I’ve decided to add a travel section to my blog! I’ve realised If I didn’t need to worry about paying bills, I would be the hippie I was born to be đ A healthy hippie, that serves healthy low cal food in a bed and breakfast that’s tucked somewhere deep in the forests where the aromas of pine sap run through the air! You get the picture, right ;)?
So yesterday I tried to bake a sugar-free oats and yoghurt cake with blueberries. I broke the first rule of baking, didn’t measure my baking powder and over beat the eggs. It ended up being hard and bread like, I don’t usually have such disasters in the kitchen and was super upset. I needed a pick me up. Nothing in my fridge seemed to be right for the moment and IÂ had run out of chocolates đ That’s when I glanced upon 2 slices of a thin herbed wheat pizza base. My brain started ticking. Should I convert them into quesadillas? (pronounced: cay-suh-dee-yuh) Or may be just turn them into dinner…something that’s warm, simple, wholesome and smooth. The thought of a Baked Cheesy Tortilla brought back a smile. The dish requires very little attention whilst its cooking. It’s almost like a pizza but 100 times more nutritious and loaded with healthy vegetables like mushrooms, spinach, onions, tomatoes and the cheese in it comes from cottage cheese. It’s my go-to-dish, try it and you will know why đ
I love burgers. And cheese stuffed burgers were the signature dish at my second restaurant. We would make them with different meats and veggies always experimenting with the flavours and textures. Soon stuffed burgers were the only way these patties could be made! I wasn’t surprised when my parents requested for them for a celebratory meal to mark their 51st anniversary. Though the family had chicken burgers, my sis is following Lent and was a vegetarian! And she wanted mini veggie burgers!
My mom has a problem with the food I eat, “How can you eat without rice or flat breads” is a question she often asks. And though I’ve tried explaining the no-carbs at night funda, she just can’t understand it. Your meals do vary from normal when you have a health conscious diabetic in the house! “All you eat is stir-fry, what good is that! It’s just quick cooking,” she laments. There she is right. If you are quick with the knife, your stir fry can be ready in less than 20 minutes. And it’s healthy, full of veggies and gluten-free đ
Who doesnât like a good biryani? No donât answer that, my sister for one, doesnât like rice and meat together, though as a kid thatâs all she ate. Blame it on the size 4 factor! I love food, isnât that obvious đ and a good biryani always sets off the drool factor. My favourite biryani is the dry sofiana kinds, not too much masala sticking to the rice, but the aromasâŚthey can set the dullest and laziest heart in action.
It’s not often that i read a veggie recipe and get inspired to try it out immediately. But last evening a friend posted a recipe of oats and semolina dhokla–(steamed cake), and that kind of tickled my senses. Plus I have been accused of step-motherly treatment towards Indian food by a very dear doctor friend! I love to cook healthy and i find it really tough to make oil free Indian food, but yes I will try get back into R&D and split the oil away from the masalas and work on it Ash.
I’ve always loved the Nachos that are served at Hard Rock Cafe. It’s a meal in itself with close to 7 to 8 different toppings. This recipe comes very close to it and is perfect entree for a party of 10 to 12 hungry friends, where snacks and spirits take precedence over the main course.
I’ve experimented a whole lot with the textures of the corn chips and the cheese to be used. Nothing comes close to pepper jack cheese but when you can’t get your hand on it try Gruyère cheese or even cheddar and if even those are impossible then go with just mozzarella. Nothing better than the stringy texture.
If you’re throwing a party and are stuck for ideas or not quite deft in the kitchen, make something quick and relatively easy that can charm your guests! This stuffed bread is often a charmer. I uses a hard bread, which is commonly known as Brun in India. And dipped into the various sauce bottles that are always lined up in my kitchen. All it needs us some cheeses, and fresh herbs and of course an oven.
This recipe takes me back to a rainy day in Goa. We were sitting by the river, watching the pouring rain create zig zag patterns all over the surface. We sipped on our chilled beer as we waited for the service to start. The kitchen was all pumped up, getting ready for the rush that would soon hit us. The menu of the day included my very favourite Roasted Pumpkin Walnut Soup.
It’s been a crazy two weeks. I’ve been attempting to pack all my belongings into cartons to move home. Though I’ve moved less than a kilometer away from where I stayed earlier on, the process has been cumbersome, fatiguing and has washed me out of every ounce of energy. So when we did move and I started cooking in the new kitchen, instead of the traditional sweetmeat that is supposed to be cooked, I made this super healthy Barley Upma! It brought back some spring to my steps.