Recipes that I wrote for the India Post newspaper

Last few weeks were very hectic for me, in a very good way. We celebrated our daughter's birthday. We attendened some more parties with family and friends. And not to give any excuse :) but as a result I did not blog. So I thought I would at least publish some of my old recipes that I had written for the India Post newspaper. The photo files got corrrupted and I do not have any photos for these recipes but when I make them in future I will add them. And if you make any of these recipes please send me the photo. Enjoy!

Baked Shrimp
((Makes: 25 to 30)

Ever wondered what to make for an elegant formal party? This delicately spiced baked shrimp is the answer. It is easy to make and yet so exquisite that it will surely be a hit in the party.

Ingredients
1 pound fresh shrimp (head removed)
3/4 cup bread crumbs (unflavored)
3 tsp. fresh mint leaves (finely minced)
1 tsp. dry marjoram
4 shallots (finely chopped about 5 tbsp.)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt (kosher)
3 tbsp. water (for baking)

Method
· Preheat oven to 400 degree F.
· Mix all the ingredients except shrimp in a bowl. Keep aside.
· Peel the shell of the shrimp (Leave the tail on). Make about 1/4 centimeter, slit on the top part of the shrimp and remove the black thread. Wash in cool water, pat dry with paper towel.
· Take half tablespoon of the mixture and press to coat the shrimp.
· Line the shrimp in the baking pan. Keep about half inch distance between them, so they bake evenly on all sides.
· Put water in the baking pan, taking care not to spill it on the top of the shrimp.
· Put the baking pan on the middle rack in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes, rotating it by 180 degrees, half way through the baking.

Here are some ideas for other types of shrimp coatings
· The marjoram from the recipe can be substituted with any spices like thyme, oregano, basil or a mixture of them.

You can also use following combinations

· Bread crumbs, shallots, peanut oil, salt, fresh mint and garam masala.
· Bread crumbs, shallots, safflower oil, salt, limejuice, ginger, garlic, cilantro and green chilies.
· Bread crumbs, shallots, sesame oil, salt, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, sesame seeds and chili powder.
· Bread crumbs, shallots, salt, fresh coconut, lemongrass, red chili flakes and lime zest.

Tips
· Turning the pan while baking ensures even heat on all sides, so they cook evenly.
· The color of the shrimp is a very good indicator of the doneness. They turn pink when they are cooked.
· Do not overcook the shrimp, they become tough.
· You can do all the preparation up to baking, several hours before the party. Then wrap the tray tightly with aluminum wrap and put it in the refrigerator till ready to bake (remove the wrap before baking).
· If you do not have access to fresh shrimp, you can get uncooked frozen shrimp and thaw in the refrigerator for several hours before starting.
· You can always ask for a bag of ice in the fish market (it is usually free). Keep the shrimp on the bag. This way they will remain cool till you return home.


Lettuce wraps
(Makes: 12 wraps)

Get-togethers are an integral part of the Indo-American culture and food is of course the most important part of them.
Party foods are typically finger foods, so guests can help themselves. The recipes that I will be sharing with you will particularly suit the international palate. They can be made quickly and ahead of time so you will be free to enjoy the party. It is also a healthy alternative to egg rolls.


Ingredients
1 Butter Lettuce (about 12 big leaves)
Filling:
1cup bean sprouts
2 medium cucumbers
2 carrots
2-tbsp. sesame seeds

Spicy Peanut sauce:
1 Shallot (Very finally chopped, about 2 tbsp. If shallot is unavailable, use white onion)
2 tbsp. peanut butter (crunchy)
3 medium spicy green chilies (roughly cut)
1tbsp ginger (roughly chopped)
1 big garlic clove
1/2 cup tightly packed cilantro leaves
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. lime juice
1/4c Water
Sweet sauce:
1/2 cup plum sauce
1/2 tsp. ginger (minced)
1 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
2tbsp. + 2 tsp. water

