Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Potato Gnocchi

Gnocchi, pronunced nyoki is a kind of pasta, generally made using flour and potatoes (you can also make them with pumpkin or ricotta).

Once cooked, these light, little morsels dunked in almost any kind of sauce are a delight to eat and are extremely filling!

This is a super-simple, non-traditional way of making Gnocchi and is pretty quick too!
This is what they looked like before boiling..yes, i did go the whole way and rolled them over a fork n stuff...but was definitely worth the effort (or so, i'd love to think!)




Ingredients:

3 medium sized potatoes, boiled
2 teaspoons flour ( i used maida/all purpose flour) - you may need more or less depending on the potatoes
1 teaspoon fine semolina
salt to taste

Method:

CAUTION:
Two things you need ensure:
1) Steam/boil the potatoes just right (please don't overcook)
2) Use as little flour as possible while kneading

Half/quarter the potatoes and steam/boil them until they are just cooked through ( I dumped them in the microwave, along with a bowl of water and microwaved at 700 deg C for 6 minutes).

Once done, peel them while they are still hot (be careful here). Mash coarsely with a fork till the potatoes are coarsely powdered.
( i must admit i tried to blend them at this stage, but they turned out all gooey n horrible, so pls avoid this)

Add the salt, semolina, and a teaspoon of the flour and knead gently. Keep adding the flour bit by bit as required and knead till everything just binds together.

Divide this dough into 2 or 4 and roll into long cylindrical 'strands'. Now using a sharp knife, cut bits of the dough and press the prongs of a fork to give each bit a design.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and drop these in. At first, they sink to the bottom but rise to the top in a matter of minutes...once the gnocchi start floating, they're cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain in a colander for a few minutes before using.

You can serve this with a basic tomato sauce, a classic white sauce or just sauteed to a crsip along with some garlic.

I made a white sauce to go along and added loads of chilli sauce on top since i was out of chilli flakes.






Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Slurpy Chunky Veggie Soup

Soup - the very word conjures up feelings of warmth and comfort, specially on cold winter nights. This version is a simple, 5 minute procedure and for me, it acquires the top spot, even beating Maggi :).

I basically used 3-4 veggies, but you can use most root veggies like onions, turnips or pretty much anything you desire.




Ingredients:

2 large carrots, diced (i used the red "Delhi" carrots)
a huge handful of beans, chopped into bits
3-4 leeks, chopped
sweet corn kernels, a cupful
water, 3/4 litre
cornflour - 1 tablespoon
ginger-garlic paste, a teaspoon (or 1/2 spoon each of finely chopped ginger and garlic)
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
red chilli sauce, 3 teaspoons
soya sauce, 1 teaspoon
oil, a teaspoon

Method:

Heat oil and saute ginger-garlic. Add leeks, saute for a minute. Now add in carrots, beans and sweet corn. Saute for another minute and add the water. Wait till the water comes to a boil, lower the flame and add the cornflour mixed with a spoon of cold water. 

Now simmer for just a minute or so and turn off the heat. If you simmer anymore, the veggies get cooked through and then, its no fun eating this soup.

You can also omit the cornflour and make a clear soup.

Season with salt and sauces and you're done! Serve it with some warm, crusty garlic bread.



Huli Avalakki (Tangy Tamarind Poha)

Huli avalakki, also known as gojju avalakki, is an all time favourite of mine. Super simple to make, can be whipped up in a jiffy to satiate hunger pangs at any time of the day (or night!)

Here's what my version looks like - the pic looks kinda sad b'cos i remembered to take a snap when most of it was over and all the curry leaves had been picked out :), but trust me, this is one yummy dish!


Ingredients:

1 cup avalakki/poha, coarsely powdered  (ask for the thick poha, dont ever make this with thin poha)
2 tablespoons rasam powder (if you don't have this, substitue with a tablespoon chilli powder and a half spoon each of jeera and dhania powder)
Tamarind extract - use a lemon sized ball of tamarind, soak in water and squeeze out the pulp
Salt, to taste
1/4 cup jaggery or sugar (you can adjust as per requirement)
Groundnuts, a handful
1 teaspoon each of mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal
6-7 curry leaves
4-5 dried red chillies (i used guntur variety)
a pinch asafoetida
2 tablespoons oil

Method:

Mix the powdered poha, rasam powder, tamarind water (use 2 and a half cups water), jaggery, and salt. Leave aside for 20 minutes for all the flavours to get soaked in. At this stage, do taste it and adjust salt/jaggery if required.

Heat oil in a pan, add the asafoetida, mustard, urad dal, chana dal, dried rad chillies, and curry leaves. Fry for a minute. Now add the groundnuts and fry on a flame flame till they are well roasted.

Crumble in the avalakki mixture and saute on a low flame for 5 minutes or till the 'rawness' disappears.
Your avalakki is now ready to eat!

Ganesha Habbada Kadubu

Kadubu - A traditional dish made during Ganesha habba (Ganesh Fextival), can be sweet or savoury. This recipe is for the sweet variety.
Contrary to the popular belief, this is pretty simple to make..specially if you've made the filling a day in advance. If you use a mould (like i did), you get pretty edges and if u seal the edges by hand, the kadubus are yummy anyway!



