Back from the Hiatus with Pasta :D

Gone missing from this place has been hard for me, no cooking and still no weight loss. Yes. I guess there is something wrong with my body which is not showing in the diagnose until it gets worse. *phew*

So, that leaves me with very less time to eat, experiment cooking and taste. Also, I was watching 'Zayke ka Safar' with Vinod Dua while he was finding out zaykas in Hongkong. So, he said something what I always say. "Ek zindagi kaafi chhoti hai aap tak duniya bhar ke zayke pahunchane ke liye." (One lifetime is not enough for letting the tastes of world reach you). So true. So bloody true!!

It sort of inspired me and I put on that apron again. Starting with a low calorie my all time favorite food item.  

Pasta cooked the very basic Indian way. :D

Ingredients:

Pasta- any shape, 250 gms (approx.);

Onions- 2 nos (medium size)- chopped;

Tomatoes- 4 nos (medium size)- Pureed- in blender;

Capsicum- 1 nos (medium size);

Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp;

Salt to taste;

Black Pepper to taste;

Dried Oregano- 1 tsp or to taste;

Olive Oil- 3 tbsp

Method:

• Boil the pasta in a pan with a little olive oil and a pinch of salt. Make sure the pasta isn't overboiled or underboiled. Sieve the boiled pasta under running water. Keep aside.
• In a pan, heat the olive oil and add the ginger garlic paste.
• Add the onions and stir fry until golden brown.
• Add the pureed tomatoes and the capsicum. Add salt, pepper and oregano. Let it simmer for few minutes. Keep stirring in between. Let the puree come in desired consistency. You may want your with gravy, if it gets dry, add some water and simmer.
• When the gravy reaches the desired consistency, add the pasta. Stir and let it mix in the gravy well. 
• Leave it for a 2-3 minutes on the fire while stirring in between before putting the gas off.
• Serve with garnishing of Basil Leaves.

The Outcome:

The Fiasco:

NONE :P

It was Yummeh!! :D

No Cooking Month.

Yes, I am on a strict diet control. That makes me very sad. because I am not even cooking for these days. I have been surfing internet, swapping TV channels and stumbling upon super sexy desert recipes which I am dying to try myself.
But I need to control. Making my mind for it very tough though. I guess I ll post some low calories recipes during this time. Let me do some experimentation and get back here. This space has been calling me. *sigh*
For the timebeing, please to drool over some super sexy looking food.

Check out these websites and keep drooling by the time I am back :D

Feast your eyes: www.foodgawker.com

Inspirations and ideas of desret recipes: http://www.ohdesserts.net

Pizza? Wo bhi Chinese?

Yes. Chinese Pizza. ever thought of it? I am totally into experiments. Plus when you have guests come over, and they know about your food blog, you have somethings to prove to them. *sigh*

Anyway, people tell me that pizza made at home is not as good as they have int he restaurants. My say is, Get and oven or electric tandoor. Microwave is not meant for Pizza.

So here i bring you the Chinese pizza.

Chinese Pizza:

Ingredients:

1 Pizza base;

Schezwan Sauce;

Finely chopped vegetables- Cabbage, Capsicum, Mushrooms.

1 tsp olives;

Pizza/ Mozarella Cheese.

Method:

• Take the pizza base, apply little olive oil.
• While you cook the schezwan sauce, (Click here for the recipe) keep the consistency thick. When you are about to put the flame off, add the chopped vegetables into the sauce.
• Apply the sauce on the base, spread some olives, shred cheese and keep it in the oven/ tandoor.
• Use as less cheese as you can. 
• Wait until the cheese is Golden brown. and serve hot.

The Outcome:

Chinese Pizza fresh out of the oven

The Fiasco:

None. :D

Orange is the color Pancakes are Dipped into

Lets play 'Taste (Word) Association'.

Pancakes- Yummy

Orange- *does the chattt*

Glaze- *thinks of the thickness*

Pancakes are loved by everyone.And I make them without egg. Yes, you read it right. the same fluff, the same softness, without egg.

And since this is the season when I finally gave into the wondrousness of Orange,  I've taken it to the kitchen :D

This time, It is Orange Pancakes with orange glaze.

Orange Pancakes and Glaze

Ingrdients:

For pancakes:

1 Cup Flour,

2 Cups Milk;

2 tsp Butter;

1 tsp Orange Rind (the skin of orange, peeled and finely grated);

1/3rd tsp Soda Bicarbonate

For Orange Glaze:

1 Cup Fresh Orange juice;

1 tsp Cornflour;

1 tsp Orange Rind;

1 tsp Honey;

1 tsp Sugar;

Few slices of Orange Fruit

Method:

• Foremost, Make the glaze. Add all the ingredients into a thick pan and boil. Keep stirring until you get a thick desired consistency. Let is cool and take out in a bowl.
• Add the ingredients of the pancakes, make a smooth batter. Keep the batter thin- pour-able.
• On the non stick pan, pour the batter and make nice pan cakes. 
• Take the Pancakes, spread the glaze and serve.

