Egg Salad Sandwich

Ingredients:

• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 tbsp Cheese
• 1 Onion
• 1 Tomato
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 tbsp Mustard powder 11
• 1 1/2 tbsp Mayonnaise
• 2 bread Slices

Method:

• Finely chop two hard boiled eggs . Add 1/2 tbsp of grated cheese (I used Amul cheese cube), one finely chopped small onion, 1 finely chopped small tomato, pinch of salt and black pepper powder to season, 1/4 tsp mustard powder and 1 1/2 tbsps mayonnaise. Mix well.
• Apply butter on two slices of bread (on one side) and spread this egg salad all over on one slice, place the other bread slice and toast till golden. Serve warm.

Macaroni with Spinach Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 cups boiled macaroni
• 2-3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 bunch spinach, blanched, drained and chopped fine
• 2-3 tbsps grated cheese
• 1 1/2 tbsps butter
• 3/4 tbsp maida/flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• freshly ground pepper to season
• salt to taste

Method:

• Cook macaroni in salted rapidly boiling water, add a tbsp of oil and cook until al dente, drain completely. Sprinkle a tbsp of olive oil and keep aside.
• Heat butter in a vessel, add garlic and saute for a mt. Add maida and saute for 2-3 mts. Slowly add the milk and go on combining till it forms a creamy consistency. Add spinach, 2 tbsps grated cheese, salt and pepper to taste and mix.
• Turn off heat. Garnish with grated cheese and serve warm.

Eggless Basic Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sieved
• 1 cup curd/yogurt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsps baking pwd
• 1/2 cup refined oil
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 C for 10 mts. Grease and flour an 8″-9″ inch baking pan.
• Cream the sugar and yogurt until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add baking pwd and baking soda and combine. Leave aside for 3 mts. You will find that bubbles appear.
• Add vegetable oil and vanilla essence and combine well. Now, slowly add little flour/maida (about a tbsp) at a time and blend with the wet ingredients.
• Bake in preheated oven at 200 degree C for 10 mts, reduce temperature to 175 and bake for 20-25 mts or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
• Cool the cake for 20-30 mts and then overturn onto a plate.

Note: To give a chocolate flavor to the cake, combine 1/2 tbsp of cocoa pwd to 1/4 cup of the basic cake batter and combined well. While pouring batter into pan, pour a tbsp of cocoa batter towards the edge of the pan and next to it pour a tbsp of white batter, followed by the cocoa batter. Follow this pattern till the first layer is done. Over this layer, pour the remaining white cake batter.

If you want to frost the cake follow this vanilla butter icing recipe – Sieve 1 1/2 cups icing sugar and add to 1 1/4 cups white butter and beat until smooth using an electric beater. Add pinch of salt and 1 tsp vanilla essence and combine. Chill and and spread the icing all over the cake

Mint Chutney

Ingredients

• 1 bunch fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 cups fresh mint leaves
• 1 green chile pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 medium onion, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon tamarind juice or lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water, or as needed

Directions

• In a food processor, combine the cilantro, mint leaves, chili pepper, salt, onion and tamarind juice. Process to a fine paste, adding enough water to achieve a thick sauce.

Garlic Flavored Spicy Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt
• 1 clove garlic, mashed into a paste
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
• 2 teaspoons white pepper
• 5 saffron threads
• salt to taste
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken, cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Method:

• Stir together the yogurt, garlic paste, lemon juice, garam masala, white pepper, and saffron; season to taste with salt. Toss the chicken in the yogurt and marinate in the refrigerator for 10 to 12 hours.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Toss in the cumin seeds and allow to cook until fragrant, 20 to 30 seconds. Add the chicken and brown in the oil. Discard any remaining marinade. Turn heat to medium-low, cover, and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Pour in the cream and heat through. Serve immediately.

Coconut Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice
• 1/2 coconut- grated (scraped)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• Salt to taste
• A pinch of hing (asafoetida)
• 2 dry red chillies
• 2 tsp urad dal (split black gram)
• 1 tbsp cashew nuts

Method:

• Cook rice and set aside to cool.
• Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, hing, dry red chillies, urad dal and cashew nuts.
• When mustard seeds start spluttering, add coconut and sauté till golden brown. Add salt. Mix this with rice and serve hot coconut rice with poppadums (papads).

