How many times have you heard the words 'keeping it simple', 'less is more' etc etc. If you are an avid Masterchef Australia fan then you know that it's the best advice that the judges like to give the contestant. Respecting the ingredient, it's colour, form. taste, texture, flavour is the key and developing a recipe to celebrate the beauty of seasonal local produce is the mantra of modern day cooking.
After yesterdays Rakhi party at home I am damn tired today. I have not been keeping well for quite sometime but rakhi is a day which I cannot miss. Its a pleasure to have my brothers and cousins over at my place and see them lovingly tucking in all the food that I prepare for them. Its an occasional chance for us to have a get together where almost every one is present. Provided there work schedule I appreciate their effort to keep the rakhi evening free for me. I guess my enthusiasm has rubbed on them and now a days they look forward to the day as much as I do.
Hope you all had a wonderful Diwali with your near and dear
ones. Mine wasn’t bad either. Though away from home and all the lights and
sounds that make Diwali so special but still managed to celebrate it in a cosy
way. Cooked some festive food, decorated the apartment with fall leaves and
flowers, lit some candles and enjoyed shopping with my lil one. He has been my
constant companion on this trip. The whole day we roam and explore various
parts of the city, play in the parks, do picnic on the bank of a nearby river,
watch movies, shop for our daily needs and pass time in various supermarkets
and malls that dot this locality. Though its not rosy all the time. Sometimes
he is angry for not buying him what he wants and sometimes am upset when he
nags too much. But all in all its fun being with him. More so because now he
has his own perspective to everything.
This is not a dsh that I grew up with, rather this is a dish which I never heard of before all these hoopla's around food started to appear on TV. Gone are those days when the only cookery show was Sanjeev kapoor's Sunday special khana khazana. Which we looked for with a diary and pen in hand, I might still find that old recipe diary of mine at my mom’s place. Rather now there are way too many shows on TV doling out way too many recipes. I believe every show has its own set of viewers and its always good to be spoilt with choices.
I was editing few pictures on the software to post as soon as possible and then came my little 3 year old. With much enthusiasm he asked “mummum what are you doing?” As usual his father was busy on phone so I just replied “ am busy with work baby, why don’t you ask your father to take you to the park?”. He shot back, “are you posting this recipe today?” I was stunned! did he actually asked that or am just imagining things. So I asked to repeat what he said and he said the same. A visibly confused me could only managed to mumble a weak yes and then came the surprise of my lifetime. The lil one or may be not so lil anymore son ordered “na eita nay ajke tumi kurkur bhaja’r recipe ta lagabe (no. today you will post the crispy dish’s photo). Which definitely meant the American chopsuey recipe that I prepared for lunch last weekend. It was a great hit with the kid and the bowl was finished in no time. I totally understand his loyalty lies with the crispy fried noodles but am happy that he ate his share of vegetables and enjoyed it too. And I got that big smiley face complementing me ‘mummum that’s yummy!”
I always love this time of the year and loving it more here in Kolkata. The weather is pleasant with bright sunny days and soothing nights. There is a crispness in the air which makes it impossible for us to stay home in the evening. All we want is to go out and enjoy the fresh air. Though that is not much possible in a crowded city like Kolkata still we are going out every evening to have a walk around the locality.
Another thing that brings cheer to me is the fresh winter vegetables that have started appearing in the market. Though in this age of preservation almost everything is available the yaer around yet there is something special about the seasonal fresh produce. I love roaming around the local vegetable and fish market, touching and smelling just from the farm greens and vegetables.
All these together make me crave some fresh flavours and light saucy meals, which could be enjoyed while watching our favourite Programs. So this weekend when I found some fresh basil in our local Spencer's I instantly knew what I am going to make. So Pasta Primavera it was for us that night with loads of fresh basil thrown in for that heady aroma. I paired that flavour with some freshly squeezed lemon juice…together they were refreshingly comforting.
