Easy Italian Spaghetti & Meatballs

Comfort is to me as meatballs is to spaghetti! People who know me would agree that I’m all about comfort! I love Comfort food! Where you take a morsel, sit back in a nostalgic stupor and then lazily dig in for another. . . Even when it comes to clothes and accessories, comfort is my priority!

Last week or so when I really needed my spirits lifted, I thought I’d make myself  something comforting. . . And what could be more comforting than a huge tub of slurpilicious Spaghetti & Meatballs!!? And what’s more! It’s fit for a gourmet too!  It’s easy! It’s Italian! And it’ll have you smackin’ your lips for sure! Try it! :D

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Ingredients:

Meatballs:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 egg, beaten

Sauce:

3/4 cup chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp white sugar
1 bay leaf
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3/4 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Method:

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, black pepper, garlic powder and beaten egg. Mix well and form into 12 balls. Store, covered, in refrigerator until needed.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent. Stir in tomatoes, salt, sugar and bay leaf. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 90 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, basil,  pepper and meatballs and simmer 30 minutes more. Serve.

Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate Fudge Sauce

There are days when you just wanna sit in the confines of your room in solitude and sulk… Such days creep up on me when I least expect them to. And my lovely mum knows how to snap me right out of it! By making something sweet for me! :D

Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate Fudge Sauce

These pictures right here show you just how much my mum knows me! Love you, Mummy!!! <3 :D
These melt-in-the-mouth chocolate brownies can put a smile on any grumpy face! Don’t you agree??? :D
Whip these up for your loved ones and cheer them up today!!! :D

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Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

180g Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup Cocoa powder
3/4 cup All-purpose flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
3 Eggs
1 cup Sugar (ground)
1 tsp Vanilla essence
A handful of Walnuts dusted in flour

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 deg.
Melt the butter and mix the cocoa powder in it and set aside to cool.
Sieve the flour and baking powder in a large bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs till fluffy and mix in the ground sugar and vanilla gently.
Mix the butter-cocoa mixture with the eggs gently.
Fold in the flour little by little to get a thick batter. Then fold in the walnuts(Mum didn’t use the walnuts ‘coz I don’t like em).
Grease your baking tin with butter and sprinkle some flour so your brownies dont stick to the tin and are easy to unmould when baked Or just line your tin with parchment paper.
Pour the batter in the tin. Tap the tin to level the batter. Bake for 30 min at 180 deg.
Let cool completely in the tin, Unmould, cut into squares and garnish with Chocolate Fudge Sauce (recipe below).

*Loved these brownies even more when they were a day old. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge. :)

Chocolate Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Water
2 tbsp Sugar
4 tsp Cocoa powder
2 tsp Corn flour
1-2 tbsp Water
1 cup Chocolate chips
1 tbsp Unsalted Butter

Method:

Mix cocoa powder, corn flour and water in a small bowl. Make sure there are no lumps.
Bring the water to a gentle simmer in a pan. Pour the corn flour and cocoa mixture into the simmering water while stirring continuously.
Stir till it thickens a little. Take the pan off from the heat and toss in the chocolate chips and mix.
Put the butter in and mix to get silky chocolate fudge sauce!!!

Soya Chunks Stir-Fry

Soya Chunks Stir-Fry

After cramming my brain for the semester exams and my mouth with food (I eat a lot under stress :O) I’m back to my good ol’ blog!!! Gosh I missed being here!!! So much that I day dreamed about it with my software books open in front of me, googled various recipes during my study breaks so I could try them out after the exams, dreamed of cupcakes and Thai food at night. . . Well that’s how much I missed Baking/Cooking or at least writing about it here! And now that I’m back, I thought I’d start by posting something healthy. There’s a very wrong notion that healthy food doesn’t taste good and to be honest I’ve been there too. . . I ran for the hills whenever someone suggested salad for lunch and crinkled my nose in distaste whenever I read about substituting food with something else altogether! :/

And one fine day in the college cafeteria when me and the girls were having lunch and chatting, I absent-mindedly took a bite out of my friend’s lunch box when she offered. And my eyes flew open in surprise! It was delicious! And I was even more surprised when she told me that it was made out of soy chunks*! It was a life-altering experience!!! Well not so much, but yeah I can say that my aversion to (healthy) substitutes is now cured! :) Here’s the recipe!

