Vegetarian lasagne

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 1 cup
Tomato puree - 1 cup
Tomato sauce - 1 spoon
Spinach - 10-12 leaves
Onion - 1
Grated Cheese - 1 cup
Chopped garlic - 1 spoon
Water - required
Olive oil - required
Salt - to taste

How to make:

1. Make dough out of wheat flour, with water and salt
2. Take little balls of the same and make rectangles
3. Add these to boiling water and boil for 5-7 minutes 
4. In a pan, fry finely chopped garlic and onions in olive oil 
5. Add tomato puree and tomato sauce
6. Add salt to this mixture
7. Take the rectangular borosil dish and butter the base
8. Layer the dish with tomato mixture and then place the wheat sheets
9. Apply tomato mixture again and then place chopped spinach leaves
10. Again apply tomato mixture and sprinkle chopped cheese
11. Next layer with wheat sheets and follow process twice starting with step 9
12. Bake this in preheated oven at 180c

Verdict:

What I expected was a soft, smooth lasagna, what I got was a crispy, but tasty one. You get it smooth with covering dish with aluminum foil before placing in the oven. I saw online somewhere that you can also make it that way by making the tomato mixture runny. Well choice is yours, crispy or smooth. Both ways work for me. No photo again, my bad.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Horlicks eggless cake

Ingredients:

Maida - 3/4 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 3 spoons
Corn flour - 1 spoon
Baking powder - 1 spoon
Baking soda - 1 spoon (I used 1/2 of Eno packet)
Horlicks - 1 spoon
Salt - a pinch
Chopped dry fruits - 2 spoons

How to make:

1. Mix all the ingredients well and transfer to borosil dish
2. Preheat oven to 180c
3. Place the dish and bake for few minutes

Verdict:

I tried online recipes but the time of baking is not matching with mine. So if you are new to oven, keep a watch for the time when it starts to smell great. The cake was good and fluffy, but sugar was not needed as horlicks was already adding the flavor. Forgot to get a picture, sorry.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Pasta with white sauce

Ingredients:

Pasta - 2 cups (penne and fusilli)

Maida - 2 cups

Milk - 2 cups

Carrots - 2

Capsicum - 1

Onion - 1

Garlic cloves - 10

Butter - 3 spoons

Olive oil - required

Salt - to taste

Pepper - to taste

Cheese - to taste

Dry chillies - 5-6

How to make:

1. Boil pasta in water with added salt and oil
2. Chop carrots, capsicum, onion and garlic finely
3. Add butter to a pan and fry garlic and onion
4. Later add carrot and add capsicums after carrot is almost cooked
5. Add salt, maida to this and keep stirring while pouring milk
6. Later add pepper and cheese
7. Grind dry chillies and sprinkle over the pasta

Verdict:

I followed a regular recipe. But personally felt that the pasta to be made with white sauce and then mix with vegetables cooked. By the way white sauce is also called béchamel sauce.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Chocolate cake

Ingredients:

Maida - 1 cup
Dairymilk chocolate - 2
Baking powder - 1 spoon
Milk - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Icing sugar - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 spoon

How to make:

1. Mix maida, molten chocolate made by double boiling, baking powder, milk, butter and salt
2. Apply butter to edges of bowl
3. Pour this mixture into the bowl 
4. Sprinkle sugar on top and place it in pressure cooker with water in the bottom
5. After 45 min, remove the mould into a plate
6. Take chocolate molten, butter and icing sugar 
7. Apply this over the cake

Verdict:

It really did not seem like cake, but definitely a great sweet. Icing has to be thick. Lesson learnt, if vegetarian cake, better in oven.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Vegetarian Crêpe

Ingredients:

Maida - 1/2 cup
Corn flour - 1 spoon
Milk - 1 cup
Dairy milk - 1 (small)
Apple - 1/2
Sugar - 1/2 spoon
Water - required
Salt to taste

How to make:

1. Finely chop apple
2. Add sugar to 3 spoons of water and soak apple pieces in it
3. Double boil chocolate
4. Mix maida and milk. Add salt and corn flour to this
5. The mixture needs to be very thin
6. Pour mixture on to a heated pan and move till batter spreads
7. Fry both sides
8. Apply the chocolate onto one side and drop apple pieces onto one half
9. Fold the crêpe and serve

