1 pot dish- 10 minute bisibele bath

This is my own version of the traditional Karnataka dish from India and it may no where closely resemble in the preparation. But it works for a working mum like me as it takes 10minutes from stove to plate.
You may need some pre prepared ground spices which are available in any Indian grocery store.

Ingredients

frozen mixed vegetables of any kind- small bowlful or 200 grams

Tomatoes-2

11/2 cups rice

1/2 cup lentils of any kind like red/toor dal/yellow lentils

1 teaspoon tamarind paste

1 1/2 table spoons sambar powder

11/2 tea spoons salt

fresh coriander if you have.

This will serve a family of 4.

Method :

you do need a pressure cooker for this but can be made in a pan but takes longer to prepare.

Take 2 teasoons oil in a pressure cooker and add some tempering ingradients if you have like jeera,mustard seeds - 1 tea spoon each and curry leaves.

Once they start to splutter add any fresh or frozen vegetables if you have and any size you like because this dish is very forgiving.

I added these frozen veg as they happen to be the only ones left in the freezer.

once the veg are thawed add the rice and lentils followed by the spices and tamarind paste.

add twice the amount of water to the rice and lentil mix. so here I added 4 cups water.

close the led and cook until 3 whistles blow off.

Switch off and wait for few minutes to open the lid.

Mix and add some boiling water to get the desired consistency.

I like porridge consistency so I add a lot of water.

serve with warm Ghee.

tastes nice with some poppodoms or crisps.

Butternut squash and chick pea fry

This is another easy curry/fry for a rainy day. I used frozen packet of butternut squash pieces and a can of chick peas. Frozen pieces are easy as butrernut squash is a hard to chop vegetable , needs little elbow grease.
Ingredients
Frozen packet of squash pieces/ fresh
1 can chick peas
1 tea spoon chilli powder
1 tea spoon eack of coriander and cumin powder
Salt
1 onion
1 teaspoon ginger garlicpaste
Chopped coriander leaves

Method

Take a oan witb a table spoon oil. Temper with mustard and cumin seeds and curry leaves.
Add chopped onion and let it soften
Add ginger garlic paste
Add B Squash and let it soften.
Add chick peas drained.
Add rest of spices after and gently fry for further 10 min
Finally some coriander
Serve with roti or rice.

Broccoli chutney

Ingredients
Broccoli 1
Green chillies 4
1 onion chopped
Chana dal 2 table spoons
Coriander leaves 50 gm
Jeera /cumin leaves 1 teaspoon
Tamarind juice or lemon juice

Metbod

Take a shallow pan and heat up a table spoon oil.when hot add tempering agents including dal,green chillies,garlic clo d.
Add chopped broccolj and soften witb salt for 5 minutes
Add coriander leaves and switch off flame.
Mince coarsely witb a teaspoon jeera and a tea spoon tamarind paste.
Can subsitute tamarind paste with lemon juice of half a lemon

Hidden veg Pasta

This is a pureed version of mixed vegetable pasta sauce which goes down well with kids. You can use any mix of vegetables and here is just an example of what I used

Ingredients

Courgette- 1
Red pepper-1
Carrot- 1 large
Celery stick-1
fresh tomatoes 2 or baby tomatoes-8
Garlic Cloves- 3
Basil leaves- few
red chilli-1
Passata- 500grams or a can of chopped tomatoes.

Method

• Take a table spoon of olive oil in a pan and add the chopped vegetable with garlic. 
• soften them up and cover with a pinch of salt for 5-10 minutes.
• Add passata and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.
• Switch off the flame and puree it.
• 
  

Butternut squash fry

Ingredients

Butternut Squash- 1 whole or 500gm frozen packet
Onions-2
Garlic -3  cloves
Cumin seeds- 2 tea spoons
Coriander powder- 1 tea spoon
Sugar- 1 tea spoon
Green chillies- 3

Tempering- mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves

Method

Take  a pan and add a table spoon oil. Temper with mustard seeds and jeera. Add chopped chillies, sliced onions and soften them with a pinch of salt. Meanwhile take a pestle and mortar and grind cumin seeds and garlic. A coarse paste is adequate to bring out the flavour. Add it to the softened onions. after about 30 seconds add the fresh or frozen chopped butternut squash. I added a teaspoon of chilli powder for extra spice but just chopped chillies should be enough for a milder version. cover for 8-10 minutes on low flame and it is enough for frozen pieces. Fresh pieces may take few more minutes.
Finally sprinkle some coriander powder and sugar and switch off the flame.
It goes well with white rice.

