Vermicelli Easy recipe

This one can be prepared quickly and would serve as light lunch, breakfast or dinner. Can have anytime. Kids would love this. Especially when you add the green vegetables in it, kids would have along with it. Alternatively you can take finely chop all the vegetables if you have time.

You can use vegetables such as Beans, Carrot, Potato, Capsicum, Cauliflower florets etc. Do not use tomato it would add lot of moisture. This is prepared exactly like upma. I have simply used the vegetables I had.

You can use roasted vermicelli or can dry roast the vermicelli with little ghee or oil, in low flame till light golden brown.

I have taken the vegetables and vermicelli for single serving.

Heat oil/ghee in a kadai/pan and add mustard seeds. Once they finish crackling add ginger, onion, green chilli and curry leaves.

Add other vegetables and salt saute for a minute

Add peanuts dry fruits at this stage, and turmeric.

Mix well and add water.

Bring it to a boil, ensure the vegetables are cooked

Simmer the flame and add the vermicelli slowly and stir continuously. 

vermicelli will absorb all the water, sprinkle lime juice if you have.

Mix well, and check the seasoning for salt, add if needed.

Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves, cover and rest it for 5 - 10 minutes.

The vermicelli would be loose enough if stirred like pulao rice.

Pan Fried Chicken

Chicken is been all time favorite for many. Indian fried chicken comes with the flavors of Indian spices. I experimented this with my own ingredients and turned out well. Can just have as started during meals or just that. I used olive oil and crushed masala. You can alter as try as you wish. I wanted a little extra hot and spicy chicken to go with rice, so I added chili powder.

Use thin slices of chicken pieces preferably breast or thigh part and boneless.

1. Rub salt, ginger garlic paste on all chicken pieces. leave aside for 10 minutes.
2. Prepare paste with olive oil and the spice powder, spread it on all sides evenly.
3. Sprinkle red chili powder if needed.
4. Pan fry them after 30 minutes. Change sides to ensure you do not burn them.
5. use a fork to see if the chicken is cooked.

I used ground green chilli with ginger garlic for a different taste.

Sambar made easy

Sambar is a renowned cuisine all over India especially down south. Its a stew made of vegetables and Indian masala, with lentils(pulses).  There are different types of sambar prepared just with Shallots or Lady finger (okra), drum stick or mixed vegetables.

I have posted one with easy steps. You need not have anything specific or mandatory in terms of vegetables. Below are a range of vegetables you can pick what ever you want to add to your sambar. Other than the main ingredient.

Preparation Steps:

1. Wash dal, and the cut vegetables except bhindi transfer to a pressure cooker.
2. Add water to cover the dal and vegetables.
3. Add garlic, salt, asafoetida 
4. Cook in a low flame for 10 minutes - 12 minutes based on the dal. moong dal gets cooked soon.
5. Open the cooker lid after the wait time. ensure the vegetables and dal are cooked well.
6. Now add tamarind juice/water, sambar powder as per taste and lady finger bring to a boil.
7. Check salt and other seasoning. At this point you can adjust it.
8. We dont want the sambar too watery or thick, but at the right consistency.
9. Add coriander leaves, and the tempering. 
10. In a separate small kadai or tadka pan, heat oil, add mustard seed and all other ingredients of tempering.
11. Add this to the boiling sambar. Remove from stove.
12. Cover and serve after some time.

Note:

• Sambar taste varies based on the brand of sambar powder and the dal.
• If Sambar taste is sour, adjust with water
• Sambar taste good the next day
• If the refrigerated sambar is thick, pour some warm water and bring to a boil before serving.
• Coriander leaves add extra flavor to sambar, its optional though. learnt from my mother.

Stuffed Bhindi - Okra with Indian spices

Lady's finger is a popular vegetable in India, and many just love the cuisine. A variety of dishes are been prepared out of it in many forms ranging from dry side dish, semi-gravy to curries. Its cooked with different ingredients in different part of the country.

