Baked Garlic Potato Wedges Recipe

I have made this recipe many many times, each time with some variation or the other, and it has always come out super well. Its a pity these baked potato wedges took this long to show up here but the main reason is, this is a recipe I always use to show off how awesome I am (works each time like a charm) so its almost always made when I have someone visiting.

Changed watermark to centre of picture because 2 hours after posting this recipe, the picture got copied to two different sites with no credit back to me. 

Finally, I decided enough is enough and managed two quick photos on the side table before I served them. I should say that my skills of cutting potato into wedges have greatly improved since the first time, purely out of practice. I had plans to make a video of how to get perfect potato wedges but that will have to wait for another time.

Meanwhile, make bake these! Its garlicky potato wedges that are tastier than the fried ones, uses minimum oil, is crunchy on the outside and super soft on the inside, its pure deliciousness!

There's a reason why they are the most popular recipe on Shaheen's blog.

Baked Garlic Potato Wedges
Serves 2
Adapted from Purple Foodie and Lottie + Doof

Ingredients:
2 large russet potatoes (or whatever type of potato you have locally)
8 small garlic cloves, freshly crushed
6 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour
1 1/2 tsp sea salt (or regular salt)
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp paprika or Kashmiri red chilli powder
½ tsp garlic powder (optional)

How I Made It:

0. Warm the olive oil (either in a microwave or in a small pan over the stove) and add the crushed garlic pieces. Let the olive warm up and the yummy juices of the garlic seep into it. Dont heat the oil too much, just nicely warm it. Set this oil aside to infuse well until you need it. Pre-heat oven to 200C /  390F. 

1. Bring a saucepan with 4 cups water to a boil. Scrub the potatoes clean (don't peel) and insert into the boiling water. Simmer and let the potatoes par-boil. It usually takes me 10-12 mins. When a knife is inserted it should go in without effort but make sure the potatoes don't become cooked soft or mushy. Remove from water and let it cool on a plate.

2. Cut the cooled potatoes into wedges. I cut each lengthwise into half. Then each piece gets cut into further halves and each of that half into 3 more wedges. Sorry for making you do math when all you want is some baked garlic wedges but that makes 12 wedges in all, per potato.

3. Transfer the potato wedges into a large bowl. Pour in the infused olive oil (remove the crushed garlic pieces), and add all other ingredients into the bowl. Mix gently until well combines. Its important to make sure that the corn flour coats all the pieces well. I usually do this step by hand, rubbing all the ingredients gently into the potato pieces. Crack some pepper on top again if you'd like once you are done mixing.

4. Lay the pieces on a baking tray (you can either use a baking sheet like Silpat, parchment paper, or aluminum foil to line the baking tray) without overlapping. If your baking tray is small, bake in two batches but make sure that you line the potato wedges in a single layer.

5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-40 mins until the wedges are golden brown and crisp on the outside. It may be a good idea to turn the baking tray around once during baking so that all the pieces get uniform heat, more or less. My oven has uneven heat in some corners and I am positive yours does too.

6. Once baked, serve hot with ketchup, mayonnaise, chilly sauce or Sriracha.

Note:

- I have tried many variations in this recipe like adding minced garlic directly into the potato wedges mixture, using regular oil instead of olive oil, cutting potatoes into wedges first and then par-boiling, etc. The quantities and ingredients above gave me the best result so I stick to that now. I have a small bottle of powdered garlic that I have bought specifically to make these baked garlic potato wedges. It really adds to the flavour. 

Portuguese Egg Custard Tarts Recipe

My ex-manager, Joao, is Portuguese and from the day he came to know that I love baking, he's been asking me to bake some Portuguese egg tarts. It sounded daunting but to be fair, I didn't even do a search for Portuguese egg tarts before deciding that in my mind. As he continued telling me how delicious they are and couldn't be more different from the Chinese Egg Tarts, I said I would try baking the Portuguese version if he could bring some for me from Portugal. He agreed.

And then he went and made it happen. A few months after this conversation, he actually brought some egg tarts from back home and I tried them. They were custardy, sweet, and true to his word, delicious.

I had no more excuses to not bake some Portuguese egg tarts and the best opportunity came up when a bunch of were going to visit Joao and Ruth's baby, Luke.

Imagine baking Portuguese egg tarts for the first time for a Portuguese. Go ahead, imagine that. Jitterville!

