(MEAT) Easy meat balls

This recipe is suited for the students. It is easy and quick.
- For ingredients we need 1 packet of fresh uncooked sweet, mild hot Italian sausages. (4 sausages in a packet)
- 1 tbsp oil for browning the meatballs
- 2 cups creamy tomato soup from local supermarket
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Quarter cup grated parmesan cheese


Take each sausage and squeeze it out from its casing bit by bit forming tiny meat balls. Brown the balls in a skillet over medium heat. You will notice that the meat balls are releasing their fat too. In the same skillet pour in 2 cups of prepared creamy tomato soup. (You can buy it from local grocery stores).
Let the meatballs cook for sometimes until the sauce thickens. Serve hot sprinkling dried oregano leaves, extra virgin olive oil and grated parmesan cheese.
I mixed some pasta with the sauce. You can eat it with garlic bread too.

NOTE the prepared meat balls can be used for making (hearty!) sandwiches. Or throw some noodles into chicken stock and combine the meatballs turning them into meatball noodle soup.

(FISH) Seafood Sausage Salad (exotic)

I bought these great looking uncooked seafood sausages from my local grocery shop. To serve 4 persons I had 5 sausages,sliced (half inch in thickness) ready to be cooked.
In a nonstick pan I heated 2 tbs any light oil. I sauteed them over medium high heat until they were light brown in color then took them off the heat. For the dressing: I mixed 2 tbsp mayonaisse (you can use low caloried), half tsp garlic powder, a pinch of chili powder, half tsp honey, pinch of salt,juice of half lemon and 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
Arrange the sausages on a bed of greens.
Drizzle the dressing over it. If you want you can add sliced onions and green apple. Its yummy!!!
I have mixed diced red tomato with the greens.

(This is a quick lunch for non-veg. lovers. You can use cooked shrimp too).

Vegetarians:

You can replace sausages with fried paneer or soya nuggets (Nutrela).
For ingredients you need:
- Sausages or soya nuggets
- Oil
- Fresh greens ("salad leaves").
- For dressing: mayonaisse, garlic powder, chilli powder, honey, salt, half a lemon, extra virgin olive oil. (Measurements are listed above).
- Tomato, sliced red onion and green apple for garnishing (optional).

(VEG or MEAT) Open faced grilled Pita sandwich(great quicklunch which can be packed to go)

Ingredients (serves 2 persons):

- 2 wholewheat pita bread. You can also use whole wheat tortilla or chappati
- 1 cup of raw ground meat of our choice
- (Or, for vegetarians: 1cup of diced firm tofu)
- 1 whole chopped onion
- 1 tbsp garlic chopped
- 1 tsp tomato paste or 2tbs ketchup
- 1 tsp chilli powder or any hot sauce
- S pinch of crushed cardamom or any dried herb of your choice. (I like the flavor of cardamom)
- Salt and sugar. (I generally use raw brown sugar or natural cane sugar)
- 2tbsp light soysauce and hot sauce
- 6 medium sized cabbage leaves washed

To prepare:

- Heat veg. oil (1 tbsp) and saute the cabbage leaves on high heat (don't burn them). They should be caramelized and kept aside.
- Grill the pita bread and keep on a serving dish
- Saute the chopped onion and the minced garlic in a skillet until it is light brown in color.
- Throw in the meat (or tofu), salt and sugar, tomato paste (or ketchup), chilli powder and the herb or the cardamom powder.
- Stir all the ingredients together until the mixture looks well cooked. It should be dry.

- Arrange the cabbage leaves on the pita bread.
- Sprinkle the soya sauce and the hot sauce over it.
- Scoop the meat or the tofu mixture and layer over the arranged cabbage leaves.
- Garnish it sliced red onion and greens.

Serve it with fruits or pack it to go.

This is an excellent light lunch, low caloried and tasty. To make it somewhat exotic, you can sprinkle low caloried cheese or any cheese of your choice.

(VEG) Begun Bhaja (Oven Fried Eggplant)

This recipe is best for those who are watching their calorie intake and also great way of introducing vegetables to the kids, because through past experience, I have noticed that kids love to eat vegetables prepared this way.

The traditional Bengali version of this dish is deep fried. But this one is cooked in the oven. (As a matter of fact most of my vegetable dishes are oven fried - including cauliflower, potatoes, sweet potatoes, bitter gourd...)

