Apple and Potato Soup

Apple and Potato??? Yup you read it right! I ate (do you eat or drink soup? Well, whatever...) this soup in the ITC Eden Pavilion at Kolkata... and as usual modified it to taste better :)



It is incredibly simple to make and tastes otherworldly...

5 medium sized sweet apples, peeled, cored and cut into medium sized chunks
3 small potatoes or 2 and a half medium sized potatoes which are cut into medium sized chunks, don't peel the skin and remember to wash and scrub them well before using.

We are using a little less than 1/2 the number of potatoes compared to apples.

2 cloves of garlic crushed
Few basil leaves
Olive Oil
A small piece of cheese grated
3 small cinnamon sticks
Salt to taste

In a pressure cooker, heat up a generous amount (3-5 tablespoons) of Olive oil and put in a tablespoon of butter (optional). add the garlic and cook till brown, add the basil leaves, stir for a minute. Add the salt.

Add potatoes and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Then add the apple pieces and cook for another few minutes. Add the cinnamon sticks. Add the cheese. Add water to cover the entire mixture. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Remove from heat and put aside.

Allow the cooker to stand for about 10-15 minutes. Then remove the whistle and carefully open the cooker. Fish out the cinnamon sticks. and whirrr the whole mixture to a smooth consistency.

Garnish with a sprig of Parsley and serve piping hot. It's absolutely delicious. You don't need anything at all to go with it!  

Cutlets

This will require some planning.

Curdle about a liter of milk by adding juice of a lemon. Drain the water, we will not need it but its very healthy and can be used to make rice in or add to flour to make chapattis, etc. Hang the curdled part in a muslin cloth or a hanky. Its exactly the same way you hang curds.

After a few (5-7) hours, you will get a nice white mass which in Kolkata they call Chaannaa (or something similar)

Now you will need:

2 small carrots chopped finely
1/2 a cabbage chopped well
2 small potatoes boiled and mashed with lumps
handful of green peas parboiled (meaning just dipped in very hot water for a few minutes, so they get cooked but dont loose their fresh green colour)
Fresh spinach and coriander leaves finely chopped
Any other veggies you want to add... bits of french beans, broccoli, mushrooms are good ideas :). These should be cooked and/or chopped very fine.

Take bread (5-7 slices should be enough and stale whole wheat bread is best) and toast it in an oven for 10ish minutes or until very crisp but be careful not to burn it, then put in a grinder and powder it. To this add some (2 heaped tablespoons should be enough) rava (or suji or semolina). Keep aside.

Add all the veggies to the Chaannaa, add some garlic paste and salt to taste. Mix the whole thing up really well. Make spherical or ellipsoidal (sorry, cant think of any other words to describe it) medium sized shapes and roll them in the suji bread crumb powder so that they are totally covered.

Heat up oil to deep fry in a saucepan. When the oil is really hot, slide in the raw cutlets and fry for a few minutes till they become a yummy golden brown. I usually do only one at a time. Its pretty quick, a batch of about 15 cutlets will get done in less than 20 minutes.

Arrange on a platter. Serve very hot with a dash of lime and tomato slices, garnished with corriander!


This is one of the yummiest veggie cutlets i have ever had and i learned how to make them at Vibha's home in Kolkata.

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Aglio e Olio

Very tasty, very classy and extremely quick spaghetti to make ...

Though strictly speaking aglio e olio means only garlic and olive oil, i like to add just a teeny bit of other veggies to give it colour and make it more interesting!

For 4 people, you will need

3/4th a packet of whole wheat spaghetti
7 pieces of sun dried tomato
A handful of French Beans chopped long and thin
1 small carrot chopped thin
a small handful of green peas parboiled
Olive Oil
Butter
10-12 fresh Basil leaves
2-3 (depending on how garlicky you want it) small pieces of (a full) garlic either chopped fine or crushed
1 dried red chilly (you may add more to make it spicier or not add it at all for a blander taste)
Salt to taste

In a large pan, add a tablespoon of salt and some olive oil to water and heat to a rolling boil. Add the spaghetti and cook for 10-12 minutes (look on the packet for directions). Remove from heat, drain and put aside.

