Pasta in Tomato Sauce

This one is another quickie that you can do in minutes. The ingredients that you need: a cup of boiled pasta, two large tomatoes pureed, bay leaf, half a cup of nicely chopped onion, salt and red chilli powder to taste and ofcourse olive oil. Just heat a tbsp of oil in a pan, add bay leaf and onion and fry till brown. Pour in the tomato puree, add salt and chilli powder and simmer till it looks completely cooked. If you like you can even add some oregano. Now add the boiled pasta, a little water and cook on low gas for another 2-3 minutes. Your basic tomato pasta is ready. Ofcourse you can always get more creative and add different things like cottage cheese, paneer, mushrooms, peas...

Mouth Watering Sizzler

i am very fond of making sizzlers at home and it is the easiest way to make my son eat almost anything. all i need to do is get a little creative and serve the most humble stuff on a sizzler plate. sizzler plate suddenly acts like a throne and gives an aura of exoticness to the regular meal. not that i do not make the 'authentic' sizzlers. but come to think of it, a sizzler is actually a meal served on a hot tava so that the food remains hot throughout. and a tray underneath makes it convenient. whoever thought of it thought well:)
i make sizzlers with almost everything. the most important ingredient is the 'sizzler plate!' usually i place a combination of cutlets, pasta, french fries, tossed tofu and veggies. but many a times i even serve the simple dal-chawal on a sizzler plate. jeera rice, dal tadka and seasonal vegetable all arranged beautifully on the plate with french fries and onion shavings take no time to vanish. sizzling bhaji and pav with loads of butter is Nakshat's favourite. hakka noodles with manchurian and some veggies and tofu makes a very pretty sizzler. sometimes my sizzler plate also serves as the serving plate on which i serve the full family meal: noodles, cutlets and veggies; a combination that we love to eat with toast. actually anything served on the hot platter and topped with butter & vinegar to make that tempting noise is a sizzler with me!

Khandvi

this is a quick and healthy recipe when you have unannounced guests or kids wanting to eat something different between meals. it is really quick provided you have all ingredients ready. i pack it in Nakshat's tiffin quite often since it is so easy & quick to make. takes 1 minute of preparation, 5 minutes of cooking and 2 minutes of final arrangement. that's all!

mix 1/2 cup besan, 1&1/2 cup of buttermilk(curd and water in equal proportion), haldi powder and salt. ensure there are no lumps in the mixture. microwave on high for 5 minutes, stirring twice in between after 1 and a half minute each. it starts cooking from the sides first so don't worry. while the mixture is cooking, clean your slab or keep big steel plates ready(no need to grease). now take out the cooked mixture, mix it well again so there are no lumps and pour on the slab or back of steel plates. quickly spread with a big table spoon like a dosa, as thin as possible. allow it to cool for a minute and prepare the tampering; heat 1 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and sesame seeds. can also add chilli powder if you like them sharp. now cut the spread out mixture in 1/2 inch long strips and roll each one separately like a cylinder. it is a pleasure rolling these strips and feeling the velvety texture of cooked besan under your fingers. arrange all in a serving plate. pour the tampering and decorate with fresh green coriander and grated fresh coconut. yum!

Date and Walnut Cake

this one is for all my friends at '3rd avyudaya festival of learning' who showed keen interest in my cake recipes and reading my blog.

Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour & milk: 1 cup each
Sugar, oil, chopped dates, chopped walnuts: 1/2 cup each
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Vanilla essence: 5 drops
Cocoa powder: optional...can add as per taste or how dark a colour you prefer. i add almost 2 tbsps.

soak chopped dates in warm milk for minimum 10 minutes, it may be more and that is ok. take wheat flour in a dry bowl. add chopped walnuts, baking soda, cocoa powder and sugar. mix well. pour in the dates mixture and vanilla essence and again mix well. in case you find the mixture too thick add more warm milk. now very slowly pour in the oil or melted butter and keep mixing. or you can pour in a little oil, mix well and then pour in a little more and mix and so on till all the oil has been used up. grease your baking tin and pour in the mixture well. preheat the oven at 200 degree celsius, reduce it to 180 when you place the cake mixture and bake for almost 45 to 60 minutes. towards the end you can again increase the temperature to 200 to get a hard crust. do check with a sharp knife if the cake is ready before removing it from oven. pierce the knife in the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean your cake is ready. let it cool before serving. it goes extremely well with vanilla icecream. my mouth is watering. and let me know how it came out.

Quick Microwave Aloo

this is one of my favourite and most treasured recipes. whenever i cannot decide what to make, i make this aloo. it goes very well with toast, parantha or as a side dish. i specially like to eat with a vegetable sandwich and replace french fries with this in my sizzler. takes only 4 minutes to cook and relished by everyone.

peel and cut 2 medium size potatoes in french fries shape. put them in a microwave glass bowl (i find corelle the best for this). add salt, haldi, dhania powder, jeera, a tsp of oil and 2 tsps of water. mix well and microwave on high for 2 minutes. mix again and microwave on high for another 2 minutes. garnish with coriander leaves and it is ready to serve! please note that as you increase the quantity of potatoes you will need to microwave longer. also when using this recipe with continental meal replace haldi and dhaniya powder with black pepper powder.

Multipurpose corn & spinach mixture

this is one recipe you can get very creative with. it is VERY healthy and so simple to make and kids love it. you can add or delete few ingredients and use it for variety of dishes the whole week round. use it to make pizza for a special saturday evening dinner. serve it with crackers on sunday at 11 while watching TV. roll it in a parantha to make a wrap on monday for lunch box. fill up tacos shell and top with loads of cheese for tuesday lunch. spread it on nachos and serve with tea on wednesday evening. it will be a yummy sandwich filling for thursday breakfast. on friday.....well nobody will be willing to eat it by now so just leave it ;) 6 days were enough! but by the way can you think of some more ideas?

puree 1/2 kg tomatoes with as much ginger as you like, i add lots. heat 1 tbsp olive oil in pressure cooker and add mixed dried herbs(oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, parsley, bay leaf, pepper). if you like garlic please do add. pour in tomato puree and allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes. add 1 cup of american corn and 2 cups of finely chopped spinach. pressure cook for 2 whistles. once the steam is out on its own add salt and a tbsp cornflour and cook on low heat till all water evaporates. you can also add crumbled paneer. your multipurpose mixture is ready!

Guide to Calorie Burning

While I am cooking and putting on more and more calories, I also need to do something to burn them. wanted to try something different. picked this up from the 'Chicken soup for the soul cookbook.' I am going to try this now...who knows it may work ;)

Beating around the bush................75

Jumping to conclusions.................100

Climbing on the walls.....................150

Swallowing your pride...................50

Passing the buck.............................25

Throwing your weight around.....300(I like it the best!)

Making mountains out of molehills..500(not bad eh)

Hitting the nail on the head..........50

Jumping on the bandwagon..........200

Running around in circles............350

Tooting your own horn.................25

Adding fuel to fire.........................150

Wrapping it up at the day's end.....12