Asian Salad with Roasted Bell peppers and Rice Noodles

Ingredients:

1. Thin, transparent Rice Noodles - 100 gm
2. Bell peppers - I used greed and red - about 4 medium sized ones
3. Salt
4. Pepper
5. Cumin powder
6. Red Chilli flakes - 10 gm
7. Fresh Thyme leaves - 2 sprigs 
8. Pure (not extra virgin) olive oil - for that seemingly nutty flavor - 2 tbspns (20 ml)

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 220 C

1. Slice the bell peppers length-wise into about 6-8 pieces each.
2. Place them on your roasting tray and sprinkle the oil, thyme leaves, cumin powder and salt all over the slices
3. toss them well and place the tray in the oven
4. cook for about 30-40 min, till the edges char. 
5. Towards the end of the roasting, in a flat bottomed bowl, place your rice noodles and then pour in recently boiled water, and a pinch of salt, till about all the noodles just get covered. 
6. the noodles will soften and get cooked in about 5 min. So that's the reason I say that you can do this at the end of your roasting. But, even if you do it earlier, its fine. You can add in about a tablespoon of the drenched-in water to keep the rice noodles soft and keep them aside. No harm at all.
7. After this, drain your noodles, add them to your roasted bell peppers, add in some more salt if you like. 

Serve Warm ! 

Paneer on Skewers

This is one dish that helps give the taste of Tandoor  - AT HOME!

Ingredients:

1. Paneer - 300 gm, or 1 and a half packets
2. Yogurt - 2 tbspns
3. Salt
4. Chilli powder - 2 tspn
5. Dry Mango Powder - 1 tspn
6. Garlic Cloves - 3-4, made into a fine paste
7. Veg Oil - 2 tbspn
8. Cumin Powder - 1 tspn
9. Corn Starch - 1 tbspn

Procedure:

Preheat your oven to 200 C, for about 10-15 min

Marination:

1.  Make a marinade out of the yogurt, cumin powder, chilli powder, dry mango powder, garlic, salt and oil. 
2. Cut the Paneer into squares and dust them with some of the corn flour, to prevent them from disintegrating. 
3. now dip them the marinade and coat them consistently with the marinade. Leave them to marinate in it for about 30 min.
4. after it marinates, dust them with the remaining corn flour.
5. Now take your skewers and carefully insert your marinated paneer into them. For medium sized skewers, about 4 pieces can be on one. For larger ones, I insert about 6 in one. 
6. Take a roasting tray, and place your skewed paneer on it. 
7. Place in the oven and roast for about 20-30 min, till the edges start going from brown to dark brown. 

Serve Hot , with green chutney! Goes down very well with hot Roast Tomato Soup! 

Warm Roast Potato Salad

Ingredients:

1. Potatoes - medium sized - 300 gm, chopped into eights
2. Onion - 1 medium sized - sliced into half rings
3. Lettuce leaves - around 5-6, torn into bite-sized pieces
4. Black Olives - 5, pitted and sliced
5. Salt
6. Fresh ground black pepper

For the Dressing:

1. Dijon Mustard or English Mustard - 1 - 2 tspn, depending on the warmth that you like
2. Balsamic Vinegar - 1 tbspn or a splash
3. Honey - 2 tspns
4. Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 2 tbspns or more, depending on how much nuttiness you like 

Procedure:

Preheat your oven to 250 C

1. Chop your potatoes and slice your onions meanwhile. 
2. Put them all in a medium sized tray, sprinkle the oil and salt
3. Place the filled up tray in the oven and roast for 50-60 min. You can actually leave them in the oven and continue you other work, there's nothing more substantial to do for this dish, anyway! :)
4. After about 40 min its in the oven, then start making your dressing. Combine all the dressing ingredients into a small jug or bowl, and whisk thoroughly. 
5. Prepare a bed of lettuce, take out your brown, roasted potatoes and add them in.
6. Your onions would have caremelized well by this time, with the potatoes. Add them too. 
7. Add the sliced Olives. 
8. Next add the dressing by sprinkling it around the mixture. Toss it further to coat everything with the dressing. 

Serve as a warm salad! Goes very well with whole wheat bread, for a wholesome dinner! :)

Oats and Butter Upma

Ingredients:

1. Flat Oats - 100 gm
2. Butter - 50-70 gm (I use quite a reasonable amount, in order to bring about a consistency. And I find using butter better than using oil or ghee in case of oats)
3. Mustard Seeds - 1 tspn
4. Veg Oil - 1/2 tbspn or around 8 ml
5. Sweet Green Peas - 40-50 gm
6. Water - 180-200 ml
7. Onions - 1 medium sized , chopped roughly
8. Ginger - 1 inch, chopped finely (may be you would use less, but i find that this much amount of ginger reveals the oats of all its confectionery smell.)
9. Salt

Procedure:

1. In a heavy saucepan, heat the oil and and throw int he mustard seeds
2. as soon as they start crackling, add in the ginger and onions
3. Cook the onion till they are brown. I brown the ginger and onions because I like the caramelized flavor with oats. 
4. Then add in the water, and let it come to a boil. 
5. add the oats and start stirring. 
6. After it reaches a consistency of semi-solid - about 80 percent solid, add in the peas also.
7. Keep stirring, and add a small knob of butter. 
8. Stirring continuously, keep adding in more butter, as you cook the oats further. 
9. stir the mixture for another 5 min, and take it off heat. 
10. after you finish cooking, add in the last knob of butter and close the lid. This will not give the oats any chance to stick at all!

