Eggy Egg - Deveiled Eggs

A very simple recipe which can be made with many variations. I have tried this first time for my Dad's B'day 2 days ago, it was hit. But beware, it must be served warm and ensure you make alterations for patients with heart problem or high blood pressure. And surely its a great idea for children who fuss to eat Boiled Egg! 

Difficulty Level: Low

Serves: 4-5

Preparation time: 15 mins

Can be served as: Appetiser or for breakfast 

Ingredients:

Eggs - 4

Sliced Olives to top as shown in the pic (optional - skip if you don't like olives)

Mayo - 4 tbps

Salt and pepper as per taste

Bacon - 2 rashes (optional)

Preparation Method:

Place the eggs in water and place it on medium flame. Once the water comes to boil, set the timer exactly for 9 mins and remove from flame after 9 mins. Remove eggs from hot water and place in cold water so that it stops cooking.

Peel the eggs and cut them into halves; remove the yolk in a bowl and the whites in a serving tray. Smash the yolks well so that it forms a nice paste. Add mayo, salt and pepper as per required to the bowl of yolks and mix well. 

If you are using Bacon, chop finely, put it in a pan and cook it on medium flame. Don't add any oil as the bacon already has enough fat. Once the bacon leaves its fat and cooks in the oil, drop the bacon into the yolks mixture and mix well. 

Scoop this yolk mixture with a small spoon into the egg white and serve while its still warm, topped with a slice of olive. 

Reality Check:

• Instead of bacon, you can use shredded chicken or corn or chicken ham. 
• The protein in egg yolk and mayo is very high, so please ensure you don't serve in large portions. I'd say, 2 pieces is optimum. 
• In case you want to ignore the egg yolks and mayo, you could do so and use cream cheese instead.
• For people with heart disease or high blood pressure - mix fresh yoghurt, corn, salt & pepper and use as filling instead of yolks and mayo. 

Sausage Casserole

It’s a warm winter dish and I had a different version of this dish in Canterbury University Campus in Christchurch. I served this at home, as a hearty lunch dish with some bread. You could manipulate this dish by adding any veggies depending on what your family loves.

Difficulty level: Low

Serves: 6-7

Preparation time: 40 mins cooking time and prep time additional

Can be served as: Main Course dish

Ingredients:

Pork Sausage – 500 gms

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Refined oil – as per required

Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tsp

Onions – 1 big sliced

Tomatoes – 2 big diced

Potatoes – 3 big ones; dices into 4 pieces each

Salt – as per required

Pepper – ½ tsp grounded

Water – as per needed

Thickener – mix some whole wheat flour with some water till it forms a nice thick paste.

Preparation method:

Place a kadai on stove and add 1 tbsp oil; once hot, add the sausage. The sausages will have plenty of fat and some water. Once the sausages start leaving its fat, add some water so that the sausages don’t stick to the kadai. Cover with lid and let them cook on medium flame. Keep adding some water if need so that the kadai doesn't dry up. Let the sausage cook half the way and then add onions, ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Once the tomatoes have cooked, add diced potatoes. Add water so that it just covers the sausages and potatoes. Let it cook for 15-20 minutes or till the potatoes have cooked through.  If you feel the gravy is not enough, please add some water. The gravy will be slightly watery so you can add 1-2 tbsp of the thickener. Once the gravy has thickened, simmer and cook for 2 mins and take off from heat.

Serve hot with dinner rolls, croissants or garlic bread.  

Reality Check

• Pork Sausages are the best for this dish; if you don’t eat pork, then you may use chicken sausage.Since chicken sausages don’t need much cooking, don’t cook it first as per the method. Just start by cooking the onions and then add the rest.
• If you are using big pork sausages, then cut it into pieces when it’s cooked half way through so that it’s easy to eat. Don’t cut the pork sausages when raw else they will become like mince meat when it cooks.  I have used cocktail sized ones hence I don’t cut it
• Great option for a cozy winter dinner when you want to cook something quickly
• You can use mushrooms as well; they are a great add on
• Serve in small pot shaped bowls individually and wait for the raving to come!

