Pan Fried Eggplant with Caramelized Onions

Mum taught me this dish while I was visiting India last month. It's simple, it's tasty and doesn't take long to cook. Works great as a side dish.

Ingredients:

5-6 round slices of eggplant

1 medium onion thinly sliced

2 tsp olive oil

Pinch garam masala (per slice)

Pinch chili powder (per slice)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a pan, spray olive oil and sauté onions until they caramelize. The key to caramelizing onions is adding a pinch of salt, black pepper and very little sugar. 

2. Soon, the onions will begin to brown. Just be cautious that the onions don't burn. 

3. Put the onions aside. Now cut round slices of eggplants and spice them with your fingers. Roughly spread the spices and salt on the slices on both sides.

4. Coat a pan with olive oil and put the slices in when the pan is hot. Fry both sides. You'll need to make sure there is enough oil to coat both sides. The eggplant will reduce in size. Once both sides have browned and softened, it's done.

5. Garnish with the caramelized onions and it's ready to serve :)

This is the simplest and tastiest side dish. It takes a mere 10 minutes to cook and is a definite winner. Give it a shot.

Hope everyone's enjoying their weekend.

x

Penne Arrabiata

Here is a pasta dish perfected over time. I am finally confident that I can make this again and again and it will taste good each time. It's quick, simple and yummy :)

Ingredients:

Penne Rigate pasta (12 oz pack)

3 tbsp olive oil

2 Roma tomatoes chopped

Tomato sauce (8 oz or as much as you like)

half medium onion chopped

3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1/4 cup of freshly chopped parsley

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp chili flakes

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Boil pasta in water with 1 tsp salt. Salt doesn't actually help with boiling pasta; it just makes it salty.

2. Meanwhile, in a pan, heat olive oil. Add the chopped onions and garlic. Cook until the onions become transparent. Then add chopped tomatoes. Cook the onions and garlic on one side of the pan and the tomatoes on the other. Once the tomatoes become tender and release the juice, cook everything together until the tomatoes have dried into a paste.

3. Then add tomato sauce. You can choose to add as much or as less as you like.

4. If you don't want your pasta to be too saucy, you can use less. It all depends on your taste.

5. Cook for 5 minutes and add the cooked pasta to the sauce.

6. Now add the spices (oregano, Italian seasoning, chili flakes, salt and pepper). Add as per your taste. I'm a spice freak so I usually add more :p

7. Add chopped parsley and mix.

8. And you're done! :) Garnish with Parmesan cheese if you wish. It tastes good on it's own, too.

Mmmm...

Enjoy your weekend!

x

Cheesy Veggie Rolls

This is probably the easiest snack I've made in a while. I picked up egg roll wraps from Walmart a while ago but never got around to using them. Today, I spotted them in the fridge and decided to do something with it. 

Recipe-

Ingredients:

4 egg roll wraps (Nasoya)

For Filling:

1/2 tsp olive oil

1 carrot shredded

1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper

1 serrano pepper finely chopped

1/4 cup sweet corn

1/4 cup cabbage shredded (or super thinly chopped)

1/2 an onion shredded

1/4 spinach finely chopped

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp mango powder

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a pan, cook all the veggies in olive oil. Add the spices and ketchup. Turn off heat when the veggies are well coated in the ketchup and spices. Filling is ready.

2. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese to the filling and mix.

3. Now assemble the roll.

Step 1

4. Step 1: Put the filling in the middle of the wrap like above and take one corner of the wrap and fold over the vegges.

Step 2

5. Step 2: Now fold both sides of the wrap over the veggies.

Step 3

6. Step 3: Now fold the last corner over.

Step 4

7. Step 4: Turn the wrap over. On the leftover corner, put some water with your finger (to seal) and fold over. The wrap should be completely sealed now. If there are any openings, use water to seal. Make sure everything is sealed because we don't want the filling to attract oil.

Step 5

8. Now deep fry it until golden brown (You may bake it for a healthier option).

Enjoy the yummy goodness with hot and sweet ketchup :p

x

Roadside Aloo Chaat (Dilli 6 style)

Here is a recipe I came up with and it tastes so good that we ate it almost everyday during Navratri. I know I've written a post on aloo chaat before, but this another version of it. Let's say this recipe is not as healthy as the one I wrote before (hehe) but it's super duper yummy. It tastes just like the chaat you could have on the roadside of Chandni Chowk (Delhi 6). For all those who haven't been to Chandni Chowk, it is one of the oldest and busiest markets of Old Delhi and serves some of the tastiest, cheapest roadside food you can find anywhere in Delhi.

Ingredients:

5 medium potatoes boiled
Vegetable oil for deep frying
1 green chili (serrano pepper will do)
1 tsp Cumin seeds
2 tbsp chaat masala
2 tbsp mango powder (aamchur)
1 tsp paprika
a pinch of Turmeric (haldi)
Half a lime
Black salt to taste

Method:

1. Peel and boil the potatoes.

2. Once they are boiled, cut them into small cubes and deep fry like below.

The reason why we boil them first and then fry them is because they become crispy on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside. It just tastes a lot better.

3. Once all the potatoes are fried and looking crisp on the outside, take a pan, heat some oil in it, put chopped green chili and cumin seeds. 

4. In about 20 seconds, add the fried potatoes and mix with oil, chili and cumin.

5. Now add all the spices (turmeric, chaat masala, mango powder, paprika, black salt) and mix to coat all the potatoes well. 

6. Squeeze the juice of half a lime over it and mix well.

It should look like the picture above. These are simply mouth-watering. You won't be able to stop. Put coriander and tamarind chutney over them before eating or eat as it is. It'll still be yummy. Try it!

Love!
x