Southern Buttermilk Biscuits #FoodieExtravaganza

May's theme of Foodie Extravaganza is Buttermilk Biscuits. Our host is Kathleen Coe Clegg of Fearless Creative Mammas has picked a theme true to her roots. Her family is from the South of the United States where biscuit is a staple. The idea behind this month's theme is to get fun and creative with the staple biscuits of the South. 

Thank you Kathleen for sharing with us about your family's roots and I can honestly say I enjoyed learning more about the South. I have always loved Southern cooking and will attempt more recipes from the South of US in my cooking.

I first misunderstood the biscuits to be that of a normal crispy,flaky biscuit. So when I attempted to make them and found them to be more scone like, I was a little puzzled. I imagined it to be a flaky, crunchy biscuit. Of course, the biscuit ended up having a nice, crusty exterior with a moist, flaky interior. 

You can either try to slap some butter, jam, jelly or honey in this biscuit in which case I would ask you to sprinkle some sugar on top which would be a nice addition or you can have it as a savoury. In my case, when my sister-in-law and family were visiting our home a few weeks ago, I had attempted a savoury muffin, so I used the same kind of filling for the biscuits as well. It made for a nice and satisfying meal.

My first ever biscuits or cookies were attempted at Mum's kitchen in our home at Dubai. I even remember how I had a little tea party with my school friends. My first batch of perfect biscuits were made for my school buddies and I had iced their names on each biscuit.

Mum's first anniversary is in six days. I cannot imagine how I lived a year without Mum. Of course the Good Lord has been Kind and Merciful as always to me. I have always heard Mum's voice or felt her guidance through Him in every time of need. I could have been angry with Him for taking her so soon or for even taking her on Mother's Day last year.  Life will never be the same without Mum. You know what though, He always brings her voice or memory or guidance even when I need her the most. 

There is a little something I am expected to allow in my life but I have not been able to so far. Let's see how life progresses on that. Until then if you believe in God or say prayers, do keep me in your prayers or just send happy thoughts my way.

The best way to eat these biscuits are right out of the oven and in the US it is eaten as a savoury on top of chicken pot pie filling, slathered with some gravy on the side or even with fried chicken. A shorter description of these biscuits are that they are moist, fluffy and light.

You need:

• 2 cups of plain flour or pasta flour (if you can find pasta flour, it would be the best)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 6 tbsp of cold butter (cut into cubes and refrigerated) + 1 tbsp reserve
• 4-6 tbsp of sugar (optional)
• 1 cup of chilled buttermilk
• 1 tsp salt (in case of unsalted butter)

The Make:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Resting time: 10 minutes + 10 minutes (optional) | Baking time: 15-20 minutes | Makes 9 biscuits of 7" in diameter each

I did not use a food processor or the kind, just my good ol' hands. So I am unsure if your queries revolve around how to make this recipe using a food processor or a Kitchen Aid or the kind. I am sure the below instructions would serve well for both methods although I cannot be completely sure. So do let me know if you are using any processor to make these biscuits.

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and sift well.
3. Next add 6 tbsp of the cold butter to the flour mixture and mix in until it appears like a coarse meal. Place the flour-butter mixture back into the refrigerator. This will help create those lovely flaky layers of the biscuit. Let it stay refrigerated for at least 10 minutes. If you have left it in longer, it does not matter and will not affect the biscuit in anyway negatively.
4. Next add the cold buttermilk bit-by-bit into the flour-butter mixture until just combined. You will have a sticky, clumpy mixture and not a smooth dough. You will be left with at least 2-3 tbsp of buttermilk which you can use to brush on top of the prepared dough circles. Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes if you find that your butter has melted.
5. Take the dough onto a floured surface and pat gently to about 1/2" thick. Fold the dough and repeat the process. Do this at least 5 times. Then gently pat the dough down to 1" thick.
6. Using a round cutter, cut out at least 8-9 circles and place them on a buttered baking tray about 1" apart to get a crusty top and bottom. Brush the top of the biscuits with the remaining buttermilk.
7. Bake at 180°C for about 10 minutes. Brush the top and bottom of the biscuits with the remaining butter and continue baking for at least 5 minutes when a golden brown colour is achieved. If you are planning to use the biscuits with a sweet filling, you could sprinkle some sugar on top.

