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A ‘locavore’, ‘bake-o-holic’ and ‘absolut’ baker all mirror who Deeba Palraj is, and her reflection is a myriad of gorgeous dessets. We’re talking about Mini Dark Chocolate Cheecakes Topped with Fresh Strawberries, Ginger Bread ‘Garam Masala’ Houses and Fresh Fruit Granola Pairfaits. Her mastery of these desserts is only paralleled by her photographic portrayal of these stellar delactables.
We’re warning you though, the combination of baker and food stylist is a dangerous one. Lucky for you Deeba’s current favourite hashtag is “#makehalfyourgrainswhole”, so at least her dishes show some mercy to your waistline.
The mantra behind Deeba’s success as a food blogger is, ‘bake from scratch and bake with whole foods,’ a trend Deeba exhibits in all her creations. She’s a staunch supporter of the veritable fact, healthly food can be bloody delicious as well (we might be paraphrasing a bit, but you get the gist). However, Deeba believes it’s a two-way street when it comes to taste and presentation, saying, “visual appeal holds as much significance as healthy and delectable food.” And even though her magnum opus as a baker is undoubtedly one of her sweeter creations, Deeba has not pigeonholed her creativity just in desserts.
She uses any idea that grabs her fancy as a springboard of creativity, also producing stellar entrees, like, Cheesy Chicken Pot Pies and Lamb Chops with Red Wine. Nevetheless, the aformentioned creations of Deeba’s require quite a bit of dedication; that’s why we decided to choose a snack of hers that’ll please both novice and veteran cooks alike, Deeba’s Creamy Garlic Dip and Seedy Buckwheat Crackers. This creation is a great way to get your protein fix of the day and works as an everyday healthy nibble, party feature or even a lunch box snack.
Servings 6-8 people (Prep 5 minutes)
Ingredients: Creamy Garlic Dip
200ml Mother Dairy Cream
400g store bought yogurt
2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
1tsp Himalayan rock salt {to taste}
1 small bunch fresh coriander leaves
1-2 green/red chili
2-3 garlic cloves
3-4 garlic greens
Seedy wholegrain buckwheat crackers
100g sunflower seeds/kernels {Divided 65g+35g}
35g almond meal
20g flax seeds
15g white sesame
15g black sesame
1tsp smoked sea salt
40g buckwheat flour
200g wholewheat flour {aata}
40g clarified butter/ghee
10ml honey
125 Water
Instructions: Creamy Garlic Dip
1. Whisk the cream + yogurt + olive oil + salt + lime juice until smooth.
2. Finely chop remaining ingredients including the stalks of the coriander and greens of the green garlic.
3. Stir in.
4. Taste & adjust seasoning.
5. Tip: Use as a dip, on crackers, on canapes, in a roll, as a marinade.
Instructions: Seedy wholegrain buckwheat crackers
1. In the bowl of a food processor, grind together 65g sunflower seeds, almond meal, flax seeds, white & black sesame seeds.
2. Add the smoked sea salt, buckwheat flour and wholewheat flour. Stir to mix, followed by the clarified butter. Mix again on high speed to distribute the fat evenly.
3. Add the additional 35g sunflower seeds and stir to mix {low speed}.
4. Stir the honey into the water, and slowly drizzle in enough to make a stiff yet pliable dough. Add more if required. {All flours have a different absorption capacity. If the dough is soft, add a tbsp or two of buckwheat flour}.
5. Allow the dough to rest covered for a bit while you preheat the oven.
6. Divide the dough into 4. Roll out one portion as thin as possible between 2 sheets of parchment paper.
7. You can either cut into shapes using a pastry wheel/pizza cutter/knife, or leave it as one whole and roughly break it up. Alternatively, you could stamp out into fluted round shapes with a cookie cutter, and bake into tiny bite sized canape shells. I used the KitchenAid mini pie tray for some.
8. Bake until they feel firm and begin to colour. Keep an eye on them after 20 minutes as they can colour and burn pretty quick.
9. Cool completely on cookie racks, and store in an airtight container
