Bread Upma

Bread Upma as we call it, is a very easy and tasty breakfast or evening snack preparation. Made normally when bread remains for the next day. It tastes good when made with stale bread because fresh bread is not easy to make into small pieces and makes the dish sticky. So try this next time the bread or pavs are left over. The recipe for you ....

Ingredients

8 slices of bread or pavs, broken into tiny pieces by hand (brown bread also)

3 onions chopped into mediem sized pieces

4 green chillies chopped

few curry leaves

2 tspns of split black gram lentil

1 tomato chopped into small pieces

2 tspns of lime juice

Salt to taste

2 tspns of sugar

A ladle of milk just to sprinkle on top

Chopped coriander for garnishing

Freshly scraped coconut for garnishing

Method

 In a a pan take some coconut oil or any oil of your choice, add mustard seeds, let them splutter add turmeric powder and asafoetida, add the lentil make it golden, add the curry leaves, the chillies, saute a bit, add the chopped onions, stir till light brown, add tomato, cook till a bit mushy. Now add the bread, salt, sugar, lime juice, sprinkle the milk over, mix well and cook for sometime till everything gets mixed well. Here milk helps the dish to get little moist. Add little of the coriander and coconut and mix. Take it off the fire, transfer to a serving bowl and serve garnished with coconut and coriander. 

        

                                                                   Palak Matar Pulao

A spicy rice dish which all in my family enjoy and hoping that you people enjoy it too. When the spinach in the market is so tempting and fresh you must try this one!! here comes my recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups of long grain basmati or any rice of your choice

200 gms of fresh green peas

A small bunch of spinach, 3 green chillies, blanched and pureed

2 onions finely chopped

2 tspns of roughly pound ginger garlic

Juice of half a lime

Salt to taste

A pinch of turmeric powder

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method

In a pressure cooker take some oil, add the onions, saute till golden, add turmeric powder, ginger garlic paste, saute till raw smell disappears. now add the spinach puree, a handful of chopped coriander, saute till cooked well, add the peas, the washed rice, salt and lime juice. Mix well, add 4 cups of water, this rice need not be too dry, in the sense that it tastes good when it retains moisture. Mix and cook it to 2 whistles. Tranfer to a serving bowl, garnish with coriander leaves and serve. No accompaniment is needed with this dish! A bowl of yogurt will suffice. 

 

 

 

                                     

                                          Warm Pasta Salad....Feta, Mushrooms And Spinach

This is a very delicious warm pasta salad which can be eaten at any time of the day. Very satiating and tasty on the palette. Recipe video shared by my daughter Ashwini. My version of it goes here for you.

Ingredients

200 gms of mushrooms freshly chopped into medium sized pieces

2 large onions chopped into thick long pieces

6 garlic cloves

A block of feta cheese as shown in the picture

Few sprigs of  fresh Thyme

Salt

Olive oil

1 cup pasta boiled and ready

Few  baby spinach leaves

Black pepper powder

Method

Line a baking tray with butter paper, keep the feta block in the centre, spread the onions, mushrooms and the garlic evenly, sprinkle salt, olive oil, some torn thyme leaves, pepper powder and put the tray in the pre heated oven for 10 minutes on 180 degrees. Remove stir and crush the half cooked garilc cloves and the feta, mix roughly. keep it back for another few minutes, remove and now mix everything well. let it go in again for a few minutes till you see that all the ingredients are well cooked. Remove from the oven, add the baby spinach, the pasta and mix well and eat it warm with or without bread.

 

                                                                

                                                                         Sweet Puri

A nice sweet  tea time snack. Fried, fruity and flavourful too. Can be had at llunch with some mango or lime pickle. here goes my experi-mental recipe.

Ingrdients

1 ripe banana mashed

1 chickoo mashed

2 tbsp of coconut milk

1/4 tspn of cinnamon powder

A dash of salt

1 tspn clarified butter

Wheat flour as required

2 tbsp of semolina

Method

In a mixing bowl take all the above ingredients except the wheat flour, mix well now add the wheat flour bit by bit and see that you make a dough for puris, neither too soft, nor too hard. Apply some clarified butter and rest the dough for 15 minutes. 

