Weekly Meal Menu , The Fuss Free way

Before you begin this section there are certain concepts that you need to be clear about.

Our body is brilliant machinery designed to keep its engines well oiled. The food that you eat gets processed daily and stored in the body in the form of carbohydrates, proteins and fat. Before you start a car, you need to ensure that the car is well fueled and oiled.  Towards the end of the day it needs rest. Similarly the capacity of our body of digest the food is brilliant in the morning and slows reduces with the end of the day. The body stored the remaining food as fat as it it too tired to process it. That's why eat a brilliant breakfast and very light dinner.

Also as you age, the digestive system will also age and may not process food as per normal. Hence reduce your oil and spice intake. Natural sickness like arthritis, joint pains are natural ageing phenomenal and need specially designed food. Ex. Fermented food, cucumber, maida increases the pain in the knees. Avoid that.

Now since we are aware of the basic , let's go to the cooking. With a hectic working life , cooking a daily meal is impossible, hence comes the bread and butter. The best way to beat this is to prepare a weekly menu. Sunday is a day to stock your fridge with the weekly necessities.  Let's get started.

Menu for Week 1

Monday- Spinach stir fry with dal tadka.
Tuesday - Beetroot Bhaji with salad
Wednesday - Stirfry vegetables with roasted fish.
Thursday - Roasted tandoori chicken and dal with chapati
Friday- light vegetable stew with rice
Saturday - chawli masala/  chole with chapati.
Sunday - fish curry and rice.

The shopping list.

All these veggies look very difficult to make but are super simple. Shop for all the necessary vegetable on Monday and stalk your fridge.

You need to buy.
Spinach, carrots (around 2kg), beetroot, cauliflower, cabbage, spring onions, onions, garlic, ginger, did and chicken

Daily Routine,

Breakfast- I cup warm water in the morning. After 10 mins a fruit. After one hour one cup tea.

For breakfast 1 cup cornflakes with milk. Add any fruit with that.

At 11.30 - drink one coconut water and eat the malai.

At 1.30- I chapati, I bowl salad and bhaji and dal

At - 4 tea
At 4.45. One fist full of chana
At 7- East the same food as lunch
At 10- Just sleep... If too hungry then eat a fruit or carrot.

Monday meal

Spinach masala

Wash and clean the palak well. Take an onion and a few garlic cloves slice them. Take only 1  TSP oil and fry the onion and garlic well. Putt the spinach and fry for two or three minutes.. Till the palak has lost its waters. Finally add salt and pepper and eat with chapati.  Can me made on Sunday and stored in the fridge for two days.
For the dal - take half a TSP oil. Put 1 TSP jeera , kadi patta, hing  and haldi. Stir fry for two minutes and put dal. Add salt and dal is ready. Can be stored in the fridge for a week.
For salad, just slice carrot.

Repeat the same for dinner.

Tuesday- Beetroot bhaji

Take three medium sized beetroot. Wash and peel them. Cut them in medium pieces. Then take half a spoon of oild and put Rai jeera and green chillies, stir for two minutes. Then add the beetroot and ginger. Add half a cup of water, salt to taste and cook for 20 minutes till the beetroot is soft. Add grated coconut if you want with dhaniya and eat with chapati. This can be eaten with yesterday's day and simple carrot. Repeat for dinner.

Wednesday- Roasted Cauliflower with Fish

Take Cauliflower and cut the florets. Put this in a gud pan with 1 TSP oil. Let this roast till this is soft. Then add salt, pepper chilli and a little tomato ketchup . this is optional. 

For the fish. Take the fish and put salt, Mirchi and ginger, sprinkle with till seeds and lemon juice. Try to roast this fish with no oil.  Eat a big helping of this veggies and fish for lunch and break fast with or without chapati. Have a glass of lemon juice with this. You can have a banana in the day and u had no chapati or rice.

Thursday- Tandoori Chicken and Dal with chapati.

For the chicken - put lemon juice , haldi powder, Mirchi powder , garam masala and salt. Mix the chicken well and put on the tawa with 1tsp oil for 15 mins each side. You can marinate this chicken the day you shop and keep in the fridge. Makes its really simple.

For the dal-  put half a TSp of oil and add Raj, jeera, curry patta and onions to this. Let them splutter and cook and then add tamatoes and haldi. Cook for 5 minutes and add the dal. Eat the chicken with the Dal and chapati.

Friday- Light Vegetable Stew,

Take any vegetable u like. Peas, carrot corn capsicum, potatoes etc wash and cut them. In a pan add one TSP oild and add sliced onions, then sliced green chilli, ginger, curry patta. Fry for 2 minutes till it releases aroma. Then add a your veggies and one glass water. Then add one chicken stalk cube. Take a packet of ready made coconut milk and dissolve in water. Add this to the curry and let them cook till the vegetables cook. Have this with rice. The proportion of veggies should be more that the gravy. No need to eat salad separately.

