SALLY LUNN, FISH AND CHIPS!

Sally Lunn served with Mango and Pineapple jam is my contribution to "International Women's day" which is celebrated on March 8th, 2008.
Zorra from "kochtopf" has organized an event for us to cook or bake something "Yellow", to celebrate and support the economic, political and social achievements of women. She says color Yellow represents respect and an expression of solidarity with the women in their support for oppressed women worldwide. Isn't that beautiful? I am honored to join hands in my own little way with millions of women around the World in celebrating this great day. Thank you for hosting Zorra!:)

History of Sally Lunn:
Sally Lunn is a very popular egg bread which originated in Bath, England, now has it's own Museum called "Sally Lunn's Museum" in Bath. It's a slightly sweet and very flavorful bread which almost looks like a cake. It makes a great breakfast bread sliced,toasted and served with any jam.
One of many stories about Sally Lunn bread is "that Sally Lunn, real name of Solange Luyon, was a French pastry cook in Bath, England where she made and sold these buns in the streets for over thirty years" Read here for the full history.

Slice of Sally Lunn with Mango and Pineapple jam!
Yellowish color of Sally Lunn comes from the addition of Eggs and lemon extract. Adding Lemon is not a traditional ingredient in Sally Lunn but my own touch, which gives it a great flavor and aroma. Recipe is from "Beard on Bread" by James Beard.


Sally Lunn, fresh out of the oven:


To bake Sally Lunn:

You need: 1 pack of active dry yeast, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup warm water (100 to 115 degrees F), 1/2 cup lukewarm milk, 1 stick or 1/2 cup butter, melted in the milk, 2 tsp lemon juice or 1/2 tsp Lemon extract, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 eggs, 3 1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour.
To bake it:
1. Combine the yeast, sugar and warm water in a mixing bowl, and allow it to foam.
2. To the mixing bowl with yeast, add the milk, butter, and salt, and stir well to combine. Add the eggs and incorporate them well with a wooden spoon or in KitchenAid with flat beater, add lemon juice or extract.
3. Then add the flour in small amounts and mix well.
4. Make a stiff but workable batter, using up to four cups of flour, not more as and if necessary.
5. Cover the bowl and let the batter rise until doubled in amount or for about 1 hour in a warm place. I turn on the oven to warm/170F for 2 mins, turn it off and put the bowl covered in the oven to make it rise in cold weather.
6. Punch down and place into a well buttered 9 or 10 inch tube pan or Bundt cake pan and again let the batter rise to the very top of the pan for about 40mins in a warm place.
7. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven 45 to 50 minutes or until the bread is golden on top and sounds hollow when tapped with your knuckles. Turn out on rack to cool or serve toasted warm, with sweet butter or jam of your choice. Store in a gallon size zip-lock bag.

Hope you try this yummy bread which looks cake but NOT!:D

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Beer battered Fish and Russet potato Chips is my "Yellow food" contribution for Barbara from "winos and foodies" blog's event "A taste of yellow" . I am glad to be able to participate in her LIVESTRONG Day 2008 and to support the cancer survivors, raise awareness about cancer. LIVE STRONG Day 2008 will occur on May 13th this year. My last year's entry to this event was Saffron Vanilla Pudding. Thank you for hosting this event this year too Barbara! :)

Keeping with British food theme, here is that popular Fish and Chips! I cannot recreate these as delicious as the real one you get in UK, but one can try!!:D
I fried these Cod fillets with Beer batter, pan fried the chips with Russet potatoes, served with crispy Southern Hush Puppies instead of the mashed Green peas and sprinkled with "London Pub" old English Malt vinegar as they do in England!! We loved this Fish and chips. You can also serve Coleslaw on the side too, as they do in southern US.
The carbon Dioxide in the dark colored beer makes the batter light and also gives an yellowish orange color to the fish. In UK, fish and chips are always deep fried in lard which gives them a distinctive taste. I have never used lard at home at all, Canola oil is good for me!:)

Fish and Chips with southern Hush Puppies! (No, not that footwear!;D)
We don't usually eat Fish often at home. But we always loved and bought Fish and chips atleast once a week while we were living in UK. We missed the Fish and chips the most after we moved here to US, nothing compares to UK Fish and chips. So I bought few Cod fillets and cooked some for us! Here goes my own Fish and chips.

