Homemade Roasted Red Peppers

Enjoy the succulent sweetness of a freshly roasted pepper prepared at home. Roasted peppers are a wonderful thing and easy to make. I brought few red peppers this time when I visited my local farmer's market. After drooling over Lisa's Corn and Roast pepper soup , I fumbled upon this link from her post on how to roast peppers at home.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to broiler. I took 3 red peppers, wash the peppers but leave them whole its recommended to use 2 tsps of canola oil for each pepper. They may be rubbed with any cooking oil but not olive oil as it has low smoke point.
   
2. Coat each pepper evenly with oil using your pastry brush or hands and arrange the peppers on a baking sheet and place the sheet on the highest rack of your oven, close to the broiler.
3. Keep a watchful eye on the peppers to ensure that they do not become too scorched. When dark splotches begin to appear on the peppers, remove the baking sheet from the oven and carefully turn each pepper over.
4. The peppers will be hot, so use tongs or any other kitchen gadget to turn them and return under the broiler for roasting.
5. When the tops of the pepper appear to begin darken remove from the oven and place them in a large bowl and immediately cover it with a lid or plastic wrap. Let is sit for a while till the peppers are cooked in its own steam for about 15-20 mins or so.
6. Once cool they are easy to handle, gently peel the skin which will be loose by now and remove its stem, core and seeds.
7. Lay flat on the surface and cut into desired stripes and store it in container along with the liquid/juice and also add few tsps of olive oil (optional) . Refrigerate them as shown in the picture and roasted peppers are ready for use in sandwiches, salads, antipasto platter and rest is up to your imagination.
   
8. For pictorial version check here and for more tips on roasting peppers check here and here

Stored in refrigerator

Malai Peda

Ganesh Chaturthi Sweet ~ Malai Peda

I wish all my readers, visitors and friends a very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi. And thought this is the right time to post a Peda recipe for "Lord Ganapati Bappa". This is simple yet another easy to make recipe from Ricotta cheese.

Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins
Makes: 10-15 people
Ingredients:

15oz Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
3-4 Strands Saffron
1/2 cup Sugar
Method:

• Heat the ricotta cheese in a wide mouthed pan on medium heat for 6-7 mins. Stir constantly. The cheese would first loosen up and then the liquid starts evaporating.
  

• At this point you have to add the cream, saffron (crushed between your fingers/palm) and cardamom/elaichi powder and keep stirring all together till all the liquid dries up.

• Once the cheese gets its texture, its time to add the sugar. Now cook it on high flame till the mixture forms a ball. Keep in mind to stir through out this procedure, you will need strong arms to do this. JB (my DH) helps me out in the kitchen for this.
  

• Turn the heat off and let it cool a little bit. Don't wait for too long or else you will end up with hard lump of ball to work with.
  

• Shape them into modak or peda, which ever works best for you. If you have a modal shape mould that will save you some time or to shape into modaks, take 1 tbsp of mixture and make a smooth ball. Now, using the all your fingers pull a little bit of a mixture ,elongating it. Press the other side of the ball on the counter or the plate. To shape into pedas, take a tsp of the mixture, shape into a ball and flatten it a little between your palms.

• Its really simple and very much resemble like store bought.

Have fun and enjoy this festival with loads of sweets and blessings from God Ganesha.

Ricotta Cappucino

An Easy to make Dessert ~ Ricotta Cappucino

As the name says it is an easy Italian Dessert, adapted from Giada's version. I love cooking Italian food and when it comes to desserts, I love Giada's recipes most. I made this for the first time last year and It was an instant hit!!! It was super easy and delicious. And since then we have been making it quiet often. I forgot to post it on my blog, so this time when I made it, I took some pictures to post on my blog. I promise that you will definitely like it and will make it again and again and again!!

Source: Adapted from Giada's version
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 15 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1/2 C sugar
1/2 t vanilla essence/extract
1 (15-oz) container ricotta cheese
1/2 T instant espresso powder(I used Indian brand, instant coffee powder Bru)
for topping/garnishing:
Handful of Pistachios, crushed
Pinch cocoa powder

Method:

• Take sugar, ricotta cheese in a food processor, pulse it so that the sugar and cheese are fairly blended together.
• To this mixture add vanilla extract and espresso powder (Indian brand instant coffee powder like Bru or Nescafe) and blend it for one min.
• Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the with a rubber spatula. Blend for another minute.
• Spoon the mixture into 4 small coffee mugs.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
• To serve, top the ricotta cappuccino with crushed pistachios. Sprinkle with cocoa powder.

