Tuna sandwich

Ingredients:

1. Canned Tuna - 12oz drained (I used chunk light tuna in water)

2. Mayonaise - 4 tbsp

3. Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp

4. Onion - 1/4 onion(finely chopped)

5. Cilantro - 3 tbsp (finely chopped)

6. Green chilli - 1 (chopped)

7. Pepper

 Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and make a sandwich. Enjoy it with some chips!

Bruschetta

Ingredients
1. French bread or any Italian bread - 1 (Sliced 1 inch thick)
2. Fresh Basil leaves- 4 springs(I did not have fresh basil in hand and used dried basil instead, around - 1 tsp)
3. Red bell pepper - 1 (finely chopped)
4. Plum tomatoes - 2( deseeded and finely chopped)
5. Rosemary - 1 tsp(fresh or dried)
6. Mozzarella cheese - 1/4 cup(shredded)
7. Garlic - 2 cloves
8. EVOO - 2tbsp
9. Ground pepper
10. Salt to taste

1. Preheat the broiler. Slice the baguette and line them up on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with some extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Broil the bread for a min on the upper shelf till it turns light brown, be careful not to burn the bread, remove and set the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a bowl, mix the basil leaves, remaining olive oil, rosemary, chopped tomatoes and red bell pepper and season with salt and pepper.
4. Rub garlic on one side of the bread.
5. Spread one tablespoon of the tomato mixture on each piece and top it with shredded mozzarella. 
6. Place bread back in oven and melt cheese slightly.
7. Serve hot.

Whole wheat Banana Bread

Ingredients

1. Ripe banana - 3
2. Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
3. Sugar - 1 cup
4. Eggs - 2
5. Butter - 1 stick
6. Baking soda - 1 tsp
7. Baking powder - 1 tsp
8. Milk - 2 tbsp
9. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
10. Chopped Walnuts/pecans- 3/4 cup(optional)
11. Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
11. Salt - 1/2 tsp


1. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. In another bowl, mash the bananas with a fork with milk, cinnamon powder and vanilla essence.
4. Add this to the butter mixture.
5. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
6. Add to the wet mixture and combine well with a spatula.
7. Add the nuts. Mix well.
8. Pour the mixture into a buttered loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes or till a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

Grilled corn salad - From food network

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• Ingredients:
• 1. Corn- 8 husks and silk removed
• 2. Red bell pepper - 1/2 of a medium sized bell pepper (diced)
• 3. Red onion - 1/2 of an onion (chopped)
• 4. Green onion - 2 tbsp (sliced)
• 5. Cilantro leaves - 3 tbsp (chopped)
• 6. Extra-virgin olive oil - 1/4 cup
• 7. Garlic - 1 tbsp (minced)
• 8. Lime - 1 juiced
• 9.Pepper and Salt to taste

1. Preheat the grill to medium. Arrange the corn on the grill and cook, turning frequently, until the corn is slightly charred, about 12 to 15 minutes.

2. Remove the corn from the grill to a cutting board and let cool. Cut the kernels from the cobs with a sharp knife and transfer to a serving bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients and toss to combine.

Marble Cake - From Martha Stewart's collection

Ingredients:

Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick)

Cake flour - 1 3/4 cups

Baking powder - 2 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 cup

Eggs - 3

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Buttermilk - 2/3 cup

Dutch-process cocoa powder - 3 tbsp

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.

2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside.

3. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition.

5. Mix in the vanilla.

6. Add the flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Start and finish with the flour mixture. Set aside 1/3 of the batter.

7. In a bowl, mix cocoa and 3 tbsp of boiling water. Mix well and add to the reserved batter.

8. Spoon in the batter into the prepared tin in 2 layers. Each layer should have a checkered board pattern by alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate batter.

9. For the marbling effect, run a skewer or a knife through the batters in a swirling motion.

10. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes.

Samosa

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

All purpose flour- 2 1/3 cups(12 oz)

Butter - 3 tbsp(melted)

Warm water - Around 3/4 cup

Salt to taste

For the filling:

Potatoes- 1 lb (cooked and mashed)

Cumin seeds - 1 1/2 tsp

Ginger - 1 tsp , chopped

Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Green chili - 1, finely chopped

Cilantro - 1/4 bunch

Chaat masala - 1 tsp ( i used store brought ones)

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

To make pastry:

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl and stir in the melted butter.

