Healthy Beans and Carrot Sabzi Recipe

Ever thought of loving green vegetables and craving for more greens? If your answer is No, then you have stopped at the right post. I have decided to put some healthy tasty recipes made with green vegetables every once in a while. Usually kids refrain from eating green vegetables and throw tantrums but below recipe steals the show. Though this is a known curry prepared in Southern part of India but I have made it in a different way. Hope you'll like it. :)

All said and done, presenting a yummy recipe involving two main ingredients: beans (French beans, soya beans or any beans of your choice) and carrot. Benefits are endless.

Benefits in a nutshell:

Beans: High fiber, full of proteins, many minerals and vitamins and low calories.

Carrot: High fiber, excellent source of vitamin A, lots of other minerals and vitamins and very low in calories.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

3 finely chopped Carrots

200 grams finely shopped French Beans

1 finely chopped Onion

1 finely chopped Potato (This is totally optional)

2 tablespoon of Poppy Seeds (Khus khus/posta dana)

1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

4-5 tempered Curry Leaves

Salt for seasoning

Oil for cooking (Any cooking oil that you use)

Method:

• Take little oil in a pan, heat it and add onions and cook for a minute on medium.
• Add potatoes (optional) and beans, cook for 3 minutes on medium flame, stirring continuously.
• Finally add carrots, turmeric and cook on medium to high for 10minutes stirring continuously or till thoroughly cooked.
• Add Poppy seeds and salt and cook for a minute more.
• Garnish with tempered curry leaves.

Serve as main dish for lunch or dinner with chappatis / rotis.

Hate greens? Probably not anymore!

Cheese Corn Fritters with Piri Piri Seasoning

Ruminating the days my husband and I used to drive through hilly slopes of Lonavala just to have tea and corn pakodas/fritters whilst soothing our eyes with sunset view, I being a major foodie instantly want those fritters here in Kolkata.

Since the recipe is super easy, I rush to hunt down the ingredients. I have added here Readymade ‘Keya Piri Piri Seasoning’ to add a twist to the recipe.

One important thing to remember is to always boil the corn kernels first. Usually I take sweet corn kernels and microwave it on high for 3 to 5 minutes. The corn kernels may pop while frying and can be dangerous, hence boiling part is mandatory.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

250 gm Besan (Gram flour)  

250 gm Boiled Sweet Corn

4 Grated Cheese Cubes

1 Finely Chopped Onion

2 Tablespoon Piri Piri Seasoning (optional)

1 Tablespoon Red Chili Powder

1 or 2 Green Chilies

1/2 Cup Water (where 1cup =250ml)

Salt for seasoning

Oil for frying

Method:

• In a bowl mix all ingredients very well (gram flour, grated cheese, onion, spices, salt and water).

• Heat oil in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot, add the small balls and deep fry on sim for 3 minutes or till golden brown.

• Remove these on a tissue paper. Fry rest of the batch.

Sprinkle some more Piri Piri and serve with your favourite chutney. It’s an easy and perfect evening snack to be enjoyed with your cup of tea or cup of coffee in my case.

Cheese,Corn and Piri Piri!

Recipe for Lemon Cheesecake in OTG (Oven,Toaster,Griller) and in Microwave

Baking in convection mode of microwave is easy as compared to that in OTG (Oven, Toaster, Griller) but OTG baked products are tastier without a doubt.

So here I sit staring at my OTG (a gift from my first company) and pondering over the cheesy lemony delicious aroma of Lemon Cheese Cake that my sister first made. Without a second thought I pace to grab all ingredients and move to execute my plan before my baby wakes up. 

If you are using an oven, just preheat to 160 Degree Celsius and bake the cheesecake for 30 to 40 minutes or till fully baked. A general practice of baking is to always keep a hawk’s eye and check upper layer of cake shouldn’t get burned.

Since we are baking in OTG, remember to sniff as during first 10 minutes the cake will have a crusty sugary aroma that will change later to little sour cheesy lemony whiff indicating the cake is getting baked properly.

Also do keep turning the tin with tongs after every 10 minutes else the cake will burn on one side and as I mentioned always keep an eye on the cake to avoid any burn. If you see the black colour taking over the upper crust, change the timing accordingly for OTG. I have provided below recipe that worked best for me.

Now to begin with, I have used homemade paneer/cottage cheese which took around 15 minutes in all. Always use homemade paneer for this cheesecake. 

Paneer made from 1litre milk

Preparation Time:  30 mins (15 mins for paneer+ 15 mins for rest of things)

Baking Time: 30-35 mins

Ingredients:

 For Base:

8-10 Marie Gold or any Digestive Biscuits

25 gm Butter

½ Grated Lemon Zest

For Filling:

25 gm Butter

200 gm fresh homemade paneer (cottage cheese)

100 gm Castor Sugar

3 Eggs

3 Cheese Cubes

100 gm Curd

½ Grated Lemon Zest

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Method:

For Base: 

•  Spread little butter or use butter paper in the baking tin.
•  Crush biscuits, melt butter in oven and mix crushed biscuits with melted butter and lemon zest.



Standard 6x6 inches tin 



•  Take ¾ of this mixture and put it in a baking tin. Press down firmly and keep it aside.

For Filling:

• Beat together butter, paneer, cheese and curd.

• Beat in above mixture the eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice form a smooth consistency. I used grinder to mix everything. Add sugar in the end and blend again.

• Pour this thick mixture to the biscuit base in tin.
• Sprinkle rest of the biscuit crumble at top.

• Preheat OTG for 5 minutes by turning the heat for both top and bottom mode. Now place the tin inside and keep both modes on for another 5 minutes. Now turn off the top side heat and bake only on bottom side heat for 10 minutes. Now turn on top side heat and turn off bottom heat for next 5 minutes. Again bake only on bottom for next 5 minutes. Last 5 minutes on both sides.
  
