Category: fusion

Tea Masala Sweet Potato Rolls

~ Sophie ~ 11 Comments

There is a certain joy in baking I have discovered. Watching the chemistry that unfolds right before your eyes is amazing. Charcoal stove baking is even more adventurous and exciting. Using your instincts to regulate the temperature of the  make shift oven. Some creations fail miserably and some come out far better that you expect. I cannot say I am a charcoal stove baking expert yet but I have made these rolls on more than one occasion. Each moment, they did not disappoint. This recipe is inspired by the sweet potato cookies I made a few weeks ago. I cannot even begin to describe how wonderful they are. Tea masala adds a spicy kick to the rolls. Serve these with tea and you will not want to get out of that warm comfortable place especially with this weather.

 

What  you will need: 

Dough

4 C. Baking flour

¼ C +2 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tsp. Tea masala

1 C. Milk (warm enough for the yeast to rise)

¼ C. Oil

2 Eggs

2 ½ Tsp. Active dry yeast

A pinch of salt

Filling

1 ½ C. Sweet Potatoes (boiled and drained)

¼ C. Milk

¼ C. Sugar

2 Tbsp. Tea masala

½ Tsp. Cinnamon

 

Method

Dough

Stir sugar in the milk. Add yeast and set aside for 5 minutes. Sift the flour in a bowl. Add the 2 tablespoons of sugar, salt and tea masala and mix well.  In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and oil till it becomes thick. Once the yeast has become frothy, pour the egg-oil mixture in the yeasted milk and stir well.  Pour the mixture in the flour and mix using a fork.  Knead with your hands till dough is formed. Cover the bowl and set aside in a warm place for  40 minutes.

Filling

In a bowl, mash the sweet potatoes with a fork. Add the milk, sugar, tea masala and cinnamon and mix well.

Once the forty minutes are up and the dough has doubled in size,  punch it and knead it some more for thirty seconds. Roll out the dough to about ½ an inch in thickness. Add the sweet potato filling and distribute it evenly. Roll the dough and cut  the rolls about an inch in width.  Arrange the rolls in a greased pan in two layers. Set aside and let the rolls rise for another 20 minutes.

While the rolls are rising, light a charcoal stove. Get two large aluminium pans (They have to be large enough for the cake/bread pan to fit in). Put ash in one pan (about two inches of ash). Put the pan with ash on the stove and cover that pan with the second pan. This is the ‘preheat’ moment. After  the rolls have risen for 20 minutes, put them in the oven. And bake for 45 minutes. To evenly regulate the temperature, add charcoal on top of the top pan after 25 minutes of baking.

I hope you get to try baking these rolls because amazing is an understatement.

 

🙂

Sophie

 

Disclaimer: This post is part of the monthly link up party Our Growing Edge. This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. This month is hosted by  Lauren from Sweet and Southern Lifestyle with the theme Holiday Baking

Sweet Potato Sandwich Cookies

~ Sophie ~ 16 Comments

Are you all feeling the chilly weather? Finally the rain has taken over  and now days are filled with  either downpours or soft drizzle. It’s that time where you wonder whether it is still morning, because of the gloominess, until you look at the clock.  I am sure most of us wish we just stayed snuggled up almost all day( I do!).  It’s that  time that teas find their way in our daily meals.

So the other day, I had sweet potatoes left over from making katogo (recipe coming soon). The weather was cold and wet and I wished the house was filled with warm sweet scents and aromas. So we got cooking…err baking. These cookies have a sweet potato base in the middle and it is really really (really) good.  So while you are dreaming of having something warm to lighten up the gloominess, I suggest you get your sweet potatoes out, flour and all things nice and make these cookies. You will not regret.

What you will need:

Cookie dough

2 ½  C. Baking flour

½ Tsp. Baking powder

1 C. Butter/Margarine, melted

¾ C. Sugar

1 Egg

¼ C. Milk/Water

Sweet potato filling

1 C. Sweet potato, boiled and mashed

Juice of ½  Lemon

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Cinnamon

Pinch of salt

 

Method

Filling

In a bowl, Mix the mashed sweet potato with the lemon juice  till well combined. A paste-like consistency will form. Add the sugar, cinnamon and salt and mix well. Set aside.

Cookie dough

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together starting with the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar).

Next, add the wet ingredients (butter, egg and vanilla extract and milk). Keep mixing till the mixture is coarse but well blended and has formed firm dough.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough till thin (make sure it can still be lifted though).  On top of the rolled cookie dough, add the sweet potato filling and spread it out evenly half way on the dough. Flip the other half of the dough on top of the spread out filling and press firmly. Now, using a cookie cutter or glass, cut out the cookies.

If you are using an oven toaster, bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes or until they start turning golden brown and release a warm aroma. If you are using a regular oven, use the usual cookie baking regulations. If you don’t have any oven, you can pan bake them using this method. It works! Let the cookies cool down as they harden.

Makes 20+. Now that they are ready to eat, serve them with a warm cup of hot tea.

 

🙂

Sophie

 

PS: Forgive my lack of rolling a perfect shape. I am working on that!

 

Chilled Pineapple Juice

~ Sophie ~ 5 Comments

I think it is pineapple season. The reason I say so is because somehow they are easier to find and a little bit cheaper. With the scorching sun that is hitting us these days (right before massive downpours), I thought it is time to step up my game of making fruit drinks. Do you love experimenting with fruit drinks? What are your favorite combos? This one is as simple as having a blended pineapple, some lemons and sugar really. As simple as it is, it really is refreshing because the secret is chilling well before  serving.

What you will need:

1 Large pineapple

5 Lemons

Water

Sugar Method

Wash all the fruit and set aside. Using a sharp knife, peel the pineapple and core it then cut it into pieces. Put the pineapple pieces in the blender and add water. Blend till smooth(without any chunks).  Sieve the juice to remove tiny pieces of pineapple. Add sugar and stir till dissolved. Squeeze four  lemons in the pineapple juice(make sure the lemon juice is sieved).  Chill the juice.  When ready to serve, cut the remaining lemon into thin slices,  insert them into glasses, add ice cubes and then the juice.  Serve.

Observations:

  1. I did not put any specific measurements to the water and sugar because I believe we all have varied preferences. If you want the juice slightly sweeter and more concentrated, add less water and more sugar and if you want it a little lighter in taste and sweetness, add more water and less sugar.
  2. The lemon juice enhances the flavor while the slices are garnish.

I hope by this you will be able to conquer the heat. Plus you can easily double (and triple even) the recipe to serve guests.

🙂

Sophie