Zucchini Pasta with Green Sauce

I find that Zucchini tends to feel soggy if you don't have them freshly-grilled, but as a replacement for pasta, it tasted delicious. Word of caution, use this as a side dish or salad because you will feel hungry soon after eating only this.


For the pasta, you'll need
1 large zucchini
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp oil
Pinch of chilli flakes
Seasoning
*You can also have it raw in which case you only need to season it

If you have a peeler that lets you peel the vegetable in strips then great, or use a regular peeler to get ribbons. You can use the ribbons as it is or manually cut them into thin strips to resemble pasta. I prefer to use the skin of the zucchini as well. It's healthy so don't throw it away. Peel it till the seedy core. If you want to use the core, then chop it up and add it to the mix.

In a pan, heat the oil, add the onion, garlic, and chilli flakes and cook till onions start to brown. Next, add the zucchini and season it. You don't need to cook it much - just a minute to get some flavour into it.

For the Green Sauce:
1/2 cup blanched and pureed spinach leaves
1 avocado, mashed
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
Seasoning
Tortilla chips for crunch (optional)
*you could also add some pesto and/or cheese

Keep the spinach and avocado at room temperature and mix them together with the seasoning. Then add it to the pasta.

It is advisable not to heat the avocado but you could heat up the spinach with the pasta above then mix in the avocado after you take it off the heat. Or you could have it as a salad with all items at room temperature.

Add the cheese if using, and crush some chips on top before serving.

This serves 2 as a salad, and just 1 as a light meal.

Button and Enoki Mushrooms Risotto

I had tried the Enoki mushrooms in a regular pasta dish but I had preferred the regular button mushrooms that are cheaper and easier to get. However, by frying the enoki, it adds a different texture and flavour to the risotto and I now love it.

Also, I like a lot of veggies with each bite so I use a lot of mushrooms, but f you're happy with the creamy, cheesy rice then you can reduce the mushrooms you put in. Also, if you have other types of mushrooms at your disposal, it will add to the flavour if you mix it up.

I also used regular short-grain rice instead of arborio rice. I added some brown rice cooked for 7-8 minutes in the microwave as well. Because the brown rice doesn't turn all mushy like the white rice, it adds some bite to the final dish.

What I've learned about my many failures with risotto is that you need to go big or go home. Meaning, use stock instead of water; don't skimp on the butter and cheese; and don't take the easy way out by pouring in all the stock and letting the rice cook on its own - keep stirring it in by the ladle ful.

You'll need:
1 packet/bunch Enoki mushrooms, with roots removed
4-5 cups of chopped button mushrooms
2-3 cups of stock*
2/4 cup rice
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt/Pepper
Chilli flakes
4-5 cloves of garlic
3-4 sprigs of Rosemary**
2 tbsp cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

*I've used water when I didn't have stock but it makes a world of a difference in flavour
**If you don't have fresh Rosemary, you can also use parsley or oregano either fresh or dried

In a saucepan, heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter. Fry the Enoki mushrooms till brown. Keep aside.

Spread the button mushrooms in a single layer in a baking tray, and bake at 180 deg C for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, add in some salt and the rosemary and bake for another 5 minutes. Do not discard the water it leaves off - use it along with the stock.
-In the convection microwave, I use the grill setting and put in for 7 then 3 minutes.
-Keep aside.

Keep your stock ready by heating it up. You can also keep it on simmer if you want to do this perfectly.

In a saucepan, put in the remaining oil and butter on medium heat. Add in the chopped garlic and chilli flakes, and before it starts to turn brown, add the rice. Stir for about 30 seconds.

Add in 2 ladles of stock - or just enough to cover the rice. Stir it to release the starch from the rice. As soon as the water evaporates, add in another ladle or two. Keep doing this till the rice is cooked. It takes about 10-15 minutes of labour.

Don't keep stirring it the whole time, just a few rounds between each addition. As it nears to cooking, the regular rice will be prone to breaking so be gentle.

As you put in your last ladle of stock (note that you might not need all of the stock - just enough for the rice to cook), stir in the cream, seasoning, and the baked mushrooms.

The consistency should not be very dry, but smooth.

Remove from heat and mix in the cheese.

Top it up with the fried enoki and serve immediately.

Tahini Cookies with Hazelnut & Chocolate

This is the 2nd recipe I've tried from The Big Book of Treats by Bombay's most well known pastry chef Pooja Dhingra.  I made one small change - I used hazelnuts instead of almonds because I didn't have any, and I added chocolate chips.

It doesn't get cold in Bombay, but I imagine this would be great for places that do get cold. It would go perfectly with a cup of hot chocolate.

You'll need:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cup castor sugar
2 2/3 cup flour (I used gluten free brown rice flour)
180 gm Tahini* 
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup milk
100 gm hazelnuts (I used them whole but you could chop them up)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (another 1/2 cup if you plan to dip the cookies in chocolate)

*I had a store-bought bottle of it but if you can't find one, lightly roast white sesame seeds on a pan and once it's cool, blend it with 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp warm water till you get a smooth paste

Wash your hands before starting because you won't get this done with a spoon.

