Tomato and Basil Bruschetta - with balsamic reduction - fresh flavours.

Italian food is my all time favourite - easy, healthy, lots of vegetarian options to choose from. And I always like to add a bit of red chilli flakes to most tomato based recipes. Tomatoes and red chilli is match made in heaven (for me at least)

Now, there are two ways I do bruschetta. One is the quick way when I don't have fresh ciabatta on hand but I still want to eat bruschetta with pasta or soups. Other is of course with ciabatta on hand. So, let's see how I do it n you can pick and choose. 

No Ciabatta on hand Bruschetta. 

8-9 slices of garlic bread 

10-12 ripe cherry tomatoes

Handful of basil

Balsamic vinegar reduction 

Good quality extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees 

I like to line up the baking tray with kitchen foil if the tray has holes in it

Bake the garlic bread slices for 5-7 mins 

Slice the tomatoes into halves or depending on the size you like. If you have a lot of time and patience, scoop the seeds out. I just leave them in as cherry tomato seeds are quite small n flavourful 

Roughly chop the basil leaves 

Once the bread is ready, place the tomatoes on the slices, sprinkle the basil leaves, olive oil, balsamic reduction and a bit of pepper. You can add salt and chilli flakes if you like. 

Bite into it and enjoy 

2) Bruschetta with Ciabatta on hand

If I have ciabatta at home, I like to cut it in half, opening up the bread from the middle. 

Heat up a griddle pan or a normal pan. 

Once the pan is nice n hot, I put a dash of olive oil to it and also put the oil on the bread slices.

Place the bread on the pan and press it down quietly firmly. That makes such a difference to the texture. Turn it over, press it down again and cook for 2-3 mins until the bread is golden n crunchy. 

Rub the bread with crushed garlic, top it up the tomatoes, basil, balsamic reduction, pepper and good lug of olive oil. Voila. It's ready to dig in. Nom Nom. 

Mooli and Spinach pranthas with a dollop of butter and yoghurt- Comfort food for Sunday afternoon !

I have to say, I absolutely adore mooli pranthas, guess it comes with being a Punjabi. As I always try to make everyday food a bit more healthy, I put in a few extra nice bits like soya and barley flour to the whole wheat flour for making the dough and adding a whole bag of organic baby spinach in the mooli mix. Superb !

Fresh Mooli from the fresh food shop :)

Ingredients for a delicious mooli spinach prantha. Serves 4

For the dough
Whole wheat flour - about 4 cups
Soya flour - 1/2 cup
Barley flour - 1/2 cup
Luke warm water to knead
1-2 tsp rapeseed oil

For the stuffing
1 medium to big size mooli or radish - grated and squeezed to get rid of the water
250 gems organic baby spinach - chopped
1/2 cup fresh coriander - chopped
1-2 green chillies - chopped
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp carom seeds or ajwein
1tbsp - dry fenugreek leaves or kasoori methi
Salt to taste

Knead the flour into a soft dough using Luke warm water. Add a bit of the oil to finish off. Oiling the dough prevents it from getting dark.

Make two small dough balls and roll them out into 2" diameter round disks .  Lightly dust the surface where you want to roll out the pranthas.

Spread the mooli mix carefully on one of the round disks.

Cover with the other round disk and gently pat to seal the edges. Lightly dust with dry flour again
Carefully roll out the dough disks to slightly thinner and bigger size.

If the mooli mix comes out while rolling, don't panic. Just add a bit of dry flour.

Heat the flat griddle pan or tawa and wait for it to be nice and hot.

Place the prantha on the pan and cook until both sides are cooked perfectly. I like mine a bit crispy and charred (don't ask why). You can use a bit of rapeseed oil on both the sides to fry the prantha a little. If will make it a little more crispy.

Once cooked, serve with a dollop of butter or ghee and some yoghurt.

Enjoy.

Hot and Spicy Noodle Soup

Perfect for the wet and cold weather !

I have been feeling rotten for the last couple of days, out sick from work and just feeling miserable because of my head cold.  When I got up in the morning, all I could think of was a Hot Manchow Soup that I used to slurp on in India. But I knew I can't find anything even closer to that here in Dublin, so I had to put a brave face on and make it myself, only to find out I hadn't done fresh vegetable shopping in yonks. So, I took a cup of lemsip, slept for 2 hours, got up and went out to get fresh vegetables from my local Fresh shop. I Love it so bad ! Came home with dozens of freshly picked beauties and couldn't wait to get cooking.  Of course, with many interruptions in between (thanks to my adorable kids), I managed to produce something super comforting, super delicious and my idea of heaven !!