Verdict:

It was goooood. I tried separately chocolate and apple. They were also good. But the crêpe was not that sweet. May be next time adding 2 or 3 slices of banana crushed into the batter will help.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Cabbage Mint sizzler

Ingredients:

Cabbage - 1 (small)
Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
Chana dal - 2 spoons
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Onions - 2
Carrot - 3
Capsicum - 4
Jeera - 2 spoons
Rice - 1 cup
Potatoes - 2
Corn flour - 1/2 cup
Garlic cloves - 6
Water, Oil, Salt, Chilli powder

How to make:

1. Chop half of carrot as sticks and rest in discs
2. Chop one onion finely and the other one cut into eight pieces and remove layers
3. Chop capsicum same shape as bigger pieces of onion
4. Take boiled cabbage, mint and chana dal and blend them
5. Add salt, chilli powder fine chopped onions and garlic to this mixture and wheat flour till it is enough hard to make cutlets
6. Take balls of mixture and toss in wheat flour to cutlet shape
7. Fry these on pan
8. Mash the boiled potatoes and add salt to it 
9. Boil carrot of both shapes
10. Fry jeera in little oil 
11. Add water, salt and cook rice in this
12. Take a pan and add garlic and then the onions
13. Add to this capsicum and carrot discs
14. Add salt and chilli powder
15. Add to this some water and corn flour
16. Make sure of no lumps and mix
17. Arrange the mashed potato discs and boiled carrot sticks on edges
18. Take a small bowl to get rice into shape and place this in centre
19. Over rice place the cabbage cutlet
20. Direct from the pan pour the curry made onto the cutlet and serve immediately

Verdict:

I could not make it very hot, still it tasted great. The above recipe served for three. You can add beans, green peas, cauliflower, broccoli or such vegetables along with carrot sticks. 

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Mango cake

Ingredients:

Mango (ripe) - 1
Bread loaf - 1/4
Milk maid condensed milk - 2 table spoons
Honey - 1 table spoon
Sugar - 1 table spoon
Tutti frutti - required
Water - required

How to make:

1. Cut the bread loaf into small cubes
2. Blend mango to make juice
3. Heat the mango juice and add milk maid to it
4. Add water if required
5. Add honey and sugar to this mixture
6. Pour this mixture over the bread pieces
7. Top this with tutti frutti
8. Bring it to normal temperature and then place it in fridge

Verdict:

One big realization, I don't like milk maid. I should have added milk instead. If you like milk maid go ahead with it. It did really serve as great dessert. You can skip sugar if you do not want too sweet. Instead of tutti frutti try using dry cherries. It might look more delicious.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Spaghetti

 Ingredients:

Spaghetti - 100 gm
Tomatoes (as ripe as possible) - 3
Garlic cloves - 15
Basil leaves (tulasi) - 10
Tomato sauce - 3 table spoons
Red chilli sauce - 1 tea spoon
Chopped carrot and capsicum - 1 table spoon
Dry chillies - 6
Bread - 3 slices
Water - required
Oil - required
Salt - to taste

How to make:

1. Boil spaghetti in water with salt and oil added to it
2. Boil tomatoes till you can see the peels coming off
3. Take those tomatoes and peel off them
4. Grind the dry chillies till you get flakes
5. Grind the bread for crumbs
6. Blend together tomatoes, garlic, tomato sauce, red chill sauce and basil to make the pasta sauce
7. Take a pan and fry the bread crumbs with little oil till they are light brown
8. After removing them, add some more oil and fry chopped carrot and capsicum
9. Add the tomato paste, salt and cook for some time.
10. Mix the spaghetti into this 
11. Sprinkle bread crumbs while eating

Verdict:

Spaghetti is my favorite dish and I don't experiment with it to get the exact taste as the one you get in restaurants. But I added red chill sauce to entertain my tongue a little. Use properly ripen tomatoes for better taste and less of tomato sauce. You can add mushrooms to the sauce for more authenticity.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Ratatouille

Ingredients:

