Eggs ..Shakshuka

Preparation time:10 minutes

Cooking time :15 minutes

Level: easy

To serve 2

 Shakshuka is a Middle Eastern breakfast recipe, also very popular in the African continent. Most people in Israel enjoy this simple and easy yet delicious recipe for lunch and dinner too.

I was introduced to this when our son a final year hotel management student who had to do a project on eggs- 10 egg recipes, and that's how Shakshuka came to our home .When I can't make up my mind on what to cook for dinner...

Only one answer comes to mind...and that's Shakshuka. I usually cook this for cold winter dinners, it's so quick and I enjoy it with a hot crunchy buttery toast.

For all those who haven't tried,must give it a try and you won't regret it. It's worth a try.

It's an easy recipe, eggs are poached in a tomato sauce and garnished with parsley.

Sharing my version

Ingredients :

• 4 overripe soft tomatoes
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp ginger and garlic paste
• 1-2 green chillies
• 2 medium-sized capsicum

• Fresh parsley
• 3 tsp olive oil or any other oil( do not use mustard oil)

Cooking direction:

• Heat oil in a large shallow pan
• Add green chillies slit in two
• To this add chopped onion
• Cook till colour changes

• To the onions add ginger and garlic

Add finely chopped capsicum

Cook till the colour starts changing

Add finely chopped tomatoes and add salt.

(You can add tomato paste about 2 tbsp) 

Cook till mushy

Make an indention in the sauce and crack open one egg in each indention.

Cover and cook till egg whites are firm

Garnish with parsley.

Sprinkle freshly ground pepper.

Homemade chicken sausages

Homemade Chicken sausages without casing

Preparation time:15-20 minutes

Cooking time:20 minutes

Level: easy

One of the most interesting recipes I have learnt over the years is how to make Chicken sausages at home...

Preservative-free, no plastic casing, easy on spices and just the way you would like it.

I used to live in a small town where we were solely dependant on the Central Dairy farm at Aligarh for sausages, ham, salami. It was all fine, till our store shut down permanently. Missed all the goodies, but life passed on.

One day my newly married daughter told me she had learnt how sausages were made at home.

I was very enthusiastic and set out to master the art the coming weekend.

The first try was not bad. I have then perfected the trick of the trade with a variety of flavours.

You need boneless chicken breast and a good mixer grinder. I shaped them in a cling film wrap and they turned out so perfectly shaped.

Once they are shaped you put them in  a pot of boiling water for about 15 minutes.

Cool, open the wrap, fry them till crispy on the outside.

I will walk you through the recipe step by step

Ingredients

500 gms boneless chicken

1 tsp ginger and garlic paste

Salt to taste 

Pepper as per your taste

Parsley 

Basil leaves (few)

Chilly flakes as per your taste

1tsp cooking oil

Lemon juice(optional)

Method

Grind all the above into a fine paste

Now spread cling film on the work area

Spoon two scoops on the film

Shape into a long cylinder

Roll the wrap nicely and secure ends

Do the same with all the mince

In a large pot boil water and boil all the sausages for 15-20 minutes( the water should be a rolling boil)

Remove and chill 20 minutes

Remove the cling wrap and fry the sausages

And they are done.

You can flavour them with mustard sauce soy sauce, Schezewan sauce, garam masala if you want them spicy.

Note

These can be stored in the freezer for up to two weeks.

Savory oats porridge/dalia

Savoury oats, chicken & Veggie porridge 

Preparation time:  20 minutes

Cooking time :15 minutes

Level :easy

Serves :2

 Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It breaks a long night's fast of several hours. Nourishing the body is our priority. A high protein and high fibre diet gives us a good start to the day.

Weight watchers should ideally eat a high protein diet. 20% of the day's protein should be from breakfast.

A good nourishing breakfast also keeps us from eating mindlessly. Junk food although good in taste because it has flavour enhancers which leaves you craving for more.

Sharing a healthy breakfast bowl of goodness

Oats , chicken and veggie porridge(  vegetarians    can omit chicken )

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats 
• 1 cup diced seasonal veggies of your choice
• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp butter 
• Lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• In a pan add some butter/oil /pure ghee
• Add cumin let it splitter
• Add finely chopped onions
• Fry them till translucent
• Add ginger and garlic paste and fry till colour changes
• Add the shredded chicken and veggies and fry for 5 minutes, add salt and pepper
• Now add three cups of water/chicken /vegetable stock and let it simmer on a moderate flame for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• When done remove add lemon juice and garnish with fresh cilantro

Do try and let me know through your comments in the comment section 

Whole Wheat bread

 Preparation time 2 1/2 hours

Baking time 30 minutes

Level  medium 

There's nothing like a home-baked loaf of bread, I love eating a chunk of the freshly baked loaf with a huge dollop of homemade butter. It takes a few tries to perfect your bread baking skills. The secret is to keep trying. I promise you that it is not difficult. Once you get the desired results you won't want to eat the commercial industrial loaf.

