Food Additives - Leavening Agents

Doughs and batters if not of the required texture can lead to making and baking of worse breads. Must have observed at home how chapathi dough when too hard produces a dry rough chapathi and when too soft it is a sticky mass of mess. So, for these doughs and batters to rise and form a required texture, a leavening agent is required. In the presence of moisture, heat, acidity, or other triggers the leavening agent reacts to produce gas (often carbon dioxide) that becomes trapped as bubbles within the dough. When a dough or batter is baked, it “sets” and the holes left by the gas bubbles remain. This is what gives breads, cakes, and other baked goods their soft, sponge-like textures.

The alternative or supplement to leavening agents is mechanical leavening by which air is incorporated by mechanical means. Remember? the proper mixing of cake batters and kneading of dough. Most leavening agents are synthetic chemical compounds, but carbon dioxide can also be produced by biological agents. 

Biological Agents	Chemical Agents	Other Leaveners
Saccharomyces cerevisiae producing Carbon dioxide found in: Baker’s yeast Beer (unpasteurized – live yeast) Buttermilk Ginger bread Sourdough Starter Clostridium perfringens producing hydrogen found in salt-rising bread	Chemical leaveners are mixtures or compounds that release gases (usually carbon dioxide) when they react with each other, with moisture, or with heat. Most are based on a combination of acid and a salt of bicarbonate. After they act, these compounds leave behind a chemical salt. Chemical leaveners are used in quick breads and cakes, as well as cookies and numerous other applications where a long biological fermentation is impractical or undesirable.	Steam and air are used as leavening agents when they expand upon heating. To take advantage of this style of leavening, the baking must be done at high enough temperatures to flash the water to steam, with a batter that is capable of holding the steam in until set.

Creaming is the process of beating sugar crystals and solid fat (typically butter) together in a mixer. This integrates tiny air bubbles into the mixture, since the sugar crystals physically cut through the structure of the fat. Creamed mixtures are usually further leavened by a chemical leavener like baking soda. This is often used in cookies.

Using a whisk on certain liquids, notably cream or egg whites can also create foams through mechanical action. This is the method employed in the making of sponge cakes, where an egg protein matrix produced by vigorous whipping provides almost all the structure of the finished product.

 Below are leavening agents found in a variety of foods:

There are foods or ingredients not leavened, although they are mistaken for leavening or leavened food:

Puffed cereals:  Some food products are “puffed up” by mechanical means.  They are just puffed up by air and are not chemically leavened.  They include: popcorn, beaten eggs, and air puffed cereal like puffed rice or wheat. 

Brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae): is inactive yeast, meaning the yeasts have been killed and have no leavening power. It is the yeast remaining after beer making. It is used as a nutrient supplement to increase the intake of B vitamins.

Yeast extract, autolyzed yeast extract: When yeast cells die, they automatically break up, a process called autolysis in which the yeasts’ digestive enzymes break their proteins down into simpler compounds. What remains is a collection of protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, and monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer.

Post by Faiz Lahori

Goda Appo/Sweet Dosa

Call it sweet dosa or rice pancakes or whatever. It’s a bit of this and that. It ferments like a dosa and ingredients like rice and fenugreek go into it.  And just like a pancake, eggs go into it. The name goda appo comes from “Gud” that is jaggery and appo, you might know it as “appam”. Crisp from outside and soft on the inside. Spread a tiny bit of ghee and sprinkle sugar and you have a healthy breakfast ready.

This recipe gives 20 medium-small dosas. Each dosa serves approximately 80 calories.

Here is what you’ll need:

1 cup dosa/white rice

½ cup parboiled rice

1 cup regular basmati cooked

1 tsp fenugreek seeds (Methi seeds)

¼ cup  size tightly packed jaggery

3 eggs

¼ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Method:

1. Soak the white rice and parboiled rice for 3 hours along with the fenugreek seeds.
2. Melt the jaggery in ¼ cup water by boiling on low heat.
3. In a blender, finely grind the two types of rice, fenugreek, and cooked basmati rice along with jaggery. Use ¾ cup of water to help grind.
4. Let the batter ferment overnight or for 12-14 hours.
5. Before preparing, whisk in 3 eggs along with salt and baking powder. Whisk to form a smooth uniform batter.
6. Heat a non-stick tawa. Once the tawa is well heated scoop and spread out ½ - ¾ cup of batter and spread it like a regular dosa.
7. Cook for a couple minutes till the base browns and
8. Sprinkle sugar and serve hot.