Paneer Tikka

Ingredients:

• 250 grams paneer (Indian cottage cheese)
• 1 medium green capsicum (bell pepper)
• 1 medium onion
• 1 medium tomato
• 1 cup thick yogurt (curd/ dahi)
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp tandoori masala
• 1 tsp chaat masala
• 2 tsp ginger- garlic paste
• 2 green chillies- crushed
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp oil

Method:

• Cut paneer, onion, tomato and capsicum into 1&1/2 inch pieces.
• Mix yogurt, turmeric powder, tandoori masala, chaat masala, ginger- garlic paste, green chillies, salt and oil to a smooth paste.
• Add paneer cubes to this marinade. See that paneer is well coated with it. Keep in refrigerator for 2 hours.
• Soak a few bamboo skewers in water for 20 minutes. Take out, pat dry and grease them with few drops of oil.
• Put onion, tomato and capsicum pieces in the marinade and coat them well. Thread pieces of marinated paneer and veggies one after the other on the skewers.
• Cook on an oiled grill turning the skewers a few times. Or you can set your oven to Broil. Preheat your oven broiler to high. Broil till you see brown- black spots on the paneer and vegetables and paneer is slightly charred on the edges. Or you can also cook on Barbecue. Or you can also make paneer tikka in an electric or gas tandoor if you have one.

Note:

While cooking paneer tikka just don’t go anywhere and keep an eye on it so that they don’t get burned. Also don’t over cook it.

Momos

Ingredients

For the wrapper

• All Purpose Flour (Maida) - 2 cups
• Salt - to taste
• Water - as needed to make dough

For filling

• Ground Meat - 1 lb
• Onion - 1 (very finely chopped/ grated)
• Garlic - 8 cloves - finely chopped
• Soy Sauce - 2 tblsp
• Chilli Sauce - 1 tblsp
• Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 2 tblsp

Method

For the filling

(You could just mix all the ingredients under 'for filling' and use it but I prefer to cook it before stuffing.)

• Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions and garlic till it is translicent.
• Add the ground meat and fry till the meat becomes nice and brown.
• Add all the sauces, pepper powder and salt and mix well. The stuffing is ready.

For the wrapper

• Mix the flour, salt and knead it adding little water at a time to form a stiff dough.
• Divide the dough into lemon sized balls.
• Roll out the balls into thin chappatti.
• Using a small bottle cap or a cookie cutter, cut out small circles (about 3-4" diameter) of the rolled out dough.
• Keep these wrappers ready to make the momos.

Making Momos

• Take a rolled and cut out wrapper and apply a little bit of water on the edges.
• Put a tblsp of the filling in the center.
• Fold the wrapper over the filling and seal the edges forming a half moon shape. You could also make other shapes.
• Place the momos on any steaming dish (like vegetable steamer, idli plates, dhokla stand)
• Steam on medium flame for 15 minutes
• Serve hot with some spicy chutney, sauce or pickle.

Tips

• You could use store bought wonton wrappers and make momos instantly.

Gobi 65

Ingredients

• Cauliflower - 1
• Corn Flour - 3 cups
• Maida - 1 cup
• Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
• Red Chilly Powder - 2 tblsp (You can also add hot sauce instead)
• Ajinamoto - 1/2 tsp
• Soy Sauce - 2 tsp
• Lemon Juice / Vineger - 1/2 tsp
• Black Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
• Red Food Colour - a pinch
• Salt - as needed

Method:

• Mix the corn flour, maida, turmeric, red chilly powder, ajinomoto, pepper powder and salt together.
• Add the red food colour, lemon juice and soy sauce.
• Add water gradually to avoid lumps and make a smooth paste.
• In the meantime, heat oil in a kadai.
• Drop few cauliflower florets in the batter and toss so that the florets are completely coated with the batter.
• Gently drop the florets one at a time in the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the pan.
• The florets sometimes tend to stick to each other in the oil. Seperate the florets using tongs or a spoon with long handle.
• After about 6-8 minutes, the florets will be golden brown. Remove them and drain excess oil in a paper towel..
• Garnish with celery leaves or green onions. Serve hot with tomato ketchup, schezwan sauce or any other sauce.

