I Sugges this Recipes

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Lasagna

Did you know that, according to Wikipedia, lasagnas origins lie in the cuisine of the ancient Greeks? But then there is also a claim that a lasagna recipe was featured in the first cookbook ever published in England, thus leading to an urban legend that in the British Isles were responsible for the dish. Regardless of where it came from, we all agree that it is a classic meal consisting of alternate layers of pasta, cheese, sauce, and often other ingredients. Whoever it was that can claim responsibility deserves some sort of recognition. I mean, besides pizza (which is my favorite AmerItalian food) what could be more fulfilling both nutritionally and soulfully than tender pasta layered with zesty and, just a little spicy, hearty tomato meat sauce, delicately held together with mild, melted, molten mozzarella cheese and all gently baked to warm soothing perfection until each ingredient joins together as one lusciously decadent meal!

Lasagna Sauce
1 small onion, small dice
½ pound bulk Italian sausage
½ pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil
1 large can crushed tomatoes

In a sauce pan, heat several tablespoons of olive oil and sauté onion until translucent. Add Italian sausage and ground beef and cook along with the onions being certain to break apart the meat with a spatula. When sausage and beef are cooked through, add garlic, dried oregano, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper. Sauté for a minute or two before adding the crushed tomatoes, ½ can of water and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and let sauce cook for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and let set aside for use in the lasagna.

Lasagna Filling
1 container ricotta cheese
1 egg
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 box Lasagna noodles, no cook

In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and egg. Stir well to combine. Set aside for use in the lasagna. In separate bowls, place mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses and set aside for use in the lasagna.

Assembly

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In an 8x8 glass pan, spoon ½ cup lasagna sauce into the bottom of the pan to coat it evenly. Place 2 lasagna noodles, side by side, on top of the sauce. Smooth ½ of the lasagna filling over the sauce and sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover the mozzarella cheese with sauce and top with 2 lasagna noodles. Top the lasagna noodles with the remaining ricotta filling and cover with sauce. The final layer will begin with 2 lasagna noodles, then the remaining sauce, the second cup of mozzarella cheese and topped off with the Parmesan cheese. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove foil and back an additional 5-10 minutes to allow the cheese to brown. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Cauliflower Rice Gobi Rice

Cauliflower Rice is a delicious, tasty and nutrition’s one pot meal which has a rich flavor. This is a different kind of regular rice recipes. Cauliflower has lot of victims and good for health but I and my hubby neglect this veggie as we are not a big fan of cauliflower so to make it tasty I deep fried cauliflower pieces by mixing it with corn flour and rice flour.

This rice has a true flavor of cauliflower in each bite, little spicy due to pepper, masala and nice crunchiness with these cauliflower fritters. I added few drops of lemon juice which made this rice more delicious. I loved its taste and also the gorgeous texture of rice.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 cup

Cauliflower - 1 small

Chopped Onion - 1 small

Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

Chopped Green chillies - 2 no

Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tsp

Salt As Required

Corn flour powder - 3 tsp

Rice Flour powder - 3 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tsp

Food Color (optional)- 1 pinch

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Chopped spring onions - for garnishing

Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp

Oil for deep frying

Preparation

Cook Rice in 2 cups of water and keep aside.
Take corn flour, rice flour, red chilli powder, food color, salt in a bowl add little water and mix well till it forms smooth batter.
Heat oil to fry cauliflower
Now take washed cauliflower florets dip them in above batter and drop one by one into hot oil.
Fry them on medium flame for 3-4 minutes and keep aside.
Take a vessel add 2 tsps of oil and after oil gets heated add chopped onions, green chillies and cook till onions turn soft.
Add ginger garlic paste, salt, garam masala powder , red chilli powder ( if required) and mix well.

Now add deep fried cauliflower florets, cooked rice and mix well till all the spices come well with rice and florets.
Add pepper powder, lemon juice and mix well and cook for 2mins
Remove from heat, garnish with spring onions or coriander leaves.
Serve with raita or any pulao curry.

Sending this to Healing Foods - cauliflower hosted by vardhini started by siri Lets Cook-Rice hosted by Radhika, Spotlight : Winter Vegetables hosted by Indrani

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Fattoush Baba Ganouj and Lebanese food

What to cook?
I love cooking. But thinking of what to make each day is quite a chore. I generally get out some vegetables from the fridge and make them into anything that comes to my mind. Its like following my instincts and the ingredients are always throw as you go. That was the main reason for me to start blogging and maintaining a record of recipes which otherwise I would never be able to recreate. Unable to recreate a recipe especially if it turned out wonderfully good the first time is a frustration that Id experienced several times in the past. But not any longer!

Its understandable that a vegetarian like me wouldnt be able to replicate much of world cuisine in her kitchen, given that meats are a substantial part of many an ethnicity. This led me to a search of vegetarian recipes from around the world. My first stop being Lebanon. With a broadband connection and a laptop, you dont need a visa or tickets to do this thing called arm chair travelling. And what better way than cooking up a meal from there to complete the experience?

