Monday 6 August 2012

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.

Friday 3 August 2012

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 4th 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.

Wednesday 1 August 2012

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 powder½ 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.