Posts

Creamy Cheesy Pasta

Image
My kid started having pasta after 1 and half years. I used to prepare my own pasta sauce, the kid loved penne pasta with white sauce. Here is the recipe for creamy cheesy pasta. Ingredients: Pasta: 200 gms / 2 cups (penne, fusille, spaghetti, fettucine) Cheese (Mozzarella / Parmesan), grated: 1 cup Milk: 1 cup (as required) Garlic, finely chopped: 2-3 flakes Butter: 1 tbsp Olive oil / white oil: 1 tbsp Oregano: 1 tsp (optional) Salt to taste Method: To prepare White Sauce, blend ? the cheese & milk together in a blender to form a creamy cheesy mixture. Keep aside. Melt butter in a non-stick pan. Add chopped garlic and saut? for a minute. Gradually add a flour (a little at a time), mix with the butter, stirring continuously so that no lumps are formed. Slowly add milk & chesse mixture to the butter & flour mixture, while stirring continuously. Add a little pinch of oregano and mix well. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. When the water comes to a boil, ...

Gulab Jamun - ICC (October Challenge)

Image
Gulab Jamun is a delectable sweet famous among Indian people, specially prepared during festive seasons like Deepawali and happy occasions. I have already posted a recipe on Gulab Jamun, you can catch it here . Srivalli proposed 3 different ways of preparing gulab jamuns, she choosed from the yum blog, Indo and Alka's blog. I followed the recipe as stated in the Yum Blog, sending this tempting & delicious Indian sweet to Indian Cooking Challenge for the month of October. Ingredients: Khoya ? 1&1/2 cups Maida ? 1 cup Sugar ? 3 cups (if you want excess syrup, increase by a cup) Water ? 1 cup (increase if you?re increasing sugar) Cooking Soda ? 3 pinches Cardamom ? 4 pods Saffron leaves ? a few Oil ? 1 cup (for deep frying) Method Combine sugar and water in a flat bottomed broad pan and simmer on a low heat until sugar dissolves. Add cardamom powder and saffron leaves and remove from fire. Knead khoya, maida and soda and quickly shape into balls. (Apply a little ghee to hav...

Akuri (Parsi Scrambled Eggs)

Image
I have prepared scrambled eggs before with various chopped vegetables (tomatoes, capsicums, boiled beans & carrots) and spices. While searching for more Parsi dishes, I came across Akuri, a spicy scrambled eggs recipe, a popular Parsi breakfast dish prepared with spices including cumin seeds, black pepper and chopped onion, tomatoes, ginger and garlic. It is served with pav / double roti. Ingredients: Eggs: 6 Milk: 1/4 cup Onions, finely chopped: 4 medium Tomatoes, finely chopped: 2 medium Capsicum, finely chopped: 1 medium Turmeric: 1/2 tsp Garlic cloves, finely chopped: 2 Ginger, finely chopped: 1/2" Green chillies, finely chopped: 2 Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp Coriander leaves, finely chopped: 1-2 bunch White oil: 2 tbsp Salt to taste Black pepper powder: 1/2 tsp Method: Beat eggs in a bowl, add salt and milk and whisk well. Heat oil in a frying pan, add chopped onions, saute a little till onions becomes tender and light golden brown. Add cumin seeds, chopped ginger & garlic, ...

Masoor Daal (Red Lentil Soup)

Image
In the early stages of life, babies feed primarily on breast milk, which provides all the essential nutrients required by the infants; satisfies their appetite and also protects from susceptible dangers of several diseases. Once babies start growing, their nutritional requirements enhances so the diet has to be rich, providing complete nutrition. It's important to watch out for iron deficiency after kids reaches 1 year of age as it can affect their physical, mental and behavioral development, sometimes leading to anemia. So once the baby turns a year old, you can gradually reduce the amount of milk (A one-year-old does not need more than half a litre of milk a day) and increase iron-rich foods / solids in your child's diet. Milk should be given in the morning and afternoon only, and lunch and dinner should consist mainly of the household food, like mashed vegetables with a chappati / little rice and light lentil soup / daal. Masoor dal is a type of lentil (part of the legume f...

Parsi Pora (Parsi Omlette)

Image
Parsi Pora is a popular Parsi Omlette, prepared with lot of spices to give an authentic taste. It tastes best, served between two pieces of toasted & buttered bread (white / whole wheat) along with tomato / mango chutney. Ingredients: Eggs: 5-6 Onion, finely chopped: 3 medium Tomatoes, finely chopped: 1 large Green chilies, chopped: 2-3 Coriander leaves, finely chopped: 1 cup Dhana jiru powder (fresh coriander seeds & cumin seeds ground to form powder): ? tsp Ginger & Garlic paste: 1 tsp Salt to taste Black pepper, freshly grounded: 1/2 tsp Red Chili powder: 1/2 tsp (to taste) Turmeric (optional): 1/2 tsp Ghee / white oil: 2 tbsp Method: In a bowl, lightly whisk the eggs well to combine egg whites & yolks. Add the chopped ingredients, dhana jiru powder, ginger & garlic paste and salt and mix well. Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan. Add 1-2 drops of ghee / oil and coat on al sides. Pour a ladleful of the egg mixture in the centre. Carefully tilt and rotate the pan...

Khara Papeta

Image
The Zoroastrian Parsi community is a prosperous, peace and fun-loving community. Their cooking combines techniques and ingredients from across the globe, specially known for the unique blend of spices & flavours that makes the food very appetizing, nutritious and wholesome. At present, Parsi cuisine or Parsi Bhonu (feast fit for a king) is a delicious blend of western and eastern influences. Parsi community in India adopted foods and recipe cooking processes, procedures and ingredients from the Persians, British, French, Germans, Portuguese, Irish, Italian including several others. They settled in India, first at Sanjan, Udvada, Navsari and Surat in Gujarat and later spread to Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and other places and adopted the regional cooking techniques. Parsis are known to prefer non-vegetarian (Iranian cuisine) dishes like fish, meat and chicken. They also have a large selection of delectable vegetarian (Gujarati - Indian cuisine) recipes. The basic feature of a Parsi lunch ...

Capsicum Rings

Image
Capsicum rings, a light and crunchy dish, perfect for a hot cup of tea / coffee. The mint leaves provide unique flavour to the dish. Ingredients: Capsicums, firm: 3 medium sized Paneer (cottage cheese), grated / crumbled: 1 cup Raw Potatoes (boiled, peeled and mashed): 1/2 cup Mint (pudina), finely chopped: 4 tbsp Green chillies, finely chopped: 1-2 Cornflour: 1-1/2 tbsp (as required) Salt to taste Cornflour (for coating capsicum rings) Oil (for deep frying) Method: Wash the capsicums, cut the stems and deseed them. Cut the capsicums into medium sized thick rings and keep aside. Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Hold one capsicum ring in between the palms, carefully stuff the mixture and press tightly. Coat the capsicum ring with cornflour form all sides and deep fry in hot oil till they are golden brown. Repeat with the remaining capsicum pieces. Serve hot sprinkled with the chaat masala.