After so so so long!!

After totally giving up on updating this blog, I am motivated again to post some new recipes Soon!! This weekend we are planning on making Paneer Tikkas ( Grilled cottage cheese) and Puri Sabji ! So, I will post the recipe and some pictures :)

Lunch Break?

Lunch is usually a mid day meal and most people have it while at work. I like bringing my own lunch from home instead of buying a crappy sandwich or other kinds of unhealthy lunch options available. I call them unhealthy because anything filled with fried chicken, cheese, white bread, sugar, butter is unhealthy for me. I love lunch time and hate to skip it because if I do, the afternoon definitely turns out to be bad for me cos I feel really sleepy zzzzzz......

Sometimes I wake up about 20-20 minutes earlier in the day to make my lunch or I cook my lunch before I sleep at night and pack my lunch box ( This happens when I am feeling very energetic :P) So! Here are some of my favorite lunch ideas! I discovered most of these recipes randomly in desperation :P

Idea 1: Pita bread Sandwich

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Left Over Rice
Green Lettuce
Hummus ( My friend Krishna gave me the recipe for a very good home made hummus which is amazingly awesome! But ready made hummus is also available in grocery stores)
Yoghurt Dip ( Optional, this is a greek dip, and extremely easy to make)

Method:

1) Heat the pita bread, cut it from the top so that you can fill stuff in it. (It is hollow from inside)

2) On one side, apply Hummus, on the other side apply yogurt dip. Apply both of them generously :D

3) Now put some cut lettuce leaves in it and then fill it up with rice and pack it in an aluminum foil and you are done!

P.S I will post the Hummus recipe and the Yoghurt Dip Recipe right now I feel too lazy to do that :D

Idea 2: Green Pepper and Potato Patty Sandwich

Ingredients:

Green Pepper
Onion and spring Onion would be better, I use whatever is available
Oregano
Sale & Pepper
Boiled Potatoes
Mayo

Method:

1) Heat some olive oil, saute Spring Oinions/yellow onions/red onions and Green pepper till both are about half cooked, then add some salt, pepper and Oregano according to your taste.

2) Now, mash the boiled potatoes and add some salt in it and shape it in the form of a round patty/or cutlet as we call it in India.

3) Take 2 slices of bread, you can toast them if you like.

4) For the sandwich filing: Put the Potato patty on one slice of bread, put the potato patty on top of it and then spread some Mayo to stick everything together and cover with the second bread slice and you are done.

Idea 3: ( My favorite!!!) Turkey and Cheese Bagel Sandwich : This can be had as a breakfast also instead of lunch

Ingredients:

Turkey Slice
Cheese Slice
Bagel ( I use any kind of whole wheat bagel )

Method:

1) Toast the Bagel in a toaster
2) Roast the turkey slice on a pan till its a little brownish
3) Filling for the toasted Bagel : Turkey slice and cheese slice
4) OMG Yum!!!

Idea 4: Indian Patty - Extremely simple to make

Ingredients:

Bread ( I use whole wheat bread)
Left over veggies

Method:

1) To make this, you need asandwich maker, which is quite cheap, I got it for about 15 bucks
2) Just take the bread and fill it with any kind of left over veggies and use the sandwich maker to make the patties!

Idea 5: Quick Microwave rava idlis

If you made Sambhar last night and if you hate having cold rice with sambhar and have nothing else in the fridge, this is the option you should try! It takes 5 minutes if you have a microwavable idli maker.

Ingredients:

Sooji
Curd
Salt
Eno

Method

1) Take about 2 cups idli, add 3-4 tablespoon curd in it and enough water to make an idli batter. ( it's a little thicker than pakora batter I guess :D)
2) Add about a tablespoon of eno just before pouring the batter in the idli maker
2) Fill in the idli maker and don't forget to put some water on the bottom of the idli holders because we want to cook the idlis in steam.
3) Put the idli maker in the microwave for 4 minutes you idlis are ready to go.

You can take the Sambhar in a separate box and wrap the idlis in an aluminum foil. This is the way I do it :)

Idea 6: Tomato Rice

While you take a shower in the morning you can put about 1 cup rice in the microwave for about 15 minutes if you do not have left over rice.

Ingredients

Rice
1/2 Chopped Onion
1/2 Chopped Tomato
1/2 Tsp Garam Masala
1/4 Tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 Table Spoon Lemon water
1/4th of a cup Coriander leaves

Method:

1) Heat oil in a pan, saute the oinion and tomatoes together for about 2-3 minutes or until they are half cooked.

