Home made Pizza sauce

So I came back to write a post so I now have the confidence i just might get back to blogging.Today's post is a Home made pizza sauce because home made is good.

How to make Restaurant style Vegetable Spring Rolls from at home

The summer holidays are here and a much needed break for the moms and the kids.I just told my LM that for another month and half i don't have to scream at her to brush her teeth and take a bath first thing in the morning!But ofcourse there will be screaming for other things...sigh the joys of motherhood!

I recently discovered my LM loves spring rolls so I decided to make them from scratch.I was fearing it would be a long process but not really.As usual the chopping took more time than the actual preparation of the spring rolls.

Caramelised onion and mushroom Frittata/Omelette

Last week after I posted my focaccia recipe i made this omelette/frittata the next day. Frittata is an Italian egg based dish similar to the omelette but with extra added vegetables, meat and cheese(source : wiki).

Veg Pizza pockets/Calzones

We recently started getting the Zee Khana Khazana channel.Its India's full time food channel and I am Loving it!I watched a couple of shows where they show making the pizza is like baby tasks.One chef even mentioned these calzones thats how I got the idea to try them.

Spicy Vegetable oats - south indian style

Oats is the new healthy breakfast in all households.While we all know its healthy we also know its not all that easy to gulp down a mug of oats!!

Oats are readily available in many flavoured packs these days but I hardly use up the oats I got ages ago so why would I get a new pack.Looking at this recipe my mom would ask "why cant you just have it when you know its healthy!" well i can just swallow it but I would be happier if i had it more easily with liking.

This can be used as baby food too.My lil one hates oats so disguise it with fruits and other flavours so he can eat it atleast a bit!

Preparation time - 20 minutes

You need                                                                                          

Oats half cup
Water 1 cup
Vegetables - carrots,capsicum,peas
Oil 1 tsp
Curry leaves 4-5
Mustard - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Onions 1 medium
Tomato 1 small
Sambar powder 1/2tsp
Tomato sauce 1 tsp
salt to taste
Coriander leaves to garnish

• Soak the oats in one cup of water for 10-15 minutes.Cook it until soft.
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds once they pop, add curry leaves, onions, followed by finely chopped vegetables and peas.
• Add the tomato now and add salt for the vegetables.
• Add sambar powder and sauce now stir for 2 minutes.
• Add the cooked oats and some water to combine it all.
• Cover and cook until all is mixed well in the spices.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Spicy healthy yummy oats is ready.

Spicy Vegetable oats - south indian style

Oats is the new healthy breakfast in all households.While we all know its healthy we also know its not all that easy to gulp down a mug of oats!!

Egg fried rice

I have some days when i feel like eating something simple out of a bowl and this simple egg fried rice is just perfect to sit on the couch in front of the tv and eat spoon after spoon of yummy good food.

This rice is a quick fix fare and also we know its healthy.I don't use any long grain rice but just the normal everyday boiled rice and it turns out just fine  wonderfully good.

These days I hardly get time to sit and compose a post in peace because i have to keep watching out if the baby will come running to pull the laptop.

Lets get to the recipe quickly then.

  

Preparation time : 30 minutes (cooking time + mixing time)

You need

Cooked rice 1 cup

Eggs 2

Garlic pods 3 chopped finely or grated

Vegetables chopped - 1 cup- carrots, cabbage, capsicum, beans (in any ratio you like)

Salt to taste

Pepper 1 tsp

Stock cube 1 (optional)

Oil 2-3 tablespoons

• Keep the rice ready.While mixing the vegetables and egg if the rice has been cooled down then the rice wouldn't stick or break.
• In a wide pan, wok, add oil, add the garlic and then the chopped vegetables else the garlic will burn.
• Add salt enough for the vegetables and allow to cook.
• Once they are cooked, add the stock cube let it break down.
• Add the cooked rice and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Push the rice to one side or move it onto another dish, adding a little oil break eggs into the pan and scramble it add salt and pepper to the eggs.
• Once the eggs are completely scrambled mix the rice and vegetables mix.Stir until well mixed.

