Basil Potato Salad

To have a side dish is a struggle I go every time I cook something like fish or dried chicken recipes like tandoori chicken etc. And you have to think what will go well with them. Than what you have available in your fridge, what you can come up with.

But this potato salad is the one dish which we can make in a jiffy and goes well with anything. And most importantly the main ingredient is one which we always have available "POTATOES" :D. This is the simplest dish which for sure wake up your taste buds.

So do give it a try and let me know if you have any suggestions or comments down below. Happy Cooking Everyone!!!!

Ingredients:

2 medium sized potatoes
20-25 basil leaves
1 garlic clove
1-1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp mustard paste
salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

1. In a mixer-grinder, mix everything together except potatoes and grind in a fine mixture.
2. On other hand, boil the potatoes. Once boiled, cut it into cubes and place it a bowl.
Note: Always add potatoes in water before starting the heat while boiling. Because we want potatoes and water to heat up at same rate evenly. Else you will have potatoes boiled from outside and raw inside.
3. Pour the mixture over potatoes and mix gently without breaking potatoes.
4. If you add this on warm potatoes, you might be able to smell the garlic being cooked in heat of potatoes.
5. Longer this salad sits, more it absorbs the mixture and better it gets. Serve hot or cold with any main dish. I served it with baked salmon.

Baked Salmon with orange/lemons

It is my new found passion to experiment with different fishes and different ways to prepare them. This is one of the successful experiments I did :D. A healthy and delicious way to eat salmon. Though it is very popular and very basic, but for me it was the first time and exciting to eat a baked fish.

Salmon has its own very peculiar taste which is very very different than any other fish. And in order to elevate this flavor profile of salmon, we need to do it justice by making salmon the start of the dish. And what better way to seal in all the flavors Salmon has to offer, other than baking it in its own juices and steam.

If you are a fan of Salmon or eating it for the first time. This is the best way to get the real taste of Salmon. No fuss preparation and awesome results.

Give it a try and let me know if you any suggestions or comments down below. Happy Cooking Everyone!!!!

Ingredients:

2 portions of salmon - washed and pat dry
1 lemon - thinly sliced
1/2 orange - thinly sliced
1 inch piece of ginger - thinly sliced
1 garlic clove - thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 star anise
3-4 tbsp wine - but since I don't drink wine I used vegetable broth/stock
salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

0. Preheat oven at 435 F.
1. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil. I do this because I don't want to clean the mess afterwards :D
2. make a bed of 1/2 lemon slices.

3. Place salmon on top of it. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top of salmon.
4. Now scatter around rest of the ingredients. Lemon slices, orange slices, ginger, garlic, star anise (one on each piece).

5. Sprinkle olive oil on top and pour vegetable broth at the bottom of pan.
6. Cover the pan with another aluminium foil. And cover it with lots of space for steam inside.
7. Place it in oven for 25-30 minutes.

8 Once done, take it out of oven and server hot either in same baking dish or on a platter along with any side dish. I served it with basil potato salad.

Peanut crusted Catfish with chili garlic vinaigrette

I have started cooking fish few months back and whenever I get fish I love to experiment with different flavors. As I said in one of my previous blog posts, catfish is the best substitute I found for Bengali style mustard gravy fish. But this time thought of giving it a twist and making it in a different style.

Inspiration for the flavor profile came from one of the Chef Gordon Ramsay's video where he cooked mullet instead of catfish. I am a huge huge fan of Chef Gordon Ramsay, and I love to try the recipes he gives.

And as always this recipe turned out to be awesome. Me and my hubby loved it and cleaned the plates up to the last bite :). I served it along with some boiled, then fried veggies. You can serve them with rice/Quinoa or any thing else you might fancy.

Give it a try and I am sure you will love it. Please leave any comments or suggestions you have down below. Happy Cooking Everyone!!!!




Ingredients:

For Fish:

1/2 sliced catfish
1/4 cup peanuts
2 tbsp cilantro - finely chopped
1 egg - beaten
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

For Vinaigrette:

1 green chili - finely chopped
1 clove of garlic - finely chopped
2 tbsp cilantro - finely chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste

Recipe:

1. For vinaigrette, add green chili, garlic and cilantro in a mortar pestle and grind it so that garlic gets crushed and infused into vinaigrette. Now add rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Note: Longer this mixture sits, better it gets.

