Two Kinds of Pizza: One Saintly and the other Naughty :Just a Teaser

If there is one food I can never resist , it is Pizza . Well ... come to think of it there can be quite a few others as well but don't even get me started in that direction. Right now we are talking about Pizzas and that's what we will do. I can eat all kinds of Pizzas. I can eat Pizza in the middle of the night, cold, out of the fridge .I love the normal fare from Dominos and Pizzahut definitely, but I also love the desi varieties of Pizzas that are on the menu at my local Pav-Bhaji  stall.  Boy!  Does the chef have an imagination or what!! He puts everything possible  on that little disc of Pizza Base. There's tomato puree of course, topped with a very spicy stir-fried mixture of  capsicum, onions sweetcorn , and green peas , and I suspect sometimes even cauliflower. Yesss , that's right cauliflower. But I am not complaining. The whole thing is topped with loads of Amul Cheese  and has a mind-blowing taste. I always order that for home delivery when I visit my mom. My dad and I enjoy it immensely. Infact my Dad very seriously said the last time we had one that he likes it much better than the Pizzahut one and ..... hold your breath....... even the one he ate in Italy. Yes , Italy .... the Mecca of Pizza. We had a good laugh over that . What can I say ?? To each his own.

So the kinds of Pizzas I normally tend to make at home are the two you see here. If I am in a very virtuous mood I make the one with a Wholewheat Pita Bread as the base with minimum cheese which I mix with veggies like mixed bell peppers, sweet-corn asaparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes and spiced with dried oregano, and basil. t tastes awesome no doubt , is extremely healthy and completely guilt-free.

ON THE OTHER HAND....... if I am not feeling so saintly ,and am in the mood for wicked food then it has to be the other one. It has a mini naan as a base , not many veggies , well actually only tomatoes and sweetcorn, but loads of cheese. Sometimes even a combination of Mozzarella and Cheddar. I also spike it with chilly flakes. Naan makes a fabulous base, it's  much tastier than the readymade plain pizza bases that are available in the stores. Best one to go for is the coriander and garlic. It's a whole load of white flour to consume that's why I use only the mini naans and not the big ones. If the Pizza is going to be shared then it's ok to use the larger Naans

So tell me! What's your favourite kind of Pizza?

A Super Bowl (Veggie Lentil Curry with Jeera Rice)

Hi guys!! I know I know , I have been as bad as ever. Neglecting my blog again for days now. Just got caught up doing other things (like playing Farmville!!) . But now I am back and have something wonderful to share. Wonderful yet very very simple to make , but very nutritious ,mind you. I made this dish just 2 days back. Got the recipe from a diet magazine and the picture in it was so good that I had to make it immediately.
This dish is perfect for those days when you have the middle of the week dinner blues and can't think of what to put on the dinner table that day. Well this ones a winner. It's fast to cook and very little washing up to do later as it can all be eaten from a single bowl.


What you need:
2 medium onions chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup of uncooked masoor dal (split red lentils)
1 cup of green beans cut into pieces
1 cup of cauliflower florets
1/2 cup of green peas
1 tblspn each of garlic and ginger paste
1 heaped tspn mustard seeds
1 tspn cumin
1 tblspn hot curry powder
1 tspn chilly powder (more if you like)
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
Oil to cook
coriander to garnish


Method:


Heat about 3 to 4 tblspns of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds first. When they begin to splutter add the cumin and fry for about 30 secs.
Next add the onions and the ginger- garlic pastes and fry well
Add to this the curry powder, chilly powder and turmeric
Now add the lentils and the vegetables, salt and 3 to 4 cups of water.
Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer.
Cover and cook until the veggies are cooked and the lentils are mushy. The beans take the longest to cook , so if they have cooked , rest assured that the rest of the veggies have cooked.
Adjust the seasoning according to your taste and garnish with chopped coriander


Have this curry with a rice of your choice. I made simple jeera rice and  just made a salad to go with it. It makes  a quick and power packed supper with minimum hassle.


Right! Now  after that spicy curry here's something completely different. Recently I was introduced to the GrazeBox. What is a GrazeBox?  Well it  is just what it sounds like . It's a box which contains 2 or 3 types of nibbles which you can graze on throughout the week. It's the best thing to have to control those  4o'clock hunger pangs .It contains delicious things like nuts, raisins, seeds  dried fruit ,fresh fruit and even some exotic spicy nibbles.  This is what a graze box looks like from the outside. 

And this is my box from last week. I ordered  a graze fresh box and got all this delcious stuff in it. Believe me it's supposed to last you for atleat a week but it  was gone in minutes.

So if you are in the UK and interested in ordering one yourself  or would just like to know more about graze then  do visit http://www.graze.com/

If you feel like ordering one then please use the promotional code below. That will give you your first box free.

free box code: LYLD625A

So go Grazing!!

Spicy Chicken Burgers (Simply delightful and very satisfying)

Hi everyone! I am so glad to be posting again. Last week was a good week food-wise . I tried out a few new recipes and they turned out pretty neat. One of them was this burger recipe that was a complete hit. Recently I have taken to watching re-runs of 30 Minute Meals by Rachel Ray and there is something about that show that really inspires me to just get up and spend time in the kitchen trying out recipes. It's probably Rachel enthusiasm on the show and the very homly no-fuss dinners that she makes that I find very appealing. So a few days back I saw her cook some burgers and cole slaw and I decided then that I wanted to cook burgers for dinner too. I already had chicken in the fridge. But I also wanted really spicy burgers.

