ICED TEA 

We always desire for cold beverages during the hot, harsh summers. Well I am no different and ever since i stopped drinking cold drinks a year and half earlier, I am always eager to try out new beverages. Iced Tea is one of my favourites and is quite easy to make.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup strong black tea (I used Darjeeling Tea)
• 2 Tbsp sugar or to taste
• 2 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• Ice Cubes
• 8-10 mint leaves
• Thin lemon slice for garnish
• A sprig of mint for garnish

PROCEDURE:

Add the sugar and lemon juice to the tea and stir well to dissolve the sugar.

Let the tea cool down to room temperature. (You can also chill it in the refrigerator

 Now take a tall glass and put the mint leaves in and crush them to release the flavor.

Then fill the glass with ice cubes or as many as you desire.

Pour the chilled tea in the glass and garnish with a mint sprig and a thin lemon slice.

ICED TEA

Kolhapuri chicken

I was searching for a new chicken recipe when I came across this recipe in NDTV GOODCOOKS website. Since it is a fairly easy one and I had some time I decided to give this one a try.Although i had lying around a packet of Kolhapuri Chicken Masala but i decided to try and make this masala from scratch. This recipe turned out to be quite good and a refreshing change from the everyday chicken dish that is cooked at home.

INGREDIENTS:

For the marination:

1/2 kg chicken

1/2 cup yogurt

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp red chilli

1 tsp garlic paste

Salt to taste

1 tsp lime juice

For the Kohlapuri Masala:

2 tsp oil (I used mustard oil)

1 bay leaf

2 cinnamon sticks

5-6  cloves

1 tsp crushed black pepper

1 green chilli

2 medium onions, chopped

3 tsp grated coconut

1 large tomato, chopped

For preparation:

3 tsp oil

Coriander leaves for Garnish

3 green chillis (optional)

PROCEDURE:

• Mix turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garlic paste, salt, and lime juice with the yogurt. Now add the chicken pieces to the marinade and leave aside for half an hour.

Marinated Chicken

• To make the masala, heat the oil in a pan. Then add the bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, crushed black pepper and chopped onions. Saute till onions turn translucent.
• Now add grated coconut. Saute till coconut color changes.
• Then put in the tomatoes, and cook for 10 minutes or till the tomatoes are soft. Let it cool and puree the mix in a blender. (Make sure you take the bay leaf out before pureeing)

The Kolhapuri Masala

The masala pureed

• Now heat oil and add the marinated chicken to the pan. Cook for 25 minutes on low fire while stirring regularly.

• Now add paste and simmer on low flame for a few minutes or till the chicken is cooked. I added a few green chillis in this stage.
• Kolhapuri chicken is ready.
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice.

I hope you try this recipe. Until next time Adiós :) :)

GAZPACHO

I have been studying Spanish for the last one and a half years and it is from there that the inspiration for my blog’s name came from. 

Gazpacho is a tomato-based, vegetable soup which is traditionally served cold. It originates from, Andalucia, a region in southern Spain. Gazpacho is a favourite in Spanish cuisine. It is a refreshing, healthy cold soup which is usually consumed during the summer months. I hope you try this one out and do tell me how it goes :) :)

Ingredients:

For  Soup:

• 4 medium ripe tomatoes

• 1/2 large green bell pepper (you can use red or yellow if you want)

• 1 onion

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1/2 large cucumber

• 2 slices of bread

• 2 Tbsp Olive oil

• Salt to taste

• Black Pepper to taste

• 1 Tsp vinegar

For Garnish:

• Cucumber finely diced
• Onion finely diced
• Tomato finely diced
• Green Bell Pepper finely diced

Procedure:

• Cut the vegetables roughly. Since we are going to blend the soup there is no need to chop the vegetables finely.
• Put the tomatoes in a blender and blend for 2mins.

• Now add the garlic, onion, bell pepper, cucumber, bread, oil and vineger to the tomato mixture. Blend for 3-4 mins. (It is preferable if the bread is a day or two old)

• Than add salt and pepper as per your taste.
• Pour the soup in a container (i used a microwave friendly container) and chill for at least 2 hours. (if you have time you can refrigerate it longer.)

• Before serving garnish with the diced vegetables. You can also garnish with croutons. 

A Delicious Breakfast Recipe :)

Aloo Parathas

HELLO,

My family simply loves aloo parathas. I am sure people who have tried this love this :)

However I made these yesterday for lunch. I didn't have a lot of stuff at home but in every Indian household, I'm sure you will find a handful of potatoes :)

So I decided to make aloo parathas. Hope you will like my version of aloo parathas :) :)

Ingredients:- (Makes 3)

Dough

• 5 Tbsp Flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 Tsp oil for dough
• Water as per requirement

Filing

• 1 medium potato
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 1/2 tomato finely chopped
• 1 green chilli finely chopped
• 1 Tsp coriander leaves
• 1/2 Tsp chat masala
• 1/2 Tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 Tsp lime juice (Optional)
• 1/2 Tsp cumin seeds dry roasted and powderes
• Salt to taste

3 Tbsp oil for frying the parathas

Procedure:-

 Dough

• Sift the flour into a bowl and add 1/2 tsp of oil. We add a little oil in our doughs while making parathas or puris, it is called "Moyan" in Bengali, it makes the dough softer. (You may skip this step)
• Then add water little at a time and mix well to form a soft, firm dough. Knead thoroughly and keep aside.
• Then divide the dough into 3 balls.

