Tip of the Day

At times its difficult to peel a garlic. The best way is to crush the clove of garlic under a knife and you can peel it with ease or soak them in water for 5 minutes and the skin comes right off.

Lemony Shrimp and Stir fry Vegetables Wrap

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of cooked baby shrimp (frozen)

2. 6-8 corn tortillas

3. 1 cup of thinly chopped vertically red onions

4. 3 cup of red, yellow and green bell peppers chopped thinly vertically

5. 1 tbsp of soy sauce

6. 1 tsp of sesame oil

7. 1 tsp of red chili flakes

8. 2 tbsp of lemon juice

9. Salt and black pepper to taste

10. 2 garlic cloves and 1 tbsp of ginger minced

11. 1tbsp of olive oil

Directions

1. Defrost the shrimps and dry them with dry kitchen towel.

2. In a bowl mix lemon juice, little salt, black pepper and add the shrimps in it. Marinate the shrimps in this bowl for 20 minutes and keep it aside.

3. In the mean time in a non stick pan add olive oil.

4. Add garlic and ginger.

5. Now add onions and bell peppers to it.

6. When they crisp up add soy sauce and sesame oil.

7. Sprinkle salt and pepper and red chili flakes and let it cook until the mixture is dried out.

8. Now add the shrimps to the mixture and toss.

9. Your mixture is ready. Now take the tortillas and warm them. Fill in the mixture on each tortilla, do not overfill it.

10. Garnish with chopped cilantro /coriander / dhaniya leaves.

11. Wrap them and serve hot with fresh mint lemonade.

-Chitra

Tip of the Day

Before squeezing lemon juice from lemon or lime, roll them with your palm on kitchen board or put them on microwave for 4 seconds, it will give you good amount of juice.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

 

Ingredients

1. 3 cups all-purpose flour and some for the pan

2. 2 cups of sweetened chocolate chips

3. 1 cup milk

4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5. 2 ½ sticks of butter

6. ½ cup vegetable shortening

7. 3 cups sugar

8. ½ teaspoon fine salt

9. 5 eggs

10. ½ teaspoon baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a mixer, mix the shortening and 2sticks of butter.

3. Now add sugar little by little.

4. Now after creaming the butter add all the eggs one by one and beat it well.

5. Now add milk into the mixer.

6. In a big bowl, stir salt, flour and baking powder and add to mixer slowly slowly.

7. Now add vanilla and stir.

8. Now turn off the mixer and add chocolate chips into the mixture and stir so that it is evenly spread in mixture.

9. Grease the ½ stick butter to the baking foil pan and sprinkle some flour into it.

10. Pour in the mixture and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

11. When the cake is done, let it cool for 10 minutes.

12. Wrap well and store in the refrigerator.

Serve the sliced topped with ice cream of your choice yummy.

-Chitra

Tip of the Day

While boiling egg, adding few drops of vinegar will prevent egg from cracking.

Mango Mania 2010

Recently visited Mango Mania festival in Oman. Whole place was so fragrant with 100 different kinds of Mangoes Products of Mangoes from all over the world.. Wanted to try everything, but stomach said no no…:))

If you guys are in Oman do go to LULU Hypermarket and try some stuff…

-Chitra

Peppers and Broccoli Thai Stir Fry

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of yellow, green and red bell peppers sliced

2. 2 cups of broccoli florets

3. Salt and Pepper to taste

4. 1 tbsp of soy sauce

5. 1 tsp of sesame oil

6. 1 tbsp of thai red sauce

7. ½ cup of mix vegetable ( peas, carrots, beans and corn)

8. 1 cup of almonds and peanuts roasted

9. 2 tbsp of pickled vegetables

10. 2 tbsp of olive oil

Directions

1. In a non stick pan add peppers and broccoli and mix vegetables.

2. Stir fry them until they turn little crispy golden.

3. Now sprinkle, sesame oil, soy sauce and thai red sauce.

4. Sprinkle salt and black pepper.

5. Cook for 5 minutes.

6. Serve hot stir fry. Garnish with almonds, peanuts and pickled vegetables.

-Chitra

Tip of the Day

How to make dosa soft and crispier :- Add little sugar and besan in dosa batter. Every 1 kg batter should have 1 tbsp. of besan and 1 tsp. of sugar.