Here is a quick recipe for the Hot Noodle Soup.

Ingredients:

• 3 spring onions - finely chopped, keeping the greens aside for garnishing
• 4-5 cloves of organic garlic - finely chopped
• 1'' fresh ginger - finely chopped
• 1-2 green chillies
• A small bunch of coriander - finely chopped for garnishing
• 1 organic fresh carrot - finely diced
• 1/2 green pepper - finely diced
• 4-5 button mushrooms - finely diced
• 1/2 cup - shredded cabbage
• 4-5 green beans - finely chopped
• 250 gms firm tofu
• 100 gms - eggless noodles
• 4 tbsp - soya sauce
• 2 tsbp - vinegar
• 2 tbsp - red chilli paste
• 2 cubes of Oxo vegetable stock - 1ltr
• 3-4 tsp of cornflour, mixed in with 1/2 cup cold water
• 3 tbsp - roasted peanuts for garnishing
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3-4 tbsp  - peanut oil for frying
• 3-4 tbsp - rapeseed oil for frying tofu

Method:

• Heat up a wok on a high flame
• Once smoking hot, add the oil, add ginger, garlic, spring onions(whites) and saute for 30 seconds
• Add all the chopped vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes. Make sure not to over cook as we need that lovely crunch.
• Add the chilli paste, soya sauce, vinegar and cook for a minute
• Add the stock and bring it boil
• Add the cornflour and cook for 2-3 minutes more. I like my soup to be slightly thin so I added more water to the cornflour mix. You can vary it according to your liking.
• Add very little salt as both soya sauce and the vegetable stock has salt in them
• Add some black pepper
• Now, in a separate pan, add 3-4 tbsp of rapeseed oil, add the diced tofu and cook for 4-5 minutes until brown n crispy. Add it to the soup
• Cook the noodles according to the package instructions, you can also deep fry noodles for crispier taste. Once everything is well combined, heat the soup thoroughly.
• Serve hot with fresh coriander, green spring onions, peanuts and boiled noodles.
• Enjoy !

Delicious is the new word  - Veg Overloaded Munchurian

Thinking of introducing lots of veggies to your meal?? Good Idea !! Try out the recipe for the munchurian and you will be pleasantly surprised how good it is. 

Recipe: Shred or grate the following in a food processor to speed up the things a little.

1/2 cup cabbage

3-4 carrots

1/2 cup green beans

1/4 cup cauliflower

2-3 green/spring onions and add the green part to the veg mix.

2 tbsp - corn flour

4-5 tbsp - plain flour

3-4 flakes - chopped garlic 

1-2 green chillies (optional)

1 tsp - black pepper 

salt to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and make small bite sized balls. Add more plain flour if needed. Deep Fry these until golden brown and take them out on the tissue paper to soak the excess oil

Now for the sauce:

2 tbsp - peanut oil or stir fry oil

3-4 flakes - chopped garlic

1" ginger chopped

The white part of the spring onions

1 cup vegetable stock or water

1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 1 cup of water
2 pinches of sugar

1 tbsp Vinegar

1 tbsp - chilli sauce

Salt to taste (Be careful when adding the salt as there is enough in the soya sauce and in the munchurian balls)

Heat the oil in the pan, add the ginger, garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the soya sauce, vinegar, chilli sauce, vegetable stock, salt and pepper. Turn the heat to low and add the cornflour mix. Keep stirring until the gravy gets a little thick. Add the white of the spring onions and pour over the munchurian balls. Serve hot with fried rice or hakka noodles.

Simply Delicious Coconut Cookies - Low in Sugar and Saturated fat. Eggless too !

I have to admit, coconut is my favourite when it comes to sweets. I adore the Indian coconut cookies or khatai as we call it back home.

Found this recipe on www.divinetaste.com and I just couldn't stop myself from baking these goodies. I have used organic coconut oil for a healthier version.

Here is the recipe and the ingredients:

Ingredients:

100 gm plain flour
50 gm coconut Oil ( I'd add a little bit more as the cookies were slightly dry, maybe 75gm)
50 gm fine sugar (icing or confectioners sugar)
50 gm grated fresh coconut
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat the oven at 175 degree centigrade. Mix the baking powder with the flour and sieve once to make the mixture uniform. Beat the butter and the sugar until soft and creamy with the help of a spoon or a wire whisk. Put in the flour, grated coconut, vanilla essence and milk and form into a dough. Roll the dough into a cylinder. Cut into equal pieces and place them on a baking tray lined with baking parchment/paper. Lightly press the pieces with a fork. Bake at 175 degree centigrade for 15 minutes.
Makes about 24 bite sized cookies or 12 large ones

Delicious, super easy and super healthy Quinoa Salad

I have been trying to add quinoa in most salads to get the best nutrients from this amazing seed. I have to admit, it tastes so much better in salads with some feta cheese, tomatoes etc. Here is a version that I tried recently and it is a hit in our household.

