Dahi ke kebab

Not sure if i have mentioned this before but Husband is super picky eater - no milk or milk related products, no fish , no red meat the list is really endless , so on most of the days i have a very limited choice to cook for.

But now that husband is traveling and my parents are here, we are getting to experiment a bit in the kitchen. So for today i tried 'Dahi ke kebab', i had this first with mum in the restaurant "Sahib Singh Sultan" a while back. I searched the net for recipe and there are quiet a variation there, so after reading through all the recipes and trying from my experience i followed the following recipe.

You need

Curd - 1 cup
Besan - 1 full teaspoon
Sattu (roasted bengal gram powder)  - 1 full teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1/3 teaspoon; less or more depending on taste
Turmeric powder - 1/3 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Garam masala powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Zattar powder - 1/2 tea spoon (optional)
Oil for frying (1 full table spoon)



Tie curd in a plain cotton cloth / cheese cloth and hang it so all the water drains out (hung curd)

In this mix add all other ingredients except oil.

Heat a not stick pan , add oil

Once hot, form the curd mix into a small patty like shape and fry on pan till each side turns crisp.

Serve hot with your favorite chutney or sauce.

Kaikari Ishtew

After a rather heavy lunch yesterday, mom and me wanted to make something simple and flavorful for dinner so we finally zeroed on lemon rice and Kaikari Ishtew .

Kaikari ishtew is a coconut based dish usually had with appam. We tried it with rice and turned out equally good. I followed Sanjeev Kapoor recipe from Matering the art of Indian cooking  with slight tweaks (reduced the chilli & replaced coconut oil with sunflower oil)
You need :

Carrot - 1 medium cubed
Potato - 1 medium cubed
Cauliflower - 1 small cut in florets
Onion - 2 small chopped finely
Ginger, Garlic paste - 1.5 teaspoon
Cooking oil - 1 teaspoon
Bay leaves - 2
Cinnamon sticks - 2,  1" sticks
Cloves - 4
Star anise - 2
Curry leaves - 10/12 leaves
Green chillies - 2 whole (recipe called for 4 chillies stemmed and slit)
Coconut milk - 1 full cup
Salt to taste
Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon




To prepare the Stew

In a wok add a glass of water and bring to boil.

When water comes to boil, add vegetables and let it cook for 2-3 minutes

Drain hot water and toss vegetables in cold water so it stops cooking.

In the wok add oil, once hot add bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, chillies, curry leaves  and chopped onions.

Saute for a minute

add ginger garlic paste and stir , let the whole mix cook for couple of minutes on low heat

Drain water from vegetables and add it to the wok, add salt and coconut milk

Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes

Once vegetables cooks (make sure it doesn't overcook and becomes mushy)

Add garam masala powder , mix well. Turn off from heat, serve hot !

Moong Dal Tadka Soup

Dal (Lentil) is a staple of Indian cooking, whether its roti dal, chawal dal or sambhar chawal, it's the most common dish across the nation.


I had this version of moong dal tadka on a  cold winter evening at a Delhi wedding and ever since i have been making it quiet often. Like all other lentil, moong dal is very high on protein  and dietary fiber, however unlike others moong dal is very light to stomach and easy digest  hence is perfect side dish or soup.


You need :

Split yellow moong dal beans (dry) - 1/2 cup
Ghee (Clarified butter) - 1 generous teaspoon
Onion - medium chopped roughly
Tomato - medium chopped roughly
Ginger - 1/2'' inch, chopped roughly
Green chilli - 1 slit length wise
Tumeric - 1/3 teaspoon
Salt  to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish

Pressure cook moong dal with water, turmeric and salt on medium to low heat for 6-7 whistles . You can also cook the same using slow cooker for 4-5 hours with sufficient water.


Once cooked remove from heat, if you want to serve this as a soup use a hand blender to mix and get soup like consistency.

Heat a wok on medium heat, add ghee , add ginger, green chilli, onion and saute for 30 seconds .

Add chopped tomatoes and saute for another minute, keep the heat medium to low all the time.

