Ganesh Chaturthi Festival – Vinayaka Chavithi

Like all festivals celebrated in India, Ganesh Chaturthi is also celebrated with a great deal of enthusiasm. Recipes passed down from generations are used to prepare sweets and savoury dishes.

The dishes prepared on this day are offered to Vinayaka first.

To me this festival marks another day of feasting and a mighty great day for cooking and sharing.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi, and as always happy reading and happy eating :).

Cheers!!

Dressing up .. the noodles ;)

There are many reasons why I love cooking and eating Chinese - it is delicious, it is quick, it is healthy and one great dish makes for an entire meal :).

Most of the Chinese noodle recipes involve a quick stir fry of cooked noodles and veggies. I have tried to add a variation to this by finishing of the stir fry with a "dressing" made of fresh spring onions and ginger.

What you would need:
For the noodles:
Chinese noodles - 200 gms
Vegetable julienne - 2 cups ( I used Carrots, capsicums and cabbage)
Garlic (sliced) - 4 no's
Dry Red chillies (chopped) - 1 to 2 no's
Chilli sauce - 3/4 tbsp
Chilli Vinegar - 2 tsp
Black Ground pepper - 3/4 tbsp
Ajinomoto - 1 pinch
Oil

For the spring onion and ginger dressing:
Spring onions (Finely chopped including the whites) - 2 cups
Ginger (finely chopped) - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Ajinomoto - 1 pinch
Olive oil - 4 tbsp ( You can use sesame oil as a variation)
Salt - 2 tsp

Prep :
We need to prepare the dressing first, giving it enough time to cool before using on the noodles.
Spring onion and ginger dressing:
Mix all the ingredients except the oil in a bowl. You will notice that the potion of the spring onions shrink and the colour deepen as a result of using salt and sugar. heat the olive oil in a pan till smoky, remove and pour over the spring onion prepared. Mix well and set aside to cool.
Tip: Pour from a arm's length distance to avoid hot oil splattering on you.

Stir fry veg noodles:
Heat water (about 10 cups) in a large pan and bring to boil, add 1 tbsp salt and 1 tsp oil (regular cooking oil will do) add the noodles and cook till almost done. Drain and set aisde, if you feel that the noodles will stick to each other drizzle a little olive oil.

In the same pan heat some oil, add garlic and red chillies add the vegetables when aromatic. Stir as you mix in the chilli sauce, pepper and ajinomoto. Add the vinegar and the noodles and stir fry for about 3 minutes.

Remove and mix in the spring onion dressing.

Serve hot and fresh :).



I hope you guys enjoy this recipe, do write in to let me know.

Peanut Butter with a twist. Ofcourse!!

My knack of trying variation's to any recipe has made me come up with some great dishes.
This post is about one such fabulously rewarding experiment.

You must have all tried different variations of the peanut butter spread - smooth, chunky ... spicy???

You heard me right .. spicy :).
This spicy home made variation of the peanut butter is so good and unique, that I am actually having second thoughts about sharing it ;) .

What you would need:
Roasted peanuts - 2 cups
Roasted dry red chillies - 4 to 5
Garlic Flakes - 6
Salt

Tip: Go easy on the chilli and garlic if you do not want it to be super hot mix and match the quantities of chilli and garlic to reduce spice or enrich spice.

Prep:
Combine the peanuts, chillies and grind coarsely. Now add the garlic and salt and grind to the consistency that you like.


This is a dry spread and can be stored for weeks in a air tight jar without loss of flavour or freshness.

Use this along with regular butter and spread on toast :).

I absolutely love it, do try and let me know how it works for you.

Cheers!!

Smell like the food you make?

Here is how to avoid it.

When marinating vegetables/meat with spices, using the hands is the most efficient way, using wooden spatulas doesn't quite render the same uniformity and gentleness to marination.

The downside to this that you hands could go on to smell like the marination spices even after repeated hand washes , think fish or garlic.


.. Ewww.
But there is a way out, here are tricks that will get you fabulously marinated ingredients minus all the fuss:
1. You could use gloves
or
2. You could use the technique I follow : gently place all the ingredients - vegetables/meat, spices inside a zip lock pouch and seal it.

Now holding the pouch from the outside, simply knead from the outside till the ingredients are mixed right. Simple isn't it :) , a definite must follow.

Another plus to this is that you can store the marinated ingredients as is in the pouch in the refrigeration for as long as required and then open when needed.

Do write in if you use similar tricks in the kitchen.

Rains make me happy :)

The city of Hyderabad recorded 11.23 cm rain yesterday, the highest this season. Everything turned green, fresh and pure :).

