Spinach Mushroom Potato Cheese Sandwich

Health is wealth, so to preserve this wealth we should try to eat food as healthy as possible. I had to come up with a recipe that would be tasty, filling as well as nutritious. I brought together spinach, mushroom and boiled potatoes to prepare the filling for the sandwiches. I have always liked the Potato tikka sandwiches but this time i wished something more than Potato.

Here is the Recipe:
This will serve - 4
Preparation - 10 minutes
Cooking - 2 minutes
Level of difficulty- Easy

Ingredients:

• Potato- 2 large boiled
• Spinach- Bunch of fresh leaves, chopped
• Mushroom-5 large, chopped
• Onion- 1
• Salt
• Pepper powder- 1 Tsp
• Whole wheat Bread slices- 8
• Cheese slices- 4
• Butter
• Oil

Preparation:

• In a skillet heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil.
• Add in the mushroom and fry for two minutes.
• Add the spinach, sprinkle salt to taste, cover and let it cook for 2 mintes in medium heat.
• After 2 minutes, sprinkle pepper powder. Turn off the heat.
• Now add these vegetables to the boiled potatoes, mash and mix everything all together.
• Grease the bread slices with butter or margarine
• Sandwich the vegetable mix and a cheese slice between two slices of bread.
• Place in a sandwich maker for minute or 2.

Your Spinach mushroom potato sandwich is ready to be served, Serve it hot with Ketchup or Mayonnaise.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking.

By- Sushmita Pandit.

Dal and Vegetable Soup(Lentil and vegetable soup)

Dal and Vegetable Soup(Lentil and vegetable soup) Dal soup is an excellent appetizer. Dal or lentil are rich source of protein. These are said to be beneficial for women specially lactating mothers and young females.  There are variety of Lentils available in the market. For this soup i chose arhar dal(Tur dal)(split pigeon peas) and masoor Dal. They help in making thick soup. Apart from lentils i have added carrot and tomatoes. Carrot is another power source of carbohydrates and vitamin. So all together this is highly nutritious, tasty soup and easy in preparation.

Serves: 4 people
Preparation:5 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Level of difficulty- easy

Ingredients:

• Arhar dal- 100gms
• Masoor dal- 100gms
• Carrot- 2
• Tomato- 5 large size
• Onion- 1 small size
• Garlic cloves- 5 to 6 large cloves
• Green Chili- Depending on taste
• Salt as per taste
• Pepper powder or Freshly crushed pepper
•  Corn flour- 1 Tbsp
• Butter- 1 Tbsp
• Lemon juice- 1 Tbsp

Preparation:

• In a pressure cooker pan or in a boiling pot bring together everything except corn flour and butter.
• Add in 800ml of water and let it boil for 20 minutes in boiling pot and in pressure cooker wait for  4 whistle.
• After everything gets boiled let it cool for 5 minutes.
• Pour everything in a blender and blend into a fine paste.
• Heat 1tbsp of butter in a pan and fry the corn flour until its colour turns slight yellow.
• Add the pureed soup. Adjust the thickness of the soup by adding water.    

Your soup is absolutely ready to be served. Sprinkle lemon juice and serve it hot with Bread crumbs.

Enjoy and Happy cooking :-)

By Sushmita Pandit.

Vegetable Dalia Khichri (Vegetable Wheat Rice Khichri)

Dalia or Wheat rice are extremely light and highly nutritious . Addition of vegetable makes them super nutritious. Khichri means mixture of lentil , rice and vegetables. These are said to be easily digestable. My son , husband and Father-in-law love this dish. You can bring in any number of vegetable to this dish, no matter what it always taste great.

This Recipe will serve -4

Preparation- 10 minutes

Cooking- 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

Level of difficulty- easy

Ingredients:

• Dalia/ Wheat rice/ weizengrütze fein -200gms
• Lentil- 200gms
• Carrot- 1, chopped
• Zuchini- 1, chopped
• Cauliflower- 2 florets
• Potato- 2, chopped
• Salt
• Butter- 1 Tbsp
• Cumin seed- 1 Tsp
• Turmeric- 1 Tsp(optional)
• Tomato- 1 large, chopped
• Water- 600-800 ml of water

Preparation:

• In a pressure cooker pan, heat butter, add the cumin seed and let it crackle.
• Add in the wheat rice, fry until colour changes to little whitish.
• Now drop all the vegetables and washed lentil.
• Add water such that you cover 2/3rd of the vegetable layer.
• Season with salt and turmeric.
• Cover the pressure cooker and in low heat wait for three whistles.
• Turn off the heat and let the cooker cool up for 5 minutes.