You can try different variations after you perfect your basic bread

.Sharing an easy, never fail loaf of bread

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat 1 cup
• Refined flour 1 cup
• Yeast 1.5 tsp
• Sugar 1 tsp

• Salt 1 tsp
• Milk 1 cup
• Oil/butter 1/4 cup

Method:

• Warm milk ( just warm ) add yeast and sugar
• Cover and keep in a warm place for 20 minutes.
• Milk turns frothy in 20 minutes

• Slowly pour this over the flour mixture to which salt has been added.
• Bring the flour together,(sticky dough)
• Place in a greased container, smear butter/oil 
• Cover and keep in a warm place for 1.5 hours to proof 

• The dough will double in size.
• Remove on a clean counter, dust with dry flour and punch and fold for 10 minutes with both hands till the dough is smooth and firm.( punch and fold and stretch, This activates the Gluten and makes bread soft)

• Now place it in the bread baking mould and smear butter on the top and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• The dough will have risen again.  (secondary proofing)

• Bake it in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 180 degrees.
• Cool and then slice it.

Note cover with a moist napkin to keep it from drying.

After slicing keep it in an airtight container.

Parantha...all time favourite

Country of Origin 

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Level: easy 

Preparation time 20 minutes

Cooking time:5-7 minutes 

Tips for making healthy paranthas

• Use whole-wheat or multigrain flour
• Use 1/2 milk and 1/2water to knead
• Cook on both sides and then smear ghee for a crisp parantha
• Use vegetable/dal/paneer/nutrela mince chicken /mutton mince filling

Shredded Chicken and cheese parantha

This parantha is very easy and doesn't require much preparation. I like to save Chicken shreds they are handy for a quick sandwich or parantha

Knead the flour with salt and carrom seeds and make a soft dough.

For the filling:

• Slice onions and saute along with chicken shred .season with salt and pepper. Garlic gives it a nice flavour.
• Cool and grate processed cheese and mix 

Cooking Directions:

• Take a ball of kneaded flour,
• Flatten it with your hands
• Roll out into a circular shape
• Put filling in the centre close the sides make a ball.
• Roll out and put it on a hot Tawa(skillet) 
• Cook both sides and smear ghee to make a crisp parantha,
• Serve with yoghurt raita

Queema(mince) filling 

 

One of my favourites. I like to have Queema handy, mutton or chicken. It's, very nutritious and a high source of protein and one is enough to get you the energy level that you require for a few hours.

Ingredients

• 500gms chicken/ mutton Queema or mince.  large onion diced,
• Crushed ginger garlic with green chillies
• For some dry spices (optional) I just use pepper
• Season with salt
• Chopped fresh coriander

Cooking Directions 

• Saute the onions and garlic ginger 
• Add Queema or mince fry add salt and spices 
• Cook for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and that's an indication that it's done.
• Cool and stuff in a ball of kneaded dough
• Cook the on both sides, smear oil and remove when crispy.

Methi (Fenugreek) parantha

• A very popular parantha in the North Indian cities. A winter delight. The markets are flooded with Methi by November end. Most people wait for the goodness of winter vegetables.
• Methi parantha is very nutritious, especially for people with anaemia.
• It's a very simple recipe
• You can mash last night's aloo methi sabzi and use it as filling.
• Or you can wash & dry the fresh fenugreek leaves, chop finely and saute in a pan with a tsp of ghee .till the raw smell disappears.
• Cool and knead with wheat flour adding salt, green chillies, carrom seeds and 1 -2 tsp of ghee.

Cooking Directions:

• Take a ball of dough, roll it out thinly and cook it on a skillet till both sides are done, smear ghee and fry till crisp.
• Enjoy with a hot cup of tea , Or for lunch with a bowl of raita.

Moong dal parantha 

This is very delicious with a dal kachori filling.

Ingredients:

Once you have a nice crumbly filling you can store it in an airtight container and store it in your fridge.

• 1 cup moong (skinned) dal soaked for a few hours.
• 2 tsp gram flour(besan)
• Dry spices 1tsp each
• Whole coriander seeds(dhaniya)
• Cummin (Zeera)
• Fennel seeds(Saunf)
• 1 tsp mango powder
• 1/2 tsp asafetida(heeng)
• Salt and chillies to taste

Directions to prepare the filling:

• Strain the dal and dry grind into a coarse paste
• Dry roast the spices and grind into a coarse powder
• In a non-stick pan in 2 tsp oil roast gram flour till the colour changes
• Add powdered spices
• Now add the dal paste and roast till crumbly texture retaining some moisture.
• Season with salt and chillies
• Cool
• Use this filling in the parantha ,cook both sides, smear ghee and remove. 

