Kulche Matar

I dont remember if I wrote about this tasty road side food from India ever before, and hey!! is I did write it before let me write it again ;) 

This is matar (white peas) and are traditionally eaten with kulcha (close to Naan) in India. Mostly savoured with friends at a road side dhaba :) this dish is also extensively found across restaurants in India.

So I try and make this very often, not just for taste but also because white peas are a rich source of protein and fibre, and I definitely needed some after the gruelling swimming session of the morning today.

So, I had soaked the white peas overnight (at least 12 hours), and then in the morning I boiled them in a pressure cooker. It is important to get a hang of the pressure cooker that you use as I dont like to overdo these peas. It is best to boil them just enough so that they still retain their shape. I normally wait for 4 whistles and then take the pressure cooker off the flame.

How many peas --> I took close to 2 cups of peas.

Once the peas are boiled, I drain the water and keep the peas aside. For the mix, I took

2 onions - finely chopped
2 tomatoes - finely chopped
2 green chillies - finely chopped
1 lime juice
cilantro (dhania) - finely chopped - 5 table spoons
3/4 tsp - garam masala
2 tsp - chat masala
4 tsp - salt
2 tsp - khatai (dried mango powder)

and mixed all these with the peas. Thats it our matar are ready!!

You can serve these with kulcha and if you dont find these easily in the local market, you can enjoy the matar with bread toasted in butter. Njoy !!

Dum Aaloo (Kashmiri Potatoes)

Dum Aaloo

A blog after a long time, and more importantly a kinda royal touch to food after a long time. After a long time again, I stole some moments out of my own busy afternoon, kept the strategy project work aside and headed to my kitchen. I peeped into the refrigerator and saw small lovely potatoes and instantly felt like making dum aaloo. A perfectly royal and mouth watering dish made with small potatoes. Sometimes cooking feels like freedom and like love. It is such a relaxing feeling in itself :) 

So what I did - I took eight small potatoes out of my refrigerator (yes!! I do keep my onions and potatoes in the refrigerator.. you might think I am crazy but trust me it keeps them fresh and also reduces the wastage by a good amount). So!! eight potatoes washed and cleaned, but not peeled. Next I took a kitchen knife and gently scrapped the skin of potatoes in a way that only part of the skin comes out. Next I pricked the potatoes with a fork nicely on all sides. Then i soaked these potatoes in cold salt water (around 3 cups with 1.5 teaspoon salt) for 2 hours. This was to let the potatoes uniformly soak in salt.

And then I was back to my Integrated Strategy project again :) 

2 hours later !! --> I took out the potatoes, pat dried them with a paper towel and deep fried the potatoes till they are almost deep brown. I tried to occasionally check if my potatoes were cooked even in the middle with a knife while they were frying, however I will strongly advise not to do it as there is always a risk of splashing oil onto yourself :) and I dont want any of you lovely guys to get burnt. So perhaps if you do want to check, then do so after taking them out of the oil. Remember it is not mandatory to cook the potatoes till the centre at this step, as we will let the potatoes cook again in the final gravy so even if they are not completely done, just ensure that they are red-brown and take them out. 

Next I took 2 teaspoon of cumin seeds (jeera) + 4 cloves (laung) + 1.5 teaspoon of fennel seeds (saunf) + 3-4 cardomom's seeds (choti elachi). I roasted all these on a flat pan for 1 min and then ground them into a powder. 

I added this powder to 3 cups of curd (make sure curd is not sour) + 1.5 teaspoon of garam masala and 2 teaspoon of chillies. Then I added the deep fried potatoes in this curd mix and left them to marinate. 

In the meantime, I grated 3 onions and 4 tomatoes. Then i heated 3-4 tablespoons of cooking oil in a pan and fried grated onions. When the onions were golden brown, I added 2 teaspoons of ginger-garlic paste to this mixture and kept frying. When the onions were little more brown, I added the grated tomatoes to the pan and fried till the tomatoes started separating from the oil. When the onions and tomatoes were nicely fried, I added the curd-potato marinated mixture to the pan and gave a good stir to the whole thing. Then I added a little water (like half a glass) and added salt to taste. Finally I added 2 teaspoons sugar to this recipe and covered the lid (sugar is not needed if tomatoes are little sweet...mine were very sour...so I added sugar).