Your biscuits are ready to be eaten straight out of the oven. So hope you have your sides or fillings and your family/guests ready to gobble these flavoursome delights right away.

Today's Foodie Extravaganza day is celebrating the Buttermilk Biscuit. Kathleen, from Fearlessly Creative Mammas is the host this month, and to celebrate her southern roots, she picked Buttermilk Biscuits as the theme. 
May 14th is actually Buttermilk Biscuit day, but we get to pick from any of the foods in the specific month, so Buttermilk Biscuits it is. We pick our foods from the website The Nibble. 
Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. 

We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE. 

• Cacio e Pepe Biscuits by Laura at Baking in Pajamas 
• Buttermilk Biscuit Mixed Berry Shortcake by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Savory Buttermilk Butter Biscuits by Kathleen at Fearlessly Creative Mammas 
• Tarragon Sweet Potato Biscuits by Caroline at Caroline's Cooking 
• Maple and Bacon Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits by Rebekah at Making Miracles 
• Cinnamon Buttermilk Biscuits by Lauren at From Gate to Plate 
• Bacon Honey Mustard Biscuits by Stacy from Food Lust People Love 
• Buttermilk Lemon Biscuits by Kathya from Basic N Delicious 
• Southern Buttermilk Biscuits by Georgina from G'Gina's Kitchenette 
• Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls with Chopped Pecans by Elaine from Cookin and Craftin 
• Biscuit French Toast by Teri from The Freshman Cook 
• Southern Buttermilk Biscuits by Sneha from Sneha's Recipes

Jamie Oliver's Aussie Humble Pie

Yes, yes yet another one of Jamie's specials and a long standing share from my side. 





I had used the filling two ways, one in a recipe I have already shared with you - A Tribute to my Inspiration, my Mummy - Pie Meat & Mushroom buns with Sesame and the other as the pie filling to Jamie's Aussie Humble Pie.

This make was a delightful  and savoury one both to my little one and my hubby. 

I simply love the golden crunchy crust. Thanks Jamie for yet another delicious dish.

I halved the recipe as the original was for 8 servings. This recipe calls for two of  some of my favourite treats Beef and Pie. 

Although Jamie had used pale ale in his recipe, I did my own subsitutions as ale was not available.

You can substitute it with chicken broth, ginger ale or white grape juice. 

I did a combination of chicken broth and ginger ale. 

Pale ale is a beer which is made by warm fermentation using pale malt mainly. The lighter colour of the ale is owing to the higher propotion of pale malt.

Recipe source : Jamie Oliver


You need:

For the filling:

• 1/2 kg beef cum into 1 cm chunks (ideally beef skirt - cut of beef from the 'Plate'. See image)
• Black Pepper
• Olive oil
• 1/2 whole nutmeg, grated
• Salt
• 1 large carrot, peeled
• 1 red onion, peeled
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
• 125ml pale ale (learn more here)
• 1/2 tbsp full of plain flour
• 1/2 tbsp tomato pureé
• 125 gms button mushrooms
• 1 medium egg yolk, beaten
• Drinking water
• Cold water

 For the pastry:

• 300 gms plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 75 g cold unsalted butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing
• 75 g Cheddar cheese

The Make:

Serves : 4 adults | Preparation Time: | Resting Time: 3 hrs - overnight | Cooking Time: up to 1 hr, 43 minutes

1. Place the beef chunks in a large bowl. Add a heaped tsp of pepper, salt to taste or a good pinch of it and 2 tbsp of Olive oil.

2. Grate in quarter of a nutmeg, toss well and coat all chunks. Set aside. Roughly chop the carrots, onions and rosemary leaves.