So I surfed the net for some good burger recipes and was completely impressed by a recipe put up by Kevin on his blog Closet Cooking. Its a fab idea to use curry powder for burgers. My family just loved these burgers, so thanks Kevin for a great recipe.I tweaked it a bit here and there to suit my taste and it came out awesome.

What you need:

500 gms chicken mince (you could buy chicken breast and mince it in your processor)

4 spring onions finely chopped,

1 cup finely chopped coriander

1 tblspn minced ginger

1 tblspn minced garlic

1 cup bread crumbs

2 tspns lemon zest,

4 tspns hot curry powder,

2 tspns chilly powder,

2 to 3 tblspns tomato ketchup

salt to taste

To assemble the burger you need:

Burger Buns,

Mayonnaise,

Lettuce

Tomato slices

Cheese slices

Ketchup or Hot Jalapeno Relish

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients well , but do not overmix. Use a gentle hand. This prevents the chicken patties from drying out.

Shape them into equal sized patties shallow fry for 10 to 12 mins turning them once over half-way through.

Assemble the burgers as you like and enjoy with some oven chips and a glass of icy coke.

ENJOY!!!! I know we did

Very wholesome Chapati and Egg Rolls

Come summer and my mind goes into the "Quick Recipes Mode" or the QRM as I like to call it. I mean it's simpy impossible to toil over the hob for hours at a stretch to cook elaborate meals . And the weather in UK being so kind for once , you just have to make the most of it and spend time outdoors as much as possible rather than in the kitchen.

So currently I am constantly on the look out for recipes requiring minimum time but with no compromise on taste and full flavour. As you must have derived by now from my previous posts I fancy all kings of wraps. I just love making wraps. They are quick and easy to make , delicious and a single wrap can hold the nutrition of an entire balanced meal. And most important of all is that in my family all three of us like them just as much. So everybody is happy.

Yesterday I made these chapati and egg wraps for my lunch and they tasted so good I just have to share them with all of you.

What you need is:

• 2 chapatis (homemade or readymade store bought)
• 2 eggs
• 1 spring onion finely chopped,
• 1/2 cup fresh sweet corn kernels,
• 2 mushrooms finely chopped (I used chestnut mushrooms),
• 1 tblspn grated cheese,
• salt and pepper to season (you can replace pepper with chilly powder too),
• Oil to cook
  
  Method:
  In a pan heat the oil and gently saute the spring onions , mushrooms and corn for a few minutes.


• Crack the 2 eggs in a large bowl and beat lightly.


• To the eggs add the sauteed spring onions ,mushrooms and corn.


• Add the grated cheese and season with salt and pepper.


• Beat the mixture gently together and make 2 omelettes .


• After the omelettes have cooled a bit lay out one omelette on each chapati , dot it with your favourite sauce, and roll up tightly.


• Cut each roll diagonally into two pieces .
  
  Your lunch is ready. These are awesome also in a lunch box or to carry on a picnic. Enjoy with a salad accompaniment or a glass of juice.

Yummilicious Paratha Frankies

Hi everybody! I am back after my long break again. These long breaks are becoming an annoying habit you might say , but it is one that I definitely intend to break very soon. Anyway, how have you guys been? I have missed you all too. What I have for you today is something I thought of today morning at 5.00 o'clock when I was disturbed out of my sleep and just could not go back to sleep again. And our mind you know has this annoying habit of immediately kicking into action with all kinds of thoughts rushing in which makes it even more difficult to sleep.

So my mind turned to the most nagging of thoughts and that was what to pack in the lunch boxes. Fortunately there was paratha dough already ready in the fridge, but as that was what we had had for dinner there was no way I could repeat the same in the lunch boxes . Well not as an ordinary paratha anyway. But then I remembered the block of paneer in the fridge and the mixed frozen veggies in the freezer and I had my lunch boxes all planned in minutes.

So I made paratha frankies . They are tasty, wholesome ,convenient to carry and a great change from regular chapatis and vegetables or sandwiches. So much so that my husband called up from office to say that he had enjoyed his lunch. Great!!!

So to make the parathas you need:

2 cups wheat flour, 3 cups of finely chopped spinach, 1 cup finely chopped carrots, 2 tspn ginger garlic paste, 2tspn chilly powder, 1 tspn turmeric powder, 1tspn each of cumin and coriander powder, 1 tspn of ground saunf, 1.5 tspn sugar, salt to taste, 2 tblspns oil .

Knead all the above into a medium soft dough and and cook the parathas a little thinner and larger than a roti.

For the filling you will need:

1 onion, 1 and a half tomato, 1 tspn ginger garlic paste, 2 cups mixed vegetables chopped finely (I had the frozen mix which contains peas ,corn,beans and carrots), 200 gms paneer, 2 tblspns tomato ketchup, 2 tspn pav bhaji masala, 2 tspn cumin seeds, 2 tspn chilly powder, 1/2 tspn turmeric powder, salt to taste, and oil for cooking.

Method:

• Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds.
• After a few seconds add the chopped onion and ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute
• Next add the chopped tomato and let this cook for at least 2 to 3 mins
• Now come the chilly powder, turmeric , and pav bhaji masala along with the vegetables. Let the vegetables cook on a low flame. When they are cooked add the salt and ketchup.
• At the last stage add the paneer which does not need any cooking . Mix it all gently together until the paneer is coated with the spices.
• Give it a taste and adjust seasoning accordingly .