2. Add enough warm water to form a firm dough.

3. Knead dough lightly until smooth.

4. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside for 20 minutes.

To make the filling:

1. Heat around 4 tsp of oil in a pan, toast the cumin seeds until fragrant.

2. Stir in the ginger and add the mashed potatoes, chili powder and green chili. Cook for 3 minutes.

3. Add cilantro, chaat masala, lemon juice and salt. Mix well and remove from heat and let cool.

Assembling:

1. Divide the dough into 6 portions. Shape each portion into an oval and roll out on a lightly floured work surface until oval is 9 in long and 6 in wide.

2. Cut each oval crosswise.

3. Place one half-oval on your hand with the straight edge in line with your forefinger. Wet a finger and run along the straight edge to moisten.

4. Place fingers of your other hand in center of the half-ovel, folding in sides so edges overlap to form a cone. Press overlapped edges to seal and hold cone with open end uppermost.

5. Spoon the potato mixture into cone and use a wet finger to moisten edge of opening. Pinch edges of opening together to seal and enclose filling. Place samosa on a lightly floured baking sheet.

6. Repeat with remaining dough and potato filling.

7. Heat oil in a kadhai. Fry the samosas until crisp and dark golden brown,3-4 minutes.

Strawberry Roulade

Ingredients:

1. Powdered sugar - 2tbsp

2. Eggs - 4

3. Granulated sugar - 3/4 cup

4. Cold water - 1/4 cup

5. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

6. All-purpose flour - 1 cup

7. Baking powder - 1tsp

8. Salt - 1/4 tsp

For the Filling:

1. Heavy cream - 1 cup

2. Fresh strawberries - 8

3. Granulated Sugar - 4 tbsp

4. Water - 1/4 cup

Whip the cream till it forms stiff peaks. You can add powdered sugar according to your needs while whipping the cream. Cut 4 strawberries into small pieces and mix it with the whipped cream.

In a pan, heat water and sugar and add remaining strawberries to it. Mash up the strawberries when it gets soft. Continue till the liquid thickens into a jelly like consistency.

To make the roll:

1. Heat oven to 375F. Line a 15x10x1 -inch pan with foil and grease it with shortening. Sprinkle a clean towel with powdered sugar and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs till it gets thick and lemon colored.

3. Gradually beat in granulated sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Beat in water and vanilla.

5. On low speed, beat in the flour, baking powder and salt.

6. Spread the batter evenly on the pan and bake for around 8 to 12 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center.

7. Immediately loosen cakes from edges of the pan and turn upside down onto the towel sprinkled with sugar.

8. While the cake is hot, carefully roll up the cake and the towel. Place it on a wire rack and let cool completely .

9. Carefully unroll the cake. Remove the towel. Spread the strawberry jelly over the cake followed by the whipped cream filling. Leave an inch border as the filling will spread out while rolling it up.

10. Loosely roll up the cake and wrap it in foil. Refrigerate for 30minutes.

11. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if required and cut it into 1 inch thick slices.

Chocolate Brownies

This one is for all those chocolate lovers......Yesterday, I happened to see a mug that had this writing on it.."Where there is chocolate, there are no worries!!!". And from then on I have been craving for something chocolatey.... and this how I got inspired to try out these amazing brownies that I saw on BBC cooking.. a site that my brother had sent me loooooong back but never got the time to check it out!

A quick look at the ingredients....

Ingredients:

1. Unsalted butter- 4 oz plus extra for greasing

2. Caster sugar - 6oz

3. Eggs- 2

• 4. Plain chocolate - 11/2 oz
• 5. Walnuts - 2oz (optional)
• 6. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• 7. Instant coffee granules - 1 tsp
• 8. Warm water - 2 tbsp
• 9. Baking powder - 1 tsp
• 10 . Plain flour - 2 oz
• 11. Cocoa powder - 2oz

• To serve:

• Icing sugar, for dusting
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1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Prepare the cake tin. Grease an 18cm/7in square cake tin and line with non-stick baking parchment.

3. In a clean bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

4. Chop the chocolate and put to one side.

5. Chop the walnuts, if using. Gently fold the nuts and chocolate into the butter and egg mixture. Add the vanilla extract.

