Veggie Spaghetti

Tags

Italian, pasta

This Veggie Spaghetti is a quick and easy pasta that tastes delicious with lots to sautéed veggies, mushrooms and home made creamy sauce. It’s a good way to feed kids all the veggies as this spaghetti is colourful.

You can swap spaghetti with your choice of pasta and add your choice of vegetables.

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cook Time : 15 minutes

Serves : 4 – 6

Ingredients :

Spaghetti : 12 oz /340 grams

Zucchini : 1 large diced

Red, yellow and green bell peppers : 1/2 cup each diced

Button mushrooms : 1 cup diced

Garlic : 3 cloves minced

Basil leaves : 7 roughly chopped

Fresh Tomato Marinara Sauce : 1/2 recipe blended till smooth

Extra virgin olive oil : 2 tablespoons

Italian seasoning : 2 teaspoons

Salt to taste

Method:

In a large pot, bring water to a boil by adding salt to it. Then cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, add some extra virgin olive oil and keep aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan, add garlic, zucchini, bell peppers and saute for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute for another 2 minutes on medium flame. Add salt, Italian seasoning, stir and cook for 1 more minute.

Take the cooked pasta in a large bowl, add rest of the extra virgin olive oil, marinara sauce and stir well to coat. Add the cooked veggies and stir. Add basil leaves and serve hot with some parmesan cheese as garnish.

 

 

 

Ghee Karam Dosa

Tags

Andhra Recipes, Breakfast dishes

Dosa is a popular breakfast from South India. Dosa is a such a versatile dish that can be made with various filling or toppings. Ghee Karam Dosa is made with ghee, red chilli pickle as a topping.

Preparation Time : 5 minutes

Cook Time : 3 minutes

Makes : 2 dosas

Ingredients :

Dosa Batter : 1 cup

Red Chilli Pickle : 2 teaspoons

Ghee

Instructions:

Heat a dosa tawa, pour a large laddle full of batter on the tawa, smear 1 teaspoon pickle and add 1 teaspoon of ghee. Let it roast until the sides lift and dosa turns golden brown.

Take it off the stove and serve immediately. No sides are needed with this dosa.

Burger Buns

Tags

Baked Foods, breads

These Buns are fairly easy to make and are perfect for Burgers. They are soft and mildly sweet and rich in taste with butter and egg in it.

I made chicken and veggie burgers using these buns are they were loved by everyone.

Preparation Time : 20 minutes

Bake Time : 15-18 minutes

Resting Time : 2 hours 45 minutes

Makes : 8 buns

Original Recipe : King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

Active Dry Yeast : 1 1/4 tablespoons

Lukewarm water : 1 cup

All purpose flour : 3 1/2 cups

Egg : 1

Butter : 2 tablespoons at room temperature

Sugar : 1/4 cup

Salt : 1 1/4 teaspoon

Melted Butter and sesame seeds as topping

Instructions:

In a medium size bowl, add water, yeast and little bit of sugar, stir and let it proof for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, Add all purpose flour, water, sugar, salt and yeast. Knead well to make a soft, smooth dough.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover it with a wet cloth and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours where the dough should be double the size.

Gently punch the dough, divide it into 8 equal pieces. Shape them into a round ball, flatten to 3 inch across. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover and let them rise for about an hour until they are puffy.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush the buns with melted butter, add sesame seeds and bake them 15-18 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Remove them from the oven, brush a little more melted butter and let them cool on a rack.

 

Crumpets (Sourdough)

Tags

Breakfast dishes

I wanted to try my hands on making sourdough bread so started making the starter. I’m discarding the starter as part of this process. It’s day 10 that I’m feeding my starter and don’t want to throw the precious starter.

So, I looked up some recipes made with the discard and came across this crumpets recipe on King Arthur Flour website. I made a few modifications to the recipe to suite kids taste buds and they loved it. My younger wants me to make these crumpets more often. She smeared some nutella on them but they can be served with jam.

Preparation Time : 3 minutes

Cook Time : 5 minutes per batch

Makes : 10 crumpets

Ingredients:

Sourdough starter : 1 1/2 cups (unfed/discard)

Sugar : 2 1/2 teaspoons

Salt : 1/2 teaspoon

Baking soda : 1/2 teaspoon

Instructions:

Add all the ingredients to a medium sized bowl and stir. The batter should rise up and bubble a little.

Heat a pan over medium-low heat, smear some butter and pour a 1/4 cup or small ladle of batter. Depending the size of the pan, you can make 3-4 crumpets at a time.

Let the crumpets cook till the top is set and you see small holes. This should take about 3 minutes. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes.

Serve hot with Nutella, jam and/or butter.

Note :

Starter discard that is day 7 or higher works better for this recipe. You can also buy the starter and make these.

 

Shorva/Shorba

Tags

side dishes

Shorba/Shorva is a simple gravy dish that goes good with any biryani or pulao.The preparation and cooking this dish is very easy. This dish is sure for gravy lovers. If you like lots of gravy to go with your biryani, then this one is for you.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Serves : 4-5

Ingredients:
Onion : 2 medium chopped finely

Ginger garlic paste: 1 tablespoon

Kasoori Methi: 1/4 teaspoon crushed

Garam masala: 1 tablespoon

Coriander powder: 1 1/2 tablespoons

Red chili powder: 2 1/2 teaspoons

Turmeric: 1/2 teaspoon

Curd/yogurt : 3 teaspoons

Cilantro/Coriander leaves: 1/4 cup chopped

Oil : 5 tablespoons

Method:
Heat oil in a pan add onion and kasoori methi, sauté for 1 minute. Add garam masala and ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes.

Add turmeric, salt, coriander powder and chilli powder. Fry for 1 minute.

