HM’s boiled eggcellent open sandwich

I've been trying to eat as healthy as possible, making sure I have nutritious meals in small portions.

For breakfast today – a Saturday – I made a pretty incredible open sandwich.

Here's what I did:

I hard-boiled an egg. Took a slice of multigrain bread, put some roquette leaves, shredded some smoked cheddar cheese from ABC Farms (if you ever go to Pune, got just go), placed the sliced boiled egg. Sprinkled some salt and chilli powder (because I ran out of pepper).

Super awesome start to the day and the weekend!

Cook, explore, do more

A few years into your career, there comes a time when you reflect. It isn’t really one thing, but a series of reflections. “Why am I doing this?” “Does anyone care?” “Does anyone really benefit from what I’m doing?” The answers are vague.

I too had these thoughts after a year of working. Between all the ‘PFAs’ and ‘best regards’, I realised that I couldn’t let this be all that I do. It felt like the most unnatural thing. That is when I started my blog – my own space, untouched by protocol or rules.

But, the longer I am at work, the more I’m desperate to do more than just that. Work can be a black hole – sucking you in. Sometimes you can’t seem to understand how sucked in you are, because guess what?  Everyone’s sailing in the same boat, so there’s no frame of reference either.

A few weeks ago, I realised that it was time to do something beyond work.

Seniors normally land up telling you stuff like: “Work hard now and, when you get to my level, you can have fun.” It’s a load of bull. I want to do more now. My work often doesn’t allow it, but I am trying to expand my boundaries. I am painting again, cooking more and exploring with a vengeance. I feel more productive and happy.

In my pursuit of doing more, I celebrated my new bought induction stove by cooking some Kheema Rice. I posted this on my Facebook and a lot of people asked me for the recipe. This cook is dedicated to Vinit’s mom and Saima’s mom for feeding me always.

Here is the recipe.

(I don’t know the measurements, really. If you cook regularly, you’ll figure or ask a parent)

1. Marinate chicken kheema (or whichever meat you prefer) in garam masala, garlic, ginger, lots of hand-crushed mint and coriander. Let it rest for at least half an hour.
2. Rice: boil rice with 2 bay leaves, 3-4 peppercorns, 3 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick. Add ghee to the rice. Once boiled, keep aside.
3. Kheema: in a vessel, add ghee (please be generous with ghee, it is yummy and good for you), add cumin, pinch or turmeric, pinch of heeng (asafoetida, LOL). Let it crackle. Add 4 diced onions, garlic and ginger (finely diced, I dislike using paste). Stir after you add salt to this mixture. A few minutes later, add some mint leaves and coriander (don’t think you are OD’ing on these, they are amazing). Give it a stir. Finally, add in the marinated kheema. Stir and let it cook.
4. Lightly flatten the kheema with a spoon in the vessel. Add the boiled rice as the top layer and flatten lightly with a spoon.
5. Garnish: (Marathi peeps love garnish) In a pan, add ghee, add two diced onion, fry until golden brown. Pour these onions (with the ghee in the pan) on the rice with some more mint leaves and coriander.
6. Eat. Share.

 

‘Made From Scratch’- #Tootyasbrunch

In one of my earlier posts, I remember talking about how all of us, look forward ‘to really living it up’ over the weekend. Those TWO days where we feel like a little kid in Disney World. Every week, like most people my age, who are caught up in between being a ‘professional’ and well, being themselves, I plan to make the most of the weekend by making a hundred plans. Going to my favorite pub for a beer, helping with errands at home, meeting friends, SLEEPING, eating some great food, are always a part of the list. This Saturday, my friends and I did something special. What started out as a ‘hey, lets meet for lunch’ plan, ended being an afternoon we can never forget. You know why? We cooked!

Cooking together is sort of not that common anymore. Now, you would rather meet for a nice meal at a good restaurant instead.  I remember as a kid, my family (my dad, mom, brother and I), all of us in the kitchen cooking. The joy, the fun, the happiness of  creating something and sitting together and eating was beautiful. On Saturday afternoon, I experienced the same happiness with my closest friends (family) when we cooked the most exquisite meal for us. When we were done, we all experienced a sense of accomplishment, love and we basically couldn’t stop admiring us. Also, I have to say, it was probably better than any of the food, I have eaten at any restaurant.

The crew

Siddhartha-  The boss

Nisha- Sangria queen/pizza topping queen

Vineet- Perfect pizza base maker

 Arjun- the chopper

Janhavi- The girl who ate and helped clean up

Satyajeet- The guy who clicked the pictures while we all worked and played on his phone!

