Masala Oats Dosa

 Growing up my favorite breakfast was Idli. But as I grew up I realized the amount of planning it takes to get Idli on your plate.

But as I grew up a bit more, I found the convenience of the ready made "mix" for idlis. Then I discovered Oats idlis, rava idlis and then the bst of both worlds Rava Oats idli.

And then I finally wanted to make Dosa/Cheela with the batter of Rava Oats idli and they were super delicious. I know my mom would have been proud of me :)

Masala Oats Dosa (Crepes made with oats and samolina with Indian flavors)

Masala Oats Dosa

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup quick cooking oats (pulse once or twice to make the oats a bit small)
2. 1/2 cup sooji/samolina
3. 1 masala packet from the masala oats (or 1 tablespoon chat masala)
4. 1 tablespoon oil + oil for frying the dosa
5. 1 tablespoon chana dal
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of mustard, cumin, urad dal
7. 1/2 cup yogurt
8. Salt if needed
9. handful of finely chopped cilantro
10. 1/4 cup finely grated carrots , cabbage
11. 1 teaspoon baking soda
12. 1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a pan heat one tablespoon oil add the mustard seeds. Cover and cook until they start splattering. Add chana dal and fry for 30 minutes. Add cumin and urad dal. Add the Sooji and fry for a couple of minutes.

In a dish beat the yogurt and add all the ingredients (except baking soda) to it and 1 to 11/2 cup hot water and stir well. Set it aside for 10 minutes.

Add baking soda and stir lightly and set aside for 5 minutes.

Heat a griddle and take a ladle of the batter and add to the center of the griddle. With a light hand spread it into a circle with a light hand. Add some oil to the edges of the dosa and let cook for 2 minutes. Flip and add some oil and cook for 2 more minutes. Enjoy with coconut or peanut chutney

Hot cocoa mix brownies

 This is the time of the year when you want brownies...let me correct myself any time of the year when you want brownies and you are out of the brownie box mix or cocoa powder and you have the hot cocoa mix packets on hand...you have pretty much all the ingredients you need to make brownies. And they were super delicious.

Hot cocoa mix brownies (Brownies made with Hot Cocoa Mix packets)

Hot Cocoa mix brownie

Ingredients:

1. 5 packets hot cocoa mix (either plain or with mini marshmallows)
2. 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3. 1 teaspoon baking powder
4. 3/4 cup melted butter
5. 1 cup granulated sugar
6. 2 eggs
7. 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees

Melt butter and add the sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix well. Shift the flour with the baking powder and add to the butter and egg mixture . Add the cocoa mix and stir to combine.

Prepare a 8x8 baking dish and add the batter to the pan and bake for 35-37 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Let stand atleast 5 minutes before cutting it and enjoying the delicious chocolaty brownies

Spicy Tuna Rice

 Another rice dish. Looks like there are as many rice dishes as there are vegetables and protein in this world. So here you go...one more.

Spicy Tuna Rice (Tuna Stir fried rice with Indian spices)

Spicy Tuna Rice

Ingredients:

1. 1 can Tuna in water, drained
2. 1 cup basmati rice cooked according to package directions
3. 2 dried red chillies
4. 1/2 medium small onion sliced
5. Few curry leaves
6. 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
7. 1/ teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, split black gram (optional)
8. 1 teaspoon each of salt, Andhra fish curry powder
9. 1 medium small bell pepper cut into 1 inch cubes (optional)
10. 1 tablespoon oil

In a pan heat the oil and add the mustard and cover and let fry until they splutter. Add cumin, black grams, broken red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a 30 seconds. Add onions and fry for 5 minutes. Add bell pepper if using and ginger and stir well. Add drained tuna and fry for 2 minutes. Add rice and all the spices and salt and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 2 minutes on medium low heat. Garnish with cilantro and serve with a lemon wedge

Baked Mexican Rice

 I have tried making Mexican tomato rice on the stove stop and oin the rice cooker but it never turned out like the restaurant style. I finally made it in the ove and the results were spectacularly delicious.

