Easy White Bread

Ingredients

2 cups and 2 tablespoons of maida (you can use whole wheat flour too)
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 egg or 1/4 cup milk

Method

add water to the yeast and sugar - do not mix it - let it stand for 15 to 20 minutes. it will become a frothy mixture - thats when you know the yeast is doing its job.
In a mixing bowl - add the flour and the salt and the yeast mixture and milk/egg and mix well to form a silky dough. If you feel the dough is watery - add a tablespoon of flour to it and knead.
Keep this dough in the bowl and cover the bowl with cling foil. Let it stand for an hour. The dough will become almost double its size. Mix this dough again and knead it again very well. Oil your hands a bit if you feel the dough is sticking to you.
Take a loaf pan - 9X5 - spread 2 to 3 drops of oil around the pan and spread the dough into it. Cover the pan with cling foil and let it stand for 1 hour. The dough will rise again to double. Do not touch the dough here. Remove the cling foil and bake it in a pre-heated oven at 350 F - for about 25 to 30 minutes till the crust gets a golden color.
Remove from oven - it will come off the pan easily - Cut it into slices - savor with butter/jam/chutney or with egg curry as we did

Oven fried herbed chicken with corn salsa/chaat

Ingredients

For Chicken
4 bone in but skinless thighs (you can use legs or boneless breasts too)
1 cup cilantro
10 garlic cloves
2 green chilis (add more if you want it spicy)
1 inch ginger piece
1/4 cup mint leaves
juice of half lemon
salt to taste
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg
Bread crumbs for coating the chicken - I used panko crumbs

For Corn Salsa/Chaat
2 cups corn kernels
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon chaat masala
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste
juice of half lemon
2 tablespoons tamarind/date chutney (optional)

Method

For Chicken
grind to a fine paste the cilantro, mint, garlic and ginger along with the salt and the lemon juice. Mix this ground mixture with the oil. Make slits on the chicken thighs (or any cut of meat you are using) and apply this masala. Cover and let it marinate for atleast an hour - if you do it overnight it is better.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat the egg and keep it in a plate and spread the bread crumbs in another plate. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and spray some oil on it. Take the marinated chicken piece and dip it in egg and then cover it with the bread crumbs - do the same for the other pieces. Place them on the baking sheet and bake it in the over for 30 to 40 minutes till the chicken is done.

For Corn Salsa/Chaat
Steam the corn kernels so that they are not raw anymore.Add the onions, tomatoes, chaat masala, sugar, salt, lemon juice and the date/tamarind chutney and mix well. Top with chopped cilantro and serve as a side.

Mix Dal & Legumes Vada

Who does not like fried food - At my home, we love fried stuff. Its just not something we make on a daily basis. Frying foods is done once in 3 to 4 months at my place. Was kinda tired of doing the same pakodas or moong vadas, medu vadas, dal vadas etc. Thought of making something different - Used all the pulses that I could lay my hands on in the pantry and made these mix dal vadas. They turned out pretty good I must say - we enjoyed eating them. Also, felt less guilty indulging in fried stuff - as it had lots of different dals and legumes in it ;)

Ingredients

2 cups of the following dals/pulses/legumes/beans
you can add any other pulses/beans/legumes/dal of your choice
tuvar dal
channa dal
kabuli channa (chick peas)
black eyed peas
rajma
black channa
safed vatana
moong
matki
masoor 
1 medium onions - finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
6 to 7 garlic cloves - finely grated
2 green chilis - chopped
salt to taste
a pinch of asafoetida
oil for frying

Method

Soak all the dals & legumes for 6 to 7 hours in water. They will puff up and become soft. Then coarsely grind it without adding any water. To this ground mixture, add the chopped onions, grated garlic, chopped cilantro, asafoetida and salt and mix well.
Take a tablespoon of the mixture in your hands and make a pattie of it and deep fry in hot oil on medium till its nice and golden brown.
Serve with tomato ketchup or with mint chutney along with tea or coffee.
yummy treat on a rainy or snowy day :)

