Cooking with My Baby

Cucumber Salad...                                 This isn't a recipe per se.. just wanted dazzle up those cucumbers with light heathy dressing and enjoy it as salad. This salad can be added on hot dog, sandwiches, cheese toasts to add in crisp and fresh taste of cucumbers. Ingredients: 2 small tender cucumbers  Dressing: 1 tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp vinegar 2 chopped black olives 1/2 tsp finely chopped garlic 1/2 tsp red chili flakes 1 tsp mixed Italian herbs Mediterranean sea salt Method: Peel the cucumbers with peeler till you get thin long slices of cucumber. Mix all the ingredients for dressing in a small bowl and whisk with a fork. Mix the dressing with cucumbers and let the salad sit in fridge for 15 mins. Enjoy the salad on its own, as side dressing, as a topping on your sandwich.

       Bok choy, a popular ingredient in chinese cooking, is the perfect vegetable for a quick, healthy side dish  for an Asian style entree Here tofu, mushrooms and bell peppers add flavor and make it more substantial.                This basic stir-fry can be served as is, quick and easy, this is one of my favorite ways to load up on leafy greens. Serve with fluffy white rice, or over noodles in soup.         Boy Choy is not easily available in India. But I was able to order fresh bok choy from Green Tokri, a farm located in Pune who delivers garden fresh vegetables and herbs right at your doorstep. They also offer variety of seasonal fruits and sauces and condiments.  Ingredients: 1 tbsp vegetable oil 2-3 tbsp finely chopped garlic 1 large onion (sliced) 2 mature bokchoys 1 red capsicum (sliced) 1 yellow capsicum (sliced) 200 gm mushroom (sliced) 200 ...

            Juicy Red Delicious Tomatoes..... Neil loves tomato soup, this soup is tangy and sweet with hint of pepper. Very simple to make and will be devoured by your kids and family. We can add in baked beans on the toast with avocado butter and turn this into light evening dinner. Tomato Soup Serves 4 Ingredients 12 small tomatoes 2 tsp of sugar 1 tsp of crushed black pepper 1/2 tsp of salt Method: Crush the tomatoes to smooth paste using a hand blender. Strain the tomato juice through a sieve. Do not Discard the leftover crushed tomato in the sieve, we will use it later... No wastage ;) Now add the sugar, salt and pepper according to the taste. Boil the tomato juice over medium heat in a large saucepan for about 7-8 min, until the opaque tomato juice has turned dark red and cooked completely. Serve with chopped fresh basil or croutons. You could stir in a dollop of Cream , if desired. Baked Beans o...

 Lazy sunday morning... When you can roll in bed till late... No hungry mouths to feed.... No tension about what to cook for lunch box... No guests dropping in, so no elaborate cooking required....                              I am already day dreaming of such a lazy morning when I just wanna lay down and enjoy food cooked by me (nah) or cooked by someone special (sounds just right). But though I am lazy, food should be great but quick to make. When words like great, quick, delicious come to my mind, they all point towards one name "EGGS".                           So here is what I came up with, this simple dish which is great for a quick breakfast, with the ingredients readily available in kitchen pantry. Nothing exotic, difficult, simple comfort food .Eggs wonderfully seasoned with chillies and jalapenos. Trust me it will becom...

                     Its a healthy power packed breakfast. Whole wheat bread, eggs, milk, bananas all put together in make simply delicious breakfast for you. If you like french toast you must try this tropical flavored  french toast.                                  IF you dont eat eggs or dont like eggs, just omit the eggs and you can enjoy vegetarian french toast. Serves 2 (12 pieces) Ingredients: 6 slices of brown bread 2 eggs 1/4 cup of fresh coconut 2 small bananas 1 tbsp sugar 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 cup milk butter/ cooking spray/ oil Method: Cut the coconut in small pieces and make paste with very little amount of milk in a blender Add chopped pieces of banana, sugar, cinnamon and beat till you get smooth puree Add milk and eggs and just beat till all the mixture comes tog...

Hokey pokey... Honeycomb... Cinder toffee... Sponge toffee.... Sea foam    You can call this toffee by any name you wish... But you must must must try this simple toffee which is light with sponge like texture and melts in your mouth... It just requires three ingredients and you are ready to please any kid who walks in to your home..        You need sugar, some golden syrup/ corn syrup/ glucose and baking soda to whip up this golden magic. The thermal decomposition of the baking soda releases carbon dioxide. The lattice structure is formed while the sugar is liquid, then the toffee sets hard.                        Just sprinkle on your vanilla ice cream to taste the famous Hokey Pokey ice cream from New Zealand. Source:Nigella Lawson's How to be a domestic goddess Ingredients: 1/2 cup of sugar 3 tbsp of golden syrup 1 ...

Here's a one more simple jhatphat recipe which can add flavor to any meal.. Fresh mango pickle. It can be prepared instantly and tastes amazing with parathas and can also add zing to your daily meal..  I had to make this pickle and enjoy last few days of enjoying raw mangoes.. Thinking about this fresh raw mangoes marinated with mix of spices, sitting in my fridge waiting to be devoured, makes my mouth water.....                   I have vivid memories of me and my cousins running around our home in our native places hunting for the mangoes. When we used to hear  loud "thump",we used to run across the courtyard trying to find the ripe mango and eat it. Our home in Konkan is the most peaceful place I have ever been to.. Its a typical konkani village with laid back people and people ever willing to help you.            ...