3. In a wide, medium sized pan/wok, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. Add the beef chunks and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the meat is browned all over and any liquid has evaporated, stirring frequently.

4. Meanwhile, heat another medium pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped vegetables and a drizzle of olive oil and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until softened and caramelised, stirring frequently. Set aside.

5. Add the ale or the ale substitute to the beef, turn the heat up to high and allow the liquid to boil and bubble away, stirring and scraping all those lovely sticky bits from the bottom of the pan.

6. Next stir in the flour and tomato pureé and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it forms a thick paste. Add the softened vegetables into the pan and pour in 1 litre of cold water. Roughly slice and add the mushrooms, then bring to the boil. 

7. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer for 11/2 hrs then take off the lid and simmer for another 30 minutes, or until thickened and reduced and the beef is nice and tender, stirring occasionally. Season to taste, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool completely for a few hours or preferably overnight in the fridge. 

8. Meanwhile, make the pastry. Combine the flour and a good pinch of salt in a bowl, then grate in the Cheddar and rub into the flour along with the butter, until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

9. Gradually add 125 ml of cold water, stirring continuously to combine, then use your hands to bring it together into a rough dough – be careful not to work it too much. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge until needed.

10. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. You can either serve this individually as Jamie did or as I did as one baked pie dish. For a single dish do the process of the pastry just once. For the individual pie dishes: Grease 4 individual pie dishes (roughly 15cm x 10cm) with a little butter and dust with flour. Divide the pastry into 4 equal-sized pieces, then roll out a portion on a flour-dusted surface to the thickness of a pound coin. Place 2 of the pie dishes side-by-side, roll the pastry around the rolling pin, hold it over the dishes and carefully unroll the pastry to cover. Gently press the pastry into the sides of the dishes, then rough ly cut away the excess so you end up with 2 lined pie dishes. Repeat with the remaining pastry, reserving the excess for later.

11. Equally divide the steak and ale filling between the dishes and brush the edges with the beaten egg. Divide the excess pastry into 4 equal-sized pieces, roll out to the thickness of a pound coin and place over the filling. Trim away any excess, crimp the edges with a fork and with the tip of a sharp knife or kitchen blade cut a little cross into the top. Brush over a little more beaten egg, then place in the hot oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden and piping hot through. Serve warm with a dollop of ketchup or favourite sauce, your favourite seasonal greens and your favourite chilled drink.

Bon Appetit!

*Veg option:
You can make this same recipe using a vegetarian option of cottage cheese / paneer. 
1. Cut the cottage into cubes. You can easily reduce the cook time by half as paneer does not take that long to cook.  However I would suggest you play this by trial. Reduce the initial saute time to 10 minutes. 
2. Make sure to first saute the chopped vegetables and then the cottage cheese. 
3. Also the bake time can be reduced to 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden. 
4. Also instead of the egg wash over the pastry, brush the pastry with a tad bit of milk.

Oat and Millet (Bajra) Sweet and Savoury Pancakes

Aha! The return of the Oat and Millet combo:) Well what can I say, this is a hero combo in terms of its nutrition factor. Millet in itself has so many nutritional benefits. Having this as a breakfast meal has many advantages as well. I have heard many people complain about migraines early in the morning. Well did you you know that Millet contains Magnesium that helps reduce the effects of migraines and even heart attacks. It is also alkaline which means that it is easily digested and you know what great wonders that does to your digestive system in the morning:)

Well not to get too scientific but let's not leave out our all too common oat bran which most of you already know is a "healthy-heart" cholestrol lowering food. I find that people with lactose intolerance normally avoid consuming cereals in the morning, simply because it becomes difficult for them to have cereals without milk. These oat bran recipes resulted since that realisation. It is important to have a high fiber meal in the morning as our body is able to digest it well then.

