Mattar Paneer Bhurji - Scrambled Cottage Cheese and Peas

Mattar Paneer Bhurji

This looks a lot like Indian scrambled eggs, but there are no eggs in this preparation. Instead, paneer or cottage cheese is grated and cooked in the same way. It makes a terrific stuffing for tortilla rolls or can be served as a side dish with rice or chapatis at dinner.

Stuffed Crepes

Stuffed Crepes

These stuffed crepes are also called Moghlai Parathas in India. 

Scrambled Eggs

To enrich this snack, ground meat could be cooked along with the scrambled eggs and crepes made larger to accommodate the bulkier filling.

Crepes

The inspiration video I followed had a simple recipe for making crepes, but do modify the amount of liquid to make a fairly runny batter so that the batter can spread to a desirable size.

Sandwich Bread

 

Sandwich Bread

Bread Slices

Half a Loaf of Bread

Everyone seems to be making bread these days and there are countless You Tube videos demonstrating breadmaking techniques. GrandBoy#2 was spending the day with us and both he and Hubby love bread, so I spent the afternoon watching a video (link at the end of this page) and baking bread. For dinner we had Mexican pizza and also demolished half a loaf, straight out of the oven and slathered with butter. It was delicious and the house smelled heavenly! The slices shown above were cut from this half of the loaf.

When we were growing up in Burma, bread was breakfast food that we ate on the way to school. We would beg Mum to go easy on the butter and go crazy with the sugar or jam. Buttered toast with a sprinkling of sugar was comforting and diverted my attention from the stress of having to go to school. On the weekends or if we were recovering from a cold, we would dip our toast into sweetened milk. My memories of Mum's remedy for combating the 'flu was a triangle of toast that we dipped into chicken soup. It leaves me with a warm and fuzzy feeling towards Mum that is stamped into my memory. 

The nostalgia associated with these memories kept me company while I made bread today. These days, plain buttered toast is my favorite part of any breakfast.

I halved the recipe in the video to make one loaf of bread.

Suji Toast - Cream of Wheat Toast

 

Suji Toast

There are a myriad recipes for this popular breakfast dish on the internet. The video that inspired me is displayed at the end of this post. I found toasted suji at the Indian market which is what I used to make this. Our neighbourhood supermarket bakes their own Italian bread which was perfect because the crusty slices hold their shape and acted as a sponge for the topping. And according to my nephew, 'Iz bedder wid budder', so I used butter instead of oil to fry the toasts. The leftover batter can be made into little dosas. With less than 10 ingredients, breakfast is ready in under 30 minutes. 

Maggi Noodles Omelette

Maggi Omelette

Maggi Omelette with Sriracha

This YouTube video was the inspiration for our delicious lunch today.  It combines my two loves, eggs and noodles. Very simple to make with no more than 5 ingredients (not counting butter, salt and pepper) lunch can go from conception to table in less than 30 minutes. This recipe makes 2 servings.

Banana Nut Bread

Banana Nut Bread

Inspired by a recipe in a Crisco pamphlet, this is one of the first dessert breads I learned to make.  Over time and many tweaks later, I've perfected the recipe to my taste. 

Freshly Baked

Some ingredients in this recipe are more important than others. For example, I read somewhere that one teaspoon of baking soda (rather than half a teaspoon) produces a darker bread. Also, the recipe calls for a cup of white sugar, but I prefer using dark brown sugar which I believe helps give it a darker appearance. 

The First Slice for Tasting

The original recipe called for three-quarters of a cup of Crisco oil, which I switched to a cup of melted, unsalted butter which is more to my taste. Another change I make is to grease the pan with Pam butter flavoured spray and white granulated sugar in place of flour.  The sugar caramelizes during baking and produces a sweeter crust.

There can never be too many nuts

A happy mistake I made this time is going to be the norm from now on. I forgot to add the walnut pieces until after the batter had been poured into the pan. So I poured them all over the top and used a fork to push some into the batter. It worked better because when the nuts are folded into the batter, they tend to settle on the bottom and often burn. By inserting them right at the end, they remained towards the top which was a lot better.

