Mexican Lasagna

One Nigella Lawson show and quick check on my supplies later I discovered last night that I had all the ingredients to put together her "Mexican Lasagna" and thus find another inspired way of funneling (is that a word?) beans, corn and other such super foods into my children! The end result was a bit enchilada like but no complaints because putting it together was simple and made for a tasty, elegant one dish meal - both kids asked for seconds and there wasn't even any chicken in the mix.



Ingredients:

1. Large Flour tortillas : 3 numbers
2. Frozen / Fresh sweet corn : 200 gms
3. Pinto/Black Beans/Rajma beans : 200 gms. I used cooked Rajma.
4. Any good quality cheddar : 250 gms
5. Store bought or home made lasagna sauce : About 300 ml. I used a home made ginger and tomato sauce. Ragu's or Prego or even a thick tomato based pasta sauce works just as well.


Method:

1. Mix together cooked Rajma beans, sweet corn and 3/4th of the grated cheddar in a bowl.
2. In an oven proof dish pour in a third of the lasagna sauce.
3. Place one large flour tortilla or two smaller ones on the sauce.
4. Next layer the lasagna with the bean mixture.
5. Repeat with remaining ingredients finally placing the last tortilla on top.
6. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar evenly over the last layer.



7. Bake at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes till cheese melts and begins to bubble.
8. When slightly cooled, cut into wedges and serve.

This was one of those dishes that was perfect all by itself - hearty and delicious. Buen Apetito!

Mac and Cheese

This usually bland staple had a wonderful zing when I made it for the kids' lunch boxes last week - thanx to my mother's home made tomato sauce. I'm not a big fan of macaroni but this batch was super yummy ... and simple to make.

Ingredients:

1. Small shell pasta: 250 grams (you get about 8 portions of mac and cheese)
2. Cheddar cheese grated: 1 cup
3. Flour (Maida or corn flour): 1 tbsp
4. Butter: 1 tbsp
5. Milk: 250 ml
6. Tomato sauce (not ketchup): any nice store bought or home made about half a cup
7. Bread crumbs(optional): 1/2 cup
8. Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Boil the pasta in a pot of salted water till cooked.
Drain in a colander, wash thouroughly in cold running water and keep aside.
2. Make a cheese sauce as follows:
- Melt butter in a saucepan.
- Add the flour and stir for a few seconds.
- Now add the milk in a slow stream while continuously whisking the butter and flour mixture to avoid lumps.
- Simmer the sauce till it thickens and add some of the grated cheese towards the end.
- Remove from flame, season with salt and black pepper.

3. In a baking tray spread out a layer of the cooked pasta and pour the tomato sauce over it.




4. Add the remaining layer of pasta and pour the cheese sauce over it.

5. Sprinkle the grated cheese (add more if you feel it will not top the entire pasta mixture) and bread crumbs over the pasta and bake in a pre heated oven at 175 degrees till the pasta begins to bubble.



6. When slightly cooled cut out wedges and serve.

7. This will keep in the fridge for a day - just warm the pasta for 10 seconds in a microwave before serving.

Pan Fried Honey Sesame Chicken

This one is an easy peasey Drumstick recipe that will do for everything for a simple children's dinner to a fairly hearty party snack. The best part is that even if you don't have a grill or barbecue it can be done quickly in a non-stick pan.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken Drumsticks : 8 pieces thawed.

Marinade:

1. Soy sauce: 1/4 cup
2. Any hot sauce (or plain tomato sauce for kids): 1/4 cup
3. Cornflour: 1 heaped tsp
4. Milk: 1/4 cup
5. Salt and Pepper to taste
6. Sesame seeds: about 1 1/2 heaped tbsps
7. Honey: 1 1/2 tbsp

Method:

1. Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade except the sesame seeds in a bowl.
2. Pat dry the drumsticks and pour the marinade over them.
3. Mix well, add sesame seeds and mix again.




4. Cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes (These can be marinated in advance for a party or get-together).
5. Brush some oil in a non-stick pan.
6. When hot place the drumsticks and cook on either side till well browned (insert a sharp knife in them after turning over to check if cooked).



7. Serve with any dipping sauce of your choice or with steamed rice and veggies.

Baked Keema Biryani

Ingredients:




1. Indian Lamb mince : 500 gms
2. Long grained Basmati rice washed and soaked : 3 cups
3. Finely chopped onion : 1 large
4. Finely chopped tomato : 1 large
5. Spice : 5 cloves, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp cinnamon powder, 1 1/2 tsp garam masala powder, 1 tsp chillie powder and salt to taste.
6. Oil : half and half of vegetable and olive oils for frying (approx 2 tbsps)
7. Saffron : few threads soaked in cold milk.

Method:

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil,



add rice + a pinch of salt and cook till 3/4th done - where the grains are separate. Drain and keep aside.

2.. Heat oil in a shallow pan, add cloves and when puffed add the onions. Fry till golden brown.
3. Turn up the heat, add mince and dry spices and stir fry till the mince is almost done.



4. Add the tomatoes and simmer till most of the water has evaporated.




5. Take a deep baking dish and arrange the keema in the bottom layer.



6. Top evenly with a layer of rice.



7. Sprinkle the soaked saffron on top.
8. Seal tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes on medium gas mark in the centre rack of the oven.
9. Serve with onion raitha.

Vol-au-vents

Well I'm finally back to blogging some recipes after more than a very eventful year! My little girl is now 15 months old and I think she's going to be a foodie just like her elder brother (he just baked a carrot cake with only minimal help from me) ... I just started catering for small events and finger foods for office meetings, so here are a couple recipes from my last order:


Vol-au-vents:

1. Frozen vol-au-vent shells (you can make these from scratch but the ready made options make things very simple): 1 dozen or as per your requirements.
2. Basic white sauce:
- Warm 30 gms butter in a saucepan.
- Add 30 gms all purpose flour and continuously whisk on a low flame till cooked but without the flour changing colour.
- Gradually add part of approx one quart milk and whisk to remove lumps.
- Pour in the reamining milk and stir till sauce thickens and coats the back of wooden spoon.
- Remove from flame, add a dot of butter to prevent a skin from forming and set aside.
3. Filling:
- Diced cooked chicken, Sweet corn niblets and chopped sun dried tomatoes

Method:

1. Bake the vol-au-vent shells as per package instructions. Make sure to do them in the coolest part of the oven - the upper most level as they bake very quickly and tend to burn easily.
2. Once cooled, arrange the shells on a patterned plate.
3. Add the filling to the cooled white sauce and adjust seasoning with salt and white pepper.
4. Carefully fill the shells with a spoonful each of the mixture and garnish with parsley leaves.

A good place to get creative ideas for vol-au-vent fillings is available here and here http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Chicken-and-Mushroom-Vol-au-Vents-L5059.html

Vol-au-vents are a great idea for finger foods that look and taste great especially for when you want to go light on a cocktail dinner.

Rich Chocolate Cake with Ganache topping

I am a wannabe baker - although I never seem to have the right implements - the shiny cake tins of just the correct size, pretty ramekins and such like. But that doesn't stop me from going ahead and taking up baking projects head on which I know I'm usually unsuited for! I've gotten to be quite ok with cakes though ... especially as my little boy loves mucking around with me in the kitchen everytime we make one. We never need to scrub the mixing bowls too hard after we're done - he is really good at helping me with that :)



So just for him, I decided to make this cake on Holi along with the other traditional sweets like ghujiya etc. and his friends and him had a blast blowing out the candles and stuffing their faces with lots of the choco icing.