Saucy Lamb Ribs

The very sound of this dish makes my mouth water. I invented this recipe and it gets better, each time I make it. I feel it’s better to cook this in a pressure cooker rather than the oven because most of us in India are not used to cooking meats in conventional ovens for various reasons. In the picture you can see, I have served the ribs with a cauliflower purée  fondant potatoes and fresh cucumbers. If you are serving a 3 course meal then you could do the same. If you are serving at a party just serve them just the way it is; just wrap the rib bone ends with a silver foil so that it’s easy to eat.

Saucy Lamb Ribs

Difficulty level: Average

Serves: 6-7

Preparation time: 30 mins cooking time and prep time additional

Can be served as: Generally main Course, but we like it as a starter as well. De-bone it and cut the meat into nice little pieces.

Ingredients:

Lamb chops with the rib bone attached – 1 Kg (you may get 6-7 pieces while sliced)

Mushroom soy sauce– 3 tbsp (you can use plain dark soy as well)

Worcestershire sauce – 1 tbsp

Regular Vinegar – 2 tbsp

Sugar – ½ tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Olive oil – 4 tbsp

Chilli powder – 1 tsp (use according to the heat required)

Ginger freshly grated to add up to 1 tbsp

Garlic freshly grated to add up to 1 tbsp

Chicken stock cubes 2 dissolved in 500 ml hot water or home-made chicken stock 500 ml

Salt – as per required

Italian Seasoning mix – 1 tsp. This is available in any super market these days; I like Keya brand. If you can’t find this mix oregano, thyme, rosemary and chilli flakes together; slightly pound with 1 clove of garlic and use.

Red Wine (port or home-made) – 20 ml; Optional

Preparation method:

Take a medium size pressure cooker. Add all the ingredients mentioned above except the meat into the cooker. Please be careful while adding salt as the soy sauce and chicken stock cubes will have enough salt; check and add accordingly. Whisk till the liquids have mixed well into the seasoning. Add the meat and ensure the liquid is 2 inches above the meat. If not add water; this is to ensure the meat cooks right and doesn't burn.

Close the cooker and cook on high flame till you hear the 1^st whistle. Then turn the heat to low and let it cook for 20 mins. Turn off flame and leave the lid on till the steam disappears. It will cook further in the steam.

When you open the cooker you will see that there is still some sauce left and it is runny. Take a shallow pan and pour in just the sauce, heat stove and let the sauce reduce on a medium flame. Once the sauce gets thick, lower the flame and drop the meat in so that it caramelizes in the sauce.

Once the meat coats with the thick sauce turn off the flame and serve hot. Pour some of the sauce left in the pan over the meat.

Reality Check

• This is a purely a continental dish; it would not have gravy like an Indian dish
• To add some carbo if this is the main course serve with buttered rice/dinner rolls /garlic bread
• You could also additionally serve some sautéed veggies and French fries; kids will love this combination
• I duplicated this recipe with pork ribs; it was finger licking good!
• Barbecuing will be a great option instead of pressure cooking if you have a good grill. You will have to make a thick sauce and you’ll need to use a thick chicken stock. Marinate the meat for at least 2 hours in the sauce before grilling it. Dab some more of the sauce while grilling it. 

Instant Chicken Haleem

Haleem is a thick beefy stew popular in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Pakistani, Bengali and Indian cuisine. In Anatolia, Iran, the Caucasus region and northern Iraq, other variations of Haleem, Keşkek and Harisa, are popular. Although the dish varies from region to region, it always includes  wheat,  barley,  lentils  and meat. A variation of Haleem called Khichra and Hyderabadi Haleem is very popular in India. 

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haleem

Being a hardcore Hyderabadi, I just can’t wait for the Ramadan month to feast on the glorious Haleem.  It’s a laborious process and generally takes a whole day to make it in the traditional method. Haleem is generally served at Hyderabadi weddings and sold at every nook n corner of the city during the Ramadan. It’s a nutritious and hearty meal for the Islamic believers to compensate for their day long fast.

