Rhabarb Pineapple muffins

I made them like in the basic muffin recipe when Rishab's friend Sarah came to visit him along with her 1 year old brother Jonas.

The only thing to note:
I used 150 g each of rhabarb and fresh pineapple and mixed the rhabarb and pineapple pieces with the flour and then added it to the yoghurt batter. And decorated it with a chocolate couverture and a piece of pineapple.

paneer sabzi

My FIL came to visit us last weekend and brought a sealed packet of long life paneer. It has been ages that I have eaten anything with paneer here in Hamburg. And even longer since I made it myself. Atleast not since my son is born. Earlier, in summers, when we used to barbecue or were invited for one, I always made a lot of paneer and marinated it in Indian style on a skewer along with veggys to grill. Those were times....sigh! But every thing has it advantages and disadvantages, isn't it?!Well, it is not impossible now, but the motivation to spend hours in the kitchen just to make some recipe with paneer. So, when I opened the packet, I was very skeptical about how it looked. I found it much too hard. I pat dried it wih a paper towel and cut it into slices and remembered the conversation with my FIL from the last weekend where I told him that I had once tried a readymade paneer, about two years ago, which was too hard. He said that if I fry it nicely it will turn soft. But I was still a bit skeptical. I always found frying paneer very cumbersome and difficult. All the time it would stick to the base and by the time I could turn it around it would have a dark brown layer over it and break into pieces. Atleast with the self-made paneer.
Anyways, I still was enthusiastic enough to give it a try. I'm an optimist, when it comes to cooking!

I started frying them in a generous amount of oil in my large stainless steel sauté pan, leaving enough space between them to avoid breaking them while turning. I was doing it on a comparitively high heat, and as expected some pieces of paneer started to stick to the base and wouldn't turn. I reduced heat and started to scratch the base to free it of the paneer sticking to the floor. I reduced the heat further. And only after hald a minute I found the rest of them allmoving easily and not sticking any more. And then it struck me....oh yes....what a fool I've been all the time. I had been using tooo high temperaure! So, now i know it should not more thn medium heat while fring them sohtta they get a gentle golden yellow colour.. And this was fun to do too!

So, this is my recipe, where the only thing I missed was fresh coriander (cilantro):

Ingredients:

200 g Paneer (Indian cottage cheese), sliced into 1 cm x 3 cm strips, 1 cm thick
2 small onion, peeled and cut into slices
1 1/2 large tomatoes, cut into thick slices or large cubes
1 -1/2 green bellpepper, diced into large pieces
200 g crimini mushrooms, stalks removed and cleaned with a wet paper towel
1 cm piece of ginger, finely chopped or grated
1 pinch chilli
1 tbsp corinader powder
1 tsp pav bhaji masala
(optionally garam masala)
12 mint leaves, finely chopped
salt to taste

Method:

• Cut the block of paneer into pieces and fry on medium heat in a generous layer of oil in a sautè pan on one side till a slight golden colour appears on them. Fry the other side till they turn soft. Set aside.
• Sauté the mushrooms, green bellpeppers and onions together in the remainig oil on high heat. If required, remove excess oil before.
  
• Reduce heat after 4-5 minutes to medium and add ginger and all the spices and salt. Stir. Cover lid and cook for a few minutes
  
• Add tomatoes and paneer. Cook further and switch off the heat before the tomatoes lose shape.
  
• Add mint, stir. Serve with indian bread, naan, or parantha.

We ate it with chana daal and a type of turkish or arabic flat bread, which looked a bit like parantha and a bit like naan, and a simple green salad with lemon-olive oil dressing. And I must say, it was not bad at all. I might very well try it out again, if I get a chance to buy this paneer.

Broccoli and Maccheroni with Bechamel

Today I tried out something, which I always find hard to do. Which is preparing a good white sauce. It is also commonly called Bechamel. There are of course many different versions of it with different names.
Earlier when I made it, it sometimes turned out excellent, and still so often something or the other would go wrong. Whereby it is apparently one of the easiest of sauces to make. Maybe because I do not make it so often. In fact, I avoid making it, partly because it has been a matter of luck for me, if it turns out good or not, and partly because my hubby is rather more fond of tomato sauce to any kind of pasta.
But today I was in the mood of Bechamel! And I was very much in the mood of experimenting! And the best part is, I did not look up any books or recipes. Aaaannndd... my son was with me- you ask why. Well... read on! :)

So, here it goes, pasta with my version of bechamel :

