Food Lovers Alley

Garlic Naan

2011-12-27T11:32:00.000+13:00

For Naan

half cup milk (warm)
1/4 cup yoghurt
1 tsp instant yeast
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp oil

2 cups flour standard

For Garlic Butter

2 tbsp soften butter

¼ tsp finely chopped coriander

¼ tsp chives finely chopped

Method

Take all the dough ingredients and mix well. Leave aside for about 2 hours to rise.

Add all the dough ingredients to a bread maker in the exact order stated above. Set the mark to dough and allow the machine to do its magic.

Meanwhile make your garlic butter by mixing all the ingredients to together.

Once the dough is done remove on a floured surface and knead well. Divide into 6 equal parts.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface.

Heat a pan on the stove, once hot place the naan and cover for about 2 minutes or so till bubbles appear on the top and check if bottom is browned. Turn over and cook for another 2 minutes.

Once removed from the pan apply the garlic butter and keep covered so as to keep the naan moist.

Similarly repeat the process.

Lemon Curd

2011-11-18T20:40:00.000+13:00

Makes around 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

3 large egg yolks, strained
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

Directions

1. Combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk to combine. Set over medium heat, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure to stir sides and bottom of pan. Cook until mixture is thick enough to coat back of wooden spoon, 5 to 7 minutes.

2. Remove saucepan from heat. Add butter, one piece at a time, stirring with the wooden spoon until consistency is smooth.

3. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd to avoid a skin from forming; wrap tightly. Let cool; refrigerate until firm and chilled, at least 1 hour.

This recipe is courtesy of Martha Stewart’s site.

Barney Cake

2011-11-05T23:12:00.000+13:00

3 Tier Chocolate cake

2011-11-05T23:11:00.000+13:00

Pancakes

2011-10-30T11:20:00.001+13:00

Ingredients

1 cup self rising flour

1 cup warm milk

½ cup semolina

½ cup sugar

1 tbsp vanilla essence

2 eggs

Butter for making the pancakes

Method

Add all the above ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Allow the mixture to rest for 15-20 minutes

Heat a skillet on medium heat and once the skillet is hot lower the heat to low.

Add spoon full of the batter and swirl to cover the surface. Add ¼ tsp of butter.

Let it get golden on one side before turning over.

Allow to cook well on both side to a golden colour.

Repeat process to rest of the pancakes.

Make 8-10 pancakes. My pancakes measured about 5 inches each.

Tips:

I like to serve my pancakes with just honey

honey but you can serve with banana’s in between 2 pancakes

some fresh cream and strawberries .

Bharela Bhindi

2011-10-29T23:09:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

500 gms bhindi or Okra

1 cup besan or chickpea flour

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander powder

2 green chilli & few stalks of coriander chutney

1 tsp garlic crushed

Salt to taste

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp chopped coriander

Method

To make the stuffing mix all the spices, besan, chilli chutney and garlic together .

Split the okra lengthwise only half way through, so as to make groove.

Add some stuffing to the okra and set aside till the okra’s are stuffed. You may have some left over stuffing.

Heat oil in a pan add the stuffed bhindi , allow the bhindi to brown from all sides remove in a bake proof tray. If you have leftover stuffing add to the pan and cook thoroughly.

Place the browned okra into a pre-heated oven at 180c for 25-30 minutes till okra is done.

Add the remaining stuffing to the tray and garnish with coriander.

Serve with dal and roti.

Enjoy!

Bread Bhajiya

2011-10-27T20:49:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

2 cups Besan (Chick pea flour)

2 green chilli & few stalks coriander chutney

1 tsp garlic crushed

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric

Salt to taste

8 slices of Bread

Oil to shallow fry

Method

Add besan, green chilli paste, garlic paste and spices in a bowl. Mix well and add little water at a time, make a thick paste. Set aside for 20 minutes minimum.

Cut 1 slice of bread into 4 pieces each.

In a pan heat oil enough to shallow fry the bread.

Dip the bread pieces into the besan batter. Lay in the oil slowly to not splatter oil on yourself.

Fry both sides till golden. Fry in batches .

Serve with tea.

Enjoy!

Chickoo (Sapodilla) milk shake

2011-10-25T18:45:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

250 gms frozen chickoo

500 ml milk

1 small banana

1 tbsp sugar (optional)

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Add all the ingredients in a large jug and mix with a hand held mixer. Or add these in a blender and blend till milk shake consistency.

Serve in glasses. (serves approximately 4 small galsses)

Tips:
I used Frozen Chickoo as that what I get here in NZ but feel free to use fresh Chickoo same amount.

Yellow rice

2011-10-25T18:39:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

1 cup rice

1 tsp turmeric

Salt to taste

1 tbsp ghee

Method

Add 1 ½ cup water in a sauce pan, add salt , turmeric and ghee. Let it come to a boil.

