Curried Vegetable Pot Pie in Ramekins

Vegetable pot pie is one of the items offered in my toddler's daycare lunch menu. She does not care to eat that as much as mac and cheese or pizza! She makes so much fuss to eat rice, rasam curry etc but put a slice of pizza in front of her, it will be gobbled up with no squeaks! Ever since I saw that on her menu, I wanted to recreate the same one at home. I made them in small ramekins so it would be a perfect after school snack for my older one! It's a great way to clear your freezer or left over vegetables. Puff pastry sheet makes it look so grand and would be a family pleaser.

If you want a real kicker, spice it up more!

Get Ready: (makes 3 small ramekins)

• 1/2 Puff pastry sheet 
• 1/2 cup onion chopped
• 1 & 1/2 cup Mixed veggies chopped ( used carrots, potatoes, beans, corn, cauli florets and zucchini)
• 1 tsp sambar powder/ curry powder
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp butter
• 1& 1/2 tsp all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 1/3 cup cheddar cheese ( optional)

For the egg was ( optional)

1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water

Go

• Thaw your puff pastry sheet as per package instructions. cut 1/2 from one sheet and freeze the remainder tightly covered in foil
• On a floured surface spread the sheet, seal any cracks with a little water and cut them into rectangles.
• Pre heat oven to 400F
• In a pan add the butter
• saute the onions till soft.
• Add the veggies, sambar powder, salt to taste. Cover and cook on low fire till they are soft, yet a little crisp.
• Sprinkle and flour on the veggies and saute for few seconds.
• Add the milk and let it come to a boil. this will give a thick gravy base.
• Add the cheddar cheese and turn the heat off.
• Spoon the mixture evenly into ramekins filling most of the ramekins.
• Cover the ramekins with puff pastry sheet and tuck the edges.
• Give a quick egg wash and bake till golden for 12- 15 mins.

You can make a slit on the top to vent. In my picture I did not slit the one in yellow ramekin and it has this beautiful mount compared to the one next to it which was slit.

 

Sobha of Good food  was so sweet to share some awesome awards with me. Thanks a million girl and you rock!

I am happy to pass it on to all my blogger friends as I love you all!

Thanks again Sobha for your kind gesture!

Desi Lasagna

We had a great vacation in Miami, florida and came back home today. I will post some infor on travel to miami beach soon. I made this lasagna over the weekend before travelling and wanted to share it with you all.

I have been making this version of lasagna for the past few years. My first taste of lasagna was from my cousin Rama in UK. since then, I have tried many versions and finally nailed it to this one. I have spiked it with a lot of indian ingredients, trust me I did not add sambar powder here...!

A true italian may laugh at this version, but hey, this works out best for me and my family.

Get Ready: ( serves 3-4)

• 1 medium onion
• 1 clove of garlic crushed
• 1 zucchini diced
• 1/2 red pepper diced
• 1 carrot diced
• one handful of peas
• 1/4 egg plant diced
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 or 1/2 jalapeno pepper slit
• 1/2 jar marinara sauce ( i used a large bottle)
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• pepper powder to taste
• salt to taste
• 6 no cook lasagna noodles
• 2 tbsp oilve oil
• Parmesan and shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tbsp of butter

Go:

• In a large sauce pan, add oilve oil.
• Once hot add the onions and fry till tranaslucent.
• Add the garlic, ginger garlic paste, jalapeno and fry till aromatic.
• Add all the diced vegetables, salt to taste and saute for a few minutes till they are soft, still crunchy.
• Add the marinara sauce, salt to taste and cook till everything comes to a boil.
• Turn the heat off and set aside.
• add cilantro to the ricotta cheese and mix well till it's well incorporated. add pepper powder according to taste and keep the cheese mixture aside.
• Eventhough the lasagna noodles are no cook, I cook them them for a few mins. you can skip this step if you want to.
• Cook lasagna noodles for a few mins till they are aldente.  lift them up care fully, brush with oilve oil and keep them on a plate.
• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Grease a 2 qt baking dish with non stick spray
• add a layer of tomato veggie sauce at the bottom.
• Arrange the lasagna noodle on top of the sauce.
• Spread the cheese mixture on top of the noodles.
• repeat layers of noodles, sauce and cheese and fill up to the top.
• Sprinkle both cheeses on the top layer.
• add pieces of butter on top of the cheese to give a nice golden crust.

• Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 40 -45 mins.
• Check around 30 -35 mins to see if the cheese is bubbling. then remove foil and bake for another 10 mins to get the golden crusty top.
• let it sit in the oven for 20 mins before you serve.

The steps may seem a lot of work, but actually very easy to put together.
Any left overs ( if present) taste awesome for the next day!.


I am sending this for Fusion recipes  guest hosted by priyasnowserving and  Pari's foodelicious
I would also like to thank priya for passing a cute  namesake award! Love ya!

Jay of tasty appetite was so sweet to share two awards with me. I am so humbled by all your gesture and would like to give you a big hug!



I would like to pass these awards to all my friends, so please fell free to pick up!

Enjoy your lasagna!

Microwave therattipal

"Therattipal"! It is such a wonderful south indian milk sweet, similar to Khoa I guess! it takes a lot of time to make it on the stove top,as you reduce the milk with sugar and until it almost crumbles!

 I made this in literally 3-4 mins, thanks to the best thing in the world aka "Condensed Milk"
I used to beg my mom to lick that milkmaid tin back home. Condensed milk was used on special occasions to make payasam, when you need that rich taste.
Now my son begs me to lick the can!
To make this therattipal, all you need is a deep bowl and few ingredients!
The cooking time depends on the power level of your microwave. It took me 2 mins and 10 seconds

Get ready:

• 1 can condensed milk
• 1 & 1/2 tbsp yogurt
• 2 tsp Ghee

Go:

• In a micro wave safe bowl, add the condensed milk, yogurt, ghee and mixwell.
• Cook uncovered  for 1 min, open the MW door, stir well
• Cook again for 1 min
• By this time it will start not to stick to the container
• Stir well and cook in increments of 10 seconds till it leaves the sides well.
• Let it cool and enjoy!

Leena of nammaruchi was so sweet to share an award with me! I am so honored and would like to covey my special thanks to her. Do check out her blog as she has some really good recipes!

Feel free to pick this award from here as everyone is my friend!

Curried Shell Pasta salad with Yogurt & an Award

The classic macaroni salad uses Mayo as the main ingredient in the dressing. Mayo has eggs and more calories to contribute!

So why not substitute mayo with yogurt? The Greeks and Lebanese use yogurt with pasta, so why not me?

So, I did it!  This  is an excellent, to die for pasta salad with home made yogurt. It was so creamy and did not fail in the taste. This salad tasted even better once chilled.
So here is a quick and easy pasta salad for any time of the day, for those busy bees out there! I also threw a hand full of black eyed beans left over from the previous day.

Get ready:

• 2 hand full of shell pasta (dry one), cooked aldente
• 1/4 onion chopped
• 1/4 red pepper diced
• 1/2 samll jalapeno
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp sambhar powder
• 3-4 tbsp low fat yogurt
• Cilantro 1 tbsp chopped.
• salt to taste.

Go:

• In a bowl mix the yogurt, cilantro and salt to taste. Keep aside
• Keep the cooked pasta aside.
• In a pan, add oil. When hot saute the onions and jalapeno till the onions are translucent.
• Add the red pepper, black eyed beans and sambhar powder and saute for a few minutes.
• Turn off the heat.
• Toss the sauted onion, pepper mix  into  the pasta and yogurt dressing .
• Serve chilled.

PS: You may also add some grated ginger or green peas as per your taste. the options are endless!

Akila of Learning to cook passed me this award. I am so humbled and would like to give her a big thank you. She has an excellent collection of recipes and please check it out.

I would like to share this with

 Food For Thought!!

priya mitharwal
Satya
Kiran
Ragini
Priya Suresh
Aipi
Prema
Jay
Sameena

Onion Pakoras/ Pakoda

It has been raining here over the last 2 days and the mercury has fallen down. It's gloomy outside and I was craving for soemthing crunchy to go with my elaichi chai. Made these pakodas or pakoras however you want to call them for my tea time snack.

Let it rain, let it rain....I have my pakodas to enjoy!

Get Ready:

• 1 cup Besan/ gram flor
• 1/4 cup Rice flour
• 1 pinch baking soda
• 1 tsp Saunf/ fennel seeds
• salt to taste
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno chopped
• 4-5 Curry leaves torn into small pieces
• 1 tbsp Olive oil, hot
• 1-2 tsp of water

Oil to deep fry

Go:

• Mix the chopped onions, jalapeno, curry leaves, cashews, saunf, salt to taste well with the besan and rice flour.
• Pour the hot olive oil on top of the dry flour, onion etc mix. It will kind of make a noise and bubble.
• Watch your hand and mix them all well.
• It will not be moist and look a bit crumbly.
• Add little water and mix them all well. The right consistency is the dough should be still crumbly, yet sticky enough to make a small ball.
• Heat oil in a deep pan. To check if it's hot, add a small drop of the pakora dough, it should immediately rise up.
• Drop small balls into the oil, and deep fry them till golden.