I'm presenting to you, a simple, healthy and definitely yummy version of this famous Haleem. You’ll be surprised how easy and tasty this will turn out. Trust me, your family will be asking for more and you will never say NO to make this over and over. All credit goes to my sis-in-law who let me poach this recipe of hers and it was an instant hit with our family. 

Difficulty level: Low

Quantity: Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Can be served as: An appetiser instead of soup at a party or even as a main for a weekday meal. 

Ingredients

Oats – 3 cups

Onions- 3 big ones; cut into thin rings

Chicken - ½ kg; pressure cooked with some water, 2 pinches of salt and turmeric. De-bone and shred the flesh once it’s cool enough to touch and retain the stock in another bowl. Additionally, I prefer to use the chicken stock cubes (Maggi); it adds more flavour to the stock. Drop 2 cubes into the stock when it’s still hot.

Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp

Cashews, pistachios and raisins – a handful of all of them put together. Lightly fried in 2 tbsp of Ghee (clarified butter). You don’t need to drain the ghee out after frying.

Salt to taste

Vinegar – 1 tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Red Chilli powder – as per heat required

Whole spices – Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Star anise; 3 of each slightly pounded

Refined Oil – as per required

Lime juice – for garnish

Coriander – 1 small bunch finely chopped for garnish

Preparation:

Firstly, cut 2 onions into thin rings and fry them in a Kadai. Use oil generously and you must ensure the oil is hot when dropping the onions in the oil. Fry in medium heat till they turn golden brown and crisp. Ensure you keep a constant key on the onions else you could burn them. Remove from flame, drain the onions and keep aside the oil for later use. This will be used for garnishing mainly.

Take a non-stick dish; pour 4 tbsp of oil, which you saved after frying the onions. Heat stove and once the oil is hot, drop in the pounded whole spices and the finely chopped raw onion. Once the onion is cooked through, add the ginger garlic paste, turmeric and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Then, measure 5 cups of chicken stock and pour in the dish.

Once the stock comes to a boil, add the oats, dry fruits in ghee, chilli powder (please be cautious, as the whole spices that we have added are quite spicy enough), vinegar, shredded chicken and cook for a few minutes. Keep checking so that it doesn't become lumpy or too thick. You could add more stock to the mixture if it gets too thick but ensure you don’t add too much stock. Check the salt and chilli by tasting and add if needed. Don’t add salt blindly, as the stock will have some salt and if you have added the stock cubes as well, then I reckon, the salt will be perfect.

Generally oats takes 3 minutes to cook, but I would suggest leaving it a little longer so that the Haleem starts leaving the oil and has that rich texture. The shredded chicken would have all mixed up well giving a nice meaty favour. 

Take off from the heat, garnish with the golden fried onions, a dash of lime juice and top it up with freshly chopped coriander. You could also add some fine chopped pistachios and cashew as well.

Serve hot with a mischievous smile while your family goes gaga over your hard work!

Reality check:

• Healthy, nutritious and simple recipe
• Your family will never know it’s the same old boring oats; they’ll surely go for a second serving without grinning. But make sure you don’t reveal the secret!
• I haven’t tried making this with lamb, but I am sure it will taste very similar or even better
• I have avoided using much of the Ghee since my hubby hates the smell of it. But if your family has no issues with Ghee, pour a tbsp of warm Ghee right at the end. I absolutely love it that way! 

Via Milano - An escape to Milan

Pictures Courtesy: Zomato.com and Explocity.com

Just like every anniversary, my husband and I haven't got a plan to spend the day. Like most of the days, we pick a restaurant for a nice meal together and catch up for a movie. This time we decided to luncheon at Via Milano. Luckily, they were hosting the Sunday Buffet Lunch spread. We liked Via Milano’s ambience on our first visit on ‘V’- Day last year; it was a romantic scene.