Saturday - chawli masala with chapati and cabbage and capcisum salad.

Soak chawli over night or one day before. In a pressure cooker put one TSP oil. And put one chopped onion. Fry for two minutes then add ginger garlic paste. Fry again. Add little water so that ginger garlic paste does not burn. Fry til water dries, then again add some water and mix. To this add a little haldi, half TSP chili powder and one tsp dhania powder. Then fry to water dries. The water acts as oild and cooks the spices without burning. So if needed keep adding little little water. Then add tamatoes and chawli and add one cup water enough to cook the chawli. Put salt and pressure cook for 15  minutes. After wards off the gas and let this sit for ten minutes. Later open the cooler and add dhania leaves and eat with rice or chapati. You can replace the chawli with chole also. Just add some garam masala. Eat this with sliced capsicum , cabbage and onions.

Sunday- fish/ chicken curry and rice.

In a mixer add one full bunch of coriander leaves, 10-12. Cloves of garlic , 2 TSP sauf seeds, green chilli and one full lemon juice. Grind to a fine paste. Take one TSP oil add this masala with half TSP haldi. Cook for 5 minutes. Then add chicken or fish . take a small bowl of water and dissolve an entire packet of maggi coconut milk powder. Put this over the chicken and mix. Add salt to taste. If you want add veggies also but not capsicum. Let then meat cook and eat with rice. Remains good for upto a week in the fridge.

The trick to all this is light and health food. Don't make too much. Only make portions enough for two people two times a day. You can make most of this on ur holiday and spore in the fridge. Leafy veggies should be consumed with two days.

Follow this for one week and then tell me the difference.

Best of Leftovers - Chole Puri Bites...

What do you do when you have left over Chole masala ... Well, let me tell you that you can make people eat the left overs without even then knowing.... This is what my new series talks about. The best use of left overs.

Firstly we replace the puri with canopies. Easily available in any market.

In a separate pan you take the already prepared Chole masala and fry it till it's completely dry. Try mashing the chicpeas as you fry it. Finish this off with a little sprinkle of Chole masala. Once done take it off the heat and make really small patties. It should comfortably fit in the cannopies.

Chop some onions and coriander. To assemble this baby, start of by putting some chopped onions in then canopies, then place the small patties on this. Sprinkle with a little chat masala and finally place the coriander on this.

I love to serve this with a good helping of sweet tamarind chutney. This adds an amazing character to the bites. You may also choose to add curd ot mint chutney for more deliciousness .. The combinations can be endless.

So here is the final version.... Happy snacking..

Rice Suprise

Rice Surprise!!!! yumilious....

This recipe was conceptualized on a Saturday. My mom was out at a work with the rotuine dal chawal ready to be gobbled up. I am not against our staple diet, but against dal chawal on a saturday and sunday (boringgg) . So, with desperation, I open up my refrigerator hoping that a gene wil pop out of this just like to did for Alladin. Well, its dint happen, all I could see was cabbage, carrots, olives, mutton, prawns, and basil.

So, the idea was to make a beef chilly pulav rice. and it made more sense. So I Started with chopping up the onions to make the beef chilly. Then it struck me, from when did i do something traditional. So was born my version of rice surprise. Its like a mystery, when you first see this, it looks like a normal rice stir fry is actually a deep surprise of beef fry stuffed inside the crust. Follow my recipe to surprise yourself with a Indian - Italian fusion.

The Suprise - Beef Stir fry.

I start by chopping one small medium onion along with one green chilly. In a pan add one tsp oil and put a little cumin seeds to crackle. Then add the onions and the green chilly and fry this till its golden brown. Then add two spoons of a ginger garlic paste and fry this also turn golden brown. Then you add one tsp of red chilli powder (I am indian so i eat a lot of chilly), 1/2 tsp of chilly powder and 1/2 tsp of Garam Masala. Once done add 1 cup of beef mince and cook on medium heat. No need to add water as beef will leave its own water. Season with salt and lime juice as per your taste. Finish this off with a little sprinkle of cinnamon powder and coriander leaves. Keep asisde.

The Rice

In a pan, add one tsp of oil and some roughly chopped garlic (around two spoons). Fry this till its golden brown, then add three spoons of chopped black olives. Add the precooked rice and still fry. Add chopped basil leave and season with salt. Keep aside. 

The accompaniments 

1) This dish would be incomplete without the side dishes. In a pan stir fry some prawns with salt and pepper. Thats it

2) So a simple stir fry vegetable does this trick. Cut the carrots in long strips. Slice some cabbage, spring onions, beans. In a pan add some oil and put ginger julienne in it. Cook for 10 sec and then add the vegetable on a high flame. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with a little Worcestershire sauce. Finish this dish by sprinkling toasted sesame seeds on this. On a seprate Pan fry an egg, sunny side up and pace this on the veggies for extra taste. The oozing york adds an extra dimension to the food. Make sure the egg is fried just before serving and the veggies should be pipping hot.  

Arrange this on a platter and its ready to devour. 

Enjoy and let me know how you liked it..

Happy eating!!!

Corn Suprise

I love cooking. And its not just a way to relax but its also a very major part of who I really I am.. and that what makes me happy. Well today was no exception. I wanted to feel happy so I cooked. I made the most amazing Corn Surprise.. Its basically a beautifully potato patty stuffed with indian style corn. When you dig into a simple looking patty you are suprised by the taste explosion that you get.Do try it and let me know how did you like it.

                                                    CORN SURPRISE 

For the Stuffing:-

1 small onion Chopped
5 cloves of garlic Chopped
1 inch piece of ginger Chopped
1 small green chilly Chopped
1/2 tsp each of Haldi Powder, Chilli Powder, Cumin Powder & Coriander Powder
1 Small tomato Chopped
1/2 Cup of corn Kernels and Carrot
Sprinkle of freshly chopped Coriander
Salt to taste

For the Patty

4-5 Boiled Potatoes
1/2 tsp Besan (Gram Flour- Optional)
2 tsp Corn flour Powder
Salt to taste
Bread crumbs

Procedure-

Boil potatoes in lots of water and drain. Remove the skin and allow it to come to room temperature first. In a separate pan heat 1 tsp of oil and add the onions. Let it sweat for some time and then add the ginger garlic and green chilli. Fry till the start turning a little golden in colour. Then add the spices and cook till it releases a little oil. Make sure not to burn the spices. Add some water to make sure it fries well. Then add the Tomato with a little salt.Finally add the corn and carrots (you can add any vegetable here or add chicken as well). Check for salt and sprinkle with coriander leaves. Let it cool

For the cutlets

Mix the potatoes with Gram flour, salt and Corn flour
Divide it into equal portions. In each portion make a small cavity and stuff the corn stuffing carefully and seal it well making it flat. Dap them in Bread crumbs and set aside. Take a flat pan and keep them to toast on the gas till they appear crisp and brown on both sides. I don't use much oil to fry it. But if you want you can use oil to your liking.

Enjoy this with a simple Honey mustard mayo and you will die to eat more.

Try it and Enjoy yourself!!

Whole Wheat and Oats Cookies

I have recently started a new journey called "The route to a Health". But this under no circumstance does it mean that the food we eat has to be bland and tasteless. I want my food to be healthy and nutritional at the same time. Therefore here I present my latest creation, called  Whole Wheat and Oat cookies.

Simple, Delicious and extremely simple to make :), so here we go..

Well, In a big mixing bowl, take 1 bowl of wheat flour, 1 Bowl of white oats, 1/2 a bowl of Caramel sauce (if you do not have this then simply 6 spoons if sugar in half a bowl of milk), I tea spoon baking powder and 1 tea spoon of corn starch. Mix all this really well.  Finally add 6-7 spoons of vegetable oil. Mix all these with light hands and let it rest for 5 mins. Add a handful of raisins, it extenuates the taste.

Initially, I never understood the concept of  resting the dough, casue its me who does all the hard works and it s the dough who rests. :) so after the dough has rested, divide it into equal portions. Shape it in the size of the cookies and place it in a baking tray. Bake this at 220 Degree for 25 minutes. 

Your delicious home made cookies are ready to eat. One biscuit is equal to one chapati. So it more or less like an entire meal.

Enjoy.. and let me know how did you like it..

Fuss Free Cooking

Food ............ Glorious Food !!!

This is everything that I am. Cooking is therapeutic to me, it describes my very existence. I am happy around it and it makes me comfortable. My family has a history of amazing cooks and this gift  is passed on to the lucky me. I have seen my mother, aunties and grandmother struggle in the kitchen for hours together, churning out the best recipes in the closet.

With this fast paces life, its really very difficult to put those long hours of work in the kitchen. Even on sundays its a herculean task to put out a sumptuous meal to on the table. Hence, I decided that my sundays will still have very little to do with the hardwork, without compromising on quality or the taste of food.

This section of my blog is dedicated to my passion creating world class recipes, without the fuss on a daily basis.

Welcome to my world of Fuss Free Cooking.