Too Much of outside food - Lets come back to our naadan chicken Roast..Enjoy!!

Yummy!!

10 Quick n Easy Snack Recipes Under 15 mins -3

Mushrooms Stuffed with Cheese | Mushroom Recipes - Quick Easy Snacks

 

These mushroom stuffed with cheese recipe has been in my mind forever now. I think I am very smart so what I do occasionally is, read a recipe and if I like it, I read the ingredients again and fool myself into thinking I can remember them all when I go shopping. Here's what happened the last time I did that.

Mini Portobello Mushrooms

I saw this recipe on Pioneer Woman and instantly knew I'll be making it. I read through the ingredients list and thought they were easy, especially since I had some brie left over after making beetroot salad. Turns out that's the only ingredient that's common between her version and mine.

Brie Cheese

She used button mushrooms - I used portobello mushrooms
She used parsley and green onions - I used cilantro (coriander leaves) and totally forgot the green onions
She used brie - I used very little brie and then some mozarella
She didn't use onions - I did

But the bottom line is, this turned out super yummy! Its a quick appetizer and sure to win over any mushroom-lover. You can also make big batches in one go, so its awesome when you are entertaining.

Here's my version of mushrooms stuffed with cheese

Mushrooms Stuffed with Brie Cheese
Serves 2

Ingredients:
12 mini portobello mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 small block of brie cheese
3 tbsp grated mozarella
1/4 - 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh coriander leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter
Salt to taste

How I Made It:
1. Wash and remove the stems from the mushrooms. Pat dry with a dry kitchen napkin.

2. Melt butter in a skillet and add the mushrooms. Sprinkle with some salt and toss them around until well coated with the butter.

3. Arrange these on an oven-proof dish stem side up and set aside.

4. In the same skillet, add minced garlic and onion and fry lightly for 30 seconds. Then add the chopped coriander leaves and sprinkle some salt. Toss around for a minute until the leaves soften. Take care not to fry or burn it.

5. Cut the brie into small squares and lightly press into the mushrooms, where the stems were removed from. Top off each mushroom then with grated mozarella. Finally sprinkle the coriander leaves mixture evenly.

6. Bake in a 180C/350F oven for 15 minutes/until the cheese is melted and soft.

This is one good-tasting appetizer. Its very forgiving so you can use pretty much any meltable cheese and any herb that takes your fancy. And yeah, apparently any kind of mushroom too :)

10 Quick n Easy Snack Recipes Under 15 mins -2

Methi Pakoda Recipe | How to Make Methi Pakoda Recipe | Step by Step

 

My love for methi or fenugreek leaves has been a badly kept secret around here. Starting from Methi Pulao to Aloo Methi to Methi Paratha to adding methi to Paneer Butter Masala, I have tried it all. I even made Methi Matar Malai last month and loved it! In spite of experimenting quite a lot with these aromatic, slightly bitter greens, I never seem to tire of them and buy a large fresh bunch of fenugreek leaves when I see them in the market.

After making another round of Methi Pulao, I had about 2 cups of methi leaves left and was wondering if I could make a quick snack with methi. Finally decided on these delicious Methi Pakodas which were meant to be a snack for tea but we practically finished it off as a side with rice and Pumpkin Kootu.

The flavour and bitterness of the methi leaves complement perfectly with the besan and onions and spices in the pakoda batter. These methi pakods don't take longer than 15 mins from start to finish so make some if you are looking for a good recipe with fresh fenugreek leaves.

Methi Pakoda Recipe | Fenugreek Leaves Pakodas

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of fresh methi leaves, cleaned and chopped coarsely (see notes)
• 3/4 cup of besan / gram flour / kadalai maavu
• 1 tsp of red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp of asafoetida / hing / perungaayam
• 1 onion, sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp of powdered jeera
• 1/4 tsp of ajwain / omam (optional)
• 1 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
• 1 tbsp of rice flour or semolina / rava
• 2-3 cups of oil for deep frying

How to Make Methi Pakoda:

• Mix together besan, rava or rice flour, onions, salt, chilli powder, ajwain, jeera, and hing.
• Add enough water to make a thick batter that falls off your spoon with some resistance
• Mix in the methi leaves
• Heat oil for deep frying
• Using a tablespoon, add spoonfuls of pakoda batter into the hot oil
• Fry until golden brown
• Drain and set aside on a plate lined with a kitchen towel
• Serve hot with ketchup or mint chutney

Step by Step Pictures to Make Methi Pakoda:

1. Mix besan, onions, salt, chilli powder, ajwain, jeera, and hing well together

2. Add enough water to make a thick batter. Also mix in the methi leaves. The batter should be thick enough for you to form a loose, sticky ball with your fingers.

3. Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil. You can also use your hands to drop small balls of batter into the oil. Don't overcrowd the pan otherwise the oil temperature will drop too much and the pakods will drink too much oil.

4. Fry until golden brown, drain, and set aside. Proceed until you use up all the batter.

10 Quick n Easy Snack Recipes Under 15 mins -1

Bread Paneer Rolls | Indian Paneer Recipe | Step by Step

 

Bread Paneer Rolls are probably the easiest and quickest snack you can make with some bread slices and paneer filling. I make this often with different variations of paneer filling recipe to make a nice snack for tea time. The bunch of you who wrote to me asking 'post recipes that we can cook with kids' or kid-friendly recipes, etc etc, I am looking right at you. I don't have kids so I have never really tried this with them but I have a very good feeling about this, trust me you. 

Funky paneer recipes totally float my boat, especially if they are easy to prepare. I saw this recipe in a Nita Mehta book in the library. I didn't borrow the book and didn't have anything to quickly note down ingredients and details AND I made this a whole 2 months later. So this is pretty much my own recipe, coming to think of it. What that also means is, you can make it your own by simply adapting, adding, subtracting and testing out your own variations to the paneer mix used in this recipe. 

If you are looking for more easy snacks, check out my easy snacks recipes list and some other popular paneer recipes in the site like Paneer Butter Masala, Palak Paneer, and Paneer Paratha. 

Bread Paneer Rolls Recipe

Adapted from some recipe of Nita Mehta's, I think. 

Makes 4 rolls

Ingredients:

1 cup crumbled paneer

1 small onion, chopped fine (I should have added this!)

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp powdered cumin / jeera

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

A small bunch of coriander, chopped fine

1 tsp or a bit more tomato sauce / ketchup

4 slices of bread

Butter to toast

Salt to taste

How to Make Paneer Bread Rolls:

Place the crumbled panner in a nice bowl. Mine is from Ikea, thanks for asking.

Add the red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, chopped coriander, chopped onion, and jeera to this. 

Mix lightly with your finger tips. 

Then add the tomato sauce or ketchup and the ginger garlic paste. 

Blend again with finger tips. Set aside while you prep the bread.

Remove the crusts from your bread. Use the regular white commercial variety. 

Roll out each slice as thin as you can. Commercial bread will have tons of leaveners in it so you get to do this quite easily. 

Place about 1 tsp or so of filling on one end of the rolled out bread slice. 

Gently roll in from one end, making sure that the filling stays well within the first turn of the roll. 

Go ahead and roll it all up. 

Repeat with the remaining bread slices. 

This step may be unnecessary but I remember the book mentioning it so I did it. Wrap up the tightly rolled bread slices with filling in a clean, damp kitchen towel. I used my cheese cloth, folded over twice for enough thickness. 

Set aside for about 15 mins. I think this makes the bread moist or something, no idea why we would do this otherwise. If you omit this step, let me know how that turns out, won't cha?

Now, butter up the rolls well on all sides. 

Lightly roast in a pan until all sides are browned. Cut up and serve with tomato sauce. Don't they look lovely? 

If you have store bought paneer in the fridge, then this can be put together in minutes. Imagine a fun evening cooking this with your kids or even better, wow-ing your guests with an appetizer that hardly took more than 30 mins to make. Its easy to do a bulk batch of this too. You can also cut up the rolls into smaller discs, stick a toothpick in, and serve it as a fancier appetizer. 

Foodie and health ?? yeah this shd help.. just for a small break if those cholestroles are buggn ya!!

Food Rules And Us!

A journey to understand the politics of food and agriculture | Sreedevi Lakshmi Kutty

