Fruit mousse

For those quicky time when you dont have enough time in hand and wanna impress your guests with the yummy sweetdish! This recipe is inspired by a very old friend  - Garima, who had first introduced me to this yummylicious dish!

Ingredients:
Heavy whipping creme - Small packet
Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla or any essence - 2 drops
Mango pulp - 1/2 can

For garnishing: (everything optional)
Cut fruits of your choice - I used apple, banana, grapes, strawberry, blackberry
Crushed oreo biscuits - 3
Dry fruits chopped - 1/2 cup
Chocolate sauce
Sprinklers
You may add more of your choice.

Process:
1. Take heavy whipping creme in a mixing bowl and add sugar and vanilla essence. Using a handmixer whip it till u see the peak. You can touch and check if it has properly thickened and has thick whip like consistency. You may reduce sugar as per your taste.
2. Now freeze it for 20 minutes and let it set.
3. Now add the mango pulp and very gradually fold it in the whip. Do not try to mix it very hard. If you see some part yellow and some white, let it be.
4. Now add the cut fruits and half portion of mixed dry fruits and fold them.
5. again put it in the refrigerator to set for couple of hours. (If you do not have that much time then you may serve directly too)
6. When serving - add a layer of mousse, then add crushed oreo, again add layer of mousse. On top of it add the chocolate sauce, dry fruits and sprinklers and ready to serve!

Brocolli and beans in white sauce

Here is my one more fast to cook and good to eat recipe which is also bundled with lots of green health. I have a 4 year old who keeps me busy and so I generally look for quick and tasty recipes. This one is our all time favorite dish! So enjoyy..

Ingredients:

1. One Broccoli cut into small florets

2. Green beans 1 cup boiled. Boil them for around 4 -5 minutes so they still have crunchiness.
3. Sweet corn (optional) 1/2 cup
4. One medium onion sliced
5. One green pepper cut in square pieces
6. Cornflour-2tsp
7. Milk - 1.5cup
8. Green chilli finely chopped or paste - 1tsp
9. Ginger paste - 1tsp
10 Garlic finely chopped 2 big cloves
11 Black pepper grounded 1/2 tsp
12. Salt as per taste

Method:

1. Heat oil, add garlic saute for a minute and then ginger n chilli paste. Saute on medium flame for a minute more then add sliced onions. (You can increase or decrease the amount of ginger garlic n chilli as per taste).
2. Once onions turn to light brown then add washed small florets of brocolli, boiled beans and corn. (Remember not to extra boil the beans as they would get cooked again and they should be crunchy in the end). Let it cook for 3-4 minutes. Add salt and black pepper.
3. Then add green pepper and again let it cook for 3-4 minutes.(I like this veggie crunchy so i do not overcook. If you like to cook it more you may).
4. By the time in a small bowl take 1tbsp milk and add cornflour. Mix well and add it to the vegetables. Then slowly add remaining milk and mix well. It would immediately thicken and stick to veggies. This won't be like liquid gravy and is a dry sabji.
5. Once all mixture is properly mixed cover the pan with a lid and on low to medium flame let it cook for another 5 minutes.
6. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot woth roti or paratha or eat as is too :-)

Pitod ki sabji

I come from a Marwari family and as all marwari's, my favorites are panchkoota, pitod, gatte ki sabji, rabodi and dhana vadiya :) When I was young I used to be so picky about eating any green veggies and if ever I was asked what to cook my reply was always pitod ki sabji or gatte ki sabji :) and since I come from a Jain family, these sabji's were prepared in the very basic way that is without onion and garlic, and I still like them in their basic style. This is my mom's recipe, well I did take some time to get it right and till now I could not reach my mom's level and the taste that she gives to any basic sabji.