To serve take a paratha and spoon about 2 tblspns of filling on it and roll tightly. To put in a lunch box wrap the roll in foil so that the filling does not fall out while eating.

Enjoy!!!

Delicious Chicken Wraps (Like they say"No one can eat just one")

I am a cook of varying moods. I guess we all are to some extent. What I cook each day is to some extent ruled by my mood on that particular day. Many people get the impression that because I run a food blog I am completely besotted by cooking and the kitchen. But that's not always true.
I have also read and heard people say that cooking is relaxing. Not for me. It can be very exhausting at times .I feel cooking can be relaxing only if you do it once in a while. It also depends on where you are when you are cooking. For eg: cooking in the UK where the weather is mostly cool is OK. It does not make you all hot and flushed. But I have also cooked in Pune and Mumbai where the temperatures are soaring quite often and cooking is the last thing you want to do in such weather . And that too Indian cooking which has you standing at the hob for at least an hour doing all the stirring and frying and rolling out piles and piles of chapatis. Not a thing I relish always.

So when I have one "I don't want to cooking moods" what do I do? Well , the answer to that is not always easy. Sometimes I have to go through the entire rigmarole because that's the healthiest option for everyone in the family. But not to worry , there are other healthy options as well . And this dish today always comes up trumps with my family. There is minimum fuss with maximum taste and you don't even have to switch on the gas if you have shop bought cooked chicken.

What you need is:
For 4 people:
8 tortilla wraps (I buy "wheat and white")
approx 3 cups cooked chicken (shredded)
hummous
mayonnaise
3 grated carrots
lots of fresh crisp lettuce
hot peri peri sauce (or any other hot sauce)
grated cheddar cheese

Method:
First spread generous amounts of hummous on a wrap
Next spread the shredded chicken,
Top this with grated carrot and crispy lettuce
Dot it with hot peri peri sauce and sprinkle the grated cheddar last
Roll up the tortilla tightly and cut into 3 or 4 pieces to make it easier to eat.

There you have a healthy and hearty meal ready without having to toil over the cooker hob for hours. If you wish have your favourite soup along with it (that too a canned one ) to make the meal even more filling. You can replace the chicken with canned tuna or mackerel and vegetarians can replace the chicken with paneer.

Enjoy

Fritatta

Fritatta is something I have always been fascinated with but never cooked. For that matter until a few days back I had not even tasted a fritatta. But somehow it just always managed to catch my attention from pictures in food magazines and food blogs and of course food shows on TV. On one of my shopping trips I even bought a oven proof pan particularly with the intention of making a fritatta. I just loved the idea of eating a big fat omellete filled with all kinds of delicious veggies, cheeses and mushrooms.

Well last week I was at the surgery (that's what a doctor's dispensary is called in UK) to see my GP . ( Reason for which was I had a nasty fall 2 weeks back and have been making quite a few trips to the doctor's for treatment on my leg which I hurt very badly.) So while I was sitting in the waiting area for my name to appear on the electronic display I was browsing through a magazine and once again my attention was drawn to a very yummy pic of fritatta. I memorised the ingredients and the method of cooking and decided there and then that I would make a fritatta before the end of the week and I did.

What's the verdict? Well all three of us loved it. Infact each of us could have done with one more helping but there wasn't any left. It was delicious , very filling and very easy and quick to make. Despite having bought a pan specially for that purpose I ended up using a oven proof Pyrex glass dish because as it turns out the pan is not big enough to cook a fritatta for three people. So what do i do with that pan now? Ohh I am sure I will find some use for it.

The ingredients for a Fritatta for 4 people are:

6 eggs

6/7 chestnut mushrooms (or any other)

1/2 a bellpepper (any colour of your choice)

approx 7 tblpns of grated cheddar

1 cup of finely chopped spinach,

8 to 10 leaves of fresh basil (chop these just before adding to the eggs)

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 200 deg C

In a bowl break the eggs and add all the other ingredients to it. From the cheese add only half of it and keep the rest for spreading on top. Season well with salt and pepper

Grease a oven proof glass dish and pour the mixture into it. Place in hot oven. It takes about 20 minutes to cook . After 20 minutes (or when the fritatta has begun to set) open the oven door, partially slide out the dish and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

Return the dish to the oven and cook further until the cheese melts and turns slightly golden.

Let it cool slightly before cutting it into triangular wedges. This dish can be eaten at breakfast, lunch or supper. It can even be carried on a picnic.

Try it ! You will love it!

A very quick and very delicious rice

On weekdays I eat my lunch alone. Hubby and son both having carried their packed lunches along with them are never at home for lunch on a weekday. Now I am a person who loves one dish non-fussy meals. Hubby being a bit of a traditionalist where eating is concerned likes elaborate meals and so when I cook a Maharashtrian meal for the three of us (which is every evening ) I cook Bhaji, Amti, Chapatis some form of Koshimbir or salad and sometimes rice. It takes about an hour and a half to cook all this from scratch. Gets a bit monotonous when you have to do it almost everyday, though I admit I do prepare pasta and garlic bread and stuff like that and all three of us are very happy eating that too. Why wouldn't we be?

But then when I eat alone I try to make food that requires minimum amount of time cooking but is at the same time filling, nutritious and full on flavour. No compromise there. Some days back I made this rice with whatever was available in my fridge. I was surprised at how good it tasted. It was hot, spicy, sweet and sour all at the same time. And although I couldn't wait to dig in I had the good sense to take a picture of the dish. And am I glad I did. I can share it with all of you today.

