Chilly Paneer
This one can be whipped up in minutes.
A packet of Paneer cubes
lots of garlic (10 pods)
brown sugar or regular sugar
Soy Sauce (1/2 cup)
Spring Onion
finely chopped Green Chillies
Cornflour (optional)
Salt to taste
Heat oil in a wok till hot. Add garlic and let it fry for a few minutes taking care not to burn it. Add a bit of sugar so as to carmalise it.
Add Soy sauce and let the mix heat up. Add salt. The cornflour can be added at this stage mixed in a bit of water. Next add the paneer cubes. and the spring onion and chillies.
Saute for few minutes and this dish is ready to serve.
Making this dish just before serving helps retain fresh flavours.
Mulled Wine...Hey its Christmas
Last Christmas was our very first in this country. On one of our trips into the centre of London around christmas time, we chanced upon steaming cauldrons of some concoction being sold in a few shops. A few mugs down the line on the chilly winter evening we were believers!! This concoction was nothing but the very traditional mulled wine. Just rightly hot, heady fruit and mildy spiced wine.
This year I made my very own at home. A little bit of research and queries and a TV programme and I came up with my very own recipe. Now nothing is measured so please use your own judgement.
Here is what you need:
Any cheap wine
Cinnamom sticks
bit of Nutmeg
cloves as per taste (pierce into oranges for visual effect)
apples & oranges (chopped into big pieces)
any dark sugar (or sugar)
a tea bag
a few lemon squeezes
half a cup of water
1/4 cup of brandy
Drop everything into a pot and heat on slow fire but do not let it boil. When sufficently hot dip the tea bag for a few minutes and remove. heat till just before it boils. Remember if it boils, the alocohol in the wine disappears.
Cheers!
This year I made my very own at home. A little bit of research and queries and a TV programme and I came up with my very own recipe. Now nothing is measured so please use your own judgement.
Here is what you need:
Any cheap wine
Cinnamom sticks
bit of Nutmeg
cloves as per taste (pierce into oranges for visual effect)
apples & oranges (chopped into big pieces)
any dark sugar (or sugar)
a tea bag
a few lemon squeezes
half a cup of water
1/4 cup of brandy
Drop everything into a pot and heat on slow fire but do not let it boil. When sufficently hot dip the tea bag for a few minutes and remove. heat till just before it boils. Remember if it boils, the alocohol in the wine disappears.
Cheers!
Lentil Pancakes (Daal Dosa)
My favouritest (if there is such a word) of all dosas is the dalli pole. My Mom made this from time to time and with the wet garlic chutney, it tastes amazing. The daals can be soaked overnight and the dosas can be made the next morning.
Here is what you will need:
1/2 cup Chana daal
1/2 cup urad daal
1/2 cup moong daal
1 inchg ginger
3 pods garlic
2 green chillies
1 finely chopped onion (optional)
oil (I use it only for the first dosa)
salt
Wash the lentil and soak it in sufficient water overnight. The next morning grind the lentil along with the ginger, garlic and chilly. Add salt and water to make it dosa consistency. Add onion.
Heat a non stick pan till really hot. Spread oil and spoon out the batter into the centre. Spread the batter around the pan with a rounded ladel starting from the centre in a circular motion. If you have a good non stick pan, you can make this as thin and crisp as possible if prefered (I dont mind it slightly thicker uthappam style).
When one side is golden, turn on its rear and heat until done. For the next dosa, sprinkle water on the hot pan and then spread the batter (no oil required). For butter dosa add butter just before turning the dosa on its rear.
Relish with any wet chutney.
Here is what you will need:
1/2 cup Chana daal
1/2 cup urad daal
1/2 cup moong daal
1 inchg ginger
3 pods garlic
2 green chillies
1 finely chopped onion (optional)
oil (I use it only for the first dosa)
salt
Wash the lentil and soak it in sufficient water overnight. The next morning grind the lentil along with the ginger, garlic and chilly. Add salt and water to make it dosa consistency. Add onion.