Daal Parantha

Do you often think what should you do with your left over daal. This is what you are looking for. Try it, you can choose any daal, I had one cup of arhaar / tuar daal which I made last night with me. So here it is recipe of Daal Parantha and within some time my breakfast was ready. Everybody loved it:)

Ingredients

1. 2 ½ cups of whole wheat flour

2. 1 cup of left over daal

3. 1 tbsp of curd / dahi

4. 1 big onion chopped finely

5. 2 green chilies chopped finely

6. 2 tbsp of coriander / cilantro / dhaniya leaves

7. 1 tsp of dried mint leaves

8. Salt and Red chili powder to taste

9. Oil

Directions

1. Mix flour with all ingredients one by one, except oil in a bowl.

2. Make tight dough mixed with all ingredients, like you usually make for paranthas.

3. Now make 7-8 balls with little oil in your hands. Flatten each bowl with help of dry flour.

4. Put one tsp of oil and spread all over. Now again make them into balls.

5. Roll them and make them into circular paranthas.

6. Heat the tawa or flat pan on high heat.

7. When pan is ready put the parantha on the pan. Cook it slightly on one side and then toss on other side.

8. Put 1 tsp. of oil on each side now and cook on both sides with help of flat spatulas.

9. Serve the hot daal paranthas with any kind of pickle or (Pickled Vegetables ) or chutney of your choice or raita of you choice.

I have some of the recipes for Raita and Chutney if you want to try it.

Chutney:-Khatti Meethi Tamatar ki Chatni, Mint Chutney

Raita :-Raita

-Chitra

Tip of the Day

Store pine nuts, walnuts in freezer, this way they will not loose their oil.

Masala Chane

Kala chana / Chickpeas are high lots of protein and nutrition in it. Try this for your kids, they will love it and you will be satisfied when kids will have their protein.

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of boiled Kale Chane

2. 1 tbsp of cumin / zeera seeds

3. Salt and Red chili powder to taste

4. 1 tsp of turmeric powder

5. 1 tsp of coriander powder

6. 1 tsp of cumin powder

7. 2 tsp of amchoor / mango powder

8. 3 tbsp of oil

Directions

1. Heat oil in non stick pan.

2. Add cumin seeds to splutter.

3. Now add Salt, red chili powder, coriander, turmeric and cumin powder and stir.

4. Add the kale chane and mix it well.

5. Cook for 5 minutes and now add amchoor powder

6. Toss them and cook for another 10 minutes.

7. Masala Chane is ready you can serve them with puri’s or paranthas and for kids just serve them in an individual bowls just garnish with lime juice and dhaniya leaves as salad.

-Chitra

Shish Tawook

Shish taouk (Arabic,Turkish), is a traditional Arabic and Turkish shish kebab, which can also be found in Syrian, Iraqi and Lebanese cuisines, but is made in kabab houses in many cities around the world.

Cubes of chicken are skewered and grilled. Common marinades are based upon yogurt or a tomato puree, though there are many variations. Shish taouk is typically eaten with garlic paste.

Ingredients:

For Chicken

1. 2 pounds skinless chicken breasts cubed

2. ½ cup of yogurt

3. ¼ cup vinegar

4. ½ cup fresh lemon juice

5. 1½ tbsp ketchup

6. ¼ cup olive oil

7. 1 tsp garlic powder

8. 1 tsp paprika powder

9. 1 tsp onion powder

10. ½ tsp cayenne pepper powder (to taste)

11. Salt to taste

12. ½ tsp. mixed Arabic spices or all spices.