I let this dish cook for 20 minutes on low heat. The slower the potatoes cook the better taste they get :) 

Finally I added fresh chopped cilantro (and a lot of it) to the dish and served hot with rice and chapatis. 

:) Njoy!! and see you next time again with something new :)

Hummus

Well, I have to admit that this is still not the best taste that I would like to achieve if I eat hummus with Arabian bread, Tatziki, cheese and olives. Nonetheless, this one worked great with my sandwiches and bagels. 

So thought of penning down this one that I have come to after at least 5 trials. Hopefully will get to the blissful hummus some day :-)

For this one, I soaked chickpeas (gorgonzola beans) overnight. Next morning, I boiled the peas with salt, and enough water. 

For the hummus, I took 
* 2-3 bowls of boiled chick peas
* cumin seeds
* Fresh Coriander twigs with stem - 2-3 
* Olive Oil
* Garlic - Two cloves 
* Red Chilli Powder
* Fresh lemon juice - 2-3 tbsp

To make the hummus, 
I added all the above (except lemon juice) in a blender and crushed them till they make a consistent paste. If the paste becomes too thick, I add more olive oil to it. 

Finally I just took the spread out in a bowl, and added some olive oil and lemon juice on the top for garnishing. 

I have used this with the bagels (that consists of a nice Danish bread, olives, jalapenos, fresh salad, tomato, Onions, cheese) and this hummus spread works well with that. However, if you plan to eat it just with Arabian bread, then perhaps this is not the right recipe yet. 

I am yet to get there :-) 

History of hummus: http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20120727-hunting-for-hummus-in-israel (Ref: BBC.CO.UK, 01 AUG 2012)

Guacamole

I received this wonderful recipe from my dear friend Bethany :-) This reminds me of a story that I read during the MBA of an American gifting a chocolate recipe to a European and finally this guy made a huge company. Unfortunately my little memory has forgotten the name of this company, but I am sure you get the idea. A simple recipe as a gift can do wonders ;-) 

So lets start. I must admit I have made some changes to the original recipe and altered it to my taste, and I completely loved the end product. 

What I used for this: 
2 ripe (and not overripe) guacamole
1 clove garlic crushed
1 green onion (finely chopped)
cilantro or fresh coriander - 7-8 twigs with stems and finely chopped
Creme Fraiche - around 3-4 tbsp (In case you dont have this, this can easily be replaced with fresh thick milk cream or malai)
Salt - 3 tsp
Red Chilli - 1 tsp
black pepper powder - 1 tsp
1-2 tbsp fresh lime juice

To make it, 
I added the chopped onion, garlic, cilantro to a bowl. Then I carefully scrapped the fruit out of the avocado. This was my first time that I dealt with the fruit and used an online video to understand how to cut it. The trick is simple - this fruit should not be peeled as then you can lose a lot of flesh with the skin. So the best is to carefully slit it into two halves. Then pop the seed out, and make vertical and horizontal cuts across the flesh of the fruit. Be careful and dont hurt yourself while doing so. Finally scoop the fruit out with a spoon and add to the bowl. 

Now I added the cream fraiche, salt, red chilli and black pepper, and gave it a nice mix with a spoon. Finally added the lime juice and stirred again. 

Guacamole is ready, and I love to eat it as a spread on my sandwich, or with nachos/chips. Hope you will like it :-) 

Kheer

Kheer

One of the best Indian deserts, easy to make and absolutely delicious to eat. Well, it does take some time (close to an hour) to cook, and I had been thinking for days about making Kheer or reading the MBA stuff. As usual, Kheer won!!

Looks like I will be a manager who would have lot of food to offer to employees ;) Hehehe. Just Kidding!!

Well, to keep it short, lets quickly go through what we need and how do we make it. 

