Mexican Rice

This is an easy recipe with some leftover rice for a quick lunch box.

Ingredients:

Peppers - chopped into small cubes (1 /2 cup)

Onions - Chopped small (1/2 cup)

Beans - 1/2 can any type (I used cannellini, but black beans would be colorful n tastier)

Taco Bell or Ortega Seasoning Mix - 1 to 2 tsps

Garlic - 1 clove

cumin - 1/2 tsp

salt/chilli flakes(optional)

Oil - 1 tbsp

Cooked Rice - 2 cups

Method:

1. In a pan add oil and fry cumin, garlic lightly and red pepper flakes if using.
2. Then add chopped onions and peppers and cook until done.
3. Then add 1/2 can of canellini beans along with Taco seasoning, add 1/2 cup of water, mix well and let it cook for 5 mins on medium high heat. The gravy thickens gradually and finally add the cooked rice and mix well. Steam the whole mixture for 5 mins to have an aromatic and spicy mexican rice.

Chicken balls soup

This is a Healthy and family friendly soup, i saw this kind of meat balls soup in a TV show, but modified it to fit to our tastes.

Ingredients for Meat Balls

Minced Chicken - 1 lb

Grated Parmesan cheese - 3 tbsps

Bread slices - 2 (toast and grind to get chunky crumbs)

Egg - 1

Green chillies - 1 tbsp chopped (2 tiny chillies)

Mint - hand full chopped

Ginger - 1 tsp grated

Garlic - 1 tsp grated (1 big clove)

salt & pepper

For soup
Celery - 2 sticks chopped

Onion - 1 chopped

carrots/beans - about a cup chopped

Tomato - 1 cup chopped

Baby Spinach - 1 cup (2 hand fulls)

Chicken stock - 1 QT

oil - 1 tbsp

Corn starch - 2 tbsps

1 cinnamon,2 bay leaves, 3 cloves

Salt n pepper

Method:

1. First mix all the chicken meat balls ingredients.
2. Cover a baking tray with parchment paper and spoon out small balls with the help of 2 spoons, irregular shapes look good too. Wet the spoons with water to have smooth balls.
3. Preheat oven at 350 and bake the balls for 20 - 30 mins. Chicken balls are ready, kids ate most of the balls at this stage.
4. When the balls are baking start making the soup. In a big soup pot, heat some oil and drop in all chopped veggies except tomatoes, spices , salt pepper and fry for a little while, until onion turns translucent. Then add tomatoes and cook off. Dont add too much salt as we would be adding chicken stock which has good amount of salt.
5. Add chicken broth and 3 to 4 cups of water and bring everything to a boil.
6. Mix corn starch in a cup of water and mix it in this soup and stir constantly until the soup thickens with the cooked corn starch.
7. Finally add the chicken balls and spinach and boil for 5 mins.
8. There is no fixed measure for soups, as u can make it light or strong, thick or thinner, just upto you/your family's comfort level.
9. Serve it with some crunchy bread toast and enjoy it for lunch/dinner. Since the Soup and chicken have different flavours, every time you take a bite of chicken ball, you ll find it as a delicious variation to the soup.

Vegetable Soup n Garlic croutons

This is an easy and healthy soup with simple ingredients and yet is tasty and flavourful. The toasted croutons made with fatfree baguette slices, rubbed with garlic adds the most needy crunch and attraction for this soup. A long 2 feet baguet would be just enough for a couple with 2 small kids. This soup can be made really hearty with lots of ingredients like cannellini beans, pasta/noodles and any other favourite vegetables/meats your family likes.

This soup works like a miracle for my kids when they r sick with diarrhea, as it can be made without oils/fats and vegetables are well cooked and also bread is a very good diarrhea safe food. My kids love this soup and when everything sweet and fat is restricted, they would savor this dish with great excitment.

Ingredients:

Celery sticks - 2 chopped thin

Onion - 1 big chopped small

Carrots - 2 to 3 chopped small

Tomato - 1 big chopped

Bay leaves - 2

cloves - 2

Cinnamon - 2 , 1 inch pieces

Oil - 1 tbsp (optional)

Chicken or vegetable broth - 1 QT, I use Swanson broths with low sodium and 99% fat free.