 
*{Textured or texturized vegetable protein (TVP), also known as textured soy protein (TSP), soy meat, or soya chunks is a defatted soy flour product, a by-product of extracting soybean oil. It is often used as a meat analogue or meat extender. It is quick to cook, with a protein content equal to that of meat.
TVP be made from soy flour or concentrate, containing 50% and 70% soy protein, respectively; they have a mild beany flavor. Both require rehydration before use, sometimes with flavoring added in the same step. TVP is extruded, causing a change in the structure of the soy protein which results in a fibrous, spongy matrix, similar in texture to meat. In its dehydrated form, TVP has a shelf life of longer than a year, but will spoil within several days after being hydrated. In its flaked form, it can be used similarly to ground meat. } -Wikipedia

Ingredients: (Adjust the ingredients according to your taste)

2 cups Soya Chunks
Oil
2 small Onions (chopped)
1 Tomato (chopped)
2-3 tsp Ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp Red chilli powder
2 1/2 tsp Garam masala
salt to taste
Coriander leaves (chopped) to garnish

Method:

Wash soya chunks thrice in hot water, drain and squeeze the water out.
Toss the chunks into boiling water and cook for 5 mins, drain and gently squeeze almost all the water out again.
Chop the chunks into bite size pieces (I used small chunks so I didn’t).
In a large colander heat 2 tbsp oil and fry the onions till translucent.
Add tomatoes and stir for a couple of minutes.
Add ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, garam masala and salt. Stir.
Toss the chunks in and stir. Add a little water if needed and mix till it all comes together.
Garnish with chopped coriander. Enjoy! :)

Sorry! Will be back soon!

Howdy folks! I’m so sorry for disappearing for so long. I’m swamped with work from college. Was taking care of that all these days. And this might go on till the end of December ;( So, I may have to disappear for days together. But I will try to check in and answer your queries and requests everyday if possible :) Please bear with me :) Will be back soon with more yummy recipes. . . Until then, keep your aprons on and get ‘em dirty!!! :D I wanna hear all about your projects in the kitchen when I get back :) Ciao!

Peanut Butter Cups / Peppermint Patties

No, I haven’t gotten enough of chocolate; if that’s what you’re thinking! Like most of us girls , I daydream of it all day long! When I think of dessert, all I can think of is chocolate! That glistening chocolate fondant flowing down a scoop of chocolate ice-cream! That perfect bite of moist chocolate cake that makes your eyes roll in the back of your head! Those little chocolatey surprises you get with each bite from a perfect little chocolate chip cookie! *sigh* Anyways! Snap out of it! :P So, here’s another recipe for chocolate-freaks like me.

You’d like to think that there can never be anythin’ as good as chocolate! But there is! And that glorious food is peanut butter! Am I right or am i right??? :D And what’s better than the both of them??? Chocolate and peanut butter together!!! As soon as the idea hit my head, I thought of peanut-butter cups. and I had little blue silicon cups, I had bought spontaneously one day ‘coz they looked so cute and I just couldn’t abandon them in the lonely corner of the shelf at the store. At least that’s what I told my mum when she asked me why I bought them! Now all I had to do was to search for the perfect recipe. I started my search from this wonderful vegan blog I follow “BitterSweet” By Hannah Kaminsky, a fellow food-blogger. And I had to look no further ‘coz there they were!!! Peanut butter cups!!! I had to stop and drool over the pictures for a minute or two before I could start reading the recipe. :P Tried them out and needless to say they were perfect!!! You could even try the chocolate cups with peppermint filling (recipe by Hannah Kaminsky). Click here to go to the original recipe :)

I dedicate this recipe to my school friend “Shari” who shares my love for PB. NO, I’m wrong here. She doesn’t love PB, She is crazy for it!!! And that is the understatement of the year!  ;)
Try the recipe out and celebrate our obsession for chocolate and peanut-butter! ;) Cheerio!

