Grilled Cheesy Potatoes

This recipe has a very funny origin. One fine day I get a call from Regina saying that she dreamt of a recipe and that I had to try it out! So I try it out and this is by far the yummiest take on cheese and potatoes I've ever tasted. Simple and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients –

·         4 fist sized Potatoes

·         100g Cheese

·         6-7 cloves Garlic

·         40g Butter

·         Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the potatoes in half and boil till they are cooked through.
  
Meanwhile, chop the garlic fine and cut the cheese into small cubes. 

Once the potatoes are boiled using a spoon scoop out the halves leaving a little bit adhering the skin so you’re left with little potato cups.

Now mix the scooped out potato with the cheese and garlic and add salt and pepper to taste. Fill the potato, cheese and garlic mix back into the empty potato skins, add a dollop of butter on the tops of each and bake in the oven at 200C for 15-20 minutes.

For those of you with the willpower to wait, you might want to let it cool for 5-10 minutes before digging in as the melted cheese can be piping hot!

Note: Replace grated cheese with cubed cheese wherever you possibly can. It tastes so much better!

Varun's 21st Birthday Cake

As the name suggests, we made this cake for Varun's 21st birthday. Both of us are born in February, the month of strawberries! We went to the Aundh Fruit Market in Pune; and the first thing I saw was a large basket full of juicy, luscious strawberries! In Ahmedabad; I have only ever seen strawberries in tiny little boxes with huge price tags. This was a lovely surprise.

This cake is incredibly chocolaty, but it doesn't feel very heavy because the chocolate is countered by the tang of the strawberries. Chocolate and strawberries have always gone together; this is yet another way to reach that sweet heaven!

Ingredients –

·         200g Sugar

·         5 Eggs

·         300g Flour

·         150g Cocoa

·         2 tsp Baking Powder

·         ½ tsp Baking Soda

·         200g Butter

·         ½ cup Water, recently boiled

·         300g Dark Cooking Chocolate

·         2 tsp Icing Sugar

Beat 150g butter and the sugar in a bowl until it is pale and fluffy (do not melt the butter over the stove). Whisk the eggs in one at a time.

Sieve the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda a couple of times on a piece of newspaper or a bowl. This will help your cake to be light and airy.

Gently fold the flour and cocoa mixture into the eggs mixture. Once it is almost mixed through; add the water and stir to get a smooth batter. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake in an oven pre-heated to 170C for about 40 minutes; or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack.

Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, take the bowl out of the water and allow it to cool slightly.

Beat the remaining 50g of butter until it is light and pale. Pour the melted, cooled chocolate over the butter and vigorously beat until you have a smooth, glossy icing.

Keep a few strawberries aside for garnishing, and chop the remaining into small cubes. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of icing sugar on top.

Slice the cake in two horizontally (the easiest way is to tie a piece of thread around the cake and pull it through). Spread one-third of the chocolate icing all over one part, and cover it with the chopped strawberries. Place the other part of the cake on top and gently push down. Spread the remaining icing all over the top and sides of the cake. You can arrange a few slices of strawberries on top for garnishing. 

Pea Soup

I eat my peas with honey;

I've done it all my life.

It makes the peas taste funny,

But it keeps them on the knife.

 

Source: The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (1983)

Pea soup is my sister Aisha's favorite comfort food. During the winters it is always nice to have warm liquids; they run through your body warming the very 'cockles of your heart'. Also, this is what changed a certain someones mind about soup completely. From hating the very word soup, he went to asking me to make soup!

The soup is creamy and incredibly garlicky. Although I always use fresh peas for it, you could also use the frozen ones if you don't have the patience to sit and shell them!

Ingredients –

·         200g Peas

·         50g Cheese

·         10g Butter

·         ½ tsp Red Chili Powder

·         5 cloves Garlic

·         300ml Water

·         Salt to taste

Put the peas, chili, garlic and water in a saucepan and boil till the peas are soft and cooked through.Let it cool for a couple of minutes and then pour into a blender. Add the butter on top and then the cheese. Blend the mixture until you have a smooth creamy soup. Add salt to taste; serve hot.

Coriander Chicken

Coriander is a herb that is incredibly easily available in Ahmedabad. The only problem is that the leaves wilt in hardly a day and it’s not fun to use sad, dry coriander. That's when we discovered a solution; the magic of chutney! Coriander chutney is incredibly fresh and you can mix and match it with whichever flavors you wish to. The classic mix is coriander, mint, green chili, lemon and salt; all blended together with a dash of water. Considering the fact that we eat a lot of daal and rice at home; chutney is the perfect condiment.

