Caramel Wings

The parents have been out of town for a week now. As much as I'm loving the silence, I am missing them more. Every morning I wake up early only to find that Dad has already woken up and is practising Yoga before he starts getting ready to go to work. When I'm back from the gym, while Dad has already left for work, Mom is warming breakfast up in the kitchen with the TV blasting in full volume in the hall, just so she can hear the dialogues. If it's a Sunday I'd wake up at the same time (I go to the gym on Sunday's, it's empty and you can really get a good workout done) but everyone's asleep. When I return, TV is blaring full volume and Mom is in the kitchen, fixing breakfast. Sunday breakfasts are staple - either it's Idli or Dosa. Followed by Chicken or Mutton curry for lunch, where I'd make more Dosas and eat with the curry. And then it's siesta time, it's only fitting after all the yum overload we go through every Sunday.

I'm not getting my Dosa fix since they're out of town, so I thought of improvising. I love how versatile Oats are, and if you can make Pancakes with them, you certainly can make a good Dosa as well. It's a #slite change that makes your life so much easier, not to forget healthier too! I make 3 different kinds of Oats Dosas, but the recent one I tried is the closest to a real Dosa. I used low sodium Tata salt lite to make it just that touch of extra healthy. You're gonna forget you're eating healthy, it's so good!



Instant Oats Dosa
Serves 2 (makes 6 medium sized Dosas)
Takes 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup Instant Oats
1/2 cup Yogurt
2 green chilies
A handful of coriander, chopped
2 tsp Cumin seeds
2 tbsp Rice Flour (optional)
2 tbsp Semolina flour
Water, to adjust the consistency
Tata salt lite, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Ghee/oil to grease the pan.

Method:

Blend together all the ingredients except Oil, with some water (about half cup).
Let this batter sit for 15 minutes in a bowl. It will get thicker due to the Semolina and Oats. Adjust to a thick, dosa-like pouring consistency with water, add little at one time.

Heat up a pan on medium, preferably non stick. Add a drop of ghee or oil, and wipe the pan surface with a paper napkin so it is spread evenly. Add 3/4 ladle of batter and spread evenly. Add few more drops of Oil down the sides of the pan if desired. I also added some podi to the dosa at this point. You could also add chopped onions and tomatoes if you want this to be an uttappam. Cook on medium flame for 2 minutes.

Be careful while flipping her over, she's a delicate dosa darling! Cook for 30 seconds more and serve hot with chutney, podi, ketchup, or just have as is with a hot cup of Chai!

There are days when you just don't wanna do anything. Going to work, heading for workout, talking on the phone, sending and receiving emails, none of that. No cooking either. But then you feel hungry and while Chinese delivery seems feasible, your trainer's face flashes in front of your eyes and you decide to stick to a sandwich. Or else, you make this smoothie.








I used Oats for this Smoothie, that give them a very thick texture, and while I prefer it that way, you can always make it thinner with some milk. You can also substitute milk with yogurt, soy milk or almond milk. I am very happy to report that these SLITE changes I've made in my life have really been showing results, and that makes me very very happy!

Oat and Strawberry Smoothie
Serves 2
Takes 5 minutes

Ingredients:

A handful of Strawberries
1 Banana
1/2 cup Oats
1 cup cold Milk/Soy milk/Almond milk
1 tbsp Honey (optional)

Method:

Mix the oats with milk and microwave for 10 seconds.

Add them along with all the remaining ingredients to a blender and blitz till smooth. Thin with milk if required. Serve chilled!

I love Elvis. We all do, don't we? Elvis loved his Peanut Butter sandwiches with Bananas. I may have made the Elvis sandwich a couple hundred times at home, over the years, but there is hardly a way to make them retain the goodness sans the fat and processed carb overload. So I thought of reinventing them as pancakes, but then again, there's flour and sugar.

I have been experimenting with a lot of new ingredients in my kitchen off late. A person who experiments may not always be successful but they eventually do strike Gold! Everyone I love cooking for is an ardent pancake lover and let's not kid ourselves, whole wheat pancakes just aren't as good. After a lot of thinking, I decided to grind up instant oats and use the flour instead, and like I said earlier, I did strike Gold!

