Quick and easy Kantarell/Chanterelle (Golden mushroom) Soup

I arrived in Stockholm first time during Autumn. Very new to the Swedish food and groceries I was a bit sceptic in trying foods which I have never used in my cooking. I found this new mushroom type known as Kantarell (The Golden mushrooms) and also the gold of Sweden.

These trumpet shape floral mushrooms looked very attractive and fleshy. I never knew how to cook them but had curiosity to do some experiment.

Looking at the fleshy texture I thought soup should be the safe option for the first time. Surprisingly it came very well. So here is a quick recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Kantarell mushrooms ( 150 gms)
2. 1 small red onion sliced
3. 1 small floret from Cauliflower chopped
4. 1 small floret from Broccoli chooped

Salt, Origano, Basil leaves and Pepper to taste
Chopped green coriander for garnishing

Method:
Heat some butter in a pan and add 1 spoon Cumin seeds to it.
Add chopped Onion, Cauliflower, Broccoli to it and stir well. Add salt as per taste

Clean mushrooms with brush to remove the dirt (don't wash) and carefully make the mushroom pieces with hand.
Add mushroom to the pan and stir well till it is soft. Take out some mushroom strands for garnishing.

Add Oregano, Basil and Pepper to it and add 1 cup milk to it.

Now blend this in blender, add 1 cup water and again cook over low flame for 10 mins.


Garnish with Coriander leaves and mushroom strands and serve with Garlic bread

Mutton Yakhni - Lamb cooked in Yogurt sauce

The secret of this recipe travelled all the way from Jammu to Sweden when my friend's father visited us in Sweden. I heard about this dish from many people but never got a chance to try.

So I tried traditional method but also added few of my own ingredients to give a little twist.

Ingredients

Mutton 1 kg (medium size pieces)
3 cups Yogurt
6 green chillies cut in half length wise
1.5 tbsp gram flour ( Besan)

2 Bay leaves
3-4 cloves
6-7 whole black pepper pods
4-5 green cardamom
2 badi Elaichi (Brown cardamom)
2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 sticks cinnamon
1 pinch asefoteda

salt as per taste
coriander powder 4 tbsp
turmeric powder 2 tbsp

3 tbsp rice
3 tbsp fennel seeds
Mix rice and fennel seeds and make powder in Mixer.

Heat the oil in pressure cooker and once done add the whole spices to it and cook till brown. Add the mutton pieces and cook on high heat for 5 min. Add 2 tbsp turmeric powder and salt as per taste.
Add rice and fennel seeds powder to it and add 2 cups water and cover the lid. take 4-5 whistles in pressure cooker.


Mix Yogurt and Gram Flour (Besan) together to remove the lumps. Heat little oil in another pan, add asefoteda and cumin seeds to it, and then add green chillies and 1 tbsp turmeric powder. Add the yogurt mixture to it and keep stirring until it starts boiling.

Now add this mixture to the cooked mutton and mix well. Cook it for another 15 min on low flame and garnish with green coriander leaves when serving.

Slow cooked Lamb Shank Indian Style

I am always fascinated by the slow cooking process and the aroma and flavor it brings to the food. when it comes to cooking Non-vegetarian dish it creates magic.

So this time I tried to cook Lamb Shank in Oven on a very low heat.

Ingredients:

1 Lamb Shank (approx 400 gms)
2 Medium size red onions thinely sliced
5 cloves of Garlic
1 inch ginger peeled and finely grated
1/2 Tomato chopped

Salt as per taste
Turmeric powder 2 tbsp
Chilli powder 2 tbsp
Coriander  powder 3 tbsp
Kasuri Methi leaves 2 tbsp
3 spoons natural yogurt

Cumin Seeds - 1.5 tbsp
1 badi Elaichi (brown cardamom)
Cinnamon Sticks - 2
Bay leaves - 2
Cloves - 3
Whole pepper - 5-6 pods


Oil

Heat oil in a pan and put the lamb shank and fry till brown on the sides. Take out the shank and set aside

Now add the whole spices and fry until brown.
Add the onion and garlic cloves and fry till golden brown.
Add the chopped tomato, turmeric powder, chilli powder, kasuri methi leaves and salt as per taste and stir to mix. add 3 spoons of Yogurt and mix well.