Pasta Primavera is an Italian –American dish where loads of crisp spring vegetables are added to the pasta. Primavera means spring so its wise to choose crisp fresh vegetables like broccoli, carrots, beans, onions, corns etc. The flavours here are kept very simple and mostly are finished with sprinkling of fresh Parmesan cheese. Our kid is a sucker of cheese and he could eat it as is. I chose an array of fresh vegetables including new potatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, beans, fresh corn, capsicum, carrots, onion and loads of garlic. Here is how I did…
Nupur’s Blogbite:4; whats lurking in the kitchen could not have been timed better. Ever since I came back from home last month, I did not do much grocery shopping. We had so much stocked items starting from daily staples like flour, spices, oils etc to fancy cooking ingredients like dry oregano, stock cubes, coconut milk, cheese etc. I make it a point to buy certain items that Hubby could cook easily before leaving, this time also before leaving I stocked on some packets of pasta, Maggie, cheese etc. but luckily he has a lot of well wishers and friends here who invited him almost all weekends, so apart from cooking chickens on weeknights he did not have to enter the kitchen much. As a result when I came back a pantry full of bachelor savior items greeted me. That way all what we eat these days could have entered BB4 but rather than following bookmarked recipes am preparing regular items that I cook often. I almost have finished the stored items some of which almost neared the expiry date except these 2 bags of ching’s secret egg noodles. I brought them home mainly because I love noodles and also as they were being sold at half the prices. Hubby doesn’t like it but they are great for a home alone girl’s meals. Boil the whole packet, toss with whatever veggies and seasoning you have, freeze and eat them for consecutive three days…that’s how they survive me on weekdays. But this time I had other plans. Though Hubby does not like Indian Chinese food or Indo Chinese cuisine as they are known but he is all praise for authentic Chinese dishes. A couple of months back he was there on his third trip and again came back explaining me how good Chinese food could be. This time he even clicked pictures of all the dishes he relished. So, I exactly knew what to prepare to make him eat noodles for dinner.
I have been following My Kitchen Snippets for quite some time and have relished many a dishes with my eyes. She is a master in Oriental Cuisine. Many a times I had eaten my bowlful of diet cornflakes watching her spicy noodles and rice dishes. This time I decided on making something for there…an authentic spicy noodle dish from a distant place, Malaysia. So all set on the recipe I brought home some more new ingredients to prepare Mee Goreng for our special Saturday Night dinner. Mee Goreng or fried noodles is a famous dish in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It is believed that this is of Chinese origin and the immigrants from there introduced this fiery spicy dish to the Malays. Mostly this is prepared with thin yellow noodles and various veggies and sea foods are fried together in spicy sambal to make it lip smacking good. Apart from making the sambal the fried part was done within 10 minutes…so if you have the sambal in store it could be a great weeknight meal too. In spite of swapping certain items using my brilliant ideas, the outcome was unbelievably good. The seriously hot taste of the red chillies complemented the sweetness of the coconut milk, veggies and prawns very well, and together created a fulfilling tongue tickling experience. loved the addition of the lemon grass which made it so aromatic. While eating the man of the house kept mum and after finishing his bowl and licking off the sauce from the bottom, Finally managed to ask “when are we eating this next?”…I knew exactly what it meant. Thanks Kitchen Snippets for this delicious recipe which I am going to make again and again and again and….
For the authentic recipe go HERE.
For my version read on
Spicy fried Noodles
Ingredients:
Noodles: 1 packet (I used Ching;s Secret)
Shrimps: 12 medium pieces
Tofu: 1 packet (1/2 cup cubed)
Bok Choy: 1 small bunch
Spring onion: ½ bunch
Carrot: 1 medium
Eggs: 2
Onion: 1 medium
Garlic: 5 fat cloves
For the Sambal:
Dry Red chilies: 15 pieces (soak in hot water)
Large onion: 1
garlic: 5 fat cloves
fried Shrimp: 4 pieces
lemongrass: 1stalk
ginger: 1”
thick coconut milk: ¼ cup
Large onion: 1
garlic: 5 fat cloves
fried Shrimp: 4 pieces
lemongrass: 1stalk
ginger: 1”
thick coconut milk: ¼ cup
Tomato paste: 1 tbsp
Lemon rind: 1 tsp
tamarind juice: 2tbsp
sugar and salt to taste
tamarind juice: 2tbsp
sugar and salt to taste
Seasoning:
Soy sauce: 2 tbsp
Vinegar: 1tbsp
Olive Oil: ¼ cup
Method:
First make the sambal: chop onion, ginger and lemon grass and blend the first 8 ingredients under sambal. Heat 2 tbsp oil and fry the spice blend and fry on low flame stirring occasionally. Once oil starts to separate add the other ingredients and fry till it gets a nice red colour and oil separates at the sides.
