Mini Frittatas in Appe pan

For munching or brunching.... A healthy snack!!

Mini "frittatas" a.k.a mini omlettes with vegetables and cheese, made in our very own 'Appe pan' !! 

Recipe: cracks eggs, whisk along with salt, red chili powder, chopped onion, broccoli, cilantro and

some shredded cheese. Pour into hot Appe pan greased with few drops of oil. Cover with lid to cook.

 Cook on both sides. Serve hot along with toast, butter and Maggie hot and sweet sauce!!

Vermicelli Frittata

I was going to make my usual favorite 'Mushroom-Olives-Cherry tomato Vermicelli with Garlic-olive oil and Parmesan cheese". But just as I was about to open the pack of Vermicelli....I noticed this 'Vermicelli Fritta' recipe on the box. Couldn't wait to try it out!
Frittata is a Italian Style stove top/ skillet omelet. Many variations in the ingredients are possible.I modified the recipe from the box to suit my taste.

Ingredients:
2 handful Vermicelli pasta boiled according to package direction and cooled
1 Cup Sliced Mushrooms and grape tomatoes
1/2 cup sliced olives
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
5 eggs
2tbsp olive oil
1tsp finely chopped garlic
1tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
salt

Method:
1) Heat the olive oil, add the garlic,pepper flakes,vegetables, salt and saute for 1-2 mins Let it cool
2) Beat the eggs and add black pepper and salt.
3) Preheat the oven to 375F
4) Spray a baking tray with cooking spray.Mix the boiled pasta, eggs,cheese and vegetables.Mix them together.

4) Pour the mixture into the baking tray.Bake for about 20 mins or until nicely set
5) Cut into wedges and serve hot

Egg-in-a-Hole!

Since the summer break started, I hardly get to watch my favorite "Food Network". Little 'E' has captured the TV and plays "Magic School Bus' NON Stop!!

Just when he was busy with something else, I happened to see a part of Ree Drummond's show and she was making ....Egg in a Hole!!! Loved the simplicity and the 'wow' factor which could be created with such few ingredients and I totally saw myself making this for breakfast the very next day!!

Here is the recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/egg-in-a-hole-recipe/index.html

The only thing which I had to do extra was..to cook the egg longer to cook the yolk completely. ( I don't like uncooked flavor of eggs) Some yolk was still moist....which I re-heated in the pan to cook it fully.

"Aroma From a Guest Kitchen"- (Guest- Shyam Jugade)- Spring Onion and Egg Pakoda

Guest- Shyam Jugade
This amazingly crispy and tempting pakodas were made by Shyam kaka last week for our weekly 'Mantra Mugdha assemblage' at the 'Jugades brand new Palace'!
There is so much to learn from kaka..... his friendliness, his passion towards acting/theater, his leadership skills, his genuine nature and now.... I newly learn ....he has great 'cooking' skills too!!!
These pakodas made that day, were a 'vegetarian' version(with potatoes -I think that was Swati kaku's idea!) of the original 'Egg' pakodas.But Shyam kaka says the ones with 'eggs' came out tastier!

Ingredients:
2 bunches of spring onions chopped
4 hard boiled eggs grated OR use potatoes for vegetarian version
1-2 tsp Gram flour
1tsp ajwain seeds
red chili powder
salt
oil to fry

Method:
1) Mix together spring onions,grated eggs, gram flour, ajwain seeds, salt, chili powder.Add just a little water to 'wet' the mixture. Don't add too much water.
2) Take 2 spoons.Take one spoonful batter in one spoon, with other spoon scoop the batter and make 'Egg shape' and drop it into hot oil and fry till golden brown.
note- Kaka had used a deep fryer to fry these pakodas.
3) Serve hot  along with your favorite chutney/ ketchup.

These pakoras came out really cripsy and tasty.....everyone was going in for the seconds and asking for the recipe!!!

