Sometimes we are left with excess rice after meals. There are several recipes in our Indian kitchen to use the leftover rice. Most common is the fried rice. Onions are fried and in goes some beans, mushrooms and spring onions. This is a delicious recipe in itself.

We also make paranthas with the leftover rice. Sometimes leftover rice is added to the dough and a bread is baked and we love its soft crumb.

Last time when we had a good amount of leftover rice, we baked crackers. I read the recipe here and was very keen to try. The crackers turned out crisp.

Unbelievably easy to make, healthy, vegan, gluten-free rice crackers are crisp and delicious and make a great snack especially for those who love the simple bland taste. Rice crackers make a great tea time snack and kids love it.

 To make crisp crackers, ensure that the rice should be well cooked, fluffy, not mushy. The dough should not be wet and sticky.

 Press with the parchment sheet to get very thin crackers.

Thick crackers will not bake well and will be chewy. Salt should be on the lower side and one pinch is just enough.

Rice Crackers (Vegan and Gluten-Free)

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked Rice
• 1 ½ tablespoon Coconut oil
• 1 pinch Salt

Instructions

1. Take rice in a blender.
2. Add coconut oil and salt.
3. Blend the ingredients to get a mixture of dough like consistency.
4. Take the mixture out on a plate. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
5. Line a baking tray with a parchment sheet. Cut another parchment sheet of the same measurement and keep aside. We will use this later.
6. Scoop out half a teaspoon of the dough and roll into a ball. Place the rice balls on the baking tray keeping a little distance between each.
7. Once all the balls are on the tray, carefully place the second parchment sheet on top, covering all the rice balls. Now flatten the rice balls with your hands or with a rolling pin
8. Carefully remove the parchment paper.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes or when the colour changes to golden.
10. Cool on the tray and store in an airtight container.

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The evening is smiling in the brightest and sparkling shades. It is beautiful and transient like the life itself. Soon, it will begin to wear the shades of night. The night will end in the dazzling hues of morning promising another bright day ahead.

From late autumn to winters, we get to see the beautiful winter line once the Sun is down. The hues and colours of the sky are mesmerizing. Sometimes there are a million stars in the sky along with bright streaks and the symphony of shades and hues is just enchanting.

This month, our breadbakers group decided to bake yeasted cakes.

We baked Baba-au-rhum.

Baba-au-Rhum is a rich, flavourful yeasted cake studded with candied citrus peels and black currants and baked in a bundt form, soaked in hot rum syrup and coated with warmed apricot preserve.

In the eighteenth century, an exiled king of Poland soaked a dried cake in an alcoholic drink and thus Baba-au-Rhum originated. 

Now, a famous French yeasted cake, Baba-au-Rhum has complex flavours and is also served with whipped cream, and topped with chopped fruits.

Baba -au-Rhum (Eggless)

Ingredients (Dough)

• 1 2/3 cup All-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon Salt 
• 5 tablespoons Butter (softened)
• 1/3 cup Blackcurrants
• 1 tablespoon Dark Rum
•  ½ cup Warm milk
• 2 tablespoons Sugar 
• 1 ½ teaspoons Yeast
• 1 tablespoon Candied orange peels (chopped fine)
• 1 tablespoon Candied Lemon peels (chopped fine)
• ¼ cup Apricot preserve
• 1 tablespoon Water 
• ½ cup Rum syrup (recipe below)

 Filling (optional)

• 1 cup Heavy Cream 
• ¼ cup Castor Sugar 
• ½ cup Strawberries (sliced)

Rum Syrup

• ½ cup Sugar 
• 1/3 cup Dark Rum
• ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Add softened butter and mix with hands until well incorporated. Keep aside.
2. In another bowl. Soak black currants in rum.
3. Heat milk in a saucepan. Add sugar. Stir to dissolve. Add yeast. Stir. Cover and keep for 10 minutes.
4. Add this yeasted milk in the bowl that has flour.  Stir with a ladle to get a very smooth and soft dough. This is a no-knead dough. Keep mixing with the ladle till you get a smooth dough.
5. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and keep in a dry warm place for 1/2 an hour
6. In the meantime, generously grease one 5 cup bundt pan with butter. Be sure to coat every crevice of the pan. Or, use a tube pan and grease it with butter.
7. Drain the currants.
8. Stir the risen dough and fold in black currants and chopped citrus peels.
9. Spoon the dough into the prepared pan.
10. Cover and keep in a warm place for 1 ½  to 2 hours or until double.
11. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes till golden or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
12. Let the cake rest in the pan for 10 minutes before taking out on the cooling rack.
13. In the meantime, prepare rum syrup.
14. Take sugar and water in a saucepan and boil till sugar dissolves. Bring it to a rolling boil and turn off the heat.
15. Take the mixture in a glass jar. Add rum and vanilla extract. Keep aside.
16. With a spoon, gently pour hot syrup over the cake. Pour half syrup and let the cake absorb before pouring the remaining syrup.
17. Mix 1/4  cup apricot preserves with 1 tablespoon water and stir over medium heat till slightly runny.
18. Brush over the cake, and let it trickle down the edges.
19. Whip the cream till light and fluffy. Stir in caster sugar and whip till peaks form.
20. To serve, slice the baba, serve with whipped cream and strawberries.