Add the rice and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes or till the rice the done. Add more water if needed for the rice.

Once cooked run a fork through so that its separated.

Serve with side of your choice.

Strawberry Cake

2011-10-22T19:23:00.000+13:00

Today I made this cake. It is a lemon flavour Madeira cake.

This cake got a filling of Fresh whipped cream, strawberry jam and nicely sliced fresh strawberries.

Topped with the other half of the cake and more whipped cream.

Topped it up with some cherries and more strawberries.

Enjoy!

Cupcakes for Halloween!

2011-10-22T10:17:00.001+13:00

Halloween is here. Get your sugar rush!

Here are some cupcakes and ofcourse they are decorated with halloween goodies.

They can get much grouser than this, if you want.

Scarecrow

Caterpillar

Earthworms

Ghost

Spider web

Eyeball

Ladybird

Making of Elmo Cake

2011-10-20T23:35:00.002+13:00

Elmo cake

This is a 10 inch moist chocolate cake.

The bottom half of the cake

This is the top half of cake

This is the cream filling that was added between layers and the sides.

Fresh cream icing on the sides too.

The topping was chocolate ganache

The finished cake

One more picture

Ganache dripping on the side over the fresh cream. Enjoy!

Spicy Masala Chicken

2011-10-20T20:20:00.000+13:00

Spicy Masala Chicken

Ingredients

1. 4 pieces of chicken drums

2. 4 pieces of chicken thighs

3. Juice of 1 lemon

4. 1 tsp of ginger paste

5. 1 tsp garlic paste

6. 1 tsp of crushed red chillies

7. Salt to taste

8. 1 tsp brown sugar

9. 1 tsp liquid clear honey

10. 2 tbsp of coriander chopped

11. 1 green chilli chopped

2 tbsp of Oil for basting

Plus freshly chopped coriander for garnish

Method

1. In a large bowl mix the first 11 ingredients and add the chicken pieces. Allow to marinade for 3-4 hours or overnight.

2. Preheat oven on 180c grill setting.

3. Place the chicken pieces in a ovenproof dish and baste with oil. Cook till chicken is well done.

4. Turn in between and baste with oil.

Takes approximately 20-25 minutes to cook.

Serve hot garnished with coriander.

Note: From step 2 you can even put the chicken pieces on a BBQ and cook till done to your liking.

Sabudana Kichdi

2011-10-19T22:43:00.001+13:00

Sabudana Kichdi

Ingredients

½ cup sago or sabudana

¼ cup peanut roasted and skinless

1 medium sized potato finely chopped

2 green chillies chopped

¼ tsp cumin seeds

¼ tsp asafoetida

½ tsp garlic flakes

2 tbsp of oil

Salt to taste

Coriander chopped for garnish

Lemon juice

Method

In a deep dish place sago and just about cover with water and leave to soak for 30 minutes. (to make sure its properly soaked the water should be completely soaked) You can add a little salt if you want this stage but make sure you don't add too much salt later.

Once your sago or sabudana is soaked, in a pan roast your peanuts and set aside to cool. Once peanuts are cool put in a mortar & pestle and crush roughly.

In a pan add oil, once oil has heated add cumin seeds and then garlic flakes. Add the chopped potato and allow to cook by adding very little water covered. Once you can cut through the potatoes; add the chopped green chilli and salt to taste.

Then add the sabudana and cook till done. You can tell that the sabudana is done when it goes transparent like.

Remove from heat and garnish with coriander and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Enjoy!

Fruit Jelly

2011-10-18T20:27:00.000+13:00

Fruit Jelly

Ingredients

1 packet jelly Orange Flavoured (any brand of your choice)

1 can of segmented mandarin

Method

Make the jelly as per instructions on the packet.

Add the mandarins to the mould and then pour the jelly liquid and allow to chill.

Enjoy!

Kiwifruit Muffins

2011-10-16T18:10:00.001+13:00

Freshly baked kiwifruit muffins straight out of the oven.

The muffins got an icing of fresh cream and then topped with fresh cut Kiwifruit.

Another look at those lovely cupcakes.

Vesan

2011-10-13T19:34:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

For Syrup

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

For Vesan

2 cups besan or chickpea flour

1 tsp cardamom powder

1 tsp ginger powder

¾ cup ghee

1 ¼ cup chopped nuts of your choice(pistachios, cashew & alomonds)

Method

In a pan add sugar and water. Bring to a boil and then allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Set syrup aside

In a thick bottomed pan add ghee, then flour cardamom and ginger powder. Allow the flour to give out the well roasted aroma. Take approximately 12-15 minutes. Constantly stir. You will know that flour is done when it start sticking to the back of your spoon. (best to use a woode spoon)

Add nuts and syrup at this stage and pour into a tray to set.