Tip over the moong daal soup carefully (watch out for splutter)

Let it cook for a minute , turn off the heat , garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot !

Baigan Bharta (spicy egg plant mashed)

Winter is just around the corner, though not in Bangalore - its just been raining incessantly :( , still the good part about winter is the abundance of fresh vegetables and i especially love the peas , the sweet and soft variety which i end up eating raw while trying to shell for vegetables :)

One of the winter staple for me is baigan ka bharta (mashed eggplant) again a simple dish and quick to make.

You need

Eggplant (Baigan) - 1 large
Green Peas -  1/2 cup (fresh or frozen)
Onion - 1 large chopped finely
Tomato - 1 large chopped finely
Ginger - 1' finely chopped
Green chillies - 1 finely chopped
Cumin seeds - 1/2  tea spoon
Cumin powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Turmeric - 1/3 tea spoon
Salt - to taste
Cooking oil - 1 teaspoon
Coriander leaves to garnish


To cook.

Clean eggplant throughly and slit eggplant length, ensuring the base remain intact.

Roast it on open flame on stove or in the oven till its cooked thoroughly (put a skewer, there should not be any resistance)

Once roasted and slightly cooled, peel the cover and mash.

Now in a hot wok (on medium flame on a stove) add oil, add cumin till it splutters.

Add ginger, green chillies, saute for half a minute

Add  onion and fry for couple of minutes , till it turns little golden

Now add remaining tomatoes , saute for a minute

turn heat to low, add cumin powder, turmeric , salt and cook for 4-5 minutes

Now add peas , mashed egg plant

Again on low heat cook for 5-6 mins, remove from heat.

Garnish with coriander and serve hot

Fish curry in mustard gravy

I love fish, unfortunately husband doesn't even touch them so I don't get to prepare it that often, since husband was away for the weekend so decided to cook a big batch to last all weekend ( told you I love fish)

For this preparation you need fresh water fish,  in bihar we mostly use fresh water fish (there are no sea side near by but plenty of ponds and ofcorse the mighty river Ganges) so it's either Rohu / Katla -from Carp family . 

So for this fish curry in mustard gravy you  need.

Fish -1 kg , cut horizontally 

Mustard oil - 1/2 cup

Yellow mustard seeds - 2 table spoon

Garlic - 10 pods 

Red chillies -4 /5

Tomato- 1 large, chopped finely

Salt

Turmeric powder

Grind  mustard seeds , garlic and chillies into fine paste.

Clean fish, add little turmeric , salt and half teaspoon of this masala and mix well , covering each piece.

Heat mustard oil to smoking point, turn down to medium and fry each piece 2-3 minutes each side , keep adjusting the oil temperature to ensure all the pieces are golden and not over / under cooked .

Keep the fried fish aside on a kitchen towel to drain all excess oil.

Now add all the remaining masala to mustard oil and cook it on very low heat for 10-15 mins , you don't have to stir continuously but ensure that it doesn't stick

When masala is almost done add chopped up tomato pieces and cook for further 5 mins , till oil starts coming out from masala.

Add water, increase temperature and bring to boil.

Turn heat back to medium and leave it cooking for 5 mins.

Now gently add the fried fish pieces and cook for further 3-4 minutes .

Turn off the heat, your fish in mustard curry is ready. Serve it with plain boiled rice. 

Also, a good idea to prepare this dish some time in advance (30 mins to an hour) so it gets time to rest and fish can absorb all the masalas.

Mum tells me when they would cook this in winter, the leftovers were covered in a wok and left overnight to get the 'winter chill', it would taste all the more better ! 

From Mum's kitchen - Tea time snack

This is another one of the Bihar staple tea time snack called 'kachri'.

You need:

Black gram- soaked overnight (at least 5-6 hours), ground into paste

Onion -1 medium , finely chopped

Ginger -1" finely chopped

Green chillies - per taste finely chopped

Salt -per taste

Coriander leaves - chopped up 

Oil to fry 

Mix everything and form into small patty like shapes. Shallow fry on a non stick tawa ( in pre calorie counting days, it would be deep fry ), crispy and crunchy  and perfect for tea time .