This is a simple recipe, and easy to cook but take 30 minutes to cook, as the whole cooking is done in slow flame. This goes along with rice or roti or chapati.

Ingredients:

1. Bhindi (Okra) washed and slit length-wise to stuff masala - 200 gms
2. Shallots 10 - 15, diced
3. Masala 1 or 2 tbl spoon each (red chilli, cumin,coriander, fennel (sombu/ saunf/perum jeeragam))
4. Masala - Half tbl spoon (turmeric, garam masala, amchur/dry mango powder)
5. Besan 2 table spoon (optional)
6. Cooking oil as needed
7. Cumin seeds/Jeera for tempering
8. Salt as per taste

Preparation:

1. Wash whole bhindi in water, and wipe with a cloth or paper towel before removing the edges and slit them.
2. Mix the masala (item 3 & 4) in a bowl along with salt. If you do not have dry mango powder, substitute with little tamarind juice, else you can simply omit it.
3. Stuff the masala in the slit bhindi and just sprinkle the left over masala over it.
4. Add oil on top the stuffed bhindi, be generous it consumes lot of oil, and its cooked without water. Mix the bhindi with a spatula so all of them get coated nicely with oil.
5. In a non-stick pan or kadai, heat little oil and add the cumin seeds
6. Add diced shallots, saute for a min
7. Add in the besan and saute for another minute
8. Transfer the oil coated stuffed bhindi to the pan, give a quick toss. cover and let it cook in low flame.
9. Open and toss in between, it would take 15 - 20 minutes to cook well
10. Small onions and besan would turn brown and would be coated on bhindi.
11. Sprinkle water only if needed,
12. Taste for seasoning and salt, add if anything is necessary.
13. Serve hot with rice or roti.

Homemade Ginger Garlic Paste

I use to buy the ready-made pack from shop, but realized it lacks the fresh flavor. My mother use to peel and store garlic separately to be used as on needed basis. You can dice them or crush as required for the dishes. I unlike her lazy so make paste and store.

The first time I prepared the paste, it turned green on the top though it was refrigerated. I read some people still use it as its the chemical reaction and not to worry. Next time I added a little oil and vinegar while grinding the paste. Stored it in air tight container, in refrigerator. It would last for about 60 days i presume. No discoloration, just perfect for everyday use.

You can use the regular peeler to peel ginger skin. Wash before doing it, as it will be easier. If the ginger is covered by plenty of mud, soak in water for a while and then wash it. 

Slice them in small pieces, as it will be easier to blend and less time consuming.

Similarly peel and wash garlic. You can peel them while watching your favorite show, else it would seem like a tedious work. Peel and wash them. It can be refrigerated if you want to make the paste another day. Store in a container/bottle with lid.

You can make separate pastes, or together. Add garlic/ginger in the chutney jar or wet/dry grinding jar if you are using mixer. Blend for 5 - 10 seconds, add a very little, too very little for the contents to mix well while blending. Add few drops of cooking oil, and salt(optional) and blend, until the mixture is smooth. Finally add 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar and mix well, before transferring the paste to the container. Refrigerate immediately.

I haven't tried this though, having the air tight container outside in a dry cool place than refrigerating if vinegar is used. Ensure to close tightly after each use.

Cleaning Ceramic Sink & Bathroom Tiles

We use these sinks many a times, daily. Most of us do not pay much attention to how they are being cleaned if servants does it. You can spend some time on a weekend, the whole process takes 15 - 30 minutes to clean 2 sink and one bath room. You do not need anything special but the readily available stuffs at home to clean.

Here are the tips and procedure.