What we need for Kheer (Approximately 4 bowls):

• 1 litre milk (half-cream milk / letmælk or fullcream milk / sødmælk) (I used Letmælk)
• 1/2 cup rice basmati or small rice
• Nuts, whichever you like - Cashew nuts, Almonds, Raisins etc. 
• 1 big Bay Leaf
• 1 tbsp Ghee
• 3.5 tbsp sugar
• Saffron (3-4 strands)

How to make it: 
I first boiled the milk. When the milk is a few minutes from boiling I added the bay leaf in it and let it boil. Once boiled,  I set it aside. 

Then I took a bowl and heated the ghee in it, taking care that it doesn't burn. Then I added the nuts and raisins, and took them out once they are bloated up. 

In the same bowl, I added the rice and stirred them carefully so that the grain doesn't break. When the rice grains are translucent, I took this off the flame and added 2-3 tbsp of boiled milk it it. Finally added this rice-milk mixture to the bigger portion of boiled milk. 

Now I added the nuts, keeping some back for final garnishing. At this point, I also added the saffron strands, and put this whole mixture back on medium heat. 

Now its all about patience and stirring the kheer from time to time making sure that the milk neither boils over nor gets burnt at the bottom of the pan. 

After almost 1 hour, the milk starts to thicken and give a nice color. At this stage, I added the sugar and let it heat for some more time, stirring continuously. I like to leave Kheer a little less thick towards the end, as it gets thicker when cooled. So once it was enough thick, I took it off the flame and let it come to normal temperature. 

Then I added the remaining nuts & raisins to garnish and placed the bowl in refrigerator for cooling off. :)

We are done. Some people like Kheer Hot. I like it chilled, and you may choose whichever way you like to eat it. 

Tip: In the southern parts of India, people sometimes also garnish Kheer with coconut powder, and that also tastes awesome. 

Rongi / Lobhia / White kidney beans(small)

Well call it what you like, this is one of my favorite dished. Absolutely rich in protein, easy and fast to cook, tastes delicious, smells delicious and brightens up my day :)

So here you go :) What we need: 

1. White kidney beans (small)/ Lobhiya or Rongi - 250-300 gm soaked in water for around 30-45 min

2. Water

3. Onions - 1 large shredded into fine cubes

4. Tomatoes - 3 - cut into small cubes

5. Frying vegetable oil - 2-3 tbsp

6. Coriander (fresh) - 4 twigs cut into small pieces

7. Salt, to taste

8. Red Chilli - 1 tsp

9. Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp

10. Kitchen King Masala (optional) - 1/2 tsp

11. Bay Leaf - 1

12. Black whole pepper - 4

13. Cumin Seeds - 1.5 tsp

14. Turmeric - 2 tsp

15. Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Making it is even easier. Take a pressure cooker and add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot add cumin seeds, Bay leaf and black whole pepper. Let the whole spices splinter. Once done, add the chopped onions and fry till dark brown. Now add the tomatoes and stir fry on medium heat till the mixture leaves oil. Now add the turmeric, salt, red chilli, garam masala, coriander powder and kitchen king masala. Stir nicely. Add the soaked Rongi with the water into the spice mixture. I usually keep enough water where the Rongi is at least an inch submerged in the water. 

Now close the pressure cooker and cook it for 4 whistles. Keep the cooker closed unless all the steam inside hasn't finished. 

Once there is no steam left in the cooker, open and add the chopped coriander. 

Serve hot with rice or chapatis. Hope you like the dish as much as I do :-) 

Tip: Some people like to add fresh lime juice to Rongi at the end. So if you have a sour tooth, go for it!!! 

Dahi Vada/Dahi Bhalle

I think these days I am in a mood of procrastinating making food from scratch, and I attribute all the laziness to lack of time as all my time goes to the MBA. 

:D Well so I made Dahi Bhalle this time using the Gits Mix for Dahi Vada. 



So here is what I used: 
Gits Mix for Dahi Vada - 1 pack
Salt, to Taste
Tamarind - 10-20gram
Sugar - 2 tsp
Yogurt (Curd) Natural
Red Pepper - to taste
Fresh Roasted Cumin Seeds Powder - 2 tbsp

To make: 

For Vada (Bhalle): I followed the water measurement and recipe from Gits as it is. Then I soaked the final Bhalle in water for 5 sec to stain the excess oil. At this stage, I quickly take them out and press with my palm to ensure that no water stays back. 

