Daily Archives: May 3, 2014

Prawn pie

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 12 to15 minutes to bake + 10 minutes for the prawn filling .

Serving : 8to 10 members

Description

Prawn Pie. this was one among the dishes i prepared for the cooking competition. This prawn pie is stupendofentabulous tasting pie. I have to confess about the recipe i took note of from a blog called mallu kitchen.Awesome blog with simple recipes and remedies about cooking and baking. My main inspiration to start my blog was mallu kitchen and admin of mallu kitchen Reshma Nooh. It was this blog and her who opened my vision that you could entertain and share your passion of cooking to all.Even for my cooking classes i do get tips from her . Did let her know that her prawn pie was one among the winning dishes. She messaged back saying its her co-sister lailas recipe and will let her know about the winning dish. Just can’t wait to meet my inspiration and role model who has motivated me to follow my passion of cooking. Her humbleness in Sharing her recipes did ring a bell in me also to do the same.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Butter	50 grams
Flour ( maida )	1 tablespoon
Green chillies	2 chopped
Tomato	1 chopped
Milk	1 cup
Dried oregano	1 /4 teaspoon
Mushrooms	1 packet sliced ( optional , tastes good with and without the mushrooms . )
Prawns	1/2 kg cleaned
Onion	1 big chopped
Garlic	1 teaspoon chopped
Crushed pepper	1 teaspoon
Cheese slice	4
Crushed chilli flakes	to taste
Salt	to taste
Eggs	3
Mozzereella cheese	to garnish

Method

Cook cleaned prawns with salt and pepper to taste . ( I pressure cook it for one whistle with very little water ) .
Heat butter , saute onions to brown . Add the sliced mushrooms ,green chillies , garlic and tomato .
Top with cooked prawns ( if any water is there in the cooked prawns pour it along ) , chilli flakes and toss well .
Add flour and cook till raw smell goes for a few minutes . Add milk , keep stirring to get a saucy consistency .
Add cheese slices and oregano . Remove from heat . Cool down to room temperature . Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius .
Beat eggs with salt and pepper to taste . Add the beaten eggs to the prawn cheese mixture and mix well .
Pour this mixture into a greased baking dish and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until cooked through .
Spread grated mozzerella cheese all over and bake again till cheese melts . Serve hot with garlic bread .

Murg malai kebab

Preparation Time : 20 minutes + over night marination

Cooking Time : 14 to 15 minutes

Serving : 4 members

Description

Murg Malai Kebab.My kids love this kebab .It was my favourite to as a kid.I remember every vacation we (my brother and myself)were taken to Bangalore for a holiday.Well it was a holiday for us but it was always a business trip were my parents used to combine both together to keep us entertained enough. The entire day they will be out busy with work and every night it was our choice to select a restaurant for dinner. There was a small take away restaurant near woodlands hotel in Bangalore which served all types of Tandoori items. I used to love the murg malai kebabs there.It used to just melt away in our mouths. I didn’t know the name of the kebab then but i used to call it Vella (white)kebab.My kids also till date call this as Vella Kebab.Funny isn’t it.

Ingredients

Chicken boneless cubes – 1/4 kg

First Marinate

Ingredients	Quantity
Ginger paste	1 tablespoon
Vinegar	1 teaspoon
Garlic paste	1 tablespoon ,

Marinate for 1/2 an hour .

Second Marinate

Ingredients	Quantity
Hung curd	1 cup
Coriander powder	1/2 teaspoon
Fennel powder	1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon powder	a pinch
Nutmeg powder	a pinch
Cheese spread	60 grams
Kashmiri chilli powder	1/2 teaspoon
Cardamom powder	a pinch
Mace powder	a pinch
Coriander leaves	1 tablespoons chopped
Cream	1/4 cup
Mayonnaise	1/4 cup
Onion	1 sliced , boiled and ground to a paste
Butter	to taste

Method

Marinate for 8 hours or over night in refrigerator . ( over night marination helps the kabab to melt away )
Preheat oven to 350 degree Celsius . Grill the marinated chicken pieces for 14 to 15 minutes basting with butter at regular intervals .
Serve hot with tandoori chutney, salad and lime wedges .