Add curd and cook for 5-7 minutes. Close lid and cook for 3-5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of water, mix well and cook for 10 minutes until the gravy is a little thick.

Add coriander leaves and turn off the stove.Serve hot with biryani or pulao.

Shorva

Shrimp Scampi

Tags

30 minutes or less, Italian, Shrimp/Prawns

Shrimp Scampi is a quick and easy Italian dish where shrimp is cooked and then smothered in butter garlic sauce. Wine is normally used in the dish but I just replaced it with more chicken broth. It’s a perfect dinner in itself with some garlic butter or serve it with mashed potatoes.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time : 10 minutes

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

Large shrimp : 500 grams raw, peeled and deveined

Salt : 1 teaspoon

Fresh ground black pepper : 1/2 teaspoon

Paprika : 1 teaspoon

Olive oil : 1 tablespoon

Butter : 2 sticks/ 1 cup

Garlic : 8 cloves minced

Chicken broth : 2/3 cup

Parsley : 1/4 cup chopped

Lemon : 1 squeezed

Method :

In a medium sized bowl, add washed shrimp, salt, black pepper, paprika and toss to coat.

Heat olive oil in a pan and add shrimp. Cook for 4-5 minutes until the shrimp is cooked through. Remove the shrimp and set aside.

In the same pan, melt butter, add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add broth and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add shrimp back to the pan and toss. Add parsley and cook for another 2 minutes.

Turn off the stove, add lemon juice, toss and serve immediately.

Buddha’s Delight

Tags

Chinese, Veg Curries

Buddha’s delight is a vegetarian dish that is well known in  Chinese and Buddhist cuisine. The dish is traditionally enjoyed by Buddhist monks. The dish consists of vegetables and tofu cooked in soy sauce based sauce.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Tofu : 400 grams cut into 1 inch cubes

Bell peppers : 2 cups diced

Broccoli florets : 1 cup

Carrots : 1/2 cup Julien

Mushrooms : 1/2 cup sliced

Bok Choy : 1/2 cup chopped

Baby corn : 1/2 cup

Green onions/scallions : 1/4 cup

For Sauce:

Soy sauce : 3 tablespoons

Sesame oil : 1 tablespoon

Honey : 2 teaspoons

Ginger : 1 tablespoon grated

Garlic cloves : 2 minced

Cornstarch : 2 teaspoons

Salt to taste

Method:

In a small bowl, add all the ingredients listed under for sauce and mix well.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and fry the tofu pieces until lightly browned and keep aside.

Heat oil in another pan, add peppers, carrots, broccoli,  season with salt and pepper and saute for 4 minutes stirring constantly.

Add baby corn, mushrooms, bok choy, stir and cook for 1 minute. Add 2 tablespoons of water and cook for 4 minutes.

Add tofu cubes, sauce, stir and bring it to a boil. Once the sauce thickened, turn off the stove, garnish with scallions and serve hot with some rice.

 

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Tags

Baked Foods, muffins

These Cinnamon Sugar Muffins taste like baked donuts but without all the deep frying. Serve them hot out of the oven and they are gone in no time. I used this recipe to make donut holes before but when I was checking out other blogs, I came across a post of donut muffins. I tried baking these muffins and they were loved by family.

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Bake Time : 18 minutes

Makes : 10 muffins

Ingredients :

Butter : 1/3 cup at room temperature

Sugar : 1/2 cup

Egg : 1

Milk : 1/2 cup

Vanilla extract : 1 teaspoon

All purpose flour : 1 1/2 cups

Ground Cinnamon : 1/4 teaspoon

Nutmeg : 1/4 teaspoon

Baking powder : 1 1/2 teaspoons

Salt : 1/2 teaspoon

Method :

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Add sugar and butter and cream it till the mixture is light and fluffy. Add egg, milk, vanilla and blend well.

Add all purpose flour, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt and mix well.

Add the batter into the lined muffin tin about 2/3 full.

Bake it for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the muffin. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on the muffins.

Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes before serving.

 

Oven Roasted Chicken

Tags

Baked Foods, Chicken Recipes, One pot dishes

This Oven Roasted Chicken is simple spice mixture rubbed onto chicken thighs and drumsticks and baked to perfection. It’s a perfect dish to make for dinner.

Preparation Time : 5 minutes

Bake Time : 45 minutes

Serves : 3

Ingredients :

Chicken Thighs with bone : 3

Chicken Drumsticks : 3

Extra virgin olive oil : 2 tablespoons

Garlic : 3 cloves minced

Salt : 1 teaspoon

Fresh ground black pepper : 1 teaspoon

Lemon juice : 2 tablespoons

Chilli powder : 2 teaspoons

Turmeric : 1/2 teaspoon

Dry Oregano : 1/2 teaspoon

Dry Thyme : 1/2 teaspoon

Butter : 2 tablespoons

Method :

Pre heat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Wash and pat dry the chicken pieces. Make couple marks on the chicken pieces.

In a medium sized bowl, add all ingredients except chicken and mix well.

Take an oven safe pan, put the chicken pieces in it and rub the spice mixture on both sides of the chicken pieces.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve hot with some salad.

 

Pineapple Apple Smoothie

Tags

drinks, smoothies

Pineapple Apple Smoothie is a refreshing and flavourful drink. Pineapple and Apple should be blended first and add the rest of ingredients so the smoothie is not chunky.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Serves : 2

Ingredients:

Pineapple : 1 cup diced

Apple : 1 cored and diced

Banana : 1 small sliced

Soy Milk : 1/2 cup

Ice cubes : 1/2 cup

Method:

Add Pineapple and apple in a blender jar and blend till smooth. Add banana, soy milk, ice and blend till smooth. Serve immediately.