Sukhe Aloo

Recipes that are super quick and take barely few minutes are always on my menu list. As a working woman, these recipes are a great rescue, real time savers. Mondays through Fridays are time when I breeze through my kitchen, washing, cleaning, cooking as fast as I can, to make time for packing lunch or dinner for both of us and rush to work. You can imagine our mornings like a movie played in a fast forward mode! Sometimes, it's a crazy rush we deal with!

Cooking has to be full fledged, be it any day. Especially if it's lunch... rice or rotis, a dal, a vegetable subzi, papad, pickle, yogurt... yes I love all of it on my plate. And it's only when I see my plate full in it's standard fashion, would I be completely satisfied.

With such routine that's streamlined by me, I don't like to bend my schedule when it comes to food. For those days when I am in hurry, I have a few recipes which are boon to me. They are quick, easy, require the basic ingredients off the shelf. A few ingredients I always have in stock are masala powders like fenugreek, cumin and coriander powder which add great flavor and body to recipes which are simple and basic, yet extremely flavorsome. Potatoes, though not my favorites, are always in my stock for their good shelf life, also a great rescue on days when I run out of greens and vegetables in my kitchen.

One such recipe which I humbly learnt from my mother is this Sukhe Aloo or simply translated to Dry Spiced Potatoes have always been our favorites.

Sukhe Aloo

INGREDIENTS

2 large potatoes, chopped to cubes
1 tsp good quality asafeotida/hing powder
1 tsp fenugreek/methi powder
1 tbsp coriander/dhaniya powder
1 tsp jeera/cumin powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves & lime to garnish

DIRECTIONS

You may either use pre-boiled and diced potatoes or freshly cut potatoes. If you use boiled potatoes, the oil consume is lesser compared to the latter. If you have boiled potatoes at hand, this makes the recipe much faster, taking less than 5 mins to complete the recipe.

In a frying pan, heat a tbsp of oil. When the oil is hot, add in all the dry spice powders, the hing, methi powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder and quickly stir fry for 15-20 sec. Don't let the spices burn, else they will turn bitter and lose their flavors. Add in the potatoes and coat them well with these spices. In case you use boiled potatoes, stir fry everything for about 2-3 minutes till the potatoes heat through and the spices coat the potatoes well. If using freshly cut potatoes, you may add another teaspoon of oil. Cover and cook for few minutes till they are done. Add a dash of lime and garnish with coriander leaves.

Just a few dry spice powders go into making this dish exotic and flavorsome. Do not miss on hing and coriander powder, it's such a perfect medley of flavors. The spice coating on the potatoes take a matter of 2 minutes to be put together, creating an aromatic dish which you will love for sure. Pair with any simple dal and these go great with rotis and rice likewise. Enjoy!

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Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

Yet another time of the year when spirits soar high and love is in the nip of air. Town is painted red, roses and hearts have flooded markets in bounty.

Here we have the coveted Valentine’s Day! And here's me wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

It's Monday and my workplace has been painted in colors of red to keep the Valentine spirits alive. Been asked to dress in shades of reds, a walk into the office and red and white heart shaped balloons tucked into AC vents, hanging from the ceiling have surely got us into a mood. Roses distributed by the Fun club committee at my workplace sit adorning my bay. This helped trigger a gossip amongst colleagues, who's seeing whom, where, what, blah, blah, blah, a great way to boost energy and lighten the Monday blues! Who doesn't love gossip anyways? ;)

My DH loves surprising me. I am a spoilt sport at it. Earlier the day, DH did surprise me with a bouquet of roses, something I had least expected, considering both hardly discussed if we would indeed celebrate the day together in anyway. Both had to rush off to work for a busy day we had to look ahead to. An unexpected me stood bare handed only to receive them. None to return :(

Color red amazes my eyes, it's bright and peppy. Fiery as it is, it has a calmer effect on thy self. The color brings in life, passion, energy... perfectly right for the significance of love. If not a celebration for the day, I am happy to be soaked in it's colors for the moment.

Last year I had the time at hand to bake a cake for two. This year was different. I had in mind to bake something special, but couldn't make the time called for it. Hence these simple Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes are great for sudden rescue. A decadent solace!

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar (plus or minus a tbsp depending on your taste)
1 cup milk/soy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree C. Arrange the paper liner into the muffin cups.

Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, baking powder, baking soda in one bowl. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, add in all the wet ingredients like the unsalted butter, milk and vanilla extract.

The recipe is fairly simple. Add the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently fold till its well combined. Transfer the cake mix into the prepared muffin cups. Bake approximately for 20 mins or till done.

