Franco Indian Toast

I know, the name sounds funny. English Indian is called Anglo Indian, so I am hoping French Indian should be Franco Indian. Anyway, this is nothing as fancy or as crazy as the name suggests. It is simply French Toast the Indian way. You can make it as hot and spicy as you want or without any chillies. I feel there is no fun when there is no spice(barring a few favorites, ofcourse)

Serves - 2
Preparation time : 7 minutes
Cooking time: < 10 minutes
Here is what I used:
Bread slices - 4
Eggs- 2. If the egg size is small, make it 3.
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Coriander - a handful maybe, finely chopped

Green chillies - finely chopped (optional)
Red chili sauce - 1 -1 1/2 tsp per slice according to taste
Milk - 1 Tbsp per egg
Sugar (optional) - to taste

There are exactly no instructions to mention here. Just beat the eggs with salt, milk and sugar if using. Dip the bread slices in the egg mixture in a way, bread is covered nicely and egg mixture is dripping from it. Now add the sauce and seasoning and throw it on a hot skillet or tava. Garnish with onion, green chili, coriander leaves and cook it on both sides till crispy. Remove from heat and relish.

Vermicelli / Sameya Upma

This is one of the breakfast foods that all of us are fond of. It takes no time at all to make and is indeed filling and we dont have a need to grab a bite before lunch time. Finely chopped veggies like beans, carrots, cabbage, peas, cauliflower can be added to make it more fulsome.

Serves - 3
Preparation time - 5 min
Cooking time - 12 min

Ingredients:

Vermicelli - 200 grams (Roasted vermicelli works best)
Onion - 1 medium onion chopped
Green chili - 2 or to taste
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp (optional)
Curry leaf - few
Salt - to taste
 Water

How to:
- Heat a pan and pour the oil. Keep the flame high. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. Let it splutter and add the urad dal and curry leaf. Once the dal is browned, add the green chili and onion.
- Saute onion till it turns translucent. Add the roasted vermicelli and salt and saute for 1 min on low flame. Take care not to burn the vermicelli.
- Add enough water so that all the vermicelli is soaked and increase the flame to high and cover the pan. After 3 minutes, reduce the flame to medium low and let it cook for another 3-4 mins. Switch off and let it rest for a minute or two before serving.

Best served with coconut chutney / onion chutney / pickle & curd / tomato thokku.

I have served this with tomato thokku and coriander thokku.

Niramish Jhol

This is a bengali staple food. My mother in law insists this is a comfort food and a health food and I agree completely. If you are not feeling well especially for stomach issues, this Jhol should help you bounce back to your normal self. It has a lot of vegetables and has jeera, turmeric, coriander. You can choose any number of vegetables for this, but potatoes and brinjal are recommended.

Here I have used potatoes, brinjal, squash, cabbage and potol.

Serves 2
Preparation time : 10 min
Cooking time : 15 min

Ingredients :

Vegetables of your choice - 250 grams
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Green chili - 1-2
Chili powder - to taste (if you want it hot - optional). I have not used it.
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 1/2 Tbsp
Salt - to taste

Steps:
1. Clean and cut all the vegetables into equal sized pieces.
2. Heat the oil in a kadai or saucepan, add the vegetables and stir them so that the oil is coated. (Add the vegetables one by one keeping in mind their cooking times. For example, potol takes long time to cook and cabbage the least. So, potol goes in first and cabbage the last after 3 minutes)
3. Add salt and stir fry for 5 minutes, till vegetables turn tender.
4. Now add all the powders except cumin powder and add a cup of water. Boil for another 5 minutes
5. Add Cumin powder and boil for another 5 minutes or so when the jhol reaches desired consistency and vegetables are well cooked.(Recommended consistency is jhol should be runny)

Stuffed Brinjal(Microwave/Stovetop)

When I used to go to chennai during my vacation, one of my relatives used to make this stuffed brinjal. It would taste heavenly. My mother does not like brinjal, so our brinjal consumption was less and even when we had brinjal, it would only be the stir fried brinjal. So, whenever I go on vacation, I would be expecting this brinjal for lunch quite eagerly :)) This kind of preparation takes some time and effort, but the end result is worth every second of your time. Do try this on a weekend or when you have more time at hand.

What I used:
Small Brinjals - 250 gms, the smallest you can find. Try to pick up same size brinjals.
Oil - 2 Tbsp
Salt - as per taste
To Roast and Grind:
Red chili - 3 (deseeded or not depending on your tastebuds) OR
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coconut - 1 Tbsp
Coriander seeds - 1 Tbsp
Garlic - 3
Chana Dal - 1 tsp (If you have roasted chana dal, grind it directly along with other ingredients without roasting)
Jeera - 1 tsp
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
salt

How I made:
- Wash the brinjals. Apply some salt and set aside.
- Dry roast all the ingredients under 'To Roast and Grind' except oil and tamarind paste for 2 minutes on medium flame. Let it cool
- Grind the roasted ingredients along with oil and tamarind till it attains a fine texture.(If it is coarse, the stuffing will not stay when cooking)
- Now slit the brinjals. Cut the stem portion of the brinjal and slit the brinjal from top to 3/4th in a way that the brinjal does not break. Now turn the brinjal, bottom facing you and slit from the other side.