Heat a non stick pan till really hot. Spread oil and spoon out the batter into the centre. Spread the batter around the pan with a rounded ladel starting from the centre in a circular motion. If you have a good non stick pan, you can make this as thin and crisp as possible if prefered (I dont mind it slightly thicker uthappam style).
When one side is golden, turn on its rear and heat until done. For the next dosa, sprinkle water on the hot pan and then spread the batter (no oil required). For butter dosa add butter just before turning the dosa on its rear.
Relish with any wet chutney.
Movie muddles
Watched the movie 'Bhaagam Bhaag' today. Must say I havent seen a crappier movie in a long time!! Apart from a few funny jokes, most of it was insipid comedy with lots of faux pas.
For example, the theatre group lands at heathrow and are driven to Osterely and they pass the Big Ben on the way. One of the scenes is shot in Brighton supposedly and the fire brigade which arrives is the 'London Fire Brigade'. Also in Brighton are streets from Oxford!! Paresh Rawal is wasted and Govinda had made a sensible decision to retire. Akshay Kumar shines but cant be expected to carry the burden of a terrible storyline.
Earlier in the week I watched Kabul Express and thought it was really good. Arshad Warsi is hillarious and the
script is fabulous. Wouldnt mind watching it again.
Quite liked Casino Royale except the ending. Daniel Craig is good.
Next on the list is:
Babul (though not too keen), Happy Feet.
For example, the theatre group lands at heathrow and are driven to Osterely and they pass the Big Ben on the way. One of the scenes is shot in Brighton supposedly and the fire brigade which arrives is the 'London Fire Brigade'. Also in Brighton are streets from Oxford!! Paresh Rawal is wasted and Govinda had made a sensible decision to retire. Akshay Kumar shines but cant be expected to carry the burden of a terrible storyline.
Earlier in the week I watched Kabul Express and thought it was really good. Arshad Warsi is hillarious and the
script is fabulous. Wouldnt mind watching it again.Quite liked Casino Royale except the ending. Daniel Craig is good.
Next on the list is:
Babul (though not too keen), Happy Feet.
Christmas Regalia in Office
What started as a simple christmas tree with lights and tinsel in the finance area led to competitions of sorts within the whole company!!
The IT Pod came up with byte sized snow flakes in florescent colours. The Marketing team being the 'Marketing team' decorated each of its pods differently. The top competition was between the Skin care team and the Beauty team. Skin Care theme was 'Winter wonderland' with lots of silver and white tinsel, a silver curtain and complete with a silver carpet. The Beauty team collected all the plants around office (cheeky buggers) and put them into their pod,threw in a bit of green tinsel, long twirly tailed paper monkeys and bang its a jungle book themed christmas.
The last day in office before christmas was fun and involved little or no work. We dared to borrow speakers and had christmas carols playing all day hoping the M.D wouldnt intervene in true Christmas spirit. We collected a couple of quid from everybody and I went with Mike to the local Waitrose where we quickly filled our trolley with hot and cold ready made snacks for our Christmas buffet.
Oh what a spread it was with hot roasted chicken, cold honey flavoured ham slices, baguettes, cheese, cheesy titbits, dips and hummuous, cocktail sausages, scotch eggs, bacon rolls, chocolates, Marks & Spencers assorted cakes and lots of fizzy pops.
The IT Pod came up with byte sized snow flakes in florescent colours. The Marketing team being the 'Marketing team' decorated each of its pods differently. The top competition was between the Skin care team and the Beauty team. Skin Care theme was 'Winter wonderland' with lots of silver and white tinsel, a silver curtain and complete with a silver carpet. The Beauty team collected all the plants around office (cheeky buggers) and put them into their pod,threw in a bit of green tinsel, long twirly tailed paper monkeys and bang its a jungle book themed christmas.
