I was just super busy last week and did not post anything. My partner moved to Austin for work and I was too busy feeling sorry for myself. So this is bonus post!!!
Seedy Bread Loaf!!!
I baked over the weekend. I baked because I figured it was time to improve my bread skills. I was the worse bread maker till two years ago. Then I realized that I screwed up bread because I was scared of it. I realized that it’s just dough and I make doughs all the time! It’s all about the feel of the dough and the moisture content. So, I found a recipe for a healthy and seedy bread and made it! It turned out so well that I’ve decided to bake a bread a week till I’ve gotten over my fear of bread.
Now I want to make it clear that it’s not my recipe and I adapted it to my methods. I also added 1 tbsp flaxseed meal instead of the 2 tbsp mentioned in the recipe. It still turned out fine.
Slice using a serrated knife!
The trick to making good bread is the kneading and never using the amount of flour required at once. I started with 1 cup of bread flour and 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour. Then I turned the dough into a clean surface and used the remaining 1 cup bread flour for kneading. I also kneaded the dough for a good 10-15 mins. This helps to develop the gluten and in moisture absorption. If your dough does not feel sticky and comes together in a stretchy ball before you have used up the required flour, stop there. DO NOT add in the rest of the flour, it will make the bread dry.
Another trick is the find a warm corner to put the dough to rise. I heat my oven to the lowest setting, let it cool for 15 mins or so and then put my dough in. The rising time can vary depending on the location, temperature etc. So don’t be disheartened of the dough hasn’t doubled in 90 mins. Let it rest for longer if required.
I also substituted the egg wash with a milk wash since I hate wasting the leftover egg wash. Once the load is out of the baking tray, brush the top with butter or olive oil to make the crust soft. You can also cover the top with a damp towel to retain moisture and soften the crust.
Perfect airy and even structure. It’s all in the kneading!!
Make sure the bread is stored in an airtight container or zip lock bag. If it sits outside without cover for too long, the crust will become tough and the bread goes stale faster. So go on make bread! It’s one of the better things in life… As always, don’t forget to let me know how your loaf turned out!!
This week, I’m adding a recipe for paneer curry that my partner really likes. He asked me to make a curry that was tangy and spicy, but did not want the usual ones. He also wanted the paneer to be stuffed. So, I came up with this recipe.
Paneer Curry
First things first. I understand that paneer isn’t an ingredient that’s readily available everywhere. Paneer is an Indian soft cheese made by splitting milk. Here’s how to make it!
Ingredients
Milk 2 liters or half a gallon (preferably whole milk)
Vinegar 3 tbsp (start with 1 tsp and use as needed)
Equipment
Large sieve
Muslim cloth or cheese cloth (large enough to drape over the sieve). You can use coffee filters or any thin cloth here
Method
Pour milk into a large saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.
Switch of heat and 1 tsp vinegar. Stir
Repeat process till whet separates from curds
Line the sieve with muslin cloth or the other chosen form of filter
Pour the curdled milk on the sieve. Drain well and let set for at least 6 hours.
Cut into cubes and use in any curry!
So now that we have our paneer, I can walk you through the curry recipe. I will not be including the naan recipe here since they’re my partner’s expertise and I need to get the recipe from him (when he wants to sit down and give it to me)….
Garlic butter naan.. Recipe unknown.
Paneer Curry Recipe!!!
Ingredients
Bay leaf 2 small
Large black cardamom pod 1
Kashmiri dry red chilies 10-12
Whole cloves 3
Black peppercorns 5
Cinnamon stick 1 inch
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Coriander seeds 3 tbsp
Onion 1 large
Tomatoes 3 large
Ginger 1.5 inch piece
Garlic 4-5 cloves
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Yogurt 3 tbsp
Water 2 cups
Paneer cubes 250 grams or 8 ounces
Green chutney 3 tsp
Salt and oil as needed
Method
Split and de-seed the Kashmiri chilies and soak in warm water for 15-20 mins
Dry roast peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon stick, cumin seeds and coriander seeds till fragrant
Cool and transfer to a food processor or coffee grinder. Blend into a fine paste
Roughly chop the onion, garlic and tomatoes
Add 1 tbsp oil into a large saucepan and add in the chopped vegetables
Sauté on medium heat till onions turn translucent and cool completely
In the meantime, blend the soaked Kashmiri red chilies into a fine paste. Transfer to a bowl
Blend the onion, garlic and ginger into a fine paste
Add 2 tbsp oil to a large saucepan and add the bay leaves and cardamom.
