Clicking Beans, Gougère/Cheese Puffs

Clicking Matki beans today for my entry to "Click-Beans and Lentils" which JaiBee of "Jugalbandi" blog are hosting this month. Thank you Jugs and all the judges too!:)




About Matki beans:
These cute beans might be the smallest of all beans as far as I know! Soaked and cooked Matki beans are usually used in Maharashtrian Usal to make a spicy dish called Misal. I love the taste and loved to eat Misal when I was in college in a small local restaurant for lunch almost three times a week! Here is the recipe for Matki Pulao I made along with a photo of Matki beans, dry and soaked!:)

Matki beans Pulao:

Camera: Sony Cyber-Shot 4.1Megapixels

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I am making a delicious French appetizer called Gougère to serve with red Wine for Mansi from "Fun and Food" blog's party, who is guest hosting "Monthly Mingle" with the theme of "Appetizers" this month. "Monthly Mingle" event is initiated by Meeta of "What's for lunch, Honey?" blog. Thanks to both of you, enjoy these yummies!:)


Gougère or Cheese Puffs:
Gougère are pronounced as Goozhair in French (say it in French accent please! :D) and also called Cheese Puffs in England. They are fluffy round balls made from a very thick batter called pâte à choux or cheese puff dough or thick batter and usually served with Wine at parties. If you make just the basic dough, you can add sugar and essence, bake these as sweet cream puffs, eclairs etc. and stuff with chocolate ganache or vanilla butter cream. The addition of grated cheese, herbs, spices etc transforms these into savory Gougères. Grated Swiss Gruyere cheese is usually used to make these but I added sharp white Cheddar and few spices to make it yummier!:)

This Recipe for Gougère comes from French chef Jacques Pépin , with my additions of garlic pd, parsley and Chilli flakes. Enjoy!

Red Wine with Gougère/Cheese puffs:
I know some of you are going to ask what kind of Wine did I serve with! :D
Any red Wine will go very nicely with spicy Gougère and white Wine is served with sweet Gougères! This particular red Wine is called "Old Vine Zin"(Lodi Zinfandel of California), a product of "Gnarly Head". It's a dry red Wine and tastes wonderful with warm and spicy Gougères!

Gougère piled up, grab a few! :D
Kids ate them like crazy and we parents enjoyed these with red wine! You can reheat them at 350F for 10 mins in the oven, if there are any left overs. I remember Iyengar Bakery sweet cream Éclairs in Bangalore I used to love, will make that next time! :))

Inside story!!
It should look like this inside after you bake. Fluffy with big holes and crunchy cheesy outside. Make sure the batter/dough is just warm or cold before you add Eggs to mix.

How to make them:
You don't have to use piping bag. After the initial try, I just used a spoon to scoop and drop puff batter on the baking sheet, lot easier!

You need:
1 cup milk or cream,
4 tbsp unsalted butter(1/2 stick),
1/2 tsp salt,
1/2 tsp garlic pd,
1/4 tsp or more chilli flakes,
1 tsp dry Parsley,
Pinch of cayenne pepper,
1 cup all-purpose flour,
3 large eggs,
1/8 teaspoon paprika,
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese,
1 cup grated white Cheddar cheese or any hard cheese you like,
Save some Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top.

To bake them:
1. Bring the milk,butter,salt,garlic pd, chilli flakes,parsley and cayenne to a boil in a saucepan.
2. Remove from the heat, add all the flour and mix well with a wooden spatula until it's well mixed. Put it back on the heat, keep mixing until you get a lump and dough is not very soft.
3. Take it off put it in a bowl or blender/mixer, let the dough cool before adding eggs, or they will become scrambled in the hot dough.

Preheat the oven to 375F, prepare the baking sheet by spraying no-stick oil or line with parchment paper.

4. When the batter is cooled, start the mixer on low or mix in a bowl by hand. Add 1 egg at a time, mix until well mixed, use all the eggs this way, add in Paprika too. Now mix in both the grated cheeses and mix well with a spatula gently.
5. With a spoon or 1 tbsp cookie dough scooper or with piping bag, drop 1 1/2 tbsp of thick batter on the baking sheet 2" apart in a round shape, don't press it down.
6. Sprinkle the top with grated Parmesan cheese lightly and bake for about 25-30mins or until the top becomes golden.
Don't take them out of the oven too early, they all collapse instead of staying puffy! Don't let them burn either, burnt cheese doesn't taste that great!
7. Take them out on a cooling rack and serve warm or reheat for a short time before serving.

Enjoy, see you all next week. Have a peaceful weekend!:)