Lasagna

Lasagna...although I am not a big fan of Italian food..my other half is..he has been craving lasagna for while...and one day he got home all the ingredients for it ...for me to cook..lol..I asked my best friends as to how they cook it (cuz they are best at it)...and collaborated with some of my own ingredients. You can make lasagna any way you want...plain and simple sauce and meat...or add some veggies...or add some rich cheese...endless possibilities..but here is how I did it.

Ingredients required:

1 pound lean ground beef

10-12 mushrooms, chopped

1 green pepper chopped

1 tomato chopped

salt to taste

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp dried basil 

1 can/ jar of tomato puree (any brand)..I used Classico Oyester Mushroom

1 cup water

Oil

Take a pan ....put a little bit of oil and add the beef, ground black pepper, red chilli powder, red pepper flakes and mix it together...once water begins to release...add in tomatoes, green pepper, mushroom, dried basil and salt...mix well...then add the tomato puree and water and let it cook for 40 mins to an hour....make sure it doesnt dry up....turn it off when the sauce thickens.

For cheese:

2 egg, beaten

1 container of ricotta cheese (2lb)

1 pack of mozzarella cheese, shredded (8oz)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

big pinch of red chilli powder or cayenne powder

Mix them to a thick clumpsy batter

The rest:

1 packet of lasagna noodles

mozzarella cheese, shredded or parmesan cheese to spread on top

Once your noodles boiled...take a tray and then layer your meat sauce...then your cheese batter...and then your noodles....repeat it again...and then the last layer would be just meat sauce..and sprinkled shredded cheese and some dried basil...inshort ...layer 3x meat sauce...2x cheese batter...2x noodles.

Baingan Bharta Punjabi Style (begun bhorta/ mashed eggplant)

Usually I make the simpler Bharta which is the bengali style..with no spices..plain onions,chillies, mustard oil and salt. But once in a while i crave the restaurant style baingan bharta which is mostly prepared the punjabi style with spices. There are many ways to prepare this masala bharta..really depends on the individual..but this is how I cooked.

Coat 2 eggplants with oil ..then take a knife and make small slits by poking it .... then roast it in the oven or on top of the stove...till it becomes burnt...so the skin would look black and crisp textue (30-40 mins). Let it cool.....then cut it into half and scoop off the inside soft part with a spoon....next step...mash the eggplant

Masala part
Now in a pan..heat some mustard oil (2 table-spoon) and fry 1/4 tea spoon of cumin seeds, mustard seeds, crushed bay leaves till it becomes brown and sizzling...then add one chopped onions  ..fry it till transparent....then add 2 chillies...1 teaspoon of garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of ginger paste...fry it for a min .... add 1/2 chopped tomatoes..1/4 teaspoon of each tumeric powder, garam masala, corriander powder, cinamon powder, and red chilli powder...fry it for a bit till tomatoes becomes soft and pasty ...then add one teaspoon of yogurt....mix it all together and season it wth salt as per required and corriander leaves...finally add in the mashed eggplants and mix it again...this whole process will take 15-20mins ...turn off the stove...and lastly add corriander leaves and chillies on top to garnish it. Eat it with roti, paratha or rice.

Atlas I satisfied my craving of goood restaurant bharta at home!! 

Spinach, Mushroom & Cheese Omelette with Hollandaise Sauce

This is a classic veggie omelette and one of my favourite kind! It is made with fresh spinach, mushrooms, onions and green onions and Swiss cheese (brie cheese or mozzarella cheese would do)  folded in a pufffyyy omelette!! Then pour some thick hollandaise sauce on top and garnish it with diced red pepper or if you got tomatoes at home or and spring/green onions..that works too... I wont go into details on how to make this omelette...I am pretty sure most of you already know how to make an omelette...if not sigh...google it/ youtube it...loll. This omelette looks so fresh, healthy & hearty and green...and believe me tastes just as goood!!! Try it!!

