Now im changing everything from white to brown.. Well not everything in my home at least all the flours im using now.  If you see me last few posts all my baking has been done with wholemeal flour. My breads, cookies,  cakes -  everything i changed to wholemeal. I didn’t find much difference with the change of flour and all including the kids loved it!

The Pasta i used here is Barilla Whole Grain Pasta and the sauce is copied from  Smitten Kitchen

I halved the recipe and added wheatgrem and flaxseeds to it still no taste difference!

4 pounds sad, unloved tomatoes (some swear by romas, I’ve had success with all varieties)
1/4 cup olive oil
Small onion
2 to 3 small cloves of garlic
1/2 medium carrot
1/2 stalk of celery
1/2 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
Slivers of fresh basil, to finish

Peel your tomatoes:

Bring a pot of water to boil. Cut a small X at the bottom of each tomato. Blanche the tomatoes in the boiling water for 10 to 30 seconds, then either rinse under cold water or shock in an ice water bath. Peeling the tomatoes should now be a cinch. If one gives you trouble, toss it back in the boiling water for another 10 seconds until the skin loosens up. Discard the skins (or get crafty with them).

Finish preparing your tomatoes:

If using plum tomatoes, halve each lengthwise. If using beefsteak or another round variety, quarter them. Squeeze the seeds out over a strainer over a bowl and reserve the juices. (You can discard the seeds, or get crafty with them.) Either coarsely chop you tomatoes on a cutting board or use a potato masher to do so in your pot, as you cook them in a bit.

Prepare your vegetables:

I finely chop my onion, and mince my carrot, celery and garlic, as does Bastianich. Batali grates his carrots. Burell pulses all four on the food processor to form a paste. All of these methods work.

Cook your sauce:

Heat your olive oil in a large pot over meduim. Cook your onions, carrots, celery and garlic, if you’re using them, until they just start to take on a little color, about 10 minutes. I really like to concentrate their flavor as much as possible. Add your tomatoes and bring to a simmer, lowering the heat to medium-low to keep it at a gentle simmer. If you haven’t chopped them yet, use a potato masher to break them up as you cook them. Simmer your sauce, stirring occasionally. At 30 minutes, you’ll have a fine pot of tomato sauce, but at 45 minutes, you might just find tomato sauce nirvana: more caramelized flavors, more harmonized texture.

If your sauce seems to be getting thicker than you want it to be, add back the reserved tomato juice as need. If your sauce is too lumpy for your taste, use an immersion blender to break it down to your desired texture. (“Blasphemy!” some will say, but they’re not in the kitchen with you. So there.) Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and more to taste. I like somewhere between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon for 4 pounds of tomatoes. Scatter fresh basil over the pot before serving. Taste once more. Swear you’ll never buy jarred sauce again.

More ways to play around:

There are innumerable ways to tweak your tomato sauce. Some like a pinch of red pepper flakes cooked with the carrots/celery/garlic and onion in the beginning. Some add them at the end. Some swear by a glug of red wine added with the tomatoes. Others insist that a tablespoon of tomato paste will give your relatively quick-cooked sauce a longer-cooked flavor. Have fun with it.

To play around as little as possible:

Skip the onion, carrot and celery. Just cook your tomatoes for 30 to 45 minutes and at the end, drizzle in some olive oil or melted butter. If you have time, you can infuse that oil or butter with garlic and basil. Season to taste with salt. Wonder why you ever added so many ingredients to something so obviously perfect without them

I have been out of blogging since my little princess arrived.. Srivallis Indian cooking challenge has brought me back again. I really had no time to make changes in the recipe or type a bit about it! just followed the recipe as it was given and it came out yummy with white rice!

here is the recipe i followed blindly!

Source: Simran of Bombay Foodie

Ingredients Needed:

For Pakoras:

Besan / Chickpea Flour – 1/2 cup
Onions – 1 medium
Salt to taste
Red Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Water
Oil for Deep frying

For Kadi

Curds / Yogurt – 1 cup
Besan/ chickpea flour – 1/3 cup
Water – 3 – 4 cups
Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
Ajwain/ Carom Seeds- 1 tsp
Methi / Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp
Onion -1 large
Turmeric powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Red Chili powder – 1/2 tsp

Garam masala – 1/2 tsp
Amchur/ Dried Mango powder – 1 tsp

Method to prepare:

For the Pakoras

Slice onions length wise. In a bowl, take the chickpea flour, add salt, red chili powder. Make a batter with water to get a semi thick consistency.

Heat a pan/ kadai with oil. When it is hot, dip onions in the batter and gently drop into the hot oil. Deep fry until crispy.

Drain and keep aside.

For the kadhi

Make a paste with yogurt and besan, then mix with water to make a very thin batter.

Heat a tbsp of oil. Add a tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds and methi. Let splutter for a few seconds.

Add onion slices, fry till they turn light brown.

Pour in the yogurt/besan batter, add turmeric powder, salt and red chilli powder.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour.

Keep stirring occasionally.

When you feel it is pretty thick, add the reserved pakoras, bring to boil. Add garam masala and Amchur powder to the gravy just before removing from stove.

One of the everyday foods! Easy to cook and healthy to eat! Can be eaten with rotis and rice and also during lunch or dinner. So its a time saver as well!

1/4 cup moong daal

1/4 cup toor daal

1 fistful whole moong

1/2 tsp red chilli (increase or decrease according to ur taste)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

a dash of hing

salt to taste

1 medium size onion chopped finely

1 medium tomato chopped finely

2-3 green chillies

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

curry leaves and corriander leaves – a small bunch

oil for frying

• Cook the lentils in pressure cooker with sufficient water till soft with the masalas and salt.
• in a skillet heat oil and add jeera when it splutters add onions and fry till brown.
• Add green chills and tomatoes to it.
• When they are soft add curry leaves and coriander leaves and add the daal to the skillet.
• Add water according to the consistency you need.
• Serve hot!