Rainbow pancakes

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 2 minutes for each pancake

Serving : 4 members

Description

Rainbow pancakes . My Daughter ANISHA fathima has a new liking towards red velvet cakes. I was surfing the net for an easy good recipe for red velvet cake. Came across a recipe of red velvet pancakes. Was really surprised and loved the idea as any one can make pan cakes even beginners took note of the recipe immediately. My parents had gone on a holiday to Mauritius last month. All i asked them to get me was a good Mauritian cook book and all the possible food colours as i have been wanting to make a rainbow cake for a long time. But as rainbow cakes are time consuming i gave a try with rainbow pancakes.Wolla it was so appealing to the eyes as well as to the tummy. So once again my experiment did work out and i created a new dish.

Ingredients for pancakes

Ingredients	Quantity
flour	1 1/2 cup
Egg	2
Sugar	2 tablespoons
Salt	1/2 teaspoon
Baking powder	1 teaspoon
Soda bi carbonate	1/2 teaspoon
Milk	1 1/2 cup
Food colours - red , yellow , green , blue , pink	3/4 teaspoon each
Butter	3 tablespoons

Method

Mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside . Mix the wet ingredients together and beat well .
Combine the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well to get a semi thick consistency batter . Set aside for 10 minutes .
Divide the batter equally to 3/4 cups each according to the food colours you are going to use .
Add the food colours to each portion of the divided batter .heat a griddle and grease with butter .
When hot pour 1/4 cup batter to make pancakes of the same size In all the colours .
Flip over when bubbles start to appear on the surface of the pancake and once the other side is soft and pillowy to touch , its done . Set aside to cool down completely .

Ingredients for cheese glaze

Ingredients	Quantity
Cream cheese softened	2 oz ( 180gm, I used Britannia processed cream cheese )
Milk	1 1/2 tablespoon
Powdered sugar	3/4 cup + to garnish

Method

Blend cream cheese , milk and powdered sugar together until smooth and silky . Set aside .

To Proceed

Place one coloured pancake on the plate and spread a layer of cream cheese glaze( about 2 tablespoons ).
Repeat doing the same with all the other coloured pancakes . Sprinkle with powdered sugar finally . Cut into wedges and serve .

Cauliflower salad

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 10 to 15 minutes

Serving : 4 members

Description

Cauliflower salad.A very healthy salad which tastes really good. Very rarely does healthy food taste good. This dish is my own invention made out of whatever ingredients were available at home.At times you do get fed up cooking the regular food that you cook everyday and at a point feel monotonous about every thing around you. That’s when i start to experiment with new dishes in my kitchen and vent out the monotonous in me . Cauliflower is one among my favourite vegetables. (I know many people hate it). I remember the stepped slops of the hills filled with cauliflower fields which were so visible from the girls dom in our boarding school in ooty. I loved gazing at the fields through those huge glass windows in our Dom. I guess those cauliflower fields belonged to my class mate Thiyagu Venkatesh. (not sure if that’s right).

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Cauliflower	2 cups of flower lets
pineapple	1 1/2 cups chopped to bite size chunks ( I used tinned pineapple 4 1/2 slices )
Egg whites omelet	1 , made with 2 egg whites seasoned with salt and pepper to taste , cut into thin long stripes
Light mayonnaise	4 tablespoons
Salt	to taste
Chilli flakes	1 teaspoon
Dried oregano	1/4 teaspoon
Dried basil	1/4 teaspoon
Olive oil	1/4 teaspoon( optional )

Method

Preheat an oven to 180 degree celsius . Immerse the cauliflower flower lets in boiling salted water for 5 minutes .
Drain and wash the cauliflower . Line a baking tray with foil paper and place the cauliflower equally apart from each other and sprinkle very little salt over the cauliflower and bake for 6 to 8 minutes . ( can saute the cauliflower in 1/4 teaspoon olive oil in a pan as well instead of using an oven ) .
Mix mayonnaise with all the other ingredients except for pineapple , cauliflower and egg white stripes .taste and adjust .
Add the cauliflower , pineapple and egg whites and toss well to coat the mayonnaise mix all around the cauliflower and pineapple .
Serve at room temperature or chilled .

Garlic Bread

Preparation Time : 5 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes to preheat the oven + 10 to 11 minutes to bake .