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Chocolate Candy Cups

1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Peanut Butter filling:
1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Confectioner’s Sugar
Splash Vanilla Extract

Peppermint filling:
1/3 Cup Vegetable Shortening
2/3 Cup Confectioner’s Sugar
1/2 – 3/4 Tsp Peppermint Extract (depending on desired intensity)
Splash Vanilla Extract

Method:

For both treats, begin by melting your chocolate in the microwave 30 – 60 seconds at a time, and stir thoroughly until completely smooth(I melted my chocolate on a double boiler). Use a spoon, thin spatula, or paint brush to brush the melted chocolate over the insides of paper mini muffin cups, making sure to leave no holes and spread it as evenly as possible. No need to go crazy though, because even if the walls are too thin and break when removed from the wrapper, I doubt anyone will mind after they take a bite! You will only use about 1/2 – 3/4 of the chocolate, so set the rest aside for later. Place the chocolate-covered papers into mini muffin tins so that they retain their shape, and let them cool and set completely. You can speed up this process by placing the tins in your refrigerator.

To make the peanut butter filling, just stir together the peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla until completely homogeneous and toss the mixture into the microwave for 30 – 45, just to warm it through and liquefy slightly. Give it another good stir to combine everything again, and drop dollops of the filling into your prepared chocolate cups. Be careful not to rub the sides too much so as not to melt the chocolate, and fill each up to about 2 – 3 mm from the top. Let the filling cool completely.

To make the peppermint filling, place the shortening into a bowl and microwave it briefly until just melted. Add in the sugar and both extracts and stir everything together until smooth. Drop the mixture into the cups as described above for the peanut butter cups, and let cool.

Finally, take out the remaining chocolate and melt it back down into a liquid state. Spoon the chocolate onto each of the filled cups and spread it out to the edges to fill in any gaps. Let it cool once again until set, and enjoy!

Egg Fritters / Bhajjis / Pakoras / Life-Savers on a rainy day!

With the sudden drop in the temperature and the constant drizzle which lasted two days non-stop, here’s a list of things I did yesterday.

1. I buffeted the life out of my alarm clock early in the morn to get it to shut up!

2. Overslept. Got up. Had a hurried breakfast. Watched a li’l TV and slept again!!! Didn’t have the heart to leave the warm cocoon of two quilts and three pillows around me for long! Aah! Heaven!

3. Got up lazily sometime in the evening thinking of ways of how I could spend the rest of the beautiful rainy day. Found mum in the kitchen, making tea and humming. How wonderful it is to wake up to a hot cup of tea!! :D

4. Dad suggested that we make a batch of hot crunchy Egg Fritters to go with the tea. What an awesome idea!!! Rain! Hot tea! And a hot snack to munch on!  Could the day get any better??!! Naah! ;)

So I quickly cleaned up, combed my hair and went to the kitchen to whip up the yummy snack for everyone. And in 15 minutes I was ready with the tray of hot fritters and was in time to join in the excited chatter. Believe it or not! It’s that easy! :)

A quick snack to prepare for unexpected guests too! Try it out and have a cozy evening with the family today!!! :)

The picture is an old one. I couldn’t take any pictures yesterday ‘coz no one would let me! :P

Ingredients:

4 or more hard-boiled eggs

2 cups gram flour

2 tsp (or to taste) red chilli powder

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

salt to taste

water

oil to deep-fry

Method:

In a medium round bowl put the flour, red chilli powder, ginger-garlic paste, salt. And in a slow trickle, add water and mix simultaneously till you get a not-so-thick batter.

The batter should neither be too thick nor runny. It should be thick enough to coat the back of your spoon. Set the batter aside for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a deep pan. While the oil heats up, mix the batter once again and then dip the eggs whole, one by one in the batter and slide them in the hot oil gently and deep fry them till light golden and crisp. Remove them on a paper towel.

When all the battered eggs are fried, cut each of them in half and fry them again for a minute or two to get extra crispy fritters! :) Serve hot with ketchup or tomato garlic sauce! :)

ALTERNATIVES:

1. You can dip the fried halves in the batter before frying for the second time. (I didn’t)

2. You can use any vegetable you like instead of the eggs. For example potatoes, egg plants, spinach leaves etc.

CHOUX PASTRY/PROFITEROLES filled with CHOCOLATE CREAM and drizzled with CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Flapping my arms, walking in circles and making horrid throaty noises is something I often do when I’m absolutely jobless and dead bored!
Yeah! Laugh all you want! :/ :P
A while back when I was reading a few recipes online, I came across a very nice recipe for “Choux Pastry“. Though I had heard of choux
pastry before, reading out the word “choux pastry” aloud amused me! Don’t ask me why. ‘Coz i don’t know. :/ And there I went flapping my
arms, being all loopy and shrieking out the words “choux pastry” again and again and again! I could see that my absurdity was raising a few
eyebrows. My mum’s and my bro’s to be precise… And I knew it was time for me to shut up!
I fled the scene and got busy with picking out the ingredients from the pantry cupboard for the recipe. What tempted me to try this recipe out
was that it was sooo easy, and did not ask for many tricky, hard-to-find ingredients. Three simple steps and Voila! You are rewarded with
unbelievably cute blobs of yumminess! You could fill the profiteroles with vanilla custard or chocolate cream or anything you fancy! Give this recipe a go and I’m telling ya, you won’t regret it! Have fun!

Chocolate Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons cornflour, sifted
¼ teaspoon salt
7 (200g) ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature

Method:

To make the dark chocolate cream, heat the milk. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar, cornflour and salt until thick and well blended. Without stopping whisking, drizzle in about ¼ cup of the hot milk, then add the remainder of the milk in a steady stream. Put the pan over medium heat, and whisking vigorously, bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking for 1-2 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the melted chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. In the meantime, fill the sink about a quarter full with water and ice cubes. Whisk in the pieces of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the cream is smooth and silky.

Put the bowl into the ice filled sink, and stir occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled. Refrigerate with plastic pressed against the surface of the cream to avoid a skin forming.

Choux Pastry/Profiteroles 
(makes about 40)

Ingredients:

100g unsalted butter
1 cup cold water
150g plain flour, sifted
4 eggs

Method:

1. To make the choux pastry, preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F) and line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Combine butter and water in a large saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat. Add flour and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

2. Add eggs to the mixture, beating vigorously to combine after each addition before adding the next. To make profiteroles, use either a piping bag or a spoon to make 3cm mounds on the baking tray.

3. Bake for 15 minutes. Prick pastries with a skewer or the tip of a small knife and bake for an additional 5 minutes until golden and dry. Cool profiteroles on a wire rack before filling with chocolate cream. Drizzle chocolate ganache(recipe below) on the profiteroles before serving.

NOTE: the profiteroles are hollow pastries. Poke a hole on one side and use piping bag to fill them with chocolate cream.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream
12 ounces of dark/semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium heat resistant bowl.

Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it just reaches a boil. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the cream over the chocolate. Stir gently to make sure all of the chocolate is covered by the cream and allow it to sit for a minute. Stir well, until it is smooth and blended. Add the vanilla and mix it in thoroughly. Use immediately.

JEERA/ZEERA RICE ( Cumin Flavored Rice )

So, a week back I was chatting with one of my favorite cousins online after a very long time. After a lot of catching up and some Oohs n’ Ahhs of how life has changed so much, we got to talking about my blog… Along with many flattering compliments *blush* *blush* :P , She gave me a few cool tips about how I could make the blog more convenient for you by alternating between desserts, gravies, breads, rice etc. Because I tend to put up more of dessert recipes. Can’t help it :P  So I was thinking, we should go with rice next. What say? 

My cuz suggested I do Jeera/Zeera rice (Cumin flavored rice). And I thought it’s a very good idea. It is quick n’ simple yet a flavorful variation to regular plain rice. Jeera/Zeera rice is basically rice tempered and flavored with cumin seeds. This dish is popular in the north of India. Pair it with any Paneer (cottage cheese) gravy dish and you got yourself a proper North-Indian meal!!! Yummy!!! Try it out for dinner tonight!!!  Happy Cooking!!! :) 

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recipe courtesy – Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s website…

{Serves 4}
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Basmati rice (Indian long-grained rice)
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/2 tbsp ghee
1 bay leaf
1 black cardamom
2 two-inch sticks cinnamon
salt to taste

Method:

Wash rice thoroughly and soak in water for half an hour. Drain. Heat ghee in a pan. Add cumin seeds, bay leaf, cardamom and cinnamon.
When cumin seeds crackle, add the rice. Add salt to taste.
Stir till ghee coats every grain of rice and it looks glossy.
Add three cups of water. Bring to a boil. Stir once. Reduce heat to minimum and cover the pan with a lid. Leave a little gap, otherwise water will boil over.
Rice will be done when holes appear on the surface and water has been completely absorbed.
Fork the rice out onto a serving dish. This will separate each grain.
Serve hot with any curry.

