Mustard chicken

Hello girlies..

 

Havent contributed to the blog in a long time!  This recipe came about when I was trying to copy a friend's chicken curry.  Trying to figure out the tastes in her curry this new taste just emerged and both Pudy and I really enjoy it now.. make it almost every weekend!!

 

So here it is:

 

Chicken marinade - We use chicken legs and get our butcher to take the skin off and chop then in small pieces.  We use about 3 chicken legs this means we have some left overs for next day too.  Yes we only cook once for the weekend.. hehehe.  Having the chicken with bone also adds to the flavour.  Anyway marinade the chicken pieces in:

• mustard oil (about 2-3 tbsp)
• lime juice (half lime)
• coriander powder
• garam masala
• red chilli powder
• chopped up coriander stems

The chicken peices should feel like they are fully covered with the oil, lime juice and spices.

 

Then in a frying pan with a bit of oil, I fry till they are soft and cooked well:

• one red capsicum
• one onion
• two tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tamato puree

Add some curry powder to this mixture.  Once cooked, cool it down a bit and blend it all in a blender.  Now in the same pan (which should still be a little oily) add cumin seeds, ginger and garlic paste.  Once cooked add the blended curry mixture.  Add water to this to your liking.  When the mixture comes to boil add the chicken pieces.  Let it cook through and towards the end add some nigella seeds.  these give a really nice flavour.  Remember though they have a very strong flavour, sort of like fennel but much stronger. so a little goes a long way.

 

Thats it! Add chopped coriander as garnish.. oh! and once you serve it with rice, squeeze a bit of lime over it.  Its yummy!!

 

Enjoy! :)

 

Spicy Gingery Chicken

This blog has been sleeping for way too long so thought I'd give it a bit of a wake up call

Made a random chicken dish yesterday that though simple turned out surprisingly well

Marinate about 1 pound of chicken (cut into average sized pieces) with 1.5 tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 crushed green chilli, 1.5 tsp ginger garlic paste, 1 tbsp corn flour and salt

Leave it for about an hour.

In a pan heat some oil. Once the oil is hot add the chicken (it should sizzle so a crust forms). Once all sides of the chicken has browned, turn down the heat, cover the pan and let it cook. Once the chicken is cooked, take it out of the pan. In the same pan fry 1 finely chopped onion (you can add more oil if you like but the pan should be greased enough), once the onion is translucent, add about 1 tbsp of finely chopped fresh ginger. Let the onion brown a little. Then add a couple of table spoons of soy sauce, a squeeze of lemon juice and 2 tsp of brown sugar. Mix it all together and then add the cooked chicken in. Toss it around on low heat so the onions stick to the chicken and also become caramelized.

Saugar finished the whole pan so I think it turned out pretty good! ;)

Thai steamed fish with ginger

Hey again.. 

Just realised I also didn't share a steamed fish recipe.. Ram bought a steamer recently (as i mentioned, he's big on a healthy diet at the moment) so I wanted to make something really yummy with steamed fish.. so here goes. I used a steamer for this but I'm sure you can try it in a rice cooker (they usually give the holey container with the rice cooker right, u cud make this in that container when cooking rice) or some form of steaming contraption (like a pot full of water with a colander on top or something? )

Ingredients: 

2 small fish fillets (i guess you could try it with any fish, i used tilapia)

2 tbsp soy sauce

some sesame oil

green (spring) onions

coriander leaves and stems

red chillies

a lot of finely shredded ginger

salt

Method: 

- Wash the fillets and rub some salt into them

- Cut coriander stems and green onion stems into around 2'' long pieces

- Divide the ginger, coriander and green onions into 2 parts; place the first (use only coriander stems in this) part on the bottom of the plate/dish you're making the fish in

- put the fish on top, add the sauces

- put remaining ginger, coriander leaves, onions and chillies on top

steam for about 20mins.. 

It was so yummy! I could eat the ginger pieces too since they weren't really pungent or anything.. Totally addicted to this now. 

Carrot & Pineapple Cake with Walnuts

Hey girls, 

It's been way too long since I put in something useful for our blog so here goes the recipe for the cake I made for Ram's b'day. I basically hunted for a not-too-complicated recipe that was reasonably healthy too (Ram's big eating healthy at the moment) so found this recipe which, with a few changes, came out yummy! :)

Cake: 

2 cups granulated sugar (i used raw sugar)

11/3 cups veggie oil (i used olive)

3 XL eggs 

1tsp vanilla 

21/2 cups all purpose flour 

2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional, i didn't have any so didn't add any but tasted just fine)

2tsp baking soda

1/2tsp salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup finely diced fresh pineapple (guess you can try crushed tinned too?)

Frosting: 

50-60g cream cheese (i used fat-free, used half of a 113g pot) at room temperature

200g unsalted butter at room temperature

1tsp vanilla 

some finely diced pineapple (optional)

confectioners sugar (i added according to taste)

Directions:

- Butter up and set aside 2 x 8inch round cake tins, preheat oven to 300F

- Beat sugar, oil, eggs in a bowl till light yellow and add vanilla essence

- In a separate bowl, mix 21/2 cups flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt

- Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in batches

- Toss walnuts in a tablespoon of flour

- Fold in carrots and pineapple 

- Add walnuts to the batter and mix well 

- Divide the batter into the two pans, bake for 60min

Frosting

- Mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla until just combined.

- Add sugar and pineapple and mix till smooth

I used the frosting to layer the cake as well as as the final topping. Overall, it came out pretty yummy and didnt' taste overly sweet or anything. 

:)

Corn Chowder

Hello ladies
 
Okay so I know it's summer there but I just made the most awesome corn chowder and I had to share....
 
