Farfalle Parmigiana

Farfalle is a type of pasta in the shape of a bow-tie, hence it is popularly know as bow-tie pasta in the US. I had read somewhere that the name Farfalla in Italian means "Butterfly". Here is a simple and quick recipe that I tried at home using the butterfly pasta and it turned out yummy.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Farfalle - 3/4 cup

Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 4 tsp

Salt

Pepper - 0.5 tsp

Onion - 1/2 (chopped)

Tomato - 1(chopped)

Garlic - 1 clove (crushed)

Basil Leaves - 6 (chopped)

Parmesan - 1 cup

Water - 3 cups

Preparation:

1. Bring water with some salt to a rolling boil and add the pasta to it until the pasta is al dente.

2. Meanwhile, until the pasta is ready, we can start with the sauce. Heat olive oil in a pan, add onions and saute it until the onion cooks completely.

3. Add crushed garlic and mix.

4. Once onions are cooked, add tomato, salt and pepper. Let it cook.

5. Once the tomato cooks completely, add farfalle pasta and mix well on low flame.

6. Add parmigiano (parmesan) and mix well.

Basil Farfalle parmigiano is ready to be served.

Paneer Vindaloo

We went to this Indian restaurant - Kiran's for celebrating our anniversary and this starter just made me fall in love with paneer and this dish. It was so delicious and full of flavors that it left me guessing the ingredients that went into making it. Luckily, when i tried this at home, it turned out almost like the one I had at the restaurant. So here's the recipe and I hope you enjoy its myriad flavors.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Paneer - 1 cube (cut into rectangular pieces. Make sure the paneer is fresh and soft)

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Garlic - 8 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch

Coconut - 1/4 cup (grated)

Red chillies - 3

Cinnamon stick - small piece

Cloves - 4

Lime juice - 1 tsp

Onion - 1/2 (finely chopped)

Jaggery - 1 small cube (grated)

Salt - to taste

Red Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp 

Preparation:

1. Roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, grated coconut, red chillies, cinnamon stick and cloves for few minutes and then keep it aside.

2. Next, add turmeric powder, 1/2inch ginger, 6 garlic and lime juice and grind it into a fine paste. 

3. Marinate the paneer cubes with this paste and leave it for 30 mins.

4. Heat oil in a pan, add finely chopped onions and fry till brown, next add ginger-garlic paste (prepared from remaining ginger & garlic) and let it cook.

5. Next add the red chilly powder, grated jaggery, salt and marinated paneer pieces and let it cook for few mins.

Paneer Vindaloo is ready. Serve it hot!

Thousoli

Another amchi dish from the heart of Konkani land is this quick and healthy breakfast item - Thousoli. Thousoli (Cucumber dosa) derives its name from the konkani word for cucumber i.e thoushe. This is served with white chutney and tastes great!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 1 cup

Cucumber - 1 (Grated)

Salt - to taste

Coconut - 1/2 cup (Grated)

Water - 1 cup

Oil - for making dosas

Preparation:

1. Mix rice flour, grated cucumber, grated coconut, salt and water. Make sure you mix well so that no lumps are formed.

2. Heat a pan, put 1 tsp oil and spread over the pan. Put a big spoon of batter and spread it on the pan. Allow some time for it to cook. Turn it around when done so that the other side now cooks.

This is best eaten with white chutney on the side.

White Coconut Chutney

Almost every other day for breakfast, my mom used to make this white coconut chutney as a side for idlis, urda vada, batata vada and her many varieties of dosas. She used to sometimes also make the red coconut chutney - the difference between the two being the kind of chillies you use for preparing it - this one is prepared with green chillies and the red one, of course with the dry red chillies. The recipe for this chutney is very simple as you can see below. 

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Coconut - 1 cup (Grated)

Green Chillies - 2

Tamarind - a small piece

Salt - to taste

For tadka:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 6

Hing - a pinch

Oil - 2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Grind coconut, green chillies, tamarind and salt into a fine paste.

2. For the tadka, heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let it splutter, next add curry leaves and hing. Add this sizzling tadka into the grinded paste.

White chutney is ready!

