This recipe shows how to make reshteh for the soup. Make sure you have a wide working space for the dough. You’ll need a rolling pin, durum and/or rice flour to prevent the sheets of dough stick to each other while we are cutting the reshteh.

Ingredients | 5 servings

• 300g/10.5oz Flour
• 100g/3.5oz Water
• 6g/0.2oz of Salt

Preparation

– In a bowl mix flour and salt.

– Pour a bit of water, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined.

– Knead the pieces of dough together.

⏳ Let it rest for 10 mins. This helps the dough to relax.

– Knead it again. This time working the dough becomes slightly easier.

– Repeat this for other 2 times, with the intervals of 10mins. Then cover the dough with a foil and let it rest for 1 hour.

Making Reshteh

– On a wide working board, sprinkle flour and with a rolling pin flatten the dough and create a circle.

– The thickness should be around 2-3mm/0.11inch.

– Cut the dough in half (horizontally) the noodles should be short (12 cm / 5.1inch approximately)

– Sprinkle flour (better use durum or rice flour) on the surface and fold the dough on itself and cut it, (circa 3mm/0.11inch of width), with a very sharp knife.

The reshteh is done!

The result:

How to use Reshteh

The freshly made reshteh, cooks in 10 minutes. Unlike Italian pasta they shouldn’t be “al dente” but overcooked.

Notes

• Having the rice flour or durum flour comes handy. When we are cutting reshteh, they helps to separate the sheets of dough because of their very dry nature.
• You can store reshteh up to 3 days in fridge.

With this noodles you can cook Ash reshteh one of the famous Iranian soups:

Good luck ☺️

The post Reshteh recipe – Persian noodles appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Ingredients | 5 Servings

• 110g/3.8oz tbsp 00 wheat flour
• 5 tbsp Brown sugar
• 5 Eggs
• 10g/0.3oz vegetable Oil
• pinch of salt

Preparation

– In mixer add the all eggs pour oil & sugar.

– Wait 5 minutes so the sugar soak in the eggs.

– Turn on the machine and mix for ⏳ 12 minutes.

– The result is a foamy batter.

– Sieve the flour, in 3-4 rounds, mix it very gently.

– Pour the batter in mold with parchment paper.

– Put it in the preheated oven turn on the oven the first 5 mins on 180C°/350F°.

– For the next 25 mins on 160C°/320F°.

➡️ Once turned off, leave it inside for another 10 mins.

– The fluffy sponge cake is ready when its cooled down and will be perfect for the cake.

I usually use this base for berry cake and chocolate cake ☺️

The post Sponge Cake – Basic appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Unfortunately, some, industrial dried fruits has other unwanted ingredients on them. Like many, sultana raisins has oil. Check the ingredients list. If it has something other than the dried fruit, better to wash them in advance and spread them on a clean kitchen cloth to dry them.

You can avoid using rum. Just soak the dried fruit on fresh orange juice.

Ingredients | mix of 500g/17oz

• 50g/1.7oz Dried apple
• 120g/4.2oz Dried apricot
• 120g/4.2oz Dried blueberries
• 50g/1.8oz Dried sour cherry
• 80g/2.8oz Sultana raisins
• 70g/2.4oz Candied orange
• 200g/7oz Rum of your choice
• 1/2 cup of Orange juice

Preparation

– Chop dried fruits into small pieces (except the raisins)

– In a big bowl: mix all ingredients, pour the liquor of your choice (I used Bacardi gold), and the orange juice.

– Put the mix in a big glass container, make sure 1/3 of its space is empty.

➡️ When the dried fruits absorb humidity they grow in size, so the container should have enough space

They will be ready after 1 day.

Notes

• Avoid using a plastic container because of the of alcohol which is corrosive.
• If you don’t want to use alcohol use any fruit juice you like.

These dried fruits are perfect for Christmas cake ☺️

The post Dried fruit in rum for Christmas cake appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Ingredients

• 400g/14.1oz of Milk
• 4 egg Yolks
• 20g/0.7oz Cornstarch
• 100g/3.5oz Sugar
• pinch of Salt
• pinch of Vanilla
• Lemon Peel

Preparation

– Put lemon peel in milk and heat, just at the simmering point. (don’t boil)

In a bowl add:

– Egg yolks, cornstarch, salt, vanilla & sugar. whisk till you have a creamy consistency.

