Spaghetti and meatballs with mushrooms

Its been a long time that I made Spaghetti and meatballs and today I went and got ready to eat Marinara sauce with Basil. So I did not actually made the sauce from scratch but added few more things to it to change the taste
                  The meatballs are made up of ground lamb and these are one of the most juiciest meatballs I ever made and ate. Here is the recipe. Hope you will make it

Meatballs (Ground lamb mixed with spices and baked to perfection)

1. 1 lb ground lamb
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and fresh ground pepper, Italian seasoning
3. 1 heaped teaspoon relish
4. 1/2-3/4 cup finely chopped red onions
5. 2 big garlic pods grated
6. 1/2-3/4 cup home made bread crumbs
7. 1 tablespoon water
8. 1 egg

Mix all the ingredients together into the meat with a light hand and set aside for atleast 30 minutes. I made medium small size meat balls. So I got about 20-24 meat balls. Heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake on a lighly sprayed baking sheet for 30 minutes. Turn half way through. Serve as appetizers or any other way you like

Muahroom Sauce for meatballs (Store bought marinara sauce with mushrooms)

Spaghetti with lamb meatballs

1. 1 tablespoon olive oil
2. 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
3. 2 garlic pods grated
4. 8-10oz box mushrooms sliced
5. 3 cups marinara sauce
6. 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning, fresh ground pepper
7. Italian herbed cooking cream
8. Grated parmesan for sprinkling (optional)

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions and fry till they become tender. Add garlic and fry for a minute. Increase the heat and add mushrooms and fry for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Add the meat balls and simmer for 6-8 minutes.
To serve add spaghetti to a plate and add the meatballs sauce with mushrooms on top and sprinkle with cheese if desired. Enjoy

Try another recipe for meatballs - Cilantro meatballs

Vegetable Chicken Soup with Green Chile Batard

Today was such a nice warm day and it being winter, it still became cold by evening. So it was time I made some soup. Its been a while that I made soup and today's soup was one of the most delicious soups I ever made. And it was as simple to make

And I served it with a spicy Green Chile Batard which is a kind of Baguette. I got this from the store "Fresh and Easy". And I baked it for 10 minutes with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and it was crunchy and delicious.

Vegetable Chicken Soup (Semi thick soup with Chicken and Vegetables)

Vegetable chicken soup with Green Chile Batard

Ingredients:

1. 1 big chicken breast or 2 or 3 boneless skinless chicken thighs chopped into 1 cm pieces
2. 2 medium carrots peeled and chopped into 1 cm pieces
3. 2 stalks of celery chopped
4. 1/2 cup chopped red onion
5. 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
6. 1 or 2 stalks of rosemary
7. 1/4 cup each of green peas and sweet corn kernels
8. 1 medium tomato chopped
9. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and lemon pepper, grated garlic
10. 2-3 cups of low sodium chicken stock
11. 1 cup 2 % milk
12. 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
13. 1 tablespoon butter
14. 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

In a heavy bottomed pan heat the butter and oilive oil and fry the onions till tender. Add garlic and fry for a minute. Add Chicken and fry for 5-6 minutes. Add carrots and celery and reduce heat, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomato and all the seasonings and stir and fry for 2 minutes. Add green peas and corn. Add the liquids and bring to a boil. Add the al-purpose flour and stir, taking care no lumps form. Add the rosemary stalks and reduce heat and simmer for 15- 20 minutes. Serve hot with your favourite baguette or batard

Sem ki Phalli Machli aur Moong Dal

This recipe is my mom and grandma's recipe and its one of my very favourite fish recipes. Its been a long time that I made this recipe and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sem ki Phalli or Sem Phalli or Indian Broad beans can be got in the frozen section of the Indian stores all year long and can be found fresh sometimes. I made these Indian broad beans with Tilapia
              And to go with it I made moong dal with dried mango and it was delicious. The thing is the photos don't look that appetizing but they are thoroughly yummy to eat. So hope you will enjoy them as much as we did.

