Tomato Omelette

Tomato Omelette is basically a breakfast dish in India. But it could also be eaten as an evening snack with tea or coffee. It resembles an omelette so maybe thats how it got its name even though it is an eggless recipe.

Ingredients:

1) 2 cups gram flour (Besan)

2) 1 cup finely chopped tomatoes

3) 1/2 cup finely chopped onion

4) 3-4 green chillies finely chopped

5) Cilantro

6) 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

7) 1/2 tsp red chilli powder

8) salt to taste

9) Water for the batter

10) oil/butter

Preparation:

1) In a bowl add all the above ingredients (1-8) except oil and water.

2) Now gradually add water and make the batter like a pancake or dosa consistency.

3) Heat a Tava (Griddle) and pour a ladleful of batter onto it. Put some oil/butter around the edges of the omelette. Cover and cook. Turn and cook the other side until golden brown.

4) Serve hot with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

This recipe makes 6 tomato omelettes.

Peanut Butter Cookies.

Peanut Butter is a very healthy food. It helps reduce risks of heart disease. It is a good source of protein, Vitamins B3 and E, Magnesium,Folate and Dietary fiber. It also has a high content of Resveratrol a substance which is shown to have very strong anti-cancer properties.

Knowing how healthy a single ingedient could be I'm curious to use it in as many recipes as I can.

Today's recipe is a super easy one. Its quick and can be made with ingredients available in your pantry.

Best of all this recipe does not require flour.

Ingredients:

1) 1 cup Peanut Butter

2) 1 cup granulated sugar

3) 1 tsp freshly grated ginger

4) 1 egg





Preparation
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) In a bowl cream together Peanut butter, sugar and ginger. Beat the egg. Blend well into the mixture.

3) Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and flatten slightly.

4) Bake for around 10-12 minutes or until the edges are light brown.

5) Cool for around 5 mins. Enjoy them with a glass of milk.

Vada Pav - Batata Vada

Vada Pav is a popular street food of Mumbai. You could also call it the Indian Burger. Its basically Batata(potato) Vada(fritter shaped like a ball) sandwiched between the pav (bread). Every time when I'm on vacation to Mumbai, India, I always have a list of food and snacks I must eat . Needless to say, Vada Pav always tops the list. Also you will find it everywhere I guess all across Maharashtra. You could also eat them as is without the bread/pav and then its called Batata Vada or Bonda.  

Ingredients:

•  6-8 medium sized potatoes -Boiled and mashed 
•  1/4 cup onion finely chopped(optional)
•  4-5 cloves of garlic finely chopped (optional)
•  1 inch piece of freshly grated ginger
•  5-6 green chillies finely chopped
•  4-5 fresh curry leaves 
•  2 tbsp Cilantro leaves chopped
•  1 tsp mustard seeds
•  1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
•  2 cups gram flour/chickpea flour/ besan
•  1/2 tsp red chilli powder
•  Salt to taste
•  oil for frying
•  pavs or burger buns.

Preparation:

•  Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle add the curry leaves.Next add the onion and saute till golden brown. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for about 2 minutes. Add the green chillies, mashed potatoes, turmeric powder and salt and mix well. Add the cilantro leaves. Allow the Vada mixture to cool. This recipe should make 18-20 Vadas. When the mixture is cold make 18- 20 lemon size balls.
•  Now lets prepare the batter which would be the outer covering for the potato ball . In a bowl combine the besan flour, salt, red chilli water and about 1 cup water and make a thick batter.
•  Heat oil in a deep pan. Now dip the potato balls in the batter and deep fry till they are golden brown. Now you could even serve them as is with green chutney or ketchup. This could be served as an appetizer. This is the Batata Vada.
•  To make a Vada Pav. Slice the pav into half and spread your choice of the chutney (green cilantro chutney, date-tamarind chutney, or hot garlic chutney). Place one Vada between the Pav. Ready to be served. Some also like fried green chillies along with it. Its truly divine. Hope you enjoy this Mumbaiya Vada Pav.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Tis the Season to eat berries.
Strawberries are not only so beautiful to look at but delicious at the same time. They are packed with nutrients. Around this time of the year you'll always find fresh succulent strawberries at your local grocery stores. They are very perishable . Strawberries should not be washed until right before eating or using in a recipe.

