Pizza Sandwich

This is one of the most trending and easiest recipe!!

Its name itself explains the taste, ingredients and fun attached to it.. when you make this recipe, make sure to prepare a bit extra because people are going to like it alot.

For my daughter, its an all-time favorite tiffin.. nothing can be more pleasing to her :))

Here is the recipe

Makes : 4 Sandwiches

Ingredients :

Onion (finely chopped) - 1
Tomato (deseeded, finely chopped) - 2
Capsicum (deseeded, finely chopped) - 1
Cottage cheese (cut into small cubes) - 1/2 cup
Chilli Flakes - 1/4 tsp
Freshly ground pepper - 1/4 tsp
Mix herbs/ Oregano - 1/2 tsp
Salt  - to taste
Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp
Grated processed cheese - 1/2 cup
Butter/ ghee - for grilling the sandwiches
8 bread slices

Procedure :

1. Mix all the veggies, cottage cheese, seasoning and cheese. 
2. Butter all the slices on one side.
3. On the other side of 4 bread slices spread tomato ketchup.
4. Divide the prepared filling (in step 2) in 4 portions and put one portion on each of the bread slice with tomato ketchup.
5. Close the sandwiches with the remaining bread slices with butter side facing up.
6. Grill the sandwiches in a sandwich maker till they are golden brown and crisp.
7. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Best Accompaniments : tea/ coffee/ tomato soup.

Tip: 

• Sandwiches will taste better if you use pizza sauce in place of tomato ketchup.
• You can add more veggies like boiled sweet corn kernels, olives etc.

Tomato Soup for winters

Instead of adding cornflour or white sauce to provide thickness to the tomato soup, I always prefer to put in carrots and beetroot in the soup. It not only gives thickness to the soup, but also enhances the taste and nutrition value of the soup.

Ingredients :

Tomatoes (roughly chopped) - 4
Carrots (roughly chopped) - 2
Beetroot - 1/8 piece
Water - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Black pepper - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp



Procedure :

1. Put tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, water and salt in the pressure cooker.
2. Cook for  1 whistle on high flame then reduce the flame and cook for 5 min more.
3. Open the lid of the pressure cooker. Blend to make a fine paste.
4. Sieve the blended liquid in a deep pan to seperate all the unchurned peels and particles.
5. Add sugar and black pepper to the soup. Boil
6. Serve piping hot to warm  up your cold winter evenings! 

Vegetable Mayo sandwich

My daughter always gets excited after watching catchy commercial ads of different eatables and then persuades me to prepare the same thing for her..  pleasure is all mine :)

This time she wanted sandwicheto (= mayo sandwich) that she has watched in commercial ad of funfoods by Dr. Oetker where Sonali Bendre Behl prepares vegetable sandwich using mayonnaise from the above mentioned brand. I must say that the jingle  "mamamamama mayo.. sandwich ban gaya sandwicheto" is very catchy and lingering.

So, I recreated the recipe for her, my whole family liked it alot. Since then, I've prepared it many times and it has always been liked by all.

Here, I've used white bread slices because they are much softer then brown bread. They have much better flavour and odour. But if you are accustomed to brown bread, definitely you can go for it.

Here goes the recipe :

Makes - 1 Sandwich

Ingredients:

Bread slice - 3 ( for 1 sandwich)
Lettuce
Onion rings
Cucumber rings
Tomato rings
Capsicum rings
Mayonnaise - 2 tbsp
Mix herbs/ oregano - 1/4 tsp
Chilli flakes - a pinch
Freshly ground pepper - a pinch
Finely chopped fresh coriander - 1/2 tsp
Green chutney - 1 tbsp

Procedure :

1. Mix mayonnaise, herbs, chilli flakes, pepper and coriander to prepare the spread.
2. Remove edges of bread slices.
3. Apply the prepared spread on two bread slices and green chutney on the third slice.
4. On a mayo bread slice, place lettuce, onion  rings and capsicum rings.
5. Cover it with another mayo slice facing upwards.
6. Place tomato rings and cucumber rings over it.
7. Close the sandwich with chutney slice.
8.  Cut it into two halves and serve.

Note :

•  All the rings has to be thinly sliced. 
• If preparing for kids you can add a cheese slice too.

Disclamer: This recipe in no way promotes the mentioned brand/ product. 

