Vegetable Shikampuri Kebabs

Few days ago, Aparna had shared in her Instagram feed a picture of few of her cookbooks. She had mentioned that Sheetal bhatt at Route to roots blog had initiated the idea of a virtual food enthusiasts group to cook dishes from our respective collection of cookbooks and share the pictures/ recipes where desired. 

Most of us like to buy cookbooks, but hardly use them regularly. We might cook a few recipes every once in a while and then slowly put the book away and let it gather dust. 

This virtual group will now bring those out and cook dishes twice a month, based on given themes. we would share the picture of the dish in our Instagram feeds with a hash tag 'thecookbookcollective'. We may share them across other social network media also. We might share some of those recipes in our blog also.
The theme for the first dish was 'Regional'. I chose to make Shikampuri Kebabs that are famous in Hyderabad Mughal cuisine. These are rich and delicious with a filling of tender meat or equivalent vegetarian mix. The name literally means 'filled in the middle' as in 'tummy full'.
During one of my stay at The Gateway Hotel, Bengaluru, I found the book titled 'Vegetarian Fare at the Taj' that has so many vegetarian dishes that are cooked in the kitchens of the Taj group hotels across India. The management were generous to let me have that book. 

I had this recipe from that book; this was shared by the executive chef of Taj Krishna, Hyderabad.

The same book has another recipe from the Taj  Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad that replaces potatoes with Elephant Yam and lentils.
I gave this recipe to my daughter as she had mostly all the ingredients with her. She decided to add lot of young beetroots and made a very pleasantly pink kebabs. 

 

I am giving approximate measures for the outer cover vegetables. I used potatoes, beans and carrots. Because ultimately all vegetables are going to get mashed, you can add any more different vegetables that will not taste off.

I used two large potatoes, boiled until soft and grated. The yield of potatoes was 2 loosely packed cups.

 

Vegetable Shikampuri Kebabs 

 

Ingredients: 

Makes 8 kebabs

For the outer cover:

2 cups boiled and grated potatoes

1 cup boiled carrots (cut in very tiny bits and heaped cupful of raw carrots)

1 cup boiled beans (same as carrots)

Just about enough bread crumbs to bind the vegetables in a dough like texture.

1&1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 blade of mace

3 green cardamoms

2 teaspoons caraway seeds/ ajwain

1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Oil for shallow frying/ deep frying. (The book has a deep fried version, I used the airfryer by basting a little ghee all around each kebab before placing in the fryer.) (My daughter shallow fried the kebabs and said they tasted good)

 

For the filling

1/3 cup khoya (I boiled 500 millilitres of milk down to get this quantity)

1/2 cup crumbled paneer

1 &1/2 teaspoon oil

1 medium red onion sliced very finely

1 green chilli finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder

1 teaspoon chopped mint leaves

1 teaspoon chopped coriander leaves

A pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Method:

 

Prepare the filling:

Heat oil in a pan.

Add the onions and green chillis. Saute until the onions are transparent.

Add the paneer and khoys and cook until they are soft and pink.

Add salt, sugar and white pepper powder. Toss to mix and turn the heat off.

Drop the chopped fresh leaves and mix.

Allow to cool and divide in 8 small portions rolled in balls.

If the quantity of the filling might feel more for 8 kebabs. You may store them and use in other dishes.

Prepare the vegetable kebabs:

Crush the mace, cardamom and caraway seeds to a fine powder. This is a very aromatic spice powder mix

Mash the carrots and beans ( other boiled vegetables if you are using ) to a pulp with only few bits left to show.

Add the grated potatoes, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and prepared spice powder of cardamom, mace and caraway seeds.

Knead them together to a dough like mass. Add the bread crumbs and knead to a smooth dough. 

Take a small portion and roll and pat to a disc to test if the dough is not cracking. Add little more bread crumbs if needed.

Divide into 8 portions, roll them in smooth balls.

Use little oil or ghee to grease your palms and pat one dough ball in a discs, place one portion of filling, gather the ends and cover the filling with the vegetable dough.

Flatten it slightly to a round disc, like kebabs of uniform thickness of about 1 cm.

 

Repeat with the rest of vegetable dough and filling.

Heat oil in a pan and when hot place the kebabs as many will hold in the pan, not too close to each other.

Cook the kebabs well until crisp and golden all over. Remove from the pan. Transfer to a serving dish.