You need
2 medium sized onions chopped up
1 carrot chopped up
1-2 green chillies chopped up
1 teaspoon vege stock powder or 1 cube of vege stock
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 tin lite coconut milk
1 tin trim milk
 
In a little bit of olive oil put the onions garlic carrots all together and sautee them, then add green chillies and corn...sweat them off for a while then add the coconut milk and trim milk bring to a simmer and add the stock.  Add salt to taste and keep simmering until all veges are softened and fully cooked.
 
then put everything into a blender and blend till smooth.
 
Put back on the heat add a little bit of pepper and then add a small pinch of freshly chopped corriander before serving.
 
It's soo yummy and the trim milk and lite coconut milk actually make it quite healthy.
 
Give it a go and let me know what you think....
 
xoxoxox
Meeeeee :)

Chicken & Peanut noodles

Yesterday I made a stirfry that turned out quite a hit at home...and the whole thing took just half an hour and I just made it using whatever ingredients were at home. 

For the marinade:

2-3 tsp peanut butter

2 tsp lemon juice

1-2 tsp honey

2 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp crushed garlic

Rest of the ingredients:

About 1/2-3/4 pounds boneless-skinless chicken, cut into smallish pieces

1 packet noodles (i used japanese noodles but i dont think it makes any dif)

1-1.5 cups finely chopped veggies (i used capsicum, spring onions and corn)

3 cloves garlic

1 green chilli/jalapeno

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp corn flour

Handful of roasted peanuts, coarsely crushed

Marinate the chicken and leave it for a while (i think i left it for about an hour)

Once marinated add some cornflour into the mix (i did it because it looked too watery and i wanted the chicken to be dry but what it did was created a really nice crust to the chicken! discovery by accident)

Boil the noodles with some salt based on instructions on the noodle packet and drain.

In a pan add a bit of oil and let the oil get sizzle a bit before you drop the chicken in. If the oil is hot the outside of the chicken will brown nicely. Once it starts to get brown (shouldnt take more than 2-3 mins), turn the heat down and cook for another 7-8 mins till the chicken is cooked.

Take the chicken out. Add a bit more oil to the pan and put in the garlic and green chillis. After a couple of minutes add in the veggies (except green onion if you are using it). stir fry the veggies for a few mins till they are done to the way you like it. Add some soy sauce and mix it in. Add the cooked chicken and check for salt (i didnt need to add too much because of the soy sauce). If not spicy enough, add some more red pepper flakes. Finally mix in the noodles into the pan. Add the peanut powder and spring onions and mix them in. Shouldnt take more than 3 or 4 mins after that.

:)

Cherry Almond Cake

The blog has been a bit dormant lately so thought I'd kick start it...last weekend I was in the mood to bake but not in the mood to go grocery shopping so I had to improvise with what I had and it turned out pretty good!

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour

3 eggs

2 tbsp butter/margarine

1 cup milk

3/4 cup sugar (i used raw sugar)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup fresh cherries

1-2 tbsp almond slivers

Cream the butter a little with a fork so it's smooth. Add and beat in the eggs. Add the milk. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Fold in the dry mixture in the wet mixture. Pour into a baking dish. Cut the cherries into halves and remove the stones. Top the cake batter with the cherries and the almond slivers. Bake at 375F for 40 mins.

It was so simple and quick but definitely was good - especially warm with a bit of vanilla icecream :)

(On the same day Saugar made this roast lamb - which was un-freakin-believable. Probably the most tender lamb i've ever had...that recipe coming up :)

Creamiest Dal ever

So this was a completely flukey discovery I made a few weeks ago - and have since repeated it like 4 or 5 times because both me & Saugar love it. Made it this past weekend for my in-laws as well and they enjoyed it too.

 

I was about to make dal and instead of the usual toor dal I decided to use moong dal and added a new ingredient as a random experiment and it turned out brilliant.

 

In a pressure cooker cook a cup of moong dal (the yellow version) with whatever veggie you might want to add (optional). I usually add roughly chopped carrot or spinach. You only need to cook it for 1 whistle because moong dal cooks super fast.

 

In a pan fry some jeera, mustard and garlic with green chillies and curry leaves. Add half a cup of chopped onions and let them cook till light brown. Into the pan add the cooked dal. Once you mix in the onions and tadka into the dal properly, add a cup or so of soy milk (this was the random discovery...the dal had turned out too thick and instead of adding water I added soy milk). Add salt to taste. Turn the heat down and let it simmer slowly till you get the consistency you want.

 

My mother-in-law when she had this said she wouldn't mind taking it to work just by itself to eat as soup. It was just very creamy and comforting. Plus it's added protein!

 

Give it a try! :)

Loughborough Butter Chicken

Just saw the postings on the blog and realized there were none in April!! Slow month for experimental cooking??  Everyone must be busy with work/home etc..

 

Weekend before last when Prudy was here I had not seen him for two whole weeks, so decided to cook something VERY special and labour intensive.. I was meant to cook a homely chicken curry but when it was done it looked a lot like butter chicken :) So decided to call it Butter Chicken of Loughborough .. hehe.. 

 

 So I used thigh pieces and drumsticks for this.. would have used breasts but this was a special occasion so decided to indulge a little. In a bowl I mixed some mustard oil, chopped ginger, chopped garlic, lime juice and little corainder powder.  I marinated the chicken in this for a couple of hours.  After about 2-3 hours I applied a second marinade to the chicken.  In a pan with a tiny bit of oil I roasted whole garam masala (2-3 cloves, 4-5 peppercorns, cinnamon, bay leaf, black cardamom) and chopped/peeled almonds.  I crushed it all together, using a bowl and side of a belan :) then mixed it all in some plain yogurt, I also put in a bit of red chilli powder to this.  I coated the chicken pieces nicely in this marinade and leaved it for another 3-4 hours. This was done on a Friday and I was working from home so it worked out alright.. otherwise would have done it over night.