On Feb 21, 2014

In our journey to understand the politics of food and agriculture we (my husband and I) began with changing our food habits. Across the last eight years, starting with going organic to eating mostly plants, consuming local and seasonal foods as much as possible, we have come quite a way from where we used to be, particularly me. I try to keep away from animal foods but eating fish when I am in Kerala, lapsing to tasting meat dishes when our meat-loving son visits and succumbing to hot drinking chocolate are among my weaknesses. It is an ongoing battle not to eat the delectably displayed array of snacks and goodies made so accessible by the modern day retail juggernauts who are constantly wooing us with ads, displays and deals. Like many of us I battle with it and it is particularly galling, while living with a veritable saint (my husband) who can say no to almost any food, to my everlasting consternation and envy. Michael Pollan is one of the authors who I have read avidly on food issues; and picked up his “Food rules” a year back. I had assumed that I already knew what he had to say in this book – a correct assumption. But I realized that many times breaking the rules was easier than following them. So there was a point in reading this slim book, and in re-reading it periodically! A book, which takes less than two hours to read, was a revelation, reiteration and a reminder about food and eating which Pollan sums up: “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much”. Simple, elegant and succinct, but oh so hard to follow…. According to Pollan, processed food and easy availability of food is one of the fundamental problems and his solution is – cook. He says that if we had to make all those snacks ourselves, naturally the frequency with which we consume it would come down. If I followed this I wouldn’t eat any junk; because preparing delectable snacks is a skill that has passed me by! While reading the rules it flashed through my mind that Pollan’s wisdom distilled and presented for the average American audience is applicable universally. Let me examine some of Pollan's adages … “Eat mostly plants , especially leaves” and “eat wild foods when you can”, is a clarion call for us when moringa leaves, the various spinaches and the beautiful colocasia ( chembu)leaves and many others, which were favoured foods once upon a time, have been discarded by many a family as difficult to cook, or disliked by the children. These along with uncultivated greens need to come back into our plates, to ensure health and wealth – in these times of rising life style diseases and food inflation! He recommends not going to supermarkets for purchasing food; this is good to remember as many in Indian cities are becoming addicted to supermarkets and their infinite array of processed foods. “Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans”, would mean banishing factory made goodies, which Pollan rightly classifies as “food like substances” that aid ill health and obesity!

Another interesting rule is “the whiter the bread, the sooner you will be dead”, this applies to the bleached and denatured Maida found in the parottas (which are ubiquitous in Kerala and here I have to confess I like them too; but try to avoid them), the white rice and the bakery goodies made with bleached flour. A doctor friend of mine, who spends considerable time advising his patients to improve their diet, said that every junction in any town in Kerala has mostly bakeries and medical shops in large numbers– and obviously these are connected. Another abandoned practice of ours, which Pollan highly recommends is using oils and grains which are stone ground. Our modern day oils are denatured; same is the case with bleached flours and polished grains. There are also things that Keralites do right, like eating small fish with high oil content ( which Pollan recommends. Also Pollan highly recommends foods predigested by bacteria, yes our idlis and dosas, which continue to rule the roost in most Kerala homes, qualify. Those of us who want to move to the imported oats and corn flakes might want to save our money! There is also more good news; many natural stores have begun stocking unpolished rice, red rice flour, whole wheat atta, and cold pressed oils, making it convenient to adopt these healthy options. g is that there is no contradiction between what is good for us and What is interesting and encouraginwhat is good for nature- going against nature is what is causing harm ( to both). Another advantage for Indians is that many of our food traditions, cultures and practices have not died, we remember our grandmothers and mothers making chakka varrati, banana chips, pickles, chammathi podi and other assorted foods at home . But we are on a slippery slope with bakeries becoming our preferred snack destination and hospitals our panacea to address the problems resulting from this new greed! Pollan’s final edict is “plant a garden”, every household in Kerala used to have a kitchen garden, the mandatory curry leaves, the papaya, banana and coconut trees, the chilli plants, spinach and many others. Now in many homes these have given way to fancy lawns and those palms one can’t name. It is time for us to grow some of our food, either in the garden, terrace or wherever we have space! Enjoy reading “Food Rules” and hope we can follow at least some of the rules for healthy eating! Sreedevi Lakshmi Kutty   Devi works on issues related to sustainable agriculture and safe food. She is associated with Thanal (www.thanal.co.in) in Kerala and is a founder member of Urban Leaves (www.urbanleavesinindia.com) in Mumbai

COMMENTS PLEASE!!

 GOOD BAD UGLY...IMPROVEMENTS?? PLEASE DO SENT ME A FEEDBACK FOODIES!!

Any one going to Kadavanthra Cochin?? CHK THIS PLACE OUT!!

The story of the best Fish fry meals I have tasted in Cochin!!

I was taken to this place by my friend for the first time and I was really pissed!! There was a crowd of people waiting with only a few chairs to sit. I wanted to go to a different place as I was damn hungry. The people standing there was mostly professionals from different offices around cochin. The smell of fish fry was in the air.

 At last after a long wait I fighted my way inside for a seat. the meal was simple with good rise sambaar and achar(mango, tasted really good), aviyal and the FISH FRY...wow man it tasted awesome...the best I ever had in cochin.

 I ordered and asked for another piece(its a big piece and you will be lucky if you get one more) and filled up my tummy and when I got out I didn't felt filled but was satisfied. I said to my friend we will come again tomorrow!!

 I did several times after that and every time it was crowded and need to stand in line to get a seat, but still I go back!!

Location: Near to Volga Bar there is a small road and a smell in the air and the crowd of people will tell u the place!!
On the left side of the road from kadavanthra to kathrikadav, Cochin.

Try it and I bet u wont regret it!!


A picture of Volga Bar. You can see the way on your left hand side.

The image is not from that place it is just to motivate the FOODIE in you!!