Baigan fry

It was Teej yesterday, very important festival for all Bihari married ladies , it's a day we keep fast and pray to lord shiva parvati for long and happy life of our husbands and families.

Our fasting starts from the morning of Teej ( we are to get up before sunrise and eat something as 'sargahi') and continues till next morning , when we do the puja rituals and breaks the fast with prasad.

The typical breakfast this day is an elaborate meal to compensate for all the fasting of previous day. We have Rice,Godla ( recipe here), chakka , baigan fry etc. it's a huge meal and so sleep inducing. It's a great thing that we are in Bangalore now cause the day after Teej is Ganesh Chaturthi, that means holiday and that means post breakfast siesta is totally doable :) 

So for today I will share the recipe of this very simple baigan (egg plant) fry that I made.

You need :

Small size egg plants , slit into 4 , stalk intact -6/7

Chat masala powder / amchur powder - 1 table spoon 

Nigella seeds (mangrail / kalonji) -1 teaspoon

Mustard oil -1 table spoon to marinate and extra for frying 

Turmeric -1/3 teaspoon 

Red chilli powder -1/2 teaspoon ( as per taste) 

Salt - to taste 

In a utensil prepare marinade by mixing together mustard oil , chaat powder, kalonji, red chilli powder , turmeric powder and salt.

Next coat each egg plant with this marinade, ensure the inside cut portion is covered completely.

Let it marinate for half and hour (in case you want to marinate for more than half hour, add salt half and hour before cooking, else it would become too soggy) 

Now heat a wok - I normally use my cast iron wok for this. Add a generous amount of mustard oil , let it reach smoking point. Turn heat to medium and add egg plants , keep the oil hot and turn over each egg plant till the skin becomes crispy. 

Turn down heat to low and cover and cook till it is cooked completely. Turn back heat to high for a min, rotate egg plant all over, the skin should be crispy and golden.

Garnish with chopped coriander , serve hot.

Potato leek soup hack

There are times when you crave for a taste but don't have time or patience to prepare the elaborate way.

This is a hack for my all time fav soup , potato leek soup , most of the time I have it on its own with a slice of garlic bread on side. 

For this you need ( one portion) 

One large potato 

Leek : finely chopped (2/3 cup)

Onion : finely chopped (1/3 cup)

Cheese (per choice ) - grated (1/4 cup)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook potato in microwave high setting for 2-3 mins .

In a pan sweat out chopped onion for couple of mins. Add leeks , salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 mins on low heat, turn off heat and remove from pan

Slice potato length wise, (it should be cooked 20-30%)

Scoop out the middle portion from potato (not completely ) 

Fill the scooped out portion with leek onion mix , add grated cheese on top.

Put in oven (200 degree centigrade )  for 15-20 mins till turns golden and crispy .

Also is an excellent side with roasted chicken 

(Served here with garlic roasted chicken , grated carrot )

Lunch in a bowl - Egg Biryani

For my lunch in a bowl today,  I tried this super simple variation of all time fav biryani. I used eggs , you can use any meat or lots of vegetable.

Things you need :

One small red onion - sliced thinly 

Green peas - 1 cup (frozen or fresh) 

Ginger - 1/2 spoon paste or crushed finely

Garlic -2/3 pods crushed or half a spoon paste 

Bay leaf - 1 

Star anise -1

Cinnamon - 2 , 1/2" pieces

Cardamon -    1

Red chilli -1

Black peppers - 5-6

Biryani masala -1 table spoon

Garam masala -1/2 tea spoon

Turmeric -1/3 teaspoon 

Salt - to taste 

Cooking oil -1 large table spoon (I prefer ghee for biryani)

Egg - 2 boiled for 8-10 mins

Rice - 1 portion 

For rice preparation 

In a deep pan , boil 2/3 cups of water, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, bay leaf, star anise and 1 stick of cinnamon.

 

Once water comes to complete boil , add rice mix well, cook uncovered on high heat for 3-4 mins , switch off and cover the pan completely, this should help rice cook in its own steam.