Sem Ki Phalli Machli (Fish curry with Indian Broad beans )

Sem ki Phalli aur Machli

Ingredients:

1. 1 large or 2 medium Tilapia gutted and cleaned and cut into 1 inch steaks
2. 2 cups cit Indian Broad beans (If using fresh, cut the ends off and remove the end veins and cut into 1 inch pieces)
3. 1 tablespoon oil
4. 1/2 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
5. 1 medium small onion chopped
6. 2 serrano or 4 Thai green chillies sliced
7. 1 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder
8. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric
9. Handful of chopped coriander

Add all the powdered spices and salt to the fish, mix once and set aside. Heat oil in a pan and add onion and fry till tender. Add green chillies and ginger-garlic paste. Add the Broad Beans cover and cook with a litthe water for 10 minutes. Add the fish and add about a cup of water cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the cilantro. Simmer further till the excess water evaporates. Don't stir too much else the fish pieces might break. Enjoy with hot rice and dal
Also try my other recipes with Indian Broad Beans
Lamb Curry with Indian Broad Beans

Egg plant curry with Indian Broad Beans
Moong Dal (Yellow split peas with dried mango)

Moong Dal Aam

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup moong dal dry roasted
2. 1/4 cup dried mango cut into small pieces or a teaspoon of mango powder
3. 3/4 teaspoon salt
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, hing, turmeric, grated garlic
5. 2 dried red chilies broken into pieces
6. Few curry leaves
7. 3 teaspoons oil divided

Boil the dal with mango pieces and turmeric and 1 teaspoon oil and 3 cups of water. Simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the dal gets boiled. Let it cool and grind to a paste along with the salt. Heat oil in a pan and fry the cumin, mustard seeds, garlic, dried chilies and curry leaves until it starts to splutter. Add the hing and fry for a minute. Add the ground dal paste and 1-2 cups of water depending on what consistency you want. Boil for 5-6 minutes. Serve.

Saucy Shrimp and Celery Egg fried rice

Its been ages that I made anything Chinese and today I wanted to make something that resembles recipes close to what you find in Panda Express Restaurant. So I made Shrimp with Capsicum and Mushrooms and Egg Fried Rice with different vegetables than I normally used in a fried rice. But it was pretty good. So here you have it

Saucy Shrimp (Shrimp with Mushroom and Capsicum in a yummy sauce)

Saucy shrimp capsicum and mushroom

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
2. 1 medium small bell pepper cut into 1 inch cubes
3. 1 cup chopped onion
4. 1 cup sliced mushroom (optional)
5. 1 tablespoon oil
6. 1 low sodium chicken bouillon
7. 1 cup water
8. 1 teaspoon corn starch
9. 1/2 teaspoon each of red chilly flakes, grated garlic

Heat the oil and fry the onions for 3 minutes. Add garlic and chiclli flakes and fry for a minute. Add bell pepper and mushroom if using and fry on medium high for 5 minutes. Add shrimp and fry till they become pink. Mix the chicken bouillon and corn starch to water and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy

Celery Egg Fried Rice (Egg fried rice with celery and other vegetables)

Celery Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups rice cooked
2. 2 stalks of celery chopped
3. 1 cup long beans cut into 1 inch pieces
4. 1 cup black eyed peas
5. 1 cup grated raw papaya (optional)
6. 2 eggs beaten
7. 1 tablespoon each of oil, soya sauce, white vinegar
8. 1 tablespoon sesame oil
9. Salt and chili flakes to taste

Heat the oil in a pan and add the eggs and cook till set and scramble. Drain and set aside.
Heat the sesame oil and add the green beans and black eyed peas and celery and cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the veggies get tender. Add the papaya if using after 7 minutes. Stir well. Add rice and egg in two parts along with soya sauce and white vinegar and chilly flakes. Add the rest of the rice and eggs and reduce heat to low and cover and cook for 2 minutes. Stir and give a taste test and add salt if needed. Cover and simmer for 2 more minutes. Stir once again and serve with shrimp.

Turai Dal and crispy fried fish

Today, I was busy making some bead earrings and totally forgot to keep track of the time. But the time I turned to look at the clock it was almost 12 o'clock and I didn't make any preparations for lunch and my kiddos were getting hunggy (typo on purpose)
                      Anyway, so I made an effort to get lunch ready as soon as possible. And while things were still simmering I started feeding my kids so I forgot to take proper photos. So...the menu was Turai (Ridgegourd) with toor dal and papd or appadam and crispy fried Pollock fillets

Turai Dal (Ridgegourd with yellow pigeon peas)

Turai Dal

Ingredients:

1. 2-3 medium sized ridgegourd peeled and give it as taste test to check for bitterness
2. 1/2 cup yellow pigeon peas dry roasted
3. 1 tablespoon oil
4. 1 heaped tablespoon chopped onion
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, asafetida, finely chopped garlic, turmeric
6. 2-3 dried red chillies broken
7. few curry leaves

After peeling the turai save the peel for Ridge gourd peel chutney
Slice the ridge gourd into thin quarters and in a pressure cooker, cook the dal and turai for 4-5 whistles with a cup of water and turmeric. Open the cooker after the steam escapes and mash the dal
In a pan heat the oil and add cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal and fry for 2 minutes. Add onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and fry for a few more minutes. If the pan is big enough add the turai dal to this or add this to the dal and simmer till it gets to the consistency of your liking. Garnish with handfull of chopped cilantro and enjoy with hot steamy rice and ghee.