The last day in office before christmas was fun and involved little or no work. We dared to borrow speakers and had christmas carols playing all day hoping the M.D wouldnt intervene in true Christmas spirit. We collected a couple of quid from everybody and I went with Mike to the local Waitrose where we quickly filled our trolley with hot and cold ready made snacks for our Christmas buffet.
Oh what a spread it was with hot roasted chicken, cold honey flavoured ham slices, baguettes, cheese, cheesy titbits, dips and hummuous, cocktail sausages, scotch eggs, bacon rolls, chocolates, Marks & Spencers assorted cakes and lots of fizzy pops.
Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin is a big no no with my hubby. Since it is supposed to be soo healthy, I was motivated to come up with a recipe which will sell pumpkin in a different light. I do feel this recipe does exactly that. Also I came up with this recipe on my own, trial and no error.
Ingredients
250 gms chopped pumpkin
1 chopped potato
1 chopped carrot
1 finely chopped onion
1 bay leaf
1 clove
few black pepper pods
1/2 cup coconut milk (or according to taste)
garlic (2 cloves)
1 tsp oil
Boil the first three ingredients in a cooker. Once done let it cool.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the bay leaf, clove, pepper, then add the garlic and then finally the onion. Fry till golden.
When this has cooled down, remove the bay leaf and clove and grind all the vegetables and the onion together. Heat in a pan. Finally add the coconut milk and salt. Heat till it boils.
Serve hot with garlic bread or croutons.
Ingredients
250 gms chopped pumpkin
1 chopped potato
1 chopped carrot
1 finely chopped onion
1 bay leaf
1 clove
few black pepper pods
1/2 cup coconut milk (or according to taste)
garlic (2 cloves)
1 tsp oil
Boil the first three ingredients in a cooker. Once done let it cool.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the bay leaf, clove, pepper, then add the garlic and then finally the onion. Fry till golden.
When this has cooled down, remove the bay leaf and clove and grind all the vegetables and the onion together. Heat in a pan. Finally add the coconut milk and salt. Heat till it boils.
Serve hot with garlic bread or croutons.
Quick Crisp Dosa
Dosa has got be be one of my favourite dishes. I guess it all comes down to the Dosa wala outside Gowalia Tank who makes 'out of the world' dosas. The other person is me mom!!
The normal dosa making procedure takes two days. I can never remember to soak up the rice and urad daal on time and hence we almost never made any dosa at all. All this before my mom gave me this magic recipe. True it doesnt taste as good as the regular ones but is still really crisp and the closest you can get in taste. Now at least I can have home made dosa as often as I can!!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup rawaa
1 cup urad daal (soak overnight but 3 hours is just fine)
salt
Grind the urad daal with water. Add the rawaa and salt. Mix well. Adjust to dosa consistency by adding water.
Heat a non stick pan. Spread oil for the first dosa. When its quite hot, spoon out the batter in the centre and spread it with a rounded ladel in concentric circles starting in the centre till the last circle is closer to the edge of the pan. Once golden flip it on its rear.
The next few dosas can be made by sprinkling water on the hot pan (fatfree for the calorie conscious) . Or make butter dosas by spreading butter after spreading the batter on the pan.
Eat em hot with sambaar, yellow potato bhaaji and chutney.
The normal dosa making procedure takes two days. I can never remember to soak up the rice and urad daal on time and hence we almost never made any dosa at all. All this before my mom gave me this magic recipe. True it doesnt taste as good as the regular ones but is still really crisp and the closest you can get in taste. Now at least I can have home made dosa as often as I can!!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup rawaa
1 cup urad daal (soak overnight but 3 hours is just fine)
salt
Grind the urad daal with water. Add the rawaa and salt. Mix well. Adjust to dosa consistency by adding water.
Heat a non stick pan. Spread oil for the first dosa. When its quite hot, spoon out the batter in the centre and spread it with a rounded ladel in concentric circles starting in the centre till the last circle is closer to the edge of the pan. Once golden flip it on its rear.
