Happy Onam!

Happy Onam to all of you!

Puri Bhaji for a tea party

( With blogger behaving badly, I was refused access to my own blog! These posts-in-waiting have been delayed. )

When Anita invited us to make puri-bhaji for her tea party, puri-bhaji it was for the weekend breakfast! Being puri lovers, it takes all morning of rolling out puris before I can sit to enjoy some. Puris are always served hot, straight off the smoking oil. Yet I was beaming from ear-to-ear thinking of the beautiful puffed up puris and my favourite potato bhaji to accompany it. And the husband dropped the bomb. "No, not puris today. I want something light." "Are you alright?" I asked, all my ballooned dreams crashing. What was wrong with this puri lover I wondered? "I'm not exercising enough", he said. The puri-less weekend passed by and the husband left on a week long trip. On such occasions, I'd generally stick to a one-pot meal, but puris have the ability to melt my will power.

For the puris, I took 2 cups of flour and kneaded it into a stiff dough adding a little water at a time. Rest it for 5 minutes and roll out puris and fry in hot oil.

For potato podimas/ potato bhaji, boil 5 big potatoes, peel and mash them. Heat oil in a pan, add a tsp of mustard/jeera and let it splutter. Add a chopped onion, 2 chopped green chillies and fry till translucent. Add a chopped tomato and fry for a minute. Add water, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and a spoon of pav bhaji masala and let the tomatoes turn soft. Add the mashed potato and allow it to cook for a few minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Microwave Bhindi/Okra

Express cooking idea # 3

Rotis

Bhindi/Okra ki subzi

Masur-Moong Dal

Rotis – I'll not elaborate on this. It should suffice to say I make only designer rotis.

Bhindi/Okra

Chop one large onion finely. Chop ½ kg of bhindi/okra finely. Take a large MW vessel and put in the onion and okra. Add 1/4 tsp of each of salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, amchur/mango powder, garam masala, jeera powder, hing/asafoetida, pepper. Add a tsp of oil and sprinkle 2 tsp of water over it. Mix well and microwave on high for 4 minutes. It should be done. If not, cook for one minute at a time. It should not take more than 5 minutes. A masaledhar, almost oil-free okra ready in minutes!

Masur-moong dal – Recipe will follow.

Pasta in tomato sauce

Express cooking idea # 2 :Pasta in tomato sauce

Bring a large pot of water to boil and throw in the pasta ( I used macroni) and cook al dente (about 8 minutes). In a pan, sauté a tbsp of finely chopped garlic and chopped onions till soft. Add a handful of chopped bell peppers and fry a minute. Add a can of tomato puree and cook for 4 minutes. Throw in some dry herbs like oregano, basil or whatever you like, salt, pepper and stir through. Now add the pasta and mix well. If you find it too dry, add some liquid from the cooked pasta and stir. Take of the flame and cover for a minute. Serve.

Chinese Hakka Noodles

This lady has turned everyone into an express train! Ever since she announced her express cooking event, I've been running about my tasks everyday!!! And she is not satisfied. I sent her this and this and she asks, "But where is the meal?" Can't refuse her, can I?

Express cooking idea # 1 Chinese Hakka Noodles

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the noodles to it. Cook till soft, drain. In a large wok, stir fry a tbsp of white part of spring/green onions till soft. Throw in a tsp of chopped ginger and a tbsp of finely chopped garlic and fry. Now throw in some carrots, peas, French beans/ bean sprouts, cabbage, bell peppers chopped/sliced and sauté till tender. If you parboil the veggies first and then sauté them, cooking time is reduced. Add the noodles, some soy sauce, red chilli sauce, vinegar, white pepper and toss. Add salt only if required as the soy sauce already has a lot of salt. Serve warm.

Custard Shahi Tukde

It's often easier to plan out the main course when I'm expecting guests than to decide the dessert! After all the cleaning up and cooking that accompanies entertaining, I'm too tired to prepare an appealing dessert. On many occasions the myriad options narrowed down to store bought icecreams, which the kids eyed wistfully (you know how moms are paranoid about infections from a spoonful of icecream!) I found the solution which appealed to everyone. A good looking, 10 minute dessert sure to get you a few compliments from guests. You can even make this on regular days when you have those sweet cravings. Read on to see how simple it is:

Cut the corners of 6-7 slices of bread and save the crumbs for later use. Smear some ghee on both sides of the bread slices. Roast the bread gently on a skillet till golden. Arrange the slices on the serving dish.

Put 2 cups of milk to boil. In ½ cup of milk mix 2 tbsp of custard powder (vanilla flavour) and sugar as per taste. Add to the hot milk and stirring continuously. Let the consistency remain liquidy. Pour hot custard over the bread slices evenly. The bread should soak in the custard and turn sweet. Garnish with coarsely crushed pistachios and almonds and candied cherries. Serve at room temperature or cold.

For a richer, heavier shahi tukde you can deep fry the bread in ghee, dunk the fried bread in milk+sugar syrup, garnish with cream, mava, fruit slices etc, etc.

Sending this express dessert to Mallugirl for her Express Cooking event. Hope she accepts it.