Happy New Year!

 

Grape Wine with Yeast

May the miracle of Christmas fill your heart with warmth and love

Merry Christmas!! 

I had shared a Grape Wine recipe without yeast many years ago. This one is a traditional grape wine recipe with yeast and wheat. Addition of caramelized sugar gives this wine a nice colour and a subtle smoky flavour too, which my husband really enjoys. You do not have to caramelize the sugar very dark for wine as you do for cakes… just caramelize the sugar to light golden colour otherwise the wine will taste bitter! 

Grape Wine with Yeast

(Recipe Source ~ my sister-in-law)

Ingredients:

Black grapes with or without seeds - 2kg

Sugar 1 ¾ kg + ¼ kg for caramelizing (total 2kg)

Wheat  - ¼ kg (wash & sundry the wheat)

Yeast - 1 tbsp

White of one egg

Water - 4 ½ litres

Method:

• Boil water and cool it till lukewarm.
• Wash, drain and pat dry the grapes. Brust the grapes slightly with hand or with a potato masher or with back of a spoon.
• Dissolve yeast in a little lukewarm water.
• Beat the egg whites well.
• Mix well all the ingredients along with 1 ¾ kg sugar and keep it in an earthen jar (Bharani) or in a glass jar, cover it and leave for 21 days stirring daily.
• On 22^nd day, strain the mixture through a cheese / muslin cloth.
• Add ¼ kg sugar caramelised and keep it in jar for another 21 days.
• Strain on 22^nd day and use.

To Caramelize Sugar~ Heat ¼ kg sugar in a pan stirring continuously. When it becomes light golden brown add 1 cup hot water and boil. Cool and then mix it with the wine.

Pomegranate Wine / Mathala Naranga Wine

 

Hello everyone, It’s been a long time since I have posted any new recipes... Hope you guys are fine and safe... How are the Christmas preparations coming along? I hope at least some of you have tried some wine this year. If you are on the lookout for recipes for baking Christmas Cakes & Cookies you can search my older posts.... Since Christmas is around the corner I thought of posting a couple of wine recipes I tried recently.... Hope you guys can make it just before Christmas or New Year celebrations....

Pomegranate Wine / Mathala Naranga Wine / മാതള നാരങ്ങാ വൈൻ 

Ingredients:

Pomegranate -1 kg / (6 - 8 numbers)

Sugar – 1 kg

Water – 3 ½ litres

Lemon juice and zest from one lemon

Orange juice and zest from one orange

Cloves -4 nos

Cinnamon – 1 x 2” piece

Yeast – ¾ tsp

Method:

• Cut pomegranates into half and remove all of the fruity seeds into a bowl. Be sure not to include any of the pomegranate's pith or skin, as this can cause the wine to taste bitter. Crush the pomegranate seeds slightly in the mixy or with a handheld blender or with a potato masher.
• With a citrus peeler or vegetable peeler thinly peel the orange zest and lemon zest without the white part. Extract the juice from the orange and lemon and keep aside.
• Boil sugar and water in a big vessel. When the mixture begins to boil switch off the flame. Add all the ingredients except yeast to the boiled water.  
• Mix thoroughly and allow the pomegranate mixture to stand for an hour or so, until it is lukewarm.
• When the mixture becomes lukewarm, add yeast and mix well.
• Transfer the mixture to a sterilized glass bottle / bharani, cover it and leave for 20 days stirring daily.
• After 20 days, strain the mixture through a cheese/ muslin cloth in to a clean dry bottle.
• Keep this again for 7 days untouched.
• After 7 days strain the wine again, pour it in to clean dry bottles and use. 

 Check out Tips for Making Homemade Kerala Wines

Wishing you all a Very Happy and Prosperous Onam 🌼🌸🌺

 

Japanese Milk Bread Rolls / Hokkaido Milk Bread

Due to Covid19, we are under complete curfew and we are allowed to go for grocery shopping only once a week after taking an online appointment.... So I have been baking different types of breads and buns almost every day.... Seems like my family is enjoying freshly baked homemade breads versus store bought now.... I will post those successful bread recipes I tried in coming posts.... 

Japanese Milk Bread or Hokkaido milk bread is made with a simple technique involving a roux "starter" known as tangzhong.... The roux is mixed into the final dough, producing wonderfully tender bread each and every time... I have made their rolls several times with different shapes over the years.... This bread recipe was used in Sausage Rolls recipe which is one of my initial posts.... Do try these incredibly soft rolls with any shape, be it simple round buns, braided or loaf, you will not regret it....  

Japanese Milk Bread Rolls / Hokkaido Milk Bread

(Recipe from here)

Yield -8 Rolls

Ingredients:

Tangzhong (starter)

3 tablespoons (43g) water

3 tablespoons (43g) whole milk

2 tablespoons (14g) Unbleached Bread Flour / All purpose flour

Dough

2 1/2 cups (298g) Unbleached Bread Flour / All purpose flour

2 tablespoons (18g) Milk Powder

1/4 cup (50g) sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1/2 cup (113g) whole milk

1 large egg

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons, 57g) melted unsalted butter

Method:

To make the tangzhong: 

• Combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan, and whisk until no lumps remain.
• Place the saucepan over low heat, and cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until thick and the whisk leaves lines on the bottom of the pan, about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Transfer the tangzhong to a small mixing bowl or measuring cup and let it cool to room temperature.

To make the dough: 

• Combine the tangzhong with the remaining dough ingredients, then mix and knead — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — until a smooth, elastic dough forms.
• Shape the dough into a ball, and let it rest in a lightly greased covered bowl for 60 to 90 minutes, until puffy but not necessarily doubled in bulk.
• Gently deflate the dough, divide it into 8 equal pieces, and shape each piece into a ball, or any desired shape.
• Place the rolls into a lightly greased 8" or 9" round cake pan. Cover the pan, and let the rolls rest for 40 to 50 minutes, until puffy.  
• Preheat the oven to 176°C / 350°F. Brush the rolls with milk or egg wash (1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water), and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown on top; a digital thermometer inserted into the center of the middle roll should read at least 190°F.
• Remove the rolls from the oven. Allow them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a rack and cover with a cloth to cool completely.

Hello....

It’s been a while I haven’t posted anything here....Hope all of you are safe and staying home... 2019 was a really hectic year as my son was in class 10 and we were busy running from one tuition to another.... I was looking forward to his exams getting over so that we could relax a bit..... But New Year’s Day started off with the very sad news of my Dad passing away all of a sudden.... I was devastated, even though he look tired his health was perfectly ok... We all went to India to bid farewell to my dear dad... I was stressed out, on one side the shock of my dad’s sudden passing and on another side my son’s final exams....It was really tough for me as I have never really overcome my mom’s demise even after 23 years... Believe me it is really hard to cope with our near & dear ones demise... I am trying really hard to come to terms with this situation....

Now the whole world is fighting the Corona virus. Here in Kuwait we are having lockdown from mid-March which resulted in cancellation of the last exam of my son! The whole year’s hard work washed away by a virus! So now from March we are all at home under lockdown, first partial curfew and now full curfew.... But thankfully we are all safe and I hope and pray this crisis will end soon.....

I will try to update this space as and when I get time.... I know people are not following blogs now a days and all are after you tubers only..... but somehow I really love blogging and now it’s a space I document my tried and tested recipes and I hope some of you may find it helpful..... I will come back with recipe posts soon.... mean while stay home and stay safe....

Love..... Stay safe....

Swapna

Happy Easter!