GORDON RAMSAY'S GREEN BEAN SALAD WITH A MUSTARD DRESSING AND SOFT BOILED EGGS

This super healthy, super delicious recipe is from Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course, I loved the dressing and licked the bowl clean.Roasting the garlic makes it delicious and doesn't leave you with garlicky breath!

INGREDIENTS-

• French/Green beans- 500gms
• Garlic- 1 head
• Eggs- 1 per person
• Flaked almonds-100gms
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing

• Honey- 2 tbsp
• Dijon mustard- 2 tbsp
• White wine vinegar- 2 tbsp
• Olive oil- 75ml

METHOD-

1. Top and tail the beans.
   Cover the head of garlic in foil and roast in the oven at 200C for 20 mins.
2. Heat plenty of water and plunge in the green beans, cook for about 2 minutes so that they are still crunchy.
3. Toast the almonds lightly in a pan.
4. Take out the beans from the boiling water and plunge under cold water so that they are verdant green.
5. In the same boiling water slip in eggs with a spoon, boil for 6 minutes, refresh under cold water.Drain, peel and keep ready.
6. Squeeze out the pulp from the roasted garlic and mash well, add all the other ing. for the dressing and mix well.
7. For final assembly-
8. In a large bowl, tip in the well drained beans, add the dressing and toss well, season. Slice the boiled eggs on top and sprinkle with the crunchy toasted almonds.Serve warm.

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PANEER SHASHLIK(LOW CAL AND FAT FREE)

A definite party pleaser and a tantalising snack especially if you have vegetarian guests coming over. Guilt free but full on taste and flavour, its colourful and light...must try!!!

Ingredients-

Cottage cheese(paneer)- 250 gms

Red and yellow Bell peppers (capsicum)- 1 each

Onion- 2 (chopped into largish bite size pcs)

Thick low fat Curd- 250gms

Ginger+garlic paste(fresh)- 1 tbsp

Garam masala- 1tsp

Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Finely chopped green chillies-1-2

Mint leaves- a handful, finely chopped

Coriander leaves- a handful, finely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Chaat masala to sprinkle on top

Wooden skewers(soaked in water so that they don’t burn)

Method-

• Whip the curd well.
• Add ginger+garlic paste, garam masala, lemon juice, green chillies, garam masala, coriander, mint and salt/pepper to the whipped curd.
• Cut paneer into largish squares and marinate in the above mixture for 2 hours or overnight.
• Cut onion and peppers into bite size pieces.
• Final assembly-
• Take a wooden skewer , alternately thread the onion then the marinated paneer, bell pepper, keep repeating, finishing with the onion in that order.
• Grill/ Pan roast the skewers till brown and done.
• Sprinkle chaat masala and serve hot.

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TIPS FOR A FLAT TUMMY

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RED VELVET CAKE

 An utterly gorgeous cake, made extra tender with the use of buttermilk..seems like the old adage -"We eat with the eyes first".. comes true, whoever I have served it to seem first to fall in love with the attractive red colour and then the chocolaty tenderness of it. A great hit at parties and birthdays!

Ingredients-

Ground white sugar- 1 and ½ cups

Eggs-2

Cocoa- 4 tbsp

Butter- 1 cup, softened

Salt-1/2 tsp

Vanilla essence- 1 tsp

Buttermilk- 1 cup

Plain flour- 2 and ½ cups

Baking powder- 2 tsp

White vinegar- 1 tbsp

Red food colour- 4 tbsp

Baking soda- ½ tsp

For the icing-

300 ml heavy cream//Cream cheese( whatever is available, original recipe calls for cream cheese)

½ cup castor sugar

½ tsp vanilla essence

Method-

• Preheat oven to 200 degree C
• Grease and flour two 9- inch cake pans
• Cream butter and sugar together very well. Add eggs and beat well.
• Add the cocoa, food colour, salt, vanilla to the creamed mixture.
• Now alternately add flour and buttermilk, mix well, in the end add the vinegar.
• Pour batter into the prepared cake pans and bake for 30 minutes.
• Cool completely.

For the icing-

Take a  clean mixing bowl and combine cream/ cream cheese along with the rest of the ingredients, beat well till light and fluffy.

For assembling-

Sandwich the cake with a quarter of the prepared icing , spread the rest on top and sides.

Chill well before serving.

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FOODPANDA REVIEW~ order from the comfort of your home/office!!

Hey guys, today I have to share a great find with you!
Foodpanda.in ....Aint the name cute??I love PANDAS!!

Last week I landed on this site and thought I must dig in further :-)...its basically a site on which you can order food online from any restaurant in the vicinity, the menus are displayed so are the prices, for all the restaurants, which saves one the hassle of jumping from site to site, in case your friend wants Italian and you, Chinese:-)...but the best part is a lot of combos and cool deals all over the site!
You can even preorder upto 3 days before or select from the kind of cuisine you are in the mood for...saves a lot of headache and last minute hassles!!