DH is kinda addicted to this recipe and loves to make it when I am not in a mood to prepare any dessert. This easy to make dessert is my DH's favorite one. He always makes this when we have potluck or when there is GUYS only cooking event. Children also love eating it and its healthy too, if you minus the cappuccino from the recipe.

Padma's Kitchen turned 3, today!!

Padma's Kitchen is celebrating its 3rd year. Time flies so fast and three years gone by and what I started as a time pass just to come out of my boredom or you can say kill time has shaped up into a beautiful journal of my favorite recipes. This blog helped me making new friends and get along with so many foodie lovers like me. It totally a different world of people out there sharing same passion as mine "FOOD". And I am so happy that BLOGGING happened to me.... It was such a wonderful and fascinating journey.....

Though most of the time for the past one and half years I was dormant (b'coz of the arrival of my LO), My pledge this year is I will try to be regular from now onwards. Lots of things are happening at my kitchen, I am working on a new template, which has more features and options for new as well as old visitors, the design will be more vibrant and appealing. One more step I took regarding our health is to eat healthy ans stay healthy and fit. So you will be seeing more healthy recipes, tips and ideas of eating healthy, staying healthy and more about healthy diets too. I am excited that so much is at the horizon, but might take couple of months to see this new look here.

Past three years was a memorableexpedition filled with love, rich of life, exploring and learning new things everyday, 'Thank you' all for being a wonderful part of this journey.......

Happy 3rd Birthday my dear blog!!

Luv

Hearty Lettuce, Carrot, Cherry tomatoes Salad with homemade dressing

A crowd pleasing salad with homemade vinaigrette

I am back from my vacation to India and back to blogging with a hearty salad recipe from my kitchen. Actually blogging took a back seat after arrival of Anshika,my darling daughter. This post has a reason to be here on my blog, if interested read on.......

June's 1st weekend we drove to Albany, NY to attend a birthday party of our closest friend's daughter. For the party I made this salad which everyone appreciated and enjoyed eating as much as I loved making it all the while hoping it to turn out well. You won't imagine people loved it and few of them took a second serving too! I was so overwhelmed with the kind of response and appreciation I got for the salad, thought of sharing it with all my readers too. Also many asked for the recipe there, I have a similar salad recipe but the dressing is a little bit different so thought of posting it on my website.

Salads are a healthy way to eat good and nutritious food. And for a basic salad recipe what I do is just peep into my refrigerator and pantry for necessary ingredients like salad greens, dried fruits, any kind of nuts and lastly some acidic ingredient like vinegar or citrus juice, that's pretty much it. I start making delicious salads by combining friendly veggies that go well with each other and the flavors kind of marry with each other quiet well. I try many dressings doing my own version, sometimes, I like it, sometimes they take a ride into my kitchen sink. Coming to this dressing, it is simple homemade vinaigrette with vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, honey and Dijon mustard with little seasoning.

Source: My own
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 10 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
6 leaves of Romaine Lettuce, torn
6 cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
1 carrot, grated
½ red onion, chopped
1 seedless cucumber (optional)
1 pack seasoned bread croutons (optional)
Handful of toasted almonds/pinenuts/walnut(any)
dried cranberries for garnish

for dressing:
1 T distilled vinegar or lime juice
1 t dijon mustard
1 T honey
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
pinch of salt/ as per taste
1 tsp ground black pepper

Method:

1. Mix all the salad ingredients except nuts and croutons in a large bowl.
2. Prepare the dressing by first adding dijon mustard in vinegar juice whisk well.
3. Add freshly ground black pepper, salt, honey mix well.
4. Whisk vigorously while adding extra-virgin olive oil.
5. Spread over the salad, mix and cover it with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated.
6. When ready to eat top it with toasted almonds and croutons.


