Discovering the Elementary, my dear Watson! - Bread Pizza!

Mind you, I said, 'Bread Pizza' and not 'Pizza Bread'. If I had said the latter, that would mean that I have the superior skill-set it takes to make pizza dough from scratch, that I would know what is yeast (including its properties, and why the heck exactly we need it in this recipe - I have no idea why), and that I have the upper arm strength to actually make pizza dough!

You know me too well, so I won't elaborate on that!

Instead, what I did was, used my normal bread slices that I always have lying around at home, and turned it into something that would satisfy my perennial pizza craving. Yes, I do have a perennial craving for pizza. I think I was born with that technical fault! Something about the cheese and the sauce and all those carbs...

Anyway, if you suddenly have a craving for pizza, and want to fix a quick and painless dinner, make Bread Pizza.

Bread Pizza

Things you need:

- 1 tbsp oil - either olive oil or normal sunflower oil.

Psst, you could also use butter...or pretend I said nothing...

- bread slices (obvsly!)

- onions diced into not-so-large pieces

- green peppers (capsicum) diced

- red peppers (capsicum that's red)diced

- yellow peppers (capsicum that's ... you get the idea.)

(you don't need all of them, just one kind will also do just fine)

- 1 tsp black pepper (ha! No. This time it's the black powder!)

- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

- Pizza Sauce 1 tbsp per slice (I think FunFoods has a product that some Ngl grocery stores carry - Lynns to the rescue!)

- Mozarella cheese grated

- chopped canned-meat of your choice - chicken frankfurters, luncheon meat, or even cooked and shredded chicken - whatever you want your topping to be. As long as it's not sweet - I don't dig sweet pizza! Sorry, there are some things my palate won't accept...

- oregano flakes

- soy sauce

- 1 tsp red-chilli powder, or 2-3 finely chopped green chillies

Here's what you do:

Just make the topping and arrange on the bread, then microwave! Ba-ding! You're done!

Okay. So making the topping takes a little longer...:P Sorry!

I just threw stuff together on the pan, and improvised as I went along. So, anything that caters to your taste/craving should do.

1. In a pan, pour in a tbsp of oil or melt some butter. When the oil heats up, drop in the diced peppers.

2. When the peppers are well sauteed, add the onion and a tbsp of ginger-garlic paste.

3. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on this, and saute well.

4. Now pour in the soy sauce. Then add the green chillies or red chilli powder if you need more heat. Note: if you have a palate that doesn't take much heat, STOP with just adding black pepper powder.

5. Throw in the meat, and let it cook with all the veggies for a while. If you want to go vegetarian on this one, or if you didn't have any meat on hand when your craving struck (you know who), skip this step.

6. Let the whole mixture simmer for a while, till all the water content in the veggies have released and reduced. Now you have yummy pizza-topping! Yaay!!

Note: You know, you could also arrange all the toppings raw on the slice, but what's the fun in that?

7. Next, grease a baking pan or microwave dish that's flat and arrange bread slices on it.

8. Spread some pizza sauce on the bread slice. Go easy on the sauce, because it has a distinct tangy flavor that you might not like too much of. I got so excited that I slathered on the sauce for a couple of slices, and regretted it with every bite. One spoon sauce per slice will do.

9. Place some of the pizza-topping on the bread. Arrange greens olives or just leave it like it is.

10. Finally, for the glorious part of the entire thing - grate some Mozarella cheese onto each slice. You can over-do it or under-do it, but I'd think you were weird, if you didn't want too much cheese on your pizza! Hence, my culinary contempt for a certain cheese-hater's preferences...

11. Now, just stick it into the oven or the microwave for 3 minutes or till the cheese melts. Let it sit for a while after you remove it from the oven.

12. Eat. And thank me for this pizza short-cut. Or not. Don't have to thank me if your mouth is too full with wonderful pizza! I'll understand :)

Just want you to know that I failed, AGAIN, to take a picture of something I made! So, your pizza could look like this...

Or this...

...based on how colorful your pizza-topping is. Mine was pretty amazing - emphasis on 'pretty'. Unfortunately, you know what transpired. I ate, and forgot everything else...sigh. This is getting to be a problem.

Note: These pictures are not mine.

Anyway, enjoy, until I come bug you with another recipe, complete with MY OWN pictures of the food! :D

Discovering the Elementary, my dear Watson! - Pancakes!

