Quiche

Ingredients

For dough
1) Flour: 2 cups
2) Salted Butter: less than 1cup (softened)
3) Cold milk : as per requirement

For filling
1) Vegetables: Onion, mushroom, bell peppers, tomato. Meat can be used too. Use any filling of your choice.
2) Egg : 1
3) Shredded cheese (typical for pizzas): 3/4 cup
4) Olive oil: 1/2 tbspn
5) Nutmeg: 1/2 tsp
6) Ground black pepper
7) Salt to taste


Procedure

1) Add the butter to the flour and knead well adding small amounts of milk to get a dough similar to that for chapatis. Add a little salt if using unsalted butter.
2) Roll out into a thick sheet (a few mm thick) depending upon how thick a crust you want.
3) Line a pie tin with aluminum foil first ( this helps easy removal after baking)
4) Now, line the pie tin with the rolled out dough sheet.
5) Press the bottoms and sides with finger to ensure removal of trapped air. Use a fork to prick the
dough all over to prevent puffing up during baking. Fold the edges on the rim to prevent it from burning.
6) For filling, saute the vegetables slightly in olive oil with a pinch of salt. Keep aside to cool. You may choose not to saute. I prefer it.
7) Take the lined tin, add cheese to cover the base. This will prevent making the base soggy.
8) Then add in the sauteed vegetables.
9) Beat the egg with a tbspn of milk. Add nutmeg, black pepper and salt to it.
10) Pour this egg mixture onto the contents of the pan. Spread it evenly.
11) Add some more cheese. Top it up with bell pepper and tomato slices.
12) Preheat the oven to 170deg C. Bake for approx. 45mins till the crust becomes slightly golden and egg becomes stiff.
13) Remove from oven and allow it to cool on wire mesh.
14) Now, remove from the tin carefully onto the serving plate.

Enjoy !!!

Butterfly Cookies

Ingredients

1) Flour : 2 cups
2) Butter : 1 cup (softened not melted)
3) Granulated Sugar: 1 1/2 cups (depending upon sweetness)
4) Egg Yolk: 1
5) Milk: as per requirement
6) Vanilla Essence: few drops
7) Food colour: few drops
8) Icing sugar & Cookie decorations  if you desire to decorate.

Procedure:

1) In a bowl take the sugar, butter, egg yolk and vanilla essence and mix them together with a blender. Use a spoon if you want.

2) To it add the flour and knead it adding very small amounts of milk each time to get a dough softer than we usually make for rotis/parathas.

3) Refrigerate the dough for an hour or two.

4) Take out and divide into 4 equal parts.
5 Take two of the balls and make a dent in the middle with your finger. Add few drops of food colour and mash the dough thoroughly till the colour has mixed well.
6) Roll out into thin sheets (say less than half a cm thick). Follow the pictorial directions to make the butterflies (I found the idea on web).

7) Roll out the left over dough and use a cookie cutter to cut out flowers of your desired shapes.

8) Preheat the oven to 160 deg C and bake the cookies for 15mins or till they turn pale golden.
9) Remove from the oven. Cool on wire mesh and decorate as desired.

Enjoy !!!

Rainbow Marble Cake

Ingredients

1) Flour : 1 1/2 cup
2) Granulated sugar: 1 cup (depending on the sweetness you want)
3) Margarine (you can use butter instead) : 3 tablespoons
4) Eggs: 2
5) Milk: 1/2 cup
6) Vanilla essence: 6-7 drops
7) Baking powder: 1/2 teaspoon
8) Malibu Rum : a few teaspoons (this one is my personal favourite, you can skip)
9) Sweetened Cocoa powder: 1-2 tablespoons for dusting
Remember this cake is going to be slightly moist !

Procedure

1) Blend margarine and sugar in a bowl. Add in eggs and blend again.
2) Sieve in flour and baking powder into the above mixture and gradually fold.
3) Add milk and mix well followed by vanilla essence.
4) Mix well to get a mixture of a consistency close to that for sponge cake.
5) Divide equally into different bowls depending upon the number of colours you want. I used 4 colours. Add a few drops of food colour into each bowl depending upon the colour strength you want and mix well.
6) Dust a cake tin (6 inch diameter) with flour or grease it generously.
7) Pour each of the coloured cake mixtures one at a time into the cake tin.
8) Preheat the oven to 160 deg C and bake for about 30-35mins at the same temperature. Insert a toothpick to see that it comes out clean. The cake is ready.
9) Remove from oven. Transfer onto the wire mesh and allow it to cool.
10) Dust some cocoa powder on the top and slice into pieces.
11) Ready to serve.

ENJOY !!!!

Grilled Pepper Chicken

This a real simple and healthy recipe !!
I have made my own spice variations. You can try anything to suit your taste bud.