2. Wash the fish properly and tap dry it using kitchen paper towel and place it on a plate.
3. In a bowl take egg and beat it. Set it aside.
4. Add peanuts (crush them using mortar pestle. Do not grind them completely, make a chunky mixutre) , cilantro and salt/pepper. Mix everything well together and place this on a plate or any flat surface.
5. Take a sauce pan, add olive oil and heat it over high heat.
6. Coat the fish in egg, and place flat side down on peanut mixture. Egg will help peanuts stick to the surface of the fish.
7. Once pan is hot (it should be hot and not just warm. If it is not, than as soon as you place the fish on the pan peanuts will separate from the fish), place the fish peanuts side down on the pan. Cook until peanuts gets brownish color, once cooked and colored, flip the fish and cook.
8. Once fish is cooked, take it out on a plate.

9. Server hot with some vinaigrette dressing on top.

Honey Lemon Chicken

This is a very quick starter recipe which can be prepared with very less ingredients. And all you have to do is mix everything :)

This tastes yummilicious and kids will love it. Do try it. Please leave any comments or suggestions you might have down below. Happy cooking everyone!!!!




Ingredients:

2 chicken leg pieces - skin on
1 tsp honey
1 tsp mustard paste
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp chili sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp sesame seeds for garnishing
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

Recipe:

1. Wash the chicken thoroughly and pat dry it.
2. In a mixing bowl, add honey, mustard, soy sauce, chili sauce, lemon juice. Mix everything well together and taste for salt. If needed, add salt to taste.

2. In a non-stick pan over medium heat, add oil and when pan is heated, place both chicken leg pieces on the pan.

3. Once it is cooked on one side and starts to get light brown shades, flip it. Apply the honey mixture on cooked side.
4. Once other side starts to get color, flip it again. Apply honey mixture on other side now. Do this process until your chicken gets desired color. We get the color on chicken as sugar gets to caramelize. So do not increase the heat too much else it can get burned.

5. Serve hot topped with sesame seeds.

Tomato Onion Chutney

This is a south Indian chutney, with beautiful flavors. Goes well with idli/dosa but for me I eat it with anything and everything.

A quick recipe and can be stored for a week in the refrigerator. Make it and enjoy. Please do leave any comments or suggestions you might have. Happy Cooking everyone!!!!



Ingredients:

5 medium sized tomatoes - chopped
1 medium sized onion - chopped
2 tbsp chana daal/Bengal gram whole
2 tbsp urad daal/washed black lentil
10-12 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 inch piece of ginger - finely chopped
2 green chili
2 tbsp oil
sugar, salt and black pepper to taste

Recipe:

1. In a pan, add 1 tbsp oil on medium  heat. Add chana daal and urad daal and saute them until golden brown. Once golden brown, take it out of the pan straining excess oil.

2. In the same pan, add onioins and ginger. Saute them until translucent. At this point, add tomatoes and green chili.

3. Cook until tomatoes are cooked thoroughly. Take this out in a mixer-grinder. Add daal mixture and grind everything together. Add a little water if you feel it is thick for your taste.

4. Take it out in a bowl. Now add sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

5. Now for tampering, add 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, when they start to crackle a little bit add curry leaves too. Once cooked, pour it over the chutney.

6. Serve hot or cold with idli/dosas or anything you like :)

Spaghetti Aglio E Olio

I love Italian cuisine and always try to experiment and try out new dishes. This one is the simplest yet yummiest spaghetti recipe if love garlic flavor.

Very easy to make and taste delicious. Just 5 ingredients and you are done. I make this whenever I feel tired or not in a heavy cooking mood. This is my goto recipe to eat something simple but delicious.

Do give it a try and please leave comments or suggestion if any down below. Happy cooking everyone!!!!!

Ingredients:

2 handful of spaghetti (for 2 people)
3 big garlic cloves - thinly sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
salt and black pepper to taste

Recipe:

1. In a non-stick pan add olive oil and garlic. Over medium heat, cook garlic until it barely starts to sizzle out. Once it starts to sizzle lower the heat to medium-low and let the garlic infuse in the oil slowly. This process take around 10 -15 minutes.

2. Once garlic are lightly browned, switch off the heat and add a ladle of water in it to stop the further cooking and browning of garlic.

3. While your garlic is cooking, on other side take a large cooker or utensil and fill it water. Let it heat until water comes to a boil. Add spaghetti once water starts boiling and sprinkle some salt. Cover the lid and let it cook until al dente.
4. Once spaghetti is cooked, strain it. Do not wash the spaghetti with water.
5. Mix spaghetti with garlic infused oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Server hot with roughly chopped parsley and cheese on top. I served creamy mashed potatoes and baked sweet potato fries on side.

Crispy Salmon in 10 minutes

Salmon is a very flavorful fish native to north atlantic and pacific ocean. If cooked right, it can beat any other fish in flavor in my opinion.