Method
Spicy sauce:
In a blender add green chilies, ginger, garlic clove, cilantro leaves, salt, limejuice and water.
Blend into a smooth paste. Add shallots and peanut butter to the paste and mix well.
Sweet sauce:
Mix al to ingredients to form a smooth sauce.
Filling:
· Peal the cucumber; cut it in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and thinly slice. Refrigerator for at least for an hour.
· Shred carrots and keep aside.
· Roast sesame seeds till fragrant and keep aside.
· Separate butter lettuce leaves. Wash in cold water and dry gently on a paper towel.
· 30 min before party, remove cucumber from refrigerator and strain excess water.
· Place lettuce, cucumber, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, sesame seeds and sauces in serving containers.
To Assemble:
Place a lettuce leaf on a plate. Add fillings and sauces and roll to make a wrap.
The guests themselves can assemble the wraps.
Instead of shredding the carrot and slicing the cucumber, you can peel them all the way to the core, using a vegetable peeler. This will give you long and thing noodle like strips.
You can make the sauces up to two days and the filling up to one day in advance. You will need to keep them refrigerated in airtight containers. You can find the plum sauce in the Asian section of the super market or in any Chinese grocery store.

To please a bigger crowd, you can have a wider variety of fillings. These are some ideas.
· Paneer: Cut paneer in bite size pieces. Marinate in salt, lemon juice and chili powder for two hours. Sauté in a pan with two tsp. of oil, over medium high flame.
· Grilled chicken. Cut into bite size pieces.
· Cooked rice noodles.
· Roasted almonds or pine nuts.
· Crispy puries (The kinds that are use for SevPuri): Crush one puri in each lettuce wrap to give some crunch.

Vegetable Samosa
(Makes: 8 to 10)


Want to do something different for your kid’s party? Here is an easy recipe.


Ingredients
2 cups french beans
1/3 cup fresh grated coconut
1/8 tsp.cumin seed powder
1/8 tsp. mustard seeds
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. oil
1 pack wanton wrappers or egg roll wrappers
oil for frying

Method
· Chop french beans very finely (you can chop them roughly with a knife first and pulse them through a food processor. Do not puree.)
· Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they start sputtering, add french beans, cumin seed powder and salt. Sauté for five minutes. Add coconut and sauté for about seven to ten minutes till beans are cooked.
· Let the mixture cool.
· Take one wrapper and fold it as per diagram 1. Use a little water to stick wrapper to itself.
· Put two-three tablespoons of vegetable mixture inside the cone shaped samosa. Make the last fold as per diagram 2. Seal it with water.
· You can prepare samosas up to this point several hours ahead of the party and store them in the refrigerator till frying. Remove from refrigerator thirty minutes before frying.
· In a frying pan, heat oil on medium-high heat. Fry samosas till golden brown.
· Serve with tomato ketchup or tamarind chutney.

Small Kids usually do not like lot of spices, so I have not used lot of spices in the above recipe. You can always add spices like garam masala, sambar powder, chole masala, pasta seasoning, curry powder etc. as per your kid's taste.

Tips
· The filling should be dry, so it does not leak in oil while frying.
· The oil temperature should be fairly high, as we only need to cook the wrapper. (The filling is already cooked). If oil temperature is very low the samosas become greasy.

Here are some more ideas for samosa fillings
· Potato, peas, salt, cilantro, cumin seed powder
· Cabbage, carrots, salt, black pepper, mint
· Leeks, corn, sesame seeds, marjoram, salt. Serve with sweet and sour sauce.

Vegetable Cutlets
(Makes: 10)


Feeding vegetables to kids may some times seem challenging. But there are lots of ways in which you can make them tasty and attractive. In this section I will be sharing some simple recipes for "Kids' meals".

