Vegetable Maggi

This is one recipe I learnt from a most unexpected source…..In my college, outside the back gate, there was a ‘thela’ – a stall which was very popular across all the students. Mainly because it was the only source of food when the mess food was totally inedible or when you wanted it to be delivered to your room. So this guy, Pandeyji owned the stall and he used to make vegetable Maggi which was really popular and that is where I picked up this recipe  

Ingredients

1 pack maggi

1/2 cup shredded cabbage

1/2 cup shredded carrot

1 onion, chopped

Oil

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Simultaneously, boil the maggi in another pan and add maggi masala to it. Fry onions in the oil till light pink. Now add cabbage and carrots to it and fry for 3-4 minutes till maggi is ready. Now add maggi to this veg mix and sprinkle salt and pepper over it and mix vigorously and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Serve with ketchup.

Tip: You can grate cheese into the maggi while it is being prepared to give it a subtle taste.

Frankie (Paneer Wrap)

It was Saturday and I wanted to try something new in the kitchen so i thought….how about a homemade Frankie. Surely that will not have too many twists and turns in it. Afterall, Mexican food is very close to Indian. And Frankie is nothing but a rolled up paratha stuffed with vegetables. So here is what I did….I made a roti out of refined flour (maida) and I made a filling of paneer and I just rolled the two things up. the tricky part was keeping the roll stable. It was going on opening….so better keep a plastic or a paper ready in which to wrap the “wrap” up

Ingredients

100 gms paneer

2 onions

Salt

Pepper

Garlic seasoning

Italian seasoning

Dry mango powder

Red chilli powder

Chaat masala

1 lemon

100 gms maida

Ghee

Oil

Dice the onions. Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the onions till light pink. Cut the panner into bite-sized pieces and fry them along with the onions. Add all the seasonings and spices. Keep the flavor a little strong. When done, take off flame and add lemon juice. The filling is ready.

Make a dough of maida with water and make tortillas out of them in ghee. Tortilla is the Mexican name for our Indian paratha. Do not over cook the tortilla.

Spread a spoonful of filling on the tortilla in a line and wrap it up

How to make Cottage Cheese at Home

These days half the dishes are ready-to-eat and easily available in the market. Just add water or oil, cook for a little while and you have a sumptuous feast in front of your eyes. However, they do not taste the same as a meal made from scratch. Well, it is not always easy to have all the ingredients from scratch, but you can definitely have cottage cheese made at home. In fact, if you have milk sitting in your freezer for more than 3 days, you can utilize it to make cottage cheese instead of throwing it away.

Ingredients

½ liter milk

2 tblsp lemon juice

1 muslin cloth

Boil milk and add lemon juice

Curdled milk

Pour the curdled milk onto a muslin cloth

Tie and hang the muslin cloth to drain cottage cheese

Boil the milk in a container. When the milk starts to bubble, add lemon juice and let it simmer for 2 mins. Stir continuously with spoon. Take off the flame and drain the milk on the muslin cloth.

Cottage cheese ready for use

For best results, tie the muslin cloth on the mouth of a container and drain the milk on it. Also, you can drain the milk on a sieve and then transfer the residue to the muslin cloth. Tie the muslin cloth and squeeze it under running water to drain out excess milk. Let it hang for an hour. Store in the fridge and use as required.

Review – Barbeque Nation

Rating: 5/5

If you want to explore a dinner with a twist or if you want to impress your girlfriend, Barbeque Nation is the place to be. The USP of this restaurant is its offering of a grilling experience and that too right at your table. Yes, there is a grill right in the middle of your table complete with hot smoldering coal pieces and grilled veggies roasting on it!!!

Personal grill at every table!!!

When you enter the restaurant, the first thing that strikes you is the politeness and courtesy of the staff. The service is excellent and not at one moment can you find fault with it. The waiter is available at your beck and call to offer the most of the culinary experience.

Barbeque Nation offers lunch and dinner buffet. Prior reservations are advised. The starters are a choice between 5 vegetarian and 5 non-vegetarian grilled kebabs. There are ample marinades to baste the kebabs. The restaurant encourages to indulge in unlimited abundance and the starters will keep coming till you dip the flag on the table. This is followed by a sumptuous buffet including lip-smacking desserts.

Flag Up – More Starters Please…

Flag Down – No Starters Please…

There is an excellent live band to entertain you with the most famous songs of all time. The ambience is relaxed and open. You can make the most of what you want out of it.

Barbeque Nation justifies its name and offers a taste of barbeque within the luxury of a top-class restaurant. There is no restriction on tariffs, service time and portions. The bottom line is “eat as much as you enjoy”. Try it atleast once in your lifetime. They are available at the following address in Chennai:

Shri Devi Park Hotel

No-1 Hanumantha Road

North Usman Road, T Nagar

Chennai-17

Phone: 044-42694481 / 2 / 9381512199

Sukha Besan

Sukha besan is a Marwari delicacy. The Rajasthanis use a lot of besan (chana dal flour) in their cooking basically because of less availability and accessibility of fresh fruits and vegetables. This dish, however, used radishes to lend it its special taste.

