As easy as apple...crumble!

"Healthy" apple crumble (Prep time : 1hr)

Note : The only reason this dish is supposedly healthy is because I have tried to cut down on the refined white flour (maida) and substitute it with whole wheat flour (atta).Also I've added in the ubiquitous flaxseeds and walnuts that you'll see often on this blog!

Ingredients
- 3 Apples (any kind)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup refined white flour (maida)
- 1/2 cup atta
- 1 egg (or two eggwhites)
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- optionals : handful of flax seeds and walnuts (ground)

Procedure
Preheat the oven to 350F. Slice 3 apples and put them in an ovenproof dish and sprinkle over 2 tbsp brown sugar. Use a food processor to whiz together the maida, atta, brown sugar, ground flax seeds, walnuts and cinnamon. Add the butter and egg to the blend and "pulse-whiz" in the processor until you get a coarse breadcrumb-type texture. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples and bake until the top is browned and the apples are warm and just a tad mushy. Serve warm with vanilla icecream!

Note : Add lemon/lime juice as a flavor enhancer (thanks Nidhi!)

Pics coming up soon!

Baked Bharatiya Cornish Hen

Cornish Hens are cute and compact and have a nice natural flavor. You should be able to get them in the frozen section of your favorite local grocery store. This recipe is perfect for an Indian Thanksgiving! This recipe is pretty involved during the prep-time but once you start baking the hen, you can sit back and relax!

Baked Cornish Hen (Prep time : 1hr + a couple of hours for marinating the hen)
Ingredients for the marinade
    * 5-6 cloves
    * 2 cinnamon sticks
    * Seeds from10 green cardamoms
    * 1tsp cumin seeds
    * 10 peppercorns
    * 1/2 tsp ginger paste
    * 1/2 tsp garlic paste
    * 2 medium onion
    * 2 medium tomatoes
    * 2 tbsp yogurt
    * A dash of lime juice
    * 3 green chillies,
    * 1.5 heaped tsp salt (it's a lot but it gets diluted through the process)
    * a little bit of oil
    * Optional : A dash of "Shan Tandoori Chicken Masala" to give the final product a nice rich color!

Blend all the marinade ingredients in the mixer, Keep some aside for cooking the veggies in. Marinate the whole hen in the rest for a couple of hours in the fridge. Note : you may/may not want to remove the excess fat from the hen, depending on your cholesterol levels;) Also, poke the hen with a fork so that the marinade gets into the deeper layers.

Cook the veggies
I like to have Cornish hen with julienned carrots, eggplant, green peppers, onions and green peas. Cut the eggplant first into julienned strips and bake at 375F in a baking dish with olive oil. When they're about half-cooked (15 mins), mix them with the other veggies and a bit of the marinade. Bake it for around 5 mins more. Don't cook it too long, the veggies taste good if they're crunchy.

Bake the hen
Take a pan and fill the base with about half an inch of water. Lay the marinated hen in the water. It's important to put water as this prevents the grease from burning and ruining the pan. Don't worry if some of the marinade washes off...it makes a yummy (fatty) gravy in the end! Bake the hen at 400F for about an hour (the time will vary of course, keep poking the hen with a fork to figure out when it's done). Turn the hen over once in the middle so that both sides cook evenly. I'm still trying to figure out whether baking or broiling is more efficient.

The finishing touches and garnish!
Lay the hen on a bed of cooked rice (basmati would be nice!), along with the veggies garnished with cilantro and caramelized onions (love that zing!). Pour some of the gravy on the rice to flavor it.

Dig in!

Baked Cornish Hen on a bed of rice with veggies and caramelized onions!

Note : Even though this dish takes a while to prepare, you can do the chopping etc beforehand and even marinade the hen overnight if needed. I also caramelize onions and do my chopping the day before to save time.

