Monday 19 September 2011

EGG-O-MANIA





Chicken eggs are widely used in many types of dishes, both sweet and savoury, including many baked goods. Eggs can be scrambled, fried, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, pickled, and refrigerated. Eggs add protein to a person's diet, as well as various other nutrients.

Chicken eggs are the most commonly eaten eggs. They supply all essential amino acids for humans, and provide several vitamins and minerals, including retinol (vitamin A), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid (vitamin B9), vitamin B6, vitamin B12, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. They are also a single-food source of protein.
All of the egg's vitamin A, D, and E are in the egg yolk. The egg is one of the few foods to naturally contain vitamin D.

Here are a few easy recipes where egg is the main ingredient. These mouth-watering dishes will be liked by you for sure So do try them @ home!!!!









EGG SCRAMBLE

Ingredients: 
1) 2 eegs
2) 1 teablespoon butter
3) 1 tablespoon milk
4) Salt
5) Pepper powder

Preparation:
1) Beat 2 eggs in a mixing bowl. Add salt, pepper and milk to it.
2) Heat butter in a pan. Once it melts, add the above egg mixture to it.
3) Keep on stirring it continuously till the egg is properly cooked.
 Note:- 1) Egg should be stirred properly till it cooks or else lumps will be formed
            2) Add salt and beat the egg mixture properly for about 2-3 min so that all the ingredients mix well.



EGG KADHAI 
Ingredients:
1) 2 Eggs hard boiled
2) 1 small onion- chopped finely
3) tomato (half)- chopped finely
4) ginger-garlic paste- half tablespoon
5) Kashmiri Red chilli powder- half tablespoon
6) Turmeric Powder- 1 teaspoon
7) Pav Bhaji Masala- 1 tablespoon
8) Salt
9) Coriander- finely chopped
10) Oil
11) Cinnamon stick(half inch) 

Preparation:-
1)Peel cover off the eggs. Chop the eggs to make medium sized pieces. ( An egg can be divided into 8 pieces)
2)Heat oil in a wok.
3) Add cinnamon stick and chopped onion.
4) Let the onion sweat. One its done, add chopped tomatoes. 
5) Saute well for 3-4 min on medium flame.
6) Add ginger-garlic paste and saute.
7) Add Kashmiri red chili powder and turmeric powder followed by PAV BHAJI masala.
8) Saute well. Add little water if needed.
9) Add salt and taste the gravy for it level of spiciness. 
10) Once the thick gravy is cooked well, add egg pieces to it. 
11) DONOT STIR MUCH AFTER ADDING EGG PIECES AS THEY MIGHT BREAK FURTHER MORE INTO SMALLER PIECES.
12) Just toss once the eff pieces are added.
13) Garnish with coriander and serve HOT!


EGG OMELET
Ingredients:
1) 2 Eggs
2) one onion finely chopped
3) finely chopped green chillies- 2 teaspoons
4) ginger-garlic paste- 1 teaspoon
5) Salt
6) Pepper Powder
7) Butter

Preparation:
1) Beat the eggs very well in a mixing bowl.
2) Add salt, ginger-garlic paste and finely chopped green chilies. Again mix well. Make sure all the ingredients are mixed up evenly through the mixture.
3) Add finely chopped onion to the above mixture and again mix well.
4) Heat butter on a pan. Once the butter melts, spread the above egg mixture on pan to make omelets. Spread the egg mixture according to the size
    of omelet you desire.
5) Once one side of omelet is done, turn the omelet up-side down so that the other side also gets cooked well.
6) Serve hot with bread slices and tomato ketchup. 

NOTE:- 1) You may add chopped coriander and/or pepper powder to the egg mixtue.
              2) Sandwich the omelet between two toasted bread slices and serve with tomato ketchup for best taste.