Cook it on a low flame until the oil starts separating from it. you need to add little water while cooking it so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add coriander powder to it and add 1 cup water and bring to boil. Add the lamb shank to it and keep it covered in the pan and transfer the pan into oven preheated to 200 degrees. keep the Oven temperature to 80 degrees and let it cook for 3 hours or till the meat is tender.

Put the Shank in a baking dish and pour the thickened gravy over it and bake till crisp texture on the surface of meat.

Garnish with green coriander and serve with rice or Tandoori roti.

Mushrooms in Spinach sauce

Mushrooms.. !!! Something I really like to experiment with, and every experiment turns a big success.. it is packed with lot of potassium, dietary fiber, Vitamin B12 and magnesium.. but above all these a great taste...

This time I wanted to try complete vegetarian dish since few of my friends requested the same. So here is another addition to my food journey ...

What you need... 

•  Mushrooms ( small button mushrooms will be perfect ). Dont wash them, instead brush-off the dust and particles from it to just clean dry. 250 grams. chop 5-6 mushrooms into very small pieces and for remaining just cut the stem.
• Spinach 2 cups. ( for frozen spinach cubes, put in microwave for 2 minutes. if fresh then rinse in running water and finely chop or blend with a hand blender)
•  4 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 medium sized red onion chopped 
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 5-6 black whole black pepper
•  2-3 green chilly chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 1.5 teaspoon dry Oregano
• one teaspoon turmeric powder
•  salt as per taste

Method:
Heat some olive oil in pan and once the oil is hot enough add the cumin seeds and black pepper to it. Once cumin is fried add the chopped onions and garlic to it and stir occasionally on a medium flame. If onion starts to turn golden brown, add the chopped as well as whole mushrooms to the pan and mix well. Add salt and turmeric powder. let it cook for 5 minutes on low flame without putting the lid on. 

Now add the spinach and chopped green chilly to the pan and mix it well. Add dry oregano and if like may be pepper powder.  let it cook for another 5-6 minutes and add 1 cup milk to it. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for another 5-8 minutes on a low flame and then its ready to serve. Mushrooms take very less time to cook, and the taste is much better if they are not over cooked.  

This dish can be accompanied with chapati, or naan, or rice or mixed with boiled pasta as well.


Try and please feel free to add your comments/suggestions or variations.. !! 

Happy eating.. !! 

Quick-Fix healthy Dinner

So its was again a normal Saturday... I mean a lazy day of weekend...want to feel relaxed, no burden of taking early shower, rushing for train/bus.. sometimes a heavy breakfast will suffice for lunch too.. and you get into quilt, making calls to India, or watching movies back to back whole day.. and then suddenly you realize the clock showing 9:30 pm... the lunch was skipped and even no dinner planned yet.. I hate that situation.. !! Now what next ??? eat bread, drink milk and sleep.. !!  or self motivation to make something fulfilling..  well I was successful atlast and here is the outcome of my experiment...

For Fish roast you need.. 

1. Fish piece cut and cleaned (Any fish will do.. )

2. 1 tea-spoon red chilli powder

3. 1/2 tea-spoon turmeric powder

4. salt as per taste

5. vinegar

Make a thick paste of red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt with vinegar (no water), and coat the fish piece with it and keep in refrigerator for marination (min 15 minutes)

Take a non-stick pan and heat 1 tea-spoon oil..once the oil is hot enough add few mustard seeds and put fish piece in it.. cook both the sides on a low flame turning the fish occasionally until its cooked and crispy. it will take approx 15-20 minutes.

Once the fish is done, take it out from the pan. The left out mixture and oil in pan can be used to add flavor to rice. You can put the steamed cooked rice in the pan and mix well.