Repeat with all the kebabs.
While the book has a directions to deep fry the kebabs, I chose to do them in my airfryer and my daughter opted to shallow fry in a pan. Both turned out excellent. So how you want to have them cooked has these options.

 

For my airfryer version, I used a few drops of ghee over each kebab brushing it all over. I cooked them for 10 minutes at 180 degrees C and for a further 2 minutes after flipping them over.

Serve them hot with salad and green chutney or tomato sauce.
If you are planning to do them in more numbers, you may make ahead the kebabs, refrigerate them and fry them at your convenience. My daughter had made the quantity for 8 kebabs, but used only four on the first try. She refrigerated the uncooked kebabs and used them the next day.

Kalasida Avalakki

In general it would be easy for our friends to assume that I might have picked up traditional dishes from Managalore - Udupi cuisine having been married to a Mangalorean for 30+ years. Even more so because I have spent a good few years living with his parents. Sadly, that is not to be. On the contrary, they had adapted to living in Coimbatore and other than an occasional neer dosa and shavige, on special weekends, I had not known traditional fare in that household.
We were at our friends' place one evening when she had made this for tea and while serving mentioned that it may not be new to us and both my husband and myself would have had it many times. I did not even recognize the name of the dish, even when they gave other names by which people call it. Mangalore masala avalakki, avalakki oggarane, and so on....nope none of which I had heard of. My husband went on to discuss how it used to be a teatime snack in his office in Mangalore and I still drew a blank. However, it was one very tasty snack and I loved the crunch with so little oil added in the snack. My friend showed me how thin is paper avalakki and told me to find them in Bangalore where most stores stock them.
I bought some red paper poha online and brought it here. I messaged her to share the recipe. In a few minutes my phone notified me with her message and that very evening, as luck would have it, having all the ingredients I tried the recipe. We enjoyed it and I promised myself that I need to post the recipe here, for my repository.

 

I looked up for more information on this dish and found that in the Udupi region it is called Bajil and mostly paired with sajjige as a filling breakfast during weddings and ceremonies. When I read out bajil, my husband said that he vaguely remembered that his father would mention it but he had never tasted the combination.
It is a quick and easy recipe to make. The sweet and spice flavours mingle so well that one cannot resist picking just about a spoon more and more. Keeping the recipe basic, one can find ideas to serve this dish.

Kalasida Avalakki
Recipe by my friend Ms. Lalitha Burde

Ingredients:
For 4 to 5 servings
2 cups Paper thin poha/ aval /beaten rice flakes
2 tablespoons roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
 4-5 dry red chillis that are low - medium in spice level (Byadagi or Kashmiri chillis)
Salt to taste
Jaggery powder to taste
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 &1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 teaspoons urad dhal
Few curry leaves
2 - 3 tablespoons fresh grated coconut

Method:
Dry roast the coriander seeds, two of the dry red chillis, few of the curry leaves until aromatic. Crush coarsely and reserve.
heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, allow them to crackle.
Add the peanuts and toss around so they are roasted to a crunch.
Add to these the urad dhal and allow it to brown until they are golden.
Quickly add the rest of the red chillis (broken in small bits), curry leaves, turmeric, asafoetida and salt.
Add the crushed coriander mix.
Toss them for a couple of minutes more and switch off the heat.
Transfer this to a serving bowl and add the coconut and jaggery powder. Mix with your hand slightly crushing them so the flavours combine.
Put in the paper avalakki and sprinkle some water. Bring them all together so the spices coat the avalakki while not crushing hard. Adjust the water, salt and jaggery according to taste.
Serve this with hot tea.

This dish stays fresh for another day also at room temperature. If you find it too dry by then, Sprinkle some water and heat just a bit in a microwave.
A very delicious snack to go with tea is ready with just about ingredients from your pantry.
You may sprinkle mint chutney  and top with some sev or pretty much serve like bhel.

