Simply ban Maggi or cry out “Foul” louder!

Maggi is off the racks in all retail stores of India with #MaggiBan. If more than permitted MSG and lead could do it to Maggi, have we widened our eyes enough to recognize the flawed quantities of heavy metals, harmful germs or carcinogenic chemicals being added unintentionally to our own food prepared at home?

Aginomoto is a powder researched to cause cancer on long term usage and we use aginomoto to enhance flavor while frying Gobi manchuri. Lead finds its simplest way to our belly when we consume fried hot pakodas or bajji right from the old news papers which are majorly used to patt off the excess oil instead of kitchen towels. Trans-fats are condensed when the oil is reused again and again for frying. These trans-fats are associated with an increase in the free-radical oxidation which is associated with higher incidence of cancer. One can’t calculate the amount of contagion possibility when the Golgappawala smashes potatoes by merely jogging on them.

Crowding food in fridge with less space between the containers can actually accelerate microbial growth if the bits of food mix together. Wash thoroughly before you cut fruits and veggies since the rind could have easily harbored potential pathogens which will be transferred through knife when you cut them right through without proper washing.

Many of us taste that little portion to check the edibility of a stale food in a corner of fridge. Tasting even a small amount of a spoilt food can still prove very dangerous. Putting cooked meat back on a plate that held the uncooked meat can still spread germs from uncooked meat.

Always cook eggs thoroughly. Avoid foods that contain raw or undercooked eggs which may contain Salmonella or other harmful bacteria. So, avoid eating raw cookie dough to check taste.

Microwave cooking fastens the cooking process and is a preferred way of cooking in the competent world with busy life. What we oversee are the plastic containers which are used for reheating or cooking which contain cancer causing substances which can enter food when food is cooked. We don’t seem to be aware that plastic covers to cover foods are also equally dangerous. These acts may cause biomagnification and prove dangerous in long run. Instead, we need to use only glass containers to microwave.

Hence, kindly be aware of the hazards which are far near than the yellow packs of Nestle Maggi piled on the shelves of supermarket.

Parle G Cake

My colleague taught me this wonderful recipe.  It’s cheap and super easy to prepare. Needs no oven even. Have prepared it twice with improved efficiency and had never dreamt that my baking will turn good at first and guess what, It did!!!

Next time when I bake, I will add dry fruits and nuts to the batter to make it a fruit and nut cake for sure J

Needed:

Parle g biscuits – about 40 pcs

Sugar – 4-5 tbsp

Cacao powder – 6 - 7 tsp

Custard powder – 3-4 tsp

Eno powder – lemon flavor, 1 sachet

Method:

Gry grind biscuits and sugar. When it turns to a fine powder, add cacao powder, custard and mixie it further to blend everything.

Take this prepared powder, add required milk to get a cake batter consistency.

Meanwhile, get ready to bake.

In a cooker, add an inch of water. Place an empty bowl upside down. In another bowl/ designer bowl for cake-making, smear butter or ghee all over inside and sprinkle a little maida over it. Tap off excess maida out of the vessel. Do not touch it with hands or do not use fingers.

Take prepared batter and add eno powder to it and mix well. Immediately pour off the mixture into baking vessel. Place the vessel in cooker over the upside down empty vessel and close the lid, keep cooker on medium flame without whistle/ pressure for 25-30 minutes.

Bake check- inserted toothpick should come out clean. Else, cook it further for 5 more minutes.

When done, take out baking vessel, define the edges with a knife, flip the vessel on a plate, tap it with a skillet to get the cake intact.

Honey Aloo

This recipe was picked from a cookery show and modified according to our preferences…

Sure it has loads of calories since it is fried but is tantalizing to taste buds and can be prepared as a rare evening treat or as a starter.

Needed:

Potatoes – 4 big, washed thoroughly and cut thickly as shown in pics. Slices should be thicker than when they are sliced to prepare wedges.

Oil – to deep fry and about 2 tsp to sauté the fried pieces later on.

Garlic – sliced finely and crushed lightly

Required salt

Chilly flakes – 1 tsp

Chilly powder – 1 ½ tsp

Honey – 2 tsp

Method:

Heat oil in a pan. In medium flame, fry potatoes in batches till golden brown. Every batch will take about 5-6 minutes. Keep aside.