2) Add salt, garam masala, Red Chilli powder and again saute for about 2 minutes until the tomatoes look cooked.

3) Mix the rice in it together with the lemon juice

4) Add the coriander leaves and mix for about a minute

5) Pack in your favorite lunch box !


So, these are some of my favorite lunch ideas. Try them and tell me about it! And increase the list. I so hate spending about 6-10 bucks every afternoon on lunch which is not even healthy! But there are some places which do not make me feel that guilty about spending on lunch at least once a week ( Even I need a break and be lazy sometimes!) So these are places Like Panera bread, subway or Atlanta bread. And When I really feel like having unhealthy but extremely yummy food, its definitely Noodles and Company ( Japanese Pan noodles and Penne rosa being my favs!), Panda (Because of the Fried Orange Chicken!) And yes! who can forget Chipotle Burrito Bol!( I don't know how healthy it is, but is is yummy!)

gluab jamun............Sweeeeeeeeeeet

Ok not a biggy any one can do it, what i used was a pre-mix powder from gits. It was 100gm packet, to get really good results few precautions

• Don't over heat the oil, start with medium heat and when half done reduce to low
• to check heat just drop a small piece of dough it should immediately float
  
• Don't make big round balls, diameter should be approx 3/4 of an inch
• i chose to make cylindrical shape (approx half the size of AAA battery)
  
• Double check the consistency of the sugar syrup

Ok Follow the instructions on back of the Pre-mix packet, while making dough don't add water in one go, add half of the suggested amount first mix, then add the remaining half of water, Mix, and keep doing so till u get dough together after that just sprinkle little by little if needed.

what is correct softness of dough, well just like the clay or little less

Deep Fry - instructions above

Now for sugar syrup boil

• really sweet 2 parts of sugar+1 part of Water
• Not so Sweet 1 parts of sugar + 1 parts of water (problem gulab jamuns will become soggy)

add Kesar, cardamom(elaichi) if desired, Soak for 10-15 min and u r good to go!!
don't add in boiling syrup, it should be warm

Enjoy!!!

PS: dont have a picture they eaten by the time i wrote this :)

Skipping Breakfast and Lunch - A BIG NO NO

I am sure many of my friends skip lunch, at least most of the people I know do so. I recently read an article and according to that, it is very unhealthy to skip breakfast and lunch. In fact, it says that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Having breakfast in the morning is the key to perform better physical ad mental activity. People who have a healthy breakfast are able to maintain a more healthier weight than those who do not. And I feel this all makes sense! Since, if you skip breakfast, you keep feeling hungry all day and eventually end up gorging food when its time for dinner!

I never miss breakfast, and the day I do, I literally can not stand on my feet! I think this is all because of my mother, who has spoilt me as people say (:P), but I believe its more like a good eating habit. So, now when I am here in the US, away from home and all my luxuries of just sitting on the dining table ready to eat food, I have to cook my own breakfast and being a graduate student, I definitely do not have the time to cook a royal breakfast :P, but I got some ideas for a quick and almost healthy breakfast. So here are some of my breakfast ideas :

IDEA 1: Cereals!! ( Easy and healthy!)
IDEA 2 : A glass of milk ( with Nesquick :D) and toasted bread slice with a turkey slice and a cheese slice and an orange.
IDEA 3: Toast and Omelet. I don't think there is anyone who does not know how quick it is to make an omelet!
IDEA 4: Banana and glass of milk.
IDEA5: Bagel with cream cheese
IDEA 6: Toast and peanut butter
IDEA 7: Boiled eggs
Keep suggesting ideas, I really want to increase this list :)

Also, keep this is mind that having breakfast might make you hungry earlier in the day, this only means that your metabolism has been stimulated and you body needs more food. So, wait till its time for lunch. And yes, skipping lunch is also unhealthy. You need lunch to feel good and all afternoon. I will post more health benefits of having lunch and some cool and quick lunch recipes.

South Indian

If people are expecting me to cook south Indian food from scratch, then this is probably the wrong place! But if students like me are reading this, then it should be obvious that I am planning to cook South Indian food from the ready made Dosa dough available at Patels. But yes, I have cooked Sambhar and the coconut chutney from scratch!

