Grilled Zucchini and Tomato Salad with Scrambled Eggs

Ingredients:

Zucchini                1 medium

Tomatoes              1 medium

Oil                        2-3 Tbsp

Salt                      to taste

Egg                      1 large

Fresh ground black pepper

A few sprigs fresh parsley

Preparation:

·         Pre-heat your grill to 180°C.
Wash the zucchini and trim off the ends.

·         Slice the zucchini lengthwise in thin slices, using a mandolin or vegetable peeler. 

·         Lightly grease the zucchini with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper to taste.

·         Grill the zucchini ribbons until lightly wilted, for about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove and put on a platter and let cool slightly.

·         In a pan, make the scrambled eggs with some olive oil, salt and pepper.
Cut the tomatoes in large chunks, season with salt and pepper to taste. Arrange on the platter with zucchini and garnish with scrambled eggs and chopped parsley leaves.

Crispy Zucchini Sticks

Ingredients:

Zucchini           1 medium cut into sticks

Egg whites        2 large

Bread crumbs   1/3 cup

Oil                    For deep frying

Garlic powder   1/4 tsp

Salt                  to taste

Fresh pepper    to taste

Preparation:

·         In a small bowl, beat egg whites and season with salt and pepper.

·         Mix well the breadcrumbs and garlic powder.

·         Dip zucchini sticks into eggs then into bread crumbs mixture, a few at a time and coat them properly.

·         Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the zucchini sticks till golden brown.

·         Alternatively, you can bake the zucchini sticks in an oven at 180°C for about 20-25 min., drizzling with some oil.

·         Serve hot with any sauce of your choice.

Boondi Laddoo

It is often prepared on festivals or for household events such as weddings and births or given as a Prasad at Hindu temples. The laddu or laddoo can be made from gram flour (besan), semolina (rava), wheat flakes, and many other flours. It is also a common nickname for sweet and lovely people. After making this, this is what I felt: “Making ladoo is not as hard as I thought”. 

Ingredients:

For boondi:

Gram flour                    3 cups

Water                           2 cups

Ghee                            1 Tbsp

Oil/ghee                       for deep frying

Cashew nuts                 ½ Cup, roasted in ghee
a fine-holed shallow strainer spoon

For syrup:

Sugar                           2 ½ cups
Water                           1 ½ cups

Cardamom powder       1 tsp
Milk                             2 tbsp

Saffron/ Kesari colour   1 pinch (optional)
Preparation:
For syrup:

Put sugar and water in a vessel and boil till single thread consistency. Add cardamom powder and mix. Remove from heat and keep aside.

For boondi:

Mix flour and water to a smooth batter.

Heat oil/ghee in a heavy frying pan.

Hold strainer on top with one hand. With the other pour some batter all over the holes. Tap gently till all batter has fallen into hot oil. Fry and remove when light golden and set aside. Care must be taken that the boondi should be cooked well but not crispy. Repeat the same for the remaining batter.

Warm the 2 Tbsp of milk and add saffron/ food colour and add to the syrup. Mix in the boondi and fried cashew nuts in the syrup.

Drain any excess syrup. Spread in a large plate and Cover and keep for 10 minutes so that the boondi absorbs the syrup. Shape into laddoos with moist palms. Cool and keep open to dry and store in containers.

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.