The next few dosas can be made by sprinkling water on the hot pan (fatfree for the calorie conscious) . Or make butter dosas by spreading butter after spreading the batter on the pan.
Eat em hot with sambaar, yellow potato bhaaji and chutney.
Rawaa Ladoos
My maternal grandmother is a great cook and never ceases to impress me with the variety she tries out at her age. I used to gorge on her ravaa laddoos and she always sent a special dabba of laddoos especially for me.
My Mom gave me a super easy recipe for Rawa laddoo,which she got from her friend Suman pacchi.
Its quick and easy to make and nothing can go wrong with this one. Its quite effortless and always a winner.
Ingredients
2 cups rawa (coarse semolina)
1 cup desiccated coconut
2 cups granulated sugar (if in India I’d use lesser sugar because funnily it is much sweeter there)
2 tbsp cream (Ive realized this isn’t really essential)
2 tablespoon ghee
chopped nuts & raisins
¼ cup milk
1tsp freshly ground cardamom
Heat ghee in a wok. Add rawaa and stir from time to time. Roast till the rawaa smells roasted (approx 15 minutes).Add desiccated coconut and stir for 3 minutes.
Add sugar, nuts, raisins, ground cardamom and mix. Put off the heat. Sprinkle the cream and milk and mix. Leave aside for 5 minutes. Apply ghee on your palm and roll the rawaa into balls while still hot.
My Mom gave me a super easy recipe for Rawa laddoo,which she got from her friend Suman pacchi.
Its quick and easy to make and nothing can go wrong with this one. Its quite effortless and always a winner.
Ingredients
2 cups rawa (coarse semolina)
1 cup desiccated coconut
2 cups granulated sugar (if in India I’d use lesser sugar because funnily it is much sweeter there)
2 tbsp cream (Ive realized this isn’t really essential)
2 tablespoon ghee
chopped nuts & raisins
¼ cup milk
1tsp freshly ground cardamom
Heat ghee in a wok. Add rawaa and stir from time to time. Roast till the rawaa smells roasted (approx 15 minutes).Add desiccated coconut and stir for 3 minutes.
Add sugar, nuts, raisins, ground cardamom and mix. Put off the heat. Sprinkle the cream and milk and mix. Leave aside for 5 minutes. Apply ghee on your palm and roll the rawaa into balls while still hot.
Pantomime Fever
Watched my first Pantomime ever. In the UK it is Christmas tradition to watch a pantomime with the whole extended family. So when my office arranged tickets for Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, I quickly booked our tickets four months in advance.
Yesterday I dragged my unsuspecting husband for the play. It was in Windsor so we drove and got lost and drove again only to reach late.
The pantomime was really good apart from the initial shock of being surrounded by only kids and their parents and the cast speaking to little suzie brown from the audience whose birthday it was. We joined the kids in screaming out boo..s when the wicked queen entered or watched aghast when we thought Snow White had died, felt dread when we heard the first few kids sobbing, cheering when snow white kissed her prince. All in all it was fun and we might even go back next year for maybe 'Jack and the bean stalk'!!!
Yesterday I dragged my unsuspecting husband for the play. It was in Windsor so we drove and got lost and drove again only to reach late.
The pantomime was really good apart from the initial shock of being surrounded by only kids and their parents and the cast speaking to little suzie brown from the audience whose birthday it was. We joined the kids in screaming out boo..s when the wicked queen entered or watched aghast when we thought Snow White had died, felt dread when we heard the first few kids sobbing, cheering when snow white kissed her prince. All in all it was fun and we might even go back next year for maybe 'Jack and the bean stalk'!!!
Muffin Escapades
I am currently undergoing treatment for a muffin cooking addiction. My husband is seriously worried about it and has banned any more muffin production in our house.
My first escapade was strawberry muffins and they came out well but as explained earlier, I truly believe strawberries dont partner well with muffins. All the same we were thoroughly impressed with the outcome.
