Sourdough bread

Now, you can have your pet and eat it too. Sounds weird? No, we are not asking you to fry your goldfish as Tom and Jerry tried to do. We are talking about sourdough starters, the latest quarantine obsession. For the uninitiated, sourdough bread is made with natural fermentation instead of yeast. You need a sourdough starter which is nothing but a mix of flour and water that is left to ferment. The fermentation process makes the flour and water mixture bubble. The dough seems alive and its growth is noticeable sometimes in the span of a night. This has prompted many to ‘name’ their sourdough starters like they were a real live pet. We enlist the help of Masterchef India finalist Shipra Chenji to detail the journey of a sourdough starter for us.
How to make your own sourdough starter

INGREDIENTS:
Whole grain flour Water

EQUIPMENT
Glass jar
Measuring scales
Mixing spoon


INSTRUCTIONS
Making sourdough starter takes about three to five days depending on the weather. Each day you “feed” the starter with equal amounts of fresh flour and water. As the wild yeast grows stronger, the starter will become more frothy and sour-smelling. On average, this process takes about five days, but it can take longer in winters and shorter in summers depending on the conditions in your kitchen. As long as you see bubbles and signs of yeast activity, continue feeding it regularly.

PROCESS
day 1: Make the Initial Starter: Weigh 100 grams flour and 100 ml water, and combine them in a glass bottle. Stir vigorously until combined into a smooth batter. It will look like a sticky, thick dough. Scrape down the sides and loosely cover the container with a lid. Let it sit for 24 hours.
day 2,3,4,5: Feed the Starter: To feed your starter, first discard half of your mixture. (Don’t worry, it doesn’t go into the bin) Take another 100 grams of flour and 100 ml of water and add this to the jar. Keeping repeating.

After Day 5: You may see few tiny bubbles here and there. This is good! The bubbles mean that wild yeast have started making themselves at home in your starter. They will consume the sugars in the flour and release carbon dioxide (the bubbles) and alcohol. They will also increase the acidity of the mixture, which helps fend off any bad bacteria. At this point, the starter should smell fresh, mildly sweet, and yeasty. Feed your starter for the next three days. The starter should be looking bubbly. If you stir the starter, it will feel looser than before. It should also smell quite sour and pungent. You can taste a little too! If everything is looking, smelling, and tasting good then it’s ready to use!

WHAT TO DO WITH THE DISCARD?

A big query among those who start keeping a sourdough starter is what they are supposed to do with the discard. It can be used to make delicious waffles and pancakes. But you have to remember, the older the discard gets, its rising capacity decreases. A day or two–day-old discard is ideal.


INSTAGRAM HANDLES TO HELP YOU START YOUR SOURDOUGH JOURNEY

@a_madteaparty: This food blogger is a veritable encyclopedia on all things fermentation, including sourdough starters. Anita, who hosts online classes to induct people into the sourdough lifestyle, encourages them to name their starters. She believes that helps the starters to survive.

@blondieandrye: This channel will equip you with the best ideas to dress up your breads. Even if you are not a baker, visit this page to get your visual fill of pretty loaves dressed up with multi-hued veggies. You will start believing that bread can be your canvas.

@bakonomics: This page has nifty baking hacks and rustic sourdough perfection. You can pick up tips and tricks for your own sourdough journey from nearly every post on this page.


PICKING A NAME FOR YOUR STARTER

Since sourdough starters are deemed as pets it seems only logical to name them too and the wittier the better is the way to go. ‘Bready’ puns are all the rage. For instance, Clint ‘Yeastwood’, Carrie ‘Breadshaw’, ‘Bread’ Pitt. Closer home, Bubbly is a favourite or if you are out of ideas, just pick a sound from the phonetic chart and add ‘oo’. Chotu, Piklu, Montu can qualify as names for both humans and sourdough starters.  
 