Serve hot immediately! 

P.S: Picture to follow soon.. :)

Punjabi Dal Tadka

Ingredients:

1. Toor Dal - 2 cups or 200 gm, cooked in the pressure cooker, and partly mashed
2. Garlic cloves- about 6-7, finely chopped
3. Green Chillies - 4 - slit length-wise
4. Salt
5. Dry Mango powder - 1/2 tspn
6. Red Chilli Powder - 1 tspn
7. Garam Masala - 1/2 tspn
8. Cumin Seeds - 1 tbspn
9. Veg Oil - 1-2 tbspn

Procedure:

1. Add salt to the cooked Dal and keep it aside.
2. To make the tadka, pour the oil in a heavy saucepan
3. after the oil is hot enough, add in the cumin seeds, and after they have started to splutter, add in the garlic
4. after the garlic has almost browned, add in the green chillies, dry mango powder and garam masala
5. stir in well and then take out all the ingredients except the oil, for the next step.
6. take the ingredients and add it to the Dal. Stir well to mix
7. now to the hot oil, add the chilli powder and stir about 2 times.
8. now add this also to the dal and just stir in once, so that there are just red streaks to the dal, and the dal does not change its rich yellow color.

Serve hot with rice, roti or naan. But it works best with roti!

Tandoori Pears

Ingredients:

1. Pears - cut into flat pieces, avoiding the center with seeds
2. yogurt - 1/2 cup
3. roasted cumin powder - 1 tspn
4. garlic paste - 1 tspn
5. ginger paste - 1/2 tspn
6. juice of half a lemon
7. salt
8. pepper/red chilli powder - 1 tspn
9. turmeric - a pinch
10. vegetable oil - 2 tspn

Procedure:

1. In a big mixing bowl, add the yogurt, cumin powder, garlic paste, ginger paste, lemon juice, salt, chilli powder, turmeric and oil and mix well
2. take your pears and dip in them and let them be coated completely with this mixture
3. marinate them for 30 min., so that all the flavors are imbibed by the fruit
4. on a hot grill-griddle, place your pears one by one and char them till they turn dark golden brown. 

serve hot! 

Karele ka Masala

I know, I know. You must be wondering if it is really possible to make something out of bittergourd, and moreover getting your family to eat it ! But this recipe is sure to delight you and all. But, spare atleast 20 min to cook this dish up. Well, you dont have to do anything while this is cooking, except sipping your tea! :)

Ingredients:

1. Karela/Bittergourd -  2 large - cut into 4 - 5 pieces each, with an incision or an X made on top
2. Peanuts - handful
3. Red Chillies - 6 
4. Cumin seeds - a tbspn
5. Garam Masala - 1/2 tspn
6. Oil - 1 tbpsn
7. Salt
8. Turmeric
9. Red Chilli Powder - 1 tbspn
10. Tamarind Paste - 1/2 tbspn
11. Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tbspn
12. Tomatoes - 5 large, one cut into just 4 pieces, to be later blended. And the remaining 4, chopped finely.
13. Large Green Chillies - 1, cut into strips (optional)
14. Fresh Coriander Leaves - a handful, finely chopped. 

Procedure:

1. In a heavy bottomed dish, steam your bittergourd till they are almost soft, and change color. (You can add salt and a little sugar at this stage, but I generally avoid both. )
2. meanwhile in another dish, roast the peanuts, jeera and red chillies. Roast till the peanuts and jeera start crackling and the peanuts change color 
3. take out the dry roast ingredients, add the oil to the same empty dish and start cooking some of your masalas:
4. first add in the ginger garlic paste, and cook while stirring. 
5. add in the chopped tomatoes and some of the coriander and let the mixture cook. 
6. meanwhile grind your roasted peanut mixture, till it becomes an almost fine powder. 
7. Take out this mixture, add in the one chopped tomato, and blend till it is almost a paste. 
8. now add in the peanut mixture and blend again, so that you get a paste of the peanut mixture and tomato. 
9. add this mixture to the dish that is cooking on the stove. 
10. start cooking this mixture, by adding about half a cup of water. 
11. This mixture will tend to come together sooner than usual, thanks to the peanut mixture in it. So add in the turmeric, chillie powder, garam masala and tamarind paste to the mixture and cook for another 3 min
12. Add in sugar and salt and cook for another 2-3 min. 
13. By this time your bittergourd would have cooked well. So add the vegetable to the mixture, cover and cook for another 10 min, till all the flavors get into the vegetable. 
14. Garnish with remaining coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Bread/Rice!

P.S. Will post the picture soon..