My Tip:

The dough will take longer to rise. Let it rise until double. Add more citrus peels for a greater flavour. You may add golden raisins also.

Linking to BreadBakers-

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme.

Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

This month, the Bread Bakers are making yeasted cakes, a theme chosen by Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen. 

Here are everyone's yeasted cakes:

·  Almond Stollen from Baking Sense

·  Baba-au-Rhum from Ambrosia

·  Chocolate Babka from Sneha's Recipes

·  Cranberry Lardy Cake from Food Lust People Love

·  Drozdzowe from A Day in the Life on the Farm

·  Hartford Election Cake from All That's Left are the Crumbs

·  Orange Yeast Cake from Cooking with Renu

·  Yeasted Lemon Cake from Gayathri's Cookspot

·  Yeasted Orange Cake from The Mad Scientist Kitchen

·  Yeasted Pound Cake from Karen's Kitchen Stories

·  Yeasted Transylvanian Cinnamon Sugar Cake from Sizzling Tastebuds

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Autumn is melting into winter. A shift of seasons is perceptible in everything.  Morning mists, winter flowers, chilly winds, and the beautiful winter line are all harbingers of the cold weather.

Yesterday, there was a great commotion in the Golden Trumpet tree. Birds kept swooping in and out of its flower-laden branches. There must be a cat, or a mongoose or a snake or an owl we presumed. The commotion became louder as more birds joined in.  Soon, we spotted a jungle owlet hidden in the clump of leaves.

Diwali is around the corner and preparations are in full swing. Daughter is soaking clay diyas in water. These will be kept in the Sun to dry. She will then prepare wicks with cotton. On Diwali, oil will be filled in the lamps and the lamps will be lit and arranged in a pattern. Kids love to participate in the celebrations and this also involves them and helps them to learn about their culture.

The last batch of sugar-free Diwali sweets is being prepared. Beautiful nutty aroma wafts through as walnuts are being toasted in the oven. Dates have been washed, pitted and chopped fine. We are preparing Walnut Date Burfi.

Walnuts provide healthy fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Walnuts are rich in antioxidants. Walnuts are good for the brain and support healthy aging. Walnuts are an exceptionally nutritious nut. Dates are an excellent natural sweetener and full of goodness. Roasted walnuts give this burfi a great taste. The burfi makes a guilt-free festive sweet and dessert.

Akhrot Khajoor Burfi |Walnut Date Fudge (Sugarfree and Vegan)

Ingredients

• 1 cup dates
• ¾ cup walnut kernels
• 1 tablespoon ghee or coconut oil (vegan version)

Instructions

1. Take one 7x7 inch square cake pan. Line it with parchment paper. Ensure that the parchment paper extends over the sides. Grease the parchment paper.
2. Wash the dates and soak in hot water for 5 minutes. Remove the seeds. Chop into small pieces.
3. Toast the walnut kernels in the oven. Set the temperature to 150 degrees C and set the timer to 10 minutes. Or, toast them in a thick bottom steel wok. Walnuts should turn fragrant and change colour slightly.
4. Chop toasted walnuts into small pieces.
5. Take ghee/coconut oil in a nonstick pan or a thick bottom steel wok. Add dates. Cook on low flame.
6. The dates will begin to soften. Mash them with a ladle and cook till the colour becomes dark and mixture collects in the center as one ball.
7. Add chopped walnuts and mix till evenly distributed.
8. Empty the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
9. Keep to cool. Transfer to the refrigerator and keep for 3-4 hours. It will set.
10. Cut into square slices with a sharp knife. Store in an airtight container.

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