Vegetable upma

Bored with boring cereals in breakfasts? I know how exactly food affects mood and behavior, especially on the start of the day. A healthy breakfast is a best way to prep your day. 

Upma (spicy semolina) is widely popular in southern India. It is considered very healthy for breakfasts. It is rich in carbs and other nutrients. Also it is filling and gives satiety. Make your breakfast special and more healthy with goodness of vegetables in upma.

It takes approximately 12-15 minutes to prepare vegetable upma. There is no limitation for adding vegetables, color your plate with as much of vegetables you like. Make it healthy, have fun.

You will need, Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup semolina/rava/sooji
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds 
• 1/2 sprig curry leaves 
• 1/4 cup cabbage, finely chopped
• 1/2 medium sized carrots, grated
• 1/2 capsicum, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp green peas (optional)
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• Salt to taste 
• 1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

Method:

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add mustard seeds and let them sputter. Add cumin seeds and curry leaves and sauté them till a nice aroma emanates the kitchen.

Add carrots, cabbage, capsicum and green peas. Keep sautéing with a wooden spoon and sprinkle ground black pepper and salt. 

Add 1/2 cup water and cover with a lid for 2-3 minutes until all vegetables are cooked.

Uncover the lid and mix semolina in the sautéed vegetables. Maintain medium heat and sauté semolina for 3-4 minutes with vegetables.

Add 1 cup of water and stir. It will quickly soak and become thick solid, add again 1/2 cup of water as required. Mix well and cover with a lid for 7-8 minutes.

Uncover the lid in between to stir and check whether it's cooked or not. Add little water if required.

When it's done, sprinkle chopped coriander and serve hot, immediately.

Enjoy!

Atte ka halwa

It's been long I haven't posted something authentic and traditional. I lately made Atte ka halwa, (wheat flour sweet dish) one of my favorite Indian sweet dish. It has soft and warm, sheera like texture, which instantly melts in your mouth and makes it impossible for you to say a No for this dish.

It is one of the most delicious and iresistable sweet dish I have ever made. It is delectable, healthy and simple to prepare. I bet once you make this dish, you will be amazed how easy it is to prepare.

There are two ways to prepare this dish, either use sugar or jaggery, both yield great results. I always use jaggery, it is healthier than sugar. 

You will need, Ingredients:

• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup ghee/oil
• 150g jaggery/sugar
• 1/2 tsp cardamon powder 
• Dry fruits to garnish

Step 1:

Boil jaggery/sugar in 1 cup water, until melted. 

In a saucepan, heat ghee/oil and add flour. Keep stirring for 10-12 minutes. Cook until the flour changes to brown in color. Sprinkle cardamon powder.

Note: maintain medium heat, keep stirring to avoid burning.

Step 2:

As the color changes to brown, mix melted jaggery/sugar in the four.

Now stir faster until the texture turns thick and smooth. Turn the heat off immediately.

Note:  Stir faster when adding melted Jaggery/sugar to avoid lumps. 

Top with dryfruits. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Banana canapés

I keep on experimenting with bananas, this time it's banana canapés. Canapés served with banana filling, cooked in sugar and milk, and with goodness of cashews and coconut. Yummy, isn't?

Prepare this banana delights in no time. Each flavor blends well the other and makes this snack nectareous, scrumptious and sweet.

It approximately takes 10 minutes to prepare the banana filling. It tastes best when it's served warm.

You will need, Ingredients:

• 10-12 small canapés 

• 2 large bananas, mashed

• 3 tbsp sugar

• 1/2 cup milk 

• 2 tbsp desiccated coconut

• 13-15 cashews, halved

Step 1:

Heat a non-stick pan, add mashed bananas and sugar. Cook until sugar is melted.

Keep adding milk, 1 tbsp at a time. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon.Add desiccated coconut and turn the heat off. 

Chop 4-5 cashews and mix in the banana mixture.

Step 2:

Fill each canapés with 1 tbsp banana filling. Place 2 halved cashews on each canapé.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Chilli chicken rolls in herbs & celery

Wow! These rolls are amazing. The picture speaks for itself! Simply delicious and scrumptious. 

I wanted to share this recipe two weeks before but I was caught up in some work and I totally forgot to post this super delicious recipe.

So this rolls are not only delicious but they are extremely easy to make. When I say easy, I mean it! I made in 20 minutes, may be less than that. 

Garnish with fresh celery to make it more palatable. It's perfect for evening snacks. All kiddos will go crazy for sure, they will relish till the end.

