Curry Würstchen(Sausage curry)

Its Christmas time and the place where i live in Germany is all set  with Christmas market. All over the market area theres lots of innovative lighting show that has been placed. This looks absolutely amazing.
In my visit to Christmas market i focused mainly on the food. Apart from Gluwien(Hot seasoned red wine) and Kinderpunch(mix fruit juices for kids) sausages are major consumed food during this season.

Methi Aloo stir fry

Methi aloo is what i call a sober side dish in the Indian Thali. The outcome of incorporating the fresh Fenugreek leaves with potatoes is wonderful. This easy dish can be prepared in just minutes.
This is my mums favorite stir fry and this recipe has been shared to be my mummy.
Its perfect for those days when you wish to have something light and less spicy.
Do you know that after fast its good to break it with little green leafy vegetables. Back home vegetarians consume so many different types of Leafy vegetables. Most popular are spinach(Palak saag), methi saag, lal saag, bathua saag, pui saag, amarnath saag and the list continues. My state special saag(green leaf) are Konark saag, kalmi saag and chana saag. Yes in India we have n number of vegetables and grains which i miss so much at times.
Anyways coming back to the methi saag, which is favorite of so many people, here is my mums special saag recipe.

Couscous Salad (Indian Independence Day Special)

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Indian.
India completes 66 years of freedom since British left India. Since then India has come a long way. Countries across the globe have recognized it as a wealthy and rich country with a rich heritage culture and history that goes back more than some 10000 years. Although its a developing nation but aims to become developed by 2020.
On this special occasion i pay my respect to all the freedom fighters who led their lives in the path to attain freedom. Vande Mataram.
Today i prepared Couscous salad with a tricolor theme. This is a quick and super tasty salad. gets prepared in no time and tastes wonderful. I dedicate this recipe to Durga Shakti Nagpal ...A young and honest IAS officer who is fighting for justice in the country against Sand mafia.

Steamed Broccoli with garlic and cashewnuts

There are times when i do not feel like looking at spices anymore. These are the times when i prefer healthy steamed vegetables. I prefer steaming rather than boiling as nutrients remain intact so that i benefit the most out of these vegetables. My family eats vegetables most of the days except on weekends. It sometimes turn boring preparing the curry every time . Moreover there are very few ways i like having broccoli, either steamed or saute. I do not like it in curry at all as i strongly feel that Broccoli has its own taste and adding too much of spices to it kind of loosen that original taste.
My kid 18 months like having it steamed too along with carrots and potatoes. So i steamed broccoli along with carrots and potatoes.
For the sauce i used olive oil instead of butter and made a kind of sweet, tangy and crunchy sauce by adding cashew nuts to it. This was perfect for our dinner and had great taste. I found this way of making everyone eat broccoli. It was very nice and i hope it works for you too.

Vegetable and egg fried rice

I love fired rice. Whenever i have some rice leftover with me i quickly give it a colorful texture. My son loves it. Its so easy to prepare that it hardly take much time, roughly 10 to 15 minutes. I like adding scrambled eggs to the rice which add in taste to it.
This is the recipe for people who wish for taste in no time. I like keeping it clean and simple but yet tasty. I also like several Chinese and Indian version of fried rice.

Rawa Idli- Quick microwave recipe

Idli is the king of South Indian Breakfast but the whole country have it every now and then. This rice and lentil steamed dumpling is a great way to start the day. The side dish like coconut chutney and sambar makes the meal complete. Its a solution for fast food. I remember back in Bangalore whenever i could not have my breakfast at home i would rush to my office canteen to grab a plate of idli. This plate of idli would make me not feel hungry until the lunch time and thus helped me to concentrate on my work.

Watermelon cooler(Tarbuj ka sharbat)

#Beat the heat. Yes its summer, am hunting for thirst quenching drinks. I made this water melon cooler with just lime and melon. This is very simple but a refreshing drink. Easy to prepare and really nice to serve.  

In my last two post in the beat the heat series i posted the mango cooler and stone apple drink. Am looking forward for many more drinks to bring in this series of Summer dink.

Thus recipe
serves- 4
Preparation time - 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• Fresh watermelon - sliced and deseeded
• Salt as per taste
• Ice cubes
• Lime juice- 1 Tsp

Preparation:

• Pump in the watermelon in the blender and blend to puree it.
• Pour in the serving glass.
• Sprinkle salt and add in squeezed lime juice.
• Drop some ice cubes

Sit back , relax and enjoy.. your refreshing watermelon cooler.