Ingredients
1 potato
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
4 tsp. oil
2 pinches cumin seed powder
2 tbsp. breadcrumbs
3/4 tsp. salt
chili powder as per taste

Method
· Boil potato. Peel the skin. Keep aside.
· Put the vegetables in the food processor and give few quick pulses so they become very finely chopped. Do not make them in the puree.
· In a pan heat two teaspoons of oil. Add vegetables and cumin seed powder. And cook over medium heat.
· Mash potato and mix in the vegetables, salt, chili powder and breadcrumbs.
· Divide the mixture in ten cutlets. Pan-fry the cutlets over medium heat in the remaining oil till brown on both sides.
· Serve with tomato ketchup.

Tips

· If you are in a hurry, you can bake the potato in the microwave instead of boiling it.
· If you do not have bread crumbs; take a bread slice, dip in water for few seconds, squeeze excess water and use it instead.
· While making cutlets you can use ice-cream scoop to scoop out the mixture, put in on a pan and flatten it with a spatula. This way you do not have to get your hands dirty and the cutlets come out the same size.

Here are some more ideas to serve cutlets.
· You can use different spices like mint, oregano, basil, garam masala etc.
· You can serve the cutlets with different chutneys like cilantro, mint, coconut etc.
· You can use this cutlet in burger. Cut burger bread, put ketchup or chutney, put a tomato slice, lettuce leaves and a cutlet.
· You can serve these cutlets in a meal with dal, rice, pasta etc. or serve them as a snack on heir own.

Spicy Chicken sandwich
(Makes: 4 sandwiches)

I love chilli. But it is a very long process, so in this sandwich I have tried to create similar flavors with very less effort. These sandwiches are perfect for all occasions when you have different people eating at different times like on a busy day in a family or for all night parties. They are filling and healthy. And if that doesn't sound like a good enough reason, they are Yummy!

Ingredients
1 lb. chicken breasts (skinless)
1 tbsp. oil
1 green chili
1 small red onion
2 roma tomatoes
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cumin seed powder
1 pinch red chili powder.
1 pinch black pepper
1/4 cup chicken stack
1 tsp. corn starch
4 sandwich breads (sourdough preferable)
1 tbsp. melted butter.
1/4 iceburg lettuce
1 big beefsteak tomato
1/2 small red onion

Method
· Cut chicken in bite size pieces.
· Mince green chili. If you do not eat spicy, cut the chili in half; remove the seeds and vains and then mince the chili.
· Chop red onion finely. Chop tomatoes and cilantro and keep aside.
· Heat oil in a skillet. Add chicken in one layer. Sauté for two minutes. Turn the chicken and sauté for another minute. Remove the chicken and in the same skillet add chopped onion. Sauté till light brown.
· Add tomatoes, salt, cumin seed powder, red chili powder and black pepper (if you do not eat spicy, omit chili powder) .
· Cook for three, four minutes. At this point tomatoes will become mushy. Add the chicken back to the skillet.
· Now mix corn starch with chicken stock and add it to the skillet.
· Cook for few minutes. Remove from heat and add chopped cilantro. Keep aside.
· Cut iceburg lettuce in four wedges. Slice tomato and onion thinly.
· To assemble the sandwich; Cut each bread in half. Now remove some of the inside bread from each half to make a little cavity for chicken. Brush the bread with melted butter.
· On each half put some of the chicken, few slices of onion and tomato and a wedge of lettuce. Cover with the other half. Repeat the process for all the other sandwiches and serve.

Since we are using skinless chicken breasts, these sandwiches are low in fat and are quick to make. Adjust the heat according to your own pallet. You can use any kind of tomato, onion and lettuce as per your liking. You can use any kind of meat, just remember to adjust the cooking time accordingly.


Lamb burger
(Makes: 4 sandwiches)

This burger is very easy and quick to make. Most of the ingredients for this dish are easily available in the pantry and the fridge. So I make it all the time for lunch and dinner, especially when I am short on time.