If you like you can add some grated cheese on top. baby corns,carrots and more veggies are welcomed to enhance the taste. Serve with hot and sweet tomato sauce.

You will need, Ingredients:

• 10-12 medium sized foot long buns

• 2 tbsp cooking oil

• 500g boneless chicken, small pieces

• 7-8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 

• 1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

• 1 medium sized capsicum, chopped 

• 1 small onion, chopped, 1/2 inch sized

• 1/2 tsp ajinomoto 

• 1 tsp white pepper

• 1 tbsp green chilly sauce

• 1 tbsp soya sauce 

• 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce 

• 1 tsp thyme

• 1/2 tsp rosemary 

• Salt to taste

• 1/2 bunch celery, chopped 

Step 1:

Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add ginger and garlic, and sauté for sometime. Add chopped chicken and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add onions and capsicum. Add white pepper, ajinomoto and all sauces one after each other. Keep sautéing until chicken is cooked. 

Sprinkle thyme and rosemary. Turn the heat off, sprinkle celery.

Step 2:

Slit one side of each foot long buns. Fill each buns with sautéed chicken. 

Serve with hot and sweet tomato sauce.

Baby corn soup

Oriental soups are best, they are healthy and simple to make. Baby corn soup in oriental style is a delight on a wintery night. It's filled with goodness of chicken and mushrooms and garnished with fresh cilantro, making it a perfect well balanced soup.

I never made baby corns soup before, and in my first attempt it turned great. Best thing about this soup is most of the ingredients will be easily available in your pantry. You can even add extra vegetables as you like, to make your soup flavorsome. 

If you are looking for delectable and flavorful soups to be served in dinner for your family, then this soup is perfect. Make this rich and healthy soup in less than 30 minutes. Here's the recipe below.

You will need, Ingredients:

• 200g boneless chicken 

• 1 cup baby corn, sliced

• 1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
• 1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp green chilies, finely chopped
• 1/4 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
• 4-5 mushrooms, finely chopped

• 1/4 cup cabbage, finely chopped (optional)

• 1 small green capsicum, finely chopped

• 1 tsp pepper

• 1/2 tsp ajinomoto
• 1 tsp soya sauce
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 3 tbsp oil
• Salt as required

Note: Skip chicken to make vegetarian soup.

Method:

Boil chicken in 5 cups of water. Shred the chicken and keep the stock aside.

In a saucepan, stir fry the ginger, garlic, half of chopped cilantro and green chilies for about 2 minutes.

Add baby corns and all the vegetables with shredded chicken in the mixture. Add pepper, ajinomoto and salt and stir fry 2-3 times.

Add the soya sauce, stock ( or water if making vegetarian soup) and let it boil, reduce the heat and add the cornflour mixed with half cup of water and stir constantly till it thickens slightly. Sprinkle remaining cilantro.

Remove from heat and serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

Pita sandwich

After baking the pita bread I went the unconventional way to make my pita sandwich filling. I'll admit, i was running late so i decided to make sandwiches in a hurry. No doubt, it turned amazing and everyone enjoyed till it lasted.

I was excited to use homemade lebanese garlic dip, I made 2 days back. I am so in love with this dip, I keep on making again and again.

Luckily I had chicken marinated in herbs already. That actually takes at least an hour or two to be marinated. Cutting vegetables needs a little neat job, no one likes the thick vegetable pieces in their sandwiches. 

You will need, Ingredients:

For marinating chicken:

• 500g boneless chicken breast
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1 tbsp of tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp of plain (Greek) yogurt
• 1 tbsp of white vinegar
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of salt (or to taste)
• ½ tsp of oregano (or thyme)
• 1 tsp of chilly flakes

Vegetables for the filling:

• 8-10 Pita bread, halved
• 1 medium carrot, julienned
• 4 large mushrooms halved, thinly sliced 
• 1 small capsicum, julienned
• 50g baby corns, julienned
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Pinch of ground black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 150g iceberg lettuce

Step 1: Marinate the chicken!

Rinse the boneless chicken breasts with fresh cold water. Cut into pieces with a sharp knife. Sieve all the water from the chicken before marinating.

Mix all the ingredients (see the marinating chicken ingredient list) in a blender, add to a bowl and mix well with the chicken, cover and let it marinate in the fridge at least for two hours.

Step 2: 

When ready, grill the marinated chicken until cooked. Like I said I was in a hurry, I sautéed in a non-stick pan until cooked, using 1 tbsp olive oil.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan, sauté all the vegetables for 5 minutes. Vegetables should be crunchy, make sure not to overcook. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

Step 3:

Shred the chicken thinly as desired and it’s now ready to be added into a pita Pockets. 