Take an eggplant, make sure it is not full of seeds.

Tip the best way of judging a good eggplant - it should be light, shiny, and firm. (I learnt this from a seller at a Farmer's Market).

Cut the eggplant into half inch thick circles, brush it with vegetable oil and sprinkle salt on both sides of the cut pieces. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray. arrange the eggplant pieces. Preheat oven to about 500 F (140 C). Put the baking sheet in the center shelf of the oven and let it bake until you see the top part brown in color. (Make it brown according to your choice. Note that the side in contact with the sheet gets brown earlier so keep an eye on it and turn it over if needed. In my oven it takes six to seven minutes to get to the degree of brownness that I prefer).

You may like to serve it with luchi. (I have shown how to make luchi here )
Tip bake multiple vegetables together that includes zucchini, bell peppers, potatoes and onions and you can prepare lovely grilled vegetable sandwiches.

(VEG) Pasta Penne One Two Three!

There is a traditional way of cooking pasta and there is my way!

To cook pasta

- 3 cups of water
- 1 cup uncooked penne pasta
- 2 cups of prepared creamy tomato soup
- 1 large red tomato diced
- 2 tsp sundried tomato julienne
- 3 tbs good extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/4 cup sliced black olives
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Boil about 3 cups of water.Pour 1 cup of uncooked penne pasta into the boiled water and salt(about 11/2 tsp ).
Cook pasta until "al dente" ("firm but not hard"). Do not remove the pasta from the pan. There should be about quarter cup of water in the pan with the pasta. Turn the heat low and pour in the soup. Let the pasta cook in the soup for some time. When the soup is reduced, turn off the heat. Pour the pasta in a serving bowl and mix the chopped tomatoes and the olives with the hot pasta. Then sprinkle the sundried tomato, olive oil and top it with the grated parmesan cheese and rosemary. Serve hot.

(MEAT) Shepherd's Pie

Traditionally Shepherd's Pie is cooked ground meat layered with mashed potatoes and brushed with egg wash, then baked in a hot oven.

I baked my pie with frozen hash brown potatoes because I did not have mashed potatoes at home. But it actually tasted better.

-To prepare(3 persons)

- 1 lb (about 500gms) ground meat (I used ground pork)
- 1 big onion chopped fine
- 3 tsp chopped garlic
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- Quarter cup ketchup
- Half tsp garam masala (cinnamon,cloves and cardamom ground) optional.
- Half tsp dried rosemary
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp cream cheese
- Half tsp chilli powder (optional)
- Oil for cooking
- 1 beaten egg
- Half cup of grated cheddar cheese (optional)


Heat oven (400F.or 200C)
Heat 2 tbs. veg oil. Throw in chopped onions and garlic. Saute until it turns light brown. Put the tomato paste and the dried herb.
Throw in the meat, salt and pepper to taste, garam masala if you have and ketchup. Stir it together. Cover it up on a low heat let the meat cook in its juice. When the liquid absolutely reduces mix the cream cheese and sprinkle with chili powder. Turn off heat, pour meat in a baking dish.
Soften the frozen hash browns in a microwave oven. Take them out, break them into pieces and brush beaten egg over the pieces.
Bake it in the oven for about 25 mins or until it looks brown and bubbly.
Turn the heat and spread the cheese over, allow it to melt. Serve hot with some good bread.
If you want to replace hash browns with mashed potatoes, you are most welcome.

(VEG) Luchi ("Poori")

Traditionally pooris are made out of whole wheat flour and luchis (pronounced loo-chees) are made out of all purpose flour. But I will be making luchi with mixture of whole wheat and all purpose flour.

To prepare for 4 persons

- 2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 cup of whole wheat flour
- Pinch of salt
- Half of veg,oil or 3 tbsp clarified butter(ghee)
- Water for kneading

Incorporate the oil with the flour. It should be evenly mixed.
Pour water little by little until it turns into dough, knead the dough until it does not stick and feels smooth.
Form small balls, size of little smaller than golf balls.