Finally laid down 6-7 pieces in a tray.

For the curd, I beat the curd into a uniform consistency and add salt to it as per taste. 

For the tamarind, I soaked the tamarind in a bowl of water for 15-20 minutes. Post that, the tamarind becomes soft and I removed the seeds. Then I added salt, sugar, red pepper and 1 tbsp roasted cumin seeds powder to it. 

To serve: I pulled back the tray with bhalle, covered them nicely with beaten yogurt and finally splashed the tamarind chutney all over. 

So we are ready to go. Bon appetite! 

Fried vegetable rice

It has been a long time since I wrote a blog, and looks like today I was craving to get a small break from the MBA. :-) 

So I left my MBA books and the change management paper I am working on, and landed in my favorite spot - my little kitchen. Copenhagen is all covered with snow today, and somehow after the morning swim in the wonderful Valby Vand-Kuturehuset (The water culture house), I didn't feel like eating something very heavy. 

So I decided to cook some fried rice, and loved the final dish. 

Here is what I used: 

1. Two bowls of boiled basmati rice (I don't like rice that sticks, so I boil them in loose water and then sieve away the extra water) 

2. 3-4 tablespoon frying oil

3. 1/2 Zucchini chopped into small cubes

4. 1/2 Green Bell Pepper chopped into small cubes

5. 1/2 Red Bell Pepper chopped into small cubes

6. 1 onion chopped into small cubes

7. 2 table spoon finely chopped ginger

8. 8-10 olives chopped into small cubes

9. Salt, to taste

10. Red Pepper, to taste

11. Garam Masala (optional), 1 tsp

12. Mustard Seeds (I like to use the small mustard seeds or Raee)

13. 5 Black Pepper seeds 

And here is how I made it in less than 10 minutes :-) [MBA certainly has taken away all my time]

So here we go. I took a pan and heated the oil. Added the black pepper seeds and mustard seeds and let them splutter. Once done, I added the onions and fried them till they were dark brown. Now I added all the other vegetables and fried till the zucchini starts getting a bit translucent. 

At this stage I added the salt, red pepper and garam masala, and mixed it well making sure that it doesn't become a paste or get crushed. Finally added the boiled rice and mixed nicely again ensuring that it doesn't get crushed. 

And hey I am done and I have actually finished eating now. 

Thanks for reading this. I am so happy to get some part of my life back in this little break that I just had. Now I will get back to MBA studies. 

På gensyn igen :) - I mean see you again soon. 

Vegetable Rice (Pulao)

Vegetable Rice (Pulao)

Well sorry for the terribly bad pic, but I was hungry :)

However I must admit that this is the easiest, fastest cooking and filling vegetarian dish. Cooked across India in almost every household. This is more than often also considered as food for the not so rich people in India. Nonetheless you will find vegetable pulao in the costliest restaurant with various add-ons, and a wonderful taste. 

Hope you enjoy making and eating this dish as much as I do. 

Ingredients: 

1 bowl basmati rice

1 onion (medium size) shredded into long threads

2 tomatoes (medium size) cut into long pieces

3-4 medium sized potatoes cut into 8 pieces each

1/4 of cauliflower cut into medium sized pieces

1 Indian Bay Leaf - Large

Cooking Oil - 3 table spoons

Cumin Seeds (Zeera) - 2 tea spoons

Turmeric - 2 tea spoons

Dry coriander powder - 4 tea spoons

Red Chilli Powder - 3 tea spoons

Salt - 5 tea spoons or to taste

Water

For the final touch

Ghee - 2 table spoons

Ginger - 2 table spoons of long thin threads

Garlic - 1.5 table spoon of thin slices

Fresh coriander finely chopped

Method: 

Soak rice in water and keep aside for 15 min.

Take cooking oil in a Pressure Cooker and heat it. When the oil is hot, add cumin seeds. Then add onions and stir fry till they are golden brown. Now add tomatoes, cauliflower and potatoes and mix well. Now add all the spices, and mix. 

