Thursday, December 26, 2013

Mushroom Pepper Masala

Quickfix for instant gratification of taste buds.What you need is

Onions /bell pepper squared as below and a split green chilli.
Take some maida. mix in red chilli powder and salt. now coat Quarter button mushrooms in this dry mixture and remove the excess. deep fry and keep aside . It should look as below.

Heat oil in a pan add the split green chili.Add onions and stir for a min or 2 . Add in capcicum
saute for another 2 min and finally add mushroom along with salt,cracked black pepper. Saute for another min.
add 1 table spoon mix of light soy and chili sauce.Serve immediately.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Kadahi Paneer - in a Jiffy

Well this time the cook didn’t turn-up and I wanted to make something very special looking without making a lot of effort for our lunch.

And I cooked up Kadahi Paneer My version..  With phulkas to go


For Dry grind you need

Coriander seeds - 3 tablespoon
Black peppercorns - 1 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds - 2 teaspoons
Dry Red Chilies - 2 or 3

Dry Roast all Spices and Grind them. Keep Aside


This will give quantity enough for 3 to 4 batches serving 2 people.


Vegetables:
Green Capsicum deseeded and cut in cubes - 1 cup
Onions - 1 roughly chopped
Tomatoes - 1 roughly chopped
Cubed Paneer - 1 cup
Dry Grind Masala - 1 tablespoon
Kashmiri lal mirch and Salt to taste.



Heat Oil in a pan. Add few cumin seeds and let it splutter.
Add onion and sauté till golden brown.

Add tomatoes and sauté for 1 min

Add the dry grind Masala
Add Kashmiri Red chili powder, Salt and turmeric. Now sauté the gravy till oil separates.
Stir in Capsicum and Cook for 1 min with lid

Add Paneer and stir very lightly. Put the lid on.

Remove the lid and add enough water so that everything comes together.


Remove off the gas. Serve with Steamed rice or simple phulkas


Instant Green Chilli Pickle


What does one do when one has to eat bland aloo /Bhindi and routine arhar dal.

Well Saturdays are meant to be Spicy.....
Hmmm...good old pickle is one option, but oil in the old pickle bottle just put me off.

I had these green chilies cut and kept in the refrigerator, one look at them and Instant Chili pickle was what I wanted to make with less oil of course

Here we are. I took all spices in proportion I thought I wanted in the pickle. Since this is an instant pickle I could experiment with that.

Mustard seeds powder - 2 tablespoons
Fennel Powder - 4 tablespoon
Mustard daal - 11/2 tablespoons
Dry Mango powder - 2 teaspoons
Lemon juice - 4 table spoons
Mustard oil - 3 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Fennel seeds – 1 ½ teaspoons
Fenugreek seeds – 1 ½ teaspoons
Asafetida – 4 pinches
Green chilies - 100 grams cut into chunky pieces

Here is what I did:
Add salt to green chilies and keep aside.

Mix all dry spices and roast till a light aroma comes

Take off flame and keep aside for 5-7 minutes
Add this spice mix to chilies and salt mixture.

Heat Mustard oil in a pan and add fenugreek and fennel seeds, allow spluttering. Add asafetida
Take off the flame
Add some Kashmiri Red Chili Powder. (This is only for color)

Put this tadka on the chilies mixed with spices

Finally add Lemon juice.

Leave this for a day. I had it with hot rotis immediately
Pickle Ready to serve.


Sunday, September 22, 2013

Food Food and More Food : Apple cookies

Food Food and More Food : Apple cookies: Sometimes I end up buying things that I don't like...one of such things is apples. I hate raw apple and stewed apples are so b...

Apple cookies


Sometimes I end up buying things that I don't like...one of such things is apples. I hate raw apple and stewed apples are so boring. I had some 6 apples at home. Didn’t want to throw them away or I want to juice them... How to use them was a big question. So my friend suggested Apple cookies. Here is to you Prachi!!