This recipe is a super quick and easy to make. When you want to impress a guest with your fish cooking skills, this is the one dish you can make, which is less work but outcome is restaurant style. Very few ingredients and most of all salmon is the shining element here.

So please enjoy the recipe. Do leave me comments or suggestions if any down below. Happy Cooking everyone!!!

Ingredients:

1 piece of salmon
sea salt to taste
crushed black pepper to taste
2 tbsp oil

Recipe:

1. Take a salmon piece. Put it skin side up on your cutting board. Press it from two sides, such that it rolls up a little. Now cut the salmon, with half an inch deep cuts and as close together as possible. These cuts help in making salmon skin crispier.

2. After cutting, add salt in each cut and everywhere else on salmon. Sprinkle some crushed black pepper on top.

3. Heat a pan over medium heat with 2 tbsp oil in it. Once oil is hot, place salmon in a pan skin side down. While placing the salmon, press it on top for 2-3 seconds. This prevents fish from shrinking as soon it touches hot surface.

4. Now let it cook and do not touch in between. You can tell the fish is cooking by the amount of change in color of the flesh. Once flesh is cooked (means turned white from pink and generally takes 4-5 minutes) two-thirds of the way, gently turn the salmon over.

5. Once you see, color change is evenly white all over (takes around 2-3 minutes), switch off the heat. Take the pan out of heat and turn the salmon over again, making skin side down as before until you serve it.

6. Serve it with any side dish you like. I served it with stuffed portobello mushrooms.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Stuffed mushrooms is a kind of dish which fills you providing all the good nutrients in the vegetables. It is a highly experimental dish. You can use different kind of mushrooms and variety of bold or traditional fillings.

This one I have combined the traditional and bold approaches in my filling, doing a little experimentation with flavors and thankfully they turned out awesome tasting. Traditionally, stuffed mushrooms have eggs and bread crumbs but I avoided both of them and replaced it with potatoes to work as a binding agent. If you want, you can go via traditional route and replace potatoes with eggs and bread crumbs for the crunch.

Either way, these are a must have party starters if you use button mushrooms, else a meal in itself with portobello mushrooms. Giving you a whole range to experiment with, start cooking these. You and your guests will love these.

Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions down below. Happy Cooking Everyone!!!!



Ingredients:

2 portobello mushrooms
2 small boiled potatoes - mashed with a fork roughly
2 spring onions - finely chopped
1 small onion - finely chopped
1/4 cup bell pepper (red and green) - finely chopped
4 green beans - finely chopped
1/4 cup zucchini - finely chopped
2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tsp oregano leaves
4 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
crushed bell pepper to taste

Recipe:

0. Preheat oven to 350 F.

1. Take portobello mushrooms, remove the stem and clean the inside of the mushroom as much as you can. Use spoon to do it and use light pressure such that you don't damage the mushrooms.
Note: Wash the mushrooms before hand and tap them dry. They should not be wet while you are making stuffed mushrooms

2. Chop the mushroom stem and inside of mushroom into very fine pieces.

3. Take mashed boiled potatoes in a large bowl. Add all the vegetables, cheese, spices and salt/pepper to taste. Mix everything well together and add 1 tbsp oil to the mixture and gently mix again.

4. Coat the mushrooms with olive oil.

5.  Fill the mushrooms with the mixture in a mound shape, i.e. a little bit higher than mushroom edges.

6. Place the mushrooms in a baking tray lined with aluminium foil. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp olive oil over each mushroom and place it in the oven for 25 minutes.

7. Once cooked, take it out and serve hot with coriander-olive oil vinaigrette drizzled over or as a side dish with crusted salmon

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Stir fry vegetable linguine

Ideally noodles are made, well with noodles :D. But since I didn't have any on hand, I thought of trying linguine which I did have. And as I experimented, it turned out pretty well.

It is a well balanced and perfectly al dente combination of stir fry vegetables and linguine. Giving it a chinese twist with soy and chili sauces. They fit perfectly well and tasted awesome.

Please give this experiment a try. It will for sure leave an awesome taste. Please leave any comments or suggestions you might have. Happy Cooking Everyone!!!!




Ingredients:

1 handful linguine - for two people
6 cups water
1/4 cup thinly sliced onions
1/4 cup thinly sliced bell peppers (I used green and red)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp green chili sauce
1 tbsp garlic paste
salt to taste
crushed black pepper to taste
2 tbsp oil

Recipe:

1. In a large deep pan with a lid, boil 6 cups water. Once boiling, add linguine and 1 tbsp oil. Cover the lid and let it cook until al dente. Once cooked, strain it in strainer and keep it aside.
2. On high heat, in a non-stick pan add 1 tbsp oil. Once oil is hot, add garlic paste. Cook it for about 30 seconds or until golden brown in color.
3. At this point, add all vegetables and stir fry them. Do not over cook as we want them to still be crunchy to bite.

