Pepper 'n Spice

Pakoda originated in India. It can be made from paneer, potato or onion. We usually eat pakodas in the monsoon season. There is something magical about its crispiness during the rains. My mom surprised us today evening with these potato stuffed fritters. It was awesome!  Potato - 2, cooked, peeled and mashed Onion - 1, thinly sliced Green chilly -1, minced Ginger - 1 inch, grated Salt - as required Multi-grain bread slices - 4 Vegetable oil Shallow fry the onion, chilly and ginger until onion is golden brown. Add salt and mashed potato. Soak bread in water and squeeze well. Crumble it into potato mixture and stir till evenly combined. Remove from heat. Make small round balls or long shapes. Deep fry. Serve with tomato sauce. Quick tip - Bread pakoda and soup is a great combination.

The cake has a subtle orange flavour. If you have left over oranges, add slices in water for a refreshing drink. Fruit-infused drinks are popular to make water taste better and hence making you drink more. Try with slices of strawberry, lemon or cucumber too.  Plain flour - 1 and 1/2 cup Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp Salt - 1/4 tsp Orange zest - 1/2 cup Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup Butter - 1/2 cup Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Organic eggs - 3 Freshly squeezed orange juice - 1/2 cup Sieve flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add orange zest too.  Combine well. In another bowl, beat sugar and butter until well blended. Add essence. Into this, break eggs one by one, beating well each time. Add flour mixture, stirring until combined. Pour the orange juice and stir until evenly moistened. Pour cake batter into greased cake tin. Preheat oven to 180 C. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool...

Every time there is broccoli with dark green heads and crisp stalks at our local shop, I pick one. Broccoli in any cooked form is welcome in our home. Broccoli is a cross between cauliflower and pea. It contains a lot of phytochemicals which help ward off disease. All of the florets, its stem and side shoots can be used in dishes. A short cooking time brings out the best flavor and green color of the broccoli. I prefer to steam.  Leek, the white part - 1, thinly sliced Garlic - 2 pods, crushed Ginger - 1 inch, grated Olive oil - 4 Tbsp Broccoli - 1 Carrot - 1. peeled and thinly diced Potato - 1, peeled and thinly diced Chicken soup cubes - 3 Water - 2 cups Salt - 1 tsp Turmeric powder - a pinch Pepper - 1/2 tsp Fresh coriander leaves - a few Blanch broccoli florets and its stems with a pinch of turmeric, salt and warm water. Steam broccoli, carrot and potato until they become soft. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ginger, garlic a...

Our neighbor aunt, Lillykutty has a mango tree which has hundreds of mangoes at this time of year. She gives us bucketloads of them as we all love mangoes, especially my little one. Fresh fruit juice is always good for health and hydrating too. This simple juice needs only : Mango, ripe - 3, peeled and coarsely chopped Carrot - 1, peeled and thinly sliced Apple - 1/4 piece, peeled and thinly sliced Freshly squeezed orange juice - 1/4 cup Ginger - 1/2 inch, grated Salt - a pinch Water - 1/2 cup In a blender, puree all the ingredients. The juice is ready. This juice tastes fresh because of the carrot and ginger in it. Enjoy the day!

The concept of cupcakes came into being because of the reduced time it takes to bake as compared to a whole cake. They were also initially called number cakes or 1234 cakes as it was easy to recollect the portion sizes of each of its ingredients - the recipe had butter, sugar, flour and eggs in the ratio 1:2:3:4. I use the spices, cardamom and star anise in this recipe. I accidentally discovered star anise when I was shopping for spices for my masala chai. It has a strong, distinct flavour. So I tried it with this cake. And the aroma at baking time was mild and pleasant. No wonder there are star anise perfumes! When I want to make more cupcakes, I just double all the ingredients. The ingredients are : Plain flour - 3/4 cup Baking powder - 1 tsp Milk powder - 2 Tbsp Cinnamon powder - a pinch Fresh cream - 1/4 cup Sugar - 1/4 cup Green cardamom pods - 4 Star anise - 1, small Vanilla essence - 5 or 6 drops Milk - 1/2 cup Sieve flour, baking powder and cinnamon...