Enjoy with hot tea.

I would like to thank jay for giving this participation award for letz reelish paneer. Thanks  Jay!

Manga Kari/ Quick Mango Pickle

Manga (mango in tamil) kari is a quick and easy mango pickle made from raw mango. This is an authentic kerala dish. My mom and grandma always made this. It tastes wonderful with curd/ yogurt rice. I some times eat it with out any thing, just by itself.

You need crunchy, but not too sour mangoes for this. This pickle does not have any vineger or too much oil and hence does not last long.So make in small batches and enjoy.

What you need:

1 cup mango chopped into small pieces
2& 1/2 tbsp red chilli powder (you can increase this to your spice level)
2 tsp salt or according to taste

For tempering/ tadka:
1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 th tsp Hing/ asafetida.
1 red chilli, torn apart

How I did it:

• Add salt and chilli powder to the chopped mango and let it sit for about 20 -30 mins.
• This incorporates all the flavors into the mango.
• Do your salt and spice test and adjust accordingly.
• In a pan, add oil and let it heat up.
• Do the tadka with mustard seeds, Hing and redchilli.
• Enjoy pickle with a bowl of yogurt rice or parathas.

I would like to thank Akheela  for this wonderful participation award.

Pineapple kesari & Award time!

Kesari is a very common sweet in the south. In those dinasour days when arranged marriages were very common, like the one I had.  kesari was a staple sweet on the menu when a boy comes to see the girl and their family for the first time.

The belief was the first encounter should begin with sweet memories....if people were expecting beautiful ladies clad in a white angel like clothes to be singing, sorry doesn't happen that way!
Well, it did not happen that way for me though :((

If any one had better experiences please fell free to share!

Anyway enough of my blah.. blah.. Lets get tour kesari.

This is a straight forward kesari with pineapple in it. I guess you can make any fruit flavored kesari wtih mango, banana,strawberry etc...

What I used:

1/2 cup rawa or semolina
1/2 cup pineapple pureed with small chunks ( i used i cup of chopped pineapples to make this)
2 cups hot water water
Yellow food color or very little amount of kesari color. (hard to measure, eyeball till your desired color is obtained)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup ghee or clarified butter + 2 tsp for roasting the rawa
1 tbsp broken cashew pieces
3- 4 green cardamom seeds powdered.

How I did it:

• In a pan  ( preferrably non stick) roast rawa till light brown or fragrant.
• Add 2 cups of water to the rawa and cook till the rawa is done well. The reason I used hot water is to prevent the rawa from forming clumps.
• Add the kesari color.
• Add the pureed pineapple mixture.
• Once the rawa is well cooked add the sugar and stir well.
• You may notice that the mix becomes thin, bit that's normal.
• Keep stirring or cooking for a few minutes.
• In a nother pan by the side aheat ghee and fry the cashews till golden.
• Add the ghee to the rawa and mix and cook till the kesari does not stick to the pan.
• With non stick pan, it's kinda hard to say, when it does not stick.
• The trick is take a small piece of kesari without burning your fingers and try to roll into a small ball. If it does not stick to your hands, it's done.
• Add cardamom powder and garnish with any nuts you want.

You'll feel a little tartness from the pineapple, but that's what is special about this kesari.

I am so happy and honored to receive this loving blogger award from satya.  This is my first award and i am on cloud 9! She is an excellent blogger and brings out dishes so innovatively! Thank you so much Satya!

I would like to share this with 3 bloggers who admire a lot! It was hard to choose 3 people as there are some excellent bloggers out there!

Mriganayani needs no introduction to bloggers out there. She is amazing and I lover her attention to details. i admire her patience to take step by step pics of evrything that she cooks. I can never do that bcoz when I start to cook, eberyone in my family need me for something or the other.

Ediblegarden has been my teacher about some steps in photography! Constantly used to visit her site before I started blogging! She has really simple and excellent recipes in her space.

Redchillies amazes me with her beautiful pictures and simple and elegant recipes. Again she was one bloggers who inspired me to start food blogging.

Thanks for all your support and encouragements!

BTW I took pics today with my i phone! How does it look??