Tip: For crunchy salad, wash the greens and use a salad spinner to remove excess water out of the leaves or you can dab excess water in the leaves with a kitchen towel.

Click on Salads from my kitchen

Chicken Fry with Green Peas Pulav Rice

Chicken fry inspired by Cinnamon trails

Chicken Fry

After getting inspired by seeing Cinnamon's mouthwatering Chicken fry the other day, I immediately planned the same for my Sunday lunch with green peas pulav. Today we had a treat having the chicken fry with some onion-cilantro-yoghurt's salad/raita with a can of cold diet pepsi. Yeah I have soda when I have something non-veg dish cooking, thats helps with digestion (my funda). Hope you will enjoy this nice, tasty and juicy chicken fry. Keeping it short and sweet though, here is my adapted version of Cinnamon's chicken fry followed by green peas pulav recipe.

Source: Adapted from Cinnamon trails
Cuisine: Andhra, South Indian
Prepration & Marinating time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 pound of chicken thighs
1 medium size onion, sliced
2 green chillies, cut length-wise
2-inch cinnamon sticks (2)
4-5 cloves
2-3 bay leaves
1 tsp turmeric powder
1-2 tsp chilli/cayenne powder(paprika)
freshly greated nutmeg
1 tsp garam masala powder/spice mix
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
2 tbsp cooking oil
5-6 cashewnuts, halved and toasted for garnishing
1 tbsp chopped cilantro, for garnishing
salt as per taste
Grind to smooth paste:
1 small onion, roughly chopped
½ tomato, roughly chopped
2 green chillies, roughly chopped
1 inch ginger
2 cloves of garlic

Method:

1. Clean the chicken and cut into bite size pieces or as per your requirements, you can keep the whole chicken thighs as it is.
2. Marinate the chicken with turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and the prepared paste for at least 15 mins.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet, to this add the bay leaves, jeera/cumin seeds, cinnamon stick and cloves, fry for a minute.
4. Add the sliced onions, green chillies and saute till the onions are translucent. To this add only the chicken pieces and fry them covered till they look cooked or for 10 mins.
5. Afterwards add the remaining marinated paste, mix well and add the garam masala powder/spice mix, grate the nutmeg on top.
6. Saute on medium high till all the moisture evaporates and the chicken pieces starts to caramelize, keep on frying till you get the desired color and flavor. Do check the spice level and salt, add if required.
7. Garnish it with toasted cashew nuts and chopped cilantro.
8. Serve with hot rice or any pulav/biryani.

Note:adjust your spice level accordingly while using green chillies or chilli powder.

Chicken fry served with green peas pulav

Green Peas Pulav

This green pea pulav recipe I learned from my Mother, who has inspired me in lot many ways and is a superb cook. I made a genuine attempt to bring in the same flavors as of my Mother but as is said, "Maa ka haath ka khane main kuch alag hi jaadu hain" But her formula works with ginger-garlic paste. This is a very simple and easy recipe to lay your hands on!

Source: My Mother
Cuisine: Indian
Prepration time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
2 cups of Basmati rice, wash and soak for 10 mins
1 red onion, sliced
2 green chillies, cut lengthwise
½ cup fresh/frozen green peas
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1-inch cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
2-3 bay leaves
1 tsp garam masala powder/spice mix
1 cup whole milk or 2% milk
pinch of saffron strands (optional)
5-6 cashewnuts, halved
3 cups of water
salt as per taste

Method:

1. Wash and soak the basmati rice for 10 mins approx.
2. Heat oil in a medium size sauce pan, to this add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves jeera/cumin seeds and cashew nuts. Fry for a minute or till the nuts change to golden color and add the sliced onions, green chillies.
3. Saute and add ginger-garlic paste, season with some salt, garam masala/spice mix, green peas and mix well all the ingredients. Lastly add milk to it.
4. Stir in the rice and add water. For every 1 cup of uncooked basmati rice we have to add 2 cups of water, since we already added 1cup of milk to it we now add the remaining 3 cups of water.
5. Stir, check the salt in it and cook on medium high heat uncovered for 10 mins and then cover and cook for another 5 mins.
6. Once cooked fluff the pulav with fork and serve hot.

Chicken fry served with Green peas pulav, raita and lemon slices