Category: Cuisine

LETTUCE, GRILLED TOMATO AND CHICKEN SALAD

lettuce-grilled-tomato-chicken-salad, salad,
Fresh salads are super good for your body and they look so appetizing. The Lettuce, Grilled Tomato and Chicken Salad is colorful, fresh and super yum. I made this for my breakfast today and made a healthy start to the day!
 
This #AtoZChallenge is making sure I am eating right this month.

Continue reading LETTUCE, GRILLED TOMATO AND CHICKEN SALAD

KIWI, GINGER AND BANANA SMOOTHIE – JAMIE OLIVER INSPIRED

kiwi-ginger-banana-smoothie-recipe

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The Kiwi Ginger Banana Smoothie is my go to favorite smoothie in the summers. It’s fresh with the added dose of health in the form of oats. It takes just 10 mins – super Yuma and superfast.

This recipe is inspired by Jamie Oliver. [I love him and adore him.] Smoothies are a great way to ensure you are having a good nutritious start in the morning. If you are running late and don’t have much time put everything in a blender and have a nice fruity smoothie!

Continue reading KIWI, GINGER AND BANANA SMOOTHIE – JAMIE OLIVER INSPIRED

Icy Refresher

icy-refresher-1-1It’s hot hot hot in India. It’s hot in the day it’s hot in the night and no rains. A summer refreshing drink is what I need all the time. I have been guzzling down water like a shark! Plain water is boring and I hate drinking water. But then I thought of making a jug full of this refreshing drink and put it in the fridge. In anyways, these are much better options than the sugar laden aerated drinks that we keep drinking. I have stopped all aerated drinks FYI.
 
I also tried adding a little white run with it later to make a Sunday cocktail which tasted super yum! You can make your own renditions with it!
 
Icy Refresher
Recipe Type: Beverage
Cuisine: Indian
Author: Tina Basu
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • Lemon -1
  • Mint – few sprigs
  • Water – 2 glasses
  • Ice cubes – few
Instructions
  1. Muddle some mint leaves and few lemon slices together
  2. Add them in a jug with water
  3. Add crushed ice cubes
  4. Serve with a slice lime
Notes
If you are adding white rum/vodka for cocktail try muddling some chopped chili – you will love the combination.

 

Until next time, Cheers!

Meanwhile check out my Halloween Makeup in my Writing Blog
 

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This post is written for the A to Z Challenge 2016 for Day 9 Letter I. Visit A to Z, BlogChatter to read other beautiful bloggers!

Cucumber, Tomato & Avocado Salad

This is health month for me and I am doing all healthy stuff, at least cooking and eating healthy! I did a smoothie and a breakfast recipe earlier so I’ll share a great salad recipe today.
 
Salads are great, aren’t they? They fill you up, low on calorie, you can have as much as you want! And hey, all salads are not boring. You can enjoy it as a side or a main. I sometimes like some good salad as munching snack in the evening.
Today we are making wonders with three very simple ingredients – Cucumber, Tomato and Avocado! It’s summers and these ingredients are perfect for the season! Crunchy Cucumber, Fresh Tomato and Buttery Avocado! Very easy and totally yum! Let’s get to know our Cucumber, Tomato & Avocado Salada little better!



HEALTH BENEFIT
 
Cucumber, however boring it may sound, is a gift
 
It keeps you hydratedand flushes out your toxins.
 
It almost doesn’t have any calories and provides loads of vitaminsand skin friendly minerals like magnesium, potassium.
 
Avocados on the other hand are a power house of dietary fiber, vitamin K, copper, folate, vitamin B6, potassium, vitamin E, and vitamin C
 
It also provides Alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and oleic acid 

Tomatoes, I can’t tell you how good they are specially for your skin!
 
We won’t use any mayo or fatty dressing for the salad!


