Guacamole

Guacamole is a delicious avocado based dip. It originates from Mexico, some smart Aztecs created it:) Avocado is a super food, high in dietary fiber and a variety of vitamins and to top it, its delicious too. Although i had to do my bit of searching for it through the super market but its easily available these days in Mumbai. Here is a simple and quick Guacamole recipe, for a lazy evening when all you want to do is lay down on your couch, watch your favorite movie and hog on something delicious without having to work hard to make it! Just pour in a bag of your favorite nacho chips along side this delicious dip and hog away!!

Ingredients : 

Ripe Avocado (1 medium sized) (peeled and mashed)

Onion (1 small) (diced)

Tomato (1 small) (diced)

Fresh red chilli (2) (finely chopped)

Coriander (2 tbsp) (finely chopped)

Lemon juice (half a lemon) 

Oregano dry (1/2 tbsp)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a bowl mash the avocado using a fork. You can keep the avocado as smooth or chunky as you would like it, there is no rule to that.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients to the mashed avocado and serve with your favorite nacho chips, i personally love the cheese and herbs flavored Cornitos with this. 
3. Guacamole also makes a great breakfast spread on your toast! enjoy!

Tomato soup

Here's the classic tomato soup recipe. Need i say more??

Ingredients:

Ripe Tomatoes (1/2 kg)

Salted butter (4 tbsp)

Onions (1 big or 2 small) (roughly chopped)

Coriander (2 tbsp) (roughly chopped)

Mint leaves (Pudina) (2 tbsp) (roughly chopped)

Garlic (5 cloves) (roughly chopped)

Black pepper powder (1/2 tbsp) (freshly ground)

Red chilli powder (1/2 tbsp)

Sugar (1 tsp)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Make 4 superficial slits on each tomato. This will help with the peeling of the tomatoes later.
2. Boil enough water to nicely immerse all the tomatoes in a deep bottomed pan. Add the tomatoes and blanch them till the peel starts coming off.
3. Put the tomatoes in ice cold water and remove the peels, because of the blanching the peels will come off easily.
4. Roughly chop the tomatoes.
5. Heat a pressure cooker on low flame. Heat 2 tbsp of butter in it, and add the onions and garlic to it immediately.
6. Cook for two minutes till the onions become translucent.
7. Add two medium sized glasses of water to this.
8. Add the chopped tomatoes, coriander, mint leaves, red chilli powder, black pepper powder, sugar and salt.
9. Cover with the lid and pressure cook on medium flame till you get 3 whistles from the cooker.
10. Once done, let the soup cool for a bit and process in a food processor.
11. Reheat the soup before serving. Serve it topped with fresh cream, butter and bread croutons.
12. You may add celery or finely chopped carrots at between steps 6 and 7, to make the soup healthier and to bring a little variety in the flavor. Enjoy:)

Pan fried chicken with Thai red chilli sauce

Try this easy pan fried chicken recipe, all you need is a quick salad and some potato fries to turn it into a complete meal. You can also use this chicken in your salads or sandwiches. Enjoy:)

Ingredients :

Boneless chicken breast (2 pieces) (250gms)

Butter (4 tbsp)

Ginger garlic paste (2 tsp)

Coriander (a handful)

Red chilli flakes (2 tsp)

Black pepper powder (1 tsp)

Lemon juice (juice of one lemon)

oil (4 tbsp)

salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash the chicken pieces well. Make a few slits on the chicken.
2. Marinate the chicken with all the rest of the ingredients except for oil. Use only 2 tbsp of butter for marinating.
3. Let the chicken marinate for at least an hour but the longer you let it marinate the better. Marinating overnight works best.
4. Heat the oil and 2 tbsp of butter in a non stick pan and place the chicken in the pan. Cook the chicken on low flame till the chicken is nicely cooked. Flip the chicken and cook on other side, the chicken should be a nice golden brown on both sides.
5. Brush the chicken with thai red chilli sauce and serve with a salad and mashed potato or potato fries. enjoy:)

Thai red chilli sauce

This is Thai style hot and sweet sauce recipe, traditionally this sauce is made a little thinner than my version but i make it a little thick, this sauce is packed with strong flavors of red chilli and garlic along with a beautiful sweetness that is just perfect. You can serve this as a dip with spring rolls, stir fries or grilled chicken i personally love it with tempura chicken fingers. This sauce can also be used as a substitute to your regular chilli sauce in any dish, if you don't add the corn flour (which helps thicken the sauce) it also works  beautifully as a salad dressing.

Ingredients:

White vinegar (1/2 cup)

Sugar (1 1/2 cup) (100 gms)

Garlic (10 cloves) (minced)

Red chilli flakes (3 tbsp)

Oregano (1tspn)

Habenero sauce (1 tbsp)

Corn flour (1 tbsp)

Water (2 cups)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a sauce pan add the vinegar, sugar and 1 cup of water and bring to boil.
2. Add the garlic, chilli flakes, oregano and habenero sauce to this and cook for a few minutes over low flame.
3. Mix the corn flour in 1 tbsp of water in a separate bowl and slowly add this to the sauce while stirring. The sauce will start thickening at this point. Cook till you reach the desired consistency.
4. Add the salt, mix well and turn off the heat. Let the sauce cool down and serve or store:)

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:)