dinner time!

Veg frankies from show me the curry

Swat — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:12:01 +0000

Tried this recipe from showmethecurry.com- http://showmethecurry.com/quickfixes/vegetarian-frankies.html

Loved it! Couple of notes for myself

The paratha prep increases the time to prepare this and is quite heavy to eat. If I am short on time, I can use the ready to eat soft rotis from the Indian store. Though the potato flavored paratha does add a good flavor
The stuffing is too good, can be used for sandwiches also instead of the regular mashed potato filling. Will try that soon

Tagged: chaat, frankies, indian, snacks, vegetarian

Make ghee at home from butter

Swat — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 21:05:25 +0000

Tried this at home this weekend and feeling a lil proud of myself (but thats nothing new)

Show me the curry is the best, link to their youtube video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pker6csSAg

Quick summary of the recipe

Get unsalted butter
Take a steel pan/karahi with a heavy bottom
Keep it at less than medium and slowly get the butter to a boil
Wait for it to become slightly brown, careful- it can get burnt any time
As soon as its lighltish brown and you can smell the ghee- turn the gas off
Use a seive to get rid of the white foam.

Tip: A site said this white foam can be used for cooking because its fat, am planning to try that

Thanks to vids for the idea!

Tagged: Clarified butter, ghee

Recipes from friends- Mango ice cream

Swat — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 20:47:07 +0000

This is one of my favorite. cant get quicker than this! It tastes yummy too so a great dessert for parties/get together at home

Ingredients

Mango pulp- 1 can (40 oz)
Condensed milk- 1 can (14 oz)
Heavy whipped cream (6 oz)

Method

Take a bowl, add around 3/4th of all the ingredients.
Mix with a spoon so its uniform

Add more of the 3 ingredients based on your taste. But mostly, you can blindly add all three. After its frozen, it tastes good no matter what (of course you have to like mango flavor to enjoy this)

Tagged: dessert

Recipes from friends- Bread Dahi vada

Swat — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:52:57 +0000

I will have to admit this is the first time I have heard of such a thing. It seems interesting, so I am going to try it soon.

Thanks Surabhi for the recipe!

Ingredients:

2 slices of white bread
1 cup curd
MIxed dry fruits, chopped finely(almonds, cashew,raisins)
tamrind chutney
Chaat masala

Method:

Cut the slices of bread into circles,taking only white portion and discard the brown sides.
Churn curd with hand mixer till it is smooth.Put it in some wide and shallow bowl.
Now dip circles of bread in curd so that it is fullt covered with curd.
put first circle in the dish u want to serve it in( it wont be easy to transfer it afterwards ) place dry fruits in between and cover it with second circle.
put some extra curd, tamrind chutney on top and sprinkle chaat masala.

Ready to serve!

Note- bread should be dipped in curd only when you are ready to serve. It gets soggy very quickly.

Recipes from friends- Ney Chore (Ghee Rice)

Swat — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:01:21 +0000

Another one from Megha!

Total time: 30 – 40 mins; Serves Two

Ingredients:

1.5 small cup rice
1 tsp fresh garam masala
1 bay leaf
3 tsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 small sliced onion
1 Maggie veg stock cube (called Maggie Masala in India)
2 tbsp coconut milk
5-6 cashewnuts
7-8 raisins
salt to taste.

Method:

For Garam Masala you would need 4-5 black peppercorns, 2-3 cloves, 2 green whole cardamoms, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 small stick of cinnamon. Roast on low heat on a hot plate till spices give an aroma and the cumins don’t turn dark brown. Transfer to spice blender and make a fine/ coarse powder.
Keep rice pre-soaked in 3 cups water for 15-20 mins as it will reduce cooking time.
Take a deep pan and heat it up. Add 2 tsp clarified butter on low heat and add bay leaf. Let it be for 2 mins. Add sliced onions and saute till golden brown. Add rice (without water) and then add the garam masala. Stir on low heat for 2-3 mins. Mix the maggie veg stock cube with the water used for soaking the rice and add to the pan. Add coconut milk, mix, add salt to taste.
Cover pan with a glass lid so that you keep a watch when rice is cooking on low heat. Turn off the gas once rice has absorbed 90% of the water and is tender enough to eat. Let it stay put for 10 mins.
In a different pan, shallow fry the cashewnuts (diced in halves) on low heat in 1 tsp of clarified butter until golden brown. Next, fry raisins using the same butter until raisins puff up. Doesn’t take more than 2-3 mins each.
Sprinkle fried cashewnuts and raisins over the rice before serving with chicken curry or simply enjoy with yoghurt.

