Aug
2015

Glazed Steak Roll Ups

Categories: Meals, Recipes, Weekend
Glazed Steak Roll Ups: You could use chicken instead of the red meat
Glazed Steak Roll Ups: You could use chicken instead of the red meat

Whilst surfing for things to do with my water buffalo meat–yeah beef is banned in my part of India–I came across gorgeous looking dish. I didn’t bother to read the recipe or to figure out how complex it would be, or how many hours of back-breaking labour it would involve before I’d set me mind and heart and stomach on it. The  plans for a Sunday dinner were fixed, at least in my mind.

A steak definitely calls for sides of mashed potato, so the pots went into the oven, unsalted butter was called for and the stage was set. Wait…my favourite butcher had no meat 🙁  That was surely not going to dampen my spirits..my entire weekend depends on the food I cook! A quick trip to Godrej’s Natures Basket and I managed to lay my hands on Prasuna’s steaks. That would have to do.

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Aug
2015

Chilli Pretzel Sugarfree Brownie

Categories: Dessert, Diabetic-friendly
Chilli Pretzel Sugarfree Brownie
Chilli Pretzel Sugar-free Brownie

I love brownies, actually I love anything and everything that has chocolate in it. A slab of delicious dark chocolate is the best pick me up there ever can be, especially when that dark chocolate has a soft liqueur center and it calls for your attention around midnight…that’s the only time I raid the fridge. But this post is not about me, it’s about the soft, fudgy sugar-free brownie that was baked only because I laid my hands on mini chilli pretzels! Yup, you heard it right. Chilli and chocolate are an amazing combination. I’ve cooked chocolate with chicken and even with Goan pork sausages and has it been a delightful feast!
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Aug
2015

Peach Banana SuperSeed Smoothie

Categories: Brunch, Dessert, Diabetic-friendly, Low Calorie, One-pot dish
Power packed peach and banana smoothie
Power packed peach and banana, almonds, oats smoothie

This week I plan to skip my dinner and chug smoothies and soups instead, not to tough considering I love fruits and have put on weight 🙁  This smoothie is power packed with 5 super seeds, to ensure my energy levels stay well above average after a hard day’s work. You can choose a combination of seeds to tickle your taste buds and needs, i like this one: Chia seeds, sunflower seeds, black and white sesame seeds, flax seeds and pumpkin seeds.

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Aug
2015

Mashed Potatoes

Categories: Baked, Brunch, One-pot dish, Weekend
Grilled to perfection: mashed potatoes
Grilled to perfection: mashed potatoes

How often have you made mashed potatoes and compared them to the ones you dig into at your friendly neighbouring fine dine and realised that they’re not quite the same? Every time? This simple dish is actually quite time-consuming if you do it right way. It’s not as simple as boil-mash-season and serve. It’s more like bake-scoop-mash-butter-mash-cream-mash-season-mash-cream cheese-mash – and some take it a step further and add mustard powder too! Not me…I bake and grill it again 🙂

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Aug
2015

Potatoes Sauteed with Burnt Garlic

Categories: Brunch, Misc, One-pot dish, Vegetarian
Burnt garlic potatoes
Potatoes sautéed with brunt garlic

There’s something about potatoes, that lend them their ‘I must gobble these up’ quality. During the week, we follow a completely almost no carb diet, and this golden brown underground root, is nowhere close to a frying pan. But come weekend, and the pots start to get glazed with delicious sauces, the kitchen is buzzing with rich flavours and the fancy knives are sharpened for the clean-cut!

But coming back to potatoes, have you noticed how they work with almost every protein on earth! And even lend themselves to veggie gravies…

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Aug
2015

Fish Baked in Salt

Categories: Diabetic-friendly, Low Calorie, Meals, Recipes, Weekend
Straight out of the oven, salt baked pomfret
Straight out of the oven, salt baked pomfret

This dish has been specially made for a friend…he wanted a youtube video, but i’m just about getting the hang of a blog! May be next year Wendell:) But my step-by-step post should be good enough to make this really simple, but brilliant tasting dish.

