Pasta in White Cream Sauce

Serves two.

Quick to put together and delicious to taste, it isn't exactly the healthiest of foods. I don't have a picture, but I've borrowed one from image search.

You need -

2 tbsp butter

1 cup milk

2 tbsp flour/maida

1/2tsp salt and pepper

2 cups of boiled macaroni or pasta

1 tsp oregano

What you need to do -

- In a pan, heat the butter and add the milk, salt and pepper

- Once heated, add the flour and stir briskly to avoid any lumps (add more milk if you'd like the cream to be thinner)

- Add the boiled macaroni/pasta and mix until adequately cooked

- Garnish with oregano seasoning

Serve hot with garlic bread!

Tri Color Veggies

Serves two.

This is a side dish that goes well with rasam & rice, and even dal and roti. It's easy and quick to make and makes boring vegetables (re: carrot, beans) interesting!

You need -

1 cup of chopped up beans, carrot and potato, each

1 tsp cooking oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

Salt, pepper, garam masala to taste

Coriander to garnish

What you need to do -

- In a cooker, steam the veggies for ten minutes - it's easier to cook this way and takes up less oil

- Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds until they're adequately brown

- Put in the steamed vegetables and add salt, pepper and garam masala to taste

- Cook for another 5-10 minutes depending on how crisp you want it, and then garnish with freshly chopped coriander

Cilantro & Mint Risotto

When I was in Rome in June '08, I had the best spinach pasta ever! So, I decided to try it out at home, but with a few variations. I made a cilantro-mint version of it, with easily available ingredients, and I must say, it came out better than I expected.

You need -

1 cup rice (I used regular white rice, but you could use brown rice or the original arborio rice)

1 cup of mint leaves

1 cup of coriander/cilantro leaves

1/2 an onion

2 tsps olive oil

Some garlic salt

1 cheese cube/slice or 1 small cup of Parmesan cheese

5 tbs of white wine

What you have to do -

- Mince the onions and sautee in the olive oil until it turns translucent

- Add some garlic salt and regular salt to taste

- Grind the mint and cilantro into a rough paste and add to the mix on the flame

- After a minute, add the raw rice

- Allow rice to cook and after it's half done, add the white wine

- When the rice is almost done, add the cheese and wait for it to fully cook

- Garnish with freshly chopped mint/cilantro

Serve hot!

Aloo Jeera

Serves two.

I love the flavor of ginger and coriander. Typically, you wouldn't make this side dish with these ingredients. But, I do. Feel free to make without.

You need -

4 small-medium sized potatoes

Some red chili powder, garam masala, asafoetida, salt to taste

Cumin seeds for garnishing

Freshly chopped ginger and coriander

What you have to do -

- Pressure cook/Microwave the potatoes until they're soft enough to be eaten directly

- In a kadai, heat some oil and add the cumin seeds, asafoetida and chopped ginger

- Once it turns dark brown, add the chopped pieces of soft potatoes

- Allow the oil to coat each piece gently - do not add more than a total of 2 tsps of oil unless you want it crunchy

- Mix the salt, garam masala and chili powder in a spoon of water and then sprinkle on to the potatoes

- Mix it up well and cook for another 3-4 minutes while ensuring that no one side burns

- Garnish with freshly chopped coriander for an interesting flavor

Serve with -

- Rotis & dal

- Rasam & rice

Spaghetti

Serves two.

This turned out to be surprisingly easy to make and is quite fulfilling as a dinner.

You need -

Good quality wheat spaghetti

2 tomatoes

1 onion

1 bell pepper/capsicum

Some oregano/basil seasoning, salt to taste

Some olive oil

Chili flakes, cheese (optional, be recommended)

What you have to do -

- Boil a portion of the spaghetti in hot water until it turns soft - be careful not to break the strands

- Make a paste of the onions in a blender

- In a kadai, let the paste turn golden brown by heating in a small tsp of olive oil

- Similarly, make a paste of the tomatoes and add to the mix

- Once it's cooked adequately, add the capsicum (chopped lengthwise)

- Add salt and the oregano

- Add the soft spaghetti and let it cook together for 4-5 minutes

- Add chili flakes (if you want it spice) and Parmesan cheese (use regular cheese slices if you want it to melt fast)

Serve hot!