Fish fry:
You need 3-4 Cod fish fillets, about 1/2"thick, wash and pat dry and keep them ready. Frozen Cod is easy to use too since it's already cleaned, filleted and just need to thaw. You can cut them into half, if fillets are too long to fit the deep fryer.
For the batter:
Mix 2 cups self-rising flour, 1 cup dark colored Beer like Ale, to make a batter, enough to coat the Fish fillets somewhat thickly. Add some water if the batter is too thick. Leave the batter to rest at room temperature for 15 mins. (pinch of Pepper pd and 1/2 tsp Garlic pd are optional additions to the batter, not traditional)
(Or Mix 2 cups plain flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder and 1 cup water or Beer, optional spices, if you don't want to use the self-rising flour.)
To fry:
1. Heat oil to deep fry up to 375F either a electric fryer or wide mouthed pan with 1" or 2" oil.
2. Coat Cod fillets in batter, shake a little and fry in oil both sides until crisp and golden.
3. Drain on paper towel and serve immediately with chips, Malt Vinegar and Hush Puppies or to be authentic, serve with cooked and mashed Green Peas on the side.
For Potato chips:
US style Potato fries are called Potato chips in UK and always served with Fish, sprinkled with Malt vinegar, along with mashed Green peas. Russet potatoes are the best to use to make chips as they are floury potatoes, easy to cook and they get crispier when sauteed than other potatoes like red waxy potatoes which are best to deep fry.
1. Take 2-3 large Russet potatoes, wash and slice into finger like slices about 1/2"thick and 5-6" long. No need to peel the skin unless you want to.
2. In a wide non-stick pan, add 2 tbsp oil, spread the potato fingers or chips and let it cook until golden both sides on medium heat, stirring often to get the even color or you can deep fry them in batches too.
3. Sprinkle salt, pepper and Malt vinegar on top, serve with crispy fried Fish and Hush puppies.
Southern Hush Puppies:
I made some Southern style Hush puppies which is my kids' preference instead of mashed Green Peas to serve with Fish and chips.These are little nuggets like our Indian pakoras made of flour, Cornmeal and spices.
Hush puppies have few stories behind it's strange name and why they are called so in the south. I have already posted this at Aroma, hope you read it. Recipe for the Hush puppies is here.

Enjoy!:)

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Book I read:

"Burnt Bread and Chutney": Growing Up Between Cultures-A Memoir of an Indian Jewish Girl by Carmit Delman.

As the title says, it's a memoir (no recipes) of a American born Indian Jewish girl with a Bene Israel Indian born (Mumbai) Jewish mom and American Jewish father of eastern European descent, both grew up in Israel, got married but moved to USA and after few years, moved back to Israel to live there for good with their 4 kids, couldn't cope and moved back to US again! Isn't that confusing enough for a child?
With her dusky complexion and mixture of all that Khichdi of cultures, she tells her story of struggles and benefits of growing up in US with all those cultural influences on her life.
Yes, there is always that old Indian grandma, a woman called "Nana-Bai", author's distant relative who lived with them at her parents house to nag ya and give you a burnt toast smeared with Indian chutney of course!! :D
She writes, Nana Bai NEVER ate pork in her life because she was of strict Jewish faith but she saw her eating a hot dog few days before Nana Bai dies!!
Author's one and only book, it makes a pretty interesting read. I have never personally met any Indian Jewish family in my life, so this book was revealing to me and laughed a few times too. I enjoyed reading it!:)

I have one more post to go here next week. Spring break for kids starts on 22nd March, so we will be off to the beach for a while. I will let you know how long I will be gone in my next post. Enjoy your weekend, see you all next week with Bengali goodies, although RCI is not announced yet!:)