Sphagetti with a twist

I am not a great Italian cook. Most of our meals are Indian food. But since the last one year Sachin has been really hooked up with Italian. So I have been experimenting with a few things. Today while doing her usual search rounds around the pantry, Aanya digged up a box of sphagetti lying around since quite some time. The only ways I knew of cooking sphagetti were with meatballs or marinara sauce. being a veggie, the meatballs were out and I haven't been too keen on cooking it with the marinara sauce. hence the lying box of sphagetti in my pantry.
So today I thought of finally making something out of it. I remembered reading a post on my friend Bhargavi's blog Happy-Cooker. The Linguine looked so irresistible that I had been wanting to try this recipe out ever since I read it. I decided to substitute sphagetti for linguine and give it a try. With a little changes it did come out great. Another hit Italian dish for Sachin and Thanks a ton to Bhargavi.

1 box sphagetti
1 tomatoes chopped
4 green chillies chopped finely (the original recipe had jalapenos)
4 garlic cloves - minced
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cups spinach chopped
1/2 cup brocolli florets
1/2 cup bell pepper (I used green and red)
1 small onion cut thin and long
1 tbsp Dried Oregano
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used the Italian blend)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot boil water and cook pasta until tender. Drain under cold water and set aside.

In a large pan saute garlic, green chillies, and onions until tender. Steam cook brocolli for 1 min in the meanwhile. Add to the pan and add spinach and bell pepper and saute for another 2 min. Add tomatoes – saute for additional 5 min. . Add cheese, half and half, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well and toss the pasta in the pan.

Add cooked pasta into a baking dish and sprinkle with some grated parmesan cheese and bake for approximately 10 min at 300F

Black Forest Cake

I have always been apprehensive about baking cakes. Not one of my skill sets.
I remember baking some when i was young but that was just a basic fruit cake or choclate cake. It was father's day and I wanted to do something special for the dad and my little girl. She is too young to give me ideas so I thought of putting my brains at work. I came up with idea of baking a cake. Google is a great place. You get ideas and resources to do much about anything you can wish for. I read a few blogs and got inspired by the recipe at one of the blogs of a black forest cake at one of the blogs I visited recently Black Forest


Black Forest Cake

Moist Chocolate cake (2 in number)

230gms dark chocolate (I could not find cocoa at the last minute, so I substituted dark choclate from cocoa, the idea came from another blog too)
3/4 cup water
8 eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour


Prepare 2 cake tins - greased, bottoms lined with baking parchment, greased and floured again.
Sift the flours. Reserve. Pre heat the oven to 390 F.
In a large pan, bring the chocolate and the water to boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Simmer until the chocolate thickens. Cool completely.
Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl till tripled in volume, This would take about 10 minutes.
Sift 1/2 the flour mix over the beaten egg mixture, and fold in gently. Repeat with the remaining flour. Fold in the chocolate mixture.
Pour immediately into prepared pans, and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Loosen the sides with a metal spatula/butter knife, and invert onto lightly greased cooling racks. Allow to cool.

Syrup:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp cherry brandy / liqueur / rum
Bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Take off heat, stir in the liqueur if using, cover and allow to cool. (Can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge)

Cherries:
500gms fresh cherries, pitted (reserve some for topping)

Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
3 tbs fine sugar (increase if desired as per your taste)

Beat the cream with sugar until soft peaks are reached.

Assembling the cake:
Split the chocolate cakes horizontally to get 4 layers. Sprinkle both sides of each layer with the syrup, and reserve on platters. Place the bottom layer on the serving platter. Reserve about 1/2 the cream for the topping and frosting. Take a third of the remaining cream and spread over the bottom later. Distribute 1/3 of the cherries over the cream, poking into the cream. Repeat with the remaining 3 layers.
Decorate the top and sides with chocolate shavings, cherries.

The cake will taste better if allowed to chill for at least 2 hours to help the flavours to mature.

As you can see from the picture I am still a novice at decorating the cake. The original poster had it decorated beautifully with swirls of cream and the choclate perfectly laid. But the cake made both the dad and the daughter happy which means you will definitely see another posting on cakes from me soon ;-)

Spinach Rice Gratin

Last night I was too tired to do any cooking in the kitchen(Thanks to all the yard work I did on sunday, my whole body was aching). I opened the fridge and found something to fill mine and hubby's tummy. However the new mommy in me poked me and said "How could you not cook anything for your daughter!!". So I looked around more and found some cooked rice from the previous night. I remembered a recipe I saw sometime back on one of the blogs. So I decided to give it a try. I tossed all the ingredients together in a big bowl, turned them out into a baking dish, and after a thirty minute stint in the oven had a hearty plate of baked rice flecked with spinach.