As the name suggests, it’s an Italian restaurant located in Jubilee Hills and surely lives up to the name. The place is quite nice and cozy and the white partially plastered walls give that old Milan look while the white canopy compliments the scene. Empty wine barrels stacked up add more of a vintage touch; a wine shelf on one of the walls will compel you to believe you are dining in one of the Wineries in Italy. Since it was a Sunday they had a live band playing.

They had a long list of small bites as antipasti; couple of salads, cheese platter, canapés and cold cuts platter. I feel in love with the Watermelon feta canapé and the salads. You may not like the beef starter which is actually raw ground beef with some seasoning and olive oil; it left a very weird taste on the tongue.  Also the cold cuts were watery and very salty; didn't enjoy it much either. The rest of the things on the menu were good and will make you want more.

For entrées,  a live pasta counter was set up where you could choose between white or red Sauce Pasta (Veg. and Non-Veg.) with a range of veggies to go with it. And don’t miss the Lasagne; it was well cooked, juicy and rightly seasoned. And from the roast section, we had the fully roast Chicken served with mashed potatoes and mushroom sauce. They served something for the veggie lovers as well but I don’t quite remember what the dish was. From the hot kitchen, we were served barbecued sea food (they had prawns that day) and chicken as well.

How can you say Italian without having a taste of pizza; they served this amazing Veg. margarita pizza. It had a thin crust and the cheese would just melt in the mouth. I absolutely loved it and had many servings of it J.  Now for the main course, I guess the options changes every week. It was beautiful Sea Bass dish that I had – don’t remember the name well and my hubby had a chicken dish. We were quite full by the time we actually got to the main course. Our sincere advice is to go through the menu well and have small portions of the antipasti and the entrées.

And finally the desserts; a range of desserts were offered. Chocolate Lasagne (just a layered Chocolate cake actually), Tiramisu and Pana Cotta are few I can remember. The Tiramisu was quite nice and light.

Overall a nice experience, but you may feel they are a little over priced for casual dinner. For special days, you could spend that extra bit. They also have a weekday Executive Lunch Buffet which is a great value for money. The place is very romantic by night and you’re sure to impress your love.

Snapshot

Taste: 7/10

Ambience: 9/10

Service: 7/10

Overall rating: 8/10

Hygienic: YES

Serves Alcohol:  YES

Children friendly: NO

Valet parking: YES

Reservation: Preferred
Cards Accepted: YES

Halalalalala Burger!

Holidays can be stressful sometimes, when you just have nothing to do! But the sound of some good food makes us all very bright and cheerful. The story of this burger, began on such a boring, lazy holiday. The evening became an interesting one when we treated ourselves to this yummy juicy burger. And thanks to my nephew, Viv who suggested this name “Halalalalala Burger” (It's similar to the howling sound of African tribes; but sadly there is no connection of this burger to the tribe!)

The preparation could need some helping hands as they are many different layers, but once you prepare them for assembly, it hardly takes time to be ready to be dug into!

Treat yourselves to this goodness and let me know your reviews. And guys please forgive me for not posting any pics, because I have made this much before I started writing this blog. Will post some step-by-step pics soon.

Difficulty level: Average

Quantity: 10 very hungry people

Prep time: 15-20 mins to cook each meat patty and assembly additional

Can be served as: An evening snack or at a party if you use small size buns

Ingredients

For the Burger patty:

Minced lamb or Beef – 1 kg

Seasoning – Thyme, oregano, rosemary – 1 tbsp all mixed together

Salt and crushed pepper – as per taste

Garam Masala – ½ tsp

Red chilli flakes – as per spice required

Vinegar – 1 tbsp

Chopped Green Chillies – 2 or 3 less spicy ones

Ginger Garlic paste – 1 ½ tbsp

Olive Pomace oil for frying – as per usage

For Potato spread

Potatoes – 1 kg cooked and mashed

Seasoning – Thyme, oregano, rosemary – 1 tsp all mixed together

Fresh cream – 20 ml

For the Veg topping – as per the topping required

Tomatoes

Onions

Jalapeños

Lettuce

Button Mushrooms (cleaned well; ensure there is no dirt on them)

Bell Peppers- Any colour

For Sauce

Cheese spread -  

Fresh cream – 50 ml

Bread – this makes close to 10 burgers

Burger buns - 10

Optional:

Bacon Rashes

It may seem like too many ingredients, but most of them would be available in your pantry; for some of the others you may have to visit a supermarket or the butcher. 

