Cheesebread for Winter appetizer

Well I didn't make cheese or the bread. And that's probably this appetizer came out so tasty in such a short time. For a day like today with -3 degrees, I would be glad to spend 5 minutes to make a delicious melted cheese snack.

You need:
Whole grain / medium hard bread ( definitely not super soft bread)
Mozzarella cheese / flavored snack cheese / pizza cheese ( the kind that's mixed with some potato for the body is best )

All you do:
Heat a pan and bring to medium-low temperature
Grate cheese onto the pan
Place the bread in inch or 2 inch wide pieces over the cheese
For better texture, grated cheese should be far apart so there is Jo uniform cheese coating when it melts
Grate a little garlic or herbs on the cheese for some flavor

3 minute Poha

As I begin my race against time, this happens to be my fastest Indian cooked dish. Best for workday lunch, a light dinner or just a snack, like poha was always meant to be.

You need:
1 cup beaten rice ( avalakki /poha)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp pasta sauce

To do:
Soak the beaten rice in hot water for a couple of minutes. Drain when soft
Heat olive oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds.
When start to split, add the pasta sauce and sautee.
This makes the pasta sauce cook better and the tomatoes split out giving a good uneven texture.
Add the drained poha and mix.
Add salt to taste an serve !

Lunch Salad- black chick peas and potato

I have been trying to make filling salads and off late found some success. And for a person who started having slices of cucumber, tomato with salt and pepper; I guess I have made a bit of progress. So here's the newest lunch salad.

Soak 1 cup of black chick peas (kala channa) overnight. Drain the excess water.
Boil 2 potatoes and skin them. Chop these into 1cm * 1cm cubes
Cut 1 cucumber/ zucchini into small cubes.
Take 3-4 leaves of lettuce and chop them inch wide.
1 cup of Rucola ( this the most important. Soul o my salads)

Toss the ingredients along with 2-3 tbsp of Jogurt and 1 tsp of chaat powder.

Serve cold!

Carrot-onion soup

Carrots are plenty in Nuremberg. Probably the beat combinations for soup are carrots with any vegetables, as long as I live in this area. So I tried the carrot and onion soup. This is a sub set of my mix veg soup.

2 carrots , washed and bottom chopped
2 onions, peeled and cut into 2
Salt

Steam the carrots and onions in a pressure cooker for two whistles.
Use the same cooking water from the pressure cooker for the soup.
Once this is cooled down, grind the carrot, onion and water to a fine paste.
Boil it once more with additional water. Garnish with salt, pepper and cilantro leaves for flavor.

Akki Rotti

Soft and Crisp Akki Rotti
My favorite type of Akki Rotti is tasty, soft and crisp. Not crisp like crunchy, crusty crisp but lightly dosa type of crisp. Anyway, the most common ingredients are onion, coconut and green chilli for Akki Rotti but this time I tried something different, just becaus I lacked the usual ingredients

Rice flour 2 cups
5 strands of cilantro- finely chopped
0.5 cup of coconut gratings
0.5 cup grated carrot
1 Tsp red chilli powder or cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp Jeera/ cumin
1 Tsp salt., should be ok for this mixture
Water to mix

Mix the ingredients into a pasty dough. It should nt be a sticky paste neither a hard dough like for chapati.
Smear a think bottomed pan with oil. Don't turn on the heat yet.
Pat a big ball of the dough uniformly onto the pan. It's a good idea to leave some tiny holes for the crispy feel.
Turn on the heat. Close the pan. You can use a spoon on oil on top layer right away or as the Rotti begins to cook.
4-6 minutes to cook Each side.

Serve with Badnekayi gojju or Chutney. coming up next..,

Tangy Spinach Recipe

This is an original spinach recipe. I wanted something slightly tangy and tasty with spinach. The only recipes I knew with spinach are the tried and tested Palak Paneer, Alu Palak, Dal Palak...
This time I wanted something else. And I wanted to include Ginger for relief from migrane and heartburn.
The total cook time is ~20 mins. So why not try it..

