Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Bite

Nowadays I am making these quickies every Sunday. Great to have them as in between meals, they are amazingly tasty and the best part is no cooking is required. I make them and pack them as individual serving and keep them refrigerated for snacking. Quite filling they are and very healthy too. 

Ingredients

• Instant Oats - 1 Cup
• Peanut Butter - 2 tbsp
• Honey - 1 tsp
• Vanilla Essence - few drops

Though it may not be required, but I have dry roasted the oats a bit on a hot Pan. 
Then cool it and whisk it in my grinder.

Then add the peanut butter and honey into the grinder bowl and whisk again till the oats become sticky. Add the vanilla essence during the last whisk. If the mixture is too sticky,you may need to add 1 more tbsp of oats. Similarly, if it is too dry adjust the amount of peanut butter.

Scoop out a tsp and roll into a ball with your hands. Enjoy your guilt free, healthy, tasty bites.

Pork goulash

Got some pork tenderloin and made this Goulash. Added lot of capsicum but avoided cream which I believe is required for an authentic Goulash dish. 

Ingredients

• Pork tenderloin - 500 gms, cut into small cubes
• Onion - 2, sliced
• Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• Tomatoes - 2, chopped
• Tomato puree - 1 tbsp
• Capsicum - 2, chopped
• 2tbsp tomato purée
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Kashmiri chilli powder
• Green chili, 2, slit lengthwise
•  Salt, pepper
• Olive oil

Rub the pork cubes thoroughly with salt, pepper & 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder.

Heat oil in a pan, and fry the pork cubes in batches till they are golden brown on all sides. Keep aside.

In the same oil, fry the onions for a couple of minutes. 

Now add the garlic, cumin powder and fry till you get the wonderful aroma.

Add the tomatoes and fry everything on high heat till the water from the tomatoes start to separate. 

Add the chili and capsicum and fry well.

Now add the pork cubes, and stir everything around for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato purée.

Put a tight fitting lid on the pan, lower the flame and cook till the meat is totally cooked. It should separate with a fork.

Let the sauce thicken to your desired consistency. You don’t need any water in this dish.
Enjoy with plain rice.

Parshey Tilottoma

Got some very fresh baby parshey last Saturday. Since they were fresh, a simple 'jhol' or soupy curry with green chilli and kalonji seeds would have better taste, but my son likes something elaborate for his weekend menu, hence created this dish.

Ingredients

• Parshey Fish - 500 gms, cleaned
• Curd - 1 heaped tbsp
• Poppy seed Paste - 1 tsp
• Sesame Seed / Til Paste - 1 tbsp
• Green Chilli - 5 - 6
• Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Salt, Turmeric
• Sugar - a pinch
• Panch foron - Bengali 5 spice - 1 tsp

Marinate fish with salt and turmeric for 15 minutes.  Fry fish in mustard oil.

Mix curd, Poppy Seed paste, Sesame Seed paste, salt, turmeric, green chilli, kashiri chilli powder, pinch of sugar with water.

Heat mustard oil, then add the panch foron and let it splutter. 

add the soaked masala mix and fry till oil separates.

Add a cup of hot water, when it boils, add the fried fish and let it boil.

Adjust the seasoning. Remove from heat once cooked.

Serve with plain rice.

Lemon-Garlic Glazed Corn on the Cob

This is monsoon and you are getting plenty of corns. We love corns on the web, but till now, it was only the roasted version, which we are too some extend became bored of. So tried it with butter this time with a hint of lemon and garlic and it was delicious.

• Ingredients

1. Butter - 1 tbsp
2. Extra-virgin olive oil - 1 tbsp
3. Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
4. Corn, husked - 4
5. Lemon juice - 2 tsp, or more
6. Salt, Pepper - as required
7. Chilli flakes - optional

Heat butter and oil in a large Kadai over medium heat. Add garlic paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, about 1 minute. 

Add corn, water, lemon juice, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. 

Cover and cook, gently turn the corns occasionally, for 5 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking, turning the cobs occasionally, until all but a few tablespoons of liquid has evaporated and the corns become soft.

 Serve the corn drizzled with the lemon-garlic sauce and tomato sauce.

Aappam

During my recent visit to Bangalore, I got some new toys in my kitchen. LOL !! One of them is this Aappam Pan. This has this perfect curves at the centre and you have to tilt it with the batter rightfully to get the perfect aappam. To me, an Aappam is a mixture of Dosa and Idli, the centre is an idli whereas the sides are crisp pancakes just like dosa.

Ingredients:

• Dosa Batter - 2 Cups
• Coconut Powder - 1 tbsp
• Baking soda  - 1/2 tsp
• Salt – as needed
• Sugar - a pinch
• Oil for frying
• Aappam Pan

Add water to the packaged dosa batter,  making it slightly thinner than dosa batter consistency. Add baking soda, coconut powder, salt and sugar to the fermented batter, and mix well. Keep it aside for 10 minutes.

Switch on the gas and keep the aappam pan in low heat. When the pan is slightly hot, sprinkle little oil to the pan. 

Add a ladle full of batter and hold the handle of the pan and rotate the pan in such a way that the batter spreads all around in a circle. Because of the pan texture, remaining batter will come in the center.

Close the pan with the lid. Once the Aappam is cooked and the edges start turning brown, remove the Aaappam from the pan.

 Do not flip side. 

Serve hot Aappam with your favorite stew.

Quick Mac 'n' Cheese

'Mac 'n' cheese' is a classic American pasta dish – everyone loves it. For some days, I am not in a mood to make something elaborate, so tried this quick one, and it was fanstastic.  I have used loads of garlic and chopped some tomatoes as well, and it was amazing. 

Ingredients

• Pasta - 1 cup
• Chopped Garlic - 1 heaped tbsp
• Flour - 1 tbsp
• Butter - 1 tbsp
• Bay leaf - 1
• Tomato - 2, chopped
• Dried Basil - 1 tsp
• Cheese ( Mozzarella, Gouda)

Get a large pan of salted water on the boil. Add the pasta to the pan of boiling salted water and cook according to the packet instructions. Drain and keep aside.
Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat, then add the flour and turn the heat up to medium, stirring all the time, until you get a paste. Add all the sliced garlic. Keep cooking and stirring until golden. Add the bay leaves and slowly add in the milk a little at a time to ensure you get a nice smooth sauce. Bring the mixture to the boil, then leave it on a low heat to simmer, stirring occasionally.

Roughly chop the tomatoes on a board and season them well with salt and pepper. Grate the cheese.

Add the pasta to the sauce. Give it a good stir and take the pan off the heat. Stir in your grated cheeses, chopped tomatoes and basil leaves. 

Season well, it should be a bit wet, since it will go to the oven and will dry up. So add a little water if required. Transfer in a ovenproof dish. Preheat the oven at 180 degree C.

Bake it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, until golden, bubbling and delicious.

Serve immediately.