Keep oil to heat, in the meanwhile make small balls, Roll them out and fry them on medium heat, should become light golden in colour,  transfer them to a tissue for absorbing extra oil. They can be now eaten hot hot.

  

                                                            

                                                                      Raw Mango Rice

A very simple recipe, people usually make this when rice remains for the next day and it needs to be finished.  I like to plan and make it as a fresh dish since all of us enjoy eating it. The rice has two versions, it is made with lime juice and when the mango season comes, raw mangoes are used which give it  tangy yummy taste. The recipe belongs to Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. He is the first person I remember who made cooking a passion and not a duty. He taught us to enjoy cooking and share with each other the methods of cooking. Here goes his recipe.....

Ingredients

1 cup long grain rice, cooked in such a way that the grains are separate 

1/2 cup raw mango grated, can be as per need depending on the sourness

1 tspn of split black gram 

1 tspn of bengal gram dal

10 curry leaves

4 green chillies chopped

2 tspns of sugar

Oil, mustard seeds, asafoetida and turmeric powder for tempering

Coriander chopped for garnishing

Method

In a pan take some oil, add mustard seeds, wait till they splutter, add asafoetida, turmeric powder, add both the dals now, let them become golden and crisp. add chillies, curry leaves, now add the raw mango and mix well, you can add salt, sugar and mix again, lastly add the rice and give it a good mix. This needs to be taken off the fire soon since the rice is already cooked. Transfer to a bowl, garnish with coriander and serve. Hot or cold, both ways it tastes great.  

 

                                                                

                                                                         Gajar  Halwa

A very typically Indian sweet dish which is an all time preparation of mothers in our very own Hindi films. My it be any good ocasion the halwa has to be there. I was tempted to make it today and here goes my version..... 

Ingredients

250 gms of washed, peeled freshly grated winter special carrots

3 cups of milk

1 cup of sugar (as per taste)

3 tbsps of clarified butter

Few strands of saffron

5 cashews, 5 almonds, 8 pistachios (I normally soak them for about half an hour and chop them)

10 raisins

Method

In pan take the clarified butter and add the grated carrots, cook the till soft, add the milk and  the saffron, wait till it loses most of its moisture, add sugar, the dry fruits, raisins,  now cook till it becomes a nice semi moist solid. This can be served topped with more sauteed dry fruits or as is. Hot or cold both taste great. It tastes good with hot hot puris too.

 

                                            Cottage Cheese Curry With A Southern Touch

An experi-mental dish again, a very tasty, nutty creamy, spicy curry to go wth rotis and pulao.A must try for paneer lovers, here goes my recipe...

Ingredients

250 gms of paneer/cottage cheese cut into cubes

For roasting and making into a fine powder

1/2 tspn shahi jeera

1 tspn cumin seeds

1 tspn coriander seeds

6 white pepper corns

6 black pepper corns

10 curry leaves

1 inch ginger roughly chopped

8 garlic cloves

1/4 cup dry grated coconut

Roast the above in very little oil, grind and keep ready

Ingredients for curry

2 onions finely chopped

 2 onions thinly juliened

2 tomatoes finely chopped

Juice of half a lime

1 tetra pack of coconut milk

1 tspn kitchen king masala

1 tspn chilli powder

1 tspn kasuri methi

Salt to taste

Freshly chopped coriander for garnishing

Method

 In a pan take some oil, add the finely chopped onions, saute till golden, add the chopped tomatoes, fry well till done, now add the ground masala, mix well, add the juliened onion, fry well, add the tomato puree, lime juice and all the spices, mix well and cook, now add the paneer and saute for about three to four minutes, add coconut milk and mix well,  you can slit a couple of chillies, fry them and add at the end(optional) do not cook for too long else the milk may curdle. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh coriander.