Fish buns

This is one of our father's trademark dishes that we were crazy about as children. We loved devouring this with just about anything. These days, I use this as a filling to buns (that I prepare the same way I do pizza dough). It is the ultimate comfort food for me. If you like mackerel you are going to love this. These buns are really soft and tasty and can be refrigerated and warmed up whenever you want them but as with most bread/buns, they taste best when they are fresh out of the oven.  

Buns:
25 g compressed yeast
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup fingerwarm water (37 C or 99 F)
2 tbs olive oil
3/4 tsp salt

Stuffing:
250 g canned mackerel (in tomato sauce)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 eggs (put aside some for the egg wash)
1/2 tsp cumin (or cumin powder)
1/2 tbs curry powder (adjust)
Salt to taste
1-2 sprigs curry leaves (optional)

Method:
To make the dough, heat the water to 37 C (or 99 F). Crumble the yeast in a large bowl and add the lukewarm water and stir with a spoon or your hand till yeast has dissolved completely. Add oil and salt. Stir. Add the flour. First mix with a wooden spoon untill it comes together and then and knead and work the dough for about 10 minutes with your hands. Let it rest covered in a bowl for 35-40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the fish filling. Cut the onion finely. Heat some oil in a pan and saute the cumin, onion and the curry leaves and saute until the onion is golden brown. Add the mackerel and the tomato sauce, the curry powder and salt. With spatula, mix and scramble any large chunks of mackerels. Whisk the eggs (but put aside some of the egg mixture for the egg wash) with some salt. Shove the mackerel to one corner of the pan and add the beaten egg little by little and scramble it in the same pan that you are preparing the mackerel. Saute the mackerel filling until most of the water has evaporated. Take it away from the stove and allow to cool.

Once the dough has rested, lightly knead it again. Divide the dough into small balls and roll out the balls on a floured surface. Place some of the fish filling in the middle and fold/tuck it as seen in the picture below. Make sure it is properly folded. Turn the tucked side down and place the fish buns on an oven sheet, preferably with parchment paper. Once you have folded all the buns, give them an egg wash. Bake the buns in a preheated oven at 200 C (about 400 F) in the middle rack of the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Take them out and allow to cool on a wire rack. Serve them once they have cooled down to room temperature. Keep the buns refrigerated, if you are not going to consume them in one or two days and heat them up in the microwave before serving.

Cinnamon roll with almond filling

For some reason, I feel a lot like baking this month. It is probably the pre-Christmas jitters. I have made cinnamon buns many times before. However, I have never cut the cinnamon rolls lengthwise, except once, but that was many years ago. This time I also added homemade almond paste inside, just because I love almonds. This turned out absolutely divine, if I may say so myself. A cup of warm tea and some slices of a homemade cinnamon roll, is sometimes everything you need to brighten up the humdrum cold winter noons.

Cinnamon roll:
150 g salted butter
50 g compressed yeast
2 cups milk
1.4 kg flour (5 1/2 cups)
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp cardamom or cardamom powder

Almond filling:
200 g blanched almonds
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup icing sugar
2-3 tbs milk or egg white

Butter filling:
100 g butter
1/2-1 tbs ground cinnamon
3 tbs sugar

Topping:
Almond flakes
Pearl sugar
1 egg (egg wash)

Method:
Blanch the almonds. Bring some water to boil, lower the heat, add the almonds and boil for about 4-5 minutes and then blanch the almonds or alternatively, pour the boiled water in a bowl with almonds and let soak in the warm water for a couple of minutes and then peel the skin off. I would advise you to do this the night before. Let them dry a little and slice the almonds roughly. Slicing them before grinding makes it easier to get a fine paste and keep them in a cool place till needed.

Melt the butter in a cooking pot. Add the milk and warm the butter-milk mixture to 37 C degrees (finger warm). While you melt the butter, measure the flour in a separate bowl and mix in the cardamom. Put aside. Crumble the yeast into a large bowl. Add the heated milk-butter into the bowl, mix and dissolve any large chunks of yeast with your hands. Then add the sugar and then the flour, all at once. Take a wooden spoon and mix until everything comes together into a dough. Place it on a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Put it back in the bowl and cover with a cloth and allow the dough to rest (and increase in size) for 30-40 minutes.

Meanwhile, grind the sliced almonds in a food processor. If you have a small grinder, grind in small batches. Grind the almonds as finely as you can. In a bowl, add the ground almonds and the sugar. Mix well. Add the milk or egg white. I used milk for the almond paste. Mix well into a paste and put aside. For the butter filling, mix softened butter, sugar and ground cinnamon and put aside. If the butter does not get soft, warm it in the microwave for a few seconds and then mix in the above mentioned ingredients.

Now, divide the dough into three equal parts. Roll it out, like you would a pizza dough, fairly thin, spread some of the butter mixture with a dining knife evenly on the dough. Add the almond paste over the butter filling and spread it as evenly as you can on the dough. Roll the dough up. Take next batch and repeat this process until you have three rolls. Let them rest for another 15 minutes or so. Cut the rolls with a scissor, not all the way down, and in equal sizes and drag the buns left and right with your hand. Whisk an egg. Give the rolls an egg wash, spread some pearls sugar and almond flakes over the cinnamon rolls.