I did it and I got a huge thumbs up from Joao. He even said a lot of people in Singapore would be willing to pay for these. Hmmm...

Portuguese Egg Custard Tarts
Adapted from Not Quite Nigella
Makes 12

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar (I would use slightly lesser than this next time)
2 tbsp cornflour
400ml full cream milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 block of puff pastry sheet

How I Made Them: 

1. Grease a muffin tray and pre heat oven to 200C.

2. Place the egg yolks, sugar, and cornflour in a pan and whisk together until well combined. Slowly add in the milk and mix well with no lumps.

3. Place the pan over a medium heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Let it simmer for 2-3 mins, then remove from heat and add the vanilla extract.

4. Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover, and let it cool.

5. Thaw the puff pastry sheet and roll to about 1/2" thickness on a floured surface. Roll it from the width-side tightly and cut into small discs. Roll each disc (flouring the surface sufficiently) to the rough size of the muffin tray.

6. Lay each rolled out disc into the muffin tray, pour the cooled custard to about 3/4 level and bake for about 25 mins.

The custard will bubble up during baking, don't worry! The top of the egg tart should have brownish black patches for that authentic Portuguese egg tart look!

Sprinkle with cinnamon powder and serve warm. 

Falafel with Tahini Lemon Sauce Recipe

Remember the free spirit bloggers who baked with all sorts of egg substitutes last month? Well this month, I got to pick the theme and I went with savory party appetizers that can be cooked up in bulk.



Of course I picked the theme fully intending to deep-fry, why do you ask? My initial idea was to go with cocktail samosas but had to ditch it for falafel because the shaping and filling of cocktail samosas is not exactly quick and this had to be a recipe that can easily be multiplied, leaving you time to make an effort to look good for your party.



The Egyptian version of falafel is flatter,bigger, and greener because of the use of Lima beans. I know because I had that in Egypt. Sorry for showing off.



My version however, is the kind you would get in your local Middle Eastern restaurant. Its flavourful, easy to make, and absolutely delicious, not to mention photogenic.

Falafel Recipe
Makes 16 small-ish falafels (easily doubles or triples)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry chickpeas, soaked overnight or atleast 10 hours (will be about 1 cup when soaked through)
1 tsp cumin seeds / jeera
1/2 tsp coriander powder / dhania
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp minced or crushed garlic (about 4-5 cloves)
One bunch fresh coriander leaves / cilantro, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped fine
1-2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2-3 tbsp plain flour (or crumbs from 2 slices of stale bread)
Salt to taste

Oil to deep fry

How I Made It:

1. Drain the soaked chickpeas on kitchen towels or leave them in a colander with a suspended base. Its important to drain out as much moisture as possible.

2. Transfer the chickpeas with rest of the ingredients to a food processor or mixer jar and grind until smooth and dry. You should be able to shape them easily into small discs. If the mixture is too moist or sticky at this stage, which it shouldn't be, add more flour but don't be liberal.

3. Shape into small discs and deep fry on medium heat until dark brown on both sides. Make sure you regulate the flame, otherwise the outside will get burned or cooked too soon and the inside will be raw.

4. Drain on kitchen towels and serve with tahini lemon sauce (recipe below).

Tahini Lemon Sauce Recipe

I didn't use any particular recipe or measurement for this. I thought of making hummus to go with with the falafel but didn't remember to soak enough chickpeas. I had fresh tahini that my ex-boss, brought from his home town Lebanon so it would've been a sin not to use it in some way. Thank you Charif!

Here's what I did to make the sauce:

Mix 3 tbsp of tahini, 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, a pinch of paprika (or maybe pepper?), salt to taste and enough water to make a smooth paste. You can add some roasted garlic pieces to this but I didn't have the patience time patience.

Dip the falafels in and enjoy.

Special thanks to Joann for the super cute sauce bowls she gave me when I 

went brunching to her place!

Notes:

- canned and drained chickpeas should work as well but I read in many places that freshly soaked ones taste better. I have used canned chickpeas for hummus and liked it just fine so it should definitely work for falafels too

- if you plan to make this for a party, grind the ingredients and leave it in the fridge. You can take it out in advance the next day, shape up quickly (doesn't take more than 4 seconds per falafel, I timed myself) and fry up in batches.

- falafels taste just fine when gone cold too and the sauce can hold its own until a party winds down too. Just make sure you add water if the sauce thickens up on you.