At the same time put the noodles to boil in a big pan of water, salt and 1/2 tsp oil. Cook till its cooked but not soft or mushy. Drain, wash under cold running water and keep aside.
While the sambal is frying prepare the veggies
Cut onion in thin slices.
Chop garlic.
Peel and Cut carrots in matchsticks.
Wash and tear bok choy in medium pieces.
Cut spring onions in small pieces.
Beat the eggs with salt. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a pan and fry the eggs in 2 batches. Tear them in small pieces and keep aside.
Heat ½ tsp oil and fry the tofu cubes with salt till light brown and keep aside.
Take a wok and heat the rest of the oil, add the garlic and onion and fry till fragrant.
Add the prawns and salt and cook for a minute till the prawns turn colour.
Tip in the fried tofu and carrots. Fry for another minute and then add the bok choy, sambal and the seasonings. Give it a good stir and mix everything together. If dry pour some water and mix.
Now lower the heat and put the boiled noodles. Mix well and then fry on very high heat for 2 minutes.
Mix in the fried eggs, check seasoning and serve piping hot.
I like to blog not only because I love to cook but it also helps me to know a lot of new things and inspires me to try out ingredients that I never thought of buying. Zuchini is one such vegetable that I see each time on the fridge section of the Hypermarket where I do my vegetable shopping these days but never thought of reaching and picking them. I always thought these are some fancy vegetables that are used in continental dishes unless one day I saw this month’s theme for NCR. So yesterday, while picking groceries I finally walked that few steps to these dark green vegetables and put a couple of them in my basket. Hubby gave me a wired look when he saw these and asked the obvious question what are you going to do with these? I was as clueless as him so decided to give him a ‘Wait and watch’ kind of smile.
Once home I googled and my ever trusted Wikipedia told me that The zucchini has a delicate flavor and requires little more than quick cooking with butter or olive oil, with or without fresh herbs. And I got my clue….Salad, which fits the NCR requirement perfectly. So with some more summer veggies I created this refreshing summer salad. Before I get into anymore blabbering let me thank you once again for inspiring me to bring these crunchy zucchinis home, which I am going to do again and again.
The salad I created had more vegetables than pasta and tossed everything in a mildly flavoured white sauce. The bite from the pasta, the crunch of the vegetables, the sweetness of the baby corn mingled brilliantly with the sauce and this makes for a very light refreshing meal. We had this for dinner with some cold coffee and immediately after finishing the meal Hubby enquired when am going to make it next…guess that only means good. I am going to make this again and again as this is
- healthy
- Tasty
- real quick
AND
4. Hubby has fallen in love with it (you know those times when I eye that perfect silver ear ring or so badly want another set of hand block printed curtains)
Here is how I did it
Chilled Summer Salad
Ingrediants:
Pasta: 1 cup: any small variety will do; I used penne
Zucchini: 1 medium
Carrot: 1 medium
Potato: 1 small
Cauliflower: 1/3 cup: separated in small florets
Beans: 6-7
Capsicum: 1 medium
Babycorn: 6-7
Onion: ½ of a small one
Garlic: 2 fat cloves
Tomato: 1 small
For the Sauce:
Olive oil: 1 tsp
Flour: 1 tbsp
Milk: ½ cup
English mustard: ½ tsp
Grated Cheese: 2 tsp
Seasoning:
Salt
Pepper
Chilli flakes
Oregano
Olive Oil: 1 tsp
Method:
Boil a big pan full of water with salt and put the pasta in it. Cook as per the time given in the packet.
In the mean time slice all the vegetables (Potato, carrot, beans. Cauli flower, zucchini, baby corn, capsicum) in small pieces and keep everything separate.
Microwave potato, carrot, beans, cauliflower for 5 minutes.
Also chop the onion and garlic.
Heat 1 tsp oil and add the flour. Stir continuously till the raw smell is gone (approx. 2 minutes).