Like Tata Salt Lite campaign says, it is all about bringing in a sLITE change in our lives, small changes that make big differences. Imagine the amount of excess Sodium, Sugar and sugar derived Carbs we would avoid by making simple choices. It only takes few minutes but it makes a world of difference.

I used instant quick cooking oats for this recipe but steel cut oats are your best bet. A cup and half of quick cooking instant oats yields a cup of flour. Just blend it till the consistency is really fine, et voilà! While the brand of Oats I used is not gluten free, you can easily find gluten free Oats in the market and pulse them in the blender for a great gluten free breakfast.

Just like every other recipe that I have been posting recently, I am leaving plenty of room for imagination and experimentation. Use your favourite fruit purée, chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, even cheese! These may not be the softest pancakes you've ever eaten but they contain no sugar, possibly gluten free, creamy, and not to forget, healthy! These are great as a post workout snack!






The Healthy Elvis Pancakes
Serves 2
Takes 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup Oats Flour (to make flour out of quick cooking instant oats, refer to the paragraphs above)
2 Eggs
2 tbsp Peanut Butter, melted
2 medium Bananas, overripe, mashed
1 tbsp Date Syrup/Honey
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Tata salt LITE
1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp Nutmeg powder

Method:

In a big bowl, mix the Oat flour, baking soda, Tata Salt LITE, cinnamon and nutmeg powders together.

In another bowl, mix the remaining ingredients. Make sure the bananas are well mashed and the eggs are whisked well.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix with a wooden spoon. Lumps are okay. Do not over mix. Let it stand for 5 minutes,

Heat up a non stick pan on medium low heat.

The batter must now be fluffy and tight, loosen it with some milk to a dropping consistency.

Grease with a pat of butter if you like. Place 2 tbsp batter in the centre and work it into a round shape. Cook for a minute or so, till you see bubbles appear on the side. Flip this darling pancake and let it go for another minute.

Stack up a few pancakes and drizzle with honey if you like. I topped mine with caramelised Banana slices and some honey. Oh, and do remember to serve them warm. They get tough if you let them stand for too long.

Enjoy!

Off late my schedule has been full of eggs. I'm an egg lover, but I may have exaggerated myself when I said I could eat eggs for every meal. It gets repetitive after a while and one can easily get bored. That's when the real challenge sets in. What sets the challenge in the Iron-Chef-America mode is being pressed for time, multitasking.

The best thing about eggs are that they are so versatile, you can almost add them to anything- a stir fry, rice, or a simple scramble or omelet. The quickest and easiest version of eggs with an attitude is what I call the Whatever-You-Get Omelet.

As for braising, after spending over a decade trying to perfect the omelet, watching them serve me a perfect one every time at leisurely brunches and breakfast buffets and me trying to replicate the same only to end up with brown omelet every single time, I have resorted to braising my eggs and they're perfect every time. Braising is basically cooking your eggs in steam, and you'll end up with the best omelet ever if you get it right!

The Whatever-You-Get Braised Omelet
Serves One
Takes 10 minutes

Ingredients:

2 whole eggs/ 4 egg whites.
1 tsp Oil + 1 tsp Oil.
Tata Salt LITE to taste (low sodium)
Pepper to taste
Whatever you get. (Seriously. You can add some leftover Chicken or Veg. Mixed greens are a great option too. I used Broccoli, Lettuce and Spinach, some shredded chicken and half a Tomato. You can go as crazy as you like, be it mushrooms, different kinds of cheese, boiled Corn kernels,even leftover rice sautéed in spices!)
A slice of Cheese. I used White Cheddar
A splash of milk (approximately 1 tbsp)

Important apparatus: a non stick pan with a lid.