Baking in salt is a really old technique and everyone from the French, Spanish, Italians, Portuguese to the Africans have laid claim on it. But the truth is, a similar recipe was traced down to the 4th Century BC, when a Greek living in Sicily cooked herbed fish by encasing it in two pounds of salt moistened with water and egg whites. The fish was served by drizzling it with first press olive oil.

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Jul
2015

Protein Rich Egg White Bowls for Breakfast

Categories: Brunch, Diabetic-friendly, Low Calorie
Egg bowl with sausages and capsicum
Egg bowl with sausages and capsicum

EGGS! As children my sis and me were travelling by train, going back home after a weary day of shopping with my parents. Mom asked us the quintessential questions. “What do you want for dinner.” While I rolled my eyes into space with a “not again” look on my face by three-year-old sis, who had just started to spell said “E-G”. “E-G,” asked mom, what is that? The conversation went back and forth a couple of times, before my little sis lost it and started to cry. It was a long day, she had bought herself a couple of awesome toys and was on top of the world, and how could her mom not know spellings, must have been the thought running through her mind. She poked me in the ribs, pulled me down and said, “Ma doesn’t know spellings. I want eggs. Will you make me some.” I smiled and hugged her. It was our secret, Ma doesn’t know spellings. Not once did I try to correct her to break her heart. Ever since EG has always been our joke after a weary day! Sure enough the protein loaded eggs, is the way to go after a weary day.

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Jul
2015

Banana, Peanut Butter, Chocolate Cake

Categories: Baked, Brunch, Dessert, Weekend
The most delicious, soft and flavourful cake that can be made in a jiffy!
The most delicious, soft and flavourful cake that can be made in a jiffy!

This cake was inspired in Koh Samui, from a pancake a tiny lady made at the crossroads of an Irish pub and a kennel. Every evening we would find our way here from our resort some 10 kms away, on a bike that blew the wind out of my lungs. Within 2 days she knew exactly how I loved my pancake done. It would be slapped with layers on peanut butter, sliced bananas and nutella and rolled up to be drizzled with coconut milk and chocolate sauce! Drool!!! The flavours lingered on for many years and when I was looking for inspiration to make a cake for a friend’s daughter who loved banana, chocolate and peanut butter, this awesome pancake filled my mind space at 1am.

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Jul
2015

Bacon, Feta and Date Rolls

Categories: Baked, Brunch, One-pot dish, Starter, Weekend

date rollsIf there is one dish that has managed to light up every single guests eye and plaster a smile on it, it is this one…a simple roll, baked to perfection. A crisp exterior, a sweetened centre and a gooey soft pillowy bite! Wait till your guests take a bite, hear the ‘ooohhhhssss’ and ‘ahhhhssss’ and ‘yyyyyuuuuummmms’ and take a bow.:)  You have not just hit the sweet spot, but have become every man’s favourite chef (read person) and every woman’s envy. Enjoy the feeling.

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Jul
2015

Peach, Arugula and Feta Salad

Categories: Brunch, Diabetic-friendly, Low Calorie, Recipes, Salad, Weekend
Simple crunchy peach, onion, arugula and feta salad. A perfect accompaniment to grilled meats and cheesy dishes
Simple crunchy peach, onion, arugula and feta salad. A perfect accompaniment to grilled meats and cheesy dishes

I love a colourful plate of goodies to nibble on along with my meats and what better than a nice crunchy plate of a salad. As you must have guessed peaches are my favourite fruits. This year I’ve used them in smoothies, in a cheesecake and even in a trifle. There’s something about this crunchy, sweet and sour fruit that makes it a perfect combination with a lot of textures, flavours and aromas.

This recipe can be tossed together in less than 5 minutes. What’s more I’ve used a really, and I mean really simple marinade to string the flavours together.

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