A Letter to Papa

Papa,

I am writing this because I realised I have never said this: thank you for making me the cook and foodie I am today. I know you've never taught me how to cook. But all that you've done apart from that has made me what  I am in the kitchen today. 

Do you remember the first time I turned on the stove to cook by myself? I still remember it clearly. I must have been 11 or 12 years old. You had just come back from your site and were very tired. There was no one at home and I simply wanted to make tea for you. I don't remember how the tea turned out. It was probably not good. But I will always remember the joy I got out of making that tea for you. That joy was my first lesson in how wonderful it feels to cook for the people you love and care for. 

When I was learning how to cook, you've eaten some really terrible meals. I have lost count of the undercooked, overcooked, burnt, under-salted, very salty, bland and spicy meals I have cooked as a child. Or what I thought were 'creative' meals but were just disastrous experiments in cooking (remember the matar paneer at home with gravy of thin ketchup thickened with cornflour paste?) Mom would give me 'feedback'. Bhavya would simply look for alternatives to eat. But you ate each one of these meals quietly and finished what was on your plate without a  word. I've never said it, but that always gave me the encouragement to bounce back after a bad day. And to go on to planning the next meal. 

You've also made me the foodie I am today. You have always been someone who'd go to restaurants and try something different than what others of the group were eating.  My willingness to try new dishes comes from looking up to you and wanting to be like you. There were hits (Thai red curry at Moni's when they first introduced it in early 2000s) or misses (that bland white pasta we ordered at VS) but you were always my eating partner in these new dishes. 

And Rohan always tells everyone about how wonderful it was that despite being a Gujju you introduced me to eating egg and chicken. Trust me, he will always be grateful to you for that. Because he couldn't have married me na if I was a vegetarian! 

So thanks pappa for always being there for my love of cooking.

Love,

Disha

7 Quick Fix Meals for Hot Summer Afternoons

Summers are here. When I was a child, I really liked summers. They meant ripe mangoes, vacations, free time, playing all day, visits to my cousins and relatives and so much more. That perspective has cooking meals in a hot kitchen added to it now, and well things have changed.

Cooking  in Trichy, or even Thane (now that I am back home for the summers) in the afternoons is a real task! Hot weathers and then you spend hours cooking  in front of the gas with no fan. Nope, can't do it everyday. So I went back to my old recipes and tried to find a solution to this.

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Guess what? There are recipes I can use to make nutritious and wholesome meals for the family and me without literally sweating it out in the kitchen! Our mothers, grandmothers and even their mothers have been cooking in this summer heat for ages, and as always they've found solutions. I have taken them in, and added some modern twists to it.

1. Mixed Vegetable Thalipeeth

You can find the recipe here.

Mixed Vegetable Thalipeeth Recipe

 If there are only one or two people for a meal at home, then this is a great recipe to make. It takes literally 5-7 mins to grate the veggies and prepare the dough. And then about 3-5 minutes to make each thalipeeth. Loaded with veggies, these thalipeeths make for a complete meal. Serve with some yoghurt, and green chutney (recipe here), or til chutney (recipe here) or even this garlicky coconut chutney (recipe here).

2. Gujarati Osaman and Chhuti Dal


You can find the recipe here.

Osaman-Chhutti Dal- Bhaath Recipe

A one-bowl complete meal with rice. 15 minutes for the pressure cooker to cook the rice and dal and 10 minutes to flavour the osaman. Chop up some vegetables for a salad when the osaman is cooking and you have a complete meal that is flavourful, light and filling.

3. Fettucine in Pesto Sauce

You can find the recipe here.

Fettucine in Pesto Sauce Recipe

Italian is always a great option for summer. Light meals that cook quickly and are so flavourful without much ado. This recipe takes about 30 minutes end to end. Add in this light tomato and mozzarrella salad (recipe here) and you have a quick and complete meal.

4. Chicken Burger

You can find the recipe here.

Chicken Burger Recipe

A soft bun slathered with a mustard-mayo spread with a juicy chicken patty and crunchy lettuce. This amazingly quick-cooing burger is a delight for both children and adults.This burger only takes 10-15 minutes on the gas and the rest of the time, you can have the fan on as you assemble it! Add some more nutrients with this spiced lettuce, cherry tomato and olive salad (recipe here).