Add the blended chilies and sauté for 3-5 mins on medium heat
Add the blended onion mixture and sauté till oil releases from the sides
Blend the tomatoes into a fine paste and add to the saucepan. Sauté till all the water evaporates and oil releases from the sides
Add in the turmeric and salt. Mix well
Turn the heat on low and add the yogurt. Mix vigorously to avoid splitting
Add the water and cover with a lid. Let the curry boil, then turn off the heat.
Slit the paneer cubes in the middle and spread green chutney inside the cut
Add 1 tbsp oil in a shallow saucepan and add the paneer pieces. Roast on both sides till paneer turns a light golden brown
Add the roasted paneer to the prepared curry
That is the recipe for my paneer curry. I know it has a lot of steps and does require time and effort. However, the end result is totally worth it. This curry can be frozen and used as desired as well. Just add in the paneer after defrosting!
So I hope you try it out and let me know how it went!
As promised, here’s my recipe for the burger patties I used at our beach bbq. They are the most delicious blend of potatoes and smoked paprika.
The burgers once more!!
Ingredients
3 large potatoes
1/2 red onion
1 tbsp roasted garlic powder
1 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika powder
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
8 oz cheese block
salt as required
Method
Cut the potatoes in quarters and boil in a large pot with water.
Pull out when fork tender and immediately dunk in cold water to stop the cooking
While potatoes cook, finely chop the onion
Mash potatoes and add all ingredients
Mix well and divide into 8 equal parts. I like thinner patties, so I made 8. You can divide the mixture according to your choosing!
Cut the cheese block into 8 equal pieces
Oil your hands and press one part of the mix into a flat disc
Put a piece of cheese in the middle and enclose completely with the potato mix
Shape into round patties and freeze till needed or use immediately!
This recipe originated completely by accident. Usually we’d buy frozen patties when grilling, but some of our friends are vegetarian. The frozen vegetarian patties taste like cardboard and thus, I tried these patties. After much trial and error, I finally made some that did not break on the grill.
Make sure you oil the grill before putting these on. It is also necessary to watch the potatoes and make sure they don’t over cook. Over cooked potatoes will make the mixture wet and the patties will fall apart on the grill.
Since the patties are extremely dry, I like to brush mine with sauces like sriracha or a spicy Bbq sauce. Just brush some on while grilling and the patty will turn moist! I also add a single slice of low fat cheese on the patty while it’s grilling so it melts before adding it all on a bun…
That’s it for this recipe. Do try it out and let me know how it turned out!!
Summer is almost gone, so we decided to take advantage of the warmth while it lasts. We drive out to China beach in San Francisco and had ourselves some beach bbq!
One of my friends was the non-official photographer and all picture credits belong to her!
Chicken skewers and burgers
Let’s talk about the grill first. We bought this small portable grill on Black Friday from Amazon. It’s super easy to use and cleans well. You can set it up anywhere. Just make sure that the area allows a charcoal grill first! This Black Friday, we’re going to invest in a propane grill so we can Bbq anywhere…
The food was amazing and plentiful. The stars of the picnic were definitely the Reshmi kebabs my friend got and some grilled peaches.
Reshmi kebabs are nothing but marinated chicken breasts that you can skewer and grill. Since the kebabs marinated overnight, they turned out super tender and cooked faster. I personally use this recipe for making the yogurt marinade: http://www.tasty-indian-recipes.com/kebab-recipes/reshmi-kabab-recipe
Chicken Reshmi kebabs with cilantro and mint chutney
I made a spicy green chutney to go along with the kebabs. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
cilantro 2 bunches
Mint 1 bunch
Green chili 1 (depending on how spicy you want it)
Juice of 1 lime
Salt
Ginger 1/2 inch piece
Water 3 tbsp
Method
Roughly chop cilantro, mint, green chili and ginger
Add the chopped veggies to the smallest blender container you have.
Add the water and blend smooth. You can add more water to help in blending, just make sure to add a little at a time so the chutney doesn’t become cilantro juice
Add salt and lime juice and blend to combine
Grilled portobello mushrooms and some vegetarian burgers followed the kebabs. I’ll post a recipe for the mushrooms and the patties next week!