Ingredients

1) Chicken breast: 1
2) Lime: to tenderize and add tanginess
3) Ground black Pepper: to suit your own taste buds
4) Olive oil: 2 tablespoon
5) Everest Garam Masala: 1/2 tablespoon
6) Nutmeg powder: 1/2 teaspoon
7) Salt to taste

Procedure

1) Clean and pat dry the chicken breast. Make sure to remove all water.
2) Make small incisions all over with a knife to allow penetration of the spices.
3) Now, marinate with all the above mentioned spices and refrigerate for an hour or two.
4) Take out and just grill. I have preferably used stove-top grill pan to give that smoky-burnt flavour of a BBQ meat. You can use your bake oven too. Preheat the oven to ~220 deg C and then bake for an hour or so till the top changes to beautiful golden. Or use your electric grill.
After experimenting all ways, I prefer my stove-top grill pan for the real BBQ feel. It's messier but, tastier.
5) Cook well on both sides. After the meat is tender and cooked, remove and serve with corn salad, onion rings and lemon wedges.

Enjoy the home BBQ on a warm day !

Strawberry Jam Cookies

 

Ingredients 

1) Flour : 1 cup

2) Powdered Sugar: 1/4 cup (keep it on the less sweeter side)

3) Egg yolk: 1

4) Margarine/butter: 2 tablespoon 

5) Milk: as required

6) Vanilla essence: 2-3 drops

7) Strawberry Jam or any other jam of your choice

I have not used baking powder !

Procedure

1) In a bowl take the sugar, margarine, egg yolk and vanilla essence and mix them together with a blender. Use a spoon if you want.

2) To it add the flour and knead it adding very small amounts of milk each time to get a dough softer than we usually make for rotis/parathas.

3) Refrigerate the dough for an hour or two.

4) Take out and roll in into a thin sheet (say less than half a cm thick).

5) Use a cookie cutter to cut out your desired shapes for the base and top as shown in the pics below. 

6) Preheat the oven to ~ 160 deg C. Now put the tray lined with cookies into the oven and bake for about 15mins (or till the tops of the cookies turn golden brown).

7) Remove from the oven and cool on the wire mesh.
8) Dust some powdered sugar on the top cookies.
9) Take the base cookies and slather some jam on it like you do on a bread and then place the top cookie to make a sandwich. Fill in more jam if you want.

10) Final product looks somewhat like this.

 Enjoy !!!!!

Sandesh : Bengali sweetmeat

Ingredients

1) 2 litres whole milk
2) 2 tbsp lime juice
3) 1 cup powdered sugar (can add more or less according to your sweetometer :) )
4) A few pistachios chopped
5) 1 tsp cardamom/elaichi powder

Method
1) Bring milk to a boil. Then, gently add the lemon juice.
2) Gently mix with a spatula. the milk starts to curdle and form paneer or cottage cheese.
3) Once the water separates and is almost clear, drain the water in a cheese cloth. Drain it completely, this will take about 10 minutes.
4) Cool the paneer and now add the sugar (some at a time), elaichi powder and knead well. The more you knead, the more creamy the net result will be.
5) Warm a pan on low heat. Add the paneer mixture and gently toss for 2 mins till the raw smell disappears. Remove and cool on a flat dish.
6) Then take small  portions of the paneer and make balls out of it by placing in between your palms, place it aside. Repeat for the rest of the mixture. Decorate with pistachios. You can give any desired shape you want and the topping can also vary depending on your choice of fruits or nuts.

Sandesh is ready. Enjoy !!

Vegetable dumplings in tomato-garlic sauce

Ingredients:

For Vegetable dumplings : 
2 cups diced vegetables (carrot, peas, corn, cauliflower, mushrooms)
½ cup Fresh Bread Crumbs
2 tbsp Corn Flour
¾ tsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tbsp Soya Sauce
Salt to Taste
Oil for deep frying

For Tomato-Garlic Sauce:
6-7 Cloves of Garlic, chopped finely
3 spring Onions, chopped finely
3-4 Green Chillies, de-seeded and chopped finely
1 tsp Sugar
¼ cup Tomato puree
2 tbsp Soya Sauce
2 tsp Black Pepper Powder
1½ tbsp Corn flour
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Oil

Method:

For Vegetable dumplings:
1) Heat oil in wok and stir fry the diced vegetables for 5 minutes on medium flame.
2) Remove from flame and keep it aside to cool.
3) To these vegetables add salt, soya sauce, pepper powder, bread crumbs, corn flour and mix well.
4) Make small lime sized balls and deep fry in oil till they turn golden brown.
5) Drain them in paper towel and keep them aside.

For Tomato-Garlic Sauce:
1) Heat oil in wok and add finely chopped garlic, spring onion and green chillies and fry for 2-3 minutes.
2) To this add tomato puree, soya sauce, salt, sugar, pepper powder and enough water.
3) Add water to corn flour and make thin paste and add this into wok slowly.
4)Keep stirring the sauce till it thickens.
5) Dip the dumplings into the hot sauce just before serving.

Serve this Indo-Chinese preparation with stir-fried noodles or fried rice. ENJOY !!!!