Dough divided into 3 medium balls

   Filing

• Boil, cool and peel the potato. Mash it well, make sure there are no uncooked bits.
• Now add the chopped onions, tomatoes, green chilli, coriander leaves, red chilli powder, chat masala, cumin powder,lemon juice and salt. Mix well.
• I cooked my filing in a little bit oil about 1/2 tsp you may skip this step, the filing tastes just as delicious :)

  Assembly

• Roll a ball of dough out a little bit on a lightly floured surface and put some of the filing in the centre. (Do not put too much mixture else you would not be able to roll out the paratha)
• Now bring the edges of the dough over the filing to cover it.
• Shape into a ball again and press the top firmly to seal it.
• Gently roll the paratha out taking care that the filing doesn't leak.

The dough with the filling rolled out

Cooking the paratha (pic with flash)

• Finally heat a pan and add a little oil, and carefully put the paratha on it. 
• When this side starts to brown carefully flip it and add a little more oil.
• Cook till done.
• Serve with plain yogurt or raita or pickles :)

Served them with yogurt quenelles and the remaining filling :)

ENJOY :) :)

Do give me feedback :)

NOTE-

 To make more parathas just increase the quantity of the ingredients. Just keep in mind that the balls should be larger than the ones made for rotis or plain parathas.

  

My Second Post :) :)

KEEMA MATAR

(Minced Chicken With Peas)

Minced chicken (Keema) is a very versatile product. It can be used in various dishes. Usually in our house, we cook Keema with Indian spices in a desi way.This recipe is simple and quite easy. However here the chicken keema can be substituted with mutton keema or any other minced meat. 

Enjoy the recipe :) :)

INGREDIENTS:

• 500 gms Chicken Keema
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 2 thin slices of ginger finely chopped
• 1 large tomato chopped
• 6-10 garlic cloves 
• 4-5 green chillis
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 Tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• 3/4 Tsp tumeric powder
• 2 heaped Tsp Yogurt
• 1 egg boiled (for garnish)
• 1 Tsp meat masala (optional)
• 2 1/2 Tbsp Oil

Procedure:

• Make a paste out of the garlic cloves and the green chillis.
• Put oil in a pan, add the chopped onions and ginger. Cook till the onions turn golden brown.
• Now add the garlic chilli paste and cook for about 2 mins.
• Add the chopped tomatoes then, cover and cook till they are soft.
• Then add the red chilli powder, tumeric powder, Meat masala (you can avoid this), yogurt and a little water cover with lid and cook.
• When the oil separates from the masala add the minced chicken (Keema) and stir well. Cook on a low flame with the lid on, occasionally stirring the Keema.
• Keema will be ready within 15-20 mins :)

Keema Matar (pic with flash)

(Pic without FLash)

Serve with rice or rotis

This is one of my favourite dishes to have with rotis. Do give this a try :)

Until next time adiós :) :) 

Doi Shorshe Ilish

(Hilsa Fish in mustard and yogurt gravy)

Hola!

Ilish (Hilsa fish) is an absolute favourite of Bengalis. Being a bengali, it is quite impossible to resist the temptation of the hilsa. Although this year the prices of Hilsa are at an all time high in Kolkata but my family and I are ardent Ilish fans and this was our first Ilish this year. Doi shorshe Ilish is a very traditional recipe which my mother and I learnt from my grandma. It is a very simple one too, just takes around 20-25 mins but delicious one. 

Ingredients

• 6 pieces of hilsa fish
• 1 1/2 Tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1 1/2 Tsp poppy seeds
• 4-5 green chillis
• 1 heaped Tsp red chilli powder (I used Kasmiri Mirch)
• 1/2 Tsp tumeric powder
• 2 heaped Tsp Curd
• 4 Tsp + 2 Tsp mustard oil
• Salt to taste

Procedure 

• Grind and make a paste out of the mustard seeds and the poppy seeds.
• In a bowl mix together the above paste with the curd, tumeric powder, red chilli powder, 4 tsp mustard oil and salt. (You can use any other type of red chilli powder if you want or use less or more as per your liking)
• Wash the fish and marinate the fish with the above mixture. (I used a steel utensil to marinate the fish and cooked the fish in the same utensil.) Make sure all the pieces are covered well with the mixture.

Fish marinated with the mixture (pic with flash)

• Let the fish remain marinated fo 10 mins. (If you want you can skip this step it won't cause a major diffeence in taste :) )
• In order to make gravy add about 1/2 cup water (or less if you want) and mix well.
• Drizzle the remaining 2 tsp mustard oil on top of the fish and add the green chillis. The mustard oil enhances the flavour of the fish.
• Now put that utensil with the marinated fish on a low flame, cover it and cook till the fish is done. It should not take more than 15 mins. Do not stir the fish or else it will break but make sure your flame is low or else the the paste can burn.
• Garnish with green chillis or with chopped coriander. (my grandpa isn't fond of coriander so I did not add it.)

The final product 

 

• Serve with rice.

Served with rice (pic with flash)

(pic without flash)

Note:- If you want to make this more spicy you can grind a few chillies together with the mustard seeds and the poppy seeds.

My family really enjoyed this dish, its the first time I cooked Hilsa.  

Well i hope you will try this recipe and will let me know how it worked for you :)

Until next time adiós :)