Baked Mexican Rice

Ingredients:

1. 1½ cups white, uncooked
2. 3 cups chicken broth
3. 1 cup crushed tomatoes 
4. 1/4 cup each of finely chopped onion, carrots, frozen corn thawed
5. 1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
6. 2 tablespoons oil 
7. 1/2 teaspoon cumin 
8. 1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a 9x9 pan, combine all ingredients and stir until everything is evenly distributed.

Cover tightly with foil.

Place carefully in oven and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove from oven and leave covered until ready to serve.

Onions and garlic may settle on the top. Fluff with a fork to mix them evenly into rice.

Enjoy with your favorite Mexican sides

Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese

 Pandemic lock down and work from home ruined so many things. With work from home you do not get to out for lunch with people and try different things. But eating home cooked meals every. dingle. day for lunch and dinner gets boring at times. So...what does one do? One gets frozen food. And one of my fav frozen food is Evol's Chipotle chicken Mac and cheese.

I have been thinking of replicating that recipe at home and finally I got it. I cut some corners and used some store bough ingredients instead of making everything from scratch. Turned out great. I will be making it often from now on.

Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese

Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese

Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

1. Chipotle in Adobo sauce (Used 1/2 of the chillies in the container and chopped them up)
2. 1 chicken breast grilled chopped into 1 inch cubes (about 2-3 cups)
3. Salsa con queso cheese dip (15 oz jar )
4. 3 cups ditalini pasta cooked according to package directions with generous amount of salt.
5. 3 tablespoons butter melted
6. 1-2 cups panco breadcrumbs
7. 1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Mix the cheese sauce, chopped chipotle , cheese and chicken. Drain the pasta and mix it in. 

Mix the melted butter with the breadcrumbs
Add the pasta mixture to an 8x8 baking dish and top it with the breadcrumbs.

Bake for 15 minutes.
Enjoy

Buffalo chicken Quinoa

 Since we are trying to not each as much rice as possible for various reasons, Quinoa has become my go to grain for many dishes.

This is a new recipe I made up and it turned out pretty good.

Buffalo chicken Quinoa (Quinoa with buffalo sauce chicken)

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup Quinoa cooked according to package directions. Do not add any salt.
2. 1 8 oz canned chicken breast or 1 chicken breast cut into small bite size pieces
3. 1 tablespoon oil
4. 1/2 tablespoon  butter
5. 2-3 tablespoons red hot buffalo sauce (depending on how spicy you can handle)
6. 1 medium clove garlic chopped fine
7. 1 teaspoon dry ranch dressing (optional)
8. 1-11/2 cups cauliflower cut into 1 inch or smaller florets
9. Carrots and Ranch to serve on the side

In a pan heat the oil and cook the chicken if using raw chicken with a pinch of salt and pepper (7-10 minutes) Drain and set aside.

In the same pan add the butter and the cauliflower and cover and cook for 7-8 minutes until tender on medium low heat. Add garlic and stir to combine. add the canned chicken (drained) or the previously cooked chicken and fry for 2 minutes on medium high. Add the Quinoa and dry ranch dressing (if using) and hot sauce and combine. Stir well.

Serve with Ranch and Carrots on the side and enjoy!!!

Bulgur Falafel

  I have never ever ordered a Falafel dish ever in my life. We have the "masala Chana Wada" in South India which is very similar to Falafel and it was not my favorite growing up. But The Falafel I made is super delicious especially if I make it into a sandwich with Tahini yogurt sauce. Here you go...the most delicious Falafel you would ever eat

Bulgur Falafel (Bulgar wheat and Chickpea fritters)

Bulgar Falafel

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup Bulgar wheat cooked according to package directions (I up the flavor a bit more, I cooked it in chicken broth)
2. 1 can chick peas mashed using a potato masher (so that I don't make them into a cream in a blender. We want it to have some texture)
3. 1 teaspoon each of ground cumin, ground coriander, salt, paprika
4. 1/2 cup frozen spinach thawed and squeezed out of water.
5. 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6. 1 egg lightly beaten
7. 2 tablespoons all purpose flour, parsley (optional)
8. Oil for shallow frying