Ingredients
1 lb. ground lamb
1/4 inch piece ginger
1 small white onion
2 pinches salt
1/4 tsp. garam masala
2 pinches freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. oil
4 burger breads
1 small cucumber
1 small onion
2 big tomatoes (beef steak)
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
2 tbsp. hot and sweet tomato sauce

Method
· Run ginger through microplane (very fine grater).
· Chop onion very finely.
· Now very lightly mix lamb, ginger, onion, salt, garam masala, black pepper and cumin powder.
· Divide the mixture in four parts and form each part into a patty about 1/2 inch thick.
· Heat one teaspoon of oil in a pan. Put in the patties. Now cook the patties for four minutes per side on medium heat.
· Mean while cut the breads in half and keep aside.
· Peel and slice the cucumber. Peel and slice the onions and slice tomatoes. Keep aside.
· Once the patties are done, remove them from the pan. Very carefully dump the extra oil and toast breads in the pan till golden brown.
· Now very lightly spread mayonnaise on each bread.
· Put cucumber, tomato and onion slices on one side of the bread. Put the lamb patty. Put some sauce and cover with the other half of the bread and serve.

You can serve this burger with fries, I serve it with a simple side salad made up of frisse, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. This crunchy salad goes really well with the burger and is much healthier than fries.
To make the burger special you can add a tablespoon of chopped nuts like cashews, almonds, or walnuts.
To get a different taste you can add garlic instead of ginger or you can add little bit of cilantro or parsley.
Instead of using plane burger buns, try using sesame seed or poppy seed buns. They really taste delicious.

Tips
· Make sure the ground lamb does not have a lot of fat. Otherwise the fat will melt when you cook the burger and it will shrink a lot. Also if there is no fat at all the burger will not be very juicy.
· While mixing ground lamb with other ingredients, make sure you do so lightly. Also while forming patty do not press the meat hard, else the burgers will turn though.

Pound cake and Chocolate Hazelnut Panini
(Serves: 8)


Ever thought of making a sandwich for dessert? Well here is a recipe that will surely make your repertoire.

Ingredients
1 lb. Pound cake loaf
1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread
2 tbsp. light brown sugar
2 bananas (ripe)
1/4 cup hazelnuts
3 tbsp. melted butter

Method
· Roast hazelnuts in a pan till golden brown on a medium low heat. Remove from a pan and let cool. Rub the nuts to remove the skin. Roughly chop them and Keep aside.
· Slice banana in 1/2-centimeter slices. Keep aside.
· Cut the ends of a pound cake loaf and then cut it in 8 equal slices.
· Put about one tablespoon of chocolate-hazelnut spread on each pound cake slice.
· Take 1 slice and put 1/4 of the banana slices on it. Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon of sugar and about one tablespoon of nuts on the top and cover with the other pound cake slice. Repeat this process for the remaining three sandwiches.
· Now heat a grill pan over two stove burners on low-medium heat. With a brush, spread the melted butter on the grill pan. Put all the four sandwiches on the grill and put some weight (like a heavy pan or can of beans etc.) over the sandwiches. Grill till golden brown about one to two minutes. Remove the weights. Butter the top of the sandwiches. Turn them, put the weights back on and grill for another two minutes.
· Cut each sandwich in half with a serrated knife and serve.

These sandwiches are not very sweet, so if you like things more sweet, add up to one-tablespoon sugar per sandwich. Although the above combination is my favorite, I also like following combinations.
· Chocolate- hazelnut spread, marshmallows, slivered almonds.
· Chocolate- hazelnut spread, m&m , banana.
· Chocolate- hazelnut spread on one side. Raspberry or strawberry or red current jelly on the other side, slices of berries and few pieces of milk chocolate.
The chocolate-hazelnut spread is easily available in all grocery stores and usually located near peanut butter.

Tips
· The sugar will melt when you grill the sandwich. Make sure the grill pan is not very hot. Other wise the butter will burn. Also the pound cake will turn golden brown before the sugar is melted.
· Be careful while putting the weight. If you put too much weight, all the ingredients will ooze out and will create a big mess on the grill pan.