Grilled Corn and Capsicum Toasties

It was, and continues to be, one of the favorite dishes of mine. This is one variation of the original dish called Chilli cheese toast/Cheese chilli toast.

This doesn’t call for any preparation time, is done instantly... and leaves a nice cheesy taste. Makes for a perfect quick snack; if you have ingredients on hand.

For this you need:-

Corn Kernels 1 cup

Capsicum 1 medium chopped

Green Chilies 2-3 finely chopped

Onion 1 medium (sliced or finely chopped)

Grated Cheese ½ cup

Black peppercorn 5-6

Bread slices 4 slices

Butter  1 tbsp.

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 180°C. 

In a bowl, mix sweetcorn, green capsicum, cheese, green chillies, onion, crushed black peppercorns and salt. 

Toast bread slices on one side on a tawa. Once you toast them properly from one side; I would recommend to cut each slice diagonally into two ( you can even make 4 pieces; specially for Party snacks..) before you apply the mixture.

Apply cheese mixture on non-toasted side of bread slices.

Bake in the preheated oven till cheese melts. If you have not cut the slices before; Cut them into two/four and serve hot with tomato ketchup.

 

Note:- You can make them on gas as well...Jst put them on the pan, cover it and on the medium heat; let the cheese melt. But make sure that you don't burn the base that is already toasted.

Coming real soon ......  Papdi  Pizza..... :-)

Sweet Corn and Roasted Bell Pepper soup

A big Hello to all my Bloggobuddies. Its been more than two weeks I have been away from the blog but now I am definitely back all geared up; after a great trip. Its been raining cats n dogs here in Russelsheim since last 2-3 weeks and the same story since today morning and what could be better than a fresh bowl of soup. A typical Mexican smoky flavoured bell pepper and sweet corn soup. Its a extremely simple one to make and very delicious. It gets your taste buds rolling and totally warmed up for a meal ahead.

I modified the original recipe little bit by adding chopped garlic and herbs ( Dry basil leaves and Oregano) and guess what…the end result was absolutely delicious…

Sweet corn kernels, boiled 1 cups

Bell Pepper (Red, yellow and Green) 2/3cup

Milk 1/2 cup

Oil 2 tablespoons

Garlic 2 cloves finely chopped
Onion , chopped 1 medium

Salt to taste

Fresh Green/Red chillies, diagonally sliced 2

Cornflour/ corn starch 1 tablespoon
Herbs ( Oregano and Dry Basil leaves) as required
is all that you need..

1. Roast the bell peppers one by one on direct flame ( I roasted them in the oven appling little oil...jst a tsp) till lightly charred. 

2. Dip it in a bowl of water and peel off the charred skin like we do it for Baingan.
3. Remove the seeds if any and chop roughly. 
4. Now grind the corn with milk to a coarse paste. 
5. Heat oil in a deep pan. Add onion, garlic and sauté till lightly browned. Add the ground sweet corn mixture and half a cup of water. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. 
6. Add the capsicum and stir. Add salt, fresh green/red chillies and simmer. Mix cornflour in quarter cup of water(if required as corn kernels and milk will make soup thick anyway) and add to the soup and stir. Cook till the soup thickens slightly. 
7. Add salt as required and herbs. Serve piping hot.

 Note: 1. If you do not have all 3 bell peppers; you can still make this soup with Green Capsicum.
2. Do not over cook the herbs. Always add them at the end before a quick boil.

Vegetable Manchow Soup

For this you will need:-
Carrot, finely chopped 1/2 cup

Cabbage, finely chopped 1/2 cup
Green capsicum, seeded and chopped  1/4 Cup

Tofu, finely chopped  1/4 cup (optional)

Mushroom, finely chopped 2-3(optional)

Oil 2 tablespoon + to deep fry

Noodles, boiled 1/4 cup

Spring onions, finely chopped 2

Garlic, finely chopped 6-7 cloves

Ginger, finely chopped 1/4 inch piece

Green chillies, finely chopped 2

Vegetable stock /water 2 cups

Salt to taste

White/Black pepper powder as required

Red chilli sauce 1/2 tbsp./ as required

Dark soy sauce 2 tbsp.

Cornflour/ corn starch 1 tbsp.mixed with water ( I did not have any..so I used Rice Flour ;-))

Lemon Juice 1 tbsp.

Spring onion greens, chopped 1 stalk

1. Finely chop all the vegetables and keep aside

2. Heat sufficient oil and deep fry the boiled noodles till golden and crisp. Remove.
3. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a deep pan. Add spring onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies. Sauté for a minute and add carrot, cabbage, green capsicum, tofu(optional), mushrooms(optional) and vegetable stock or water. 
4. Stir and add salt and let the soup come to a boil. Add white/black pepper powder, red chilli sauce, dark soya sauce and simmer the soup for two to three minutes.

5. Add cornflour mixed with water to the soup, stirring continuously. Cook till the soup thickens. Add lemon juice and spring onion greens. 
6. Serve hot garnished with crushed fried noodles.

NanKhatai

Its been more than a week now since I have posted anything on the blog. I have been hardly cooking food from the past 1 week forget anything for the blog. But the fact that I have not posted anything for a long time was irritating me and this is when I came across this very simple recipe which requires hardly any ingredients and efforts. Read on:-

You will need:-

Equal Quantity of Refined flour, Sugar and Desi Ghee(Clarified Butter)
1 tsp of Vanilla essence
that's all you need.....

Preheat the Oven. Cream together Ghee and Sugar well. Then add the refined flour and make a soft dough. Add the vanilla essence into the dough and knead it again. Roll out medium sized balls and put a sliced almond on the top of each piece. Bake them on a greased tray for 10-12 mins at 200 0 c. NanKhatai is ready.

 

A Refreshing Cooler

Here is a drink I made yesterday with a Nice Honeydew Melon or Honigmelone I laid my hands on. Its very simple to make and at the same time very refreshing. If you do not get Honeydew Melon ( Yellow in Colour......see the pic below), you can also use the Kharbuja or a regular watermelon.

you will need:-

(quantities for 1 glass)

1 Cup cubes of chilled Honeydew Melon ( or any other melon)

1 tbsp. Sugar

2 tsp. Lemon juice

1 bottle 7up/Sprite (chilled)

4-5 fresh Mint leaves.........thats it...

Just blend everything together. Strain it and pour into the glass. Top it up with 7up/Sprite and Serve.( Do not use any soda if you are making the drink with Watermelon, it will destroy the original taste)

If you do not want to use 7up/Sprite, then u can use it directly without straining.