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.

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.

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 ;)