Check for rice after 6-7 mins , it should be 60-70% cooked, drain all extra water.

Rinse with normal temperature water and leave aside.

For masala prep :

While you are cooking rice, in a wok add 1//2 of cooking oil , once hot add cardamom, pepper, red chilli and sauté on medium heat for 30 seconds, add ginger garlic and sauté for further 30 seconds.

Now add sliced onion, peas and turn heat to low, fry for couple of minutes and add biryani masala (adjust for water when ever mixture gets too dry or starts sticking ), add turmeric powder and salt.

Cover and cook for 5 mins on low heat.

After 5 min remove cover add boiled eggs and water , turn up the heat to medium and cook for further 2-3 mins, the consistency of masala should be of thin paste (not too watery) 

Turn off heat, remove masala from wok and keep aside.

In the same wok add remaining oil (1/2 tablespoon), turn on the heat to medium, layer half of rice in the wok.

Now add the cooked masala all over the rice, spread evenly.

Now layer the remaining half of rice on top, covering the masala completely .

Sprinkle garam masala on top add 1/4 cup of water from side ( around the edge of rice), turn heat to lowest level and cover completely .

After 2-3 mins turn off the heat and leave it rest. Ensure that lid is firmly secured so rice gets to cook completely  in its own steam.

After 5 mins quickly check if rice is done, else let it rest for some more time. Once done sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves for garnish and serve.

I like to have this biryani on its own you can have a bit of raita / curd on the side.

Easy weekday dinner - Baked Broccoli

It was just one of those days, back to back calls, meetings emails and skipped lunch , by the time I reached home I swear I could have eaten anything , but there was nothing remotely interesting in fridge.

I wanted to make something fast, easy and filling . now I am not a fan of broccoli but everything tastes good with cheese so I thought of making baked broccoli.

Here is my version

Slice up one large potato real thin - I didn't even bother to peel, just washed nicely.

Layer it in the baking pan , grill it on high setting in microwave for a min (I have LG convection microwave which has plenty of features like grill, bake, auto cook etc).

Next, thinly slice cloves. chop broccoli in small florets, arrange this on top of potatoes, sprinkle salt and pepper, grate cheese ( lots of !) on top of this mix and for something crunchy I just crushed some cereals ( breakfast corn flakes on top)

Back in the microwave ( you can use normal oven 200 degree centigrade for 20 mins) on 'auto cook gratin' setting.

15 mins later, with a glass of red wine, I had the perfect dinner with me .

Now bring on the Wednesday :)

From mum's kitchen 'Godla'

The ultimate comfort food from mum's kitchen -not sure if there is any fancy name for this but in Bihar it's called 'Godla'

So this is what you need:

Kala chana (Black gram) - 1 cup

Potato -1 medium size

Onion - 2 medium 

Ginger -1/2"

Garlic -4/5 pods

Cumin powder -1 tea spoon

Coriander powder - 1 tea spoon

Turmeric powder -1/3 teaspoon

Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Bay leaves -2 /3

Badi elachi  (Black cardamom )- 1 

Red chillies -2/3 depending on taste ( I also remove the seeds to reduce heat and still get that slightly smokey flavour)

Ghee (Clarified butter or any other cooking oil) - 1 generous tablespoon 

Salt - to taste

Prep :

Soak kala chana for at least 4-5 hours

Grind it into a coarse paste - try not to make a too fine paste, this is a rustic dish, all the different texture of chana adds to the flavour

Chop up 1  1/2 onion finely

Use remaining half onion, ginger and garlic and make a rough paste.

Now heat ghee in a pressure cooker, add bay leaves, black cardamom and red chilli, sauté for half a minute 

Add the onion, garlic and ginger mix , sauté for further 2 mins , add the chopped onion , turn down the heat to low and let the onion sweat completely , mixing this masala every couple of minutes.

After about 8-10 mins when the onion becomes all soggy , add cumin, coriander and turmeric powder , keep the heat low and sauté for further five mins.

Into this mix add the kala chana mix, sauté for again 10- 15 mins, you don't have to mix constantly just every couple of mins, ensure the heat is at the lowest level so it doesn't burn or sticks.

