Pizza/Pasta Sauce

Kiddo prefers her pasta sauce to be 'red' in color. We used to get the sauce off the shelf. But the moment I open the bottle, it reeks of preservatives! Its been more than a year that I have been trying to sell white sauce. Well... If I have to get out of my slumber & make 'red' sauce for Kiddo, you can very well gauge my skills in marketing stuffs to her! :-/

This was how I went about with the red colored pizza/pasta sauce for Kiddo.

Tomatoes - blanched, peeled & deseeded - 4nos
Garlic - 6-7 pods
Mint leaves - 2-3 leaves.... Mint is not part of the original recipe. I added it coz I had it & it was fresh O:-) 
Cilantro
Dried parsley, basil & oregano
Salt
Sugar
Olive oil

Grind the blanched tomatoes, garlic, mint & cilantro in a blender. Heat a pan. Cook the blended tomatoes in olive oil. Add the remaining items according to your taste.

4 tomatoes were sufficient for us to make a medium pizza at home.

This combination has been certified by Kiddo. So, until she gets bored... I will go with this... O:-) 

Prawns, Mango & Drumstick in Coconut Gravy

One of my all time favourite 'gravy' to go with the boiled rice from Kerala is the 'chemmeen manga muringakka' curry...And, each time my mother weaves her magic in the kitchen with it, I'm hit by a wave of nostalgia! My paternal grandmother was the most awesome cook I've ever come across in my life...she could turn even the most humble ingredient into the most exotic dish...but unfortunately, we were robbed of the culinary excellence way too early...and this particular dish is no different...however many times Amma and I've cooked this at home, we have never ever been able to replicate the taste that Ammooma brought into it...So, here goes my tribute to the greatest chef I've known....

Ingredients

Medium Sized Prawns - about 10 nos, deveined and each cut into about 3 pcs
Raw Mango  - A small one, cut into slices (alter based on taste)
Drumstick - 2 nos, cut into pcs
Water - 1/2 cup

To Grind
Shallots - 4
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1.5-2 tsp (if you need more heat, increase)
Coconut - 3/4 cup

To Temper
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Shallots - 7-8, cut into thin circles
Dry Red Chilly - 4-5
Curry leaves
Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Grind the ingredients in the "To Grind" section with little water. It should neither be too fine nor too coarse.
2. Transfer the ground mix into an earthern cookware (meen chatty), if you have one...or any utensil of your choice
3. Add 1/2 cup of water, bring to a boil.
4. Add the prawns, drumsticks and mango into this, and allow the mixture to boil for a while.
5. Reduce the flame to a minimum, cover and cook until the prawns, drumsticks and mangoes are cooked through.
6. Simmer so that the gravy thickens, and turn off the stove.
7. Finally, take a small pan & splutter the mustard seeds. Throw in the dry red chilly and curry leaves. Stir for about 30 seconds. Add the finely chopped shallot and fry it well until they turn a crispy golden color. Take off the stove and add to the curry. Serve hot with rice.

Orange Cake

My love for freshly baked cakes are as old as me...and if they have a citrus flavour, nothing like it :) My search for the perfect Orange Cake when I reached here. To say the cake turned out super yummy would be plain understatement. The slices vanished before I could actually cut them up!!!!
Followed the recipe exactly and the result was fabulous!!!

Thank you Meeta for a killer recipe!

Peeenzaaaaaaaaaaa!

Well, that's what my now three year old calls a pizza! She's a picky eater...very difficult to please little girl! Of late, she chants "peenza" every time she sees a pizza delivery boy in the apartment complex...so the other day, we tried to make them at home...I must say, they were way above the store bought ones in terms of quantity and taste...altho' I'm not really sure if the pizza base that we make is the authentic one...This recipe was passed onto my mom from my aunt!

Ingredients:

Pizza Base:
1. All purpose flour (maida) - 2 cups
2. Wheat flour (atta) - 2 cups
3. Eggs - 3
4. Yeast - approx 1 tsp,  proofed in warm milk (about 1/4 cup) and sugar
5. Oil - 1/2 cup
6. Salt - To taste

Mix all the above and knead well. The more you knead, the better your dough will turn out to be.Cover and  leave the dough to rise. Knead again after about 2-3 hours. The dough rises in about 5-6 hrs. It should ideally rise to about double the original. Knead again just before use.