Portobello mushrooms on the grill
To finish, we grilled some peaches! I just followed the recipe by Chef John from Food Wishes with minor modifications. I did not use barbecue sauce since none of us really like it and I also grilled the cut side of the peach. The peaches turned out amazing!! Here’s a link to the recipe I used: https://youtu.be/QM5No_4YKRo
Grilled peaches
After eating that much, all we did was laze around on the beach and got sun burnt in the process.. I hope you’ll give these things a try and let me know how it goes!
P.S. Don’t forget the sun screen, and make sure it’s not expired!!! :p
I recently went to the Asian supermarket to buy some rice noodles, and happened to see some frozen rice cakes. For days afterwards, they sat in my freezer because I had no idea what to do with them!
After intense discussions with a colleague, I decided to make a soup. It went well…mostly.
The first thing I did was look for Tteokguk recipes. Tteokguk is a traditional Korean rice cake soup served on New Years.. I think I got this right, but please let me know if I didn’t!
I liked this recipe by Seonkyoung Longest: https://seonkyounglongest.com/tteokguk/. I actually also love watching everything else she makes on Facebook, especially the love videos!
I had to modify it quite a bit since I didn’t have half the ingredients on hand and since we’ve been eating mostly vegetarian. For context, my partner has recently started thinking about humane treatment of animals. However, being almost broke means you can’t always buy meat that’s ethically sourced. Hence the vegetarianism.
Anyway, I started a broth first and kept it going for about 50 mins or so. It was simple, but packed a punch. Once the broth was done, I moved on to cooking the rice cakes. I boiled them in the broth itself. The starch in them thickened my soup a bit and added flavor.
I tasted one rice cake and it seemed cooked. I plated up the soup with julienned cooked eggs, some radish and green onions. It turns out that the rice cakes weren’t cooked completely. Sigh…
I cooked all the ones we did not eat in boiling water for another 10 mins and they were perfect! So, I would recommend soaking frozen rice cakes for at least 15 mins for thawing and then boiling for another 20. Mins were thick cylinders, which is why it took so long. If you use the sliced ones, they’ll be done faster. If nothing else, they should be cooked for more time than the package says.
Here’s the recipe for the soup!
Ingredients
For the soup
2 stalks green onion2 inch piece of ginger1 star anise1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns1 small bunch cilantro1 tbsp soy sauceSalt and pepper to tasteRice cakes 10-12 piecesWater 1/2 gallon
For the garnish
2 eggs separated
2 red radishes
1 green onion
Salt and pepper
Method
Cut the green onions into two parts and bruise them slightly
Add the peppercorns to a mortar and pestle and grind into a coarse powder
Separate coriander stalks from leaves.
Bruises stalks lightly with the back of your knife. Save the leaves for some other recipe
Cut the ginger into large pieces and bruise lightly
Add enough water to a heavy bottomed pot and turn heat on to medium.
Add the green onions, peppercorn powder, cilantro stalks, ginger and star anise.
Cover and boil for 45-50 mins. Check periodically and add water if required
In the meantime, soak the rice cakes in room temperature water for at least 15 mins
Remove cover and add soy sauce, salt and pepper.
Drain the broth and bring back to a boil on medium heat
Add the rice cakes and cook for 15-20 mins or until quite soft
Heat a non stick pan on medium heat. Beat the egg yolks and egg whites in separate bowls with salt and pepper Add the beaten egg yolks to the pan and cook on low heat. Make sure the bottom doesn’t get burnt. Repeat the same with egg whites Roll the cooked omelettes and slice thinly Slice the radishes thinly and finely chop the green part of the green onion Add the cooked rice cakes to the bottom of a bowl. Top with the broth as needed Arrange the garnishes on top and enjoy!
This recipe seems like a lot of work, but it really isn’t. You just need time to infuse the broth with all the flavors. It’s a wonderfully light recipe for a weekday.
I do hope you’ll try it out and let me know how it goes!!!
We try to eat as healthy as possible, but weekends are cheat days. This weekend I made baked vegetables in white sauce. It’s a ‘continental’ cuisine recipe from India. I’ve never actually heard of a cuisine named ‘continental’ outside India though.