P.S. Hollandaise sauce is the same sauce goes on top of egg benedict...and i think this sauce gives that kick to these egg recipes....it is quiet simple to make...I will post it below..i am extracting the recipe from foodnetwork website...because it got all the right measurements....and I usually do not cook using measurements...I'd rather estimate...:)..the recipe below is similar to how I make it.

Classic Hollandaise Sauce:

Preparation time: 10 minutes 
Cooking time: 3 minutes 
Yield: 4

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter

3 egg, yolks

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt

1 pinch pepper

P.S. some people also add bit of dijon mustard for consistency purposes.

Directions

Remove 2 tablespoons (25 mL) of the butter and keep cold in refrigerator. In small saucepan, melt remaining butter; keep warm.

In heavy-bottomed saucepan or in stainless steel bowl, whisk egg yolks until thickened and pale. Whisk in water and lemon juice. Add 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of the cold butter.

Set saucepan over low heat or place bowl over saucepan of1 1/2- inches (4 cm) barely simmering water; whisk until bottom of pan can be seen between whisks and wires of whisk become lightly coated, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove from heat, immediately whisk in remaining cold butter to stop the cooking of the yolks.

By driblets, whisk in enough of the melted butter to thicken to consistency of whipping cream. Increasing amount of butter slightly, whisk in remaining butter.

Season with salt and pepper.

Recipe from: http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Side/Eggs-Dairy/recipe.html?dishid=642

Chimei- onion flavored waffles

So I visited TNT the other day here in Calgary...and picked up frozen onion flavored waffles called Chimei. This product is made in Taiwan...but to tell you the truth it is very similar to Indian paratha. I say similar because there are some differences... other than the look and texture of it- like taste, thickness and ingredients. I have tried Shana's onion paratha before...but that tasted nothing like Chimei waffles. Shana's paratha was thin and super crispy whereas Chimei's waffles were tasty, moderate crisp, and filling. The sesame and green onion flavors definitely stand out, and was just enough to eat it with hot sauce. I have also tried eating these waffles with curry...as I mentioned before..it is similar to paratha, thus worked well with gravies of curry. I would definitely recommend it to you guys ..try it out just as snacks or part of a meal. 

One con about this product is the calories count (420 cal/piece)...check out the Nutritive table below...definitely not the healthiest food around...but wouldn't harm eating it once in a while.

Essential Spices

No doubt I love to cook...I consider myself quiet fortunate for not getting tired or bored of cooking on a daily basis. I inherited this infatuation of cooking from both my parents, who love spending time in the kitchen…either helping each other to prepare a dish or creating their own recipe.

My enthusiasm of cooking begins from my spice cabinet in the kitchen ….I have this bad habit of collecting (or wanting to collect) all sort of spices that are available in the store…  what kind of spices? I will start with South Asian spices, then Asian, then Mexican, perhaps Italian next…alas kitchen cabinet of my small apartment can only hold so much…and South Asian spices itself got so many different varieties that they alone could fill my entire space.

However, since I mostly cook Bengali food at home…my few essential spices are cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala (whole and powder), and red chilli powder...I will start panicking for a new purchase when only 1/4th container has been used of these spices.

When cooking outside the box..my next favourite cuisine would be Middle Eastern ….and sumac powder goes best with any kind of kebab and dry bbq meat...along with saffron with any rice dish.

Usually a woman could go out of control when shopping in the mall…well that is me in a grocery store ..specially in Chinese market, middle eastern gourmet store and mostly in Indian (desi) store. I feel a strong connection to my ethnicity (UAE and Bangladesh)…and those store reminds me of my youth...when my father took me to local market back in the days. Anyway, back to present....I want to visit spice market in Turkey and Egypt and bring back some spices as souvenirs..[and as part of my collection]..I have heard so much about those markets (souqs).....my future plan is to collect all those spices and build them a home- i.e create a beautiful custom made shelf or rack holder ..... and bring the world to my kitchen. :) ....ahhh bucket list!

One of my favourite site to browse: http://www.silkroadspices.ca/t/categories/spices