6. Dissolve the coffee granules in two tablespoons of warm water and add to the mixture. Mix together well.

7. Add the baking powder, then sift in the flour and cocoa powder. Mix well; the mixture will be quite wet.

8. Spoon the brownie batter into the prepared tin and level out the top with a spatula.

9. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for ten minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool.

10. To serve, cut into rectangles and dust with icing sugar.

Tuna cutlet

INGREDIENTS

Canned Tuna - 1 12oz can (I used chunk light tuna in water)
Onion - 1 (chopped)
Ginger - 2" piece (finely chopped)
Green chilly - 3 (finely chopped)
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs (finely chopped)
Potato - 1 (boiled and smashed)
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp (adjust according to your needs)
Cilantro - 5 tbsp (chopped)
Egg -1 (beaten)
Breadcrumbs- enough to coat the cutlets
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions, ginger, green chillies and curry leaves.
2. Saute till the onions turn transparent.
3. Add all the powders now except pepper powder and saute for around 2 minutes.
4. Now add the tuna. Make sure that you drain the water well from the tuna.
5. Add the pepper powder and salt and fry it for 5 minutes. The raw taste of tuna would have gone by now.
6. Turn off the stove and mix in the potato. Potatoes act as the binding agent in cutlets and affects the taste too. If you add more potato, the taste of the cutlet will decrease. But if you add less, the mix will not be hard enough to shape the cutlets. Here, somwhere between 3/4 to 1 potato will be sufficient.
7. After adding the potatoes. Adjust the salt and pepper.
8. Sprinkle the cilantro and cover it with a lid and let it stand for 15 mins.
9. By now the mix would have cooled down. So try making around 10 to 12 balls out of the mix and shape it using the palms of your hands.
10. For the coating, dip these cutlets in egg and then coat it well with breadcrumbs.
11. Deep fry the cutlets till it gets brown in colour.

Tip: The oil for frying cutlets should be considerably hot else the cutlets will start breaking. But, at the same time, make sure you don't burn them.

Egg Puffs

INGREDIENTS

Puff pastry sheet - 1
Onion - 1 medium (chopped)
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Garlic - 2 cloves crushed
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder- 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Egg - 4(boiled) + 1
Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil

DIRECTIONS
1. Thaw the pastry sheet according to the instructions.
2. Roll it out slightly using a rolling pin. Use flour to prevent sticking.
3. Cut out 8 rectangles out of the sheet.
4. Boil 4 eggs and keep aside.
5. For the gravy, heat oil in a pan and saute the onions ans garlic.
6. Once the onions turn transparent, add the tomato and fry for 2 minutes.
7. Add all the powders and cook till the raw smell of the powders go.
8.Turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves. This makes the masala or the filling for the egg puffs.
9. In a small bowl, beat an egg and set aside. This egg is needed to seal the edges of the puffs and to brush some on the top for the shine.
10. Now, slightly roll out each rectangle. Place little masala on one side of the rectangle strip. Over the masala place half of an egg and top it with little more masala.
11. Fold the strip to cover the egg and seal the edges by brushing some of the egg wash on the sides and press the edges together using a fork or your fingers.
12. Brush some egg wash on top for a goos and shiny finish.
13. Repeat the same for the remaining strips.
14. Preheat the oven to 400 F and place the puffs in for around 15 to 20 minutes or till they puff up and get golden in color.

Uzhunnu vada

INGREDIENTS
Urad dal- 1 cup
Onion- 1(cut into small pieces)
Green chillies- 3 (Cut into small pieces)
Peppercorn- 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 1/2" (finely chopped)
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves- 1 sprig (finely chopped)
Oil to deep fry
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Soak Urad dal in water for an hour.
2. Grind the dal with very little water. It should be a thick batter. Try using a food processor or a coffee grinder.
3. Add the green chillies, ginger, asafoetida, curry leaves and salt.
4. Mix well and circulate the batter in an upward motion using your hand. This allows air to be incorporated into the batter. This makes the vadas soft and fluffy.
5. Now add the onions and the peppercorns.
6. Heat oil in a kadai or a pan.
7. Now wet your left palm and put a spoonful of the mix on your palm. Make a hole in the center. Carefully put into the frying pan.
8. Fry till golden brown and serve hot with chutney or sambar.