EGG BHURJI
Ingredients:
1) 2 Eggs
2) Finely chopped onion- 1
3) Finely chopped tomato- half
4) Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tablespoon
5) Kashmiri Red chili powder- Half tablespoon
6) Turmeric powder- 1 teaspoon
7) Garam masala/ Kitchen king masala- 1 tablespoon
8) Salt
9) Oil
10) Pepper corns- 2 to 3 balls
11) Cinnamon stick- half inch
12) Caraway( shah jeera)- 1 teaspoon

Preparation:
1) Beat the eggs well in a bowl
2) Add oil to a wok.
3) Add pepper corns and cinnamon stick followed by caraway.
4) Add chopped onion to it followed by chopper tomato.
5) Add ginger-garlic paste.
6) Saute well and let it cook for 4-5 min
7) Add red chili powder, turmeric powder followed by garam masala/ kitchen king masala
8) Add salt and make a thick and dry gravy. Add or sprinkle little water if needed.
9) Add the beaten egg to this gravy and keep on stirring it continuously till the egg cooks so that all the masala gravy gets evenly distributed through the egg scramble.
10) Taste the bhurji for additions of salt or spices if necessary.
11) Garnish it with fresh chopped coriander.
12) Serve hot with a chapati.


EGG HARIYALI
Ingredients:
1) 2 eggs boiled- cut into half
2) One potato boiled- cut into eight pieces
3) One onion finely chopped
4) Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tablespoon
5)Salt
6) Hariyali mixture:-   (a)Coriander leaves- 1 cup
(b) 4 green chillies
(c) 5-6 mint leaves
7) Turmeric powder- half teaspoon
8) Pepper corns- 2 to 3 balls
9) Cinnamon stick- half inch
10) Caraway(shah jeera)- 1 teaspoon
11) Oil

Preparation:
1) For making the Hariyali mixture, mix the given ingredients and grind them together in a mixer. Add little water to this mixture and blend it properly.
2) Heat oil in a pan. Add pepper corns, cinnamon stick and caraway to it.
3) Add chopped onion & ginger-garlic paste and saute. Let the onion sweat. 
4) Add turmeric powder to it and saute.
5) Add the Hariyali mixture and saute.
6) Add little water to it and let this gravy boil.
7) Add salt to the gravy.
8) Add boiled pieces of potato and egg.
9) Serve hot with a chapati or steam rice.

NOTE:- 1) Use boiled potatoes. If the potatoes are not boiled, add the potatoes after adding onions and let them cook properly. Prick them to check if they are                                cooked or not.
2) You may add boiled green peas to this gravy. Remember, the peas should be boiled for 7-10 minutes before adding to gravy.
3) Keep the gravy semi-thick or like 'aamti' so that it can be enjoyed with rice also.

Friday 16 September 2011

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can;
Pat it and prick it and mark it with B,
Put it in the oven for baby and me !!!

Baking a cake isn’t all that difficult as it seems. Let me tell you it is not something like Rocket Science or something. Many people are nervous or apprehensive before baking a cake. And obvio tension is expected…you put in all your efforts and the oven goes ‘ting’ to give you BURNT portion of crap !!! So sad.. :’(
Even I used to be very tensed before baking cakes. I somehow managed to find a recipe that seemed almost ok to me and I took off with the steps one by one. But the cake turned out to be a disaster. The cake had a stink of egg and it was not at all spongy… A DISASTER IN EVERY FEASIBLE SENSE!
I was really disheartened and decided I wont be baking a cake ever… But then I took spl classes for baking where I  learnt different styles of baking.. Different types of cakes and all of them lip-smacking good!
This time when I was about to bake a cake, it was for my very close friend’s birthday! @ 18:00 hrs I reached home and had to bake the cake, get ready and reach the venue by 19:30 hrs for the party. I was all tensed & not at all confident. Even told my friends to arrange for a cake in-case I repeat the history! That disastrous cake had become the wildest n disastrous effort. I just took a deep breath and started off! To everyone’s surprise, this time the cake was not at all a disaster but totally yummy and pretty and delicious and everything good! It was spongy, fluffy and had a flavour of RUM as it was a RUM CAKE. Here goes the pic:



The next attempt was for my sister’s birthday. By this time I was pretty confident about the base but was tensed again about the icing. Had never done it before and I had just observed my cooking teacher teach me! And it was a pleasant surprise as the icing was tasting very good & I had topped the cake quite neatly with all the icing and other toppings and it got set also very well! Tried li’l design on it.. wasn’t so successful but yea, was looking cute! The icing looked little immature but was very good for a first timer (my teacher said so ^_^). Here goes the pic:





So don’t ever be afraid of what you really want to do. First time a disaster is expected as someone has rightly said
“Failures are stepping stones towards success”

Monday 29 August 2011

Knives

             
Knives play an imperative role in making your food appealing. An apt knife is to be used as it is necessary to watch out the chopping style. Veggies when chopped in a specific fashion make your dish look perfect and tempting. Not just the vegetables, even chopping meat into pieces, is a chief task. At times, you need chunks of meat pieces or at times mince. Remember very well that taste of your food depends on the sizes of chopped ingredients and the style of chopping.
A basic knife-set should consist of  a Chef’s knife or a French knife, a Boning knife, a Bread knife, a Kitchen knife/ Utility knife/ Slicing knife/ All-purpose knife & Paring knife or a Coring knife.
A professional kitchen may even include a Butchers’ knife, Cleaver, Oyster knife, Carving knife etc



from l-r :- Boning knife, Bread knife, Chef's knife, Kitchen knife, Paring knife. 
                       top :- Scissors

Chef’s Knife or a French knife:  A chef's knife was originally designed primarily to slice large cuts of beef. Today it is the general-utility knife for most Western cooks. The blade of a chef's knife is typically made of carbon steel, stainless steel or ceramic. Technique for the use of a chef's knife is an individual preference. Most cooks prefer to grip the handle, with all four fingers and the thumb gathered underneath. For more precise control, some grip on the blade itself, with the thumb and the index finger grasping the blade.

For fine slicing the handle is raised up and down with the tip remains in contact with the cutting board and the cut object is pushed under the blade.

Boning Knife: A boning knife is used for removing the bones from poultry, meat, and fish. A stiff boning knife is good for boning beef and pork, but a very flexible boning knife is preferred for poultry and fish.
Bread Knife: A bread knife is typically used for slicing loafs of bread. A bread knife is usually long and the blade is serrated.

Kitchen Knife: A kitchen knife is a general-purpose knife used to slice or chop vegetables likes onions, shallots, tomatoes, okra, French beans etc or even leafy vegetables like spinach, coriander, parsley, scallions etc . The blade of this knife is typically sleek, slender and long made of stainless steel.



Paring knife: A paring knife is used for cutting out the cores from a fruit. The blade of this knife is short yet sharp and generally made or stainless steel.



Butchers’ Knife: A butchers’ knife, as the name suggests, is typically used for slaughtering animals. It is generally not a part of regular kitchens as the blade is broad, sharp and the knife being heavy is hazardous. Even in hotels’ kitchens these knifes are barely used. They are widely used to places or factories where meat is manufactured after slaughtering animals or at times are used in some exotic places where the meat served needs to be just fresh.

Cleaver: Cleaver is a knife with a huge blade for hacking through bones. It is somewhat similar to a butcher’s knife but slightly smaller than that. The shape of its blade varies but is roughly rectangular. The broad blade is even used for crushing ingredients like garlic or green chillies. 

Saturday 20 August 2011

PANI PURI





"In West Bengal and specifically Calcutta,Phuchka is considered to be THE king of this variety of snacks, compared to it's cousins like golgappas or panipuris. The filling is made by lightly mashing boiled potatoes with black salt, salt, some spices, a generous portion of tamarind pulp (made by mashing ripe tamarind in tamarind water), chilli (powder/chopped/boiled & pasted). The tamarind water Tetul Jol is made by mixing tamarind and spices/ salt and making a light and tart liquid with water. At some places like Deshpriya Park, a very famous variety is made with sour curd, and called Dahi (curd) Phucka. Onions are never used in Phuchkas.
The panipuri originated from the Magadh region of India, present day South Bihar. The English meaning of golgappa is "watery indian bread" or "crisp sphere eaten." Literary mentions suggest that it may have originated from Banares
Its popular names and the area where it is known by this name are:
§  Gol gappa, Water balls — New Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bihar
§  Pani ke bataashe— Uttar Pradesh
§  Pani ke bataashe — Rajasthan
§  Panipuri — Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra
§ Phuchka — West Bengal
§  Gup chup — Orrisa