Serve with -

Garlic bread & salads

Rajma Masala

Serves two.

Rajma Masala was the standard Sunday family lunch when I was growing up. It's not very easy to make, but is definitely worth all the effort!

You need -

1.5 cups of red rajma beans

Finely chopped - 2 tomatoes, 2 onions, some ginger and chillies, coriander

Garam masala and salt

What you have to do -

- Soak the beans in 8 times the amount of water for 24 hours and then pressure cook for 10-15 whistles depending on how soft you want the beans

- In a kadai, sautee the onions, ginger and chillies in 2tsps of oil until golden brown

- Add the tomatoes and salt to taste

- Once it turns soft, add 2 spoons of garam masala, and the rajma with the water, and cook until the water evaporates to make it as dry/wet as you prefer it

- Garnish with fresh finely chopped onions and coriander

Best served with -

- Basmati rice

- Rotis

Enjoy on a cold rainy Sunday afternoon!

Arbi / Chepankazhangu (Colocasia) Fry

You need -

A bowl full of Colocasia / Arbi/ Chepankazhangu

Some chilli masala, garam masala, rasam powder, turmeric and salt

5-6 spoons of oil

What you have to do -

- Steam the unpeeled arbi in a pressure cooker until the whistle goes off 4 times

- Take it out after the cooker cools and and peel the arbi

- Chop it up into similar sized pieces and add the masala powders

- Shallow fry the arbi in a pan until it turns dark-brown and crisp

Serve with rasam, rice and papad!

Channa Masala

Serves four.

I'd never made Channa Masala before and I decided to give it a shot. It turned out to be surprisingly easy and so gave me a great sense of accomplishment.

You need -

3 cups of Kabuli Channa

3 tomatoes

2 onions

Chopped Chillies & Coriander

Channa Masala Powder

Coriander Powder

Garam Masala

Salt

What you have to do -

- Soak the Channa overnight in a bowl full of water - before cooking, drain and wash the Channa

- Cook in a pressure cooker for 5 whistles on high flame

- Chop up the onions and tomatoes in small cubes

- In a Kadai, sautee the onions in oil until golden brown and then add tomatoes and chillies

- Add salt, 1 tsp. Garam Masala, 1 tsp. Coriander Powder and 2tsp. Channa Masala Powder (add more Channa Masala Powder if you want more flavor)

- Add the steamed Channa into the mix and add water based on how dry/wet you like the Channa and then cook for another 15 minutes

- Garnish with chopped coriander

Serve with -

- Rotis

- Basmati Rice

- Poori

Indianized Pasta & Garlic Bread

Serves two.

I don't have an oven or a toaster, but still find this to be a very easy-to-make dinner - using just the stove, a kadai and a pan. It takes me about 15 minutes.

(Taken using my phone one evening - please excuse the quality of the picture!)

Pasta:

You need -

2 cups of macaroni

1/2 pack of tomato puree

1 onion

2 tomatoes

Garlic salt, oregano, salt, pepper

Cheese slices (optional, but recommended)

Coriander (optional)

What you have to do -

- Boil the mac until it's soft - add some salt and a drop of oil in the water to keep it from sticking to one another

- In a kadai, sautee chopped up the onion and tomatoes, and add half a pack of puree and wait for it to bubble

- Add salt, pepper and the garlic salt and mix

- Then, add the boiled mac and mix well

- Put in the cheese slices and watch it boil into the mix

- After letting the mac absorb the 'gravy,' add some oregano, garlic salt, chopped up coriander, and then take it off the flame

Garlic Bread:

You need -

4 slices of bread (brown/multi-grain if you want to make it healthy)

Garlic Salt

Butter

Grated cheese (optional)

Chopped green chillies

What you have to do -

- Apply butter on both sides of the slices of bread and sprinkle with garlic salt

- Heat on the tawa on a low flame and wait for both sides to turn golden brown (to make it crispy, turn the flame off and leave the slices on the hot tawa for a short while)

- Sprinkle the grated cheese and green chillies on top and wait for it to form a crust (with the heat of the toast)

Dry Capsicum Masala

Serves two.

