Crumbed cottage cheese fingers with veggies and fries

This is a nice crumb recipe I came across, which I thought will go well with my version of baked vegetables. If you have a sizzler plate, nothing like it. While you can make the crumbed fingers with normal cooking apparatus, for charring the vegetables, I use an electric tandoor.

Again, fairly simple recipe. The plate may look like there's lot going on, however, this is one easy peasy version. 

Crumbed cottage cheese fingers and fries:

200 gms- Cottage cheese (paneer)

1/2 tsp- red chili

1 tbsp- oregano leaves

2 tbsp- all purpose flour

2 tbsp- corn flour

1 tsp- black pepper

Salt to taste

1/2 cup- bread crumbs

1/2 cup- peanut crumbs

Oil for frying

Water for paste

3-4 chopped potatoes for fries

• Slice 2 inch long pieces of paneer, marinate with salt, red chili and oregano. Keep aside for 10-15 minutes.
• Prepare the dip by mixing flour, corn flour, pepper and salt. Add water in small quantities until it has a thick paste consistency. (Do not add excess water or else it wont coat the fingers)
• For the crumbs, I am using both bread and peanuts. Although the fingers will be deep fried, surprisingly they aren't oily. Please follow the link below: http://somya-patra.blogspot.in/2015/01/how-to-make-crumbs.html
• Now heat oil for frying. Mix the peanut and bread crumb in a plate, enough to coat each finger. Dip the marinated paneer in the flour paste and transfer to the crumb plate. Roll it in the crumb ensuring that it is coated evenly and keep aside. 
• Once all the fingers are done, deep fry on medium to high flame until golden brown.
• You can also dip sliced potatoes and roll in crumb and deep fry for crispy fries. Add more salt if need be.

Char grilled vegetables:

1 small cauliflower- florets

1 cup peas

3 carrots- 2 inch long slices

100 gms french beans- cut in half

4-5 cabbage leaves- removed by layer and not chopped

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

• Marinate the cauliflower florets in salt and chili flakes for about 10 minutes.
• Oil the tandoor tray and spread cabbage leaves on it.
• Evenly place the florets and the residue juice, put some olive oil and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat when cooked and charred like in the image.
• Similarly, add the cabbage leaves again, add the sliced carrots, beans and peas, sprinkle salt on top and olive oil and let it cook for about 7-9 minutes until slightly charred.

All done, enjoy it when hot!

Foodie out!! :)

How to make crumbs

Here's a quick guide to making crumbs which does not need sun drying and comes in handy in the kitchen when making cutlets or crumbed fingers.

Bread crumbs:
You can choose to use those breads which have either gone stale or the off cuts which no one likes to eat. Simply toast until crisp and leave out to cool down.
Once cool, break small pieces and dry grind for a couple of spins.Once you have fine crumbs, spread on a plate for the moisture to escape and then store in an airtight container.

Peanut crumbs:
In a heated skillet, add peanuts and dry roast on medium flame until there are brown spots on them. Turn off heat and let it cool.
Transfer into a grinder and grind 2-3 times and spread on a plate. Peanut being an oilseed, has the tendency to leave oil when heated. Hence be careful not to grind it too much or else the crumb will be moist.

Thai Green Curry Recipe

For all those vegetarians out there who have restricted diet, this is one healthy green recipe.
The following post includes directions to make green curry paste at home and cooking without shallots/onions and garlic.

This is clearly one of the healthiest curry's. My family and I very much enjoyed having this for lunch and hope you get the pleasure of making this at home.

When it comes to Thai Curry, I see many people resort to canned pastes. Now these pastes, well they may save you the whole drama, but you know which is the healthier option- "DIY". At the end of the day, we do want to avoid those extra preservatives.

For the green curry paste:
5-6- green chilies, you may add more to spice up the curry- This also adds green to the curry
2 inch- ginger
1 cup- fresh coriander leaves (with stem)
2-3 stalks- fresh lemongrass (you may use the ones available in store, but then the freshness is not guaranteed)
1/2 -lime (grated zest and juice)
12-14- kaffir lime leaves
8-10- basil (fresh)
1 tbsp- ground coriander seeds
1 tsp- ground cumin
1 tsp- ground black peppercorn
2-3 tsp- soy sauce
3 tsp- mustard oil

1. Roughly chop the coriander leaves, ginger, chilies, lemongrass and basil (at this stage you may also ad the chopped garlic and onion). Snip the lime leaves using a scissor and mix all ingredients in a food processor/mixer. Add water and process until a smooth green paste.
2. Heat wok until hot, add the coriander seeds, cumin and black peppercorn. Saute for about 30 seconds. Switch off the gas and let the seeds cool down.
3. Once cooled, dry grind this to a powder and add to the wet mixture. Mix well and set aside.

