Spaghetti

Pasta can be made in n number of ways the reason being the number of variables involved. Different combination of pasta type, sauce and the veggies/meat used can give you different flavored pastas. I am describing just one of those ways here. This is a noodle pasta (Spaghetti) with marinara sauce and many veggies. The proportions of ingredients doesn't matter much if you are not making the proper authentic pasta (which is quite bland and not liked by Indians usually :P). So feel free to tweak the proportions given in this recipe. The pasta I make is quick since I use ready-made pasta sauce..makes life much easier! :)

Ingredients
1 small packet of pasta noodles (Use wheat pasta if you dont prefer maida)
1 cup red pasta sauce (choose any of the pasta sauces you get in the grocery store or even a combination of multiple sauces)
1 tspoon minced garlic
shredded parmesan cheese according to liking
2 tbspoons olive oil
red/white wine (opt)
1 or more of these veggies - onions, red pepper, green pepper, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes (cherry tomatoes taste better in pasta), basil

Method
Boil the pasta for 10-12 min in a large vessel so that the noodles completely immerse in the water. Add some salt to this water while boiling. After 10-12 minutes, try to break the pasta and see if it easily breaks or taste it to check if its cooked well. If yes, take it out and put it in a strainer so that extra water drains out. Pour cold water on this pasta so that the noodles dont stick to each other and form a lump.

In a separate flattish non-stick pan, add the olive oil. Add garlic and let it cook. Then add all the veggies one by one and saute them. Close the lid for 2 minutes so that they cook with the steam. Then add the pasta sauce and some wine. Let the pasta sauce cook. Once its cooked, add the noodles and mix well. Again close the lid for 2 min. Add some salt and pepper if you like. Add cheese in the end. serve hot.

Goes well with italian salad, bread sticks, garlic bread, soup.

Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancakes) made in Desi style

Ingredients
3/4 th cup besan (gram flour)
3/4 th cup pancake mix
1 cup red cabbage
1/4th cup spring onions
pinch of baking soda
2 eggs
salt, pepper, chilly powder, turmeric, dhania jeera powder (opt) according to taste
water, oil (use olive oil if you want to make it healthy)

Method
To make the batter, add gram flour, pancake mix, salt, spices, baking soda to water and make a paste like you make for bhajia batter. Keep it aside for 10 minutes.
Cut the veggies into small thin pieces and add to the batter. Heat the pan and add some oil to it. just before putting batter on the pan, add eggs to it. Put the batter on the pan like you will do for uttapam or pancake. Use a non-stick pan so that the pancake does not stick to it and comes out as a single piece :) Turn and cook the opposite side.

Alternate way to make this will be to make the pancake without veggies and egg and while its cooking on the pan, put the veggies and an egg. this way the veggies remain separate, it looks attractive and is healthier. In this case, dont turn the pancake, just cook it from one side. For the other side to cook, you can close the pan with a lid so that it cooks wit the steam.

The picture shows the first method

Preface

Cooking is a combination of Art and Science. I love both and hence it caught my attention a few years back. I used to watch my mom make these amazing dishes and wonder if I could be as good as her some day in life. Though there are several areas in cooking that are still unexplored by me, I think I am ready to write a blog in order to share my experiences and enthusiasm in preparing new dishes or twisting the known recipes and trying something new.

I feel cooking should not be perceived as a burden in everyday life. Instead if you put your own creativity in making something as simple as white rice and as complicated as biryani, you will definitely find cooking refreshing and enjoyable.

I hope this blog inspires you to cook or at least makes you want to visit me in order to eat some different and interesting food ;) This blog is a compilation of all the different recipes I have tried. Its a combination of my own recipes and the ones that I have got from different sources.

So all you foodies, enjoy the blog!!! :)

- Shruti

Healthy Spinach Wraps

Preparation time: 20 min
This is a quick and healthy meal to make when you don't feel like doing extensive cooking. I make this on days when I come tired from gym and have zero enthu to cook. I have given three different variations of the wraps. You can decide based on your likes or the ingredients that you have :)

Ingredients:
Chinese: 1 spinach tortilla packet,
1 onion cut vertically (long and thin like in fajita)
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 garlic cloves
soy sauce, chilly sauce
pepper powder
grated parmesan cheese

Mexican: 1 packet spinach tortilla
1 can black beans (mexican)
1 onion cut vertically (long and thin like in fajita)
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 tomato (opt)
2 garlic cloves
2 cups chopped lettuce
pepper powder
grated parmesan cheese
any spread like cream cheese, avacado spread, hummus spread

Indian: 1 packet spinach tortillas
ANY veggies that you like
jeera powder, dhania powder, garam masala, chat masala, chilly powder, salt and pepper
cheese (opt)

Method:

Chinese: take some olive oil in a pan and add the garlic cloves to it. Add green chillies if you want it spicy. Then add the chopped onions, red and green peppers in it. Let it cook for sometime. Add soy sauce, chilly sauce and ketchup as per taste. Add salt and pepper powder too. Add a pinch of aginomototo to get the chinese flavor. Let these veggies partially cook. I dont overcook them coz i like the crunchy taste of peppers. Now put the filling in a spinach tortilla or a regular tortilla and roll it. Put these rolls in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 min. You can also put the tortilla on a pan, put the filling and roll it once it cooks.