Ingredients:

3 cups leftover cooked rice,

1 onion sliced,

1 tblspn readymade garlic paste from a bottle

1 cup cooked and shredded chicken,

1 cup assorted diced vegetables (capsicum, carrots,peas corn, sugar snap peas)

2 spring onions finely chopped,

2 tblspns tomato ketchup,

2 tblspns soya sauce,

1 stock cube of OXO veg,

salt to taste

Oil to cook

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a wok, and stir fry the sliced onion ,garlic and all the veggies until cooked but still with a bite to them

2. Next add and stir in the shredded chicken and crush and sprinkle the OXO stock cube over it. As the chicken is already cooked it does not require any further cooking.

3. Now add the rice, both the sauces and salt. Toss it all well but with a light hand. As a final touch add the chopped spring onions . These come at the end as a garnish.

Your rice is ready to eat. You can replace the chicken with scrambled eggs or skip both and make it completely vegetarian. The star ingredient here is the tomato ketchup. That is what lends the rice that awesome flavour. It is bit of cheating but who is complaining.

Vegetable and Chicken Stew (A very satisfying combo)

Last whole week has been a nightmare. I mean something like a boiler breakdown in mid November leaving you with no hot water and no central heating is something that happens only on TV commercials where they are tying to persuade you to to purchase one particular brand of boiler, right? Wrong! It happens . It happened to us. Seven days ago the boiler made a series of very threatening sounds and then went completely silent. Result: No Central heating and no hot water running from the taps. Total nightmare.

The CH problem has been temporarily solved with a portable electric heater which our kind home-owner provided us with but no hot water means taking a bath with only one small bucketful of water ; water that has been heated in a big pot on the gas hob, no showers , and washing up the dishes all other pots and pans in ice cold water , which is ice cold even with rubber gloves on.

My one major concern was doing up the washing up in the evening after dinner. The idea of washing dishes in cold water in the evening is something I just could not bear. So I decided that till I had this problem I would cook dishes that would be one dish meals ,could be cooked in one big pot and eaten in disposable plates or bowls.
Now a thick soup is something all of us love at home. So I knew this stew would definitely be agreeable to all three of us. It's yummy, very filling, nutritious and the perfect thing to eat with a piece of nice crusty bread on a very wintry evening.

So Stew it was: A vegetable and chicken stew made with frozen veggies and small chunks of chicken.
Ingredients:
3 cups of mixed frozen vegetables (the variety I had was peas , carrots, corn and beans)
1 cup finely diced chestnut mushrooms (use any other you like)
1/2 cup shredded cabbage,
1/2 cup cooked rice (I had some leftover in the fridge)
1 onion finely chopped,
2 cloves of garlic crushed,
2 cups of chicken cubed (uncooked)
2 cubes of OXO chicken stock (use any brand you prefer)
5 cups of water
1 tblspn cornflour
2 tblspn butter (can be replaced with 3 tblspns of oil)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat the butter in a saucepan and saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes on a moderate heat until they are light brown in colour.
2. Add all the other vegetables in there frozen form , cabbage and the chopped mushrooms.
3. Next add the cubed chicken and saute until chicken turns white on the outside.
4. Add all the water now and bring to a boil. (The quantity of water is approx ,add more if you like) . When the water reaches a boil crush the stock cubes in it stir well and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes or until chicken pieces are completely cooked .
5. Now mix the cornflour in a small amount of cold water and add this to the stew. Keep simmering until the stew thickens. At this stage add the cooked rice. Then add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot with big chunks of warm crusty bread.

This a very heart -warming stew. Children love it and is also great for people recovering from any illness. And of course great when you have no hot water to do the washing up:;)

Friday Vegetable Curry

I am sure all of you are wondering why you haven't heard of a curry by this name before. That's because I just made up this name last Friday. I call it the Friday Vegetable Curry because it's the perfect thing to make on Friday when my fridge is practically empty as Saturday is the weekly shopping day. Last Friday I had one carrot , 2 tomatoes and a small bunch of coriander in the fridge and 3 potatoes and 1 lonely onion in the potato-onion basket. A few frozen veggies like sweet corn, green beans and peas came to the rescue and I made this very easy, but lip-smacking (if I may praise my own food) veg curry.

All I needed was :

3 potatoes cut into small cubes

2 carrots roughly chopped,

1/2 cup each of frozen peas, sweetcorn and french beans,

2 tomatoes coarsely pureed + one tspn of readymade concentrated tomato puree,

1 large onion,

4 cloves garlic crushed,

2 tspn cumin-coriander powder,

1 tspn powdered kasoori methi,

1 tspn chilly powder,

1/2 cup milk (yes!!!! Milk)

3 tblspns oil

salt to taste and coriander for garnishing

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a kadhai or suitable pan and fry the garlic and onions on medium heat till lightly golden in colour,

2. Next add the tomatoes and tomato puree and fry for a couple of minutes,

3. Now add the spices ,and chilly powder and mix well. At this point add a little water to the mixture so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

4.When the tomatoes have thoroughly cooked add all the vegetables and a little more water, add the salt and now let the vegetables cook on a very low heat. Do not cover the pan if you want to retain the lovely colours of the vegetables in the finished dish. Also by cooking on low heat the veggies cook well but also have a nice bite to them. They don't get all mushy.