After resting overnight

It's important to allow the banana nut bread to rest before slicing, but it's so hard not to taste it right away. Slicing it too soon causes the bread to crumble so it needs to be covered loosely with foil or Saran wrap and left on the counter overnight. Make sure not to tighten the foil/wrap so that the bread can dry out and not steam.

Best of all, this entire recipe can be prepared in one bowl by combining all the wet ingredients first and then sifting the flour and other dry ingredients directly into the mixing bowl and folding everything together with the help of a spatula.

Deem Ruti or Anda Pau or Egg Sandwiches

Deem Ruti 

Making breakfast for a crowd can be daunting. Over the holidays we had a full house which was a lot of fun. Even though I was well-prepared to make several breakfasts, lunches and dinners, the weather did not cooperate. Temperatures were frigid and windows were iced in place and we hate the smell of stale food in the house, so we ate out a lot - a whole lot!

The Stuffing Inside

King's Hawaiian Rolls are fluffy, portion-sized with a slight sweetness that we all love, but reserve for the holidays. These bite-sized sandwiches are sold as snacks by street vendors in all the metropolitan cities in India. We love our omelettes with minced onions and tomatoes and green chilies which makes a delightful filling for the sandwiches. I went a step further and added slices of provolone cheese and sliced chicken to the mix.

Topped and Fried

Once the bottoms of the buns are smothered with the eggs, cheese and chicken, the buns are covered with the top halves and fried in butter. The little snack-sized buns are then segmented and served with ketchup or a variety of chutneys like tamarind or mint chutney, or sweet chili sauce.

Mixed Berries Jam

Mixed Berries Jam

This was a great way to use up those frozen berries stashed in the deep interior of the freezer. They're supposed to be used in smoothies, so I have no idea how they got in the freezer because we're not 'smoothie types'. 

Frozen Berries (48 Oz./3 Lb.)

Blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are what were listed on the package and all of them are rich in pectin so I decided to make jam. It turned out to be the easiest ever to make with the simple addition of some sugar to the package of berries.

No Additional Pectin Needed

Amazing how good just 2 ingredients can taste! It took about an hour to cook this jam and the test is simple to make sure it's reached jam consistency - a dollop of the berries on a little plate placed in the refrigerator to cool stays in place without running when it's tilted. It needs minimal baby/jam sitting, but must be stirred frequently to prevent scorching.

15 Oz. of Jam

Since it will be consumed in a short time, it was transferred to a clean salsa jar and refrigerated after it came to room temperature. Perfect on toast or English muffins, I've also had it on waffles, pancakes and as a condiment for Honeybaked ham.

Orange Marmalade

Orange Marmalade

There are so many blessings in my life, not the least of which is my big sister, Rene. Our telephone conversations always end up on the topic of food and she's a fountain of information and wisdom on the subject. Mandarin oranges are in season in the summer in Darjeeling, India. I grew up and went to school there and one of my fondest memories was of Mum making orange marmalade. Mandarin oranges were sold in big baskets for a very cheap price and they had to be consumed in a short time so they didn't spoil.

Marmlade Using Just Two Ingredients

So, during one of our marathon calls between Rene and me, these memories surfaced and we reminisced about the steps Mum went through to make marmalade. We would have to peel all the oranges, remove the skin around each segment and collect just the pulp. The peels were set aside to make the rinds in the jam and the orange pulp with sugar was cooked on the stovetop until they reached jam consistency. The result was a clear jelly-like marmarlade with strips of rind floating in suspension.

Fast & Easy Marmalade

That's when Rene mentioned watching a food show that reduced the tedium to nil by introducing the food processor. This process produces a marmalade that is thick and rustic and oh so flavorful! The aroma that permeates through our home is heavenly! The pith just under the peel is usually removed because it's so bitter, but that's what I love about marmalade so I leave it in.

A No-Fail Method

Once I tried this no-fail method of making marmalade, I've never looked back. It's quick and easy, aromatic and full of flavor. Use it on toasted bread, English muffins or waffles. I've also wrapped cream cheese and marmalade in crescent dough to make a marmalade danish. Yumm!