Chicken and eggs (one pot)

Every time i find myself alone at home i always tend to cook one pot meals for many reasons the biggest of them being the fact that it saves a lot of cleaning afterwards and the lazy me loves that! So here is one of my easy and quick one pot meal recipe, and to top it, it has chicken, cheese and eggs all in one pot! what more do you want in life:)

Ingredients:

Onion (1/2 of a small one)

Tomato (1/2 of a small one )

Capsicum (1/2 of a small one)

Carrot (1/2 of a small onion)

Chicken (50 gms)

Eggs (2)

Cheese (2 cubes) (grated)

Black pepper powder (1 tbsp)

Dried oregano flakes (1 tbsp)

Red chilli flakes (2 tbsp)

Tomato ketchup (1 tbsp)

Coriander (Kotmir) (2 tbsp) (finely chopped)

Mint leaves (Pudina) (1 tbsp) (finely chopped)

Butter (3 tbsp)

Oil (2 tbsp)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Chop all the vegetables together in a food processor finely.
2. In a non-stick pan heat the butter and oil together.
3. Add the chicken and chopped vegetables to it and saute for 2 mins.
4. Add the black pepper powder, oregano, red chilli flakes, tomato ketchup, coriander, mint leaves and salt and mix well.
5. Cover the pan with a lid and cook till the chicken is nicely cooked.This will approximately take 10 mins.Stir the mixture 1-2 times in between.
6. Once the chicken is cooked, spread the mix evenly in the pan and sprinkle the grated cheese on top and let it melt.
7. Break two whole eggs on the cheese layer and let the eggs cook till the desired consistency. you may cover with the lid again if you want to cook the eggs completely.
8. Sprinkle some red chilli flakes and oregano on the top and serve hot with bread or just by itself with a glass of your favorite chilled beverage. Enjoy:)

Lychee caramel custard

This is one of my mom’s favourite!! I  Was making the normal caramel custard when I thought why no new flavors in a custard and then a search in my fridge and I found a lychee syrup, added it to my custard mix and tada.!! Mom loves it and I love it that she does.!!

Ingredients:

Milk (2 cups)
Fresh cream(1 cup)
Eggs (2)
Lychee Syrup (2 big spoons)
Ice cream essence (few drops)
Sugar (6-7 tbsp depends on how sweet you want it)

Method:

1. Warm the milk slightly and add the fresh cream and 2 tbspns sugar in it (if your lychee syrup is sugar based, if not you may need to add more according to your sweetness preferences), stir continuously till the sugar is completely dissolved.
2.  Take a flat circular cooking vessel and pour 4-5 tbspns sugar in it, put the vessel on the gas and turn the gas on. The sugar will start melting soon.
3.  Rotate the vessel continuously while heating. Soon the sugar will melt and turn amber in colour, at this point stop the heat and spread amber coloured caramel all over the vessel by tilting the vessel to spread the liquid.
4.  Remember it should coat all the sides and the base completely; the liquid will form a layer on the sides of the vessel. 
5. Keep the vessel aside for sometime now.Beat two eggs with a fork.
6.  Now pour the lychee syrup in milk and mix well. Add the eggs to the milk now and a few drops of ice-cream essence. 
7. Mix all the ingredients well.
8.  Pour this into the vessel that we just coated with the caramel.(the pot should be big enough to contain the the vessel completely.)Put a pot on heat, filled half way with water. 
9. Place a ring stand in the pot and place the vessel on the stand and cover the vessel with a lid and cover the pot with a lid too.
10. After 20 mins turn the heat off and remove the vessel from the pot and let it cool.
11. Place it in the refrigerator for an hour once cooled.Place a plate on the vessel and invert it, slowly lift the vessel up. Enjoy:)

Yogurt And Pomegranate Raita

Here is a raita recipe that is going to have you smiling with satisfaction! For me its just one of those things in life you really cant stop eating. "raita" are yogurt based dishes that are often served as accompaniments with a variety of Indian main course or starters, there is a huge variety of raita, generally flavored with herbs and spices. Although you could eat this raita all by itself, its great to be served with non-vegetarian dishes essentially biryani or pulav. Its perfect for this season as pomegranates are so easily available. The pomegranate adds a sweet and fresh punch to the raita, so its ideal to be served with spicy dishes.

Ingredients:

Dahi (yogurt) (200gm)

Anaar ke daane(pomegranate seeds)(seeds of half pomegranate)

Onion (1 small)(finely chopped)

Tomato (1 small)(finely chopped)

Kothmir (Coriander)(1/4 cup)(finely chopped)

Green chilli (2-3)(finely chopped)

Sugar (2 tbsp)

Chaat masala (1 tbsp)

Salt 

Method:

1. Take the curd in a bowl,add 4 tbsp of water and beat the curd well with a whisk or spoon until its smooth.
2. Add all the ingredients and mix well. refrigerate for an hour and serve cold. enjoy:)

Shepu wadi

Shepu wadi is one the perfect tea time snacks. My granny would make rolls and rolls of it and store for us when we visited her house during vacations. This is her recipe that i have learned. I love the crunchy texture and mild taste of the wadi. hope you too will enjoy it too:)

Ingredients: 

Kothmir (Coriander)(1 bunch)(finely chopped)

Shepu or sowa (dill) (1 bunch)(finely chopped)

Besan flour (gram flour) (5-6 heaped tbsp)

Green chilli (5-6)

Lehsun (Garlic cloves) (3)

Zeera (cumin) (1 tsp)

Haldi (turmeric powder) (1/2 tsp)

Oil for frying

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Grind together the green chillies, garlic and cumin. Make a fine paste and keep aside.
2. Fill a deep bottomed pan up to half with water and keep the water to boil. we need this water to steam our dough. you want to place a sieve on this vessel so make sure you a suitable vessel.
3. Mix the coriander and dill together and add the green chilli paste, gram flour, turmeric powder and salt together. Mix well, add a few tbsp of water so as to make a soft dough, like shown in the picture. 
   
4. Shape the dough in rough roll shape. use some oil on your palm to easily shape the dough.
5. Place a sieve on the vessel you are boiling the water in. and place the dough roll on it and cover with a lid.
6. Cook for 10-15 mins. Check the dough after 10-12 mins to see if it is cooked. perfectly cooked dough should feel tough yet soft.
7. Once the dough is cooked, remove and keep aside. You may cut it into slices and fry whenever you want to eat it. you can store this for about a week in the refrigerator.
8. You may steam the dough in a steamer, cooker or even in an oven :)

Chunky watermelon milkshake

I am visiting my native place Satara (Maharashtra) I have never come here around this time of the year.  The climate is beautiful and everything looks green! There are farms everywhere I see. Looking at the agricultural side of India is fun. Living in Mumbai,  you never get to see this kind of stuff. Cooking here is a bliss everything is just so fresh! and somebody bought home this delicious watermelon and after eating all I could from it, I decided I wanted to make a milkshake from it for everyone else. Although the watermelon season has almost ended in India but for my friends that are going through summer right now this is one recipe you should try, its not the traditional milkshake but a chunky deliciousness. Everyone here loved it I am sure you will too:)

Ingredients :

Watermelon (a quarter part if using a big one and half part if using small one.) (de-seeded and chopped into little cubes)
Milk (1 litre)
Sugar (1-2 cups depending on how sweet the watermelon is. )
Rose essence (6-7 drops)
Red food color (optional)

Method :

1. Completely dissolve the sugar in the milk add the essence and food color to it.  
2. Add the watermelon chunks to the milk. Keep back a few watermelon chunks to add on top when you serve.  
3. Serve chilled.