Once set cut into squares and serve.

Easy Puff pastry mince pie

2011-10-13T06:45:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

1 ½ cup cooked mince (keema matar)

1 cup boiled & mashed potato seasoned with salt & pepper

2 sheets of puff pastry

Method

Pre-heat oven at 180c.

Cut each sheet of puff pastry into 6 pieces.

Place puff pastry in muffin tray, add keema upto 2/3^rd.

Add the mashed potato on top. You can pipe the mashed potato.

Bake the pie for 25-30 minutes till the puff pastry is golden and crispy.

Once done remove the pies from the oven and rest on a wire rack.

This is my recipe made out ingredients at hand.

Enjoy!

Keema matar

2011-10-11T17:00:00.002+13:00

Ingredients

500 gms mince meat (lamb, beef or goat)

1 cup frozen or fresh peas

2 medium onions chopped finely

1 tsp green chutney (made with coriander and green chilli)

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp cumin powder

½ tsp coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric

Salt to taste

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp chopped coriander for garnish.

Method

In a pan heat oil and add onions, let them sweat till translucent.

Add ginger, garlic paste and allow to fry for a few seconds.

Add green chutney and spices. Roast for a while and the add a little water. The masala should come off the edges and oil should come up.

Add the washed and drained mince, break the mince so as to mix well with the masala. Once mince is nicely mixed with the masala add the frozen peas and allow to cook for further 10 minutes covered.

Serve in dish and garnish with chopped coriander and serve with naan or roti.

Love it or loathe it!

2011-10-08T11:07:00.001+13:00

Food is an essential part of human existence. Food provides energy and nourishes the body with nutrients. Some of us eat to live and then others live to eat. Not all food tastes good in its raw form. Cooking food is what makes it edible. Cooking is something everyone may or may not like. But everyone likes good, tasty food!

I never really put much thought into how something raw was transformed into a tasty treat. I loathed cooking, I would avoid it like the plague. When I actually ended up in a kitchen I would not know what to do with the pots and pans or raw ingredients. Being the youngest member of a big family, I was never responsible for preparing any meals. The only task I remember doing at meal times was laying the table.

When I got married I struggled to have a decent meal on the table, my husband was supportive and patient with me. He cooked at time and sometimes we ate takeaways. And then mum’s house was never too far. When it got out of budget to buy meals, I would cook but it meant putting a pot on the stove and making a phone call to mums “what do I do next”. My husband was glad my mum lived in the same town or else takeaways would have been a cheaper option.

Franz Joseph Glacier-New Zealand

It wasn’t until I was in New Zealand that knowing how to cook was essential and I suddenly had this need to know how to make even regular meals. The very first year as a migrant was a struggle as both me and my husband worked different hours of the day. This meant that I could no longer depend on hubby to make the meals. It was quintessential for me to learn to cook. Also weekends were long and boring by myself. I needed to find something to do. Then there were days when I craved all the lovely food I enjoyed eating back home. I was home sick!

I slowly started with making just some basic dishes that my husband taught me. My husband by the way is a very good cook and till date some dishes are his speciality. As I kept experimenting with my food and cooking skills I kept getting better. I identified some ladies at work and among social circles who were good cooks and made friends only to learn some tricks of the good cooks.

I have one drawback with my cooking skills; I don’t taste my food before serving. So whenever I cooked some new, I served him his meals and awaited a reaction, when he said nothing I assumed the food must be good. And so I’d serve myself a portion, on tasting I’d go….yuck!! My husband probably never said anything only to keep the peace.

I slowly started making many different dishes and trying to perfect the art of cooking. I was trying every cuisine and every recipe in the magazines and cookbook’s. I even went to the library each week and picked up a certain cuisine for the week.

Since we are so far from India it’s always a good thing to be able to connect with people. What better way to make friends than gather around at meal time!

I had definitely improved on my cooking skills and I had the confidence to invite friends over for meals. I soon realised I was getting better each day with my cooking when my friends started taking doggy bags after dinner.

Then I really got interested in baking as all the morning teas that we had at work places were full of sweet baked treats and all I took was packed biscuits from the supermarket. I bought myself umpteen number of baking books. Then I baked and baked till I baked the perfect cake, cookie & scone.

Now I felt the need to decorate my cakes, first I started with fondant. Most people start from basic décor and find decorating with fondant difficult, but not me. Then I thought of trying other styles of cake décor. Now I find baking and decorating cakes very relaxing.

Through these years of trying to learn to cook and bake I was taking pictures of my food and noting all the recipes. With the new found love of facebook and to prove to all my friends and family that I had started cooking like a pro, I started posting my food pictures on facebook. Soon my friends and family wanted recipes. But my recipes were all over the place and I struggled to find the recipes when I actually needed them.

