Let's restart...

Dear Friends

I have been away for ages... Life just took such a turn that I got caught up in too many things and stopped blogging totally.

But these trying times of 2020 and the Corona Pandemic has somehow brought me back to my love of cooking for my family. 

And since I am back to my kitchen, then why not share my love and recipes with you all!

So just stay tuned, let's cook and spread joy in our families...!😊

CREAMY PRAWN AND MUSHROOM PASTA

Hey... Lets deviate from the Indian Course and try something different today..! Lets make a quick Pasta dish which is wholesome as well as sumptuous..!

Creamy Prawn & Mushroom Pasta

A delicious creamy pasta dish that is not only easy to make, but is also very versatile. Besides Prawn and Mushroom, other options are Chicken and Sun-dried Tomatoes, or Bacon and Broccoli creamy pasta dishes to name a few...BUT THOSE RECIPES WILL FOLLOW..! ;-)

• Overall Recipe Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation Time: 10 minutes
• Cooking Time: 15 minutes
• Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• Butter - 3 tbsp
• Garlic, finely chopped - 2 cloves
• Onion - 1, diced
• Button mushrooms - 500 gms., sliced
• Sun-dried tomatoes - 100 gms., chopped
• White wine - 1/2 cup
• Chicken stock - 1 cup
• Cream - 300 ml
• Green Onions - 3, sliced
• Raw Tiger Prawns - 500 gms. deveined and peeled
• Fettuccine - 500 gms.
• Fresh Parsley - 1/4 cup, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to season
• Parmesan cheese

Method:

Pasta

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and olive oil. Cook until tender.
2. Reserve about half a cup of the pasta water to later thin the sauce. Drain and keep warm.

Pasta Sauce

1. Meanwhile, melt 2 tbsp butter on medium heat in fry pan. Sauté mushrooms and onion for about 5 - 7 minutes, until softened and light golden. Add 1 clove chopped garlic and sun-dried tomatoes, fry for another minute.
2. Add wine and bring to the boil for 1 minute. Then add chicken stock, stir and reduce heat to simmer for a few minutes.
3. Stir in cream, bring to the boil stirring to reduce the sauce slightly.Reduce heat to lowest.
4. Prepare the garlic prawns.
5. Garlic Prawns
   1. Heat 1 tbsp butter in skillet over medium-high heat.
   2. Add prawns and cook for a couple of minutes, until prawns have just changed colour. Add 1 clove chopped garlic and cook for a further minute so doesn't burn. Turn prawns once during cooking.
6. Pour fettuccine into pasta sauce and toss through to coat each strand of Pasta. Add a little of the Pasta water to thin out the sauce if necessary.
7. Add green onions and fresh parsley to the sauce and lightly toss. Turn off  the heat. Plate out and top with Prawns and grated Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

Notes

• Variations
• * Kid friendly options:
• - Instead of prawns use chicken thigh or breast.
• - The basic creamy sauce is versatile, so any seasonal vegetables can be used for a vegetarian option.

LAAL MAANS

LAAL MAANS

Hi friends

I love Rajasthan. The vibrant and colourful state has so much to offer that one visit to the state is just not enough to soak the beauty and grandeur of palaces. Being a Hot (I mean the temprature...! ) state of North India, surprisingly or rather scientifically, the food eaten by the locals is very spicy.

Here's one of the most popular ones for you!

This Rajasthani dish can be made as Hot as you like it.... It gets its colour from the Chillies used to cook it. If you want the colour but not the heat, the trick is to use only half the amount of chillies and substitute the other half with Kashmiri Chillies which impart colour but not all the heat...! 

(serves 3 - 4)

INGREDIANTS:

Lamb cut into 2" cubes with or without bones – 500 gms.

(Preferably Shoulder of Lamb / Front Leg and Ribs)

Dry Whole Red Chillies – 7 - 8

(OPTIONAL - 4 Spicy Dry Red Chillies and 4 Kashmiri Red Chillies)

Dry Coriander Seeds – 1 tbsps.

Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp.

Garlic Paste – 1 tbsp.

Unsweetened Yoghurt – 1 cup

Vegetable/ Sunflower/ Canola cooking oil – 4 tbsps.

Thin sliced Onions  - 4 medium size

Salt to taste

Garam Masala Powder – 1 tsp.

Finely chopped Green Coriander / Cilantro – 3 tbsp.

PREPARATION :

Soak the Red chillies / Kashmiri chillies and Coriander seeds in a bowl of water so they are just covered. After 10 minutes of soaking, drain them and put into the food processor. Add the turmeric powder and garlic paste. Add just a few table spoons of water, a little at a time to grind this mixture into a smooth paste.

Mix this paste with the yogurt and then add the meat to it. Mix well. Keep aside to marinate for 11/2 hours.

Heat the cooking oil in a deep pan on medium heat. Add the Onions and fry till golden brown. Stir often to prevent burning. Remove the onions from the oil with a slotted spoon and put on paper towels to soak up excess oil. Keep a little aside to garnish the dish and put the rest into the blender or food processor. Grind to a smooth paste.

Once again, Heat the oil that was left over from frying the onions. Add this onion paste to it and fry for 1-2 minutes. Now add the meat and its marinade. Fry till the oil begins to separate from the masala. Stir often and sprinkle a little water whenever the Masala begins to stick to the pan or burn. Season with salt to taste.

When the meat is cooked and tender, remove the pan from the heat and sprinkle the garam masala over it. Cover immediately and keep aside for 2-3 minutes. Open the cover and garnish with fried onions and chopped fresh coriander leaves. 

Serve hot with Bajra Roti….!

Since making Bajra Roti is not everyones cup of tea you may serve with any other Indian breads like Tandoori roti, Naan or Chapati…..!