Method:

1. In a deep soup pot, add oil and saute the dry spices, cinnamon, cloves and bay leaves for a min, followed by chopped onions, carrots, celery, salt and pepper - cook until they are half done.
2. If you want to make it fatfree, instead of oil fill the pot with 3 cups of water and add spices n vegetables and cook until they are half done.
3. If u want to add any meat, add it along with the veggies and cook.
4. Then add chopped tomatoes and fill the soup pot with chicken/veg broth and water, enough to make the amount of soup you want. For the vegetables i added, it almost made 3 QT pot soup. Finally adjust the salt and close the lid for 5 to 10 mins and it should be done. If you add tomatoes along with the vegetables, in the end you wont be seeing any tomato pieces, but some rolled up skins.
5. If you want to make this soup an all in one meal, you can add noodles or pasta along with the vegetables and cook until they are done. Its upto the cook to decide, when is the right time to add pastas, as each one has a different cooking time.
6. You can serve the soup topped with some tender celery leaves or any of your favourite herb. Dont forget to serve toasted croutons, rubbed with a fresh garlic, this bread is the most sought after ingredient in this dish.
7. For small kids, just chop up the croutons into tiny bread crumbs and drop them in the soup little at a time, so that they too enjoy the crunch in all the bread pieces.
8. My son, wanted some broccoli in this soup, so i just dropped tiny pieces into the very hot soup served in his bowl and left it for sometime, that heat was almost enough to cook the broccoli. If u want it little soft, microwave it for few more mins.

Pumper Nickel Veg sandwich

This is an easy sandwich, made with the dark pumper nickel rye bread which has a sweet flavour and is little distinct from our usual wheat breads. We had this bread for the first time in a fancy restaurant, where they seved some freshly baked assorted bread rolls with some butter (as starters) until our order arrives. We liked this bread so much that, we hungry couple ate up every bit of those breads and had to carry our actual meal home.

This dish has one of my favourite leaves Arugula, which replaced lettuce in my sandwiches since a long time. These leaves tastes like mustard with a pepper like spicyness. I fell in love with these leaves at first bite. Arugula can be eaten easily in salads, soups and sandwiches.

Ingredients:

Pumper Nickel bread - 2 or 3 slices

sauteed Onion, pepper slices - 1 to 2 Tbsps

Arugula leaves - hand full

Low fat cheese slice - 1

Method:

Actually there is nothing to say here, except saute'ing the onions and peppers in a little oil and salt, red pepper flakes(optional). I make this stuffing ahead a save in fridge for 3-4 days use.

Toast the bread and layer the fillers in any order and any quantity as sandwich is supposed to be ones personal recipe.

I should say this is a very healthy recipe as it has no much fats. I figured out this recipe for my husbands lunch box, as i dont want the bread to become soggy and wet with mayo/mustard etc by the time he eats. All the moisture u need for this sandwich is in the pepper-onion mix and the baby arugula gives a nice delicate crunch and mustardy taste. And ofcourse cheese always gives a nice creamy taste and balance in any sandwich.

Variations: For more hearty filling lunch, i make a simple omlette with the cooked eggs or chicken topped with the onion-peppers and all the same remaining stuff.

Vegetable Vermicelli

This is a one pot meal with everything you need in a meal, like vegetables, carbs and nuts. I made this for a quick dinner, as my kids love to eat this noodle type dish. Vermicelli is actually a pasta, which is thinner than sphagetti and thicker than angle hair pasta.

Here is all you need to make this dish, (I decided not to list salt, oil, turmeric as they go with almost every cooking, not to make my list bigger)

Ingredients:

Vermicelli noodles - 4 cups

Carrots - 2 medium (a cup shopped as long sticks)

Bell peppers - 1/4 big one (a cup shopped as long sticks)

Potato - 1 Medium (chopped long stickes)

Mushrooms - 6 chopped (a cup)

Onion - 1 medium (hand full, sliced length wise)

Tomato - 1/2 (hand full, thinly chopped)

Cumin - 1/2 tsp

cinnamon - 1 inch, cloves - 4

Ginger - 1/2 inch juliened

Cashews - hand ful split up

Black Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Green chillies - 7

Method:

1. In a deep pan, add 2 or 3 Tbsps oil and fry cumin, cloves, cinnamon, cashews, green chillies, ginger in a gentle flame, do not burn this stuff.
2. Later add 1/2 tsp turmeric, followed by onions, carrots and potatoes, cook for 4-5 mins, later add peppers and mushrooms as these guys need less cooking time than the other veggies. Finally add tomatoes, salt, pepper powder and mix well, cover the lid for 3-4 mins.
3. To save time we can boil water in another pan on the other stove as we cook veggies, or else just pour water in the veggies and let the whole mixture boil. Finally test the salt/spice taste of this water and add more if needed.
4. Now you can add the vermicelli and cook until done. Leave the dish a little moist so that the pasta flows easily on to the serving plates and also doesnt lump up soon. This dish has to eaten rightway for the right texture, or else as time passes the stuff solidifies and lumps up.
5. If u r making this dish ahead for friends or family, pasta can be cooked in a separate pan and added to the veggies mixture with right amount of water/moisture/oil in it to keep the pasta from sticking and lumping.
6. This dish can be made anytime of the day, breakfast, lunch or dinner..enjoy.

Egg Masala

This is an interesting egg curry, unlike the usual tomato/tamarind based one. In a attempt to make an egg curry for chapathis, I tried this recipe from my own knowledge of masala curries and it turned out finger licking. This dish can be used for entertaining, as it goes good with biryanis, basmati or any indian style rotis/naas. I tried hard not to put any tomatoes in this dish, as i wanted it to taste and look different.

Ingredients:

Hard Boiled Eggs - 8

Onions - 3 cups (3 big size)

Green chillies - 6-8

Almonds - 1/4 cup (make fine paste)

Cashews - fist full (optional)

Mint - Hand full chopped

Lime Juice - 1/2 lime

Ginger Garlic paste - 2 Tbsps

Corriander powder - 4 tsps

Cumin powder - 3 tsps

Pounded Garam masala (1 Cardamon, 2 cloves, 1 Cm Cinnamon)

Oil - 3 tbsps

salt/Turmeric - as u prefer

Method:

1. In a pan add the oil and fry 1/2 tsp mustard and cashews followed by finely chopped onions and slit green chillies. After 3 mins or so, add the ginger and garlic pastes, turmeric, salt and saute. This stuff has to reduce considerably by constant stirring.
2. Once the onion mixture is nice n translucent add the corriander, cumin, mint and fry.
3. Add Eggs at this stage, followed by almond paste and cook everything with a cup of water as the almond paste tends to thicken quiet fast.
4. Finally add the pounded garam masala, mix well and cover the lid for few mins, so that the masala aroma gets into the curry.
5. Finally add lime juice, test the taste and adjust the salt according to your taste.
6. I like to sprinkle some fresh onions slices on top, as it brings out the masala flavour very well. I did not use any other herbs as i want just the mint flavour to be highlighted in this dish.
7. This dish tastes awesome with some basmati rice, veg fried rice and also naas/rotis.

Donda Fry

This is a "tasty, easy n good looking" way to cook dondakai, which i usually neglect to buy because of the time and efforts to chop this hard veg, as well as the long cooking time. But recipe cuts down all those efforts to half. In this recipe i chop the veg length wise into half, chopping is done. And coming to the cooking time, i use little more oil than we usually use, just for quick frying to avoid constant stirring on medium flame. Cook the veg on higher heat with good amount of oil and add the taste makers in the end.

Herez all you need for this fry.:

Donda kai - 3 cups chopped

Gram flour (basin, ground chana dal) - 1/2 cup

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Dhani powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder/salt - 1 tsp (upto u)

garlic - thinly chopped 1 tbsp.

Oil - 2 to 3 TBsp

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - 1 stem

Method:

1. Heat a wide skillet which can accommodate almost all the veggies on its base. The skillet is an important choice for frying all veggies uniformly and to save cooking time. Add oil, let some mustard splutter and drop in all the cut veggies along with turmeric.
2. Fry them for 5 mins and cover the lid partially. Dont let the steam drops fall into the pan.
3. Keep frying until the veggies are well cooked. Then add salt - stir, add dhania powder, cumin powder and let them fry in the little oil seeping out of the veggies, at this stage if u dont see any oil in pan, pls add more and let the spices fry in it. Once thats done, add garlic and cook with lid covered for 2 mins.
4. Now add the gram flour, curry leaves and let the flour fry along with vegetable until you get the fried flour smell, about 5 to 8 mins on medium heat.
5. Finally add red chilli powder, saute for a min or 2 (the chilli powder i use is my mom made, she fries the red chillies with cumin, dhania and sends it to grinder. So i need not fry the chilli powder in curries). If u are using raw chilli powder make sure you add it ahead along with the dhania powder.
6. Serve with dal/rasam and rice.
7. My Son, a picky vegetable eater certified this dish as "Delicious".

