Saturday, March 26, 2011

Pineapple Salad



I found the recipe for a very different kind of Pineapple Salad on Kavya's food blog, and thought I would like it. I tried it out, without the spinach (palak), and I loved it. Here's the recipe I used, which is just a slight modification of the one at Kavya's blog.

Ingredients:

Pineapple:1 cup(Julienne cut)
Tomato Ketchup:2 spns
Salt:To Taste
Chilli Powder:To Taste
Sugar/Honey:1 spn
Seaseme Seeds:2 spns(dry roasted)
Lemon Juice:1 spn

Method:

1.In a mixing bowl add tomato ketchup,salt,chilli powder,lemon juice,seaseme seeds(save little for garnishing),sugar/honey and mix well.
2.Now add the cut pineapple and mix well. Keep it aside for 5 minutes and then serve. Garnish it with seaseme seeds before serving.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Mushroom Masala




I had always been skeptical of eating mushrooms – right from childhood. Maybe one of the reasons behind this is that my mom always used to refer to them as ‘Naikodai’ (dog’s umbrella). :(

Of late, I started trying out dishes with mushrooms at restaurants, and quite liked them. The better half – eating mushrooms is a relatively new experience for him too – liked them too. I had been wanting to try out some dish using mushrooms at home, and the chance presented itself when fresh mushrooms were on sale at our recent visit to a departmental store. After reading up on the preparation of mushrooms on various sites, I decided to try out a recipe which was a mishmash of some of the recipes I had read. And, I am happy to tell you, it turned out to be delicious. Finger-lickingly, wonderfully yummy. We both loved it, and we are definitely going to cook and eat more mushrooms now onwards.

Ingredients: (for 2 people)
1. 200 grams mushrooms
2. Salt to taste
3. Turmeric powder to taste
4. Chilli powder to taste
5. Sabji masala/garam masala to taste
6. Lemon juice to taste
7. 3 medium-sized tomatoes
8. 2 medium-sized onions
9. A few coriander leaves, finely chopped
10. A little oil
11. 8-10 cloves of garlic, peeled
12. A small piece of ginger, peeled
13. Mustard seeds
14. Hing powder to taste
Method:
1. Clean the mushrooms and chop them into large pieces. Keep aside.
2. Chop the onions and tomatoes finely, and keep aside.
3. Grind the ginger and garlic into a paste. Keep aside.
4. In a pressure cooker, heat a little oil and add the hing powder. Add the mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.
5. Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté it for a bit.
6. Add the chopped onions and sauté them till they turn brown.
7. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook them till tender, adding a bit of water.
8. Add salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder, sabji masala/garam masala to taste and mix well.
9. Add the chopped coriander and mix well.
10. Add the chopped mushrooms and mix well. Add more water if required.
11. Close the pressure cooker and cook for about 5 minutes on high flame, without the weight.
12. After 5 minutes, open the pressure cooker and add lemon juice to taste. Mix well.

Serve hot with roti or rice.