In a large saucepan, heat a generous amount of olive oil and a dollop of butter. Add the red chilly and the crushed garlic and cook until the garlic turns brown. Add the veggies (first the french beans, then the carrots and finally the sun dried tomatoes and the green peas) and saute them until they are cooked. Add the spaghetti and toss the whole thing until all the spaghetti is well coated, you may add just a little bit more of the olive oil if you think the whole thing is too dry...


Serve hot. Usually served with different types of bread, i like mine solo.

Feel free to add or subtract the veggies, you could add mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini, etc to it... simply remember that the veggies should be just a very tiny part of the whole thing. You could even add some grated cheddar cheese or shavings of parmesan cheese right on top while serving. If you make a soup to go along with this, it makes a brilliant complete meal.

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Musk Melon Salad

This is a fantastic cold salad that i promised everyone...




Musk Melon is a fruit which i would usually give a miss... This recipe from Tina (Vikram's wife) makes it "almost edible" in Vikram's words :)... It tastes refreshingly good and can make a colurful addition to the table and will go very well with the pumpkin basil soup and the Breadzza

Peel and cut into big chunky pieces 2 small or 1 big musk melon(s) and put them in the fridge for a few hours. Transfer to a big glass bowl. Get 150-200 gms of nice fresh feta cheese and crumble it in the bowl with the melon pieces. Very finely chop up a bunch of fresh parsley (you could even use celery) and a few sprigs of mint and add to the melons and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste and a dash of olive oil... Toss well. Put in the fridge until ready to serve.

Serve cold with hot toasted whole wheat bread and butter... You may optionally sprinkle some pine nuts into the salad as well...

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Basil Pumpkin Soup

We had recently been to this fantastic restaurant called Flags in Mumbai. Then we went to their branch in Poona and were sorely dissapointed with almost everything there. It was very strange how it was almost perfect and Bombay and completely sucked really big time in Poona :)... But that's another story and we will get into it later... We had a fantastic soup there... here is my variation...

Take 5 fairly big pieces of Orange Pumpkin (little more than half of it), peeled. 2 pieces dice small, the others cut into big chunky pieces.
A big bunch of fresh basil leaves roughly chopped, stems removed.
1 pod garlic finely chopped
1 bunch of lemon grass tied with a string
a dollop of fresh cream
Olive oil



In a pressure cooker, add olive oil, finely chopped garlic and cook till it browns. Add the basil leaves and salt to taste. Add the big pumpkin pieces and cook for a bit. Now take a big bunch of lemon grass and tie it with a string and pop into the cooker. Add water to cover everything and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.

While it is cooking, lightly saute the small pumpkin pieces with some olive oil, salt and basil leaves.

Let the cooker cool and then open it. Remove the lemon grass bunch from it. Whirr the mixture to a smooth consistency and then add the sauted pumpkin pieces to it. Cook for some time. Before serving nice n hot with toasted wholewheat bread and butter, stir in a dollop of fresh cream.

You may optionally add the juice of 1 lemon, if you like it still smore sour. It has a brilliant pumpkinny, lemony, basily taste which pleasantly surprizes the tongue... Witha anice cold salad it would make a perfect meal!

Cold salad tomorrow! :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa  

Breadzza!!!

Too lazy to make a pizza base from scratch? (i have a superb recipe for it, you will just have to wait until i perfect it and post it here), ok then make Breadzza!! It's really really simple to make and tastes absolutely awesome (of course!)

You will need:

For the Pizza Sauce

10 tomatoes finely chopped
A generous amount of olive oil
a big bunch of fresh basil leaves roughly cut and washed (stem removed)
1 clove of garlic finely chopped or mashed
1 tsp of garam masala (!)
2 small pieces of jaggery (approx 1 in big)
a dash of fresh cream
a dollop of butter
salt to taste
a dried red chilly
Optional 3 pieces of sundried tomatoes cut into strips



In a large pan heat the olive oil and when hot, add the dried red chilly. Add garlic and cook till it browns. Add the basil leaves (you may reserve a few to add later) and garam masala, cook for a bit... add the jaggery. Remove the red chilly. If you leave it in, the sauce becomes too spicy and i personally fon't like it that way. Add all the tomatoes. Cook everything until tomatoes are well done.