Serving : 4 members

Description

Garlic Bread . Delicious and a simple dish made with few ingredients in 10 minutes . I first was introduced to garlic bread when my kids were 2 to 3 years old. Remember it was on a holiday to Bangalore and pizza corner had just been launched in India then. My cousins fazeem and Qyas were so excited about our lunch as we planned to got to pizza corner. Me not knowing head or tail of pizza corner felt lost. I had just tasted the pizza they sell in small eat out’s and bakery’s (specially JM Bakery in Coimbatore)my cousin fazeem , Noorie,Aashik,Gani and Qyas travelled a lot as children so they knew garlic bread, cheese cake and so many other international food dishes . So i gained my knowledge in international cuisine through them and my NRI friends in the school.The order was then placed by my cousins in pizza corner. We were served the garlic bread first 1 portion with cheese and the other without. I tried both and could not stop eating as it was so very yummy. Didn’t think garlic and bread would taste this good. From then i have been trying out many recipes for garlic bread as my kids love it but only recently did i get the secret to real garlic bread. I serve garlic bread with soup ,prawn pie or just as it is.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
bread	8 slices cut into 1 1/2 inch thick slices ( I used French bread )
Butter	1/4 cup ( room temperature )
Salt	to taste ( if using salted butter be careful with salt )
Garlic paste	1 table spoon
Dried oregano	1/4 teaspoon
Dried basil	1/4 teaspoon
Dried thyme	1/4 teaspoon
Dried rosemary	1/4 teaspoon

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius for 20 minutes .
Line a baking tray with foil paper . Mix all ingredients together except for bread . Taste and adjust .
Apply butter mixture on one side of each bread slice and place equally apart from each other on the lined baking tray , butter applied side facing up .
Bake for 5 to 8 minutes until sides and crusts are crisp . Remove and let it cool for about 3 minutes . Turn the slices over and apply more butter mixture .( I personally like my garlic bread rich in butter and garlic flavour so I do this but you can serve the garlic bread with just one side of butter mixture )
Be carefully as the bread will be warm and the butter tends to melt soon . Place them bake on the lined baking tray equally apart from each other on the newly applied butter mixture side facing up and bake for another 3 minutes till golden in colour .
Remove and serve hot immediately or wrap in foil paper and serve later . Best served immediately .

Herb crusted vegetable sandwich

Preparation Time : 1/2 an hour

Cooking Time : 10 minutes for the vegetable filling + 2 minutes for toasting the sandwiches

Serving :

Description

Herb Crusted vegetable sandwich .This recipe is vicky ratnanis but i have made my twists and turns to my liking. The first time i tried this sandwich , i made just 2 not sure if it would taste good. My hubby loved it so much that he wanted more. Anything related to bread my mind gets rewinded to good shephered public school as we were served freshly baked bread twice a week for breakfast. The air filled with the aroma while baking bread is better than eating bread. Any one who has not experienced it yet is surely missing out the best in life. We were served bread with a pineapple jam made in school or an egg curry for breakfast.Saturday night bread was served with a beef and potato curry. My classmate madhavi from tirupathi used to bring red hot andhra home made tomato pickle. Sindhu , sulu (my best buddies) and myself used to hide bread slices inside our sweaters and run to our dom to have a sandwich made with madhavis tomato pickle. Life was filled with sweet nothing’s back then.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
white bread	4 slices
Wheat bread	2 slices
Mixed vegetables	1 cup chopped ( carrots , beans , capsicum , green pease , cabbage , cauliflower )
Stock cube	1 ( I used maggi stock cube )
Mayonnaise	3 tablespoons
Tomato sauce	3 tablespoons
Cheese slice	2
Eggs	2
Spring onions	1 bunch (2 whole ) chopped with greens
Coriander leaves with stem	1/2 bunch chopped
Green chillies	1 chopped
Garlic	1 flake
Salt	to taste
Pepper	to taste
Oil	to shallow fry

Method

Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a non stick pan , fry the mixed vegetables till half cooked adding the stock cube . Remove and set aside .
Grind chopped spring onion , coriander leaves, garlic and green chilli together to a coarse paste .
Add the paste to 2 eggs along with salt and pepper to taste . Beat well and set aside . Mix mayonnaise and tomato sauce together .
Apply mayonnaise mix on all the bread slices on one side . Place 1 white bread slice , top it with a wheat bread slice . Spread the vegetable mixture over the wheat bread slice and top it with a cheese slices .
Cover with another white bread slice . Do the same with the remaining breads and mixed vegetables .
Heat a tawa with oil to shallow fry . Dip and coat the sandwhich carefully into the egg herb mixture making sure all the sides are coated well and shallow fry the sandwhich to golden colour on all sides .
Cut into stripes and serve hot with tomato sauce . Health fanatics can avoid the cheese slice , use just the egg whites instead of whole eggs and use light mayonnaise .