Mexican: Take some olive oil in a pan and add the garlic cloves to it. Then add the chopped onions and green peppers. Let it cook for just 5 min. Add salt and pepper for taste. Add the black beans to this if you like the taste of black beans. The filling is ready. Now take a spinach tortilla, put some avocado spread or salsa on the base. Then add lettuce and some fresh cut tomatoes (don't put tomatoes if you add the mild salsa, it already has tomatoes) followed by the filling that we prepared just now. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top. Put only so much filling that you can make a roll easily. Now make a roll and keep it in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 min till the cheese melts.

Indian: Take whatever veggies you like - onions, peppers, tomatoes, beans, cabbage, green peas, carrots, paneer and cut them small. Make a sabji from these - add oil in a pan and saute all veggies in it. Add jeera powder, dhania powder, garam masala, salt, chilly powder, chat masala to this. Once they are cooked, put them inside the tortilla, add some cheese if you want and roll it. Put it in oven or cook it on a pan.

The picture given below is of the mexican spinach wraps. It has avocado spread, lettuce, salsa, onions, peppers, and some cheese

Idli-shaped Dhoklas

Dhokla, originally a Gujarati dish, is very easy to make and serves as a light evening snack. I used to avoid making it since I didn't have the right vessels (flat steel vessel and big pressure cooker). But after I tried it in the microwaveable idli maker, I found it really easy and convenient. You can find this idli maker in any kitchenware shop in India. I use the Gits dhokla mix (or any other gujju dhokla mix) available in Indian stores just coz of laziness to make it from scratch :P and convenience. You can find the procedure to make it from scratch by googling other dhokla recipes J

Ingredients:

1 Gits dhokla mix packet

Oil for seasoning

Mustard seeds, jeera seeds

Curry leaves

Coriander (cilantro)

Red chilly powder or green chillies

Til (sesame seeds)

Hing (Asophoetida)

Fresh coconut (opt)

Method:

Follow the method mentioned on the cover of the Gits dhokla mix i.e. add water to the mix and keep for 10 min. Beware of the consistency- if you make it too thin, it will drop out of the stand and if you make it too thick, the dhoklas will become stones :P. In this 10 min time, grease the idli stand with oil and keep it ready. You can also start preparing for the seasoning on the side. After 10 min, put batter in the idli maker (similar to how you do for idlis) and keep it in microwave for 5 min.

Seasoning – Heat some oil in a small tadka kadhai. Add mustard, jeera, hing, curry leaves, chillies or chilly powder, til and turn off the heat before it starts burning. Add some water to this mixture (this prevents dhoklas from becoming dry) and very little salt and sugar as per taste. Remember the mix already has salt and sugar.

Remove dhoklas from the idli maker after checking that they are cooked from inside. Pour this mixture evenly on top of these dhoklas. Garnish with coriander and fresh coconut.

Goes well with mint or tamarind chutney

Wada-paav

Wada-paav -  popularly known as 'desi burger' is a very famous roadside item in mumbai and is gaining popularity in other parts of maharashtra too. Its a very tasty, spicy and filling snack-cum-lunch dish. Might not be a very good option for you if you are very health conscious, but who cares! On some days when its cold or raining outside and you feel like eating something spicy and hot, this is one of the best options

Ingredients:
2 big or 3 small boiled potatoes
2 green chillies
1 chopped onion
1 spoon ginger garlic paste (fresh ginger and garlic is always better than the ready-made paste)
1 cup chana dal aata (besan)
LOT of oil for frying ;)
1 packet mid-sized paav
chilly powder, dhania jeera powder (opt), salt
lemon juice
baking soda (opt)
Hing
curry leaves
Lasun chutney (recipe not given here)

Method:

Batter: add water and salt in the chana daal aata to make a thin batter. Add some hot oil or 1/2 spoon baking soda in the batter. This is to make the outer cover of wadas crispy. If you add too much of this, the wadas will absord lot of oil and will become very oily. Keep the batter aside. Dont make the batter too thin else the wadas wont get layered nicely before frying.

Filling: Cut the boiled potatoes into small pieces. Add some oil in a pan and put tadka (mustard seeds and jeera seeds). Let them splatter. Then add some hing, turmeric, green chillies and curry leaves. Add the chopped onion in the oil. While its cooking, add the ginger garlic paste. I add ginger garlic paste after adding onions always so that it does not stick, burn or fly out of the pan too much. Once the onion is cooked, add the potatoes. Then add chilly powder, dhania jeera powder, salt, lemon juice according to your taste. I like the wadas to be spicy. So I add considerable amount of chilly powder. Close the lid and let the filling cook properly for sometime. When you close the lid the tastes of the spices go in the potatoes and it tastes better. If the potatoes stick at the bottom, sprinkle some water and keep the gas on low flame (or just use non-stick pan :)). Dont let the sabji become thin and watery since you have to make balls out of it

Wada-paav: Let the filling cook down to room temperature. Make small cake kind of shape out of it. Dip it in the batter completely and deep fry it. Let the color turn to golden yellow. Take out the wadas and keep them on a paper napkin to soak all the extra oil.
Now cut the paav into two and put the lasun chutney inside. Place a wada inside and close the paav nicely so that it is easy to serve and eat.

