White Sauce Pasta.....

I'm not a fan of cooking.... but every once in  while i find myself wanting to make some yummy dish that every one just loves!!! ha ha... Also you'll mainly find me cooking when masterchef is going on on tv.... i find it super inspiring..... a little worried about watching master chef junior.... i think i'll just feel super silly about my (non-existent) cooking skills!!!

Also cooking in different kitchens can totally cramp your style... back in bombay i had a very tiny kitchen with every thing at arms distance.... and i knew all my spices all my veggies all my utensils.... here it's a little tough..... the kitchen is big and everything has its own place which i'm not really aware of.... yes yes... the more i'm in the kitchen the more i'll be aware!!

So anyhow.... the other day i made a pasta.... a nice green pesto flavored heavily white sauced generously cheesed pasta!!!! and here is how-

i chopped up about four stalks of green onion.... ( i know most people don't cook the green of it... but i did!) a lot of garlic.... maybe some 8 to 10 medium sized ones and 2 big green chilies....

shredded boiled chicken.... doesn't look so appetizing.... hmmmm.... yeah but it tastes great once its cooked!!!

I hardly used any spices.... just some thyme and parsley and some ready pesto sauce and salt pepper... added some grated cheese later..

I usually use olive oil... but since I didn't know where it was i just put a little regular oil into a non stick pan...

put in garlic and chilies first... i love when the garlic gets nice and brown....

added the spring onions.... some capsicum (one) and about seven baby corns chopped in circles...

once it was all nicely stir fried.... i added the thyme parsley pesto sauce and salt pepper

Now i didn't take pictures of the white sauce preparation because it has to be done real quick... what u need to do is in another pot add some butter (i add in a very guess work kinda way :( but about three to four table spoons) then add some flour.... maybe some three to four tea spoons....keep stirring this and while stirring add the milk to this..... 

now there are two ways of doing this... one is you keep it on the gas and keep stirring till you have no lumps.... but this is tough since the sauce keeps getting thicker while its heating.... so the other option is that after adding enough milk take it off the gas and quickly stir out all the lumps and then put it back on the gas to thicken up...white sauce is a little tricky but its just so much yummier than red... i think!

once your sauce is ready add it to the pasta.... at this point i added some grated cheese to add to the fun value....

I almost never taste the food i make while cooking.... don't know why...!!! but you should and make sure your spices are all ok.... 

the boys had called for some cheese and pepperoni pizza from Dominos and some garlic bread.... yummy!!!!

Saturday Recipes!!!

As a tribute to Master chef Season three i made enchiladas! And they turned out super yum!!! 

Best part was how easy it was to make....

So i started off with with the Rajma.  

You need to soak it the night before so that its easier to cook. Add some tasty home made garam masala and one cut up tomato to the rajma and put it into the pressure cooker. About three whistles and you should be done. 

In a fairly big utensil add some ghee. Once its hot put in two pureed onions. Let this cook for a while, but keep stirring so it doesn't stick to the base. Now add some more garam masala just a quarter tea spoon. Put in the rajma from the cooker. Smash it with the back of a wooden spoon so that you're not left with full rajma beans. Add red chilli powder, a quarter spoon more of garam masala and salt and pepper. mix it up real nice. Add water occasionally depending on how thick or thin you want it. Its better if its a little thick for the enchiladas. 

Next cut up a few vegetables. I used

Tomatoes

Spring onions

Cabbage

Lightly stir fried mushrooms

Capsicum

Then you need two sauces. A sour cream and a red chilli sauce. 

Open up on packet of tomato puree into a pan. Add some red chilli powder, salt and sugar (since the puree can be a bit sour). Bring it to one boil and its ready. 

Sour cream is easy too. Just mix some cream off your milk and add milk to it and keep stirring. But stop once you feel the consistency is good or else it could turn into white butter!! Put this in the fridge till you're ready to plate up.

Last thing are the rotis. Make plain flour or maida rotis. And make them nice and big. so that everything fits. 

Now the fun part! put your rotis in separate plates. Add all the ingredients into the center. Starting with the rajma then the vegetables, topped with both the sauces. Fold the rotis and put in toothpicks to hold it better. Now sprinkle some grated cheese or better place two slices of cheese on top,avoid the toothpick area!! put lots more sauces on top till the rotis seem soaked in it, or else the enchiladas will be dry. 

Now this next step is a bit of cheating on my part! I don't have an oven so i simply placed each plate in the microwave for about 3 minutes or till the cheese melted. and Ta-da! same effect!! 

Two for the husband one for mommy one for me!

Doesn't that look good!!

Hope Master chef inspires me like this everyday!!!!

Paneer Mushroom Something!

Food is my meditation....

really cooking makes me happy and calm.... happy is easy but being calm for me is a task... i really got to work on it all the time!!! See i am by nature a super active super impatient person (ask my mum!!) and just sitting down and relaxing just being... thats difficult...

But thanks to the great Australian master chef show...

Matt Gary and George

.......i started cooking.... and i realized just how relaxed i felt.... taking a recipe off the net... and adding to it... or just taking something my mum made or my mum in law made and then adding my two bits to it.... seeing the final product on a plate and setting it in front of my approving husband.... good relaxed calm feeling!!!!!

So you will see some fancy recipes i tried out as well as some simple lunches i make for myself when the hubby is at work....

Here is todays simple cottage cheese and mushroom lunch!

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First a little olive oil.... for healthier reasons!

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add some crushed garlic..... two reasons: 1 the peel comes off more easily and 2 the garlic tastes better....

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chillies..... i get this from my mum who gets it from her dad!!!!!

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some chopped up spring onion.... i love love love these!

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my bai (maid) makes some fresh paneer (cottage cheese) for me every other day...

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I had some left over mushrooms from the birthday party so i chopped them up....

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I also love mustard sauce.... hubby hates it so i usually use it for my lone lunches!

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a little salt and pepper!

And ta-da!!!!

My paneer mushroom healthy lunch!

with a few wafers and a breezer!!! hey its still healthy!!!!

please check all links (via- below each image), it could take you to a fun recipe!

if you try this let me know how you liked it :)