Tofu Penne Pasta

Ingredients -

Penne pasta 1 cup

Tofu 1 cup (I used masala tofu)

Hung curd 1 cup

Tomato (finally chopped) ½ cup

Cucumber or zucchini (Finally chopped) ½ cup (I used cucumber)

Black pepper (Crushed)

Oregano or any herb 1 tsp

Salt according to taste

Coriander leaves (for garnishing)

Olive oil 2 tsp

Method -

Boil some water with the pinch of salt and few drops of olive oil. Add penne pasta and boil till pasta is chewable. Drain pasta once it’s boiled in cold water. Add few drops of oil in pasta so that it will not stick with each other. In a pan heat some oil. Add tofu (cut in small pieces). Sauté till tofu become light brown. Add pasta now. Add salt. Sauté for 2 -3 minutes.  Take pan away from heat and transfer tofu and pasta in a bowl. Now add hung curd and mix well. Add tomato and cucumber and mix well. Tofu Pasta is ready. Garnish with some coriander leaves or with sliced loaf of garlic bread. 

Eggless Tutti-Frutti Cake

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour / Maida – 150 gms ( plus 1 tblspn for dusting over tutti fruity)

Powdered Sugar – ½ cup

Oil –½ cup

Baking Powder – 1 tsp

Baking Soda – ½ tsp

Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp

Tutti Fruity –1 1/3 cup

Condensed Milk / Milkmaid –¼ cup

 Milk –½ cup

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.Take a round baking pan. Oil all the sides of the pan and dust it with flour.

Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda together and set aside. Take 1 tblspn of flour and add it over the tutti fruity and toss well.

Take oil, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat it for 3 mins.

Now add in condensed milk, milk and mix well.

Now sift in the sifted flour again and mix well. Add in tutti fruity and mix well.

Pour into the tin and bake it for 45-50 mins or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let it cool down. Now invert it over a plate and slice it.

Rauangan Chaman – A Kashmiri recipe (Paneer in tomato gravy)

Ingredients -

•  
• Paneer – 250 grams
• Tomato puree (with fresh blanched tomato)
• chili powder – 1/2 teaspoon
• ginger paste – 1/2 teaspoon
• cumin powder– 1/2 teaspoon
• garam masala – 1 teaspoon
• asafoetida powder / hing – a pinch
• coriander powder  – 1/2 teaspoon
• turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon
• salt   – to taste
• coriander leaves – 1 teaspoon (finely chopped)
• oil / ghee – 2 tablespoon

Method -

Cut paneer into 1-inch cubes and keep it aside. In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon of ghee / oil.  When ghee is hot enough, add paneer pieces and fry for about 5 minutes or until it becomes golden brown all over.  Transfer it to a kitchen towel. In a bowl, mix together, paneer pieces, chili powder, ginger paste, hing / asafoetida powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, and salt.  Keep it aside for 10 minutes. Heat the remaining ghee / oil in another pan.  Add the tomato puree. Simmer and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Now add the coated paneer pieces and add water if you feel gravy is thick. Simmer and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.  When the paneer is cooked well, garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Grilled Chicken Breast

Chicken breast 2 piece

For marination -

Curd ½ cup

Ginger garlic paste 3 tsp

Deggi Mirch 3 tsp

Lime juice 1 tsp

Salt according to taste

Kebab Masala (optional)

Dried methi 2 tsp

Procedure –

Wash chicken breast with soft hands. Make cut marks in between chicken breast so that marinate mixture can marinate well with chicken. Mix all the ingredients of marination. Marinate chicken breast in marination mixture and keep in fridge for 45 to 60 minutes.

For grill – Grill marinate chicken for 20-25 minutes in convection. Select grill mode on your convection. For oven preheat oven for 180 degree and cook chicken for 20-25 minutes. In between turn the sides of chicken. You can see beautiful grill marks on chicken breast during grill. You can check chicken in between with the help of knife or a toothpick. If knife or toothpick can easily dig in to chicken breast it means chicken is ready to eat if not then you can add 4-5 extra minutes. Juicy and spicy chicken breast is ready. Serve grilled chicken breast with chutney or dip. For mint dip you can check my recipe of fried chicken with mint dip. 