Making the dosa is pretty simple. You just have to follow the instructions at the back , and look how yummy these dosas look in the picture below :

But, the 'Sambhar' was a challege! But I am sure that I did a pretty good job in making sambhar for the first time. So, here goes the recipe. Please people, suggest me some improvements!

Ingredients:

2-3 Tsp Sambhar Masala

2 cups Vegetable I used: Carrots, Peas, Potatos, french beans. You might also want to use other veggies like brinjals, pumpkin, drumstics etc. depending on personal choice (and availability!)
1/2 cup tuvar daal
1/2 Tsp Fenugreek seeds
3 dry red chillies
1 Tsp Urad Daal
8-10 Curry Leaves
1/2 Tsp Mustard seeds
1 Pinch hing powder
2 Tbs Tamarind paste
1 or 2 Tbs Oil

Method

1) Boil Tuvar daal, vegetables and salt according to taste together in a pressure cooker and then mash partially.

2) In a pan, heat oil, add the fenugreek leaves and fry till they look reddish, then add the urad daal and saute until color change.

3) Now, add Mustard seeds, hing powder, red chili and curry leaves and let them splutter.

4) Just add this mixture of spices along with the sambhar masala and the tamarind paste to the boiled tuvar daal and keep on ow fire for about 20 minutes till a nice consistency is achieved. Add water if the sambhar seems too thick.

I think this sambhar did not turn out to be all that spicy but still was pretty decent. I am gonna try again and keep trying till I get that perfect Sambhar!

Now, we have sambhar, dosa ready, we can NOT miss the coconut chutney!!

Ingredients:

1 cup Grated coconut
2 dry red chilies
1 Tsp Mustard seeds
2 tsp urad daal
5 curry leaves
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander ( optional, but i really like to add this )
A pinch of hing powder
Oil

Method:

1) Blend coconut, coriandder leaves, salt in a blender and add a little water if too thick.
2) Heat oil, add mustard seeds, red chili, urad daal, hing, and fry for a minute and add curry leaves.
3) Add this mixture of spices to the blended coconut mixture.

Enjoy!

Well, now when I made all this, I felt Hey! This meal can not be complete without the Aloo (potato) masala for the dosas!!

Ingredients:

1) Boiled potatoes
2) All ingredients of coconut chutney above except the grated coc0nut.
3) 1/2 Tsp Turmeric powder

Method:

1) Extremely simple!
2) Mash partially the boiled potatoes with a fork.
3) Just make the mixture of spices in oil as above.
4) Add the mashed potatoes to the mixture of spices, add the turmeric powder and salt and saute for 2-3 minutes

And you all have to believe me that the person for whom I cooked all this food was definitely in a bliss ( I hope!!!!). No, but seriously, you all got to try out all this!

Rajma, Chawal, Aloo Gobhi! Need I say more??

A must have North Indian delight - Rajma, Chawal and Aloo Gobhi . These are the most common dishes in most of the get-together's and parties at my home in india. Awesome food, cooked by my mom! She sometime replaces Rajma ( Made with Red kidney beans) with 'Dal Makhani' ( made with Black Gram and Red Kidney Beans ). An exact explanation of dal is given at wikipedia at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal

1. Rajma:

Rajma is a very famous North Indian cuisine. It is made from red Kidney Beans and Indian spices (of course!) I tried cooking it the way my mom does. I learned the recipe from her when I went to India last which is in January this year. Rajma and Rice tastes really good, but some people also have it with Paranthas ( North Indian bread). So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 Cups Red Kidney Beans
1 Pinch Turmeric Powder
1-2 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic Powder
2 Onions Chopped
3 Tomatoes Chopped
1-2 Green Chillies Chopped
1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
Garam Masala
1 or 2 Whole Red Chili
1 Cinnamon Sticks
1-2 Cloves
1-2 Black Cardamom
2 Tablespoons Oil

Method:

1. Soak Red Kidney beans overnight.

2. Boil the Beans in 4 times more water in a pressure cooker with about 1 tablespoon of added salt.

3. Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan and saute chopped onions until they turn golden brown in color.

4. Now add chopped tomatoes to the pan and saute for 2-3 minutes. After that put the onion and tomatoes in a blender and puree.

5. Heat oil in pan, add cinnamon sticks, Black cardamom, cloves, whole red chili, till all these spices sputter ( it will take about 1.5 minutes). Now add the pureed onion and tomato mixture to this pan and mix well for about 15 minutes on low fire until you see oil separating out from tomatoes.