 

For the gravy, in a pan with oil I fried cumin seeds, chopped ginger/garlin and chopped onions and chopped green chillies till onions were translucent. I mixed a bit of coriander powder, garam masala, red chilli powder, salt in a bit of water and added to the pan. I also added 1 tsp of Shaan chicken curry powder not sure why I did that since all the masalas that were suppose to be in it I had already put in the chicken marinade or the pan... not sure if adding it made any difference.  Then added tomato puree (lots) to this mixture.  I then added just the chicken pieces from the marinade.  Once they were slightly cooked from the outside, I added the rest of the yogurt marinade, covered it with a lid and started cooking it on low heat.  Since the chicken pieces had a lot of oil and I had added some oil in my first marinade I didnt feel I needed to add any butter or cream, the yogurt already made it quite creamy as well. 

 

One tip that I saw on the net which I could have done as it sounded pretty cool.. was to make a small bowl out of aluminium foil and put inside it couple of small pieces of hot coal, you then float/place it in the cokking pot on top of the gravy while it is cooking and cover it.  It apparently gives a nice charcoaly flavour the the curry.  I will def try it next time.  My flatmates are into sheesha so there is always small pieces of coal available.. hehe..

 

Garnished the dish with chopped coriander and had it with rice and it was yummy as!!! :)

 

Ciao!

S

Honey-soy glazed roast lamb

Hello girls...

 

checking in after a long time.. things have been pretty quiet at work today so figrued I would catch up on a few things that I have been meaning to do for a while now.. thought I would share a couple of recipes that we have tried in the last couple of weeks that have turned out really good!

 

First roast leg of lamb (you may have seen pics of it on my FB album.. :)

 

We bought a big leg of lamb from the supermarket... not sure how much it weighed exactly but I think it was more than 1kg but less than 1.5kg.  We pre-heated the oven to about 180C.  To prepare the lamb we scored it in a cross hatch pattern and seasoned the leg really well with salt and pepper all over.  Make sure you rub it in real well.  Prudy really enjoyed doing this..hehe.. (hmmm should I be concerned!).  We then put dried rosemary and thyme all over it and rubbed that in as well.  Chopped fresh herbs are the best but we could not find any fresh rosemary/thyme in the supermaket that night.  We also chopped fresh garlic and sprinkled it all over (not too much).  Once the oven is hot we put the lamb in on top of a grill placed on top of a tray to collect all the dripping oil from the meat.  We left the lamb in for about 1.5 hours in total but I think it could have done alright with about 20 more minutes.  Ours was a little pink in the middle which was fine and we liked it that way but if you like it well done leave a little longer.

 

About half an hour into the roasting we dressed the lamb with our honey/soy dressing.  In a bowl we mixed lots of lemon juice, a big tablespoon on honey and a generous dash of soy sauce and mixed it really well.  We then spooned it all over the lamb.  Waiting abot half hour/45 minutes into the roasitng to do this meant the lamb was well sealed and the glaze stuck to the outer layers of the lamb making it shiny, crispy and tasty.  We repeated it again another 20 minutes into the roasting. 

 

Once done, we left the lamb out to rest for another 20 minutes.. it does take a lot of time to cook it.. not something you would want to make if you are really hungry and need something fast!  Prudy then carved and served it.. he was so happy!! hehehe.. And everyone in our flat loved it! We had it with chunky steak fries and garlic mayo.. hehe..

 

Enjoy!

S 

Spinach Roti

Hey girls!

I made some really healthy spinach roti today, thought i'd share the fun ;) .. I had found so many different recipes but I settled on one and made a few modifications to it.. Came out quite yummy!!

Spinach Roti
2 cups wheat flour
salt to taste

1 bunch spinach - chopped up
2-3 garlic cloves
small grating of ginger
2-3 green chillies
salt

I cooked down the spinach slightly along with the garlic, ginger, chillies n salt in a wee bit of oil. Once its lost almost all its water, I pureed it in the blender. I added this puree to the flour and used a bit more water to make the chapati dough. It came out stickier than usual and needed quite a bit of flour for the rolling out process but was worth it.. Quite nice, more for the health factor than taste even.. We just had it with plain yoghurt n some pickle (i mixed them both up) - was yummy :)

:)

Puran Poli/Bakshalu

Yesterday was Ugadi and every year on Ugadi my mum makes Bakshalu (Puran Poli) as do most telugu/kannada/marathi people I think. When I called to wish my parents and my mum was making them I got very sad cause I wanted some too. My mum told me that she would make me some when I'm home in december, and that she would also freeze a couple from Ugadi just so I don't miss out.

 

I thought about this for the rest of the day, and in the afternoon I decided that instead of pining for something I couldn't get (yes I was actually pining), why not just get off my ass and attempt to make some? Well with a little bit of luck, they turned out very well, considering it was the first time I made them. And to my surprise, it wasn't difficult at all. The whole thing only took an hour.

 

Thought I'd better keep a record of how I made it for next time, and where better to keep track of that than through the sisterhood? :)

So here goes:

 

Ingredients:

1 cup channa dal

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

2 tsp of oil

 

Cook the channa dal with 2 cups water in a pressure cooker till it is very soft and mushy. While the dal is cooking make a dough with the maida, water and a little oil. The dough should be pretty soft. Let the dough rest for a little while. Once the dal is cooked, open the pressure cooker, add in the sugar and the cardamom and start to cook it down till it becomes a fairly dry paste-like consistency. Take it off the stove and let it cool a little. Take a ball of the dough and a slightly larger ball of the channa dal filling. Flatten out the dough to a slightly smaller than palm size, add the ball of the filling and stretch out the dough to cover the filling completely. Flatten out the filled ball (use plenty of dry flour because it was super sticky) with your palm first then roll it out with a rolling pin into small rotis. (don't make them too flat). Cook on the tawa with a little butter on both sides.

