Herbed Cream cheese

Are you really busy this evening?  Or too tired?  But you are hungry.  There’s not much in the fridge.  Oh no!  What to do now?

Here’s what I did.  I took a bit of creamy cheese and added a few herbs and…

Ingredients:

1 bowl                  Fresh creamy cheese

2-3 Tsp.                Chives (finely chopped)

1 Tsp.                    Parsley (finely chopped)

1 small                  Spring onion (preferably)/ Onion/ shallot (finely chopped)

Salt (optional) (according to taste)

Pepper (optional) (according to taste)

Procedure:

1.                   Take a bowl of Fresh creamy cheese.

2.                   Add salt and pepper (optional) (I don’t and it is still perfect but it is a matter of taste)

3.                   Add finely chopped chives, parsley and spring onion.

4.                   Mix well.

Let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour for better results.  This gives the cheese the time to take the aroma of herbs.

You can have these as dip with boiled potatoes or vegetables or French fries or country potatoes or simply as a cheese spread for bread.

This is how I had it... the choice is yours :-)

Simply yummy! 

I love it.  Just try it out and tell me if you like it or not.

Onion, cucumber, tomato raita

All of us know how effective yoghurt is in fighting the summer heat.  And as we move towards summers I’d like to share a recipe that will help you beat the summer heat to some extent with ingredients such as cucumber, onion, mint and fresh coriander – a combination that is sure to help you protect yourself and your loved ones from heat wave.

Ingredients:

125 ml                  Yoghurt (dahi)

¼                            Cucumber (finely chopped)

1 small                  Tomato (finely chopped)

1 small                  Onion (finely chopped)

1 small                  green chilli (optional) (finely chopped)

Salt (according to test)

1 pinch                 Red chili powder

¼ Tsp.                   Mint powder

¼ Tsp.                   Cumin powder

10 gms                 Fresh Coriander (finely chopped)

Water

Procedure:

1. Take yoghurt and beat it into a thin mix.  Add a little water.
2. Add salt, red chili powder, mint powder and cumin powder.
3. Add finely chopped cucumber, tomato, onion and chilli and mix.
4. Garnish with finely chopped fresh coriander.

You can add other vegetables such as finely chopped carrots or capsicum.

Serve as a side-dish with rice-dal, pulao, puris or chappatis. 

Mixed Vegetable Soup

Ingredients :

1 Tb. Sp.          Butter

1                      Leek (Cut in big pieces)

1                      Turnip (Cut in big pieces)

1                      Carrot (Cut in big pieces)

1 big                Potato (Cut in big pieces)

½ cup              Water
½ cup              Tomato puree
Cream
Salt
Pepper

Procedure:

1.      Put a pan on fire.  Add butter.

2.      Once it starts melting add leek, turnip and carrot cut in big pieces.

3.      Continue stirring from time to time. After some time add potato.
4.      Add water when you can smell the fragrance of vegetables.
5.      Add salt and pepper. Stir well.
6.      Cover. Let it cook for approximately 15 minutes. Remove the lid and see if it is well cooked. If yes, then remove from the fire. If not, then add some more water, stir and cover till it is well cooked.  Now, add Tomato puree and let it cook for 4-5 minutes.

7.      Once cooked, remove from fire and let it cool down a bit.
8.    Use a hand-held mixer to grind it into a smooth paste. If it isn't liquid enough then add some water or milk (I prefer milk). Heat it before serving.  Add finely chopped pieces of leek and serve.

Aaloo wadiyaan (Potatoes with spicy nuggets made of lentils)

Here's another yummy potato recipe for those of you who are potato lovers.  A tasty yet healthy potato recipe thanks to the wholesome wadi.  Yes, you guessed it right, I am from Punjab and grew up with Papads and Wadis.  Those of you who are not aware of it, in fact, we Punjabis believe that the best wadis and papads are those from our own Amritsar.

Ingredients:

1                             Wadi

4-5 medium            Potatoes (peeled and cut into big pieces)



½ medium              Onion/ shallot (cut lengthwise)

Salt (according to taste)
2-3                          Whole red chillies
1 pinch                    Red chilli powder (according to taste)
¼ Tsp.                     Turmeric powder
1 Tb. Sp.                 Sunflower Oil
1 Tsp.                     Cumin (jeera) 
½ Tsp.                    Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
¼ Tsp.                    Garam masala

Procedure:

1.                   Heat oil and add wadi to it. 

2.                   Heat till it is light brown.  Add cumin and whole red chillies.

3.                   When they start spluttering, add onions.

4.                   When the onions are semi-cooked add salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix 

               well.

