Aglio Olio / Pasta with Olive Oil and Garlic

The simplest of all pasta. How can a recipe be so easy to make and taste so luxurious?
Aglio = Garlic
Olio = Oil
This basic recipe has no vegetables added, but when they serve the same in restaurants either Mushrooms or Broccoli is added. How can explain the exorbitant cost otherwise?!

Ingredients for 1 person:
Pasta (preferably Spaghetti) - 150 gms
Olive Oil - 5 tbsp
Garlic chopped - 1 heaped tbsp
Chilly flakes - 1 tsp
Holy Basil to garnish (optional)

Method:
Boil the pasta in heavily salted water till cooked.
Warm the olive oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and add the garlic.
Once garlic sizzles and starts turning golden, add the chilly flakes.
Add the (cooked and) drained pasta and mix well.
Serve garnished with chopped basil leaves.

A side of crusty bread will soak up the beautiful oil!!

Easy Pasta with Tomatoes

You MUST make this. Especially on a holiday. When the whole family relaxes, you can make this dish in minutes and get so many 'wows'!
So easy, so tasty.
Just 3 main ingredients. Nothing fancy. Just tomato, garlic and cheese. It takes longer to cook the pasta than to make the tomato base! So you might want to start cooking the pasta before you start off with the tomato.

Serves - 2

Ingredients:
Pasta - 200 gms
Cherry tomato / tomato - 1/2 kg
Garlic - 6 cloves , chopped fine
Salt
Parmesan cheese - 1 cup
Olive oil - 5 tbsp

Method:
Boil the pasta in ample salted water till nearly cooked. Drain and toss in 1 tbsp olive oil.
If you are using ordinary tomato, cut them into large cubes. If you are using the cherry tomato, use them as they are.
Heat the rest of the olive oil and add the garlic.
Once it starts changing colour, add the whole tomato and salt.
Mix and cook covered.
Once it gets cooked, mash with the spoon and wait for more juice to ooze out.
Now add the pasta to this.
Toss and mix well and heat until the pasta gets heated through.
Add 1/2 cup parmesan and mix. Once well incorporated, turn off heat and serve topped with more cheese.
You can always garnish with some greens like basil, parsley or even celery.

Aubergine Roll

We had this amazing starter at Mocking Bird Cafe, Mumbai and my younger one who hates anything with Brinjal / aubergine wanted more!

Very easy to make and very tasty. If you have the red pasta sauce at hand, this recipe gets ready in a jiffy!

Ingredients:
Aubergine / Bharta Baingan
Olive oil - as required
Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce
Cheese spread - 1 tsp per aubergine slice*
(* if you are using plain, try adding some flavoring like pepper or rosemary)

Method:
Slice the aubergine into thin long slices.
Grill on each side using ample olive oil, until brown spots appear. Cool to room temperatre (or the cheese will melt).
Roll each grilled slice with cheese spread.
On the serving platter, dot with tomato sauce and place a roll on top.
Serve.

Blondie

Amazing cake. Sort of reminds me of the cake available in the local bakery during my younger days.
The recipe for the Brownie and Blondie is the same, just that the cocoa powder is completely omitted.
It is a lovely easy recipe. By the time the oven gets pre-heated, the batter will get ready.

Ingredients:
Sugar - 1 cup, powdered (can be reduced to 3/4 cup)
Fat (vegetable oil / butter at room temperature) - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 2
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Chopped almonds / walnuts - 1/2 cup (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven at 180 C for 10 minutes.
Sieve together flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in the some or all the chopped nuts and keep aside.

Beat the butter / oil and sugar until creamy and add eggs one at a time. Beat well.

Add the essence and mix well.
Add the sieved powders and fold well into the mixture. Do not beat.

Pour into the greased tray and decorate with any left over nuts.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes at 180 C.

Rava Dosa

No one can eat just one!!

If you do not have dosa batter at home , but you have the urge to eat dosa, then THIS is the dosa to make. No fermentation required. Crispy, tasty and easy to make.