How to use onion for salads

Onions taste great when added properly to salads but sometimes their strong smell and pungent flavors ruin the whole dish, so its important to treat them properly before adding them raw to any dish.

What to do :

Peel and chop onions in the desired manner and then dip in a bowl full of ice-cold water for 10 minutes. This process will take away the pungency of onions while leaving it crunchy as it is supposed to be for the salads.

One of my favorite salad is broccoli-cucumber-onion salad. Guys, I highly recommend this recipe to everyone. Not only it tastes great but also it is highly nutritious and extremely rich in anti-oxidents. 

Other uses of leftover Mango Pickle Masala

Once the Mango pickle is finished, I'm always left behind with a pot filled with very tasty, tangy  masala and oil which my instinct never allows me to throw away. So Dear, how to use it?? What can i do with it?? After giving alot of thought to it,  some ideas flashed into my mind. I now use my leftover pickle masala and oil using these ways.

1. If there's a thick layer of oil floating over and above the masala layer, then you can separate this oil from the masala into another bowl and use this oil to cook parathas. Trust me you will love the taste and flavour of these parathas.

2. For the masala, you can mix the masala into the stuffing of potato parathas. (Not to mention, reduce the proportion of other spices otherwise the stuffing will become over-spicy)

3. You can use it to make some instant pickles like chilli pickle, carrot pickle, cauliflower pickle. Slice your desired veggie into small pieces , let it dry completely (there should be no-sign of water) and then mix it into your leftover masala of pickle. Add some salt and you are done baby!!
Transfer it into a sterelised air-tight glass jar and keep it refrigerated. Tastes best after 2 days.

4. Mix some masala into your besan cheela's batter and enjoy tangy cheelas.

5. If at all you dont want to put any effort to make something specially to use it, then just add its 1/2 to 1 tsp to your daily lunch or dinner sabji.. so simple :D

How you use your masala, please mention. I would love to know.

Jhatpat Shahi Paneer (Simple & Quick)

Very Quick and ultimately delicious recipe.

I prepared this dish just in a matter of 8-9 minutes and after tasting the final outcome, it was hard for me to wait for the chapati to be cooked and served.

The aroma of this sabji is so tempting and flavorful, that when my kiddo returned from school, she wanted to have the lunch right away, without wasting another moment!

This preparation tastes exactly like the restaurant style shahi paneer or I should say.. even better!!

Serves - 3-4

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 4
Cashew nuts (broken into small pieces) - 2 tbsp
Melon Seeds - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Green Elaichi Powder - 1/4 tsp
Shahi Paneer Masala - 1/2 tsp
Chana Masala - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Degi Mirch Powder - 1/2 tsp
Kasuri Methi - 1/2 tsp
Fresh Malai - 2 tbsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste
Paneer (cut into cubes) - 150 gms

Procedure :

1. Make a very fine paste of tomatoes, cashew nuts and melon seeds.
2. Heat ghee in a non-stick pan. Add the prepared tomato-cashew mixture.
3. While the tomato-cashew mixture is being cooked, start adding all the spices - Elaichi powder, Shahi paneer masala, Chana Masala, Sugar, Degi Mirch Powder, Kasuri Methi, Salt.
4. Cook on medium-high flame till the mixture leaves oil on the sides of the pan.
5. Add water to bring the gravy to the desired consistency. Add paneer cubes. Cook for a minute on high flame. Switch off the flame.
5. Slightly whisk the fresh malai to dissolve any lumps. Add malai and milk to the prepared sabji. Mix and cover the wok with a lid till the serving time.


Best Accompaniment - Lacha Paratha, Butter Naan

Strawberry Trifle

Things required :

1 stem glass
Leftover vanilla sponge cake
Whipped Cream
Fresh Strawberry chunks (hulled and chopped)

Procedure :

1. Cut the sponge into 1 inch cubes and place a few of them at the bottom of the glass.
2. Pipe out a generous amount of whipping cream over it to form a layer.
3. Layer the chunks of fresh strawberry over it.
4. Pipe out whipping cream to make a new layer.
5. Place the cake cubes carefully to make a new layer.
6. Again pipe out whipping cream to form a layer.
7. Lastly place the fresh strawberry chunks to make the top-most layer.
8. Chill it for atleast 2 hours before serving.

Tips : You can use a readymade sponge cake to keep the procedure simpler.

Variation :   Orange Trifle. For the recipe, please click here.