The Outcome:

Orange Pancakes with glaze

The Fiasco:

NONE! :D

Restaurant jaisa Chinese Ghar Pe ;)

I can place bets on the Chinese food cooked the Punjabi way. If a Chinese man came over to Punjab and ate what we call Chinese, he would die! or might lose his mind or might fall in love like every other person. :)

There is a new restaurant in the town. Its called Shankh and they serve all kind of yummy food. Indian, Punjabi, Thai, Chinese, Mexican Italian et al cuisine. Only speciality is that the food is all vegetarian and they dont use Onion and Garlic. Yes. You read it right. And yes. The restaurant is the concern of ISKCON. You must have heard that ISKCON temples distribute all kind of fast food and continental food as prasad. They offer the God all yummy food. Isn't it awesome?

Anyhow. We visited the restaurant to check it out and the garlic onion flavor was missing. Which brings me to key down this post. Yes, I decided to cook Chinese at home. :D

The menu I decided was Hakka Noodles, Crispy Veg, Chili Cheese.

For now, I am here with my Crispy Veg recipe.

Crispy Veg

Ingredients:

For The Batter

5 tbsp cornflour;

5 tbsp flour (maida);

1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste;

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper powder;

1 tsp lemon juice;

salt to taste;

1 tbsp oil

Other Ingredients:

2 cups mixed vegetables (baby corn , capsicum and cauliflower) , cut into long strips;

oil for deep-frying;

For Schezwan Sauce:

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup sesame oil;

3-4 whole red peppers;

3/4 onions-chopped fine;

1 tbsp garlic;

1 tbsp ginger;

1/2 tsp chilli powder;

1 tsp sesame seeds;

2 tbsp corn flour mixed in a cup of water;

1 tbsp vinegar;

1 tsp soya sauce;

1 tsp chilli sauce;

1 tsp salt

Method:

• Combine Cornflour, Flour, Ginger garlic paste, black pepper, salt, lemon juice, oil and water and make a smooth batter. 
• Dip the vegetables in the batter and deep fry once, keeping scope for frying them again. Keep aside.

Now, make the Schezwan sauce.

• Grind together the onions, garlic and ginger.
• Heat the oil in a wok add the whole red peppers and saute over high heat till they darken a bit. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and stir-fry over high heat till glossy.
• Add the corn flour mixture and bring to a boil.
• Lower the heat and add the chilli powder, vinegar, soya sauce, chilli sauce and salt and mix well
• Cook till well blended (1/2 minute) and use.

Now, Deep fry the vegetables once again, and add them to the sauce directly. Toss lightly.

Garnish with fried noodles, and serve.

The Outcome:

Crispy veg

The Fiasco:

None :D

Idli-Doodlie Dooo

In North India, our staple food is wheat. Also rice. but more of wheat. And rice, we more or less enjoy with raajmah or kadhi or daal or chane and also stand alone Pulaavs. Idlies, dosa are still delicacies for us. 

Idli making involves a lot of patience and the soaking thing is kind of a mess. So, we have mastered the art of making instant idlies. Of course not from the instant idli mixies available in the market, but at home. Just bringing you a quick recipe of instant idlies my style. Since, this is absolutely my recipe, I do not know how to quantify the ingredients. Please make use of your gut feelings :D

Instant Idlies

Ingredients: 

1 cup Rava/ sooji;

1/2 cup Curd;

Salt to taste;

1-2 tsp Refined oil;

1 tsp Eno

Method:

1. Sieve the rava/sooji in a bowl.
2. Add salt to taste, a pinch of turmeric powder (optional), oil.
3. Add curd. Make a paste, keep it a little thicker than smooth.
4. Beat fro 4-5 minutes.
5. Add Eno. beat for less than 2 minutes.
6. Pour the paste into greased idli maker, and steam or Microwave for about 5 minutes.
7. Serve with sambhar.
8. You can also garnish the idlies with a Punjabi tadka.
9. For tadka, Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, finely chopped onion, curry leaves. Stir until onion is golden brown and add roll the idlies in the tadka. Serve with green chutney.

The Outcome: 

The Fiasco:

NONE :D

Corn Momos Door ke, Ghar Pe Pakayein, Zaroor Se.

Momos/ Dumplings. Who doesn't like. I love them very much. yes. Not that it is hard to find them where I live, just I wanted to cook them at home.

Internet was surfed. recipe was found. Kitchen was approached and everything was messed up in there. A little 'my-tpuch' was added to the recipe, and Corn Momos were cooked. How they turned out, scroll down to find. :D

Corn Momos:

Ingredients:

1 cup White Flour (maida);

1/2 cup Boiled Corn (I used frozen corn);

1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste;

1 nos Finely chopped Onion;

2 nos Finely chopped Green Chillies;

Some Finely chopped Green coriander;

Salt to taste;

Black Pepper to taste;

2 tsp oil;

Method:

1. Knead smooth and soft dough with flour adding a little salt and some oil. Keep aside for 25-30 mins, Make sure, the dough is little gooey.
2. In a pan, heat oil, add ginger garlic paste, chopped onion, chillies, coriander and stir fry. add corns, salt and pepper. Stir fry.
3. Take the dough, make small balls and roll out very thinly.
4. Now, add the filling and close the dumpling giving them as fine shape as you can. (It is going to need a LOT of practice.)
5. Steam the momos. I used the idli stand and microwaved for about 6-7 minutes.
6. Serve with Schezwan sauce. You can cook it by stir frying tomoato ketchup in a little oil and ginger- garlic, a little salt and chilli flakes.

The Outcome:

The Fiasco:

The cover of my momos was thicker than it should have been and therefore they turned out a little hard. Somehow, tolerable.