Ingredients:

For the dough:

a cup of rice flour
one and a half cups of water
a few drops of oil or ghee


For the filling:

1/2 cup jaggery, powdered
1/2 cup til, roasted and coarsely powdered
1/2 cup of fresh, grated coconut (yes, u can also substitute with a cup of dessicated coconut)

Mix all these and adjust jaggery to taste.

Method:

Boil the water, add 2-3 drops of ghee/oil. Now add the rice flour, stirring continously and ensure no lumps are formed. Once the enitre mixture becomes one cohesive ball of dough, empty out onto a plate and knead it (as quickly as you can get to it).

Steam this dough for 10 minutes in a pressure cooker/steamer. Now make small balls from the dough and roll it out quite thinly into a small chapathi.

If you're using a mould, put this chapathi onto the mould, fill with a spoon of mixture and press the edges of the mould together. Hold for a minute and then open the mould carefully.

If making by hand, simply place the chapathi onto your palm, place a spoon of the filling in it and seal the edges together.

Your kadubu is now ready to eat!




Sunday, January 9, 2011

Channa Masala

Chana Masala -a classic Indian, vegetarian recipe - is a lip-smacking, spicy, tangy, finger-lickingly good dish...you can serve it with chapatis, puris, or the best-suited bhaturas.


Ingredients:

4 handfuls of chickpeas (soaked overnight and pressure cooked with a little salt)
reserved water (drained form the cooked chickpeas)
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
3 chillies, chopped (you can vary this depending on your requirement
2 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste (alternatively, 2 pods of garlic and an inch piece of ginger roughly chopped)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon of chilli powder and jeera powder
2 teaspons of garam masala
2 teaspoons of curd
a teaspoon of oil
salt, to taste
a pich of sugar
chopped coriander, a handful

Method: 

Heat oil in a pan. Add the ginger-garlic and saute for a minute before adding the onions and chillies. Cook the onions for 4-5 mins till slightly brown and cooked through. Now add the jeera, turmeric, chilli powder and tomatoes. Cook this mixture till the tomatoes are soft.

Cool the mixture and bled it till you get a not-very-fine paste. Pour this paste back into a hot pan, add the curd and cook till the "curdy" smell is gone (this makes the curry creamy w/o the calories of cream or butter). Now add the cooked chickpeas and garam masala, and stir till the chickpeas are covered with the paste. Add the reserved chickpea water, lower the flame and cook till the gravy turns thick.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve it hot!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Chocolate Cake With Gooey Choco Icing

Me, being one of those who can't resist choco cakes, this was the first thing i learnt to bake in a microwave...When cooking, i can't be bothered about measurements..i usually have a fair idea of the ingredients and then add/delete stuff as per my liking...so this choco cake may not be "traditional" but it works...


For the cake

Ingredients:1 cup (traditional Indian katori) maida
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (i used Cadbury's)
3/4 cup powdered sugar (alternatively, use castor sugar in the same quantity)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil like sunflower oil (you can use butter but i find using oil easier)
1 tea spoon baking powder
2 pinches baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a teeny pinch of salt
1 drop of vinegar (this reacts with the baking soda/powder and makes the cake light n spongy)

Method:

Mix all the wet ingredients together and beat with a fork for 3-4 minutes. Sift all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Now add the dry to wet (yep, always dry to wet although i don't really know why!) and mix thoroughly taking care that no lumps are formed.
Bake in a microwave at 650-700 deg C for 2-3 minutes. Then turn down the temperature to 400 and bake for another 2-3 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean, you're good to go. Else, bake in bacthes of 30 seconds till the toothpick comes out clean.
For the icing

200 ml cream
1 bar of cadbury's (the 10 rupee one)
2 tea spoons cocoa powder
a cup of icing sugar (you can substitute with powdered sugar + 2 tea spoons corn flour)
2 teaspoons of honey

Heat the cream over a low flame, stirring continously. Once the cream is scalding hot, turn off the heat and allow to cool for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and pour the hot cream on top. Stir ensuring no lumps are formed.

Let this mixture cool to room temperature.

Now slice the cake in half horizonatally and spread some choco-cream on one half. Top with the other half of the cake.

Pour the remaining mixture on top of the cake and drizzle all along the edges. At this stage, you can decorate the cake.

Let this cake cool in the fridge for 20 minutes so that the icing is firm..n it's ready to serve!

Sweet Potato N Corn Cutlets

Ever since i ate sweet potato chaat in Delhi (thanks to a friend), i've been dying to experiment with this versatile veggie....these super-simple-to-make cutlets are perfect for rainy/cold evenings with a cup of chai.


                                  

                    

Ingredients:

1 medium sized sweet potato
a handful of sweet/regular corn
1/2 spoon each of garam masala, jeera, turmeric, and amchur
2 chillies roughly chopped
salt to taste
a splash of lime juice

Method:

Par boil the sweet potato (i dunked it in a bowl of water and microwaved for 4 minutes). Peel it and grate/chop roughly. Put this mixute and the rest of the ingredients into a blender and roughly blend till the corn kernels are crushed.

