Paaladai/Rice Crépes

 Paaladai is a breakfast/dinner dish but is mostly made during special occasions. Any time there's a festival or holiday, one can almost always find a plate of soft paaladai, thinner than paper (when made right) on the table. It's easy to make and there's the additional advantage of it being able to be made right after the batter is prepared- there's no waiting time for fermentation or such. The best side to go with it, in my opinion, would be mutton roast (and you can have it with my mom's mutton roast, another recipe on this blog). Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups Raw Rice/ Basmati/ Long Grain

1 Egg

3/4 Cups Grated Coconut

Water

Salt

METHOD:

   Rince and clean the rice and soak in water for atleast an hour.

After an hour drain the water and grind in a mixer/ grinder with the egg and coconut. Add water if needed and grind to a smooth batter.

The batter must feel silky smooth.Add salt and a cup of water to the ground batter and mux well. The consistency of the batter should be thinner than the dosa batter, so add water as needed.

Heat a wide shallow pan at medium heat. When the pan is hot enough (when a water drop is added it should splatter) add a spoonful of batter and swirl around the pan to form a thin layer. Remove from pan when it starts to peel out of the pan. Remive to a plate and fold into a triangle shape when its cool enough to handle. 

  Paaladai can be paired with any spicy chicken or meat dish for dinner or with coconut milk and sugar for breakfast.

Ginger Cream Pasta

The easiest dinner ever is always pasta.If you have the right ingredients it can be made in just below 30 minutes or so. Any pasta combinations can be made with few items from your pantry. Most of the time the outcome never fails. Your imaginations with the ability to combine ingredients can give birth to an easy yet delectable recipe/dish. And again pasta and cheese can never fail you.

This dish is one of my brainchild and I'm not sure if there is any other similar dish out there. I'm just thinking of a name for this dish. Now I remember that the flavor of ginger with cream was so welcoming and yeah I think I can name this dish Ginger Cream Pasta.

Ginger Cream Pasta an easy weeknight dinner served in under 30 minutes. Njoy!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Pack Pasta (Penne/Bowtie)

2 Chicken Breasts

2 Big Shallots

11/2" Piece Ginger

20 Mint Leaves

15 Plum Tomatoes

1 Chicken Buillion Cube

2 Tsp Red Chilli Flakes

2 Tblsp Flour

4 Tblsp Butter

2 Cups Whole Milk

1 Cup Cream

1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Salt to taste

METHOD:

  Cook and drain pasta according to package directions. You can make it Al dente or well done according to your taste.

Clean and cut chicken into small strips about 2 inches long. Chop the shallots, grate the ginger and halve the tomatoes. Wash and remove the mint leaves from the stalks.

In a pan over medium heat add 2 tablespoons of butter and fry the shallots until transparent. Add ginger fry for few seconds and then add the chicken breasts and fry until well cooked along with the chicken stock cube. Now add the mint leaves give a quick stir and then the tomatoes and fry for just 30 secs. You don't want to cook the tomatoes completely because we are looking for the fresh bite in the pasta. Remove to a bowl and keep aside.

To the same pan add the remaining butter. When it melts add the flour and keep frying with a whisk. Pour the milk ti this and combine together but be careful about lumps. Now add the cream, stir until it gets heated through. 

Its time to add the fried chicken and veggies to this sauce. Check for salt,mix in the parmesan cheese and pour it over the pasta. Stir everything together and serve immediately.

Komola Kheer

Until very recently I wouldn't have remotely dreamt of making a milk sweet with orange in it.When I accidentally came across this name Komola Kheer, and came to know that it is something with oranges in it, I was super excited because I LOVE oranges.

So just jumped into the web world, browsed around and found that it is a version of basundhi with oranges, a famous sweet from West Bengal.

You can use any oranges but I preferred using clementines. You can either use fresh or bottled juice and a little tartness elevates the taste.

So here goes the recipe, give it a try and you will love yourself for doing so.