Now whirr the mixture with a hand blender until the tomatoes become a nice smooth paste. Continue to cook for a bit after adding the sundried tomatoes. You may even add a few more basil leaves at this point. You may also optionally add some spinach to this sauce and cook for a bit. Finally stir in the fresh cream, this gives a really rich colour to the sauce. Its good enough to just add some mushrooms and other veggies and eat as a soup with some hot toasted bread and butter :)

For the toppings i used:

Diced mushrooms
roughly cut spinach
some green peas
small pieces of sundried tomatoes
thin round slices of zucchini
small pieces of brocolli which i had just sauted in butter with a dash of salt
grated smoked cheese (optional)
small pieces of mozzarella cheese
You can also use some grated cheddar (amul) cheese along with the mozzarella
Basil pesto will be a fantastic addition too

Grease a baking tray.

Pre heat an oven to 220 deg.



Arrange pieces of multi grain bread on it and spread the sauce we made earlier on it generously. Add the toppings in whatever combination and quantities you wish. Go easy on the cheese. Add the pesto last. Feel free to add whatever toppings other than the ones i suggested above (pineapple, paprika, cabbage, diced tomatoes... use your imagination)

Bake at 220 deg for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese melts and turns golden brown.



Remove from oven, Put on a plate and very lightly drizzle with olive oil. Eat piping hot! This is really very simple to make with minimum fuss. The sauce stays well in a fridge for 2-3 days. Have it tonight or make it as a special treat for everyone over the weekend :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

ps i don't like these photos so much, didn't have my camera yesterday, so had to make do with another one... will post better photos, when i make it again and have a better camera...  

Do you really cook?

I had this question in one of the comments to the stir fry veggies post...

Here is my (indignant) answer:

Every single recipe thats on this blog is cooked at least 3-5 times in my Ashram kitchen... not just by me, but by other people too...

Every single photo has been taken of the food just before we ate it... This part is the tough part, coz everyone wants to eat as soon as its cooked :)

So, yes, i cook all these recipes, most of them are my own, others maybe heavy modifications from people i have learned (they are usually credited in the recipe) and very very few maybe something i got from a book or online but again heavily modified to suit my style of cooking :)

Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa

PS if you are still in any doubt, please ask anyone who has eaten the food i have cooked! :)  

Stir fry Veggies

A very yummy continental flavoured stir fry, quite quick to make...

1/3 a broccoli (or a full small one) chopped into medium sized florets
1 medium (green) zucchini thinly sliced
2 carrots peeled and cut into thin strips
a generous handful of french beans cut thinly
300 gms frozen peas soaked in water (or fresh ones that have been boiled and ready to eat)
A handful of snow peas roughly cut
Button and/or oyster mushrooms (you could use portabello as well) washed and cut into chunky pieces
a small bunch of spinach finely chopped
2 pods of garlic finely chopped or squashed
10-15 leaves of fresh basil chopped coarsely

Heat 3-5 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan. Add garlic (you may optionally add 2-3 dried red chillies as well) and cook till it turns golden brown. Add salt to taste. Add the basil leaves and stir a bit.



Next the french beans go in and cook them for about 5 minutes or so. Then the carrots snow peas and broccoli get cooked for another 5ish minutes. Next add the mushrooms, zucchini and spinach and cook for 3-4 minutes more. Last add the spinach. Let the whole thing sizzle for 2 minutes.

You may stir in some butter, or tomato puree or pesto...

Feel free to add any other veggies you fancy... bell peppers, squash, cauliflower, potatoes... whatever, don't add too much of any veggie coz otherwise that veggie overpowers the delicate basil garlic taste.