Here's what the other Free Spirit Bloggers cooked up for this month's theme!

DK
Lataji
Siri
Mads
Deepti
Anu

Tomato Basil Pizza with Gouda Cheese - From Scratch!

I am a few days late to post this month's Sweet Punch entry but I had to do it, even if it late. Its pizza from scratch, how can I not?!

The first and only time I made pizza from scratch was when I went for cooking classes at Palate Sensations. It was amazing (especially because I didn't partially burn it then) and since then I stopped buying pizza base. What that also meant is, I didn't make pizza at home for ages.

But its super easy. Remember those garlic rolls that all of you loved and tried at home? Trust me when I say this is not even half as hard. With me? Ok here goes.

Pizza Base From Scratch
Recipe source: Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 tsp Active Dry or Instant Yeast
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cups extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water.
2. In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. You can definitely do the mixing by hand, just knead gently, no need to waste too much energy.
   
3. Next, pour in yeast-water mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you need it.

Yield: 2 crusts
Prep Time: 00:10 mins
Cook time: 00:20 mins

According to PW, it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better. I kept it in the fridge for exactly 25 hours.

Here's how it looks after 24 hours or so. Slightly risen and quite airy.

Transfer half the dough to a floured surface. Lift and rotate the dough into a circle or rectangle, letting gravity do its job extending the dough on all sides. My dough didn't seem too elastic though and I was a bit worried. But it turned out perfect in the end.

Once you have a rough shape, transfer to a greased baking sheet (or use your Silpat - I got mine this time from the US - yay!!) and shape further using your fingertips to the right thickness you desire. I kept it neither too thick nor too thin. 

Oh btw, I decided to make a face at convention and used Gouda cheese in my pizza. You should do it too. Its not as elastic or chewy but has a lovely flavour and gives more depth to the pizza, making it taste gourmet. Or something like that. Try it.

Once you have your base ready, rub some olive oil on the base and you can go crazy with your options. I decided to keep it relatively simple. Some diced tomatoes went on first, followed by thin slices of portobello mushroom. 

This exercise actually make me realise how little you need to make a pizza. I used like half a mushroom to cover up the pizza!

The tomatoes and mushroom were followed by the freshly grated Gouda cheese and lovely, gorgeous, fresh basil leaves from my own herb 'garden'. I was so proud!

Bake in a 500F / 260C oven (or as high as your oven goes) for about 10-15 mins (until the crust turns brown and the cheese bubbles up nicely). I slightly burnt one side of my pizza because I had a guest and was talking to him. That also explains the very hastily taken last pic!

Loved this challenge, love pizza from scratch - actually love anything with cheese.

The end. 

South Indian Dahi Vada / Thayir Vadai / Curd Vada Recipe

I was terribly jet-lagged all of last week. I couldn't keep my eyes open beyond 8pm and was up and about by 4:30 which is super duper rare for me because I am just not a morning person. I have to say I secretly enjoyed my energy at 5 in the morning the past few days. 

On Saturday morning, I had this weird craving for medhu vada / uzhunnu vada. I have made this in the past so you can find the medhu vada recipe here. 

A few differences this time while making medhu vada: 

- I made the batter in my Ultra wet grinder and this makes all the difference in your  medhu vada. I was amazed how crisp the vadas were outside and soft inside. I was also able to get the doughnut shape (although not perfect), you just need to resist the temptation to add too much water to the urad dal while its grinding. This is harder to control in a mixie I guess. 

- I added whole peppercorn like the ones you get in restaurants. TH doesn't like biting into them but I didn't have an option because we were out of green chillies. I also added ginger more liberally than last time. 

Perfect, pillowy, and soft. 

But today's recipe is all about dunking these deep fried awesomes into a bowl of flavoured curd, letting them soak for a while and then sinking your teeth in the resulting goodness. We did this with the few remaining vadas and actually enjoyed it more than the vadas by themselves. 

South Indian Thayir Vadai Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients:

6 medhu vada

1 cup thick curd

1/4 cup water

Chopped coriander leaves

1/2 tsp paprika or Kashmiri red chilli powder

1/2 tsp roasted jeera powder

Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Dunk the vadas into a bowl of warm water, soak for 10 seconds, take them out and squeeze out the excess water. This will ensure that the vadas are softer once soaked in the curd. 

