Olive Oil-Kissed Walnut Garlic and Dill Povitica (Vegan)....jazzed-up !!

"[Breadbaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells...there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel, that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread."

M. F. K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

I admit I have been lazy. While I have been in the kitchen all the time experimenting, peeking into my friends' and commenting on various other blogs....however I stayed away from posting any recipe on Zaayeka. I blame it on the season...the lovely glassy droplets on my balcony makes me just so whimsical with its pitter-patter; that I just can't tear myself away from them. The lush greenery on the hills (that I see from my window) just perks up when the clouds kiss the earth. Romanticism.....s-i-g-h! :p

Ok I know this is essentially a food blog so I will stick to that without further ado--FOOD!

I made this savoury Povitica, a while ago. I post it only today as the varied types of breads I have been baking is increasing in number and threatens to overtake every other recipes' place on the index, (its been over a month and a half that I have not used store-bought bread, instead making my healthy versions at home) and I do not want my friends/readers to miss out on the magic of breadbaking. Trust me if someone as 'yeast-phobic' as me can make it...sure anyone can!

I am not an authority on bread baking...but I certainly can tell you all about what and how I bake my own bread. I have certainly come a long way from where I started.

And no I ain't talking about quick breads and no-knead breads...I am talking hard-core kneading and rising and rolling and proofing and baking ....et al. All the different colours of the 'rainbow' that is bread-baking.


Traditionally Povitica is a Croatian rolled sweet yeast bread. Essentially a feast bread, it is rolled thin, smeared with the choice of filling (cinnamon sugar, walnuts etc) and then rolled like a jelly roll and baked. The end result is a beautiful swirled slice that the filling creates when the rolled bread is cut.

I made mine a tad bit more ...ahem...gorgeous! (Don't go by my word...look at the pictures.)

The lovely spirals filled with my favourite nut and herbs.

This bread is a little tricky when it comes to putting it together but not impossibly difficult!

Once the dough is rolled out, smeared with filling and cut into strips; the tricky part begins.

Remember not to rush through this process of 'coiling' the strips. Take your time rotating the spring form pan so you can easily start the next strip of dough where the last one left off and gently pressing strips onto the ones that came before it.

Any loose nuts will fall down, so do not worry. Just be gentle. :)

Oh did I forget to mention its vegan !!

Olive Oil-Kissed Walnut Garlic and Dill spiral Povitica (Vegan) :

Ingredients-

For the dough:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour + extra for dusting
1/2 tsp sea-salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups luke-warm water
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
2 tbsp margarine

For the filling:
3 tbsp or more garlic paste
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for brushing

Method-

In a large bowl,combine the warm water, yeast, sugar and salt and let it rest at room temperature for 5 minutes. Add the olive oil.

To the flours add the margarine and dill. Stir with a wooden spoon or use your fingers to mix,till the margarine is well combined with the flour.
Now add the liquid ingredients. Stir with wooden spoon.
When the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl dust with flour and turn out onto a lightly-floured surface to knead by hand. Knead by hand for 10 minutes, dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking. Allow the dough to rest for 10-15 minutes in a greased bowl.

Roll the dough out to an 18×10 inch (moderately thin in thickness) rectangle. Brush the garlic paste all over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle with the chopped walnuts on top.
IMPORTANT-Press the nut filling into the dough by lightly rolling over it with a rolling pin, to allow minimal spillage.

Cut the dough lengthwise into 2-inch-wide strips. Take one strip and roll it around itself before placing it in the center of your springform pan, cut side down. Now, one at a time, wrap the remaining strips around the center strip, until you have a mass of shaped dough that looks like a concentric shell . Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm spot for 40 minutes or until doubled in bulk (see pic above).

Brush with olive oil and bake in a pre-heated oven for upto 30 minutes at 190 degrees C.

If the middle of the povitica browns faster than the outer portions of the dough, cut a small square of aluminum foil and place it over the part of the cake that is browning faster.

Cool for 5 minutes before running a greased knife around the edges and removing the sides of the springform pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tipsy...err....Persimmon Trifle with Walnut Croquants

“A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do.”

I am a nuts-about-fruit girl ...anything with fruit in it can lure me easily. I am game for all kinds of fruits...the rarer and more exotic it is...the more I crave it...lol. And if the fruit is in a dessert form...nothing beats it! As you know from these-fruit custard, choco-strawberries in a jiffy, going bananas over banana, jamming with strawberry.... my surrender to desserts with fruits is a common instance. I even start my day, sweet....so lets continue the sweet-celebration.


The latest two fruits added to the long list of 'fruits I have eaten' are-dragon fruit and persimmon. And as you guys must have guessed I did make desserts out of both. :)


However we will stick to 'persimmons' today. Persimmons are a mysterious, surprising fruit, unknown to many, eaten by few.

