Brun: Kadak Pav

These golden brown beauties bring back lot of memories of my childhood. 

When we were in school, my sister and I used to carpool to school with group of other friends. 8:30 a.m. we would wait at a particular spot. That spot coincidentally was outside a little pav shop/ a small shop that would mainly sell varieties of bread. Occasionally, mummy would give us cash to buy maska pav for our recess snack. It was great to see soft pav being stil open and lathered with amul butter. It was then packed in a newspaper for my sister and myself to take to school. Those were amazing school days! Next to soft bun pavs wes a stack of these beautiful dark colored pav breads. I wasn't sure of the taste, but they just were very appealing. So one day. instead of buying bun maska for recess snack, I bought these golden brown pav. And only during recess, I realized that these were kadak pav... yes for a school going child, these were kadak. Kadak means hard...they were hard from outside and soft from inside. Nice, chewy, and delicious to taste :)

Check out my post on Bun Maska.

I had totally forgotten about them until our Irani/Parsi friends reminded me of it. I have made my pav for bhaji for my friends and tasting my regular soft pav, my friends demanded for brun... kadak pav came back to my life after so many years, and that is when I realized i have had brun in my childhood. I had made crisp bread before and I applied my knowledge of baking here to make brun bread. 

So while our Irani/Parsi friends were here last weekend, We had freshly baked Brun pav, maskao, and choi (chai) with our never ending GupShup :) Love you guys for so much fun we have together!

So what is BRUN? Brun means browing... brun pav are dark brown, hard, and crisp bread that are the delicacy of Irani bakeries in Mumbai and Pune. There are very few Irani Bakeries, but we still visit them for the pav, mawa cake, khari biscuit, and other freshly baked products. If you are not able to visit an Irani cafe soon, try making some brun at home... they are super easy to make and bake. They could be round or big and oval in shape. Our friends said these small round ones are mostly from Mumbai called Goti Brun. :) Below are some of the photos of Irani cafe, Yazdani and Merwan in Mumbai where I had visited.

Ingredients (makes 15 brun pav)

1+1/4 cup warm wtaer

1+1/2 tbsp. sugar

3 cups all purpose flour

1 packet yeast (active dry or rapid rise)

1+1/4 tsp. salt

3 tbsp. butter

• In a large bowl add yeast and sugar. Add warm water (heat water in microwave for 30 seconds) to yeast and mix well. Let the mixture rest for 5 mins. 
• Add flour, salt, and softened butter to yeast mixture.
• Using a wooden spoon or a spatula mix and bring all ingredients together.
• Use your palm and fist to knead the dough for 4-5 minutes to make a soft dough.
• Cover and keep it aside in a warm place for 1 hour. The dough will double in size.
• Take a baking pan (11inches X 18 Inches). grease it well and also sprinkle dry flour. Thin layer of dry flour with stick well on greased pan.
• Knead the dough again for 4-5 mins. Divide the dough into 15 equal pieces and arrange in a pan. Cover the pan again and keep in a warn place for 1 to 1+1/2 hour for the dough to rise again.
• Preheat convection oven to 400 F. Place a big pan on the bottom of the rack. the pan is the one that will contain water later and provide steam for the brun to be hard and crisp after baking. 
• When preheated, place pav tray in the middle rack. Add 4 cups of hot water into the bottom large pan.
• Close the oven immediately and let the brun pav bake for 30 minutes or till they turn into beautiful brown color.
• Remove pav and place the tray on a a wire mesh. 
• Remove pav on wire mesh to avoid getting moist with the steam.
• Serve with butter and enjoy with chai!

 Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

In a large bowl add yeast and sugar. Add warm water (heat water in microwave for 30 seconds) to yeast and mix well. Let the mixture rest for 5 mins. 

Add flour, salt, and softened butter to yeast mixture.

This spatula is a gift from my sister... she always brings me cute and thoughtful things :)

Using a wooden spoon or a spatula mix and bring all ingredients together.

Use your palm and fist to knead the dough for 4-5 minutes to make a soft dough.

Knead the dough again for 4-5 mins. Divide the dough into 15 equal pieces and arrange in a pan. 

Cover the pan again and keep in a warn place for 1 to 1+1/2 hour for the dough to rise again.

Preheat convection oven to 400 F. Place a big pan on the bottom of the rack. the pan is the one that will contain water later and provide steam for the brun to be hard and crisp after baking. 

When preheated, place pav tray in the middle rack. Add 4 cups of hot water into the bottom large pan.

Close the oven immediately and let the brun pav bake for 30 minutes or till they turn into beautiful brown color.

Remove pav and place the tray on a a wire mesh.

Remove pav on wire mesh to avoid getting moist with the steam.

Serve with chai and butter.

Enjoy with Chai!!

Cheesy Sweet Peppers

Stuffed peppers have always been my favorite. Mummy used to stuff peppers with boiled potatoes and spices, and then grill or pan fry them. It was such a delicious appetizer or a side dish with simple dal and rice. While in the US these colorful peppers are so appealing and delicious. Mummy would always buy a bag from Sprouts market an create a stuffing of potatoes and then pan fry them. You might have seen some pictures on my Facebook page.

Check out all the sweet pepper recipes:

So while my mom enjoys it stuffed with boiled potatoes and spices, Snehanshu likes it with paneer or cheese. Almost 2 years back, if you remember, I had created finger food for a campaign party for our friend who was running for Santa Clara elections. It was cream cheese over crackers: Cream cheese whipped with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and finely chopped onion greens. It was topped with a slice of olive and few chopped onion green. Everyone loved it!!

So while it was made in bulk, I had some of this cream cheese mixture remaining. So yes, I did use it to stuff the peppers. This time it was cream cheese with Indian Amul cheese.

Here are the pictures of cream cheese over crackers.

Ingredients to make Cheesy Peppers.

10-12 sweet peppers
1/2 cup grated amul cheese
1/4 cup grated amul cheese for garnish
1/2 cup softened cream cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup chopped onion greens.

• Mix amul cheese with cream cheese. Add salt., pepper, chopped green onions, and garlic power. Mix well.
• Wash peppers with water. wipe and slit them. Remove veins or seeds from inside if any.
• Stuff creamcheese stuffing inside each of the peppers.
• Garnish with some grated amul cheese.
• Bake in a 400 F preheated oven till it grated cheese gets crisp.
• Serve immediately.

Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

Mix amul cheese with cream cheese. Add salt., pepper, chopped green onions, and garlic power. Mix well.

Wash peppers with water. wipe and slit them. Remove veins or seeds from inside if any.

Stuff creamcheese stuffing inside each of the peppers.

Garnish with some grated amul cheese.

Bake in a 400 F preheated oven till it grated cheese gets crisp.

Enjoy these fun appetizers!!