Heat about 2 tsp oil in a wide bottomed pan. Sauté garlic for a minute, add chilly flakes, chilly powder and fried potatoes. Put salt and Mix well with a skillet. Add honey, mix well and serve hot.

Hot n Sour Chinese Soup

It’s no herculean task. I was always happy with knor hot n sour veg soup and had never even thought of giving it a try. After some research, I got to know that its much more easier and cheaper when prepared at home. Filled with nutrition, it turned out to be a first time hit when done!

Needed: (Serves 2)

Finely chopped:

Onions - 1 tbsp, 

Spring Onions- 2 tsp,

Garlic - 3 tsp,

Beans - 1 tbsp,

Capsicum - 3 tsp,

Carrot - 2 tsp,

Green chilly – 1-2 tsp (according to its pungency),

Cabbage - 1 tbsp,

Leeks (optional, I did not use) - 2 tsp ,

Coriander (only if you have liking towards coriander flavor, otherwise, skip it) - ½ tsp.

Chilly powder - ½ tsp

Pepper powder- ½ tsp

Sugar - ¼ tsp

Soy sauce/ All in one Chinese sauce - 1 tbsp

Cooking oil (I used Olive oil) - about 2 tsp

Water - about 600 ml

Corn flour - 3 tsp mixed well without lumps in cold water

Salt

Method:

Heat oil in a pan and add garlic, sauté for a minute. Then add onions, sauté for a minute. Add all other veggies and sauté for 3 minutes. Add sauce and required salt. After 1-2 minutes, add water, chilly powder, pepper powder, sugar and bring to boil. Finally add corn flour mixture after simmering the boiling soup. Leave for 2 minutes and the hot n sour soup is ready to serve with a yum Chinese flavor rising aromatically!!

Tomato Carrot Soup

Needed:
2 Tomatoes
1 big Onion
1/2 Carrot
2" Piece Beetroot
1.5" Cinnamon
1 Cardamom
2 Cloves
5 Pepper
2 Garlic cloves

Pressure cook above mentioned ingredients till veggies are soft (2 whistles on medium flame)

1.5-2 Tsp Cornflour mixed well in a little cool water
2 Tsp Sugar
Required Salt
1/2 Tsp Chilly Powder

Strain the cooked veggies and add sugar, salt and chilly powder. After 2 minutes of boiling, add cornflour paste and cook for further 2 minutes and serve hot.

Capsicum Rice

There's always a rush during early morning. Nitu has to leave to office pretty early and and i need to cook fast. Time management becomes my utmost priority every morning. My in-laws weren't there for a few days and we both had to manage everything yet more precise at home. This was a recipe which came to my help when i thought Nitu got bored of regular lunch. Now i feel good to say that this one has become his fav these days. It was a first time success even for a non rice lover like me!!  Takes as normal time as one would take to prepare lemon rice.

This Serves 2:

Rice- one cup-- Cook it and keep aside, as you would do for any other rice item. Basmati rice'd be exemplary. I used normal one.

Keep these handy-
Mustard- 2tsp
Oil-2tbsp
Curry leaves - a few
Green chillies- 5-6 - Cut vertically
Onion-1 medium-finely chopped
Capsicum-One cup-chopped as per preference
Coriander leaves- Finely chopped-about 2 tsp


For Masala-
Heat a tsp of ghee and saute with these until the raw smell vanishes-
Jeera (cumin) & coriander seeds 1 tsp each,
3tsp of bengal gram (kadle bele),
Half cm of cinnamon,
1-3 Cloves, a pinch of cardamom powder(or one cardamom)

Grind masala to a fine powder and keep aside

Add Oil on a tawa, once its hot, splutter mustard seeds, add few curry leaves(bay leaves), Green chillies, finely chopped onions. Once the onions turn golden brown, add chopped capsicum. Saute only till the capsicum is partially cooked. Let them retain their natural crustiness. Add ground masala and remove from heat and saute until well mixed. Mix it with rice once it is little cool with needed salt and chopped coriander leaves. Tastes best when served hot.