This is amongst the easiest veggies to make - it takes me less than 7 minutes and goes very well with rasam, rice and papad.

You need -

1 large capsicum

1 teaspoon oil

Some salt, garam masala, cumin seeds

What you have to do -

- Heat the oil with cumin seeds

- Add large chopped pieces of capsicum

- Sautee for 2 mins and add salt and garam masala

- After another 3-4 minutes, take it off the stove

Kannadiga Rasam (Deepsy's mum's recipe)

I've spent most of my school days in Deepika's house. Deepsy's mum makes a really different kind of rasam and I could never quite figure out what was so unique about the taste. As you know, I spent the last weekend at her place, and this time, I watched her in action. Here's what the final product looked like:

I took this picture in a hurry, so it's not very good - but it's a start.

You need -

2 cups boiled dal/lentil

Rasam powder

Jaggery

2 tomatoes

Tamarind

1 piece of green chilli

Jeera/cumin seeds

Mustard

Coriander

Curry Leaves

Asafoetida

What you have to do -

- Put the tamarind in hot water and boil

- Add chopped tomatoes and continue to boil

- Add the rasam powder, the single chilli, a pinch of salt, a small piece of jaggery and continue to boil until fully cooked

- Add the two cups of boiled dal

- Boil it together for 5 minutes and take it off the flame

- Burst mustard, jeera, curry leaves and asafoetida in hot oil and garnish rasam

- Finely chop coriander and sprinkle on the rasam

Hummus

I spent my weekend in Bangalore, with Deepika's family. Deepsy has been one of my closest friends since school, and she was getting engaged. I obviously had to be there for it!

While she was away working on Friday, I spent a lot of time with her younger sister, Surekha. And, we got to talking about many things - caricatures to photos, the River dance to Irish authors, and recipes to cuisines. That's when she asked me about Lebanese food and, specifically, hummus. I love hummus and would recommend it anytime, to anyone.

Surey, if you're reading, this one's for you.

You need -

500gms chickpeas/channa that has been soaked overnight & boiled (drained)

lemon juice from 2 lemons

4 spoons of water

1 teaspoon salt

Half cup tahini (put 50 gms black sesame seeds, few drops of sesame oil, some salt and water in a blender to make tahini paste)

2 cloves garlic—roughly chopped (optional)

Some cumin seeds (optional)

and a blender!

What you have to do -

- Put all items in a blender and blend until you get a smooth paste

- Put in a bowl, and garnish by sprinkling some chilli powder and cumin powder on the top

- Also create a groove in the center and pour a spoon of olive oil (it should look like this)

- Put it in the fridge for a bit, and serve cold!

To complete the meal, serve with -

- Salad: Toss some cucumber, tomatoes and bell peppers in a spoon of olive oil, a dash of lime, some salt and pepper

- Bread: pita, roti, naan or toast

- Falafels

This makes for a healthy and light dinner, but needs some advance shopping and planning.

PS - If you're looking for a good Lebanese platter with fantastic hummus in Hyderabad, I strongly recommend '4 seasons' at either Tolichowki or Kondapur.

Rasam (molaga tanni)

Credit for this recipe goes to my grandma.

You need -

A cup of boiled dal/lentil

2 tomatoes

Some coriander and curry leaves

Rasam Powder (if your grandma doesn't make it for you, you can buy MTR)

What you have to do -

- Boil 5 cups of water

- Chop up tomatoes lengthwise and allow it to boil with the water

- Add the cup of dal/lentil and allow to boil for another few minutes

- Add salt to taste, and two spoons of rasam powder and boil for another 10 minutes

- Take off the stove and add chopped coriander

- Heat a spoon of oil, add mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves and add to rasam

Serve with hot rice, any dry curry and roasted papad - and you have your quintessential Tamil meal!