In a steady stream add the milk while stirring the flour continuously. Try to avoid formation of any lumps. Season with salt and pepper and cook on low till it thickens a little. The consistency would not be very thick but it should be able to coat the back of a spoon. If you need extra water to make it thin use the water from the boiled veggies. Finally stir in the grated cheese and Keep the sauce aside.
Once the pasta is done, drain the water and keep aside.
Now heat one tsp of oil and add the chopped garlic and onion. Fry for a minute and add zucchini, capsicum and baby corn. Add a pinch of salt and cook for another minute. Take it off from the stove.
In a big bowl put everything together and give it a good mix. Check the seasoning.
Serve immediately or after chilling for 30 minutes.

Also sending this to two events associated with Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
Priya's Healing Foods- Onion started by Siri of Siri"s Corner
CWS: Peppers this month hosted at Padma of Padma's Recipes.
and also to No Croutons Required this time hosted at Tinned tomatoes.
Tips:
This morning I had the left over salad mixed with a chopped boiled egg and it tasted excellent.
Other veggies that will work well in this would be green peas, salad greens, broccoli, cabbages etc.
Homemade crumbled cottage cheese will also taste great in this.
Finally am back from home after a lo…..ng vacation of almost 2 months. The important works were done with satisfying results so I boarded the flight with relief…but with a heavy jeart, felt sad leaving parents behind. More this time, as now they miss their grandson and his all day long activities a lot. Though this time my younger brother accompanied me for a short vacation here but still am missing Maa, Baba, Niece, Elder brother, cousins and everything about HOME.
Our house was in a big MESS, two months clutter and dust invited me with open hands and I was not sure where to start my cleaning from. Everything in the house was bathed in dust and grime and for the past three days I had to run the washing machine twice daily to get rid of the unwashed clothes. Even that was not enough the garden resembled a mini jungle and my cub wanted to play hide and seek there. But the thing that almost brought tears in my eyes was the sight of my plants. 90% of the plants have dried as when Hubby was abroad the maid didn’t appear to water them. All my rose plants, chrysanthemums, hibiscus, mogra, crotons are dead. Can’t help as life needs to move on and that too on a fast pace if you have a toddler to deal with. So I put my hair in a bun, deposited the baby to brother, ordered home delivery and equipped with some cleaning equipments started cleaning the house. The next morning the same suit happened but then in the afternoon stomach started grumbling and we were in dire need of some food. None of us wanted another home delivery so thought of some quick one pot meal. A plateful of Penne with frilled vegetables and prawns stirred in a spicy tangy tomato sauce. These prawns I have brought from home (like every time) and Maa lightly fried them with salt and turmeric. With the help of the OTG the meal was very quick to prepare. And that was absolute yum and satisfying, after which we were in no mood to get into cleaning spree and finally decided to have some afternoon nap.
The house in now in better shape but still another week’s work is left. I also have brought some plants from my Maa’s beautiful garden which I already have planted. Hope they will thrive and flower soon. As in the blogosphere, I am extremely sorry for being irregular for a long time. I have missed so many of your great posts, a lot to catch in the dashboard. Hope to get back to action as soon as possible.
Here is the quick recipe of the pasta that we all cherished.
Penne in Tomato Sauce with Grilled Veggies and Prawns
(Serves 3)
Ingredients:
Whole wheat Penne: 1 packet
Assorted vegetables cut in thick stripes: 2 cups (I used Carrot, beans, Capsicum, corn, black olives)
Prawns: ½ cup; lightly sautéed with salt
Tomato: 5 medium sized
Garlic: 10 fat cloves
Onion: 1 medium; sliced
Olive oil: 3 tbsp
Cheese: ¼ cup; grated
Chilli flakes:
Oregano
salt
Method:
Cut the veggies and mix with salt and few drops of oil. Place them on a baking tray and grill for 5 minutes at 300 C. keep aside.
In the mean time prepare the pasta according to the package instruction. Boil them in plenty of water with salt and 1 tsp of oil. It should be al dente or firm to bite.
Also at the same time boil the tomatoes with salt for 7-8 minutes, peel and grind them to a smooth paste.
Chop the garlic and olives, keep aside.
Heat 1 tbsp oil and put half of the garlic. Once they turn light brown add the tomato puree. Taste the seasoning and let it boil on medium heat till it turns to gravy like consistency. Mix in some oregano, chilli flakes and Keep aside.