The cake is not too sweet, just right for our tastes. Taste the batter and add in more sugar if preferred. The cake almost has a texture of sponge cake. Moist, yet extremely soft and chocolaty. Add in a few chocolate chips to the batter and it will leave you totally amazed. Probably a topping would have made these more sinful. But who cares? These were decadent as is. Small bites, yet absolutely heavenly!

I am almost mastering the art of eggless baking. A few flip flops, a few successful attempts, I am getting to know the knick knacks of a successful eggless baking. It's been fun and I am enjoying it thoroughly for sure. I hope this makes a great treat for your Valentine and you too. Enjoy!

I am sending these to the Monthly Mingle theme "Small Bites – Soul Food for your Loved Ones”, hosted this month by Astrid @Paulchen’s Food Blog.

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Penne all'arrabiata (pasta in tomato chilli sauce)

Cooking at home is mostly Indian, a mix of both North Indian and South Indian cuisines. There's little scope to experiment with recipes on week days, since I owe time outside home and kitchen too. It may vary depending on what's on stock in my pantry... from being Rajma Chawal one day to Anna Saaru the next day. My weekends however are reserved to extensive work outs in kitchen... experimenting with more diverse flavors, cuisines that go beyond our comfort cooking, it's an attempt to recreate my favorite cuisines in my own kitchen, be it Indian or international.

Italian cuisine is such a favorite with us that I inevitable end up either making my beloved pasta, lasagna or pizzas at home over the weekends. Be it picking the right ingredients from the store, making pizza dough from scratch or putting together the herbs and spices for ragu, I love it all.

Ever since I first tasted Pasta with Arrabiata sauce, I have been hooked to it. Also, been incessantly on look out for good recipes to replicate them at home. I haven't understood exactly what an authentic Arrabiata sauce is like, since most Arrabiatas that we have had in restaurants have slight variations in flavors. I guess it comes from the herbs used. But yes, arrabiatas have a thing in common and that's the heavy tang from tomatoes, which I totally adore.

While I am a spaghetti person and love the noodle strands, my husband loves pastas in every other form, be it penne, fusilli, macaronis. Give me a choice and I would pick spaghetti. My Mr. finds it too clumsy to swivel the fork around the noodle and pick them. Probably a sound reason why he chooses Chinese Fried rice over Hakka noodles. Anything, other than the noodle shape. Period. Astonishingly, his evergreen love for Maggie noodles still hold strong roots. There's something in there which hooks men to their beloved Maggie!

A few months ago, I lay my hands on the cookbook 'Vegetarian Cookbook', picked from Crossword. A hard-bound book with some good vegetarian recipes from all over the world, some good photography to accompany it, this undoubtedly would you leave you with cravings and hunger pangs. The book has been with me for a couple of months and the recipes are simple, yet worth the attempt. Pasta all'arrabiata was a winner recipe for me, pretty close to perfecting the flavors we get in an Italian restaurant. A little modification was required in terms of ingredients like dry wine and pecorino cheese which is far from my reach here. May be, you should give an attempt to agree to this.

Penne al'arrabiata (pasta in tomato chilli sauce)

(Adapted from Vegetarian Cookbook)

INGREDIENTS

150 ml dry white wine (I skipped this)
2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
1 aubergine, chopped to squares
2 red chillies, finely chopped
2 pod garlic cloves, finely chopped
350 gm penne pasta
4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt & pepper
Fresh pecorino cheese, to garnish (I used grated cheddar cheese)

Sugocasa

4-5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 kg ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

First make the Sugocasa, the sauce. Heat a tbsp of oil in a fry pan over high heat until smoking. Add the chopped aubergines and cook till tender. Set aside. Again heat the remaining oil in a fry pan over high heat until smoking. Add in the tomatoes and cook stirring frequently for a few minutes. Reduce the heat and cook gently for about 20 minutes, or till very soft. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Press through a sieve and strain to a saucepan.

Add the tomato paste, the red chillies and garlic to the sugocasa and bring it to a boil. Simmer gently. Add the stir fried aubergines. Taste the sauce. If you like hotter flavor, add more chillies. Adjust the seasoning and stir in half of the parsley.

Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the penne pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes till tender, yet firm to bite. Drain the pasta and transfer to a warmed bowl. Add the sauce and toss well to coat. Sprinkle remaining herbs and garnish with cheese shavings.