I have had many 'Duh' moments! In fact, 80% of my life is all about the 'duh' moments. You know, like stuff that everybody just KNOWS when they are put into a certain situation, but for which, I need a user's manual, complete with detailed, labeled diagrams! Yeah, sometimes I make myself tired...

Anyway, cooking, by and large, has been that way for me, which you already know if you have closely followed this blog. I can't cook. That should probably be my epitaph, or something. So, I used to think that making pizza, pancake, and brownies were like high-end magic, or at least stuff that I would never be able to do, without changing life as it was for myself!! HAHA! I have no idea what I just said! Oh yeah, what I said was that I thought pancakes and brownies were hard to make.

But then, (I love how you can break all rules of grammar on your personal blog!) I decided last week, that I am going to figure out the pancake and the pizza. One was, and the other wasn't really...

So, here's how I made pancake - those who make scrumptious pancakes on a daily basis and WOW your family every day, and are adventurous with their pancakes to turn them into 5-star restaurant cuisines, please...PLEASE ignore this post. Others, like me, who have no idea how a pancake is made, have never eaten one, or think that it is 'Un-do-able' follow me. It's really elementary, my dear Watson!

Basic Pancake Recipe

This is what you need:

- 1 egg

1 & 1/2 cup milk

1 cup flour (maida)

3 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp baking powder

Here's what you do:

1. Whisk together the egg, vanilla essence, sugar and salt. Whisk till the sugar is, at least partially, dissolved.

2. Now, add the flour and the baking powder, and combine well.

3. Pour in the milk and stir well, so that no lumps are formed. Remember, lumps are no good for any one, anywhere.

At this point, let me just say, that if you have ever made wheat dhosas for dinner on those totally uninspired evenings, you know that making a pancake is not very different. It's the ingredients that are the fun part!

4. Anyway, make sure that your batter is not too watery (or milky!), and not too thick either. You know... your 1&1/2 cup of milk should be enough to make an easy-to-pour batter.

5. Heat up a flat pan (non-stick pan or your dhosa pan should do), and, if you don't care about your diet, go ahead and dab some butter on the heated pan. If you do care about your diet, skip the butter. Nothing inedible will happen!

6. Take a large ladle-full of batter, and simply pour in the center of the pan. NOTE: Please, please DO NOT spread it around with your ladle!! If you, like me, have made one too many godhumai dhosas (wheat dhosas) and rice dhosas in your life, you will have the tendency to spread batter around on the pan. DON'T DO IT! Hold your hand back, and grit your teeth if necessary.

You see, pancake is wonderful like that. No effort at all, no stress to make perfect round-shaped things. Just pour and let it be.

7. You will see that the batter itself has the tendency to spread a wee-bit. After that it will stop spreading and start to fluff up nicely. YUM!

8. Wait till all the bubbles on the batter burst (now it's back to the dhosa process again!). Flip it over on the pan, if you have crazy Julia-Child-skills! If not, just take a flat ladle and turn it over.

9. Let it brown up a bit on the other side too. You shouldn't let any dark-spot, burn-marks, or scars form on the pancake. Treat it like a gentle flower...

10. Flip it back up onto a plate...and go make some more. Or...leave some one else to make their own breakfast (I only wish...) and pour some honey over your pancakes and stuff your pretty/handsome face with them!!! Usually, people use maple syrup. I have no idea what it is. So, I used honey, and I was anything but regretful...meaning, that I could not wipe the smile off my face...

Pancake, where were you all my life? Sigh!

PS: If you are wondering what's all this 'pancake & image not mine!' about, I just wanted to let you now, that I did NOT photograph even one part of the pancake-making process. Even though I seriously considered it for all of 2 seconds, I did not even stop to photograph the finished product. It was all already in my mouth! I made it twice last week, and still failed to get a picture. So, I used an image I found on the web. Just googled 'basic pancake' and got these images. These images are not mine. But, for the record, I would like to sincerely state that I did make pancakes and they did taste heavenly. And mine looked exactly like those in the pictures. So, There!

Microwave Brownies... And my Baking Debut!

 

My mother bakes the best cakes I have ever had. She is one of those rare people on the planet who can taste food and figure out the recipe all on their own. I think 99.9% of those people are master chefs!!! Okay, you guessed right...I am really proud of my mom and her culinary skills. I would also like to point out that my

culinary skills are...well...no where in sight, so far!

The closest I ever got to a baking dish is when I dig in to my mom's Dates Cake! (will get you the recipe soon) However, I decided that, having a chocolate-loving daughter, this state of affairs could not go on for very long! And, I have been craving brownies from the time I knew they existed. The local bakery sells brownies, but I came very close to asphyxiation when I tried them!!! I want to live, people!

