Vegetable Hakka Noodles

Ingredients:
Onions - 2 (chopped into thin strips)
Capsicum - 1 (chopped into think strips)
Carrot - 2 (Chopped into think strips)
Vegetarian Hakka Noodles - 1 pack
oil - 3 Tbl (vegetable oil / olive oil - both taste pretty good though veggi oil has the edge)
Sauces:
Ching's Red (Green) Chili Sauce - 1 -2 tsp
Soy Sauce - 1 tsp (too much makes the dish bitter)

Powders:
Salt - to taste
Pepper- to taste

Method:
1. Cook the noodles in 5 cups of water with enough salt and 1tsp of oil.
2. Drain the excess water and rinse the cooked noodles with some cold water.
3. In a kadai, heat the rest of the oil.
4. Add the onions, capsicum and carrot and fry till the veggies are tender.
5. add the sauces, salt and pepper and allow the mixture to cook for a few more minutes
6. Add the cooked noodles, mix well and serve hot with tomato sauce.

PS: Add spring onions for extra flavour.

Baked Paneer

Paneer is one thing that my husband absolutely loves. Most recipes ( Indian cuisine) that use paneer require the paneer in fried form. I would often not make a dish to avoid the hassle of frying paneer. I came up with a simple alternative, baking.

Ingredients:
Paneer - 400 gms cubed
Oil - 3 Tbl sp
Chili powder - 1tsp
Salt - to taste.

Method:

1. Mix oil, salt and chili powder in a bowl.
2. Lightly coat two opposite sides of the paneer cube.
3. Pre-Heat the oven to 375 degrees
4. Bake for 10 min.
   
5. Flip each cube and bake again for another 5 min.

PS: Do not use cookie sheets or any kind of baking sheets. Directly place the paneer on the baking sheet.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

This recipe happened when I was completely bored one afternoon and decided to bake cookies. The recipes I found online were doing me no good since I didn't have all the ingredients and so I decided to make my own recipe. How wrong could I go? was my attitude. I have no clue of the exact measurements since I eye balled most of the ingredients. I will try and get the measurements the next time I make it. To all the avid bakers who will probably be appalled at the recipe since measurement is supposed to be key, all I have to say is I am a person for whom baking typically means instant brownie/cake mix, so please bear with me.
Ingredients:
Instant Oatmeal
Sugar - regular white sugar
Eggs - 2
Baking Powder- 3 pinches
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Milk - about 1/3 cup

Method:

1. Grind the oatmeal and sugar into a coarse mixture.
2. Slightly beat the two eggs and add it to the mixture.
3. Add milk to the mixture
4. Add the chocolate chips and mix well
5. Refrigerate for about 10 min
6. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees
7. Spoon the dough onto a baking sheet
   
8. Bake for about 12-13 min
9. Then pull the cookie out and flip it.
10. Bake for another 8 min
11. Serve hot

PS: This cookie might get a wee bit hard when cooled so warm it in the microwave for 20 seconds before serving.

Tomato Celery Chutney

This was a recipe i obtained from my sister, who inturn got it from her good friend. It goes so well with idli and dosa and its a delightful way to include celery in our diet ( esp for asians who might find the celery too strong a flavor).

Ingredients :

Celery - 1 bunch

Tomato paste - 4 Tbl

Vegetable oil - 1 Tbl

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Channa dal - 1 tsp

Asefotida - 1/4 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Fenugreek Tumeric powder - 1 tsp ( optional)

Salt - as required

Method:

1. Cut Celery into small pieces.(1 bunch)
   
2. Take very little oil in a kadai, and fry the celery till it is done.
   
3. Grind with a little water to a smooth paste.
   
4. Heat a little oil in a kadai/
   
5. Add mustard seeds, channa dal, and urud dal.
   
6. Add hing.
   
7. Add the ground paste of celeries and tomatoes pulp/paste.
   
8. Add chilli powder, salt, and some vendhaya manjal podi(if you have that).
   

Pizza

Ingredients :