Potato Shrimp Curry

Potato Shrimp Curry (Prep time : ~30 mins)
Ingredients
- 3 medium potatoes, chopped
- 1 bag uncooked shrimp
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds

- A couple of Curry leaves
- 1 tsp Urad Dal (White lentils for the non-Indians)
- A couple of black pepper corns
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 green chillies, chopped
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 inch fresh ginger and 3 cloves garlic, grated
- Salt to taste
- 1/ 2 tsp Turmeric powder
- Madras curry powder (optional)
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- Lemon juice (to taste)

Procedure
Heat the oil in a pan. Throw in the mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves, pepper corns, splutter splutter splutter. Add chopped onions, green chilles and sauté till the onions are brownish. Throw in the potatoes, and turmeric powder and sauté till potatoes are 75% done (~15 mins). Add the chopped tomatoes, salt, curry powder, coriander powder, ginger-garlic and cook till tomatoes are done (~10 mins). Throw in the shrimp and cook till they’re done (5-10 mins…they cook really fast). Garnish with fresh cilantro et voila! Add lime for a dash of sour. Yumminess!

Also seen in the snapshot above : Cilantro-Mint Raita!

Scarborough fair dinner!

One fine day, I found my refrigerator stocked with exotic herbs I barely recognize. Going by my cooking philosophy (Get rid of rotting stuff in quick and dirty ways), I decided to throw 'em all together in one lazy dish. Hooray! The taste-buds declared this one a winner!

Scarborough fair dinner (Prep time : 40 mins)
Marinade ingredients
- Olive oil
- Fresh orange juice
- A dash of balsamic vinegar
- Salt 'n pepper
- Fresh garlic, grated
- Herbs-gone-wild!! (parsley, rosemary, basil, fenugreek, cilantro)
Marinatees
- Chicken thigh chunks
- Veggies-gone-wild!! (zucchini, squash, mushrooms, carrot, onions..whatever else have you)

Mix the chicken and veggies with the marinade in different containers. Shove 'em in a preheated oven. Bake at 350F for about 40 mins. The veggies will get done faster (duh).

PS : Food connoisseurs - don't hate me for committing herb sacrilege. I've definitely overdone the herbs in this one, but the predominant flavors were that of fenugreek and basil. The others where in there just for good luck ;)
PPS : Marinatees isn't really a word.

Twisted Toasted Tuna Salad Sandwich

Being the self-proclaimed undisputed queen of weird-food combos, here's another recipe that came out pretty good if I may say so myself :)

Twisted Toasted Tuna Salad Sandwich (Prep time : 20 mins)
Ingredients and procedure
Sandwich layers from bottom to top :
- A slice of whole wheat grain bread
- Tuna salad made from tinned tuna, low cal mayo, chopped onions, fresh mint,
   cilantro, green chillies and celery
- Tomato slices
- Chopped kale (Sautéed in olive oil and a hint of sugar for 5 mins till nice and crispy)
- Gruyère cheese slices
- Another slice of whole wheat grain bread
Use a sandwich toaster to seal in the flavors for a crispy delightful semi-healthy sandwich :)

Points to note
- I squeezed out the excess juice from the tuna salad to prevent the bread from getting soggy.
- Of course, you can use any other cheese too, I used Gruyère coz it was just sitting around in my fridge!

Shortcut Cauliflower Manchurian

The only food blogger I follow religiously is Nupur of One Hot Stove, without a doubt one of the best foodie blogs on the internet! I've tried at least 10-15 of her recipes so far, not one has left me disappointed. I recently came across her take on Cauliflower/Gobi Manchurian, which inspired me to try something similar along these lines but as a more saucy main-course dish.  Here's the combination of ingredients that hit the right spot!


Shortcut Gobi Manchurian (Prep time : 25-30 mins)
Ingredients
- One whole cauliflower
- 1.5 inches grated ginger
- 3 cloves finely chopped garlic
- A bunch of green onions, chopped
- 3-6 tablespoons cornflour (depending on how thick you want the sauce to be)
- A bunch of sauces including
       * soy sauce
       * regular ketchup
       * white vinegar
Procedure
Cut the cauliflower (gobi) into florets (not too small), mix well with the ginger. Heat around 2 tsp oil in a nonstick pan/wok and stir fry the cauliflower ginger on med-high heat for about 10 mins. It's important to do this on high heat so that you get that nice crispiness without the burn. Remove the gobi and in the same pan, add a bit more oil and sautee the garlic along with all the sauces and cornflour for about 5 mins. Add some water to get the consistency you desire. Add salt/pepper to taste. Add in the crispy gobi and chopped green onions and cook for about a minute. Voila! You're done! Nothing quite like a yummy quickfix indochinese manchurian! Serve hot with steamed rice / fried rice (another post on chinese fried rice some other time).
Optionals : The same sauce can be used for a tougher white fish like trout or catfish for an indochinese style fish dish.