 
CUCUMBER TOMATO & AVOCADO SALAD Print Friendly and PDF

Prep Time
Cook Time
Total Time
 15 min
0 min
15 min
Recipe Type: Salad main/side
Serves: 2 persons as a side or 1 person as a main
INGREDIENTS
  • Avocado – 1 pitted and diced
  • Cucumber -1 diced
  • Tomato – 1 diced (you can use cherry tomato in halves)
  • Red Onion – ½ finely chopped
  • Lime juice – juice of ½ a lime
  • Cilantro or Coriander Leaves – 1 teaspoon finely chopped
  • Olive Oil – 1 tablespoon for dressing
  • Red Wine Vinegar – 1 teaspoon
  • Tabasco / capsico sauce – 1 teaspoon
  • Salt & Pepper – to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
  • Combine Avocado, cucumber, tomato, onion in a bowl.
  • Whisk together olive oil, lime juice, tabasco sauce, red wine vinegar and seasoning in another bowl and drizzle over the avocado salad
  • Sprinkle chopped coriander or cilantro leaves and serve fresh
  
TIPS
You can totally skip the tabasco part, if you don’t like the heat in salads
If you want to have it as a main, add some diced tofu and up the protein quotient of the salad.
 
Enjoy a good healthy snack.
 
 
Until next time, Cheers!

Today’s Question – Did I improve on my food photography skills? How is it? All photos shot on iPhone 5S.

Also check out how the camera shy girl in my Writing Blog

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This post is written for the A to Z Challenge 2016 for Day 3 Letter C. Visit A to Z, BlogChatter to read other beautiful bloggers!
 

A to Z Challenge Day #17 – Q for Quiche

Hello people so we arrive on our Q day. Deciding an indulgent recipe with Q is a challenge in itself but here I am sharing a super easy recipe of one of my favourites – Quiche. Quiche (in case you don’t know) is a savoury pie sort of a thing with a meat or vegetable filling topped with a layer of custard. You can Google for more information.  

It is essentially a French Cuisine special. I love it because of its no nonsense taste and the fact that I can put fillings according to my taste!

The classic combinations are bacon and spinach or vegetable quiche or a simple chicken quiche. The one that I am sharing today has all that I like – onions, bacons, pork and chicken sausage as the filling.

Interesting? Okay now let’s hop into the recipe.
 
All that you need
 
For the Pastry crust
All purpose Flour – 21/2  cups
Unsalted butter – 1 cup (chilled and diced)
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Chilled Water – 7-8 teaspoon
 
For the filling
Onion – 1 chopped
Bacon – 4-5 strands
Pork sausage – 3
Chicken sausage – 2
Salt & pepper to taste
Smoked Paprika – 1 teaspoon
Shredded Parmesan Cheese – 3 tablespoons
 
For the Custard
Egg – 2 whole + 2 egg yolks only
Milk – 1 cup
Cream – ¼ cup
Salt & pepper – to taste
 
Let’s Get Started
 
Making the pastry crust [It is very similar to the pastry crust that I made for Apple Pie.]
 
Combine flour, salt and butter in a mixing bowl and make a coarse crumb with

your fingers

Add cold water and combine them together
You don’t need to knead
Take the dough wrap in a cling film and freeze for 15 -20 minutes
Take out from freezer and roll it into a round pastry crust.
Transfer in a pie/flan dish and blind bake.
 
 
 
Making the filling
In a pan fry bacon till brown
Take out some of the fat and in the same pan fry onion and the sausages till they are done. Add seasoning and smoked paprika.
 
Take out the sausages and chop them, chop the bacon.
 
Making the custard
In a mixing bowl mix milk, cream and the eggs. First the whole eggs and then the yolks.
Make sure the milk is in room temperature or else you’ll end up with scrambled eggs.
Add seasoning
 
 
Combining the Quiche
Spread the filling on the blind baked pastry crust
Pour in the custard mixture
Spread the shredded cheese on top
Now bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
 
 
 
And your yummy quiche is ready. Enjoy with your favourite wine. 
 
And so let me know if you found it HOT or NOT?
 
 
 
 

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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #17 – post starting with Q. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.
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Leave a comment below if you have liked the recipe and you want me to share some more recipes.

A to Z Challenge Day #1 – Apple Pie

Hello people… Howdy??

