Coriander pesto

On valentines day since I was doing 5 dishes so I kept the menu simple and this pesto was one of them. Everybody makes their own pesto and this one is mine and is easy on ur wallet as well.Usually pesto is made with basil and pine nuts, but I substituted coriander for basil and walnuts for pine nuts bcos simply they are cheaper and that's what I had in my pantry ! I make this pesto and store it in the fridge for almost a week. The flavor is so refreshing like a wave hitting you on a beach, and the fun part is it literally takes 5 minutes to prepare. Its every home cooks dream to finish off the cooking in 10 minutes and feed something healthy for the family.

Coriander pesto serves 3

Ingredients
Coriander with stems , chopped - 2 cups
Walnuts,chopped - 1/2 cup
Garlic, chopped - 2
Lemon juice - 2 to 3 tbs
Olive oil - 1/2 cup
Green chili, chopped - 1 (optional)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Method:
Add all the ingredients to the blender and blend to a chunky paste. how easy is that!

Tips:
IF you want less oil add 1/4 cup of olive oil and feel free to add more lemon juice or 1 clove of garlic more.

Eggplant fritters with roasted red pepper sauce

This recipe is a continuation from my last post Roasted red pepper sauce. This eggplant fritter was the appetizer II recipe on the valentines day surprise dinner. Theme Italian with absolutely no cheese.

Like I told before I tried to throw this surprise dinner with an Italian theme, since my husband is not a big fan of cheese I tried to venture to do a Italian dinner but with no cheese at all and I succeeded and to tell you the truth, I did not find any difference.

Today's recipe is an easy eggplant fritter with a roasted red pepper sauce.

For the sauce I used part store bought tomato sauce and roasted red pepper puree.

Sorry I do not have a great foto to post.

Salted eggplants

Egg plant fritter Serves 4

Ingredients
Eggplant / aubergine, cut into rounds- 8
Plain flour - 1/2 cup
Egg, beaten - 2
Panko bread crumbs - 1 cup or fresh homemade bread crumbs - 1 cup
Fresh / Dried oregano - 1/2 tbs
Fresh / Dried basil - 1/2 tbs
Pepper  to taste
salt to taste
Paper towels / towels - 6
Salt - 1/4 cup
Oil for deep frying

Preparing Eggplant:
Cut the eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds.
Sprinkle salt on both sides of the eggplant and place the eggplant on the paper towel and cover them with a paper towel. leave it for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes change both the paper towels and leave it for another 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes pat the pat the eggplant dry for any moisture and excess salt.
This process is to draw out all the water from the eggplant so when we deep fry it, it will crisp up.

Cooking method:
Heat the oil in a deep dish for deep frying

Prepare a breading station:
Add salt and pepper to the flour and put them into a wide bowl
Beat the eggs add salt and pepper to taste and put them in a wide bowl.
Spread out 1/2 cup of the bread crumbs on a wide flat plate and add half of the dried basil and oregano.
Once the oil is hot, dip the eggplant in the flour, then the egg and then the bread crumbs and deep fry it for 1 to 2 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden brown.
take out and lave it on a paper towel for excess oil to be absorbed.

Enjoy with the Roasted red pepper sauce or any sauce / dip you like.

Roasted red pepper sauce - Dip

Ingredients:
Store bought pasta sauce (with herbs - optional)  - 1/2 cup
Red pepper whole - 1
Garlic, chopped finely - 3
Dried oregano - 1 tbs
Dried basil - 1 tbs
Ground pepper - 1/2 tbs
Red chilly flakes - 1/4 tbs
Garlic powder - 1/4 tbs
Olive oil - 2 tbs
Salt to taste
Coriander for garnish

Preparing the red pepper:
In the oven:
Preheat the oven to 500 f
Place the whole red peppers on a sheet pan and let it cook for 30 - 40 minutes until the peppers are completely charred and wrinkled.
Easy method on a gas stove top:
Turn on your gas to a medium heat, place the whole red pepper on the gas stove and let it get charred, keep turning from side to side until the whole pepper is completely charred.