 

 

Banana Muffins

I had an over ripe banana so decided to do some baking yesterday. Again tried to cut down the amount of butter and sugar and I was very happy with how they turned out.

Recipe below makes between 6 and 8 muffins based on the size of the muffins in the tray

1 cup self raising flour

1 ripe banana

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp butter/margarine

About 6 tsps sugar (I used brown - the muffins weren't super sweet so increase the sugar if you like)

1/2 tsp salt

handful of chopped walnuts (optional - I added them cause I had them around but all they really added was a bit of texture)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Mash the banana. Beat together the egg, mashed banana and butter.

In another bowl mix/sift the flour, sugar and salt

Mix the dry and wet ingredients

Add the chopped walnuts and the vanilla

Pour into a lightly greased muffin tray (about 3/4 way up) and bake in a pre-heated oven at 400F for about 20 minutes.

The whole process took about half an hour so was definitely worth it! (and didnt feel super guilty either because I knew the ingredients that went in)

Desi Tofu Recipes

Here are three tofu recipes that i've tried and made a few times, and all of them taste pretty good I think (the first one is my fave)

 

Coconut Tofu

(I know coconut is high in fat, but adding a tablespoon or so will add a lot of flavour and when I use low fat tofu, it's pretty much the only fat I'm adding)

 

1 cup firm tofu (chopped into small - smaller than half inch - cubes)

1 medium onion finely sliced

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp mustard seeds

1-2 tbps grated dried coconut

salt and chilli powder to taste

 

In a little bit of oil or cooking spray fry the mustard seeds for a couple of minutes. Add finely chopped garlic and fry a little more. Add the sliced onion and fry till golden brown (make sure they are really nicely cooked - the caramelization of the onions really adds the major flavour). Add the chopped tofu with salt and chilli powder and fry till the tofu starts to brown. 2-3 minutes before taking it off the stove add the dried coconut.

 

 

Palak Tofu

 

1 cup firm tofu (1/2-1 inch cubes)

1 cup frozen spinach

1 onion (finely chopped)

2 tomatoes (finely chopped)

2 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1-2 green chilles

1 tsp cumin seeds

salt to taste

Optional: 1-2 tsps dried methi, 1-2 tbsp yoghurt

 

In oil/cooking spray fry the cumin seeds and chopped green chilles. Add the onions and fry for a little longer. Next add the ginger garlic paste and the tomatoes and let it cook down. While the tomatoes are cooking, defrost the frozen spinach in the microwave and drain any excess water. Once the tomatoes are cooked down add the spinach and salt and stir. At this point an optional step is to microwave the tofu for a couple of minutes to get rid of excess moisture (because when you buy it, it's stored in water). Once the spinach looks wilted, add the tofu cubes and on a slow flame let the whole thing cook together so the flavours get into the tofu.

Optional parts: Towards the end, add some yoghurt to make it creamy (another idea is to all 1/3 cup of soy milk - which adds extra protein + gives it a creamy texture - this is a good trick for any curries that need milk/half-and-half). If it's yoghurt you added, it should get absorbed pretty quickly, if it's milk, you will have to let it reduce down. Just before you remove it from the heat add the dried methi

 

 

Capsicum Tofu

 

1 cup firm tofu (1/2 - 1 inch cubes)

1 onion (finely chopped)

1 chopped capsicum (whatever colour)

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

1/2-1 tsp garam masala powder

salt and chilli powder to taste

 

Again here too, you can microwave the tofu for a couple of minutes to get rid of the excess moisture. In oil/cooking spray fry the onion and let it brown. While the onions are cooking add the ginger-garlic paste. Once the onions are browned, add ketchup and stir it so it gets mixed into the onions. Add in the chopped capsicum and let it cook for 2-3 minutes - don't want it to get soft. Add the tofu cubes with salt and chill powder and stir and cook for a few minutes. Towards the end add the garam masala powder.

 

 

 

Hope you like 'em!

 

xo

M

 

 

Easy to make high protein lunches

I have started to make some major changes to my diet and eating habits. I found that it is actually easier to make and implement these changes when living by your self and cooking for your self.  I do shopping just for me.. so no more 'oh maybe I will take some of this home for Prudy'.. hehehe.. It is hard to make these changes though.. as I am finding it pretty hard to look for recipes specially for lunches. And here are the reasons why:

• I want something I can make in bulk and store.  But when I do eat them they should still seem just as fresh! (or almost)
• I want the recipes to be somewhat indianized because I know I will not be able to adhere to fully european meals every lunchtime. So it has to have some of that Indian flavour.
• I dont want to be using many pots and pans partly becuase I dont have any. No blenders/graters etc either.. so quick one pot meals preferred.
• Simple ingredients.. since I dont have a full kitchen and I wont be able to either (since the flat I stay in the kitchen is tiny as!).. no indian stores so need to have readily available ingredients.
• Meals can have some carb in it but need to source some very high in protein ingredients.

Anyway after much research, trial and error.. I have come up with two recipes that fit all of the above mentioned criteria.  The major ingredients being soya chunks (like those nutralla nuggest) and chickpeas.  Doing some online research, soya chunks actually have a lot of protein! I never realised. And chickpeas although a bit high in carbs, most of the carbs are in the form of fibre rather than sugars and they are also higher in protein than other lentils. So first recipe because there is lots of protein in soya chunks and not much carbs, I am adding brown rice to it. Since every meal needs to be 40-40-20 (protein-carb-fat).  The second recipe only chickpeas used as major ingredient since it has carbs and protein.