Tips

• Gobhi 65 remains crisp for a long time. You can also refrigerate/freeze the leftovers. In that case, just heat it in a 400 degree F oven for 5-10 minutes before serving and they will become crispy again.
• Those who love masala flavour can add a pinch of garam masala while preparing the batter.

Sprouted Green Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cup(s) sprouted green gram
• 4 tablespoons onions finely chopped
• 2 cup(s) tomato and cucumber chopped
• 2 big lettuce leaves chopped
• 2 tablespoon(s) roasted peanuts
• a dash of lemon and salt to taste

Method:

• Gently mix all the ingredients except for the roasted peanuts in a salad bowl. Keep refrigerated.
• Mix in the roasted peanuts just before serving.

Chicken Tikka

Ingredients

• Chicken Breast/ Boneless Chicken -1 lb(cut into bite size pieces)
• Onion, Coloured Bell Peppers,Tomato (diced) - 1 cup (optional)
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Cayenne pepper - 1 tsp
• Chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
• Yogurt - 1 Cup
• Cashew nuts - 2 tbsp (crushed)
• Lemon -1/2 (juiced)
• Cilantro (finely chopped) - 2 tbsp
• Red color - few drops(optional)
• Oil - 1 tblsp

Method

• Mix all the ingredients under marination except chicken and veggies to form a paste.
• Now add the marination to the chicken pieces and veggies to coat it .
• Let it marinate for atleast 3 hours in refrigerator (increased marination time gives soft chicken with all masala taste).
• Take bamboo skewers and soak in water for 1/2 hour.
• Preheat oven to 300F.
• Grease a baking dish with few drops of olive oil and spread the marinate chicken pieces and veggie pieces on it.
• Bake it for 10 minutes and flip the chicken pieces and again bake for 10 minutes(to evenly cook the chicken)
• Now take the baking dish out from oven and place the chicken and veggies in skewers(use paper towel to handle chicken if its very hot).
• Now place the skewers in the oven at 350F for another 10 minutes(this gives the flavor and taste like in tandoori).
• .Now serve the yummy tikka by sprinkling few drops of lemon juice as a snack.

Tips

• You can also grill the tikka on a stove top griddle if you do not have oven.
• If you dont have skewers just place it in a baking sheet in the rack above heating rod (check that it does not get burnt)

Khandvi

Ingredients

• Gram Flour (Besan) - 1 cup
• Yogurt - 1 cup
• Water - 1 cup
• Turmeric Powder - 1/8 tsp
• Asafoetida - pinch
• Ginger paste - blueberry size
• Green Chilly paste - 1/4 tsp (optional)
• Grated Coconut - 1 tblsp
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Dry Red Chilly - 1
• Oil - 2 tblsp
• Curry Leaves - 1 spring
• Salt - to taste
• Cilantro - for garnishing (finely chopped)

Method

• Mix together the gram flour, ginger paste, green chilly paste, turmeric powder, asafoetida and required salt.
• Add the yogurt and water gradually while stirring continuously to make a smooth paste.
• Transfer this to a pan and cook the mixture for about 10 minutes stirring continuously.
• Note : - There will be lot of splattering during the cooking process.
• - You can also cook the mixture in the microwave for 5 minutes stirring after every minute.
• After the besan mixture is completely cooked and it becomes like a smooth paste, switch off the flame.
• Using a spatula take some of the mixture and spread it onto a smooth ungreased surface immediately. (It can be the back of a stainless steel plate, baking tray, cookie sheet or just an aluminium foil.)
• Let it cool for about 5 minutes.
• In the meantime heat a pan and make a seasoning of mustard seeds, curry leaves and dry red chilly.
• Sprinkle half of the seasoning over the mixture.
• Cut into thin strips and roll up each strip into firm roll.
• Arrange the rolls in a serving dish, garnish with the remaining seasoning, finely chopped cilantro and grated coconut.