Bread Omlette

This is an instant meal for kids or even elders with all the nutrition you might want in a meal.

I used to make it heavier for elders with lots of veggies like mushroom, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and bread. But for my kid i made it very simple today as she doesnt want to eat same old lunch.

Ingredients:

Eggs - 2

Bread cubes - hand full (hard baguets would be best)

Tomato skin - chopped into small pieces

Onion - fist full chopped

Corriander/cilantro - chopped 1 tbsp

cumin - a pinch

red chilli powder - a pinch

salt - 2 pinches

Butter - 1/2 tsp

method:

1. Mix all the ingredients except eggs and mix well, finally add eggs and beat well.
2. Make 2 small omlettes with this batter if you are not a great flipper, with bread and vegs this is little hard to flip.
3. Use butter for kids as it tastes great. You can use oil too instead.

Variation: You can use peas and thinly grated carrots in this, for kids who love peas.

Spinach Fish Fry

This recipe is a kids version of my usual fish fry. An easy way to attract kids to eat a bit of leafy vegetables too. This is my own style of cooking which i invented according to my tastes and necessities(like moving the fried onions/veggies to the edges and frying the fish in the middle). I use the same style to fry chicken with different vegetables.

Ingredients:

Fish - 3 cat fish fillets (4 fillets would serve 3)

Spinach - a cup

Tomato - hand full size

Onions - 2 big hand fulls scliced.

Any coloured sweet peppers - 1/2 cup chopped.

oil to fry

Spice rub: grated ginger-garlic, salt, red chilli powder,turmeric, cumin powder, whole cumin - a pinch, corriander powder, garam masala, half a lemon juice, olive oil.

Method:

1. Mix all the spice rub ingredients and apply this on both sides of the fish fillets which i chopped each into 3 pieces.
2. The frying pan has to be most essentially a wide one which can accomadate all the fish pieces. If u are cooking for many people, can repeat this frying for each batch.
3. Add enough oil to fry the onions and sweet peppers. Once they are semi cooked, empty the middle of pan by pushing all the onions to the ends as u can see in the picture and add more oil and arrange all fish pieces in the middle of the pan.
4. 
   
   
5. Pan has to be on medium high heat and fry one side of fish until it has a nice brown fried sear. Meanwhile keep moving the onions on the edges without bothering the fish. Flip the fish pieces to the other side and let the other side also fry. Once u know the other side is semi done, add chooped tomatoes and spinach to the edges of the pan, sprinkle little salt on them and cover with a lid. By the time the spinach and tomatoes cook, the fish should be done both sides. Once everything is cooked, mash the tomatoes, spinach, onion mixture frying on the borders and bring them onto the fish and flip the fish only if you can, without breaking them and let the whole dish ingredients get together.
6. This dish tastes tangy and sweet too with the caramalized onions and peppers.
7. We eat this with rice or chapathi, but i should say its great with rice. Its like heaven on the plate for my 4 yrs son.

Bow-tie pasta

Ingredients

Bow tie pasta (farfalle) - 1 1/2 cups

Tomato - 1 hand full size

Edamame (green soy beans frozen) - 1 cup

Cumin - 1/2 tsp

mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

dried red chilli - 1 small

Garlic - 1 pod chopped

EV Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Cook the pasta in salted hot boiling water until done.
2. Meanwhile in another pan add oil and let the mustard crackle first and then add cumin, garlic, broken red chilli and fry.
3. Then add chopped tomatoes, thawed soy beans and cover with a lid and cook them until well done.
4. Once pasta is cooked drain the water, but not till the last drop...retain about half a cup of water in the pasta, which will let the pasta freely falling and moist, rather than sticking and lumping up.
5. Add this pasta to the gravy pan and mix well, check salt and adjust according to your taste.