2. Beat the curd with some water, the jeera powder, and salt. Add the vadas in and leave in the fridge for atleast 4 hours or overnight. 

3. Before serving, garnish with some chopped coriander leaves and chilli powder / paprika. Kara boondi also makes an excellent garnish but sadly, I didn't have any. 

Notes:

1. The Dahi Vada made in Northern parts of India is slightly different from this. The spices used to flavour the dahi are different and they usually serve it with dates chutney and mint chutney, the same kinds used for chaat. That tastes great, but is different from this.

2. In some versions, ground coconut is added to the curd. Although I was tempted to try this, I didn't have any coconut in the fridge (remember, I was away for 3 weeks!). Maybe next time. 

Green Mint Chutney & Cheese Sandwiches

Picnic food is fun to make, especially if you are not really going on a picnic but just pretending to on a rainy, weary weeknight.

About once a month, TH and I have sandwiches for dinner. Its just one of those inexplicable things we do.

Since I got my mint plant, there's no dearth of fresh mint and I love using fresh herbs in my cooking. Well, don't we all?

This is a quick sandwich recipe that works great for a picnic, tiffin box or even brunch or tea party. It tastes great and is filling too!

Mint Chutney and Cheese Sandwiches
Makes 4 - Serves 2

Ingredients:
8 slices of bread of your choice
4 slices of cheese

For the Mint Chutney:
A bunch of fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
1 green chilly
1/2 tsp minced garlic (optional)
A pinch of dry ginger powder or 1/2" piece of fresh ginger
Salt to taste

Grind all ingredients together with very little water to a smooth paste.

To assemble and toast the sandwiches: Spread a generous amount of the mint chutney on one side of the bread slice. Top with a slice of cheese and toast in a sandwich maker until done. You can also toast in a pan on the stovetop with a pat of butter until both sides are golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Serve hot with ketchup.

Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls Recipe - Step by Step

I had been eyeing this recipe of Suhaina's for a long time. When she brought them for our Singapore food bloggers' meet, I was totally sold. Finally managed to make them this weekend. I would highly recommend this to all those who are dying to bake but fear the yeast monster. Trust me when I say this is really fool-proof and you can feel so proud of yourself when done!

I halved the recipe and got 8 mini rolls, enough to serve 2 very generously. We had one here and one there, through the weekend.

Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls
Recipe source: Suhaina
Makes 8 mini rolls

Ingredients:
Plain Flour - 1.5 cups
Warm Water- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp
Yeast - 1/2 tbsp
Salt - 1tsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Olive Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp

For Garlic Spread:
Salted butter, at room temperature - 6 tbsp
Minced garlic - 2 tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves - 2 tbsp

How I Made It:

1. Mix flour, yeast, warm water, salt and sugar together until you get a smooth, slightly stick dough.



2. Add oil to your fingertips and knead until the dough springs back when you press with your fingers - about 4-5 mins.



3. Wrap in cling film and allow to double by keeping in a warm place for about 45 mins. Meanwhile, make the garlic spread by simpy mixing all the ingredients.



4. Grease a baking pan or loaf tin with olive oil. I used my Pyrex loaf pan which was the perfect size for 8 mini garlic rolls.

5. Knock down the air in the dough and divide the dough into two equal portions.



6. Transfer one portion of the dough to a floured surface and roll gently into a rough rectangle of 1/2" thickness. Apply more flour sparingly if sticky.

7. Spread about 2 tbsp of garlic spread on one side.



8. Roll from one end gently and firmly.



9. Cut into half and then each half again into two halves to get 4 equal portions.



10. Now place the rolls with the cut side up in the greased pan.
Repeat the same procedure for the remaining dough.

11. Spread a little milk on the rolls and add the remaining garlic spread on top. I am sure sesame seeds as Suhaina has added will make the flavour even better but I didn't have any.



12. Allow to rise for another 20 minutes. In the mean time preheat the oven to 180C / 375F.

13. Bake for about 30 mins until the top is golden brown. My Pyrex glass pan usually takes longer to bake in, so mine took about 35 mins to bake just right.



These are really really soft and have an amazing flavour. Serve fresh and hot!



Suhaina's Notes:

1. The amount of water depends on the type of flour you are using. Use your judgment to get a slightly sticky dough that behaves when you apply oil.

2. The amount of yeast can be reduced if you don't like the flavour of yeast too much in your breads. You can add just 1 tsp and let it double over a couple of hours, slowly.