5. Now stir in the kasoori methi.

6. At the final stage add the milk. Milk gives the whole dish a creamy taste like a korma and makes a very simple home-cooked dish taste like something you would eat in a restaurant . (Feel free to replace milk with single cream if you wish) After adding the milk let the vegetables simmer for a couple of minutes and then switch off the gas.

This curry goes very well with parathas, rotis , rice or even couscous.

Tomorrow is Friday , so go ahead and raid your fridge.

Pressure Cooker Masoor Rice

Masoor Rice or Masoor Biryani ? I am not sure what to call it. Ideally I would love to call it Masoor Biryani because it sounds so exotic ,but then a Biryani is no ordinary dish. It requires a good amount of organised preparation with multiple ingredients and the cooking also is a specialised. Contrary to that my rice is a very humble dish prepared with absolutely no particular recipe in mind. It took birth on a Sunday evening when the hubby wanted to have a spicy one dish meal, but definitely not moong dal khichadi (I do tend to make that quite often). So I came up with this . When I told him what I was making he was not convinced that it was what he wanted, but when he saw the finished product he just had to change his mind.

I used:

1 cup basmati rice,
3/4 cup whole masoor (red lentils) soaked in hot water for 1/2 an hour
1 onion thinly sliced,
5 cloves of garlic crushed
1 inch ginger pureed,
2 tomatoes coarsely pureed,
1 cup of chopped mixed vegetables of your choice (I used frozen peas, sweet corn and carrots)
1 heaped tblspn store bought biryani masala,
1 tblspn lemon juice,
1 heaped tspn chilly powder,
1/2 tspn turmeric powder,
salt to taste,
3 tbslpns oil or ghee
fresh chopped coriander , thinly sliced cucumber and hard boiled eggs for garnishing

The Method: (Couldn't be easier)

1. Heat the ghee/oil directly in the pressure cooker pan and start by frying the onions ,garlic and ginger until lightly browned,

2.Next add the tomatoes and continue frying on medium heat until they lose all the moisture,

3. Add the Biryani masala, chilly powder, turmeric powder , salt , vegetables and the whole masoor and give it a good stir. Keep the heat moderate.

4. At this stage add the rice and 2 cups and a little more water. Close the pressure cooker and cook as you would for any rice. I cooked it for 3 to 4 whistles and turned down the heat for one minute before switching off the gas.

Serve with quartered hard boiled eggs to make it a very filling meal.

A Packed Lunch for a Food Loving Kid Part 1

Packing a balanced meal in a lunch box requires a bit of imagination and a bit of planning. I remember when I was in school my mother packed 2 dabbas (boxes) for me. One contained some dry snacks which I gobbled in the short break at 10.30 and the other was a more elaborate affair with chapatis and vegetables, sometimes even curd rice with some mango pickle which was the lunch eaten at 12.30 . My mother being the kind of person she is always managed to make the lunch box interesting so much so that I was always a bit reluctant to share my lunch with any of my friends and neither was I ever interested in what they had brought.

I did my schooling in the 80s and there were no pre-packed attractive yogurt pots, or cheese strings or cute mini boxes of raisins that could easily be packed as an accompaniment to the main meal . Yet my lunch box with its simple but imaginatively packed food was something that always caught my friend's attention.

Now that I am a mother and have to pack a lunch for my 5 year old I try to come up with different ideas that will appeal to him. I have an additional aspect to consider (that did not exist when I was a school kid in India) and that is that my little boy is an Indian attending a British school where he eats his lunch with English children. Although at home he eats up all the traditional Marathi lunches and dinners that make in school he prefers to have something like everybody else. For a 5 year old I think it is very important not to be the odd one out. So the lunch box has to be such that it does not require him to eat chapati and vegetables with his hands (like we do at home) but at the same time provide him with all the essential nutrition.

So we both have compromised and decided that out of the 5 days in a week he can have different kinds of sandwiches on 3 days and some kind of parathas or stuffed chapati rolls on the remaining two. And we both are happy.

In the pic above I have photographed his lunch box. It contains egg and cheese sandwiches with a tiny amount of tomato ketchup , a mini box of raisins and a cubed peach. This is accompanied by a bottle of water . The egg I have fried lightly but kept the centres semi soft, so it does not taste very dry when he eats it. The bread is Best of Both which means it is white bread with wheatgerm in it. The healthiest option is complete wholewheat bread but it's important to give them some variety.

This is a filling and balanced meal with the fruit lending a nice freshness to it. Believe me ,the lunch box always comes back completely empty.

In the next few days I will share with you my other ideas for a lunch box which I pack for my little guy but can be carried even by an adult to work .

Sweet and Sour Vegetables with Egg Fried Rice

Yes! I know I have broken my promise. Said I would share the recipe on Saturday,but just couldn't bring myself to type so much. Blogging is so much more time-consuming hard work than the actually cooking. I just realised that although my blog is about food and cooking, many a times I find myself rushing through the morning with the cooking and other tasks in the kitchen just so that I can get more time to blog. But that's the funny part of it. Create more and more fast to cook recipes so you have maximum time left to blog about them and show off what you have created.

Anyway I think I have rambled enough and should now get down to the actual sharing of the recipe. These two dishes are most liked by me in my family because 1. they are really delicious and 2. they have a restaurant feel to them without having to toil too much over the hob. I have also managed to thoroughly convince my husband and son that although it is only rice and vegetables it is a very filling and satisfying combo. Gosh ! Have I started rambling again? So Sorry! I don't know what's come over me today.