Tomato and Pumpkin Soup

Do you think that it is easier to cook a meal than it is to plan? I do, especially a light meal for those 'not so hungry, but I need to have something' days (and nights). Not again the regular fare of upma or noodles, shouts an inner voice and then I have to push myself to think something more appetizing. soups are my to go dish to put on the table.
We started this exercise of having soup one night a week for some months now. That is, I made it an exercise to disguise all those 'resistance meeting' vegetables and make them a welcome dish. Pumpkins might be somewhere in the top of I listed those vegetables, while I like them in some good curry, not always. The other day in the market, I saw that my vendor had some nice looking tender and small in size pumpkins. I just picked one ignoring a pair of rolling eyes.
Back from the market, I thought it out a bit hard and came up with this idea of adding tomatoes and nutritional yeast to the pumpkin and serve a soup. Then it struck me that I could make it vegan friendly and make a cream to top the soup. I happened to have in stock cashews and pumpkin nuts too. Little more thinking and a very flavoursome soup was ready.
I had just joined a group of food photography enthusiasts who are doing weekly themed food photography. It was a coincidence that the theme of that week was soup and I was glad that I had a picture to share.

Tomato Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:
Serves 4 hefty servings
For the soup:
6 medium tomatoes (ripe and red)
1 cup of diced pumpkin (skin, inner strands and seeds removed)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon peepramul powder
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Water as required

For the cashew pumpkin cream:
2 tablespoons broken bits of cashew nuts
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
1/4 teaspoon sugar (optional)
Warm water to soak and grind

Garnish:
Basil leaves

Method:
For the cashew pumpkin cream:
Soak the nuts and seeds in warm water for about 30 minute. Drain and grind to a fine paste adding water as required.
Transfer to a bowl and adjust the water to desired consistency. Add the sugar and refrigerate for use later.

For the soup:

Heat one and half tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and toss the pumpkin in the oil.

Cook the pumpkin just about soft not mushy.
Boil some water in a pan and drop the tomatoes. Boil them just enough to remove the peel.
Keep the water simmering while you clean the tomatoes. Put them back in the water and add the pumpkin to it. Cook further until both the vegetables are done.
Allow to cool and blend in a blender to a smooth puree.
Add some water and put the puree back on fire. Mix the nutritional yeast and the peepramul powder in water and pour into the soup. Add salt and pepper adjusting to taste.
Simmer the soup for another 3 to 5 minutes.
Transfer to a serving bowl. Top it with the rest of the olive oil.
Take the soup in individual serving bowls and add the prepared cream. Garnish with basil leaves.

Serve hot and enjoy a warm bowl for yourself.

Thai Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Soup is my go to dinner option on days I feel lazy to even consider other options. But my husband's choice of vegetables are limited and thus restrictive to try more adventurous versions. Sqaush and melons are not  his favourite choices. On the other hand my daughter and son-in-law are very exploring in terms of other cuisines. They often pick up fresh vegetables whenever they have the farmers market in their town and cook dishes looking up cookbooks or the internet.

Few days ago she had bought these young tender butternut squash from the market and had shared the picture on her instagram account. 

 

 

Later while chatting she mentioned that she had the idea of making a soup with Thai flavours using those. On a follow up she suggested that it was a great tasting soup and asked if I wanted to share the recipe. She sent me the following recipe and the pictures too so I can post it here.
The sweet nutty taste of the squash blended well with the flavours of the Thai ingredients and the lemongrass. Roasting being one of the most common cooking methods to use this vegetable, this soup also calls for roasting the vegetable.
This squash has a good amount of fibre and other nutritional value. So the soup makes for a sumptuous wholesome meal by itself of as a starter course for an elaborate meal.

Thai roasted butternut squash soup 

 

Ingredients:

Serves 2 people 

Recipe as shared by my daughter

Butternut squash - 2 small young ones (or 1 large mature one)

Thai red curry paste - 2 to 3 tbsp. divided (Look out for the ones which are vegetarian friendly)

Onion - 1, chopped finely (optional - I didn't put it in today)

Ginger - to taste, grated

Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped finely

Cumin seeds1 teaspoon

Coriander seeds1 teaspoon

Chili flakes - to taste

Lemongrass - 3 sticks, about 5in long (This one can be decreased to taste)

The juice of 1 small lime (again, to taste - as my lemongrass had good strong flavor, I didn't put this in today)

Coconut milk - to drizzle on top of the soup, in the bowl

Cilantro - a good couple of sprigs, for garnish

Method:

Prep the butternut squash - peel, deseed and slice them into cubes.