 
Are you ready for a month long indulgence?? I am so ready for it. And here goes my first recipe for the month long A to Z Blogging Challenge – its Apple Pie. I promised you indulgence, and indulgence it will be. As a kid I used to be a finicky eater and my mum used to find different ways of getting fruits in me. Apple pies, apple strudels and apple crumbles are those things that I enjoyed forgetting there was apple in them – which I quite didn’t like as a fruit (I still don’t like eating a whole apple) !
 
Okay I want to keep the post short and will have loads of photos. Let’s straight away go to the ingredients.


————————————————————————————
Level: Moderate     | Prep Time: 50 mins | Cooking Time: 55 mins
————————————————————————————

 


All that you will need for the pie crust (minus the apples)


All that you will need
 
For the pie crust
 
  1. Plain flour – 2 1/ 2 cup
  2. Salt – 1 teaspoon
  3. Sugar – 2 table spoon
  4. Unsalted Butter – 1 cup (chilled and diced)
  5. Cold water – ½ cup


All that you will need for the Filling
For the Apple Filling
 
  1. Apple – 4 large
  2. White Sugar – ¼ cup
  3. Brown Sugar – ¼ cup
  4. Lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
  5. Raisins/ Sultanas –  ½ cup
  6. Cinnamon – ½ stick grated
  7. Nutmeg – ½ grated
  8. Salt – a pinch
  9. Unsalted Butter – 2 tablespoon
  10. Cornflour – 1 tablespoon
 
Let’s get our pie rolling!
 
Prepare the dough for the pastry first because it will take some time. Steps are for piecrust  and filling separately so go through it carefully.
 
1. Sift in flour, mix salt and sugar in it in a large bowl.
 
2. Add butter and mix in with your fingers.
 
3. Add water and bring the dough together.
 
[There is no need to kneed the flour as you would do while making a bread or pizza dough. We don’t want the glutten to get activated. Mix the butter in gently with your fingers till you get light crumbles.]
 
4. Flour your work board/surface and gather the flour and butter crumbles and bring them all together.
 
5. When you find the dough’s coming together you are there.
 
6. Divide the dough in two halves, press them to make flat discs, wrap them in cling wrap and put in freezer for 15 mins.

 


 
[We will have a base pie layer, and a top layer, to add to the crunch.]
 
Unless it’s cold you won’t be able to roll them for your pie base.
 
7. After 15 mins, roll out 1 half of the dough that will make the base of the pie.
 
8. Put the rolled pie crust in a lightly greased pie dish and blind bake it for 12-15 mins in a pre-heated oven about 220 degrees C or 425 degrees F.

That is how you blind bake. Tip by Jamie Oliver


 
9. Take out and keep the pie dish in a wire rack once baked.
 
 
Apple Filling
 
While your pastry crust is bind baking start with your apple filling.
 
1. In a bowl add peeled and chopped apples, lemon juice (this will avoid discoloration), brown sugar, white sugar, raisins, salt, grated cinnamon and grated nutmeg.
 
2. Mix them well and leave it for half an hour.

Leave it till it leaves juices


 
That is the kind of caramel sauce you will get
from the apples

We are doing this to take out the juices, too much juice from the apple will make the pie crust soggy.

 
3. After half an hour, strain the juice from the apple and keep it in a microwave safe cup/bowl.
 
4. Add butter in that juice and microwave it for 3 minutes, you will get a wonderful apple caramel sauce out of it.

5. Add corn flour and this caramel sauce to the apple filling and mix well.
 
Arranging the pie
 
A good Egg wash with 1 whole egg will give you this
wonderful golden color

1. Arrange the apple filling in the pie dish.

 
2. Roll out the other half of the dough and cover the pie, sealing the edges carefully.
 
3.Take a knife and make several slits on the pie cover to let the steam come out.
 
4. Give it a generous egg wash with a pastry brush to get that lovely golden colour

5. Bake it in a pre-heated oven for 40 minutes at 220 degrees C or 425 degrees F.
 
And you are done with your Apple Pie.

Leave it on a wire rack to cool down a little



You are ready to dig in!