13. ½ tbsp of dried thyme

14. 2 diced onions

15. 1 yellow bell pepper diced in cubes

16. 1 red bell pepper diced in cubes

17. 1 green bell pepper diced in cubes

Garlic Sauce

1. 4 cloves garlic

2. juice of ½ lemon

3. 1 tbsp of mayonnaise

4. 1 tbsp of olive oil

5. 1 small potato boiled and peeled

Directions

For Garlic Sauce

Put all ingredients in a food processor and mix until light and creamy and Refrigerate.

For Chicken

1. Mix yogurt, vinegar, lemon juice, thyme, ketchup, oil and all spices together in a bowl.

2. Add chicken and marinate for at least 12 hours in the refrigerator.

3. Put chicken and bell peppers, onions on skewers and cook over hot grill until done.

4. Serve with Arabic /pita bread or Rice and garlic sauce.

-Chitra

Tip of the Day

One little secret which I normally do every week which saves lot of time for weeknights dinner or lunch. As we both are working we hardly have so much time and energy on weeknights to cook everything from scratch.

So we buy groceries on Saturday evening. I usually make the tadka or mixture ready in my refrigerator for week.

Blend onions, tomatoes and ginger in a mixer. Cook them with 2-3 tbsp of oil and add salt and red chili powder. After cooling down the mixture, store in zip lock box in you refrigerator.

Same with Vegetables.  If I know I will be cooking cauliflower, capsicum, beans or cabbage on weeknights. I cut them before hand and freeze them in zip lock bags. So whenever I want to cook I just defrost them and cook.

It saves lot of time and within no time I have my meals ready.

Enjoy your weeknights now.

Tadka Foul Mudammas

Ful medammas also foul medammas (Arabic: فول مدمس‎ fūl mudammas) is popular in Egypt, Hijaz, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Somalia, and Sudan

Ingredients

1. 1 can of foul mudammas

2. 1 Onion grated

3. 1 tomato grated

4. 2 tbsp of tomato paste

5. Salt to taste

6. 1 tsp of coriander/dhaniya powder

7. 1 tsp of red chili powder

8. ½ tsp of haldi / turmeric powder

9. 1 tbsp of ginger grated

10. 2 tbsp of oil

Directions

1. In a non stick pan add oil.

2. Now add onion and ginger.

3. When they turn golden brown add tomatoes and paste.

4. Add salt, chili, haldi, and coriander powder.

5. When the mixture is well cooked add can of foul mudammas.

6. Add two cups of water and let it simmer cook for 20 minutes.

7. When it is cooked serve in individual bowls with hot Roti’s or Rice.

-Chitra

Tip of the day

To keep all you herbs in you refrigerator fresh for longer time. Wash them thoroughly with cold water when you bring them and after draining water, preserve them in damp kitchen paper and seal them in zip lock bag or air tight container. This will preserve them for longer time and you can enjoy fresh herbs everyday in your salads and dishes. It will save money and time. Change the damp kitchen paper after two days.

Hara Bhara Kebab

 

Ingredients

1. 2 grated boiled potatoes

2. 1 cup of mix vegetables (peas and carrots)

3. 1 green chili chopped finely

4. 1 tsp of mint leaves chopped finely

5. 1 tbsp of cilantro / dhaniya leaves chopped

6. Salt and Red chili powder for taste

7. 2 tbsp of lemon juice

8. 1 shallot chopped finely

9. 1 tsp of ginger minced

10. 2 cups of bread crumbs mixed with 2 tbsp of semolina flour

11. Olive oil

Directions

1. Mix potato with mix vegetables and green chili.

2. Now add mint, cilantro and ginger.

3. Toss it well and then salt and red chili powder.

4. Now add lemon juice and mix it well.

5. Now make small circular patties.

6. In a big tray spread bread crumbs and semolina mixture.

7. Roll all the patties in this mixture well so that it is well coated.

8. Spray olive oil on both sides and scatter them in the grilling pan.

9. Grill them on both sides and serve them with green mint chutney.

-Chitra