Brinjals - 3
Tomatoes - 3
Yellow cucumber - 1
Carrot - 1
Capsicum - 1
Onion - 1
Garlic cloves - 5
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste
Oil - required

How to make:

1. Cut yellow cucumber, brinjals, carrot and capsicum in discs
2. Fry the cut vegetables in a pan adding oil.
3. Add salt and pepper to this 
4. Take another pan and add oil
5. Fry chopped garlic and onion 
6. Add finely chopped tomatoes to this and pour some water
7. Add salt and pepper to tomatoes and cook till sauté
8. Take a round bowl and place the tomato mixture as the base
9. Over this decorate with the other vegetables around the edge
10. Go concentrically placing vegetables so that you reach center

Verdict:

This is slightly Indianized version with the selection of the vegetables and no use of oven. Obviously zucchini or squash are not found easily. However I stuck to salt and pepper and did not use any Indian spices. From the picture you could see that the discs were not firm and cucumber discs were used half as they were out of proportion. But, still the colors of red, yellow, blue and green were so appealing after the whole thing was done (of course I selected those vegetables for the same reason). You can make the tomatoes as a paste too after cooking for the base. If you have an oven, you can take bowl with tomato base, decorate with raw chopped vegetables and cook it in oven at high temperatures. That will make the vegetables soft but also firm. Oh by the way, the cooked brinjals were out of the world.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Pepper Besan Idly

Ingredients:

Gram flour - 100 gm
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - pinch
Red chilli powder - 1 tea spoon
Ginger garlic paste - 1 table spoon
Pepper - 1 table spoon
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds
Curry leaves - 10
Dry chillies - 2
Water - required
Oil - required

How to make:

1. Mix gram flour with turmeric powder, red chilli powder, ginger garlic paste and salt
2. Add water to this till you find a thick paste
3. Make idlis out of the batter
4. Cut the idlis into cubes 
5. Take pepper into a bowl and roll the idli pieces in this
6. Heat a bowl on stove and add oil
7. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves
8. Finally add the peppered idli pieces and fry for 2-4 minutes

Verdict:

This is my version of pepper idli. Frankly, the pepper idli of regular batter tastes better. However when you need an evening snack and since idli batter takes significant time in preparation, this will be useful. You can add variety of sauces, onions or any other vegetable for making it richer.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Chocolate trifle (Nominal)

Ingredients:

Dairy Milk Chocolate bar plain - 1 (small)
Cashew and Almond - 50 gm
Britannia chocolate cakes - 2 slices
Vanilla ice cream - 1 cup
Mixed fruit Jam - 2 spoons
Jellies - 3

How to make:

1. Grind half of dry fruits finely and chop the rest. 
2. Double boil chocolate, adding ghee and water (till you feel the sweetness is preserved)
3. Take a small bowl and fill the bottom with chopped dry fruits
4. Remove the edges of chocolate cakes
5. Dip the chocolate cakes in melted chocolate and add those pieces as next layer
6. Add ice cream as the next layer
7. Apply jam in the centre and make a concentric circle with left melted chocolate
8. Cut jellies into pieces and place over melted chocolate line
9. Top this completely with ground dry fruits

Verdict:

I used a bowl for lack of resources, a small glass would be best for all layers to be properly done. I had it after refrigeration as it was made in the afternoon and ice cream melted. If the ice cream is intact, have it directly as the hot dipped chocolate cakes enhance the taste. I liked it overall. After all it has all the tasty items and is a dessert. But I felt dry fruits were too many and could be reduced. Also, jellies and jam did not go with the dish. They could be used with may be dessert with fruits involved. So next time I will drop them, may be have two layers of ice cream and dipped chocolate cakes and less dry fruits (in a glass, of course!)

Sorry, Could not upload a picture as this was two days back. Sure pictures from next time.

P.S. Refer to disclaimer post in case of any concerns

Disclaimer

I am an enthusiast of cooking with no formal training. I follow array of cookery shows ranging from local to international. I like to make stuff out of things at hand and rarely follow a recipe. I try to add or remove things from the normal ones. I will be posting my trials with variety of cuisines. The dishes might not turn out the same as the way I got it(could be worse or if lucky then better!). Also the names are nominal as they are not exact followed recipes. Happy Cooking!!