Baingan Bharta

Baingan is a savior most of the times. Hence, I love to experiment with Brinjal as often as possible. Baingan Bhartha is again one of my favorites and I make it as a side dish for lunches and dinners. Here is my recipe for it.

Ingredients

Large Brinjal 1

Tomatoes 2

Onion 1

Garlic cloves 3

Masala

Cook It

Clean the Brinjal and put in a micro wave dish for 5 min on high heat. After 6 min, turn the Brinjal and put it for another 6 min on high heat. In 12 min, the Brinjal will become soft and half cooked, remove it and allow it to cool.

Take a pan, heat oil and fry garlic cloves, onions and then add tomatoes. after tossing them for 2 min, add little salt and allow them to cook for 3 min. Now add turmeric, sabji masala, little salt and add little water and allow it to cook for another 3 -4 min. 

Take the cooled Brinjal and peel off the skin completely and also remove the stem. Now add the pulp to the tomato curry and mix thoroughly. Mash everything with a masher and allow it to cook for another 3-4 min. Add coriander for taste. 

Yummy Baingan Bhartha is ready. This method varies from chef to chef. I cook it this way and is loved by my friends! 

Pumpkin Halwa

                                      

                   

Desserts are irresistible. Rather than spending money on them, I prefer to make them at home. Its low cost, Hygiene and most of all, Fresh! Pumpkin Halwa is one such regular household dish in our house. Most of the times, I make it with the other half of pumpkin piece that is left behind after being used in Sambar! Hence, Pumpkin halwa is just a regular name in our kitchen. Here is the recipe for you all.

Ingredients

Pumpkin piece

Cashews 5-6

Elaichi 2-3

Ghee 2 Tsp

Sugar 5-6 spoons

Milk- 1 cup

Turmeric- Pinch

Mawa Podwer- 2 Tsp

Cook it

Take a pan and boil milk for 3-4 minutes, Once the milk is hot add pumpkin pieces and let everything boil for 7-8 minutes. In the mean time, fry Cashews and Elaichi in ghee and add it to the pumpkin. Add sugar, mawa powder and pinch of turmeric and little water and mix thoroughly. Let everything boil. Mash Pumpkin using a masher until it mixes completely in the milk. Let it boil for another 4-5 minutes until you smell aroma.

Yummy Pumpkin Halwa is ready. It is very easy to make and can save your lunches or dinners most of the times. 

Stuffed Brinjal

             

Tell me who doesn't like Brinjal? It is definitely one of those rare vegetables which is available in different shapes and is most experimental friendly. Recently I tried stuffed brinjal and we gulped every piece in just minutes. Now let me give you my recipe so that you can try it at your home! 

Ingredients

Small Brinjal 7-8

Peanuts- 1 cup

fenugreek- 1/3 cup

Red mirchi 2-3

Tamarind Extract 1 tea spoon

Coriander

Dhania powder

Masala powder

Cook it-

Slit brinjal across with the stem on. Essential cut it in the base. Soak the cut brinjals in Salt water for 20 minutes. 

Now heat a small pan and fry peanuts. Add fenugreek and red mirchi and fry until they turn little brown. Add this mix into a blender. Add little salt, tamarind extract and very little water to make it into a gravy. blend it to form into a thick paste. 

Now, using a knife, add the this paste into brinjals carefully. Heat a pan and add 2 tea spoons of oil. Fry brinjals holding stems until the brinjals are fried lightly. Place the brinjals in a microwave bowl and cook them for 10 minutes. Turn the brinjals after 5 minutes so that they are cooked equally in all sides.

Now heat 1-2 tea spoons oil in pan and add remaining mix from the blender and add brinjals from microwave. Let them cook for 5-7 minutes. Slowly keep toppling brinjals so that they get cooked evenly and don't break. Add coriander and serve with hot Rice.

Isn't it yummy?????

Guacamole

(Image from Google)

Who doesn't love Mexican food. Especially when you are living abroad, Mexican food is the only savior. The kind of cooking, rice, burritos- everything gives you a feeling of complete India Thali. So, each time I visit a mexican restaurant, Guacamole is one sure shot dish that I relish. When I realised how easy it is to make it, I could not stop from trying it. 

Ingredients-

Avocados- 1-2

Onion- sliced half

Lemon- half

Salt- accordingly

Green chillies- 1-2- mashed

Coriander- cut into pieces

Tomato salsa (optional)

Cook it- 

Peel avocados and remove seed. Mash them and make a paste.  Add lemon juice, coriander, salt, onions, chilli paste and mix well. You can add tomato salsa if you like. I like it without salsa. Let it stand for some time. Guacamole is ready! 

Yummy. Now make it and let me know. 

Sweet Corn Soup

(Image from google)

Sweet corn soup...hmm - cant imagine a dinner date without it. sometimes, it is more than an appetizer and fills your stomach! so, I tried this at home and scored another dish in my menu :). This is how I made it..

Ingredients

Corn 

Carrots

Beans

Cornflour

Vinegar

Soy sauce

Ginger garlic paste

Black pepper

Procedure

Boil/microwave corn, carrot pieces and beans for 5 minutes. You can add broccoli and lettuce if you have! Mix cornflour in a small cup and put it aside. Now take 2 cups of water (serves 2 people) and heat in a wok on medium flame, add all the boiled veggies, and 2 spoons of vinegar, 1 spoon soy sauce and pinch of ginger-garlic paste and stir it. Let the mixture boil for 5-7 minutes. Once the bubbles start appearing, add 4 spoons of the corn flour mixture and stir again for 2-3 minutes.  You can add pinch of salt and little black-pepper. That's it. The appetizer is ready to relish! 