5.  Prawns in Thai Red Curry

You can find the recipe here.

Prawns in Thai Red Curry Recipe

Quick-cooking and tasty, prawns are another one of my summer favourite. This elegant and delicate curry of prawns is deceptive because it is absolutely simple and quick to cook. Grind the curry paste in 5 minutes and cook the prawns in another 10. Pair it with steamed rice and you have a winner. Try it and you'll love it!

6. Falafel Rolls

You can find the recipe here.

Falafel Rolls Recipe

Rolls are a great summer cooking option because once you cook the main filling, you can always assemble them out of the hot kitchen. Make them with rotis, add some vegetables for the crunch and some healthy sauces and you have one whole meal wrapped up!

7. Spicy Thai Rice Noodle Salad Recipe

You can find the recipe here.

Spicy Thai Rice Noodle Salad Recipe

If you like light meals like I do for summers, then this is a perfect dish for you. A delicious balance of spicy, salty, sweet, pungent and sour, this salad makes for a complete meal. I like pairing it with some soothing jasmine green tea. You can pair it with some lemon iced tea too (recipe here).

Chicken Sausage Lasagna Recipe

When we were shifting to Trichy, I was a little worried about how little we'll have our loved ones come over. It takes almost 8 hours and 2 flights from Mumbai to come to Trichy. But we have been lucky! In the last one month of being here, my husband's mama-mami (maternal uncle and his wife) and his best friend Mahesh have visited us from Mumbai and Singapore.

Chicken Sausage Lasagna Recipe

It is always so great to have your loved ones make the extra effort to come and visit you at your new home. The last two days Mahesh was here, our days were brightened by his fantastic stories. My contribution to making his visit memorable was (as it will always be) making good food. 

I made this chicken suasage lasagna for the last night of his stay with us. Soft pasta sheets dunked in a creamy white sauce, layered with a herbed red sauce with hidden chunks of chicken sausage. Add to it oodles of cheese on top and you have the perfect dish. It was truly appreciated, and here I am sharing the recipe with you.

Chicken Sausage Lasagna Recipe (With Step-by-Step Pictures)

Preparation Time: 30 minutes 

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For the Creamy White Sauce:

2 tbsps butter

2 tbsps all purpose flour (maida)

500 ml milk

1 tsp mixed herbs (oregano, thyme, basil, pepper)

Salt to taste

For the Herbed Red Sauce:

2 tbsps olive oil

5 cloves of garlic finely chopped

3 medium onions 

6 tomatoes pureed

1/2 cup water

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried thyme

2 tbsps tomato ketchup

Salt to taste

For the Lasagna:

2  tsps butter plus more for greasing the baking dish

8 lasagna sheets cooked as per packet instructions

2 cups white sauce

150 gms sausages cut into 1/4 inch pieces

2 cups red sauce

100 gms mozzarella cheese

1 tsp mixed herbs for garnishing

Method:

For the White Sauce:

 Heat butter on a low flame in a pan. 

Add in the flour and roast as you keep stirring it. Once it starts releasing a roasted aroma, after about 2-3 minutes, add in the milk. Use a whisk and keep stirring so that no lumps are formed. 

Bring the milk to a boil on a high flame. Then lower the flame and cook for 2 minutes till it thickens a bit. 

Add in salt and the herbs and mix well. 

For the Red Sauce:

In a pan heat the olive oil. Add in the chopped garlic and fry for 30 seconds.

Add in the onions and fry till they soften and turn translucent. This will take about 1 minutes. 

Pour in the pureed tomatoes and cook on low flame for 5-7 minutes till tomatoes are done.

Add in the water.

Keeping the flame low, add in the salt, the herbs and tomato ketchup. Cook for 30 seconds.

For the Chicken Sausage Lasagna:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.

Heat butter in a pan and cook the sausage pieces on a low flame both sides till slightly golden. 

Grease a glass baking dish with butter.

Step 1

Use half the white sauce to make a base layer.

Step 2

Make a layer of 4 cooked lasagna sheets on top. Pour the rest of the white sauce on top of the sheets and spread evenly.

Step 3

Layer with the cooked chicken sausage pieces.

Step 4

Put the remaining pasta sheets on top.