4. Once cooked, add linguine to it. Add soy sauce, green chili sauce and ketchup to it.
5. Mix everything well together. Add salt and black pepper to taste and switch off the heat.
6. Server hot with gobhi manchurian or eat by itself.

Gobhi(Cauliflower) Manchurian

Gobhi(Cauliflower) manchurian, a chinese dish which is now adapted in India and embraced with whole heart in every part of the country. Everyone eats and make it in their own way. We can use the same manchurian gravy with many different things like mushrooms, mix vegetable etc.

This serves as a very good starter in any party, or a meal if served with fried rice/chowmein etc. It is a super simple, quick and easy recipe to make and win the hearts of your guests.

Enjoy making these. Please leave any suggestions or comments you might have down below. Happy cooking everyone!!!!!




Ingredients:

2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp corn flour/corn starch
1 cup water
6-7 florets of cauliflower - washed and patted dried
1/4 cup chopped green onions - stem and leaves separated
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp green chili sauce
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tbsp ketchup
salt to taste
crushed black pepper to taste
oil for frying + 1 tbsp oil


Recipe:

1. In a mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, corn flour, salt and pepper to taste. Add water slowly and mix the mixture until no lumps remained. It should be thick pouring consistency like pancake batter.

2. In a deep pan, add oil for frying. Heat the oil over medium heat. On other hand, add cauliflower florets in the batter and coat every single floret properly.
3. Once oil is hot, add the coated florets in the oil. Fry them over medium heat, as we want them to cook from inside too.
Note: Do not cook them over high heat as it may cause florets to get browned from outside and raw from inside. We want them to get cooked from inside and just get a very slight brown from outside.
4. Once cooked, take them out in a plate lined with paper towel.
5. In another pan or wok, add 1 tbsp oil and heat it over medium heat. Once hot, add ginger-garlic paste and fry them until cooked for a minute.
6. At this point, add green onion stems to it. Saute this for a minute.
7. After a minute, add soy sauce, green chili sauce, ketchup and vinegar. Cook the sauces for 30 seconds.
8. After 30 seconds, add 1/2 cup water and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes or until it is reduced to desired consistency.

9. Add salt as per taste. Keep in mind that soy sauce is already salty so add accordingly. Switch off the flame and add green onion leaves on top.
10. Right before serving, mix cauliflower florets in the gravy. Garnish with green onion. Serve hot with stir fry vegetable linguine.

Chicken & Dumplings - One whole meal

This recipe has every nutrients you need in one bowl. If love chicken soups, this will elevate it to another level. In a cold night, this is a life saver.

One hot bowl of this soup with the combination of a novel. You can just imagine how awesome it will be.

This recipe has chicken, veggies, milk, herb in one bowl. This can't get any better. I love this soup and hope you will too.

Do leave comments or suggestions if you have any.

Ingredients:

For Soup gravy:

2 chicken thighs - cut in bite size pieces
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 small onion - chopped
1 large carrot - chopped
2 celery sticks - chopped
1/4 cup chopped pumpkin
1/4 cup boiled peas
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 cups chicken broth
2 cup water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
crushed black pepper
salt to taste

For Dumplings:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp finely chopped thyme/parsley/rosemary (add what you like or not add anything at all)
crushed black pepper
salt to taste

Recipe:

1. In a large deep non-stick pan, add oil and heat it up over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, take chicken pieces add 2 tbsp flour, salt and pepper. Coat chicken pieces properly in the mixture.
3. Once oil is hot, add chicken pieces to it. Cook them until they start to get golden brown color. Keep rotating them in between so that they get cooked on all sides. Once cooked take them out.

4. In the same pan add all the veggies,pepper and salt. Cook until translucent and cooked halfway through. I didn't add any extra oil because after cooking chicken in it there is already enough oil left to cook the veggies.

5. Once veggies are cooked, add chicken broth, cream and peas. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add water to this if you feel it is thick. Keep in mind when we add dumplings they soak water too. I added water because I love soup like consistency.

6. Heat it over high. Once it starts to boil, cover it and reduce the heat to low. Let it simmer for 45 minutes.
7. After 40 minutes are over, start preparing dumplings. In a bowl, add all the ingredients and mix well. It will be of sticky consistency.

8. After 45 minutes, with help of spoon add dumplings one by one to the soup mixture. Try to do this step as fast as you can so that they all get even cooking time.

9. Once all dumplings are added, cover the lid, increase the heat to medium and cook it for 15 minutes.
10. Once done, close the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy.