Monday, September 13, 2010

Paneer Crostini my way - Healthy way

Today morning when i was making Paneer Paratha for Aditya's Lunch box i had preserved some mixture for myself to eat.... Later when it was time for me to eat - i was bored of eating that Paneer Paratha. I somehow dont like such things not because i'm calorie watcher (which many people think i'm - but to be very honest i'm not, its just the liking and disliking about some foods). Anyways, i decided to try something Easy, Healthy and filling for myself than a paratha :)

Here is the Recipe:
Ingredients- as per servings for 2 i.e. 4 slices of bread
Paneer - mashed - 1/2 cup
Finely Chopped Onion
Finely Chopped Coriander leaves
Salt as per taste
Red Chilli powder as per taste
Italian Bread or any footlong Bread
Tomato Sauce
Mustard Sauce


Method-
  • Mix all the ingredients except the bread, mustard sauce and tomato sauce in a container
  • Cut the bread into slices
  • Put the mixture on to the slices so that most of the portion of the bread is covered
  • Garnish it with Tomato and Mustard Sauce as per your taste
  • Preheat the oven at 300 degree F for 3-4 mins
  • Grill / broil the slices for 5 mins or till they start turning brown
Enjoy your snack with coffee / tea or whatever you like :) This is a Oil-free dish as i dont believe in adding Oil in each and every dish.

This can be a good snack / starter item too and you can do as many variations with this one. Try your imagination and let me know :)

Have fun!
Richa

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Apple Pie

This recipe is time consuming so plan properly before you start. The most boring task in this recipe is cutting slices of Apple :) if you can delegate it well and good or else put some songs atleast :D

Well this recipe is divided into 3 parts - Pie Crust, Pie Mixture and Combining the two for baking.

Pie Crust-
Ingredients:
2.5 cups of All purpose flour
1 tspn salt
1 tspn sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
9-10 tbspn of water, if required little more

Method:
  • Mix salt, sugar, butter in the all purpose flour and mix properly
  • Add water slowly as required to make the dough
  • Knead properly and make it soft. It should not be loose.
  • Cover it with cling film and store in refrigerator for 1-2 hrs
  • Divide the dough into 2 parts and roll them with a rolling pin. Each pie crust should not be too thin or too thick.
  • Keep them aside for later use. Make these pie crust from dough right when you are making the mixture. Making them in advance and storing them will them hard.
Pie Mixture-
Ingredients:
3/4 th cup Sugar
1/2 tspn each of Cinnamon powder, Nutmeg powder and cloves powder
5 to 6 Apples - Sliced, not very thin
1-2 tbspn Milk
1-2 tbspn Sugar - this is for different purpose, so dont mix this with the upper one

Method:
In a container, Mix Apple slices, 3/4th cup sugar
To this add cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder and clove powder

Final Step-
  • Take a round Baking dish and grease it with some butter. Sprinkle some all purpose flour on it. Then place one Pie Crust on it
  • Then place the Pie mixture on top of this and cover with the other Pie Crust
  • Put layer of 1-2 tbspn Milk on top of this to retain the moisture
  • Sprinkle 1-2 tbspn of Sugar on this to get a caramelized top crust
  • Give some cuts to let the steam pass
  • Preheat the oven at 400 degree F for 5-6 mins
  • Place the baking dish at the same temperature for 40-45 mins. Keep monitoring. You can stop when the upper crust is golden brown.

After taking it out, let it cool down a bit and Enjoy your Apple pie with a cuppa coffee or anything you like :)

Enjoy !!!
Richa

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Baked Chicken with Spinach and Corn















Ingredients-

1 bunch Spinach
250 gms Chicken boiled and shredded .
1 cup Corn kernels
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Mozzarella cheese (grated) – Handful is good enough :)
2 cup Milk
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp Butter
6 tbsp All purpose Flour

Method-
  • Cut, wash and boil the spinach leaves.
  • Boil the chicken and shred it.
  • In a non sticking pan add butter Once it melts add All purpose Flour to it and saute it for sometime till you get cooked smell. You will get this in 1 min or so and the flour also starts turning brown. Make sure it remains white and not brown :)
  • Cool the mixture, then add Milk to this. Take care that no lumps should be formed. Then add this mixture to the pan, sprinkle salt,pepper After stirring for sometime remove the pan and set it aside.our white sauce is ready now. You will come to know that your sauce is ready when it starts getting thick. Dont make it too thick like a paste. It should be medium so you can pour it over the baking dish.
  • Preheat oven at 300 c for 5 mins.
  • Take a baking dish , add mashed spinach,chicken,corn,salt,pepper, white sauce and cover it with grated mozzarella cheese.
  • Bake it in the oven for 20-30 minutes over 300 c.
  • Keep it on Broil / Grill for 2 – 3 mins so that cheese melts and crust is formed.
  • Serve hot with garlic bread and some Drink ;)

Enjoy your dish – To make this vegetarian, add more vegetables like Brocolli, Peppers etc :)

Richa