PS : Change the proportions for larger quantities, well not that I needed to tell you that...but still!

TANGY POTATOES

Hi, have been away for too long my friends..
Today I have come back with a new recipe for you!
Lets start with the humble but versatile vegetable Potato!

Ingrediants
Potato - 500gms.
Coriander or Cilantro - as per taste
Oil - 1 tbsp.
Spices :-
Red Chilli powder -  1 tsp.
Turmeric - 1 tsp.
Coriander powder - 1 tsp.
Mango Powder - 1 tsp.
Salt - as per taste

Recipe
Boil the Potatoes. Cool , peel and break into big size chunks ( big size because it will further break while cooking ! ). Mix all the spices barring salt and keep aside.
In a Wok ,heat the oil and add potatoes to it. Sprinkle with the mixed spices and saute continuously on high and then low flame. Add salt to taste and finely chopped coriander. Leave a little coriander for garnish and sprinkle while serving.

This Potato dish is a good accompaniment to Paranthas and Pooris (puffed indian bread)and tastes good on its on too due to its spicy and tangy taste.....! :-)

      

MUTTON STEW

I am back!

Today I have something for the Meateaters...! :-)

My recipe of Mutton or Chicken stew.... ( serves 4 -5 )

Ingredients :- 

1 kg. Mutton or Chicken
500 gms. Sliced Onion
2 inches chopped Ginger
10 -12 cloves of Garlic, chopped
250 gms. Curd
Cooking Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp. (Can use either regular refined oil or mustard oil)
2 sticks of Cinnamon (1 1/2 inch each)
8 - 10 Cloves
10 - 15 whole Black Pepper
2-3 whole Black Cardomom
2 whole Bay Leaves
5-6 whole dry Red Chillis
Salt to taste
Garam Masala to sprinkle
Chopped Coriander or Cilantro for garnish

Method :

• Beat the curd and add the Mutton or Chicken and All the other ingredients including cooking oil (mustard oil tastes better !) to it and marinate for about half an hour.
• Transfer the marinated meat to a heavy bottomed cooking vessel and put on high heat on the gas. Reduce the heat after the first boil. Once the curd & onions start leaving the water, simmer till the meat becomes tender. 
• Raise the heat and reduce the remaining liquid but it should not be completely dry..let it remain moist! Garnish with a sprinkle of garam masala and chopped coriander/cilantro..!

Eat with hot chapatis / paranthas / puris and rice.

TIP  for working women / men : Marinate in advance before going to work and refrigerate. Just put it on gas to cook when home ! :-)

NEVER PRESSURE COOK NON - VEG.! PRESSURE COOKING IS BAD FOR NON - VEG. FOOD AS IT DOES'NT ALLOW THE RAW ODOURS TO ESCAPE AND THE TASTE GETS COMPROMISED...REST IS UP TO YOU!

ENJOY! !

LENTILS AND VEG.MEAL

Hi!

As I was cooking today, I remembered my conversation with a newly married girl and her woes in the kitchen!

She is a working woman and was finding it difficult to cook and also go to work. This time management is of prime importance but difficult too for the young generation !

My last tip was on making an Onion masala for cooking in a jiffy when back from work.
Today I will give you simple balanced meal that can be prepared in 30 mins.!

MEAL FOR 2

Dal (lentils) - 1/2 cup

Boil 1/2 cup of dal of your choice ie. Arhar, Yellow Moong or Red masoor in 1 1/2 cups of water. Pressure cook to not more then one whistle for Moong and Masoor and 1 1/2 for Arhar.  You can add boiled water later if dal seems too thick after cooking.

Tempering - 1 tsp. ghee ,1 chopped onion, 1tomatoe, 1green chilli, red chilli powder, garlic (optional)

Take 1 tsp. ghee (clarified butter) in a Wok add finely chopped onion, tomatoes and one slit green chilli, add red chilli powder as per taste and add cooked dal to it. If you like garlic the you add that too to this tempering!

Rice - 1 1/2 cups

Soak 11/ 2 cups Rice. Boil 3 cups water and add drained rice to it.Cook till fluffy and soft.

Veg.( Potato and String Beans) - 2 medium size potatoes, 250 gms. String beans

Cut 2 medium size potatoes in small cubes and 250gms of String Beans in matching size.(you can always cut beans in advance and keep in an air tight veg.storage bag BUT NOT FOR MORE THEN 3 DAYS!).

Take 3 tsp. veg.oil in a wok. Add 2 tsp.of onion paste. Add 1/2 tsp.coriander powder, 1/4 tsp.turmeric powder, red chilli powder as per taste,  & salt to taste. Cook the masala , when oil starts leaving the masala ..its an indication of it being cooked, add the chopped vegetables. Cook till done. Sprinkle a pinch of garam masala before serving.

Make some chapatis or buy ready to heat & eat chapatis and you are ready with the meal! :-) Enjoy

TIP OF THE DAY

Well you have bought all the weekly vegetables and meats but.... cutting chopping everyday is very difficult and again time consuming! Isn't it?

Tip of the day - If you use onion masala in your preparations then here is great tip to make your onion paste for the week!

Recipe :

Take 1kg. peeled Onion and one big pod of Garlic.Chop Onions very coursely. Garlic cloves can be used whole. Put them in a pressure cooker and add water just enough to cover till half level of onions.
Pressure cook them for about twenty minutes.On opening the cooker,squash them with a flat girdle and cool and store.
This paste is very handy for all kinds of Currys' and dry vegetables, even Meats!

The best part...when using this paste, THE OIL REQUIRED FOR COOKING IS VERY LESS, as onions are already fully cooked!

Happy Cooking! :-)