And then, there is the fact that I have no oven...yes, I know, I sound like the pathetic soul that I am... But I do have a microwave!! Yaaay! So...

I Googled, found, learnt, revised, and etched into my memory...this recipe:

MICROWAVE BROWNIES

(Caps lock deliberate to indicate awesomeness!) This is my first attempt at baking, EVER. So, cheer me on, okay?

This is a small serving, but you can double it and it works out just fine, as I found out yesterday. I first made these 2 weeks ago, and the pictures are from that attempt.

Things you need: (Basic, non-fancy-schmancy stuff will do for this brownie! And that's good, because, duh, I live in Nagercoil...)

1/2 cup flour (maida)

1/2 cup cocoa powder (Note for folks in Nagercoil :P - I used the Cadbury cocoa powder that is available in a purple tin in local shops)

1 cup sugar (best to use powdered sugar, because the granules take a heck of a long time to dissolve in the butter - not good. If you don't have powdered sugar, just powder the sugar you have, in your grinder/food processor!)

1 & 1/2 stick of butter (I used the Amul salted butter)

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

Chocolate chips (So not optional, but I could not find this wonderful blessing anywhere in this town, and I had to do without it...*sniff*)

Chopped Nuts - any kind. I used cashews and almonds

Method:

In a bowl, mix the cocoa and flour well so that both have blended in.

Soften butter and mix the sugar in with it, until soft and creamy.

Add the 2 eggs and whisk till soft and blended in well. You can add the vanilla essence too.

Now, add the dry ingredients very gradually into the liquid mixture (one tbsp at a time) and keep stirring till your arms fall out! Or, if you are lucky like me to have a sweet, patient sister, get her to stir while you casually stand by and add the dry ingredients!! :P Better, yet, use a hand-held or table-top mixer.

When the entire batter has been stirred well, pick the bowl up and sniff the awesome aroma of the entire thing. "People" have been known to eat a finger-full of batter right off the bowl...but that's just "people"! You don't have to do that...or you could, if you want to...*hint, hint*

Now, grease a round (or rectangular) glass baking dish* with butter, and sprinkle it with powdered sugar. I did not have powdered sugar, so I just powdered up some butter cookies that I had and lined the baking dish with it, over the butter! And it rocked!!!

*Use only glass dishes that are meant for microwaves. NEVER use metal, unless you plan to blow up your microwave oven!!

Now, just pour the batter into the baking dish. You might have to spread the batter equally to all parts of the baking dish, because sometimes the batter can be on the thicker side.

Now, stick it into your microwave and set it on high, and set the timer for 10 minutes.

I would strongly suggest that you take a peek at the 7th or 8th minute to check on things. Take a toothpick and insert it into the center of the brownie. If it comes out clean, it's done. If there is almost-cakey batter stuck on it, you need it to go on for the remaining time.

There's no hard-and-fast rule here. If after 10 minutes it still looks suspicious, give it another minute of baking.

At the end, let it sit in the oven for a few minutes. Then take it out and cool it completely, because warm brownies refuse to let go of the baking dish. They still want their mommy!

When cooled, eat the whole thing up without sharing...Oh, sorry...bad advice!!

When cooled, cut out a piece, place it on a small plate, top with vanilla ice cream and a cherry (optional)....eat and go to heaven!

Then come back and tell me how it was. Okay?? This part is NOT optional! Come one, I want to know how yours turned out!

This is the chewy, moist variety of brownie that I love! I am so not into the dry-cake kind of stuff...

Not the best picture possible, but it was after 10pm and I was not at my most patient self....

...as is obvious from this picture!

Wasn't me!

Anyway, she loved it... that's what's important.

Top Stuff I Can't Cook Without!

I'm no good at cooking. Let me make that absolutely clear, going forward. But then, I guess, it is pretty obvious, if I have to write a post on stuff that I can't cook without. A good cook makes a feast out of anything! Also, most daughters can never be as good as their mothers... or is it ONE daughter.... yeah, I think this rule pretty much only applies to me.... and I will stop this meaningless rambling now, thank you.

Anyway, there are some things I cannot cook without. Especially since I am supposed to create ethnic South Indian dishes which taste good, are suitable for my spice-intolerant daughter (btw, that is not a real allergy, just 2-yr-old tantrums!), and do not set off the 'Eat Only Healthy Boring Food' Radar of my better half! So, I have a list of stuff that always goes into my cooking...logical conclusion? We eat the same food pretty much everyday!!! This is going around in dizziness-inducing circles. So...