Note:

Don't roast for long as it tends to become dry

Do give it a try, they are healthy and delicious too

Moong dal Chilla/Crepe

High protein breakfast 

Preparation time: soak dal for 4-5 hours

Cooking time:5-8 minutes per chilla/crepe

Serves a family of 4

This is a gluten-free, low-calorie chilla/Crepe

A  high protein breakfast can give your day a good start. 

This easy and fuss-free recipe doesn't require much effort to prepare

. Good for seniors, and people who have high sugar levels. 

Weight Watchers can enjoy this without feeling guilty

It is a very good source of dietary fibre.

You can have it plain or can have a filling

of cottage cheese crumble.

Leftover cooked mince is a delicious filling too

Ingredients for the cottage cheese crumble 

500ml of milk and lemon juice or vinegar.

will give you about 150-200 gms of cheese

Cooking instructions :

• Put the milk on the cooktop when it starts boiling add the lemon juice and let the milk curdle.
• Remove and put it in a strain(Don't throw the whey, it's very nutritious, use it in your cooking)
• In a pan saute, finely chopped onion and green chilly, as the onions become pink crumble the paneer(cottage cheese)add salt and spices of your choice. 
• Keep the filling aside.

Moong chilla:

• Remove the soaked dal in a strainer,  keep aside till all the water is drained
• Put it in the grinder with some green chillies and ginger and grind,  to a coarse paste using very little water.

• Empty into a large bowl and whip till fluffy.
• Add salt to taste and dry spices of your choice

        (coriander, cumin, garam masala salt)

• Add finely chopped onions, veggies. make a batter that is not too thin or thick Can use water (or buttermilk  the whey which you collected can be used too)

• Heat an iron skillet or a non-stick pan smear oil on the surface and pour one or two ladles and spread out evenly.
• Let it cook over a moderate flame
• Slowly lift and flip sides 
• Cook till it's golden

As you travel in the subcontinent you will come across various other types of chilla, the ingredients and filling will change.

Some popular varieties of the chilla:

• Oats and vegetables
• Rawa ( Semolina) and onions
• Besan (gram flour) mixed with buttermilk
• Rawa  ( Semolina )and spinach 

The cooking method remains the same  as moong dal chilla

Nutritional value of 1 Chilla(approx)

Energy   194 kcal

Protein 12.8gms

Carbs    25.7gms

Fibre      2.8 gm's

Fats        4.5 gms

Besides, there are traces of vitamins and minerals.

Idli Rasam... instant breakfast

South Indian food has carved a niche for itself in North India. People flock to South Indian food stalls mostly for their healthy cuisine , which are cooked with very little oil and a few flavourful south Indian spices.

Crispy Dosas with sambhar,  idli -rasam, uttapam, medu-vada. These are a few of the many recipes which have gained popularity with the Indian community around the globe. 

While touring down south, you will find the recipe changing from state to state using local flavours and ingredients. 

A South Indian neighbour became a good friend of mine ,who gave me my first taste of South Indian food, as  traditionally cooked in their native place. 

Over the last decade now easy to cook pre-mix 

food packets with a longer shelf life, have found their way into the shelves of supermarkets and malls. 

More people are working long hours at jobs,  college students are busy with projects and long  hours of commuting find themselves eating instantly cooked food. 

Some still like to cook simple, quick and healthy meals,  and my recipes are no fuss easy to cook  yet maintaining it's nutritional value. 

Through my recipe I am walking you through an oats and rawa idli and a bowl of tomato rasam with few freshly roasted and home ground spices, which anyone can put together in under 30minutes. 

Oats and rawa idli

ingredients 

• 1  cup lightly roasted rawa
• 1 cups oats ground into fine flour
• 1 cup curd
• salt to taste
• green chili finely chopped
• curry leaves finely chopped
• 1 sachet Eno fruit salt.

Method 

• Dry roast raw till color slightly changes
• Put it in a large bowl 
• Add salt
• Now add finely chopped curry leaves, de-seeded chilly
• Add curd and mix, adjust consistency.
• Cover and let it sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes.
• Boil water in the steamer
• grease idli molds
•  now pour spoonfuls of batter into the and steam on a low moderate flame for 15-20 minutes
• cool and de-mold.

Rasam

This is a watery soup flavored with spices.

ingredients 

• 4-5 ripe large tomatoes
• few spoons of dal water
• 4 tsp coriander seeds
• 3 tsp peppercorns 
• dry red chilies as per taste
• 3/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp asafoetida
• curry leaves
• tamarind pulp

Method

• dry roast all the ingredients
• cool and grind
• in a pan add 2 tsp oil
• now add red chilly and temperTo this add tomatoes and salt
• cover and cook for 5 minutes
• Keep stirring till tomatoes are soft
• Add about 600 ml of water
• cook over moderate flame for 20 minutes

For tempering

• in a pan add 2 tsp oil/ghee
• add asafoetida, curry leaves,dry red chili and mustard seeds. let it splutter ,add to the cooked rasam, and serve with idlis.

This is a very easy, quick and delicious recipe and even a person cooking for the first time can easily follow.