In a big mixing bowl, mix the squash with a couple of teaspoons of oil, some salt and a tablespoon of the red curry paste

While this mixture sits, line a baking tray with aluminum foil and preheat the oven to 400F/200C

Tip the squash into the prepared tin, and roast for about 40 minutes, till soft

Once cooled slightly, blend to a puree with a little water in a blender

In a dutch oven or any heavy pan, heat a little oil

Sauté the onion, garlic and ginger with the cumin and coriander seeds, till the onion is translucent

Add a tablespoon of the red curry paste and cook for a minute or two, till everything is coated.

Tip in the pureed squash, and top up with water to thin it. Add enough to bring it to a consistency you like.

Using the back of a knife blade, bash the lemongrass sticks to bring out the aroma. 

Add this to the soup with the chili flakes. 

 

 

Check the seasoning - you may only need the last tablespoon of red curry paste, if the flavour isn't strong enough for your tastes.

Heat the soup through

To serve, top the soup with some chopped cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and a drizzle of coconut milk

It seems like a lengthy procedure, but it was a simple enough soup to make, and was really worth it! 

 

Kaima Rotti - Bread Upma dressed up

About three decades ago, when my hometown was only part of the larger Salem district, my father would travel often to Salem to appear for his clients in the higher courts. There used to be a particular favourite shop from where he could purchase for us candies and dry fruits. Those days we were very fond of the coin size coconut candy wrapped in a transparent paper with Parrys written in white on it. Those and dried apricots were mostly in stock at home.
He would also visit the famous bakery there and bring large loaves of soft white bread.
Bread was not part of regular meals in a family that ate rice for every meal. We, him, three of us, his daughters and my grandmother  were all fond of bread that two large loaves can be finished quickly.  On some rare occasion all the bread is not consumed by the 'sell by' date and we have a day or two old bread threatening to go stale. My mother would quickly get into action giving it a makeover with the bread upma and save it.
Sometime ago I had purchased a good 9"X5" loaf tin and my daughter gifted me a bread baking book at the same time. I had wanted to put both to use and baked a regular white bread with a recipe in the book. It turned out well with just an ugly gash like cut in the crust. I wondered what could have gone wrong when I followed the recipe fully and even liked that I kneaded it well. I put out a query in the We Knead To Bake Group and friends had suggested possibilities. So, I baked yet another of the same with these tips, thus having on hand two loaves, which possibly between the two of us, would last longer than I might relish. My one option was to follow my mother and get the upma done.
Bread upma being somewhat staple in my home, I needed to make it more interesting. I had a good stock of my thakkali vengayam chutney in my refrigerator; that gave me the idea to make the Kaima rotti. With few ingredients and leftovers that need attention, this is a good recipe to go for it.

Kaima Rotti

Ingredients:
Serves 4
12 slices of a day or two old bread
2 tablespoons butter to pan toast the bread
2 medium red onions sliced finely
4-5 green chillis cut finely
1/2" ginger chopped
1/2 cup thakkali vengayam chutney or anything that may add flavour to the bread
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 teaspoon channa dhal/ Bengal gram
Few curry leaves
A little amount of water for sprinkling as required
2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Method:
Apply butter on both sides of the bread slices. Toast them slightly until just about crisp in a pan.
Generously spread the thakkali vengayam chutney on the slices.
Cut about an inch square cubes of the bread.
Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large, heavy pan. When heated add the tempering ingredients - mustard seeds, channa dhal, ginger and green chillis. Add the salt, some more of the oil and the sliced onion. Cook until the onion is transparent.
Toss them well and then add the rest of the oil.
Reduce the heat to medium and drop the cubed bread pieces.
Cook them together tossing them well until the breads absorb the flavours. Sprinkle a teaspoon or two of water at intervals to make it moist.
Turn and toss gently so as to not break the bread or cook it to a mash.
The bread will just about get moist and combine well.

Take it off the heat and transfer to a serving dish.
Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves.
Serve warm with hot coffee.