Boondi Ladoo

Ingredients

1 cup besan
a pinch of eno / baking soda
Ghee for deep frying ( I used a combination of canola oil and ghee)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
4 to 5 saffron strands
14 to 15 raisins
14 to 15 cashews
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
4 cloves
1 to 2 drops yellow food color
1 to 2 drops red food color

Method

Mix the besan and eno together - add enough water to make it into a paste - similar to the consistency of bhajiya/pakoda dough or pancake mixture. Divide the mixture into 2 parts - add the yellow food color to one part and add the red food color to the other part and mix well.
Make a sugar syrup of the sugar and water by mixing them together and boiling until you reach a one string consistency. Shut the heat and add cardamom powder and cloves and saffron and let it sit.
Heat oil/ghee - I used a sieve to make boondis. Take a sieve over the oil/ghee and ladel some of the dough mixture into it and let drops falls into the oil/ghee these form the boondis. Boondis should be done in no time about 2 to 3 minutes. Take them out of the oil and put it into the still hot/warm sugar syrup.
Mix this well and keep it aside till the mixture gets lukewarm.
Now make laddos - while doing so add one raisin and 1 cashew to the laddoo.
This mixture should yield about 14 to 15 medium sized ladoos.

spicy baked fish with roasted veggies

Fish - well, one of the most loved food items at our home. If its boneless - its all the more fun. We get these amazing Tilapia fillets and tried this new dish using them. Thanks to Ajay Sabharwal  for this inspiring dish. I did not find the Sea bass that he had used for the dish he created - So, I used the Tilapia fillets that were handy at home. As suggested by him, I just built my own canvas and it was an amazing dish with the goodness of fish and roasted veggies along with a side of mashed potatoes.

Ingredients

5 Tilapia Fillets (They were huge so I cut them into half lengthwise)
2 green zucchinis
2 yellow zucchinis
1 red bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
2 large onions
8 to 9 garlic cloves - finely chopped
1/2 cup parsley - chopped
2 teaspoons chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon - black pepper powder
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons salt

Method

Make a marinade of the chilli, 1  teaspoon salt, 1/2 of the chopped garlic, oregano, pepper powder and 1/2 of the oil and rub it on the fish fillets. Keep them covered and aside for about an hour to marinate.
Cut the zucchini in round slices, the peppers in bite size pieces, cut the onions in rounds. In a big bottom vessel - add the remaining oil, balsamic vinegar, remaining chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and mix well. To this add the cut vegetables and cover everything in the marinade and let it sit for 15 minutes.
When ready - Take a  Baking dish and line it with aluminium foil. Add the veggies to this and spread it out well - Put the onions rounds and make a bed of it. On top of this arrange the fish fillets well. Cover it with an aluminium foil and pop it into a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Let it bake for about 30 minutes. Then uncover and let it cook for about 10 minutes - just to get everything a bit crispy :)
Serve it with mashed potatoes or with quinoa.

Egg Stumbler

Thanks to Shireen Sequeira - Shes a fellow member at a foodie group I love. She shared this amazing recipe with us. Traditionally its a snack called 'Egg Stumbler' - but, my husband prefers to call it 'Bread Upma with Eggs'
I just tweaked the traditional recipe a bit by adding the love of turkey bacon to this mix - loved the smoky flavor we got from the bacon.

Ingredients

4 strips turkey bacon (you can use regular bacon too) - cut into bite size pieces (this is totally optional)
4 eggs
1 medium onion - finely chopped
2 green chillis - chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon dhania jeera powder
2 teaspoons oil
Salt to taste
6 slices of bread - cut into i/2 inch cubes

Method

In a non-stick pan add the oil and cook the bacon till it gets nice and crispy. To this add the chopped chillis and the chopped onions and fry them till it turns transparent. Then add some salt (be careful if using bacon as it already has some salt), the turmeric, chilli powder and dhania jeera powder and mix well. Add the eggs and mix well with the onion mixture and cook just like scrambled eggs. Once this is cooked, add the bread and mix well till bread gets toasted and a bit crispy. Sprinkle the cilantro and serve with coffee, tea or juice.

You can sprinkle some grated cheese on top too - makes it yummier.