Recipe:

Whisk the eggs with Milk, Salt and Pepper. Set aside.
Heat up the non stick pan on medium high heat. Prep the veggies and keep them ready. Also keep the Cheese peeled and ready (you're welcome, bachelor readers, I'm laying it out step by step for you :P )
Add 1 tsp Oil to the pan followed by Chili flakes and veggies. turn heat to high and sauté for 2 minutes. Remove in a separate plate.
Put the pan back on heat and turn the heat to low. Pour the omelet mixture in and stir lightly in the pan. Gently whisk around, and then top with all the yummy veggies that have been sautéed, chicken, cheese, herbs!
Sprinkle few drops of water around the insides of the pan and immediately cover it. Let it stay for 3 minutes. The steam generated from the sizzling water will braise the omelet and will cook it from the top as well.
Remove the lid, and transfer the cooked omelet to a plate. If you think the omelet is too runny for you, give it a couple more minutes with a covered lid.
I drizzled the top of my omelet with Chili infused olive oil and had it as is, so filling, so healthy!

I am back, after another hiatus, to apologize about my absence. This time is a little different, 'coz I come bearing good news, especially for the forever hungry people in Mumbai. As I am trying to desperately find balance between my love for food, and leading a healthy and fit lifestyle, I have recently had the opportunity to try some real fun places in our city and as a "foodie" I feel very excited about the change in the food scene, with people open to trying stuff from around the world, stepping out of their dal-chawal-aloo-tikki-chaat-masala zones and opening up to subtler flavours, while taking their palates through a culinary roller coaster.

I could go on about what's hot and what's not, but its for you to decide. What I can tell you is that when I go to a restaurant, review or otherwise, I look for good food (obviously), great service, smiling faces, loud chatter, and a great ambiance. Basically, I look for a good vibe. A vibe that makes me happy- which is what Me So Happi did, it made me happy.



Me So Happi is an all day diner located right next to the Guess showroom on the Linking Road, Khar. You will easily spot the happy writing on their sign board. Walk in and you will be transported to an upbeat ambiance, with large windows, plenty of natural light, and little nothings that meant something to us as kids such as a jar full of Kismi Bar chocolates. I, for one, am not a huge fan of the high chair seating but surprisingly the chairs were very comfortable. What looked like a quaint little place was actually enormous inside, with an outdoor seating area and décor with lots of personality. If you are lucky enough you will spot the owner, Aarathi Arambhan, and the Chef Anirudh taking rounds and interacting with customers and getting feedback all along. Here is what we tried:



Smoothies: We tried the California Smoothie and the Mr.P Nutt Oats Smoothie. It was a surprise to us that this place actually served up smoothies and we were so glad we ordered these! The P Nutt Oats Smoothie is a must try.



Salads: We tried the Caesar Salad which was spot on, the Chicken and Egg Salad was nice too, but I am more of a Caesar Salad girl :)



The Quinoa and Beet salad was excellent and a refreshing change from the normal leafy stuff!



Appetizers: We also tried the Prawns on Fire, which were actually perfectly balanced and fried to crispy awesomeness. I would not say the same about the Baked Potato Skins. Safe to avoid them.



Meat lovers, do yourselves a favour and try the Big Bad Meanie Lamb Burger. I have attached the picture and it needs to explanation. It was juicy and yummy!



Another succulent meaty dish is the Meat On Top, with an amazing gravy topping a bed of mashed potatoes. You will love it, I am sure!



We thought of trying the Cheesecake for dessert but it was out of stock (yes it is that good) so we tried the Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake, which was topped with none other than Magic Pop! This one is an absolute must try!



The Pecan Nut Pie was nice as well, just thought it was a tad eggy for my liking. Will stick to the Mousse Cake or the Cheesecake!

In the end, Me So Happi made We So Happi! :)

P.S. They have recently started a Sunday Breakfast menu that opens at 7 AM and goes on till 11 AM. Cannot wait to try it!

Excuse me, for an excerpt from the imaginary book of my life follows before this recipe :

Last month I took a trip to North India. It was a work thing which mostly kept me busy throughout my time in New Delhi but what made the trip totally worth it was the 2 day getaway to Amritsar, or Ambarsar as it is lovingly called. Amritsar is home to the famous Golden Temple, and is the kind of place where one has to face oneself and go through self evaluation. Watching those beautifully huge Koi swim in the water where you also see your reflections only makes you realize that the most important things in life are fairly simple. We over-complicate everything.