Ingredients - for the Fudge Cake:
1. 250 g unsalted butter at room temperature
2. 400 g sugar
3. 4 eggs
4 125 g dark cocoa powder (Hintz is especially good and not too sweet)
5. 375 ml milk
6. 500 ml corn oil
7. 10 g baking soda
8. 400 g maida or all purpose flour

For the Ganache:
1. 500 ml fresh cream
2. 50 ml water
3. 500 gm mix of dark and sweet chocolate (any good cooking chocolate brand)
4. 20 ml melted butter

Method - For the Base Cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 160 deg C.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, oil and milk to the mixture and whisk well by hand or using an automated whisk.
3. Next, add the dry ing (flour, cocoa powder and baking soda) through a seive and slowly fold in taking care to scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl.
4. Grease a cake tin with some butter, dust with sugar to get a caramelised effect on the cake, pour in the mixture and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or till done.



For the Ganache:
1. Break the dark and sweet chocolate pieces and melt over a double boiler (if you don't have one, use a large pan with boiling water and place a smaller pan with the chocolate on top and stir continuously).
2. Boil the cream and water separately and pour over the chocolate.
3. Finally add the melted butter, mix slowly till blended and remove from heat.

Once baked, remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack. Then using a sharp bread knife, slice horizontally from the centre - spread the ganache on one half, place the sliced half on top and spread the remaining ganache on top of the cake till it is covered. Dust the top with cocoa powder and serve.

Whole Cauliflower or 'Gobi Musallam'

A very Happy Holi and Easter to all of you wonderful bloggers! We had a wonderful brunch at home yesterday with a few close friends and although we didn't play with colours, we made sure to make up for it by eating most of the traditional holi foods. I will be posting a longish one on that next - for now, wanted to share this easy recipe for cooking whole cauliflower or "Gobi Musallam". Makes for a nice change from the usual gobi recipes.

Ingredients:

1. One whole medium cauliflower or 4 baby cauliflowers with stems removed.
2. One tsp each kashmiri chillie powder, aamchur (dry mango powder), turmeric powder and salt to taste mixed to a paste for the marinade.
3. Four green chillies slit and stuffed with kalonji (nigella) seeds:



4. Two tbsp tomato paste.
5. One tsp each red chillie powder and cumin seeds (jeera) powder for the gravy.
6. Half a cup beaten yoghurt.
7. Two tbsp corn/olive oil.
8. Half a cup water.

Method:

1. Apply the marinade (Ing 1) all over the cauliflower taking care to rub the paste between the stalks as well. Leave aside for 10 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a deep pan and brown the marinated gobi on all sides. Keep aside.



3. In the same pan, add the stuffed green chillies and allow the seeds to pop - about 15 seconds.
4. Now add the tomato paste and dry masalas (Ing 5) and fry well.
5. Add half a cup of water and bring to a boil.
6. Gently place the browned cauliflower in the gravy. Cover tightly with a lid and simmer on dum (place the pan on top of a heavy griddle or tava to achieve this effect) till cooked but not mushy.
7. Remove the lid, pour the beaten yoghurt over the gobi and cook for two minutes while gently mixing the curds through.
8. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with phulkas and yellow moong dal.

Broken wheat porridge

Burghol or broken wheat



is really versatile in the number of things one can do with it. Not to mention that its nutrition quotient is quite high. My favorite way to eat it is as the following savory porridge at breakfast.

Ingredients:

1. One cup raw broken wheat.
2. One cup assorted chopped fresh or frozen vegetables.
3. One tbsp cooked chickpeas or fava beans (optional) to increase the protein level in this meal.
4. One each sliced onion and tomato.
5. Any herb of your choice - I used a pinch of crushed dried basil.
6. Salt and pepper as per taste.
7. Yoghurt as an accompaniment.

Method:

1. Place all the ingredients except the yoghurt and cooked beans in a pressure cooker. (This can also be made in a saucepan. Boil till the burghol is cooked and vegetables just done).
2. Cover with water.
3. Cook under pressure till single whistle.
4. Open the lid and mix the beans if using.
5. Serve in bowls topped with a dollop of yoghurt or grated cheese.

