Chili-Garlic Mushroom Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Cooked Basmati rice                2 cups

Sliced Mushrooms                    1 cup

Onion, sliced                            1 large

Green chilies                            2 to 3

Garlic crushed                          6-8 cloves

Red chilies                               5 -6

Dark soy sauce                        1 Tbsp

Hot & sweet chili sauce      2 Tbsp

Vinegar or Lemon juice              1 Tbsp

Salt                                         to taste

Oil                                           2 Tbsp

Chopped Spring Onion              3 Tbsp

Preperation:

·         Wash the rice and cook it. Keep it aside for 15 min.

·         Make a paste of the red chili, vinegar using the blender.

·         Heat the pan with the oil, add the chopped green chili, fry well.

·         Add the chopped onion fry until it become light brown, add chopped garlic and fry for few seconds.

·         Add the chili paste, soy and chili sauces and fry for 30 seconds and add the mushroom sices and cook on medium heat in its own water for 3 to 4 min.

·         Add the cooked rice and mix well and fry for about 5 minutes  or until done.

·         Adjust the salt, garnish with chopped Spring onion (which I forgot to add in my recipe) and seve hot with raitha or as it is.

Pumpkin Halwa

This is what I made for this Diwali. Diwali is the Indian festival of lights celebrated by wearing new clothes, lighting fire crackers and exchanging sweets back home. Usually my mom prepares this sweet with Ash gourd. But since I didn’t find it here, I wanted to try with the yellow pumpkin which is readily available during this time of the year and searched in the internet if it is allowed to use it to make this dish . To my surprise, it tasted equally great and love the colour of the dish. Traditional halwa uses khoa or khoya or mawa (milk that is cooked down so most the moisture is evaporated). This adds texture and richness to halwa. I used sweetened condensed milk to the recipe to thicken the halwa. Instead, you can also cook the grated pumpkin in milk and then fry in ghee till we get the required consistency.

Ingredients:

Pumpkin – 1 kg

Ghee- ½ cup

Sugar – 1 cup

Sweetened condensed milk – 50 ml

Cashew nuts – ¼ cup

Raisins – 2 Tbsp

Cardamom Powder – 1 tsp

Method:

·       Cut, deseed, peel and grate the pumpkin.

·       In a heavy bottom pan, add about 2 tbsp of ghee and fry the cashew nuts and raisins till golden brown and keep aside.

·      Add the remaining ghee to the pan and fry the grated pumpkin on medium heat till all the moisture is gone and the ghee oozes out.

·      Stir in the condensed milk and sugar, milk well and cook on low heat by constantly stirring (so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom and get burnt) till the milk is totally absorbed in and the ghee oozes out of the halwa.

·       Stir in the cardamom powder, mix well and remove from heat.

·       Garnish with fried cashews and raisins.

·       Serve hot or cold. It tastes great in either ways. It can also be refrigerated in a closed container for about a week and can be reheated before serving.

Spicy scrambled Tofu

Well…I heard a lot of good things about Tofu (Bean curd) and made it habit to use it often in my food lately. Tofu is low in calories, contains a relatively large amount of iron, protein, and contains little fat. It has very little flavor or smell on its own and hence can be flavored in many ways depending upon the method of cooking and the ingredients used. Here is a quick, healthy and spicy tofu recipe which is as tender and moist as scrambled eggs. Nothing beats scrambled eggs for a quick, satisfying meal. Scrambled tofu can be equally comforting and tasty too. All that you need to do is to spice it up with your favorite spices and vegetables.

Ingredients:

Firm tofu – 150 gms

Oil – 1 Tbsp

Cumin seeds – ½ Tsp

Onion- 1 small, chopped

Green chillies – 2 to 3, finely chopped

Capsicum Pieces– 1 cup (green, yellow and red mixed)

Turmeric – 1/8 Tsp

Soy sauce – ½ Tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

Wash the tofu, squeeze out the extra water and grate it coarsely.

Heat the oil in a wide skillet and add the cumin seeds, onion and green chillies and fry till onion turns translucent. Add in the Capsicum pieces and sauté for a minute or two.

Add the turmeric, salt to taste and soy sauce and cook for a minute.

Now stir in the grated tofu, mix well and cook for about 3 minutes. Adjust the salt if needed. Serve hot with a toast or can be wrapped in a tortilla. 

Penne Spinaci e Funghi (Penne Pasta with Spinach and Mushrooms)

Wow!!! I just can't believe that this is my 50th post...and what can be a better occassion to post an International recipe for the first time in my blog...Penne Spinaci e Funghi..

Ingredients:

Onion – 1, medium diced

Mushrooms - 250g, Sliced
Garlic cloves – 4, crushed
Spinach - 200g, chopped
Milk - 500ml 

Butter – 1 inch Stick

Olive oil – 2 Tbsp

All Purpose Flour – 2 Tbsp

Pinch of Nutmeg
Red chilli flakes – 2 Tsp
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cooked Penne Pasta - 500g (Any pasta of your choice)

Method:

·         In a large saucepan, fry half the onion and garlic together until the onion is translucent.

