Easy peesy Gaucamole

If you are a fan of gaucamole like me, you would know its very difficult to find the good stuff in India. And if you do find it, the taste should be good too.

So here is an easy recipe for gaucamole which you can make at home in 10 mins. The key here is the avocado. It should be ripe. So how do you know if an avocado is ripe? It should be slightly soft to touch.

Ingredients 

- ripe avocado 1 no

- medium sized onion 1 no

- corriander - finely chopped 1 cup. This can be substituted with cilantro if available

- green chillies finely chopped 2-3 nos (depending on your tolerance). This can be replace with jalapenos if available

- lemon juice of 2-3 lemons

- sweet lime juice of 1 sweet lime (optional)

- salt to taste

Method-

1. Cut the avocado and remove the seed and the brownish kernel. We wont be using this.

2. Scoop out the flesh into a bowl

3. Mash the avocado into pulp

4. Add the chillies, corriander, lemon juice, onion and salt and mix it well.

5. Chill it and serve. 

Paneer Butter Masala

One of my friends, Sohil, once got something to office. As expected we were all pretty skeptical to try it. But when we did, it was the most awesome Paneer Butter masala ever. So sharing the same here in his own words (with a few minor modifications from me). Enjoy!
A few days back I cooked..Yes you got it right.."I cooked"..Most of the people who know me will find it hard to digest..but yes I did..Well, I won't even say I do it "occasionally"..but once in a blue moon I do experiment (with my friends' lives as some may put it :P)
So, here's what I got for my friends - "Paneer Butter Masala" (\m/). Well, I was not sure if people would like it, but they did, and on public demand, here's the recipe...

Ingredients -

•  Oil - 1tbsp (preferably groundnut oil, else use ghee)
•  butter - yellow and salted -1tbsp
• 2 onions, ground to a paste
• Tomato puree - made from 2 tomatoes
• turmeric powder - 1 tsp 
• red chilly powder - 2 tsp
• garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• ginger-garlic paste - 2tsp
• some whole cream - 3 tbsp 
• paneer - 200g cut into little cubes
• cheese - grated for garnishing 
• finely chopped coriander for garnishing

Method -

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp butter in a pan. 
2. Add onion paste. Sauté till it becomes golden brown. 
3. Add ginger-garlic paste and stir-fry for almost 2 minutes. 
4. Add tomato puree, turmeric powder, red-chilly powder and garam masala. 
5. Stir the mixture well and cook it on high flame. Then add some cream, paneer cubes and salt (as per taste).
6.  Add half a cup of water, stir well and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot, garnished with grated cheese.

There is no love sincerer than the love of food -George Bernard Shaw :)

Tartare Sauce - Quick easy peesy recipe

Ever gone to a restaurant or party and had fish fingers with Tartare sauce ?  And then wished you could make something exotic like that?

Well here's a recipe for Tartare sauce so that it no longer is a mysterious exotic dish that is only served in restaurants.

Ingredients -

Mayonnaise - Eggless or with egg is your choice. I used Eggless one. - 4 tsp Small onion - 1 no. diced fine Lemon juice - 1tsp Salt - to tastePepper - 1/4th tspMethod -

Mix the Mayonnaise, onions, pepper, salt and lemon juiceWhisk it in a blenderChill for atleast an hour before serving. Serving suggestion - This sauce goes with fish fingers, nuggets, chips, veggies cutlets etc .

 

Healthy Oats Breakfast with a twist

Are you on a diet? Does the thought of eating oats for breakfast send shudders down your spine?
Well, this recipe is dedicated to all the dieters out there. This will spice things up a bit.

Ingredients -
Quaker Oats/ Kellogs Oats or any other instant oats -4 tsp
Maggie Magic Cubes Chicken/Masala flavour - 1 no
1.5 cups of water

Method -
1. Put the oats in a microwave safe container
2. Add the water
3. Crush the magic cubes and sprinkle into the mixture and stir well
4. Microwave at 240 degrees C for 2 1/2 minutes
5. Serve hot.(serves 1)

Suggested Garnishing - garnish with milled flax seeds, coriander and a dash of pepper.Boiled egg slices go very well with it as well.

Whole Wheat Bread

Have you too always read Enid Blytons and been fascinated and tempted by the phrase "Freshly baked bread tomato sandwiches with ....". Well then here is the recipe for making that freshly baked home made bread.



Ingredients-


·         Whole wheat flour – 3cups/18 heaped tsps

·         Readymade dry yeast – 1stp

·         Salt -1/2 tsp

·         Honey – 2 tbsp

·         Egg yolk – 1 no

·         Water at room temp/ luke warm – 240 ml

·         Butter – 3 tsp


Method –

1.       Blend the water, yeast, flour, butter, egg yolk, honey, salt in a mixer at a very slow speed for about 5 mins

2.       If the dough is too sticky add a bit more of flour and mix again.

3.       Take out the dough and put in a vessel, cover it with a plastic bag and leave it for 2 hours.

4.       After two hours, knead all the air out of the dough and then fold it inwards a couple of times.

5.       Shape in the form of an elongated log and put it in the baking tin you plan to use

6.       Leave it in the fridge overnight covered in plastic of course.

7.       If the weather is cool, like around 12-15 degrees C then you can skip step 6 and leave the dough covered in plastic bag overnight

8.       The dough should rise and double its size. If it hasn’t, keep it out for 2 hrs.

9.       Preheat the over at 190 degrees C for 10 mins

10.   Bake the dough for 35 mins at 190 degrees.

11.   Take it out of the mold and let it cool

12.   Your whole wheat freshly baked bread it ready to serve

Date Kheer- have a date!

This is a very simple and easy recipe to make Khajoor or Date Kheer. It can be whipped up in a matter of minutes especially if you feel like dessert after a meal or have guests.
Ingredients-
-Dates(Khajoor)- 20 nos unseeded
-Ghee- 3tsps
- Sugar- 1 tsp (optional)
- milk-1 cup
Method-
1. Chop the dates lengthwise into thin slices
2. Soak them in half a cup of milk and keep aside for 10 mins
3. In a pan heat the ghee
4. Remove the dates from the milk and fry them in the ghee for about 5 mins on low flame.
5. Add the sugar. This step is optional.
6. Add all the milk and simmer on low flame for 10 mins.
7. Serve hot or cold as you like.

Tangily yours - Tomato Salad

This is one salad that will definitely add some tang to the table. Its really simple to make and is super refreshing. Just perfect for the summer.
Ingredients :

• Tomatoes- 3-4 large ones 
• Green Chillies - 2nos cut into large pieces
• Coriander - finely chopped. Alternatively you can use parsley 
• Garlic Cloves - 1-2 finely chopped
• Peanut powder - 2 tsp (it is finely ground roasted peanuts)
• Salt to taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp 
• Pepper - 1/2 tsp 
• Vinegar- 1/2 tsp

Method :

• Chop the tomatoes into cubes 
•  Add the green chillies, garlic cloves, sugar, vinegar, coriander, peanut powder, pepper to the chopped tomatoes 
• Mix it well 
•  Chill for around 20 mins
• Add the salt just before you serve. 
• Serve chilled.