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time : 20 minutes

Ingredients:
250 g elbow macaroni
1 packet Broccoli, washed and cut into small florets
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp flour

250 ml of brew from the cooked broccoli (if cooked separately, add water)
1 tsp heaped vegetable stock (Alnatura, for example)
(OR: 250 ml cooked vegetable stock)

40-50 g Fresh cheese
40-50 g a soft french cheese, cut into small chunks without the skin (white mould)
40-50 g Gauda, grated
1 large Tomato, diced
1/2 pinch red chilli powder (optional; replace with ground white or black pepper)

1 tbsp mustard or rapeseed oil, or olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp sesame seed (this was my son's idea- he came with the packet and wanted to have it in the food)
1 tbsp parsely, finely chopped


Method:

• Cook macaroni in boiling water with salt. After about 4 -5 mniutes add broccoli. Cook for further 5 minutes or until done.
  
• OR : cook them separately. Use very little water for broccoli.
• Rinse broccoli with cold water to retain the frsh green colour.
• Keep the brew from Broccoli (if using separately) after it is done in a bowl
• For the white sauce (Bechamel) heat the butter on medium heat, add flour and stir till golden brown in colour (a crucial step) don't let it burn. Keep a whisk at hand.
  
• Remove from the stove and immediately add the brew(+ water) and stir vigorously and quickly with a whisk to mix.
  
• Put back on the cooktop, add the veg. stock, and whisk. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and cook further while stirring continuously (Important!).
• Add the chopped tomatoes and cook further for 3 minutes on medium heat.
• While whisking further, add slowly, fresh cheese, french cheese and Gauda. Whisk till everything melts.
  
• Switch off heat. Add a pinch of pepper, white or black, as per liking. This time I used not even a pinch of red chilli powder. Stir. Keep aside.
• heat oil in a sauté pan, add onion and sesame seeds. Stir and saute till golden brown. Mix with the pasta and broccoli. Keep a teespoonful of it as a garnish for the sauce (optional) along with .
  
• Serve warm with the bechamel sauce garnished with parsely.
  

I relished this one so much, so it landed here in my blog collection!
I KNOW ... I KNOW... THE PICTURE IS MISSING! But we were just too hungry! :)

Strawberry youghurt smoothie

Call it a smoothie or a shake, this is how I often make a strawberry drink, earlier for me and my hubby and now more often for my 3 yr. old son. Like today!

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

6-8 strawberries, washed and pat dried, cleaned of the green cap or any other blemishes
2 small tubs (300 g) Yoghurt
1 scoop of strawberry icecream (or any other)
1 tsp sugar (optional)
2 mint leaves, chopped finely (optional)
a mint leaf as garnish

Method:
Mix everything with a blener untill smooth and homogenous.
Pour in a glas and serve garnished with a mint leaf.

Tips:

• Substitute the strawberries with other fruits like raspberries, blueberries or blackberries.
• When using tropical fruits, like mango (delicious!) adjust the sugar accordingly.
  
• If it is too thick, just add some milk. Yes, you can replace yoghurt completely with milk too!
  

Vegetable stew with black bread

This was a simple but a really tasty midday meal for me a couple of days back- the left over stew from the day before and a slice of black bread heated in the toaster for short and spread with creamcheese with herbs.
I enjoyed it to the full. The vegetables tasted even better than the day before.

BTW, I have to mention that it was my 3 year old son who gave me this idea. He insisted on cutting the vegetables and this was how he did it. He uses a sharp cutlery knife, which is quite harmless. I cut the kholrabi though and a part of the carrots and the onion of course. He does not like the onion as it irritates his eyes a lot. We had eaten it with fish made by my hubby and baked potato croquettes. That tasted good too. But I enjoyed the stew the day after so very much. The weather wa also perfect. Clear sky and sunny at 26°C and I could sit at my garden table and enjoy it.

This is how I made the stew:

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingriedients:
1 kohlrabi
3 medium carrots, rounds or large chunks
1 1/2 zucchini, lengthwise or just thick rounds
2-3 small onion, sliced lengthwise
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp, heaped, Coriander powder (seeds)
1 tsp Kitchen King from Everest, a curry spice mixture
salt to taste
1-2 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp mustard or rapeseed oil

Method:

Clean and cut the vegetables. Heat 1/2 tbsp butter in a large saucepan. Add the spices, stir once and then quickly add the vegetables except for zucchini and stir to mix on high heat for a minute. Add the rest of butter and oil and 1/2 cup water and Let cook for about 5-10 minutes on medium heat, stirring in between. Add Zucchini when the vegetables are not completely done and stir once and let cook further till done. Don't make Zucchini too mushy. They should still remain a bit firm and still retain a good colour. Switch off the heat and let it cook further for a while before serving. If you want garnish with finely chopped parsely or coriander (cilantro).

