Vegetable Au Gratin

One of my favorite dishes which my mom loved to make for my whole family when I was back in India. And now it’s my turn to start the tradition. Vegetable Au Gratin is a French dish, it’s a medley of vegetables baked in a cheesy herbed white sauce. You can use any vegetables you like fresh or frozen it tastes great. 

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped in to small cubes vegetables (fresh or frozen - peas, carrots, beans, corn etc.)
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1 cup cheese (Mix of Mozzarella and Cheddar)
pepper to taste
salt to taste
Ingredients for White Sauce:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp All Purpose Flour (Maida)
3 cups whole milk
1 tsp garlic paste (optional)
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
1/4 cup cheese (Mix of Mozzarella and Cheddar)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 tsp dry oregano

Directions for white Sauce: 
Heat butter in a pan, when melted add the garlic, all-purpose flour and saute on medium heat till the raw smell goes, keep stirring in between. (Should not turn brown)
Remove from heat and add 1 cup of milk mixing to make sure there are no lumps.
Add the rest of the milk mix and make sure there are no lumps.Put back on the heat and cook on medium till the sauce thickens. Keep stirring in between.
Add the salt, pepper, red chili flakes and dry oregano. Mix well. Remove from heat. Add the cheese, mix well.

Final step:
Preheat oven to 180 C/ 350 F.
Steam the vegetables in microwave for 3 mins till half cooked. Drain all the water.Mix salt, pepper and dry oregano to the vegetables and keep aside. (The White sauce too will have salt so go easy on it)
Mix in the steamed vegetables to the white sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Transfer to a greased baking dish. Sprinkle cheese on top. For crispiness you can top it off with some bread crumbs
Bake for about 20 minutes till the cheese has melted and golden brown. Remove cool for 10 minutes and then serve with toasted bread. 

Wheat Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1cup of whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp brown sugar or white sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon  powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup milk
• 1tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1tsp flaxseed powder (optional)

Directions:

1. Put all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, adding the milk last.
2. Use the electric mixer or a whisk to remove any lumps and make a nice batter.
3. Leave the batter to set for 10 mins.
4. Put the skillet on the stove and set the burner on medium high.
5. Pour a big ladle full of the batter onto the skillet to form each pancake.
6. Flip the pancakes after one minute and cook the opposite side until golden brown.
7. Flip them again as needed. Then remove them from the heat.
8. Serve them with blueberry sauce, raspberry sauce or maple syrup.
9. You can even add some fresh blueberries to the pancake.

Set Dosa

I first tasted set dosa in Bangalore. I never ventured to try them at home until a few months ago when I found the set dosa and sagu (vegetable kurma) recipe in the internet. My first try came out really well and I finally settled at this one. I am glad I found this recipe; this is my all time fav which I don't miss out in eating when I go to Bangalore.

Ingredients:

2 cups rice

1 cup parboiled rice (cooked rice)

3/4 cup urad dal

3/4 cup poha/rice flakes

1 tsp methi seeds

11/2 tsp salt or to taste

 Pinch sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Soak raw rice, parboiled rice, urad dal and methi seeds in enough water for 6 hours. Separately soak the poha or beaten rice for 1-2 hours.

2. Grind all the ingredients along with poha adding enough water to form a pouring consistency. Leave it overnight to ferment.

3. Add salt & a pinch of sugar just before preparing the dosa and combine well.

4. Pre-heat a non stick tawa till really hot & pour 2 laddles of batter quickly (do not spread the batter) and let it cook gradually over medium heat. It should look like a thick pancake.

5. Flip the dosa over (this is optional) and let it cook further for less than a minute or till it is slightly roasted. Serve hot with chutney and sagu.

Zucchini Dosa

Zucchini Dosa is a great dish to serve for breakfast or a light lunch. This recipe is quick to prepare and can be served many different ways.