Step 5

Make the last layer of the herbed red sauce.

Step 6

Break the mozzarella into small chunks with your hand and layer evenly on top of the red sauce. 

Bake the lasagna for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Sprinkle herbs on top for garnishing and serve. 

Shortbread Recipe

Imagine, a golden cookie. You take a bite and it simply melts in your mouth. And you feel the rich warmth of butter with hints of sweetness from sugar. Well, you can experience it too. How? Simply try this very easy recipe at home!

Shortbread Recipe

Shortbread, a cookie of Scottish origin, is a basic butter, flour and sugar cookie. It celebrates butter in ways that makes your tastebuds happy to join in!

Shortbread Recipe

Oh, I am not done counting it's pros (I know you're sold already, but still!). This is a no-egg, pure vegetarian recipe, which is perfect for a lot of Indian households. And it is so easy to make; you don't need very high level of skill. So if you are a new baker, like me, try out this recipe. Be prepared to collect praises like what my husband said, "it's better than some of the cookies I've had in Europe!"

Shortbread Recipe

Here's the recipe of this buttery delight.

Shortbread Recipe

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Makes: 12 cookies

Ingredients:

100 gms butter plus more for greasing
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (maida) plus more for dusting
1/4 cup white sugar

Method

In a bowl whisk the butter and sugar together till the sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes fluffy. It will turn whitish and increase in volume.

Add in the flour and fold it in lightly with a spatula or very light fingers.

Slightly dust a work surface with flour. Lightly roll out the prepared mixture into a 1 inch thick layer.

Cut into desired shape of cookies. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.

Lightly grease a baking tray. Arrange the refrigerated cut dough on it with a 1 inch space in between.

Bake at 180 degrees C for 12-15 minutes till they turn golden.

Remove onto a wire rack and cool.

Enjoy fresh!

Cheesy Baked Paneer Burjee

If you're anything like me, you are constantly in search of new tastes and new recipes. It's quite common that everyday food gets boring. When these things happen, I like to spice things up!

Cheesy Baked Paneer Burjee Recipe

This dish is another one of my attempts to mix up things. The plan that Sunday morning was to make simple paneer burjee and parathas, And then I thought, nah! It's too bland for a Sunday dish. I was thinking when I saw the oven... and voila!

Cheesy Baked Paneer Burjee Recipe

I thought of how Rohan (my husband) loves these continental meat baked dishes, I thought why not do the same thing with paneer burjee. This cheesy dish combines the zing of paneer burjee with oodles of melted 'cheesy ness'. Try it, it is sure to become a hit with everyone from 6-60 years. It was a hit with us, for sure!

Cheesy  Baked Paneer Burjee Recipe

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 green chillies thinly sliced
2 medium onions finely chopped
400 gms paneer grated
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 + 1 pinch tsps garam masala powder
1/2 cup + 2 tbsps milk
1 pinch red chilly powder
Salt to taste
4 cheese slices cut into half
Butter or oil to grease the baking dish

Method:

Preheat the oven to 150 deg C/ 300 deg F.

In a pan, heat oil and temper with the cumin seeds.

Add the green chillies and fry for 30 seconds.

Next, add in the onions and fry till they sweat (release their water) and become translucent.

Lower the flame and add in the grated paneer, the turmeric powder, 2 tbsps garam masla powder and salt to taste.

Pour in 1/2 cup milk and mix all of these well. Cook on low flame for about 1 1/2 minutes and take off. Take care  not to dry out the paneer burjee, the oven is very drying and will make it rubbery if it's too dry.

Grease a baking dish with the butter. Put in the paneer burjee and make an even layer with the spatula or your fingers.

Pour the remaining milk all across the layer to keep it moist while baking. Sprinkle a pinch of red chilly powder and garam masala on the burjee layer. You can skip this if you're making it for kids who prefer less spice levels.

Arrange the cut cheese slices on it in a criss-cross pattern (it just looks good!)

Bake for 10 minutes till the cheese melts beautifully.

Dig in and serve hot with bread or parathas.

Smoky Paneer Masala Recipe

Well, it has been quite some time since I blogged last. It has been a hectic month and thanks to lovely readers like you wait for me so patiently, I have been able to focus completely on all that needed to be done!

