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.

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.

From the middle eastern kitchen - Tabbouleh

Husband is a huge fan of mediterranean food so i invariably end up making Tabbouleh to go with kebabs & breads. Simple, refreshing and super duper healthy salad 

All you need

2 Bunches of fresh parley coarsely chopped 

5-6 mint leaves finely chopped 

1 full tablespoon broken wheat -soak it in normal temperature water for 10 mins , strain & leave aside for 10 mins 

Lemon juice - 2 tbps

Extra Virgin olive oil - 2 tbps

1 large Tomato (ripe but firm) - de seeded and finely chopped , remove the middle gooey portion. 

Pinch of salt - preferably sea salt 

Mix it all well and leave it for 5 mins to infuse all the goodness together and then serve.

P.S. this salad doesnt hold too well when prepared in advance, the crunch of fresh parsley & wheat is highlight, prepare just before serving.

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

Kitchen Adventure - Tomato Soup

There is slight nip in the air already (or atleast it was when i was in delhi last week), so its time for soup.  Here is a nice simple recipe for tomato soup i made today, almost as simple as packet soups.

Ingredients 

Tomatoes 

2-3 garlic cloves

ginger - 1 inch 

butter 

Salt 

Pepper 

Now the quick steps : 

Use pressure cooker 

1. Wash and cut tomatoes in halves.

2. Add garlic & ginger

3. Add water to sufficiently cover the tomatoes 

4. close the cooker, put it on heat for 3-4 whistles 

5. Let is cool for few minutes open the cooker , use hand blender to mix to a soupy consistency. 

6. Add butter, salt & pepper , put it back on heat till it comes to a boil.

7.Sieve through and done 

Serve hot !!