Method

Mushroom Sauce:

Wash the mushrooms well and pat dry with a towel. Chop them into thin slices. In a pan heat some butter, add the mushrooms fry till they start cooking add a pinch of salt. Add corn flour to milk, mix well, add it to the mushrooms. Keep stirring till the sauce thickens and mushrooms are cooked. Season with pepper powder and garlic bread seasoning. The sauce should be slightly less on saltiness or the whole dish will be more salty as we add cheese to the dish.

Apply butter on the bread and toast them to your liking. I like my toast to be crispy on the edges and soft in the center.

When the toast is hot, add a slice of cheese on it. Add the mushroom sauce. Add fried egg (sunny side up) on top and garnish with garlic bread seasoning. If you don’t like fried egg (sunny side up) you can add fully cooked fried egg, poached egg or even egg omlette.

Points to remember:

• It is better to use a non-stick pan to cook fried eggs (sunny side up). It will be easier to transfer the egg on top of the toast without breaking the yolk.
• I use Multigrain Bread for this dish as it gives some nuttiness to the toast.
• I use Britannia Cheese slices in this dish. I like the flavour better than other cheese slices. 
  
• Instead of plain butter, I use Amul Garlic butter. It gives more flavour to my toast and mushroom sauce. But you need to watch out on the salt as the garlic butter is pretty salty.

Cheesy Spinach and Corn Sandwich

Cheesy Spinach and Corn Sandwich is flavorous, healthy and most importantly very easy to make. This sandwich is inspired by the classic combination of spinach and corn, topped with the goodness of cheese.

Kids will love this sandwich and this is a good way to get them to eat spinach. It’s perfect dish for snack/lunch box. The filling can be made in advance and stored in the fridge overnight, which will help reduce early morning stress for mommies. You can try using different types of bread for this sandwich, like here I have shown a white bread version and a multi-grain version.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Makes: 4 sandwiches

Ingredients	Quantity
Spinach	1 bunch or roughly 1½ cups when chopped
Corn kernels	½ cup
Processed cheese	3 cubes
Pepper powder	½ tsp or to taste
Bread	8 slices
Onion	1 large
Garlic	3-4 cloves
Oil	1 tsp
Butter	1 tbsp. approximate
Sugar	1 pinch (optional)
Salt	to taste

Method

Wash Spinach leaves in water thoroughly, drain and dry them on a kitchen towel. When the water is almost drained chop them into ½ inch pieces. The chopped pieces should be about 1½ cups roughly.

Finely chop the onions. Peel and chop the garlic into thin slices.

Heat oil in a pan, add garlic, and let it sizzle for about 30 seconds. Add the onion, add a pinch of salt. Let it cook till onions are translucent. Add the spinach, mix well, close lid and cook till spinach is almost cooked. Add some salt and pepper powder, mix well. Add a pinch of sugar to reduce the pungent flavor from spinach. Add the corn, cook for about a minute. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. The mixture must be slightly bland as the cheese has some salt in it and spinach also tends to get salty soon when the water dries up. Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts.

Spinach filling

Grate cheese and divide into 4 equal parts.

Apply butter on the bread slices on the outer side, add the filling and grated cheese in between two slices and grill them till crispy in a sandwich maker.

If you don’t have a sandwich maker, apply butter to both the sides of the two bread slices, slightly toast one side of the bread on a tawa and flip it add the filling to the toasted side, add cheese and cover with another toasted side of bread on the cheese. When the bread slice is toasted on the bottom, carefully flip the whole sandwich and toast the bread slice on top. This way the cheese inside will melt.

Points to remember:

• You can use any bread for this sandwich and it will taste equally good.
• Try and use tender spinach leaves for this dish. If the spinach stems are too hard, discard them and use only leaves. The fiber in the stems will make the filling more pungent and stringy to bite.
• The cheese will make the sandwich better, but you can make it without cheese too.

Here’s another version of this sandwich made using white bread.

Lazy Man's Garlic Bread

Garlic bread, consists of bread topped with garlic and olive oil or butter and may include additional herbs, like oregano. It is then either grilled or broiled until toasted, or baked in a conventional or bread oven.

I call this a lazy man’s recipe because here we use readymade bread and ready garlic butter.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serves: 2-3 people

Ingredients	Quantity
Bread slices	5
For spread
Butter (soften butter before using)	4tsp
Garlic paste	1tsp
Pepper powder	½  tsp
Oregano	½ tsp
Garlic powder (optional)	to taste
Salt	to taste
Cheese Powder (optional)	to garnish

Method

Mix all the ingredients for spread in a bowl (check for salt).

Spread the paste on the bread slices (1/2tsp on each side). Sprinkle extra garlic powder and oregano if needed. Add grated cheese.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees for 5 minutes and then place bread slice on the microwave tray and place the tray on the grill and set for 2 minutes. Check for the crispy side and soft center. If required you can grill longer depending on your liking.

Making garlic bread on tava

Heat tava for 1 minute on high flame lower flame to low and place bread slice on one side, keep for 30 seconds to a minute and flip and fry on the other side. Add cheese on top side and close lid if you wish to have melted cheese. Fry on a low flame to achieve a crispy bottom and melted cheese on top.

You can garnish bread slice with a pinch of cheese powder just before serving.

Points to remember

·        Instead of using the homemade spread you can use Amul Butter with Garlic and Herbs. It has all the herbs, salt and pepper powder. 

Can also be served with Jalapeño Soup

Jalapeño Soup

Party Cracker Bites

Party Cracker Bite is quick to make and a perfect appetizer for a party, hence the name. It is a finger food, eaten in one bite.

Preparation time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4-5 people

Ingredients	Quantity
Maska Chaska Biscuits	20
Curd	200 ml
Finely chopped vegetables  (Onion, carrots, capsicum)	½ cup
Coriander leaves	1tsp
Green chili (finely chopped)	1
Sweet Corn	1 tsp
Vinegar	1 tsp
White pepper Powder	½ tsp
Oregano (optional)	for garnish
Chili flakes (optional)	for garnish

Method:

Hang curd in Muslin Cloth for 1 hour.

In an air tight jar mix vegetable, salt, vinegar and pepper powder, close lid and keep in fridge with lid tightly closed for 2 hours.

Mix vegetables and hung curd, add coriander leaves and adjust salt.

Arrange the biscuits on the serving platter add 1 teaspoon of sauce on each biscuit, sprinkle oregano and chili flakes. Serve immediately.

Points to Remember

·        You can hang curd and marinate vegetables in advance and store in an air tight jar in the fridge. Keep them separately.

·        You need to assemble the dish just before serving.

·        Any packet curd can be used as it has good thickness.

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Biscuit Chaat