- Stuff the brinjals with the ground paste.
- Heat the oil in a kadai or a non stick pan and drop the brinjals one by one gently. Use a wooden spatula to toss them around. Keep the flame low and cover the pan and let the brinjal cook. Add little oil if the brinjals are getting stuck or sprinkle few drops of water every minute till the brinjals are tender.

This goes well with rice, paratha.
For the microwave version, after stuffing the brinjals, steam them in a idli steamer for 7-8 minutes on medium-high. Brush the brinjals with some oil and microwave for another 3-4 minutes without the lid on.

Simple stir fried carrot and capsicum

This simple carrot and capsicum stir fry goes very well with ghee rice. When I have to make some food only for myself, I make a stirfry with whatever vegetable comes into my hand from the vegetable tray. However, my favorite is this capsicum-carrot stir fry and aloo capsicum. This is a very simple, tasty and a healthy recipe. It is not often that you find a recipe with this deadly combination. This recipe uses very few ingredients and very less oil.
This is what I used:
Carrot - 200 gms, grated
Capsicum - 200 gms, chopped
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Red chili - 1, optional
Sambar powder - 1 heaped tsp, optional

How:
- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, once it splutters, add the red chili and the hing.
- Add the vegetables and salt. Saute for 4 minutes in medium flame.
- If you like your stir fry to be spicy, add sambar powder and saute for a minute before turning off.

This goes very well with ghee rice.

Making ghee from butter at home

Hi everybody, Thats how my daughter addresses us if she finds me and her dad at the same place. She constantly surprises me by uttering new sentences or doing something I dont expect.
I had never had store bought ghee till I was married. My mother always makes ghee at home and I never thought there would be so much difference in taste and flavour between homemade ghee and storebought ghee, even if the butter and ghee are from the same manufacturer. There really must be some magic happening when you make ghee at home. It seems silly that I am making a post for this simple clarification of butter.( Thats what the process of making ghee from butter is called, hmm.. interesting). But the first time I clarified butter(Not again), I took it out too early and the next time, I let it burn and all I got was burnt, browned, not so pleasant smelling something. Maybe I am the only one who has fumbled or ever will fumble this, still I thought somebody can benefit from this.

The quantity of ghee you get will be almost same as the weight of butter, after all it is just clarified butter.

- Take a clean, heavy bottomed vessel and turn the flame to low. Now add the butter in the vessel. Toss the butter around till it melts so that it is heated evenly. At the start you can see a lot of froth forming. As time goes, the froth will reduce. In the picture, you can see some foam on top. This picture was taken 10 minutes after the butter melted. It takes 5 minutes after this stage for the perfect golden colored ghee. The ghee is done when most of the froth disappears.
In the sidelines - once the ghee is cooled, transfer it into a clean jar. What I usually do after making ghee is - add 2 spoons of atta in the same vessel with the ghee that is stuck in the vessel. Roast it till the raw smell disappears. Add 2 spoons of sugar, mix it well. If you are particular, you can make it into a laddoo and have. Otherwise, you can just relish it with a spoon. yum..yum..yum
Have fun!!!

Chinese StirFriedRice

We often visit a restaurant which serves this wonderful fried rice. This might not be the authentic chinese fried rice, I am sure it is not, but it tastes heavenly all the same and it has all the standard "indo chinese" ingredients. Moreover, it is easy to make, can be had as a meal without any additional dishes. So without much further ado, I present you, our chinese fried rice. (whistles and applauses ;-)

Here is what I used:

Beans, Carrots, Cabbage - Finely chopped(totalling 200 - 250 grams)

Onion - 2 medium size, finely chopped'

Green Chili - 2 slit (Adjust according to taste)

Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

Garlic - 4 small, coarsely chopped (Adjust according to taste)

Either chicken pieces or vegetables like mushroom, babycorn can also be added.

Small grain Rice - 200 grams, soaked for 10 mins to 30 mins. I use JeeraRice.

Light soy sauce- 1 tbsp

Oil - 2 Tbsp(Peanut oil or sesame oil preferred, but any oil will do)

Salt- as per taste

Red chili sauce - 2 tsp (optional)

Fish sauce - 1 tsp(optional). If you have not used fish sauce till now, you should try it once. I am not a great fan of it, but my husband loves the flavor it adds.

Here comes the how:

- Boil the rice till 3/4 done with salt. To check take a grain of rice and taste, it should be hard but not raw. Drain the water and wash it in cold water to stop the cooking process.Set aside.

- In a non-stick pan or a wok(any vessel which has a light base works well for fried rice) heat 2 tbsp oil. Once the oil is smokey, add the garlic, green chili, onion and reduce the flame to low.saute till onion turns translucent. 

- Increase the heat to high-Add all the vegetables and saute for 2 minutes or till the vegetables are done but still crisp. 

- In high heat, add the soy sauce, salt. Add the cooked rice.Mix with a flat wooden spatula slowly so that the rice does not get mushy. Keep tossing the rice every 1/2 minute so that the heat is distributed evenly to the rice.

- After 4 minutes, add the red chili sauce and fish sauce, if using. Mix and take off the heat

- Rice is ready to eat

Suggestions : 

You can add mushroom / babycorn / scrambled eggs / chicken to the rice for a difference.