Masala Vada / Masala Vade Recipe

I am so tempted to claim this is the authentic Andhra masala vada recipe. I am this close to actually doing it, but the truth of the matter is, I am not sure if it is. I checked a few sites that have Andhra recipes and all of them give many different variations to the masala vada recipe and now, I just don't know.


But, that doesn't take away from the deliciousness of this crunchy snack that I served with rice, melted ghee, Gongura Pachadi and Gongura Adugula Pappu. We definitely had a good Andhra meal that day for lunch!

Andhra Masala Vada Recipe
Makes 12-15 small vadas

Ingredients:
1 cup channa dal / kadala paruppu / Bengal gram
A few shallots or 1 small onion, chopped fine
1/2 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
3 green chillies, cut into thin circles
1" piece of ginger, grated
2 pods of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
A few curry leaves (I added lots!)
Salt to taste
Oil

How I Made It:

Soak channa dal for atleast 2 hours. Drain and grind to a coarse mixture with all other ingredients. I leave some whole dal out while grinding and then add them on to the mixture before shaping, so that there's a bite in the vada. Make sure you add as little water as possible, in fact, a few drops should be sufficient, if at all you need it.

Shape into small discs and deep fry. I made these in the paniyaram pan that I use for pakoda and other fried goodies.



I really should make simple thaalis like this more often!

Golden Onion Mushroom Quiche Recipe

This month's 'A Sweet Punch', although not sweet, came out fantastic! This is another one of those why-on-earth-did-I-ever-think-of-making-these kinda recipes.

I would highly recommend this golden onion mushroom quiche recipe to beginner bakers. You know why? Its going to make you feel awesome and so much more confident because its practically no-fail.

Golden Onion Mushroom Quiche Recipe
Makes 8 generous wedges and 4 mini quiches

Ingredients

For the pastry:
1 cup + 2tbsp flour (200gm)
100gm unsalted butter, frozen
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 beaten egg
A generous pinch of salt

For the filling:
2 cups chopped mushrooms (I used button mushrooms)
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 beaten eggs
Freshly ground pepper
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil


How I Made It:

For the pastry:



Mix flour, salt and baking powder together. Ideally, you should sieve this. Ideally. Grate the frozen butter and mix it well with fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Sidenote: I would recommend grating the butter only if you have someone to outsource the washing of the said grater. If not, just cut the butter into cubes and follow this process.



Add the egg and bring the dough together. You can add a few drops of ice cold water if needed at this stage, but I didn't have to. Transfer the dough to a floured surface.



Roll it out about 1/2" thick. Its fine even if its not an even circle or whatever. Just make sure the thickness is more or less even all around.



Next step is to gently transfer this to a greased pie dish. Here's what I used. I bought this pie dish ages ago anticipating this exact moment! Well, not really, but atleast it was put to good use after 7 months of buying it.



Gently lift the rolled out dough and lay it over the dish. Press it down lightly at the bottom and along the sides. If there's a gap somewhere, just take the overhanging dough fromt he sides and patch it up. Go on, nobody needs to know. I did it along the top and left hand side, can you tell? Of course you can, but, it doesn't matter. That's the beauty of a quiche.

Refrigerate this crust while you put together the filling.

Pre-heat the oven to 350F / 180C.

To prepare the filling:


Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions until golden brown. Add the mushrooms and saute until soft and all the water has evaporated from the pan. Top off with ground pepper and salt and mix well. Cool completely.



Break 2 eggs into a bowl and beat lightly. I know there are three in there but I ended up with a lot of extra filling and I really don't want you to waste good ingredients. So stay with me here, ok? Only 2 eggs needed.



Add 1/2 a cup milk to the eggs.



And top off with about 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Mix well.

To assemble and bake:



Bring out the prepared crust from the fridge.



Lay the onion mushroom mixture evenly on it.



And top off with the milk-egg-cheese mixture until it reaches almost up to the top of the crust.



Bake until the top turns golden brown and patchy in parts and the crust turns golden - about 25 to 30 mins.



Cut into wedges and serve warm.



I had some leftover dough and filling so I made 4 of these adorable mini quiches with it in these tart moulds that came with my old oven. These only need to be baked for about 20 mins and are fantastic single-serving portions for parties or potlucks.

This was a great "Sweet Punch" for September. Will link to the roundup as soon as its done. Thanks ladies!