Now drain the water out of the rice, and add rice. Mix gently at this stage, as the rice can break if hit too hard. Add 1.5 bowl of water. Mix again. 

Close the lid of the pressure cooker, and cook on high flame till you get two whistles. The moment you get two whistles, remove the cooker from the flame or hotplate, and let the steam take its time to release completely. 

When done, open the pressure cooker and ensure rice is cooked. 

Now take another pan and heat the ghee in it. Add the ginger, garlic and fresh coriander and heat for 1 min. Pour the mixture on top of the vegetable pulao and serve hot. 

Tip: Served with coriander chutney, curd or raita and poppadums. 

Coconut Chutney

A long pending blog from my side. Finally today I got some free time to write about one of the best chutney's in the world. The south Indian 'Coconut Chutney'. :) 

I haven't made this totally as a South Indian would do, and have added a little flavor from my own kitchen ;)

Ingredients: 
1 cup of coconut powder
1 large tablespoon roasted gram
Salt - 2-3 tea spoons
Curry Leaves - 10
Fresh Coriander (1 large table spoon) - Optional
Mustard Seeds - 2 tea spoons
Cooking Oil - 2 tea spoons
Water - 3/4 glass

Method: 
Take the coconut powder, roasted gram, curry leaves, coriander (optional) and water in a mixture/grinder and grind the chutney to a smooth consistency. You can choose to increase or decrease the water content as per your liking, however I try to make the paste neither too thick nor too thin. 

Now take a pan and heat the oil. When the oil is heated, add the mustard seeds. When they splutter add few more curry leaves, and finely add the chutney to it. There is no need to heat the chutney, so at this step put down the flame. 

Mix the chutney well, and transfer to a ceramic bowl. Refrigerate for 30 min, and serve with south Indian dishes like Dosa, Uttapam or Idlis :) 

Bread Rolls

 Bread Rolls


One of the simplest and the yummiest snack. Bread rolls are relished by every household in India, and I thought of sharing this recipe here for my world-friends who might not have tasted this :)


Ingredients: 
3 large boiled and mashed potatoes
1 large onion finely chopped
2 green chillies finely chopped
200 gm of fresh chopped coriander
Salt - 4 tea spoons
Red Chilly powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Coriander Powder - 3 tea spoons
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Garam Masala - 1 tea spoon
Cooking Oil - For deep frying
Sandwich Bread - 9 slices

Water - 2 bowls

Method: 

Keep the oil, water and bread aside. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl and mix well. 

Now soak one slice at a time in water and then press the soaked bread nicely in between your palms. Then place 1 or 2 table spoons of potato mixture in the centre of the bread in an oval shape. 

Neatly tie the bread around the potato mix slowly pressing from all sides with your hands. Make sure that the bread completely closes on the potato mix. It is important to completely seal the bread roll, else the potato comes out while frying. 

This pic shows how it looks while you are trying to roll the bread around. You can see that at some places it is still a bit open. You can gently pinch these areas of bread and close them. 

This is how a sealed bread roll looks. Prepare 3 bread rolls at a time, and heat cooking oil in a deep pan on high flame. 

Be very careful while putting the bread rolls in the hot oil. Sometimes the oil starts to splinter if by chance any bread roll is opened a bit. Don't be scared if that happens and carefully roll over the bread roll in the oil. For this reason i like to keep just sufficient oil while deep frying, so that the bread rolls have a little portion exposed to the air.


















                                                                                Roll over gently and fry uniformly from oil sides. Take the rolls out on a tissue paper to get rid of extra oil (considering it already has so much of oil in it ;) )

Bread rolls are ready :) and taste yum with tomato sauce and hot tea. 

Mushroom Pasta

Unfortunately I did not save the pasta to be able to take a pic of the same, and show you how wonderful it looked, however I will share the original recipe link over which I improvised a bit more. 


http://www.gojee.com/food/recipes/tomato-oyster-mushroom-pasta-primavera-vegetarian


To this recipe, I just added half an onion, and one fourth of finely diced red bell pepper.