Prepare two oven sheets by placing parchment/bakery paper on them. You can place two cinnamon rolls on one oven sheet.  Place the oven sheet in the middle part (but not on the lowest) of the oven and bake in a preheated oven at 175 C (350 F) for about 15-20 minutes. Let them cool somewhat before serving. You can refrigerate them and serve them on an another occasion, if you like. Let them cool down covered with a cloth on a wire rack, slice them and then put them in plastic bags and refrigerate. Eating them within two to three weeks is preferable.

Tekaka

These buns are called tekaka in Swedish, meaning tea-time buns. They are a cross between flatbread and buns, sweet and fluffy, so fluffy that they melt in your mouth while you eat them. Everyone in my family loves these buns. We love tekaka so much we fight over the last one. :) It is that good. We typically buy tekaka at the local store-cum-bakery nearby because it is more convenient but for Christmas I decided to make these for breakfast.

Yesterday morning, I woke up to read that I had received an "Inspirational Award" by Sonali at OnlyFishRecipes. I was and still am ecstatic about it. It's such a nice way to wrap up this year and my 3 months of blogging adventures. Thank you Sonali for the award. The awardee is suppose to answer 8 questions as well, and I have answered them down below, please scroll down if you are interested in reading them. The awardee is also supposed to pass down the award to fellow bloggers and I have listed the names and blogs of people I would like to pass on this award to.

Ingredients:
50 g compressed yeast
2 cups water
100 g butter
1 tsp of salt
10 tbs caster sugar
5 1/2-6 cups all-purpose flour

Method:
Heat the water to 37 C (fingerwarm) in a pan. In a separate pan, melt the butter at low heat. Measure the flour, add sugar and salt and mix. Put aside. Crumble the yeast in a large bowl. Pour the finger-warm water over it. Mix and dissolve any large yeast chunks with your hand. Add the butter and mix. Add the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon till everything comes together. Place the dough, on a floured surface. Knead and work it for about 10 minutes. Place it back in the bowl and let it rest, covered with a cloth, for 35 minutes. Do not let it rest for more than 35 minutes because the yeast thrives on sugar and if you let the dough yeast for more than 35 minutes the first time (you have to let them rest again after shaping them), the tekaka may not turn out sweet at all.

Knead the dough lightly and press out the trapped air in the buns. You can either roll out the flour and knife out flat-bread like buns or divide the dough into equal portions/balls and then flatten them out. Stick the buns with a fork, all the way down. Let them rest for 10 minutes. Bake them in the middle part of a preheated oven at 200 C (400 F) until they get a nice colour. Let them cool covered in a cloth and keep them in an airtight container. Now, more about the award. :)

My congratulations to you, Sonali, and thanks a bunch for passing on this award to me. I would like to pass on this "Inspirational Award" to the following bloggers:

Amy of FoodCorner
Mahi of Mahi's Kitchen
Reva of Kaarasaaram
Sangeetha of Spicy Treats
Sudha of Wit, wok & wisdom

Danish pastries

Cinnamon buns

The whole kitchen will smell of fresh bread and cinnamon when you make these cinnamon buns! These buns are soft and savoury, and definitely worth the 2 hours of work. Everyone in my family loves these buns!

Dough:
150 g butter
2 1/4 cups milk
1.4-1.5 kg flour
50 g compressed yeast
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 tsp cardamom powder

Filling:
100 g butter (room temperature)
4 tbs caster sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Brushing:
1 egg (egg wash)
pearl sugar

Melt the butter in cooking pot. Add the milk and heat the butter-milk mixture to 37 C degrees. While you melt the butter, measure the flour in a bowl and mix in the cardamom. Crumble the yeast into a large bowl. Add the heated milk-butter into the bowl. Add sugar, mix and then add the flour. Take a wooden spoon and mix until everything comes together into a dough. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes with your hands or hand mixer/Kitchenaid. Let the dough rest in a bowl covered with a cloth for 30-40 minutes. Beat the egg needed for egg wash and put it in the refrigerator.

You have to bake these buns in 4 batches. Therefore divide the dough into four pieces, like in the picture above. You have to work with one at a time. Make sure that you have everything that you need for the filling is at a hand's reach. Now, roll out the dough like you would a pizza on a floured surface. Take the softened butter and spread it over the dough with a dining knife, then 1 tbs of the sugar and then 1/2 tsp of the cinnamon. Roll it in like a swiss roll and cut them like in the picture below.

There is another way to make the buns, that is more demanding. You could also fold the dough from both sides, instead of rolling it in. In this case you need to fold the dough from both sides, halfway.

Then lightly roll out the edges so that it becomes wider and then cut them like in the picture below.

Take a piece with both hands and "screw" them from both ends, in the opposite direction and roll it in like a flower as seen in the picture below. 

Once you have made the first batch of buns. Turn the oven on, at 200 C. Take the towel that you used to cover the dough earlier and cover the buns again for about 20 minutes. After that take out the egg that you had placed in the refrigerator and dip a brush in it. Brush the buns with egg and top them with pearl sugar as seen below. If you are vegetarian, you could brush the buns with some melted butter instead. Place them immediately in the middle part of the oven bake for about 15 minutes or they look ready.  

Take them out and remove them from the hot baking sheet, to allow them to cool down. These soft buns taste best the first two days. You can put them in a bag and refrigerate them otherwise. Good luck!