Vegetable Au Gratin

Continental cuisine has always been my got-to choice when eating out. The creamy sauces, herbs, cheese and spices make these dishes flavourful and enticingly appetizing. There are so many dishes that I have eaten and loved. But for some reason have been putting away recreating them at home. I always had this inhibition that these fancy dishes may be too hard to replicate at home. Au Gratin has been on my to-do list for ever! 

Au Gratin is basically a French method of cooking something with a topping of crusty cheese or breadcrumbs. The base could be vegetables or meat. 

The ingredients are mildly cooked and mixed in a creamy white sauce and then baked with a topping of cheese. The cheese melts and turns a beautiful golden brown and voila, your Au Gratin is ready to be devoured! :) 

The beautiful medley of vegetables, creamy sauce and cheese is my kind of Yum! Mild flavoured vegetables such as carrots, peas and potatoes are the most preferred while making an Au Gratin. 

So a few days back, after a super exhausting previous day, I needed something to cheer me up! And nothing cheers me up better than cooking good food and of course enjoying it! I just chose Au Gratin as my dish of the day. I had a basic recipe for gratin which I tweaked a bit and began gathering the ingredients. While the baby napped, I was able to put together this dish and also enjoy my fancy meal-for-one at peace! 

Now, that totally cheered this Mumma up! :)

I was blown away by the ease of the recipe and decided to definitely blog it. This dish is a keeper and I am so glad I tried this. Now, to try more variations of gratin recipes! Stay tuned :)

Treat yourself to this delicious creamy dish. If its your first time, you will love it! And if you are a gratin lover like me, you know what am talking about!! :) 

If you would like more flavour in your sauce, you can also add in some tomato ketchup to spike it up. And if you like some crunch, you can add in some bread crumbs as well along with the cheese toppings.

To complete the fancy meal, pair the Au Gratin with some Garlic Bread. They are a match made in food heaven! Enjoy! :)

Basil Pesto Pasta

Oh, I LOVE Pasta! 

If you have seen my posts on pasta you will know that I get experimental with the sauces. I love trying out new combinations and flavours. 

Pesto Pasta has been on my to-do list for ages and I have no clue why it kept getting postponed to later. One reason was I didn't want to use ready made pesto, I wanted to make my own. But considering how easy making pesto sauce is, I still remain clueless why it took me so long to try it out! :P

Well, anyway... so finally I got to making my own pesto and the next step of course was cooking up the much awaited Pesto Pasta! :)

It turned out to be so delicious that I think I might have just found my new favourite pasta flavour! Yayyy! So herby, so flavourful and so very yummy! If you have the pesto in hand, it only take like 20 minutes to out this dish together.

I had plenty of time on had that day, so baked a loaf of bread and made Garlic Bread out of its slices to serve with my pesto pasta! It was a winning combination. DO try it! :)

Basil Pesto with Almonds

Basil is such a fragrant herb that it gives every dish it is added to, a beautiful aroma and freshness. This pesto sauce is nothing but herby deliciousness. I have been meaning to try making my own pesto sauce for ages and have been putting it away for no solid reason, that I can think of! But am so glad that I finally made myself go for it and make this yummy sauce at home a couple of days back.

It is super simple and quick to put together with the simplest of ingredients. If you get your hands on fresh basil leaves, the rest of the ingredients would probably be right in your pantry.

You can use up this sauce right away, after you prepare it or can freeze and store it for up to 3 months! Well, I love such stuff which make cooking on hurried days a breeze.

I made a batch and intended to make pasta a few days later. I in fact transferred the freshly made pesto into an airtight container and shoved it away into the freezer only to take it out a few hours later to make Pesto Pasta!! Teehee... couldn't wait too long to make my much awaited pasta with this delicious sauce, could I!? :P

Go ahead and do yourselves a favour. Make this scrumptious pesto and treat yourselves to some pasta or slather it on toast and enjoy its herby, creamy goodness! :)

Mushroom, Brocolli and Bell Peppers in Garlic Sauce | Indo-Chinese Gravy

This recipe post has been in my drafts for over a year! I have no clue why this hasn't seen the day light yet! So, without further delay, I am posting this right now! 

I love Chinese cuisine. The Indo-Chinese version appeals to me even more. When I saw this on Shweta's blog, I wanted to try it! I wanted a more gravy kind of a side-dish and hence made a thicker gravy.

It was simple to make and I absolutely loved the flavour. 

 I love it when my veggies are crunchy and just done. Over-cooked broccolis or capsicums are a big turn off for me. So if you are like me, ensure you keep them just right as the flavours of such crunchy veggies go really well in this dish. Serve it with fried rice, or simple team it with plain rice. Either way, its yum! 