Here is what you need:
  • ¾ cup grated Apple 
  • 1 cups All-Purpose Flour 
  • 1/3 cup light brown Sugar 
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 tablespoon ground almond
  • 1/4 cup corn flour
And here is how you go about what to do with ingredients
  • Combine all ingredients into a smooth dough
  • Roll out the dough to 1/2" thickness.
  • Cut the cookies into desired shape
  • preheat the oven at 200 degrees C for 8 mins
  • Bake the cookies for about 10-12 mins at 190 degrees till they are just cooked or golden brown
 


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Banana cake




So What do you do when you have very ripe bananas and no one is willing to finish them off??? I wondered and wondered. Didn't want to indulge in cake and stuff but then came across a recipe which used less oil and less sugar. hmmmmm.....Interesting :-)

So I set myself up for not more then 8 mins for this job and voila the result is below. Of Course it doesn't include the baking time.




What you need is a cup of All Purpose flour i e maida, 1 tbsp  olive oil,3 very ripe bananas,demerara sugar about 1/4 cup or as sweet as you like, 1 heaped tsp of baking powder and 2 small pinches of baking soda

Sieve APF,Baking powder and soda twice. Setup your blender, put sugar,oil, peeled bananas all in the blender. Blend for 3-4 mins or till the mixture is very fluffy.To this fluffy mixture add the dry ingredients in batches. I did 2 batch and keep whipping.

Mixture has to be smooth and pouring consistency. Add milk if need be and blend.

In the meantime preheat the oven for 10 mins at 200 degrees.
Prepare the cake tin.

Add the mixture to prepared tin and bake for about 20 mins at 190 degrees. Result will be as below:




Not glamorous enough? dust it with icing sugar.



Better now? gorge on gorgeous guitfree :-)

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Amul Khandvi


Amul Khandvi:

Ingredients:
1. Amul Masti butter milk - 2.5 cups
2. Gram flour /Besan - 1 cup
3. ginger/green chili paste - 2 tsps
4. Salt to taste
5. Lemon juice to taste
6. Coriander for garnish

For tempering:
1. Oil - 1 tbsp
2. Mustard seeds - 2 tsps
3. Cumin seeds - 2 tsps
4. Asafetida – 2 pinches







Preparation
  •    Mix Besan, Buttermilk, ginger&green chili paste, salt, lime juice.
  •    Ensure there are no lumps in the batter. This will be a very runny.
  •   ]Take a Wok. Add 1 tsp of oil. Add the batter prepared above
  •    Turn the heat on.
  •    Stir continuously till the mixture thickens and starts leaving side.
  •    Turn the heat to lowest.
  •    Take 2 medium ladles full of the thickened batter and spread on the prepared tins.
  •     Spread as thin as possible and allow to cool
  •     Cut long strips of the spread batter on the plate
  •     Roll the stripes in Khandvi shape







Tempering:

  • Heat oil in the tadka pan
  • Add mustard seeds. Allow to splutter completely
  • Add cumin seeds. Allow to turn light brown
  • Add asafetida



Now spread this seasoning evenly on the khandvis. Top with chopped green coriander







Sunday, March 10, 2013

Garlic Sauteed Broccoli and Carrot

Garlic Sauteed Broccoli and  Carrot 


Garlic Sauteed Broccoli and Carrot
 Ingredients:
  • Fresh Broccoli florets : 150 grams
  • Carrots cut in long bites and parboiled:100 grams
  • Garlic Cloves: 5
  • Olive oil : 1tsp
Preparation:
  • Heat oil in a Wok
  • Crush the garlic clove roughly(I used a rolling pin to do this)
  • Add this to the medium hot oil. Saute for 20 secs
  • Add the veggies and put the flame to high.
  • Cover for 3-4 secs and stir.Do this twice
  • turn off the heat and the veggies be covered for 2 mins
  • Remove into a bowl and cover with regular grated cheese.
  • Microwave for 1 min.
  • Serve and/or eat immediately
You can see from the pic i couldn't wait to grate or wait for cheese to melt.Believe me  it is equally delicious even without cheese