Delightful Avocado Mango Salad

While on the subject of good fats, here are two essentials that should be on anyone's must-eat list : walnuts and flaxseeds...with between 96-146% of the daily omega-3 fatty acid intake per serving, these two are more than welcome permanent residents in our kitchen! The good thing about walnuts and flax are that they're best eaten raw and can be thrown into all kinds of salads or veggies for that extra crunch. Here's an inspired salad from last night -

Avocado Mango Salad (Prep time : 10-15 mins)
Ingredients 
- 1 Avacado
- 1 Mango (slightly raw if possible)
- 1 Red bell pepper
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- A handful of crushed walnuts and some powdered flaxseeds
- Seasoning : Fennel seeds, fresh mint, cilantro and salt all to taste
- Optional dressing : Olive oil + a drizzle of balsamic vinegar
Procedure
Chop up the avacado, mango and red peppers into little pieces (1/3rd the size of your index finger). Mix up all the goodness mentioned above and chill in the fridge for a delightfully colorful salad with a funky flavor. Fennel and mint actually gel pretty well in a salad. I got the idea of using them together from this write-up on avocados. The husband and I both loved this one..it's a keeper for the recipe books!

Fun with fatty fish!

The husband and I are trying to bump up those darn HDL levels these days. Fortunately for us, that means eating more of something we happen to love - FISH!! Mmmm that wonderful omega-3 fatty acid powerhouse that just happens to be delicious! I can certainly do with more Salmon :) Other fish high in omega 3s include mackerel, herring, sardines and tuna. Also, to get the most out of these fish in terms of omega-3s, it's apparently best to bake or broil and NOT fry them.

Dinner last night -
* Grilled salmon fillets
* Grilled squash, zucchini and mushrooms
* Sauteed Ginger Asparagus
* Warm french bread with an olive oil dip
Total prep time : 30 mins with parallel processing!

Grilled salmon fillets (Prep time : 30 mins)
Ingredients
- One fillet of salmon (about 200-250 gms??)
- 2-3 cloves grated garlic
- Balsamic vinegar drizzle
- Olive oil drizzle
- Salt and pepper to taste
(Sorry, I'm not good with measurements!!)
Procedure
Cut the fillet into roughly 4 salmon chunks and rub well with the mixture of ingredients listed above. Place on a baking sheet / cover in foil and bake/broil in the oven till the chunks easily flake off with a fork (takes around 20 mins I would say). Serve warm!

Sauteed Asparagus ginger (Prep time : 10-15 mins)
 Ingredients
- One bunch of asparagus
- 1tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp grated ginger
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Optionals : flaxpowder, crushed walnuts to garnish
Procedure
A friend of mine suggested this asparagus recipe from Manjula's kitchen...I followed it word for word and simply LOVED it! Simple no-fuss recipe resulting in a beautiful crunchy and of course, healthy side-dish. I threw in a tablespoon of flax powder on the asparagus after taking it off the stove. The verdict : Yum.my!

Grilled veggies (Prep time : 10 mins)
 Ingredients
- One zucchini
- One yellow squash
- A bunch of mushrooms
- Olive oil
- Salt, pepper, red chili powder
- Optionals : fresh rosemary
Procedure
The veggies get minimal treatment. Just chop up the zucchini, squash and mushroom into slightly bigger than bite-size pieces, mix up well with olive oil, salt, pepper and/or red chilli powder and grill/bake in the oven at 375F for about 10 mins. Broil for a couple of mins if you want them crispy. Sometime I add rosemary to the veggies for an italian-y flavor.

Dipping sauce for the french bread 
 Ingredients
- Olive oil (OO)
- Balsamic vinegar (BV)
- Dried oregano flakes
- Crushed red pepper flakes
Procedure
Mix the OO and BV (in a 2:3 ratio roughly) along with the other ingredients and use as a dip for warm french bread (easily available in Kroger / any generic grocery store)

Bon appetit!