Cook the bulgar and let it cool completely. Mix all the ingredients together except egg. Add the egg and mix well and set aside for 10-15 minutes. Add some oil to a pan. Divide the chickpea mixture into 12-15 parts. Squeeze each part between the palms of your hands and make it into semi flat "balls". Fry 3 minutes and flip and fry 3 more minutes. Enjoy as is or as a pita sandwich with Tahini Yogurt sauce and onions and Plum tomatoes

Tahini Yogurt sauce

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup plain yogurt
2. 2 tablespoons sesame seeds toasted and ground to powder
3. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt
4. 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
5. 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
6. 1 large or 2 medium cloves of garlic grated

Mix all the ingredients together and drizzle on for a yummy saucy sandwich

Lemon Dill Chicken Soup

 This is the most delicious chicken soup yet. And its so easy to make.

Lemon Dill Chicken Soup

Lemon Dill Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1. 1 Canned chicken breast 7 oz
2. 2 eggs lightly beaten
3. Juice from one 1 lemon (Use fresh)
4. Lemon jest
5. 1 tablespoon dried dill or a handful of fresh dill
6. 1/2-3/4 cup each of onion, carrots celery chopped small
7. 1-2 garlic pods chopped fine
8. 1 carton chicken broth
9. Sale to taste (adjust according to the salt content of the chicken broth)
10. 1/2 teaspoon fresh grond pepper
11. 1/2 cup orzo pasta (optional)
12. 1 tablespoon olive oil

In a pot heat the oil and add the onions, carrots and celery and cook for 3 minutes. Add garlic and stir and cook for 30 more seconds. Add chicken and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add lemon zest. Add orzo and boil for as long as the instructions say. Otherwise. Let boil for 5 minutes. Give it a good stir and add the beaten egg (to make like egg drop soup) . Add lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper and serve as is or with some crusty bread. 

Vegetable corn fritters

 Fritters of any kind are my favorite. I usually make them into waffles which are super delicious for dinner. But today I shallow fried them with little bit of oil cause I got my newest non stick pan and is working super awesome.

Vegetable corn fritters

Vegetable corn fritters

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium small zucchini grated 
2. 1 medium small carrot grated
3. 1-1.5 cups corn kernels
4. 1/3 cup corn meal
5. 1/2-3/4 cup all purpose flour
6. 1/2 cup Mexican cheese blend (optional)
7. 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
8. 1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
9. 1 egg lightly beaten
10. 3/4 teaspoon salt
11. 1/2 teaspoon pepper
12. 1 tablespoon chopped pickled jalapeños (optional)
13. Oil for shallow frying

Squeeze as much water as possible from the grated zucchini and carrot. Add all the ingredients except egg and mix them well. Add the egg and mix well.

Heat a griddle or non stick pan and add a little bit of oil and spread it. Take 2-2.5 tablespoons of the mix and make them into 1 cm thick patties and fry 3 minutes per site. Serve with salsa and sour cream

Quinoa Upma

Growing up Upma was not my favorite by any means. But I have grown to like it because I am the "boss of the house" now and I cook things the way I like it 😎😎

And Quinoa is something which I make and eat but not in the top 10 of my favs. But this dish definitely pushed Quinoa into the top 10 spot. Its super delicious and healthier than a regular upma.

So certainly give it a try.