Cooking method:
Hold the charred pepper under running water and remove the skin on the pepper.
Remove the seeds from the pepper and cut into chunks.Add the red pepper to a blender and blend it into a puree without any water.
Heat a pan with 2 tbs of oil, add the garlic and cook for a minute. Then add the blended pepper and fry for a couple of mins
Add the pasta sauce to it and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the dried herbs and garlic powder, salt and pepper and cook it for 5 more minutes.
Remove from heat and serve with the Eggplant fritter or any other fritters you like.

Yellow cherry tomato bruschetta

I have been gone for a long time now.. Was caught up with other things in life.. Visited California and explored food to the fullest.. I ate so much that my stomach was about to blow up and when I left LA my jeans wouldn't fit me! 

So back to normal life and back to blogging.. Today's recipe is one among the Valentines day special - No cheese Italian. I made this recipe on Valentines day for my husband. The theme was Italian with absolutely no cheese.

This recipe is so easy to prepare, colorful to look at and yummy to taste. I used yellow cherry tomato for this recipe. The recipe has very few ingredients to use and I consider it a Semi-homemade recipe bcos all we have to do is prep the ingredients and ready to munch on it.

I am using fresh  bread and drying it out in the oven to make it crispy or you can buy dried out bread / rusk from the store. I am using wheat bread in this recipe since I ran out of white bread, I recommend using white bread for this recipe. You can do this recipe with all the ingredients you have at home.I threw this surprise valentine dinner with only all the things I had at home, no special shopping of any kind.

Yellow cherry tomato bruschetta Serves 2- 3

White bread / rusk / dried out bread slices - 4

Yellow cherry tomato,chopped - 1 cup

Red onion  chopped finely - little less than 1/4 cup 

Coriander, chopped with stems - 3 tbs

Dried oregano - 1/2 tbs

Dried basil - 1/2 tbs

Garlic powder - 1/4 tbs

Pepper powder - 1/4 tbs

Chilly flakes - 1/4 tbs

Olive oil - 1 to 1/5  tbs

Salt to taste

Preparing the bread:

Preheat the oven to 350 F

If you are using fresh bread cut it into equal rectangles, you might get 3 slices if your bread is large or just cut it into equal halves.

You can either take of the crust or choose to keep it. It depends entirely on you.

Place the bread slices on a sheet tray, 1 inch apart.

Put it in the oven for 4 minutes, take out turn the slices and put it in the oven for again  3-4 minutes.

Check the slices after 3 minutes, if they start to change color remove them, if not leave it in the oven for 1 more minute.

Note: We want to dry the bread out, so it becomes crispy but don't want the bread to change color

You can skip this step by buying dried bread slices from store.

Method:

Cut the cherry tomatoes in to halves or into quarters, add them to a bowl.

Add the other ingredients to the bowl  excluding oil and mix them together until combined.

Add the olive oil and toss them together.

Let it sit for half an hour.

Place 2 tbs of the marinated tomatoes on top of the crispy bread and serve.

Valentine special - Drink - Sunset vodka

This is our first Valentines day so I decided to surprise my husband with a beautiful candle light dinner on valentines day. I wanted to go Italian but with NO CHEESE at all. I love Italian food so does my husband but he hates cheese. When we go to restaurants he removes the cheese and eats his food. So I wanted to give him light Italian food without any cheese at all and at the same time which are easy to cook. So I resorted to Sunset vodka for the drink, Sunrise yellow tomato bruschetta, Crispy eggplant fritters with roasted red bell pepper sauce and Paste 2 ways (Cilantro pesto and tomato n basil sauce). I know it seems so much but trust me these are so light that they will serve only two.

I have a lot of work to do and was praying he should not come home early, cos I will be caught doing all the arrangements. But everything went as planed and when he opened the door the whole living room was lit with candles and a wonderful table set. He was truly surprised and we had a wonderful dinner. He enjoyed the food a lot and at the end there was absolutely no food left. I decided to serve my recipes with you all bcos these are tasty Italian food with absolutely no cheese at all but you wont feel the difference. To start with I am starting with my drink recipe sunset vodka.

Sunset vodka Serves 2

Ingredients:

Orange juice - 2 cups

Vodka - 1 cup

Grenadine rose syrup - 2 - 3 tbsp

Lemon juice - a dash (optional)

Simple sugar syrup - Sugar 3 tbsp + 3 tsp of water 

Ice cubes

Lemon slice for garnish

Method:

Put a small pan on heat add the sugar and water and stir until dissolved.Cool it and keep it aside.