Lebanese food

Lebanese food quite resembles a healthy Mediterranean cuisine. Fresh vegetables, fruits, olive oil, garlic and white meats form the base of this cuisine. Ingredients unique to this ethnicity are Tahini (sesame seed paste) and pomegranate seeds. The latter is probably related to the fact that Pomegranates were first found and grown in the Persian regions.

The meal starts with a mezze - which includes hot and cold starters. A typical mezze would include Baba Gannouj (Roasted eggplant with sesame paste), Hummus, Falafel, Shanklish (Goat cheese served with salad) and Kibbenayeh (Ground lambs meat served with cracked wheat).

Main course is generally meat based so that is quite beyond the scope of my experiements :) Desserts like baklava are ofcourse extremely popular and well-loved by most of us. There is another popular dessert called Mahallabiye that is a kind of milk pudding made with almonds and pine nuts. Sweets are generally had with strong sweet cardamom flavoured coffee!

My love at first bite with Lebanese food started in Basha which was a Mediterranean eatery in Rochester. Sadly, its no longer open now. The Mezze, a Basha rice full of raisins and other exotic flavours, their lentil soup was so good that any time we had to go out for dinner, I didnt have to think twice. It was in London that I had the Fattoush for want of something vegetarian and I wasnt at all sad for choosing it. If yoy happen to be in central London, this is one of the VFM places serving fresh salads, falafel, pita breads and loads of other stuff.

Since I make Baba Gannouj pretty often, I thought Id make Fattoush and a variation of the roasted eggplant dip.

Fattoush

1 large onion - cut vertically into a cross and remove each layer out from the 4 pieces
3 medium sized tomatoes - large bite sized pieces
2 medium cucumbers - peeled and cut into chunks
2 medium capsicums - deseeded and cut into pieces
1 pear - peeled and cut into chunks
4-5 slices of bread - toasted till very crisp and broken into big pieces
I also added some segments of an orange like pinkish-fruit, the name of which I cant recollect now.

Juice of one lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Paprika to taste

Bring all of the ingredients together in a big bowl. Mix with your hands with gentle pressure so as to release juices from cucumbers and tomatoes. Refrigerate for an hour or so.

The bread will soak up the juices from the vegetables, fruits as well as the spices and the bits of soggy bread will be the best part of the salad. However you can use the crispy bread pieces just before serving if you want to add a crunch to the salad.

Serve this salad along with chips / pita bread and some hummus & Baba Gannouj for a light weekday dinner. A glass of wine wont be a bad idea.

This time I made Baba Gannouj with the added flavour of fresh coriander. To accompany this, I rolled out a few chapatis with the leftover atta, cooked them on the tava till done on both sides. I then cut the chapatis into 8 pieces each, coated them with some olive oil and herbs. This went into a 250 C oven for 10 minutes to get crispy almost fat free chips.

Tags:
Lebanese food, Fattoush, Salad, Fat free, Baba Ganouj

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Aalo ke samosay

Aalo ke samosay

Ingredients

Flour ½ kg
Chopped spring onion 1
Green chillies 6-7
Mint ½ bunch
Coriander ½ bunch
Oil 250-125 grams
Boiled potatoes 1-1/2 kg
Turmeric 1 tbsp
Oregano 1 tbsp
Crushed red pepper 2 tbsp
Chopped coriander 2 tbsp
Crushed cumin seeds 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds 2 tbsp
Water as required
Salt as required

Method:

Mix flour, cumin seeds, salt, oregano, oil, water and knead into dough. Keep aside for 15 minutes.Roughly cut the potatoes. Saute red chillies, turmeric, chopped coriander, chopped cumin seeds and salt in hot oil. Now add in potatoes, green chillies, chopped coriander, mint, spring onions and mix well. Make sure that the potatoes are smoothly mashed.
Now take out in a plate and allow it to cool. Meanwhile make small balls of the dough and roll out into flat strips. Fill with the potato filling and close into the shape of a samosa. Now deep fry and serve hot.

Friday, January 10, 2014

A Beef Chili Thats Great Under Pressure

Ive gotten a ton of food wishes for a pressure cooker demo, all unfulfilled due to my serious lack of a pressure cooker. So, when my friends at IMUSA asked me if I was interested in testing their pressure cooker, I answered with an enthusiastic yes.

When you ask someone why they dont use a pressure cooker, one of the most common replies is something to the effect of, "Im really not into being killed by an exploding stew."

Well, Im here to tell you, if used properly (meaning you actually read and follow the directions), the chances of a pressure cooker injuring you in an explosion is incredibly slim. You have a better chance of breaking your toe by dropping a bowling ball on it, and this assumes you dont bowl.

While the video features a quite acceptable beef stew-style chili recipe, which Ive always called chili Colorado, the point of this post is to give someone new to pressure cookers an overview of the basic steps, tips, and techniques. Ive listed the ingredients below, but this will work for any similar recipe.