Siri's Rosette Cake

Quorn and vegetables curry

Again I used Quorn here but it is versatile and can be adopted with any combination of vegetables/paneer.

Ingredients

Onions -2
Tomatoes- 2
Mangetout beans- 100gram
Quorn- 150grams
ginger garlic paste  1 tea spoon
chilli powder 1 tea spoon
salt- to taste

For tempering- a tea spoon of mustard and cumin seeds

For gravy- make a paste of 2 table spoon poppy seeds, 2 table spoons sesame seeds, 5 cashews, 50 grams grated coconut/ coconut pieces

1 tea spoon garam masala.

Method

Take a deep pan and heat up a table spoon of oil. Throw in the cumin and mustard seeds. When they start to splatter,add chopped onions.When they soften with some salt,add ginger garlic paste. After 5 minutes add chopped tomatoes. cover the pan and let the tomatoes soften.

Open and add chilli powder,mangetout chopped, and quorn.
Finally add the paste of all ingredients we made for the gravy. Let it cook for 10 minutes . Finally add garam masala and chopped coriander.
Serve with Rice/ Roti.

Quorn/Tofu fry

I suppose we can make this recipe with any combination of vegetables/meat/leftovers at home.This really was a leftover recipe .

Ingredients

Carrots 2- grated
Peppers-2 - mixed colours
Spinach- bunch
150gram Quorn/Tofu/Paneer
Red onion- 1
garlic cloves-1

Method

1. take a pan and heat a tablespoon of oil. add some chopped garlic and chopped onion. once it is softened with a pinch of salt, add thinly sliced peppers. Once it softens, add Quorn and grated carrot.

2. just a couple of minutes before you finish add chopped spinach.

3. To spice it up ,you can add a tea spoon of chilli powder/ here I added some ready made spice powder ( it can be anything from chicken fry powder/ Jamaican jerk seasoning/curry powder).

4. That's it. can have it with Rice/Chapati/cous cous.

Black Bean Soup

This healthy spicy soup is from my favourite chef jamie oliver. I just made changes here and there. Added left overs at home and it was delicious.

Ingredients

2 red onions

2 cloves of garlic

2 sticks of celery

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1-3 fresh red chillies

½ a bunch of fresh coriander

olive oil

½ a bunch of fresh thyme

2 x 400 g tins of black beans

extra virgin olive oil

Cooked brown rice- small cup

Method

Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic, then trim and finely slice the celery. Deseed and finely chop the peppers and chillies. Pick the coriander leaves, then finely chop the stalks.

Drizzle a lug of olive oil in a large saucepan and place over a medium-low heat. Add  the chopped onion, garlic, celery, coriander  and peppers to the pan, then pick in the thyme leaves. 

The number of chillies is optional. jamie added only half a deseeded chilli to the original soup but for my family's Indian palate I added 3 red chillies with seeds in. It is certainly spicy but nice.Add the chilli and gently sauté the veggies for 15 minutes, or until softened but not coloured. 

Tip in both tins of black beans with their liquid, followed by 400ml of boiling water. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. 

Season, reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until thickened and creamy. If it reduces too much, add a splash more water. 

take 1/4th of the soup out in a tall glass and blend it into a paste with hand blender. It helps to thicken the soup.

Add it back to the pan and add some left over cooked brown rice. Today I had some left over grilled chicken so I shredded and added it to the bowl while eating.

It is Yum on its own or with some bread/ tortillas.

Aubergine pasta

Easy vegetarian pasta sauce .can use it with any pasta shape or layer it for lasagne .

Ingredients

• Aubergine 1
• Dry soya mince - handful or according to taste
  
• Tinned tomatoes 400gm
• Salt
• Bay leaf and herbs
• Garlic 2 cloves
• Parmesan cheese/cheddar

Method

• Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil and gently warm chopped garlic making sure it doesn't get burnt.
• Add bay leaf and herbs of choice like Rosemary ,basil leaves
• Add chopped aubergine- small prices and cook until soft with some salt
• Boil a kettle with water and pour it over a bowl of soya mince to rehydrate it.
• Add the chopped tomatoes to the aubergine mixture and cook for 10 minutes
• After 5 minutes drain water and it to the pan with cook with aubergine ,tomato mixture.
• Add salt and pepper to taste. I added chilli powder to mine .
• Serve with pasta and cheese grated on top.