My next adventure was the Orange Muffin which turned out really really well. Hence I share my recipe.
My final escapade before the 'ban' was chocolate muffins. By this time, confidence had set in and the professional muffin maker set out on the tedious task of scanning the net high and low for a low or no fat chocolate muffin..and boy did I find one.
This one was complete with absolutely no fat in it and the only contributor to pounds was sugar. No egg/ no butter. The muffins looked enormous and lovely but tasted a bit like cocoa powder and baking powder. This being my third muffin baby, all enthusiasum to take pictures was lost. However I have saved my picture of strawberry muffins for anybody who is willing to admire.
My first escapade was strawberry muffins and they came out well but as explained earlier, I truly believe strawberries dont partner well with muffins. All the same we were thoroughly impressed with the outcome.
My next adventure was the Orange Muffin which turned out really really well. Hence I share my recipe.
My final escapade before the 'ban' was chocolate muffins. By this time, confidence had set in and the professional muffin maker set out on the tedious task of scanning the net high and low for a low or no fat chocolate muffin..and boy did I find one.
This one was complete with absolutely no fat in it and the only contributor to pounds was sugar. No egg/ no butter. The muffins looked enormous and lovely but tasted a bit like cocoa powder and baking powder. This being my third muffin baby, all enthusiasum to take pictures was lost. However I have saved my picture of strawberry muffins for anybody who is willing to admire.
Orange Breakfast Muffins
I bought myself a muffin pan for Diwali and immediately made strawberry muffins as per a recipe I found on the internet. I chose strawberry only because I found them really cheap at the local supermarket. They turned out well except I truly believe strawberries aren’t legally ‘muffin ingredient’. My next attempt was from oranges (bought in a buy one get one free deal).
My boss Sam is a super cook, super mother, super home maker all rolled into one. No she doesn’t fly in her Super woman outfit to office!!!! She contributes at least one home made cake per month on our department table. Here is a recipe she shared with me for early morning breakfast muffins. They turned out well with a lovely fresh flavour. They are not too sweet and are best eaten with jam/maple syrup.
Dry Ingredients
Rind of 2 Oranges
250 gm Self Raising flour
25 gms Ground Almond
75 gm sugar
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
chopped nuts (optional)
Wet Ingredients
100 ml fresh orange juice (I used minutemaid orange juice)
100 ml whole milk ( I used semi skimmed)
1 egg (lightly beaten)
75 gm melted butter
Method
Preheat the oven. Grease the muffin pan.
Combine all the dry ingredients well in a bowl.
In a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients.
Combine and mix with a spoon till a smooth batter is formed. Do not beat.
Spoon out into the muffin pan. Place the pan in the oven and heat at 180 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes or till done.
My boss Sam is a super cook, super mother, super home maker all rolled into one. No she doesn’t fly in her Super woman outfit to office!!!! She contributes at least one home made cake per month on our department table. Here is a recipe she shared with me for early morning breakfast muffins. They turned out well with a lovely fresh flavour. They are not too sweet and are best eaten with jam/maple syrup.
Dry Ingredients
Rind of 2 Oranges
250 gm Self Raising flour
25 gms Ground Almond
75 gm sugar
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
chopped nuts (optional)
Wet Ingredients
100 ml fresh orange juice (I used minutemaid orange juice)
100 ml whole milk ( I used semi skimmed)
1 egg (lightly beaten)
75 gm melted butter
Method
Preheat the oven. Grease the muffin pan.
Combine all the dry ingredients well in a bowl.
In a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients.
Combine and mix with a spoon till a smooth batter is formed. Do not beat.
Spoon out into the muffin pan. Place the pan in the oven and heat at 180 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes or till done.
First Rant
Seriously wonder how most bloggers ever get the time to put in new posts and keep their site updated with photos and stuff. I created my site a month ago and never really visited it again except to see if it is still alive!!
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