Tomato Rice

We just finished our weekend and my eyes are still droopy and I hardly feel cheerful enough to get back to work. The weekend weather was balmy even though we witnessed a slightly grey sky with the occasional peak of the sun and windy evenings. But now the blaze of sunlight streaming through the slightly ajar main door indicates another sultry day ahead.

Now coming to today's recipe pick - A reminiscent of my past,a quick-fix recipe for a wholesome lunch box menu. In my earlier days of cooking, this dish was my easiest pick.

Served with the raita, the tomato rice is one of the pushovers on a hectic morning before you pack your folks out for their workplaces/schools. With its light spices and tomato serving as the main ingredient, it surely is my first hand choice for a weekday lunch.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup  rice (washed and soaked for atleast 10 minutes in water)
8-10 curry leaves
1-2 cloves
1″ cinnamon stick
2 cardamoms
1 large onion, finely sliced
3 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
3 green chillis, slit lengthwise
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
4-5 mint leaves
1/2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil + 1/4 tbsp clarified butter (ghee is optional)

HOW TO MAKE:

1)  Heat oil+ghee in a vessel .Add the curry leaves, sliced onions, green chillis, cloves, cinnamon and cardamoms and stir fry for 5 minutes. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for 2-3 minutes.

2) Add chopped tomatoes, mint and coriander leaves to the sauted onions and combine. Add salt to taste and combine well. Cook for 6-7 minutes.

3)  Reduce heat, add the rice, combine, saute for 3 minutes. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce flame and cook till rice is done.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   Easy
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

** Grinding the tomatoes to a coarse paste instead of chopping them also works well.

Beetroot in a jiffy

Packing a healthy side dish for our weekday lunches has been slightly challenging usually because of time factor. Earlier I'd chose the easy way by packing some fried stuff . But this hasn't been doing enough justice to my stomach and that is why I scanned through my crowded book shelf and came up with very easy recipes for different vegetables that cna be cooked in a jiffy.

Vegetables that have'nt been very popular under my roof came into picture now. It was a while since I'd bought beetroot. So I chose to try with it. This crimson red super food vegetable is a powerhouse of nutrients and plays a phenomenal role in controlling cardiovascular diseases.

 This one seems to be a No-Brainer. Once the vegetables are chopped, the cooking time is hardly 5-10 minutes.

INGREDIENTS:

 Beetroot -1 finely chopped
Onion - 1 big chopped coarsely
Green  chillies - 4 to 6 slit lengthwise
Coriander leaves (chopped) - 1 tbsp
Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Bengal gram (Chana) dal - 1/2 tsp
Black gram(Urad) dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 10
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tsp

HOW TO MAKE:

1)  Heat oil in a frying pan, add mustard when it splutters add dals and fry. Add onion, chillies and curry leaves fry until onions become soft

2) Now add chopped beetroot fry for a minute. Add the garam masala powder,salt to taste and sprinkle little water, close the lid and cook in a low flame for 5 minutes.

3) Garnish with fresh grated coconut and coriander

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   Easy
              RATING  POINTS         :    9/10**

** Cook this dish in a pan or a wok. Its easier to stir it. Keep it dry.

Baked Chicken with vegetables

Well Well.... I know I have been missing around from all the actions lately. I am not lost nor have I fled from the blog world. I have only not been able to update my posts and publish them off late. Just been doing a lot of other work lately and the blog unfortunately took a setback. Life never fails to surprise us !!!

But that has not stopped me from cooking and this means that a lot of recipes have been accumulating in my drafts and I intend posting them soon soon soon. Sometimes after a tedious day, its hard to summon the energy & to empty your mind from all the other distractions and write a decent post. This makes me postpone my postings and I lost count of the number of days that heaped up from my previous post.

Anyways I am back now and the rest is History. I have been baking regularly, cooking new stuff in a jiffy, have added a lot of fresh vegetables into my diet just to beat this sultry summer heat and live healthy.

Do you know of any better way to incorporate the recommended daily portions of veggies in your diet for you & your kids? If not just read on and you will be sure of this satieting way to get your kiddies clamouring for more.

Vegetables seems to be a part of every dish I cook these days. Fibrous foods & fresh greens taking the centrestage in my Kitchen. I have been adding them in almost everything I cook . The last weekend, I decided to bake some chicken. I also wanted to cook some veggie dish so that I can give some justice to my stomach in these hot summer days.