 Incidentally we visited the Temple on the Birthday of Guru Ram Das, and we got to witness the overwhelming crowd as well as an Aerobatic show

Image Credit : Richa @ Knead With Love.

Scones are the death dish in my kitchen. I have never had a lucky day with them. Which is why when fellow blogger, a sweetheart and a storyteller of her own, Richa Lulla from Knead With Love volunteered to write for the Bettering Breakfast series and said she wanted to do Scones, my heart was filled with glee and a hole started digging itself in my stomach craving for these beauties. I might have to barter some of that Herb and Green Garlic Butter with the lovely lady in exchange for few of those Scones!



I could write everything about Scones and my hard luck with them, just like I did with the Chocolate Eclairs, but I will wait and learn from Richa and maybe write a victorious post about Scones later. For now, I would love to wake up to Scones just like it is mentioned on her blog.



The beautifully written blog post is here and you can find the recipe with detailed instructions too!

I had been meaning to move to a better layout for the blog for the longest time, but call it a creative block or just pure laziness, I could not get my head around to actually sitting down and doing it. But when I did, I spent hours and hours working on it and finally I came up with something that I liked. I hope you like it too! I have enabled preview posts so that the image-heavy post gets shorter and the page loads quicker, and basically just de-cluttered a bit :) Do tell me how you like it. Okay! This pic is too yummy so quickly on to the post!

Some cravings of mine are insanely specific. Like this one. I just got reminded of that one scene from the movie 'Julie & Julia' where Julia makes the most amazing Bruschetta for her husband.

 We all love freshly baked bread. I love the aroma that fills the entire house when I bake bread, and to say that I trip on it would be an understatement. I have been a fresh bread convert since I baked my very first bread last year. But more often than not, I find myself in a time crunch and end up buying the Multi Grain bread from outside. When I received an invite for a special bread making workshop

I am emotionally attached to some food items. No, wait. I am emotionally attached to every single food item that I have had that was so good that it remained etched in my memory. Needless to say there are also instances that accompany such food memories, for example a joke that was shared at that time or the memory of being really hungry and running to the store while completely ignoring other important things like phone calls from people or even the urge to pee. I will pretend I did not just say that.

I have already blogged about the craving for Boston Cream Doughnuts and that is how the Bostom Cream Cupcakes happened. The only other thing I miss so much are Bagels, and although I have baked them at home, I admit that it is a long and tedious process and that actually makes me not wanna have them. Until I reviewed Grain and Bagel.

Most people I know are the kind who wake up and rush to work, and breakfast can only consist of either cereal for the healthy ones, or leftovers or just some biscuits or crackers along with a cup of Coffee. Especially in India, Moms make breakfast daily as per custom but with modernization and growth, more and more people shift bases due to work and despite having a fully functional kitchen, prefer not to cook either coz of sheer laziness or coz they're too used to be brought fresh breakfast by Mommy dearest. I always encourage people to make their own breakfasts. It's easy, healthy, and would make your day better than you can imagine. One such easy breakfasts to put together is one of my most favorite things to eat, an Egg an Avocado Sandwich.

Egg and Avocado Open Sandwich.
Serves 2
Recipe : Self

Ingredients : 

1 Avocado, Sliced or mashed.
1 Tomato, Sliced into rings.
2 Eggs
2 tbsp Oil
2 Bread Slices.
Butter (Optional)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Method:


Get the Ingredients ready.



Toast the bread in a toaster or on the pan. You can butter them if you like.



Make 2 Sunny Side up eggs with 1 tbsp oil, salt and pepper, one for each sandwich. I like runny yolks but suit yourself. You could also make an omelet or scramble them.


Place on a slice of bread each and top with Tomatoes and Avocado slices. I sprinkle extra pepper on top too! Top with another slice of bread if desired. Enjoy :)

Out of the few parts of India that I am a mixture of, South India is very dominant. There is South Indian food almost every Sunday at my place. Dosas and Idlis Galore!! This recipe is so unbelievably simple and yummy both at the same time! I used something called an Appam maker to make these, but you could just spread them out like Pancakes or Dosas and cook on the normal frying pan.