 
I like my apple pie warm, I always heat it up in the microwave before digging in. You can enjoy it with vanilla ice cream also, the combination is awesome.
So there was my first Indulgent recipe for the A to Z Challenge. Watch this space for some more super awesome indulgent recipes this month. Tomorrow it’s going to be Banoffee Pie for all pie and dessert lovers.
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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #1 – post starting with A. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.

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Leave a comment below if you have liked the recipe and you want me to share some more pie/dessert recipes.
 

Doi Potol or Dahi Parwal

Doi potol is a hit vegetarian delicacy of every Bengali Kitchen. Pointed gourd or potol cooked in spices and yogurt. Learn how to make Bengali doi potol
 
As a kid I was a fussy eater and almost never liked any vegetables – green or otherwise. My mom used to have a tough time with me I am sure. Not that I really like vegetables now but still eat much more vegetables than as a kid.
 
There are these vegetables which are really popular among the Bengalis like ‘Begun’ (brinjal), ‘Bandhakopi’(cabbage), ‘Kochu’ – I have no idea what it’s called in English or Hindi or in any other language. And I hate almost all of these. But now since I have Mr. Husband who likes traditional Bengali food at times I have to venture into the kitchen to re-invent some of these.
 
This is potol/ pointed gourd. Image from Shutterstock
‘Potol ‘or ‘parwal’ as called in Hindi (its Pointed Gourd in English – that’s what Google told me) is also as popular in a Bengali household. You will definitely find a ‘potol-bhaja’ in the beginning of your menu if you are up for a hearty Bengali meal. Now that’s little main stream how much ‘potol–baja’ can one have? The next two famous things a Bong cooks up with this ‘potol’are ‘potoler dorma’ & ‘doi potol’.
 
 
 
This is Kundru. Image from Google
It’s difficult to get good fresh ‘Potol’ in this city. They also have this thing called ‘Kundru’ which almost looks like ‘potol’ but is much smaller in size and is hard when you are going to cut. So don’t get that ‘kundru’ if you want to make any Bengali ‘Potol’ preparation.  
 
Over the weekend I had some time with me to cook up something little special and here I am with a traditional ‘doi-potol’recipe. Will do the ‘potoler dorma’ some other time.
 
So lets get to our ‘Doi Potol‘ recipe
 
 
 
All that you Need
 
 
  1. Potol/pointed Gourd – 6-8 pieces
  2. Fresh Yogurt – 1 cup
  3. Paanch Foron – 1 tspn – If you don’t know what this is please refer to Tip #3 in Tiny Tips)
  4. Mustard oil – 1 table spn
  5. Turmeric powder – ¼ tspn + ¼ tspn
  6. Red chili powder – ¼ tspn
  7. Cumin powder – ¼ tspn
  8. Coriander powder – ¼ tspn
  9. Ginger paste – 1 tspn
  10. Salt – to taste
  11. Green Chili – 1
Let’s get Started
 
– Scrape the ‘potol’ lightly so that the skin comes out and clean them under water. Don’t peel but scrape it with the edge of a knife.

– Dust ¼ tspn of turmeric powder and salt over the ‘potol’/pointed gourd and  keep aside

– Heat mustard oil in a frying pan

– Once oil is hot add the ‘potol’/pointed gourd and fry them lightly so that water (within the vegetable) dries up.

– Once the ‘potol’/pointed gourd is fried add the ‘paanch phoron’

– Add ginger paste and mix well with the fried the ‘potol’/pointed gourd

– Take yogurt in a separate bowl and mix all the dry spices – turmeric, red chili powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Mix well to form a smooth paste.

– Add this spice and yogurt mixture to the ‘potol’/pointed gourd in the frying pan and mix them well

– Add salt to taste and add the green chili. I refer to break the chili in two halves so that you get the flavor in your food with less heat

– Cook in low flame for 10 mins or till you see oil on the sides of the pan.

– Add little water in your yogurt bowl and use up all the spice mix that might be left over in the bowl. Since this preparation is a semi dry one don’t add much of water. Cook for 5 mins.
 
 
And there you go your Bengali traditional Doi Potol is done.
 
