Lettuce Saag

I had never used Lettuce in my cooking. I brought it for the first time for making burgers for which I used only 3-4 leaves. I was left with a quite a big lettuce and started searching for recipes. All I could get were salad recipes which we are not very fond of.
Then suddenly I got the idea of using lettuce in place of Sarson in saag. I followed the Sarson ka saag recipe given to me by my NY neighbour ‘D’ aunty and replaced sarson leaves with lettuce. The outcome of the experiment was quite good and my hubby couldn’t even guess that it was lettuce.

Ingredients:
Lettuce – 1
Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped
Garlic – 3 cloves, chopped
Ginger – 1 inch, grated
Green Chillies – 2 finely chopped
Kasuri methi - 1 tbsp
Corn Flour – 2 tsp
Salt
Oil – 3 tsp

Boil water in a big vessel. Dip the lettuce leaves in the boiling water for 5 mins. Till they become soft. Remove the leaves and blend it to a fine paste.
In a pan, take some oil and fry the onions. When the turn translucent add the ginger and garlic. Continue frying till it turns brown. Then add the chopped green chillies and lettuce puree. Add salt and kasuri methi. Give it a boil.
Finally make a paste of corn flour and water and add it to the above. Heat for a minute or two and serve with hot phulkas or makki ki roti.

Note: For Sarson ka Saag use Sarson and Spinach leaves in the proportion 2:1

Corn Pizza

Seeing the variety of pizzas in the blogosphere I wanted to try my hand at a corn pizza.
I just followed my Pizza recipe for the dough and replaced ½ a cup all purpose flour with corn flour.
I used plain Heinz tomato ketchup instead of the homemade pizza sauce and used the same toppings as before, in addition I also used some chopped broccoli. The pizza tasted great but became a little dry at the base.

Hey Friends I'm back

Hi Friends...I'm back. I haven't disappeared from the blogosphere I just took a small break from blogging as I had no other option. I know its been quite long since I blogged any recipe. The reason for my absence is that we have moved back to Mumbai as my hubby's project assignment was over. Last few days have been very hectic for us. Now things have settled a bit. I am not sure if I will be able to continue blogging as before but I will try my best. Recently when I tried to put a post blogger was giving me some errors while putting pictures. Hopefully I will find out a solution soon.
Thanks for all your concerns and sweet comments my dear blogger friends and sorry for not being able to comment on your posts since the last few days.
Happy Blogging.
Enjoy.

Bread Halwa

This is a simple and tasty dessert also known by the name "Double Ka Meetha". I tasted this for the first time when my friend Nandini brought this for us. And I couldn't imagine that it was made from bread. This recipe belongs to her and needs a small quantity of ghee in contrast to the deep frying method which is usually followed for making this. My picture doesn't do justice to this yummy dessert. I will update it the next time I make it.

Ingredients
Bread slices - 3, cut into small pieces
Ghee - 1 1/2 tbsp
Sugar - 8 heaped tsp
Water - 3/4 cup
Milk - 2 tbsp
Nuts - cashews, almonds, raisins
Cardamom Powder - pinch (optional)

Make a sugar syrup with the above quantities. The syrup should be of one string consistency but I heated it only till it was sticky.
In a pan(preferably a flat one) heat ghee and roast the nuts. Remove and keep aside. In the same ghee roast the bread slices on a low flame till golden. Then add the sugar syrup. Do not stir. In the mean while boil the milk. When the sugar syrup gets absorbed add the milk, cardamom powder and nuts. Mix it slowly. Preferably serve hot.

