French Toast

My cook is on leave today. Altogether she works only 3 weeks in a month. Sigh!!!
Anyway, since I have bought a Philips food processor am keen on cooking. I don't let my cook use it. Actually, she is not great with technology and will avoid using it anyway. But over the years and many cooks I have realized that my blenders/choppers/mixers get spoiled/depreciate faster when they use it. I don't know why but there are no problems when I use them.

For b'fast I decided to make the quick french toast. The recipe has been taken from this website.

I have modified the recipe slightly:
Ingredients :
4 slices of bread. I used brown bread
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla essence. You can skip if you want but I generally have vanilla essence in my fridge
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder. You can skip but I generally have it in my pantry
2 tsp of sugar. For a healthier version, use honey. The original recipe recommends 4 tsps but then I found 1 egg enough for 4 slices of bread instead of 6. And 4 tsp was too sweet for my taste
1/2 cup milk

Method:
- Beat all the ingredients
- Heat oil or butter in a non stick pan
- Put the mixture in a shallow dish and dip 1 piece of bread in it. Dip the other side also
- Put it immediately in the pan for frying. Once it becomes brown (shown in picture), turn and cook the other side

Yummy french toast is ready and can be eaten on its own or with honey/maple syrup. 

Mushroom Spinach Frittata

Another recipe I came across while researching on the Dukan Diet. I never liked spinach as a kid and most of my adult life. But recently, I have come across such tasty recipes of spinach. It is a very versatile vegetable.

Ingredients:

- mushrooms - I used 1/2 pack
- 3 eggs... I found them too many. 2 should have been enough
- 1/2 cup chopped spinach. When I make it again, I will use more spinach
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 onion- chopped

- 1 tsp olive oil

- 1/2 cup water

Method:

- Heat oil in a shallow frying pan, one which is used to make omelette. Saute onions till soft

- Add the mushrooms and fry. You can add a little water if it gets a little sticky or start burning. Add the spinach leaves and saute till they become soft

- Add salt, pepper and tomato ketchup. Spread out the mixture flat in the pan

- Beat eggs in a bowl, add salt and pepper. Pour the eggs over the pan and cover with a lid

- Switch off the gas once eggs are completely cooked and serve. You do not need to flip over.

You can add more veggies- carrots, capsicum etc and oregano, basil if you want. There are so many options to this Italian omelette.

Oats Uttapam

I, rather my cook, made this last week. Very, very healthy and quite tasty. I don't remember the exact measurements of the recipe 'coz that was changed according to preference.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup oats- powdered. Powder Quaker quick cooking oats in a mixer

- 1/2 cup curd
- 1/2 cup water

- 1 green chilly

- salt to taste

-  Finely chopped Veggies- onion, tomato, carrot, cabbage and any other veggies you want to add

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients to make a loose batter like that of dosa or uttapam. Spread some oil on the non stick tawa. Spread the batter on the tawa with a spoon and cook like dosa/uttapam.

Yummy.

Tikkar

I think I picked up this recipe from Tarla Dalal's website sometime back. I really love it for breakfast.

Ingredients: (makes 8 tikkars)

-1 cup makai ka atta
-1 cup regular atta
-1/2 tsp ginger paste
- 1/2 onion
- 1 tsp grated garlic (I just use ginger garlic paste instead)
-2 tsp chopped coriande
-1/2 tsp green chillies
-1 tsp red chilli powder
-2 tbsp melted ghee
-salt
- I also add 1/2 tomato

Method:

- Combine flour and salt
- Add ghee, rub with finger tips till mixture resembles bread crumb
- Knead dough. Cover with muslin cloth for 20 mins
- Add all ingredients and knead
- Roll into roti and cook on tava

Yummy with curd!!!

Oats Upma

Another healthy innovation. I had this for dinner today.