Wheat Flour Dosa

Ingredients:

• Wheat flour - 1 cup
• Rice flour - ¼ cup
• Onion - 1 finely chopped
• Green chillies - 2
• Salt - to taste

Method:

• Take a bowl and add wheat flour and rice flour. Mix well. Then add finely chopped onions, green chillies and salt.
• Add water to this mixture slowly and mix it well till it gets consistency of dosa batter.
• Then heat a flat pan. When it becomes hot pour a spoon full of this batter and spread it.
• Sprinkle oil around the dosa. When it turns golden brown on the bottom then turn it the other side and remove it in 5 seconds.
• Serve hot.

Schezwan Sauce

Ingredients

• Garlic - 100 gms. (finely chopped)
• Ginger - 100 gms. (finely chopped)
• Green chillies - 5 (finely chopped)
• Tomato puree - 2 cups
• Red chilli sauce - 4 tblsp.
• Chilly powder - 2 tblsp.
• Soya sauce - 1 tblsp.
• Ajinomoto - ½ tsp.
• sugar - 1 tblsp.
• orange red color - ¼ tsp.
• celery chopped - 1 tblsp.
• salt - to taste

Method

• Mix all the above ingredients.
• Now heat the oil (around ½ cup). Add this hot oil to the above mixture and immediately add 1 tblsp. of vinegar to it.
• Mix this well and later store it in fridge. Serve with Fried Items or use it while preparing noodles or fried rice.

Kaara Chutney

Ingredients

• Onion - 2 (roughly chopped) - You can also use 15 pearl onions instead
• Tomatoes - 2 or 3 (roughly chopped)
• Dry red chillies - 5 (or to taste)
• Garlic cloves - 3
• Ginger - very small piece (about 1/4")
• Urad dal (Black gram) - 1 tblsp
• Oil - 2 tblsp
• Salt - to taste

Method

• Heat oil in a pan and fry the urad dal till it turns slightly brown.
• Add the dry red chillies, ginger piece and garlic pods. Fry for a minute or so.
• Add the onion and tomato pieces. Saute for few minutes till both the onion and tomato pieces are soft but not browned.
• Switch off and cool the mixture a bit.
• Grind it to a smooth chutney along with salt. (You can add a very tiny piece of tamarind if you feel the tomatoes are not sour enough.)
• Transfer the chutney to a serving dish. This chutney can be served with Idli, Dosa, or Utthappam
• Variations:
• You can add a tempering of mustard seeds, urad dal, asafoetida and curry leaves to the chutney and make it more flavorful.
• If you want to add some texture to the chutney, include 2 tblsp of grated coconut while grinding.
• This chutney is very versatile. You can skip the garlic, ginger, urad dal or substitute urad dal with channa dal. Each variation has a slightly different flavor.

Butter Naan

Ingredients:

• Dry yeast – 1½ tsp
• All purpose flour – 3 cups
• Warm water – 1 cup
• Sugar – 1 tsp
• Ghee – 5 tbsp
• Yoghurt – 4 tbsp
• Onion seeds – 3 tsp
• Salt – to taste

Method:

• Add the dry yeast and sugar to the warm water and stir till the yeast is dissolved.
• Cover and leave it 10 minutes.
• Keep it aside.
• Mix the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
• Now add the yeast mixture, ghee and yogurt.
• Mix all into a soft dough and knead about 15 mins.
• Grease a large bowl with a few drops of cooking oil and put the dough in it and cover with a clean cloth and allow resting for about an hour till it doubles in size.
• Punch down and knead again and let it stand for another hour.
• Divide the dough into equal size and roll between your palms.
• Pre heat oven to 450 ºF.Now take a round shape ball and roll out into a round shape with your hands.
• Naan is not rolled out with rolling pin.
• Instead, it is rolled out by hand to a round, oval or triangular shape.
• The thickness of Naan is about ½ inch.
• Brush the top of the rolled Naan with melted Ghee.
• Grease a baking sheet.
• Put the Naan on the baking sheet.
• Bake for 7 to 8 minutes