Cut potato into 4/6 piece add it into the pressure cooker , mix well.

Add salt, garam masala powder and 3-4 cups of water.

Cover and cook on medium heat for 3-4 whistle.

Serve with hot plain rice, plain onion and a dollop of ghee...pure bliss

Lunch in a bowl - Chicken noodles

Given that I work from home most days of the week, I usually want to have something light for lunch, easy to prepare and eat between meetings and emails. So I thought I will start a series with 'lunch in a bowl' , will try to keep it quick and nourishing.

First up : Chicken noodles 

This is how I went

Boiled noodles in salted water, till al dente (2-3 mins before the  require time)

Drain, rinse under tap water - so that it stops cooking, set aside.

Thinly slice 1/2" of ginger, 1 clove of garlic.

Slice up all the vegetable you have in fridge sufficient for one portion. I had onion , yellow pepper, cauliflower. You can add mushroom, capsicum, cabbage, carrot , whatever is there .

In a wok heat one table spoon of cooking oil , once hot add the sliced up vegetables , ginger and garlic and stir on high for couple if minutes.

In a bowl mix half a teaspoon each of  soya  sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce,  1 teaspoon each of vinegar and spring roll sauce (current favourite love the mix of chilli and something sweet), few drops of Tabasco sauce - for extra kick and 1 tablespoon water

Add this mix to the wok, turn down the heat to medium .

To this mix add bite size pieces if boneless chicken(or any other leftover meat you prefer)

Cook for couple of minutes. On medium heat till chicken is almost done. Adjust water as required.

Now add the noodles , sauté around of couple of minutes so noodles is completely covered in sauce .

Turn up the heat, break an egg into a bowl, beat up nicely and add this mix to wok.

Quickly mix it in wok so it covers all the noodles completely, stir for half a minute, check for salt and adjust per taste.

Turn of the heat, garnish with some onion leaves and serve yourself. Your quick and easy lunch done in under 15 mins.

From my middle eastern kitchen - Hummus

After many attempts in making hummus , I have finally figured out a recipe which in my husband's opinion is 'pretty close' 

to perfect ones.

So here is what you need for this 'pretty close to perfect hummus recipe'

Dry Chickpea - 1 cup

Olive oil - lots (almost half a cup)

Garlic -3/4 fat cloves

Seasme seeds - 1 tablespoon 

Salt to taste

And 2 back to back episode of your fav tv series - this is important, I will tell you when I come to it.

Now the perp 

Soak sesame seeds overnight or atleast couple of hours, drain and keep aside.

Soak chickpeas overnight ( at least 12-14 hours), drain extra water and put it in pressure cooker to cook for 1 whistle.

Once cool enough to handle drain out all water and remove each chickpea shell. This is where those tv episodes come in handy, shelling chickpeas is quiet mindnumbing  you better put that tv series on:) and dont try to skip it, this is vitally important for the silky smooth texture.

Now in a blender, add chickpeas , sesame seeds, garlic pods, salt and olive and blend really well on highest possible setting.

Keep adding olive oil when you feel mixture drying up.

You really really have blend well , I mean once you think you are done add little olive oil and blend for 5 more mins. You would definitely get that super smooth silky texture if you really blend well...and that's it you are done.

This is the basic version, and in my opinion the best, we have it with pita breads, in sandwich as a dip with tacos or just like that ... All time fav !

Cabbage moong dal

Feeling a little inspired from my earlier two experiments in the kitchen, today morning I tried my third , fortunately this one also turned out good :)

I had heard about a similar dish from a friend and I thought I will try to create on my own ( without trying on dear darling google for an authentic recipe ) 

So for my version of moong dal with cabbage, you need :

Split moong dal : 1/2 cup

Cabbage : half head

Onion :  1 small

Curry leaves : 8-10

Ginger : grated or chopped -1/3 tea spoon 

Black mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Salt : to taste

Turmeric powder : 1/4 teaspoon 

Oil: 1 teaspoon 

Soak moong dal overnight (10-12 hrs) , drain and leave it in sieve so there is no water left.