When I first saw a persimmon at the fruit stall here, I thought they were tomatoes...just not very ripe ones. I kept wondering why they were selling it with the other fruits and not vegetables, till one day I couldn't stand it any longer and in broken cantonese-cum-english-cum-sign language I managed to understand that they are fruits and not vegetables. Came back home hurriedly and googled for pictures/information on this queer fruit. After much research, I bought the fruit. Let it ripen for two days before I sliced it open...and the fruit was luscious and sweet ...it tastes like a mix between Rhubarb and Toddy Palm fruit/Palmyra (which is also referrred to as Taad or Taad-Gola in India). The fuyu, non-astringent variety of this fruit has got a heady...almost sweet alcoholic taste.

Native to China thousands of years ago and then introduced in Japan, the persimmon has become Japan’s national fruit and one of the traditional foods of the Japanese New Year.

Persimmons are well worth trying not only for their exceptional flavour but also for their beta carotene; they also have some vitamin C and potassium. There are two types of persimmons: astringent and non-astringent. As novice persimmon eaters often belatedly discover, the astringent persimmon has two personalities. When ripe, it possesses a rich, sweet, spicy flavour. The unripened fruit, however, tastes so bitter that biting into it causes the mouth to pucker.

The astringency is due to the presence of tannins, a group of chemicals that occur in tea, red wine, and in a few other fruits, such as peaches and dates, before they ripen, though the quantity in a persimmon is much greater. As the fruit ripens and softens, the tannins become inert and the astringency disappears.

It tasted great as a fruit and immediately I thought of pairing it with chocolate and chantilly...with may be a dash of rum.

Caution: Never eat this fruit on an empty stomach and the fruit should be extremely ripe before it can be eaten.

You can read more about this fruit here and here.

Chocolate Persimmon Trifle
(with Walnut Croquants & Creme Chantilly)

Ingredients-
(for two cups of trifle)
1 persimmon fruit, pulp/cubed
1 recipe of your favourite chocolate cake, 1/2 pound (you can keep half the cake in the fridge for later use)
1/2 cup chantilly-(1/2 cup whipping/heavy cream mixed with 4 tbsp of sugar + 1/2 tsp of pure vanilla extract)
4 tbsp of melted dark chocolate
2 tbsp of light rum with 1 tbsp sugar dissolved

For walnut croquants-
a handful of crushed walnuts
5 tbsp brown sugar
5 tbsp water

Method-
First warm the cake for half a minute. Use half the cake. Then pour the sugar-rum syrup over it. Break/crush the cake with your fingers. Set aside.

Make the creme' chantilly using the heavy cream, sugar & vanilla extract.

To make the walnut croquants--
Mix the sugar and the water over a medium flame till its sticky but not too viscous. On a foil lined cookie sheet, spread the walnuts and pour the sugar syrup on top. Bake in the oven for a minute or less. Allow to cool to harden a little.

For the assembly--
In a glass, first layer with the cake, then the melted chocolate, followed by persimmon fruit and the walnut croquants. Top this with chantilly.
Repeat these layers once more. Serve chilled with a chocolate cake slice,if desired.

Now for my signature interesting facts-

Persimmon, known to the ancient Greeks as "the fruit of the gods" is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees of the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family (Ebenaceae). They are high in glucose, with a balanced protein profile, and possess various medicinal and chemical uses. While the persimmon fruit is not considered a "common berry" it is in fact a "true berry" by definition.

The sexuality of persimmons is particularly baffling. Some trees are male, some are female, some have flowers of both sexes, some change their gender in midlife, no doubt for personal reasons. Some are self-fertile, some need a pollinating tree. Some have no seeds. The most important distinction for the cook is that some taste horrid all the way up until the moment they ripen, at which point they become so soft inside they are like little jellied balloons. Others -- the so-called "non-astringent" types -- sweeten while still firm.

Folklore..
It is said that you can predict the winter by taking the seeds out of some persimmons and then slicing the seeds. The shape that shows up the most inside each seed will tell you what kind of winter to expect. The three shapes resemble three eating utensils.
A Knife shape means there will be a cold icy winter (as in the wind will slice through you like a knife).A Spoon shape means there will be plenty of snow for you to shovel.A Fork shape means there will be a mild winter

Culinarily, persimmons have fared less well. Many people remember their first taste as a form of persecution: an unripe sample offered by a teasing grandfather, a wicked older sister or the neighborhood bully. Had they persevered and tried one ripe, they might have grown up prizing them as much as the native tribes prized their Diospyros virginiana or the Japanese their Diospyros kaki.


If ever you get a chance try this fruit...its worth it! I am in love with this exotic fruit and you will see more concoctions here...soon.

I send this over to The Alchemist Chef's Valentines' Day Recipe Competition.

I share this with Trupti for her AFAM: Persimmon event, brainchild of Maheshwari.

Also in the second picture (from top), I made an A3 size, paper table mat for kids with mickey mouse cut-outs from a magazine. Its easy to make and can be disposed off. The kids enjoy it. I share this crafty idea with Shama for her 2009 Kids friendly crafts.