Brownie Shake

Ingredients:

• 1 quart vanilla ice cream
• 2 cups crumbled brownies (best if brownies are refrigerated first)
• Chocolate Syrup
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• Cream for garnishing

Method:

• Place ice cream, cookies and milk in blender; cover.
• Blend until smooth.
• Take a transparent Big coffee mug or Cocktail glass
• Add Chocolate syrup and the brownie shake smoothie into the glass.
• Garnish with cream and piece of brownie cake :)

Cold Coffee

Ingredients:

• 4 cup Cold Milk
• 1 cup boiling Water
• 6 tsp instant Coffee Powder
• 4 tblsp Cream
• 3 tblsp Sugar
• Crushed Ice

Method:

• Dissolve instant coffee powder and sugar in boiling water and allow to cool.
• Blend the the coffee mixture and milk in a blender for few seconds.
• Add cream and crushed ice.
• Blend for another few seconds till it becomes frothy.
• Serve chilled.

Brinjal Pickle

Ingredients:

• Brinjal 350 gms.
• Turmeric powder ¼ tsp.
• Vinegar 100 ml
• Jaggery 50 gms.
• Oil 100 ml
• Salt to taste
• Grind To Fine Paste With
• A Sprinkling Of Vinegar:
• Garlic 4 flakes
• Ginger 1" piece
• Red chilies dry 5 nos.
• Pound Well:
• Cardomoms 3nos.
• Cinnamon ¼" piece
• Cloves 2 nos.
• Peppercorn 4 nos.

Method

• Wash and dry brinjals and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
• Heat oil and fry ground garlic-ginger-red chili paste and turmeric powder for 3 minutes.
• Add brinjal pieces and cook till almost done.
• Add jaggery and vinegar, stir and simmer till the oil floats on top.
• Sprinkle with pounded spices and set aside till cool.
• Store in jar.

Dal Shorba

Ingredients:

• Moong dal (yellow dal) ½ cup.
• Chopped onion ¼ tsp.
• Chopped ginger 1inch.
• Chopped garlic 2 cloves.
• Cumin seeds ½ tsp.
• Lemon 1 no.
• Butter/Oil 1 tsp.
• Chopped green chili 2 nos.
• Chopped green coriander 1 tsp.
• Turmeric powder ½ tsp.
• Salt as per taste.

Method:

• Pick, clean and wash Moong dal.
• Peel and chop the onion, ginger and garlic. Wash and chop the green chilies. Clean, wash and chop the coriander leaves. Remove juice of the lemon.
• Mix together moong dal, chopped onion, chopped ginger, chopped green chilies, turmeric powder, salt and chopped garlic. Add five cups of water and bring it to a boil. Simmer and cook for fifteen minutes.
• Remove scum from the top from time to time. Cook until dal is very soft.
• Pass a through a soup strainer. Keep aside.
• Heat butter in a pan, add cumin seeds. Sauté on low heat so that the butter is not burnt but at the same time full flavor and aroma of cumin seeds comes out.
• Add pureed dal, add water to correct consistency, if required. Bring it to a boil. Add juice of a lemon.
• Serve piping hot garnished with finely chopped fresh coriander leaves.

Chicken Shorba

Ingredients:

• Chicken Bones 500 gms.
• Boneless Chicken (Skinned)100 gms.
• Refined Flour 30 gms.
• Chopped Garlic 1 tsp.
• Cumin seeds ½ tsp.
• White Pepper Powder 1 tsp.
• Oil 1 tsp.
• Bay Leaf 2 no.
• Green Chili 2 no.
• Garam Masala Powder ½ tsp.
• Salt as per taste

Method:

• Clean and wash chicken bones.
• Clean, wash and cut chicken into half centimeter dice.
• Put chicken pieces in a deep pan. Add 1¼ liters water, chopped garlic, bay leaf, slit green chilies and bring it to a boil. Simmer for half an hour. Strain and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, let it crackle and add flour,cook for a minute on a slow flame and then add reduced chicken stock, chicken pieces, white pepper powder, Garam Masala Powder and salt.
• Bring it to a boil and serve piping hot.