          Bruschetta is a fresh, simple, easy to make Italian appetizer which is made of toasted bread topped with tomato and basil. its ideal to make any time of the year.          Its a prefect choice when you have guests over for dinner.. Simple to make and is loved by both adults and kids..        Tomatoes should be sweet and firm. You can either use cherry tomatoes ans slice them in half or use large roma tomatoes and chop them into small pieces..               As you know by now, Neil has started to talk and has his own language which by no means will he change... there is this one argument which we have daily. I show him a tomato and say TOMATO.. he looks back and says very firmly POTATO... He goes on saying POTATO till I finally give up. But when I am not around, he wont call it POTATO... It reminds me of the HAMBURGER inc...

Here comes one more Israel inspired dish, a garlic and tomato soup with Israeli Couscous or Ptitim. Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion was responsible for invention of"Ptitim" in Israel, when rice was scarce. Ptitim is made of wheat flour and toasted in oven and shaped into small dense balls. Ptitim is known as Israeli Couscous or Pearl Couscous outside Israel.- Wikipedia This round whole wheat pasta balls are easy to cook and really absorbs the flavor of sauce in which its cooked. Its great substitute for rice when served with stews. It has kinda chewy texture and these balls double in size when cooked. This pasta can be a great hit with kids.. Neil loved to eat the pasta which I made in tomato and onion sauce. I have a small bag of this pasta which I plan to use more for Neil as he loved the pasta. Also its very quick to make. It also makes a wonderful addition to a warm and comforting soup, which is easy to make and uses the ingre...

                        Red, Yellow and Green bell peppers along with paneer form the basis of this quick and simple entree which goes well with rice as well as roti.                      Red bell pepper is sweeter in taste as compared to green one which is little on spicier side. I have used all three kinds of bell peppers to make the dish look colorful as well as I like the taste of red bell pepper.            Its simple quick dish which looks attractive and tastes great. Its more like an Indianized version of Thai red curry.. Ingredients: 1 red capsicum 1 yellow capsicum 1 green capsicum 1 large onion 2 garlic 1 cup paneer cubes 2 tbsp oil 500 ml coconut milk 2 tsp corian...

Microwave is very fast way to make cakes. Cakes made in microwave taste more steamed than baked. Browning doesn’t occur and crust is not formed. But you can have cake in almost 5 mins & it tastes really good. Whenever you have sudden craving for chocolate or you want to serve quick dessert to your guests, this is a perfect recipe Today is 7 th April.. Neil is 17 month old now… Since neil is born, I have been making cakes for every month birthday till he was 1 year old. We all did have fun having cakes all around the year. I didn’t have Oven then, so all the cakes were made in Microwave. So I decided to make microwave cake today. Neil has started to talk a bit. He shows us pictures from his board books and calls out their names when he sees the actual thing. Recently he has started saying “cake”. He says it really cutely. He was super excited to see the cake.. He was shouting “cake” “khaaaaa” all around the house, when I was clicking pictures of cakes. Neil also un...

Love eggs & toast.. Wanna try something different…. It tastes good & looks great Ingredients 1 egg 3 slices of Bread Butter/ olive oil Salt Pepper Mayonnaise/ mint chutney Cookie cutter Method: Heat Non stick frying pan. Add butter / olive oil & let it sizzle Cut a hole with cookie cutter or simply tear a hole out from the middle of a slice of bread. Place the bread on the buttered pan. Keep the heat medium, such that egg cooks along with bread. If its too high, bread will burn before eggs cook. Toast other 2 bread along with egg/bread combo. Break an egg into the hole Sprinkle some salt & pepper Fry it on a pan Wait for the egg to cook. Flip the bread & egg Cook on other side    Serve it with other two toasts covered with mayonnaise / mint chutney Now what I did with the piece of bread left behind was, covered it with ...

French Fries Tadka ( potato vegetable) Sounds weird!!! But that’s what I made. When I have no vegetables in home, my dearest potato never fails to help me to make quick and tasty meal. We are a family of potato lovers. So बटाटा भाजी in any avatar is always a big welcome. Trust me & try it Ingredients: 2 large potatoes 1 tbsp oil 1 tbsp mix spices( mustard, sesame, ajwain, kalonji, jeera, badisaunf) Pinch of asafetida ½ tsp turmeric 1 tsp garam masala 1 ½ tsp chilli pwd Salt ( to taste) Method: Heat oil in non stick frying pan Once oil is hot, add in asafetida and mix spices. Let me tell you a secret, Neil often plays with my kitchen boxes, last night he shook my फोडणीचा डब्बा (spice box) and some of my spices got mixed. I used that spice mix in this recipe. But I found that little amounts of various spices made interesting mix which went along with this meal. Add potatoes which have bee...

             Yesterday, when we went grocery shopping, I was thrilled to see pack of Snow peas. I knew what I was going to do with that bright green fresh pack of goodies, I was going to cook Chow Mein. It’s first time I was able to get snow peas in India.Yes,they did add extra crunch to my regular noodles. What are snow peas? Bright green snow peas – often used in Asian stir-fries –are edible peas with the best features of snap beans (tender and crispy) and garden peas (sweet and meaty ). Snow peas are flat with tiny seeds that are barely visible through the pods. Low in calories and high in Vitamins A and C, snow peas are a great addition to a healthy diet .   Ingredients : 200gm hakka noodles Water 1 tbsp oil 2 tbsp sesame oil 2 tbsp garlic 1 tbsp ginger 1 cup onion ½ cup carrots ½ cup capsicum ½ cup sweet corn ½ cup mushrooms ...