Just before it poured - Grey skies and happy trees

The rains were a reason for lot of happiness and the perfect excuse for some masala chai ( spicy tea) and mirchi bhajji ( chili fritters).

Mirchi bhajji's with cheese :)

What you would need:
Long green chillies - 4 no's
Besan (Gram flour) - 1 cup
Ajwain (Carom seeds) or Jeera (Cumin seeds) - two pinch's ( use any of either, each lends a distinct flavour to the fritter)
Cheese spread - 3 to 4 tsp's
Salt to taste
Soda Bi carbonate - really tiny pinch
Water - as per requirement
Oil for deep frying the fritters

Prep:
Wash the chillies thoroughly. Slit these and remove the seed, stuff each with about a tsp of cheese spread and keep aside.

Stuffed Chillies

In a bowl, mix the gram flour, seeds, salt, soda and water. Use enough water to make the batter slightly runny.

Tip:Be careful not to add to much soda, it will cause the batter to adsorb excess oil when cooking. Also do not add to much water, else it will not cling onto the chilli.

Tip: Use a wide mouth bowl, this will enable easy dipping of the chillies, later on.

Heat oil in a large frying pan , dip the stuffed chillies completely in the batter till well covered and immediately transfer into too pan for deep frying. This should be done quickly and carefully to ensure that the chillis remain well coated with the batter,

Tip: Always slide the fritters from the side to prevent the oil from splattering.

Periodically turn the fritters to ensure even cooking, remove when golden brown.

Transfer on tissue to enable excess oil drain and serve hot with tea, along with a choice of sauces/chutneys.

Crispy golden chilli fritters, perfect for a rainy day

Cheesy Gooey goodness - Yummmm

Imagine a plate full of these piping hot chili fritters in a weather where the wind brings with it just a hint of rain spray. Sounds like heaven :).

Variation :
Feel free to get creative with the stuffing. You can use grated vegetables, boiled spicy potato, or even dry roasted spices, cottage cheese as a variation to the cheese stuffing.

If you have tried anything similar and interesting, do write in.

P.S:
Next time I will try a non-vegetarian version of the chili fritter, will keep you posted.

Garden chronicles - Chickoo/Sapodilla/Sapota :)

The house garden has a Chickoo( Sapodilla) tree which has been laden with the amazing fruit for a week now.
The only problem is they are taking forever to ripen and the ones that reach that stage are either eaten by the birds or plucked by the neighbourhood kids :) .

Looks like I might have to eat these raw or figure out a recipe which incorporates raw chickoo's. :D

Do let me know if you have any ideas or recipes up your sleeve :).

Pasta (with cauliflower) :) ...

Underneath all my meat eating greediness, I guess I prefer fresh veggies more. What else could possibly explain my urge to cook each time I look at fresh colourful vegetables. :)

So, when I see this wonderful creamy white cauliflower with green stems sitting pretty on the refrigerator shelf, I decided on trying some pasta :).

(Penne with cauliflower served with a quick tomato salad)

What you would need:
For the Pasta:
Pasta (tubular - I used Penne) - 2 cups
Cauliflower - 1 Medium
Black Olives - 6 to 7 no's
Green Olives - 5 to 6 no's
Chili Flakes
Garlic cloves - 4 to 5 no's
Olive Oil
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Coriander 1tsp
Mozzarella cheese (grated) - 1 tsp
Water

For the fresh tomato salad:
Ripe tomatoes (I used plum and globe tomatoes) - 2 no's
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Prep:
Pasta :
Steam the cauliflower for a 5 minutes till lightly cooked, you should be careful not to over cook and make it mushy.
Drain the water and keep aside ( for flavour we will use the same stock for cooking the Penne).
Break the cauliflower into small florets and press with a fork to give it a 'tousled' look and keep aside.

Cook the Penne in stock water, drain excess water and keep aside. Drizzle the Penne with olive oil (to prevent them from sticking) and keep aside.

In a pan, heat olive oil add the finely chopped garlic and Chili flakes. Once lightly browned add the cauliflower and saute, add a little of the pasta stock and cook on medium flame till a creamy texture is attained. Add the cooked Penne, sliced olives, Coriander leaves , salt and pepper and give a quick stir. Let it cook on slow flame for about 3 to 4 minutes. Garnish with grated cheese and serve hot with the tomato salad.

Prep:
Tomato Salad:
Chop large chunks of tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Serve with the pasta.
You can add a bit of citrus like a dash of lemon or even sections of sweet lime to make this more interesting. :)

Enjoy!!

Do try this and tell me how it turned out. If you have any suggestions for a variation that you have tried to write in.

For the next time, I am planning a spin where the cauliflower will be pureed into a sauce with other ingredients and will essentially be a replacement of sorts for the white sauce. Will keep you posted.