The Puri Sabzi

Because, I mean, puri sabzi!

PANEER SABZI

Saute onions with ginger and garlic in a little oil. Add salt, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder, and then add tomatoes and a little garam masala. Take off the heat and grind for 2 seconds so it's still pulpy. Return to the pan and add paneer. Cook till done; garnish with coriander.

PURI

Puri dough is similar to rotis, except there's oil involved. Knead whole-wheat like you would for aata except throw in a little oil. Knead it to be smooth and stiff, not soft like for rotis.

When you roll these, make them smaller than you would for rotis. Roll in one direction, and roll with oil instead of dry flour. Make sure the oil is very hot before you fry these. Gently lay one in flat and let it puff up. Switch sides and take it out before it browns too much.

Stuff your face.

The Tender Chipotle

A simple and healthy weekday dinner that we, later that night, followed with a double chocolate muffin because we are bad, bad people.

CHIPOTLE SAUCE

You could make a decent amount of this and refrigerate it for later use. Typically you'd use chipotles in adobo sauce for the recipe but only so many of us have that lying around at home. So here's a cheat recipe:

Throw into a blender chipotles (or chilli of your choice), garlic, vinegar, paprika, salt, cumin, some yogurt, and a little mayonnaise if you want, but I skipped the mayonnaise for a healthier sauce. I also kept the chilli amount to a low because my husband prefers less heat.

CHICKEN TENDERS

Coat tenderloins first in flour, then in beaten egg, and lastly in breadcrumbs, and bake in the oven till golden and cooked.

STIR FRY

Combine your favorite bunch of superfoods (yes, there's kale in there, that's the only way you'll see me ever eat that stuff) and toss on low heat in a little olive oil and a few drops of soy sauce.

Plate up, and serve with a 7-seeds dinner roll for a healthy crunch :)

The Lollipop

Street food YAYYYY

These are my favorite, along with momos (which I'll also eventually make, probably). In Bangalore, some chicken shops actually sell lollipop-cut wings, but most places don't, so you have to make your own. 

Get chicken wings, and cut into two at the joint. Chop off the end bone, and pull/scrape all of the flesh up. There's two bones in the wing; take out the thin bone, and gather all the meat at the top to make the lollipop.

Sometimes frying these raw leaves the inside uncooked, so boil for 5-10 min and add some worcestershire sauce.

Separately mix egg, chillies, soy sauce, chilli sauce, ginger-garlic paste, salt & pepper, garam masala, ajinomoto, a drop or two of red food coloring, flour (and/or corn flour) and a little water and make a batter. Dip chicken in the batter and deep fry. Serve with chilli garlic or schezwan sauce! YUM.

The Cheat-Day - Lasagna

Yay, more cheat days!

Not a quick recipe, but easy nevertheless, and totally worth it.

THE MEAT

Saute onions and garlic in a little oil before adding minced meat. At this point I like to add a tiny pinch of cumin and paprika (my little touch), but that's optional. Then add tomatoes/tomato sauce, and season with salt, pepper and oregano, and simmer till it thickens.

THE CHEESE

Make a bechamel sauce. Melt some butter and add some flour. Take off the heat to add milk and put it back on the heat. Add loads of parmesan cheese. Season and thicken.

COMBINE

Check whether your lasagna sheets require pre-cooking or not. Spread some of the meat sauce. Arrange lasagna sheets on them, and then layer with the cheese. Repeat: meat, sheets, cheese. Finish the top layer with a last layer of lasagna sheets and then cheese sauce and finally, freshly grated mozzarella on the top and bake till you see all that cheese bubble and turn golden.

Die from too much cheese.

The Rainy Day

Tea and pakoras, anyone?

Onions, chillies, paneer etc. are pretty common choices for pakoras. This time I gave mushrooms a shot.

Mix thickly sliced mushrooms with ginger/garlic paste, salt, any seasonings you want, an egg and besan (gram flour). I also threw in a little corn flower and baking soda for extra crunch and fluff.

Deep fry and serve with garlic chilli sauce and hot tea. Stare out the window at the rain and pretend to be Norah Jones.

The Chili

It doesn't need to be foodball season for this to happen.

Fry garlic and onions oil. Add mince (I usually use mutton, but traditionally it would be beef) and brown. Stir in salt, cumin powder and paprika. Throw in a decent pile of chopped tomatoes and simmer. Add boiled beans and thicken. I like to add chopped coriander in the end. Garnish with cheese.

I prefer my chili with garlic toast and salad.

The Simple Saturday

Saturdays in our household are vegetarian days. I like to keep Saturday lunches simple. This is one of my favorites.

Baingan ka bharta

Take a nice fat eggplant and burn it directly on gas till the skin looks peelable. Take off the heat and peel. Mash the insides.

Put a little oil in a pan and heat. Sauté very little garlic and ginger, chopped onions and chilli. Throw in the eggplant mush. Toss in salt, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder. Add tomatoes and cook. Garnish with coriander and serve with hot rotis!