• Enjoy hot egg fried rice with a cup of cold juice and a good movie on tv :)

Egg fried rice

I have some days when i feel like eating something simple out of a bowl and this simple egg fried rice is just perfect to sit on the couch in front of the tv and eat spoon after spoon of yummy good food.

Jyoti's Guest post - Vegetable Lasagna

Friends can be life savers!Jyoti has come to my rescue when I'm having this winter shutdown my brain is always sleeping but i just can't stay away from the blog. So this is what friends do in times of need come to our rescue.Jyoti is my junior college friend we used to stay across the road i had to pass by her home to goto school. Even when we went to different engineering colleges we used to do combined studies, really missing those days.Now Jyoti is located in the US and is a beautiful mom to two lil pretty girls.

Vegetable Lasagna

Ingredients

Barilla Oven ready Lasagne (Choose the packet where no boiling is required)

Marinara sauce (3 cups)

Zucchini and yellow squash

Olive oil

15 ounce ricotta cheese'4 cups mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Step 1: Cook the squash

Peel and cut the squash (zucchini + yellow squash) and slice them into 1/4 inch circles. Cover with olive oil,  sprinkle salt and pepper and broil it in the oven for 10 minutes.

Tip: You can also saute these vegetables. Eggplant (Brinjal) or any other squashy vegetables can be used for variation

Step 2: Prepare the cheese mixture [While you prep, you can now preheat the oven to 375 F]

In a bowl combine ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Add 1 and 1/2 cup marinara sauce to the mixture

Step 3: Layer

Grease with oil a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. For the bottom layer, pour one cup marinara sauce and spread evenly. Top with 3 sheets of oven-ready lasagne. The sheets will expand while baking. Spread cheese mixture evenly on the lasagne. Next, add a layer of vegetables and finish with Mozzarella cheese. Repeat the pattern (Lasagne, cheese mixture, vegetables and mozzarella). Complete two sets. For the final layer top with three sheets of lasagne and pour remaining sauce, top with remaining cheese mixture and finish with mozzarella.

Step 4: Bake

Cover with foil and place in preheated oven, bake for 25 minutes. Once baked, remove foil and bake additional 5 minutes to brown the cheese.

Stepwise pictures :




Thanks Jyoti for the lovely picture and yummy recipe.

Jyoti's Guest post - Vegetable Lasagna

Friends can be life savers!Jyoti has come to my rescue when I'm having this winter shutdown my brain is always sleeping but i just can't stay away from the blog. So this is what friends do in times of need come to our rescue.Jyoti is my junior college friend we used to stay across the road i had to pass by her home to goto school. Even when we went to different engineering colleges we used to do combined studies, really missing those days.Now Jyoti is located in the US and is a beautiful mom to two lil pretty girls.

Paneer Posto - Cottage cheese in Spicy Poppy seed gravy

I love Paneer!Its so rich and healthy for everyone especially kids.This rich gravy with the nuttiness of poppy seeds is really different and goes well with hot chapatis.

 You need 

Large paneer cube / Indian cottage cheese cube 10-12 cubes 
Poppy seeds 1/2 cup (some baby corn and carrots)
Onion 1 small 
Garlic 2-3
Ginger small piece chopped finely
Tomato 1 big
Green chilly 2 small
Red chilly powder 1/2tsp 
Cream cheese 1 tsp 
Garam masala 1 tsp
2 tbsp of Oil
salt to taste

• Take poppy seeds,garlic,ginger,tomato,onion, green chilly, red chilli powder and blend to a smooth paste.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the ground paste and let it boil well.
• Add cheese and paneer to this.Add salt to taste.
• Add garam masala to this and boil until gravy becomes thick.
• Serve hot with rotis or jeera rice.

Yummy paneer posto is ready :)

Sending this to Know your cheese

Paneer Posto - Cottage cheese in Spicy Poppy seed gravy

I love Paneer!Its so rich and healthy for everyone especially kids.This rich gravy with the nuttiness of poppy seeds is really different and goes well with hot chapatis.

Vegetable Kurma/Gravy

Its always chapathis for dinner at my house which gives me more freedom to let my mind run loose to create something new everyday.This is a rich gravy in which I have used a vegetable called Noolkol/Kohlrabi/German turnip. 