Masala Dosa Masala

Many of us love the Masala Dosa - not just any dosa, but the masala dosa. Obviously the aloo masala served with the dosa appeases our palate the most. Well, this delightful dish is also served with puri and chapathi. Making this dish has been quite a challenge - although its a very simple recipe, I just couldn't get the restaurant style taste during my attempts. Luckily, one fine day, my hubby made it and many memories came gushing down. I was elated to learn the perfect recipe, better than in any restaurant I had. Take a bow, here comes the awesome recipe.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Oil - 4 tsp

Peanut - 2 tsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Hing - small pinch

Onion - 1/2 (chopped)

Ginger - 1/2 tsp (grated)

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt

Green chillies - 2

Curry leaves - 6 (chopped)

Potato - 2.5

Water - very little

Sugar - 1tsp

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Pressure cook the potatoes until three whistles and keep aside. Once it cools down, remove the skin and mash it.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Once heated, add peanuts and let it fry for few mins.

3. Add mustard seeds and let it crackle, then add hing and onion. Fry till the onion  cooks.

4. Next add grated ginger, turmeric powder, salt, green chillies, curry leaves, and mashed potato. Add a little water if the curry looks dry.

5. Add sugar, lemon juice and garam masala and mix it well.

Aloo Masala is ready!

Alternate way to present it - Below we've used avacado skin to present.

Gobi Manchurian

Dry Gobi Manchurian (Cauliflower Manchurian) is a very popular North Indian dish. The Indo Chinese version of  manchurian generally tends to have a gravy base. This is served as a starter in Indian restaurants. I love the dry version of it and attempted to make it at home on several occasions, but I was never able to deliver it with restaurant style quality. Alas, my hubby made this dish and it turned out simply amazing. Here is his recipe for a restauarnt style Gobi Manchurian.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1

For the batter:

Corn Flour - 1/2 bowl

Corn starch - 1 tsp

Rice Flour - 3 tsp

Soy sauce - 2 tsp

Salt

Green Chillies - 2

For frying:

Oil - 2 cups

For the sauce:

Oil - 5 tsp

Ginger - 1 tsp (Chopped)

Garlic - 1/2 bulb (Chopped)

Onions - 1/2

Spring Onions - 2

Salt

Soy sauce - 3 tsp

Chilly Sauce - 3 tsp

Tomato ketchup - 3 tsp

Preparation:

1. Blanch the cauliflower for 10 mins. This process takes away the rawness and at the same time, does not make the cauliflower very soft. In addition, it also removes any worms that may be hiding in there.

2. Next step is to make the batter - Mix soy sauce, water, salt and green chillies to corn flour, rice flour and corn starch mixture and make it into a thick paste.

3. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Dip the blanched cauliflower in the above paste and deep fry it until it becomes very crispy. To make a great manchurian, the fried cauliflower should be very crispy. Make sure you fry them for long to get this cruch on a low to medium flame.

4. In the meantime, start preparing the sauce. In a pan, heat oil, add ginger, garlic, onions, spring onions and salt. 

5. After the onions are cooked, add soy sauce, chilly sauce, tomato ketchup and mix it.

6. Add the fried cauliflower and toss it in the sauce.

Serve it hot as starters. It also tastes great with Chapathi - you can make a roll by stuffing the manchurian inside. It taste great!!

Egg Ambat

Konkani people love coconut. Almost any dish we make, we try to add coconut which adds a unique flavor to these dishes. Ambat is a konkani word for curry. The egg ambat which my mom makes is a tangy coconut gravy which is so flavorful that you can't seem to have enough of it. I have eaten egg curry at so many places, but this signature dish from my mom beats all. Here's a toast to this mouth watering recipe.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Egg - 7

Oil - 6 tsp

Coriander seeds - 1 tsp

Cloves - 3

Cinnamon stick - small piece

Bay leaf - 1

Black pepper - 4

Red Chilly - 4

Grated Coconut - 3/4 cup

Turmeric Powder - 0.5 tsp

Tamarind - a small piece

Onions - 1

Tomato - 1

Salt

Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Preparation:

1.) Boil 5 eggs and keep aside. Once they cool down, cut them into two pieces. We are going to use 2 raw eggs later in this dish to give a thick consistency to the curry.

2.) Heat oil in a pan, add coriander seeds, garam masala (I am using the raw spices since it gives very good flavor, but you can use ready made garam masala too if you have it too - cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, black pepper), red chillies and once it fries, reduce the flame and add grated coconut. 

3.) Next put turmeric powder and tamarind and grind it into a smooth paste with some water.

4.) In another pan, heat oil, fry onions, once they are translucent, add tomato and let it cook.

5.) Next add the grinded paste to the above mix, add some salt and bring it to boil until the bubbles start coming.

6.) Next add the 2 raw egg and stur continuously. This gives a very good taste to the curry and also thickens the curry.

7.) Put the boiled egg in the curry and garnish with coriander leaves.

Egg curry is ready to be served with rice or Chapathi.