5.                   Add potatoes and some water.

6.                   Cover and let it cook on low flame.  Keep stirring from time to time.

7.                   When the potatoes are cooked take off the flame.

8.                   Break the wadi.

Serve hot as a side dish with chapattis, rice or poories.

AaTey ka pooDaa (Pancakes made of wheat-flour)

When I was younger, everytime it rained we had two types of poodas as a sort of snack and we called the combo monsoon special.  It’s a quick and healthy meal when you don’t have a lot of time or no veggies at home.

Ingredients:

1 cup             Wheat flour

1 Tsp              Ajwain (bishop’s weed)

Salt

Red chilli powder

1 small          Onion/ shallot (finely cut)

1 or 2            Green chillies (finely cut)

Water

Sunflower oil or any other cooking oil

Procedure:

Mix wheat flour, ajwain, salt and red chilli powder. 

Add onion, green chillies and water to it and mix well.

Heat a pan, oil it and pour the mix in it.

When the liquid starts drying turn it over.

Pour oil on all sides.  Let it cook.

Once it is done.  Serve it with tomato chutney or sauce.

So here’s to monsoons and rain God!

Baingan Bhaja (Fried Aubergines)

Actually, even though some people would like us to believe that Baingan doesn’t have any guna (a tongue in cheek reference to its name in Hindi) it is not true.

Aubergine is a rich source of fibre and has low saturated fat content as well as cholesterol.  It is diuretic and a rich source of potassium, iodine, sodium and magnesium.  It also has antioxidant properties.    

So today, I am going to share a simple recipe with you today.  Though it has some fat but as aubergines have little fat, so it balances out all right.  But I won’t advise it to you if you have health problems.

Ingredients:

1         Aubergine    (baingan)

Salt

Red chilli powder

Turmeric powder

Mustard or sunflower Oil

Procedure:

Cut big, round pieces of aubergine.

Sprinkle some salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder on the aubergines and tilt the plate so that the water released by aubergines is collected on one side.

Let them lie for at least half an hour.

Heat some oil in a pan.

Fry the aubergines.

Serve with daal and rice or khichadi or chapattis or any other way you want.  I even love having them as snacks with tea though that’s not how one is supposed to have them.

Daal waalaa parantha (Fried Indian Flatbread with Split Bengal Gram filling)

Paranthas are my favourite breakfast and there are so many types of paranthas.  Today’s recipe is daal waalaa parantha which is a parantha filled with Split Bengal Gram.  When I was young I used to call it lentils for the horse, a reference to the fact that in India it is fed to horses because of its nutritive value.  It is a good source of calcium, iron and dietary fibre.  So here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Cup             Wheat flour

50 gms          Split Bengal Gram (Chaney ki daal)

1 pinch          Asafoetida (hing)

1 Tsp  Salt

1 pinch          chilli powder

1 pinch          garam masala

1 small          Onion/ Shallot (finely cut)

1 or 2            Green chillies (finely cut)

Water

Ghee (clarified butter) or Oil

Procedure:

Knead flour so that when you make a hole in it with your finger, it doesn’t stick to your finger.

Filling

Take split Bengal gram, add water and boil it with asafoetida.

Take it off the fire when it’s well done and dry all water.  Mix and crush the Bengal gram, so that it becomes a sort of dry paste.

Add salt, red chilli powder and garam masala and mix well.

Add onions and green chillies.  Mix well.  Keep it aside.

Paranthas

Take a small part of it and roll it into a small ball and ensure that there’s no crack in the ball.

Roll this ball in dry flour and flatten it.

Use rolling-pin and flatten the circle further till it is around 4-5 inches in diameter.

Take 1 Tea spoon of the filling and put it on the flattened dough.

Take all ends and close it in the dough.

Roll it in some dry flour and flatten it upside down i.e. the folded end should face the plate.

Use rolling pin to further flatten it and make it into a bigger circle.

Put the girdle on fire.

When it is hot, put the flattened dough on the girdle.

Once it is cooked on one side (it will become somewhat yellowish brown), turn it over and put oil on the cooked side.

After some time, turn it over again and if the other side is cooked oil it as well otherwise turn it back till it is cooked.  Once it is cooked, turn it over and oil the other side (that you’ve not oiled earlier).

After around 1 minute turn it over and let it cook for some time.

Serve it with pickle or/and vegetables or/and plain yoghurt and/or raita and/or dahi pakodiyan and/or Tomato chutney.

I hope that you loved this healthy meal as much as I do.  Enjoy your meal!