The great thing about this porridge is that you can use just about any assortment of available vegetables. This can also be eaten topped with dal.

Jalebis

The other day I was chatting with the ubiquitous 'T' who helps me around the house and I told her about some apple jalebis that I had recently eaten. She said "Apple jalebis!?" ... "so dosa ittu inda nu mada bahud alla?" ... which is Kannada for, "if someone can make jalebis out of apples, then I can definitely make them using dosa batter!". And she did. I kid you not. I came home from work one evening and found them all ready to be soaked into sugar syrup sitting on the kitchen counter. She's obviously made these before, but I was suitably impressed. I made a second batch the other day under her guidance and they were pretty good.

Most of us usually have some extra dosa batter in the fridge on any given day, but for those who need to make from scratch, here goes:

For the batter:
1. Three cups of any branded boiled rice.
2. One cup basmati rice.
3. One cup white urad dal.
4. Forgot to mention this - a pinch of orange food colour.

If idli rice is available in your local grocery, you could substitute Ing 1&2 for 4 cups of that instead.

For the sugar syrup:
1. One cup sugar.
2. One cup water.
3. One tsp crushed cardamom.

Boil the sugar and water together in a pan till you get a "one string" consistency. i.e. when the mixture starts to become syrupy, test a small amount between your thumb and fore finger - if the syrup binds enough to form a "string", take the pan of the heat. Add the cardamom and keep aside.

Method:
1. Soak the rice and lentils separately in water for a few hours.
2. Drain the water from the dal and grind using as little liquid as possible till fluffy. Keep aside.
3. Now grind the rice using a little water till fine but not too paste like.
4. Mix the two together well and keep in a warm place for a few hours (preferably overnight) for the batter to "rise". Add the orange food colour to the amount of batter being used for the jalebis.
5. Cut a tiny hole in a clean plastic sheet or piping bag, spoon in some of the batter and deep fry in hot oil in the shape of concentric circles.
6. Drain on kitchen towels and soak in the syrup for 15 minutes.
7. These can be served warm or cold with a glass of milk.

Savory pancakes with vegetable stir fry

School vacations have begun and that means fancy breakfasts for my son who needs many many things from hour to hour to keep him from bouncing off the walls! Involving him in the cooking process makes it one less activity for me to think of.

Looking through the many wonderful brekky ideas online I found Archana's latest post on pancakes and realised that it had been more than a month since I had made any - power of suggestion kicked in and I soon had the little tyke mucking around in the kitchen elbow deep in flour and generally keeping busy :).

Its difficult to get my husband to eat anything sweet or fruit based in the morning so I rummaged through my stock and found these:





Voila! Decided to rustle up a healthy stir fry with all those green vegetables and stuff them in the pancakes for a super filling breakfast - this would also mean a simple salad for office lunch instead of having to make a big meal. All in all, a winner in my book!

Pancakes : I took the recipe directly from here. I had never used baking powder in them before and I was happy to see that using it made the pancakes so much fluffier. Tx Archana :).

As these are not dessert crepes, don't brown them too much and make them as thin as possible by swirling the tava around so they can roll around the filling.

Stir Fry :

1. One cup assorted vegetables chopped lengthwise into thin strips. Cabbage and capsicum are essential for the taste.
2. One tsp light soya sauce.
3. A few cubes tofu or paneer (optional) seasoned with salt and pepper and kept aside.
4. One onion and few cloves garlic julienned into strips.
5. Thai sweet chilli sauce to taste.
6. Two eggs.
7. One tbsp olive oil.
8. One tsp sesame oil.
9. Chopped corriander or cilantro leaves.