Spread the chicken shreds in the pita pockets, spread a bit of Lebanese Garlic paste, add some sautéed vegetables, and some lettuce.

serve warm with salad and hot & sweet tomato sauce. In case if you prepare it early, microwave for a minute and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Homemade Pita Bread

Homemade pita bread is irresistibly delicious and fresh. I must say, baking a bread is fun especially when you end up with a perfect well done bread. 

Lot of people have asked me, why do I need to make bread at home when they are readily available in stores. My answer is unless you try your hand at it you will never know. As the bread turns perfect, you really get immense pleasure.

Baking pita bread is not a rocket science, anybody can make. It's so far the most easiest bread I have ever baked. I made in less than an hour.

Serve pita bread filled with lebanese garlic dip mixed in chicken, lettuce and other veggies.

You will need, Ingredients: 

Makes up to 8-10 pita bread.

• 25g fresh yeast (1 Tbsp dry yeast)
• 1 tsp sugar 
• 150g all purpose flour
• 10g margarine
• 1 tsp salt

Baking temperature: 180'C

Baking time: 10-12 minutes

Step 1:

Add sugar in yeast with 1 tbsp water in a small bowl. Cover the yeast with a lid for 5 minutes or until the fermentation bubbles appear.

Mix yeast in flour. Knead flour with water. Make sure to not to use too much of water. Mix margarine with salt and mix it on the dough. 

Lightly flour the kitchen counter or any work surface, turn the dough on the floured work surface. Knead the dough, stretch it, fold it, turn it 90 degree and repeat. Knead for 7-8 minutes by hand. Keep dusting the work surface with flour to prevent the dough from sticking to hand and to the work surface.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 230'C. Dust some flour on the Surface. Place the dough on dusted surface and cover it with a damp muslin cloth for 20 minutes. The dough will rise.

Step 2:

Uncover the dough, divide the dough into small 8-10 equal pieces. Roll each into long oval shape. Roll into thin or thick bread layer as you like.

Bake the pita bread for 10 minutes on a greased baking tray.

The bread will puff up.

Cool on a wire rack. Halve the pita bread to get pockets. 

Previously I made thick pita bread and it looked something like this-

Anyways this time I preferred rolling thin bread layer and they were good too. Fill the pita bread with Pita sandwich filling.

Serve with hot & sweet tomato sauce and salad. 

Enjoy!

Seekh kababs

Omg! This recipe totally surprised me. It turned super delicious at one shot. Seriously! if you are looking out for some real authentic recipe for seekh kababs, then you are at right place. 

My curious head always pushes me to try out new recipes and to be honest I never share the recipes if it turns bad. I personally recommend this to anyone who is looking for homemade seekh kababs. This recipe is undoubtedly amazing and easy.

If you must be checking my blog regularly, then you must have noticed my recurrent use of chicken as an ingredient in most of my recipes. 

I just want to disclose that I love chicken! In fact I call myself as chickentarian!...( I created that word FYI...)

But don't worry I always mention the alternative option. I made seekh kababs using minced chicken, you can use lamb mince too.

You will need, Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• • 4-5 green chillies, or to taste
• • 4-5 large cloves of garlic
• • 2.5cm piece root ginger
• • 2 meduim potatoes
• • 500g chicken/lamb mince
• • 3/4 cup gram flour
• • Salt to taste
• • 1 tbsp ground red pepper, or to taste
• • 1 tbsp ground coriander
• • 1 tbsp ground cumin
• • 1 tsp aniseed powder

• • 1/4 bunch finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
• • 1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
• • 2 tbsp ghee/oil 
• • 1/2 lemon, juiced
• • 15 bamboo skewers, soaked in water

Step 1:

Semi boil potatoes, peel and finely grate them. Keep it aside.

Process the onion, green chillies, garlic and root ginger in a food processor until finely chopped.

In a large bowl, combine the onion mixture and the potatoes with the chicken/lamb mince and the remaining ingredients. Mix well. 

Cover and leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight.

Step 2:

Take handfuls of the mixture and wrap around each skewer in the shape of a sausage. 

Place under a hot grill at the highest setting, or cook on a barbecue heated to high heat, or place the skewers in OTG oven at 230'C for 20 minutes. 

Note: Grease the tray with oil while using an oven.

Turn over once whilst cooking. Kababs are done when both sides are crisp and browned, and when juices run clear.