Recipe by Zohra Sada

Food Additives - Firming Agents

As the name suggests, “Firming agents” are the substances which bring about firming action in food and gives it a firm structure. These are food additives added in order to precipitate residual pectin. It thus strengthens the structure of the food and prevents its collapse during processing.

Firming agents are used in food and beverage applications to give a product consistency in texture, shelf life and strength by improved binding ability.

Firming agents are used in various types of processed foods. Some of these food products are processed or canned vegetables and fruits. Firming agents are also used in certain types of cheese. Firming agents can also be used in fish products.

Typical firming agents which are used in different types of food are:

Additive	Permitted in or Upon
Aluminum Sulphate	Canned crabmeat, lobster, salmon, shrimp and tuna; Pickles and relishes
Ammonium Sulphate	Pickles and relishes
Calcium Chloride	Canned apples, Canned grapefruit, Cheddar cheese, Cottage cheese, Glaze for frozen fish, Olives, Pickles and relishes, Canned Tomatoes, Canned apricots, Frozen apples
Calcium Citrate	Canned vegetables, Canned apples, Frozen apples
Calcium Lactate	Canned grapefruit, Canned peas
Calcium Phosphate, monobasic	Canned Tomatoes, Canned apples, Frozen Apples
Calcium Sulphate	Canned Tomatoes, Canned apples, Frozen Apples
Potassium Aluminum Sulphate	Pickles and relishes, Sea urchin roe
Sodium Aluminum Sulphate	Pickles and relishes

Post by Faiz Lahori

Creamy Red Sauce Pasta

Yummy Italian pasta with the Indian chilli spice. I don’t care what views you have on mixing Indian flavours with Italian, but this pasta was Uh-ma-zing! Like really. Skip the chicken if you want, add some chopped carrots and peas. Plus or minus. This bowl of pasta was just too good and it is super simple.

This recipe serves 4 people with 250 calories approximately. SKIP the cheese for low fat pasta giving approximately 193 calories per serving.

Here is what you’ll need:

2 cups pasta fusilli/penne

1 cup minced chicken (optional)

1 medium onion

1 large red tomato

2 tbsp tomato paste

5 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs

1 tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp black pepper powder

1/8^th cube of stock

2 tbsp cheddar cream cheese (or any other type)

Salt to taste

 Method:

1. In a large pot, bring salted water to a rolling boil and cook the pasta till al dente or firm to the bite.
2. Drain the pasta and wash it with cold water to stop further cooking.
3. In a large pot, heat the olive oil and fry the finely grated garlic till brown.
4. Add the super finely chopped onion to the oil and sauté in medium flame.
5. Meanwhile, blanch the whole tomato in hot water, peel off the skin and puree it.
6. Add the chicken mince to onions along with salt and stock.
7. Add the pureed tomato and cook the chicken in the sauce.
8. Add the tomato paste and ketchup.
9. Sprinkle the oregano and mixed Italian herbs along with red chili powder and black pepper.
10. Once the tomato sauce is prepared, add the cooked pasta and mix well.
11. Mix in the cheese along with a couple of tbsp of water and stir till all the pasta is coated well.
12. Serve hot with olives.

Recipe by Zohra Sada

Food Additives - Emulsifiers

Experiments in school and accidental discoveries at home have always taught us that oil and water do not mix. Oil floats on water. With years of growth and knowledge now we know that oil and water can form emulsions with the help of chemical substances called emulsifiers which acts to mix oil and water and form a homogeneous mixture.

An emulsifier is a molecule with one oil-loving and one water-loving end. Water loving end in food emulsifier is called hydrophilic tail and oil-loving end is called hydrophobic head. Food emulsifiers are also called emulgents. To make oil-in-water emulsion, such as mayonnaise, droplets of oil molecules are surrounded by the oil-loving end of the emulsifier molecules. This leaves the water-loving ends on the outside of the droplet, and so they stay in water, giving a homogeneous liquid rather than an unappealing mixture of water and oily droplets. In mayonnaise, the emulsifier is the phospholipids present in egg yolks – they are such successful emulsifiers that as much as 80% oil can be dispersed in the aqueous phase.

Emulsions are crucial to the consistency of a number of foodstuffs. Nature is good at making emulsions, and the classic example is milk, where a complex mixture of fat droplets is suspended in an aqueous solution. Nature uses proteins and phospholipids, and many emulsifiers used in modern food production are based on these natural substances.

