Quick and easy home made Alfredo pasta

INGREDIENTS:

Butter- 1 tbsp
All purpose flour- 1 tbsp
Garlic powder- 1 tbsp
Vegetables optional- Bell peppers, mushrooms, onions,  spinach
Whipping cream or half and half- 1/4 cup
Whole milk-To bring a saucy consistency of your choice
Salt, pepper, Red chilli flakes, Italian seasoning powder- To taste

PROCEDURE:

• Boil pasta in a pot of water, a tsp of olive oil and a dash of salt and cook completely.
• In a pan, let it heat and then add room temperature butter. Let it melt.
• Now add flour, garlic powder and whisk together. Once raw smell goes, add vegetables of your choice and allow to cook , now add whipping cream and milk and whisk together to get a smooth sauce.
• Add salt, pepper, red chilli flakes, Italian seasoning powder to your taste. Add parmesan cheese and Italian cheese to the sauce.
• Add boiled pasta to the sauce. Allow to mi with the sauce for a minute before turning off stove.  Serve hot with more parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.
• If you want you can take this to next level by moving this pasta to a baking dish, garnishing with some bread crumbs and bake at 400 F for 10 mins or so until the bread crumbs have become golden brown.
• My kids love this pasta for school lunch and never waste any.

Valakkai bajji

INGREDIENTS:

Raw banana-1 sliced using a mandolin
Besan- 1 cup
Rice Flour- 1/4 cup
Asafoetida- To taste
Orange food color- Optional
Salt-To taste
Red chilli powder- To taste, around 1 tsp
Hot oil- 1 tsp
Baking soda- 1/8 tsp or a pinch

PROCEDURE:

• Slice raw banana using a mandolin
• Mix the bajji batter with all ingredients with water and bring it to a dripping consistency where the batter flows a little but not too watery. Hot oil brings crispiness to the bajjis.
• Dip the raw banana slices in the batter and put in hot oil. Always use medium flame to fry, this will ensure uniform cooking.
• Drain excess oil in paper towels and serve hot with chutney of your choice. 
• Eat with hot chai or coffee and you are in heaven. Perfect weekend or Friday evening snack to enjoy.
• If you have excess batter, you can use bread, onions, potato to make bajjis.
• Tip: Besan flour to rice flour is 1:4 ratio.

Kara pidi kolukattai

INGREDIENTS

Rice flour- 1 cup
Water-2.5 cups
Red chillies- 2 nos
Green chili- 1 nos finely chopped
Cilantro- finely chopped
Curry leaves- 4 or 5
Asafoetida-To taste
Salt-To taste
Urad dal, channa dal, Mustard seeds- To temper
Sesame oil- 1 tsp

PROCEDURE:

• In a pan, add oil allow to heat up then add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, red chillies, green chilli, asafoetida, curry leaves and cilantro.
• Reduce the heat in stove, add water slowly to the pan. Now allow this to come to a boil.
• Now add rice flour and using a whisk mix it well to form a dough.
• Allow to cool enough for your hands to be able to touch comfortably.
• Meanwhile take a idly pan, pour water and allow to come to a boil.
• Spread sesame oil over the idly plates.
• Rub sesame oil over your palm and finger and make kolukattai or balls and arrange on idly plate.
• Place the idly plate with kolukkattai and steam for 6-8 minutes depending on your stove.
• Serve with coconut or kara chutney or eat plain. Now we have a healthy guilt free snack.

Healthy Idly powder

INGREDIENTS:

Horse gram or kollu- 1/2 cup
Black sesame seeds- 1/2 cup
Urad dal with skin- 1/2 cup
Red chillies- 20 or as spicy as needed
Rock salt or iodized salt- To taste
Curry leaves- A good handful
Black pepper-Optional
Asafoetida- To taste

PROCEDURE:

• In a pan, dry roast all the ingredients one by one till aromatic smell comes and allow to cool completely.
• After turning off stove, add asafoetida powder.
• In a mixer, first add red chillies and curry leaves and grind finely. Then add the other ingredients one by one and grind to the consistency you like. I like my idly powder a little coarse and not very fine. I didn't add pepper but people who like pepper taste are welcome to add some.
• Enjoy with some hot ghee or sesame oil with idly/dosa/oothappam. 