Rest just follow the original recipe as it is. I didn't have basil leaves, so I rather used finely chopped fresh stems of coriander. 


The whole thing just tastes absolutely wonderful.


Update: 1st July 2012
Second stint with mushroom pasta :)

Experience learning tips:
It is best to keep coriander low or rather use basil, otherwise coriander overpowers the taste. 

Bean Burger

The 'Bean Burger Story' :)


Well I woke up today morning, and just didn't want to have the usual breakfast. I didn't even know what I wanted to cook. All I had in the refrigerator was some boiled beans from the day before. 


Thought of the burgers and I decided to make my own burgers - with no potatoes. (Considering I am spending so much of my time at the fitness world these days in a hope of losing some weight ;))


Well rather than calling them ingredients, I would just tell you what I had and what I did. 


For the tikki - 


Half large onion - finely chopped or grated. 
Half a bowl of finely chopped mushrooms
Three green chillies - finely chopped
Fresh Coriander - Half bowl - finely chopped
A large bowl of boiled beans ( I had boiled beans yesterday with chopped ginger, crushed garlic, a pinch of asafetida and salt to taste)
Half bell pepper - Finely chopped
Two carrots - finely chopped
Two hamburger buns - crumbled to bread crumbs
Two large table spoons of semolina flour (sooji)
Oil - Two table spoons
Salt - To taste
Red Chili Powder - To taste


Method: 
I took a pan and heated the two table spoon of oil at medium flame. 
Then I added the shredded onion, and fried them till they were golden brown. Then i added the chopped mushrooms. Then I added the green chill and coriander. Cooked this for 2 min, and then added the beans. At this stage i let the mixture dry up a little bit, and kept stirring continuously so that it doesn't burn. Then I added the semolina and bread crumbs. At this stage, I added salt and pepper and stir fried for another minute. Finally I added the chopped bell pepper and carrots and  removed the mixture from the flame. 


To make the tikki, I took another 2 table spoons of semolina in a flat dish. Then once the above mixture cooled down I took the mixture in little portions, and made small balls. Finally pressed these balls a little and wrapped them with semolina. The mixture is delicate and so had to handle it bit carefully. Finally a shallow fried the tikki(s) on a flat tawa. 


For the buns - 
Sliced onions into thin concentric circles
Slides tomatoes into thin discs
and sliced some cucumber
Sliced the hamburgers into halves, and fried them on a non stick pan. 


Finally served the burgers with sauce and tea :) 


I loved the whole dish, and hopefully you will love this too. 

Vegetarian Pizza

Finally I have found the easy and the best suited (to my taste) recipe of making a quick vegetarian pizza at home. 

What you need to make this recipe: 

Pizza Dough:

All purpose flour (3 and a half cups) - Makes 4 medium sized pizza

3/4th cup olive oil (or refined oil)

Yeast - 3 tea spoons

Sugar - 1 tea spoon

Hot water - 1 and a half cup

* All the below quantities will be sufficient for 3 pizzas. We will make 1 pizza with zucchini and two with capsicum(green bell pepper). The rest of the toppings remain same. 

Tomato Sauce:

Tomato Puree - 1 can

Tomato Sauce - 2 table spoons

Chilli Sauce - 1 table spoon

Oil - 2 tea spoons

Oregano - 2 tea spoons

Salt - 1 tea spoon

Pizza Toppings: 

Mozzarella cheese - shredded into thin threads

Onion - 2 large onion finely sliced into thin circles

Tomato - 5 finely sliced into thin circles

Zucchini - 10-12 thin circular slices

Capsicum - 10 thin circular slices

Mushrooms - 1 bowl thin slices

Pizza Base: 

Dry all purpose flour

Method: 

Mix the yeast and sugar in the hot water and leave for 5 minutes. You will see that the water becomes milky and the yeast begins to ferment. Adding the sugar helps the yeast ferment faster. 