"Appetizers"- Deviled Eggs

Believe it or not, it is the first time I have ever made this simple appetizer. I had invited 'A's family for dinner last night and was looking for a simple side dish/ appetizer.I came across this website..dedicated solely to these tasty hors d'oeuvres.
http://www.deviledeggs.com
They have done some 'serious' work on eggs...really I mean....there is 'nutritional info on eggs',how to position the egg yolk in the center, how to perfectly hard boil the eggs, peel them, recipes..etc etc....is given step by step.I thought it was pretty neat!

Ingredients:
6 'perfectly' hard boiled eggs (visit the above website for tips)
1and 1/2 tbsp Kraft 'Chipotle' Mayo
1/4tsp black pepper
1tsp hot and sweet sauce
red chili powder for garnish
salt
cilantro for garnish

Method:
1) Hard boil the eggs.Peel after the eggs cool.Slice into halves.

 2) Remove the eggs yolks carefully with a spoon.Mash completely with a fork.Add the mayo, hot and sweet sauce, black pepper, salt etc and mix well.The filling shouldn't be too loose. You should be able to pipe in from a pastry bag/ icing gun. The filling tastes spicy and 'smoky' with a little 'tangy' flavor from the hot and sweet sauce.

3) Pipe the filling in the center in the egg whites(where the egg yolks originally were) with a pastry bag or a icing gun.Fill the cavity completely.
4) Sprinkle some red chili powder and garnish with cilantro.Serve at room temperature.

"Everyday Cooking"- Egg Bhurji Pav/ Spicy Egg Scramble Sandwich

Amongst the 'street foods' in Pune, this one is probably not a very famous one.Mostly because it is sold on 'not so fancy' carts and also sold mostly outside ' drinking bars'.We made 'Egg Bhurji' many times back home and had it mostly with chapati.It was so quick, tasty and high protein food.
The other day, I wanted to make a 'fancy' sandwich for dinner.I thought..why not 'up-notch' Bhurji-Pav , give it a 'Make over' and make it into a 'fancy' sandwich!!!

Ingredients:
For all the vegetarians out there:  Use Paneer to make 'Paneer Bhurji' instead of eggs.
 
Eggs Bhurji/Spicy egg scramble:

4 Eggs
3/4th cup Chopped onion
1/2tsp turmeric powder
1tsp Chili powder
1/2tsp Chicken masala/ Kitchen King masala
1/4th tsp Black ground pepper
1tbsp Chopped cilantro
oil
Salt

Toppings:
1/4th cup sliced red pepper
1/4th cup sliced green pepper
1/2cup sliced onions
1/4th cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4th cup Maggie Hot and Sweet sauce( I loveeeee this sauceeee!!!!)

4 Brat Buns

Method:
1) Stir fry the sliced red,green pepper and onions for couple mins.Season with salt and black pepper.Keep aside.
2) In 1 tbsp oil, fry the chopped onion till for 3-4 mins, add the chili powder,chicken masala, black pepper,salt and add the eggs one by one.Keeping stirring to get a good scramble.Cook till well done.Add the chopped cilantro.
3) Cut open the Brat bun, add  the green and red peppers, onions,eggs bhurji.Top with cheese and maggie hot sauce

4) Heat a grilling griddle and grill the sandwich ( on little butter if you like) till it gets the grilling marks.
5) Serve this Spicy Sandwich ....Hot hot hot!

"Around The World in 30 Weekends"- Weekend 5= Thailand

Dish Name: Sangkaya mapraw (Thai Coconut Custard)

Saturday had a great time with some friends in Syracuse.They bought this 'huge' house in suburb of Syracuse and had invited us and few other friends for a dinner party/house warming party. It was great to meet everyone and toast for our friends new house.My friend 'O' had made yummy Gujju (Gujrati) food and had quite a spread...as she always does- Undhiyo,Pooris,Fried Potato, Shrikhand, Khandvi, Rice, Daal, Papad, different kinds of chutneys and pickles...etc etc.I am going to make some on these soon and blog about them too.