Your Vegetable Dalia Khichri is absolutely ready to be Serve.

Serve hot with Papad ,Chips ,curd or pickle.

To cook without pressure cooker, after step 5 , cover the pan with a heavy lid and cook for 20 to 30 minutes until lentils are done.

Enjoy.

By- Sushmita Pandit

Morning cake, The Tutti Fruitti Cake

At times am extremely lazy in the morning and often end up skipping my breakfast. Sometimes i even do not fill like boiling milk or egg , these are times when i just want to relax and would not leave my couch at any cost. For such occasion i crave for a slice of cake. Oh gosh! i love cake and nothing can give a better start to a lazy morning than a fruit cake. Further, this cake always has a better chance to switch your lazy overly relaxed morning into so called Yactive Day!!!.

In India i always used to have the Packed cake, like Britania Marie Cake which came into variety of flavors. Since the time i left India i have been missing my type of Cake :-( Until recently when i discovered that i can bake one myself. :-) Tidddinggg . 

I have baked a large cake to keep a check on my breakfast.I just do not want it to go void any more. Here's sharing you the recipe of the Tutty fruity cake.

Yield - Cake of 2 Pound or more
Preparation- 30 minutes
Cooking time- 20 to 25 minutes.
Level of difficulty- Medium

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour- 225 gms
• Sugar- 250 gms
• Butter- 250 gms
• Eggs- 5
• Vanilla essence- 2 Tsp
• Baking powder- 1 Tsp
• Baking soda- 1 Tsp
• Salt- 1/2 tsp
• Tutty fruity- 1/2 cup

Preparation:

• Sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda.
• In a mixing bowl, bring together butter and sugar, whip until a smooth paste appears.
• Add eggs one by one and whip the mixture with each addition.
• Add the vanilla essence and salt.
• Now incorporate the flour little by little in the batter and blend until a smooth dough is formed.
• If you find your dough to be too tight loosen it by adding 1 to 2 tablespoon of milk in it.
• Add half the amount of tuty fruity in the batter. Give it a fold once.

Preheat your oven  at 180 Degree

Line your baking tray with parchment paper or butter paper

Fill the baking tray only to 2/3rd of its height. You can transfer the rest of the batter into another baking tray. On the top of the Batter sprinkle the remaining tutty fruity.

Now bake your cake at 160 degree C for 20 to 25 minutes. After 20 minutes of Baking you can check your cake if it is done by inserting a tooth pick, if it comes out clean, your cake is ready. Take out and let it cool on the wire racks.

Slice and enjoy the tuty fruity Cake. :-)

Inspired from the Recipe of Sanjeev Kapoor khana khazana cook books.

By- Sushmita Pandit

Paneer matar Makhni, Paneer matar Butter Masala, Cottage cheese Butter curry

My mother is a great fan of Paneer dishes , reason being she is a complete vegetarian . By saying so, i mean she never use onion and garlic in her food. When she is bored of vegetables, lentils and chickpea's she loves to have Paneer. My mum prepare this one curry since my childhood "The paneer aalu masala"(Cottage cheese potato curry). I have always loved that dish, but could never cook it the way she did. So this paneer recipe is dedicated to my mother who is strong, lovely and extremely beautiful.

Paneer Matar Makhni/Paneer matar Butter Masala

This recipe will serve- 4 people
Preparation- 5 Minutes
Cooking- 15 to 20 Minutes
Level of difficulty- Easy

Ingredients:

• Paneer or Cottage cheese or Tofu- 200 gms
• Pea's -200gms
• Tomato- 4 medium size
• Ginger- 2 inch, sliced 
• chilli- 2 Optional
• Cumin seed- 1 Tsp
• Coriander Powder- 1.5 Tbsp
• Cinnamom powder or garam masala powder- 1 Tsp
• Cream- 200 ml
• All purpose flour- 1 Tbsp
• Salt as per taste
• Butter- 100gms
• Oil- 1 Tbsp

Preparation:

Paneer -

• Cut cubes out of the paneer, dust them with all purpose flour and salt.
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a kadai or skillet.
• Now carefully add these paneer cubes in the skillet. Flip once until each side of the paneer is light golden brown in color. Take them out in a plate.

Fried Paneer

Tomato ginger chilli paste-

• Bring together tomato , ginger and chilies in a food processor or Mixer grinder. Grind them to a fine paste.

