Lazy son's Cooking - Vegetarian cutlets

3. Vegetarian Cutlets

Cut up Onions, Red Peppers and Carrots into small pieces

Saute the onions on a pan and add in the diced Red Peppers

Meanwhile Microwave some Potatoes (Refer to the steps in the 1st recipe on how to microwave cook potatoes)

Also, if there is space in the microwave with the potatoes , put the diced carrots in a container with some water and salt and microwave for about 5-10 minutes till they soften.

Once the peppers and onions are cooked, take them off the flame.

Skin and mash the potatoes

Drain the water from the carrots

Combine the three ingredients to make the base for the cutlets. Mix thoroughly. Add salt, spices (Red chilly powder/Pepper) and a small amount of breadcrumbs/polenta to the mix.

Form cutlets and coat with breadcrumbs/polenta

Shallow fry

Serve as a burger (or any other lazy alternative)

Lazy son's cooking - Eggplant stew

2. Eggplant and Potato Stew

Saute Onions and Garlic till they caramelize

Add in the potatoes (I cut them into long slices, not too thin) and stir

Add salt

Spice with Red chili powder and coriander powder

Stir to distribute the spices.

Add the Eggplant (Cut into cubes. You can choose to leave the skin on)

The eggplant will occupy a lot of space in the dish but as you stir they will reduce in size

Keep mixing to prevent the ingredients in the bottom from burning

Once the eggplant reduces in size and takes on a slightly brown shade from the spices add water

Bring water to a boil and decrease flame. Cook for ~5 minutes.

Check salt.

Serve with toasted bread and an omelette

Lazy Son's Cooking - A full meal!!!

1. Tomato Soup, Cheese Toast, Potatoes

Tomato Soup:

Saute onions and add tomato pulp

Add pepper, salt and seasonings

Once the mixture has darkened add water

Decrease heat and reduce the mixture

Add Couscous/Polenta to thicken and complement texture

Cheese Toast:

Butter bread

Add cheese

Add olives

Microwave on grill mode or put it in the oven for a few minutes

Potatoes:

Wash potatoes

Poke holes in them

Microwave directly in an open container (without water) for 5 minutes

Turn the potatoes and microwave for another 5 minutes

(Note: Microwaving time will depend on the potato size)

Peel and cut into blocks 

Add salt, garnish with herbs and pepper

A dollop of butter is recommended

D's suggestion - baked potatoes with sour cream

Dont need to write anything here. Bake potatoes with skin. Serve with sour cream.

Yes, there's a theme to the last few recipes undispudedly ;)

Alu tikki chole

Chole
Soak and boil (pressure cook for 15 mins. Some people add a tea bag for dark brown colour. Suggest adding whole spices - badi elaichi, cinnamon, cloves and a red chilli) chick peas. Or buy can.
Gravy - onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes. Grind, saute in good amount of oil. Add salt, chilli powder, garam masala, jeera powder, turmeric (just a dot). Once this has cooked, and the oil separates, add the boiled chana and let it simmer or pressure cook for two whistles. The consistency should be thick. Not watery. To do that, you could mash up some of the chana.

Tikki
Mash boiled potatoes. Add green chilli, coriander, salt, bread crumbs. Shape into tikkis and shallow fry on tava.

While serving, hot hot crisp on the outside tikkis, chole on top, chopped onions, coriander, sweet tamarind chutney, green chutney, dahi(optional, but  like)
 Totally makeable. Tastes fantastic even without the chutneys.

Alu chaat and chutneys

It's a good idea to keep some potatoes boiled.

Chaat needs chutneys.
Dhania chutney - green chillies, coriander big bunch, salt, sugar. Grind
Add on - one small onion/garlic

Mint chutney - same as above. Replace dhania with mint leaves. Wash and separate leaves for this one. Can add coriander leaves.

Tamarind chutney

Jaggery, tamarind concentrate, black salt, roasted jeera, dates. If not using paste from a jar, soak tamarind in water until it softens. Retrieve pulp. Discard seeds and other bits. If adding dates, soak dates. Boil in so.e water, pulp, jaggery and all other ingredients. You could add dried ginger. Add salt and red chilli powder. Reduce to chutney consistency.


