Thai Soup (Tom Yum)

As far as soups go, this is my favourite.

You are probably familiar with the Thai soup that incorporates coconut milk and lemon-grass. It's commonly known as Tom Kha Gai soup and blasphemous as it may sound, I don't like it because I am allergic to coconut.

You have probably have noticed by now, lemony flavours are special to me. Therefore the other, slightly lesser famous variant, Tom Yum, appeals to my taste-buds.

I had this soup when I was six years old and there has been nothing to beat this delicious, steaming concoction, specially on a rainy and/or chilly winter night. I male this frequently (though never end up noting it down, thanks to my horrific busy schedule) and last time when I made it, I had a sore throat. Interestingly (although predictably), it helped soothe my throat.

There are a number of great versions available online but I wanted something that reminded me of the first time I tasted this soup in my hometown. It's Indianised, no doubt, but it's gorgeous! This is my version through repeated trials (based on the varieties I've tasted in Kolkata, India) and it comes really, really close to those.

PS: It's also a good way to get mushroom haters (like my brother) eat mushrooms.

Steak in Garlic-Lemon-Butter Sauce

I had been thinking of posting this quite a while now, but got snowed under a lot of paperwork. And then when I got around typing it all out, I realized I have no photos. So finally here's the recipe.

PS: I used pork steak but feel free to replace with chicken if pork is not your option.

PPS: I used Nando's Extra Hot Peri Peri Sauce.

Chocolate Brownie

This one is the easiest brownie recipe, I have come across and instantly thought of sharing with you.So if you can grab hold of all these easily available ingredients, you are just 10 minutes away from these delicious chocolate brownies -

So let's not waste any more minutes here and get to the recipe straight away.

Chicken Puff

Today I thought of sharing a recipe for evening snack. You can easily win the hearts of your guests with this. Though honestly speaking I tried this recipe not for guest but to satisfy the foodie in me. So my point is, this recipe is going to rule every heart and of course the tummy (!).

Ingredients:

1 Cup boil chicken (shredded)
1 1/2 Cup chicken stock
1 Small onion (cut into slices)
2 Medium size green chillies finely chopped.
oil for frying
4 Eggs
1 cup maida(flour)
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup water

Chocolate (Biscuit) Pudding

I believe Cooking is a form of art, and no art form is complete without creativity. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than experimenting with different ingredients. Sometime the results are good, while some other time they are pathetic. But whatever it may be, it never dampens my love for this form of art. Today I am going to share the recipe of one such venture which had a successful outcome. Hopefully you too will find this extremely easy, and bless me while tasting the end result!

Spicy Mutton (Kosha Mangsho)

What should I tell more about this dish; it is one of the most popular dishes of Bengal. I don't think there is any Bengali out there who has not tasted and loved this mutton recipe, which we so fondly call Kosha Mangsho. Be it chapati, paratha or puri (luchi), kosha mangsho has a sizzling chemistry with all of them.

If you have ever tasted this in your life I will bet that you will start salivating just by watching its picture (Pavlov's theory never fails!!). Just have a look and then enjoy its simple recipe:

Spicy Mutton (B. Kosha Mangsho)

Peanut Butter Cornflakes Cookies

This is the recipe for which I made peanut butter at home! These cookies are yummy, easy to make and absolutely no baking in required. Moreover, its a good option for between-meal munching. You can even modify it in several ways as per your preferences.

Lets not waste anymore time and jump to the recipe straightaway.....

Peanut Butter

While searching through different sites for some easy snacks recipes (like this peanut butter cornflake cookie recipe) I found out that (may be coincidentally), almost all those recipes contain peanut butter as one of their major ingredients. I remembered having peanut butter as a child with bread. I love the nutty flavour but I often get bored with the frequent repetition of same food (or flavor). That's why I couldn't risk buying a peanut butter from the store, where, as per my  knowledge, it is not available in very small amount. So I thought of the best alternative which is making it in small scale at home. As a consequence I came across this very easy and quick peanut butter recipe, which goes like this...

Melting Chocolate or Butter

Melting chocolates and butter can prove to be harder than we actually think.

Putting them directly in a pan over the hob will resulting in charring or burning (as a fuel). Even if we are careful it is sure to destroy the chemical composition, and in turn, the flavour of these ingredients. The last thing we really want. Really! So, what's the alternative? To set up a melting station, that's what. It's not that hard to set it up as to maintain it during the melting, though. But I'll take you through it.

Folding Mixtures

Folding is a technique that helps to incorporate a lighter component into a heavier one creating minimum disturbance to the texture and consistency of either. This sounds harder than it really is though, but the term may pose certain difficulties if we're not familiar with it. So I have tried to explain the steps here, and I hope that helps.