Then one day while reading my facebook page I saw an option to create a page. I thought of starting a page about food and my journey with cooking. I started my page on 1^st August 2011 solely to share my recipes with my friends and have all my recipes in one place where I could find them easily. Now I also have this personal blog and it’s good fun to be able to share something that I have in common with so many people all over the world. From this I have learnt that if you want you can learn something like cooking even if you loathe it and start loving it. I rarely ever have burnt offerings on my dinner table these days.

Pan Fried Crumbed Fish- My Recipe

2011-10-07T18:16:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

1. 500 gms fresh white fish fillets of your choice (used terakihi)

Marinade

2. 3 lemon juice

3. 2 green chilli & some coriander chutney

4. 1 tsp. garlic paste

5. Salt and pepper to taste

Coating

6. 1 cup bread crumbs

7. 1 cup besan

8. ½ cup shan fish seasoning

9. ½ tsp pepper

10. ½ tsp salt

11. Oil for shallow frying

Method

Wash the fish if you need to, then mix the marinade items together in a tray. Add the fish to this marinade just so it is soaked in this.

Cover with wrap and let it sit for almost 30 minutes.

Then lay your process line of marinated fish then coating mix.

Heat some oil in a sauce pan.

Take a fish fillet drain off the marinade well and then lay in the coating mixture.

Coat well on both sides and then lay it carefully in the oil to shallow fry.

Repeat the process for all fillets.

Serve hot with a choice of your sides-green salad, chips or mashed potato.

Garlic aioli also goes well these fish and chips.

Enjoy!

Bataka vada

2011-10-06T19:10:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

Filling

2 boiled and mashed potatoes

1 green chilli deseeded and finely chopped

1 tbsp finely chopped coriander

Juice of ½ lime

Salt to taste

Dipping batter

1 cup besan or chickpea flour

Salt to taste

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp red chilli powder

Pinch of baking soda

Water for mixing

Oil to deep fry

Method

Mix all the filling ingredients and make equal walnut sized balls. Set aside.

In a bowl add all the ingredients of batter and mix well adding little water at a time. The batter should be thick and not too runny.

Set aside for atleast 15 minutes.

Heat oil on medium high. Take the potato balls with a teaspoon and dip in the batter. Coat on all side and then drop into the hot oil one by one. Fry till golden and in batches.

Serve with chutney of your choice.

Chilli Garlic Prawns

2011-10-05T21:30:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

25 prawns medium sized

2 shallots finely chopped

1 tsp of flaked dry garlic

1 tsp of red chilli flakes

½ tsp of cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

½ lemon juice

2 tbsp of butter

1 tbsp of olive oil

Method:

Wash and devein prawns.

In a pan heated at medium high, add butter and olive oil together.

Add shallots, let them soften. Add garlic flakes and then the prawns.

Allow the prawns to get that light pink colour. Then add chilli flakes 7 cayenne pepper.

Cook for a 3-5 minutes till prawns are cooked.

Remove from heat add salt and pepper to taste and squeeze the lemon.

Serve with a healthy side of a salad of your choice. Or anything to go with like rice or roti entirely your choice.

Cheese Courgettes

2011-10-04T20:23:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

2 large boiled and mashed potatoes

½ cup bread crumbs

2 green chilli & a small bunch of coriander ground to a coarse paste

1 tsp cumin powder

Salt to taste

Cheese filling:

1 cup grated paneer

½ grated cheddar cheese

2 green chillies finely chopped

2 tsp coriander leaves finely chopped

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp chat masala

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

For coating:

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp of water & ½ tsp of salt

1 cup fine bread crumbs mix ½ tsp salt

Oil for deep frying

Method

In a large bowl add boiled mashed potatoes, bread crumbs , green chilli & coriander paste. Mix well and this should have a tight dough consistency.

Divide into 15 equal parts, roll into balls and set aside.

In another bowl, mix all the ingredients of the filling.

Flatten the potato ball into a disc shape. Add the filling in the centre and closed like a dumpling. Roll this into cylindrical rolls and set aside. Repeat the process for the rest. Set side and let them rest for 5-10 minutes. Then dip the courgette into egg then roll in bread crumbs.

Deep fry in oil till golden brown.

Serve with tomato sauce.

Bataka ni Katri

2011-10-03T22:29:00.000+13:00

Ingredients

2 large potatoes cut into chips

2 green chillies slit in the centre

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

½ tsp turmeric

½ cup water

Method

Add oil to a wok, let it heat on medium high, add the cumin seeds and allow them to splutter.

Then add the green chilli and let it cook to let out the flavour in the oil. Add chips , salt and turmeric.

Stir well , add water and cooked covered for about 10 minutes or till the water evapourates.

Stir well to brown the chips from all sides. Open lid and cook for a further 5 minutes to get the chips crispy.

Serve with kadi kichdi or roti.