Onions - I cannot cook without onions. Please tell me no one else can, too...pretty please?? I have to start every meal by chopping an onion. Unless I throw some onions into cooking oil and stir them around, I feel an ominous foreboding that things will go wrong! I feel this every time I make Rasam. And I'm usually right :(

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Chilli Powder - I have to have all my food glowing red!! Otherwise, I feel it does not qualify as real food. Also, I have to have my food tasting super spicy! so, when something like Vegetable poriyal calls for green chillies only, I feel apprehensive. Some times, I sneak in a pinch of chilli powder, and usually the above-mentioned RADAR goes off.

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Tomatoes - Tomatoes are so beautiful, so colorful, so necessary. And I can't cook without them. Unless I cut up a tomato, and throw it in, squishy pulp, seeds and all, I feel I have failed myself greatly! Tomatoes were totally banned at home for a while, due to health reasons of the residents, and I WAS LOST. Yes, more LOST than the people in LOST! So, I just made rasam!! ... (Go back to 'Onions' and read again... gaaah!!)

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Cooking Oil (lots of it) - Okay, I know it is bad to have too much cooking oil. Cholesterol, and all that stuff. But, hey, try scraping burnt stuff off the bottom of your kitchenware after leaving it on the stove, to go assist your kid with potty, and you will resort to a LOT OF OIL too! I now use less oil, and more tomatoes... (go back in circles...your eyelids are getting heavy...you are feeling sleepy...you will now zonk down on your simmering gravy!) By the way, my favorite cooking oil is GoldWinner Sunflower Oil (and no, I'm not paid to say that.)

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Rice Batter - this is a white batter made from rice and urad dal, used to make dhosas and idlies. And I cannot do without it. Why? Simply because we have dhosas or idlies most everyday! If you are a South Indian working mother-cum-juggler, juggling five different things...oh, you know...life and all its ingredients...well, you definitely know the advantage of making idlies! Shout out to all the mommies with whistling idli cookers...forget the iPhone, I think we should deify the man (or woman...probably a woman...Men don't care either way, I think!) who invented the idli cooker!! Pour the batter into little idli plates, mount it on the stand, lower into said cooker, close, light stove, forget. Listen for the whistle and turn it off. DONE!! Time invested: all of 10 minutes. Result: hot idlies for breakfast, probably even dinner... Others in the house: Not Happy. Me: VERY VERY HAPPY! :D

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Spices - viz. Coriander, turmeric, chilli powder (the super 3!!!) I do not know how to make the food have any kind of flavor, if I don't use these three...Okay, right now, I am slightly beginning to feel sorry for my family...the poor consumers of my half-hearted sorry excuse for cooking. So, invariably, everything kinda tastes the same... If I don't add tomatoes...you see my predicament? Cooking is really hard, I tell you!!

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Wooden Spoon - Okay, this is technically not an ingredient, but I hate the scraping sound that metal spoons make on cooking ware. And, when I cook, I really need to stir a lot, and peep into the dish or pot...just to reassure myself that everything is going as planned! So, I cannot do without my trusty wooden spoon. It is one of THE BEST things my Mom bought me! I love my wooden spoons, and fiercely guard it from runaway 2-yr-old hands wanting to clank wooden spoons on metal plates and generally be noisy, and grown up men who generally allow 2-yr-old daughter to make ear-splitting noise and drive mommy mad in the kitchen, so that they can get some time alone on the computer!...Sigh...where is this going?!?!?

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Television - Okay, this is probably high on the quirky-bizareness meter! But I have to have the television on. I love the house we recently moved into, because the kitchen is right next to the sitting room, where the TV is situated in a nice angle, easily seen if I stand at a certain angle near the kitchen sink...rented house SCORE!! Also, the recently added soft couch means that after every paranoid stir of the gravy, I can literally run out the kitchen, directly into the said couch, sit under the fan on super-fast, wipe away the free-flowing perspiration (direct result of the sweltering South Indian heat that is sucking away my life-energy for the past few months!), and watch So You Think You Can Dance!, or some romantic comedy on StarMovies...anything goes...

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So...There you have it..stuff I cannot live without, in my kitchen...What's your favorite stuff that brings out the gourmet chef in you...or simply helps you tolerate the task of making a meal thrice/frice (my word for 'four times'!) a day?

Spicy Marthandam Fish Curry

Fish is almost the staple diet here in Marthandam. This used to be a fishing village at the southern most part of India, belonging to the Kanyakumari district. Remember tsunami?!