PAV BHAJI




" Pav Bhaji is a fast food dish native to Maharashtra and is 
popular in most metropolitan areas in India. The origin of this dish is traced to the heyday of the textile mills in Mumbai. The mill workers used to have lunch breaks too short for a full meal, and a light lunch was preferred to a heavy one, as the employees had to return to strenuous physical labor after lunch. A vendor created this dish using items or parts of other dishes available on the menu. Roti or rice was replaced with pav and the curries that usually go with Indian bread or rice were amalgamated into just one spicy concoction, the 'bhaji'. Initially, it remained the food of the mill-workers. With time the dish found its way into restaurants and spread over Central Mumbai and other parts of the city 

Friday 19 August 2011

Hello PPl, if any1 needs  recipe for any dish from my EXPERIMETNS page.. kindly post or comment here so that i will keep on uploading recipes as per ur  demands!!!!

Tuesday 9 August 2011

"Meat:
1.       Check out the quality of meat you are using. Avoid RED MEAT and if at all you are using Red meat( Beef, Mutton, Ham) go for pinkish shade of meat. It implies that you meat is fresh. Avoid using Darker Red meat. If its not tender n fresh, it will take like a zillion years to cook and moreover spoil the taste of food also!
2.      If you are buying meat is large quantity whereas u need li’l amount at a time, DO NOT refrigerate the entire contents together. Make separate shares and store them in different containers/ covers.
Eg: You need 200gm of meat at a time but you have bought 1 kg from the market then, make 5 separate shares each of 200 gm and store them in separate containers. Before storing make sure you marinate them well with salt+ginger-garlic paste.
This is because when you defroze the entire 1 kg of meat while u need just 200gm, other portion of meat also gets defrosted and loses its nutrition value. Thus defrosting the meat again and again makes it lose all its contents as well as changes the taste. So better defrost only the required amount.
3.      Shape of pieces change the taste of your food. If shreds are needed, use shreds. If mince is needed, mince it! If chunks are needed, ask the butcher to make chunks!
4.     Generally opt of WITH-BONE meat rather than boneless. Bones’ nutrition value is too high and if they are just boiled to prepare stalk, it is like ‘pearls n gems’ for the chefs… damn precious! When this stalk is used in various preparations, it not only increases the nutrition value but also improves the taste!
5.      If boneless meat is needed, you can very well go for WITH-BONE meat, marinate it with salt+ginger-garlic paste and boil it. You will get the stalk and just shred the pieces i.e. separate the flesh from bones.
6.      If the meat pieces are boneless, marinate them and keep aside for a longer time than the with-bone pieces. You may also thrust in the meat with a fork so that the marinated masala enters into the flesh and gives you an amazing finger-licking taste.
7.     Whenever you add meat in a pan/wok, make sure u sauté it for sometime and then cover it with a lid so that the meat liberates some oil from itself which even more adds to the taste. It is very useful while making gravy.
8.      Make sure you meat has cooked properly before serving it.
9.      Make sure you use minimum number of veggies in a preparation containing meat. Always the amount of meat should be more. Lots of veggies at times hamper the ability of meat to make the preparation tasty.
10.   Salt is the BEST preservative


               

Sunday 24 July 2011

Tips for non veggies coming soon! Watch out!

Tips for veggies!