By- Sushmita Pandit

Cucumber and tomato raita(Kheere ka Raita)

With the summer Raita's mark a prominent place on my dining table . There are two specific reason for it. The first being that its so simple and easy to prepare yet its very tasty and nutritious. Secondly it greatly helps in cooling down the stomach after we have anything spicy.

Dhokla in 5 minutes(Microwave Recipe)

My hubby kept asking me to prepare dhokla since last few months. It was high time to fulfil his desire to have dhokla. I prepared this dhokla in just 5 minutes. My mother always prepared the dhokla using rice and lentil. Each time she prepared it had great taste. I prepared this dhokla using Besan(Chick pea flour).
This Gujrati recipe is superb and tastes wonderful. I am looking forward to learn more and more Gujarati recipes as most of them are vegetarian and have wonderful taste. My mother and mother-in-law both love having vegetarian food, serving them some of the most delicious recipe will make both of them happy, this is what i aim at for the moment.

 

Mixed Dal /Mixed Lentil recipe

Lentils are rich source of protein. I always feed my baby some or the other lentils. I myself like it very much with rice and chapati. This is a quick and easy mixed lentil/dal recipe. I am using three commonly used lentils in this recipe. They are masoor dal, moong dal and arhar dal. Addition of vegetables like eggplant and tomato adds to the taste  and makes it an awesome finger licking Dal.

Nutella and banana crepes

During December i visited Antwerp, Belgium. It was Christmas  eve and i could see lots of celebration over the streets. It was rainy and moist day but a wonderful one, one thing that i couldn't ignore was the fragnance of gluwein(Hot red wine) and crepes being prepared in the stalls. Am not a great fan of alcohol, but when its gluwein with a slice of lemon in it i just cannot ignore it. The day i tasted crepes, since then i have been preparing crepes at home with nutella inside.

You can have sweet or savory crepes depending upon your taste. I mostly prepare the sweet one because of my two sweet tooth :-) 

Whole Wheat Banana & Raisin's Pancake - Healthy Breakfast Recipe Series

Pancakes are said to be healthy when they are prepared with whole wheat flour. This is a quick ,filling and healthy breakfast dish. You can prepare it in the go. Raisin and banana add lots of flavor to this pan cake. Wheat provides iron and calcium to your body whereas banana and raisins provides with vitamin C. Let 's take a look at this recipe.

Karela Bhaja- Bitter Gourd Curry(dry)

Karela or the Bitter Gourd is of course bitter. But what if i just compress its bitterness and present it to you.

I always frowned whenever my mother prepared the karela/bitter gourd curry back home in India. But not any more. I found ways to minimize the bitterness and also thereby preserving the goodness of karela in it.

There are several ways this bitter gourd or karela is prepared. One of my favorite is the stuffed karela. I  like it very much but it being too rich in fat ,i cook it occasionally. I also like the bitter gourd pickle which is not bitter at all and is quite tasteful. Apart from this there are famous south Indian bitter gourd masala chips, they are just awesome in taste. 

Oat meal Porridge-Healthy Breakfast Recipe Series

Oats are full of high energy, carbohydrates and fiber. It has low fat content and high protein content. Here we see that oats are highly nutritious cereal . It would be wonderful if we start our day with it. Here i have come up with a oat porridge recipe that is very simple yet delicious in taste. 

Milk,fruits and corn flakes -Healthy Breakfast Recipe Series

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day as the body receives the first dose of food and water after 8 hours. It has a great impact on your day since the kind of breakfast you take decides the kind of meal you are going to have for the whole day. People taking regular breakfast tends to be less obese

and less diabetic as compared to people who skip their breakfast. In addition it keeps your stomach full and doesn't often makes you hungry, thus boosting your concentration and health.

Am on a mission to bring some extremely healthy and nutritious breakfast recipe, so that you can start your day with some quality food. To accomplish this mission i will be posting a series of breakfast recipe in this month. I have come up with this task for myself as i know many of my friends at present are skipping their breakfast and running for their work without chewing a single bit of food in the morning. I want to present this recipes to all of you with a hope to save you all from skipping your daily breakfast "The essential meal of the day".

Pollock Baked(Seelachfillet Baked)

First time i came to Germany, i started looking for a fish that was common to the area. After sometime i found pollock/Seelachs. I tried to cook them in several ways , sometimes i tried to fry them, sometimes i steamed them but it was best only when i baked them. I tried baking it several ways and in this post i will describe one of the easiest , quick and tasty way to treat Pollocks before they are on your plate. My son (1.5 Years old) likes it very much. Am happy for his choice since this fish is extremely light and nutritious. I am posting this on the request of my friend who is in Mauritius and wants a fish recipe.

Fish Baked

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

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.