Method:

1. Make thin pancakes and stack on a plate.
2. Heat the olive oil in a wok/deep pan and make a thin omlete with the two eggs. Set aside on a plate - roll and cut into long strips.
3. In the same pan, saute onions on garlic for 5 seconds on high heat and then add the soya sauce. Stir for a few seconds
4. Add the vegetables and toss for a few seconds till just crunchy.
5. Now add the tofu or paneer pieces and fry for 10 more seconds.
6. Season with salt, pepper, chili sauce and chopped corriander leaves.
7. Stir once to mix, add the sesame oil and omlete strips and finish by stirring one last time for a few more seconds.



8. Place some of the filling on one side of each pancake and roll.
9. Serve hot on a plate piled with the remaining stir fry.

Pesarittu with upma

This is a great recipe for when you have stored left over upma in the fridge - its also very filling and can be used for Sunday brunch. I learnt about this combination from my house help - she is from Andhra Pradesh (in South India) and this is apparently a regular breakfast staple there.

Pesarittu (green moong dal pancakes or dosas):

Ingredients:

1. One cup whole green moong dal washed and soaked overnight in water.
2. Salt to taste.
3. A little oil for frying the dosas.

Method:

1. Grind the dal in a blender or dosa grinder with as much water from the soaking liquid as it needs to make a thick batter. Add salt to taste.
2. Take a spoonful of the batter and drop onto a heated gridle or tava to make a thick dosa or pancake.
3. Pour a tsp of oil over the dosa and turnover when the edges leave the tava.
4. Fry on the other side and flip over again.
5. Now place a generous helping of the upma on one half of the dosa and cover with second half (like making a stuffed omlette).
6. Leave on the tava for a few seconds to heat through and slide out on a serving plate.
7. This can be served with any chutney or pickle for a nutritious and filling breakfast.



Upma : Roast a cupful of semolina in a pan and remove from heat. Add a tbsp of oil in the same pan and crackle a few mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add one sliced onion and fry till transparent. Now add one sliced tomato and half a cupful of fresh or frozen chopped vegetables to the pan. Stir for a few seconds, add half a tsp turmeric powder and salt to taste, cover with water and bring to a boil. Now add the roasted rava and mix through to make a "lumpy" upma.

Rava Vade

Ingredients :

1. Half a cup or roughly 100 gms of semolina.
2. Half a cup of yoghurt.
3. One tsp each of chopped green chillies and corriander leaves.
4. One small onion chopped.
5. 1/2 tsp baking soda
6. Salt to taste.

Method :

1. Roast the semolina taking care that it doesn't change colour for two minutes.
2. Remove from heat and mix in the dry ingredients (no. 3 to 6).
3. Now add the yoghurt a little at a time to make a dough of roughly the following consistency. You can use more or less of the curds depending on the texture.



4. Wet hands with water, scoop out some of the mixture onto a square of cling film or a clean sheet of plastic and shape into flat vadas.



5. Carefully slide them one at a time into hot oil and deep fry.



These vadas are a great accompaniment with upma.

Mezze and More.

One of the best things about residing in a country other than your own is the fact that you can become a part of the local flavor - whether its the language, traditions, way of life or quite simply the FOOD. The UAE has always been described as the ultimate melting pot of cultures and to begin with this is evident in the way various Middle Eastern nationalities come together here ... be it Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian, Emirati and just like in India, each culture adds something unique to the overall cuisine.

One thing that I always look forward to is the drive back from work every evening. I take a coast road past the ocean line and the route is dotted with an old port complete with quaint boats docked to unload goods, Iranian roasteries where the best nuts and spices are to be had and of course any number of "Shawarma" and "Falafel" fast food places where I stop for a bit and have a wrap, a salad or simply a glass of juice (kiwi fruit and blended avacado with ice cream to name a few!).