I used a cast iron skillet to make the sauté the vegetable and make the sauce so that I’d only need to clean one pan. A cast iron skillet is perfect since it works on the stove and in the oven! I also used low fat cheese and olive oil instead of butter…
The recipe I’ve given the link for does not say how to make the white sauce. It’s nothing more than a béchamel. I’ve included the recipe below:
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
5 finely minced garlic cloves
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/4 cup shredded cheese
1 tsp mixes herbs
Salt and pepper according to taste
Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a cast iron skillet
Add the garlic and sauté till fragrant
Add the all purpose flour and mix
Add the milk a little at a time, whisking continuously. Make sure there are no lumps.
Heat the mixture on medium heat till it is thick.
Add salt, pepper, mixed herbs and cheese and mix till combined.
We ate toasted sourdough bread on the side. I love the citrusy and earthy taste of sourdough, but you can use any bread you want! Of course, this recipe can be eaten without any accompaniments as well… If there is one drawback this recipe has, it’s that it cannot be frozen. Since it is dairy based, it will most likely split. I like eating it, so I haven’t tried freezing it. If you do and it works, let me know!!!
These are our favorite burgers ever. I was a bit skeptical about trying beetroot burgers with prunes added, but these were amazing! The earthy and sweet taste from the beetroot gave the burgers a great depth of flavor. The other additions added texture and flavor as well.
The toppings added can be customized according to everyone’s taste. I added lettuce and grilled onions to mine! Coleslaw also works in these burgers…
The best part about the burgers is that they can be frozen. Just make patties in the required sizes and freeze them individually. Grill them on a hot pan for a few minutes or till the edges almost burn. I also added cheese on the top and melted it!
I know, I know… There’s a LOT of cheese here! I happen to like cheese a lot and hence, I use low fat cheese! Grocery outlet usually has a version of low fat pepper jack cheese slices. Kraft also makes a decent 2% cheddar!
So make these burgers and freeze them for those weeknights when you really don’t want to cook! 🙂
This post is majorly about freezing Indian food, but a quick general note first. When I started meal prepping, the first thing I did was research what can be frozen and what cannot be frozen. I found a guide by Lauren Greutman (her handle: @iamthatlady) that is amazingly detailed. Here’s the link: https://www.laurengreutman.com/83-foods-to-freeze-or-foods-not-to-freeze/
I love
having Indian home food every other night. Finding complete guides to freezing
Indian foods is quite hard. It took some experimentation, but here’s a list!
Chutneys:
Most chutneys freeze pretty well. I always make big batches and use them when needed. Coconut based chutneys are the only exception. I found the texture changes on thawing and it isn’t very appetizing. While not a chutney, a mix for pani puri water freezes very well. Just blend it like you normally would and freeze it. When needed, you can dilute it with water and add salt, cumin powder and chat masala. Sometimes when I’m running low on herbs, I just add some chutney I froze. So, that’s another advantage of freezing these.
Gravies:
This recipe contains a lot of dairy and will need to be eaten in two weeks. The portion is single serve!
My cousin freezes large batches of cooked gravies and adds vegetables or paneer to it at the time of eating. I prefer adding everything in and freezing single serve portions.
One
thing you should never freeze in gravies is seafood. When I froze a batch of
Shrimp Vindaloo, the shrimp turned leathery after thawing. The same seems to be
true for all seafood, according to the internet.
There
are many opinions on whether we should freeze dairy. I find freezing gravies
with dairy in it is fine as long as the food is eaten in two to three weeks.
The same holds true for gravies with paneer in them. The other gravies can be
frozen for three months.
Bread
Indian
breads are another thing that freeze well. They can be frozen uncooked, half
cooked or completely cooked. The last time my mom visited, she froze around a
100 phulkas for me. I just microwaved them when needed. I will be adding a post
about freezing phulkas, parathas etc. and a quick way to roll them as well
soon. Till then, you can follow this link: (add link). I would not recommend
freezing raw dough. It does not thaw well and the resultant bread will not be
as soft as the ones made with fresh dough.
Dessert
Indian
desserts come in a large variety. Some of these can be frozen very well. The best
desserts to freeze are all kinds of halwas
like carrot, moong etc. Other desserts which can be frozen includes barfis
(except coconut based), ladoos etc. Basically,
any dessert without a dairy base can be frozen. Just remember to eat them
within the month. Needless to say, these guidelines do not apply to
traditionally frozen desserts like kulfis.