Back to chaat
Two types. This one is the one you get in CP, fried in a big tava and really good in winters. Cube boiled potatoes. Shallow fry till golden brown. Top with chat masala (if that's an issue - roast jeera powder, salt, red chilli powder, black salt will do)
Green chutney. Slivers of radish or ginger. Can squeeze lime.  Top with dhania. Have hot with toothpick. Chaat is pretty much up to you..

The cold kind
Cube boiled potatoes. Can add chopped onions and tomatoes and green chillies. Add bhujia (alternatives - nachos?) Top with curd and chutneys and coriander.

Vermisilly

Did I tell you I wanted to have a hundred entries before telling you about it? 

Just goes to show how perfect the title is.

Kadhai. Heat oil. add jeera, bayleaf. fry. Chop and fry onions, green chillies, any veg- carrot, beans, peas, potato, capsicum (or none), a few groundnuts. Meanwhile, keep boiling water ready. Add semia/vermicelli to the sauteed onions and roast for about 10 mins. The roasting helps avoid gluggy upma disasters. Add salt. Pour boiling water - enough to just cover vermicelli. And cook. Take off flame. Let it rest. If all is well, the vermicelli will be separate noodly entities. Top up with chopped coriander. 

Rasam

You need to soak tamarind and cook some dal (thoor) in advance.

Smash/ grind tomato, add to water. Add turmeric, hing, kadipatta, salt, a  of sugar, umm what else?
Boil till level reduces. Add tamarind water, cooked dal, rasam powder and let all of this boil a bit.

Chownk with rai, hing, jeera. Ghee chownk.
Cut up some coriander and you may want to squeeze lime for fresh smell and some tang.

To make rasam powder - dry roast jeera, black pepper, dhania, red chilli, thoordal. Grind.

Biryani -the non fuss variety

I know, I know, Im awesome :)

So Biryani you said. So here's how I made that.

Onions, ginger, garlic, green chilli, raw jeera, garam masala,  cashew nuts - grind.

In the cooker, heat oil. Add ghee or butter. Add a stick of cinnamon, a few cloves, a couple if bay leaves and a couple of green cardomoms. Add masala. Fry on low heat till oil separates. You could remove this paste and keep aside (but it works even if you dont)

Add sliced potatoes, carrots, anything else ( if adding soya chunks, soak in water till they bloat, then add), fry a bit. Add washed and drained rice (if it's clean, you could add pour out of the packet into the cooker). Fry this a bit. If you have kept the fried gravy separate, now is the time to add it. Add salt.

Grind a bunch of coriander leaves and add.

Add water till it covers everything plus a centimetre.

Cook 2 whistles in low heat.

There you go :)

Works well with papad and raita. So it's not just carbs, add either paneer or soya chunks or have with boiled egg

Manga Pacchadi

lazy mums manga pacchadi

peel raw mango. cube or slice into small bits. Take a glass bowl, put the mango pieces, add water until it covers the pieces and then some. add jiggery, salt, red chilli powder. microwave until the mago is transparent.  the whole thing turns orange. Chownk with jeela, slit green chilli and Hing, Kadi patta. 

Tamarind Chutney

tamarind chutney

why not new post? haven't even crossed twenty!

ok.  Soak tamarind for a 20 mins ( or micro.  its faster).  Don't make with readymade concentrate.  its tastes weird.

Remove seeds, fibre if any. To this tamarind pulp, add dates, jiggery, salt, red chilli.  boil for a bit. roast kalonji seeds and add for flavor.

Rajma er... Red bean Salad

Soak and cook Rajma. chop Onions, green chillies, tomato.  for dressing, add lime, olive oil, sugar, salt. add Tamarind chutney. top with coriander.  If you chop off coriander leaves from the stems, is it called Cilantrophy? :P

this really tastes good. guess you can try the same with all lentils. try with millet rotis.

mater paneer :P

Onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic(optional), one red chilli. Grind

In a kadhai, heat some oil, add the powders - turmeric, red chilli, dhania, jeera  - add paste.  fry this paste until it leaves side of kadhai or you think its done. Add salt, some sugar.  gently slip in haha cubes or cuboids or spheres or chunks ( paneer crumble not great in gravy. Boil peas separately and add at the end in the gravy.  let it cook for a while.