Serve piping hot with toasted wholewheat or multigrain bread. You may garnish with some shredded cheddar cheese! :)  

Flavoured Olive Oil

In a large bowl, empty the contents of maybe half a bottle of Olive Oil. Use extra virgin, cold pressed oil. Just add to that in any combination you want: 3-5 dried red chillies, few sprigs of fresh rosemary, few leaves of fresh basil leaves, a bunch of fresh oregano leaves, finely diced garlic, a sprig of fresh thyme, etc.



Leave to stand for 15 days to a month. The oil becomes delicately flavoured with whatever herbs you have put in it. Transfer to a bottle along with the herbs that are floating in it. You can use it as a garnish with superb effect on almost any pasta, baked potatoes etc.

Put it in the fridge and it will turn into a kind of a paste. This can be used instead of butter on toast and a host of other things.

You could even melt butter and do the same thing and allow the butter to solidify again and voila you have flavoured butter. You don't need to allow the butter to stand for too long just a day or 2, somehow it catches the flavour much faster than the olive oil.  

Sliced Tomatoes

People have been asking for some really easy recipes. It can't get much easier than this one :)

Take 4-5 medium sized tomatoes and slice em or dice em, depending on your mood. Heat about 2-3 tablespoons of Olive oil and add some jeera, rai (1/2 tsp each is enough) and basil leaves and let all of it crackle, don't burn it. Let it cool.

Put the tomatoes higgledy-piggledy in a salad plate or any plate. Pour the olive oil mixture over the tomatoes and add a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Toss the whole thing lightly. Set aside (i like to put it in a fridge) for 20 minutes to an hour. This intensifies the flavour.



Sprinkle with salt and pepper, garnish with finely chopped basil leaves. Serve with hot toasted and buttered bread or as a salad to a main course.

You can have many variations to this of course: instead of the basil leaves, add some dried red chilly to the oil and garnish with corriander leaves for a totally Indian flavour. Completely leave out the rai and jeera for a completely continental flavour. Just add olive oil and lemon juice mixed well together along with salt and pepper... This one is usually the first dish on the table to get over! You get a lot of compliments and it's really so simple to put together!!!  

Dhan Dar Patio

This is a traditional Parsi Dish cooked on special occasions like Birthdays and Sunday afternoons :)

On the Ashram everyday is a special occasion, so while i was typing this out in the night for the blog, my mouth was watering and so we had it for lunch today... photos attached! :)

Dhan=Rice



That's very simple: Take as many handfuls of rice as there are people to eat. Bung them in a cooker, add water so it covers the rice by about half an inch. Add a tablespoon of ghee (you can add less if you want), add salt to taste, add 2 bay leaves, 2-3 cloves and 1-2 cardamon(crushed)... cook for 3-4 whistles and then simmer for a few minutes. Wait until the cooker has cooled down before opening it.

Dar:


5 Handfuls of Tuvar Dal (the usual yellow dal we use to make... well, dal) will be enough for about 6 people. Wash the dal 3-4 times. Preferably soak it overnight or at least for 3-4 hours. Put in a cooker, add water so it covers the dal by about half an inch (more if you want the dal thin), add salt to taste and some ghee (the more of ghee, the more richer the dal). Cook for 3-4 whistles and simmer for 10ish minutes. Wait until the cooker cools down before opening it.

In a tadka vessel, add some ghee and heat it. Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and a pinch of hing... let it crackle for a few seconds and add to the dal. Whirrrrrr the dal with a hand mixie to get a nice silky smooth consistency.

Patio:

Pronounced PA (of PAttern) T (for tea) EO

Chop up 12 medium sized tomatoes. Par boil (meaning almost cooked) some green peas and diced carrots (2-3 should be enough). If you are using frozen peas, use a small packet and simply put them in water for a little while. Also chop 2 small brinjals into cubes. Chop a small bunch of spinach and methi (fenugreek if i am not mistaken) leaves as well. Desiccate some coconut, about a big generous handful.

