Hazelnut Cheesecake

Holiday season and that means tons of sugar and giving in to sweet cravings. This Christmas I drew inspiration from a recipe I saw weeks ago about making no-bake cheesecakes and thought of surprising my super lovely friends.

So here is a sweet and short tale on how to go about making that yummy no bake hazelnut cheesecake.

The below estimates are for 12 mini cake glasses.

Ingredients:
Oreo Cookies - about 8-10
Unsalted butter - 4 tbsp, softened

Hazelnut with cocoa flavored Nutella spread - 1 cup
Original cream cheese - 8 oz, softened
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tbsp
Frozen whipped cream topping - 1 cup

Whipped cream frosting
Dairy Whipped cream topping - creamy
Chopped hazelnuts

Recipe:
In a bowl, add the crumbled Oreo cookies and the softened butter and beat them well so that no cookie lumps remain. Add about half an inch layer of the mixture to each of the mini cake glasses. Put it in the refrigerator while you work on the filling.

In a large bow, add the Nutella spread and the softened cream cheese and beat it very well so that the mixture is absolutely uniform. Add the vanilla extract and give it a stir. Add the frozen whipped topping and give a few more stirs. Fill up each of the glasses to half an inch from the brim and evenly so that the tops are smooth. Cover the glasses with plastic wraps and keep them for about 1 hour in the freezer for the filling to solidify.

After the filling has settled in, take out the glasses and fill the remaining half inch of the glasses with the whipped cream frosting. Add  the whipped cream topping on top and add the chooped hazelnuts to garnish.

Serve the sweet treats and enjoy!

Bruschetta

Thanksgiving and Christmas pushes me to try newer finger food each year. I usually my favorite stuffed mushrooms every year and while I promise to put that recipe up too on the site someday, right now I will let you enjoy this amazing appetizer that is both quick to made and to munch on.

Ingredients:
1. French bread - any french bread, a single load
2. Butter - salted
3. Pinto beans - half a can
4. Jalapeno - 2 big
5. White Onion - 1 medium sized
6. Tomato - 1 large or 2 medium
7. Goat cheese
8. Mexican cheese mix
9. Spring onion
10.Dried parsley

How to?
In a pot of boiling water, add the onion, tomatoes and jalapeno and cook for 5-7 minutes (or alternately, broil them in the oven). After taking the vegetables out of the heat, cool them in running water and finely chop them. Mix baked pinto beans to the chopped vegetables in a bowl.

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Slice the french loaf and rub them well with butter on both sides. Toast them in the oven, till it is moderately toasted (around 5-10 minutes).

After taking the toast out of the oven, add goat cheese first to each toast to create a cheesy bed and then add a tablespoon of the vegetable mixture on top of each slice. Add finely chopped spring onions on top and some mexican cheese mix. Garnish with the dried parsley.

Serve Hot!

Bengali Chicken Curry (Chicken Kosha)

Chicken was always a Sunday course in my early years. I was a bigger fan of fish and therefore stuck to mostly the various varieties of riverine fish I would get in a week and then on Sundays, I would feast my tummy with some really nice and greasy Bengali chicken kosha.

While mom made it with mustard oil, my version is a little lighter while sticking to the authentic taste.

What you need to prep up for this dish:
1. 1.5 lbs of chicken drumstick
2. Two medium sized onions - chopped
3. Two medium tomatoes
4. Cilantro - finely chopped
5. Garlic paste
6. Ginger paste
7. Salt to taste
8. Sugar - 1/2 tsp
9. Turmeric powder
10.Red chilli powder
11.Vegetable oil - 2 tbsl

The actuals:
In a non stick pan, add two tbsp of vegetable oil. Once it is heated, add the chopped onions, garlic paste and the chopped cilantro. Add some salt to taste and stir till the onions become translucent. My mom always told me that all bengali dishes have some sugar added to it if you add salt to it. So since she is seldom wrong, I follow her advice on this one even though I am not a huge fan of adding sugar to my food. So yes, add half a teaspoon of sugar and see the onions slowly turn brown and leave out the oil it absorbed to get fried.

Once the onions start to leave off the oil, add chopped tomatoes to it and let it cook till the tomatoes become soft. Add 1tsp of turmeric powder and 2 tsp of red chilli powder (or more, if you would like it spicier). Cover it with a lid and let it cook for some more time.

Add the properly cleaned chicken drumsticks to the curry paste and stir. Keep mixing the paste and the chicken for a while and then cover the pan with a lid. Let it cook with an occasional stirring. Do not add any water, and let the chicken cook in its own steam. Let it cook for 20 mins or till the chicken pieces have absorbed the curry paste and have become soft.