Chicken with Vegetables

Ingredients:
Chicken minced – 1 lb
Bell Pepper(thinly sliced) – 1
Purple Cabbage(thinly shredded) – ¼ head
Carrot (thinly shaved like chips) – 1
Baby Corn – 1 can or 2 hand fulls
Mushrooms(sliced) – 10 ct
Onion(long slices) or scallions(2) – 1 onion
Garlic – 2 pods
Red Pepper flakes – 1 tbsp (optional)
Green chilli Sauce – 2 Tbsps
Soy Sauce – 2 Tbsps
Corn Starch(flour) – 2 Tbsps
Olive Oil – 3 Tbsps
Salt – upto ur taste level.

Method:

1. In a wide skillet, add 2 Tbsps oil and toss in purple cabbage, cook for a minute and add onions, bell peppers, carrots, baby corn, mushrooms and stir fry until they are almost cooked, but not too mushy. Salt the veggies up to your taste level and save in a bowl.
2. In the same pan, add another tbsp oil and sauté the chicken with enough salt, chopped garlic, red pepper flakes(optional).
3. In a small soup bowl thoroughly mix corn starch, soy sauce, chilli sauce and a cup of water. Add this mix to the chicken and let the starch cook into a thick gravy for a min or two.
   Now add the veggies to this chicken gravy and let all the flavors blend in.
4. Add more soy sauce or chilli sauce according to your taste levels.
5. Serves 3 approximately.

Zucchini Pan Fry

This is an easy healthy recipe you can eat anytime just like a snack or also as a side dish.

FYI: The zucchini vegetable is low in calories (approximately 15 food calories per 100 g fresh zucchini) and contains useful amounts of folate (24 mcg/100 g), potassium (280 mg/100 g) and vitamin A (384 IU [115 mcg]/100 g. 1/2 cup of zucchini also contains 19% of the recommended amount of manganese.

Ingredients:
Zucchini - 4 tender banana sized ones
Garlic - 1 Tbsp chopped
Red pepper flakes - 1 tsp
Dark Soy sauce - 1 Tbsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp (according to your taste)

Method:

• Cut the zucchinis into half and then slice each piece length wise into 4 slices of 1cm thickness approx.
• In a wide pan that can accomadate all the slices to be spread, add the oil and place the slices one after another. Let the vegetable cook nice and brown on one side and be patient to flip each one of them and let the other side also brown.
• Finally add salt, chopped garlic, red pepper flakes, soy sauce and keep flipping until all flavours are absorbed by the zucchini. Garlic need not be cooked all through.
• I dont like zucchini well cooked, there has to be a little crunch left in it for the right taste.
• You can make this dish a full meal by adding your other favourite vegetables along with the zucchini with some cooked rice or noodles.

Vegetable Sandwich

Ingredients:

Bread slices - 2
Onion thinly sliced - 3
Bell Pepper slices - 3
Tomato - 2 (hard one, not ripe n oozy)
Lettuce - few shreds or leaves
Mayonaise - 1 Tbsp
Olives - 3 (optional)
Jalopeno chopped/Cucumber pickles/chilli sauce-1 tsp approx(any 1)
salt n pepper - a pinch (optional)

Method:

• Toast the bread slices
• Apply mayonnaise with a knife on both the slices, just 1 side.
• Sprinkle the spicy pickle pieces on top of it, i like them chopped because the spice will be distributed evenly in low amounts, rather having a big chilli piece in the mouth to yell at.
• Spread all the veggies one over the other and give a dash of salt n pepper if you like, cured olives have salt and if you r using them, dont put salt.
• Cover the other bread on top of this stuff and cut it diagonally to get 2 triangles.
• This is a refreshing sandwich which can be eaten anytime of the day, breakfast, brunch, as a light meal. Can make it 3 tier too, with another layer of bread and stuff.

Tips: I have a container to store all the leftover portions of vegs, which can be used next day, it can be named as sandwich box.

