Cream Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients:

4 slices of bread I like to use firm bread
1/3 cup cream cheese
Cucumber about 4 inch long seedless
1/4 bell pepper this will make about 1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper (capsicum)
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ginger finely shredded,
1 green chili finely chopped, optional and adjust to taste

 Method

Peel the cucumber leaving the stripes unpeeled. Shred the cucumber, after shredding squeeze the water,
we need about 1/4 cup shredded cucumber after squeezing the water. Set aside.

Cut the bell pepper in very small pieces and squeeze the water and pet dry, need about 1/4 cup chopped bell pepper.

In a bowl mix all the ingredients, mix will have a texture of thick spread.

Spread the mix on two slices of sandwich bread, then close sandwiches with other slices of bread.

Remove the crest from the bread all sides and slice them in two parts. For clean cut keep the sandwiches aside and slice them after about half an hour.

Serve these sandwiches as a snack, or they are grate for lunch box, or picnic.

Rasgulla Recipe

Ingredients:

For Chenna:
Full Fat Milk - 1 liter
Lemon Juice - 1.5 tblspn

For Sugar Syrup:
Sugar - 2 cups
Water - 5 cups

Method:

Squeeze some lemons, you will need 1.5 tblspn of lemon juice, line a sieve with muslin cloth and place it over a big bowl.

Take milk in a pot and put it on high heat. Let it come to a boil. Once it boils, take it off the heat and let it sit for 1 min.

Now add in lemon juice and mix gently. The milk will curdle. Once a greenish whey separates from the milk and the milk solids have curdled completely. Strain it in the sieve.

Now take a big bowl of cold water and wash the chenna well. rinse it in three changes of water.

Now squeeze it gently with your hands to remove any excess whey water, Tie a knot and hang it over a tap and leave it to drain for 30 mins. I squeezed occasionally to make things faster.

After 30 mins, take the chenna in a bowl and knead it gently, by rubbing with your palms and knuckles till you get a soft dough.

Once a dough is soft, take a small portion from it and roll it in your palms gently till you get a smooth ball.

Repeat with the remaining dough as well.

Now take sugar and water in a big pot and mix well so the sugar is melted. Once the sugar is melted, put it on stove and let it come to a rolling boil.

Now drop the balls into the sugar water and cover it with a tight lid and cook it for 8 to 10 mins till the ball has tripled in volume.

Now take it off the heat and let it sit for 15 mins.

Now open the lid and transfer it to a bowl and chill it for 5 to 6 hours.

Serve chilled.

Garlic Bread

Ingredients
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 loaf crusty bread, split
3 tablespoons grated cheese, Parmigiano or Romano, optional
Chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Combine garlic, butter, and oil in a microwave safe dish or in a small saucepan. Heat garlic and butter and oil in microwave for 1 minute or in a small pot over moderate-low heat for 3 minutes.

Toast split bread under broiler. Remove bread when it is toasted golden brown in color.

Brush bread liberally with garlic oil. Sprinkle with cheese, if using, and parsley. If you added cheese,

return to broiler and brown 30 seconds. Cut into chunks and serve.

Prawn Tikka Masala Recipe

Ingredients
20-25 jumbo prawns,cleaned

For marination: 
1/2 lemon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli powder
 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

For gravy: 
1/2 cup curd 
1/4 cup cream (or 1/2 cup milk) 

2 onions, finely chopped 

Puree of 3 tomatoes

1 Tbsp chilli powder (Kashmiri chili powder) 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 Tbsp garam masala powder

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp oil

1 tsp tandoori masala (for color) *optional

Method
In a bowl, mix lemon juice, salt, chilli powder and ginger-garlic paste.

Add prawns and marinate for 15-20 minutes.

Heat butter in a kadai (pan). Add marinated prawns and cook for about 4-5 minutes until well cooked. Keep aside in another bowl.

In the same kadai, take 2 Tbsp oil and add cumin seeds.

When they sizzle, add chopped onions and saute for about 4-5 minutes until onions turn dark brown.

Add ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and fry for one minute until the mix turns aromatic.

Make a puree of the tomatoes using a blender and add in the kadai.

Mix well and cook on low flame for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture thickens.