Enjoy! :)

Stir-fry Veggie Noodles with Soya-Honey-Peanut Dressing

Oh, I LOVE roasted peanuts.  

I like to snack on them plain or also love it when they are added into a dish. They bring along a whole new dimension to the dish that they are added into. Be it a simple Poha, Vermicelli upma or Sabudana Vadas... the crunchiness of peanuts enhances the dish many levels. And Snickers! Oh, that is a my favourite chocolate, again for the crunchy peanuts that it contains. 

Apparently the people of Thailand also love peanuts. Peanuts is a common ingredient in Thai cuisine and it also happens to be a cuisine I love!

I am yet to try the Thai Peanut Noodles prepared the authentic way. I guess there are a lot more elements to it and more prep time. But when I come across a quick-fix recipe for any dish, that would be my choice! So today, we will be making a dish that has hints of Thai flavours in it, a dish that is very simple to put together and one that is absolutely YUM!

I was out shopping today and returned home well past 2 in the afternoon. Being home alone and having only my tummy to feed, I decided to get experimental. But the tummy was hungry and I did not have too much time to invest in cooking. I decided to try my hands at this recipe that I came across the other day. Oh, it turned out to be totally delicious. This recipe gets done in a jiffy! 

This was the first time I was pairing peanuts with noodles and I absolutely loved the crunchiness it gave to the dish. The awesomely simple yet flavourful dressing is the taste giver here. 

So this noodles is a lovely combination of delicate flavours intricately woven together and blended with the crunchy veggies, noodles and peanuts... ah, food heaven! :)

Red Bean Quesadilla | Simple Mexican Cooking

So, you have your Tortillas ready and are looking for ways to use them!? Well, then here is one way to do just that! Make Quesadillas!! :) 

Quesadillas (pronounced as Kay-sah-dee-ah. Such a fancy pronunciation isn't it? :)), are  scrumptious and very easy to dish out! You need Tortillas, cheese and basically any filling of your choice to stuff into the tortillas and toast them over a griddle. Its as simple as that! The cheese within melts and binds the folded tortillas together and the filling... oh that gives you the punch as you bite into these Mexican beauties.

My choice of filling for today's Quesadillas are a mixture of red beans, cheese and some simple fresh ingredients like tomatoes, onions, coriander and green chillies. This dish needs not much cooking. I LOVE such dishes, that need minimal cooking and still taste awesome! :)

All the cooking that goes into this is to pressure cook the red beans and finally toast the folded tortillas over the griddles! Everything in between is off the stove... isn't that cool? :)

How to Make Tortilla? | Homemade Tortilla | Simple Mexican Cooking

I love Mexican food. It was during my stint in the US that I got introduced to Mexican cuisine. We used to frequent a chain of eatery called Chipotle that served fabulous food...and it was an instant hit with me :) In fact, it seemed to be a favourite of many Indians. I guess its because of the slight similarity between Mexican and Indian cuisines. Like Indians, Mexican's too use Rice as a staple. Rice along with red and black beans is a common combination there. This ombination reminds us of our good old Rajma Chawal (Kidney beans gravy and rice). They serve this rice-bean dish, called a Buritto Bowl, along with a lovely ensemble of accompaniments like guacamole, fresh cream, fajitas, lettuce... oh YUM!!! 

Apart from Rice, a flat bread called Tortilla is very extensively used in Mexican cuisine. Tortilla (pronounced as tor-tia) is very similar to our rotis or chapatis. Tortillas are slightly thinner than chapathis and are made of a major proportion of all purpose flour (maida) and a little wheat flour. Also, a good amount of olive oil going into the dough.They can be pre-prepared and stored int he freezer for later use.

In Mexican cuisine, Tortlillas are used to make Burittos, which are wraps with filling made of all the stuff that makes a Burrito Bowl, except that everything is wrapped in a Tortilla in this case much like our chapathi-wraps. Tortillas are also used to make Quesadillas, which is a dish that is a cross between a sandwich and pizza! Oh... its delicious. (Interested? Then, stay tuned for... that is coming up next!) 

Thai Green Fried Rice | Simple Thai Cooking

 

Last weekend, I had my brother and sis-in-law over for lunch and as per their request, I prepared the Thai Green Curry that they loved from one of my previous lunch parties at home. They enjoyed it, just as much as they did last time. It was a lovely weekend with family over a lovely meal.

 

Then came a weekday. The kind which has mornings jam-packed with activity from making breakfast to putting on finishing touches to the lunch, then packing it, getting ready to work and finally managing to get out of the house on time! I usually plan the lunch the previous night, and try and prep up whatever possible before the morn. But the previous evening we were out and I had not much time for my prep ritual.