Ingredients:
1 cup besan (gram flour) 1/4 cup rice flour (optional for crisp)
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp chopped green chilies (optional, don’t have green chilies, you may replace with red chilly powder or chilli flakes.)
1 cup shredded zucchini (Italian squash)
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
6 tbsp of oil to cook

Method:
• Shred the zucchini with/without the skin and keep aside.
• Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, besan (gram flour), rice flour, salt, and cumin seeds. Add the shredded zucchini, cilantro, green chillies to this & mix well.
• Add the water slowly to make a smooth batter (should be the consistency of pancake batter or Dosa batter).
• Use a non-stick skillet & place on medium-high heat.
• To check if the skillet is ready, put a few drops of water on it. If the water sizzles right away, the skillet is ready.
• Next pour a laddle of about 1/2 cup of the batter on the skillet & spread evenly with a back of the laddle. Starting from the center, spread in circular motion outwards until it is evenly spread like a circle. Spread the batter quick, otherwise batter will start drying and will not spread.
• When batter starts drying put 1/2 tsp of oil and spread over gently, using a flat spatula. Lift the dosa from one side using a flat spatula. Flip the dosa when it turns golden-brown.
• Cook on the other side as well until its golden brown color.
• Serve the dosa with yogurt, mint /cilantro chutney, spicy pickles, or ketchup.

FREEDOM TOAST

'Freedom Toast', a simple and a quick breakfast/snack I learn’t from my mom. It’s not too fancy, but a filling and a tasty snack served anytime in just minutes.Ingredients:
Bread slices (Brown /white)
3tbsp sooji/rava (Semolina)
3-4 tbsp Curd or Buttermilk
1/2 red onion chopped
1/2 cup grated carrot
2 green chili finely chopped (as per taste)
1tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Salt & Pepper as per taste
Preparation: 1. Mix all above ingredients to a thick batter. Make sure that the batter is not thin and sticks well on the bread. 2. Spread a thin layer of the batter on one side of the bread. 3. Heat a griddle or tava, add a tsp of butter and place the bread on it.
4. Cook on medium heat for 2 minutes or until it gets brown and crispy. Flip and cook for another minute.
(Do not try to move the bread around on the griddle when cooking or you will end up with batter stuck all over your griddle. Once the side is cooked it can be flipped quite easily.)
Slice into triangles and serve with a dollop of ketchup or any chutney of your choice.

RAVA IDLI

Ingredients:
Rava (Semolina) 11/2 cups
Sour yoghurt ½ cup
Cashew nuts ¼ cup
Grated Ginger ½ tsp
Green Chillies 4 (Chopped finely)
Curry leaves a few
Coriander leaves ¼ cup (Chopped finely)
Mustard seeds ¼ tsp
Jeera ½ tsp
Ghee 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Fry rava in a tsp of ghee for about 40seconds. Beat yoghurt and add rava to the sour yoghurt and keep aside.
2. Melt some more ghee and pop up the mustard seeds, jeera, cashews, curry leaves, green chillies, ginger and add to the above mixture.
3. Add coriander leaves and salt to the yoghurt mixture.
4. Set aside for 10mins.
5. Pour in idli moulds and steam for 12mins.
6. Serve it with coconut chutney, sambhar.

GINGER DOSA

Dosa one of my favorite south indian breakfast recipe is eaten with coconut chutney , sambhar. Though considered as a breakfast dish, dosas are also eaten at other times of day. There are a variety of dosas and this is an instant version which can be made in just 20 mins time.

Ingredients:

Ginger – 2 big pieces grated
Bengal gram flour(Besan) – 1 cup
Wheat flour (Aata) – 1 cup
Peppercorns – 1 tsp
Dry red chilies 3 – 4
Small onions (finely chopped) – 6 – 7
Coriander leaves(finely chopped) – Few
Salt as per taste

Method:

Grind together the peppercorns, red chilies and ginger in a mixer grinder.

Mix together the finely chopped onions, coriander leaves, the above ground mixture, gram flour, wheat flour and salt.

Add water little by little and make it into a dosa batter.

Make thick crisp dosas off the above batter.

Serve with Green chutney, Molgapodi, Onion chutney.