Quinoa salad with Feta, Tomato, Cucumber and Walnuts

Recipe and Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa - enough for 2
1 cup boiling water

Or use the boiling method as mentioned on the quinoa pack.

1/2 cup cubed cucumber
1/2 cup - chopped cherry tomatoes
250 gm - greek feta cheese
10-12 walnuts or roasted peanuts
Few sprigs of fresh mint chopped

Dressing:
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 
1 pinch sea salt 
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper 
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp honey 

Method:

- Boil the quinoa for 15-20 minutes until cooked. Fluff it up with a help of a fork
- Let the quinoa cool down completely before adding the veg
- Once the quinoa is cooled, transfer it in a bowl, add tomatoes, cucumber, feta, chopped mint and walnuts or peanuts
- Mix the ingredients for the dressing and whisk it well. Pour it just before eating or let everyone pour some as they please.
 - Garnish with mint and enjoy.

All time favourite North Indian Chhole Bhature (Tangy chickpea curry and fried bread) - Heaven on a plate :)

I have mixed two recipes to create this one delicious and quick to do recipe.  It might seem like a lot of ingredients but an ordinary Indian kitchen will have these in the cupboard anytime you need :)
One recipe is my Mom-in-law's and the other taken from Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi. Enjoy!

Ingredients for Chhole

Chickpeas (kabuli chana)    - 2  Cups - You can use 2 cans of boiled chickpeas too
Tea Bag     1
Cumin Seeds - 2  tablespoons
Ground Anardana (crushed pomergranate seeds) - 2 tablespoons

Dried Spices                     

Coriander powder  - 1  tablespoons
Red Chilli Powder - 1 1/2  teaspoons
Turmeric powder - 1/2  teaspoons
Roasted Cumin Powder - 2  teaspoons
Garam Masala powder - 2  teaspoons
Channa Masala (ready made) - 2  teaspoons
Amchoor Powder (Mango Powder) - 2  teaspoons

Tarka

Desi Ghee or Oil - 2-3 tbsp

Ajwein Seeds (carom seeds) - 1 teaspoon
Tomato Puree - 1/2 cup

To Garnish

Green Chillies Slit - 3-4  pcs
Tomatoes Cut into rounds or squares - 3-4  pcs
Root Ginger-1 inch, cut into thin strips

Method:

1. Wash and soak kabuli chana in eight cups of water overnight, or for at least six hours. Drain and put the chickpeas into a pressure cooker with five cups of fresh water and salt. Add the tea bag. If using canned chickpeas, skip this process.

2. Grind Cumin Seeds and Anardana seeds together in a mill or using a hand blender

3. Roast this mixture dry for just 30 seconds. If you do more, it will be burnt and leave a bitter taste to your dish.

4. In a separate bowl, mix all the dried spices.  Add the boiled chick peas and the roast cumin and anardana mix.

5. In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil or ghee and add the pureed tomatoes. Cook for 6-7 minutes until oil separates. Add the chickpeas to this tomato puree.

6. Heat ghee or oil to a very high temperature and take off the heat. Now add the ajwein or carom seeds and pour this mix over the chickpeas.

 7. Garnish with green chillies, ginger and chopped tomatoes and serve.

Ingredients for Bhature or Fried bread

(from Chef Harpal)

Refined flour (maida) - 2 1/2  Cup

Baking powder -1/2  teaspoons

Soda bicarbonate - 1/4  teaspoons

Yogurt - 1/2  Cup

Salt - 1  teaspoons

Powdered sugar - 2  teaspoons

Oil/Ghee - 2  tablespoons

Oil for deep frying


Method 

1. Sift together the refined flour, baking powder and soda bicarbonate.
2. Mix yogurt with salt and sugar. Add to the flour, with enough water and knead lightly to make a soft dough.
3. Knead two tablespoons of oil into the dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave to rest for one hour.
4. Divide dough into sixteen equal portions. Roll into balls, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise for ten minutes.
5. Grease your palms with a little oil and flatten the balls. Roll out into five-inch round bhature.
6. Heat oil in a kadai and deep-fry bhature on high heat till light brown on both sides. Drain on absorbent paper.
7. Serve hot with chhole and have fun.