Did I tell you how we make paneer at home? Milk-boil- add lime- let it curdle into big chunks - do not stir much - hang paneer in a thin muslin cloth or press on a sieve with weight. leave for a couple of hours for the whey to drain, store in fridge.

Pati says as a child, she used to have lime juice made of whey.  never tried it.  dare you to.

Paneer

Easy peasy

many ways you can make

this one is easy and fast

chop onions into cubes. same with capsicum and tomatoes( optional), green chillies.

In a kadhai, heat oil, add jeera owder, onion, green chilli. once it softens, add capsicum, add cubes of paneer. salt. It cooks in no time and is good with rotis. good as roti rolls too.

Adai

One cup urad
One cup thoor
One cup chana
One cup rice
coconut
red chilli

umm, I make any dal 3 :1(rice).  it works. good wholesome food
soak all but coconut.  a couple of hours. grind.  add coconut( optional but it gives a nice fluffy, crispy feel to the adai).  Make adai on Tava.  first ones can be troublesome. 
To prepare the tava for an onslaught of dosais or cousins of.... heat tava, spead some oil,heat for a bit and splash water.  the tava gets coated with nonstick something. try to get an iron tava.  everything tastes better on it.

Poori Bombay Chutney

Poori.

Atta, water, some oil, ajwain (caraway seeds). knead into dough. Heat oil. to test, you can put a small bit of atta, it will puff up or blister(depending on size). roll out small circles using oil rather than atta. fry. Once the Poori puffs up, give it a few seconds before turning it over. Adjust heat as you go.

Bombay chutney

Make a slurry of Besan (alternatives are pea flour or chick pea flour).  What the hell... go to an Indian store and get besan! Add salt and a bit of red chilli powder to the slurry.  keep aside.
In a kadhai, two tbsp. oil.  Heat. Add mustard seeds, jeera, chopped green chillies, Hing, Kadi patta, Ginger ( that's important). add the slurry to the termpering and let it cook. stir continuously. Low Heat to avoid clumping. add water if it becomes too thick too fast. taste to see if its cooked. raw besan tastes terrible. Add juice of one lime, sprinkle coriander leaves and serve with Booff Pooris. Oh Des!!!

Why serve? Eat. Get someone to make the pooris.

Have no idea why its called Bombay chutney.

noodle sauce

Just because, totally by chance, this came out well. so...

Boil noodles. set aside.  ratio of noodles to veg 1:1.5. shred cabbage, green chilli, grate a zucchini, smash/chop fine lots of garlic. Hot wok, oil. Fry all except noodles on high heat.  add chillies and garlic first. Then cabbage and Zucchini. Stir crazy. Keep on high heat. Vegetables retain crunch and colour. Add Noodles. Add  soy sauce, a bit of tomato sauce and Teriyaki sauce. Salt.  It came out really well.  Wish I'd taken photo.

Molagapodi

You need to know.  Its so simple and need to have around.

I cup Urad dal, 6 Whole red chillies, 2tbsp chana dal, hing, salt, sesame. Take a tsp of oil. roast all except salt and hing together till golden brown. constantly stir.  Otherwise you"ll get black bits and the sesame burns badly. add Hing, Salt.  coarse grind in mixi.  cool before storing.

yeah yeah short recipe. But this one has measurements!

Pav lova?

Ok so my aim was to have a hundred recipes by the time it was your birthdays. heh heh heh, like that's happening...

Pav Bhaji

The Bombay Pav, you're not going to get everywhere.  the best you could do I guess is to look for shape, size and a bit of salt in it, not sweet, airy, to soak up.

The last time I made it a few days ago, it turned out well.  Will talk about that one.

Boil Potatoes.  Chop onion, green chillies (a fair amount), tomatoes, capsicum. Now, many people include stuff like lauki, baingan, tori types. and yep... you've had them passed off as pav bhaji as well. Cannot be legally termed as rasahalwa. Shall leave choice of veg to your discretion. Do tell me if you did add lauki :D...