Finely shred cabbage head

Finely chop onion

Heat oil in a wok on medium heat

When it's hot , add mustard seeds, curry leaves , ginger.  sauté for 30 seconds 

Add shredded cabbage , sauté for a minute now  turn down the heat to low.

Add moong dal , turmeric, sauté for further one minute .

Cover the wok and let it cook for 10 mins on lowest heat level, mix it once in a while so it does not stick, avoid adding water.

After 10 mins , everything should be cooked , but still a bit crunchy. Add salt now and remove cover and cook for a minute (Adding salt at the end ensures that cabbage retains its texture and doesn't become soggy)

Serve as a side dish , or as breakfast dish.

Since I had a bit of onion growing in the pot I used its leaves for garnishing ( completely optional ) 

Avocado cheesy cups

Sometimes disappointments can turn into a sweet ( in my case cheesy savoury) victory .

I was all in a mood to make a nice guacamole dip today , but to my disappointment I realised that the avocado I had was not ripe enough . I did not throw away the avocado and went to net to look for some kanadda / coorgi recipe that uses avocado or butter fruit as its called here - I had seen few butter fruit tree in coorg and assumed there must be some local way of cooking it.  Somehow I could not really find anything that I could really try. Further trolling on net I found pics of egg baked in avocado , it surely looked pretty enough .  Reading through the reviews, most of people complained that it made avocado too mushy and that got me thinking, may be too mushy for a ripe avocado but just might be perfect for the one I had in fridge!

So with my creative cap on, I scooped out the pit from avocado, rubbed  a pinch of salt all over, finely chopped onion and tore up sliced cheese into small pieces and filled the cup ( there is no egg in fridge  today :( ) , sprinkled a bit of rock salt, pepper and splash of Tabasco sauce and grilled in microwave for 3 minutes ... Creamy cheesy avocado cup done in a instant :) :)

On a different note, do you have any local recipe for avocado ? please share.

Arbi masala

I did a bit of experiment in the kitchen and since it turned out good , thought I would share with you all. 

This is what you need : 

 Arbi / Colocassia  (medium size) : 250 gm

Green tomato : 2 medium - sliced thinly

Ajwain( carom seed) : 1/3 of tea spoon

Onion : 1 medium - sliced thinly

Amchur powder / chat masala - 1 tea spoon 

Red chilli whole (deseeded ) : 2-3 small

Garlic 2-3 cloves - finely slice

Oil: 1 tbs ( mustard or any cooking oil)

Salt 

Turmeric powder 

Now boil the arbi in pressure cooker for one whistle, remove from heat, drain and leave aside to cool.

Finely slice onion, tomatoes , garlic . Make a incision in chilli and  remove seeds ( it gives a nice someky flavour without the heat) 

Once arbi is cooled enough to handle, peel the skin ( be careful at this stage some variety really itches, in that case rub oil and lemon juice on hands before handling arbi)

Slice up boiled arbi in 4/6 pieces length wise.

Now heat oil in wok, once it smokes turn down the heat to low  for a minute, add ajwain seeds, garlic , red chilli and fry for 30 seconds. 

Turn the heat to medium

Add onion and fry for 2-3 minutes till it turns brown.

Add sliced tomatoes, turmeric powder , fry for minute , cover and cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes.

Add arbi and mix well so masala covers completely .

Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes on low heat till arbi is almost done

Add chat masala / amchur powder and salt and cook for 2-3 minutes till arbi is done.

Serve hot with roti / paratha 

 

Red cabbage soup

Its been raining continuously for the last 2 days and if you step out early in morning or late night you can feel a slight nip in the air. With this weather  I wanted to have soup for dinner and made myself red cabbage soup.

This is my sister's recipe and honestly when she offered me first time I was very skeptical, Purple food really?? But after my first taste I was hooked on to its earthy , hearty flavor and its my go to soup all the time .