 

First recipe, soya chunks and brown rice pilau:

• Using spray oil I lightly grease the bottom of the pressure cooker, add in onions, chopped tomato, coriander powder, cumin, chopped chillies, chopped ginger and garlic, salt.. (the usual basic spices).
• Cool the masala/onion/tomato mixture well
• Add in pre-soaked soya chunks (I love them so I add liberally :)) and pre-soaked brown rice. I dont add in much brown rice, although the recipe says its a pilau (which usually is more rice than vegies.. its more like soya chunks and mix veg with sprikling of rice)
• At this point I also add in chopped brocolli, chopped carrots and peas (or any other vegetables I have in the fridge, like mushrooms, capsicum)
• Mix everything, add in water (twice the amount to brown rice since there are heaps of veges too) and pressure cook it all together.
• Add chopped coriander at the end and store in containers.

 

Second recipe, chana chaat (chickpeas)

• Cook chickpeas separately in pressure cooker. Can cook with a piece of cinammon stick and black cardomom to add some flavour.
• Chop onions, tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum (and anything else you think will go with chickpeas)
• Drain the chickpeas well, add chopped ingredients and mix well.
• Add chaat masala, little lime juice and chopped coriander.

Sunday and Wednesday evenings are my cooking days, so I make enough for three lunches and store in the fridge.  The thing with these recipes is that they taste alright if I reheat and eat (I dont reheat the chana chat, just bring it to room temperature and eat).  Because they are vegie I dont have to worry abt it going bad etc like for meats.

 

Now the challenge is to find some similar recipes for Dinners! Dinner will be extra hard since carb content will have to be very low...

 

Any suggestions girlies.. on similar lunch/dinner recipes that fulfil the above criteria!? Help needed!! :)

 

Bread ki Kheer

 I was inspired by Double Ka Meetha - which I so *love* but it has so much butter that I'm also scared of it

So decided to come up with something else yesterday. I made this for breakfast - so kept it a little lighter on the sugar - but you can up the sugar content to make it more dessert-y. I will say that it was a very comforting breakfast on a winter sunday morning.

Ingredients:

3-4 bread slices (remove the edges and tear into bite sized pieces)

2 tsps butter (i used the butter substitute thing)

1.5 cups milk

pinch of cardamom

2 tsps cashew nuts/almonds

3 tbsps sugar (honestly i'm not sure of the exact amount of sugar i used - just added and tasted)

Put the milk to boil in a pot with the cardamom. At the same time, melt the butter in a separate pan and fry the pieces of bread in it till they turn golden. In the same pan fry the nuts/dried fruit (whatever you wish to add)

Once the milk has started to boil, turn the heat down and add the fried bread pieces. Stir till the milk starts to get absorbed. Add in the sugar and keep stirring till the sugar melts in. Keep it on the stove on low heat for a while, till you get the consistency you like - could be more milky (which is how we had it) or wait for it to get more 'halwa like'

That's it...very easy. And we finished the whole lot in one sitting. Would definitely make it again!

Lamb Kheema - My trick to making my hubby happy

Saugar absolutely loves lamb and I used to be a bit wary of it cause I know it takes a long time to cook unlike chicken. And I'd never tried making it. 

But feb last year, the day after he proposed to me, I really wanted to do something special and gave it a try (I also made chicken cause I was scared the lamb wouldnt turn out right! hehe)...but it did! and he loved it! and can't have enough even now (If I send him to the grocery store saying just bring some sort of protein, he will probably return with ground lamb). Anyway here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1lb/0.5 kg ground lamb

1 and a half onions

1 and a half tomatoes

1-2 green chillies

2 tsps ginger-garlic paste

3 tbsp yoghurt

2-3 tbsp grated coconut (i used dried - this is optional, but i really like the extra touch it adds)

a few springs of fresh mint (also optional)

1-2 bay leaves

3 pods cardamom

1 stick cinnamon

3 cloves

1 tsp cumin

Pinch of turmeric

1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or more if you like it spicy)

1 tsp coriander powder

salt

Marinate the ground lamb in yoghurt, half of the ginger-garlic paste, turmeric and a little salt. Mix it well and let it sit for about an hour.

In the pan add a little oil (don't need a lot because the lamb has a fair bit of fat in it) and add the cumin, bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves and let them toast a little. Add finely chopped onions and fry till they are translucent to light brown. Add the remaining ginger garlic paste and fry a little more. Add the chopped tomatoes with the chilli powder, coriander powder and salt and let the tomatoes cook down. Once they are well cooked (don't appear like separate pieces - i dont know how else to describe it!), add in the marinated lamb and stir well so the whole thing is mixed. Cover the pan and let it cook for a while (shouldnt be more than 10-12 mins) on medium heat. Take off the cover and let it cook uncovered till the lamb appears completely cooked and a bit more dry. At this point add the grated coconut and cook for 2-3 more mins. At the last minute add the chopped mint and take it off the heat.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do - or rather as much as my darling hubby does! lol

luv

M

Paneer Paranthas

Hey Megha

 

If you really want to make paranthas and also have paneer, what about paneer paranthas?

 

Here's a really quick recipe for it:

 

Make the paneer at home (im going to assume u dont know how and tell u  :p hehe just in case).

 

Bring whole milk to a boil in the pan and then curdle it with natural yoghurt once the curds have seperated from the water pass it through a sieve. 

 

Now put the paneer in a bowl and mix in chopped corriander and a little bit of garam masala and make sure u mix it throuhoughly so there are no huge lumps in the paneer mixture.

 

Parantha Dough:

 

Knead your atta with a tiny pinch of salt and a sprinkling of ajwain if you have iti looked it up on wikipedia and its called oma in telugu hehehe

 

The one thing to note is that your dough should be soft but not sticky or too wet or your paranthas will break. 