Take oil in shallow Kadhai, add some of the onions (You want to keep some raw to put on top of the bhaji and squeeze lime on it.  and Butter. Lots. ), chillies, fry well. Add tomatoes, all powders ( turmeric, red chilli, dhania, garam masala, jeera, and a bit of rasam powder....I'm telling you,  this works... and cook till it forms a nice red gravy. Add capsicum. You want it a bit green, not dead. Peel and grate (its easier than smashing) potatoes onto the gravy, fry a bit and then add water, salt and cook till it looks like the Main street bhaji ( well... as close in consistency). Add dollop of butter. fresh Dhania.

To serve, slice pavs in half and Tava roast with butter (or ghee :) on both sides. Serve Pavs with bhaji with a blob of butter, finely chopped onions on the side and a wedge of lime.

The Dal like

This is hard work! Not lazy at all.
Ok. So there were two things. Ro -Short cuts to Dals and D -  Rasahalwa. Hmmm where do I begin....

Dal. This is easy if you have a pressure cooker. All yellow Dal's ( thoor, chana, moong, masur) can be cooked without soaking. Dals with chilka (whole pulses) have to be soaked 2-6 hours depending on dal.

Simple Tadka - Its called tempering, chownk, talichi.... Used for yellows
Cook dal until done. You could add turmeric and salt while cooking. I add it later. Both work. Then, in a tempering spoon or small kadai, heat a spoon of oil or ghee or butter. To it, add one of the following tadkas

1. Jeera, green chillies, hing - the simplest, one I like best. Can top up with coriander, lime(if toor)

2. Mustard seeds, hing, udad dal, kadi patta, red chillies.

3. Jeera, Onion, ginger, garlic, tomato, green or red chillies

4. Jeera, all powders mixed with a bit of water so as no to burn - jeera, coriander, hing, turmeric, red chilli powder.

5 Jeera, bay leaf, whole clove, cinnamon.

Basically, use whatever you have and try combinations. Usually works if you go..Mmh.. This is really yummm..such interesting flavors...

For the whole dals, grind ( or chop fine) onion, garlic, red chilli, black pepper, some whole spices or garam masala. Oil. Heat. Saute until cooked. Add tomato puree and cook again. You could add tomato with the onion. Works ok enough.
 Cooked soaked dal. Will take about 20 mins to cook. Add sautéd paste to cooked dal and give it a couple of whistles.

That's it. Pics later. Or ...Google :p

Apple pie

Ro said today that he likes home apple pie. So here goes. The 20 min recipe.

Pick an apple or two. Peel (can avoid), core, slice thinly. Real thin. Sliver types.
Short crust - Maida (flour!). Rub with lots of butter till it looks like flakes. Add a real small bit of cold water and bring together as dough ( just enough to retain shape. Don't knead) . Wrap. Keep in freezer for 10 mins ( can avoid if lazy).
Spread dough onto pie tin. 1/4 inch thick. Fill with apple, sugar, honey, cinnamon, butter. That's it. Bake till its done.

Be the best you you can be. Kung fu Panda philosophy :p

And oh...we had with ice cream. Was good ya.

Asian style veg with sesame sruce

Asian style Dinner in a bowl

Sounds fancy. Tasted good. Looked purple!! That was this black carrot in season that sort of colored the meal.

Sesame rice - in a cooker, heat oil, splutter some sesame seeds, red chilli, ginger, add rice. Roast a bit. Add salt, water and cook. One or two whistles.

Veg
Wok. Hot oil. Ginger. Garlic. Nicely chopped veggies. I did broccoli, carrots( which I microwaved a bit) capsicum, and some other stuff. Forgot. You can add pumpkins. Add to hot wok. Stir fry. Add peanuts or almonds. Mix Teriyaki, soy and just a bit of tomato sauce with rice flour. Make slurry and add to veg. Stew for 2. Can add coriander. Yeah yeah. I know :/ Tastes good you know. Oh. Can add chilli flakes or black pepper or green chilli. Boil some eggs to go with the meal.

My Pati's Toghaiyal

This one you like. You can make all kinds if toghaiyal. Some dal (chana+urad or only urad or only tho or as in paruppu thogaiyal)

This one is one if many my pati used to make. She knew I loved it. She would even make from peels if vegetables- pumpkin, gourds... You have to get the flavor right. Kind of umami. Sweet, sour, salt, heat, some freshness.