Notes:

1. Unlike the ordinary dosa, where the batter is spread as a circle on the tawa, here the batter is splashed on the hot tawa to make a thin net. And since the dosa is extremely thin, we do not flip it.

2. Before you make each dosa, mix the batter very well, as the rava settles in the bottom.

3. Keep adding more water to the batter if it thickens.

Recipe courtesy: Mrs. Shefali Arvind and Mrs. Rajalakshmi Parameswaran (my mom)

My mom always adds Maida / All purpose flour in the batter, but my friend Shefali advised me to use whole wheat flour instead.

To make: 10 Rava Dosas

Ingredients:

Rava / Semolina - 1/2 cup

Rice flour - 1/4 cup

Wheat flour - 1/4 cup

Green chilly - 1, finely chopped

Ginger - 1 inch , finely chopped

Curry leaf - 1 sprig , chopped

Coriander leaf - 3 tbsp

Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp, chopped

Jeera / cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Pepper corn - 1 tsp, slightly crushed

Salt

Asafoetida powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil (preferably til / gingelly oil) - nearly 1 tbsp per dosa

Onion -1 large (optional)

Method:

Mix together all the above ingredients, except the til oil and onion.

Add just enough water to make a thick paste.

Leave aside for 10 minutes.

(enough time to make your chutney and possibly chop the onions!)

Add water, mix well and make a very thin batter.

Heat the tawa.

Spread some onions over it (if using).

Now using your hand, mix the batter well and sprinkle the batter over the hot tawa.
It will look like a net. Try to not sprinkle over areas you have already sprinkled on.

Wait for 30 seconds and drip some til oil over the dosa and around the edges.

When the dosa starts browning and edges start leaving the sides....fold (no need to flip) and transfer to serving plate.

Enjoy with chutney / dosa podi.

Rasgulla

Really? Is it that easy to make rasgullas??

If I tell you that the paneer / cheese from curdled milk, if kneaded well and then poached in sugar syrup, is the recipe for rasgulla, would you believe me?

Let's make rasmalai another day. Today I will show / tell you how I made my rasgullas.
I have underlined the important points you have to be careful about. It is an easy recipe, so don't worry.

Recipe courtesy : Mrs. Pushkala Mani
She uses 4 litres of milk which yields her nearly 80-100 rasgullas depending on the size of the rolled balls. I made with 1 litre and got 25 rasgullas.

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 litre

for curdling milk:

Curd - 6 to 8 tbsp (or)
Lemon juice - 1-2 tbsp

For kneading with paneer:

Rava / semolina - 1/2 tsp

Maida / all purpose flour- 1/8 tsp

For poaching:

Sugar - 1 cup

Water - 4 cups

Rose water / cardamom powder / strands of saffron - optional - for flavor

Method:

Boil milk and add the curd / lime juice in a diluted form, by the spoonful till the milk curdles.

Use a thin muslin cloth over a sieve to separate the cheese / paneer from the whey.

Wash this paneer (inside the cloth) under running water for 1 minute and squeeze.

Hang the cloth with the paneer to drain out excess water. There is no need to put any weight over the cheese.

After 20 minutes, take out the paneer and add the maida and rava to it.

Knead. Knead well with your knuckles. This is the MOST IMPORTANT STEP.

The kneaded dough must start giving out it's oil and you must be able to make a cohesive ball.

Start boiling the 4 cups of water with 1 cup of sugar in a large vessel which will have ample space to accommodate all the paneer balls.

Make small perfect balls with the kneaded dough.

Tip: You can keep a pinch of sugar inside each ball. This enhances the sweetness of the paneer balls and also as this sugar melts on cooking, it creates an air pocket.

When the water starts boiling add in the balls one by one.

Keep the water boiling on a steady medium flame and cook covered for 20 minutes. Do not increase or decrease flame as any fluctuation in temperature affects the 'look' of the rasgullas.

After 20 minutes, turn off flame and add the rose water / cardamom / saffron, if using.

Look at how they have expanded!!