And me- the life of the party 😛

Everything was made from scratch. We made pizzas, salad, bruschetta and Sangria! It took us three hours to prepare all of it and we had a blast. Only made sense to document of all it and put this on my blog. Hopefully, after you read this post, you and your friends or family, would want to cook together!

Sangria

What’s Italian food without some good wine? Nisha and I are obsessed with Sangria, yummy citrusy fruit with red wine, come on, what is more beautiful!? So we used that Red Merlot wine to good use 🙂

Ingredients-

• One bottle of Red Merlot
• One finely diced apple
• One orange- cut one half in to thin wedges and squeeze the juice of the other half
• Three table spoons of lemon juice.

Method- Mix it all up!

Salad A la Tootoo

Ingredients

• Olives ¼ cup halved
• Gherkins ¼ cup  sliced
• Lettuce 250gms
• Roast chicken pieces 150gms
• 3 slices of Pork Ham squared
• 3 Tomatoes diced
• One Apple diced

Salad Dressing

• ½ cup Olive oil
• ¼ cup Balsamic vinegar
• 1 Teaspoon Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Lime juice
• 1 Tablespoon Honey
• 1 Teaspoon salt

Directions

Mix everything! After mixing the dressing.

 Bruschetta

• 1 baguette French bread
• Olive oil
• Tomatoes
• Buffalo Mozzarella cheese
• Basil leaves
• Salt
• Garlic (Minced)

Method-

Cut the baguette in thin slanting slices

Drizzle some olive oil, place some minced garlic, one basil leaf, one tomato slice, some mozzarella cheese and pinch of salt on the top of each slice.

Let it bake for a few minutes, till the cheese gets a little golden.

Pizza!

Base(makes 8-10, 10 inch pizzas)

• 2 Cups all-purpose flower
• 1 cup whole wheat flower
• 5 Tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup water
• 1 Tablespoon dry yeast
• ½ Teaspoon sugar
• 1 Teaspoon salt

For making the dough; First to activate the yeast we take ¼ cup of lukewarm water and add the sugar. Stir till it dissolves. Add  1 Tablespoon dry yeast to the water and stir until you see a few small bubbles. Put the mixture aside for 5 – 10 minutes.

Once the yeast is activated mix 2 Cups all-purpose flower with 1 cup whole wheat flower and salt in a bowl. Once mixed make a well in the mixture and pour the activated yeast mixture along with the olive oil and ¼ cup water. Start kneading and stop only after the dough is smooth and a bit flexible.

Take a clean cloth and soak it in water. Squeeze out all the water from the cloth and use this cloth to completely cover the dough. Keep the bowl in a warm place for an hour. After an hour if  the dough has risen, and you will know, you are ready to make your pizzas!

Sauce

• 12 – 14 tomatoes
• 1 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons salt (and more if needed)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 5 – 7 garlic cloves
• 2 white onions
• 5 large basil leaves

Directions: on a slow fire start heating the oil and add the chopped garlic and onions. Let this simmer for about a minute and then add the finely diced tomatoes. Mix everything and then add the other ingredients. Let the mixture simmer for about 30 minutes to an hour on a slow flame. Keep the mixture covered but mix it every 5 – 7 minutes.

Pizza

½ kg Cheese (Cheddar or Mozzarella)

Gather all the ingredients you would like to top the pizza with.Preheat the oven at around 220 degrees Celsius for ten minutes. Take a baking pan and brush it lightly with oil, sprinkle all-purpose flower over this and shake it around so you get a lite film of the flower over the oil.  Sprinkle a flat and hard surface with some all-purpose flower take a small chunk of the dough and flatten it into a circle or something close enough. Sprinkle some oil over this base and spread it all over the base. Take a fork and punch the base all over. Take a tablespoon or two of the sauce and spread it over the whole base.  Now load up the toppings and sprinkle cheese generously over the pizza. Pop it into the oven for 15 – 20 minutes (could be more or less keep checking). And it’s done when it’s done!

 

Final Result

So that was Saturday afternoon, guys. Hope the recipes help and motivate you to cook next weekend! Let me know how it goes?

Thank you-

• Siddhartha, for the pizza and salad recipes 🙂
• Nisha- For generously topping our pizzas and helping me focus on taking pictures for the blog
• Arjun- for the lovely music and for being ready to chop any vegetable
• Vineet- for making the perfect pizza bases and chopping onions
• Satyajeet- Taking pictures for the blog
• Janhavi- For eating, entertaining and cleaning up