Although a lot of Arabic cuisine is meat based and fried, the overall eating culture is really bursting with good health with a lot of emphasis on accompaniments that are fresh, yogurt or salad based and washed down with great fresh juices or "Laban" which is a truly delicious version of buttermilk and is used in a variety of ways including for dips. A typical Arabic meal usually starts with Mezze or starters and includes dips (baba ghanouj, hummus bi tahina, garlic paste), sambusek (puff pastry with cheese filling), stuffed vine leaves

salads such as Tabouleh



which uses cracked wheat and parsley or Fattoush which is a really tangy green salad and toasted pita bread combo.

All local restaurants will first serve you huge trays of salad vegetables such as whole cucumbers, red radishes, scallions and carrots served with neatly wrapped Khubz or flat bread and at least 2 dips - usually Hummus and garlic paste. This comes with any meal and is not charged for. There is a certain charm in the way the way each tray has its own paring knife and one literally prepares a salad straight from the garden as it were and enjoys the dips while waiting for the main meal.

The street I live in has at least 5 wonderful Arabic restaurants and two specializing in just Arabic sweets like the semolina based "Konafa", and all I have to do is walk a few steps if I want a light, flavourful, local meal. Sometimes however, I do make local food at home and last night was one such stay-at-home occasion when I thought that my small family would like some Arabic.

I laid out some store bought Khubz (substitute with naan or tandoori roti if unavailable),


soaked chickpeas for a hummus dip, put together some Fattoush and started up a meat based stew for the husband and son who are both carnivores and like a little meat at dinner. That and a pitcher of Moroccon tea to wash it all down. I would have put on harem pants if I had them - ok, maybe not! But you get the idea ...

Menu :

1. Fattoush
2. Hummus bi Tahina
3. Bamia
4. Pita Bread
5. Moroccon tea


For Fattoush:



- 2 or 3 tomatoes, cubed
- 2 cucumbers with skin on, cubed
- 1 medium green pepper, seeded and diced
- A few scallions or spring onions chopped
- 1/2 small lettuce, shredded
- 2 Tbs. finely chopped parsley
- 1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh mint
- 1 pita bread (or 2-3 slices of bread), toasted and cut into cubes. I actually tore the pita and put it directly into the toaster :).
- A dressing made from olive oil and lemon juice in a 3:1 ratio and seasoned with salt and black pepper.

Method:

Combine the vegetables, herbs, and bread. Make the dressing, pour it over the salad, toss well, and chill for half an hour minutes before serving.

For Hummus bi Tahina(Chickpea and Sesame Dip)



- 125 gms chickpeas (chole), soaked for a few hours and pressure cooked or you can use ready canned as well.
- juice of 2 lemons
- 3 Tbs. tahina (if you can't get ready made paste, make your own by putting about 2 tbsp of sesame seeds in the blender and grinding until smooth. Then add about 1/2 tsp sesame (til) oil and about 1/2 cup warm water in a slow stream to get a thick sauce. This can be stored in the fridge for repeat use).
- 2 garlic cloves
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil and some red chilli or paprika powder for garnish.

Method:

Process the chickpeas in a blender (or food processor) with the lemon juice, tahina, garlic, salt and enough of the cooking liquid or water to obtain a soft creamy consistency.

Serve on a flat plate, garnished with a dribble of olive oil, a dusting of paprika and a little parsley.

3. Bamia : Consists of lamb (mutton), whole Okra pods (lady fingers), chopped tomatoes, garlic and tamarind juice.



This is a fragrant, simple stew that uses very little oil and I made it from here.

And there was this Moroccan tea to go with the meal:



- Pour 4 cups of boiling water into a pitcher containing about 4 tsp green tea, 2 cups of fresh mint leaves and about 1/2 a cup of sugar (I drastically reduced the quantity to suit my taste)

- Allow the tea to steep for at least 3 minutes before serving. It was quite warm last night so we added a lot of ice tall glasses and poured the infusion topped with more mint for our with dinner drinks.



- Make sure to stir the pitcher with a long spoon before serving.

And synchronicity happened when husband walked in from work with a tray of Konafa from the Tripoli Lebanon sweet shop across the street to thus end a great meal.