For Veg pan-cake you need

1 egg - nicely beaten

1 green chili chopped

1/4th tea-spoon turmeric powder

Chilli powder as per taste

1/2 cup spinach and 1/2 cup frozen peas mix together, cooked in microwave for 2 minute and mashed.

black pepper powder 1/4 teaspoon 

3 teaspoon gram flour (or any other lentil flour..)

salt as per taste

Mix all the ingredien in a bowl and prepare a normal consistency batter.. heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan and once the oil is hot add some mustard seeds and cumin seeds and then pour the batter and spread it evenly on the pan with spatula....cook it for 3-4 minutes on low flame and turn it up side down and cook it for 2 minutes again.

 

And its done .. 

You can eat this with yogurt or any chutney.. complement this with some steamed vegetables or fresh cut salad... !!

Suji Halwa for this Festive Season

When I think of festivals in India, sweets and sweets and more sweets.. thats what I visualize. Being a big foody its hard for me to resist sweets. Sometimes even a basic dish like 'Suji Halwa' which we normally prepare for our puja or offerings is so tempting to me that I can afford to run 5km just to afford eating that :)

Well the Navratri started and I got an excuse to eat it again. But till now I haven't  tried my hands on it, so this time I asked my wife to prepare it in front of me, so that I can add it to my cooking blog. So here it goes:

Ingredients :

1 Cup Suji
1/3 cup Besan (Gram flour)
3/4 cup Ghee (you can change as per your choice)
1 cup sugar
3 cup Milk
1/4  teaspoon cardamom powder
Chopped Almonds, and cashew nuts
1 spoon Raisins


Cooking Method:

Mix Suji and Besan evenly together. In a non-stick pan, pour ghee and heat it on a medium flame. Once ghee is hot enough, add the suji and besan mix and roast it on a low flame till it turns into golden brown color. Add milk to it and stir continuously to avoid the lump formation. Once the milk is absorbed, add chopped almonds, cashews, raisins and then add sugar to it. Keep on cooking on a low flame until the ghee is separated.

Try-it out and don't forget to leave your comments and suggestion.

Have a Happy festive time !!

Simply Pasta

Pasta is something which is really quick to prepare and healthy if you top up with loads of vegetables.
Sometimes when I am not in mood to cook anything time consuming, pasta is that something which I always love to experiment with. So here is the description of last pasta dish I try.

1. Pasta(mix of fussili and penne)
2. Cut vegetables ( 2 cup carrots cut in small cubes, 1/2 cup green peas, 1 cup mushrooms cut in medium pieces, 1 cup chopped tomato, 1 red onion sliced, 4 cloves of garlic minced, chopped salad leaves(Ruccola)
3. 1 cup spinach (frozen or fresh chopped)
4. 1/2 cup cream
5. 1/2 cup tomato sauce
6. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 4-5 black pepper, 1 stick cinnamon
7. 3 spoon vinegar
8. chilly flakes, oregano, black pepper powder and salt as per taste
9. Olive oil for cooking and dressing


Boil the pasta in a pan adding 1 spoon oil and little salt and cook till its soft. Once done then drain the hot water and put the pasta in hot water. This will prevent pasta to become sticky.

In a pan put some olive oil and heat it. Add cinnamon stick, black pepper, and cumin seeds and let it clicker. Add sliced onions and minced garlic to it, add salt as per taste and cook untill the onions are golden brown. Adding salt will makes onions to cook faster.
Add cut vegetables except the tomatoes to the pan and add 3 spoon vinegar to it. vinegar helps in tenderizing the vegetables and add a distinct taste to it.

cook for 15 mins and then add chilly flakes, 1 spoon oregano and chopped salad leaves to it and cook for another 2 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Now add tomato sauce and mix well and finally add the cream to it(if dont want the fat from cream then add one cup milk). Now add the boil pasta to this and stir it properly so that the sauce get evenly mixed in the boiled pasta. cook it for 2 minutes and then dress it with olive oil and serve hot with Garlic bread.


Vegetables like Cauliflower, broccoli, red and green pepper will add more texture and color to it.

Note: You can prepare the pasta vegetable sauce and can refrigerate it. Then its simply adding it to boil pasta and prepare instant healthy pasta in minutes.