One pot wonders

Ingredients:
6 cups cooked rice
3 cups white sauce
½ cup boiled peas
1 cup spinach puree
1 green chilli’, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 small red capcicum, chopped finely
1 tsp garlic paste
¼ cup cooking cheese, grated
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp oil
2 tsp butter
Salt to taste

Cooked rice

Method
Heat the oil and butter together.
Sauté the onions and garlic paste till soft. Add the rest of the ingredients except the peas and stir very well mashing it a little in the process.
Add a cup of water to adjust the consistency, add the peas reserving a few to garnish on top. Serve hot!

Mexican Pasta Fiesta 
(Mexican flavours are so close to our Indian palette. The chilli bang with kidney beans, coriander and lime for the kick. The green chillies and ginger will add the extra oomph)

Mexican Pasta

Ingredients:
200 gms pasta
2 cups boiled rajma
1 big carrot
1 big potato
1 big onion
1 big capcicum
5 big tomatoes
1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp green chillies, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
¼ cup coriander, finely chopped
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
½ cup cooking cheese
½ cup tomato sauce
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp butter

Method
Dice the carrots, potato and capcicum into one centimetre pieces. Finely chop the onion. Blanch the tomatoes and dice very finely.
Heat the oil and butter together, add in the onions and garlic and sauté till soft. Add the carrots potato and saute for a minute. Now add in the tomatoes, the spices salt and saute. Now add four cups of water and bring to boil.
Add the pasta and let it cook (keep an eye on the pot, if the water seems less add a little more). The pasta should take five to seven minutes to cook, depending upon the shape.
Add the rajma, capsicum, tomato sauce, green chillies, ginger and sugar and let it simmer. Lastly add the cheese and coriander (the dish should be saucy, not dry). Serve hot!

Baked surprise
(Diwali brings with it a thousand chores, this is a take on an awesome hot sweet dish without the sweat)

Baked Surprise

Ingredients:
4 cups of rabri
4 large gulab jamun
½ to 1 cup of milk
3 pieces of white bread crust removed cut in four and fried
½ cups of toasted mixed nuts

Rabri

cup of milk

white bread

Method
Add ½ cup of milk to the rabri to adjust consistency (it should not be too thick). 
Take a deep glass dish suitable for baking and arrange the fried bread pieces on the bottom. Top with half of the rabri and a gulab jamun. Add the mixed nuts, spoon the remaining rabri in a layer over the gulab jamun. Bake in a medium oven for 20 minutes. Enjoy warm. 

Spicy rice vermicelli in coconut sauce

Spicy rice vermicelli

(South east Asian flavours with a coconut mix. Let the guests help themselves with the extra chillies and lemon juice, served on the table) 

green chillies

Ingredients
100 gm rice vermicelli (instant rice sevai)
1 cup carrot, julienned
½ cup beans, julienned
¼ cup peas boiled
1 onion, cut into long and thin strips
1 small tomato, cut into ½” cubes
1 cup spinach, chopped finely
¼ cup of coriander leaves
1 tsp green chillies, chopped
1 tbsp of ginger, chopped
2 tsp of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups of coconut milk (2x200 ml tetra pack)
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp sambhar masala
¼ cup roasted peanuts, pounded coarsely
1 tsp whole coriander seeds, pounded coarsely
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp haldi
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

Method
Heat oil, sauté the onions and garlic till soft. Add the carrots and beans with a pinch of salt and sauté on a low flame till cooked perfectly. Add the pounded coriander seeds, cumin powder, haldi, sambhar masala, red chilli powder with one tbsp of water and sauté for a minute. 

tomatoes

Now add two cups of hot water and the coconut milk and simmer for a minute (simmer not boil as the coconut milk could curdle).
Turn off the flame now add the vermicelli the spinach and tomato and cover for three minutes. Now add the peanuts, lemon juice and coriander leaves. Serve hot!