To check if your rasgullas are ready, pick one and add to a glass of water. If it sinks to the bottom, then it is cooked. Otherwise boil covered for a further 5 minutes.

Cool to room temperature and taste your lovely rasgullas!!

Doughnnut

Vacations are here! Time for some high carb diet...
My mom always says that vacations are the time "kids put on height and weight"!!

                                                                 DOUGHNUTS!!
Sweet, deep fried and smothered in chocolate!
Each recipe I found had eggs in it or had too much 'work' (read: knead, reknead, etc!)
This recipe by Nisha Madhulika is easy to make and my kids approved the taste!!

Yield : 16

Ingredients:
Maida / All Purpose Flour -2 cups
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Yeast -1 tsp
Butter - 1/4 cup (room temperature)
salt - 1 pinch
Milk - between 1/2 and 3/4 cup - lukewarm
Oil for deep frying
Powdered sugar - for coating
Chocolate for glazing

Take a large deep bowl.
Mix together the flour, sugar, yeast and salt.
Add in the butter and mix till the flour resembles bread crumbs.
Use the milk, little at a time to make a smooth dough.
Knead the dough well for 5 minutes.
Dust the rolling surface and roll out the dough into a circle of 1/2 inch thickness.
Then cut out doughnuts using a big circle (I used a katori) and then a small circle in the middle (I used a medicine measure)

Use the inside bits and the outside to make more doughnuts.
To prevent drying, apply some oil o the tops of each doughnut ring.
Keep covered  and allow to rise for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, heat the oil in a deep kadai / dish and keep the flame low.
Fry till golden and drain on absorbent paper.

As you can see in the above picture, the oil was too hot when I fried the balls.
Keep the flame low.

Take each doughnut and immerse in the powdered sugar. Shake off excess sugar and keep aside.

Melt the chocolate on a double boiler and cool a little.
Dip one side of the doughnut in the chocolate.
Your Chocolate doughnut is ready.

You can fill your doughnut with cream or jam, if you please.
Decoration options include sprinkles, toasted nuts, dried coconut etc..

Apple Betty

Am I getting obsessed with dessert? Or is it that we are getting 'sophisticated' and wanting desserts during dinner?

I seem to be baking every other day!

But this dessert is egg-less and EASY to bake. By the time the oven heats up, the mix is done.
Tastes best when warm from the oven.

Last Sunday, my elder daughter who is writing her XII boards would not accompany us for a family reunion, but around 9 pm the 'creeps' set in. It would subside only if she had dessert from a family favorite eatery - avenue centre!

One taste and I was transported to a time when I had made this dish, around 3 years ago. 

A simple apple crumb! I recreated it at home!

Anyway this dish is called Apple 'Brown' Betty and has an interesting history.

Read about it here.

Use a 9 inch pan

Preheat Oven - 190 C

Ingredients:

Apple - peeled, cored and chopped - 2 cups

Flour / Maida - 3/4 cup

Sugar - powdered - 1 cup

Cinnamon + clove - powdered - 1 tbsp

Orange / lime juice - 1/4 cup

Butter - cut into 1cm cubes and frozen - 1/2 cup

Method:

Arrange the apple on the pan and pour the orange juice over the top to prevent dis-colouration.

Place the flour, spices, sugar together and mix well.

Pour this into a mixie bowl / chopper / mincer.

Add the frozen cut butter and run the mixer in short bursts till the mix looks like bread crumbs. Do not over beat.

Pour this mix over the apple.

There is no need to press.

Place this in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Done.

Serve with ice cream / whipped cream.

Milk peda

I dedicate this post to my cousin Ravi Anand whose love for 'doodh-beda' is legendary. During school summer vacation every trip from my home town Trichur to my uncle Ananthakrishnan's place in Cochin used to have a halt at Milma depot, Edapally for this tasty sweet.

In the olden days, milk used to be cooked for hours to make this sweet.

But this recipe is made in the microwave using 3 ingredients. And in 3 minutes, it is ready. 

How easy is that??

When you have unexpected guests coming home in 'about 15-20 minutes' and there is no sweet to serve them, this recipe is there for your rescue.