Beetroot Chappathi

A throwback from the past, on beetroots, is having a glass of beet juice. I used to live with my uncle and aunt for a few years. Every time that she cooked beetroot, she would reserve the cooking liquid and have me drink it. I am sure I drank it without much ado though I am not able to recall that I relished it then. However, beetroot has otherwise been among other favourite vegetables that I choose to cook it often.
 At home we cook it dry in poriyal, in the form of kootu with some legumes, pacchidi and even beetroot rice. I had on a whim tried adding left over beetroot kari to the grinding batter and have made beetroot pesarattu also. The beetroot with tomato soup is another dish we relished much.
Given that these are such versatile vegetables, it was not surprising when my daughter sent me photographs of beetroot chappathis she made one night for dinner. She has been urging me since to post it here. I was sifting through the pictures folders and her colourful pictures just popped on the screen and here I am hoping to do justice  by posting.
You do not have to meticulously measure out ingredients and for most of us who make chappathis regularly it is all eye ball measures. Still I think that it is good to be a bit precise and am putting down a list of ingredients and a preparation.
Beetroot Chappathi

Makes 8 chappathis
Ingredients:
250 ml/ 1cup whole wheat flour
1/3teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ghee/ sesame oil
1 slightly large beetroot to make 1/3 cup of puree
1 &1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
Water as required to mix the dough
More flour for dusting
Ghee/ Oil to cook

Method:
Wash the beetroot and peel. Boil it in water until soft enough and puree adding the chilli powder and salt to a smooth texture. Add just small quantities of water to grind lest it is too runny.
Take the flour in a large bowl and mix the 2 teaspoons of ghee or oil.
Add the puree to the flour mixing it  to a dough which is pliable and smooth. If required add flour or some water to achieve this.
Make a ball of the dough, apply a little oil so as to not let it dry on the surface.  Place the dough in a bowl and rest it for about 30 minutes.
Take out the dough and divide in 8 equal parts. Roll each in a ball.

Have some flour in a flat plate to use for dusting while rolling out the chappathis.
Work on one portion at a time while keeping the rest of the portions covered.
Flatten and roll the ball out in  chappathis that are neither too thin not thick.

If you work quickly, you might roll all of the  dough and then cook the chappathis on a griddle.
If you are making more numbers, it will be good to pause the rolling to cook the ones that are ready. Leaving the dough to dry may not result in soft chappathis.
Heat a heavy griddle and place one chappathi on it. Cook on one side until small spots appear. Flip it over and the steam within will puff the chappathi.
Cook until both sides are done well.
Remove and transfer to a serving dish.
Brush some ghee on the surface.
Work with the rest of them similarly and stack up in the serving dish.
Serve warm with any gravy of your choice.

Beetroot and Roasted Tomato Soup

I had signed up for the 30 Days to Better Photos course conducted by Learn Food Photography Blog. For the duration of the course, we were given assignments on various aspects of food photography. It was required that we pay attention to the food we were to photograph, think about showcasing it as we visualise the food and so on. I had wanted to make a soup and photograph for one such exercise.
Earlier I had seen a few images of  beetroot soup on pinterest and wanted to have a go at the soup for it looked so colourful with nicely set up backgrounds in all of those photographs. I had also read somewhere that to give a good deep colour to your tomato soup all you need to do is add a little beetroot to the tomatoes. Now, if such a colour was possible, I wanted a more pink looking soup; thus I decided to make beetroot soup and add tomatoes to it for an extra tang. Now, if only I can roast those tomatoes with some herbs, would it not be a better idea, I thought and executed the same.
The result was a nice pink soup where the sweet of beets were balanced with the slightly sour tasting tomatoes and a hint of herbs in it.
In one of those many recipes I looked up, there was one which had some cheese added to the soup. While I do not relish cheese so much, I still wanted to give it a try. I only had some paneer/cottage cheese cubes on hand and thus used them. It was a good addition as it gave an added ingredinet soft to bite and chew as you sipped the soup.
Where I live the only seasons that change are summer, hotter summer and downpours that can open the skies up. So I have to make soup whenever I feel like as the weather is not going to change and throw some chillness to enjoy a warm soup.

Beetroot and Roasted Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
Serves two
3 medium large beetroots/ about 400 grams
5 large and plump tomatoes
1/2 of a whole garlic (about 5 cloves)
1/2 teaspoon mixed herbs of choice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 medium onion
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 teaspoons olive oil for rubbing over tomatoes
350 - 400 millilitres of water or stock if you can make
Salt to taste
6-8 cubes of paneer/ cottage cheese


Method:
Peel the beetroot and cut  them in small cubes.
Crush the garlic.
Halve the tomatoes and fill the crushed garlic and the herbs in these.
Rub the 2 teaspoons olive oil around the tomatoes, place them in a baking tray. Oven roast them in a pre heated 200 degrees C oven for half an hour.

Slice the onion thinly.