OK first the rice:

You need:

11/2 C Brown Rice, (Use white rice if you prefer)

4 C water,

salt to season

2 eggs (scrambled),

3 spring onions chopped,

2 tblspns Soy Sauce,

1 to 2 tspn Chilly Sauce,

3 tblspn oil

Method:

Now brown rice is something completely new to me. I was basically experimenting with it for the first time. I cooked it in the microwave. In a MW proof container I put the rice with 4 C of hot water ,seasoned it with salt ,covered it and cooked it for 25 mins. After every mins I used open the MW and check to see whether it was done and give it a gentle stir. After 25 mins of cooking I was convinced that it was nicely cooked. I removed it and spread it out in a large plate to cool it down a bit and separate the grains.

While the rice is cooking scramble the eggs in a pan . Season with a tiny bit of salt and some pepper

In a wok heat the oil and saute half the chopped spring onions . Add the soy sauce and chilly sauce. Next add the rice and the scrambled eggs and give it a good toss. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper or any of the sauces if you like.

Before serving garnish with the remaining raw chopped spring onions .

For the Sweet and Sour Vegetables you need:

2 spring onions chopped , 4 cloves of garlic chopped finely 1/2 inch piece of ginger chopped , 2 small carrots, 3 to 4 baby corn, 5 to 6 button mushrooms diced, half a sweet pepper, 1/2 cup cauliflower florets, 1/2 cup green beans thinly sliced , 2 tspns Soy Sauce, 1 tspn chilly sauce , 1 tblspn brown vinegar, 3 tblspns tomato ketchup, 1 tspn sugar, 4 C water, 1&1/2 tblspn cornflour dissolved in a little water , salt and pepper to taste, 2 tblspn oil.

Method:

In a saucepan mix the soy sauce, chilly sauce ,vinegar, ketchup, sugar, and the 4 C of water. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok and fry the chopped garlic and ginger. Next fry the spring onions and all the other veggies for a few mins on high flame . Typical to Chinese cooking the vegetables should be cooked but still have a bite to them.

Now pour the mix of water and sauces into the wok and bring to a boil. After it begins to boil lower the heat and simmer for 10 mins. At this stage add the cornflour dissolved in water. Add the salt and give it a taste. Adjust all sauces as per your taste. The sauce should be slightly thick have a nice sweet and tangy taste .

When serving garnish with chopped spring onions and serve piping hot with the fried rice. Its a delicious and healthy light supper .

Dal Dhokli (Can we call it Indian Pasta?)

The other day a few friends came over for a little tea party at my place . Actually calling our get-togethers "little" is a big joke. I'll tell you why. We meet once every week at someones place and since last year our group has slowly and gradually become quite large (we are 7 ladies and 10 kids). The agenda is that the kids play for 2 to 3 hours and we ladies get to chat,laugh and generally let our hair down. There's also plenty to eat, so much so that we have made and eaten all possible popular snacks till date and quite often run out of ideas.

Now we have very solemnly decided on numerous occasions that the main aim of our meeting on a weekly basis is that the kids get to play together and since all of us have exhibited their cooking skills by now ,henceforth we will have only tea and biscuits for us ladies and a few dry snacks for the kids. As soon as we make this resolution all of us earnestly nod our heads and agree that the next tea will be strictly tea and biscs only and nothing else. So we even tried it out a couple of times. (Honest! Cross my Heart!!) Tea Biscuits and a little something extra for the kids ,but..... .... .and that's a very big BUT, it took out half of the charm from our weekly teas.

And secondly we also felt that 4.00p.m to 7.00 p.m is a long span of time in which it was very "normal" for all of us to feel like snacking. We did not need too much convincing. That's for sure!

The heavy snacks is one of the best parts of the get together. Tasting different kinds of foods made by someone else is a dream for all of us isn't it? You might be making that same snack at home but it tastes so deliciously different when someone else makes it for you and serves it nicely all ready to eat. So we all unanimously came to the decision (with big smiles on our faces) that the snacks had to stay.

Now you might be wondering what all this talk has to do with the recipe at hand. The thing is during this tea we normally ask each other what we have prepared as dinner for the poor hubbies who are left out of these dos. So when I said "Dal Dhokli" there were a couple of nods and a couple of puzzled looks. When I explained what I meant by "Dal Dhokli" one friend quipped "Oh ,we call it Varan Phala and another said " Oh! You mean Chakolya" . This was a new word for me. And when I actually making it I thought "Hey this is just like Pasta. You have a sauce and you have diamond shaped pieces of dough " But it's much much tastier and more nutritious than Pasta. So do you think it can be called Indian Pasta in English?

Here's my version :

Things needed:

For the dal:

1 and 1/2 C Toovar Dal ,

1 C Fresh Tomato puree (If you use the concentrated Puree 1 T is enough)

1 and 1/2 t mustard seeds,

1 t cumin seeds,

2 t goda masala, (this is made in all maharashtrian homes),

1 1/2 t coriander powder,

1 t asafoetida (hing),

1 T jaggery,

2t chilli powder,

1 t turmeric powder,

3 T oil ,

salt to taste,

8 C of water.

For the dough :

2 C wholewheat flour,

1 t carom seeds,(ajwain or owaa in Marathi),

1 t salt,

2 t fennel powder,(powdered saunf),

a pinch turmeric,

1/2 t chilli powder,

1/2 t baking soda,

3 T very hot oil.

Mix all the above and knead into a dough which is not to soft and not too stiff. Later you can make about 5 to 6 dough balls the size of a golf ball.