Quinoa Upma (Quinoa stir fried Indian style)

Potato Quinoa Upma

Ingredients

1. 1 cup quinoa washed well and cooked according to package direction
2. 1-2 tablespoons peanuts
3. 1 tablespoon oil, fresh lemon juice
4. 1 teaspoon each of chana dal, ural dal
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of mustard seeds, cumin, salt, turmeric
6. 1/2 cup sliced onions
7. couple of dried red chillies
8. cilantro for garnishing
9. 1 medium small potato cubed small (optional)

Cook the Quinoa according to package directions with 1/2 teaspoon salt

If using potatoes, peel it and cube it to 1 cm cubes and microwave covered for 2 minutes (just to cook it faster)

In a pan heat the oil and add the peanuts and fry for a minute. Add the mustard seeds and cover the pan and let them splutter. Add cumin, urad dal, chana dal and the dried red chillies broken into 2-4 pieces and fry for a minute. Add potatoes if using and fry all of them for 5 minutes. Add onions and mix well and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add cooked quinoa along with salt and turmeric and mix well. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Add lemon juice and cilantro and stir to combine and enjoy

Salmon with Gnocchi foil packet

 This is one of the fancy looking foil packets dinners which comes together super fast and taste great and clean is minimal if any.

Salmon with Gnocchi foil packet (salmon and gnocchi baked in a foil with other vegetables)

Salmon and gnocchi foil packet dinner

Ingredients 

1. Shelf stable gnocchi packet
2. 4 salmon fillets (I had salmon with skin on, you can use the skinless salmon fillets also)
3. Cherry tomatoes cut in half breadthwise divided
4. Asparagus7-8 per packet, trimmed
5. 2 tablespoons olive oil, lemon juice divided 
6. 1-1.5 teaspoons salt, lemon pepper divided

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.

Dab the salmon dry and sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay this side down in the middle of a silver foil.  Add gnocchi, tomatoes and asparagus to the sides of the salmon. Sprinkle with the rest of the oil, salt and pepper. Close the foils tightly like a packet. No air vents.

Put all the packets on a baking tray and bake for 25

Minutes. Carefully open the packets ( be careful of the steam). Fold the foil down wards. Broil the salmon and gnocchi for 5 minutes.

Serve with a wedge of lemon or lime

Note: make the packets directly on a baking sheet so that the chance of them getting ripped is nil

Dill Tuna Melt

 This is the most easiest lunch you will make for those few days you are "Working from home " (Roll eyes)
I am stuck at home...working from home ... 

Dill Tuna Melt

Dill Tuna Melt

Ingredients:

1. 1 pouch deli style tuna salad
2. 2 slices sourdough bread
3. 2 slices 1/4 inch thick mozzarella cheese
4. 2 tablespoons fresh dill chopped
5. spicy mustard or Horseradish sauce
   
   Toast the bread on one side if you want. Spread the tuna on the bread, sprinkle with dill and add the mozzarella slices. Add the spicy mustard or horseraddish sauce. Add the top of the bread. Either toast on a griddle for 3-4 minutes on each side or in a panini maker for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Enjoy with a side of chips
   
   Even though I served it with chips, the sandwich was delicious as is. I ended up not eating the chips

Mushroom Palak Paneer Rice

 

Mushroom Palak paneer is a very popular dish in my household, as everyone loves the paneer as well as the mushrooms and I like it because they are eating palak (Spinach) without fussing about it.

You can make the curry itself and serve it with  roti/paratha or make a cup of rice and mix it with the curry and serve it 

Mushroom Palak Paneer Rice

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups basmati rice cooked
2. 1/4 lb or about 2 cups of paneer cubed
3. 3 cups frozen or 1 big bunch of chopped spinach
4. 1/2 teaspoon cumin, turmeric powder
5. 1 teaspoon salt, chilly powder, tomato paste, coriander powder
6. 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
7. 2 tablespoons oil
8. 1 medium garlic chopped fine (don't grate it)

In a pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil and fry the paneer pieces for about 5 minutes. Take out the paneer pieces and take about 3 or 4 cubes and crumble them and set them all aside.
In a pan heat the remaining oil and add the cumin and fry for a couple of minutes. Now add onions and fry till they become tender. Add mushrooms and fry for 5 more minutes. Add spinach and all the other ingredients, stir to combine and simmer for 6-8 minutes. Add paneer pieces back to the pot and simmer further for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro, serve with roti or serve with rice along with bottle gourd sour curry. Add the cooked rice and mix well. Cover and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Garnish with Cilantro if desired and enjoy