Remove the lid, serve with indian chapathis or rice.

Sauteed scallops and bell pepper

I am a Bengali. And it goes without saying fish and seafood are two things that we can not live without. I have been somewhat late in getting to some really amazing seafood delights, but once I figured the treasure that the sea has to offer, I never really looked back.

Here is a quick recipe to a very delicious scallop dish that I stir up often times to feast myself.

What you need to prep for the dish:
1. Fresh sea scallops
2. Bell pepper - red, green and yellow, chopped into fine small cubes
3. White onion, chopped into small squares
4. Spring onions - finely chopped
5. Green chillies - one, very finely chopped
6. Salt - to taste
7. Crushed garlic and pepper

Recipe:
In a pan, add half a tablespoon of olive oil and add the chopped onions and bell pepper and saute them till the onions and bell pepper become tender. Add the scallops to the pan and saute. Keep the pan on low heat for about 5 mins or till the scallops start turning light brown. Turn the scallops so as to cook the other side thoroughly.

Add the green chillies and chopped spring onions and salt. Stir a little. Add the crushed garlic and pepper to the pan and stir well. Serve hot.

Noodle Soup

On a mildly chilly afternoon today, my plan was to sit with a bowl of hot spicy soup and a good book. It is particularly cloudy outside but I am hoping there is going to be no rain. As I sip through the yummy soup, I thought I'd write a few quick lines for my friends to try it at home.

Ingredients:
Rice Noodles
Chicken Broth
Chopped vegetables - Broccoli, Carrots, Beans, Corn, Pea, Mushrooms
Onion - chopped
Shrimps - boiled, peeled and de-veined
Stir Fry Sauce
Chilli Garlic Sauce
Corn Powder

Recipe:
In a big pot, bring some water to a boil and add the rice noodles. Cook them as per instructions on the type of rice noodle category. Once cooked, drain the water from the rice noodles.

In a separate pan, add a tablespoon of oil. Add chopped onions and fry for 2 minutes. Add the chopped vegetables and the boiled shrimps and fry along with the onions. Add some salt to taste. After 5-6 minutes, add a tablespoon of stir fried sauce to the wok and a tea-spoon of chilli garlic sauce/paste. In another 2 minutes, add the chicken stock and let it boil. Add the noodles to the boiling gravy.

In a bowl, add a tablespoon of corn powder and 2 tablespoons of water and mix it well. Add the mixture to the soup while constantly stirring with a spoon to avoid clods. Cook for 2 minutes and the soup will be ready. Serve hot and enjoy with a piece of garlic bread.

Kadai Paneer

There are just about two dishes in Paneer that I have always craved for. One of which is a Asian style Chilli Paneer and the other one being the very Indian spicy Kadai Paneer.

What we need to prep up for the dish:
1. Paneer - cut out in small rectangles
2. One big red onion - chopped
3. 2 tomatoes - diced
4. Garlic paste - 4 cloves of garlic
5. Dried red chillies
6. Red chilli powder
7. Garam Masala
8. Salt to taste

Recipe:
In a pan, heat some oil and fry the paneer cubes till they turn brown. Drain the oil off the paneer pieces by bloating the pieces in paper.

Fry the chopped onions with some dried red chillies. Once the onions start turning brown, add the garlic paste and salt to taste. Once the onions have been cooked, add the diced tomatoes. Cover the pan and let it cook for about 5 mins. Once it is cooked, add the fried cubes of paneer to the mixture. Add red chilli powder and garam masala. Cover with a lid and let the masala cook for about 10 minutes.

Serve hot with chapathis.

Gobi Kurma (Cauliflower in a rich curry sauce)

When I was a child, I had this strange repulsion towards cauliflowers and it had much to do with perhaps the shape the vegetable came in. And miraculously as I grew up, I became so fond of this vegetable that I started mixing it up with a whole bunch of other vegetables and spices and trying out random new recipes with it.

What I have here is a spicy curry based cauliflower side that goes perfectly well with rice or chapathis.

What we need to prep up for the dish:
1. 1 small cauliflower - cut out into large flowers
2. One big onion - chopped
3. 2-3 tomatoes - make a puree of the chopped tomatoes or use tomato paste that you find in the market
4. Garlic paste - 4 cloves of garlic
5. Green chillies - 4, split in the middle
6. Red chilli powder
7. Coriander powder
8. Cumin powder
9. Garam Masala
10.Salt

The Recipe:
In a pan, heat some vegetable oil and add chopped onions and the split green chilies and fry them till the onions turn golden brown. A salt to taste and add the tomato paste and cover with a lid and allow the two to mix. Keep it for 5 mins.