Dry curries
While
these can be frozen, I do not recommend it. The texture is too watery to
qualify as a dry curry. This is especially true for potato. Never freeze
potatoes, boiled or otherwise. Many guides recommend it, but my experience has
been quite bad. When I prep for dry curries, I make sure to eat them within the
first three days. They can stay fresh in the fridge for that long.
Lentils
All
lentils freeze well. I freeze large batches of my favorites like dal makhana,
rajma, moong, dal khichdi, moong etc. They can stay good for three to four months.
You can freeze lentils cooked with salt and finish the dish later as well. I
prefer to freeze mine in single serve portions so I don’t have to do anything
before eating except chuck it in the microwave.
Fried Stuff
Homemade kachoris. Who wouldn’t want to freeze these?
I have frozen kachoris, samosas etc. multiple times. I usually do this when I get packages from India. They do not thaw well or reheat well. They become quite soft and lose the crispiness. However, if it means I can eat kachoris over an extended period of time without the effort, I will do it.
Batters and mixes
This last section is my favorite. Even before I started meal prepping, I used to freeze dosa and idli batters. It is extremely easy to make them and they are delicious any time of the day. Here’s my mother’s recipe for the batter https://everything-nothing.home.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/dosa_idli-batter.docx. The batter can be defrosted in the microwave. The recipe is for idli batter, but can be converted into dosa batter on adding more water. Hebbars kitchen has a good video about this (https://youtu.be/iT4YJV2tx1w). This recipe has other additions. You can use my recipe and watch the video for guidance!
I also freeze mixes for things like dhokla, biryani masala, samosa masala etc. They last longer this way and you can use them whenever you want. They do not need to be thawed as well! This last month we got a huge shipment of white dhokla flour and it is in our freezer now. I am not sure how long they last, but the samosa masala my mom made in May 2018 is still good.
I will
keep adding to this list as I explore more. I have some tips and recipes for
freezing other cuisines as well. Keep an eye out for my next post!!
I recently
started meal prepping for the week. I was a little hesitant at first because of
two things. The first being my aversion to frozen food and the second being
that all videos, blogs etc. I saw prepped for two recipes for the week. That
meant I would be eating the same food every day of the week. That was not
something I was okay with. However, when I looked at recipes and methods of
freezing, I found that most cooked things could be frozen for at least three
months. I also realized that my aversion to frozen food comes from the fact
that I enjoy hot food. If I stick to food that can be heated, I should be fine.
Since I have a handle on the whole process now, I am writing a sort of guide to meal prep. Now, this is not a full-fledged meal prep blog and this is not a full-fledged guide. It’s something that can help you start and guide you to better resources. For this post, I am focusing on planning the meal prep itself.
First things first, you need to have the right equipment to meal prep. While some people use disposable containers, I prefer using things I can wash and reuse. It is also always better to have multiple boxes so you can freeze portioned meals. I would also suggest buying labels for the containers. Here’s a picture of the containers I use.
My meal prep boxes are a combination of Walmart 2 partition containers, Tupperware my mom sent and (believe it or not) restaurant delivery containers.
Other staple equipment includes usual material like aluminum foil, plastic wrap etc. We also own a 3.5 L Chefman air fryer, which is extremely handy in multi-tasking and produces healthy food! We got ours during Black Friday at Best Buy, but it is available on Amazon too.
Another important thing is to prep with the quantity, quality and diversity of the meals in mind. The key to this is planning the week ahead of time. I have a template that I use to list the menu for each week, list recipe ingredients and then create a shopping list from it. This link: https://everything-nothing.home.blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mealplantemplate.docx has the format I use in Microsoft word. You are welcome to use it. Please let me know if it works for you! I usually fill it in every Saturday morning. If we are planning to go somewhere on a weekend, I prep for that week the week before.
Here’s an example of a week.
Recipe vise Ingredient List
Cauliflower
curry: cauliflower (1 medium floret), onion
You might notice my ingredient list does not include weekend recipes. This is because I include the weekend in next week’s prep. Another thing you might notice is that I have written check in front of some ingredients. This is because I want to check if I have them before buying more.
Make sure you set aside at least 4 hours each weekend for prepping excluding grocery runs and menu planning. This reminds me that meal prep is an excellent activity to do with your partner. More people working means less work for one person and you get to spend time together!
Everything and Nothing 