Mattar Soup

For 2 people I used:

• 400g peas(mattar)
• 1 spoon oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon Delikat (or Knorr, Vegeta, stock cube)
• parsley, dill

Method

• Heat the oil in a saucepan, add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. 
• Then add 1 cup water and the stock cube and continue coking for another 10 minutes. 
• Add the peas and the herbs and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. (If the herbs are fresh, sprinkle them on top, just before serving).
  

Spinach Soup Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients:
6 cups Spinach leaves, washed, chopped
½ cup Cream
½ small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic
8 cups Water
1 tsp olive oil
Salt, Pepper
Butter

Method

• Heat oil and add garlic and onion
• When soft, add half of the water and bring to a boil.
• Add spinach leaves and boil for 4 min or until leaves wilt.
• Take off the heat immediately, cool and liquidize
• Add cream, salt, the rest of the water and liquidize again
• Heat on a medium flame, stirring continuously.
• Serve topped with pepper and a blob of butter.

Tomato soup

Tomato soup  This soup is a classic! Perfect for those lazy night dinners, that consist of a simply grilled cheese sandwiches, and good friends. Grill that cheese, cook up this recipe, and dip in and take a bite! INGREDIENTS: 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 small onion, chopped 2 celery stalks, chopped 1 carrot, diced 1 can (28oz/800g) whole tomatoes 1 can (28oz/800g) crushed tomatoes ½ tsp. small can of tomato paste 2 tsp. chicken stock 1 cup. half and half salt and pepper to taste DIRECTIONS: In a large soup pot, heat oil over low-medium heat, mix in vegetables and cook until tender. Add tomatoes, water, chicken stock, and simmer until veggies become extremely tender, 12-15 more minutes. Remove 1/3 of your soup mix, let cool and pour into blender, puree mixture. Pour puree mix back into your soup, stir in the seasonings and half and half. Reheat back up to a simmer; make sure not to bring your soup to a boil when reheating. MAKES 6 SERVINGS For a chunky soup leave out the puréeing part of the recipe, just skip ahead and stir in the seasons and continue to simmer.

Calorie Chart

Calorie is the unit of measurement that tells us how much energy our body derives from a particular food item. The food that we consume during the day include a variety of nutrients and each nutrient provides different amounts of calories.

Many health conscious people are constantly counting and keeping a track of their calorie intake while there are some of us who are totally ignorant to the entire concept. Here is a list of some food items and the number of calories they possess -

Simple Calorie Chart

Food Categories	Measure	Calories
MILK & MILK PRODUCTS
Milk (Cow)	90ml	50
Milk (BuffaIlo)	45ml	50
Cheese	15 gms	50
Butter	1 tbsp	50
Ghee	1 tbsp	50
FRUIT
Apple	1 Small	50-60
Banana	1/2 Medium	50-60
Grapes	20 Small	50-60
Mango	1 Small	50-60
Musambi	1 Medium	50-60
Orange	1 Small	50-60
CEREAL
Cooked Cereal	1/2 Cup	80
Rice cooked	25 gms	80
Chapatti	1 Medium	80
STARCHY VEGETABLES
Potato	1 Medium	80
Dais	1 Large katori	80
Mixed vegetables	150 gms	80
PROTEIN / MEAT
Fish	50 gms	55
Mutton	1 oz.	75
Egg (Hen)	2 pieces	100
COOKED FOOD
Biscuit (Sweet)	15 gms	70
Cake (plain)	50 gmss	135
Cake (Rice Chocolate)	50 gms	225
Dosa (plain)	1 Medium	120
Dosa (Masala)	1 Medium	250
Pakoras	50 gms	175
Puri	1 Large	85
Samosa	1 Piece	140
Vada (Medu)	1 Small	70
MAIN DISH
Biryani (Mutton)	1 Cup	225
Biryani (Veg.)	1 Cup	200
Curry (Chicken)	100 gms	225
Curry (Veg.)	100 gms	130
Fried Fish	85 gms	140
Pullav (Veg.)	100 gms	130
SWEET DISH
Carrot Halwa	50 gms	300
JaIebi	20 gms	100
Kheer	100 gms	180
Rasgulla	150 gms	140
BEVERAGES
Beer	12 FI. oz	150
Cola	200 ml	90
Wine	3.5 Fl. oz	85

Coffee Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans (decaf unless you want the caffeine in your ice cream)
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon finely ground coffee (press grinds through a fine mesh sieve)

METHOD

1 Heat the milk, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt, and 1/2 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan until it is quite warm and steamy, but not boiling. Once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

2 Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a medium size metal bowl, set on ice over a larger bowl. Set a mesh strainer on top of the bowls. Set aside.

3 Reheat the milk and coffee mixture, on medium heat, until again hot and steamy (not boiling!). In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly pour the heated milk and coffee mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by the warm milk, but not cooked by it. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

4 Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof, flat-bottomed spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula so that you can run your finger across the coating and have the coating not run. This can take about 10 minutes.

 

5 Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Press on the coffee beans in the strainer to extract as much of the coffee flavor as possible. Then discard the beans. Mix in the vanilla and finely ground coffee, and stir until cool.

6 Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Makes one quart.