For the curry:

2 chopped- capsicum

8-10- diagonally sliced baby corn 

1- small cauliflower- florets (parboiled for 1-2 mins with salt)
1/2 cup- boiled peas
1/2 cup- stir flied mushroom
2 small chopped french cucumber
1 cup- diagonally sliced french beans (blanched)
100gms- cottage cheese (cubes)
2 packs- coconut milk (200 ml)
Salt to taste
3-4 tsp- sugar
11/2 cup- vegetable stock (can use the same water used to boil cauliflower, beans and peas)

Procedure:

1. In a wok or a deep bottomed pan, pour 3 tsp of mustard oil. Let the oil cook and heat for a while until you see vapours. Pour the green curry paste, stir, add 3 tsp of soy sauce and saute for a minute until fragrant.
2. Add baby corn and cauliflower and stir fry in the paste for 2-3. Add the rest of the vegetable and let it cook for about minute or two.
3. Add salt and sugar and let the paste infuse the vegetable.
4. Pour the coconut milk and warm stock. (you can use the stock to wash out milk stuck to the pack).
5. Stir well and add the cottage cheese towards the end and let the broth cook for another two mins or more until you get a nice thick consistency.

All done, serve hot with steamed rice. :)

This is a tweaked version, according to my family's taste buds. You can add or remove certain elements of the dish such as add shallots and garlic and make it non-vegetarian if you like. There are many recipes here on the web and my version is a mix of those plus certain additions of mine.

Feel free to post your comments below along with your version. Sharing is caring, foodie out!!

Apple Pie

I made lots of apple pies this season and m really happy that m turning pro in it :P "self declared"
I experimented this sometime last year and somehow it wasn't that great, it was just too sweet for my taste and then I just got scared and didn't dare to make it again.
Somehow with all the baking spree this year I decided that I should just make amends and make the best pies I have ever made.

The apple pies that I have tried in the restaurants have been too buttery and heavy- I give up after a bite or two, which doesn't go down well with me.
If I eat something then I should be able to savour it and not give up too easily because its a pain to finish it.
With the right amount of butter and right amount of sweetness here is my version of apple pie :)

For the pie crust, please click on the link below for the detailed recipe:
http://somya-patra.blogspot.in/2013/10/pie-crust.html

Don't forget to thaw the dough 30 mins prior to rolling out and baking.

For the pie filling you will need:

3-4 medium sized apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
3-4 tbsp-  butter (I used salted so I didn't add extra salt in my recipe)
1 inch- cinnamon
1 pc- clove
8-10 tsp- sugar (depends on how sweet the apples are)
1 and 1/2 tsp- corn flour

1. Roll out the pastry and line it on a pie tin with a removable base. Layer this  with apples.
2. Using a mortar pestle, finely ground the cinnamon and clove.
3. In a pan heat butter, sugar, corn flour and the ground cinnamon and clove dust. Stir the mixture well and remove from flame when it starts to thicken and pour it over the apples evenly.
4. Roll out the pastry into a round disc and cut it evenly into thin strips. Cover the pie dish in a criss-cross manner as shown in the picture above.
5. Bake the pie for 40-45 mins @ 200 degrees Celsius.
6. Cool down to room temperature and refrigerate.

I always let it rest so the delicious apple and sugar syrup doesn't ooze out.

You can serve hot by microwaving it for a few seconds.

Foodie Out!!

Crème Caramel- Eggless

Crème Caramel is actually an egg custard which is cooked by steaming egg and milk on a bed of caramel. 