It's a booming town now, with the residents emigrating to all parts of the world from Ernakulam to Europe! However, in spite of all the cuisines that one gets to taste, sea food will always remain a delicacy, more because it reminds us of home and our mothers than its absolutely mouth-watering taste.

No lunch at Marthandam is complete without the spicy fish curry! So here's a simple recipe, Marthandam style...

Ingredients

1/2 kg fish (cleaned, washed and cut in to 2-3 inch length pieces)
1/2 cup grated coconut, grind with water till smooth
half an unripe mango, cut lengthwise into moderately thin slivers
one drumstick (the vegetable, please!) cut in to thumb-size pieces
one ripe tomato, cut length wise into thin slivers
1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tbsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tbsp fenugreek powder
1/2 tbsp cumin powder
one small piece of really dark tamarind, dissolved in 2-3 tbsp of water (remove the stuff that doesn't dissolve)
curry leaves and coriander leaves (a handful, chopped)
2-3tbsp coconut oil
salt to taste

Method

Get yourself a well-burnt mud pot that's especially used for cooking fish. If you can't get your hands on one, a wok will do just fine. People from Marthandam will tell you, though, that cooking fish in a mud pot makes it all the more delicious. Don't know what's the science behind that, but I absolutely agree!

Throw in the coconut, the mango pieces, the drumstick pieces, the tomato, and all the powders. Pour in the tamarind water. Add salt and allow to simmer.

When the gravy is beginning to simmer, add water according to the quantity you want (2-3cups water, in this case) and add the fish pieces. Allow it to boil for 20 minutes or so. Make sure you do not cover the pot with a lid.

After 20 minutes, pick up a piece of fish and see if it has taken on the colour of the gravy. If it has, it's good to go. Now sprinkle the curry leaves and the coriander leaves. Check if the salt is sufficient. If not, now would be a good time to add some. If you have added salt, give it 2 more minutes,

Finally, pour the coconut oil in a circular direction all over the gravy, switch off the stove and close the pot with a lid. The coconut oil will hold in all the spices and give the fish curry a divine smell and taste!

This curry tastes great with rice!

The You-Name-It Recipe

This is a simple, leave it on the stove and forget it, yet yummy recipe! Try it! This recipe is in small quantities as I usually just have to cook for two. However, you can go ahead and try a larger quantity. Just make sure you increase all the ingredients proportionately!

What you need is:

¼ kg chicken cut into manageable pieces

1 large potato, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 tablespoon coriander powder

1 tablespoon red chilli powder (or more, if you want it really spicy)

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Half cup water

For the garnish:

1 tablespoon oil

1 large onion cut in really thin slices

Ginger-garlic paste*

Green pepper (capsicum) cut into very thin slices. This is optional but I strongly recommend it!

Coriander leaves

*Make this paste beforehand by grinding equal quantities of ginger and garlic to a fine paste. I like to have a container of it stocked up in my fridge always so that I can use it now and then. It’s great for digestion and does something wonderful for the taste too! You can always get packed ones from the market, but that doesn’t taste as good.

Right! Now that’s done, the method is as simple as ever. Just get a non-stick pan that will hold all the chicken and potatoes. Put in the chicken, potato, water, coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and the salt. Put the pan on the stove and close it with a lid. Leave it on simmer for a while. See I told you it was simple. After, maybe ten minutes, take a peep to see how it’s coming along. You may want to stir it a little.

Make sure you have a book to read or something else to do since this does not require you to stand guard throughout!

After some time, after quite a long time really, check to see if the chicken is well cooked and the water is almost gone. If the chicken is tender and juicy and has the flavor of all the spices, you know you have a winner! Easy as that!

The chicken, to all effect, is now done and you just have to garnish it. You may want to put your reading on hold for a few minutes here. Heat the oil in a wok. Drop in the onions and the ginger –garlic paste. Keep stirring and sautéing so that your onions get to a really dark-brown color because that’s when they taste really great. After this, add the green pepper and some salt and stir it till it is sautéed well.

Our chicken, forgotten for a while, can now take its place in a serving dish. Finally, just pour the sautéed onions and green peppers on the chicken. Garnish with coriander leaves. Voila! You can name it whatever you like. I’ll just call it the easiest and yummiest way to make chicken!

Prawns make a great alternative for chicken in this dish. Vegetarians, you can just make it with the potatoes or (you may not believe this!) brinjals. It tastes just as good!