So, what's been up with me? My husband has recently joined IIM, Trichy as a Professor. We've moved base to this lovely city. I have been busy moving and setting up the house. My younger brother (the sweetheart that he is!) had come with me to help me set up. We travelled to pristine Rameswaram with him and explored the city too. Now, that I have settled in, I am back to my love, food writing.

Paneer Masala Recipe

It has been quite an interesting experience so far to manage my own kitchen (yes, I have my own kitchen now!). With the taste preferences (similar and very very disparate, both) that my husband and I have, planning menus has been an interesting challenge. What fun it is!

Paneer Masala Recipe

This is one of the recipes I have made that we both really liked (yay!) and has gone down on my menu permanently. I got the idea for the trick from this recipe from my paternal aunt (which doesn't sound as great as 'foi' does). We had gone to invite her for our wedding and invariably, as it does with foodie families, the conversation turned to food and sharing recipes.

Paneer Masala Recipe

We were having  a lovely paneer masala that we had ordered from a restaurant. She said if you liked this one, try  a little trick next time you make paneer. Roast the onions on the stovetop before you grind them for the gravy. And I did... oh, I am soooo glad I did!! This paneer masala not just has a smoky edge, the roasting of the onions also gives them a lovely caramelisation that just takes the gravy to another level! So, thank you foi for this trick, it worked out beautifully for us!

This recipe goes best with these parathas.

Smoky Paneer Masala Recipe

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

2 medium sized onions
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3-4 whole black peppecorns
1 dried bay leaf
2 tsps garlic paste
1/4 cup tomato puree
1 tsp red chilly powder
2 tsps garam masala
1 cup water
100 gms paneer cut  into 1/4 inch cubes
Salt to taste

Fresh corriander leaves to garnish

Method


Peel the onion, keeping it whole. Take a  fork and insert it into the onion to be able to hold it while roasting. Turn on the stove top and roast the onion on the flame.

Keep turning. It should only char a little, not turn too black or you will get a burnt flavour in the gravy. And take care with your fingers, the fork can turn very hot if you don't pay attention!

Roughly chop up the charred onion and puree it in a mixer-grinder.

In a pan, heat oil on a low flame. While it's heating, add in the whole peppercorns and bay leaf. Add them in the warm oil, they release flavour better that way.

After about 30 seconds, add in the pureed onions. Cook on the low flame till the oil starts to separate. This will take some time- about 7 to 8 minutes. Do not turn up the flame to high or you will burn the onions before they are cooked through. Have patience, great rewards await you!

Next, turn up the flame to medium high and add the tomatoes. After about 30 seconds, turn the flame to simmer and let the tomatoes cook till the oil separates.

Add in the red chilly powder and the garam masala and roast them in the mixture on low flame for another minute.

Turn up the flame to high and pour in the water to get the gravy. Let it come to a boil.

Once the water comes to a boil, lower the flame to simmer. Add the paneer pieces and salt. Stir in gently or the paneer will break. Simmer for about a minute.

Garnish with corriander leaves and serve with hot parathas.

Relish the paneer masala and the compliments!

Prawns in Thai Red Curry Recipe

Prawns have become my latest favourites. They're easy to cook and yummy to eat. How can you stop yourself from falling in love with them?

My latest attempt in the kitchen was making Prawns in Thai Red Curry. The curry is fragrant with lemongrass and kaffir lime and heat of chillies, garlic and galangal soothed by coconut milk. Prawns pair very well with it.

Have this flavourful curry with steamed rice (use jasmine rice if you can find it!) and have yourself a bowlful of comfort!

Prawns in Thai Red Curry Recipe

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tbsps peanut oil
200 gms prawns deshelled and deveined
4 tbsps Thai red curry paste (recipe here)
2 cups coconut milk
6-7 Thai basil leaves (optional)
Salt to taste

Method

In a pan, heat the oil.

Add in the prawns and Thai basil leaves. Fry for about 30 seconds.

Next, add the thai curry paste and coat the prawns well with it.

Add in the coconut milk and salt and bring to a boil.

Lower the flame and simmer for a minute till prawns are done. Do not  boil the coconut milk too much or it will go bad in the curry.

Pour over steamed rice and relish!