It tastes best with hot rice.
 
Try and let me know how you liked it.
 
 
 
 
 

Rustic Tomato Soup

It has been raining in Bangalore for like ever and its super awesome weather here. It gets quite chilly sometimes surprisingly at this time of the year God knows what’s in store for December. And I am again down with a running nose and cough – It has become a monthly affair almost.

So what’s better than some hot piping soup in this weather to keep my throat happy? Okay the Knorrs, and Chings and Maggi soups are little mainstream – nothing beats the old fashioned freshly made soups minus the corn flour. I am a big fan of fresh soups whenever I have time.

So here goes a simple recipe of a rustic tomato soup for all the soup lovers. And yeah it’s thick and no the watery kinds.



All that you’ll need

1. Canola oil – 1 table spoon –  you can use Olive/Vegetable oil
2. Tomato – 4 large – diced
3. Garlic – 4 cloves
4. Red onion – 1 large chopped – you can use white onion also
5. Salt & pepper – to taste
6. Sugar – ¼ tspn
7. Basil – I have used dried basil about 1 tspn. If you have fresh basil then nothing like it.
8. All purpose flour – 2 teaspoon
9. Butter – 1 teaspoon
10. Fresh Cream – 1 tspn (totally optional)

Let’s get started

  • Take a large pot, heat oil and fry the onions and crushed garlic
  • Add the diced tomatoes in the pot and mix them well till they are juicy and gooey.
  • Once the tomato is cooked take a hand blender and blend it well. Transfer the mixture in a bowl and set aside.
  • Add some butter and let it melt. Add the flour and fry it in the butter to make the rue. This will give a very nice flavor and will add a good texture to the soup. It will also make it thick. 
  • Add your soup to this rue and mix well so that there are no lumps.
  • Add seasoning and herbs and mix well.
  • Add a little fresh cream on top and serve hot with croutons/ toast or just enjoy it as it is.
And hey you are done before you can think anything else.
Wasn’t that easy? I am sure you’ll enjoy. 

Let me know. 


Product Review – Chingri Malai Curry with Hudson Canola Oil

Let me update on some more Bong food. ‘Chingri’, as we call the prawns, is very popular among Bengalis. We love batter fried prawns, prawn curries, prawn with vegetables and so many ways that we cook prawns. However, ‘Prawn Malai Curry’or ‘Chingri Macher Malai Curry’ takes the cake off when it comes to authentic Bengali Prawn preparation. Prawn is cooked in tomato & coconut milk without much of spices and has a very nice subtle earthy taste.

Sometime back I had got this Hudson Canola Oil for review. It came along with a quick recipe book which is quite handy. There must be lot of people who are unaware about this Canola oil. So I have some information about Canola oil. (This is from their website though).

What is Canola?
Hudson Canola Oil that I am reviewing here
Hudson Canola is a standard edible vegetable grade oil, a light oil with neutral taste and flavour. Hudson Canola can be used for all types, methods and varieties of Indian cooking: frying, roasting or grilling. Canola is neutral in flavour and aroma with no distinctive taste or smell.
Canola Oil is extruded from the seeds of the yellow Canola flower.
Canola Oil has the lowest saturated fat amongst all oils, very high monounsaturated fat, very high Omega-3 and rich Vitamin-E content.

Any ways, I have used it now and I am quite happy with the results. It’s light and doesn’t have any strong flavour. You can cook almost anything that you would otherwise do with vegetable oil or Sunflower oil. I have used it both for curries and frying and gives quite good result. It’s very popular in SE Asia. You can even bake with it. It’s a little costly than other ones but you can definitely give it a try.