Grilled mutton ribs

Preparation Time : Marination over night or 8 hours + 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 45 minutes

Serving : 4 members

Description

Grilled Mutton Chops. A First try dish which turned out really well.My hubby didn’t like it though as he want’s his meat always really soft and to melt in the mouth. The chops as is grilled is cooked well but can be had only with a bite and a bit of chewing . I made this with mutton chops pieces but the neck portion and the ribs are equally good for this dish.Make sure the meat has a lot of fat in it so that the meat stays juicy even after its cooked. The carmelised bits of fat on the meat pieces helps to add a lot of flavour and moister to the dish. My hubby’s cousin brother Yousuf is a great foodie and a good cook like me. Both of us keep trying new dishes and sent it over to each of our homes waiting for the verdict. He introduced me to mac and cheese which was nigella lawsons recipe and mutton ribs which he made by himself for a feast when my daughter was newly married. I do miss his dishes a lot now a days as he has shifted to chennai recently.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Mutton chops	1/2 kg , ( can use mutton ribs or neck portion )
Onions	2 sliced
Tomato	1 big chopped
Ginger garlic paste	1/2 teaspoon each
Salt	to taste
Chilli powder	1 teaspoon heaped
Pepper powder	1/4 teaspoon
Garam masala powder	1/4 teaspoon
Vinegar	1/2 teaspoon
Lime juice	1 teaspoon
Oil	to taste

Method

Grind all the ingredients together except for mutton chops and oil to a smooth paste .
Marinate mutton chops in the ground paste for 8 hours or more ( over night in the refrigerator is ideal ) . Pre heat an oven to 200 degree Celsius .
Make sure the mutton pieces are in room temperature before you place them in the oven .
Line a baking tray with foil paper and place the mutton chop pieces equally apart from each other and bake bake for 40 to 45 minutes until cooked through .
Turn over the mutton chops once after 20 minutes . finally baste the mutton chops with oil and grill them for 3 to 5 minutes until it starts getting crisp edges and a burnt flavour .
Remove and serve hot with onion sliced , lemon wedges and tandoori mint chutney.

Ingredients for Tandoori mint chutney

Ingredients	Quantity
Coriander leaves	1 bunch with stem chopped finely
Mint leaves	1/4 bunch leaves alone
Green chillies	to taste
Garlic	1 flake
Coconut	2 tablespoons
Black salt	a pinch
Chat powder	a pinch
Salt	to taste
Thick curd	1/2 cup

Method

Grind all ingredients together to a smooth thick running consistency paste . Taste and adjust .
Serve as it is as a dip with any tandoori items .

Potato wedges

Preparation Time : 1 hour

For marination : 5 minutes

Cooking Time : 10 to 12 Minutes

Serving : 4 members

Description

Potato wedges. Two days back my friend Meera Aboo Thamby s Hubby was invited home for lunch as he was here on a 2 weeks holiday to India from U.K. He stopped eating rice or deep fried items as his health issues demanded so. Me and Healthy cooking are far apart from each other. But had to gear up and do something to entertain him with a good healthy spread. Came up with this potato wedges as a substitute to balance the carbohydrate in his diet. My first try but turned out well. I made a clear soup with four salads and barbecued mutton ribs,grilled fish and a whole tandoori chicken with wheat bread. Meeras hubby was so happy as no one served him what he wanted from the time he started his holiday here.

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Potatoes	4 cut into thick wedges
Olive oil	2 teaspoons
Rock salt crushed	to taste
Pepper crushed	to taste
Dried oregano	1/2 teaspoon
Dried basil	1/2 teaspoon
chilli flakes	to taste
Dried thyme	1/2 teaspoon

Method

Mix all ingredients together and set aside for one hour . Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius .
Cover the base of a baking try with foil paper . Arrange the marinated potato wedges evenly apart from each other over the foil paper and bake for 7 to 8 minutes on one side .
When the sides start to crisp turn over and bake for another 3 to 4 minutes .
Once the potatoes are cooked through and soft inside and crisp out side remove and serve immediately with tomato sauce , mayonnaise , sour cream or cheese spread .
Incase you don’t have all the dried herbs mentioned can substitute with finely chopped coriander leaves and fresh basil ( thulasi leaves ) .