Ingredients
1 pack spinach/ 1 bunch spinach (washed and cut)
1/2 inch ginger
1/2 Tsp tamarind paste
few strands of kasuri methi (optional)
1/2 Tsp chili powder. cayenne pepper
Salt

2 big potatoes (you could use mixed vegetables or a vegetable of your choice)

How to
• Cook the potatoes. While this cook, make the spinach curry
• Put the spinach in a non-stick vessel to cook. You dont need to add water. Spinach oozes water while it cooks. It should take 5-10 mins
• Grate ginger on it while the spinach cooks. Add tamarind paste and mix well. Add kasuri methi as well. Sautee on low flame for 2-3mins.
• Add the cooked potatoes/ vegetables.
• Finally add chili powder and salt.

Serve with Rice, Roti/ bread

Rajma Masala

For the first time, I tried Rajma masala at home in Germany. The last word is the most important here, because my kitchen counter is no more than 20 inches * 40 inches. And i have a small storage for spices as well. I am no spice combination guru. So my combinations are limited, coming to the a simple dish.
There is Gandhi Asia store to buy Indian grocery in Nuremberg, but he has all Asian grocery and not just Indian. A bigger version of the Gandhi Asia store is in Erlangen. I suppose Kidney beans would be available is normal grocery stores as well.

What you need
1 cup Rajma/ Kidney beans (soak overnight or soak 3 hours and pressure cook 3-4 times)

1 Tsp Dhaniya
1/2 inch ginger
1 Tsp red chilli powder/ cayenne pepper
1 Tsp garam masala
1 big Onion
2 tomatoes
1 Tbsp Jeera/ Cumin
2 Tbsp Oil (Olive or sunflower)
Salt

How to...
• Soak Rajma overnight and pressure cook the beans in the same water. (You can soak for 3 hours and pressure cook them 3-4 times as well)
• Shred the Onion and Ginger. Heat oil in a pan and add Jeera. Once it splits, add the entire onion and ginger shreddings and sautee till brown.
• Grind tomatoes and add the puree into the pan. Sautee for 5-10 min till the paste cooks.
• Add Dhaniya, chilli powder, garam masala and sautee for 1-2 mins.
• Add the Rajma beans along with the cooking water. Sautee and add salt (about 1 Tbsp)

Mint rice with dried peas and fried krutons

Achala came up with a new recipe which I intend to try soon. If only I find fresh mint herbs at a farmers market here.

You'll need, 

3 bread slices - cut into cubes and fried lightly
1/2 cup Dried peas - soaked overnight
1 cup rice
1 Onion 
1/2 tomato
Salt to taste
1 tspn Jeera powder
Oil

Paste:
A handful of mint leaves
2 green chillies
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 inch Ginger
2 cloves of Garlic


Spices:
2 peices each of cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bayleaves.
1 tspn of fennel seeds
1 tspn of jeera
Cook the rice with the soaked dried peas
- Blend together everything needed for the paste
- Heat the oil in a pan, put in all the spices + jeera + Onions + Tomato
- After the onions cook, put in the mint paste and the rice
- Add Salt
- After 1 min add the fried bread. 
- Mix in everything throughly and serve with Raita 

Vegetable Sagoo

It feels good and ironically funny that my comeback post on this blog had to be Sagoo. But as luck, time or the universe would have it, I made Sagoo again. No MTR mix, but a from-the-scratch recipe. Very close to  the Bengaluru home taste, and the look and feel...

What you need
5 strands of Cilantro/ Parsely
2 Tbsp of Coconut gratings (frozen, dried, packaged or fresh)
1" ginger
1" stick of cinnamon
5-6 pepper seeds or equal pepper powder
3 green chillies
2 Tbsp of Hurigadale


1 onion. Use it as 2 halves
Mustard Seeds,
Jeera
Hing
Salt
Mixed vegetables (best combination I do with is potatoes, carrots, beans and peas - colorful mix)

How To...
• Boil the vegetables or pressure cook them
• Put all the top set of ingredients and a half onion into a mixer and grind them thoroughly to a paste. Use half cup water. You could use the extra boiled water to mix.
• Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a pan, add Mustard seeds, Jeera, hing and curry leaves (optional). Add the other half onion and fry well. Once this is cooked, add the masala paste and mix well.
• Add the boiled vegetables and sautee for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. We are all set!