Anyways let’s get started with our recipe

All that you need

  1. Prawns – 1 Kg (you can use white prawns, tiger prawns or any prawn which you like. Don’t take lobsters though. I have used white prawn here for this recipe. De-vein and clean them)
  2. Lemon – 1
  3. Tomato – make a puree of 4 large tomato – you can use canned pure as well
  4. Coconut milk – 1 cup
  5. Oil – 2 table spoon (I have used Hudson Canola Oil here)
  6. Salt – to taste
  7. Sugar – 1 teaspoon
  8. Cumin seeds – ¼ tspn
  9. Chili powder – ¼ tspn
  10. Cumin Powder – ¼ tspn
  11. Green cardamom – 1
  12. Ginger Paste – ¼ tspn
  13. Sugar – 1 tspn
  14. Greem Chili – 1
  15. Grated coconut – 2 table spoon
  16. Soaked Raisins & Cashew nuts – ½ cup


Let’s Get Started
  • Place the de-veined prawns in a bowl and marinate the prawn with salt and juice of 1 lemon. Mix well and keep aside for 15 mins.
  • Heat a table spoon of oil in a wok and fry the marinated prawns lightly till they turn opaque & orange.
  • Take out in a bowl and keep aside. This will ideally take you about 2 mins. Don’t overcook the prawn at this stage else it will taste like rubber.
  • Add another table spoon of oil in the same wok and add the cumin seeds, green cardamom and a slit green chili.
  • Add ginger paste, cumin powder and red chili powder and fry for a minute.
  • Add the pureed tomato and cook till oil oozes out on the sides of the wok. Add little sugar and salt to taste.
  • Add the seared prawns and mix them well with the tomato gravy.
  • Add the coconut milk and cook it in low heat for few minutes.
  • Add the soaked dry fruits and grated coconut and cook in low heat for a minute.

And that’s it you are done. Isn’t it just simple?
An authentic Bengali Malai curry doesn’t have turmeric, onions or mustard oil (which are otherwise quite common).
It tastes best with rice.
So cook and enjoy and let me know how you liked it.

Aamer Chutney or Mango Chutney

So I am back again in this space after some centuries. Before you people forget me completely let me quickly start blogging once again and get some great recipes for you all.

That’s my new Kitchen
Hey, let me first update you on everything that has been happening from last November – that’s last when I had updated this blog – such a shame. Anyways, I have bought my own apartment (rather we have bought and not I alone) and moved in the suburbs of the city. I designed my own kitchen and love it. I still don’t have a cook so I am doing most of the daily cooking and yes Indro chips in too whenever I return late.

All this travel between work and home is leaving little time for the me-time and that’s why you see my absence from this space – of course apart from my laziness. Haha..

So what am I going to share today? Let me share a good Bengali after meal recipe. We call it “Aamer Chutney” or you may say Mango Chutney. Now green mango or raw mango is very famous all across India, people use it for chutneys and pickle. We Bengalis love our sweet and need something sweety tangy at the end of our meal. This recipe is little different from any other chutney or pickle so do read carefully. It’s really easy by the way.

All that you need:

      1.       Raw green Mango – 1 big mango diced keep (the skin on)
      2.       Lemon juice – 1 tspn
      3.       Salt –  to taste
      4.       Paanch phoron*(5 whole spices)- 1 tspn  
      5.       Oil – 2 tspn
      6.       Green Chili – 1
      7.       Turmeric powder – ¼ tspn
      8.       Red chili – ¼ tspn
      9.       Sugar – ½ cup
      10.   Water – ¼ cup
 
*Paanch phoron – This is a special spice mix which every Bong household will have. It is used extensively in Bengali and Oriya Cuisine. It’s really easy to create one if you don’t have. It requires 5 different spices – Cumin, Kalaunji, Fenugreek/Methi, Fennel seeds/Mouri and Black Mustard Seeds.





Let’s get started:
  •           Heat oil in a pan and add ‘paanch phoron’
  •           Add the diced mangoes once the spices start sputtering
  •           Add salt and mix it well with the mango
  •           Cover and cook it for 2 mins
  •           Once the mangoes soften up add a green chili, turmeric powder,              red chili powder and mix well
  •           Add water, cover and cook for 10 mins
  •           Once it turns mushy add sugar and mix well
  •           Finish it off with a little squeeze of lime

Suggestions

This mango chutney is made mostly in the summers. We have it after lunch and it helps in digestion after a hearty meal.

So go ahead and enjoy and let me know how you liked it.