Addition of aubergine was not a part of the original recipe. You may add mushrooms, courgette, zucchini or other vegetables of your choice. In case you don't like the bite from chillies, use chilly powder instead like I did. Also, sun-dried tomato paste may not be an easy access to all, hence substitute with thick tomato paste. My pastas are doused in sauce and that's how I like my pasta saucy, so I tend to make a little excess of the pasta sauce always. That's explains why my pasta has a rich red color.

I love to toss my pastas with a dash of mixed Italian herbs, imparting it a nice flavor. While the basic recipe for the pasta remains the same, I have tried the pasta with basil instead of parsley. That too renders awesome flavors with a slight variation in the herbal notes. Serve the pasta hot with garlic bread. This recipe is a keeper for sure and since pastas so often appear on my kitchen counters, I am sure to make this again and again.

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Eggless Crème Caramel topped with Pralines

Mind you, I am not a pudding person. Neither do I much like the bread pudding combination, unless it were perfectly made and presented to me camouflaged. Clichéd as it may sound, I have a huge fetish for a perfect Crème Caramel or a Crème brûlée. Hardly do people who know me know that one of my deepest craving comes for those dreamy, creamy custards which are rich, thick and delicious, yet silky light in texture. I can pretty much surrender myself to neat caramel flavors, succumb my teeth into such creamy delights and eat it to my hearts content!

Crème caramel is a variant of plain custard (crème) where some sugar syrup, cooked to caramel stage, is poured into the mold before adding the custard base. It is usually cooked in a bain-marie on a stove top or in the oven. It is turned out like crème renversée and served with the caramel sauce on top. (Source: Wikipedia)

I have made Caramel Custard a couple of times and that was only method I learnt from my mom. She graced her well chalked meals with desserts like these for parties and get-together when we were kids. That was a thing of the past. That apart, the regular custard is so common in Indian homes, that it needs no mention here. I always have a stock of pudding mix for those uncalled occasions of sweet tooth tantrums, when I like to whip up some simple fruit salad or may be just plain custard to accompany a scoop of ice cream. A craving again for some Crème Caramel hit hard on me recently and out of the blue, I decided to attempt an eggless version of Crème Caramel.

Eggless Crème Caramel

INGREDIENTS

30 gms of sugar
1 tbsp water
Store bought custard/pudding mix or homemade custard base as per the procedure mentioned here
1 tbsp agar agar
25 ml cream

DIRECTIONS

Make the Caramel base:

Sprinkle about 25-30 gm of sugar along with a tablespoon of water and heat it on a pan. Swirl the pan across the heat gently and let the sugar just begin to melt. Do not stir it. Keep an eye on the sugar as it begins to melt and change the color to amber. There's a thin line of difference between caramelizing and charring. Once the sugar gets a nice golden amber color, it's close to caramelization. It will soon take over a deeper golder brown glow. Remove from the flame immediately as the heat will make it darker further. If it darkens too much, it will take over a bitter taste. So be careful and quick with this. You can prepare this caramel either in the custard mould or transfer the prepared caramel to moulds and allow to set. Transfer it quickly as it will harden in no time. In case it hardens before you transfer to the moulds, you warm up the caramel again which will liquefy the syrup. Do not touch as it will be hot enough to burn your hand.

Prepare the custard:

Prepare the custard as per the procedure mentioned here. If using a store bought pack, follow the instructions as on the pack and prepare the custard/pudding adjusting the sweetness to your taste. Dissolve a tablespoon of agar agar in 25 ml of cream and bring it to a boil. When the flakes dissolve, add this to the prepared custard and whisk well. Once prepared pour the hot custard into the caramel prepared moulds. Cover with a cling film and allow it to set well in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. It's best to leave it overnight.

Prepare Pralines:

The procedure to make pralines is similar to preparing the caramel base mentioned above. Heat a tbsp of sugar with half a tbsp of water and swirl the pan gently, till it reaches caramelization point. Once it turns to thick golden amber color remove it from heat immediately and spread on a greased plate. Allow it cool completely. Using a mortar pestle, crush the praline roughly. You can use nuts like roughly broken almonds and cashews to make nutty pralines. Pralines give nice crunch to desserts and can be used to top ice creams too. Pralines tend to absorb moisture, hence should be served fresh on desserts.

I adore vanilla flavors and as traditionally claimed my Crème Caramel has it's custard base flavored with vanilla. I may probably want to try more flavors in future, but I leave that to my mood. This dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel is normally served cold. I topped this with some homemade crunchy pralines before serving them, just a sprinkle of pralines for a light crunch, also to keep it low on sweet.

I am sending this dessert to Ally where she's hosting Delicious Desserts which comes with a yummy dessert book as a giveaway!

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