Rajma Chawal

I always get confused with this name. During college days my Punjabi friend Gurvinder(...ok lets refer to her as Priti...thats what she preferred to be called)...used to bring this yummy dish in her lunch box and we all used to relish it. Punjabis have a unique style of cooking. All their dishes taste simply great. Even if we make the same dish at home it lacks the Punjabi touch. Ok coming back to the topic her rajma chaval was a single dish in contrast to the usual rajma gravy which is eaten with rice. But in those days i was not so much into cooking so I never bothered to ask her the recipe.
Few days back I made rajma curry for which I boiled some rajma. But even after making enough gravy I was left with some more boiled rajma. So I made this One pot meal the next day.
This is not the authentic recipe. I have just added a few masalas and the dish turned wonderful. So I thought of posting it.

Ingredients
Boiled Rajma/Kidney beans - 1 cup
Boiled Rice - 2 cups
Onion - 1 medium, cut lengthwise
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
Tomato - 1 medium, pureed
Kasuri Methi - 1 tbsp
Kitchen King Masala - 1/2 tsp
Biryani Masala/Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin-Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cilantro - few
Salt
Oil - 3 tsp

Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin and when it crackles add onions. Fry till it turns golden. Then add the ginger and garlic paste. fry till the raw smell goes and then add the tomato puree. Fry for 3-4 mins. In the mean while add all the spice powders. Finally add the boiled rajma, rice and kasuri methi and adjust salt. Add some chopped cilantro. Mix all together cook for a minute or two and serve hot.

Rava Dosa

Rava Dosa is a thin dosa with a lace like texture. Each person uses different proportions of ingredients for making this yummy dosa. I always follow my mil's proportions from whom I learnt to make this. This is one of my favourites as it is comes out very crisp and doesn't need fermentation.

Ingredients
Maida/All Purpose Flour - 1/2 cup
Rice Flour - 1/2 cup
Rava/Semolina - 1/4 cup
Green Chilly - 1, cut into thin slices
Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Oil

Mix both flours and rava and add enough water to make a thin batter. This batter must be thinner than ordinary dosa. Add salt to the batter.
Heat 2 tsp of oil and add jeera. When it begins to crackle add the chopped green chillies. Fry for a minute and add it to the batter.
For making dosas, heat a non-stick tava. Smear with 1/2 a tsp of oil. Take a ladle full of batter and pour from a height of 5-6 inches in a throwing fashion(just like neer dosa). Do not shape it as ordinary dosa. Cook on medium flame till it gets golden.
Serve with your favorite chutney/sambhar.
The above quantities make 7-8 dosas.

Note: Green chillies can be be added directly to the batter.

Egg in the Hole

When people ask me if I am a veg./non-veg. i dont know what to answer. Eggs are still a controversial topic. Some believe them to be veg and some don't. I prefer saying that I am an Eggetarian but still have blank faces starring at me. Not sure if such a word exists. I guess it should be Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarian but then that would be even more complicated for a layman to understand.

My egg consumption has increased after marriage and particularly after coming to US. Previously it used to be 1-2 eggs a year and now its 1-2 eggs a week. I always keep some eggs handy.
Egg in the hole/Egg in the basket refers to an egg which is fried in the hole of a bread. I came across this dish many months back while browsing the web. Since then I have made it many a times as it doesn't require any advance planning. I mostly make this as an evening snack. This is just my way of making them.

Ingredients

Bread slices (White or Brown)
Eggs - 1 per slice
Pepper Powder
Chilli Powder
Salt
Oil/Butter
Tomato Ketchup and Sriracha Chili Sauce - for serving

With the help of a cookie cutter or glass, make a hole in the bread slice. The hole should be big enough to accommodate an entire egg but the bread should still be intact.
Heat a non-stick pan. Add little oil or butter. Now place the bread on it. Break an entire egg directly into the hole. Cook this on a very low flame. Also fry the hole of the bread.

Sprinkle salt,pepper powder and chili powder.
Once it is fried from below drizzle some oil on top and slowly flip it. Add the spice powders. Fry this side also. Keep flipping till it is well cooked. Enjoy with ketchup.

Note: To check if it is cooked from within insert a knife in the center. If it is gooey cook for some more time. You can also leave it a little raw as per your choice.