Add orange juice and vodka and stir.

In a cocktail glass fill with ice cubes and add the orange juice mixture.

Add one table spoon of grenadine ( DO NOT STIR). the grenadine will go down and it will have a beautiful visual appeal.

Tips:

You can increase the vodka by another 1/4 cup if you want a strong drink or 

If you want a mild refreshing drink decrease the vodka by 1/4 cup.

If you want more sweetness increase the sugar in the sugar syrup by 1 tbsp and make it 4 tbsp.

Cucumber stir-fry with kimchi

I don't eat much cucumber, I wanted to find a way to eat more cucumber so I kinda put all the ingredients I like and I created this stir fry. and Since I  was doing Korean pancakes, I wanted some Korean dish to go with it. What is more Korean than kimchi??? so I decided to so the stir fry with kimchi.

For those who do not know about kimchi, it is basically a fermented / picked cabbage. This kimchi is a Korean favorite and now a days you can even find kimchi pizza's in some specialty pizzeria's.It is tangy and sour and the cabbage still will be crunchy, if you have never had kimchi before the first few bites will be very tangy but once you get used to it you will love it. My friend visited me and I gave her the kimchi and she was not a big fan when she first tasted it but after a few bites she asked for a second serving. so if you like sour food then you will love kimchi. You will find kimchi in all grocery stores or in any Asian store. You can eat this as a side or just as a snack.Its good when it is hot and even cold. I have garnished with coriander stems which give this dish robust fresh burst of coriander flavor.

If you dont have kimchi, you can do the same recipe without kimchi.

Name: Sun yum kimchee
Availability: Any grocery or Asian grocery store
Price: 3$
Recommendation: Yes

Cucumber stir-fry with kimchi Serves 2

Ingredients:
Kimchi,store bought, chopped - 1/4 cup
Cucumber -1
Onion , chopped small - 1/4 cup

Ginger, diced finely - 1/2 tbs

Garlic, diced finely - 2

Green chili chopped finely - 1
Soy sauce - 1 tbs
Vinegar - 1/4 tbs
Coriander stem, chopped - 1 tbs for garnishing
Salt to taste if needed
Oil - 1 tbs
Spoon to clean out the cucumber seeds.

Method:
Slit cucumber lengthwise and using a spoon scoop out the seeds and chop them into the semi circle rounds or in any shape and size you want.
In a pan heat 1 tbs oil and add the onion and green chili and fry it for 1 minute until the onion is translucent.
Add the ginger and garlic and cook in medium heat for 2 more minutes.
Add the kimchi, soy sauce, vinegar and cook for 1 minute.
Add cucumber and salt if needed, toss around and cook for 2 more minutes, so the cucumber still has some crunch.
Serve hot or cold with Korean pancakes.

Tips:

You can cook cucumber what ever way you like. If you want the cucumber to be soft cook for 5 minutes.

If you do not have kimchi you can do the same recipe without kimchi.

Korean pancakes - healthy pancake with vegetables

I was bored with sweet pancakes, I love crepes comparing to pancakes, even though both are basically pancakes.. I wanted to do a vegetarian one and I came across this Korean pancake with veggies. Its so easy to make and its just the regular pancake batter but with veggies and no sugar. It is a kid friendly dish .Since the pancake needs some sauce or something to go with it I decided to serve it with some kimchi cucumber stir fry. (recipe in the next post).

Korean pancake Makes 10 medium size pancakes

Ingredients

Plain flour - 2 cups

Water - 2 cups

Baking powder - pinch (optional)

Egg - 1
salt - 1/4 teaspoon
Yellow squash sliced thinly - 1/4 cup

zucchini sliced thinly - 1/4 cup

Red bell pepper (capsicum) - 1/4 cup

Spring onion chopped - 5 stalks

oil / butter for frying 

Method:

In a mixing pan add plain flour,baking powder,salt, egg and water. Mix them well without any lumps.

Add all the chopped veggies and mix in the patter.

Heat a griddle / tava / non stick pancake pan add 1 tbsp of oil and pour one ladle of the mixture. after a minute turn it over and cook for one more minute.

Serve hot or cold with any sauce you like or serve with the cucumber stir fry with kimchi.