I had two of my usual diners, my hubby and my daughter when I whipped up this meal. So, naturally the Sweet is for my Sweetheart daughter and Savoury my darling hubster. Needless to say, both of them enjoyed their simple breakfast meal.

Savoury Pancake

Sweet pancakes

You need:

For both the sweet and savoury pancakes:

• 2 cups of oat bran (powdered)
• 1 cup of millet flour
• 2 tsp of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of milk (optional)/1 cup of filtered water
• 1 tbsp of cooking oil
• 2 tsp baking powder

For the sweet pancakes:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder

For the savoury pancakes:

• 1 medium sized onion, finely diced
• 2 green chilies, diced

The condiments:

• For the savoury, you can serve it as is or with coconut chutney
• For the sweet one, you can serve it with maple syrup, honey, chocolate syrup and chocolate chips, fresh fruits or nuts.

The make:
Makes 6 savoury pancakes, 3 sweet pancakes | Cooking Time :30 mins | Preparation Time: 15 mins

1. Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl for the sweet and savoury pancakes combined.

2. Next whisk in the eggs, milk/water and oil and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.

3. Divide the batter into 3/4 for the savoury and 1/4 for the  sweet pancakes in a separate bowl. I did this considering my little one's appetite. You can choose either way.

4. For the savoury, add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

5. For the sweet, add the remaining ingredients and mix well in the separate bowl.

6. Meanwhile, preheat two iron skillets or non-stick skillets on high. Grease the pans, using a paper kitchen towel dipped in cooking oil. Repeat this between pancakes until the batter is used up.

Cooking the pancake on one side

7.  Lower the heat on both pans to medium-low and pour 1/4 cup of batter quantity using a ladle and pour in the center of the pan and spread the batter in clockwise fashion to a medium sized circle.

8. For the savoury, owing to the chilies and the onions, you make not be able to spread it out as much as it would lead to gaps and would not evenly spread the onion/chilies on one half or the other. You may need to either fill in the gaps or pour the batter evenly without the clockwise spreading technique.

9. Cook the pancake for 2 minutes on each side or until cooked and lightly browned.

10. Continue this process until all the batter is used.

If the alternating between sweet and savoury pans is too much, you can also do it one at a time. My mornings are usually a lot of juggle and multitasking so this technique works well for me.

11. Serve with the condiments of your choice or the suggested ones in this recipe.

Cooking on the second side

Sweet pancakes served up with honey drizzle

Hope your family and you enjoy this breakfast treat. Bon Appetit!

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

This was a sauce that was first made with my BBQ Chicken almost 18 years ago. It was a hit then and I am glad to say it is even now!

BBQ Sauce

You need:

• 1 large shallot or white onion finely diced (I diced 3/4 of the shallot and the rest into thin rings)
• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper powder
• 1/2 tbsp black pepper or crushed pepper corns
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1.5 tbsp mustard or Homemade Mustard
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar or cane sugar
• 4 cloves crushed garlic (optional)
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• 1 glass of lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar or distilled vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup of ketchup or Homemade tomato paste

The Make:

Cooking time: 10 minutes | Preparation Time: 10 minutes| Compliments 1 kg chicken

• Heat a skillet and add the EVOO and warm the oil.
• Add the diced shallots and saute till translucent.
• Next add the vinegar, sugar, salt, garlic, mustard, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and water. Stir well. Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes (uncovered), stirring occasionally.

BBQ Sauce in the making

• Add the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. Let it warm. Cover and set aside to cool.

BBQ Sauce over Chicken

• You can make this a day in advance (refrigerate).

French Mackerel Fish in Sweet and Savoury Cranberry sauce

This is an old recipe from one of my handwritten recipe books. I am not sure of the origin - it could be from a 'Weekend' or 'Friday' magazine or from my cousin's recipe collection. I learnt a lot of international cuisines growing up in 'Cosmopolitan' Dubai. Back then I had many a opportunity to learn a lot of new recipes and most of it was first tried and tested (almost always right) by Mum.

