Fish Chop [Fish Cutlet]

One of the most interesting recipes of fish is the fish chop or fish cutlet. There are several variations of the same, and they all have their own contribution to the taste. However, I like the fish chop with minimal ingredient so that the flavor of fish does not get lost.

Ingredients
1. Boneless Fish Pieces [4-5 small pieces]
2. Boiled Potatoes - 2 Medium Potatoes
3. Chopped Onion - 1/4 of a large onion
4. Chopped Green Chillies - 8 to 10
5. Chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Ginger Powder - 1/2 tsp [optional]
7. Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
8. Egg - 1
9. Corn Flour + Semolina / Bread Crumbs
8. Salt - to taste
Method
1. Boil the fish pieces in salt water, until they are tender
2. Mash the potatoes and the fish
3. Mix the remaining ingredients such that they form one big ball of mix
4. Take small dollops and roll them into smooth cylinders, or any desired shape
5. Roll them into beaten egg and cover with either corn flour / semolina powder mix or bread crumbs
6. Deep fry on low heat for 2-3 minutes and then on high heat
Garnish with onions and fresh coriander leaves and enjoy with spicy chutney. This can be served as a snack or a side with fried rice or pulao. Enjoy!!!

Cheese and Chilly Spread

Food industry lost one great player when Shekhar decided to become a techie!

Having said that, let me share an interesting spread that Shekhar made in 5 minutes...

You will need
1. Grated Mozzarella / Monteray / Mixed cheese - 1 small bowl
2. Green Chillies - 10/12 [depending on your taste]
3. Garlic - 5-6 cloves
4. Crackers
5. Bread

How to Make
1. Coarsely ground the chillies and the garlic
2. Mix nicely the grated cheese, ground chillies and garlic and salt
3. Microwave for 1-2 minutes, right before serving

You are done!
To eat, you can spread the mix on a cracker and cover it with another. Microwave the cracker pairs for 30 second. The cheese will stick the crackers together! Enjoy your snack :)

You can also spread the mix on toasted bread and top with onions / tomatoes for a hot and spicy breakfast / brunch that melts in your mouth!

Jelly Rolls

I had a family visiting with their kids. And I wanted to make something that would be sweet and fun for them. I browsed through the ingredients in my refrigerator and the idea to make this jelly rolls clicked instantly. This is how, I made it ...

Ingredients
1. Any Jam in the refrigerator (I used Stawberry Jam)
2. Shredded Coconut
3. Sugar
4. Spring roll Sheets

Method
1. In a bowl, mix well ingredients from 1 to 3
2. Spread the jelly mix on the spring roll sheets
3. Roll into tight cylinders
4. Arrange in a baking sheet and bake in a pre-heat oven for 10-15 minutes at 350 F
Store in a tight fitted jar. Kids will freak out on this home made jelly rolls.

Sweet Bread Sticks

This is a very interesting snack that you can be added to the party platter. Especially, kids can make this treat themselves ...

Ingredients
White Breads [8-10 slices]
Thickened (condensed) Milk [1 cup]
Sugar [1 tbs]
Grated Coconut [1 cup]

Method
1. Cut the dark sides of the breads
2. Cut the bread slices in long vertical strips
3. Dip each stick into the sweetened milk
4. Dress them with the grated coconut
5. Arrange them in a lightly greased baking pan
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for 10 minutes, or until the breads turn slightly brown
This is a sweet and crunchy finger food, extremely easy to make and can be enjoyed at any time.

Plum Cake

I recently made this, very easy to make, plum cakes - a mixed bag of sweet and tangy flavor...

Ingredients

All purpose flour [2 cups]
Sugar [2 cups]
Butter / Oil [1 cup]
Eggs [3]
Baking Soda [1/2 tsp]
Baking Powder [1/2 tsp]
Ginger Powder [1 tsp]
Chopped nuts [1/4 cup]
Salt [1/2 tsp]
Chopped Plums [1/2 cup3]
Raisins (optional)

Method

Sift flour, with baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend together oil, sugar and eggs with the flour mix. Beat until blended. Add the plums and mix well. Mix in the nuts. Put in greased baking pan and bake at 300 degrees for about 1 hour
Optionally, top the cake with some whipped cream and Enjoy

As I cooked, I made Spring Rolls ...

Saturday Brunch ... I started off making just eggs, while wondering how to make them, I said to myself naah, I can do better! Then, I thought I will make the Vermicelli Pulao - But, "wait a minute... didn't I make that just two weeks back?" Ok, so what next? Then, I started off making vermicelli with a twist. While, in the mid-way I said, "Viola! I will use this as filling for spring rolls :) And that is how, as I cooked, I made spring rolls...

For the Filling [and Vermicelli with a twist]
1. Boil about 1 cup vermicelli in water - you can put it in Microwave for 3 minutes
2. Meanwhile, chop 1 capsicum, 1/2 large onion and a 1" ginger julien
3. In a wok, heat some oil and break two eggs. Add a pinch of salt and toss it to make scrambled eggs. When done, take out the eggs
4. In the wok, add some more oil and saute oinions
5. When onions are slightly done, add the ginger and capsicum and saute some more
6. Season with salt, black pepper and red pepper and saute the vegetables
7. Add a spoon full of Soya sauce and add the scrambled eggs. Mix it all together

Spring Rolls

1. Take few ready made Spring Roll sheets. If kept in refrigerator, then keep it out for 20 minutes [alternatively, you can make the sheets with all-purpose flour. But, this is easier]
2. If the sheets are dry, brush few drops of water all over the sheets.
3. Take a spring roll sheet, put one tspn of the filling at one end and roll into cylinders. Wet your fingers in water and press on the corners of the roll to seal tightly.
4. When the spring rolls are made, deep fry them in hot oil. They fry very fast, so be careful.