HOT n’ SPICY HONEY CHICKEN

Hello again, Folks! I know, I know I’ve been idle for a while and the blog seemed stagnant. I’m sorry! :( Was busy with college. It’s been pretty hectic. How about I post one recipe per week? How does that sound? That way I’ll have enough time to wrap up my college assignments and give my undivided attention to the blog over the weekend here. Win-win for everyone!!! :D
Now let me make it up to you with a very yummy recipe. It’s called SPICY HONEY CHICKEN. The recipe is from a cookery show that my mum watches very religiously on TV. It sounded good so I thought I’d give it a try and give mum a break from the kitchen for the day.
Remember I said I’m very partial to dessert recipes and anything sweet? Another li’l tidbit about me goes like this… I am very nervous when it comes to cooking savory dishes! Be it vegetarian or non-vegetarian. I never seem to get used to it even after trying out some very successful recipes. But luckily my experience with this recipe was a breeze. With it’s well-defined steps and handy ingredients, trying this recipe out was fun! Do try and share your experience with me! :D Happy Omnoming!!! :)

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Ingredients + Method (Step 1):

For Marination:
300 gm boneless chicken
salt to taste
1 tsp dry red chilli paste
1/2 tsp red chilli sauce
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 egg-white
1-2 tbsp corn flour

Marinate the chicken in the above ingredients for an hour or two.
Shallow fry the marinated chicken till done and set aside.

Ingredients + Method (Step 2):
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp garlic paste
4-5 spring onions (chop off the stalks and reserve for garnishing)
1 1/2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp red chilli sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
fried chicken pieces from step 1
1-1 1/2 tbsp honey
salt to taste

Heat the oil in a wok. Fry the garlic paste till the raw smell disappears. Lower the heat.
Toss in the chopped spring onion (onion only) and fry for a minute.
Add ketchup, red chilli sauce, soy sauce and mix. Make sure not to dry it out.
Put the chicken pieces in the wok and toss, so that the sauce coats the chicken well.
Add honey, mix gently and season with salt. Done!!!!
Garnish with chopped spring onion stalks and sesame seeds! Lovely!!! :D

LEMON & APRICOT PUDDING

         

       Despite the large number of traits that I share with my dad, there are quite a few subtle differences between us like take for example, our flavor preferences. Him and my brother are so into the citrus flavors when it comes to desserts and candy that it’s almost unhealthy! I, on the other hand run the opposite direction when someone even tries to offer me something lemony or orangey. I’m not a fan of tangy desserts and prefer my dessert comfortably sweet. But this Lemon and Apricot pudding almost completely changed my mind! For one, it has just a hint of lemon in it. And served with custard it tasted amazing! Yeah, i’m still not a fan of lemon flavor, but I wouldn’t mind trying some if i’m offered. Then if i love it, I might even end up asking for or serving myself a few more helpings like how i did with this dessert! :D That’s how yummy it was! Those of you who are lemon-lovers would love this pudding! Even the non-fans, do try it out ‘coz you might end up changing your minds! And anyway, what’s life without a little zest, yeah!? :P Found this recipe in my favorite dessert recipe book. And made it on my Dad’s Birthday. Oh, and do I need to mention that he loved it!!!? :D

Ingredients:

125 g/4 oz ready-to-eat dried apricots
3 tbsp orange juice, warmed
50 g/2 oz butter
125 g/4 oz caster sugar
juice and grated rind of 2 lemons
2 medium eggs
50 g/2 oz self-raising flour
300 ml/1/2 pint milk
custard or fresh cream, to serve

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 c/ 350 F/ Gas Mark 4. Oil a 1.1 litre/2 pint pie dish.

Soak the apricots in the orange juice for 10-15 minutes or until most of the juice has been absorbed, then place in the base of the pie dish.

Cream the butter and sugar together with the lemon rind until light and fluffy.

Separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks into the creamed mixture with a spoonful of flour after each addition. Add the remaining flour and beat well until smooth.

Stir the milk and lemon juice into the creamed mixture. Whisk the egg whites in a grease-free mixing bowl until stiff and standing in peaks. Fold into the mixture using a metal spoon or rubber
spatula.

Pour into the prepared dish and place in a baking tray filled with enough cold water to come halfway up the sides of the dish.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until the sponge is firm and golden brown. Remove from the oven. Serve immediately with the custard or fresh cream.

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