07-FEB-2010
Karthik's cupcakes
Ingredients:
Betty Crocker cake mix.
Walnuts
Chocolate
Apple sauce
3 eggs
Preparation:
Mix the cake mix, 3 egg whites, the walnuts, the apple sauce (instead of the oil required) and add chocolate shavings. Bake at 450C for 15 mins.
Keep checking the oven.
Add whipped cream if you remembered to keep it refrigerated.
03-FEB-2010
Sev Batata Puri
Ingredients:
Puris, Sev, Potatoes, Chick Peas, Onions, Tomatoes, Green chili chutney, Ginger chutney, Tamarind chutney
Preparation:
Soak chick peas (yes, I mean soak, no more canned peas) overnight. Pressure cook the peas with a sprinkle of salt. Boil potatoes. Two for two people.
Mash the chick peas and the potatoes, add some chaat masala and mash some more.
The rest is easy but you do have to put it together like an assembly plant.
Spice the plate with the three chutneys. Place the puris on the plate and add the potato and chick peas mash. Add the chutneys, place a few onion pieces and tomato pieces and sprinkle the sev.
You can also add curd (dahi) to make Dahi Batata Puri.
13-JAN-2010
Wok style Stir fry
Ingredients:
Szechuan sauce, Ginger garlic salad dressing
Broccoli, peas, carrots, corn, snow peas, peanuts, onions, babycorn, cauliflower, water chestunts
Preparation:
Heat the wok. Add two tablespoons of oil in the wok and add the onions green chilies into the wok. Fry till golden brown. Add a few pieces of ginger and fry. Add a few drops of Szechuan sauce into the mix. Add all the veggies in.
You can add tofu and egg in too.
Add the dressing, more oil and Szechuan sauce. Stir, Stir and Stir. It is stir-fry after all. Add cooked rice into the mix and more Szechuan sauce. Stir and serve hot.
30-DEC-2009
Masala Dosa Boxes
Ingredients:
Dosa flour - available in indian stores, ready to pour into the pan
Potatoes, green chilies, onions, coriander
Preparation:
Pour a teaspoon of oil onto a non-stick pan. As it heats up, add mustard seeds, and as it crackles, add in the onions and green chillies. Add chili powder, salt and turmeric. Mix and fry the mixture.
Add in the boiled potatoes into the mixture and fry. Constantly stir and mash in.
This is the Masala.
Pour the dosa batter into a dosa pan and using a cup spread the batter into a circle like a pancake or crepe. Add a few drops of oil. Once the bottom side is done, turn the dosa around. Turn it around one last time, add the masala and fold the dosa into a box.
Tip: To get the box, cut the dosa like a cross and fold over.
27-DEC-2009
Pav Bhaji
Ingredients:
Burger bread - pav
Cut onions
Lime
Ginger, Garlic, green chili paste
Vegetables- lots of leftovers - carrots, beetroots, potato, peppers, tomato, peas, cauliflower, green beans, onions
Badshah Pav Bhaji Masala, chili powder, mango powder, daniya, haldi, hing, salt
Preparation:
1. Butter the pav and toast them on the pan
2. Fry the garlic, ginger paste with onions until golden brown
3. Add green chili paste, Mix in all the vegetables and mash thoroughly
4. Add Pav Bhaji Masala, chili power, dry mango powder, daniya powder, haldi, hing and salt. All less than a teaspoon
5. Boil and stir till the consistency gets harder.
Garnish the bhaji with coriander and onions and eat with the pav
25-DEC-2009
Walnut and Chocolate Chip cookies
Christmas without cookies. How can that be? Never knew it was this easy to make cookies.
Ingredients:
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 egg
1 packet Betty Crocker cookie mix
Extra walnuts, cinnamon, coconut as desired
Preparation:
Mix the softened butter along with the egg in a bowl.
Add the cookie flour into the batter and mix turning it into a soft dough.
Add the extra spices and nuts as needed.
Drop a tablespoon full of dough on cookie sheets, 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 8-12 mins. Keep an eye on the oven to ensure that the cookies don't burn.
25-APR-2009
Bruschetta
Ingredients:
4 tomatoes: Mix plum, vine, grape
Olive oil
Basil
Italian Bread
Garlic
Preparation:
Parboil the tomatoes. Boil water and then remove from stove. Add the tomatoes to the boiling water and strain after 5 minutes. Remove the skin carefully and then remove the seeds and stem. Chop into small pieces. Add 2 cloves of garlic finely minced. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle basil, black pepper and salt to taste. Mix well.
For the bread, toast on a pan and then rub some garlic and olive oil.
Serve the two together.
17-MAR-2009
Bhel Puri
The long awaited Bhel Puri recipe - my orignal dish
Ingredients:
Haldiram's Bhel Puri mix
1 Tomato, 1/2 onion, 2 boiled potatoes
1/2 mango
1 Carrot
Green chillies, Lime
Cilantro
Preparation:
Pour the Bhel Puri mix into a bowl first. Cut the packet for the paste and pour the powder into a cup. Add water and mix till it becomes a paste but with consistency enough to pour. Chop all the vegetables into tiny squares, and shred the carrot.
After about 5 minutes mix the vegetables into the Bhel mix and stir, stir, stir! Stirring is key here as the more the ingredients are mixed the better the flavor. Add the paste and mix some more.
Pour into a plate, top with Sev and cilantro.
13-MAR-2009
Beetroot curry
Ingredients:
Pre-cut beetroot from the Indian store
Mustard seeds
Salt and chili powder to taste
Preparation:
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and drop mustard seeds in when the oil is hot.
Defrost the beetroot (always store in the freezer) and drop into the oil. Watch when you pour as water droplets will make the oil splutter.
Stir fry and serve.
10-MAR-2009
Pumpkin Curry - Kootu
This is by guest chef Shwetha
Ingredients:
Moong dal
Pumpkin - yellow
Coriander
2 tea spoons Cumin
2 table spoons Desiccated Coconut
3 Green Chilies
Salt to taste
Preparation:
Pressure cook moong dal and pumpkin for 1 whistle. Grind the coconut, cumin and chili into a paste.
Mix the two, bring to a boil and salt and some tadka.
10-MAR-2009
Banana Chips
Ingredients:
1 raw banana
Oil, salt and green chili powder
Preparation:
Slice raw banana into thin slices. Quality check is 3 mm max. Heat oil in a pan. Drop the slices carefully making sure you do not splatter. When putting the slices in it is a good idea to lower the oil to low heat. Fry till the chips are golden brown. Another hint is to fry till you can smell the banana being cooked. If the slices are slightly thick, poke holes in the slices with a fork before frying.
Remove from oil, layer on a tissue and add salt and chili powder and mix.
Eat with rice or as an evening snack.
10-MAR-2009
Banana Fry - Vazhaikai curry
Ingredients:
1 raw banana
Salt and mustard
Chili powder
Preparation:
Chop raw banana into small pieces. Shallow fry in oil with mustard till golden brown. Add salt and chili powder as you stir. The banana should be cooked just enough that is soft on the inside and yet looks fried.
Easy and yummy.