Soup is a warm comfort food. There are clear soups and thick soups. This spinach soup is a thick one. I was encouraged to try making soups when my uncle, Ashok shared a soup recipe with me. Soups make you feel full because it contains a lot of water and fiber. Don't throw away any of the water that you use for cooking the vegetables or meat for a soup - it can be used for the broth.  Spinach Onion - 1 small, thinly sliced Ginger - 1/2 inch Green chilli - 1, sliced into small circles Potato - 1 small, peeled and diced Olive oil - 2 Tbsp Salt - as required Pepper - 1/2 tsp Chicken masala - 1 tsp Water - 1 cup Wash the spinach leaves and remove the stems. In a pan on medium heat, add the oil. Once it warms up, add the ginger, chilli and onion. Saute till the onion becomes soft.  Add the spices, Then the potato and spinach and 1/2 cup water. Stir around till the potato gets cooked. This might take a few minutes. Also the spinach will wilt. Allow this to cool. Then...

Cutlet is minced meat or vegetable dipped in egg, then rolled over breadcrumbs and fried. The North Indian vegetarian cutlet is called aloo tikki, made from potatoes, chili and onion. We usually use the canned tuna in our breakfast sandwiches. I thought I would try a variation; making cutlets from it. It turned out nice and crisp, perfect with rice. My little one liked it as a pav filling. The cooking is surprisingly simple; mashing, dipping, frying. I sneaked in some spinach leaves to add a little greens into the food. The tuna cutlets need the following : Tuna - 1 can Potato - 1 small, boiled and peeled Onion - 1 small, thinly sliced Green chilli - 1, sliced into small pieces Ginger - 1 inch, peeled and grated Cumin - 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder - a pinch Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp Chicken masala - 1 1/2 tsp Salt - 1 1/2 tsp Spinach - a handful, washed and shredded into small pieces Olive oil - 4 Tbsp Organic egg - 1 White bread - 2 Squeeze out the water from the can of ...

Ada can be served as an evening snack or for breakfast. It can be made sweet or salty. There are two methods to make ada - steamed and dry. My dad made ada today for tea-time snack - the dry version called Ottada. It was crispy and yum!       You need : Rice flour - 30 gms Grated coconut - 50 gms Salt - as required Plantain leaf - cut into rectangle pieces Take rice flour in a bowl and make into a dry paste by adding water little by little. Make small balls. In a separate bowl, mix coconut with salt. Take one of the cut leaf and one of the balls. Spread it gently onto the plantain leaf with the tip of your fingers, working from the inside toward the outer edge. Try to make it as thin as possible without breaking the spread. Sprinkle grated coconut. Fold leaf and place leaf on a heated frying pan. When the green leaf turns dark brown, turn it over. Once both sides are brown, remove it from pan. Alternatively, you can place the leaf directly on the flame. Ottada ...

Annie, my badminton cum exercise buddy, bird photographer and next-door neighbor brought me a fresh pineapple. It was interesting to note that the fruit actually is a cluster of berries. Cake ingredients are: Pineapple chunks, small - 1 cup and 3 Tbsp Sugar - 5 Tbsp White bread - 2 slices Organic eggs - 3 Milk powder - 3 Tbsp Vanilla essence - 1 tsp In a saucepan on low flame, stir  pineapple and 2 Tsbp of sugar. Stir until water evaporates from pineapple and it becomes sticky. Keep aside to cool. Powder bread. In a glass bowl, break eggs and add milk powder, essence. Whisk. Grease an aluminium cake tin. Spread pineapple on the bottom. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly. Press it down gently with the back of your fingers. Spread wet batter. Cover tin with a steel plate. Steam on medium flame, 20 minutes. Allow to cool. Turn out and serve slices. Recipe from Annie Joseph

Green gram is called moong dal in India. My little one has been asking me to make a burger. So I used moong to make a vegetarian burger patty.  Ingredients : Mung beans - 1 cup Potato - 1 Olive oil - 1 Tbsp Onion - 1, thinly sliced Green chili - 2, finely chopped Salt - to taste Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp Coriander leaves - a fistful, finely chopped Soak mung beans overnight. Strain. Pressure cook for 3 whistles. Strain and set aside. Separately pressure cook potato until soft. Keep aside to cool. Peel and mash. In a saucepan, add oil. Add chili, onion. Stir. When onions become caramelized, add spices and salt. Stir. Add potato. Gently mash beans and add to pan. Stir, 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle coriander. Let it cool. Make small patties. Tip -  Dip in egg and breadcrumbs for a crispy texture.