Now heat the rest of the oil and add the remaining garlic. Fry till light brown and add the sliced onion. Sauté on medium flame.
Once they are translucent mix in the veggies (except olives), prawns, salt and chilli flakes. Fry for a couple of minutes and add in the tomato sauce.
Let it coat all the veggies and prawns and then tip in the boiled penne. Mix with light hand as you don’t need broken pasta on your plate.
Mix chilli flakes, oregano, olives and adjust the salt.
Give it a good mix. Finally sprinkle the grated cheese and serve hot with some drink of your choice.
We had ours with Sprite.
I was planning to post another recipe today but Hubby loved our Sunday dinner so much that he insisted on this. But before giving the recipe I would like to share the small story attached to it.
When I came back from the hospital with the baby my Maa and MIL both were there. Post delivery diets are supposed to be healthy and certain restriction of ingredients are also there. Following which MIL cooked the food very healthy, almost devoid of any spice. I knew a new mother has to eat healthy and light but I like my food tangy so it tasted almost bland to me. Those days I used to have my meals reading cookbooks or watching cookery shows on TV. Those gorgeous pictures helped me eat my meals with ease. One such day while having rice and soy chunk stew for dinner I watched Culinary Asia, a food show featuring the cuisine of different Asian countries. That day they were showing Malaysian food and a lady cooked Laksa, a spicy prawn, tofu and fish ball soup with coconut milk. The final outcome looked so pretty and appetizing that I asked startled MIL (who also was commenting on its bland taste) to serve me more stew. I made a mental note of trying it sometime later. Then with the baby growing up and becoming naughty day by day I forgot about it. recently Hubby went to Malaysia and fell in love with their cuisine (it almost always happen with his trips abroad :-)),he loved their spice foods so much that for the first time he brought some ingredients like Chinese aromatic oil, Pad thai noodles etc from there and asked me to try them. It reminded me of Curry Laksa and somehow instantly i started craving that spicy wholesome soup. I googled and got the best looking curry Laksa on Leemei's site. She has an amazing collection of Asian recipes with yummy photos.
I had adapted the recipe from Leemei’s but also experimented a little bit to get a similar result as seen on TV. I would say this is my version of Curry Laksa, adapted to the availability of the ingredients and also to our taste. If you want to try the original one go here.
Here are the changes that I made. First, we dint have fish balls so I replaced it with Soy Chunks as the texture and look resemble a lot and its healthy and vegetarian. (Or probably the hangover of that soy stews,). I dint use chicken or clam. For fermented shrimp paste I used freshly fried shrimp which I later grounded in a mixie and replaced lemongrass with fresh lime leaves. By mistake I tipped in some turmeric which has made it look so yellowish. Next time I won’t repeat this and will get that gorgeous red colour and would definitely swap the picture then.
And was my experiment with this long standing recipe successful??? You bet. It was a sensational dish with a burst of flavors and taste. In every spoonful of this creamy soup you taste the heat of chillies, sweetness of the coconut milk and tanginess of the lime juice. This healthy, wholesome, one dish soup is perfect to warm you up in this chilly weather. Hubby simply loved it and before finishing his meal enquired when am making it next. So all you spice lovers go make your own bowlful and enjoy this utterly delicious meal.
Malaysian Curry Laksa (serves 2)
Ingredients:
For the broth
Thick Coconut milk: 1 cup
Thin coconut milk: 1 cup
I used 1/2 of a fresh coconut. Scraped and boiled it with 1 cup water, strained to get the thick milk. Again mixed another cup of water and strained for the thin milk. If you get readymade coconut milk use 2 cups of that.
Vegetable stock cube: I used Maggi vegetarian stock cube. You can also use chicken stock.
