Homemade pizza
Everyone in my family prefers homemade pizza over readymade pizza. Not only it’s economical but far healthier and you can control how much cheese or butter goes in it. It doesn’t take much long to prepare pizza at home if you have ingredients at hand.
Recipe of homemade pizza
Makes 2 pizzas
2 ready made pizza bases
Tomato sauce
1/2 cup tomato puree
4 garlic flakes- chopped finely
3 tomatoes- chopped finely
1 tsp oil
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper- to taste
Topping
1 onion- chopped
1 tomato- pulp removed and chopped
1 capsicum (bell pepper) - deseeded and chopped
A few slices of jalapenos
200 gms mozzarella cheese (pizza cheese) - grated
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1. To prepare the tomato sauce, heat oil in a pan and add garlic. Stir for a few seconds and add all the ingredients for sauce. Bring it to a boil. Lower heat and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook till sauce thickens and can be spread without being runny. Turn off the heat.
2. Spread olive oil or melted butter over each pizza base covering the edges.
3. Spread tomato sauce over pizza base.
4. Sprinkle some grated cheese over each base.
5. Sprinkle the vegetable topping.
6. Sprinkle left over cheese. Drizzle some olive oil.
7. Bake at 180 degree C OR 350 Degree F for 15 minutes or until golden and crisp. Serve pizza hot.
shakarkandi ki chaat
If you don’t want to grill shakarkandi, you can just boil it till tender and prepare shakarkandi ki chaat by mixing the given ingredients to it. It’s really a mouth watering chaat and sweet potato is in season now. So, enjoy!
Recipe of shakarkandi ki chaat
1/2 kg shakarkandi (sweet potato)
1 tsp chaat masala
Black salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste
1. Wash shakarkand and pat dry. Smear some oil on shakarkandi. Pressure cook shakarkandi to 1 whistle.
2. Peel and cube shakarkandi. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil. Grease it. Place shakarkandi cubes on tray.
3. Grill them in a preheated oven till edges of shakarkandi becomes brownish.
4. Take out in a bowl and add black salt, chaat masala and lemon juice. Mix well and serve hot. You can also garnish shakarkandi chaat with coriander leaves.
Aloo naan
Naan itself is delicious bread and when you stuff it with aloo or gobi (cauliflower) mixture, its taste increases manifold. Be it aloo naan or plain naan, tastes best when served hot. With aloo naan, you don’t even need a side. You can enjoy it all by itself.
Recipe of aloo naan
Dough
3 cups maida (all purpose flour)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp baking powder
Filling
3 medium potatoes- boiled, peeled and mashed
3 green chillies- chopped finely
1/4 tsp garam masala powder
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander leaves
1. Take a bowl and mix flour, salt and baking powder in it. Make a well in the center.
2. Mix milk, sugar, 1 tbsp oil and baking powder in another bowl. Pour this mixture in the centre of bowl containing flour.
3. Knead it into soft dough adding warm water if needed..
4. Add 1 tablespoon oil and knead again. Keep it in a warm place for 2-3 hours.
5. Mix all the ingredients of the filling to make potato mixture.
6. Take a ball out of the dough and roll out on a floured surface into a 2 inch round dusting with dry flour.
7. Place a lemon sized potato filling in the center and gather the edges. Reshape into a ball. Again roll out into a disk. Similarly make other naan from rest of the dough.
8. Preheat oven and bake these aloo naan till they puff up and become golden brown with brown-black specks here and there. Grease them with butter and serve hot.
You can also make aloo naan in electric or gas tandoor which is a much faster way to cook naan.
aloo naan with butter
Baked potato
The first time I made these baked potato wedges, I was surprised how easy they are to put together and how deliciously crunchy they are. If you love potato, then this dish is a must try and what my strong belief is that it can turn even a non-believer into a fan.
Recipe of baked potato wedges
4-5 medium potatoes- washed and cut into wedges
3 tbsp olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves- crushed
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1 tsp mixed herbs like dried parsley, dried basil, and rosemary
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1. Preheat oven to 375 degree F.
2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and add potato wedges to it. Toss so that potatoes are well coated with the seasoning.
3. Spread potato wedges on a greased baking tray. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 35-40 minutes. Bake till edges turn brown and potato is fork tender. Serve hot.
Naan
Naan is one of the popular breads of India which is also known abroad. It is more popular in Northern states of India where it is on the menu of most hotels and restaurants.
Recipe of naan bread
4 cups all purpose flour (maida)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg (beaten) - optional
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp oil
Nigella seeds (kalaunji) - 1 tsp
1. Take a bowl and place flour, salt and baking powder in it. Make a well in the center.
2. In another bowl, mix milk, sugar, egg and 2 tbsp oil. Pour this mixture in the center of the flour.
3. Knead this flour into soft dough adding warm water if necessary.
4. Add remaining 2 tbsp oil and knead again. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside for 15 minutes. Knead again.
5. Keep it in a warm place for 2-3 hours.
6. Divide the dough into 8 equal balls. Roll out each ball on a floured surface in thin oval shape. You can dust them in flour while rolling out if they are sticking.
7. Sprinkle nigella seeds in each and press lightly with rolling pin (belan).
8. Bake them in a preheated oven till they puff up and become golden brown. You can also butter them to have butter naan. We enjoy them with dal makhani and shahi paneer.
Alternatively you can also cook them in an electrtic tandoor or gas tandoor if own one.
Naan bread
Baked capsicum
I make stuffed capsicums or bharwa shimla mirch both in an oven and a pan. What I find is, It’s more convenient to bake them but they taste great any which way you make them. I have taken green capsicums but if you take red and yellow bell peppers also, the dish will look very colorful indeed.
Recipe of potato stuffed baked capsicums
4-5 capsicums (shimla mirch/ bell peppers)
3 medium potatoes- boiled, peeled and mashed
1 onion- chopped
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp amchoor (dried mango powder)
1/4 tsp garam masala
Oil to grease and spray or a blob of butter
1. Mix all the above ingredients except capsicums and oil. Remove stalk and seeds of capsicums. Cut them into 4 quarters.
2. Stuff the potato mixture in these quarters.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degree c. Grease a baking tray and place capsicum on it. Spray or drizzle some oil or you can spoon some melted butter on them.
4. Bake them for about 35- 40 minutes. Serve hot.
Pan made stuffed capsicums
You can also make them in a pan. For this remove caps of capsicums and discard the seeds and stalk. Heat 2 tsp oil in a non- stick pan and sauté onion. Add potato and rest of the spices and salt including 1/4 tsp turmeric powder. Roast the mashed potatoes. Take the potato mixture out of the pan and let it cool. Stuff this mixture into capsicums. Heat 2 tsp oil in the same pan and place stuffed bell peppers. Lower heat and cover the lid. Cook till capsicums are tender and brownish at places. While cooking rearrange the positions of capsicums in between so that capsicums are roasted from all sides.
Vegetable Cheese Toast
These vegetable cheese toasts are loved by kids. I usually prepare them for breakfast but you can also have them as an evening snack. In the picture above, I have used brown bread slice but you can also use slice cut from French loaf.
Recipe of Vegetable Cheese Toast
6-8 bread slices
1 Capsicum- deseeded and finely chopped
1 tomato- pulp removed and finely chopped
1 onion- finely chopped
1 tbsp corn kernels
3/4 cup cheddar or mozzarella cheese- grated
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1. Mix all ingredients except bread in a bowl.
2. Place this mixture on one side of bread slices.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake these bread slices for 3-5 minutes or till the cheese melts and turn golden brown. Serve hot.
marinated pieces on skewers
Paneer Tikka is a fancy food which many people think can be made only at restaurants and hotels. Believe me with this simple recipe you can make delectable Paneer tikkas at home and surprise everyone.
Soft chunky pieces of paneer marinated in spiced yogurt and grilled to perfection make it a protein packed low calorie tasty food.
Recipe of Paneer Tikka
250 grams paneer (Indian cottage cheese)
1 medium green capsicum (bell pepper)
1 medium onion
1 medium tomato
1 cup thick yogurt (curd/ dahi)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp tandoori masala
1 tsp chaat masala
2 tsp ginger- garlic paste
2 green chillies- crushed
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
Paneer-Tikka
- Cut paneer, onion, tomato and capsicum into 11/2 inch pieces.
- Mix yogurt, turmeric powder, tandoori masala, chaat masala, ginger- garlic paste, green chillies, salt and oil to a smooth paste.
- Add paneer cubes to this marinade. See that paneer is well coated with it. Keep in refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Soak a few bamboo skewers in water for 20 minutes. Take out, pat dry and grease them with few drops of oil.
- Put onion, tomato and capsicum pieces in the marinade and coat them well. Thread pieces of marinated paneer and veggies one after the other on the skewers.
- Cook on an oiled grill turning the skewers a few times. Or you can set your oven to Broil. Preheat your oven broiler to high. Broil till you see brown- black spots on the paneer and vegetables and paneer is slightly charred on the edges. Or you can also cook on Barbecue. Paneer tikka can also be made in a tandoor.
While cooking paneer tikkas just don’t go anywhere and keep an eye on it so that they don’t get burned. Also don’t over cook it. You can buy Tandoori masala and Chaat masala for this recipe from any Indian grocery store