Chickpea Sprouts,Spinach and Cucumber Salad

Chickpea sprouts, Spinach and Cucumber salad:


Chickpea Sprouts,Spinach and Cucumber Salad


Ingredients:

For Dressing:
  • Dijon mustard - 5tsp
  • honey -3 tsp
  • Lemon juice -1.5tbsp
  • Olive Oil - 1.5  tablespoon
  • Salt ,pepper - to taste
  For Salad:
  •  Chickpea sprouts (pressure cooked for 1 Whistle- 100 grams
  •  Spinach  shredded roughly - 1 bunch (or more if you like)
  •  European cucumber thinly sliced - 1 cup


Preparation:
1. Mix all the ingredients for dressing and whisk till oil is mixed properly with all ingredients
2. In the salad bowl, mix the chickpeas,spinach and cucumber and cover with cling film
3. Refrigerate for 20 minutes
3. Add the dressing to above ingredients.
4. Add pepper to taste and mix well
5. Add salt to taste and serve

I am not a big fan of spinach and idea of eating it raw was even more appalling somehow this combination works .Try and tell me how you liked it.

Charred Capsicum and feta cheese salad

Charred Capsicum and feta cheese salad

Charred Bell peppers and Feta Salad

Ingredients:

For dressing:
  • Lemon juice - 1tbsp
  • Olive oil - 1/2tbsp
  • Salt - to taste
  • black pepper - to taste
For Salad:
  • Charred red pepper (peeled and diced) - 1 cup
  • Charred yellow peppers( (peeled and diced) - 1 cup
  • Chilled ice berg lettuce (torn in bite size pieces) - 2handfuls
  • Feta cheese crumbs - to your liking
Preparation:
1. Mix all ingredients of the dressing
2. Put all ingredients of the salad excluding the lettuce
3. Put the salad ingredients under microwave for 15 secs
4. Take the salad out of microwave. Add and dressing and mix.
5. Mix the chilled crisp lettuce and serve immediately.

I specially like the warm and chilled combination of charred capsicum and chilled crunch of lettuce.Make sure you preserve both when you are ready to serve to enjoy most.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Singhare ka thalipith

Vrat ka khana: Water chestnut flour Rotis with green chutney














Ingredients:

  • 100 gms Water-chestnut flour
  • 1 Peeled and grated potato 
  • green chillies finely chopped
  • ground roasted peanut
  • chopped coriander 
  • rock salt 
  • Red chili powder 
Preparation

  • Mix all ingredients together
  • Add enough water such that dough is of dropping consistency.should be similar to a soft cookie dough
  • Take a handful of dough
  • Put the dough on mildly heated tawa
  • Take some water in your hand and spread the dough directly on tawa.
  • Spread it as thin as you can but make sure its easy for you to turn and maneuver the spread roti.
  • Sprinkle some oil on the roti.
  • Cover with glass lid for 1 min
  • Remove the glass lid and change the side..
  • Brush some oil /ghee again 
  • Cover with a glass lid.
  • Repeat above steps one more time for already cooked side of the roti. This will make it extra crisp

Split green gram fritters ( the Moong daal bhajiyas)

Split green gram fritters ( the Mung daal bhajiyas)













Ingredients:
  • Split green gram soaked for 2-3 hours - 2 cups (all water should be drained)
  • 1 red onion finely chopped
  • 10 cloves of garlic coarsely chopped
  • 2 green chillies finely chopped
  • 1 small bunch of coriander finely chopped
  • 1 -1/2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1-1/2 tsp cumin seeds


Preparation
  • Grind the soaked mung dal fine adding 1 tbsp of water if needed
  • Add all the chopped ingredients
  • Add the fennel and cumin seeds
  • Add salt and red chili powder to taste.
  • Mix everything together 
  • Heat oil in a wok for deep frying
  • Spoon the mixture into the oil by using a tablespoon or teaspoon depending on the desired size of fritter
  • Remove when golden brown
  • Serve hot with sauce  and /or coriander chutney