 

When you stuff your paranthas the best way to do it is roll out ur dough to almost a small chapati size...put the stuffing and then fully close it and re-roll....dont try and expand the ball and then put stuffing in immediately that's what makes ur paranthas break and also doesnt spread the stuffing evenly.

 

Cook paranthas in oil and serve with dahi, mango chutney and a nice cold glass of LASSI or garam garam chai :)

 

Ok im hungry now.....

 

Neeti try my parantha tip to see if yours come out better...its all in the dough tough...drier than a chapati dough but not as stiff as a poori dough ;)

 

xox

A

Butter Paneer

Ingredients:

Paneer marinade:
~500g Paneer
1tsp Ginger garlic paste
2tsp Tandoori masala (or garam masala if u have that)
1tsp chilli powder
3tbsp yoghurt

Gravy ingredients:
1-2 Onions (sliced finely)
2tbsp tomato paste (this is a must, makes a big difference.. worse case you can just use puree)
1tsp ginger garlic paste
1tsp garam masala
some chilli powder
~500mLs heavy cream. If you need even more gravy, you can add more cream or half n half (to feel better)

Method:
Add all the marinade ingredients together and set aside for about an hour
At the end of an hour, either bake it at 350F/180C for about 30min or just shallow fry in a pan with a bit of butter.

For the gravy, fry the onions with the ginger garlic paste until translucent.
Add salt, chilli & garam masala and continue frying until almost golden.
Add the tomato paste/puree and fry until it doesn smell 'raw' anymore
Finally, add half of the cream and heat through (try not to let it boil)
Add the baked/friend paneer and the rest of the cream. Mix and heat through.

For a finishing touch, if u have it, you could fry a bit of dry methi leaves in a bit of butter n add it at the very end.. Gives a very nice touch of flavour.. Also, if u want, u could also add some almond slices/slivers before adding the cream for a nutty bite..


:)

Microwave self-saucing chocolate pudding

Hey girls.. I just re-discovered this awesome recipe that I used a few times when I was in NZ... it takes like 7 mins in the microwave and produces a yummy as chocolate cake with chocolate sauce on it!!! Very easy and quick dessert :) I've modified the recipe a bit from what I found online:

Microwave Self-saucing Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients (this makes around 4 servings)

Pudding:

• 1 cup self-raising flour (check if this has salt, if it does, omit salt from the recipe)
• 3/4 cup sugar (i like brown sugar better)
• pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons melted butter (i used unsalted but doesn really matter i guess)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence (i used to add a bit of orange essence when i had it and it gives the yummmmy jaffa taste)
• 1/2 cup milk (if the batter is too hard, u can add a bit more)

Sauce

• 1/2 cup sugar (brown is better again)
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water

Need baking paper (wax paper)
I usually just mix/make this in a large glass bowl/measuring jug.

Directions

1. Mix/sift (actual recipe said sift, i just mixed) flour, cocoa, salt and sugar into a bowl
2. Stir in milk, melted butter and vanilla till mixture is just combined.
3. Combine brown sugar and cocoa and sprinkle it over the batter.
4. Now, very carefully, pour hot water over the batter (best is to run it along the side of the container so it forms a pool on top of the batter) and cover with a sheet of waxed paper. Press the wax paper down onto the water so that it 'sticks' to the water. Its fine to have some paper sticking on the sides of the container too.
   
5. Cook on high for 6 - 7 minutes.

Voila! We had it straight but it tastes amazing with some ice cream :)

Trick to 'phooli-phooli' rotis

This is a VERY special technique for two reasons: Firstly you will get a phooli-phooli (blown up) roti every time if you follow this technique.  Secondly my naani ma taught me this and that is partly the reason I have been very reluctant to tell this to people as it makes me feel like naani ma has passed on a legacy to me. :) But the sisterhood needs to know and this awesome technique needs to be out there! :P

 

So first you have to make sure you bel (spread with the rolling pin) out the roti as evenly as possible. Then make sure the tawa is hot (I ususally use somewhere between medium and high)! Put the roti on the tawa for literally 5 seconds then flip it. If the tawa is the right temperature it would have just lightly browned that side. So once you have flipped it (after 5 seconds).. wait ... till little bubbles start appearing.. the bubbles will be like small bumps uniformly spread around the roti. Once you see them flip it again.. now this side will be completely cooked i.e. roti will be the whitish colour with light brown spots where the bumps had grown. Now you take a clean kitchen cloth and lightly press the roti (I have a dedicated cloth that I keep just for doing this). Once you start pressing you will start to see the roti blow up - almost instantly. Encourage it by lightly pressing the blown up bits so it spreads around. And thats it!! :)... fully cooked.. phooli phooli roti!!

 

PS: no oil needed to cook it... not even while kneading the dough.. just warm water and a little bit of salt while kneading.

 

S

Almond Cookies

I really wanted to bake something on saturday but didn't have any butter in the house and the weather was really bad so couldnt go grocery shopping.

 

So I hunted around for cookie recipes that didn't use butter. I found one, which I modified slightly based on the comments on the recipe that it was too sweet. I also simplified it a little with fewer ingredients. The whole thing took less than half an hour to make so i was pretty excited

 

Ingredients:

1 cup toasted almonds

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup sugar (you can increase this if you like it slightly sweeter)

2 large egg whites

A pinch of salt

 

Grind the almonds with the sugar into a coarse powder. Mix the almonds and sugar into the egg whites along with the flour and salt. The whole thing will be fairly dense. Spoon out individual cookies on to a cookie sheet. I made fairly small ones - so 1 tsp of dough per cookie. I didn't really shape it but you can if you want i guess. Make sure you don't flatten them out. Because there is no baking powder, they won't really rise or spread out.