Method of cooking:

• Use the same skillet in which we fried the paneer cubes.
• Add 50 gms of butter and let it melt.(To avoid browning of butter Add 1tsp of oil)
• Add the cumin seed and let them crackle.
• Once the cumin seed crackle add in the tomato paste and coriander powder, season with salt, cover and let it cook for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Once you see that the color of the tomato paste has browned a little add in the peas. season peas with salt cover and cook for 2 minutes. Stir Occasionally.
• After two minutes add the cream and let it come to boil
• Once it comes to boil add the fried paneer cubes. Sprinkle the garam masala and cook for 1/2 minute. Turn off the heat add the remaining butter.

Your Panner pea's butter masala is now ready to be served. Serve it hot with any bread or rice.

Enjoy and Happy cooking :-)

By- Sushmita Pandit.

Masala Nan, Nan stuffed bread, Tandoori Nan

I have always loved masala nan. I almost like all the dishes that are cooked in Tandoor. While mentioning tandoor i feel like little talking about it. Traditional Tandoor is a mud packed oven, which is quite economical and extremely environment friendly since it is made up of pure clay or mud without the addition of any minerals. It is also not put up into furnace before people start using it. It is simply sundried before it is brought in use. And with the help of tandoor some amazing dishes are prepared. To mention a few namely, tandoori roti, tandoori chicken, tandoori gosht and the list continues.
But here i have prepared Nan by using the science of Tandoor in gas stove  and oven. The results are no less brighter than the Tandoori Nan . I got excellent nan by this process and therefore i would love to share this recipe with you.

This recipe will serve- 4 people(12 medium size nan)
Preparation- 45 minutes to 3 hours
Cooking - 2 to 3 minutes for each nan
Level of difficulty- medium

Ingredients:

For Dough 

• All purpose flour- 500 Gms
• Olive oil- 2 Tbsp
• Salt -1 Tsp
• Sugar- 1 Tsp
• Yeast- 1/2 of fresh block or 1.5 Tsp of instant yeast powder or granules
• Yogurt- 2 Tbsp
• Luke warm water- 130 ml

For the filling

• Potato- 4 large size boiled
• Onion- 1, finely chopped
• Curry leaves- 4 to 5 (optional) or any herb of your choice.
• Mustard seed or cumin seed- 1 Tsp
• Butter- 1 Tbsp
• Chili optional
• Turmeric powder- 1/2 Tsp
• Salt as per taste
• Butter for greasing nan

Preparation:

Dough preparation

• Bring together all the ingredients except luke warm water and then by adding little luke warm water time to time prepare a soft dough. Cover this dough with wet cloth and leave it aside for minimum 45 minutes to 3 hours.

Nan dough after 1 hour of kneading.

Masala Preparation or Filling Preparation

• Heat 1 Tbsp of Ghee or Butter in a skillet, add the seeds and let them crackle. 
• Add the turmeric powder and fry a little .
• Now add the curry leaves and then the onion. 
• Season with salt and fry until onion is translucent. 
• Now pour this whole preparation over the boiled potatoes. Now mash the potato. Your filling is ready.

Masala or potato filling

Nan preparation and baking 

• Fold the dough after the given time. Take 2 inch size ball from the dough.

1 inch size ball

• Dust it with flour.

Ball pressed between palms and then dusted with flour

• Fill in with the masala.

• Roll it flat, prefarably in oblong shape
• Super heat Tawa or frying pan. 
• Grease the flattened nan with water on both side.
• Place this greased nan on the super hot tawa. watch it rise after 30 seconds, Flip it. wait for another 30 second.

Nan on super hot pan, flipped once

• Now place a pizza pan inside the oven and turn on the broiler in the oven.
• Transfer the nan from pan to Pizza pan. Broil for 30 seconds, flip onto other side, broil for another 30 seconds. Take out and grease with butter.

Nan broiling in oven

Nan broiling in oven flipped onto other side.

or

After step 4

(if you have pizza stone heat it inside the oven and straight away place the nan on your pizza stone. Flip onto other side once you see the nan has risen up and allow it to brown on the other side too. Once it is brown grease it with Butter and enjoy)

Repeat the process until you get desired number of Nan's.

This is how we make nan by replicating the mechanism of Tandoor.

Enjoy your masala nan with Mutton Rogan gosht or any curry of your choice.

Ready to east nan, Greased with butter 

Happy cooking.

Don't forget to comment, because your words are inspiration to me and keeps me going. Thanks :-)

By- Sushmita Pandit