Heat up some ghee or oil in a big saucepan. Add 2 slit green chillies, 12-15 curry leaves, 4 cloves of garlic which are either chopped finely or crushed and cook till garlic has turned golden brown. Add the desiccated coconut to this and cook until golden brown. Next add a tablespoon of garam masala, 2 tablespoons of dhania jeera, a pinch of red chilly powder (more if you want it spicier), a pinch of haldi (turmeric) powder. Cook the masalas properly. Add the carrots and the brinjals and cook well. Add the tomatoes and cook away until completely done. Next add the spinach and methi and cook till the mixture has thickened a bit. Finally add the green peas.



Chop up some fresh corriander leaves and garnish the patio before serving. BTW, in my patio, there is no green chillies or chilly powder and it tastes fantastic!

For eating: in a plate, put the cooked white rice and spread it a bit. Next add the yellow dal onto the rice. Parsis will add so much dal that the rice cannot be seen at all :). Then add the red patio onto the dal. The quantity depends on how spicy you have made the patio and how spicy you like your food... Add a dollop of butter in the middle of the whole thing.

Usually something fried (like a cutlet) along with this goes down really well... In the photo there is soya fillet fried to perfection, the lime is for the fillets, and looks nice in the photo :)  

Masoor

I absolutely love this dal, it goes well with some other cooked veggie on the side and maybe some fried cutlets. But is practically perfect by itself! It tastes even better the next day when all the spices and masalas have got an even better chance to seep into the dals.

You will need:

5 generous handfuls of black masoor dal
1 handful of Tuvar (usual yellow) dal
7 medium to big tomatoes chopped
1 big or 2 medium potatoes washed well and chopped chunkily, don't remove the peels
2-3 cloves of garlic, mashed or finely chopped
10-12 curry leaves
2-3 teaspoons of Garam Masala and Dhania Jeera Powder (this needs to be adjusted to your taste and the potency of the masalas you are using)
1/4th teaspoon of Haldi powder (haldi can overpower all other masalas, so be careful with this)
a small bunch of spinach finely chopped
a small bunch of coriander finely chopped
salt to taste
ghee for cooking
freshly squeezed lemon juice while serving

Wash and soak the dals for at least an hour, overnight is best
Put them in a cooker, add 2 chopped tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of ghee, salt and haldi. Water should be added to cover the entire mixture to the height of about 2 inches above the mixture. Also add in the chopped potatoes. Pressure cook until tender which is usually 3 whistles + simmer for 10ish minutes after that.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat up 3 generous tablespoons of ghee, add garlic and brown it, add curry leaves and let them crackle and pop. Now add all the masalas and cook well, stirring now and then over a medium flame. Add the spinach and the rest of the tomatoes and completely cook.



Wait until the pressure cooker has cooled down enough to open, then add the mixture in the saucepan to the cooker, and return to flame... cook on high flame for about 5-10 minutes stirring now and then to see to it that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the cooker.
Then simmer on low flame for 5-7 minutes, the longer the better.

Garnish with the coriander and serve hot with rotis or bread. Squeeze fresh lemon juice onto the dal just before eating it...

You can stir in a dollop of fresh cream, or add more ghee if you wish to make it richer. You can also cook the whole thing in very little oil if you are counting calories. I would just do some extra Suryanamaskars and/or go for a longer walk :)  

Spicy Dry Soya Chunks

Please read the entire recipe before starting...

1 Packet of Soya Chunks, boiled and squeezed dry

A handful (or more depending on how much you like them)of frozen peas, just soaked in water for a few minutes

In a large saucepan, heat up 3-4 tablespoons of ghee (be generous, the chunks will absorb everything). Once the ghee is hot, add mustard seeds (rai) and fresh curry leaves (8-10) and see them crackle and pop. Then add a tablespoon of garam masala, dhania jeera powder, a pinch of hing, a dash of turmeric powder and salt to taste. Cook the masalas throughly taking care that they don't burn. You could also add some butter here.

Now add the soya chunks and stir them in properly, so that the masala completely coats them, cook for a few minutes. Reduce heat and cook for some more time, the masalas have to completely seep into the chunks.

Finally add the green peas and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. the peas should remain bright green.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander (and coarsely chopped tomatoes), squeeze some lemon juice on it and serve hot with rotis.