Ingredients ( for the one I made today. Feel free to improvise. You should.)
Chana dal
Urad dal
Kadi patta
Green chilli
Hing
Tomato
Ginger
Tamarind
Gud

And it certainly classifies as lazy. Okay.
 Heat 2tbsp oil. Put the Dals. Hung. Roast. Chilli. Kadi patta. Ginger. 30 seconds. Tomato. Doesn't have to be roasted much. Salt. Jaggery(gud). Switch off. Microwave a bit if tamarind with water. Squeeze out the liquid onto other ingredients. Add little bit of water. Soak for about 10 and grind.
Have with hotrice and ghee.

Idli

So Ro wanted to know how idli is made. People have different measures and swear by them. Mine is - 2 raw rice. 2 boiled rice. 1 urad dal. Soak dal and rice separately. 6 hrs. Grind separately. Add salt and mix. Ferment. Scoop out in moulds and steam.

But if you can't get udad where you live and don't have a mixi, make rava idli.
Semolina. You should get it anywhere in the world.

Oil. Heat. Add mustard, jeera, chopped green chilli, ginger, chana dal, hing, and say...two cups of semolina. Roast. Add 2 cups curd. ( not while its roasting! After it cools) Add Salt. Add water to make idli batter consistency. Leave for 10 mins and make idlis. You can add a bit if cooking soda. It helps. To the batter, you could also add carrots, coriander, kadi patta.

You won't have idli moulds. Steam in cups or plates.


Tell me how it came out. Should work.

Postu

At this rate of laziness....tsk tsk.

Since I'm being fed lovingly by my not-so-lazy mum, here's Postu. The easy way. That's how pati makes it too.

Choice of veg - tomato/potato/ridge gourd (pperkanga/jhinga)
Take 100g of  poppy seeds (gasagasa/khuskhus). Since its cultivation is restricted its a pricey commodity. And yes..you ARE going to make postu with it. Don't go experimenting

Grind poppy seeds with a one or two green chillies. Grind dry first. When it is well powdered add some water and grind to chutney consistency. In a kadai, heat two table spoons of oil. Add mustard, one red chilli and veg/berry of choice. Cook till done. Add the paste. Stir. Keep at it. Dont go off to anywhere. It gets booked in about 7-10 mins. You'll know when it smells right and the paste leaves sides of kadhai. Somewhere along the way, add salt.
Have with hot freshly made rice and ghee.

I had it a couple of days ago. Was yum. I guess we like the strange things we grow up with. There's taste and there's a story and there's a memory.

Arbi ever?

Ok so yeah I've been lazy. But you know why! Average. Huh! Give me some heart hope childrens.
Today I'm making arbi. Don't have to cut. Just pressure cook and peel. On a plate, mix besan, salt, chilli powder, some turmeric id you like, a bit of hing ( asafoetida)...like you would know that better:). Dunk the peeled arbi in this dry mixture. Give it a toss. In a kadhai, heat oil. More oil that what we deem healthy but you're not going to crisp and crunchy golden yum heaven if you scrimp on the oil. Keep the flame low, very liw. and go do something else. Doesn't need stirring for a while. Turn the arbis occasionally till all surface area has had day in the sun..er oil, till you can't help but try one of the nuggets.

paruppu podi

Love food. Love eating. Love experimenting. 

This is for you R and D. With all my lazy bones. In the easiest way possible. If they turn out well, breathe in the the utter culinary satisfaction. If they don't, rasahalwa it. And then, beam in utter inspiration.

For the days you just want to make rice... which takes 5 mins in the little pressure cooker.

Jan 26 2016 8:35 am

Paruppu Podi

Thoor dal/ thuvaram paruppu  - one cup

These are whitish. Same stuff you make sambar with. Flat, yellow. Well, you go figure

Red Chilli - umm maybe 4

Black pepper - as you please

Hing/asafoetida - a few sprinkles

Salt

Oil - few drops

Take sauce pan/ kadai

Heat. Few drops of oil. Put in everything except salt. Roast till dal turns slightly reddish brown. You can smell the roastiness. That's it. Add salt. Grind it in the mixie.

Have with hot rice and lots of ghee. Protein intake taken care of. Have to tell you. Today's inspiration has been this