Add cream, curd and garam masala. Mix well, keep flame on low.

Add cooked prawns, tandoori masala powder and salt to taste.

Chicken briyani - Indian Recipe

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1 kg

Chicken - 1.5 kg with bone

Oil - 3/4 cup

Onion - 3 large sliced thinly

Saffron a pinch

Warm Milk - 1/4 cup

Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup finely chopped

Mint Leaves - 1/4 cup finely chopped

Ghee - 3 tblspn

Cashews - 50 grams

Kishmish / Sultanas - 50 grams

Kewra Essence few drops

Rose Essence few drops

Salt to taste

For Marination:(2 hrs or overnight)

Chilli Powder - 2 tblspn

Coriander Powder / Malli Podi - 3 tblspn

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup chopped finely

Mint Leaves - 1/2 cup chopped finely

Thick Unsour Curd - 1.5 cup

Green Chillies - 4 broken into big pieces

Ginger Garlic Paste - 3 tblspn

Special Garam Masala Powder - recipe below

Lemon Juice - 1 tblspn

For Special Garam Masala Powder:

Cloves / Krambu - 10

Cardamom / Yelakai - 10

Bay Leaf - 3

Cinnamon / Pattai - 5 cm piece

Cumin Seeds / Jeerakam - 1 tblspn

Black Stone Flower / Kal Paasi - 4 piece

Star Anise - 1

Fennel Seeds / Sombu / Saunf - 1 tblspn

Method:

Powder the special garam masala powder.

Start by marinating the chicken with all the ingredients given. Let it marinate for 2 hours but overnight is great.

Wash and soak basmati rice for a hour.

Bring lots of water with salt to a boil. Once it boils, add in the drained rice and cook it for 5 to 7 mins till it is 90 percent done. When you taste it, it should have a bite.Drain it and set aside.

Heat oil in a big pot which you are making biryani.

Add in onions and fry till golden, drain and set aside.

Soak saffron in some warm milk, heat ghee in a sauce pan and fry cashews and raisans till golden.

In the same oil add in chicken and mix well for 5 mins.

Now layer the rice over it, top with fried onions, chopped herbs, saffron milk, fried nuts along with the ghee, kewra and rose essence. Cover the entire pot with foil and cover with a plate. Place a weight over it and let it cook on a very very low flame for 30 to 35 mins.

Now remove the weight and foil and fluff the rice carefully.

Serve.

Notes:

1)Soaking rice and marination chicken is very important, so never skip it.

2)Use god quality basmati rice for this, i used india gate basmati rice.

3)Cooking the rice perfectly is important. If you over cook it, the the whole biryani will be mushy. SO stand near the rice and keep checking it, after you add rice to boiling water, it will just take 5 to 7 mins for the rice to get cooked. 

Quick and Tasty Banana Pudding

Ingredients

3 vanilla wafer cookies

3 tablespoons frozen (thawed) whipped topping

1/2 small banana, sliced 

2 tablespoons refrigerated vanilla pudding

Crushed vanilla wafer cookies, if desired

Directions

1.  In 5 glass, place 1 vanilla wafer cookie. Top with 1/3 of the banana slices, 1 tablespoon of the whipped topping,another vanilla wafer cookie and 1 tablespoon of vanilla pudding. Repeat layers, beginning with banana slices.
2.  Top with remaining banana slices and 1 tablespoon whipped topping. Garnish with crushed cookies.

Molten Lava Nutella Cake

Ingredients:

Egg-1 lage

Egg yolk- 1 large

Granulated sugar-2 tbsp

Butter/ ghee melted- 4 tbsp

Nutella- 3 tbsp

All purpose flour / maida – 1 tbsp

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven in to 180 degree.
• Grease two small ramekins with butter and dust with cocoa powder.
• In a bowl beat egg, egg yolk and sugar together until fluffy and pale.
• Add melted butter (or ghee) and nutella and whisk well until combined.
• Add flour and fold well until combined.
• Pour in to ramekins and bake it for 12-13 minutes in the pre-heated oven.
• After removing from the oven; carefully run a knife through the edges; still the cake is hot.
• Remold it gently to a serving plate.