You need
Serves 2 

Red cabbage - 1 medium size
Potato - 1/ 2 medium size
Cumin - half tea spoon
Garlic - 2/3 cloves
Salt to taste
Water - 1/2 ltr
Oil/ butter  - 1/2 teaspoon (optional)

Clean and cut cabbage into 6/8 pieces

Cut potato into 4 pieces

Heat a pressure cooker , add oil and cumin , cumin will splutter in 30 seconds in hot oil.
Add garlic cloves, potatoes, cabbage, and water .

Let it cook on medium heat for 2/3 whistle, in case you are cooking in a pot on stove cover and cook on medium heat for 30-40 minutes,  adjust water accordingly.

Once its cooked completely and slightly cool , blend this mixture completely (if you are using hand blender you can blend directly in cooker , just make sure its cool enough) , adjust water so it has a thick soup consistency.

Put it back on heat, add salt and bring it to boil.

Remove from heat and serve hot with garlic bread ....

Salad on a stick

Last saturday few friends came over for dinner , since i had cooked a big indian meal for main course i wanted to keep the starters easy and light. So along with my all time hit chilly chicken i went with a 'salad on stick' (inspired from here)

For my version of salad on stick, i used

Cheese cube - i used amul cheese cubes cut into four
Olives - pitted
Guava - cubed
Watermelon- cubed
Basil leaves - cleaned , stalk removed

I prepared all the ingredients and left it in fridge, just before the serving time , i assembled it in  skewers and with a dash of tabasco sauce & pepper , it was ready to be served.

P.S.

Dont prepare the skewers in advance, cheese cubes are likely to break and crumble when left in skewers in for long period.

Clean basil , let it dry on paper towel and put it in ziploc bag in freeze, leaves tend to turn dark when left with moisture.

Spinach garlic stir fry

An absolute dinner time favorite, this side dish is healthy , yummy and the best part takes 5 mins to assemble and cook.

Things you need

Spinach leaves - wash thoroughly and pat dry (preferably baby spinach, on more mature leaves remove stalk completely else its little chewy)

cloves of garlic - sliced thinly

toasted sesame seeds- this is for texture really. On a warm tawa/ iron girdle  (not hot else it would burn), toss a teaspoon of sesame seed , roll around for a min, till you get golden brown color, remove immediately.

Sesame oil -  for a slightly nutty flavour

burnt chilly garlic dressing (completely optional - i picked this from fab india and it goes well with lot of stir fry dishes ), you can use a drizzle of tobsaco sauce, peri peri sauce whatever you have in your pantry to give a little heat to the dish. (Skip if you are not in mood)

Salt - a pinch


Now the easy part.

In a hot wok, add a tea spoon of cooking oil (sometimes i don't use oil at  all), add garlic , stir it for 30 seconds.

Add spinach leaves , give it a good stir for a minute.

Add the chilly garlic dressing (1/2 tablespoon) , a generous splash of sesame oil (1 table spoon).

Turn off the heat , add salt , toss well for 20 seconds

Sprinkle toasted sesame seed.

Serve right away .

P.S. This is best to be cooked just before serving , reheating doesn't go too well with it.

Serving suggestions :

Hot Roti / Paratha and curry of your choice. This works as an excellent side dish.

Grilled chicken and instead of baked potatoes / vegetables , you could serve up this stir fry

Healthy breakfast today - oat besan chila

Made oat besan chila today for breakfast. Here is the recipe :

Oat - 2/3 cup

Besan -1/3 cup

Curd - 2 table spoon

Medium onion - chopped finely

Aijwan - 1/2 teaspoon 

kalunji (onion seed) - 1/4 teaspoon

methi leaves (totally optional, i had in my herb pot so i added), you can use chopped up spinach, coriander any green really.

salt & turmeric 

• Mix all the ingredients , except onion & methi leaves, and add water as required to make it a thin paste consistency. 

• Set aside for 15 -20 mins so oat soaks up water curd and becomes nice and fluffy.

• On a non stick tawa spread the mix (should be slightly thick dosa consistency) , sprinkle chopped onion, methi leaves on top. spread 1/2 teaspoon oil on the edge, flip over, cook well on both sides.
• 
  
• Serve hot with any chutney / sauce, i served with amla coriander chutney