Creativity got the better of me and I ended up fusing the baked chicken with vegetables. How simple it was... I did'nt realise it until I saw the final produce. Yes,Fresh Chicken lightly flavoured in a spicy marinade & roasted to perfection and locked in a bed of beans & potatoes to produce a succulent but tender meat delish. Roasted Chicken with baked beans & potatoes you can call it.

The possibilities of its serving are also endless. Garnished with sliced cucumber, tomato rings & rounded red onions, it can also be served with fresh bread or used as a filling in a burger. Alternatively, it can also be served as an Appetiser/Starter or a Side dish. One bite & you are sure to be hooked .

The recipe goes on like this.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Kg Chicken (cut into pieces of size you desire)

For the marinade:

2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Chicken masala/Tandoori masala powder
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp yogurt
1 tsp White Vinegar

For the Vegetables:

1 Potato peeled and cut into circles or wedges
6-8 beans cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 carrot cut into strips
Brocolli, Cabbage, Capsicum can also be added in small quantities

For the Garnish:

1 small tomato cut into rounds
1 small onion cut into rounds
Fresh cucumber
1 lemon's juice

HOW TO MAKE:

1)   Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients of the marinade overnight and keep in the freezer section of the refrigerator.

2) Remove the chicken atleast an hour before cooking. Taste the marinade for salt & chilli powder.

3)  Heat oil in a pan, add the chicken along with the marinade and cook on high flame for only 10 minutes or until the water dries up and a thick gravy is formed.

4)  Line a baking dish with parchment paper buttered or oiled. Pour in the chicken with the marinade/gravy.

5)  Preheat your Oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Place the baking dish in the oven once it is pre-heated and bake for 45 minutes or till done.

6) If any marinade is left over in your dish after pouring in the chicken pieces, just mix all the vegetables with it. After 15 minutes of baking, remove the chicken out, spread the potatoes along with the chicken, drizzle some olive oil over it and continue baking.

7) Repeat the same step after another 10 minutes of baking. This time add the beans and the carrots. This is done so that the vegetables are not over baked as they do not need the chicken's baking time to be cooked.

8) At the end of 45 minutes, the chicken would be done.Place it on the wire rack and garnish with the tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and the lemon juice. Place this chicken back in the hot oven till serving time.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   Medium
              RATING  POINTS         :    7/10**

** Use any vegetable. Most vegatables taste good when baked.  

Tomato Oats soup

The temperatures here have been hovering in the high 40's. It’s terribly warm,but you won’t hear any complaints from me today. 

Despite the blistering sun outside, its always chilling indoors - thanks to the Air Conditioners working ceaselessly. So life continues as normal and this warm bowl of soup that I am going to talk about today should lift your spirits and make you feel light.

As it happens, I found a variety of soup sachets on sale during these warm days. Warm days and soup sachets equals a warm bowl of soup? I know I am sounding cheesy, but yes,we are always looking for fresh ideas on how to live healthy and how to stick on to home cooked meals and this bowl of soup has the best of the ingredients going inside that have an amazing nutritional value.

Once I bought the soup sachets,I kept thinking on the different varieties I can use them so that they would taste great, but I just didn’t feel that ambitious. So instead, I came up with a less ambitious & easy project that generated a delicious, and probably healthier alternative – Tomato & Oats Soup.

I was elated when I found this recipe for homemade . Believe it or not, this recipe is probably one of the simplest soup recipes you will ever find. And luckily I had some Oats in my pantry shelf. So what could stop me from making this bowl of warm soup? A piping hot bowl of this delicious soup is what that made my day.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups hot water
2 medium tomatoes
1 sachet soup (Use any flavour)
1/3 cup oats
1 tbsp butter
2-3 crushed garlic flakes
1/4 tsp crushed black pepper
Salt to taste
Any seasoning for taste
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 onion finely chopped/sliced

Garnishing:

Grated mozarella/cheddar cheese

HOW TO MAKE:

1) Heat 2 cups water in a vessel. When the water comes to boil, drop in the 2 tomatoes. Switch off stove and cover the vessel for 10-15 minutes. The tomatoes skin can be peeled off easily now.

2) Puree the tomatoes without their skin and keep aside.

3) Heat the butter in a pan, add the crushed garlic and the onion and saute till they are light golden color.

4) Add the tomato puree and the tomato paste and allow to cook for 2 minutes.

5) Then add the oats and cook for another 2 minutes so that the oasts soften.

6) Add 1/2 of the soup sachet and stir well so that no lumps are formed.