Fig and Date Flapjacks

This recipe is an amalgamation of few flapjack recipes to suit my taste and what was in  season at the time I made it.
because the main ingredient is oats it sounds deceptively healthy but there is nothing healthy about it if you look at all the butter and sugar that goes in it.
Having said that you can reduce the level of guilt consciousness by replacing golden syrup with maple syrup.

Ingredients

150 grams Butter
100 grams caster sugar
175ml golden syrup
450 gram mixture of nuts and fruits and oats

I used nearly 200grams of oats ,150grams chopped dates and dried figs 50-100 grams toasted and chopped hazel nuts and pumpkin seeds and few raisins.
4 Fresh figs copped in round slices.

Method
Pre heat oven to 180c.

In a large pan melt butter and sugar and golden syrup.As soon as it melts add all the dry ingrients including oats.

When well combined transfer to a tray lined with parchment paper and press down.

Scatter fresh figs on top and sprinkle some more syrup/sugar over it.
Bake in the oven at 180c for 25-30 minutes.

while it is still warm make some indentations to the size you want to cut later.

Roasted Tomato and Carrot pasta

 This is one pasta recipe which I can claim to be my own.This came about when I was trying to use up the vegetables before my weekly shop.Me and my children don't like the sourness that comes from using ready-made pasta sauces or tomatoes on their own which we buy in supermarket here in UK.when I went to Italy and tried the tomatoes that grow there it was a total revelation for me as they were so sweet and obviously pasta sauce made out of those tomatoes would taste entirely different if I tried making it here in UK.
I always try and mellow the sourness of tomatoes by adding milk or some other vegetable.But this version took it to an entirely different level by roasting the tomatoes as it turned them sweet too.

I haven't actually measured any of the ingredients here but I can tell you that the sauce you make out of these vegetables would serve a family of 4.

Ingredients

4 tomatoes
1 yellow pepper
2 carrots
3 cloves garlic
grated parmesan
Fusili pasta- 3 handfuls

Method

If you want to plan ahead to make life easier here is what I did. When I woke up on the morning and was getting myself and kids ready for the daily mill I chopped these vegetables and switched the oven on at 190 C and threw them in after a quick drizzile of olive oil.put the timer on for 40 minutes and forgot about it.switched it off after half hour and left them in the oven till the evening when I made the pasta.

After that it was easy peasy.
I put the fusili pasta in the boiling water with some salt and made the gravy in the time it takes to boil the pasta which is 10 minutes.
I used some beans out of freezer but you can use any vegetable of your choice or skip it even.

I whizzed up the roasted vegetables on the blender.

take some olive oil in a pan and add the garlic and vegetables and paste.I added some water from the pasta to the pan to give it the consistency it needed.

now drain the pasta and add it to the sauce.

here is when you can flavour it to your taste. Add salt and pepper or chilli flakes .
serve with grated Parmesan.

Asparagus and Peas Pasta

This is a simple easy recipe from Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals.It is low in calories as uses milk and flour as substitute to cream and very fresh tasting .You will see why if you look at the ingredients.

1 small bunch of spring onions
1 bunch of asparagus (300g)
olive oil
300g frozen baby peas
1 big bunch of fresh mint
1 tablespoon plain flour
500ml  milk
320g dried pasta
250g hot-smoked trout (or salmon) or prawns
Parmesan cheese, to serve
1 Lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Roughly slice the trimmed spring onions and asparagus stalks, leaving the tips whole. Set aside the asparagus tips. Put the trimmed spring onions and asparagus stalks into the medium pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the peas. Roughly chop most of the top leafy half of the mint, and add it to the pan.

 Stir in the flour, pour in the milk and bring to the boil, then simmer.

 Put the pasta into the large pan, cover with boiling salted water and cook according to packet instructions.

Using the stick blender, purée the asparagus sauce until fairly smooth. Turn the heat down to low, flake in the trout, add the asparagus tips and simmer for a few more minutes, then squeeze in the rest of the lemon juice and season to taste.

 Drain the pasta, reserving a cupful of starchy cooking water, then toss the pasta with the sauce, loosening with a splash of cooking water, if needed. Serve straight away, with a grating of Parmesan .