To start with I would like to say that these are the tips based on my personal experiences. It is possible that you may have better options and if you got better ideas do comment n post!
BASIC ONES:
1.       Cut your nails before cooking.
2.      No chipped nail paints.
3.      Avoid using nail colours.
4.     Tie you hair well before cooking.
5.      Preferable, cover your head with a plastic cap.
6.      Use and apron while cooking.
7.     Be alert and careful of your actions.
8.      Be specific and organized.
9.      Have a clear idea about what are you exactly going to do before you start.
10.   Cell phones are not allowed while cooking.
11.   If you get a cut while cooking, its expected that you leave the chopping tray immediately and move away from the chopped veggies and ingredients. Donot stand there only. Blood can get mixed with the food.
12.  Donot snneze or cough while cooking. Use a napkin preferably.
13.  Maintain cleanliness and hygienic conditions where you cook.



SPICES & TASTEMAKERS:
1.       While dealing with spices, every recipe specifies the quantity of spices to be used as in Tbsp/Teaspoon etc. But you know your taste buds very well and you even know the amount of spiciness your spices possess. As in at times the Red Chilli Powder is very hot or at times it is very mild. So if it is mentioned to add only 1 Tbsp chilli powder, the dish would not up to the mark for you. So here you gotta use a little bit of your judgement taking into account your and your family needs and the level of spiciness of your ingredients.
2.      If you are cooking Chinese food, I’d say stick to the proportions of the sauces  viz soya sauce, vinegar, red chilli sauce, sweet chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce, black bean sauce, Red pepper sauce, Schezwan sauce etc. These are usually bottled and their taste hardly differs. Hence add the specified quantity unless you are really pro and you know PERFECTLY about their constitution.
3.       Avoid adding MSG to your preparations. No doubt it gives you a terrific taste but then it even terrifies your kidneys! Instead add a mixture of salt and sugar in 1 tbsp:1 teaspoon proportion. Follow this proportion strictly.
4.     Use black salt for a few preparations like chat or sandwiches or frankies to make them taste better. But be careful! Its very salty as compared to ordinary salt.
5.      Use fresh spices for better flavours.
6.      Using certain Indian herbs in Chinese like star anise can enhance the taste of your Chinese food.
7.     Look for different types of cumin seeds and cardamom.


VEGETABLES & CHOPPING:
1.       While using Cauliflower, put it in haldi water for 15 min. It kills allthe germs and insects.
2.      While using capsicum in Chinese food, add it at the end only. Never add it in the beginning of the dish. It loses its color and gves the dish a typical flavour that spoils the taste. Besides, capsicum when crunchy tastes better.
3.      If you are using green chillies, either chop then so finley that no one can make our their presence in the food except for the hot taste or make big big pieces so that people can make them aside and they don’t accidently get into mouth spoiling the taste!
4.     Carrots also should be added later on so that they don’t lose their fresh orange colour.
5.      Never add spring onion in the initial stages of the recipes. Always use spring onion in Chinese food as a garnish and not as an ingredient.
6.      When it is specified in recipes that use chopped ginger-garlic, DONOT SUBSTITUTE IT WITH GINGER-GARLIC PASTE. Every ingredient has different tastes in each preparation depending on their style of chopping. Similarly, if ginger-garlic paste is mentioned, do not use chopped ginger-garlic. Follow the instructions strictly.
7.      Similarly, chopped onion and onion paste or chopped tomato or tomato puree make a difference in taste.
8.      Chop tomato with a very sharp knife or you will end up spoiling the entire tomato chopping.
9.      Make sure you use a good knife while chopping. Chopping vegetables finely always makes dishes taste better.
10.   There should be some uniformity in style of chopping. Eg: Some onion pieces are chopped finely while other are big n fat, doesn’t make a good dish and it is bound to spoil the taste.
11.   Wash coriander/parsley thoroughly before using. Then chop it finely. The finer you chop coriander/parsley, better flavour it will add to your food.
12.  Do not wach vegetables after chopping them.
13.  If you have added extra salt and spoilt entire preparation, all few pieces of chopped potato to the preparation.
14.  Adding a twist of lime to all spicy preparation always enhances the flavour.
15.  Do not overcook veggies. It spoils the taste, flavour and the appearrance.
16.  Add a little baking soda to water if you are boiling a few veggies. This will help in preserving their colour and appearance.      
17.  Always remember that  :
 FOOD THAT LOOKS GOOD, TASTES GOOD!