Pesto Mushrooms

I was just sitting around, talking to her highness about her dislike of mushrooms, and then I recalled that she has a dislike for Pesto sauce too.

So, why not combine a few dislikes to make something that she likes! And I chose the day when a very sweet couple visited us.

Taadaaa!!!! PESTO MUSHROOMS!!! Lightly sauteed mushrooms in Pesto Sauce. Here is what I did.

Ingredients:

• Mushrooms             1 Cup Button Mushrooms (Halved)
• Onions                    1/2 Cup Sliced or Diced
• Red Bell Pepper        1/2 Cup Sliced or Diced
• Green Bell Pepper     1/2 Cup Sliced or Diced
• Pesto Sauce             4-5 TBSP

Seasoning:

• Salt (optional - Pesto sauce contains some salt. If you want the dish to be extra salty, add more salt according to taste)
• Red Chili Flakes
• Black Pepper (I have Garlic Pepper and I used that. Tastes great!)
• Ginger Garlic Paste or Chopped Ginger and Chopped Garlic
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 3 TSP

Procedure:

Heat the oil slightly in a non-stick frying pan. Add onions and saute for 1-2 Mins. Add the bell peppers and mix. Saute the mixture until the bell peppers become slightly tender, but not mushy. We need to retain their crunch.

Add the ginger-garlic paste and mix well. Add the chilly flakes and salt (if needed).

Add Pesto sauce and mix well. Lastly, add the mushrooms and mix well to coat everything nicely with the pesto sauce.

You may add the mushrooms first and then the pesto sauce, but mushrooms tend to shrink and lose water very fast, so they need to stay in the pan for a very less amount of time.

Take the mixture off the heat and serve hot.

If you like, you may top it up with some grated Parmesan cheese.

Microwave Cooking: Quick Paneer Snack

The frozen paneer (Cottage Cheese) that we get in US doesn't taste as good as the homemade paneer. It is kind of rubbery! I love eating raw paneer and so does my daughter. 


For a quick paneer snack, cut the frozen paneer into small cubes, put in a bowl, add a spoon of butter salted/unsalted, and microwave it for 15-20 seconds. Larger quantity would need more time. Take out the bowl from microwave and mix the melted butter and paneer nicely. Put it back in the microwave for 10 secs or so.

Take out the bowl, sprinkle some salt, black pepper and/or chat masala over it and it's ready to snack on!

I Love it and so does my 1 year old daughter. :-)

Dahi Vade/Bhalle

Say "Dahi Vade" and my mouth starts watering! Dahi Vade (also known as Dahi Bhalle) is a popular Punjabi side dish. The best description I can give of it is "lentil dumplings soaked in yogurt with sweet and sour chutneys". Sounds yummy? ;) Here is how we prepare it.

Ingredients

• Urad Dal (white): 1 cup
• Moong Dal (yellow): 1/2 cup
• Fresh Yogurt: 1 Pound (1/2Kg)
• Vegetable oil for deep frying
• Salt: to taste
• Red Chilly Powder: to taste
• Cumin powder: to taste
• Tamarind Chutney
• Coriander/Mint Chutney

Preparation


Mix Urad and Moong Dal and soak them overnight. Wash the dals thoroughly and then grind them to a fine paste. Be careful while adding water to the dals when you grind the dals. The batter should be thick enough to make dumplings.


Heat oil in a pan on medium flame. When the oil is hot, drop ping pong ball sized dumplings into it. Fry them until they turn golden brown, drain them, and keep them aside. Do not fry them on high flame otherwise the dumplings would not cook properly and stay raw inside. Take ample amount of water in a large bowl and soak the dumplings for around 10 minutes.


Beat the yogurt very fine and make sure that it has no lumps. Take the dumplings out of the water, squeeze each dumpling lightly between your palms to drain the water, and drop them in the yogurt. Don't squeeze them so hard that they break. Let them stay in the yogurt for a while so that they soak it. If you aren't planning to have them immediately, refrigerate them and let them become chilled.


Serving


Take the dumplings out of the yogurt carefully and put them in the serving dish. Pour yogurt over them evenly. Sprinkle salt, red chilly powder, and cumin powder on them, all to your taste. Pour the chutneys in the end. Some people like to decorate the Vadas with the spices and chutneys by making designs out of them. It's quite a colorful sight! :) You can also garnish the vadas with chopped coriander leaves and Sev.


Dahi Vadas taste the best when serve chilled.

Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji is one of the favorite street foods in India. It tastes wonderful and provides a lot of nutrition in the form of all the vegetables that you put in the Bhaji. It's as simple to prepare as the name sounds! :)

Ingredients

• Potatoes - 4 Large
• Cauliflower - 1 Small Flower
• Carrots - 2 medium
• Green Peas - 1 cup (frozen/fresh)
• Beans - half a cup
• Onions - 2-3 medium - chopped
• Tomatoes - 3-4 medium - chopped
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 11/2 TSP
• Green Chillies - 6 Small - finely chopped
• Red Chilly Powder - 1/2 TSP
• Turmeric Powder- 1/2 TSP
• Salt - to taste
• Pav Bhaji Masala - 1 TSP
• Butter - 50 gm
• Lemon - 1
• Pavs

Pre-preparation
Boil the vegetables (except onions and tomatoes) together and mash them.

Bhaji Masala
Heat half of the butter in a pan on medium heat. Add ginger-garlic paste and chopped onions. Saute the onions until they become light brown. Add tomatoes and mix well. Add turmeric powder and red chilly powder. Cook this mixture on a medium flame with frequent stirring for about 10 minutes. Add the mashed vegetables, salt, and pav bhaji masala. Stir well and let it cook on medium flame for another 10 minutes. Keep stirring the bhaji frequently to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Pavs
Cut pavs into halves horizontally and fry them on a non-stick pan with some butter. They are ready when they get a light brown color on both sides.

Serving
Transfer the bhaji into a serving bowl. Garnish it with chopped coriander. Cut the lemon into wedges and serve them with the bhaji along with some chopped onion. And last but not the least, don't forget to put some butter on the hot bhaji so that it melts down slowly and enriches the flavor!