Well my eggless version is quite simple and easy to cook. Some people I know do not like the eggy taste, so its a breather for them. Regardless I am a fan of caramel and this is one of the best ways to have it :)

All you need is:

7-8 tsp- sugar (for caramel)

1/2 tsp- water

4 cups- milk

2 tbsp- custard powder (heaped)(I used vanilla flavoured)

8 tsp- sugar (for custard)

1. In a deep bottomed dish, preferably in which you want to set your caramel custard, put 8 tsp of sugar, spread it evenly along the surface and pour half tsp of water.
2. Put this dish on high flame, the sugar and water will start to burn and form caramel in about 2 mins, make sure to spread the caramel evenly on surface by moving the dish side to side on high flame.
3. Once the caramel has got a nice honey brown tinge, remove from flame and set aside to rest and set.
4. Pour 3 cups of milk in a sauce pan and 8 tsp of sugar and bring it to boil. 
5. In a mixing bowl pour the remaining one cup of milk and whisk in 2 tbsp of custard powder and make sure there are no lumps.
6. Once the milk starts to boil, using a whisk, start stirring the boiling milk and pour the custard and milk mix.  Simmer and keep stirring the custard continuously, you will see that the mix will start to thicken.
7. Consistency of the custard should be such that when you invert the whisk, a drop is formed but doesn't fall- its like a stiff peak. Turn off heat and immediately pour this on to the already set caramel.
8. Let this dish rest at room temperature until it cools and then refrigerate overnight.
9. All set, the custard may look like it will break if you flip- "trust me, been there and done that" Remove the dish from fridge, using a knife, slide it through the edge of the dish so the custard is separate.
10. You will also notice that brown liquid must have seeped in through the sides- thats a good sign- this means that caramel had blended through the custard.
11. Take a plate, big enough to cover the top of the dish and 3-4 inches to spare. Don't hesitate and just flip it. 

Voilà your eggless caramel custard is ready to be served.

I had made a huge dish of custard and had to mentally prepare myself before flipping it.... those seconds were scary but worth the effort.

Awesome to taste and I don't miss the eggs.

Hope you enjoy it too :)

Foodie Out!!

Corn Fritters

Great party snack and totally yummy and healthy. I saw this recipe on TLC one time, although that recipe used eggs for batter and since there is only vegetarian cooking at my place, I decided to make some innovative changes of my own! :)

Easy and Quick recipe... Here's what you need:

200 gm- Sweet Corn
1 and 1/2 cups- all purpose flour (maida)
Salt to taste
1 tsp- pepper
1 tsp- chili powder
4-5 tbsp- yogurt (dahi)
1 chopped- green chili
1 chopped- tomato
1 tsp- thyme
2 tsp- olive oil

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk flour and yogurt until it resembles a thick paste- you can add more yogurt if the current measurement isn't enough.
2. Add olive oil to this so the batter can rest.
3. Add corn, chili, tomatoes and all the other ingredients and mix well to combine.
4. In a non stick pan, spoon the batter, about 5-6 at a time, flatten them using the spoon.
5. Add more oil both sides cooking until golden.

You can serve this with a dip made of yogurt mixed with chopped chili and coriander and salt.

We enjoyed this at a family dinner :)

Foodie Out!!

Eggless Royal Icing for cupcakes/cookies/cakes

Its a great recipe that I have stumbled upon and am really happy to have found it.

I am not very fond of cream icing on cakes and cupcakes. Various reason being easy to melt and for immediate consumption only... the shelf life is a turn off for me.

Royal Icing on the other hand is perfectly set at room temperature, adds colour to cakes and looks really fancy. Even easier to pipe out and draw out designs.

All you need is:

100gm Icing sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp- corn flour
2-3 tsp- milk
1/2 tsp- vanilla essence
1 tsp- lemon juice
Few drops of food colour as per choice.

1. Sieve icing sugar and corn flour together to get rid of lumps and mix well.
2. Add on one tsp of milk at a time and whisk until combined into a thick paste.
3. Add lemon juice and vanilla essence and whisk the mixture, make sure there are no lumps.
4. Divide the mix into equal portions and transfer to different cups with different food colours.
5. If the mix is too runny then add more icing sugar until its a paste with flowing consistency and can be easily spread. If its too hard and not spreadable then add more milk.
6. Transfer this to a piping bag or a poly bag and close it immediately. If its out for long then it will dry out.
7. Snip one end of the bag and pipe out designs of choice.

I had four colours of different consistency. The ones too runny were used in the flooding technique where you mark a boundary on the cupcake and fill it in.

For drawing out designs I used wet on wet technique, where on already flooded area I simply drew out designs or wrote something- This way both the colours merge with no distinctive boundary.

The ones which had a tighter consistency can be used to draw out drapes. They have more strength and can be used to stencil.

For a first time experience, I think I did a pretty good job...

Looking forward to practice this again...

Hope you have as much fun as I had trying this...

Foodie Out!!