Guacamole with Ciabatta toast

Ingredients:

Avacados - 1 Big

Tomatoes - 1/2 cup pieces

Onion - 1/4 cup pieces

Corriander/Cilantro - 1/4 cup chopped

Yogurt - 2 Tbsps

Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Green chillies - 2 small chopped

Ciabatta Rolls(hand full size) - 2 per person

Method:

• The avacodo has to be ripe and soft to make a creamy guacamole, Pressing with a finger should leave an impression on the skin to ensure its ripe. Cut it into half, pit out and scoop out all the soft stuff into a bowl, can make it chunky by pressing with a fork or knife.
• Add lemom juice and salt, pepper, cilantro, tomatoes, onions, chillies and yogurt and mix well.

Ciabatta toast:

• Cut the ciabatta into half like a burger bread..drizzle little olive oil and toast in a toaster or toaster oven until they turn nice brown.
• Rub each slice of bread with a raw garlic clove to infuse an intense garlic smell to the bread.
• This crunchy and chewy toast goes good with the guacamole.

Cucumber yogurt Salad

This is an Indian style salad, which is very pleasing to the toungue with a touch of crunchy tempering.

Ingredients:

Cucumbers - 2

Carrot - 1 long

Chick peas - 1 15 oz can (425 gms)

Yogurt - 1 cup

Tempering:

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Cumin - 1/2 tsp

Chana dal - 1 tsp

Red chillies - 2 long

Green chillies - 2-3 chopped finely

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Spring onions/onions - a hand full chopped

Oil - 1 tbsp

salt to taste

Method:

• Chop cucumbers and carrots into thin slices and save them in an easy to mix big bowl.
• In a tempering pan heat the oil, add mustard and let them crackle, then add cumin, half split red chillies and chana dal, let them fry in low flame. Now add the chopped scallions, green chillies and curry leaves, fry for 5 mins until they wilt/cook.
• Let the tempering cool and add it to the big bowl of vegetables, salt them and mix thoroughly. At this stage its kind of ready to eat.
• Add the chick peas and yogurt for an extra creamy taste.

Stuffed Chilli peppers

This is one of my own creations. I always get this long n thick chilli peppers during my vegs shopping, because of my craving for that nostalgic street food in India called "Mirchi bajji". This dish kind of replicates taste of the sour chillies inside the bhajjis. Here is what all u need to do..

Ingredients:
Long n thick chilli peppers - 6/7
Sesame seeds - 2 Tbsps
Peanuts - 2 Tbsps
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Tamarind - a fist full
Onion pieces - hand full
salt - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 Tbsp

Method

• Toast peanuts, sesame seeds and cumin and grind to a chunky mix. Then add the tamarind and salt to make a thick paste.
• Cut the chillies into 2 inch pieces and make slit lenth wise to stuff. With a sharp spoon or knife try to remove the seeds and extra flesh that might be very spicy to eat.
• Stuff the peppers and drop them into an oiled flat pan that can accomadate all the chillies.
• Let them fry in medium to simmer flame...turn the chillies to other side after they are done one side. Now sprinkle onion pieces all over the pan and close the lid, let the onions too wilt/fry.
• Now the dish smells like the street bajjis pack you open.
• Can eat this as a side dish for chapathis or rice with rasam/sambar/dal.

Pepper Mushroom Chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken Thighs - 8 count

Bell Peppers - 1 medium size

Mushrooms - 8 approximately

Garlic - 2 Tbsps chopped

Cumin - 1 Tbsp

salt - 2 tsps

Red pepper flakes - 1 Tbsp

Canola oil - 3 Tbsps

Method:

• Grind garlic, cumin, red pepper flakes and salt into a chunky style marinade.
• Cut off extra fat on the skinless chicken thighs and rub the marinade on all sides of each piece.
• Add oil on a flat pan that fits atleast 4 of the thighs and just add the pieces and fry until the bottom side turns nice golden brown. Turn the other side and add half of the peppers and mushrooms which were chopped thinly, and cover the lid.
• Keep tossing the vegetables with a thong, turning sides letting the vegs cook. Since vegs have no salt just drizzle some salt on them with a salt shaker.
• Once both sides of chicken is done, drain out the pieces onto a flat platter.
• Repeat the same steps for remaining half of the pieces.
• This dish can be eaten like an appetizer or an entree (with little quick cooking flavoured rices/pastas).