6. Now add this to the boiled Kidney beans in the cooker and mix well, and keep on low fire and mash some of the beans from your spatula so that the curry gets thicker ( Keep on low fore for about 15-20 minutes).

Done!

2. Aloo Gobhi

Aloo gobhi ( Potato and cauliflower cooked in Indian spices) is again a North Indian recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Large Cauliflower cut evenly ( I used 1 packet of frozen cauliflower :D)
2-3 Potatoes cut in cubes
2 large onions chopped
1-2 Chopped Green Chili's
1 Tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
1 Teaspoon Garam Masala ( Indian spice)
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 Teaspoon turmeric powder
Fresh Coriander chopped
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1) Heat oil in a wok, add cumin seeds

2) When cumin seeds splutter, add chopped onions and saute till onions get light brown.

3) Add cut green chilli, and ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, turmeric powder, salt according to your taste ( I would add about 1.5 tablespoon) and mix and saute for about 1-2 minutes.

4) Now add potatoes and cauliflower to this mixture , mix thoroughly and cook covered on low flame. Keep stirring in between ( after every 5 or 10 minutes to ensure that it is not burning! and add water if it is sticking to the wok).

6) When its cooked, add the coriander leaves and mix and its ready!

Hope you all enjoy this food and for that you have to stop being lazy which means stop eating out all week, be a little enthusiastic and start cooking ! Home cooked food is always a healthy option according to my opinion. Eating out all the time is no fun. I read an article called '8 Sneaky things That Could be Making You fat' by Kathleen M. ZelMan which tells you about the factors that tigger you to overeat. It says that only if people eat when they are hungry and stop when they were full, there would be no obesity problem! To read the full article follow the link below:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/8-sneaky-things-that-could-be-making-you-fat

Now time for the picture of my hardwork :D!! Tada!!!

Vegetable Chowmein

Perfect Sunday afternoon lunch, is how I describe Chowmein. Having Daal (Lentil), rice, Chapattis (Indian Bread) daily drains my energy eventually leads to loss of interest! (I am just exaggerating a bit here :P). Nevertheless, I really love the Indian version of Chinese food which includes vegetarian or chicken Manchurian, Manchow Soup, Fried Rice, Chili Chicken and of course Vegetarian Chowmein. I read on Wikipedia that Chinese food in India was developed by the Chinese community living in Calcutta/Kolkata for over a century now. Chow mein is essentially stir fry noodles with vegetables and sauces like Soy souce and Chili sauce. You can read more about the types of Chowmein, how if differs from country to country by following the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chow_mein

I have tried Chow mein at Yum's express at the College Park Market place which is just next to Star Bucks. I usually get some Chinese packed from Yum's on days when I really do not want to cook and also crave for some Chinese food. If you plan to try it, make sure that you tell them to make your meal extra spicy ( This advice is for spice lovers )! You can find the address for Yum's at the following link:

http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Yums.Express.301-313-0828


However! this is my version of everyone's favorite Vegetable Chowmein.

Ingredients:

Boiled Noodles
Spring onion ( substitute : Red Onion)
Carrots ( Cut into matchstick shapes)
Capsicum ( Cut into matchstick shapes)
French Beans ( Chopped )
Cabbage ( Chopped)
1/2 - 1 Tsp Green Chilli Sauce
2-3 Garlic ( Chopped )
Soya Sauce
1-2 Tsp White vinegar
Pepper
Olive Oil

Method:

1) Heat some Olive oil in a wok, add cut garlic and stir fry until the oil realy gets perfumed with garlic fragrance.

2) The add all the chopped vegetables and salt according to your taste. Keep on low fire until the vegetables are about half cooked. Sprinkle some red chili pepper flakes.

3) Now add about a tablespoon soya sauce to the vegetables and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Then add about 1/2 teaspoon green chilli sauce, 1 Tablespoon vinegar and stir fry for 4-5 minutes.

4) Add the boiled noodles to the vegetables and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add more soya sauce if needed.

For people who are wondering where to get all the sauces from, here is some more information:

Soya Sauce: Any grocery store in the international section, or from the Indian grocery store.
Green Chilli Sauce: Indian Grocery Store (Patel's)
White Vinegar Any Grocery store

Try this recipe and let me know of how it turned out to be!