1/4 cups leftover/pre-cooked rice
1/4 cups cups well finely chopped spinach
1/4 cup cottage cheese(The original recipe had tofu. I didn't have any so I substituted cottage cheese)
1/4 medium red onion, diced
1/4 Red Pepper finely chopped (I added red pepper to add some color)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup shredded cheese (I use a blend of cheeses)
3 large eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Grease a baking dish with a bit of olive oil.
In a large bowl combine the rice, spinach, and paneer. Stir in the red onion, red pepper and olive oil. Now stir in half the cheese. In a small bowl whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, salt and pepper. Fold the eggs into the rice mixture, pour into the prepared baking dish, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the casserole is set, and the top toasty and golden.

It did turn out fantastic. The prep was quite effortless. 10 minutes of standing in the kitchen and I was happy feeding something healthy to my daughter.

Sooji Delight

Sooji Upma is a common recipe in India. This is my quick version of this healthy tasty dish.

Roasted Sooji (Semolina) - 1/2 cup
Vegetable of your choice (I use carrot, brocolli, peas, green beans, tomatos. Quantity can vary depending on your taste. I usually take 1 carrot, 5-6 flowers of brocolli, a few beans and peas, 1 medium tomato)
Ghee - 5-6 tbsps
Salt
Pepper
(you can add green chilli for an adult version)

Roast the sooji with ghee on low flame till it turns light brown in color. You have to roast it continously otherwise it will get charred. I basically roast sooji beforehand and keep it in a jar. Then it comes very handy to make quick upma.

I grate the carrot, brocolli and the green peas as it's faster to cook and then I don't have to worry about my little one swallowing big chunks. And the grated veggies blend better.(you can finely chop them if you wish. I sometimes chop them when making an adult version). Stir fry the grated veggies with 1tsp ghee/oil. Add the peas. Remove the skin of the tomatoes and fry them along with the veggies for 1 more minute. Add the roasted sooji, salt and pepper to taste. Add 1 cup of water and let it simmer on low till the water dries. (Leave it a little moist if you plan to eat it later as the sooji will absorb more water)
Garnish with cilantro.

My husband and daughter both have a sweet tooth. With the roasted sooji at hand I can anytime make quick halwa(Semolina pudding) for them. Just 1 cup water to 1/2 cup of roasted sooji and let it simmer on low flame. When the water is almost dried add 1/2 cup of sugar and some slivered nuts to garnish. Serve hot or cold, this is a great Indian sweet dish.
When I make this sweet version for my daughter, I add banana/mango or just some applesauce to it and reduce the sugar to 1/4 of the amount. It becomes a healthy treat!!

Omelette with no eggs!!

Omelettes seem to be on my mind for quite some time now :-)
How does an eggless omelette sound. Quite healthy actually!

I made this one out of lentils and chickpea flour. Both rich in proteins and low in carbs.

Split yellow lentil(moong daal) - 1/2 cup (you can use split green lentils too)
Chickpea flour (besan) - 1/2 cup
Semolina (Sooji) - 2 tbsp (optional)
Finely ChoppedSpinach - 1/4 cup
Tomato - 1 medium
Thinly sliced bell pepper (red/green) - 1/4 cup
Thinly sliced Onion - 1/4 cup
Grated ginger - 1 tsp
Cilantro
Oil

Soak the lentil in warm water for 1/2 an hour and then grind it in a food processor. Add water till it becomes fine paste of flowing consistency. Add the chickpea flour and sooji with 1/4 cup water( You can avoid the sooji if you want it gluten-free). Add the chopped vegetables, ginger and cilantro.
Heat a skillet and spread some batter evenly in a thin layer. grease it along the sides with some oil and turn the flame to low.
Whn the side come off easily turn it to the other side and let it cook on low for 2 minutes. Serve it hot with some tomato ketchup.

You can add some green chilli to make it spicy and serve it with some hot coriander(cilantro) chutney or some other hot sauce for an even spicier taste.

Veggie Omelette Pancake

2 eggs
1 Slice Multigrain bread
Veggies of your choice (I use carrot, potatoes, Bell Pepper, Brocolli, Zucchini, Tomato, Cilantro)
1/4 cup milk
Salt to taste
A pinch of Black Pepper
Grated cheese
1 tsp Oil

Grate Potato and carrot and mix with finely chopped brocolli, zucchini, bell pepper, tomato in a bowl. Crumble the bread and add to the veggies (You can add raw bread or toast it slightly and then crumble it). Whisk the eggs and milk (the milk adds fluffiness to the omelette) and stir in with the bread and veggies. Add the cheese and salt and pepper and mix everything together.
Pour oil in a skillet and pour in the batter to make a pancake size omelettes. Cook on both sides.

Make two eyes and a smily face on the pancake and watch the expression on your little one's face.. priceless!!