1) 1 cup fresh strawberries(diced)
2) 1 ripe banana
3) 1 cup plain yoghurt
4) 1 cup milk
5) 1 tbsp honey
6) 1/2 cup crushed ice

Preparation
1) Combine all the ingredients in a blender.
2) Blend until smooth
3) Serve immediately

Serves 2.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

A Smoothie is a super easy, fast and a healthy beverage. They could also be considered a snack.

Since the Food Pyramid suggests 2 to 4 servings of fruit each day. I believe smoothies are the best way to achieve that. As mothers we are constantly looking for ways to make our kids eat healthy. So I guess smoothies are a blessing for us and they taste so delicious too.

Ingredients

1) 1 ripe Banana

2) 1 cup fresh blueberries

3) 1 cup plain yoghurt

4) 1 cup milk

5) 1/2 cup crushed ice

Preparation

1) Combine all the above mentioned ingredients into a blender.

2) Blend until smooth.

3) Serve immediately.

This recipe serves 2.

Tips:

1) You could use frozen blueberries. Then crushed ice would not be required.

2) You could even add 1 tbsp of honey to this recipe. That would give you the added sweetness.

Chole or Chana Masala

It's also called Kabuli chana , chick peas or Garbanzo beans. Chole is a staple in north Indian households. Chole goes best with bhature. Hence the name Chole Bhature . You could even serve this with roti, paratha, naan, jeera rice and even bread.

Ingredients

2 cups soaked Chick peas or Canned Chick peas (500 gms)

2 medium size red onions

4 tomatoes

2 tsp of garlic

2 tsp ginger

3-4 green chillies

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp red chilli powder

2 tsp coriander-cumin powder

2 black cardamoms

1 stick cinnamon(dal chini)

salt to taste

2 tbsp oil

Fresh Cilantro for the garnish

Preparation

1. Now the traditional way is to soak the Chole overnight. I guess thats the best way. But if you are pressed for time then you could even soak the chole in hot water(almost boiling) for around 30-40 minutes .

2. Now pressure cook the chole with enough water, turmeric and salt for upto 4-5 whistles. If you were to use canned chole you skip this step.

3. In the meanwhile you could chop the vegetables. I make 3 kinds of purees . One for the onions , one for the garlic/ginger/green chillies and the last one is the tomato puree. Now for the onions I don't grind it too fine, just leave it a bit course so it adds a good texture to the chole masala. Its like a finely grated texture. You could even just grate the onions.

4. Now take oil in a pan. Once it warms up add the cardamom and the cinnamon stick. Next add the onion paste. Saute the onion till it becomes golden brown . Now add the garlic/ginger/green chilli paste. Saute for about 2 minutes and then add the tomato puree. Fry for another 2 minutes and then add the red chilli powder and the coriander-cumin powder. Let it cook until the oil leaves the surface (about 5-6 minutes). Now add the chole with the liquid and let it simmer covered for about 20 minutes.

5. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and serve with parathas with thinly sliced onions and a piece of lemon on the side.

Ajwain Paratha

Paratha is an Indian flat-bread. It could be round, square or triangular. They could be plain or stuffed. Mostly stuffed parathas are served with pickle and yoghurt. Plain parathas could be served with vegetables , meat, chicken and paneer dishes. The sky is the limit when it comes to parathas. They are very versatile. One can be very creative when it comes to making stuffed parathas. You can have endless possibilities. But I guess by and large aloo(potato) parathas are the most popular.
Ajwain is also known as carom seeds or Bishop's weed and they are mainly used as they help in digestion.


Ingredients :

3 cups wheat flour

2 tsp ajwain

salt

1 tsp oil

1 cup of water (to knead the dough)

Preparation

1) Mix all the ingredients and knead the dough for the parathas. Now for someone who is trying to knead the dough for the 1st time. Slowly add the water to the mix and keep on kneading. Keep on adding water till the dough is not too sticky or not too hard. You would need a little more than 1 cup of water. But if you add too much water the dough would be too sticky to roll the parathas.

Now keep it aside for 15-20 minutes.

2) Now to roll the parathas. Divide the dough into golf size balls. Roll it into a small circle. Apply some oil to the circle. Now fold the circle into a semicircle. Fold it again and it would become a triangle shape. Apply some flour and roll over the triangle gently to the desired size.

3) Heat a tava( griddle) and roast the paratha on medium heat with ghee , oil or butter. Cook on both sides until they are golden brown.

4) Serve hot with yoghurt and pickle or as an accompaniment to a main course dish. This would make around 10 -12 parathas.