Gobi 65 fried rice

GOBI 65

INGREDIENTS:

Frozen cauliflower-1/2 packet
Maida-2 tbsp
Corn flour- 2 tbsp
Rice flour- 1 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste-1 tsp
Red chilli powder, Garam Masala, Daniya powder, pepper powder, salt-To taste
Egg-beaten optional
Red color- optional

FRIED RICE:

White Rice- 1 cup boiled
Ginger- grated
Garlic- chopped equally
Cabbage, Carrot, Fresh beans, Bell peppers, Green onions, cilantro
Egg- 2 nos beaten(optional)
Soy Sauce-1 tbsp
Rice vinegar- 1 tsp
White pepper and black pepper
Salt

PROCEDURE:

• Mix all ingredients for gobi 65 and fry in oil and keep aside. If you double fry the gobi, it will be crunchy and nice.
•  For 1 cup basmati rice, add 2 cups of water, 1 tsp of oil, a pinch of salt bring to a boil and cook. Allow to cool completely. This will allow rice to keep its shape without breaking.
• In a pan add oil, add white part of green onions, some sliced onions, ginger, garlic,all/any vegetables of your choice and saute till cooked.
• move the vegetables to one side and add oil and crack eggs and add salt pepper to egg portion and scramble it. Once cooked, mix it with the vegetables within the pan.
• Now add soy sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper and mix well. Add the fried gobi now.
• Add cooked rice and mix together.
• Garnish with cilantro and green part of green cilantro and serve hot. 
• For some extra spice, you can add Chinese green sauce or couple of green chillies while making the fried rice. This is optional.
  
  
  

Paruppu Poli/Bobbatlu/Holigge

INGREDIENTS:

DOUGH: 

Maida-1 cup
Oil- As needed
Salt-1 tsp

POORNAM/SWEET STUFFING:

Channa dal- 1 cup
Grated Coconut- 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup
Ghee- 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder- 2 tbsp
Jaggery-1/2 cup
Cane sugar-1/2 cup

PROCEDURE:

• Knead a soft dough and pour some oil so the dough is elastic. Add some extra oil and allow to ferment for a 8 hours or a whole day.
• Pressure cook channa dal until mushy. 
• In a pan add ghee, radd dal and remove any excess water in the dal. Add jaggery, cane sugar and mix till water is reduced. Keep stirring till all water is gone. Add coconut and mix and turn off stove. Allow to cool completely.
• Using parchment paper, spread the dough and add a ball of poornam and make poli. Use oil to spread the stuffed poli. 
• On a hot pan, add ghee and fry the poli. Eat hot and enjoy.
  
  
  
  

Instapot Cashew Paneer with Red bell pepper curry

The red bell pepper sauce is a welcome change from the typical onion tomato curry sauce and the fact that this recipe doesn't use onions and garlic is another plus. The red pepper sauce along with the cashews and green cardamom is a delightful creamy sauce base that I will try combining with other vegetable combinations.

Base: Red bell pepper, Cashews, Paneer

Spices: Green cardamom, green chilies, red chilly powder, turmeric, salt and kasuri methi.

Additives: None

Prep: Cube the paneer and toss in the dry spices. Core and cube the red bell pepper.

Recipe:

In a 3qt. Mini Duo, layer as below:

Layer 1: 2Tbsp butter, 3 green cardamom pods, 2 small whole green chilies.

Layer 2: 200g cubed red bell pepper, 2Tbsp cashews

Layer 3: PIP with 300g cubed paneer tossed in 1Tbsp kasuri methi, 1tsp each (red chilly powder, salt), 1/8tsp turmeric.

Close IP. Steam more with vent sealed for 3 minutes. QPR.

Pin popped at 7:30 and all done by 11:30.

Remove PIP. Blend the IP contents with 1 cup water. Add the paneer cubes into the red bell pepper sauce. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Replace/ Supplement:

Red bell pepper with tomatoes

Paneer with tofu

Butter with oil

Dry spices with any spices of your choice

Whole cashews with cashew powder or other nut powder in PIP.

Water with stock/ milk/ cream.

Tips:

-Can add cream or whole milk for a creamy sauce.

-If using store bought paneer, try to use it at room temperature. If using straight out of the refrigerator, soak the cubes in warm water for at least 20 minutes, before tossing it with dry spices.

-Opos paneer doesn’t need to be soaked.

No of servings: 4