You can do many variations on this: Add some ginger and/or garlic (first) to the masalas for a completely different taste, saute some carrot slivers and add along with (or instead of) the peas for a nice orange look. Adding mushrooms would taste divine here. Just before serving, add some dahi and cook for a bit, add a lot of tomatoes (or tomato puree) for a nice gravy (add the green peas after the gravy is cooked so they remain nice and green)... let your imagination guide you :)  

Hanging Curds

For some reason, i had never done this, thinking it to be some exotic, difficult thing to do :)

Here are photos:

You put a hanky (a muslin cloth is recommended, a hanky works just fine) on a vessel, and plonk the curds into it


Then tie up the ends of the hanky and hang it...


Goto Bed (meaning let it hang for at least 12 hours)

The next morning, when you take it down and open it here is what you will see...



The same thing put in a nice bowl:



Its now ready to make Tzatziki or
use as a spread on toasted bread or you could also add some rosemary to it with some olive oil or you could do a fresh basil and garlic tadka in opilve oil to it or... the list is endless! Enjoy! :)  

Tzatziki

A Super tasty greek dip, i absolutely love... Its extremely simple to make, but needs advance preparation...

Spread a thin and big hankerchief over a medium sized vessel. Empty a full tub of Nestle yogurt (dahi) into it. You could of course use home made dahi or any other dahi really... We are putting about 400-500 ml of dahi on the hanky.

Gather up the corners of the hanky and tie a rubber band . Hang this. It will drip steadily for some time, and then peter off. Let it remain hanging for about a day (15-24 hours). When you open it up, it will have formed a nice soft ball and it will look very like very fresh cheese.

Now peel a medium sized cucumber and chop off the ends and rub the ends of the cucumber with the chopped off ends. This removes any bitterness in it. Then cut into long thin slices and scoop off the seeds with a spoon or a knife. The remaining cucumber, dice it into small cubes.

Add these cubes to the ball of dahi in a glass vessel and mix throughly. Optionally you can heat up a bit of olive oil, add a finely minced clove of garlic to it and brown it. Add the whole tadka to the cucumber-dahi mixture and mix throughly.

Put in the fridge for atleast 2 hours. Eat it as a dip... with sticks of carrots or toasted wheat or multigrain bread or krackjack (salty) biscuits or simply dip your finger and lick it :) remember not to bite (your finger) though :) :)

Will add photos once i am out of silence...  

Vegetables Au Gratin

Here is a fairly complicated recipe to keep you guys busy while i am in silence :)

You will need:

for the white sauce:

3 heaped tablespoons whole wheat flour
100 gms butter
1 litre milkat room temperature
1/2 tin of cheddar (amul, brittania, etc) cheese grated


In a fairly large vessel, heat the butter till it melts. Add the flour to it and cook on a low flame. The flour should get cooked, it changes colour slightly and starts to smell real good. Dont overcook, if the mixture turns dull brown or starts smelling like its burnt, it probably is and you will need to start over.

To this add about half the milk slowly at first, stirring vigourously and continuously so that there are no lumps formed. Don't worry too much if lumps do get formed we will tackle them later :) Once you have a smooth mixture add the rest of the milk and stir gently, seeing to it that the sauce doesnt stick to the bottom of the vessel, until nice and smooth. Keep it on low gas. This takes a bit of time. If there are lumps, i just whirr the mixture with a blender, and then return it to the gas for some more time. It should have thickened considerably.

Add 3/4th of the grated cheese to this and stir it in well. Let it boil and bubble for a while. Let it thicken to dropping consistency. Remove from gas and keep aside.