How to Beat Egg Whites

A number of recipes (especially desserts) would require egg whites to be beaten into various levels of peaks.  You may come across recipes (like this Chocolate Mousse Cake recipe) that would ask for stiff peaks, soft peaks, curling peaks and what not. If that sounds confusing, this may help. I have tried to list down all the degrees of beating egg whites and what they mean and how they should look like. If you get this part right, be rest assured that the rest of your dessert is going to be a cakewalk :)

Quick Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Lemon pepper seasoning is one of my absolute favourite seasoning! It goes great with salads, cheese toasts, pastas and many other Italian recipes. It is absolutely easy to make and just because I can't lay hands on them anywhere in Kolkata, does that mean I have to live without it? No way. So brainstorming to the rescue. If I have to make it on my own, I have to make it my own. I have been meaning to put this up for a long time but laziness got the better of me every single time. However, this time since I already used it in my Sheekh Kebab Salad recipe, I kind of felt embarrassed not doing it. So here you go, enjoy ;)

As you can see, my crushing of the zest wasn't perfect this time :(

Sheekh Kebab Salad

I had this salad recently at a small cafe called Baithak (which I also reviewed there at Zomato) and enjoyed it very much. However, like always, I felt the need to readjust a few things based on my personal experience and experiment with it. Also, this is my first salad recipe and I owe the need to do one to Abhijit as well, who asked why I never have one. So here it goes.

Ingredients for Sheekh Kebab Salad

Rasgulla / Rosogolla

Rasgulla or Rosogolla

I myself am not too fond of sweets, but a good dessert never fails to draw my attention. The recipe which I am going to share is a very popular sweet of Bengal. I think every Bengali across the globe has sometimes or other tasted this sweet delicacy . So when I found this recipe of homemade rosogolla (or rasgulla in hindi ), I was more than happy. Now, its the time to share it with you.

Chicken Pie

I got this recipe from my aunt. Its very easy and its simple flavours can win anyone's heart. I fell in love with this at the first bite !

A few days back I felt like eating the pie again but at the same time was feeling very much lazy. So what I did was I made the simple recipe simpler. Today I would share both the original and the modified recipes with you. Hope you will find them interesting. You will also realize that there are so many scopes of modifications and whats more fun than experimenting and pleasing your taste buds !!

Chocolate Milkshake (2)

As promised, here is my second version of the Chocolate Milkshake. This version uses chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla ice cream. Everything is almost the same with a little tweaks here and there. Because there can be times when the leftover ice cream is not always vanilla. The only thing to keep in mind is to strike the right balance between the chocolate and the vanilla flavour.

Ingredients

For four

• Chocolate ice cream – 2 cups
• Chilled whole milk – 4 cups (see tip)
• Chocolate syrup – 3-5 tablespoons
• Vanilla essence – 4-6 drops

Chocolate Milkshake (1)

I am a self confessed chocaholic. Anything that has tons of chocolate in it keeps me drooling. So I try to keep off the chocolate aisles at any super store. And the same can be said about ice creams as well. Imagine my condition when last week, my dad bought a 2 litre pack of vanilla ice cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup. The week had not gone by and the ice cream was almost over. It was last Sunday when I sneaked up to the fridge to find just two cups of ice cream left. I felt bad. That meant ice cream not enough for the four of us. And then I remembered the next best alternative to ice cream: chocolate milkshake! This solved the selfishness I would have felt if I had to have the ice cream without sharing :) I hope you enjoy.

One last thing: there are two ways to make chocolate milkshake. Here is the traditional way of doing it, however, I will post the other version as well, some time later because not always you have vanilla ice cream in the freezer but with a few tweaks, chocolate ice cream can work wonders too ;)

Easy Pigs in Blankets

I love sausages. And I love bacon. And what's better than both of them? Both of them together, of course! That's why these tiny pigs in their delicious blankets are one of my favourite ways of eating pork. Pigs in blankets can be made in a variety of ways. This is the simplest version I came across (and in my opinion the most delicious one). I first had them from a tiny Crawshaws outlet. And fell in love with the very first bite! The best bit about making them? They're insanely easy. And here's how.

Oh! One last word: let me mention I shopped my sausages and the bacon from Metro Cash and Carry, Kolkata (just so you know where you're sure to find them).

Chicken Kiev

Molten garlic-y butter with hints of parsley. Who can say no to that? And when that comes out of a chicken fillet parcel? I know, it's too tempting a killer! So this time, I am not going to talk about this and will move on to the recipe :)

PS: This is no mean feat. This one actually requires a lot of work and care at every step, because its speciality lies in that geyser of butter oozing out when it is punctured. So sealing the butter in, in a way that it does not come out while cooking is...well painful.

PPS: Also it's painfully loaded with calories *shy, guilty grin*

Egg Noodle from the scratch

I still remember trying this recipe at 1 a.m in the morning !! I found this recipe during a casual net surfing in the midnight. My impulsive side got the better of me and I end up making the noodles when rest of my family were snoring happily. But you know what it worth it and yes I will say that even after scaring my grandma in her way to the loo :p .I am sure after reading this recipe all the crazy foodies out there will be equally excited and pat my back for what I did !! What ? you are not convinced yet .... well read it and find out yourself...