Note: I used a readymade spice mixture which is very much like any curry powder found outside India. And can be replaced with many other varieties of spice blends available in Indian shops.
Butter gives the stew a good flavor, but can be replaced with any type of plant oil or reduced in amount.

Pineapple Cake

I made this cake together with my son on my birthday. It was a friday, so he was at home and we just wanted to have some fun, so we thought of making a cake togehter, which he also enjoys a lot.
Unfortunately, when I cut the pineapple, I found that half of it was already too ripe- it showed dark greyish yellow transluscent areas in the lower half. It tasted very good otherwise and didn't show any signs of fungal infection at all. So, we used the rest of the pineapple half. It had been lying since more than 4 days in my kitchen. maybe I should have stored it in the fridge, but somehow I find it too bulky for that.
Anyways, I had a tin of pineapple at home, so I did not worry. It is one of the things which you would always find in stock in my pantry!

The recipe of the cake was basically the basic cake recipe I have.


Preparation time: 30-35 min.
Baking time: 45 min.
Temp.: 200°C (390°F) electric oven / 180°C (355°F) convection oven

My proportions for the ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 150 (5 oz) sugar
• 150 g (5 oz) butter
• 1 pk. vanilla sugar
  
• 250 g (8 1/2 oz) flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into round slices or a tin of pineapple slices
  

Method:

• Mix the baking powder with the flour in a bowl.
• beat the eggs, butter, sugar and vanilla sugar together with an electric hand mixer in another bowl.
  
• Add the flour to it and beat further to make the batter light and fluffy.
• Put baking paper at the bottom of a round baking tin (Ø 26 cm), grease it and the sides with butter.
  
• Put a layer of the round pineapple slices over it. Let the excess juice drip off from the slices in a colander before putting it in the cake.
• spread the batter carefully with a spatula on the slices
• If you wish, put some more pinaapple slices on top and press them down a bit.
  
• Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
• Serve with 250 g (9 oz) whipped cream, flavoured with vanilla sugar and swetened with 2 tbsp of sugar.
  

Spaghetti with spinach

This is an easy and quick recipe which I made today after coming back from a local 3 day festival, where we had gone to after breakfast. Since it was already half past one in the afternoon, I had to think up of something quick. I had to come back home as my son wasn't feeling so well , partly because it was too hot. So, nobody was in a mood to eat the snacks which were being offered there- crepe, grilled stuff and hotdogs (I don't eat them in any case) ans things like that. And this is what I made at home and was appreciated by both of my "boys"- my hubby and my son.

For 3-4 persons
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes

Ingriedients:
300 g whole wheat spaghetti
300 g frozen spinach
100 g cooked shrimps
1/2 each of yellow and red bellpeppers, diced
1/3 tin of chopped tomatoes or 1 large fresh tomato, chopped
1 tsp thyme leaves, fresh
1 large piece (4-5 cm) parmesan (4-5 tbsp)
1 tbsp saurcream (schmand)
1 1/2 tsp, heaped, vegetable stock (powder)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
1-2 tbsp finely chopped parsely


Method:

• Cook spaghetti for 8-10 minutes in boiling water with some salt till done (al dente).
• Thaw the spinach in the microwave with 2 tbsp of water in a bowl (6 -7 min.)
  
• or heat in a pot with little water on the cooktop.
• Dice the bellpeppers and tomatoes
  
• Sauté the shrimps quickly on high heat in 1 tbsp of olive oil with a pinch of salt and take them out befre they get too dry. If using fresh (uncooked) shrimps, then cook for longer till they get their pinkish red colour and curl up.
• Saute the bellpepers in 1 tbsp oilve oil on high heat
  
• add spinach, stir and reduce heat to medium
• add chopped tomatoes, thyme and the vegetable stock and stir.
  
• Cook further for two minutes and add the cooked spaghetti, stir.
• Add 1 tbsp saurcream and 1 tbsp of oilveoil and mix.
• Grate parmesan over it and mix.
• Garnish with a tablespoon grated parmesan and the parsely and serve