Roasted Eggplant with Tomato and Mozzarella Cheese
Ingredients
Long eggplant cut it into thick slices - 4 slices
Sliced onions few to add on top
Coriander or Parsley leaves for garnish
Sumac powder - 1 tsp
Olive oil as needed for brushing the vegetable
Ingredients for the topping
Chopped Mozzarella cheese - 1 cup
Chopped tomato - 1 cup
Chopped green chilies - 2
Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Chopped garlic - 3
Dry Italian seasoning as needed
( Mix everything in a bowl and keep it aside)
Eggplant with Tomato and Mozzarella Cheese
Method
Score the flesh with a knife on each eggplant slices brush olive oil on both sides ,sprinkle some salt on top. Broil in low till the eggplant is half cooked
Remove from the oven add the topping on top of each eggplant slices sprinkle some sumac powder and arrange some onion slices on top.
Brush some oil on top and broil in low till the top is golden brown.
( trim few leaves at the bottom which is hard and keep the remaining leaves on)
Salt and pepper powder to taste
Olive oil - 2 tsp
Method
Rub the washed and trimmed whole cauliflower with olive , salt and pepper powder.
Take a baking tray or an iron skillet place the cauliflower cover it with a foil.
Bake the cauliflower for 40 minutes at 375 deg. F till the cauliflower is cooked. Each oven is different so temperature and cooking time may vary.
Remove the foil and broil on low till the top is slightly brown, remove from the oven rest for 5 minutes.
Pour the chimichurri sauce on top and enjoy hot.
Chimichurri Sauce
Ingredients for Chimichurri Sauce
Finely chopped coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Finely chopped parsley - 1/4 cup
Salt and pepper powder to taste
Red chilly flakes - 2 tsp
Olive oil - 1/8 cup
( you can add more if you like)
Lemon zest - 1 tsp
Red wine vinegar - 3 tbsp
Italian seasoning - 1 tsp
Finely chopped garlic - 4
( Mix all above ingredients together in a bowl or use a food processor to blend , your sauce is ready . Feel free to adjust the ingredients according to your taste buds.)
Basil leaves - 4 (optional, i add just for a flavor)
Garlic - 6
Pecan - 3/4 cup
Parmesan cheese - 1 cup
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 1/4 cup
( add more or less accordingly )
Method
Take a food processor and add the pecan ,garlic, salt, pepper powder, parmesan cheese and carrot leaves pulse them.
While blender is in process slowly add the olive oil into the mixture. Once everything is well combined add the lemon juice and switch off. Store them in a clean glass bottle and keep it in refrigerator. Note: a) Pulse according to the texture you want smooth or crunchy. b)Mix it with pasta,spaghetti or use as a spread on bread for your sandwich. c) Make sure your drizzle some oil on top of pesto to keep it green.
( Heat butter in a pan add the red chilly flakes and red chilly powder cook for a minute till well combined and switch off the stove, do not over cook and burn them.)
Ingredients for the green base
Olive oil - 2 tsp
Parsley - 1 tsp
( crush parsley with olive oil to a coarse paste )
Ingredients for the poached eggs
Water as needed
Vinegar or Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Eggs - 2
( Break an egg into a bowl , heat water in a pan add vinegar and give a boil reduce the heat and gently drop the eggs from the bowl into the water. simmer till the egg yolk are runny and white are set . Repeat with the second egg too. Using a slotted spoon gently remove the eggs from the water.
Garnish
Chopped Dill or Parsley leaves
Cilbir
Assembling
Take a plate spread the yogurt mixture place the poached eggs on top. Drizzle the butter sauce and the parsley olive oil paste generously on top. Garnish with Dill or Parsley leaves and enjoy immediately with toasted bread !
( you can replace with fresh cherry tomatoes cut into halves)
Tuscan Seafood
Ingredients for garnish
Chopped basil - 8 to 10 leaves
Parmesan cheese - 1 tbsp
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Chilly flakes - 1 tsp
Tuscan Fish
Method
Apply salt and pepper to both sides of the fish fillets and rest for 5 minutes, heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the fish till both sides are slightly brown. keep it aside.
Add milk chocolate chips into a bowl and melt them in microwave for a minute and extra 15 seconds if needed or melt using a double boiler.
Once melted pour it into the lined tray and spread evenly using a rubber spatula. Each microwave is different so melting time may vary.
Same way melt the white chocolate and pour it on top of the melted milk chocolate , spread evenly.
While still warm sprinkle all the nuts , dry fruits and cake sprinkles, arrange the cherry on top and gently press so they stick well with the chocolate.
Keep it in fridge for 30 minutes or till hard , remove from the fridge and break into pieces and enjoy!
Note:
a) Use any nut or fruit of your choice.
b) If you don't have chocolate chips use cooking chocolate bars.
( add 1 or 2 tbsp of flour if your dough is sticky)
Milk powder - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Dry Yeast - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Luke warm water - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Method
Take warm water in a bowl add the yeast ,sugar and salt mix to dissolve, cover and wait for the yeast to activate may be 5 to 10 minutes.
Once its foamy add the flour and milk powder gently mix to form a soft dough. If dough is sticky add more flour to get the right consistency.
Dough should not be very stiff like we knead for roti. Grease a bowl and place the dough , cover with a tight lid and wait for 1 to 2 hours for the dough to double in size.
Punch the dough slightly to knock out the air and knead once , divide the dough into small equal size balls. Roll the balls into thick poori or roll out the whole dough like a thick sheet and cut into circles using a cookie cutter.
Apply oil on both sides of the bun and fold it into half, place these on a parchment paper or banana leaf. Applying oil prevents the fold of the to bun to stick together.
Cover and rest for another 30 minutes to rise. Steam these buns till they puff up. Once cooked they look glossy and dry on top.
I covered the steamer lid while steaming with a cloth so the water does not drip down on the buns and the towel will absorb the water (this step is optional).
Filling ingredients
Paneer cut into small cubes - 2 cups
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Jeera powder - 3/4 tsp
Chaat masala - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Curd - 1/4 cup
Ginger and garlic paste - 1/2 tsp)
( Take a bowl add all the above mentioned ingredients except onion and oil, mix well and marinate for 10 minutes) .
Chopped onions - 1/4 cup
Oil - 3 tsp
Paneer Bao
Garnish
Carrots, Cucumber - cut into thin strips
Chopped coriander leaves
Method
Heat oil in a pan fry the onions till colour changes but still has the crunch , add the marinated paneer along with the curd mixture. In high flame mix well till raw smell has disappeared and paneer is dry.
Switch off the stove garnish with coriander leaves.
Assembling
Take a bao bun fill it up with some panner mixture, garnish with cucumber. carrots and coriander leaves. These as served as an appetizer in Taiwan.
Note:
Be creative in making your own filling. Today i have shown a basic paneer filling.