As youll see, these marvels of pressurized heat are very simple to use, and really do significantly reduce cooking time. Simply put, by increasing the pressure in the pot, you raise the boiling point, which cooks the food faster. For more info, ask anyone else.

I want to thank IMUSA for sponsoring this demo, and if you want more information about the model I used, you can get that here. Like I said in the video, no matter which brand or model you use, the method is basically the same. Enjoy!

Beef Chili Colorado Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut in 1-inch cubes
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 tablespoon ancho chili powder
2 teaspoon Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chipotle pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 can (10.5-oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon ground corn chips, optional
cilantro and chopped green onions to garnish

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Vegan Cupcakes and Baking and Why You Need an Oven Thermometer

Before you bake these cupcakes, get an oven thermometer.

I attempted my first baking recipe yesterday. In the new apartment, that is. The kitchen is new, not the baker. I've been around the block a time or two when it comes to batter and dough (so if you're new to the blog, Darling, don't panic- I've got armloads of gluten-free recipes waiting for your brilliance to coax them to life). See that sparkling little cupcake gem above? Try it's zesty orangeness on for size. Because the recipe I was developing for you... Well.

It failed.

What was it? you idly wonder. Zucchini bread. A bread that should have been moist and tender and bursting with juicy bits of zucchini. A perennial August favorite I haven't sunk my teeth into since going gluten-free nine years ago. So I was due.

What happened?

Here's the thing. The thing I have to share with you that could change your gluten-free baking life. The back story: the stove is new. As in brand spanking new. No gluten has ever darkened it's white enamel door (a psychological plus). And it's a gas stove (heats quickly, super efficient). So what I am about to tell you may surprise you.

The oven temperature was off. As in way off.

How do I know? I had an inkling. I bought an oven thermometer. I installed it. And I set the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. When the preheat light went off I opened the oven door. It read 400 cussing degrees.

What?

How can a brand new oven be off by 50 degrees? Turns out ovens can be off by all kinds of degrees, Babycakes. A little high. A little low. This is not uncommon. New or old, stoves can be persnickety. So if you're one of those readers who find my baking times too short or too long? Get an oven thermometer stat and take your oven's temperature. Play nurse to that Bad Boy. And find out exactly where you're at. Because the sunken loaves with gummy centers you felt guilty about? Might not be you at all, Darling. The burnt cookies that made you feel like a Martha Stewart failure? Could be your over zealous gas burner.

To test this out we set the oven temp to 300 degrees. And guess what? The thermometer read 350 degrees. On the nose.

So Steve rustled up some cookies to cheer me up in my zucchini bread grief. And not just any cookies. These Peanut Butter Quinoa Cookies. Because a girl needs a dunk worthy cookie for breakfast.

And there will be zucchini bread in the near future. Oh yes.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Healthy recipe with potato

There are many recipe-s, can healthy foods that taste good and are good for you. The truth is, you will not eat healthy food continuously if you have enjoyed your greasy foods to the last drop of fat. Children have to eat properly start as well, and there are big s is recipe for children that help keep you strong and healthy.

You must take the time by researching what good food are available out there for the whole family. To start off with you love the healthy foods are either or dislike it. All what you have to do it, give it a chance. Perhaps your healthy meal will one day your favorite dish. The following recipe was tried by a few people and admitted that you loved your greasy foods but found that this dish was very delicious.The recipe is very simple to understand and it will not take long to vorzubereiten.Lassen us consider: potatoes with caramelized onions

Ingredients

What you need is:

1 X pounds potatoes

2 x medium onions

2 Tablespoons fresh parsley chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil (extra virgin)

Mix salt, pepper

Method

(1) The potatoes peeled and cut into quarters.After the peeling you cook the potatoes in water with salt, are done for 20 minutes or until the potatoes.

(2) Next to peel the onions and then cut you in half and slice them thinly.Then the olive oil in a pan on the stove to be heated is high resources.The bulbs need to fry the onions werden.Weiterhin transparent fried, until you become caramelised.This takes 20 to 30 minutes.Keep in mind that the bulbs must be stirred constantly, so that you do not burn.

(3) After the potatoes have cooked, drop you off and put in a large bowl geben.Nachdem who hack the caramelized onion and add to the potatoes done have. Add the chopped parsley, salt and pepper and pulp-everything with a Potato Masher.Platzieren you aside the dish and leave to cool.

Potatoes with caramelized onions can do great side dish with grilled fish or stirring braten.Es is on its own, if you choose to have that only plate will füllen.Dort no leftovers, but if it, simply save it in the fridge for the next day and have it cold or heated bis.Je after what you prefer, it is always great taste.

Try this with the family, but only tell you what it is if you eat haben.Dieses ends Court the taste buds will not disappoint, but leave after more betteln.Wie noticed potatoes with caramelized onions wont take a long time to prepare and certainly not take it a long time to eat.

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