Eggplant Parmigiana

 Last year, my daughter asked me to recreate olive garden’s eggplant parmigiana for her birthday. 

The recipe is not hard to guess, but I still googled to see if there is anything fancy. I found one in olive garden’s own website(I think) and it was just as easy as I thought it would be. I replaced their egg dip, with maida dip. And it turned out the same. But frying eggplant took forever! Then I found this recipe(link given below) for airfryer. Since I don’t own an airfryer, I did half frying on stove top and remaining in the oven. My friend Ashwini helped me by giving me tips on how to get the airfried effect from the conventional oven. 

If you own an airfryer, I think making this would be extremely easy. I am still debating if I should just buy one. I see all drool worthy recipes online, but don’t know how much it'll help with my style of cooking. Don’t want to use up my counter space unnecessarily. Anyways, for those who own one, this is the method mentioned in the blog - After the patties are coated well and ready to be fried, line them on the airfryer tray without crowding them and bake at 390 F for 10 min. Turn them mid point. Once done, put the toppings and bake them again until cheese melts. For more details you can follow the link below. 

Enjoy!  

Oven Roasted Veggie Enchilada

 Want some simple, filling, tasty lunch/dinner for the weekend? Try these oven roasted veggie enchilada… 

The procedure looks lengthy, but it is not. You can either use store bought sauce or try this easy homemade Enchilada sauce(click for the recipe). Oven does the work of roasting veggies. I personally like refried beans in Mexican dishes, but you don’t have to add it if you don’t have it, or you can add some cooked black beans. Assemble and bake away! 

Sambar Rice

Sambar rice/ Sambar sadam is Tamil Nadu’s counterpart of Karnataka’s bisi bele bath. Both look the same, tastes the same(well, almost), procedure is also the same. Only difference is in the masala. Sambar rice has a strong black pepper flavor, our own BBB doesn’t. Choice of vegetables is also different. Good way to finish up vegetables… 

Do try! 

Idiyappam

Idiyappam - is basically rice flour noodles from Kerala, a variation of our very own ottu shaavige(Karnataka). Traditionally ottu shaavige is made in “shaavige oralu”. Making ottu shavige is time consuming and frankly speaking very cumbersome. I only love eating part of it. 

Idiyappam on the other hand is mini version and can be pressed in Chakli press. I don’t know if traditionally it is made this way. May be it was similar to ottu shaavige before but over the years became mini.. no idea.  But anyways the recipes I saw online seemed very doable compared to ottu shavige.

I made 2 batches. First one clicked, second one flopped. I was nervous before making the first batch and prayed to God. While making second batch I was confident and hence didn’t pray. I think that was the major reason for failure :). In this particular recipe, you mix rice flour with hot water. In other recipes I’ve seen online, you cook rice flour in boiling water till it comes together as a dough. That can make a difference in the texture too. 

I’ve also listed other reasons I think might’ve caused the problem, below in notes. Do try!

Happy Makara Sankranti! Happy New Year!!

Veg Burrito Bowl

My husband loves chipotle burrito bowls. Burrito bowls are easy to prepare at home. If you are hosting a party, you can prepare all the side dishes in advance and still have time to dress up and look fresh :) You can easily feed a crowd. Taste bhi health bhi kinda dish. 

Do try!

Happy holidays!!

Bread masala

So one day, casually browsing I came across bread masala video on Hebbar’s Kitchen and my daughter who was close by saw it and insisted that I make it for her. It looked easy.. so I gave it a try.. It tasted soo good! Generally making pav bhaji is easy, but this is easier than that. This is perfect for lunch box for kids. You can make masala previous day and add bread pieces in the morning, mix and give it for lunch box. 

Do try!  

Enchilada - Method 2

There’s already one recipe for Enchilada, which can be found here. What’s different in this recipe is enchilada sauce is made from scratch and I have also used refried beans, which gives authentic flavor to any Mexican dish. Sauce and refried beans are very easy to make. 

Enchilada Sauce recipe can be found here - Enchilada Sauce

Refried beans here - Refried Beans

Do try!

Quesadilla - easy lunch box recipe

Quesadilla makes for a perfect lunch box item, especially for kids. Adults can equally enjoy it too. Easy peasy, and can be made in a jiffy(less than 10 min) for busy weekday mornings. I’m sure every house has their own recipe for this. Here’s mine.. 

I generally make stuffing before hand and use organic whole wheat frozen tortillas(from costco, with just 5 ingredients, no preservative).

Do try!

Kothu Parotta

I have never tasted kothu parotta before. I am always skeptical trying out new dishes at restaurants. Lest I try something new and it doesn’t turn out as good as my expectations, then my whole “restaurant going” experience is ruined. The kind of hunger I’m in when I go to restaurants, I’m in no mood to wait nor to try out anything new.

For new dishes, either I try from frozen section at Indian stores, or I try to make it at home, or I taste from my husband’s plate when he is trying out something new :)

So I find this kothu parotta in frozen section. I bring it home and open it, only to realize that it’s just plain parotta cut into fancy strips. That's when I googled for it and found out about salna. 

Parotta(malabar parotta) is basically maida based flaky paratha(bread). It is little time consuming to make from scratch. But is easily available in frozen section at Indian stores. Kottu parotta(vegetarian version) is made by sautéing parotta pieces in salna(tomato based gravy) and some vegetables. 

It turned out very tasty. Both my husband and daughter loved it. Do try!

Enchilada

Tried this Enchilada recipe(with minor modifications) sometime back. It came out really good. Capsicum-red kidney beans-corn-cheese filling, rolled in whole wheat tortillas, topped with cheese and baked to perfection... every bite bursts with flavor and makes you want for more..

It is very filling. Perfect for potlucks and a total crowd pleaser. Do try!