In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, butter, and sugar till the mixture is crumbly and looks like breadcrumbs.

Add the tahini and lemon juice and again mix well.

Add the milk and mix again till you get a pliable dough.

Finally, put in the hazelnuts and chocolate chips.

Roll the batter into golf-sized balls and then flatten it out about1/4 inch thick.

Place them on a greased baking tray and bake at 165 deg C for 15 minutes.

*For Convection Microwave - I baked at 170 deg C for 20 min on the convection setting

As soon as I took it out of the oven, I found the cookies to be very crumbly (could be because of the gluten free flour), but I gently lifted them onto a wire rack to cool and it set well as it cooled.

Usually I find that cookie recipes turn out to be too sweet for our liking so I reduce the sugar amount. So with this I used just 1 cup but found that I should've added the entire amount required because it wasn't sweet enough. So I dipped the bottom of the cookie in melted chocolate (melted in the microwave in 30 sec bursts) and kept it chocolate-side up till it set to add some sweetness to it. It worked!

Makes: 20 cookies

Peanut Butter and Banana Pancakes

This was such a wholesome and delicious breakfast that it almost made me wish I woke up earlier in the mornings to make it more often. Almost.

You'll need:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup buttermilk*
1/3 cup peanut butter* 
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Butter to cook
1 Banana
Chocolate chips (optional)
Maple syrup

For the buttermilk, instead of using the milk method, I just used half and half of thick yoghurt and water.
For the peanut butter, I used the crunchy variety, but I assume the creamy version would blend better.

Thinly slice the banana and keep aside.

In a bowl mix the peanut butter,  buttermilk, egg and vanilla till they're blended.

Sieve in the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Fold gently till the flour is mixed in well but don't over-mix - the batter should be a little lumpy.

Heat a small pan on medium flame, put in some butter to coat the bottom. Pour in a ladle of batter and gently spread it out.

While the bottom layer is cooking, top the pancake with some banana slices. You can choose to add the chocolate chips now or just top it up while serving.

Turn the pancake and cook for another minute.

Remove from heat and serve with syrup.

Makes: 4-5 pancakes

Cheddar Biscuits

I had these at Red Lobster and they were so delicious that I had to learn to make these at home.
I got a recipe which said use melted butter, but it turned out bread-y instead of biscuit-y. So cold butter, like in the making of pie crusts, is the way to go.

You'll need:
2 cups all-purpose flour*
1 cup buttermilk, cold
1/2 cup butter, cold
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, sharp/mature
1 tbsp baking powder
1tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
Pinch of salt

*I resisted using wholewheat/regular flour because I was afraid they wouldn't rise in the oven.

In a bowl, mix the flour and butter till crumbly.

Fold in the rest of the ingredients gently, putting in the cheese at the very end.

Place tablespoon sized batter on greased baking tray.

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

For the topping:
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp finely chopped coriander or oregano

Mix all the ingredients and brush over the biscuits while they're still hot.

Best served warm.

Makes: 12-15 biscuits

Dum Aaloo (Potato Curry)

I try to avoid potatoes in my everyday meals but that doesn't mean we don't love it. I found this recipe that is a great hit when you have people over. It goes well with pulao or rotis.

For the Masala:

1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp coriander seeds (it has more flavour than the powder)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 green cardamom, whole
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4 cloves
1/4 cup cashew nuts

Grind these together and keep aside.

You'll also need:
8 medium-sized potatoes boiled and peeled
1 onion, chopped

Paste of 1/4 inch ginger and 4 garlic pods

3/4 cup yoghurt
1 bay leaf
1 pinch asafoetida
1/4 cup cooking oil

Salt to taste

1/2 cup water

1/2 tbsp kasturi methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
Coriander leaves, chopped to garnish

Halve the potatoes if they are too big, and shallow fry them in a pan till lightly browned. Add some salt and keep aside.

In a large pan or wok, heat the oil and temper with the bay leaf and asafoetida. 

Then add the onions and stir fry. Once they start turning translucent, add the ginger and garlic.

Add the dry masala and cook for about a minute.

Add the yoghurt and mix well, stirring at all times.

Finally add the cooked potatoes, salt to taste, and the kasturi methi.

Add water and let it cook till the gravy is reduced to a desired consistency.

Serve hot garnished with fresh coriander leaves.

All Reds Soup

I was very sceptical of using beets in my regular tomato soup because I have tried it in a smoothie with a lot of other ingredients to mask it and still didn't like it much. But this soup came out delicious and full of healthy goodness.

This makes soup for 2 healthy servings.

You'll need
3-4 large tomatoes
2 medium carrots
1 beet
1 cup water/stock
1 tsp garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp crushed black pepper
1 tbsp roasted ground cumin
Salt to taste

Boil, purée, and strain the tomatoes, carrots, and beet. Add the water or stock for a soupy consistency.

In a saucepan, add the oil then the butter.

Once it's hot, add the crushed pepper, bay leaf, and garlic.

Add the purée and salt to taste. Add the roasted cumin powder and bring to boil.

Remove the bay leaf before serving it hot.