Paneer-Cheese Toast

Ingredients-

Makes upto 4 sandwiches

Grated Paneer – 1cup
Grated cheese (mozzarella or Cheddar or anyother prefered cheese ) – 1cup
Green Capsicum finely chopped – 1/2 cup
Tomatoes deseeded and finely chopped – 1/2cup
Onions Finely chopped – ½ cup
Coriander/Cilantro Finely chopped – 2tbs
Green Chilies Finely chopped – 1tsp or according to taste
Crushed red pepper – ¼ tsp (optional)
Freshly ground pepper – 1/2 tsp
Milk or cream to mix the mixture together - 1tbsp or as required
Bread slices – 4 to 6
Salt to taste

Note-
This can be made like an open sandwich by applying the mixture on one bread slice and roasting it on low flame till the cheese melts.

Method-
Mix everything together except the bread. Roast the bread a little on the pan on both the sides. Now take a bread slice, apply the mixture on the top and cover it with another slice. Apply some butter or cooking spray on the pan and roast the sandwich on both the sides till the cheese melts. Serve hot with ketchup and lettuce :)

Spicy Aloo

This is the recipe which my mother used to make for navratri fast along with Sabudana khichadi and ginger tea. As kids we never used to keep fast but used to love this dish. Loads of good memories attached to it. Though I can’t make exactly the same way my mother makes but I gave it a shot and it came out well. Here I have given the recipe, I hope you guys enjoy it.

Ingredients-
Serves 4

Boiled and cubes potatos – 3 cups
Lemon juice – 1tbsp
curry leaves – 4-5
Coriander seeds – 2tbsp
Red chilies – 2
Cumin seeds- 2tsp
Asafetida/Hing – a pinch(optional)
Turmeric powder – 1/2tsp (optional)
Mango Powder/Amchur- 1/2tsp
Garam Masala powder – ½ tsp(optional)
Green coriander for garnishing
Salt to taste

Note- You can add ½ cup of roasted and coarsely ground peanuts to it which gives it a good crunch. When making for fast avoid garam masala and turmeric.

Method-
Take all the whole spices(keep 1tsp of cumin seeds aside for tampering), roast them on slow heat till a nice aroma starts coming. Allow them to cool naturally and make powder of the spices. If you don’t want to do all this you can take all the spices in powder form.Mix them and microwave it for 10-20 sec. Microwave temperature varies so just make sure not to burn the spices since its in the dry form.

In pan take 2 tsp of oil. When its hot add 1tsp of cumin seeds.Ones it starts spluttering add curry leaves. Cook for 10 seconds and now add cubes boiled potatoes. Add salt and Turmeric.Cover it and cook it for 2-3 mins. Now add the powdered spices and salt. Mix well, cover the pan and cook it on medium flame for around 3-4 mins so that all the flavor of spices goes into the potatoes. Turn off the heat, add leamon juice, garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Besan Chilla/Dosa(Gram Flour Pancake)

Ingredients-
Serves 2

Besan/Gram flour- 1 1/2 cup
Rice flour (optional)- 1/4 cup
Grated zucchini- 1/2 cup
Grated carrot - 1/2 cup
Chopped coriander - 2 tbsp
Chopped Green chillies - as per taste
Grated Ginger- 1 tsp
Garam Masala- 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt as per taste.

Note- Rice flour helps in making the chilla/dosas crispy n makes the spreading of batter on pan easy. You can use any veges like finely chopped onions, grated squash or may be chopped spinach. Some people put Tomato too but I think it makes the chilla/dosas bit soft.

Method-
Make thick batter of all the ingredients with water. Add 1 tsp of oil (to make it crispy) in the batter. Put the pan on the flame (i prefer non-stick to avoid sticking and excess oil). grease the pan with 1/4 tsp of oil. Now make small pan cakes with the batter. Cook it both the sides by applying little oil. Serve hot with pickle or chutney or mango/peach salsa :)

Banana -Strawberry Milkshake

This is my entry for JFI:Banana event.
In the morning when I want something healthy and quick I like this milkshake along with my cereals. It hardly takes me 5 mins to make it and in summers it's a bless :)

Ingredients-
Serves 1

Ripe Banana – 1
Strawberries – 2-3
Vanilla Ice cream – 1 scoop(optional)
Milk – 1 cup
Sugar to taste

Method-
Blend all the ingredients together along with some crushed ice. Banana Strawberry milkshake is ready to serve. Serve chilledIsn’t it easy and quick?