Flour - 3 and 1/2 cups

Water - 1 cups ( warm )

Yeast - 2 tsp

Olive oil - 1/4 cup

Honey - 2 Tbl

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Mix the  water with honey salt and yeast. Leave it aside for  10 min.
2. In a bowl 1 cup of  flour and olive oil and mix well.
3. Now mix in  yeast.
4. Add the rest of the flour a  few Tbl at a time.
5. Mix till it forms a smooth ball.
6. If its too dry add the rest of the water,  1Tbl at a time.
7. If its too wet add flour, 1tsp at a time.
8. Dust a board ( any surface to knead) with some flour. 
9. Place the flour on it and knead for a min.
10. Place the dough in a plastic bag or a covered vessel in a warm and dry area for 45 min.
11. After 45 min, you will find the dough has risen. Punch it down till it deflates.
12. Store away as mentioned in step 10 for about 1 and 1/2 hour.
13. After that time, its ready to use.
14. To roll out the dough. I followed Mitch's method
15. Once the dough is rolled up , place it in a pizza pan ( I used a 12 inch pan ).
16. Use a fork and make a few holes on the base to let the steam out while cooking.
17. Brush some olive oil.
18. Spread the  Pizza sauce leaving an some  space near the edge
19. Layer it with you favorite vegetables ( I used tomato and capsicum).
20. Top it off with a thick layer of mozzarella.
21. Place it in the middle rack of a pre-heated ( 450 degree ) oven for 15 minutes.
22. Allow it cool for about 10 min and serve.

PS: 

1. The dough can be frozen and used when needed.

Pizza sauce

Last week I had this sudden whim to try out pizza at home from the scratch. I started by making a tomato sauce for the base. I threw in few things together and it turned out pretty good.

Ingredients 

Tomato puree - 1 can

Onion - 1 chopped

Garlic - 5 cloves minced

Olive oil  - 1 Tbl

Spices :

Rosemary - 1/4 tsp

Basil - 1/2 tsp

Oregano -1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a kadai . Add all the spices  and fry for a min.
2. Then add the garlic and fry for another minute.
3. Now add the onion and fry till it turns golden brown
4. Now add the tomato puree and mix well.
5. Simmer till the sauce turns thick ,stirring occasionally.
6. Serve hot on pasta or use it in your pizza.

Mutter Paneer

I recently tried this recipe from one of my cookbooks and fell in love with it. Its perfect with either naan or rice. 

Ingredients 

Paneer ( Cottage cheese) - 100 gms ( cut into squares)

Peas - 2 cups 

Onion - 1 big (chopped )

Tomato - 2 ( chopped)

Cumin Seeds - 1 Tbl

Vegetable broth - 3 cups

Vegetable oil - enough to fry the paneer

Margarine - 2 Tbl

Ginger garlic paste - 2tsp

Powders :

Chilli powder  - 2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Cumin powder - 1tsp

Salt - as required

Turmeric - 1 and 1/2 tsp

Grind together :

Onion - 1 big

Tomato - 2 

Cashwenuts - 1/4 cup

Green chillies - 2

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Method: 

1.  Fry the paneer till it turns golden brown evenly on all sides. 
   
2. Mix  5 cups of water and the turmeric in a pan and bring to boil. 
3.  Remove from fire and add the paneer to the pan of water.
4. Keep it there till its time to use it in the gravy. This keeps the panner soft.
5. Add the margarine to the kadai and allow it to melt.
6. Add the cumin seeds. Once it splutters , add the chopped onion and the ginger -garlic paste. 
7. Once the onion turn golden brown, add the ground mixture.
8. Fry for about 6 - 7 min. 
9. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry till the tomato pieces turn tender.
10. Now add the all the spice powders and salt. Fry for about 2 min.
11. Now add the broth and peas and bring it to a boil.
12. Allow the peas to cook and the gravy to thicken.
13. Now add the paneer cubes. 
14. Let it simmer for about 5 min.
15. Serve hot with naan or rice.