Heat a tava and spread oil on it with the back of a spoon. Shape cutlets from the mixture and roast on the tava till the cutlets are crisp on both sides (alternatively, you can coat the cutlets by dipping in a paste of cornflour and then breadcrumbs and deep-fry it).

Serve these with sauce/mint chutney.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Trifle Pudding

Trifle pudding is a dish with layers of sponge cake, fruit, custard, and whipped cream in that order..however, you can customize it to an extent as per your requirement.

This dish is time consuming (specially if you're baking the cake!) but well worth it in the end. You can reduce effort by preparing the cake and custard in advance and just assembling it a few hours before it needs to be ready.

I omit whipped cream entirely and replace it with jelly (instant jelly packs available in the market).

This was what my trifle pudding looked like..I'd made a HUGE quantity for an office party but the recipe below makes enough for 4 greedy people :)





Ingredients:

Sponge cake - 250 grams (See recipe below to bake a sponge cake)
Assorted chopped fruit - 2-3 cups (apples, bananas, tinned pineapple, tinned peach, cherries, strawberries etc)
5-6 tablespoons of light sugar syrup (if using tinned fruit, use the syrup from it. Alternatively, use rum for an alcoholic version)
3 cups thick custard (recipe below)
1/2 pack jelly, made as per intructions on the pack (I used Weikfield raspberry flavour)

Method:

Cut the cake into thick slices and arrange in a deep dish. Ensure that the slices of cake are tightly packed together. If required, break the slices inbto huge chunks and fill in the gaps.
Pour the sugar syrup evenly over the cake layer, ensuring the layer is soaked.
Now arrange the layer of chopped fruit, evenly over the cake.
Top with custard and refrigerate till custard is set (at least a half hour).
Pour prepared jelly (just off the heat) over the set custard layer and refrigerate again till the jelly is completely set.

You can decorate it as per your imagination..serve with vanilla ice cream for a yummy ending to a hectic day or as a dessert after a particularly heavy meal.


Sponge cake:

1 cup (traditional Indian katori) maida
3/4 cup powdered sugar (alternately use castor sugar in the same quantity)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil like sunflower oil (you can use butter but i find using oil easier)
1 tea spoon baking powder
2 pinches baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a teeny pinch of salt
1 drop of vinegar (this reacts with the baking soda/powder and makes the cake light n spongy)

Method:

Mix all the wet ingredients together and beat with a fork for 3-4 minutes. Sift all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Now add the dry to wet (yep, always dry to wet although i don't really know why!) and mix thoroughly taking care that no lumps are formed.
Bake in a microwave at 650-700 deg C for 2-3 minutes. Then turn down the temperature to 400 and bake for another 2-3 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean, you're good to go. Else, bake in bacthes of 30 seconds till the toothpick comes out clean.

Custard:

500 ml milk + 3 spoons
3-4 tablespoons custard powder
2-3 tablespoons sugar (adjust to your liking)

Method:
Heat milk, dissolve sugar in it. Lower the flame and let it sim. In the meantime, mix the custard powder and remaining milk into a paste (ensure this is w/o lumps).
Pour this mixture into the milk in a thin, stead stream..all the while stirring so that no lumps are formed (if there are small lumps, turn off heat, strain the mixture and put on the heat again).
The mixture starts thickening immediately. Cook on a low flame for 4-5 minutes, stirrring continously, till custard is done.

Yummilicious Healthy Pizza

Here's a simple, quick fix pizza...comfort food when you need it and super healthy at the same time!
What's more, you can cook it in a conventional oven, a combination of microwave + tava, or only a tava!! I used a combination of microwave and tava.

This is what my pizza looked like finally! :)



Ingredients:
1 pack whole wheat pizza base (I used Omega 3)
A pack of chilli flakes and oregano (This is available with Omega 3 pizza base, you can substitute accordingly)
Veggies - assorted, chopped similarly (bell peppers, sweet corn, carrot, onions, leeks...)
1 medium sized tomato, sliced thinly into roundels
Olives
Jalapeno slices
2-3 pods garlic, chopped into very fine pieces or flaked finely
2 teaspoons tomato sauce (I used DelMonte)
1 teaspoon red chilli sauce (I used Chings)
1 teaspoon mayonaisse (I used Remia Mayolite)

Method:
Mix the tomato sauce, red chilli sauce and mayo together, and spread on the pizza base. Top it with the tomato slices. Sprinkle chopped garlic, chilli flakes, and oregano over the tomato slices.
Microwave it at 650 deg C for 1 minute.
Top with the rest of the veggies and microwave for another minute. Top with olives and jalapeno slices/pieces.
Now, put it on a tava on medium flame till the base is crisp and brown.

Alternatively, you can bake it in an oven the regular way...you can even top it with loads of mozzarella.
To cook it on a tava, all you need to do is roast all the veggies and garlic in a pan beforehand and follow the same method.

                                                 Picture of my half demolished pizza