The Grand Finale
In a plate, put some fillings [you made a lot of it] and serve the spring rolls with them. To make it perfect, pour yourselves glass of sparkling apple-grape cider.
Enjoy the brunch !

Crunchy Coconut Cookies

Extremely easy and it turns out well, the first time!!!
I will write the ingredients for this recipe.
All-Purpose flour: 1/2 cup
Sugar: 1/2 Cup
Grated[dry] coconut: 3 1/2 cups
Baking Powder: 1/2 tspn
Salt: a pinch
Eggs: 2
Ghee: 2 tspn [optional]
Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp

Let's start the fun - Crunchy Coconut Cookies
1. Heat oven at 350 F
2. Sift the salt, baking powder and all-purpose flour together in a bowl
3. In a blender, mix the sugar and eggs till a paste of thick consistency is formed [you may add the ghee to the blender at this stage]
4. Add the vanilla drops and blend once more
5. Now add the flour mix to the blender and mix well for 1-2 minutes. Use spatula to fold in the mixture
6. Finally add the grated coconut and mix nicely again. Please note, the final mixture will be of thick consistency such that you can roll them into balls in your hand.
7. Spray some oil on an oven safe sheet / tray
8. Pour nuggets of the cookie mixture on the sheet. Remember to keep distance of 1" or so between the cookies. They will expand when heated.
9. Put the tray in oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

It takes about 10 minutes to do the entire preparation. A very easy recipe that turns out very well. I am waiting for Shekhar to come home and surprise him with my cookies

Read more >> Options >>

Sweet Bread - A quick and rich snack

I was very hungry one evening and did not have energy to make something to eat. The kitchen cabinet did not have anything enticing - and then, as always, Shekhar came to my rescue. In his typical quick and experimental style, he turned some breads into one of the best snacks I had for a long time. Read on to see how he made this.

Definitely, kids are going to love this. I did ... ahem !

Sweet Bread

1. Crumble some breads (5-6 pieces) with your fingers. We had hotdog rolls at home, so used them
2. In a pan put some oil - use ghee for a much richer taste
3. Put the crumbled breads in the ghee and stir vigorously until all the bread is mixed with the ghee. Without burning, the breads should be crisp by now and the room should smell heavenly of ghee :) - little exaggeration, well Shekhar is making it...
4. Now add about 3-4 tbsp of sugar and mix some more
5. You may eat it right away OR
6. Pour half a cup of milk in the mixture and again stir for some time
7. Garnish with some dry fruits (this is my tip)

And you are all set to eat a fast snack - It takes only as much time as to make tea. So, enjoy the Sweet Breads with a cup of tea for snacks.

Palak Patra [Spinach Recipe]

What do you do when the only vegetable in your refrigerator is "Palak" - naah you don't make "Palak Patra", instead you make "palak-aaloo", "palak-paratha", "palak-daal" ... but "Palak-Patra" ... no way!

But, I do and I did it just today - first time and very right. So, let me share the recipe, "as I cooked" it.

You will need (besides time and lots of tissue rolls) - for two people:

1. 9 palak leaves [3 leaves will make approximately 4 small patras]

Before you collect the other ingredients, wash the palak leaves and let them soaking in cold water.Now, let us go back to our shelves to search for:

2. 4 tbsp of Besan Flour (Bengal Gram Flour)
3. 2 tbsp of Corn Flour
4. 1 tspn of Pav Bhaji Masala (or chaat masala or spicy mix, as per your taste)
5. 1 tspn Tamarind dissolved in water with a pinch of sugar
[replace with lemon juice, if tamarind is not available]
6. Ginger Paste
7. Green Chillies
8. Salt to taste

For Seasoning
1. Mustard Seeds
2. Cumin
3. Green Chillies
4. Curry leaves (optional)

Finally, the recipe
1. Mix the ingredients [2 to 8] and quickly blend in a mixer. It should be a thick paste. [something like 'ubtan']
Now for the tricky part:
2. Place one cleaned and soaked leaf of palak on a flat surface
3. Coat the leaf with some mix prepared in step 1
4. Place another leaf on top of the already coated leaf. Repeat it till three leaves are used.

Remember not to put the two cone sides of the leaves on top of the other. They should be in opposite direction (use physics, it is easy to role that ways) and also the top leaf will have the coating up.

5. Now, fold the leaves side ways, before rolling into a tight cylinder. Start rolling with the wide base. Again, physics.
6. If you have a steamer, steam cook the rolls for 15 minutes. I put the rolls in a plastic container and placed the container in a larger microwave safe container with water and microwaved it for 15 minutes.

Once steam-cooked, the rolls will be quite tight and hard.

Seasoning
1. Cut the rolls in thin slices (3-4 per roll)
2. Heat oil in a wok and season with mustard seeds, cumin, green chillies, curry leaves, the regular way.
3. Put the patra and stir them for a minute or two.

Finally, time to serve and eat
Put in a plate garnish with chopped coriander and grated coconut - later part, 100% optional!

Potato - Cheese Crispies

Prepare this if:
1. you are in a hurry
2. you want to make a simple, fast snack
3. you want something new for your kid
4. you are watching a movies and tired of popcorns
5. you don't know what to do with life

Potato - Cheese Crispies
1. Heat the oven at 300F
Meanwhile,
2. Peel two potatoes and wash them
3. Slice the potatoes in thin circles
4. Rub the slices with salt and pepper
5. Baste the baking sheet or tray with some oil
6. Put the potato slices sprayed out in the tray
7. Cover them with shredded parmesian chees
8. Put in (now hot) oven for 5 (to 10) minutes

Crispie Potato Cheese Snack is ready