• Add the mushrooms and fry for another 3-5 minutes until the mushrooms are almost cooked.
• Add the spinach and sauté until the spinach is wilted.
• Melt in the butter in another saucepan and add the flour and keep stirring until the raw smell of the flour leaves. Take care not to burn it. Now add the milk, the rest of the onions, chili flakes, salt to taste and nutmeg powder to the flour and keep stirring and cook till the mixture is nice and thick.
• Add the milk sauce to the spinach and Mushrooms and allow it to simmer for a minute or two. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot on cooked pasta.

Tomato Rice

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 4 medium

Basmati Rice - 1 Cup

Onion – 1 large

Green Chiliies – 3 to 4

Ginger& Garlic Paste – 1Tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Cumin seeds – 1Tsp

Fennel seeds – 1 tsp

Cloves- 2

Cardamom – 2

Bay leaves - 1

Chilli Powder- 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Jeera Powder - 1 tsp

Tumeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 3 tbsp

Mint leaves – ½ cup

Fresh Coriander leaves- For Garnishing 

Preparation: 
Wash and soak the rice and keep it aside for about 30 minutes.Cut the tomatoes into small cubes, onions into thin slices and chillies lengthwise.
Heat the Oil in the Pan & add bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cumin and Fennel seeds and fry till the aroma comes out.
When it starts spluttering add green chillies & Onions , fry till onions turn translucent.
Add ginger-garlic paste, mint leaves and fry till the raw flavor of ginger is gone. Add mint leaves ,tomatoes , salt,tumeric & keep stirring.
When Everything is mixed together add all the dry
masala powders and cook on a medium heat till the tomatoes are mushy.Keep stirring frequently.
When the tomatoes are cooked add the soaked Rice and fry for a minute. Add about 1 ½ cups of water to the rice and stir well. Adjust salt if needed. Once it starts to boil, lower the heat and cook the rice closed till done.
Garnish with Fresh Coriander leaves & serve hot with raitha.

Chilagada Dumpa-Mirapakaya Pulusu (Sweet potato sour stew with Jalopeno Peppers)

Here is one more dish, which I am trying it for the first time. As I am not really a fan of sweet potato, I don’t cook it often. I had leftover sweet potato, which we got for our friend’s daughter, Rishika’s baby food. In order not to waste it, I wanted to prepare something with the root. I was browsing for some of its recipes and also its nutritional values and found some really interesting stuff in the internet. Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C, and vitamin B_6.  I used some Jalopeno peppers along with the sweet potato in the dish to make it little more spicier. After tasting it, I was totally surprised by its taste. Just loved it !!!

Ingredients:

Sweet potato – 1/2 large

Jalopenos – 6-7

Onion – 1 large

Tomato – 1 large

Green chillies – 3 to 4

Tamarind pulp – 3 tbsp

Chilli powder – 2 Tsp

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 2 strands

Turmeric – ½ tsp

Oil – 2 Tsp

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Wash and peel the sweet potato and cut it into 1 inch cubes and keep aside. Cut the jalopeno peppers into bite size pieces. Soak the tamarind and squeeze out the pulp. Now heat oil in a saucepan and once it is hot, add the cumin & mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, now add the fenugreek seeds and curry leaves and fry for few seconds and now add the onions  and green chillies, cut lengthwise and let them fry till the onions are transparent. Add the sweet potato cubes and sauté for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Now add the tomato puree (I have blanched the tomatoes in water for 5 min, peeled them and pureed them so as to have a thick sauce or else the regular canned tomato puree can be used). Add the turmeric, chilli powder, Jalopeno peppers, salt and the tamarind pulp and little water and close the lid and let it cook on  a low flame till the oil oozes out of the sauce. To have an extra flavour, add some fresh curry leaves and close the lid and cook for 5 more min. so that the all the flavours are absorbed by the sweet potatoes. Add some sesame powder at this point to the pulusu to give it a very nice added flavour and thick consistency for the sauce. Serve hot with rice and some chips or rice fritters.

Oats upma

A steaming bowl of fresh cooked oatmeal is the perfect way to start off a day. Oats, oat bran, and oatmeal contain a specific type of fiber known as beta-glucan, which helps in reducing the cholesterol levels significantly. Studies also show that beta-glucan has beneficial effects in diabetes as well. They contain more soluble fiber than any other grain, resulting in slower digestion and an extended sensation of fullness. Well…if I go on like this to say the health benefits of oats, it’s gonna take long time. So, let me share this amazing upma recipe, which I made with oats and fresh vegetables. Give this a try when you are in the mood for some quick and healthy dish and all you need is some chutney of your choice to enjoy the moment.

Ingredients:

Oats – 1cup

Water – 1 ¼ cups

Onion – ½ medium finely chopped

Mixed vegetables - 1/4 cup (peas, carrot, beans, capsicum)

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal - 1/2 tsp

Chana dal - 1/2 tsp

Cashew nuts – 2tbsp

green chillies – 2-3

Curry leaves – 1 spring

Oil – 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Dry roast the oats for 2-3 minutes till crisp and keep it aside.

In a frying pan,  add2 tsp oil.

Add mustard, urad dal, channa dal, cashew nuts and green chillies and fry till the dals turn brown.

Add chopped onion, curry leaves and vegetables and fry till the onion becomes soft.

Add one and quarter cup of water and enough salt.

When the water starts boiling, add the oats and stir well.

Lower the heat and cover the pan with a lid allowing it to cook completely and all the water is absorbed.

Serve hot with any chutney of your choice.