I assure it'l be a hit!! 

Aloo Matar Chat

This one's a great evening chat and consumes considerably less time and tastes yum 

Needed~ (Serves 2)

4 Big Potatoes
A handful of frozen/ Fresh peas (I used frozen ones)
Oil to shallow fry -About 4 tbsp
Salt - As per preference
Chat Masala - 1 1/2 tbsp
Red Chilly Powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
Lemon extract - 2 tsp
Coriander Leaves chopped finely - 2 tsp

Peeled and halved Potatoes are to be boiled with a tbsp of salt in cooker till pressure builds up. Cut potatoes into medium sized cubes. Heat tawa on medium flame, add oil, and put these cut cubes into the middle and wait till the potatoes have started browning. Unless browning doesn't happen on at least 1- 2 sides, you won't get that desired flavor. Push the pieces that have browned to the edge of the tawa while allowing the other pieces to be shallow fried until brown. When all the cubes are done and have been browned, put thawed green peas in middle and shallow fry until they'r partially cooked but retain their crispness. Put off fire, add salt, chilly powder, chat masala, chopped coriander leaves, lemon juice and saute everything until potatoes are well coated with its masala. 

Serve immediately. 

Can be topped with tomato sauce / sweet chutney to add to its taste.

Potato evening

It was a calm evening with less traffic and I came home a little early with my hubby yesterday. We decided to prepare Potato Wedges. When potatoes were boiling, we ran washing machine simultaneously. That machine had some clog in water supply and we lost a little time in making it work again, And the potatoes got overcooked. 

I tried frying them and they couldn't retain their shapes thus.

Nitu told me to make aaloo chat out of them! and guess wat? It worked well  Just added chat masala, chilly powder, salt and mango powder to fried, and remaining boiled aaloos and mashed everything to make that. 

We enjoyed it thoroughly only till a few more spoons and then decided to buy pooris for it could easily be converted into golgappe. While Nitu was off to buy pooris, I was done with Paani. 

We added a handful of chopped onions, a little coriander leaves to aaloo chat and it turned into golgappa filling . This filling was special since they had half of those fried potatoes to add to the taste.....

I guess its not needed to explain how slurpingly we filled those pooris with potato filling and paani, and ate them all... Those Potato wedges- turned to aaloo chat - finally camouflaged as superb golgappas were worth drooling. 

Masala Puri (Masalpuri)

Sweet chutney

Needed: (per plate)

For Masala of Masal puri-

• Clove- 1
• Cinnamon-a small small small piece
• Nutmeg-very minute piece
• Pepper corns-2-3



Green Chutney

• Jeera-a tsp

-Roast all these in a thick bottomed pan, and grind.

Garlic juice of 2 cloves

Boiled till very soft, peeled and completely mashed up potato-1

Mixie all of these together.

A small cup of peas-soaked overnight n pressure cooked till soft (but do not allow to be mashed up, thou)

Cook the ground mixture with peas till required consistency. It should not be either too liquid or too thick. Lets say, it should be syrupy in consistency.

For assembling:

Puris-5-6

Sweet chutney- Cook dates (5) n tamarind-a small ball separately till tender. add a half tsp of roasted jeera powder, 1tbsp jaggery and wet grind them to get a flowy consistency.

and

Green chutney- green chilly-1, a fistful of coriander leaves, and mint leaves (pudina) each, salt to taste, lemon juice-a few drops. wet grind them.

-about 1 tsp each

For Garnish:

Grated carrot- 2 tbsp

Finely chopped Onion- 2 tbsp

Coriander finely chopped- 1tsp

Sev- 4 tbsp

 Assembling:
Crush puris with hand coarsely and put 2 ladles of masala mixture.
Add sweet and green chutneys
Garnish with onions,tomatoes, carrot, sev and coriander leaves
Serve hot.

Sprouts chat

This weekend was a Rakhi weekend for me. Except for I could not tie Rakhi to my elder brother who’s not in town; I had a weekend blast with my younger brothers.  

For the occasion, I had prepared this unique healthy chat and everyone at home enjoyed it thoroughly.  