Preparing the Dal:

1. Pressure cook the dal . On opening the pressure cooker stir the dal vigorously when hot to break down all the grain and make it smooth,

2. In a large kadhai, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds , hing, cumin and wait only till the mustard splutters,

3. Next add the tomato puree, chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric ,goda masala, jaggery and salt. Cook this on a moderate flame till the tomato is thoroughly cooked.

4. Now add 7 C of water , increase the heat and boil. Once the water starts boiling add the cooked dal and continue boiling for next 5 mins. Give it a taste. At this point all the seasoning should be completed.

5. Now while the Dal is merrily boiling away roll out one ball of dough at a time thinly like in the pic below,

6. Separate the diamonds and start dropping them in the boiling dal . Continue doing this till you have finished all the dough. Add the eighth C of water now and boil the entire contents of the kadhai for 7 to 8 mins stirring once in a while so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

7. It is important to add that last C of water at the end because the dal tends to become too thick after adding the dough pieces. Another important thing is not to cover the cooking pot or kadhai with a lid as that too tends too thicken the dal to the point where it becomes impossible to reheat when ready to serve. So leave the pan uncovered after you have swiched off the gas.

Just 2 of my favourite gadgets used while making this dish (A wooden ravi and a brass wheel cutter)

8. Now to serve: This dish is eaten with a variety of accompaniments

a. Simply chop some onions finely to go with it.

b. Make a simple salad of onions ,tomatoes and cucumber. This acts as a coolant.

c. Drizzle a tspn of ghee or oil over individual servings of dal dhokli .

d. The fourth is my favourite . I make a tempering of garlic and red chillies in a couple of T of oil and drizzle the same over my plate of dal dhokli. This definitely is no coolant.

This is one of the best one dish meals I have eaten till date. Try it out and do give me your opinions. Yes all those silent visitors too.

Matar Paneer, Frozen Phulkas and Cucumber Spirals { Summer Express Cooking Event}

When I read about Shaheen's Summertime Express Cooking Event (Meals under 30 mins) my first thought was "Oh but that's what I do practically everyday when I cook an entire lunch for my husband's tiffin . Yes he does carry a complete Indian Lunch sans rice almost everyday to office.(Barring those days when he is out of office all day and has to MAKE DO with a delicious baguette sandwich from Upper Crust.

I admit it needs a bit of pre-planning to cook a meal in 30 mins or less but thats no hassle once you are in the habit of doing it. Besides the daily tiffin lunch the other times when I want a good meal on the table in a very short time is on weekends. Yes being a full-time home-maker I spend quite a lot of my time during the week in my kitchen, (in fact most of my elaborate meals are made during the week because I do have the time for them ).So its only fair that I want to spend more time relaxing with my family on weekends , but at the same time have a delicious meal on the table ,which is everybody's favourite when hunger beckons.

One way I save on cooking time during the weekends is my using frozen phulkas. No not the store-bought variety. I make my own during the week and store them in batches of 10. That's how many the three of us consume at one meal. This cuts down amazingly on cooking time .

So whenever you have the time make extra phulkas or chappatis whatever your preference and freeze them in batches of 10 or 12 in stack in freezer bags. Put the date on which you are freezing them and a use by date on them . I normally use them up within a week to 10 days. When you want to use them just wrap them in kitchen paper and pop them into the microwave for 10 to 12 secs and you have a soft phulka ready to eat.

The meal I have here today is a firm family favourite and although the total items in the meal are just 3 ,the meal as a whole is so satisfying that you don't need anything else. The Matar Paneer here tastes so good that it will give any Punjabi Dhaaba a run for its money.

So here's how :

Ingredients for Matar Paneer:

200 gms Paneer cubed (Store bought or Homemade ),

2.5 cups frozen peas,

2 large onions, (just cut into chunks)

4 cloves of garlic,

1 inch piece of ginger, (to save on time peeling garlic cloves and grating ginger just use 2 tspns of ginger garlic paste),

1 can chopped tomatoes,

10 cashew nuts,

1/2 a cup of milk,

1 generous handful of fresh coriander, (washed but no need to chop)

1 tspns each of Coriander and Cumin powders,

1 tspn Kitchen King Masala (if this is not available substitute with 1 tspn Kasoori Methi),

1 and 1/2 tspn chilly powder,

1/2 tspn turmeric powder,

4 black pepper corns,

1 small stick cinnamon,

1 bayleaf,

4 cloves,

3 tblspns of ghee (you can use oil instead but believe me it tastes awesome when cooked in ghee) I know all dieters are shaking there heads with disapproval.

salt to taste.

Now what do you do with all these:

1. Before you actually start the cooking immerse the paneer in some warm water and leave it that way until its time to put it in the gravy,

2.. In a kadhai heat the ghee and put in the cinnamon, cloves ,peppercorns and bayleaf. Fry until they release a spicy aroma,

3 Next add the ginger -garlic paste and fry it for few seconds,

4. After that come the onion chunks. Keep the heat moderately high so they turn a nice golden brown,

5. When the onions are golden tip in the chopped tomatoes and at this stage also add the cumin coriander powders,chilly powder, kitchen king masala, turmeric powder and the handful of coriander. Putting coriander inside a curry gives the entire dish a sensational aroma. Now let all this cook for 10 mins .( Add a little water if necessary)

6 After ten minutes switch off the gas remove the bayleaf from the mixture and tip in the entire contents of the kadhai into a deep container in which you can use a hand blender to blend everything to a paste. (By using a hand-blender you do not have to wait for the mixture to cool down at all)

7. Before blending add the cashew nuts and the milk and then blend it all together.

8. Pour the gravy back into the kadhai, add the paneer cubes,frozen peas , a cup of water, and salt to taste. Give it another boil for 5 mins and your matar paneer is ready to serve.