Predictably, I had a whole bag full of coriander in the fridge when my uncle brought home some chicken. I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I mixed the two. This coriander chicken is essentially chicken that has been marinated in chutney. It can't get any simpler!

Ingredients –

·         1kg Chicken

·         200g Coriander

·         50g Mint leaves

·         3tbsp Oil

·         Juice of 2 Lemons

·         Salt to taste

·         1 square inch Ginger

·         1 pod Garlic, peeled

·         4 Onions, sliced

Grind the coriander, mint, ginger, lemon, oil and salt to a paste. Slash the chicken so that the marinade can truly penetrate and rub the chicken with this paste. If you have the time then let the meat marinade for a few hours or even over-night.

Pour some oil in a deep wok and fry the sliced onions till they are translucent and on the verge of becoming brown. Add the marinated chicken and fry till the meat is cooked through.

 Serve hot with some tomatoes or deep fried potatoes on the side.

Hot Pot

How many times in a week do you open your fridge to find random ingredients, too few of each to actually be able to do anything with them? This recipe is the solution to that problem. Although I have only mentioned a few ingredients here; you can use the same concept for literally anything!

I was in Hyderabad when this idea came to mind. We were watching television when the hunger pangs suddenly struck! Considering the fact that it was a warm summer day, we didn't really have the patience to stand for hours over the stove. This was something that hardly took ten minutes to throw together and it tasted absolutely scrumptious!

Ingredients –

      ·         4 rashers bacon

·         20 baby potatoes, boiled

·         2 cloves garlic, minced

·         1 tbsp cheese sauce

·         10 mushrooms, sliced

·         1 tsp pepper

·         A few slices of ham or salami and celery leaves (optional)

Snip the bacon into a large frying pan and cook till all the pieces are nice and crispy. Add the garlic and potatoes; fry till the potatoes are slightly golden. Finally, add the mushrooms and fry it all together until it is cooked. Sprinkle with pepper and arrange a few slices of ham and celery leaves on top. Pour cheese sauce over the dish just before serving.

Chocolate Tart

The last time I was in Pune, I went to a relatively new restaurant - Zodiac. The place had an American diner feel with all the classics. After stuffing myself silly with sticky chicken wings and a massive burger; it was time for dessert! The waiter insisted we try the chocolate tart. One bite and I was in heaven.

Unfortunately, there aren't many eating joints in Ahmedabad that I like going to. So, understandably, I had to try making a chocolate tart! The factor that truly tipped the scale was when my uncle brought a full litre of cream home!

This tart is a chocolate eater’s heaven; the only bad part is that it is so light that you may just end up eating the whole thing!

Ingredients –

·         1 9-inch Pre-baked Tart Shell

·         175g Dark Chocolate

·         200ml Cream

·         50g Sugar

·         2 Eggs, lightly beaten

·         Whipped Cream or Ice-cream to serve

Melt the cream and chocolate together over a pan of simmering water. Once it’s slightly cooled, gently beat the egg in and add the sugar. Pour this mixture into the tart shell and bake in an oven preheated to 170C for 20 minutes or till the sides are set and the centre is still a little wobbly. Serve warm with a dollop of cream or a scoop of ice-cream.

Fried Egg and Cheese Sandwich

The fried egg and cheese sandwich is probably the easiest, quickest and one of the yummier breakfast options. However, there are so many ways to make one! This recipe is one that I came up with when I was in boarding school in 2009. Eggs and cheese were precious commodities in our hostel so we had to make sure we used them wisely!

Ingredients –

·         1 Egg

·         2 slices Bread

·         1-2 cubes of Cheese, grated

·         1 Tomato, sliced

·         1 tsp of Oil

·         A dollop of Butter

·         Salt and pepper to taste

Melt oil and butter in a shallow frying pan. Crack the egg into the pan making sure that the yolk doesn't break.

Cover and let it cook on a medium flame till the top is half cooked. Layer the tomatoes onto the egg and add some cheese then cover with a slice of bread.

Now put a dollop of butter on top and flip. Add the remaining cheese on top, and a little pepper, and close the sandwich. Again put a dollop of butter on top and flip the sandwich.Make sure the slices of bread are toasted golden.

The cheese and yolk of the egg make the sandwich all come together very nicely and since it’s all done in one frying pan the flavors even soak into the bread.