Smoked Cheese Risotto

It was around 6:30 P.M. and my mom asked me as to what I would like to have for dinner? Yeah, it is usually mom who cooks the food as cooking is considered a female’s forte. I so wish I could exchange my role with mom; send her for MBA and indulge myself in cooking day and night!

But then again I believe cooking would have lost its charm then. So every now and then I open the web world, look for some interesting recipe and try it out! Luckily, all the dishes have turned out to be really amazing so i keep experimenting.

Now before I start off let me first clarify the dish is strictly Italian, so please don’t garnish it with the traditional Indian spices as it destroys the flavor and the Italian charm!

Source : Bawa's Blog.

Well it is called ‘Smoked Cheese Risotto’

2 cups of rice washed and soaked for about an hour

Parsley dried leaves

4 stands of green garlic finely chopped

2 carrots, mushrooms, a small broccoli, onions, tomatoes and whatever veggies you want to add!

A big piece of smoked cheese grated

Olive oil and a small piece of Butter

2-3 tablespoons of basil or tomato pesto

Put some olive oil and the butter in a cooker, and heat until the butter melts. Add the garlic and 1 dried red chilly and cook until slightly brown, add parsley. Then add all the veggies and cook for a few minutes. Add the pesto.

Remove the red chilly.

Add the rice and salt to taste. Add water to cover the mixture by about an inch.

Add the grated cheese.

Pressure cook for 3 whistles. Simmer for 5 more minutes.

Wait until the cooker has cooled down enough to open it, about 15 minutes or so.

Serve piping hot. It’s really tasty!

btw i did click a picture this time, but the memory card was hit by a virus and so no original picture :( Anyways savour the dish :)

Kaaley Chaney Key Kabab!

A recipe after a long time!

An extremely simple, very tasty Indian dish. Had it for breakfast today, and trust me it was a fantastic gastric delight.

Things you need :

1 cup kala chana, soaked overnight

1 medium onion chopped

3 to 4 green chillies, chopped

1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste (I used an Italian Paste which I picked from Moshe's in Mumbai)

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

1 teaspoon garam masala powder

1 teaspoon chat masala

Salt to taste

Oil for frying (Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Gives it an Italian taste)

Now what?

1. Grind the soaked kala chana into a coarse paste. Pour the paste into a bowl and mix in the remaining ingredients. Make circular patties from this mix.

2. Shallow fry the kabab patties in a non-stick pan.

Serve hot with Green Chutney.

Remember to serve it in your own unique style and have a band aid handy in case someone ends up hurting their fingers while licking! :-)

Btw couldn't click a picture because it was finished the moment it was taken out from the Pan. :-)

Mushroom Pate

What all do you need?

1 packet of mushrooms washed and roughly cut into chunky pieces.

1 big carrot peeled and grated

1 clove of garlic finely chopped

2-3 dried red chillies (optional)

A small quantity of any left over veggie you want to add. I added onions, but you can try anything else!

2 tablespoons full cream

Olive oil, Salt, pepper, Chilly Flakes, Oregano and Mustard. Or a substitute can be Maggie Magic Masala.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat some (3-5 tablespoons) of olive oil and add the garlic and stir it around till it browns slightly. If you want it to be spicy, you could add 2-3 dried red chillies and cook for a bit. Remove them from the oil before going to the next step. Add the grated carrot and cook for 2 minutes. Then add your (left over) veggie(s) and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and the seasoning and cook until tender, another 4-5 minutes. Stir in the cream and remove from heat.

Blend with a hand grinder or in a mixie. Don’t add water, it needs to be nice and thick.

Toast some bread and spread the pate on it. Or spread the pate on a some slices of bread, sprinkle some grated cheese and grill till the cheese melts. Or simply dip your finger into the pate and lick!

Ok this is important - Mushrooms are a fungus, they are high in fiber and proteins and are utterly vegetarian. They are supposed to be a bit Tamasic and may hinder meditation, but even that can be circumvented by soaking them in warm milk for 15 minutes or so before cooking them.

Happy cooking.

Love,

Siddharth

Ps. Source : Bawa's blog : )

Salad - Indian Style !!

An extremely simple, super tasty salad. Also called 'Kachumer' in hindi :)

Ingredients for 2:
2 Onions
1 Green Chilly
1 Raw Mango
and 2 tomatoes

also add a small piece of ginger and lots & lots of coriander/mint leaves.(I prefer coriander leaves)

Put all the above ingredients together and blend them! Add salt,red chilli powder and chaat masala to taste.

That's it you're done... :)

Combat yourself against the charm to consume it all. Remember the doctrine of sharing. Serve Chilled.

....
love,
Siddharth

A failed experiment!

It was raining cats and dogs today evening in Delhi, so obviously the tiffin guy had a genuine reason to come late! I decided to make something light, appetizer sort of stuff. Here's the failed recipe :)

A packet of salted haldiram peanuts(Its horrible, don't even think of buying it...unless you are a big SALT lover)

Pudhina powder(tastes yuuuuum)

Chopped onions

Coriander leaves

And yes, a Papad(must for any Rajasthani)

Firstly you need to prepare Pudhina Chutney, by mixing pudhina powder with water. It tastes heaven! In a bowl, empty the horrible peanuts and mix Pudhina Chutney with it. Add chopped onions to it. Decorate it with coriander leaves, its like trying to cover up your guilt!! :)

Serve it with a hot roasted Papad!

Caution : You might want to kill me after eating this, so please don't INDULGE!

Mango shake...

In 6 simple steps!

1.5-6 Golden ripe Alphonso Mangoes (ha! In Delhi you get 1 kg for 550 bucks!) kept in the freezer for an hour or so.

2.One litre cold full cream milk (then you don't need to add ice, which completely destroys the taste)

3. Till the time mangoes and milk are cooling down, cool yourself too with some yoga asanas.It compensates for the mango fat(?). Atleast 10 Surya Namaskars preferably!! For those who don't know what Surya Namaskar is, check out the blog on Thursday : )

4. Now cut mangoes up into big chunks and keep 20ish chunks aside.

5. Add the full cream milk to it, grind it in a mixer. You get a ice cold gooey milk shake : )

6. Pour into a glass, add some chunks and voila!!

It simply tastes phenomenal, and yes you might just feel grateful to me for the amazing recipe! Don't hesitate to give me a call then, i would come and finish the leftover(?)

Jai Gurudeva!

love

Siddharth

PS I would be making one very soon. Would click a pic for the blog!

Veggie toast...

For all those people with Satva tendencies, this is not for you : )

Ingredients :

2 medium sized onions finely chopped

4 slices of bread

Butter

Sliced cheese

tomato sauce

A small quantity of any veggie you want to add

Salt, pepper, mustard to taste

On 2 slices of bread, spread some butter.Now spread the veggie mixture of onions and other vegetables on the bread and add some salt/pepper/herbs to taste.Cover it up with the sliced cheese. One sliced cheese is sufficient for 2 slices of bread. I use maggie sweet and sour to decorate the bread. Put the other slice of bread on top of it, and heat it in the oven for about 5 minutes or so at 200 deg. until the cheese on the top has melted and turned a yummy golden brown.It should be golden gooey brown on the top and soft thick moist whiteness below with crunchy bits of veggies…

Serve immediately.

Indulge. Simply indulge : )