Crispy fried fish (Pollock fillets shallow fried with spice rub)
Ingredients:

1. 3 pollock fillets cut into 3 pieces each
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, turmeric, coriander powder, ginger garlic paste
3. Oil for frying

Mix the spices together. Pat dry the fish and spinkle the spices on both side and set aside. Heat about 1/2 cm oil in a pan and drop the fish and fry for 5-6 minutes on each side or until fish gets crispy. Serve as is or with rice

Pulled Chicken Tortilla Triangles and Chicken Taco

Taco Night table spread



This is one of my old recipes. And today I remade it again and it is as yummy as I remember. Whenever I go to any barbeque restaurants, I hate the fact that all they have is pulled pork and I don't eat pork. So I made my version of pulled meat i.e chicken and my family thoroughly enjoyed it. Hope you and your family enjoy it too

Pulled Chicken (Chicken breasts baked and meat pulled apart)
Ingredients:

1. 1-2 lb skinless chicken breasts bone-in

2.1 big red onion sliced

3.1 teaspoon grated garlic, ginger

4. 1 tablepsoon tomato ketchup, worsteshire sauce,

5.1 can or 2 cup chicken stock

6.1 teaspoon chilly powder, cumin powder

7.1/2 cup white vinegar

Mix all the ingredients together except chicken and onion. In a baking pan lay a layer of onions and then chicken and then add the mixture. Cover and bake at 350 Degree for 1 1/2 hours. Let cool and pull the chiken with fork or hand.

Pulled Chicken Tortilla Triangles

Ingredients:

1. 8 Large flour tortillas

2. 2 cups pulled chicken (Recipe in the book)

3. 1 cup mexican mix cheese

Mexican style salsa

1. 1 cup sweet corn

2. 1 cup pinto beans drained

3. 1/2 cup store bought tomato salsa

4. 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

5. 1 tablespoon fresh sqeezed lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients for the salsa and set aside for 30 minutes.

Lay a tortilla on a clean surface. Layer it with cheese, followed by pulled chicken, topped with salsa and more cheese. Top it off with another tortilla. Broil this for just 1 minute on each side. Be carefull not to butn it. Cut it into 4 triangles and serve with more salsa and enjoy

Chicken Taco

Ingredients:

1. 8-10 corn or flour tacos lightly warmed
2. 1 cup shredded cabbage
3. 1 medium carrot shredded
4. 2 cups lettuce (i used romaine)
5. 1 cup grated sharmp cheddar cheese
6. 1/2 each of cup corn, chopped tomato, chopped cilantro, chopped white or yellow onion
7. 1/2 green bell pepper roasted
8. Kraft spicy fajita spread as needed
9. 3 cups shredded chicken

Make your own taco :D





Dal Wada

Today I made Dal Wada for which the inspiration was my sis-in-law. A long long time ago, I tried making it but it was a BIG disaster. The one thing I didn't realise was we would have to shallow fry these wadai or else they will fall apart.
                 The other day when we were at my brother's place, my bhabi made wada with moong dal and that was a new item for me. My mom used to make them in a totally different way. Anyway the last time I ate wada was made the mother-in-law of my very good friends'. This is an Indian version of Falafel
                 The moong dal wada recipe will come along some other day but today is the recipe for the dal wada, a great dish for sunday breakfast or a tea time snack.

Dal Wada (Shallow fried lentil fritters)

Dal Wada being Shallow fried

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups Chana Dal (Dried split black Chickpeas) (soaked in water for an hour)
2. 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
3. 1 green chilly finely chopped
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, Ajwain, finely chopped ginger, salt
5. 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
6. Oil for shallow frying

Grind the chana dal into a coarse paste with water (as little as possible)
Mix all the other ingredients and make it into 3 inch patties 1/2 inch thick. Heat about 1/4 inch high oil in a pan and fry the wada till they start getting brown. Drain and serve with ketchup