Homemade Pizza Recipe

INGREDIENTS

Pizza Dough: Makes enough dough for two 10-12 inch pizzas

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (105°F-115°F)
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast (check the expiration date on the package)
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour (can use all-purpose but bread flour will give you a crisper crust)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Pizza Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Cornmeal (to slide the pizza onto the pizza stone)

• Tomato sauce
• Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese, shredded
• Feta cheese
• Mushrooms, thinly sliced
• Bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, thinly sliced
• Italian sausage, cooked ahead
• Chopped fresh basil
• Pesto
• Pepperoni, thinly sliced
• Onions, thinly sliced
• Sliced ham

Special equipment needed

• A pizza stone, highly recommended if you want your pizza dough to be crusty
• A pizza peel or a flat baking sheet
• A pizza wheel for cutting the pizza, not required, but easier to deal with than a knife

METHOD

Making the Pizza Dough

1 In the large bowl of a heavy duty electric mixer (such as a Kitchen Aid), add the warm water. Sprinkle on the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. Stir to dissolve completely if needed at the end of 5 minutes.

2 Attach a mixing paddle to the mixer. Mix in the olive oil, flour, salt and sugar on low speed for about a minute. Remove the mixing paddle and replace with a dough hook. Knead using the mixer and dough hook, on low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If you don't have a mixer, you can mix and knead by hand.

 
3 Place ball of dough in a bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that it gets coated with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place (75-85°F) until it doubles in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. If you don't have a warm spot in the house you can heat the oven to 150 degrees, and then turn off the oven. Place the bowl of dough in this warmed oven to rise.

At this point, if you want to make ahead, you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Preparing the Pizzas

1 Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

2 Remove the plastic cover from the dough and punch the dough down so it deflates a bit. Divide the dough in half. Form two round balls of dough. Place each in its own bowl, cover with plastic and let sit for 10 minutes.

3 Prepare your desired toppings. Note that you are not going to want to load up each pizza with a lot of toppings as the crust will end up not crisp that way. About a third a cup each of tomato sauce and cheese would be sufficient for one pizza. One to two mushrooms thinly sliced will cover a pizza.

 

4 Working one ball of dough at a time, take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface. Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Turn and stretch the dough until it will not stretch further. Let the dough relax 5 minutes and then continue to stretch it until it reaches the desired diameter - 10 to 12 inches. Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker. You can pinch the very edges if you want to form a lip.

5 Brush the top of the dough with olive oil (to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings). Use your finger tips to press down and make dents along the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Let rest another 5 minutes.

Repeat with the second ball of dough.

 

6 Lightly sprinkle your pizza peel (or flat baking sheet) with corn meal. Transfer one prepared flattened dough to the pizza peel. If the dough has lost its shape in the transfer, lightly shape it to the desired dimensions.

 

7 Spoon on the tomato sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and place your desired toppings on the pizza.

8 Sprinkle some cornmeal on the baking stone in the oven (watch your hands, the oven is hot!). Gently shake the peel to see if the dough will easily slide, if not, gently lift up the edges of the pizza and add a bit more cornmeal. Slide the pizza off of the peel and on to the baking stone in the oven. Bake pizza one at a time until the crust is browned and the cheese is golden, about 10-15 minutes. If you want, toward the end of the cooking time you can sprinkle on a little more cheese.

Caramelised Apple Cake

Ingredients



•250g Granulated Sugar

•90g Butter

•9-10 Apples (Golden Delicious, Fuji or Pink Lady)

•Cake:

•2 Big Eggs

•120g Granulated Sugar

•½ tsp Baking Soda

•¼ tsp Lemon Zest

•120g Flour

•100ml Heavy or Double Cream
 
Method
 
1.Place the sugar into a medium sized pot (make sure the pot doesn’t have wooden handles as it will be going into the oven) on the lowest heat possible for about 10 minutes to make the caramel. Do not stir the sugar at any stage as this will cause it to crystallize;


2.While the sugar is cooking prepare the apples. You will need to peel them, quarter them and remove the core;

3.When the caramel reaches a light brown or auburn color add the rest of the butter and wait for it to melt. As soon as it melts add the ice and turn the heat off and allow the mixture to come together;

4.When the caramel cools down slightly layer your apples standing up all the way around the pot until you have the whole surface covered. Place a few knobs of the remaining butter into the holes that the apples have left;

5.Place the pot on the lowest possible flame and cover 90% with a lid allowing a small amount of steam to escape and cook the apples like this for one hour without adjusting the temperature once;

6.Brush a little butter around the outside of the pan with a pastry brush followed by a dusting of sugar;

7.To make the cake mixture start by cracking two eggs into a bowl and whisking them together using a hand blender for about 30 seconds before adding the sugar;

8.Whip the eggs and sugar for a further 4 minutes or until they start to become thicker and are at the ribbon stage;

9.Bring the fresh cream up to room temperature before adding to the eggs. At this stage also add the lemon zest;

10.In a separate bowl sift the flour and baking soda together before sifting it into the wet mixture. Using your clean hand or a spatula fold the mixture gently together being careful not to lose any of the volume;

11.Pour the mixture onto the apple and caramel mixture and place it straight into the oven at 180C/360F for 40 minutes;

12.Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 45 minutes;

13.Run a knife around the outside of the cake and flip it over onto a plate or serving tray;

14.Serve.