For the paste:
Medium sized onion: 1
1/2" piece of ginger
3 fat cloves of Garlic
3 dry red chillies
1 tsp coriander seeds
handful of coriander roots
10 peppercorns
2 tbspoon lemongrass roots (if you don’t have use 1 tbspoon lemon zest in the final soup)
To Serve:
French beans: 8 no.s, cut in 1" pieces
Tofu: I used 1/2 a packet cut in chunks
Shrimps: 200 gms
Soy chunk: 10 pieces
Yellow noodles: I used a pack of Top Ramen
Cucumber: 1 small
Oil: 2 tbspoon
Boiled eggs: 2 pieces
Lemon: 1
Seasoning:
Salt
Brown sugar: 1/2 tspoon
Chilli oil
Lime: one
Lime leaves: a few
Method:
Soak the soy chunks in 1 cup hot water for 10 minutes. Wash under running water, squeeze and cut in medium sized pieces.
Peel and chop the cucumber, cut the lime leaves in stripes.
With the stock cube boil beans and noodles with 11/2 cups of water. I micro waved it for 10 minutes. Drain the water and reserve it for the broth.
Lightly fry the shrimps with salt. Take out a few and add the boiled stock. Cover and let it simmer on low flame.
In the mean time grind all the items for paste along with the taken out shrimps.
In another pan heat the oil and add the paste, sugar and salt. Fry it on low till oil separates at the side.tip in the soy chunks and tofu. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
Now, add the thin coconut milk and stir to mix everything well. Add the lime leaves and cover. When it starts to boil add the thick coconut milk and again mix. After a couple of minutes add in the prawn stock and the boiled beans. Check for seasoning and again bring it to boiling point and your broth is ready.
Serve the Laksa with boiled noodles, boiled cut eggs, chopped cucumber and lime wedges or boiled and shredded chicken, sprouts, clams etc.
Mix everything together, squeeze some lime juice. As the lady correctly commented it’s almost like a treasure hunt in every spoon full. We swirled our spoons, dipped it in the soup and checked each other’s spoon to see what we got. We giggled and devoured the soup like little kids.
During my pregnancy days every afternoon I had to brainstorm as what to eat for lunch. As I ate alone so I hardly felt like cooking. Generally my meal comprised of milk, cornflakes, an apple or sand witch. But my doctor advised me to eat healthy and being an eggitarian I had to be careful to cook with nutritious and healthy ingredients. Mostly I opted for a one-dish meal with lots of vegetable, eggs, soy granules, mushrooms etc.
Now as MIL has left and with hubby in office this Monday both Maa and me didn’t feel like cooking. So I recreated one of those lonely meals for us, and like those pregnancy days we had our noodles with glasses of mango Tang. It was quite filling, tasty and quick.
Mixed Vegetable and Egg Noodles
Ingredients
Noodles: ½ packet; I used Ching’s secret egg noodles. 
½ onion: thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic: chopped
2 green chilies:
1 dried red chilly: deseeded and chopped
1 small potato: thinly sliced
½ carrot: thinly sliced
½ cup chopped cauliflower
8 nos. French beans: chopped
½ small capsicum: thinly sliced
6-8 mushrooms: chopped; I used oyster mushroom
Some spring onion: chopped
1 egg
1-tablespoon soy sauce
1-tablespoon chili sauce
1-tablespoon vinegar
Salt
pepper powder: 1/2 tsp
½ onion: thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic: chopped
2 green chilies:
1 dried red chilly: deseeded and chopped
1 small potato: thinly sliced
½ carrot: thinly sliced
½ cup chopped cauliflower
8 nos. French beans: chopped
½ small capsicum: thinly sliced
6-8 mushrooms: chopped; I used oyster mushroom
Some spring onion: chopped
1 egg
1-tablespoon soy sauce
1-tablespoon chili sauce
1-tablespoon vinegar
Salt
pepper powder: 1/2 tsp
Method:
In a big pan boil water with salt and few drops of oil. Cook the noodles as per instruction in the packet.
In a big pan boil water with salt and few drops of oil. Cook the noodles as per instruction in the packet.
Heat oil and scramble the egg with salt. Keep it aside.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the green chilies and chopped garlic.
When the aroma comes add the onion and fry till translucent.
Now add the veggies one by one…potatoes, beans, carrots and cauliflowers.Fry with a pinch of salt.
Once the potatoes are soft add the capsicum and mushroom and let it cook for another couple of minutes.
Now add all the sauces and mix well so that it evenly coat the vegetables.
Add the noodles and mix.
add pepper powder. Check seasoning.Serve hot with scrambled egg, chopped spring onion and chopped red chilies.