Appam with Coconut Chutney.
Serves 4
Recipe : Mommy Dearest.

Ingredients :

1 cup Semolina/Rava
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 Small Onion, Chopped
2 Green Chilies, Chopped
Handful of Coriander Leaves, Chopped.
4 tbsp Oil

For the Coconut Chutney: (You can also Skip the Chutney and have these with Chili Sauce instead)

1 cup grated Coconut
3 tbsp Chana Dal
3 tbsp Water
Sugar and Salt to taste
2 Red Chilies, dried.
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tbsp Curry Leaves
1 tsp Urad Dal
2 tbsp Oil

Method:

In a bowl, add the Semolina.


Add all the remaining ingredients and mix.


Let it rest for 10 minutes.


Heat up the Appam Pan or a Normal Pan  on medium high and lightly coat with Ghee/Oil






Drop the batter by spoonfuls in each pocket or use 4 tablespoons batter for each Pancake.


Let them cook for 2-3 minutes, then flip them over with a spoon/Spatula


Let them cook for another 1 minute on the other side and Voila! Repeat till all the batter is gone.





For the Chutney:

Grind together Coconut, Chana Dal, Water, Sugar and Salt.


Prepare tempering by heating oil, add Mustard seeds and when they begin to crackle, add Red Chilies and Urad dal, followed by Curry leaves. Pour over prepared Chutney. Serve with Appam!

I have become so obsessed with these breakfast posts that I keep getting ideas in my head all day long!! But one thing that I really want to cover in this series is Breakfasts from all over India. Starting from the North! How can anyone not like a heavy Chhole Bhature breakfast?

I remember when I lived in Delhi, every morning we would go out and eat Nagpal Ke Chhole Bhature, and I used to be full in just 1 of those deep fried large Bhaturas. Served with a side of Carrot Pickle, some Curd and Onions cut into rings, this makes the best heavy breakfast after which you feel fully satiated. I could have this dish more often but it's too oily! So I decided to bake the Bhaturas and I was not disappointed at all!

Chhole, Masala Aloo and Baked Bhature
Serves 4
Recipe by Sanjeev Kapoor


Ingredients:

For the Chhole:
2 cups Chickpeas soaked overnight.
1 large Onion, chopped.
1 Medium Tomato, chopped.
2 Green Chilies, Slit.
1 tbsp Red Chili Powder
2 tbsp Coriander Powder
2 tbsp Everest Chhole Masala

For the Aloo:
2 medium Potatoes, boiled and diced.
Salt
Chaat Masala

For the Baked Bhature :

2 cups Flour
1 tbsp Instant Yeast
1/2 cup Warm Water
1/2 cup Milk+Yogurt
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1 tbsp Poppy Seeds (optional)

Coriander leaves for garnish.

Method:

Cook Chhole as per instructions on the packet of Everest Chhole Masala. (I will be putting up step by step pics here once I have them, the last time there was some problem with my Camera)



Dissolve Sugar in warm water  and add yeast to it. Leave it covered for 5 minutes. In the mean time cut your Potatoes into dice.


By now your yeast must have turned nice and frothy. Something like this.


Sift the Flour and Salt together.


Add in all remaining ingredients to it.


And knead it into a nice dough ball. I left mine for an hour to rise for 30 minutes.


While the dough rises, heat up a pan with some oil, and fry the Potato Dice till nice and golden brown.


Toss them in Salt and Chaat Masala, and also some Aamchur if you desire. Set aside. You may leave them on the tava without any heat, as the residual heat would still leave them crisp.






Your dough must have risen by now.


Divide it into 8-9 Lemon sized rounds. Preheat oven to 200C/400F


Roll these out one by one into cute oblongs and place on greased baking sheet!


Let them bake for 10 minutes or till slightly golden brown, lesser than what you see in this pic.


Transfer Chhole on to a plate and top them with Masala Aloo, and sprinkle some Cilantro/Coriander for garnish. Serve with hot yummy Bhature and forget feeling heavy and lethargic later! :)

 YUM!