Meantime take the 3 and a half cup flour in a big bowl, and make a hole in the centre of the flour. Then pour the fermented yeast and oil in the flour. Take a butter knife and start moving it across the flour in a cake cutting fashion. You will see that the flour immediately binds together. Take 2 drops of oil in your hand and knead the flour nicely. One way to test that the flour is done is to make it into a round ball, and then press with two fingers gently on the flour ball surface. If the surface bounces back, the flour is done. Put the flour in a bowl and seal the bowl with cellophane from the top. Leave the flour to ferment for 2 hours. 

When the flour is ready, start with preparing the sauce. Mix all the contents mentioned above in a bowl, and the sauce is ready. 

Now take out the flour and knead again for around 5 minutes. Divide the flour into 4 equal portions. Pack one portion in the cellophane sheet and keep in the refrigerator. This can be used for the next time. Also turn on the over at this time (200 degree centigrade) and pre-heat for 15 minutes. 

Now put some dry maid (all purpose flour) on the surface of the kitchen table and start rolling out the pizza using a roller pin. Roll it out into a large circle keeping in mind that it is uniform in thickness throughout. When the pizza base is large enough, I stop using the roller pin, and flatten out the base more using my hands and fingers. 

Spread 1/3rd of the pizza sauce uniformly on the pizza base. Add a thin layer of pizza base. Cover with onion, zucchini (or capsicum, or both), tomato and mushroom. Finally add another generous layer of cheese on the top. Sprinkle salt on top of the pizza as per taste. 

Place the pizza in the over and bake nicely till the top of the pizza is golden brown and the base is nice and crispy. 

Serve hot with hot coffee or tea :) 

Tip: Add oregano and chill flakes while eating for that extra taste. Don't make it too spicy if you have acidity problems. Zucchini pizza is specially good to curb acidity issues. 

Saag

Spinach/Sarson Curry (Saag)


I had this amazing dish at a Pakistani Restaurant at Flensburg in Germany. I couldn't stop myself from trying it and within the next three days of my birthday dinner, I tried this at home. 


Absolutely simple and fantastic dish, specially for those who like saag. 


My recommendation would be to use sarson, however for Indians living outside india, just buy two packs of frozen spinach with cream. I used two packets of 'Luksus grønt' spinach to make this recipe. 


In case you are using fresh spinach or fresh mustard leaves, wash them thoroughly and then chop them into fine strips. It is best to leave a little leafy texture to this recipe. It just enhances the taste. :)


Ingredients


Spinach with cream - 500 gram
Onion - 1 big sized
Tomato - 1 big sized
Crushed Ginger - 1 table spoon
Crushed Garlic - 1 table spoon
Cumin Seeds (Zeera) - 2 tea spoons
Salt - To taste
Red Chilli Powder - 2 tea spoons
Garam Masala - 1 tea spoon
Ghee - 4 table spoons


Method


Peel the onion and grind the onion and tomato to a fine paste in a mixer or food processor. Keep aside.
Heat 2 table spoons ghee in a non stick pan, and add cumin seeds to the hot ghee. When the seeds have crackled, add the onion-tomato paste to it and stir fry till the mixture is golden brown. If you feel that the mixture is sticking to the base, add more ghee to it so that it doesn't burn. 


Cook for 2 minutes, and then add the spinach with cream to the pan. I had the frozen packets so it took no time for me to prepare for this dish. If you are making this dish with fresh spinach or fresh sarson, then you will need to take out some time, prior to cooking, for cleaning and shredding the spinach or mustard leaves. 


Cover the pan with a lid and let the spinach-cream mix cook on a low flame for 15 minutes. Keep checking in between to ensure that the spinach is getting the right consistency. If you feel that you need more cream you can add more fresh cream to the recipe. After 15 minutes, add salt, red chill powder and garam masala. 


In another small pan take two table spoons of ghee, and heat it. Add the crushed ginger and garlic paste to the ghee and stir fry for 1 minute. Pour this mixture on top of the spinach and mix nicely. Cover the lid of the pan (with spinach) so that the aroma is sealed into the dish. 


Serve hot. Best with naan and zeera rice. 


Tip: To add to the aroma of the dish, add a little cottage cheese (paneer) while serving on top of the dish.