Preparation Time – 20 mins

Servings – 4 people

Ingredients

1 cup besan (chana dal flour)

1 cup radish, grated

3 green chillies

2 tblsp oil

1 tblsp rai (mustard seeds)

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

Sukha Besan

Cut the green chillies into 1 cm pieces. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the chillies in it along with mustard seeds. Add the grated radish and fry till it turns light pink. Add the besan, salt and red chilli powder and roast it along with the radish for 5-7 minutes till it turns brown in color. Sprinkle a little water if besan is too dry while roasting. Do not add too much water to it. It should retain the dry texture because of which it is called sukha besan. Serve with roti/rice.

 

Tip: Sukha besan does not store well on account of radish.

Coleslaw

Coleslaw can be made with varied ingredients but the basic are cream (or mayonnaise), cabbage and carrots with an ample sprinkling of salt and pepper. Grate cabbage and carrots. Mix with cream and add salt and pepper according to taste but keep it strong.

 

If you don’t have cream, you can use a sandwich spread. You can also use curd as a substitute.

 

Generally coleslaw is made from raw shredded cabbage. In fact, coleslaw is derived from the Latin term literally meaning cabbage salad. Carrots are optional. You can add in other vegetables like onions, capsicum or cucumber or fruits like apple or pineapple.

 

A variety of seasonings can be used like chilli flakes or ketchup according to taste. It is all about experimenting and arriving at your choice of ingredients. Coleslaw can be served with burgers or can be used as a spread with bread.

Beans Curry (Moong Dal Sabzi)

Beans curry is one of HD’s fav dishes. Just make it and see him smile. Whenever we go shopping, he always asks whether we have enough beans at home So I keep a cup full always handy and within reach. True, it takes some time to sprout them but you can store the sprouted beans for a week in the fridge so you are safe from that end.

Preparation Time – 15 mins

Servings – 4 people

Ingredients

200 gms sprouted beans (sprouted moong)

2 onions, chopped

2 tomates, chopped (optional)

1 tblsp garlic paste

1 tblsp ginger paste

2 tblsp oil

1 tblsp zeera

A pinch of hing

1 tblsp haldi

2 tblsp dhaniya powder

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

1 lemon

Wash the beans and keep aside. Chop the onions and tomatoes. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add zeera and hing. When the zeera starts to splutter, add chopped onions and fry till light pink. Now add chopped tomatoes and ginger and garlic paste. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the beans, salt, red chilli powder, haldi, dhaniya powder and 1 cup of water. Put it on sim for 5-7 minutes after one whistle. Add the lemon juice and serve.

 

Tip: You can use dry mango powder (amchur) instead of lemon. You can vary the water quantity according to your choice.

Aloo Kofte Curry

Sometimes the mind works overtime. I had been fantasizing about spending the whole Saturday in the kitchen trying out my new recipes…..basically my own creations. One of them was aloo kofte curry. Basically potato balls in tomato curry. To give it a twist, I decided to stuff the potato balls with carrot. Turned out yummy though a little high on calories. Best save this dish in the once-in-a-blue-moon list.

Preparation Time – 45 mins

Servings – 4 people

Ingredients for Aloo Kofte

5 potatoes

1 carrot

A handful of raisins

2 tblsp cornflour

2 tblsp Salt

1 tblsp Red chilli powder

Edible red color

Oil

Boil the potatoes and mash them. Mix in cornflour, salt and red chilli powder. Keep the salt a little on the strong side for better flavor. Grate the carrots and mix a small quantity of red color in it. Keep aside. Now wet your palm and place a small piece of potato mash on it. Pat it to make a flat disk of 1 inch diameter. Place a small quantity of grated carrots on it along with a raisin. Now place a small disk of mash on top of this and seal the sides. Make the mash into a small ball taking care that the carrots do not mix with the potato. Heat the oil in a pan and deep fry the balls till golden brown. Drain the oil on a tissue. Serve in tomato gravy.

Coconut Cake – Slow Cooker Recipe

My mom made coconut cake once when I was a kid and it tasted awesome to say the least. I do not know how she made it but I created a recipe of my own for the cake. Turned out well according to HD J

Ingredients

1 cup refined flour (maida)

1 cup coconut, dessicated

½ cup ghee (unsalted butter)

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tblsp baking powder

1 tblsp vanilla essence

½ cup milk

Beat the egg yolks, ghee and sugar together till light and fluffy. Sieve flour with baking powder. Add the egg mix and vanilla essence. Add a little milk to achieve pouring consistency. Mix in coconut powder. Heat a pressure cooker on high flame. Grease a baking dish and dust properly with flour. Pour in the batter and bake on low flame for half an hour.

 

Tip: Coconut cake tastes best when cooled.

Leftover Queen – Fried Rice

Sometimes you end up cooking more rice than is required cos there are guests in the house and you don’t know how much will be required. Sometimes, the family members do not have much appetite and rice is left. If you have 1 or more cups of rice, there is no need to throw it away. You can recycle it and present it in a delightful way in the next meal (and no one will know )

Ingredients

1 cup Leftover Rice

1 tblsp oil

1 tsp zeera

1 onion

1 tblsp haldi

Salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan and add zeera to it. Dice onion and fry it. Add the leftover rice to this along with haldi and salt and cook on sim for 5-7 minutes. Serve hot.