So if you are lucky enough to be living in any of the following cities in India...log in/call them today!!!

Bangalore
Delhi
Faridabad
Greater Noida
Gurgaon
Hyderabad
Indirapuram-Ghaziabad
Jaipur
Mumbai
Noida
Panchkula-Chandigarh-Mohali
Pune

FREE HOTLINE
0 95555 98888 (11AM to 11PM)

Foodpanda in the world
Singapore Thailand Malaysia Indonesia Pakistan Vietnam Taiwan

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READY TO EAT MANGO PICKLE IN UNDER 5 MINS!

Fresh mangoes are all over the place, sweet and sour delicious juicy goodness! After having my fill of sweet , I got my hands on some small sour raw ones and decided to make a super quick, fresh, ready to eat pickle...so here goes the recipe...

Ingredients-

Raw mangoes- 1 kg (washed and peeled)
Mustard oil-1\2  cup
Onion seeds (kalonji)- 1tsp
Fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)-2 tsp
Aniseed (saunf)- 2 tsp
Turmeric powder-1 tsp
White til- 1/2 tsp
Sugar/ jaggery-2 tsp
Whole red chillies-4-5
Green chillies- 4-5 slit
Asafoetida (hing)- 1 pinch
Cumin seeds-a pinch
Cayenne pepper ( deggi mirch)-2 tsp
Redchilli powder- acc.to taste
Salt- acc. to taste

Method-

Take the peeled mangoes and slice into small pieces.

Heat mustard oil in a heavy bottom pan and add mustard oil, after 2 mins, lower flame and add all the ingredients in the order listed.

Fry the spices for a minute.

Add the sliced mangoes, and mix well to coat evenly, cook for a minute.

Cool and transfer to an airtight container, keep refrigerated.

Will keep for upto 2 weeks.

Enjoy with hot parathas, dal- rice...basically to spice up any meal!

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TRADITIONAL ENGLISH BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

The weather has changed dramatically...fresh, sunny, summery salads have given way to more substantial, heavier comforting foods as it rains incessantly outside...comfort food calls out..
Can we leave indulging the sweet tooth behind? Todays recipe is perfect for misty monsoon showers...sweet, cinnamony, thick, buttery and warming...

Ingredients-
8 slices white bread with crusts- cut in halves
(Any type of leftover bread can be used)
2 large tbsp soft yellow butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups full cream milk
2 large eggs
A large pinch cinnamon
A pinch of nutmeg
Handful of raisins/ sultanas
1/2 tsp vanilla essence ( optional)

Method-
Butter the bread and arrange half of it in an overlapping way on to a buttered  ovenproof dish. Preheat oven to 180 C.
In a large bowl combine eggs and sugar and beat well, slowly pour the milk and then the rest of the ingredients.
Pour over the arranged  bread slices and cover with remaining buttered bread, pour rest of milk and egg mixture on top, bake for half an hour till browned and bubbly.
Serve warm with clotted cream.

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DHABA STYLE CHICKEN- COMFORT FOOD!

Posting after almost an year..time flies, and what seemed like a tiny break stretched out to 365 days...Well guys lets get this rolling with a oh-so simple, ready in a jiffy recipe that is a roadside staple hence the name- Dhaba style chicken.
Dhabas are little roadside eateries designed for the traveller in mind that offers fresh, spicy and possibly the most delicious food anywhere on the planet!
Here's the way to simple comfort...

Ingredients-
Fresh chicken-700-800 gms(small pieces, on the bone)
Onions- 3 large, chopped
Tomatoes-2 medium, chopped
Ginger and garlic paste- 1 tbsp
Green chillies- 2 nos, sliced
Lemon juice- 1tbsp
Pure desi ghee (clarified butter)- 6tbsp
Coriander leaves- a large handful, chopped
Turmeric powder-1 small tsp.

Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek)-2 tbsp crushed

Whole spices needed-
5 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
Black cardamom-2
Cumin-1 tbsp
Green cardamom-2
Whole red chillies-2

Method-

• In a heavy bottom pan or kadhai, heat the ghee and tip in the whole spices n onions.
• Let the onions turn golden brown, then add the chopped tomatoes as well as the ginger garlic paste and turmeric, fry well.
• Wash the fresh chicken pieces thoroughly and add to the fried masala, tossing all the time, cover and cook on a slow flame for half n hour at least, adding little hot water now and then, so that the masala does not stick,
• Cook till the spices are fragrant and chicken is well cooked.
• Sprinkle kasuri methi on top.
• Tip in the green chillies and lemon juice and mix well, lastly add salt n black pepper to taste.
• Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot with tandoori roti or naans.

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