7)  Now add the pepper crushed, seasonings, salt and cook till thick (about a minutes or so).

8) Sprinkle some lemon juice and serve it piping hot with some grated cheese if you want.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   Easy

              RATING  POINTS         :    9/10**

** Use any soup flavour. All render a great taste.

** If you want to add some vegetables/chicken pieces to this soup, you can add them in step 3.

Mint/Pudina Chutney

Mint leaves have been the green of choice in our house lately. They have a nearly crispy texture when fresh, with their soothing aroma.

The Mint Chutney is something that gets you whisked off into another dimension. It is a spectacular combination of mint leaves,coconut & tamarind. Sounds zingy n tangy right? The mint leaves add some sharpness to it, with some sweet & savoury combination. This chutney has versatile usage in sandwiches and as a dip with fritters/savories.

INGREDIENTS:

25 mint leaves
2-3 small pieces of coconut grated
1 small ball of tamarind soaked in water
Salt to taste
1 flake garlic
1 tbsp corainder leaves
2-3 green chillies

To garnish:

1/2 onion chopped

HOW TO MAKE:

1) Grate coconut and keep aside.

2) Mix all the above ingredients and blend them finely in a blender. Check for taste.

3) Remove in a small serving bowl and mix finely chopped onion in it. Serve.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   Easy

              RATING  POINTS         :    9/10**

**  Tamarind is added along with the pulp so that its tangy taste gets imparted in this dip.

Spaghetti Bolognnaise

What is your favourite Italian food? Are you a red sauce or a white sauce lover ? Do you find your eyes drifting often towards those tempting pasta dishes on the menu card of a restaurant? Can you believe it if I say that Italian food can be re-created at home very easily? And how about some Indian twist to it?

The Spaghetti Bolognnaise is today's choice for me. With some red meaty sauce & a touch of  spectacular Italian flavours pampered with mozarella cheese, this dish is overwhelmingly carbohydrate.The symphony of flavours created with the combination of basil, oregano along with some freshly crushed garlic is worth the taste. With a spike of olive oil drizzled over it, you can never go wrong anywhere with the exciting flavours it incorporates.

 

A word of caution - Basil can have an overpowering taste sometimes. So I suggest to watch its quantity going in.

 Neverthless, this stunning Italian dish is really something to behold for a relaxing weekend evening. It has some lovely unimaginable flavours that tickle your taste buds and make you lose yourself into it.

INGREDIENTS:

 1 pack Spaghetti pasta
1 tsp Olive Oil
4-5 cups water

For the Red sauce:

2-3 Tomatoes ground/ 3 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1 tbsp chilli-garlic sauce

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 cup onion sliced/ spring onions chopped

200 gms Minced beef

3-4 crushed garlic

1/2 cup beef stock/ any stock flavour

1 carrot finely sliced (optional)

1 full tsp oregano

2-3 basil leaves

1/2 tsp pepper powder

Salt to taste

chilli flakes

1 tbsp corn flour

1 tbsp Cream (optional)

For the Granish:

3/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaves/parsley
100 gms of mozarella cheese grated.

HOW TO MAKE: 

1)  Heat water in a vessel. When it comes to boil, add the spaghetti pasta in it without breaking it, drizzle some olive oil over it and allow it to cook till the pasta is done. Remove and drain the pasta. Run some cold water over it to avoid sticking of the pasta. Keep aside.

For the Red sauce:

1)  Heat oil, add the minced meat and fry it in the oil, add the onion, crushed garlic, carrot if using and continue to fry till soft and the water dries.

2)  Add the tomato paste, tomato ketchup, the beef stock and the sauces. Continue to cook till the mixture thicknes.

3) Add the oregano, chilli flakes, basil leaves, pepper powder, salt. Cook for a minute.

4) Add the cornflour & cream at this stage and switch off the stove.

For the sphagetti Bolognnaise:

1)  Transfer the spaghetti into an oven proof dish. Drizzle some olive oil over it.

2)  Pour the red sauce over the sphagetti. Do not mix.

3) Sprinkle some grated mozarella cheese over it and garnish with parsley/coriander leaves. Sprinkle 1 tsp of olive oil over this.

4)  Bake this in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius till the cheese melts and acquires a very light golden color on the top surface.

5)  Serve hot straight from the oven.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   Easy

              RATING  POINTS         :    7/10**

** The red sauce can also be cooked the vegetarian way with a lot of vegetables used instead of meat.