Namkeen

This is again a very simple dish to cook and people from different region cook it in different way. If I am not wrong its called 'Vagharlela bhaat' in marathi and in my house it's called as 'Namkeen'. This is one of the dishes which I can eat almost every day. In my school days I have taken this daily in my lunch box for almost 2 years:) It was a major hit amongst my friends. So here is the recipe...

Ingredients-
Serves 2

Cooked Rice - 3 cups
Peanuts - 1/4 cup
Green peas - 1/4 cups
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1tbsp
sliced Onions- 1 cup
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
oil- 3tbsp
Kadi patta-3-4
Green chillies (as per taste)
Salt (as per taste)
For Garnishing-
Tomatoes(optional) - 1/2 cup
Grapes(optional)-1/2cup
Cucumber(optional)-1/4cup

Note- Rice should be preferably left over from the previous night or cooked 1-2 hrs in advance. This will prevent it sticking to the pan else it will become too soggy. I have used Basmati Rice but it tastes equally yummy with other rices too.

Method-
In a pan take oil. When its hot add peanuts. Roast it on medium heat for few minutes. When it will become slight brown in color add cumin and mustard seeds. when seeds will start spluttering add kadi patta and chopped green chillies. After 10-15 seconds add onions. Cook it for around 2 min till it becomes golden brown. Now add green peas. Cook it for 2 min. Add salt and termeric powder. stir it well and add cooked rice. Reduce the heat to low and mix it well. cover it and cook it for 2-3 min.if you want to add tomatoes this is the time to add chopped tomatoes. Add and cover the pan. The steam from the rice will cook the tomatoes. They will not become soggy but cooked and crunchy. Sprinkle some green coriander. Sever it hot. I garnish it with chopped cucumber and grapes. And if you don't have cucumber or grapes, squeeze some fresh lemon juice and it will increase the taste. Enjoy!!!

Idli, Dosa & Uttapam

I think this is the simplest way of making Idli, dosa and uttapam. These are one of my favourite dishes. I want them at least once a week. But I hate all the work which is needed for making them. So here is something which my husband's taught me. It super quick idea of making fluffy Idlies,crispy Dosas and Uttapam.


Ingredients-
Rice Flour- 2 1/4 cup
Udar Flor- 1 cup
Dry Yeast - 1 tsp (I use Star Active dry yeast)
Salt to taste

Method-

Idli-

Mix Rice and Udad flour (which you will easily get in any Indian store),
add water as per the requirement(add little water at a time). Beat it till it forms a good paste. It requires loads of hardwork to mix the flour so I will recommend a hand blender for beating. The flour should be thick enough (thicker than the pouring consistancy). After that sprinkle the dry yeast
and keep it covered overnight (around 8-10 hrs). In the morning its size
will become almost double. so remember to take a big vessel. Before making Idlies or dosa add salt according to your taste. Mix it well. Grease the idli mould, add 1tbsp batter in each mould (it will become double the size) and steam the idlies for almost 6-7 mins. I use cooker without the whistle (My mother-in-law's trick). I use almost a cup and half of water (the lowest level of the idli stand should be above the water so you should adjust accordingly) Keep it on high flame for initial 2 min then on low flame for almost 3-4 min. You can open the cover of the cooker and see whether idlies are done or not (for that I poke a knife in the idli and if it's coming out easily and clean, its done). Allow the cooker to cool naturally and tadaaaa.... your idlies are ready to server. yummmmy!!! Serve it with hot sambhar and chutney.

Dosa-

I prefer the batter to be bit thinner as compared to idli batter. The trick is you should be able to make dosas smoothly. So adjust the water accordingly.

Uttapam-

I use the same consistenncy batter which I use for the Dosa.
Add onion, tomato, coriander and green chillies in that and server it hot

Note- After using the batter, keep it in the fridge as Yeast keeps on fermenting in a high speed and this way it will ferment very slowly and batter will last for a longer time. If possible don't keep the batter for more than a day as it will start smelling coz of over fermentation.