French Mackerel served up

This is a very savory fish recipe and the thyme lends such an excellent flavour and fragrance as well. It is best made with fillet of mackerel (as otherwise mackerel has a lot of bones and it could be a pain to eat with this savory base). I tried this out with the bone-on this time and also this is best had as a full fish rather than cut however this time I had my fish clean and cut at the seller's place itself before I decided to make this one.Also I used the Indian Mackerel variety as I did not have a choice! Cranberries and Red currants are not readily available here. I tried even in the import shops but in vain. I had a choice to use Red Grapes but it is not in season now, so I chose the packaged cranberry juice version.

Indian Mackerel

You need:

Diced white onions, thyme sprigs

• 2 medium sized mackerel  in full or mackerel fillets
• 4-6 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium sized white onion diced
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter (or if you are using the salted butter, then take care whilst adding salt separately)
• 1 sprig thyme
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tbsp ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup of dry white wine or white wine vinegar (I used homemade white wine - recipe to follow:) )
• 1 cup of cranberry (freshly juiced or packaged. In case of packaged sweet version, do not add sugar as below). (Other options: You can also use red currant or red grape)



White wine(L), Cranberry juice(R)

• 1/2 tbsp of powdered or castor sugar

Thyme Sprigs

The make:

Cooking Time:20 minutes| Preparation Time: 20 minutes| Serves 2 adults

Onion and garlic in butter



• Clean the fish and/or fillet as required.
• Place the fish on a baking tray or pan ( I used my iron skillet - taking care to use oven mitts as the handle will heat in the oven)
• Take the juice of the cranberries and strain or packaged version and set aside.
• Crush the garlic and dice finely. Next, add the diced onions and garlic to the butter in a heated skillet until translucent (Do not brown). Do this on a low flame and allow to blend for about 5-10 minutes only.



Mackerels before going into the oven

• Next add the juice, sugar(only if the juice is freshly juiced and not for sweetened packaged version), wine/wine vinegar, salt(only if butter is unsalted) and pepper to the skillet. Allow it to warm not boil. Turn off the flame.

• Pour the liquid over the prepared mackerel in the baking tray/pan and top with the fresh thyme sprig. 
• Place it in a hot oven (heated on high flame). Lower the heat to medium and allow to cook for about 10-15 minutes maximum. (In case your oven, does not have a heating device on top, then 5-7 minutes into the cooking process, flip the mackerel over. In case you have additional cranberries/red grape/red currants left, then chop them up and place over the fish and allow to blend with the fish in the oven.

Mackerel in the pan done with thyme sprigs

• Serve hot with Frenched French beans.

Mackerel in Cranberry sauce

Bon Appetit! My Indian Fish loving HD...loved this one so much that I reserved some of the remaining sauce for another appetising meal :) Do let me know how you like this one!

Nadan Pazha Manga Curry (Traditional Keralite Ripe Mango Gravy)

You may be wondering why I opted for 'ripe mango' curry when I could just eat the mango as is. The answer is we (me and 'A') simply loved it when we had it last at my mum's place. My mum's part-time maid cooks up a mean mango gravy(mmmm...my mouth waters when I just think of it). To top it 'A' got a neat batch of mangoes from his dealer as they do along with a jar of Andhra mango pickle (delicious!)  every year before the monsoons. I saved four of these that were naturally semi-ripened. This curry is best cooked with firm ripe mangoes. I believe its called Nadan Manga (literally translated Country Mango) or 'Chandrakaran' as I recently learnt on an image search in Google. My parents have a nice tree in the front yard that delivers some lovely raw (which we have as a starter with coconut oil, salt and chilli powder -  I know! We cousins and (I recently learnt) my aunts(dad's sisters) have this tradition where we sit around in a circle with a platter full of cut and marinated raw mangoes which is gone within seconds) and ripened mangoes. P.S. for those of you not from India, pre-monsoons are the best time to have the best supply of mangoes and its a game with kids too where they have mango-plucking and eating contests, etc.