Needed: (Per Plate)

Pre- soaked and Sprouted green grams- a handful

Pre- Soaked, Sprouted and boiled Black grams – a handful

Finely chopped-Onion- 1, Coriander leaves- a small bunch, Tomato-1 small

Spices- Chat masala, Amchur powder, Chilly powder, Salt, Black salt, Roasted Jeera powder

A little jaggery syrup (put jaggery & water on low flame till its syrupy in consistency)

A squeeze of lemon juice

A handful of Sev to garnish
Optional-A fist-full of rolled oats- roasted

Procedure:

AAAAAh! There’s none. Just mix up everything. Add all the above spices according to taste, mix a little jaggery syrup, and garnish with Sev.. U’l have a healthily delicious chat when u’r done..  

Custard Biscuit Pudding

Custard is one thing which I like to consume, in either warm or cold form. I googled for custard recipes n finally remixed custard biscuit pudding cake from http://www.sharmispassions.com/ to make my own pudding.

Its a quick & easy recipe, can be consumed warm or chilled too. I couldn't resist till its chilled. I just started munching one stack of biscuit pudding the moment its assembling was done. Warm taste was awesome too :) 

Its a must try for all custard lovers :)

Needed:

Custard - 1 ½  tbsp (Vanilla flavour)

Milk- 250ml (5stacks can be creamed with this)

Sugar- As per taste- I used 3 tbsp

Ghee- 1 tsp

Biscuits- 4 per stack.

Banana/Apple thin slices - 3 per stack 

Instant Coffee Powder (Bru)/ Filtered Coffee Decoction

A little chocolate syrup/Boost/ Bournvita powder

Add custard powder to few spoons of cold Milk and dissolve till it’s a smooth paste without lumps. Place a thick bottomed container on low flame and boil the remaining milk with added sugar. Keep stirring intermittently. Add the milk dissolved with custard to the boiling milk and continue to stir constantly. The custard will start thickening. Add ghee to the mixture at this stage. Continue cooking till it becomes a thick paste of creamy consistency. Switch off fire and allow it cool down to room temperature.

Assembling:

Place a slice of fruit on the biscuit and spread custard generously over it. For the next layer, dip the biscuit for a second in 2-3 spoons of coffee decoction and repeat the process of stacking one above the other. 4 layers’d be just fine. Top layer would not require fruit slice. I used Britannia Marie Gold for the base and top layer, and used 2 Britannia Vita Marie Gold for the layers in middle. On the top layer, sprinkle a little boost powder and instant coffee powder. Refrigerate for 2-3 hrs and enjoy the yum taste of custard biscuit pudding. 

Note: If you’re using rectangle biscuits like Parle-g or Krack jack you can lay four or six biscuits in one layer and make it appear like a cake.  

Here is its variant with Parle G Biscuits..

Potato Wedges

Wedges are always on our menu when we have pizzas. Being such a certain choice, i wanted to try it out at home. I browsed through web and finally designed as per my spice preferences. It came out lip smacking though! And here is the recipe i followed:

Needs:

Potatoes (1/4 KG)

Oil for frying

Rice floor (1 Cup)

Garlic (one medium sized)

Salt, Pepper powder, Chilly powder, Amchur powder (as per taste)

Garam Masala (Optional)

Rosemary

• Cut each potato without peeling it off into 8-12 pieces longitudinally. Boil them in cooker with a little sea salt till the pressure is raised and put it off the fire. They should not get mashed up.
• Add a few spoons of heated oil to the rice floor. It ensures crispness of the outer layer of wedges, when done. Take a little rice flour or all purpose flour and mix with water till a little flowy in consistency.
• Add salt, pepper, very little of chilly powder and amchur powder. If you want it to be more spicy, add a little garam masala.
• Juice the garlic cloves. either mash it using a thick spoon, or crush it in a mixer. Just be cautious that only its juice is added to the batter. 
• Add a little Dehydrated or fresh Rosemary to the batter.
• Heat the oil and deep fry those potato pieces till golden brown, after dipping them in the batter. 
• Drain excess oil on an absorbent paper.
• These wedges taste great with tomato ketchup.

Note: The batter around the potatoes should never be very thick or they may become soggy.