 

So I remembered, I had made myself a batch of the Thai Green Curry Paste over the weekend and as always, made some extra which I stored away in my deep freezer for later use. Yay! I decided it had to be put to use sooner than I had planned to. I had all the ingredients for the Thai Green Fried ice recipe that I had read in Tarla Dalal's book. So, Thai Green Fried Rice it was for lunch the next day!

 



The previous night, all I got to do was chop all the veggies needed for the dish. The next morning, it took me only 20 minutes to put this dish together. The taste was delightful and I was glad the Green Curry Paste came to my rescue on wha would have otherwise been a clueless workday morning! :)

Okay, so in spite of the mad rush of that morning, I had to click some pictures!! So yes, these pictures were clicked amidst the madness that happened on that workday morning, while I was waiting for hot water to fill in for my bath :P hehe!!

Thai Green Curry (Veg) | Simple Thai Cooking

Thai Green Curry has been my favorite Thai dish for quite some time now. I think the first time I tasted it was in a Thai restaurant in Pune and fell in love with it, the very first time I had it. The essence of coconut milk along with the flavors of vegetables like Mushroom, Baby corn and Green Peas created such an amazing combination! The dish looked so simple, yet it tasted exotic!

I wanted to try this out at home and purchased Tarla Dalal's Thai Cooking book. The recipe was easy, but it called for Lemon Grass. I searched quite a bit for this ingredients, but failed to find it. After much searching and postponing to experiment this dish, I decided to go for it, minus the Lemon Grass. This is considered one of the most important element in Thai Cooking, but what to do if I cant find it... well, create the Thai dish, my way... hence I decided to do without the lemon grass and simply called my dish Pai's Thai Green Curry!! :) 

So, a couple of times I made it this way, though it lacked the complete flavour of the authentic Thai Green Curry I had eaten at the Thai restaurant, my preparation made me happy and I was satisfied with this version of the famous Thai delicacy :)

But it was only last week, when I finally managed to get myself some lemon grass!! Yay, so I made myself a batch of the Thai Green Curry Paste and then this yummilicous Thai Green Curry. Yes, the flavour of lemon grass comes through and gives it an extra punch. However, if you find it hard to find lemon grass, I would suggest you go ahead and make it anyway, as the taste is nearly 95% there even without this ingredient.

How to Make Thai Green Curry Paste? | Simple Thai Cooking

I am sure most of you foodies out there would have heard of Thai Green Curry and like me, love it ever since you have had it for the first time.

No? Well, for the benefit of those who are hearing this name for the very first time, let me explain what it is. Thai Green Curry is, as you have guessed a dish from Thailand. It is a lovely blend of flavoursome spices, mildly crunchy par-boiled vegetables in a coconut milk gravy. The colour of this dish is a beautiful light green and the taste... oh so divine! The basic flavouring of this dish comes from a Green Curry Paste. And it is spice mix in this curry paste that imparts the unique flavour to the Thai Green Curry.

This curry paste uses very simple ingredients from your pantry (except for maybe lemon grass) and can be made in advance and stored away in your freezer for later use. It stores well for upto 3 months if stored well in an air-tight container in your refrigerator's deep freezer compartment.

If you find it hard to get hold of Lemon Grass, no issues there. The Green Curry Paste turns out just fine even without it, if you are not too particular about loosing about 5% of the authentic Thai flavour. I have made it a couple of times without the lemon grass and I still love it. Make a batch of this paste and stack it away, you can make some really yum Thai dishes out of it like the Thai Green Curry and the Thai Green Fried Rice.



Kidney Beans and Potato Patties Burger with Mayo Coleslaw | Homemade Veggie Burger

So here we are, the final leg of our burger journey. For all of you who have been a part of my Burger odyssey... hope you enjoyed the ideas and thanks for sticking around! :) For the rest of you, here is a sneak peak of what you have missed: 

We made our own burger buns with a mix of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour topped with some lovely sesame seeds.

Homemade Burger Buns

Then, we made some healthy kidney beans and potato patties. 

Kidney Beans and Potato Patties

Click on the images to view the recipes and then get back here to check out how to put up a gorgeous Kidney Beans and Potato Burger.

The pairing of the patties with those burger buns was a winner by itself. This combination however, was bettered by some simple accompaniments.  My choice of condiments to go with my burger were:  a cabbage leaf, some ketchup, Mayo Coleslaw, English mustard, salt and pepper. Except for the Mayo Coleslaw, the rest of the condiments as you see, are things you can use right off your pantry. It takes but 5 minutes to put together that yummilicous Mayo Coleslaw which uplifts the flavour of the burger to a new high! 

The whole meal was enjoyable to put together and eat... oh yeah, I totally enjoyed the process and was satisfied beyond words by the way it finally shaped up :)