Emulsifiers are used in creams and sauces, bakery, and dairy products. They may be derived from the natural products or chemicals. Common emulsifiers are lecithins, mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids esters of monoglycerides of fatty acids and phosphated monoglycerides. 

Food emulsifiers make the food very appealing. Apart from this they impart the freshness and quality to the food. Natural food emulsifiers also prevent the growth of molds in food. 

Natural food emulsifiers are used in variety of foods. Some basic foods having food emulsifiers are: Biscuits, extruded snacks, cakes, soft drinks, toffees, frozen desserts, bread, margarine, coffee whitener, caramels etc.

Ice cream is another food that would not exist were it not for emulsifiers. It is both foam and an emulsion, and its texture results from the ice crystals and unfrozen water it contains. Emulsifiers are also important in bread and other baked products, where solid particles are dispersed in airy foam, are enhanced by emulsifiers.

The most frequently used raw materials for emulsifiers include palm oil, rapeseed oil, soy bean oil, sunflower oil or lard/tallow. Egg is the oldest emulsifier. Food drugs and cosmetics and pigment emulsions also require one or other kind of emulsifier. 

The emulsifiers that are used commercially come from both natural and synthetic sources include:

Emulsifiers	Note
Lecithins	These are mixtures of phospholipids and are usually extracted from sources such as egg yolk and soybeans. Uses include salad dressings, baked goods and chocolate.
Esters of mono-glycerides of fatty acids	These are made from natural fatty acids, glycerol and an organic acid such as acetic, citric, lactic or tartaric acid. The fatty acids are usually from a vegetable source, though animal fats can be used. Products that use them include ice cream, cakes and crisps.
Mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids	semi-synthetic emulsifiers made from glycerol and natural fatty acids, which can be from either plant or animal sources. They are used in products like breads, cakes and margarines.

Some emulsifiers also act as anti-caking agents like Magnesium Stearate, Sodium, potassium and calcium salts of fatty acids. Few others like Sorbitan monostearate are emulsifier as well as stabilizer.

Post by Faiz Lahori

Butter Chicken

Butter chicken is one of those popular dishes that has evolved over time. It’s one Indian cuisine recognized all over the world.

This recipe is no quick cheat method for your butter chicken. Though it does contain few not so authentic ingredients like ketchup, it tastes amazing and spot on perfect.

The first step is to make the tandoori chicken and the second step is to prepare the thick silky sauce.

If you want to cut down your calories and still want a yummy butter chicken, cut off the cashewnuts and cream thickener. Only yoghurt will work too.

An authentic recipe calls for more tomatoes, but since the tomatoes I use were on the sour side, I used a tbsp of tomato paste and tomato ketchup which gives a subtle sweetness.

This recipe serves 4 people and each serving gives 580 calories approximately.

Here is what you’ll need:

2 chicken breasts

1 large onion

1 large tomato

3 red chillies

1 bay leaf (Tej Patta)

1 cinnamon stick (Dalchini)

3 cardamoms (Elaichi)

3 cloves (Lavang)

½ tsp cumin seeds (Jeera)

½ tsp coriander seeds (Dhaniya Seeds)

5 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp ketchup

7-8 cashew nut (4-5)

2 tbsp fresh cream (optional)

2 tbsp yoghurt

1 tbsp kasuri methi

2 tbsp melted butter

For marination:

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

Salt as per taste

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp tandoori powder

Method:

1. Clean, wash the chicken and cut it into bite size pieces.
2. Marinate the chicken in salt, lemon juice, ginger garlic paste and tandoori masala. Rest it for 1 hour.
3. Once the chicken is marinated, grill it in the oven for 20 minutes or till cooked. Alternatively cook it on stove top till all the moisture evaporates.
4. In a kadai, heat the butter and fry the cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaves along with cumin, coriander seeds and cashew nuts till fragrant.
5. Finely chop the ginger and garlic and add it to the spices along with red chili.
6. Add the sliced onions to the butter and sauté the onions on low heat till softened.
7. Once the onions sweat and reduce, add the chopped tomato and cook further for 5 minutes.
8. Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder and red chili powder and switch off the flame.
9. Once this mixture cools downs, puree it finely into a thick paste in a grinder. Add half a cup of water if required.
10. Put this mixture back into the kadai, and mix in the tomato paste and ketchup.
11. Whip in the yoghurt and fresh cream and stir well till the sauce thickens.
12. Add the cooked chicken tandoori pieces and mix.
13. Crush the kasuri methi between your palms and add to the butter chicken.
14. Serve hot with tandoori roti or naan.

Recipe by Zohra Sada