I grew a sourdough starter because I absolutely love the tanginess of sourdough bakes. Even though I am a confident yeast baker, I have had quite a few sourdough disasters. But watching your technique improve as you handle sourdough more and more is beautiful. I call my starter Mahalaxmi and she has given me some great bakes – Aarabi Veeraraghavan, sourdough grower and food blogger


YOUR STARTER CAN HELP SCIENTISTS

It is quite the miracle that a mixture of just water and flour can leaven the bread. Why do some microbes settle in some starters? How is the process affected by the weather? Your starter can help scientists find the answers to these questions. The Global Sourdough Project is a project that collects information from sourdough growers.

Thiruvananthapuram’s own traditional fried snacks

Spicy With a touch of crunch ‘Vada master’ at Venkadesa Bhavan in west fort has got down to his speciality: karavada, or spicy dal fritters. At Balaji Cafe at Vazhappally Junction, karavada is a hot favourite in the mornings and evenings. “We havwe always served karavada.

 

At Potty’s Resturant at Thampanoor, the spicy snacks is even listed in its online delivery menu. Restaurant’s location close to the bustling transit point of Thampanoor, many travelers from outside the district often drop in to try out the ‘exotic’ snack. “Some have a go at karavada for the novelty factor. Sometimes, I explain to such customers what the snack is about. I jokingly tell them it’s parippu vada’s big brother,” says Suresh with a laugh.

Agar agar plucked from the sea

Did you know where the agar-agar in your favourite dessert comes from? The answer lies in Rameswaram, where we join women divers on their quest for seaweed

 collecting seaweed. Used for making agar-agar, the marikolundhuvariety is sought after, and the women of Rameswaram go to great lengths to collect a sackful, which will probably end up in a bowl of payasam hundreds of kilometres away. Agar-agar or kadal paasi, as it is known in Tamil, is ironically not part of the local cuisine. “I rarely use it; it’s too expensive,” says Devi, removing her gloves. “But when I do get a packet, I make halwa with coconut milk as the base. It’s delicious.”  A kilogram of dried seaweed fetches them ₹50. “We give it to the dealer in Chinnapalam,”

Tender coconut pudding with agar-agar (OPOS technique)

Ingredients

7 grams Agar-agar strands

1 cup Tender coconut water

1/2 cup Condensed milk

1 cup Thick milk

1/4 cup Fresh cream

1/2 cup Tender coconut flesh

Method

In a two-litre cooker, layer soaked and drained agar-agar strands, tender coconut water and close. Cook on high for two whistles for three minutes. Release pressure, and open. Add the condensed milk, milk, fresh cream, tender coconut flesh and mix. Pour into a mould and allow to set in room temperature. Serve chilled.

Recipe and photo: Tazin Faiz, co-author of e-book Non-Veg Delicacies: OPOS Cookbook

Spicy With a touch of crunch

‘Vada master’ at Venkadesa Bhavan in west fort has got down to his specialty: karavada, or spicy dal fritters.

It is Thiruvananthapuram’s own traditional fried snacks. including rasa vada

At Balaji Cafe at Vazhappally Junction, karavada is a hot favourite in the mornings and evenings. “We havwe always served karavada.

At Potty’s Resturant at Thampanoor, the spicy snacks is even listed in its online delivery menu. Restaurant’s location close to the bustling transit point of Thampanoor, many travelers from outside the district often drop in to try out the ‘exotic’ snack. “Some have a go at karavada for the novelty factor. Sometimes, I explain to such customers what the snack is about. I jokingly tell them it’s parippu vada’s big brother,” says Suresh with a laugh.

How To Make Throw Everything In Soup

This is a very basic clear soup, but one that is nourishing and always welcoming on a cold day. Use your imagination and innovation and make it whatever you want it to be!”

Vegetables: Broccoli, iceberg lettuce, radish, carrot, tomato, potato, coriander, beans

Other Ingredients: Salt, pepper, lemon and cornflour

Procedure: Clean the vegetables and segregate them. Chop the vegetables and boil them in a vessel with water for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper for taste. Add coriander and lemon. Add a bit of cornflour for some body and take it off the stove. Serve hot.