My badminton buddy, Priyanka introduced me to this great recipe. Its a failproof one, which does not involve any kneading.                 Pav was brought to the Indian subcontinent by the Portuguese. This bread usually comes as a set of four mini buns, and each bun that you break from it is called a pav. The name is derived from the Marathi word pav, meaning one-fourth.               Ingredients for this bread are :   Sugar - 1 tsp Dry yeast - 1 tsp Warm water - 1/4 cup All-purpose flour - 2 cups Salt - 1/2 tsp Olive oil - 2 Tbsp + extra for greasing dough and pan Milk - 1/2 cup         In a glass bowl, add sugar and yeast with a little warm water (just enough to soak). Allow it to ferment for 15 minutes. Then add flour, salt, oil and mix with a spatula.                    Pour milk into this and use your fingers to make a soft dough. It...

Bitter gourd or bitter melon is bitter! And my daughter loves it. We use it in thoran and theeyal too in our home. This cucumber-like vegetable has its origins in India. Bitter gourd (pavaykka) - 3 Salt - 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder - a pinch Green chili - 1, slit into half Refined vegetable oil - 2 tsp Wash the gourd and slice it into half. Remove seeds and chop it into thin slices. Steam. Heat a pan with  oil. Add bitter gourd, chili, salt and turmeric. Saute on medium flame. Quick tip - Add thin coconut slices to enhance the flavor. Recipe from Mom

This recipe I have here is a quick one. It requires : Frozen peas - 2 cups (keep outside to thaw) Salt - 1/4 tsp Pepper - 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp Olive oil - 1 Tbsp Wash the peas and steam it. Alternatively, you can also microwave with a a little water for a few minutes. Buts it always better to steam because then the colour and vitamins are retained. Once its a little cooked, warm a pan and add the oil. Add the peas, toss around in the oil and then add the spices. Stir for a few minutes so that the spices coat the peas. This dish tastes swell with hot white rice.

This is an easy snack to make if you have a tin of tuna and buns. Tuna has a high protein content and tastes a bit like chicken. The ingredients needed for this burger are : White bun - 1 Cucumber - 1/2, peeled Tomato - 1/2 Brinjal - 1/2 Olive oil - 1 tsp Ginger paste - 2 Tbsp Pepper - a sprinkle Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Salt - a sprinkle And a can of tuna Slice the cucumber, tomato, brinjal into thin round pieces. Heat a pan and add oil. Once the oil warms, saute the  brinjal . Add the spices to it and toss around a bit. Halve the bun and place the cucumber, tomato and brinjal slices. Then add the tuna. Munch away! Quick tip - You can apply a spread of mayonnaise and ketchup too.

Brown rice is healthier than white rice as it contains parts of the grain kernel. Its also rich in B vitamins. This recipe needs the following : Brown rice - 1 cup Water - 2 cups Lemon - 1/2 Olive oil -1 tsp Salt - 1/4 tsp And the veggies : Yellow zuchinni - 1 , peeled, diced and steamed Green capsicum - 1, diced Sweet corn (frozen) - 1 cup The spices used are : Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp Pepper - 1/4 tsp Salt - 1 tsp Chicken masala powder - 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp and a handful of pumpkin seeds To start, wash the rice thoroughly. For every cup of rice, you need double the quantity of water. To the rice and water, squeeze the juice of half a lemon. Also, add the olive oil. The lemon juice and oil helps to reduce the stickiness of the cooked rice. After adding salt too, pressure cook the rice. In a sauce pan, add a Tbsp of olive oil. Once it warms up, add the chopped vegetables and corn. Add the spices and pumpkin seeds too. Sautee. As the spices ...

Masala tea is a spiced Indian tea. It feels good to have it on a cold, rainy day. The spices also help boost immunity. The mortar and pestle that I use for grinding is made from stone and from my Mom's collection. First set of spices : Dried ginger powder  - 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp Second set of spices : Cloves - 3 Black pepper - 4 Green cardamom - 3 Aniseed - 1 Milk - 1/2 cup Water - 1/2 cup Tea powder - 1 tsp Use a mortar and pestle, to grind second set of spices (aniseed can be broken by hand into smaller pieces before grinding). In a vessel, add the first and second set of spices, and then milk and water. Heat. When it boils and start to rise, add the tea powder. Allow it to boil for a minute so that spices infuse into the tea. Strain the tea into your cup. Easy tip - You can make the tea, even if you have only some of the spices. The same recipe holds for spiced black tea. Just skip the milk.