Guacamole

Ingredients

Tomato……………….….….1 (medium, ripe, finely chopped)

Onions…………….….……..½ (medium, finely chopped)

Avocado……………..….....1 (ripe)

Green chilli…………..…...1 (hot, finely chopped)

Lemon juice………….….…1 table spoon

Fresh ground pepper…..¼ tea spoon

Coriander leaves..……….hand full (finely chopped)

Salt to taste

Method

• Scoop the avocado into a bowl and mash it into a paste with a spoon.
• Add all the other ingredients to it and mix well.
• Garnish with coriander leaves, if required and serve with tortilla chips.

Egg and Goats’ Cheese Salad

Ingredients

Wild rocket leaves…..…….70g

Eggs……………….…………….3 (boiled, halved & cut in slices)
Cherry tomatoes……………150g (cut in halves) 
Goats cheese…………………75g (cut in 1cm cubes) 
Fresh ground pepper……..¼ tea spoon
Olive oil………………………..2 table spoon
Salt to taste

Method

• Place the rocket leaves in a salad bowl. Top it with cherry tomatoes, eggs and goats cheese.
• Drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle salt and ground pepper.
• Mix before serving.

Serves: 2

Spinach Salad with Goats' Cheese

Ingredients

For the dressing:

Olive oil……………………..….3 table spoon
Malt vinegar………….….…..1 table spoon
Mayonnaise…………………..1 tea spoon
English mustered…………..½ tea spoon 
Basil…..............................¼ tea spoon

For the salad:

Baby spinach…………………60g
Avocado………….……………1 (chopped in 1 inch rectangles)
Cherry tomatoes……………150g (cut in halves) 
Walnuts…………….………….½ cup (roughly broken into halves)  
Goats' cheese…………………100g (crumbled)

Method

For the dressing:

• Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

For the salad:

• Place the baby spinach leaves in a salad bowl. Top it with avocado, cherry tomatoes, walnuts and goats cheese.
• Drizzle the olive oil dressing on the salad with a spoon.
• Mix and serve.

Serves: 2

How to make Paneer (Indian Cheese) at home?

Ingredients

Whole milk…………....….3 pints

Lime/lemon juice…….…4-5 table spoon
      
Method

• Simmer the milk in a deep pan. (Note: the milk should not be boiling vigorously, but should be kept lightly simmering for 1 min)
• Add one table spoon of lime juice. Mix with a spoon. The milk will start to curdle.
• Now add the remaining lime juice one table spoon at a time, mixing the milk at each interval. (Do not add all the lime juice in one go, keep an interval of at least ½ min between each table spoon of lime). Once you add the 4^th spoon, the paneer will have separated completely, leaving behind the greenish water.   
• Use a muslin cloth to strain the paneer from the greenish water.
• Roughly run the panner in running cold water to remove the lime taste.
• Now tie a knot to the muslin cloth to hang it in a suitable place (e.g. from the kitchen tap) to drain water from the paneer. Leave it to drain for 15-20 min.
• Now untie and unknot the muslin cloth and try and shape the paneer in a square/rectangle by folding and wrapping the cloth around the paneer.
• Place the wrapped paneer on a plate and place any kind of weight (e.g. a pan) on top of the paneer to add pressure on it to drain any excess water from it and help it set in the required shape.  Leave it to shape for 1-2 hrs.
• Unwrap the paneer and use it as required.

Note:

If you drain it for too long or squeeze out all the moisture for the paneer, it can get very dry and crumble, and might not set in shape properly.

Kidney Beans Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients

For the rice:

Rice……………….……….…½ cup
Water……………….………..2 cup
Oil…….……………………….1 table spoon
Salt to taste

For the kidney beans:

Kidney beans………….…..½ cup (soaked in 2 cup of water for 5 hrs.)
Onion………………………...1 (small, cut in juliennes)
Tomato……………..…......2 (large, roughly chopped in ½ inch chunks)
Garlic……………..............2 cloves (large, chopped)
Chilli powder…………......½ tea spoon
Garam masala powder…½ tea spoon
Water……………….………..1 cup
Oil to cook
Salt to taste

For the stuffed bell peppers:

Bell peppers…….………...2 (cut vertically into halves)
Salt to taste

Method

For the rice:

• Boil 2 cups of water in a pan along with some salt. Meanwhile place washed rice in a bowl and drizzle 1 table spoon of oil on then and mix. Make sure all the rice grains are coated with oil so that they don’t stick to each other while boiling.
• Add the rice to boiling water and cook until rice is soft. (Do not overcook the rice; the grains should still be firm). Drain the rice and keep aside.

For the kidney beans:

• Add 1 cup of water to the soaked kidney beans and boil them until soft, drain and keep aside.
• Heat some oil in a pan and sauté the garlic for ½ min.
• Add the kidney beans, chilli powder and garam masala, cook for 3 min.
• Now add the tomatoes, cook for 1 min.
• Then add the onion and salt mix well and cook for another 2 min.  Turn off the gas and keep aside.

For the stuffed bell peppers:

• Sprinkle some salt on the cut bell peppers.
• Now using table spoon stuff the bell pepper with 1-1 ½ tablespoon of rice followed by the kidney bean filling just created.
• Place the bell peppers on a non-stick tray.
• Pre-heat the oven on grill mode at 230°C. Place the tray in the oven and grill for 5 min (Make sure they are not over cooked or else they can become too soft and soggy).

Serve hot.