For the veggies, you will need

Handful of french beans, chopped finely into thin long pieces
1 medium carrot, chopped into thin juliennes
1 medium zucchini chopped into thin round slices
1/2 a broccoli (dont use too much broccoli otherwise it completely takes over the taste), chopped into small florets
1 packet of mushrooms chopped into biggish chunks (optional)
a small bunch of spinach hand shredded
a handful of green peas
10 fresh basil leaves
1 clove of garlic, minced (optional)
Olive oil 3-5 tablespoons
a small lump of mozzarella cheese

In a pan heat the olive oil, add the garlic and brown it a bit. Add the basil leaves.
Next add the french beans and let them cook for a bit. Then the carrot and broccoli and green peas. Once its all cooked (the veggies should not be overcooked, they need to remain crunchy), add the zucchini and mushrooms. Finally add the spinach and remove from heat in about 30 seconds.

Add the white sauce to the almost cooked veggies.

Now grease a baking tray with butter. Add the white sauce + veggies to the baking tray. Garnish the top of the tray with the remaining cheese, you may also add bits of mozzarella cheese.



Bake in an oven for about 20-30 minutes or so at 200 deg, until the cheese on the top has melted and turned a yummy golden brown. Do not over bake, coz that makes the whole dish loose its moisture. It should be golden gooey brown on the top and soft thick moist whiteness below with crunchy bits of veggies...





Serve immediately, nice n hot with toasted whole wheat bread or multigrain bread. Some people love to eat this with tomato ketchup... not me! :)  

Tomato Rice and Cheese Peas Pulav

Tomato Rice

This is a very gentle, subtle flavoured rice... i love it!

Take 5 generous handfuls of rice and soak in water for about an hour. Wash the rice well and bung it into a cooker.
Puree 7-8 tomatoes and optionally cook it for a while in olive oil. Add this to the rice. I find that cooking the puree before adding to the rice in the cooker somehow enhances the flavour.

Add to it some green peas (depends on how much you like them, I add about a small cup full of them). Peel 2 carrots and slice them into medium roundels. Add to the rice. You could also add a chunkily chopped potato (don’t remove the skin). Add a finely chopped chopped tomato as well. In the photo below i have also added a few chunks of mock meat that shilpa got for us from singapore... This is absolutely optional :)




Next add 10-15 fresh basil leaves. Also add lots of olive oil, I just let it glug out of the bottle for a bit ☺. Finally add a small blob of butter. Add salt to taste. Add water so that it completely covers the entire mixture. And pressure cook for three whistles and simmer for 10ish minutes after that. Wait for the cooker to cool down before opening it.

Serve piping hot. Tzatziki (recipe coming real soon) will go really well with it. As well as fresh dahi.



You could also change the flavour by doing a garlic tadka. (Heat Olive oil and add 2 mashed or very finely sliced garlic cloves. Add to the rice and mix it up well).

There is a variation to this. I call it cheese peas Pulav.
You don’t add the tomatoes and carrots to the rice. Just add lots of green peas and 2 chunkily sliced potatoes and depending on how many calories you want to watch out for heaps of grated cheese. Cheddar works best. And follow the recipe exactly as above.  

Baked Potatoes

Very easy and extremely tasty!!

Get together:

5-7 Potatoes small to medium size
Olive oil
Butter (a generous tablespoonful)
1/2 cup grated cheese (cheddar is best), you could use lesser if you wish
Mushrooms (1 packet)
1-2 Carrots medium size, cut (dice) into very small pieces
1 clove of garlic, peeled and squashed or diced finely
6-7 fresh basil leaves
Fresh Cream
Juice of 2 Lemons
Salt



Trim your nails, wash your hands :)

Pre heat to oven to 250 deg

Throughly wash the potatoes, do not peel the skin... If there is some mud stuck on them, looosen it and remove it. Poke the potatoes 7-8 times with a fork. Stick the fork right in, dont do it politely :)
This allows the steam to escape while baking... i have been told that they may explode otherwise!

In a Pan melt the butter and add some olive oil. Remove from gas.

Now just put each potato in the butter and oil mixture and with your fingers spread it on the entire potato, dont put too much. Put the potato on a baking tray. Do for all potatoes. Sprinkle some salt on them. Put to bake at 250 deg for about 30 to 40 minutes. When they turn a delicious golden brown they are done.