Toppings:
I use just about any vegetable/meat that I can lay my hands on.
This particular time, I used the following -
1. Capsicum - 1 cut into slices
2. Tomato - 1 cut into slices

3. Onion - 1 cut into slices
4. Baby corn - 10, halved
5. Sweet corn - about 1/4 cup
6. Chicken Sausage - about 1/4 cup
7. Grilled Chicken -cut thinly, about 1/4 cup
8. Pizza Sauce - 2 tbsp
9. Mozzarella cheese - 1 cup

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees before you start arranging your pizza :)
2. Bring out your pizza tray and lightly oil it.
3. In your pizza tray, roll out the base using your hands (you can chose to make your crust thin or thick, depending on how you like your pizza). My tray yields a family size pizza, which can be cut into 6 pcs.
4. Spread the pizza sauce evenly across the base.
5. Arrange the topping on the base depending on your sensibilities :)
6. Finally, top it all up generously with the mozarella.....
7. Pop into the oven and bake for approx 13-14 mins.
8. Once done, cut into slices and bite into a piece of bliss!

Pic depicts the pizza just before it was popped into the oven for baking

Lamingtons....

I love cakes...not the store bought ones...but I am no expert at baking either...and even if I were, the current numbers on my weighing scale discourgaes any kind of sweets :)
And, the husband enjoys only the "plum cake" and daughter needs only a chocolate cake...!
The plum cake isnt an easy bake and chocolates were beginning to get boring and that's when I came across this lovely lovely recipe from Ria's collection...
Baked it following the recipe to the T and they came out perfectly...My cousin, who was on a visit from Aussie land at the time, said these tasted exactly like how they do in Australia!
Thanks Ria for sharing the recipe....

Baked Veg Balls

It was school closing at my daughter's play school. Each parent had to send some "healthy" snack with their child so that they learn to share :)
My plan was to make "Oven Baked Potato Cheese Breaded Bites" , adapted from Deeba's blog . Needless to say the plan remained a plan, because I realized that there was no cheese in the house only in the morning :D Smart, ain't I ???
So, I adapted the entire recipe. What remained of her original (and superbly tasty) recipe was just the mashed potatoes, green chilly and the baking part :D, the rest I improvised :D

Ingredients:

1. Potatoes - 3 medium, pressure cooked and mashed
2. Carrot - 1 small, grated
3. Corn - 1/2 cup, boiled
4. Onion - 1 small, finely chopped
5. Green chilly - 1, de-seeded and chopped fine.
6. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
7. Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
8. Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
9. Salt - To taste
10. Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup

Method:

1. In a pan, heat a little oil and saute the onions until translucent. Throw in the chopped green chilly and grated carrot, saute for a minute.
2. To this add the mashed potato and cooked corn. Mix well.
3. Add turmeric powder, chilly powder, garam masala and salt to taste. Add a tea-spoon of water so that all the powders mix well with the vegetables.
4. Saute for a couple of minutes until all the powders and vegetables have blended well together.
5. Take off the stove and cool for a while.
6. Make tiny bite sized balls using the mixture. Drizzle some oil on each ball and ensure that they are evenly coated with oil.
7. Roll the balls in bread crumbs
8. To bake, grease a baking tray with oil and place the veg balls in it.
9. Bake at 180 degrees for about 40 mins until the balls turn a nice golden color.
10. Use your imagination to decorate before serving. This can either be served with ketchup or dip.

Vellarikka (English Cucumber) Kalan

The mister carries lunch to office and it's quite a challenge to dish up something new every day (Ok, this never happens...but I try ;)) It helps that he isnt as food savvy as I am. So, any simple gravy and a dry side dish would make him immensely happy :)
Today it was this simple vellarikka kalan :)

Ingredients:

Vellarikka  -- 1 small, cut into cubes
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste
Curd - 250 ml

To Grind:

Grated Coconut -- 3 tbsps
Cumin seeds - a pinch
Green chilly - 2-3

Grind the above into a fine paste.

Seasoning:
1. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp
2. Dry red chilly - 2-3
3. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
4. Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method:
1. In a vessel, cook the cucumber in about 1/4 cup of water. Add salt, turmeric and chilly powder as well. Cook covered on low flame until the cucumber is well cooked.
2. Add the ground mixture to the cooked cucumber, increase flame and cook until all the water has evaporated.
3. While the cucumber gets cooked, whip up the curd nicely.
4. Reduce the flame, add the curd, stir continuously and bring it close to a boil. You have to take the curry off the stove just before it boils.
5. To garnish, take a pan & splutter a few mustard seeds. Throw in the dry red chilly, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Fry for a few seconds and add to the curry.

This is a simple no-frill dish, and can be prepared rather easily.