Preparation:

Prepare the patty: First, drain all the excess water from the meat. Take a big bowl and marinate the minced meat with all the ingredients mentioned for the patty and leave it for at least 1 hour. The longer it stays in the marinade, the juicer it is.

Prepare the cheese sauce: Take 50 ml of fresh cream and add thick cheese spread to it (Keep aside some of cheese spread as well.) Cook this mixture in a hard bottomed pan till it mixes well , be careful not to burn it. Add little powdered pepper and salt as required. Once the cheese spread has mixed well with the cream, remove from flame and keep this sauce aside to cool.

Cook the patty: It is important to cook the patty in a shallow pan. Take a saucer no larger than the diameter of the burger bun and fill the patty mixture tightly. Heat pan, pour Olive Pomace oil and invert the meat filled saucer in the pan once the oil is hot. Leave the saucer on so that it cooks in the steam. Start with low heat and wait till the meat lets out some of its amazing juices. Don’t be worried if the patties let out lot of water; just carefully drain excess out in a bowl; this will come in handy later. Once you feel that the patty is cooked half way through remove the saucer. Now increase the heat a bit and cook on both sides. Now you will see juices will start reducing adding a nice brown colour to the patty. Once the juices completely dry up remove from heat. It should take 15-20 mins for each patty and depending on the size of the pan you could cook 2-3 patties at once. 

Preparing the potato spread: Take mashed potatoes in a bowl, add salt, cream and mix until it forms a smooth spreadable consistency.

Preparing the veg topping: Chop mushrooms, peppers and jalapeños julienne. Cut Tomatoes & Onions into thin rings. Heat a pan and throw in the mushrooms when is really hot and add a little olive oil. Sauté them on high flame with a little bit of salt and pepper. Remove from flame once it cooked and dried in all of its juices.    

Tip: Always cook mushrooms in a wide shallow pan and on high flame. The mushrooms tend to let out a lot of water and cooking it in low flame will not let it dry quickly. 

Assembling the burger: Cut the burger bun into half and spread some thick cheese spread on the top and pour 1-2 tsp of liquid cheese sauce on to the base of the bun. Place the meat patty then pour 1 tbsp of liquid cheese sauce on top. Place the lettuce then onions, tomatoes, jalapeños  then spread a good dollop of the Potato spread, sautéed veggies on top. Pour 1 tsp of the reduced meat juice on the veggies and close with the other half of the bun.

If you like, you may add pan fried bacon rashes right on top of the veggies. 

Heat burger in microwave before serving; serve the burger hot with some thick cheese spread and tomato ketchup in small bowls. Crisp fried potato wedges or fries will be a great add-on. 


Reality check:

• I won’t term this as easy but it’s simple if you follow the recipe.

• It’s definitely not junk since it’s home-made!

• The fat content used is healthier since we have used cheese spread instead of mayo and olive oil instead of regular refined oil or butter.

• You may use many oil if you are not very keen on cutting down fat.

• Feed your young ones, the goodness of veggies, protein, carbohydrate and good fat which makes it a complete meal.

• If you feel red meat is too high in calories, then you could use minced chicken instead, but taste will definitely differ. 

Why on earth am I blogging about Food?

Every time I talk about food, my folks go............."Here she goes again". I don't get it, why can't genuine love for food be recognized! Having brought up in a family where we never eat out or bring in food from a takeaway, after I got married it was quite a culture shock. My husband's family loves eating out; bringing food from takeaways is quite common.