Meanwhile, put the pan with the olive oil and butter mixture on the gas and add 1 pod of garlic that has been peeled ad squashed or cut into fine pieces. wait until it browns a bit. Then add 6-7 fresh basil leaves. Add the diced carrots and just saute them. They should be crunchy. Add the Mushrooms and cook for about 3 more minutes, add grated cheese to this and stir well until the cheese has melted. Remove from gas.

Add the juice of the lemons to about a cup of cream and beat it well till it is nice and thick.

Once the potatoes are done, slit them along one side and open them up a bit. be careful they will be really hot. Spoon in some of the mushroom carrot cheese mixture. Add a dollop of the sour cream and decorate it with a basil leaf. Serve immediately. It should be eaten piping hot...



You can be creative with what sort of toppings you put on your baked potatoes: Just sour cream with finely chopped chives, grated cheddar cheese with a dash of red chilly powder, finesly shredded spinach with sour cream... the list is almost endless :)  

Banana and Pecan Muffin Cake

Finally!! a no sugar, no white flour recipe that works really well!!
This recipe really gets your hands dirty... you have been warned :)

You will need:

4-5 medium sized ripe bananas
1 cup Maple Syrup (You could even experiment with honey and let me know the result)
1/2 cup butter (cold butter from the fridge is best, or room temperature is ok too, dont melt)
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Essence

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp fine salt
2 tsps baking powder

1 cup pecans (chopped), you can replace with walnuts if you wish.
1/2 cup dried raisins

Clean your nails, preferably trim them :) and then wash and dry your hands,

Pre heat the oven to 250 deg
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder at least 3 times through a fine sieve. Keep Aside.

Mash up the bananas really well with your hands, so little pieces are still there. Add the butter and again mash it into the banana mixture, add maple syrup and vanilla essence, and with your hands blend the whole thing properly. It should smell gorgeous: bananaey and mapley with a hint of vanilla...



Now to this add the flour, baking powder and salt mixture and again with your hands mix it really well.. Do not use an electric blender or a spoon. Use your hands and squeeze and blend and make the flour and banana mixture into a nice homogeneous mass. It will be smelling delicious, and will be gooey and will have dropping consistency...

Add the chopped pecans or walnuts and raisins to this mixture, reserve a small handful to garnish. Mix the nuts and raisins in well.

Lightly grease with butter a baking tray and pour the mixture into it.



Put to bake for 40ish minutes. See below.



About half way through at approx 25 minutes, when the mixture has firmed up a bit, you can optionally give it a milk bath. Using some a liquid which is 1 part milk, 2 parts water, just brush the top of the cake lightly and quickly and replace into the oven. This just gives a very nice glaze effect to the cake. It shines when it is done :)

Remove from the oven. Let it cool just a bit before cutting it up and serving. We had it just like that, with chocolate sauce, with it drenched in maple syrup, with some honey, and with french vanilla ice cream!

Its a really simple cake to make and we had lots of fun to making it! This cake is enough for about 5-7 people...  

Pumpkin Soup

Peel and cut into medium chunky pieces a small pumpkin
Wash and cut into chunky pieces 1 medium sized potato (dont peel it)
Prep up some french beans (about 50 gms), a handful of green peas
Chop up 1 tomato as well
Mash up 1 clove of garlic (optional)

Put a pressure cooker on medium gas and add some oil and a dollop of butter, as soon as the butter has melted, add the garlic and cook till light brown. Add a tablespoon of garam masala and a tablespoon of dhania-jeera powder, you may ofcourse vary these proportions according to your taste... Cook for a bit.

Now add all the other veggies, salt to taste and saute for 3-4 minutes on high flame

Add water to cover all the veggies by about 1 inch, you may add more or less depending on the consistency of the soup that you want finally. Pressure cook for 3-4 whistles and simmer for 10 minutes on very low flame. Let the cooker cool down before you open it.

Use a hand blender and whirrrrr the cooked veggies until smooth, optionally adding some milk if you want a more liquid consistency for the soup... add a small blob of fresh cream to give a nice colour to the soup and a richer taste.

Serve hot with toasted buttered whole wheat bread!