My aunt had told my mom this recipe, which was forgotten till today, when I had some Gujarathi guests coming in 'about 15-20 minutes'! 😃

Ingredients:

Butter

Sweetened condensed milk ( Nestle milkmaid or Amul mithai mate)

Milk powder

Few strands of saffron

Garnish:

Slivers of pistachio and almonds and crushed cardamom seeds

Ratio

1 butter :1 condensed milk : 4 milk powder

Meaning :

If you use 1 cup butter, use 1 cup Sweetened Condensed milk and 4 cups milk powder.

I used:

Butter - 1/2 cup

Sweetened Condensed milk - 1/2 cup

Milk powder - 2 cups

Recipe:

Melt the butter in the microwave.

Mix in the sweetened condensed milk, milk powder and saffron. 

Put this mixture in the microwave and heat in high power for 1 minute.

Mix the hot mixture again and microwave again for 1 minute.

Repeat the mixing and heating for 1 more minute.

Take it out of the microwave oven and transfer to a large plate.

When it cools to a temperature you can handle, knead well.

Microwave the pistachio, almond and cardamom seed powder for 30 seconds.

Into a mould first add the nuts and top it with the peda mixture. Press and unmould.

Your doodh peda is ready for serving.

10 minute cupcake

Husband : I was hungry so I ate I one of those cupcakes you had baked for the kids. It was good. So I had 1 more. Then 1 more!!

Total count : 3!!

And the best part is they are very easy to make!!
When I made it , the first time, they came out so yummy, I was forced to make another batch for the kids to take to school. But it was so easy, I did not mind at all!

After I send the kids off, the first thing I did was to call up my friends and share the easy recipe with them! They too hit jackpots!! One of them even made some for a charity sale at school!!

If you don't mind beating eggs in your mixer / mixie bowl, then this recipe gets ready in a jiffy.

Yield - 10-12 medium cupcakes

Ingredients:

Sugar - 1/2 cup, powdered

Oil - 1/2 cup

Eggs - 2

Milk - 1/4 cup

Maida / all purpose flour - 1 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Essence - 1 tsp

(strawberry concentrate, orange essence, almond essence, vanilla)

Options:

If you want to bake chocolate cup cakes, then just remove 2 tbsp of flour and add 2 tbsp of cocoa powder. Use vanilla / chocolate / orange essence.

To be done ahead:

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Line 12 cupcake moulds and keep ready.

Method:

Sieve the flour and baking powder with cocoa powder (if using) and keep aside.

Beat the oil and sugar for 1 minute.

Beat in 1 egg at a time.

Mix the milk with the essence and add to the sugar + oil + egg mix.

Next add the sieved flour and baking powder. Do not beat the flour in, just mix well.

Pour into the prepared cupcake moulds and bake for 10-15 minutes.

The skewer must come out clean when inserted in the middle.

Rajasthani beans curry

Last sunday I was in no mood to cook. But this recipe posted on the Facebook page "Chef At Large" by Mr.Narendra Gupta - "Gwarfali ki Rajasthani subzi" had to be tried. It sounded sooo easy. And when I made it, the house was filled with the most appetising aroma.

Original recipe had used 'kothamara' (gowraphalli / cluster beans) , I used 'kovakka' (tindora) instead. Feel free to try out this recipe with 'achinga' (string beans) too.

Ingredients:
String Beans or Cluster beans or Tindora - cut into 2 inch long pieces - 1 cup
Curd - 1 cup
salt
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder -1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garlic crushed - 4 cloves
oil - 2 tbsp
Ajwain / Carom seed / ayamodakam - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaf for garnish.

Method:
Mix together the curd, crushed garlic, salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder.
Heat oil in the pressure cooker. Splutter the ajwain and add the curd mixture. It will curdle almost immediately. Boil for 1 minute and add the vegetables in with 1/2 cup water.
Pressure cook - 1 whistle for string beans and cluster beans; 2 whistles for the tindola.
When the pressure goes, open and serve hot garnished with coriander leaves.