Brush/Scrubber
Lime juice / Lemon peel
Disinfectant solution such as Lizol
Vinegar (to clean strong stains)
Bleaching powder (If you do not have vinegar)

Cleaning Sink:

1. Dilute Lizol with water in a mug, add little lime juice of you have, pour over the sink, tab and around.
2. Rub the lemon peel on the tap, if there is stain.
3. Use brush to scrub after 10 minutes, and wash it way cold water.
4. If there are still stain marks, dab a cloth with vinegar and rub on the areas where there are stains be it sink or steel tap. (Ensure your hand or finger does not touch Vinegar it would make you feel itchy. Do wear glows)

Cleaning Bathroom Tiles:

Its usually the same process as above.

1. In a bucket take around 2-3 Ltrs of water, mix 2 caps of Lizol and little lemon juice if you have.
2. Just pour this mixture on the walls unto your neck level if possible using a mug, and on the taps
3. Sprinkle bleaching powder on the floor, if its slippery.
4. Rest it for 15 - 20 minutes.
5. Scrub using a brush with long handle.
6. Do the flooring first, then walls and taps. Finally wash with cold water.
7. For thick/strong stains repeat the cleaning method using Vinegar as mentioned in cleaning sink (Step 4)

It would take good 15 minutes to clean a bathroom if its very dirty. I use a small stool to sit while cleaning the lower part, and the floor.

Spicy Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk

We are used to having chicken curry usually red in color. I wanted to try something different today yet yummy so went with it. I usually prepare fish curry with coconut milk powder, followed the same here. I rarely use fresh coconut and hence  the quick method :)

Lets see what it took to get the curry prepared.

Tempering:
Cooking Oil, Mustard seeds, Cumin seeds, Fresh curry leaves.

Boneless chicken 500 gm (curry cut). (No need to marinate)
Coconut milk powder ( I used Maggie's small packet) - 3
Empty the content of pack in a large bowl, pour warm water. Make about 400 ml of milk.

Finely chopped large onion -1
Finely chopped small tomato - 1
Paste - Ginger + garlic + Green Chilies (I used 5 long chilies)
Coriander & Cumin Powder - 1 tbl spoon each
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 Tbl spoon
Salt as per taste
Coriander leaves for seasoning
Masala powder (Optional)
[2 elachi, 1 aniseed, 2 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, fennel seeds, pepper. Crush in blender or powder them. Not fine powder though]

Preparation

Heat oil in a non-stick kadai/pan. Add all tempering ingredients.
Add Onion and saute till brown, then add tomato repeat the same. These veggies would get melted in the gravy

Then add the prepared coconut milk, give a nice stir. Let the flame be medium.
Mix in all the powders (coriander, cumin, turmeric)
Add the paste of ginger, garlic and chili
Add salt, stir again. Check the taste now, add more chilli paste if needed.
Let the sauce cook for about 10 minutes. If its a large pan, cover and cook else leave it open.

Once done, add the chicken and cook for about 20 - 30 minutes in low/medium heat. No need to add water until unless its necessary.
Stir occasionally, and check the seasoning taste again.
You can add salt/chilli if needed again.

Chicken would take approx 30  min to get cooked, and it would be real soft.

Finally add the coriander leaves, and the crushed masala powder. That finishes the gravy.

Note: Whole dish preparation and cooking would take 1 hour :(

Hygienic Kitchen & Tips

Cleaning Kitchen Sink / Remove stains from Kitchen Sink

You can follow the below easy steps to clean your kitchen sink. It not only clear the odor but also removes the hard water stains and gives a fresh & shiny look. I clean them once in a week to keep insects, bad odor aside.

1. A Scrubber/Brush - can be a brush with handle, if you use glows can use a small scrubber 
2. Lemon juice or Lemon Peel (Optional) 
3. Vim Liquid - couple of drops (if you do not have lemon)
4. Disinfectant Agent - Lizol (1 Cap)

Dilute Vim liquid/lemon juice with water and sprinkle all over the sink and the tap followed by Lizol.
After 15 minutes, wet the scrub/brush
Rub the Lemon peel on tap to remove the marks if you have, Lime is a natural bleach and cleans up real nice.
Run cold/normal water all over the sink, do a final wash. 
Leave it to dry before use.

The same can be followed for tiled sink.