Chatpata chaat is there anyone who doesnt like it? Especially now i love the chatpata taste.. I make my chaats with heaps of chaat masala and lime juice!

here is the simple recipe for this chaat

1 cup chickpeas soaked overnight and cooked till tender

1 large potato boiled and cut into cubes

1 large onion thinly sliced

1 large tomato thinly sliced

3-4 tbso of lime juice (add more of less according to ur taste)

1/2 tsp kala namak or black salt

1 tsp jeera or cumin powder

2-3 tsp of chaat masala (add more or less according to ur taste)

3 green chillies thinly sliced

a small bunch of fresh corriander leaves thinly sliced

salt to taste

• Mix all the ingredients and enjoy immediately!

This is for all those wives whose hubbby has never cooked! LOL!! My hubby knows only how to make tea. So when i saw Priti’s announcement for His Cooking i just mentioned how fun it will be to cook! And yes my 6 yr old daughter also offered to help. So they all got excited and i told him to check Priti’s site where her hubby does a lot of cooking.

He choose to do his Poha recipe from her site. But made a few changes as he got confused with cumin and fennel seeds! LOL!!! rest all i think he just followed the same. But it was delicious!

And he was sweet enough to make some kheer for me when i was craving for some sweet today after lunch!! (well the joy of being pregnant!!!) SO i got this easy Microwave Kheer from EC. with in 20 minuts or so the kheer was ready!! The changes he made – instead of suar he added condensed milk. He doesnt know how much me added so i would say if ur adding condensed milk add according to your taste!

Somehow im unable to upload the pic of the kheer.. i guess i’ll do it later on..

Sending this post to Pritis His Cooking event!

This has been in my draft for a long time.. When both my laptops crashed i finally learned the lesson not to treasure my pics in “My Pictures ” but i have to publish them here! LOL! I finally returned to my old desk top but i have lost the mobility! now i have to come to the computer room when im making something new or i’ll have to print out the recipe. Well but im happy that my desktop never lets me down but i did promise myself to publish the recipes as soon as i  cook or bake them!

One of the easiest curry i make when i wake up late or not in the mood for cooking. Thank god my kids love this!

1 Raw banana

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/4  fenugreek powder

3/4 – 1 cup grated coconut

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 green chilli

3-4 tbsp yoghurt

salt to taste

For Tadka/tempering oil, mustard seeds, red chilli, curry leaves

Remove banana skin and  wash and slice them into thick pieces. Put them in a vessel and add turmeric  and fenugreek powder and salt.  In a medium sized skillet add 2 cups of water and bananas, cover and cook till done.    Meanwhile, grind grated coconut, cumin seeds and  green chillies to a fine paste.  Add this paste to the cooked bananas and mix well.  Beat yoghurt and pour over it.  Keep on stirring the curry and cook on a low flame till it starts to boil.  Turn off the flame.  In a tadka pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.  Turn off the flame immediately and pour it over the curry.  Mix well and serve hot with rice

A lazy lazy day and your groceries are almost empty! So what do you feed your family? Well my first choice will be Salads!!! Mix everything you have a there you go.. a very healthy nourishing salad.  :)

All you have to do is mix lettuce, pumpkin seeds, cherry tomatoes, olives, avocados, zucchini  mushrooms, chickpeas, drizzle olive oil on top and serve!

I dont add salt in any of my salads you may add if you like.

This Salad goes to Light Meal event and Healthy snacking event

My hubby hated any type of okra recipe. Over these years i have been making different types of recipes but never got a green signal from him till now! When he used to call from office to ask whats for dinner? and if i say okra, he’ll say ok.. im coming late!! LOLs!!

Now i got the perfect bhindi recipe for him after almost 7 years!

25o grms okra thinly sliced

1/2 tsp jeera

1 medium sized onions thinly sliced

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 large tomato cut into cubes

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp corriander powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

salt to taste

extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp very sour curd/ yogurt/ dahi

curry leaves and corriander leaves to garnish

Heat extra virgin olive oil in a heavy bottom vessel. Add jeera to it. When the jeera splutters add okra to it and keep on stirring in a high heat for 5 mts. Then reduce the speed and add onions to it. Once the onipns are soft add ginger garlic paste and stir for 2 mts. Add tomatoes to it. When the tomatoes are soft add the dry spices, salt and mix well. Close and cook for some time. When the masalas and okra is well mixed turn off the stove and add the yogurt to it.  Serve hot with rotis.

This is one of the easiest soup i make  and loved by my son He says this is pasta soup! LOL!! Beans are very nutritious and is a good source of dietary fibre, protein, Iro

n and rich in folate.

1 medium sized white onion finely chopped

2 garlic cloves crushed

2 celery sticks chopped finely*

1 small zucchini chopped finely*

1 small carrot grated*

1/2 can of Italian  tomatoes (i used Cirio Popla)

1 can of Baked beans (No salt added)

Spice : Oregano, Basil, Marjoram, Crushed red pepper, Black pepper – Use as per your taste

Heat 1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan. Add onions and garlic to it and saute until the onions are soft. Add the vegs to it and saute again for 3-4 mts. Add the tomatoes and Beans to it. Mix well and add 1 cup water.

Bring to a boil and add the spices to it.

* i prefer to chop the veggies finely because my kids wont know i have added them! You can cut them in any size you like.

This Post goes to the Light Food Event

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.