Ingredients
1. Besan (Gram flour) - 1 cup
2. Yogurt - 1 cup
3. Finely chopped chilli - 1 tsp
4. Ginger grated/paste - 1/2 tsp
5. Finely chopped onion (Optional) - 1/2 cup
6. Finely chopped garlic - 1tsp
7. Chilli powder, turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder, asafoetida and salt to taste
8. Oil

Method:
1. Take gram flour in a bowl and add some water ( around 1/2 to 1 cup) ,1/2 cup whisked yogurt, salt, chilli powder and asafoetida and mix well to make a thin batter. Make sure there are no lumps. It should be in a running consistency as when we cook, it would thicken. It should be more watery than the dosa batter.

2. Take a thick bottom kadai and add 1 tbsp of oil. Heat oil, add jeera and then add the batter. Whisk continuously till it thickens. This is very similar to the gujrati khandvi which is without the yogurt in the batter. Quickly spread it evenly on a flat plate. Though don't spread as thin as khandvi and keep it little thick. Let it cool for some time.

3. By the time the pitod's cool down let us prepare the gravy. Take all spices (chilli powder, green chillis, ginger paste, turmeric, cumin powder, chilli powder, salt) and add to yogurt and whisk properly. Remember to add little less salt as we have already added some salt in the pitod.

4. Now heat some oil in thick bottom kadai/ pan. Add tadka (mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafoetida). When it splutters add the yogurt and masala mixture. If you want to add onion and garlic then add it before the yogurt mixture. Let the onion and garlic cook till light brown and then add yogurt mixture. (I did not add onion and garlic in this recipe). Cook this on medium flame and continuously stir the mixture till oil separates. Then add a cup of water and let it boil.

5. Now cut small pieces of any shape you like of pitod. You can keep half of the pitod to make a dry sabji and add rest to the gravy. Let it cook on medium flame for 5 more minutes. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with roti or parantha. Enjoy :-)

6. For dry pitod -  heat oil in kadai, add mustard seed and asafoetida. Sprinkle required chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt on the cut pitod. Add the pitod to heated oil and mix well. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes and they are ready to eat. I love them directly as-is as a snack :-D

Pizza Burger

Generally when we say we wanna eat out and something non-Indian then it is Pizza or Burger. Kids are always ready for these. I am fond of both these but with Indian taste.. And so this time I thought why not have a combination of these two.. Oh yes.. Pizza and burger as one dish :)

So here is my simple and yummy recipe of Pizza Burger.

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups Chopped veggies of your choice (I used tomatoes, onion, green pepper, cabbage, sweet corn, olives)

2. 3 table spoon of Pizza sauce

3. 2 tsp Green coriander chutney - Optional (Make chutney with coriander, mint leaves, 1tsp ginger paste, salt, green chillies and lemon juice). Spice level as per your taste. I like it spicy so I add more green chillies.

4. Burger buns

5. Grated cheese of your choice (Preferably Mozarella cheese)

6. Butter for greasing

Method:

1. First mix all veggies with Pizza sauce and green coriander chutney in a bowl. Add grated cheese and little butter.

2. Scoop out the inner white bread from buns by cutting a small square on top. Cut the square in such a way that you can again cover the bun after filling. Keep the white bread filling and dont throw it.

3. Now fill the empty bun shell carefully with the above prepared filling upto 3/4th and rest 1/4th bun fill with the crumbled white bread that was scooped out from buns.

4. On a heated tawa shallow fry from both sides in butter at low flame.

OR

Brush these buns on both sides with butter and bake them at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Your Pizza Burger is ready. Serve with tomato sauce or chutney or with just love :)

Desi Pizza

Here is my desi pizza recipe.

Ingredients:

Pizza base

Pizza sauce (Please see my Pizza sauce recipe)

Veggies of your choice

Cheese

Method:
Put some butter evenly on your pizza base. Then spread the sauce, decorate with your favorite veggies (I used tomatoes, green pepper, onion, corn, olives) Add lots of cheese and bake on 350F for 15 minutes or little more if you want crispier. And your yummy colorful desi pizza is ready for you to gobble. Enjoy.