Chicken mint fried rice (Rice with left over chicken)

Ingredients -

Left over chicken – cut in to small pieces

Rice boiled 1 cup

Cinnamon one stick

Black cardamom 2 pieces

Green Cardamom 3-4

Clove 2-3 pieces

Bay leaves 1-2

Black pepper 3-4

Dried red chili 1-2 pieces 

Hing 1pinch

Mint chutney 4 tsp

Salt according to taste

Coriander for garnishing 

Butter\Oil 2 tsp

Method -

Take a pan and put oil\butter in pan. Heat oil for a minute and then add cinnamon, Green & black cardamom, cloves, dried red chilies, black pepper and a pinch of hing. Sauté all whole spices once they start crackle. Now add left over chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add cooked rice in mixture and mix well. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add salt and mint chutney. Mix well in low heat for 2-3 minutes. Coat chicken and rice mixture well with mint chutney. Take heat off. Chicken mint fried rice is ready. Serve them hot with any type of raita or curd.

For vegetarians – Instead of chicken you can use any leftover dish of paneer. 

Fried Chicken Tikka with Mint Dip

Boneless chicken ½ kg (cut into medium pieces)

Oil for frying

For marination -

Ginger garlic paste 3 tsp

Deggi Mirch 3 tsp

Lime juice 1 tsp

Garam Masala 1 tsp

Salt according to taste

Kebab Masala (optional)

Mix all the ingredients mentioned in marination. Mix well and make a paste. Now add chicken pieces and coat chicken pieces well with the paste. Keep them in fridge for 30-45 minutes.

Take a pan and heat oil. When oil is ready for frying then put chicken pieces in to oil. Keep turning them in between. When they turned dark brown take them out. Check chicken if it’s not cooked till center then fry for more 1-2 minutes more.

For fryer – preheat fryer on 180 degree for 5 minutes. Put chicken pieces in fryer’s basket and fry them for 20 minutes. Keep turning chicken in between.

Fried chicken Tikka is ready. Serve with any chutney or mint dip.

Mint Dip –

Mint puree – grind mint leaves with some water to make a puree

Hung Curd ½ cup

Black pepper ½ tsp

Red chilly ½ tsp

Salt according to taste

Mix all the ingredients together to make mint dip.

Egg less Coconut Cookies

Ingredients -

• Maida - 200 grams (1 cup)
• Coconut - 1 cup (grated)
• Butter - 1/2 cup  (100 grams)
• Sugar - a little more than 1/2 cup (125 grams powdered)
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Milk - 2 tbsp

 Method -

Mix baking powder to the flour, filter the flour and keep in a utensil.

Put Butter in any utensil and melt it, put sugar and beat properly.

Put flour in the butter-sugar mixture and mix well (there should not be any solid parts). Put coconut in this mixture and mix rigorously, knead to make dough.If the mixture seems very dry then you can add 1-2 tbsp milk to it.
Grease baking tray with Ghee. Take some mixture in your hand, give it a round shape and place it on the tray. Place cookies at a gap from each other (cookies double up after baking). Place as many cookies that can fit in the tray.

Preheat oven at a temperature of 180 degrees. Place the tray with cookies in the oven and set it for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes take the cookies out, check if the cookies have turned light brown in the center and dark brown at the edges. If yes then the cookies are baked else set the oven for 5 more minutes. Cookies are baked; take out the Coconut Cookies from the oven. After they cool off remove cookies from the tray and put them in a basket.

Similarly prepare another tray of cookies and bake them. Bake all coconut cookies in this manner.

Egg less Coconut Cookies are ready .Keep the Coconut Cookies in an air-tight container, take them out and eat whenever you want.