Katori chat

kneaded dough spread evenly on a steel cup

Experimenting mood is my special visitor. Coz, usually the experiments turn out good. It may be since I’ll be too cautious as a first timer. This Wednesday, amma and appaji had been out, and it was my turn to cook for the day. My bro in law, his kid and my Nithin were at home. I wanted to prepare something for the evening snack and I recollected this chat which I saw on a TV show a few days back. I felt it messy since I had to deal with sticky maida flour as I was meddling with it for the first time. But my cooking paid off thoroughly when all of them enjoyed the chat.

In this one, the uniqueness lies in edible katori.

Here is its recipe...

Needed to knead:

Maida, salt, cumin, pepper powder, few tsps oil

Katori Chat

Method:

grams, sweet and green chutneys

Roll out kneaded dough to make small chapati and stick it around a small straight edged bowl as in picture and put it carefully in hot oil for deep frying. The steel cup can easily be removed from oil with the help of a spoon once the dough outside the bowl is half done. Dough will retain its cup shape. Once the whole Maida Katori turns golden brown, remove from the pan and place on some tissues to remove excess oil.

Katori chat---

• Place prepared katori in a serving bowl

• Spread a pinch of chat masala

• Add boiled grams

• Spread a spoon full of sweet and green chutneys (according to taste preference)

• Add onions, a pinch of salt, amchur powder, chat masala

• Decorate with a few drops of green chutney and serve. Add sev/chips as an option.

Sweet-sour chutney ….. Grind these:

Tamarind, seedless dates, cumin, little salt, little jaggery

Green-hot chutney ….. Grind these:

Green chillies, a bunch of cilantro, few pudina leaves, little salt, cumin

Checklist for filling Katori,

• finely chopped onions

• soaked, boiled and salted black gram

• soaked, boiled and salted green gram

• sev/chips (optional)

Powders needed:

Chat masala, amchur powder

Veg Cheese- buster Pizza

I was in a mood to experiment with my kitchen this weekend. We shopped for raw materials to prepare pizza. I spread a little of butter all over the base, and layered it once with grated mozarella cheese. Then I topped it with vegetables tossed with spices and a little tomato sauce. Then, I grated a thick layer of cheese on them and baked in my pre heated oven for about 7 to 8 minutes. The trickiest part was baking, since i did not have a conventional oven to preset temperature. I had to depend on watt dispaly of my microwave instead. I used grilling to bake for 5 minutes, and 3- 3.5 minutes with grill and microwave option. Second one came out real good; Ofcourse, only after partial charring of a pizza though ;)

Here goes its ingredient list.

Note:

Hey, i dont believe in exact guidance over proportions while cooking. I just follow instinct of my senses. ((( Mainly nose! ;)   )))

Pizza base

Few spoons of Butter

A relishing mix of chopped vegetables [ I used Onions, Capsicum, Tomato, Baby corn, Sweet corn kernels, and just to add a tang, i used a cut spring onion too]

A pack of Mozarella cheese right out of freezer

Spices : Salt, Chilly Powder, Pepper Powder, Chat Masala, A pinch of Dry Mango Powder [Depending on taste buds, customize proportions]

Tomato sauce (ketchup or Hot&sweet sauce), a little, to toss vegetables in order to ensure a proper blend of spices, and to dip the whole tip of every bite of pizza when its ready.... :)

Tomato soup

 I always wondered why i did't like tomato soup in almost any hotel i'd tried. Later i found that the soup that my mom prepares is really YUMM than the other ones. Just wanted to share her recipe...
So, here it goes-

• 4 cherry tomatoes (Red and fleshy)
• 2 medium sized onions (peeled and cut into half)
• 2 garlic cloves
• a clove
• a piece of cinnamon, 2 cm wide 

-To be boiled in cooker for 1 or 2 whistles, until tender. Strain and extract juice.
     To the extract, add --

• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Chilly powder
• 1 tbsp Salt
• a pinch of pepper powder

 --and boil. If you want the soup to be very thick, add a tsp of corn flour dissolved in a little water finally while boiling the soup.

  *Spices can be altered according to spice buds, thou ;)