Now that almost 20 mins have been taken by the matar paneer you can use the remaining 10 mins to cut the cucumber (I cut them into spirals ) and microwaving the frozen phulkas. Plate it all up and what you have is a delicious hot meal ready in 1/2 an hour flat.

Note:To make the cucumber more interesting mix it with some plain yogurt and chaat masala or another idea is to rub some mango pickle on the cut cucumber to make it nice and spicy. Take your pick.

Now let me just pop over to Shaheen's Malabar Spice with my ideas for her Summer Express Cooking Event

Jacket Potato with Chicken Tikka Masala

Thank you all for sharing my joy by leaving such warm and heartfelt comments on my previous post . I really enjoyed reading all of them . But as much as I would like to keep that post on I do have some fantastic posts with delicious food waiting in the wings to make an appearance. So moving on, here is one lip-smacking dish which I tried for the first time yesterday and was thrilled with the way it turned out.

Now when I say Chicken Tikka Masala ,what is it that first comes to your mind? Most people would instantly think it is the same as the Chicken Tikka that we have on restaurant menus in India. Well that's not the case. This Chicken Tikka Masala is something that is totally english. Yes ,you heard right. It's a complete english creation. In a survey conducted in the UK about the TOP 10 FAVOURITE FOODS this dish stands at no 3. People here just love it. And one good way to eat it is as a topping on a hot baked jacket potato.

And that's what I am sharing with you today. So here goes:

First you need to marinate the chicken for atleast an hour . Best would be to marinate the night before.

For the marinade you need:

1 cup yogurt, 2 tspns garlic paste, 2 tspn ginger paste, 1/2 tspn turmeric powder

Mix all the above and coat the chicken pieces thoroughly with this marinade. Leave for atleast 1 hr.

For the baked potatoes :

You can take 4 large potatoes. Here I could get potatoes that are specially meant for baking,but you can use any large potatoes.

Mark out cross slits on both sides of each potato with a sharp knife and oil them well all over.

Preheat the oven at 250 deg C and place the potatoes under the grill. It takes about 20 mins each side to bake a potato to a crispy finish.

Ok now for the Tikka Masala you need:

200 gms boneless chicken cubes,

1 can chopped tomatoes (400gms) or approx 5 medium tomatoes finely chopped,

3 cloves garlic crushed,

1 tspn cumin powder,

2 tspn coriander powder,

1/2 tspn garam masala,

1 tspn Kitchen king masala (omit this one if its not easily available),

1/2 cup single cream,

1 tspn chilli powder,

1.5 tspn sugar,

2 tblspn oil,

salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Thread the chicken pieces on skewers and griil them at 225 deg C until tender .

2. In a pan heat the oil and fry the garlic first. To this add the chopped tomatoes and all the spice powders, salt ,sugar and cream.

3. Boil the sauce until the tomatoes are well cooked and well blended with the cream. This takes about 20 to 25 mins.

4. To this sauce add the grilled chicken and boil further for 5 mins.

Your chicken tikka masala is ready.

Now to assemble the dish:

Place one hot baked potato on a plate. Slit it open slightly and spoon the tikka masala over the potato. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve with fresh crisp salad

Methi Theplaa JFI-WBB Green Leafy Vegetables

A very big Hi !!!! after a very long time to all my friends out there. I am sure by now you guys think that I have stopped blogging for good and also wondering why . But that's not the case the dears. I am very much still into blogging but its only the fact that I have had no broadband connection now for almost a month and a half that has stopped me. Other wise wild horses couldn't keep me away from my blog.

I would also like to thank-you all for the wonderful comments you left on my photograph that got published in the newspaper. Well here I am back on my blog and feeling great about it.

A couple of weeks ago we went on a picnic . It was a group of 5 families and we had a ball. We all took loads of stuff to eat and the kids really enjoyed the day out. The weather is certainly smiling on England these days and we did make the most of one such glorious Saturday. My contribution to the picnic was this simple to make but all-time favourite snack of Methi Theplas.

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So let me share the recipe with you:

This recipe makes about 20 Theplas

3 cups whole wheat flour,

2 cups fresh methi (fenugreek leaves) finely chopped

2 tblspns besan (chickpea flour),

4 to 5 cloves of garlic crushed ,

2 tspns saunf powder (optional),

1.5 tspn chilli powder,(can be substituted with 2 green chillies very finely chopped,

1 tspn each of dhana-jeera powders,

1/2 tspn turmeric powder,

1 tspn sugar,

2 tblspns oil,

approx 1 tblspn salt,

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What next:

1. Mix all the ingredients and add just enough water to knead into a moderately soft dough.

2. Make around 20 balls of the same size.

3. Roll out one ball at a time into the size of a small paratha and roast on a hot tawa until light brown spots appear on both sides.

4. Once all the parathas or theplas are cooked brush oil on all the theplas. Let them cool and then store .

These theplas go well with sweet and sour mango or lemon pickle and curds. They are ideal to carry on a picnic or as a breakfast or tea time snack.

This is my entry to JFI-WBB Green Leafy Vegetables co-hosted by Indira of Mahanandi and Nandita of Saffrontrail. I think this JFI theme simply rocks.