This is where I took the recipe from here

Oats Upma Ingredients: (serves 2)

• Oats – 1 Cup (e.g., Quaker Oats)
• Finely Chopped Onion – 1
• Chopped Green Chillies – 1
• Oil – 1 and 1/2 tsp
• Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Urad Dal or Split Black Bean (Gram) / White Lentils – 1/2 tsp
• Curry Leaves
• Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
• Sugar – 1/4 tsp
• Lemon Juice – 1 tsp
• Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
• Salt

Time to Prepare: 15 min

How to Make Oats Upma :

1. Heat Oil in pan, add Mustard Seeds, once the Mustard Seeds splutter, add Urad Dal (White Lentils) and fry until they turn golden brown.

2. Now add Curry Leaves and chopped Green Chillies and fry for a minute. Then add chopped Onions and Turmeric Powder and fry until the Onions start to look a little transparent.

3. Add Salt and Sugar to the the above mixture and fry for a minute.

4. At this stage, add Oats to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes or till you smell a nice aroma and Oats turn light brown in color.

5. Now sprinkle about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water to the above fried Oats mixture in the pan and mix well all the ingredients with a spatulla and fry till the Oats turn soft. Make sure to not add excess water to the Oats Upma as the whole mixture can become too soggy and Oats Upma may not taste as good as it should.

6. Add Lemon Juice to the Oats Upma and mix well. Garnish with Coriander Leaves / Cilantro.

Daal Paratha

Another healthy recipe for you.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup yellow moong daal (makes 6 parathas)

- 1 onion

- haldi, salt, red chilli powder

- wheat flour (enough to make 6 parathas)

- green chillies

Method:

- Soak moong daal overnight. Most recipes suggest 20-30 mins but overnight is more convenient

- In the morning, boil the moong daal in the cooker for 1 whistle

- Take oil in a pan, add onions. Sauté

- Add green chillies, daal and spices. Mix well

- Knead wheat flour in a dough and make 6 balls

- Roll out each ball of flour, stuff it with daal mixture and roast on the pan

Tada... yummy daal parathas are ready.

Moong Chilla

I am reviving this blog since I have moved back to Delhi and am motivated to cook.

My colleague is on a weight loss regime and has replaced her rotis with moong chilla. It is very healthy... with lots of proteins and very less carbs. I had taken the recipe from her and tried it out earlier with a few modifications. There are many variations on this online.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup green moong daal (makes 4-5 chillas)
- 1 onion
- 1 tomato
-  1 green chilly
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder

Method:

- Soak the green moong overnight

- Crush the moong with ginger garlic paste, salt and red chilli powder in a mixer with a little water. It should be a thick batter and not very thin. It should be as thick as a dosa batter



- Add onion, tomato and green chilly to the batter. Mix. You can also add other veggies like carrots. I will try next time with carrots

- Heat a non stick tawa. Add some oil.. spread it on the tawa. Add 3-4 spoons of batter and spread it out. It will not spread smoothly but use a spoon to prevent any gaps in the middle

- Cook till it becomes brown. When the underside is cooked, it will be easy to flip. Flip and cook well. Cook on medium or low flame so that it does not remain uncooked inside



- Serve hot.

This is a time consuming recipe so not the most suitable for weekdays. If you want to have it as a roti, don't add veggies.

Egg Masala Toast

I have been looking for healthy and tasty b'fast options which are quick to make in the morning. I came across masala bread online. It is fried in very little oil... so, does not feel oily but very tasty.

Ingredients:

- 2 eggs (original recipe mentions 1 egg but I needed 2 small eggs)
- 1 slice brown bread (If you are not dieting, regular bread can be used)
- 1/2 ginger garlic paste
- paste of 1 onion (its ok if it is not completely crushed)
- Garam masala
- Red chilli powder
- Salt
- Haldi

Method:

- Break 2 eggs in a bowl
- Add all the ingredients and mix them together
- Dip the bread in the mixture
- Heat a non stick pan with a little oil. I add 1-2 teaspoon oil and then spread it out
- Put the bread in the pan... fry on both sides till done

Quick and easy.