Khow Suey attempt

Tried the Khow Suey today for the first time. Love the dish and got a recipe from yesterday's Mint's cover story of 78 recipes by celebrities. Better than expected. Have noted stuff to experiment with next time around.

Khow Suey recipe (for 2/3 people)

Ingredients for curry/soup

-       milk of half coconut

-       2 medium onions, finely chopped

-       garam masala (ground cinnamon, cardamom, clove and black pepper)

-       1 medium size clove of garlic

-       1 small piece of ginger

-       few pieces of lemongrass

-       chilli powder

-       salt

-       turmeric

-       red pepper, paneer pieces, zucchini and broccoli florets

-       puree of one big tomato

Ingredients for accompaniments

-       roasted garlic

-       finely chopped boiled egg

-       finely chopped spring onions

-       lime juice

-       finely chopped roasted peanuts

Cooking

-       in some olive oil fry finely chopped onions and add garlic-ginger paste. Fry till they become translucent

-       cool and grind the onions in a paste

-       in some olive oil stir fry the vegetables and set aside

-       in olive oil, add the onion paste and sauté for few minutes

-       add stir fried vegetables and let it cook

-       add turmeric and chili powder

-       add tomato puree and salt and and let it cook

-       add coconut milk and keep stirring

-       bring to boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes

-       add the garam masala and paneer

-       add lemon grass

-       taste and add whats missing

-       boil egg noodles (3 wraps for 2 people)

Notes from last cooking:

-       garam masala was too strong (cardamom and cinnamon especially)

-       more salt

-       next time try with red curry paste

-       experiment with some jeera and coriander powder

-       could be more tangy – add lime or increase tomato puree proportion

-       could experiment with some tamarind water

Dahi Alu

Ingredients

• 5/6 small potatoes (boiled)
• 2 cloves
• 1 cardamom
• 1 small piece cinnamon
• juice of small piece of ginger
• 1 cup curd, diluted with water if too thick
• 1 kashimiri red chilli cut in round pieces

Cooking

• Heat oil, add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, mirchi and haldi
• After couple minutes of sauté, add the boiled potatoes (cut in chips style)
• Let this cook on slow heat for 20 minutes (the potatoes will start browning and become lightly crispy). Take care to turn them over intermittently
• Add salt and ginger juice and mix well
• In a bowl, whisk curd, lal mirchi and jeera powder
• When the potatoes are largely cooked, add the curd mixture and mix well
• Take care to stir continuously to avoid curdling
• Let this cook (with the stirring) for 5-10 mins
• Can garnish with chopped coriander

Sauted spinach

Ingredients

• 2 bunches of spinach (boiled whole)
• ginger (grated)
• green chilly (1 if teekha)

Cooking

• Heat oil and add the ginger and green chilly
• Pour the oil mix over the boiled spinach and mix well
• Add salt to taste

Don't be duped by the simplicity of the dish - tastes just yum if you enjoy palak!

Italian Omelet (or quiche - whats the difference??)

For 2 (hungry) people :)

Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 1 small katori milk
• 2 large onions (cut in thin circular slices)
• 2 pods garlic
• bunch of palak (chopped) or 2 potatoes (cut in thin circular slices)
• paneer of 3 mugs milk
• grated cheese (to taste)
• mixed italian herbs
• salt/pepper
• chopped olives (1 spoon for each layer)

Cooking

• beat eggs till it is very frothy and rises
• add salt, pepper, milk (add cheese if want. i only add cheese on the top)
• in olive oil, add garlic and onions and saute till soft and translucent 
• if using spinach, in olive oil add jeera and saute the palak
• grease baking plate with olive oil
• put a layer of eggs, then spinach, onions, paneer, olives and repeat this till the ingredients are exhausted (ensure atleast 3 layers) add cheese at the top
• cook for about 25-30 minutes 

Bruschetta

Bruschetta (for 4 people)

Ingredients

• 1 loaf ciabatta, normal bread or baguette (something that can be grilled and on which bruschetta mix can be added)
• 500 gms tomatoes – pick fresh, hard, red ones.  Quality of bruschetta depends on quality of tomatoes
• 4 spoons shredded/chopped black olives
• 4 cloves of garlic
• Olive oil
• Plenty of shredded fresh basil leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking

• Deseed tomatoes carefully and chop fine (budget about 40 minutes to do this!)
• Heat olive oil (about 2 table spoons) and add garlic – until garlic is lightly brown (don’t burn garlic). This is the olive oil/garlic mix that will be spread on the grilled bread. So use good amount of olive oil to not run out of it later. Put it on the side
• Mix tomatoes, 1 table spoon olive oil, basil and salt/pepper, olives in a mixing bowl and mix well. Put in the fridge to cool for a while
• When ready to serve, spread olive oil on the baking tray and put the bread pieces to grill. Grill for about 15-20 minutes. Keep checking to ensure the bread doesn’t burn
• Spread the olive oil/garlic mix on the bread, and lop a spoonful of bruschetta mix on the bread