mayurisjikoni

Cocktail or Cock tail???     We Knead to Bake's #38 bake for the month of April are Coconut Buns or Chinese Cocktail Buns or Gai Mei Bao. These buns were supposedly created in the 1950s in Hong Kong. The owners of a local bakery were left with unsold buns and instead of throwing them away they decided to ground the buns, added sugar and used it as a filling for new buns. These days left over bread has been replaced by a sweet buttery coconut filling. There are two meaning to the cocktail buns. One is that the exotic mixture of filling deserved the name cocktail much like the cocktails created in bars and pubs. The second is that Gai Mei Bao literally means cock's(chicken) tail bun. The buns are soft and slightly sweet filled with a buttery sweet coconut filling. These buns are typical Hong Kong style buns. The topping, a mixture of flour, butter and sugar is usually piped, 2 lines, on the buns before baking.     Try out this tasty, delicious buns and a must for coco...

VERY SIMPLE LIFE       Last Sunday our club, Lions Club of Mombasa Bahari went to to a remote village for the opening ceremony of a bore well. This was the 3rd bore well that the Club had constructed with the help of generous donors. As soon as we reached the village, what struck me was how simple life is in these remote villages. No electricity, no water, no complicated or complex buildings... actually nothing except for huts, lots of trees, greenery and cattle. When we have to stay without power for even an hour, we get frustrated and life comes to a standstill when our taps run dry. These villagers live without all this. Women, girls, young children have to track long distances to get water. Boys may have to look after cattle. Children as a result cannot attend school. We are hoping that by digging a bore well, the villagers will lead better lives and children will be able to attend school. The villagers entertained us with some traditional dance. Their musical instru...

picnic idea Stuffed bread with a filling of your choice and baked fresh is as good as having an appetizing sandwich. I love baking stuffed buns to go with a plain soup, or to take along when travelling. Haven't been for a picnic for ages but use to bake them when we would go with the kids  to the beach. After a whole day at the beach, kids would be hungry. Stuffed buns was a clever way to get them to have a 'sandwich' stuffed with fresh vegetables. I baked some a few days ago for tea time as we had guests over. Something different from the regular dokhras and bhajias to serve the guests. STUFFED MASALA BUNS  Makes 12 For the buns: 1½ cups wholemeal flour (atta) 1½ cups plain flour(all purpose flour) or bread flour  3 tsp dry active instant yeast 1½ tsp sugar 1 tsp salt 4 tbsps soft butter 1 to 1¼ cups warm milk 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera) extra flour for dusting extra oil for greasing For the stuffing or filling : ½ cup peas ½ cup cooked sweet corn ¼ cup diced carrots ½ cup...