To fry

- 1 1/2 cups of veg.oil(not olive oil)
- Deep pot to fry in or small wok

The oil should be hot. As the oil is heating, roll out each luchi on a wooden board. (This is done by flattening each small ball into a flat disk - usually with a wooden roller). If it sticks dust some flour and then roll. Once the oil heats up (to test the temperature of the oil, insert the back of a wooden spoon and if you see tiny bubbles circling it then the oil is hot enough) put each rolled out luchi in the oil and press it lightly with a slotted spoon. You will notice the luchi will puff up. If it does not that means oil has not reached right temp - or the dough rolled out is too thin.
Serve hot with prepared veg. or meat.

(VEG) Dhokar Dalna (Bengali dish) - Yellow Split Peas Cake in Tomato gravy

For dhokar dalna you need

- 1 cup of yellow split peas( chana dal)
- About 4 tbsp of ground ginger
- Ground garam masala (cloves, cinnamon and cardamom)
- 2 whole tomatoes diced
- Salt and sugar to taste
- 1 tsp chili powder
- Half tsp asafoetida powder
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin-coriander powder
- Half tsp cumin seeds
- 2 green chillies
- Vegetable oil
- 1 tsp ghee or clarified butter(optional)
-2tbs yogurt
-1 bay leaf(optional)

To prepare Dhoka

Wash the dal (yellow split peas) and soak overnight. Grind it .
In a skillet heat oil put the cumin seeds and pinch of asafoetida. When the seeds splatters, put the ground dal and stir it on low heat until it looks pasty and does not stick to the skillet. It should not dry out. Nonstick pan is advisable.
Once the paste looks cooked, spread it out evenly in a well greased baking pan. It should be half inch in thickness. Once it cools down cut it into squares (not too big or small). Then pan-fry the squares and keep aside.

To prepare the sauce:

Heat oil in a skillet, throw in the diced tomatoes and bayleaf. Once the tomatoes look cooked and do not have the raw smell, throw in rest of the ingredients except for the ghee (clarified butter). The whole mixture should look well cooked. Pour in 1 1/2 cup of water and let it simmer. Once the sauce slightly thickens put the dhoka pieces. Keep them on low heat for few seconds then remove the skillet from the heat. Pour the clarified butter, cover it until it cools down slightly. Pour it in a serving dish and serve. I served it with puris, you can also serve it with rice or chappati.

TIP: If the sauce gets entirely soaked up, add a little water and gently shake the skillet before pouring it in the serving dish.

Note: The "luchis" (fried Indian bread pieces) shown in the picture are described in my post: http://pinkysrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/01/luchi-poori.html

(VEG) Palak Paneer with a twist

 This is not a traditional Palak Paneer. We don't steam the Palak (spinach).

For ingredients we need

- Around four squeezed handfuls of fresh spinach (Baby Spinach is preferable). It needs to be thoroughly washed.
- Half cup of sunflower seeds
 - Paneer cut into cubes. Note: If you cannot get Paneer, use button mushrooms.
- Chopped onions, amount depends on the amount of spinach and Paneer.
- Half inch ginger piece and 5 cloves of garlic.
- Two green chillies and one cup of chopped cilantro (coriander) washed.
- 1 tbsp Tomato paste.
- 1/2 tsp Cummin seeds.
- 1 tsp Turmeric.
- 1 tsp Garam Masala (powdered mixture of cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom).
- 1/2 cup of olive oil.
- 1 tbsp of dried fenugreek leaves (optional).
- Lime juice (squeeze the juice of half a lime).

Wash the fresh spinach.

Put hot water on the washed spinach

Put it in a cold water bath. Squeeze the water out from the spinach.

Put it in a blender.

Throw in the ginger/garlic. Salt to taste. Powder the sunflower seeds and add cilantro, fenugreek,  leaves (optional), line juice and about half cup of olive oil. It forms into a pesto. Taste to see if the salt is OK. Keep aside.

At this point you can also serve the pesto with crackers or flat bread or garlic bread.

Heat oil in a skillet. Put pinch of cummin seeds and dried red chilli cut into pieces. Put in the Paneer cubes and fry them until they are light brown in color. Put the chopped onions, tomato paste, turmeric, Garam Masala, salt and sugar to taste. Mix them together until the mixture looks fried and a little oily. Pour in a half cup of water and let it simmer for some time until the liquid reduces. Turn off the heat.

Pour the spinach pesto. Turn off the heat and incorporate the pesto with the Paneer mixture till the color is uniformly green. The consistency should be creamy. Pour it into a serving dish and top it with 2 tsp of butter (which will melt eventually with the heat).