Optional:

Maggie stock cube can be replaced or supplemented with diced veggies like carrots, bell peppers/ capsicum, cauliflower florets
Coconut milk can be replaced with coconut powder (that dissolves in water)
Fresh garam masala can be replaced with pre-made mix, though nothing beats the fresh roasted masala

You would know the right quantity of water, salt, cooking time from own experimentation but the right result is simply phenomenal !

Recipes from friends- Sauteed Mushrooms

Swat — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:58:10 +0000

Continuing the ‘recipes from friends’ series, here is a quick snack from Megha Jindal!

Total time: 10-15 mins

Take as many mushrooms as you want for a snack and rinse them with water.
Chop in halves or quarters (if large sized).
Heat a shallow wide pan, add 2 tsp of olive oil or butter, and add the mushrooms.
Keep on low to med heat and don’t cover the pan.
Add salt, pepper, any other seasoning (I use oregano) and stir fry for 5 -10 mins until mushrooms become tender, not wimpy.

Serve hot with drinks !

Recipes from friends- Vegetable Biryani

Swat — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 18:52:38 +0000

My dear friend Jenny started a chain of emails that prompted friends and friends of friends to send ‘quick’ recipes to each other. I have started receiving some recipes. I will add them here for easy access.

Thanks Anand Sanklipur for this recipe! and for the lovely image

Total cooking time 30 mins

Ingredients:

Butter unsalted 1 stick
Vegetables: Capsicum, Paneer, Beans, Onion, Carrots, Gobi, potato (total around 750 gms (whatever is available))
Garam masala: 1.5 tea spoon
Ginger garlic paste: 1 tea spoon
Basmati Rice: 3 cups
Turmuric powder, red chilli powder
1 cinnamon stick (cut into small pieces) , cardamom 4, cloves 7-8.
Cashews 20-30b
salt

Instructions:

Cut all the vegetables in to big pieces
Heat the butter in a pressure cooker
when butter melts put ginger garlic paste, cashews, cardamom, cloves fry till cashews are slight brown
Add vegetables and fry till done
Add garam masala and red chilli powder (depends on how spicy you need)and fry till garam masala start sticking to the bottom. keep stirring.
Add rice and fry for about 2-3 minutes, keep stirring.
add 5 cups of water.
add salt to taste and a pinch of turmeric powder.
close the pressure cooker lid and wait till 1 whistle
Remove from the heat and wait till the pressure goes down.
Serve hot biriyani with raitha.

Snacks- Mayo sandwich

Swat — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:22:20 +0000

The differentiating item here is mayo + oregano. I had this at a party and loved it so asked the cook to share the recipe.

Ingredients

White/Wheat sandwich bread (whatever you prefer)
Mayonnaise
Oregano
Cucumber slices (super thin slices)
Tomato slices (super thin slices)

Method

Take the bread and cut off the sides. Keep them if you really love them
Take mayo in a bowl and add oregano (good amount) and mix
Now apply it on the bread
Time to put cucumber and tomato slices on bread
Sprinkle salt and pepper on top
Sandwich is ready!

Tagged: Sandwich, snacks

Bhelpuri

Swat — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:07:39 +0000

Ingredients

Onion- chopped
Tomato- Chopped
Potato- boiled and chopped
Green chillies chopped (optional)
Mint/cilantro chutney
Tamarind chutney
Salt, red chilli powder to taste
Bhelpuri mixture

Method

Mix all ingredients except the bhelpuri mixture. Adjust proportion based on taste
When you are ready to serve, mix the bhelpuri mixture
Garnish with thin sev and papri and serve

Tagged: bhel, chaat, indian, snacks

To be tried

Swat — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:48:36 +0000

Tofu with Thai curry- recipe here

Chickpeas with spinach- recipe at health dot com

Gingery Lentil soup- recipe at health dot com