Serve hot with slices of onion,lemon wedges and mint chutney.

Enjoy!

Oats in Haleem Style

Holy Moly! This is amazing. This recipe is always a hit. Never thought oats can be used in such a great way. Oats in Haleem style is very healthy and delectable. It'a my all time favorite dish.

I took this recipe two years back from one of my aunt and since then I prepare this dish very often. The reason I prepare it very often is because it's unbelievably easy and fast to prepare.

If you enjoy Haleem then you will definitely love this dish. Prepare in chicken or mutton, both are delicious in taste. Follow the simple instructions.

You will need, Ingredients:

• 200g boneless chicken or mutton  

• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

• 2 tbsp oil + more for frying onions

• 3-4 cloves of garlic

• 2-3 green chillies

• 4-5 curry leaves (optional)

• 4 tbsp oats

• 1 tsp white pepper

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 tsp garam masala

• Salt to taste 

• 1 cup milk

• 1/4 bunch chopped coriander 

• 2 large onion 

• Mint leaves for garnish

Step 1:

Boil chicken/mutton with ginger garlic paste in 3-4 cups of water. Shred chicken/mutton and keep the stock aside.

Note: If preparing in mutton, use pressure cooker for fast result.

Step 2:

Heat oil in a saucepan. Add chopped garlic, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Keep stirring for a minute and add oats. Sauté oats for 3-4 minutes and mix white pepper, ground black pepper and garam masala. Add salt as required.

Add shredded chicken/mutton and then milk to the oats mixture. The mixture will thicken. Add chicken/mutton stock. Cook for 2 minutes more. Add water accordingly if the mixture is too thick.

In an other pan, heat sufficient oil and fry onions till golden brown. Drain fried onions on an absorbent paper.

Mix half of the fried onions and chopped coriander in cooked oats. Stir well and serve hot. 

Garnish with mint leaves and remaining fried onions on top.

Enjoy!

Mix herbs bread

Baking a bread is fun. Once you learn the technique of baking breads then you can bake whatever you like. I made this bread when I was making chicken and mushroom pizza.

As I realized I've exceeded the quantity for pizza dough, I utilized the same dough for a mix herb loaf. Just a little bit of addition to the same dough yielded a superb mix herb bread.

You will need, Ingredients:

• 150g All purpose flour

• 20g yeast

• 15g sugar

• 1 egg

• 15g margarine

• 7g salt

• 1 tbsp mix herbs 

• 1 tbsp cooking oil

Baking temperature: 200'C

Baking time: 20-25 minutes.

Step 1: 

Mix yeast with sugar and 1 tbsp water. Pour it over the centre of a dough and leave it to rest for 5 minutes or until yeast bubbles appear.

You will see lots of bubbles. Mix the yeast in flour. Beat an egg and mix in the flour. Knead the flour using water occasionally. 

Too much of water will spoil the dough, be careful while using water. Mix Margarine with salt. Spread it on the dough entirely. The dough texture should be soft and non-sticky. In case of lumpy texture, use flour to balance the dough softness.

Cover the dough with a damp muslin cloth and leave it to rise undisturbed for 10 minutes.  

Step 2:

Preheat the oven at 200'C. Uncover the dough, hit against the surface and knock the air bubbles out of the dough. 

Mix oil with mixed herbs, spread it entirely on the dough. Knead the dough lightly. Cover the dough with a damp cloth for 5 minutes again.

Step 3:

Spread some flour on a surface. Uncover the dough and hit on the surface to remove the air bubbles. 

With light fingers, lift the ends of the dough and roll it easily.

Keep rolling with light fingers.

Tuck the edges while rolling.

Turn the rolled dough, pinch the appearing line to avoid loaf breaking.

Place it on a greased tray.

Cover again with a damp cloth and place it on top of the heated oven. Allow it to proof (rise) for 5-10 minutes.

Step 4:

Once done, uncover the dough. Sprinkle some mix herbs.

Egg or milk wash with a brush on top of the dough for beautiful golden-brown color, sprinkle some water on the dough. (I forgot to click a picture of this stage) 

Note: Don't miss egg/milk wash stage following with sprinkling of water. It maintains bread's softness.

Finally pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 200'C. Your bread will rise more after baking. 

Allow it to cool. Carefully remove the bread from the tray with a pallet knife. Cool it on a wire rack.

Slice the bread with a sawing technique for perfect slices.

 Enjoy!

For any queries, ask questions on a comment section. Have fun.