 

Pre-heat the oven at 325F. Bake the cookies for 15 mins (the bottom of them will be brown and the top will be just golden. Let it cool

 

Have a lovely week!

:)

Spinach Rice

Hey all!

I just experimented today .. wanted to make a single dish for lunch and tried spinach rice. I looked it up online and modified the recipe a lot just cos I can never follow a recipe straight (a weird prob of mine)..here's the final recipe that came out yummmmy

Ingredients
~ 1cup chopped spinach (i used frozen)
1.5 cups basmati rice
a small onion - sliced thin
3-4 green chillies slit lengthwise
salt
coriander powder
chilli powder (very little, remember the chillies)
ginger (a small piece chopped finely or *TIP* i usually just freeze ginger and scrape off a bit into the dish; this way, it comes out really fine so that u wont have the strong taste if u bite into a piece, not to mention u can store it forever)
Whole spices:
cardamon (1-2 pods)
bay leaves (1-2)
cloves (1-2)
cinnamon (1 long stick)
carraway seeds (1 tsp)

Method
We have to pressure cook this so the best way utensil to use for all the 'prep' is a pressure cooker. Alternatively, u could use the rice cooker container on the stove i guess..
Heat oil, add all the whole spices. Once aromatic, add the onions, chillies and ginger and fry till the onions are translucent. Now add the spinach, chilli pwd and coriander powder. Once the spinach is totally wilted and looks almost cooked, add the washed rice and fry for a few seconds. Now add salt to taste, and around 1.75 cups of water (this is what i used and the texture came out pretty good.. think 1.5 cups might give the perfect 'separate' rice texture) and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

We had it with raita & some leftover alu kurma.. Ram reckoned just the raita was best.

:)

Atte ka Halwa

Atte ka Halwa - a new addition to favourite Indian sweets list!

 

Hello Girls..

 

Sorry havent been emailing recipes for a while. Havent really been doing much cooking lately. Going to start my new job next week - 1st Feb! Busy looking for apartments and preparing to move houses 3rd time in less than 8 months. Also just found out my PhD viva will be held on the 18th Feb via video conferencing. So its all go at the moment.

 

But once things have calmed down a bit and I get into a normal routine (is that even possible?) I am going to start trying out some of those pasta and salad ideas.

 

As for atte ka halwa:

 

I didnt make it myself.. just saw it being made by our multi-talented cook (who we hired during the shaadi time in India). Apparently he was in the mehendi business before he got told by several customers that he was no good at it.. so he left and became a cook. :) He is a pretty good and resourceful cook, so I think change for the better for him.

 

So here is what he did - very simple:

 

• You will need equal parts of Wheat Flour, Ghee and Sugar (maybe 1 cup each)
• Heat the Ghee in a pan until it has melted completely.
• Add the wheat flour and stir in with the ghee, until brownish, not lumpy and the fat starts to separate.
• Add water (lots of it maybe 4-5 cups) and sugar.
• Keep stirring until it is halwa-like consistency (because it is atta the consistency will be much smoother than for example sooji (semolina) halwa)
• Take it off heat. Add dry fruits and nuts. Enjoy! YUM YUMM

Have fun!

 

Swati

 

 

Tamarind Rice

Yayyy! Thanks for the yoghurt rice Megs.. it is SO yummy! I'll try making it sometime , the recipe looks pretty easy too :)

Here's my 2 cents on the same note:

Tamarind Rice/Pulihara

You need:
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Tamarind paste - 1 teaspoon mixed with water (else about a tablespoon or two of tamarind pulp)
Peanuts/cashews - a handful
Green Chillies - 1-2 (depending on personal taste/hotness)
Ginger - a small piece or even ginger powder
Tumeric pwd - 1/2 tsp

Tadka:
Oil
Curry Leaves
Mustard Seeds

Start with the tadka, and add the peanuts, chillies, ginger into the tadka. Once everything is spluttery & the peanuts are well done, add the tamarind paste/pulp, tumeric and let it go for another 5-10 mins, till it condenses into a thick pulp. Mix this with the rice and voila.. ready!

I never was a big fan of this before but now quite like it.. the peanuts/cashews add a nice crunch to it so they are necessary in my opinion. In fact, u can actually even add a few chana dal to the tadka for an extra crunch. Have it with yoghurt and/or pickle and yum yum. You can also make the same thing with lemon juice, just do the same as above minus the tamarind. Add the mixture along with lemon juice to the rice (don't cook the lemon juice).

Enjoy :)

Spiced Yoghurt Rice

So here's my contribution. A recipe that every south indian everyone knows (and more likely than not loves). Spiced Curd/Yoghurt Rice. I'm pretty happy with my version after a couple of attempts...so here goes.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup rice - cooked

3/4 cup yoghurt - fat free is fine

 

For the tadka:

2 dried red chillies

A bunch of curry leaves

1 tsp pepper corns

1 tsp mustard seeds

A small pinch of dried ginger powder

 

Fry the tadka in oil till the dried chilles and the curry leaves are nice and crisp. Let it cool down a little.

Make sure the rice has cooled down as well.

Add the yoghurt to the rice with salt (to taste) and add in the tadka. Mix it with your hand if possible cause you want the fried curry leaves and chilles to get crushed and completely mix into the yoghurt and rice.

 

I know it's a very simple recipe, but the blog has been waiting for 2 weeks and this is something i love, and make both when i'm not in the mood to cook and also for festivals!

 

xo

M

 

Til Laddoo (or for the lazy ones among us, i.e. ME - Til ki Mithai)

My contribution based on my sankranti experiment

Til Laddoo (though mine was more Til Mithai - but hey it still tastes the same!)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sesame seeds

1/4 cup cashew nuts

3/4 cup brown sugar

pinch of cardamom powder

Roast the sesame seeds and the cashew nuts in a pan till they are light brown.