(VEG) Red Swiss Chard Batter Fry

For the ingredients you need:

- Fresh Swiss Chard (washed thoroughly and then cut into uniformly sized pieces).
- We need to make batter with chick peas powder, a pinch of salt, a pinch of asafoetida, a pinch of baking soda, half teaspoon of fennel seeds (use "ajwain" seeds if possible) and water to mix. The consistency should be like pancake batter.

Heat oil hot. Dip the chard pieces into the batter and put into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry them golden brown and serve immediately.

TIP: you can use pancake batter to fry the leaves. Make sure you shake out the excess batter before frying.
Try it with lettuce leaves too. Equally delicious!

(MEAT or VEG ) Hearty Chicken (or veg) Stew

You need:

- Mixed chicken pieces
- Onions(for a whole chicken two white onions cut into chunk)
- Ginger (half inch in size and slit)
- Garlic six cloves,sliced.
- 1 bay leaf, half tsp ground clove, ground cinnamon, and ground cardamom
- 2 whole tomatoes diced
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tsp worstershire sauce (optional)
- Vegetables - potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, green beans and beetroot. (You can also use vegetables such as turnips, peas or asparagus. Cut into chunks).

To prepare:

- Coat the chicken pieces with flour, salt and pepper. Brown them and keep aside.
- In a pot heat oil and add the bay leaf.
- Put in the cut vegetables of your choice, onions, ginger and garlic.
- Saute them until they are light brown in color.
- Put in rest of the ingredients salt,pepper and 11/2 tsp of sugar, 3 cups of water (or low sodium chicken stock instead of water).
- Let it simmer on medium low heat for some time, or until the chicken and the veg are soft and tender.
- Thicken the gravy lightly with a little butter, flour and milk mixture..
- Let the stew rest for few minutes then serve with buttermilk biscuits or bread.

Vegetarians:

Use Tofu or Paneer if you want. Or just skip the chicken and use the vegetables of your choice. Use vegetable stock in place of chicken.

(MEAT or VEG) Crunchy Mini Pie

This is excellent for tea parties or quick lunches!

You need:

- Puff pastry sheet from your local supermarket
- Spinach (sauteed earlier with garlic and salt)
- Cooked ground meat(this is optional and vegetarians can omit it). I used leftover curried ground pork meat.You can use any cooked meat(sausage will be fine).
- Cream cheese (or any grated cheese)
- Heat oven 400F (205C)

Roll out the pastry sheet and with the help of a circular cookie cutter stamp out circular pieces.
Oil-spray a nonstick cupcake baking tin.
Into each cup layer a circular piece of the pastry sheet. Then add some of the sauteed spinach, a dollop of cream cheese and a little of the ground meat. Top it with another layer of that circular pastry sheet. Make two slits on top of each pie for the release of steam.
Brush it with beaten egg (vegetarians should instead brush it with some milk) and sprinkle some crushed cornflakes for crunchiness.
Bake it for 20-23 mts. It should be golden brown in color. Turn the heat off and leave the pies in the oven for few minutes. Take out and serve

(VEG) Cheesy Veggie Grilled Sandwich

This recipe is mainly for college students. (Or for anyone who is familiar with the Trader Joe's grocery chain in the US. Those who do not know Trader Joe's can still adapt it to the grocery store(s) you do use).

On your next trip to Trader Joe's, pick up:

- Their horseradish flavored spreadable cheddar cheese or any spreadable cheese. I love cheddar. You can do it with sliced cheese too.
- Bread ,of your choice
- Vegetable masala burger. (You will find it in the frozen section), or if you have no Trader Joe's then pull out that leftover cooked vegetable from your fridge. (Sauteed vegetable will be excellent).

To assemble:

- Take two slices of bread
- Spread cheese on both the slices.
- Prepare the burger - read the instructions on the box (or, if you use leftover cooked vegetables, layer them on the cheese).
- Sandwich the slices and butter the outer sides of the sandwich
- Grill it in a toaster oven or on the stove top using a griddle or a frying pan.
- Serve it with fruits and chips, and with soup bought from Trader Joe's.

(FISH) Tilapia Delight

This is traditional Bengali dish. (Bengal ,situated east of India). Well the common ingredients are of course a whole fresh tilapia fish, that you cut into steaks. (Do not throw away the head. Or, if you are uncomfortable cutting fresh fish, you can take some tilapia fillets, and cut them into reasonable sized pieces).