Add the cauliflower pieces to the pan and fry it along with the onion and tomato paste, till the cauliflower pieces start to soften. Also add the garlic paste and cover the pan with a lid. Covering the pan helps to hold the moisture in the cauliflower and hence helps it to cook faster. I personally do not boil the cauliflower before putting them to the pan, as it takes away the crispiness out of the vegetable and makes it break down when added to the onion-tomato paste.

Once the cauliflower starts to soften, add red chilli powder, cumin and coriander powder to the pan and add a cup of water and let it boil for 10 minutes. Add garam masala and serve. Enjoy with basmati rice or chapathis.

Chicken in yogurt-pepper sauce

Ingredients:
Chicken: Boneless, Skinless, curry cut
Yogurt
Pepper
Bay Leaf: 2-3
Cinnamon - 2-3 broken sticks
Cardamom - 5-6
Chillies: 2 to 3, sliced
Red Chili Powder
Salt

How do you go about it:
Mix the boneless, skinless chicken well with one cup of yogurt and garlic paste in a bowl. Add salt, black pepper and very little red chilli powder and marinade for about 2-3 hours.

In a non stick pan add white oil. As the oil heats, add the bay leaves, cinnamon and cardamom. Once the oil heats, add the chicken onto the pan and stir. Add some more salt and chilli powder and a little water. Cover with a lid and allow the chicken to cook in its own broth.


Allow 15 minutes for cooking and remove the lid. Add black pepper on top and serve hot.

Alu Chingri Posto (Shrimps with Potatoes and Poppy Seeds)

I start with this recipe because this has two ingredients which I have loved ever since I was a kid. A traditional Bengali dish, best when served with rice. This can be cooked up as a partially dry side or as a curry.

Ingredients:
Potatoes: 3 to 4, cut into small pieces
Poppy Seeds
Medium sized shrimps: boiled and cooked, ready to serve
Black Caraway (Kalonji): 1 1/2 tea spoon
Chillies: 2 to 3, sliced
Turmeric Powder
Red Chili Powder
Salt


How do you go about it:
In a non stick pan add white oil. When the oil heats up, add 1 and 1/2 tea spoon of black caraway. Also add the cut potato slices on the pan and bring the flame down to medium. Add the sliced green chilies, salt and turmeric powder and fry the potatoes.

Grind the poppy seeds along with one fresh green chili and keep the paste ready. 

Once the potatoes get semi fried, add the boiled, semi cooked shrimps to the pan and stir so that the shrimps starts to fry. Shrimp when fried adds a beautiful flavor to the dish. Fry the mixture for about 5 to 10 mins on low heat. Add a little red chili powder if you like it spicy. Then add the poppy seed paste to the mixture and add very little water. Cover the pan and let it cook for about 10 mins. Every 3 mins, check for the water and ensure that the contents do not get too dried up.

If you want to serve this as a curry, add sufficient water and allow to cook for about 5 mins more. Otherwise, remove from heat and serve with white rice.

Chicken in soya-garlic sauce

I have been an absolute fan of Asian food since my taste buds started talking to me. So it wasn't a surprise that once I stepped into the world of cooking, I started trying to re-create several amazing Asian dishes that I have grown up savoring. This one in particular in super easy and becomes edible fast.

Ingredients:
Boneless Skinless Chicken - cut into small pieces
Onions - 2, not chopped, but torn into square shaped pieces by hand
Garlic - Chopped
Green Pepper (Capsicum) - 1/2, cut into big square pieces
Orange Pepper (Orange Capsicum)  - 1/2, cut into big square pieces
Yellow Pepper - 1/2, cut into big square pieces
Spring Onions - a bunch, 3 or 4, chopped
Eggs - 1 or 2
Ajino Moto
Corn
Flour
Corn Starch
Soya Sauce/Stir fry sauce
Chicken broth
Salt

The Actuals:
Clean the shredded/cut pieces of chicken. Take the cut pieces, the corn flour, salt and eggs in a bowl and mix. Heat oil in a pan and fry the chicken till they turn brown. Soak off the oil by placing the fried chicken in a tissue paper.

In a separate pan, heat oil and add the chopped onions, garlic, green, red and yellow pepper and fry lightly. Add some salt to taste and keep frying till the pepper starts turning light brown. Add the cut spring onions and add 2 tablespoon of stir fry sauce and keep frying the mixture. Add very little sugar. Add the fried chicken and stir for some time. Add a cup and half of chicken broth and let the fried chicken soak in.


Once the chicken pieces have soaked in the soya juice, mix some corn starch with cold water and add the paste to the chicken sauce. Keep stirring as it boils, else the corn starch would solidify. Let it bowl for another 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle a little Ajino moto on top. Serve hot.