Tomato Dip and Crostini appetizer

This is an Indian style Tomato dip which goes good with bread crostinis, its a little variation to the Italian Bruschetta.

Ingredients:

Thin baguet of bread - 1 (garlic bread would be excellent)
Vine ripe tomatoes - 2
Mutard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenu Greek seeds(Methi) - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Red Pepper Flakes - 1 tsp
EVO Oil - 2 Tbsps
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 1 tsp

Method:

• Slice the bread into 1/2 inch slices at an angle to get oval shaped slices. Toast them in a baking sheet or in a toaster (dab the slices with lil oil for extra taste) Crostinis are ready.
• For the dip, microwave chopped tomatoes with salt for about 4 mins or until they are cooked.
• Put a small tempering pan on stove and heat 2Tbsps oil and add the mustard seeds first. Be patient enough to let the mustard crackle, all the taste in this dip is with those fried mustard.
• Slightly beat the fenugreek seeds in a hand pestel or roll them under a rolling pin. Let the stove be in simmer and add garlic and the coarsely ground fenugreek.
• Add the red pepper flakes.
• Next minute add the chopped curry leaves and switch off the stove. Add this tempering to the cooked tomatoes.
  Dip is ready.
  
  Enjoy it as a Brunch or Snack.

Sponsored by www.movers.com - moving companies

Paav Bhaaji

Ingredients:

chopped Red/Green Bell Peppers - 1 cups

chopped Potatoes - 1 cup

Chopped green beans - 1 cup

Chopped carrots - 1/2 Cup

Chopped Onions - 1 cup

chopped Tomatoes - 1 Cup

Whole wheat burger breads - 4 to 6

Butter spread(butter flavoured light margarine) - 3 Tbsps

Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Corriander leaves - 1 cup

Salt & chilli powder

Garam masala or pav bhaji masala - 1 tsp

Method:

• Heat the oil in a pan and add all the vegs and cook until they are very soft and mushy...mash them until no veg piece has its shape.
• Add the salt, chilli powder and masala and cook for 4-5 mins with enough water in the pan, so that the mashed vegs dont get thick and burn.
• Once its cooked and becomes a nice gravy, add a Tbsp of butter spread and corriander leaves and mix them into the gravy.
• Now separate the breads and apply little butter and toast it on a hot pan. (Or) just use a bread toaster to toast them.
• Serve the breads immediately with the gravy topped with another dollop of butter and chopped onion, corriander & a lemon wedge besides.

Goodness in this dish:

• Good amounts of colourful vegetables.
• Whole wheat bread instead of the white buns
• Light margarine with "Zero Cholestrol and saturated fat" and has some good fats like "polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats", which would improve your good cholestrol. Please read the nutrition facts while purchasing this. The brand i liked was Fleishmann's .

Sponsored by http://www.movers.com/ - moving companies

Broad Beans - Minced chicken Meal

Ingredients:

Broad Beans - 1 lb

Minced chicken(99% fat free) - 1 lb

Tomato - 1/2

Any Bread - 3 hand fulls of pieces

Garlic - 2 big pods

Red Pepper - ur spice level (1 tsp approx)

Cumin - 1 tsp

EVO Oil - 2 tbsps

Shredded Mozarella cheese(2% or fatfree) - 2-3 Tbsps

Method:

• In a pan heat oil and add cumin, once they start to splutter add the 1 inch pieces of bread beans, keep frying and cooking until they have semi cooked.
• Make a space in the center of the pan, pushing the broad beans to the eges, add the minced chicken and keep beating it and fry until cooked. Cover lid to cook the chicken.
• Now add the thinly chopped garlic and red pepper flakes, chopped tomato and salt...cover lid and cook until the tomato wilts.
• Chop the bread into bite size pieces and add to the dish and stir until all the bread pieces gets coated with the tastes and flavours in the pan.
• Finally add the shredded cheese and cover the lid and let it melt, 2 mins hardly.
• Serve hot, as the kids enjoy the cheese strings streching from the bowl to the mouth.

Goodness in this dish:

• Lots of Green vegetables
• Lean and fat free chicken protein.
• Less carbs compared to rice based meal.
• Calcium rich fat free cheese, good for your bones and teeth.
• Garlic, reduces cholestrol.

Sponsored by http://www.movers.com/ - moving companies