Yummy yummy delicious :)

Repaired Roti

(Image from Google)

Left over, but not rotten, food is always a head ache. you can neither eat it nor throw it away. But there are ways to repair it and eat in different forms! This is a dish which I used to make during my work days when I had to rush to office sans breakfast. usually we have rotis from the dinner that are left over. Try this dish with those left over rotis and let me know how it tastes. 

Ingredients

onion- half

tomato- one

stuff for tadka

green chillis

Procedure

Chop onion and tomato into small pieces. Take a wok, heat it and put tadka and fry onions and add tomatoes. Let it heat for 1 minute. Now cut rotis into small pieces with finger. try to make them into as small as you can. Add the roti pieces to the tomato mix and stir it for sometime. add some salt and turmeric and stir it throughly and let it heat for 2 minutes. 

So, this dish, with cut rotis, is ready and it tastes yummy unlike the usual roti-subji stuff. This is easy to make and you will be guilt free!

By S

Chinese Fried Noodles

(Image from Google)

Chinese is one of my favourite cuisines. I never miss a chance to have chinese noodles or fried rice. Any veg mixed chinese dish tempts me! So, last week we tried chinese fried noodles at home and damn! Tt turned out to be yummy yummy. Here is the recipe

Ingredients
Hakka Noodles/or any form of noodles

Oinion-1

Scallions-2

Ginger garlic paste

Tomato

Cabbage 2-3 leaves

Soy sauce

Cook it

Boil or heat water and put hakka noodles in the hot water for 5 minutes. In the mean time, heat a wok, add 2-3 tbs oil. Add onions, scallion pieces, tomato and cabbage and mix well for 2-3 minutes. Now add ginger garlic paste (pinch) and salt and little turmeric. Add soy sauce 3-4 spoons. You can use the soy packets that you got from 'take away' food, its much easier lol. Saute everything for a minute. Now take out the noodles from the bowl and drain the water by squeezing them. Add noodles to the wok and mix and fry everything for 2-3 minutes. There you go! Chinese fried noodles are ready in less than a minute! Don't you think this one is much better than the one that we order from outside??

Try it out...

Methi Rice

Its valentine's day and my hubby has too much work and there are no groceries at home! what a gift! huh. So I was left with minimal things and had to manage with the stuff. I was too ambitious to cook something really good and surprise my hubby. But annoyingly the leftover leaves of methi, and some "ready to perish" tomatoes and potatoes are laughing at my state! But I was not going to give up. Thanks to basmati rice that stocked up since long. I pulled out the bag and thought of making methi rice. Here goes the recipe..


ingredients
Rice- plain or basmati
Methi leaves
Tomato-1
Onion-1
Spices for tadka


procedure 
Put tadka and fry onions. Add tomato and mix and mash it so that it becomes like paste. Now add methi leaves and mix the stuff till the leaves start to disappear. Now add rice and mix the whole stuff. You can add some pepper powder, or any masala powder for taste -along with salt and turmeric. Let it fry for 2-3 minutes. Now put the whole stuff in a cooker (pressure or electric). Add water accordingly and let it boil. 

Yummy methi rice is ready!


my hubby cleaned the whole bowl and asked for some more! ahem ahem i prepared very little and promised that i will cook again :). you can have the dish with raita or just by itself! either ways, its yummy....

Poha

(Image from Google)

My sister always used to come home from hostel on weekends and I never had any clue why she was always hungry. whenever shes coming home, I knew it was time to buy groceries and keep the food ready. One dish which she always relished is "Poha". Poha is mostly made in central and north India as breakfast and in south India as a diet for  patients! arrghhhh since it is healthy and nutritious, I preferred to make it most of times and it takes hardly 10 minutes to make it. 

Ingredients

Poha (flattened rice) -one cup 

green mirchi-2

jeera

mustard

onions-1/2 of it is enough

Cook It

Dampen poha for 5-10 minutes. This will soften it. Take a kadai, and pour 2 spoons oil, add pinch of jeera, mustards, mirchi and onion pieces. Heat the whole stuff for 45-50 seconds. Now add dampen poha into the oil and put some salt (one tsp) and turmeric powder (just a  pinch). Mix the whole stuff and keep it on flame for 30 seconds. Thats it..yummy poha is ready! 

Now make it properly and serve it.....it can be served as breakfast or an evening snack. the whole process takes not more than 7-8 minutes. Am sure my sister must be drooling by now! 

Onion Pakoda

Image from Google

Its time for sports again! ahem ahem....a big tv and sports channel are not enough to spice up the day. how about some fizzy drink and some hot pakodas...that too made at home! sounds good...right? yeah i did the same while my hubby was sunk in super bowl. it is very easy to make and i am sure you will be having all the ingredients at home! try this

Ingredients

Basen powder/wheat flour/maida ( you can use any of these..subject to the availability)

OSnions 1/person

Oil-3 cups (you can reuse this oil)

Some jeera

One spoon salt

Little mirchi powder

Cook It
Cut the onions into long pieces..no need to tailor them. Take 2 cups of basen/maida/wheat flour (per person) and mix with water until it becomes paste. Add onions, salt, jeera, pepper. The raw material is ready now. Heat the oil and put small amounts of the paste....let it burn for few seconds until it becomes light brown in colour. Take them out and serve them with ketch-up or any other sauce...or just relish them...

Am sure you will love the game and also your snack...why to waste money on outside unhygienic pakodas when we can make them at home in just 10 minutes.....

yummy yummy...now am in a mood to eat them again....ta ta