Kurmas are a famous side dish here in the south.I was wondering what the difference is between all of them until I discovered that coconut milk based gravies are supposed to be called Kurma.But usually I see coconut based thick gravies being supplied as kurma.

To make this you need

Mixed veg cooked - carrot, beans,peas, noolkol, cauliflower - about 2 cups
Onion 1 large
Tomato 1 large
Ginger garlic paste 2 tsp
Curry leaves 2 sprigs
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Dhaniya/coriander powder 2 tsp
Chilli powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves 2 3 sprigs

To grind to a smooth paste
Whole garam masala spices - cardamoms,cloves,cinnamon sticks -2 each
Fennel seeds/saunf - 1 tsp
Coconut 2 tablespoon
Cashew nuts 5-6

• Chop the vegetables in equal sized cubes and pressure cook with water enough to cover them.Add salt to this.
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds once they pop add the curryleaves and onions.
• Saute onions until they turn translucent, then add the ginger garlic paste.Saute well until you get a beautiful aroma.
• Add tomato and let all of this mash up well in the heat.
• Add the dhaniya and chilli powders and fry until raw smell goes away.
• Add the vegetables and the water it was cooked it.
• Simmer well until you get the right consistency you're looking for.
• Add the ground paste and allow gravy to boil for 10 mins.
• Turn off the heat and garnish with curry leaves and coriander leaves.

• Rich and creamy gravy is ready too be served with rotis or parotas or just bread!

Vegetable Kurma/Gravy

Its always chapathis for dinner at my house which gives me more freedom to let my mind run loose to create something new everyday.This is a rich gravy in which I have used a vegetable called Noolkol/Kohlrabi/German turnip. 

Beetroot Croquettes/cutlets

Vegetables are difficult to get into our systems many times even for us adults and redressing it gives it a refreshing look and taste!I know many of you agree to that.

 I won this book from Nithu's Kitchen for the Healthy Food for Healthy Kids-Sandwich hosted by Jaleela last month (Feb-March '13) Thanks Nithu and Jaleela for choosing me winner.

I love vegetable cutlets but usually we do no add beetroot because of its strong colours its just read all through if you add this lil beauty.But we all know beets are really healthy.When i was carrying my older one i had plenty of beet juice of course mixed with carrots and apples because i don't want to imagine how just beet juice would taste by itself.

I have a large can of breadcrumbs sitting in my pantry and I just made it because of that but my LM ate a few of these so I was glad i made them.

You need

Boiled vegetables

1. potato 1 small
2. Beetroot 1 small
3. Peas a handful
4. Carrots 1 small

Coriander leaves few sprigs
salt to taste
Chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder 1/2 tsp
Garam masala 1/2 tsp
Maida/all purpose flour 2 tablespoons mixed in water to make a solution to dip in
Bread crumbs

Oil to deep fry

- Boil and mash the vegetables and keep aside.Mix salt,coriander leaves and the dry masala powders.
- Roll the mashed vegetables into any shapes you prefer.I rolled them into small balls.
- Mix maida in a little water to make a runny mixture so you can dip the above vegetable balls and roll them in bread crumbs.
- Repeat for all the cutlets and set aside.You can do this ahead of time and leave in a air tight container in the freezer/fridge.
- Deep fry these  breaded balls and drain them onto a tissue paper.

Beautiful red beetroot cutlets are ready!Serve them with sauce.

• Boil the vegetables soft and mash them well if the mix becomes too loose the cutlets will break, for an emergency situation add a slice of bread or two so that will make the mix less moist.
• Usually we need to dip the cutlets in egg before coating them with breadcrumbs i have use a paste of all purpose flour and it worked well.You can use a solution of corn flour as well.

Sending this to Easy 2 prepare in 15 mins ,Cook like a celebrity chef #5, Bon Vivant 13 - Kids' delight, Lets cook for Kids , Lets celebrate March Masti

Beetroot Croquettes/cutlets

Vegetables are difficult to get into our systems many times even for us adults and redressing it gives it a refreshing look and taste!I know many of you agree to that.

 I won this book from Nithu's Kitchen for the Healthy Food for Healthy Kids-Sandwich hosted by Jaleela last month (Feb-March '13) Thanks Nithu and Jaleela for choosing me winner.