If you use fillet pieces, coat them with salt and turmeric and dust them with all purpose flour. Pan fry them and keep them aside. With fresh fish, coat the steak pieces with turmeric and salt and pan fry them. In either case, do not overheat the oil, because the fish should be lightly fried. Keep the pieces aside.

In the same pan pour some mustard oil (we traditionally cook in this oil). If you do not have it, then never mind, you can use any light oil.
-Put a pinch of nigela seeds if you have.
-Put sliced onions and diced tomatoes, 1tsp of turmeric powder, 1tsp of chilly powder (optional), salt and a little sugar. (I use brown sugar).
-Saute them together until the whole mixture looks fried and oily and has a lovely reddish color.
-Pour in half a cup of water, turn the heat low as it starts to boil, then slowly put in the fish pieces.
- Allow it to simmer for some time. Not too long, otherwise fish will break.
-The gravy should be thick and slightly oily.
- Garnish it with slit green chillies, and cilantro (coriander) leaves.

Enjoy!

TIP: if the gravy is too thin, then you can thicken it slightly with a little cornflour or all purpose flour.

College going cooks!

If you want to "go gourmet", then try this recipe. You can use any white fish fillet.

(FISH) Oatmeal Crusted Fish Fillet

Oatmeal crusted fish fillet (Oh my god - to die for)!

- Take any fish fillet, make sure it is even in thickness (if it is not, then pound it so that the thickness of the fillet is even.
- Salt and pepper the fillet, then marinate it in a ginger, garlic, green chilli paste.
- Squeeze lemon juice in some butter milk and put little salt and curry powder into it.
- Then dip the marinated fillet into the buttermilk and coat it with oatmeal.If you dont have oatmeal you can coat it with cornflakes.
- Pan fry.It should be golden brown in color on both sides.

I served it with masala mashed potatoes and green salad.

Enjoy!

(VEG) Vegetable Au Gratin

- Saute veg (mushroom,carrots and peas - or veg of your choice) with chopped onion and garlic in some butter.
- Put 1 tbsp of all purpose flour into the veg mixture while sauteeing.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Lower the heat and pour in a cup of milk and stir mixture until it thickens
- Turn off the heat.Pour the mixture in a casserole dish.
- Take a cup of gruyere cheese (or you can use some other cheese of your choice - provided it melts easily and is bubbly. I use cheddar cheese too).
- Layer it over the veg and put the dish under a broiler or grill.
- Keep it until the cheese is lightly brown, bubbly (and of course melted!).
- Serve hot with good bread and/or salad.

(EGGS) Egg Curry

- Boil eggs, shell them and lightly fry them in oil. Keep them aside.
- Slice onions, make ginger-garlic paste, heat oil in a pan and sautee the onions until brown light brown in color.
- Add the ginger garlic paste, a little tomato paste, chilli powder, turmeric powder (about 1tsp), 1tsp cumin-coriander powder and half tsp cardamom powder. Don't forget salt and a little sugar to taste.
- Sautee all the ingredients until it looks brown and the oil can be seen.
- Put a little water and add the eggs.
- Cover the pan. Let the water dry up - the gravy should be thick.
- Serve hot with Indian bread

(VEG) Paneer with Pickle Dressing

Today's recipe ('Excellent'!):

- Fry paneer cubes with chopped cilantro and green chillies, then sprinkle a little salt.
- Turn the heat off, take 2 tsps of pickled green mango in hot chilly oil (called 'aam tel') and put over the paneer, slowly incorporating the whole mixture.
- Serve with hot white rice.

TIP: Try it with any sauteed vegetable if you do not like paneer. As for the pickle you can get it any Indian or Middle Eastern grocery.

(VEG) Sauteed Red Spinach

- Chop fresh red spinach and wash it thoroughly.
- Heat oil
- Put a pinch of nigela seeds and dried red chillly.
- Pour in the leaves and add salt to taste. Remember that the leaves will extract water and reduce the amount to half the quantity.
- Sautee the leaves until the liquid has all dried up and the leaves are soft and "wilty".
- Take a tsp of mustard oil and drizzle over it.It gives a lovely pungent taste.
- Serve it with rice or chappati