Quick Breakfast – Microwave Eggs

I love to have eggs for breakfast, but most mornings (on weekdays), I am too pressed for time. How much time does it take, you may argue, to make a fried egg, if not an omelet or a boiled egg? Quite a few precious minutes, for someone like me. I completely agree with Garfield when he said that “Good Morning is an oxymoron”.

But now, I have a solution – yes! Something which can be cooked in less than a minute, 45 seconds to be precise.

This is what my Sunday morning breakfast looked like today. :)

The preparation is adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipe of “Steamed Egg Katori”.

Ingredients: (Serves 1)

Egg: 1

Capsicum, Onion (Finely chopped)

Salt, Pepper to taste

Method:

Grease a microwave proof bowl with a few drops of oil. Break an egg in the bowl, and season it with salt and pepper. You may add chili flakes / red chili powder or green chilies. Add a few pieces of finely chopped onion and capsicum. Microwave for 30 seconds if you like your eggs to be runny, and for 45 seconds if you like the yolk to be firm. Serve hot.

This is also my entry to Nttc July 2009 Egg Challenge hosted by Sneh Roy.

Khoya Aloo - Potato Curry with milk solids

Khoya (or Khoa /Mawa) is made by drying milk over low heat, till it reaches an almost solid consistency. It is used in the preparation of various Indian sweets, and sometimes savory dishes as well. My recipe falls in the latter category.
Potato curry, in India, can be made in so many ways – every family has their own variation. Sharing my recipe which uses khoya. The curry is rich in taste (and calories to an extent), and yet quite simple to make.

Ingredients:
Boiled Potatoes: 2 (cut in cubes)
Khoya: ½ cup
Tomato: 1 medium, blended to a pulp
Turmeric powder: ¼ tsp
Coriander Powder: ¾ - 1tsp
Red Chili powder: ½ tsp
Cumin Seeds: ½ tsp
Sugar: ¼ tsp
Salt: To taste
Oil: 1 – 2 tbsp

Method:
- Mash the khoya with your hands. Heat it in a thick bottomed pan / kadhai and keep stirring till the texture is golden brown. Keep aside
- In a pan, heat the oil, and add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add the tomato pulp, turmeric, red chili powder and coriander powder. Sauté on low heat till the spices are well blended with the tomato, and the oil begins to separate.
- Add the khoya and stir for another 2 – 3 minutes
- Add the potatoes, salt, sugar and around 1 cup water
- Bring the curry to a boil, and let it simmer on low heat till most of the water has evaporated and the gravy reaches a thick consistency
- Serve hot with parathas

Quick Fried Rice - with Vegetables

What do you do when you have leftover rice in the refrigerator? I know there are several recipes in which it can be used, but the most common use which I have seen in Indian households is to temper it with cumin or mustard seeds, and / or fry with onions to make Jeera Rice or Lemon rice. Turmeric is often added to the rice to give it a fresh color – Sanjeev Kapoor once said that Indians have a dissonance when a dish is white in color and is served hot, and hence they add turmeric to add color. Quite true actually.
My favorite leftover rice recipe is the quick fried rice with veggies – lots of them. Sometimes I add an egg to it, but most of the times its just rice, stir fried vegetables, salt and pepper.

Ingredients:
Cooked rice: 1 cup (preferably leftover, and kept in the refrigerator for sometime)
Onion (sliced): 1 small
Capsicum (sliced / cut in cubes): 1 (You can use different colored bell peppers)
Mushrooms (sliced): 3 – 4
Peas (frozen): ¼ cup
Frozen Mixed vegetables – chopped carrots, beans, cauliflower, broccoli, corn: ½ cup
Spring onion greens (finely chopped)
Oil (Vegetable / Olive): 2 tbsp
Salt, Pepper: To taste

If the vegetables / peas are not frozen, cook them with 1 ½ cup of water in a microwave for 5 min or till par boiled. Drain the water before using.

Method:
- Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan / kadhai. Add the onions and stir fry on medium – high heat till translucent
- Add the mixed vegetables and stir fry for 2 – 3 minutes
- Add mushrooms and capsicum and stir for another 2 – 3 minutes till the water from the mushrooms has evaporated
- Add the spring onion greens, rice, salt and pepper and mix well
- Stir for another minute
- Serve hot

Matar, Paneer and Corn Rice

It’s finally started raining, in Western India atleast. I hope that this spell of showers do not end in a day or two, but continue for sometime.
This weekend, it was raining in the afternoon and I had the pleasure of watching the rain with a cup of coffee in my hand. It was such a lovely weather that I did not want to cook an elaborate meal. Yet, I did not want to resort to junk food either. I finally prepared Pulao – with peas, paneer and few niblets of corn.
Simple and nothing fancy – but what caught my attention were the green and yellow dots on a white background. And hence this post.