My exploration for good food started actually at home when we were forbidden to celebrate birthdays or party anywhere else apart from home. The experiment ground for me was our parties. My mother is actually the one who put this bug in me. She loves to entertain immediate and extended family and they love to come to our place cause we have good food and of course great company. Since my grandmother lives with us it’s common that my dad's siblings and their families come home during long weekends and holidays. And there are few more of my dad’s cousins who are more like immediate family and are just a shout away. Some of the awesome parties that my folks still rave about are my mom's 50th B ‘day, Dad n Mom 24th Anniversary, my little sis's 19th B ‘day and many more of them that I can't remember.

Continental and Italian have most of my attention. I grew a liking for these cuisines as I used to be hooked on to Travel and Living Channel (Now TLC), NDTV Good Times (not a favorite; but like few selective shows.) I just love the way food looks and feels on TV :) Of course I can't smell it. It's like a celebration when Nigella Lawson (who doesn't know Nigella…daah) whips up those irresistible treats. The aromatic words of Kylie Kwong (Australian chef) make you believe that Asian food can look and taste amazing. While these ladies are busy making me fall deeper and deeper in love with food, there are these men who are nowhere behind in creating magic - the Creative pastry chef Adriano Zumbo and the Generous ‘n’ fresh Jaime Oliver.

I won’t say they are an inspiration to me, but are more a muse. I love the way cook books are stacked on these celebrity chefs’ kitchens but wouldn't prefer spending so much on buying those books. I’d rather get them for free on the internet! Food magazines, internet recipes and food sections in magazines I can’t overcome. My husband thinks it’s strange that my face lights up when I see a cook book on the stands (mostly at the Crossword in airports; that’s the only time when I go to a book store). I pick it up, look at the author, see what kind of food is featured, whether it has any pictures or step-by-step guide, flip to the back cover just to see the 4 figure prices and put them back on the stand with a smile. I think to myself, who would buy such expensive cook books? We could just pick these off the internet. But yes I have to admit I did buy some of these books which were on a BUDGET PRICE!

Food is joy for me and my husband. Whenever we pick up a fight while driving home, I ensure there’s dessert for dinner. It just melts him down right away. If I am cranky after work, he suggests without a doubt, “You seem to be hungry where shall we go?” Our evening is well spent with TLC and Star World (Master Chef Australia series) topped up with a nice 3 course dinner.

Now why on earth did I start this food blog? My husband and I have had some of the best food in Hyderabad. We have dined @ 5 Star hotels (honestly somehow they are the least enjoyable), fine dining restaurants (I have my favorites), theme restaurants (mostly look for buffets) and the infamous street vendors as well. We have never hesitated to walk to a pani-puri guy by the road or stand at a Dosa point in Sindhi Colony to enjoy our evening snack. We are proud to say that we genuinely enjoy good food, no matter if it served on a fancy plate or not; whether it’s listed in Just dial (service sucks all the time)/ Times Good Food guide or not it really doesn't matter.

Many of my husband’s friends call him to check which food place they should go to. Families sometimes say “Guys cut down on your diet” and we simple say (in Hindi) “Hum khate pithe ghar se hai”. Every place we go and every kind of food we explore is on FB for the world to know! We have too many jealous folks back home grinning at us for all the fun we have.

Now every time we go to a new place to eat, we are more like critics. We observe the place, the food, the service and weigh the price we pay. I always like to give feedback (sometimes I may resist to take feedback tough) and hope the person on the other side takes it positively and I guess this food blog is going to be my way of giving feedback; whether they take it or not that is not my problem! It’s all in good spirit. If we love your food & the place, it’s a pat on the back; If not, we can suggest how you could do better.

My blog will also feature my very own manipulated recipes picked up from here and there, along with those that I have proudly invented myself. And yes folks, feedback will be solicited :)

I’m too sleepy now will catch up soon with some interesting read!