Goa kitchen proud

Farmers’ markets abound, selling produce, and products like juices, wines, vinegars, jams and candy. One of the highlights is the mangoes, Goa boasts more than 40 varieties along with jackfruit and kokum (the berries, used as a souring agent, also go into the summer drink, sol kadi). 

Goa Farmers Market in Margao (the next edition will be in 2019 September), it had sold local honey, cold pressed coconut oil, home made Goan sweets and pickles.

If you missed the Margao market, head to the Ambeachem (Mango) Fest, on May 14 at Nestor’s Farm, Valpoi. “You can enjoy Goan food with mango curry, walk among the groves and learn how to make mango grafts,” says Marius Fernandes, the organiser.

Before the rains

The weekly Friday market at Mapusa is popular among locals, with its varieties of tamarind, whole spices and chillies “I used to regularly visit the Mapusa market to  buys rare products like kokum butter (a healthy substitute for oil) here.

The biggest fair for provisions, however, is held in Margao, during the Feast of the Holy Spirit. Usually held 50 days after Easter (on June 9 this year), it is known for its lentils, sausages, condiments It is also the place for spicy balchao and rechado masala.

Another highlight is the annual Vasant Puja, held in the southern taluk of Canacona. “The meal [served] celebrates the diversity of food available at this time of the year. It comprises fruits like mango, jackfruit and pineapple, served with boiled grams. You wash it all down with a refreshing drink called panak, made with lime or mango juice, jaggery and pepper. It is quite the crowd puller,” says Om Prabhugaonkar, a local.

Working up an appetite

The summer season has its special dishes. Mangoes are used in pickles, jams and sasav — a “sweet-sour dish made from coconut, jaggery and ghotta (raw wild mangoes),” says caterer Anjana Amonkar. “There’s also a gravy dish made from ghotta called uddamethi,” she adds. Tender jackfruit is another favourite. . We also make a chutney, sushel, flavoured with charcoal. Its seeds are stored and added to leafy vegetables,” she says.

mango leather, or mango saath, where the pulp is sun-dried, layer by layer. A similar recipe is prepared using jackfruit pulp. And finally, there are the chips. Besides jackfruit, tubers like sweet potatoes (locally known as kanga) are deep-fried. “My favourite is mana, sweet potato chips fried in coconut oil. It is the best rainy day snack,” 

steaming toast of anna nagar

Shree Mahalakshmi Milk Depot 40/83, 5th Main Rd, I Block, Block U, Anna Nagar, Chennai 600040. 

open at 4 am and within 15 minutes, a crowd builds up. Hordes of early morning joggers from Anna Nagar Tower Park come to sip at tea and lemonade, as do IAS officers, MLAs, office-goers and auto drivers, from all over the city. “In summers I drink cold buttermilk, and in winters I drink hot badam milk.” declares Khaja, a 42-year-old resident of Anna Nagar. Samosas, bajjis, bondas and vadas prepared in the attached kitchens complement the beverages.

“We don’t use packaged milk,” Purushothaman assures. “We source raw, organic milk from the villages of Thiruvallur and Arakkonam, bringing it to town on the Villivakkam train at noon and midnight every day.”

Chai Waale’s piping hot chairman’s special

Chai Waale has an extensive tea menu that ranges from milk, herbal, black to iced tea. An interesting one is chairman’s special, with a strong flavour of lemon, honey, ginger and chat masala that may remind you of a tangy candy.

In addition to tea, the menu also includes samosas, sandwiches, noodles and khakhras. One of the USPs of Chai Waale is the sale of khakhras that comes in nine flavours including pizza, jeera, chocolate and dabeli to mention a few.  If the cost is slightly above ₹ 35, there’s a chance that people may not visit regularly.” 

Among the business circle, Chai Waale is seen as a direct competition to Chai Kings, another popular tea café in the city. Chai Waale has five outlets: in Sowcarpet, Anna Nagar, Mogappair, Purasawalkam and OMR. The branches are open from 6 am to 12 am. For details, call 7010266755.