Pizza Toast

It's Friday evening and time to think of a relaxed weekend and yummy food. Here's a recipe that you could try for Breakfast or an evening Snack!

Ingredients

Four Large tomatoes grated or finely chopped
Two large capsicums very finely chopped
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon (Dalchini)
1/2 inch piece ginger finely chopped
1-2 green chillies chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
Grated Cheese

Procedure for Sauce

Heat Oil in a Kadai or thick-bottomed pan. Add chopped ginger, green chillies and onion. Stir on low flame for a couple of minutes. Add tomato and cook with onions on low flame with kadai covered. After 5 - 10 minutes when tomotoes are soft and well blended, add capsicums salt and cinnamon powder. Cook on low flame till capsicums are cooked and you have a thick soft mixture. Emty this mixture in a container. This sauce can last for 2 - 3 days if kept in the refrigerator.

Procedure for Toasts:
1. Toast bread in toaster. Apply butter followed by a layer of Pizza sauce that you have kept aside. Sprinkle grated cheese and serve.

2. In case you have an oven you can apply the butter and pizza sauce on fresh bread or pizza base, sprinkle grated cheese and toast in oven/grill.

Bahar-E-Seviyan

As we get set for Raksha Bandhan tomorrow, a time to celebrate the unique bond between a brother and sister, here's a simple, delicious, quick to make recipe perfect for the occassion. Celebrate this happy occassion with my recipe of Bahar-E-Seviyan. If you have some seviyan leftover (not likely)you can make kheer out of it the next day by adding it to boiling milk and cook for a minute or two.





Ingredients

200 gms Vermicelli
1 cup Sugar
5-6 tbsp melted pure ghee
8 cardamoms
6 almonds and a few pistachios finely chopped

Procedure

Put sugar, blanched cardamoms and 2 1/2 cups of water in a pan and heat till sugar is totally dissolved. Keep aside. In a thick-bottomed kadai or pan heat ghee. Add vermicelli and keep turning on low flame till golden brown. Add sugar syrup increase flame and cook. Reduce flame when sugar syrup is fully absorbed. Cover and keep on low flame for 5 - 7 minutes till you see steam coming out. Serve hot garnished with chopped almonds and pistachios.

Over the last few days I have seen and bought excellent quality and very fresh vegetables like green peas, capsicum, carrots and tomatoes and I would recommend that if you go vegetable shopping this weekend, definitely pick up some of these as they are all very versatile vegetables which can be used in different ways.
Some suggestions:


1. Tomatoes – excellent in soup, curry, stuffed or steamed etc.
2. Capsicum – stuffed with delicious filling of cooked potatoes, onions etc or, bhajias, salad, as a dry dish with Paneer
3. Carrots – sliced or grated in salad, in soup, with methi as dry vegetable; with other vegetables as filling for Biryani and in delicious halwa
4. Green Peas – Boiled and mixed with mashed potato, in salad, in soups, with paneer or potato, cauliflower, in pulao, with potato as pattis

Would love to get feedback from bloggers on their ways of using these four vegetables.

Have just got home after a long exhausting day and am relishing my bowl of Tomato Soup and thought I would share the recipe for you to try out too!

Ingredients

3/4 kg Tomato chopped

2 Onions grated

2 Carrots grated

1 Tablespoon Yellow Moong Dal

1 Tablespoon Gram Flour

1 Tablespoon Butter

Salt, Pepper & Sugar to taste

Procedure

Put tomato, onions, carrots, dal and 5 cups of water in a pressure cooker and cook for about 15 minutes over medium flame. Remove and strain through a soup strainer, seiving as much pulp as possible.

In a pan heat , butter, add gram flour and stir on a slow flame for a minute or two. Add salt, pepper and sugar and bring to boil. Serve garnished with fried bread croutons / bread rolls.

Hasty Tasty Halwa

Delicious dessert or breakfast that can be dished out in 15 minutes flat. An occasional treat to indulge.
Ingredients

• 1 cup semolina (sooji)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup pure ghee
• 6 cardomons shelled
• Few pistachios and almonds finely chopped
• Few raisins optional
• 2 cups water

Procudure

In a pan add sugar to water and add shelled cardamons. Heat over low flame till sugar dissolves completely and water comes to a boil. Keep aside. Heat ghee in a thick bottomed kadai on a low flame. Add semolina and roast on a low flame. Keep stirring till semolina is light golden in colour. Now add sugar syrup and increase flame and stir till the sugar syprup is fully absorbed. Reduce flame to lowest, add raisins, cover and cook for five minutes.

Serve hot covered with chopped pistachios and almonds.