When time is less and tummy is hungry

Perfect addition to my Lazy People's Food collection - chicken sausage rolls. They are great for winter nights paired with salads and a variety of sauces or chutneys or heavenly just by themselves.

If you are looking for a filling meal with little time to spare, look no further - this is a Lorraine Pascale recipe adapted with my touch ;)

Grab a puff pastry, coat with a relish or jam or sauce of your choice and roll the sausage of your liking in the coated puff pastry - if unsure go for classic flavours that go well - bake in a preheated oven and serve with salad.

In case you were curious I used caramelised onion jam with chicken sausages and one batch with no relish or jam just spinach pine nut chicken sausages in the puffed pastry

So go on be lazy!

Guess who's back ?!

At the very onset, my most sincere apologies for not blogging my culinary pursuits. And no reason or excuse will justify it. So plain and simple - I am back :)

Just to fill you in on a few things I have tried in the past year :
1. Moroccan chicken with oranges, sultanas and pine nuts.
2. Grilled fish in a variety of dressings - favourite one being - lime, chilli, thyme :)
3. Steamed fish - with soy sauce and a dash of roasted cumin powder and sesame seed oil
4. Low lactose and fructose - yummy spicy and sour chicken curry - my best recipe yet.
5. Experimented with fish cakes, chicken cakes - tip - use egg or bread crumbs instead of cornflour as the binding agent
6. Finally, mastered the art of stir fry.

Also, baked spicy chicken and potato pies.

I have also added some pictures this time :)

Watch out this space for my exploits with the latest mango chicken curry.

Homemade Chicken Burger

Grilled Fish with Garden Salad & Cherry

Moroccan Chicken

Sumptuous Salmon Saturday

On a sunny summery Saturday after noon a friend of mine and I went shopping.. we bought clothes :) and fresh veggies and Salmon :) :)

Here is the story of the Salmon...

Mr. Salmon and Mrs. Salmon ( I had two fillets) were cut into half and born were two very cute mini salmon(s). The Salmon family then sat for a while in a pool of olive oil, lime juice, lime rind, freshly cut chillies & thyme, salt and some chilli powder.

In the same town a few steps away a carrot and parsnip were peeled length wise and tossed in lime juice, salt and a tiny drop of olive oil.

Close by, a Mrs. Bread got a slight coating of garlic paste with a sprinkling of oregano. She then received her best mate - butter with open arms.

The salmon family was then cooked  - steamed and grilled, grilled and steamed - till they changed colour and their skin was crisp.

Just then Mrs.Bread decided pop in the toaster.

The town came together for a party and as always there were the usual - lemon wedge and lettuce.
The salmon family decided to sit skin side up alternatively on the lettuce. Propped up as though on high heels was Mrs.Bread along with the lovely marriage of carrots and parsnips in the citrus dressing.


That was the story of the sumptuous salmon on a saturday :)

Love the Cook in you

Now that I am on the other side of the fence, the fence here dividing the cook-ers from the eat-ers. I was an eat-er before and now I am a cook-er ;)

What took me to cross the fence and migrate to the other side?

I think more than any thing I was scared to cook. I was scared I would be bad at it. Even before trying. My mum is an awesome cook. She is swift, impeccable and graceful even in the kitchen. And then I looked at myself  I am clumsy even when just working. I was scared to start cooking more than any thing else.

And once I over came the "fear" of cooking I realised its not that hard. In fact it's interesting.
Rewarding.
Magical.
And fulfilling - all puns intended.

So all of you still on the other side of the fence wanting to migrate to this side, just pack the hesitation and parcel it to never never land. Buy yourself an apron and step in the kitchen to cook what you love most :)

Happy Cooking!!

Winter Warmers!

Staring at my fridge like I would stare at the shoes through the glass of shoe store -wanting to buy all the shoes but not wanting to spend the buck- I decided to make Matter Methi  - Peas and Fenu Greek leaves to save time and make some thing healthy!

Off I went defrosting the peas, the leaves.

Popped a few cumin seeds in oil and added the peas. No ginger. No garlic.
Just peas and the leaves,a little salt, chilli & coriander powder with a hint of cloves.
With the heat on low and covered lid- slowly cooked my winter warmer.

When almost done I just added a little yoghurt to neutralise the sharp taste of  methi.

It did keep us warm in the chilly chilly winter. 

The Birth of Breggoda

This Monday I returned from work tired, a little more than usual thanks to the constant weather change in my new home-city!

I made good old Gajar- Matar (Carrot & Peas) with a little twist, I added a little thickened cream and let it simmer and viola - it was exquisite! Along with that I made Beans with the usual cumin, turmeric, salt ,chilli, coriander powder - which was ok.

With all that put aside and almost done and my husband not home, I had a good 20 mins to kill. So I decided to try some thing new - and born was "Breggoda" (credit for the name goes to Pallav )

Breggoda is word derived from BREad + eGG+ pakODA

All that it takes to make this simple, easy to cook, nice to taste snack/starter is boiled egg, mashed white bread and seasoning to your taste, mix everything and  make it into small cutlet shapes and shallow fry on medium, cooking both sides evenly.

It can be added in gravy or simply eaten like that with ketchup and peri peri sauce or eat it between buns/bread with lettuce :)

Do try and let me know!

Here we are

For those who know me and those who don't - neither have I been a foodie nor until a few a months back had I been the one to stir up a meal in the Kitchen.
Apprehensive were my parents and my in-laws about my rather acute range of culinary skills.

People often ask me what has changed after marriage?
Here is the answer, I now love to Cook.
I love to get in the kitchen after a hard days of work and chop and churn and mince and mix not just a meal but bliss on a plate.
I love to see my husband relish the food.
I love to see him take helping after helping knowing fully well that he is way past his appetite but probably not desire.

This blog is not a to-do to cooking, nor is it a recipe journal, it's a journey from not knowing how-to-cook to loving-to-cook. It's slice of my experiences from my kitchen.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy cooking and writing!