In a pot add the brown sugar to 1/2 cup water and let it boil till it forms a syrup

Once it thickens a fair bit, add in the sesame seeds, cashew nuts and cardamom powder and let it boil further till the whole thing becomes a very thick mixture.

If you want to make laddoos let it cool down a bit and then shape them into laddoos

If you are lazy like me - grease a plate or tin and pour the mixture on it.

Once it cools down cut them into pieces

there you go :)

was very simple and fairly quick...worth a try i'd say

especially since it stores pretty well and you can put it away and have it a piece at a time.

Spinach Salad and Smoked Salmon Salad

Ola chica's :)

 

Okay so I've been trying to eat healthy lately and here are some salad and salad dressing recipes for you guys to try

 

Spinach Salad

This is easy peasy and tastes amazing

In a bowl put in baby spinach leave, green olives, rip up slices of sun dried tomato and sprinkle pine nuts.  The oil in the sun dried tomatoes and olives will be enough so all you need to add to this is a sprinkle of rock salt and black pepper....trust me this is sooooooooo yummy I could live on it.

 

Smoked Salmon Salad

 

In a bowl take mesculin lettuce, add sliced red cabbage, red onion rings, carrot rounds,  tomato quarters or cherry tomatoes, sliced green and yellow capsicum and caper berries. 

 

You can buy smoked salmon from the supermarket so that cuts down all the work...just flake that through the salad and dress with my balsamic vinegar dressing below.

 

You can also replace the salmon with tuna...just remember to use plain tuna as the flavoured ones can over power the other flavours. 

 

Have this twice a week and your weekly requirement of omega 3's is done...I'd choose this over those horrible capsules any day hehehe.

 

Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

Ingredients:

Good quality balsamic vineagr (investing in this will really pay off)

Olive Oil

Honey

Wholegrain mustard

Salt

Pepper

 

Mix all these in a bottle....approximately you add 2 table spoons of honey for every 8 tablespoons of vinegar...oil i just put in to help coat the entire mixture so not too much.  The wholegrain mustard should be enough that the dressing becomes almost like a paste rather than runny, so my vinegar : honey : mustard ratio is 8:2:4 tablespoons.  This dressing also keeps in the fridge for upto 3 months so make a batch and keep it and that way it becomes so much easier to put dinner together. This is a really simple tangy dressing.

 

I've also got a meatball recipe and a recipe for thai fishcakes...that's coming up in the next mail...

 

Love ya lots

xox

Anch

 

 

Spicy chicken curry + more pulusu ideas

I totally love the sour/tangy curry!!! it is really yummmy... and i recently realised too that the sugar/jaggery at the end is very imp... When i first made this curry without the sugar/jaggery, Ram's like 'its sour..' i was like 'well, that's the point isint it.' (the name in telugu means 'sour').. but that's when he said its supposed to be sweet :D I thought he was nuts and laughed at him. But then he added jaggery to it the next time i made it and it tasted so much better with the sweetness!!

If I may, can I add that you can do the same curry with any veggie really.. tastes best with raw banana (again, learnt from Ram), okra and tomato.. In the case of veggies, u add them right at the beginning - after the onions brown a bit, add the veggies n fry them till they stop smelling 'raw' :D after that, u continue with the tamarind etc. Megs.. do u know any other veggies that r good for this? i can only think of these..

I tried making a spicy chicken over the weekend.. looked up recipes and mixed up a couple and ended up with this whcih tasted awesome and blew our mouths away.

Spicy chicken curry

Grind together into a paste (with a small amt of water if needed):
Cumin - 1 tsp
Poppy seeds - 1 tsp
Corriander seeds - 1 tsp
Whole cloves - 3
Cardamom pod - 1 small one
Ginger - small piece
Garlic - 2 cloves

Other ingredients:
Chicken  - I used 2 boneless breasts
Onions - 2, chop up as big/small as u want
Green chillies - 3, slit into halves
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp (maybe add acc to taste)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Add the chilli pwd, tumeric pwd and a bit of salt to the chicken and keep aside for about 15-20mins. Meanwhile fry the onions in oil till brown, add the green chillies, chicken and the masala paste. Mix well and add a bit of water if u want gravy.. if u want it dry, dont add water. Cover and simmer till the chicken's done.

It turned out really yummy and very 'authentic' :D

:)

Egg Pulusu (Tangy Egg Curry)

Since this has been quiet since the holidays I thought I'd give it a kickstart again

Yesterday I tried one of my fave dishes from what my mum makes - and finally got it (almost) exactly the way she makes it so pretty excited...plus Saugar liked it, so that's always a good bonus :)

So here goes

(also the other thing about writing it out is so the next time i get my recipe right since it worked this time!!)

Egg Pulusu (Tangy Egg Curry)

4 Eggs

1 large onion - finely chopped

1/2 tsp tamarind paste

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

10-12 curry leaves

1-2 dried red chillies

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp methi powder

1/2 tsp sugar

Hard boil the eggs

In a pan, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chillies.

Once they start to splutter add the onions and fry till translucent

add in the ginger garlic paste and fry for a few more minutes (onions should start to brown)

Add the 1/2 tsp tamarind paste to half a cup of water (seperately) and mix so there are no lumps

Add this to the onions in the pan and increase the heat

Shell the hard-boiled eggs and make small slits in them (four lengthwise slits per egg) - deep enough that the curry can seep through but not so much that they break

once the water in the pan starts to reduce, add the eggs into the pan

Add salt, sugar and the cumin and methi powders

Mix well so the eggs are coated with the masala

Let it boil for 3-4 more minutes or till the gravy is not really watery