Im clearing my drafts now!! It has been loaded with a lot of pictures and recipes and since i was not in a mood from jan onwards because of this pregnancy and my dads death. Now that its a long weekend here i decided why not clear one by one! still digging out the right pictures! This is my first cooked food and it was yummy i guarantee you!!

Thawed Amul Paneer cubes – i used around 30 cubes

For the marinade:

After Ramadan its back to normal life. We all miss the fasting, waking up for sehri, the iftaari… Eid was on Sunday in Singapore ans the next 2 days we had lot of gettogethers and lots of friends visiting us..  So only today everything turned to normal. Another thing is we started with Extra Virgin Olive oil for cooking. Im still looking out for whether its compatible with Indian cooking.. so far no taste difference and i’m loving it!

i wanted to cook something very simple today so this came up in my mind..  a very simple recipe which will go well with roti and rice.

3-4 large potatoes peeled and cut and boiled. But should not be soft and mushy.

1 tsp jeera / cmin seeds

1 medium size onion chopped finely

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp red chili pwder

1/2 tsp turmeric pwdr

1/2 coriander pwdr

1/2 tsp roasted cumin pwdr

salt to taste

olive oil fr frying

Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel. Add jeera and onions together. When the onions are brown add the ginger garlic paste. Keep on stirring and add red chilli pwdr and turmeric pwdr and mix well. After this add potatoes, coriander, cumin pwders and salt and mix well.

Close and cook for another few mts.

Everyday i think what should i make for dinner sometimes i repeat the same thing twice a week. To avoid that i have made a timetable for the whole month! So every monday is parata day kiddos sure love it! This time i decided to make mooli parata.

Now that i brought an electric oven i have been in a mood to bake n grill… so fa i made choc chip cookies and oatmeal cookies.. both of them have been so fast moving that i didn’t even have time to take a pic and post it! LOL!!

today morning i thought i would make some garlic bread.. But then i thought it would be very light so i decided to cover it up with some eggs.. (my friend Afroze’s idea) so that everyone will get some carb,proteins,fats etc all together!!!!
Blend 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp of olive spread, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 small bunch of parsley into a smooth paste.

2 hard boiled eggs cut into thin slices

2 slices of cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Cut the bread half and apply the blended paste on it. Top up with cheese and the eggs.. im sure kids are gonna love it!

This is one of the express subzi i make when im running out of time. It needs very few ingredients that you’ll always have at home and very less preparation time and cooking time.

2 cups Brinjal cut into cubes
3 tbsps onions
2 tbsps tomatoes
11/2 tsp red chili pwdr
1/2 tsp turmeric pwdr
coriander leaver for garnish
oil for frying
salt to taste

• Mix the Brinjal cubes with 1 tsp chili pwdr and 1/4 tsp turmeric pwdr and salt.
• Fry in oil till its half soft
• Add the onions and mix till the onions are soft and well mixed with the Brinjal
• Add tomatoes and the rest of the chilli and turmeric pwdr
• Mix well till everything is soft. Add salt again to ur taste
• Garnish with coriander leaves
• You can add more chili pwdr according to ur taste.

Its done!

Soya beans, soy milk, bean curd, soya nuggets etc are one of the most protein rich foods i have came across.. i didnt try any of these things till i reached here. But since then i have been experimenting a lot on these things.. here goes my recipe for the Protein Rich Contest.

1 medium sized onion finely chopped
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 medium sized tomato
11/2 tsp coriander pwdr
1 tsp red chili powder
2 cups soya nuggets
salt to taste
oil to fry

• In a pan fry the onions in a low flame and when it is brown add cumin powder.
• Fry for 2-3 mts and then add ginger garlic paste and mix well for 2 mts
• Add tomatoes and the spices to it and mix for another 2-3 mts
• When the mix is soft add the soya nuggets and salt ans some water and close the lid.
• let it cook for some time… Garnish with coriander leaves.

Green Pulav.. i usually make this when i have a lot of mint leaves!!! So instead of wasting them i just make a pulav of it and my kiddos love any type of pulav!!

you’ll need

1. 1 bunch of fresh coriander leaves and mint leaves finely chopped
2. 3-4 green chillies
3. 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
4. 1 tsp garam masala
5. salt to taste
6. 2 onions finely chopped
7. 4 tspns oil
8. 2 cups boiled basmati rice
9. water
10. a handful of green peas
11. boiled potatoes – fried in oil

how to make:

• Grind coriander leaves, mint leaves and green chilies and make a thick paste.
• Fry onions till golden brown, add garam masala and ginger and garlic paste.
• Fry till oil seperates then add the grinded paste with a little water.
• Let it cook till you get a nice aroma and it should thicken.
• Add salt to taste, peas and the fried potatoes.
• Add the rice to it and mix well.
• Serve hot with any veg or non-veg dish.

Today i was in a mood to cook something different.. so i was browsing through some chicken recipes and i came across this. I found it very interesting when i read the recipe but i didnt add the ingredients as much as the recipe owner wrote down coz i thought if its less spicy then i dont have to make another dish for my kiddos! LOL! Here goes the recipe :

Ingredients
5tbsp oil

For the Spice Paste:
1½tbsp cumin seeds ( i used 1tbsp)
8-10 dried hot red chillies, broken into halves ( i used 6)
3 tbsp coriander seeds ( i used 2tbsp)
1½ tsp fennel seeds ( i used 1tsp)
1½ tsp black peppercorns
1½ tsp white poppy seeds ( i didnt use this coz i didnt have it!)
5 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
4cm/1½in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
½ tsp ground turmeric
1½-2tsp salt

You also need:
3 bay leaves
5 cardamom pods
2.5cm/1in cinnamon stick, broken
1 tsp fennel seeds
3 cloves
1½ tsp urad dal
15-20 fresh curry leaves, if avaliable
2 meduim-sized onions (175g/6oz), peeled and finely chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
one 1kg/2¼lb chicken, skinned and cut into smallish serving pieces (breast halves into 3 and legs into drumsticks and thighs)

Method
1. Make the spice paste: In a small frying-pan, heat 1 tbsp of the oil over a medium-high heat. When hot add the cumin seeds, chillies, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, black peppercorns and poppy seeds. Stir and fry briefly until lightly roasted. Now put these into a clean coffee grinder and grind to a powder. Empty into the container of an electric blender. Put the garlic, ginger, turmeric and salt into the blender as well, along with 6-8tbsp water. Process until you have a fine paste, pushing down with a rubber spatula if needed. Set aside.
2. Heat the remaining 4tbsp oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the bay leaves, cardamom pods, cinnamon, fennel seeds, cloves and urad dal. Stir and fry briefly until the urad dal turns red, then add the curry leaves if using. Stir once or twice and add the onions. Fry the onions until they are soft and just lightly coloured. Now add the spice paste. Continue to stir and fry for about 4-6 minutes, adding a little water to prevent sticking. Add the tomato. Stir and fry for a further 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the chicken pieces to the onion and spice mixture. Stir until they are well coated, then add 600ml/1pt/2½ cups water, just enough to cover. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer until the chicken is almost cooked, about 20-25 minutes.
4. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken pieces. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and reduce the sauce until very thick. This should take about 6-8 minutes. Replace the chicken, fold gently into the sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes before serving.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/chettinadpepperchick_5134.shtml

It really came out good and it was really spicy!!! i ended up making another dish for my kiddos!! Hope u guys like it!