Nadan Pazha Manga (Mango Curry)

Of course my mum dearest told me how to make this one but since I didn't have that type of mango here in Hyderabad, I tried it with the ones I got in this batch.

Mangoes I used for this recipe

I also added my own twist (as I always do - always wanting to experiment) to it to get the right outcome. I suggest if you are taking semi-ripened ones you follow through with the 'mash' process that I went through. If you are doing it with the smaller ripened version, avoid the 'mash' process.

You need:

• 4 semi-ripened (or firm fully ripe) mangoes (mum used the ripened version of Chandrakaran) -skinned and retained in full
• 6 cloves of garlic - chopped
• 2 " ginger -chopped
• 1 sprig of curry leaves (mum didn't add this)
• 4-6 green chilis (depending on how spicy your chillis are - mine were not the spicy kind) or kandhari (chilis of kerala - super exquisite for this recipe - I didn't have any :-( )
• 1 tsp turmeric
• Salt - to taste - about 1 tbsp should suffice
• 1.5 cups of grated coconut
• 4-6 shallots (small onions)
• 1 tbsp cooking oil or coconut oil

The make:

Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes| Preparation Time: 10 minutes|Serves 4-6 adults

This is how I made mine since I used the semi-ripened version. Since I did not follow the traditional route that mum follows, mine took longer to make (as mum says you always have to follow complex ways). 

Ginger, Garlic and Chilis with my pestle

1. First soak your curry leaves in lukewarm water (remember I mentioned in my last post that since there are a lot of chemicals sprayed on leaves and veggies these days, I make sure I soak them in lukewarm water with vinegar, turmeric and salt before using. In this case just lukewarm water).

2. Grind the coconut, garlic, green chillies or kandhari and ginger. I reserved half the chopped ginger and crushed them with my manual pestle and diced it fine. Set aside. I did this because I always feel that mango has a good flavour with ginger. (I like this combo so much that I found AVON had one of its shampoo products with mango and ginger. I very much liked it and so did my hair. Alas, I never found it again. Wish I bought a few bottles:D I know I am silly. I go by  flavours and smell a lot). Mango-ginger also has a cholesterol lowering function. (Mum did not set aside any ginger by the way)

Ground mixture of coconut, chilies and ginger-garlic

3. Take the mango in a pot with salt and water (enough to just cover the half of the mangoes (as it would be bobbing over the water. Do not add too much water or else you would not get the right consistency for the gravy). Cover and boil for 10-15 minutes until the mangoes are soft,first on a medium flame then lower flame to avoid it boiling over. (If using the fully ripe mangoes, you need only 7-10 minutes.

Mangoes set to boil with salt

4. In a separate skillet or flat pan, add the oil and heat. Splutter the mustard seeds and then add the drained curry leaves. Add the ground mixture, turmeric powder, crushed ginger and saute on a medium flame.

Sauteing crushed ginger, turmeric with the ground mixture

5. Next you would normally add it to the boiling mangoes, allow to mix in for 5 minutes and then turn off. But because I took the semi-ripened version, I took out one mango at a time on a plate and then using a knife, I knived out the sides of the mango and then added it back to the pot along with with its seed (still having some of the mango flesh on it). You can also do this with a wooden spoon. My mangoes were too large to do that with the risk of burning myself. Repeat for each of the 4 mangoes.

6. Then I added the ground mixture to the pot containing the prepared mango and left it on for 5 minutes allowing it to just bubble and turned off the heat.

Mango Curry ready to be served

7.  Serve hot with rice and your favourite dish (in our case it was Ayla Fish Curry). Some people also adds spices such as chili powder, cumin powder etc when doing their saute but I think that would not be as authentic with the coconut as with just the green chilies or the kandhari chillies. That is just my personal view.

'A' thoroughly enjoyed his lunch today with a good combination of dishes! Good luck and hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Bon Appetit!