– Pour in 1 ladle of the warm milk and mix. Be careful the milk shouldn’t be very hot because it can cook the eggs.

➡️ Meanwhile, put a wide bowl in the freezer. (which we’ll put the cream later)

– Pour back the mixture into the milk pot and set the stove on the medium heat.

– Mix it continuously with a spatula.

➡️ When the cream starts to get dense, it’s time to remove it from the heat.

– Pour the hot cream in freezing bowl & whisk lively.

According to the Italian pastry master Iginio Massari: this technique helps you to have a shiny custard.

– When the cream isn’t hot anymore ⏳Cover it with a foil, and put it in the fridge (3 hours)

When it’s completely cold, the Italian custard is ready.

It can be used as filling for bignè, croissants, mille-feuille or simply with berries ☺️

Enjoy!

The post Italian Custard – Crema Pasticcera appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Ghee is very beneficial. Its Smoke Point is very high (250C°/480F°) so it’s great for frying. It doesn’t burn quickly and wouldn’t become cancerogenic, it’s easier to digest because the butter protein called casein has been removed.

Ingredient

1kg/35oz butter, I had 5 packs of butter each 250g/8.8oz

Preparation

– In a big pot, place the butters and set the heat on medium

– First, they melt then the liquid should boil, and you’ll see foam on top which by the end of the process it will disappear. don’t stir.

This part takes up to 45 minutes

– We are almost done! At this point the foam has almost disappeared. The impurities are at the bottom of the pot. Turn off the heat and wait for 10 minutes so it cools down a bit.

– Filter the clarified butter with a strainer

Done!

Note

• Don’t stir and do not set the stove on high heat. Be patient. Because ghee can burn easily.
• This process could last for 1 hour. (depends on the quantity of butter)
• Avoid storing the clarified butter in a plastic container.
• Wait for 10 minutes before pouring it into a container – if it’s too hot – it could crack the glass.

The post Ghee – Clarified Butter appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Ingredients

• 1L of Milk

Preparations:

– Choose a wide and a non stick pan.

– Pour milk and set the stove on medium high heat.

– Keep stirring, it shouldn’t stick to bottom of the pan.

– Continue to stir, milk boils and continues to lose water to become dense. This part takes loads of ⏳ time

– It will take about 1 hour (or less if your pan is wider than mine!) so you may need to sit down… :))

– Arriving at this consistency, the Khoya is ready!

Notes

• When khoya cools down, it becomes hard and almost solid. You can keep it fridge for 3-4 days.

It’s a great ingredient for Indian sweets.

The post Khoya appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp White greek yogurt
• 1L of Milk
• 2 tbsp sour cream (optional) if your milk is pasteurized this can help for make a richer yogurt.

Preparation

– Heat the milk in a pot, just below the boiling point. turn it off.

– Meanwhile, combine the fresh cream (optional) with yogurt (cream is fat so it helps the yogurt becomes sour and gain a richer flavor.)

– When the temperature of the milk is around 40°C/104°F.

– Dilute the yogurt mix with 4-5 tbsp of warm milk then add it to the pot of milk

– Gently dissolve it into milk.

– Pour the mixture in a clean, dry container, put its “lid” but don’t close it.

➡️ Air helps yogurt to breathe and helps the fermentation

– Cover the yogurt’s container with kitchen cloths (the container should stay warm for a long period), put it in a protected space (i.e. inside an off-oven) during which, it shouldn’t be moved.

– Check the yogurt the day after. It should be ready, store it in the fridge it will last for 10 days at least.

Notes:

• each time you’ll use yogurt, the spoon should be always clean and not contaminated by other ingredients because it causes yogurt to go bad or create molds in a long periods.
• If you want to make Kashk, the more yogurt is sour the better the kashk becomes. So leave it for 2 days or so.
• Yogurt can be used as an appetizer: with dried mint, salt and pepper. A nice dip for potato chips.
• It’s also a nice savour to taste with dishes like: adas polo (rice with lentils), khoresht bademjan (eggplant’s stew) or simply dip a piece of bread.

Enjoy! ☺️

The post Homemade yogurt appeared first on Foodcraftz.