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups Milk

1 Cup Heavy Cream

4 Tblsp Sugar

Few Strands Saffron

A Pinch Salt

4 Sweet Oranges(Preferably Clementains)

1/4 Cup Orange Juice

2 Tblsp ChoppedPistachios 

METHOD:

Peel the oranges and remove the pulp and keep aside.

Squeeze about 2 oranges and get the juice ready.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the milk along with the saffron and bring it to a boil. Let it reduce to half at medium temperature. It might take around 30 minutes. Add the sugar and salt, let them dissolve completely. Once it gets thickened, add the heavy cream and heat through. Remove from heat and cool down completely or chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Once cool, stir in the orange juice and the orange segments and chill for another hour. Garnish with pistachios and serve.

Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones

The change of environment into vibrant colors and the decline of temperatures with a crisp cold breeze always pairs well with the warmth from your oven and the aroma of spices filling your whole house. Even though summer always seems to leave before you can catch those last bright rays, those which fade into the cold, gray clouds all too soon, autumn also brings with it many wonderful things- enter pumpkins! 

Now don't just let these orange beauties go to waste; bring some in home for these spiced up scones, crispy and flaky with a bite into the sweet glaze, balanced by the tartness of the cranberries. Enjoy your mid mornings with these scones and your favorite tea or coffee.

INGREDIENTS:

Scones:

11/3 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Cold Butter

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/4 Cup Dried Cranberries/Craisins

1 Egg

1 Tblsp Yogurt

1 Tblsp Cold Water

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

A Pinch Clove Powder

A Pinch Grated Nutmeg

1/6 Tsp Ginger Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (Optional)

Glaze:

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/4 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

1/2 Tblsp Melted Butter

1 Tblsp Milk

METHOD:

SCONES:

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, then grease it and dust with flour.

 In a medium bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and all the spices. To this add the butter cut into small cubes and mix with a fork or pastry cutter to resemble a coarse meal.

In the other bowl, beat the egg with pumpkin puree, yogurt, cold water, and vanilla essence.

Pour this mix to the dry ingredients and mix untill well incorporated.

Finally add the cranberries and mix well. Do not knead the flour mix. Transfer to a floured surface and spread into a 8" disc.

Place this onto the prepared sheet and cut into 8 or 12 (preferable) wedges and bake for about 14 mins or until the surface turns slight brown.

Cool down for five mins before applying glaze.

GLAZE: Mix together cinnamon and powdered sugar, then add the melted butter and milk to form glaze. 

If you prefer more glaze you can double the quantity. Or serve half the pieces with glaze and leave the rest plain. It tastes equally good.

Soy Manchurian

 To think of vegetarian food without actual vegetables is quite hard. You can make something out of paneer or tofu, but what if someone doesn't like both or you want to give something different?

 Soy is like that good friend who comes in handy and surprises you. I was really really skeptical (seriously) when I thought of trying the manchurian with soy chunks. But I have no words now; I never thought this would turn out so good. Shown below is the dry version of Soy Manchurian. Try this at home and enjoy the amazing results!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Soy Chunks

1 Tblsp Corn Flour

1 Tsp Soy Sauce

11/2 Tsp Ginger Garlic Paste

3 Tblsp Oil

1 Medium Onion 

2 Green Chillies 

4 Spring Onions 

4 Garlic Pods

2" Piece Fresh Ginger 

2 Tsp Green Chilli Sauce

2 Tblsp Tomato Ketchup

2 Tsp Soy Sauce

5 Twigs Coriander Leaves (optional)

Salt 

METHOD:

   In a pan, boil 4 cups water along with the soy chunks for about 5 mins. Drain the water and squeeze out any extra from the soy chunks and chop them into smaller (2") pieces.

To this, add cornflour, ginger garlic paste,1tsp soy sauce, 1tsp green chilli paste, and a bit of salt (if needed), then mix well. 