  
  

So in a nutshell:

Preheat 5minutes
Both – 5 minutes
Bottom – 10 minutes
Top – 5 minutes
Bottom – 5 minutes
Both - 5 minutes
Ideally the cheesecake should be fluffy and ready by now. If not then bake for 5 to 10 minutes more.

• Allow to cool tin.
• Take the cheesecake out and chill for 2 hours in fridge.
• It is ready to be served.

Devour the lemon cheesecake with lovely crust on outside! Perfect for tea time snack or after dinner dessert!

Easy Chicken Chili Gravy Recipe

This has to be one of the best protein packed Chinese savoury dishes. Very simple to prepare, impossible to mess with, follow below recipe to obtain soft juicy tender chicken pieces dipped in yummy gravy without ajinomoto!  When guests arrive or whenever you crave for Chinese, this recipe will definitely steal the show.

Turned out super delicious!

Preparation Time:  10mins

Cooking Time: 20mins

Ingredients:

Boneless fresh chicken pieces – 400 gms

All purpose flour(maida) – 3 tablespoon

Corn flour – 1 tablespoon

Eggs – 1 nos.

For gravy:

Soya Sauce – ½ cup

Tomato Sauce – 1 cup

Capsicum – 1 medium size

Onion – 2 medium size

Spring onion – For garnish

1 finely chopped Garlic

½ grated Ginger

4 to 5 Green vertically slit Chilies

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method:

1)    Wash the boneless skin pieces properly and drain excess water. Add maida, corn flour and egg to chicken, mix well and keep aside for 5 minutes. The chicken should be properly coated and should appear consistent as shown in picture below.

2) Chop capsicum and onion into medium pieces.

3)    Heat oil in pan. Fry the chicken pieces turning both sides on high flame for 3 minutes overall or till golden brown.

4) Strain some of the oil and use remaining to prepare gravy. Add ginger, garlic and chilies.

5) Add onions and capsicum and cook till onions become translucent on medium heat.

6) Mix soya sauce, tomato sauce to above and cook for a minute more. Change consistency of gravy as per your choice by increasing/decreasing quantity of tomato and soya sauce.

7)  Add chicken pieces and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add salt accordingly. Finally garnish with spring onion.

 Chicken Chili gravy is ready to be served. Enjoy with noodles or as I do with chappatis!

Crispy Chicken Cheese Fritters

Monsoon arrives and my taste buds demand hot fritters (pakodas) in the breezy windy green weather. Being a chicken lover, I always prefer chicken cheese fritters over the basic onion ones.

Following recipe yields fritters with juicy tender chicken pieces engulfed in cheesy crispy crusty coating. Add more ingredients  as per your palate.

Chicken Fritters

Preparation Time:  30mins

Cooking Time: 10mins

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken pieces – 250 gms

All purpose flour(maida) – 1 cup

Corn flour - 1/4^th cup

Eggs – 2 nos.

Water – 1 cup 

Red chili flakes - 2 tablespoon

Mayonnaise or any cheese spread – 2 tablespoon

Bread ­- 3 pieces

Grated cheese - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Ingredients

Method:

1) Wash the boneless chicken properly and cut into very small pieces.

2) Toast breads for a minute and make bread crumbs in a grinder. Keep it aside.

Bread Crumbs

3) In a bowl mix all ingredients very well  (maida, corn flour, eggs, chili flakes, cheese spread, grated cheese, salt and water).

Mix everything

4) Take boneless chicken pieces and mix in above mixture.

After adding chicken pieces

5) Marinate in fridge for 20mins so that it is easier to form balls and pieces are juicy as well.

6) Take it out after 20minutes and make small balls. Dip in bread crumbs.

7) Take a deep frying pan and put enough oil for frying. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken balls and deep fry on sim for 4 to 5 mins or till golden brown and cooked thoroughly.

8) Remove these on a tissue paper. Fry remaining fritters as well.

Crispy chicken cheese fritters are ready. Relish these with any green chutney or directly with ketchup and cheese sauce.

Fritters with Mango Chutney

Quick and Easy Mango Ice-Cream

Summer welcomes the ‘King of Fruits’ Mango! Every nook and corner of the house will have sweet aroma of fresh mangoes. The varieties are endless and so are the savoury and sweet recipes prepared out of this tropical fruit.

Mango Ice-cream is one such dessert that steals the limelight during the hot weather. After going through lots of recipes, I found the quickest one on Sailusfood.com. Tweaked a bit to make it more easy. So lets get started. 

Prep Time: 10mins  
Cooking Time: 8hours

Ingredients:

Fresh Mangoes - 2 nos. medium size

Fresh cream- 400 ml, chilled

Milk powder- 3/4 cup

Sugar- According to taste.

Method:

1) Freeze the empty container in which  you want to store the ice cream for 30 mins in the freezer.
2) Peel off the mango skin and squeeze the pulp out.

3) Blend the pulp, fresh cream and sugar together.

4) Once the fluffy mixture is obtained, pour this into the chilled container and place a plastic wrap/cling-film over it. Freeze for 3 hours.

5) After 3 hours, remove the container from the freezer and put everything in a bowl.

6) Now add milk powder to this mixture and beat till smooth. 

7) Place the blended mixture into the container, cover with plastic wrap/cling-film  and freeze overnight for at least 8 hours.

Mango Icecream - Perfect Retreat

Rich creamy ice-cream is ready to be served.

Tips:

• Cling-film will act as insulator which then renders softness to ice-cream. Alternatively one can use aluminium foil to cover. 
• Add milk powder after 3 hours and then beat again to avoid ice-crystal formation.