Pasta with cheese and lime chicken

, 

Its been  while since we had pasta, so i made it for breakfast this weekend.Since i had some chicken in hand so this is what i whipped up and it was a wonderful breakfast a break refreshing break from our everyday southindian fares or breads.

 

 I usually make plain pasta for my lil one and she doesn;t like any spices except in her chicken.So since the pasta had chicken it was a great weekend treat for her and us all alike.My laptop charging wire is broken and so i had to sit on this desktop of ours and compose this and its taking forever!finally i'm glad atleast i can post something after a week.We all know how addictive blogging can be ;)

 

 You need

Pasta any shape cooked 1 large cup

To make the sauce

Onion puree 1 large onion

Tomato puree 2 medium tomatoes

Garlic pods minced 4 5

Capsicum  half a medium sized one chopped finely

Carrot 1 medium chopped finely

Garam masala 1 tsp

Pepper powder 1/2 tsp

Tomato sauce 1 tsp

Oil/Butter 2 tsp +2 tsp

Salt to taste

Cheese cubes 1

To prepare the chicken

Boneless chicken pieces chopped in to small pieces half a cup

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp

Lime juice of half a medium lime

Oil 1 tsp

Heat oil in a pan, add the chicken and fry until done.Keep aside.

• In a pan heat 2 tsp oil, add the chopped vegetables and saute them well.Keep aside.
• Heat oil in same pan, add oil, add the chopped garlic and saute well.
• Now add the onion puree and fry well until the oil leaves the sides.
• Add the tomato puree and tomato sauce and cook well until both are well combined.
• Add the garam masala and pepper powder.
• Add the cooked pasta and mix well.Check for salt.
• Add water if you want it a little loose.
• Mix in the sauteed vegetables and lime chicken.
• Add chopped cheese cubes.

http://foodssrilanka.blogspot.sg/2013/03/cook-like-celebrity-chef-5.html

Sending this to Bon Vivant:Kids Delight, One pot meal

Pasta with cheese and lime chicken

, 

Its been  while since we had pasta, so i made it for breakfast this weekend.Since i had some chicken in hand so this is what i whipped up and it was a wonderful breakfast a break refreshing break from our everyday southindian fares or breads.

 

Maggie Egg noddles

Someone likes to have noodles every day for breakfast,lunch and dinner...yes my LM but she likes it just plain with no vegetables!This is my answer to her request :) Egg noodles and everyone's happy that way.

Maggie noodles must the most popular item on every shopping list in India.How many ever articles we read or see that it isn't healthy, who cares we still keep buying them and so true to the name 2 minute food!

My lil one hates onions,tomatoes and i can shamefully add all the other vegetables too.Very recently she has started liking capsicum and peas.She loves her pulses too so I guess I have to let her develop her liking to vegetables gradually as she grows up.

To make this easy breakfast or anytime food you need

Maggie noodles 2 blocks
Chop all the below very finely
Onion 1 small
Tomato 1 small
Capsicum 1 half
Carrot 1 small
Peas a handfull
Beans 2 /3 
Eggs 2 beaten with salt and pepper
Oil 2 tablespoons
Garlic pod 2 crushed

• Heat oil in a pan, add garlic, immediately add the onions or the garlic will burn.
• Add the tomato once the onions are half fried.
• Add all the vegetables and let them cook until soft.Add the taste maker masala and stir well.
• Add water as per instructions, once the water is boiling add the beaten egg and mix well.
• Add the noodles and let it cook until done. 

Enjoy hot egg noodles with tomato sauce on a lazy sunday morning!

Happy morning :) 

Tips : 

-  I read somewhere that the noodles shouldn't be cooked directly with water like in the instructions on the back of the packet.I do that sometimes - boil water and let the noodles cook for about 2 minutes and discard that water.Then mix the vegetables and rest of the stuff you feel like.

- Beating the egg and passing it through a sieve will give u beautiful strands of egg :) 

- Since we are making noodles, the vegetables don't need to be cooked excessively.

- You can also use normal noodles instead of instant noodles.

Sending this to Breakfast Club