Peas Pulav/ Peas Pulao

An easy way to jazz up rice. This is a perfect dish for parties and fun tiffin for kids

Ingredients

• Basmati rice – 1 cup
• Onion sliced -1/2 medium
• Green chillies slit - 1-2
• Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
• Cloves- 2
• Cinnamon- 1/2 inch
• Cardamom- 2
• Frozen Green peas- 1/2 cup
• Water- 2 cups
• Salt- to taste
• Oil - 1 tbs

Method:

1. Wash rice and set aside to drain

2. In a pan heat oil,add cumin seeds,cloves,cinnamon, cardamom,green chillies and saute well. To this add onions and sauté till onions turns translucent . To this add frozen peas

3. Add the rice and mix well

4. Add water, salt and bring it to a boil. Cover the pan. On low- med heat cook the rice for 15- 20 mns

5. Once it’s done remove from heat and fluff the rice slowly and serve warm with curry of your choice.

Shrimp Fry

This is a quick fix when I am out of time or when I am lazy to cook :). This can also be served as an appetizer.

Ingredients:

Shrimp/ Prawn- 1 lbs (cleaned and deveined)
Chilli Powder- 1 Tbs
Tumeric Powder- ½ Tsp
Salt- as needed
Curry Leaves- 1 spring (optional)
Oil- to fry

Method:

Clean and devein the shrimp. Pat dry the shrimp and marinate it with chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and crushed curry leaves. Marinate for atleast 30 mns. In a pan heat some oil and add the marinated shrimp and cook it on low –med heat until the shrimp turns golden, 10- 15mns.

Eggless Naan

My little one loves Naan, he can have it for bf, lunch and dinner. I always thought it involved lot of work, last Friday night I was thinking about week end breakfast. Somehow Naan just came to my mind and thought of trying it. I first thought of baking it, but felt like experimenting. Heated up my cast iron tava ( skillet, pan anything will do, but it needs to cast iron) and just 2-3 mns per side and it came out all puffed up and soft. This week I made Naan twice, my little one was so happy. I made it eggless, if you want you can add 1 egg and it makes it rich.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 2 cups
Yeast- 1 tsp
Luke warm water- ½ cup
Sugar- 1 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Milk- ¼- 1/2 cup (room temperature)
Minced Garlic, onion, Kalonji ( for topping , optional)

Method:

In a bowl mix the luke warm water, yeast & sugar, mix well. After 5-10 mns it will rise. In a mixing bowl add the flour, salt and mix well, to this add the yeast mixture and mix well. Add milk to this little at a time, the dough will be very sticky. Drizzle some oil on top of the dough and close with a lid or towel. Let it rise for 30 mns - 1hr.

After an hr open the lid and punch down the dough and mix well. Oil your hands well before that. Take some oil and flour in separate bowls. Oil your hands well, take a ball of dough and make a smooth ball. Dust it with little flour. Dust the work station with flour and put the dough and press it down with your palm. When it reaches a small round disc shape, you can either toss it between both palms or roll it. Make a tear shape by dragging one end of the dough.

Heat the skillet or pan to the highest , once it’s hot bring the heat down a little bit and put the naan, 2-3 mns per side, turn the naan and you can apply little butter. Continue the same process with rest of the dough. You can add toppings before putting the naan on the tava. Enjoy….

Note: If you don't have a cast iron tava or pan, you can bake it in oven. Pre-heat the oven at the highest heat (500/ 550). If you have Pizza stone , keep it in the oven while preheating the oven. Once the oven is heated take the stone out place the naan on the stone and place it on the top rack close to the source of heat .If it's a  cookie sheet ,lay them on the sheet and place on the rack close to the heat .                                              

No Knead Ciabatta Bread

Recipe courtesy: Food Wishes

I always wanted to bake bread , somehow I didn’t have the courage. May be it’s my previous experience with bread had stopped me. Back in india, before my marriage Sundays used to be my culinary experimental days: white rats? My parents and two dogs :). Once I came across this awesome honey bread recipe, I decided I am gonna make it. My mother being wiser told me to use half the quantity since it’s an experiment. Well no , I was very sure that this will be a success and I some how convinced her. The ingredients were 1kg all purpose flour, honey and blah blah blah. I made it according to the instructions and a golden brown loaf was the result. I made tea and invited my parents to the table. Hmmm you should have the seen the look on my father’s face, as if his daughter has conquered the world. They both sat down and I started slicing the bread, well the knife was not moving. How do you cut a chicken? Yeah I had to use the same butcher knife and the force. My mother was hesitant on trying the piece like thing I had served, but my dad somehow managed to nibble something from the sides and he was so happy that his daughter made “BREAD AT HOME”.

The saddest part is that since I didn’t want to hurt my parents tooth anymore I happily gave the bread to my dogs and they rejected it. After the first bite they gave me a stare that I will never forget. From that day I never went near them alone, who knows whether they will take the revenge???

Anways this Ciabatta bread came out well and my family loved, especially my little one. I made it one V- Day. Because of his curiosity he started poking the bread which I had kept on the table to cool down. I was trying to keep him away from my bread and forgot to switch of the oven with my Parmesan chicken and nearly burned it. Well life is not that easy!!!

Ingredients:

Bread flour / All Purpose Flour- 4 cups
Yeast- 1/4 tsp
Water- 2 cups
Salt- 1 1/2 tsp

Method:

In a mixing bowl, mix together flour, yeast, water and salt together. It comes out as a very sticky dough. Cover the bowl with silver foil and keep it at room temperature to rise for 18 hrs.

After 18 hrs, you’ll get a very bubbly sticky dough. On a silver foil or plastic sheet sprinkle some flour and scrape down the dough. Sprinkle some more flour on top of the dough and slowly punch down the air. Stretch it into long flat loaf. On a baking sheet spray some oil and sprinkle corn meal generously. Transfer the dough to the sheet and shape the loaf once more. Cover it with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 3 hrs.

Pre-heat the oven to 425 C. Fill a loaf pan with water and keep it inside the oven. Steam from this will give the bread a nice crust and chewy inside. Bake the loaf for 35- 45 mns. Cool it over a wire rack and enjoy….

My little one having fun !!!