But today's blog is about my 'Weekend culinary travel around the world'.Last week was Diwali...and I missed making food for this segment.Today I thought about traveling to Thailand.What do you first think of ....when you think of Thai food? For me..its the Spicyness, the coconout milk and the peanut sauce in the dishes.
Whenever we go to Thai restaurants, we order the Tom Yum/Tom Kha soup and the spring rolls as appetizers. We are half full there itself.Then 'M's favorite main course is 'Pad Thai' (he never even wants to look at the menu card and orders the same everytime! ) and I go with anything that has peanut sauce...I like the Rama noodles,the cashews tofu/chicken and ofcourse all the curries.By the time we finish with this...there is hardly any room for dessert! So,believe it or not....I have never had Thai dessert before! And so, I decided to make one myself for this segment.
This one seems pretty easy and I had all the ingredients to make it.Lets see how it comes out ....and tastes!
It came out well,nicely set and tender. I did have problems flipping it out on a plate and actually one of them broke in the ramekin. So I did not try stunts with the other one!
It definately tasted like our known egg pudding....but ofcourse with 'coconutty' taste from the coconut milk.The green lime zest gave a nice aroma to the whole dish.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
3/4 cup Coconut milk
1/3 cup white sugar
1tbsp light brown sugar
1tsp Vanilla extract
1/2tsp Lemon zest for garnishing

Method:
1) Blend together eggs,sugar, vanilla,coconut milk.Do not beat.Just mix till well blended
2) Boil water in a pan and pour it in a oven safe baking dish till about 1/3 full.
3) Preheat oven to 300F
4) Pour the egg-coconut milk mixture into oven safe ramekins till 3/4 full.
5) Place the ramekins with egg-coconut milk mixture into the baking dish with hot water.
6) Place in oven and bake about 35-45 mins till the custard sets.
7) Garnish with lemon zest.
8) Chill and serve cold.

"Around the World in 30 Weekends" -Weekend 1-France

Dish name: Spinach and mushrooms ‘Quiche’

Though Tokyo and London has unseated Paris as the world’s culinary capital, for all practical purposes, ‘French cuisine’ is still considered as the ultimate cuisine.
What better place could I start my culinary journey of ‘Around the world in 30 weekends’ other than France?
I decided to make ‘Quiche’. In French cuisine, a quiche is a baked dish that is based on a custard made from eggs and milk or cream in a pastry crust. Other ingredients such as cooked chopped meat, vegetables, or cheese are often added to the egg mixture before the quiche is baked. Quiche is generally an open pie (i.e. does not contain a pastry covering), but may include an arrangement of tomato slices or pastry off-cuts for a decorative finish. Quiche can be eaten warm but is more commonly eaten cold, making it a suitable component of the food served in a typical summer picnic.

I have baked quiches several times before and this one is my favorite vegetable combo. It is a great way to get kids to eat vegetables and eggs. ‘E’ loves to eat this quiche with ….what else???…Ketchup! Its ‘M’s favorite dish too. Whenever we go grocery shopping to Wegmans, he wants to pick one up from the eatery section. I always promise him to bake one myself .....yes..I do!

So here we go to France…

Ingredients:
1 Ready to bake frozen pie crust
6 eggs
1 bag baby spinach finely chopped
1&1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
¾ cup pepper jack cheese
½ cup mozzarella/cheddar cheese
1tbsp whole milk/heavy cream
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1/8tsp black pepper
1tsp olive oil
Salt to taste
Method:
1) Preheat oven to 375
2) Bake the empty pie crust for about 8 mins.
3) Heat 1tsp olive oil; add the finely chopped spinach and 1/2 of the mushrooms. Saute for 3-5 mins. Add salt, black pepper. Turn down the heat. Keep the pan in slanting position to drain all the excess liquid. Gently press the vegetables and get out all the excess liquid. This can be used in soup later.
3) Whisk 6 eggs and milk. Add the cooked vegetables and half of the pepper jack and cheddar cheese.
4) Pour into the half baked pie crust, top with remaining cheese, red pepper flakes, arrange remaining mushrooms in circles and bake for about 45-50 mins till the eggs set and top turns golden brown.
5) Cut into wedges and serve (with Ketchup if you like!)