Chilly Paneer

Chilly paneer, a classic Indo-Chinese dish needs some introduction because its the very first dish that I learned when I was in I guess 11th std. My friend Anshumita taught us chilly paneer, hakka noodles and veg manchurian after learning them in a chinese cooking class :-) I tried it at home and everyone became a big fan of it. After that I made it n number of times and became the chilly paneer expert in my family (I guess that was the only dish I could make at that age :D) It is still quite special to me because my husband LOVES it and pleads me to make it all the time.
The best chilly paneer is still the one you get in Cream Corner in Ramdampeth, Nagpur. We used to bunk college and go here to eat noodles, chilly paneer and mango milk shake :P miss those days!!

Ingredients (serves 2)
Batter: 1 tablespoon maida/all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornflour
Gravy: 250 g paneer cut in small cubes
soya sauce
chilly sauce
3-4 chillies cut thin and long
2-3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
tomato ketchup
1/4th spoon pepper powder
curry leaves (optional)
1 onion cut thin and long
1 green pepper cut thin and long
1/4th spoon aginomoto
1 sping onion cut in small pieces for garnishing

Method

Mix all purpose flour and cornflour and water to make a thick paste. Add salt to taste. Make sure the paneer dips in it and it coated completely. Deep fry these paneer pieces in oil till they turn golden brown in color.

Now take some oil in a pan. Add garlic and chillies in it (Add curry leaves now if you want). Add the chopped onions and green peppers to oil. Fry till they become soft. Now add soya sauce, chilly sauce, ketchup, pepper powder, salt to taste, sugar to taste, aginomoto and chilly powder if you don't have chilly sauce.
Add some cornflour to give the gravy some thickness. Add water if you wish to have gravy. Dont add water if you want dry chilly paneer (like an appetizer). Add the fried paneer pieces to this and let it cook for 5-10 min. Taste and add the sauces if necessary. Garnish the dish with some spring onions.

Goes well with chowmin or any noodles or fried rice.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I was in India I used to think of cookies as biscuits. Only after coming to US I got to know the real cookies that are crunchy on the circumference and soft in the center and I totally loved them. The recipe given here is not my own. Its given to me by my friend Bhushan. I tried them once and they came out really well. So I always follow this particular recipe leaving the 100s of chocolate chip recipes that you find on the net.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (Hershey's preferably )
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.
They should look better and thinner than the picture shown here. 

Tiramisu

I am a big fan of desserts. In general I like any sweet which has any dairy product as its ingredient. My most favorite dessert ever is Haldiram's Rasmalai which you get only in Nagpur and the next favorite is Tiramisu. Unfortunately I (and no one except Haldiram's) can make that awesome rasmalai. So I thought I should atleast learn to make my second favorite dessert and hence I went to this cooking class in San Jose. The recipe given here is taught by the lady who takes cooking classes in Cucina Bambini.
Tiramisu is all about coffee and cream and if you are a lover these two, I bet you will love Tiramisu. Other than this home-made tiramisu which is obviously awesome, you get good tiramisu in Cheesecake Factory and P F Chang's.

Ingredients (serves 5-6)

lady fingers (savoiardi brand if possible) - 2 packets

vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon

mascarpone cheese - 1 lb (arnd 500 gms)

heavy cream - 11/2 cups

sugar - 1/2 cup (add to taste)

marsala wine 

espresso coffee 

Method:

1. Let mascarpone come to room temperature. then beat until soft

2. Seperate bowl, beat cream, gradually add sugar and essence (beat until stiff peaks) be careful. even slight excess beating can spoil the cream. look up some videos just to be sure before you do this

3. Then FOLD the cream into the mascarpone. dont mix, but FOLD.

4. Brew the coffee and add some wine to it (few sppons). If you have instant coffee, just add some warm water to it and let it dissolve completely.

5. Dip the lady fingers in coffee and make a layer in a flat bowl. Layer the cream on top. Use half of ladyfingers and cream in the first layer. Add a second layer of ladyfingers dipped in coffee and wine mixture and top it off with remaining cream. Make the surface smooth and even using a knife.

6. For the topmost layer, grate chocolate and put chocolate shavings or sprinkle cocoa powder

7. Keep in fridge for atleast 2-3 hours before serving.

Note: I noticed that tiramisu tastes better the next day. So if you have a party at home, preferably make it the previous day and refrigerate.

Finished Tiramisu

Layering up



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