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice: 1 cup
Shelled Peas / Frozen Peas: ½ cup
Paneer (Cottage Cheese) cut in cubes: 12 – 15 cubes
Corn Niblets: ¼ cup
Bay Leaf: 1
Cumin Seeds: ½ tsp
Ghee (clarified butter): 2 tsp
Salt: To taste

Method:
- Wash the rice with water and keep aside
- Heat the ghee in a thick bottomed pan or a pressure cooker
- Add the cumin and the bay leaf. When the seeds begin to splutter, add the peas, paneer, corn, rice and salt
- If using a pressure cooker: Add 1 ¾ cups water, cover the lid and cook on high heat for 2 whistles. Simmer for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Do not open the lid till the steam is cooled
- If cooking without a pressure cooker: Add 2 ¼ cup of water, cover with a lid and cook on low heat till the water has evaporated and the rice is completely cooked
- Serve hot with curd and pickle of your choice

Layered Dessert – Mango Special

For me, the biggest inspirations come when I am alone. Like yesterday, when my hubby was to attend the marriage of a colleague, and I was not accompanying him, and had the Sunday evening all to myself. We had bought mangoes in the afternoon, and as always, my husband insisted that we have Mango Shake once he returns from the function. I had other plans though. Since I started this food blog, and before that as well, I had always been impressed with the trifles that a Google Image Search always yielded. Yummy!
So, I decided to try out a Mango Trifle myself. But did I have all the ingredients? Actually, no. I did not have a sponge cake to begin with, nor any whipped cream. I finally created something with whatever ingredients I could lay my hands on and ended up with what I can safely label as Mango Layered Dessert.
The verdict? Hubby was pleasantly surprised, and at the end said “This is really tasty. You can make it again” Yay!
Okay, the image is not as professional as I would have wanted it to be, but like my friend D said: "Go ahead and post it. You can always replace the picture later"

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
Thick custard (made with 250 ml milk, 1 ½ tbs custard powder and 2 tbs sugar)
Ripe Mango: 1
Vanilla Ice cream: 2 scoops
Plum: 1

Method:
- Peel the mango and cut it in small cubes
- Take a tall glass (or a bowl) and put a few cubes of mango. Pour a ladle of custard on it
- Alternate again with mangoes and custard, till the glass is nearly full
- Chill in the refrigerator - Before serving, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, and garnish with pieces of plum, or strawberries
This is also my entry to the Mango Mela hosted by Srivalli.

Vegetarian Omelet

It’s been a hectic work week entailed with travel, and I was so looking forward to this weekend. I woke up with a sense of purpose – there was a long to-do list in my mind, and I made myself a strong cup of coffee. An hour later, I had scanned through the newspaper, transferred the to–do list from my mind onto paper, finished the last chapter of the whodunit I had left incomplete last night, and was looking forward to having a full breakfast!

I opened the refrigerator and did not feel like having either eggs or cereal or toast. I then remembered a preparation which my Mom calls the “Vegetarian Omelet” (my parents are strict vegetarians) - a twist to the usual besan chilla (Indian pancakes made of gram flour)

Ingredients:

Besan / Gram Flour: 1 cup

1 small onion (finely chopped)

1 small tomato (finely chopped)

2 slices of bread

Coriander (finely chopped)

Chopped green chili

Salt to taste

A pinch of turmeric

Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

- Soak the bread slices in water for a few seconds and press them between your palms to squeeze out the water. Mash them with your hands

- Add the bread and other ingredients together in a bowl. Slowly add water to make a batter. Ensure that there are no lumps. The consistency should be medium – so that it falls in lumps when poured

- Heat a tsp of oil (vegetable / sunflower or any other white oil) in a non stick pan / tawa. Spread the oil to coat the pan evenly

- Add 2 – 3 ladles of the batter onto the pan and spread evenly as you would do for making a pancake of medium thickness

- Cook on low heat till the top of the pancake begins to dry

- Flip it over, add another tsp of oil to the sides and cook on low heat. Keep pressing the omelet so that it is cooked evenly

- Flip it again to ensure that both the sides are golden brown.

- Serve hot with your favorite chutney / ketchup

Why I recommend it?

It’s a balance of carbs and protein, and makes a great option for breakfast / brunch

This is also my entry to EFM June – Breakfast Series hosted by Me and My Kitchen