Heat 2 tblsp oil in a pan and fry the soy chunks until they reach a light golden color, and keep aside. Just shallow frying is fine.

Chop the onion, ginger, garlic, spring 

onion and green chillies into small pieces. 

Heat a pan and add a tablespoon of oil. Keep the flame high and cook the onion for about two minutes until it starts to wilt off. Then add the white part of spring onion, garlic, ginger and green chillies one by one. Now add the soy sauce, then green chilli sauce and tomato ketchup. Check for salt and add if needed. Squeeze any extra oil from the fried soy and add to this. Give it a good stir and let cook through for two to three minutes.

Finally garnish with the green spring onion and remove from heat. Sprinkle chopped coriander on top.

A great starter or a side dish to go with any vegetarian meal.

Gka Prow Gai (Basil Chicken)

 Its end of summer and wanted I to use the last batch of basil leaves from my garden. I was looking for Thai recipes, because they make use of lots of basil in their recipes which are usually very tasty and flavorful.

  I'm really happy that I came across this recipe because it solved the purpose. I actually made it a bit dry but can be made little saucy too. So now give Gka Prow Gai a try!

INGREDIENTS:

1lb Chicken Tiny Pieces/ Mince

6  Pods Garlic Chopped

1 Small Onion Chopped

25 Chopped Basil Leaves

1 Tsp Red or Green Chilly Paste

1 Tblsp Soy Sauce

1 Tsp Brown/Palm Sugar

1 Tblsp Oyester/ Fish Sauce

3 Tblsp Cooking Oil

Salt to taste

METHOD :

 Clean and cut the chicken into very small pieces. You can even mince the chicken for this recipe.

Heat oil in a pan until really hot and fry the chopped garlic followed by onion. Add the palm sugar and chilly paste and fry well. As soon as onion turns transparent add the chicken and cook well. Add about 2 tablespoons of water if necessary.

As the chicken is cooking through, add the soy sauce and fish sauce. Adjust salt, add the basil leaves and stir together  until the dish is almost dry.

You can even switch off stove and take it out while its still saucy.

Goes really well with rice or roti. If you are planning to serve it as a starter, make it out of chicken strips.

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros is a mexican breakfast dish served with eggs which translates to "rancher's eggs". Its actually  a mid morning meal in the farms.

You can make and serve them with mexican rice, beans and eggs along with salsa and avocadoes.

  Its really good and filling. It can be had for brunch or occasional dinner too. Hope you guys would enjoy this as much as we did.

INGREDIENTS :

4 Flour Tortillas

4 Eggs

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese 

1 Tsp Hot Sauce

1 Tsp Black Pepper Powder

Salt to taste

For Bean

1 15ounce Can Black Bean or

11/2 Cups Cooked Black Bean

1/4 Cup Chicken Stock or 

1 Chicken Buillion Cube

For Salsa

1 Small Onion 

2  Big Tomatoes

1 Jalapeno Pepper or 2 Green Chillies

2 Tblsp Chopped Coriander Leaves

1 Tblsp Lemon Juice

METHOD:

Prepare Bean:

Heat a cooking pan and add the rinsed and drained black bean with the chicken stock, check for salt and pepper and cook on medium low flame, break the beans a little and cook until the stock is absorbed. If using chicken buillion cube, add 1/4 cup water along with this and cook them.

Prepare Salsa:

Chop onion, tomatoes and jalapeno into small pieces. Add chopped coriander leaves to this. Mix in lemon juice and salt.

Fry Eggs:

  In a pan fry the eggs sunny-side up (bulls-eye) and season with salt and black pepper.

In a pan, heat the tortillas on both sides.

  Now arrange each tortilla on to plates. Divide the black bean equally onto the four tortillas. Spoon on salsa over the bean. Place an egg on top of this, drizzle some hot sauce and cheddar cheese on top and sprinkle chopped coriander. Now  heuvos rancheros is ready to be served.