Sausage Rolls

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water

3 tsp. active dry yeast

1 cup honey

5 cups Maida/All-purpose flour

3 tbsp. butter, melted

1 tbsp. salt

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, plus 2 or 3 cups if necessary

Sausages, for as many rolls as you are making

1 to 2 tbsp. melted butter for brushing

Method:

• Mix warm water, yeast, and half the honey. Add the all-purpose flour, and mix well. Set aside for 30 minutes, or till it has risen a little.
• To the above, add 3 tbsp. melted butter, remaining honey, and salt. Add the whole wheat flour; knead until it’s just pulling away, but still slightly sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 or 3 cups of whole wheat flour. Grease the entire surface of the dough with a little butter or oil. Cover with a soft cloth and keep it in a warm place. Leave it aside till it has risen and doubled in size, this may take about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Once it has risen well, pat it down, and divide into small balls in the size of the rolls that you prefer - small, medium or large. I made small ones.  Flatten out each ball to about an inch thickness, place half of a regular sized sausage, or 1 cocktail sausage, in the middle and roll it up, making sure the ends are stuck firmly and does not come loose.
• Place in greased baking pans, and leave it until dough has risen to at least about half an inch.
• Bake at 350°F /175°C for 20 to 30 minutes; do not over bake. Lightly brush the tops of rolls with melted butter when done to prevent the crust from getting hard. Serve warm.

English breakfast

For some reason, the simplest of things are often the best. An English breakfast would be the best of examples for this... it's so simple, yet so awesome.. and the best part is, there's no predefined way that it needs to be in, there's a wide variety of combinations to choose from. I've made a version that I used to have regularly at a restaurant on MG Road, Bangalore, called Koshy's, during my college days, when even for the simplest of things we had to resort to restaurants as we weren't allowed to use the hostel kitchen.

I happened to visit Koshy's a while ago, but somehow, it didn't feel like old times, now it's just another restaurant, maybe it's the company which made all the difference.. that's when I realized that I was missing college and old friends, who are all in different parts of the world now.

Hmmm...anyhow, I decided to have it home-made this time, in fond memory of college days... it tastes the same, but definitely doesn't feel the same.

Toast, 2 slices
Upside down egg, 1
Fried sausages, 2 (this one's my addition, Koshy's didn't serve sausages)
Baked beans (canned), sautéed in very little oil, with some chopped onion and green chillies

Serve with a cup of hot tea.

Chicken Sausage Rice

This recipe is one of my cooking experiments, inspired by the ‘Chinese chicken rice’ which I used to have during my stay in Brunei. It was a very popular choice for lunch for majority of Bruneians as well as Malaysians. I was in a mood for Chicken rice today, but was too lazy to go buy chicken, and since sausage was readily available in the freezer, decided to experiment with it. I must say, it came quite close to the real chicken rice, or maybe we were too hungry, either way we enjoyed it. Very soon I’ll be trying out the original chicken rice. For now here’s the Chicken Sausage rice...

For the sausage:

Chicken sausage – 4, whole

Ginger – 1 tbsp, chopped
Garlic – 1 tbsp, chopped

Shallots – 1 tbsp, sliced
Pepper powder – ½ tsp
Garam masala powder – ¼ tsp

Honey - 1 tsp
Red wine – 2 tbsp
Oyster sauce - 1 tsp

Soy sauce – 1 ½ tbsp

Fish sauce – ½ tsp

Red chilly oil – ½ tsp

Chilly vinegar – 1 tsp
Sugar – ½ tsp

• Marinate the sausages with all the ingredients for 10 – 15 minutes.
  
  
• Pan the marinated sausages fry in a little oil till its nicely browned, turn over and fry the other side too.

• Add ½ cup water, cover and cook on very low flame for 10 minutes till the sauce starts to thicken.
  
  
• Remove cover, do a taste-test for the sauce, add salt and sugar to taste if necessary.
  
  
• Set this aside, and cut the sausages into desired pieces, pour half the sauce over it.
  
  
• Keep the remaining half of the sauce on the pan for later use.

For the rice:

Cooked white rice – 2 cups
Ginger – 1 tbsp chopped
Garlic – 1 tbsp

Shallots – 1 tbsp
Chicken cube – 1, powdered (I used Maggi chicken cube)
Sesame oil – 1 tbsp

Kaffir lime leaves – 3 (I used dried leaves as I couldn’t get any fresh ones)

Red wine – 1 tbsp

Soy sauce – 1 tsp

Vinegar – ½ tsp

Water – ¼ cup

Remaining sauce from the sausages
Salt to taste

·        Sauté the ingredients (except rice and water) in some oil.

·        Add the rice, stir fry for 5 minutes.

·        Add water and mix well, and cover the pan for 2 minutes on low heat.

Serve hot with the sausages, some Soy-chilly-vinegar sauce, and some fresh salad.