Lebanese Falafel Hummus

I had traveled to Switzerland for work few years back, and that was my very first onsite assignment. It was very difficult for us to find pure vegetarian food.  I used to cook myself most of the times.Well Falafel wrap came to my rescue with McD veggie burger as the only vegetarian food available outside. And since then I wanted to try this falafel hummus which turned out to be one of my favorite non Indian dishes. We may call it a type of patty or tikki or kabab. Some people make it with cooked chick peas, I make it with uncooked soaked chick peas. Oh well hummus obviously with cooked chick peas.
So here is my version of Falafel and hummus.

Falafel recipe
Ingredients:
4 cup of soaked chick peas (Atleast for 6 hours)
1 cup parsley
1 cup chopped spring onions
1 big onion
1 cup coriander
4-5 green chillies or as per your taste
4-5 garlic cloves
1 tsp of Jeera powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
Salt as per taste
1/2 tsp of black pepper powder
1 cup of fresh bread crumbs for binding the mixture
Oil for deep frying

Method:
Coarsely grind the chickpeas. I personally like it coarsely grinded and not as a fine paste. You can make a paste too. When you are coarsely grinding do not add water. Also coarsely grind rest of the ingredients except the bread crumbs and mix it to the grinded chick peas. Add the bread crumbs. Keep the mixture in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours so its gets properly binded. You can also prepare the mixture a day in advance. Just add bread crumbs an hour before you are frying.

Make patties of any shape you like and flatten them a little bit. Quantity of bread crumbs can be increased or decreased as per mixture consistency to let you give it patty shape, Deep fry the patties at medium flame.Serve hot with hummus.

Hummus recipe
Ingredients:
2 cup boiled chick peas
2-3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup hung curd
1 tbsp of roasted and powdered white sesame seeds (til)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt as per taste
1/2 cup parsley
1 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp of jeera powder
2 tsp of lemon juice
1/2 tsp of red chilly powder (optional)

Recipe:
Add everything in a mixture and make smooth paste. Garnish with olive oil and coriancer and red chilli. Enjoy with Falafel or pita bread or both.

Paneer Tikka Masala

With my 2.5 year kiddo, I like to make dishes that could be done in less time. But how can we compromise on taste! So here I present my super fast paneer tikka masala.

Ingredients for marination:

1. 2 Big size tomatoes cut in squares pieces and remove the centre portion with seeds and juice.

2. 2 Big Green Pepper cut in square pieces

3. 2 Onion cut in square pieces

4. Paneer cubes around 1 cup

5. 1/2 cup thick / hung curd

6. Olive oil

7. 1/4 tsp turmeric

8. Salt to taste

9. 1 tsp of chaat masala

Ingredients for gravy:

1. 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste

2. 1tsp finely chopped green chilli (you may increase or decrease amount as per your taste)

3. 2 pureeed tomatoes

4. 1 onion finely chopped

5. Red chilli powder as per taste (I added 1.5 tsp)

6. 1/4 tsp of Turmeric powder

7. 2 tsp of coriander n cumin powder

8. 1/4tsp of sugar

9. Khada masala - cloves, cinnamom, Bay leaf

Method:

First cut big tomatoes, green pepper, onion and paneer in small cubes. Take some thick curd add a little olive oil, turmeric, salt and chilli powder and chaat masala and prepare a thick paste. Divide this paste in 2. To one add tomatoes and paneer. To other add green pepper and onions and marinate them. (Prepared 2 separate marinates as we would not cook tomatoes and paneer as much as we do onions and green pepper). Keep them aside.

For gravy: Heat oil give tadka of khada masala and add ginger garlic paste. Add finely chopped onion and green chillies, add pureed tomatoes. Add spices (salt, chilli powder, turmeric, dhaniya powder, 1/4th spoon of sugar and let it cook. Once the gravy is ready first add green pepper and onions. Let them cook for 5 minutes the add paneer and tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Your quick Paneer tikka masala is ready ! Garnish with fresh coriandro and serve.