Place a pan on the stove, add the oil and toss the sliced onion until they are slightly transparent.
Add the beetroot and the water or stock. Cover and cook until the beetroots are tender.
Once the tomatoes are roasted, cool them and remove the skin.
Add the tomatoes to the cooking vegetables and cook for a further five minutes.adjust salt and the black pepper to taste.
Switch the heat off. Allow to cool and puree in a blender until smooth.
Adjust the level of liquid by adding some more water if necessary and pour it back into the pan. return the pan to the heat and cook until the desired consistency of soup is obtained.

Drop the cottage cheese cubes while the soup is thickening so they absorb the flavours and become tender.
Serve warm.

Mexican Cemita Buns - We Knead to Bake 30

This month we are baking an interesting bread again. It so happened that Aparna and Nandita had baked them for a project and shared the pictures on facebook. Some members of the We Knead to Bake group expressed their interest in baking them and so it was chosen for this month.

Aparna shares,

"Mexican Cemita Buns are used to make a sandwich which is very popular in the Puebla region of the country. There they make the Cemitas Poblana, which is a sandwich is filled with sliced avocado, meat, panela cheese or sometimes quesillo cheese, onions, a herb called pápalo and red sauce.

These buns may look like regular sesame topped burger buns but they’re nothing like it. The Cemita, which is the name given to the bread and the sandwich made with it, is made with a brioche-like enriched dough that has a crunchy outside but is soft inside.

Kenji Lopez-Alt whose recipe we have adapted, describes the Cemita as “sweet and savory flavor with a dense-yet-light crumb that can stand up to stacks and stacks of toppings without disintegrating or losing its tenderness". "

These buns are usually made with lard or butter, but Kenji Lopez-Alt used heavy cream for the same. I could only find Cooking Cream that has 30% fat where I live and thus used it. i also substituted for the two eggs with 1/2 cup extra milk. They turned out just as good, not using eggs did not affect the texture.
I proportioned the ingredients to 2/3rds of the below given recipe. So I made 4 buns that was quite a lot for just the two of us. We had them like pav with bhaji and again as sandwiches. They tasted great either way.

Mexican Cemita Buns

Adapted from  http://www.seriouseats.com/recipies/2015/05/cemitas-mexican-saseme-seed-sandwich-buns-recipe.html
Ingredients:
Makes 6 buns

2 & 1/2 to 3 cups all purpose flour ( I did not need all of the 3 cups, but a little more than 2&1/2 cups)

1/2 cup cream (I used 30% fat cooking cream)

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs (I substituted with 1/2 cup of milk)

1 teaspoon instant yeast

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 & 1/2 tablespoon sugar

A little milk for brushing on top of the buns

1/3 to 1/2 cup white sesame seeds

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Method:

The dough is quite sticky to handle, you may choose to knead by hand or with a machine.

Place 2 and 1/2 cups flour, salt, sugar, yeast, cream, milk and the eggs (the extra milk in my recipe) in a mixing bowl and knead to a dough that is sticky and somewhat difficult to handle. If the dough is too batter-like add extra flour. Try not to add too much flour. The dough is supposed to be sticky.

Knead in the processor just until the dough climbs the blades. If doing by hand, knead until a soft yet sticky dough that is not so difficult to handle.
Place the dough in a large bowl and cover it. The original recipe does not call for spraying the bowl with oil, but I lightly oiled the walls and turned the dough in the oil.Let it sit at room temperature for about 3 to 4 hours until it has risen to 1&1/2 times its initial volume.

Take the dough and turn it on to a floured work surface. Sprinkle some flour on the dough also so it is manageable. Lightly knead the dough and make it rope like. Divide this into 6 equal parts.

Roll each portion into a smooth rounded roll by stretching the top to make a smooth 'skin'.

Place the prepared rolls in a baking tray lined with parchment. Leave some space between each allowing them to expand while they are proofing.

Cover the buns and let them rise again at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour. They would have expanded quite a bit.

Brush the buns with milk and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds. Gently press the sesame seeds to stick well. sprinkle coarse sea salt on top.

Bake for 15 minutes in a pre-heated 230 degree C oven.
Cool on wire rack before storing/ serving.

They are soft, mildly sweet and salty from the sprinkling of salt. They make great sandwich buns.

While the above recipe makes 6 buns, I sized down the ingredients to make just 4.
A click away from here to Aparna's post will show you links to other members' posts. Please check them out too.