Roma's Space

When you call someone home for dinner and have an elaborate menu planned you dont really want to spend too much time on each dish. It helps to have some dishes that are easy to make and definitely taste great. One such dish that comes to mind is Stir fried vegetables.

Capsicums of all colors have a different taste and when combined with corn it results in a new flavor. The natural juice of vegetables used is the reason behind this dish tasting good although it doesnt really have much masala going into it.
This dish belongs to the Indo-Chinese cuisine (main course), the curry paste and paneer giving it the Indian touch. I guess abroad they must make this with Tofu.

I have made this mixed vegetable a couple of times when I have had guests home and it has always been a hit. This is my entry to the AWED – Chinese event hosted by OK’s Culinary Bazaar.

Ingredients :

• 3 colors of capsicum – red, yellow, green
• 1 cup paneer cubes
• 1 cup fresh corn
• 2 tablespoons curry paste ( a fried paste comprising of onion, ginger, garlic and tomatoes)
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 5-6 Garlic pods
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper powder
• 1/2 teaspoon tabasco sauce

Procedure :

1. Heat oil. Saute garlic till golden brown. Add paneer and stir fry for a few minutes.
2. Add diced capsicum and fresh corn.
3. Sprinkle salt and stir well. Cook till veggies are soft.
4. Now add tabasco sauce, pepper powder and mix well.
5. Add curry paste and saute for a few more minutes.

Note :

1. Curry pastes are readily available in the market making this recipe easy to make. However, if you can not find a pack of curry paste you can fry onions to golden brown, followed by ginger-garlic paste and tomatoes. Fry till this paste leaves fat from the sides.
2. Most ready-made curry pastes contain salt. So when you are adding salt to your dish please add accordingly.

I gained about 21 kgs during my pregnancy. After my daughter was born the weight-loss anxiety began. I couldnt go on a crash diet as the baby was feeding. My mom told me to start eating broken wheat or dalia instead of rice , especially at night. I totally substituted rice with broken wheat in my diet for about 2 months and lost 7 kgs flat! I also used to walk and exercise but the dalia worked wonders for me. I told a couple of friends about this routine and they also lost weight with this substitution.

I have selected Ranjini’s recipe for dalia upma for the Your recipe rocks event. Her style of preparing the upma is very similar to how my mom makes it except that mom roasts the dalia instead of blanching it. However, the final dish tastes just as good. Thanks Ranjini for sharing your recipe with us.

Dalia is a perfect substitute for rice in any pulao or biryani. It can even be eaten with dal and sabzi. Once its mixed with curries, it tastes exactly like rice. Interestingly the cooking procedure is also the same for dalia and rice. So whats the difference? The calories reduce and the fiber nutrition goes up. Its excellent for digestion as well and can be given to babies over the age of one year.

In this recipe I used ordinary broken wheat as I had a pack at home already. If you go shopping please pick up sprouted broken wheat rawa like Ranjini has used as that is more nutritious.
Thanks to Madhu for hosting this unique event – Your Recipe Rocks. Hope the rice shortage problem will soon be overcome.

Rajani of Vegetarian in Me has given me the Yummy Blog Award. Thanks so much Rajani for thinking my blog to be yummy. I am actually a huge fan of her recipes. Somehow, each recipe she selects seems to be exactly the thing I want to make.

The recipient of this award is expected to do the following :
1) Mention what the award stands for
“This award is given to the blog with most yummy recipes/photos”

2) The recipient should quote their favorite desserts which they have eaten or made themselves

1. Rasmalai
2. Creme caramel
3. Red carrot halwa
4. Malai Sandwich

Wow! I enjoyed this part but it has made me very hungry!

3) Finally, I should pass this award onto 4 other food bloggers. Well, its very difficult to choose 4 as there are so many blogs I really like. Anyway, here are the recipients of this award :

1) Divya of Dil se

2) Asha – foodie’s hope

3) Happy Cook of My Kitchen Treasures

4) Madhuram of Egglesscooking

Congratulations to all!

A few weeks ago my 6yr old niece visited me. I thought it to be a good opportunity to bake a chocolate cake, her favorite and almost every kids delight. I didnt go for a rich chocolate cake, instead I decided to bake an eggless, mildly sweet cake with Chocolate syrup. Ohh yes! I have this big squeezy bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Given that I dont eat too much icecream I wanted to use it in other ways. Well, this certainly was one delicious way to use up the syrup.
My niece was so excited about the whole procedure. While I was beating the cake , after about 5 mins she asked me , “Mausi, is your hand aching?”. I found it so sweet!
I instructed her not to touch the oven and other heating equipment. She couldnt wait for 30 mins to eat it. She would keep running back to the oven to check how the cake was doing.
After it came out of the oven she was excited. I had to make her understand that I needed to take some pictures before she could dig in. She looked so confused and cute!
Finally the most awaited moment came. We got to eat it ! I liked the mild sweetness. When cakes are hot out of the oven they are so delicious that one can eat an entire loaf (beware!).

Madhuram of Eggless Cooking has given me the Rocking Girl blogger award. Thanks so much for the encouragement. You have always been an active participant on my blog ever since I started off.

I would like to pass this award to Rajani of ‘Vegetarian In me“. She has an exquisite collection of mouth-watering recipes and equally good snaps to enhance the reading experience.

Ingredients :

• 1 cup maida
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons of chocolate syrup
• 3/4 cup milk

Procedure :

1. Mix the dry ingredients.
2. Mix the butter well into the dry flour mix. Let it rest for a few minutes.
3. Continue to rub in the butter till little particles of flour are formed evenly.
4. Pour in the milk little by little and continue to beat the batter in circles.
5. Add the chocolate syrup and mix well.
6. Grease a cake mould. Dust it with cocoa powder.
7. Preheat oven to 200 deg C. Bake cake for 30 mins at 200 deg C.
8. Cool and invert into a serving tray. Cut out your slices and enjoy!

Portugese food is becoming increasingly popular in India. In Mumbai there are these restaurants that exclusively serve Portugese delights. I came across this rare kind of salad on a tv show called “Cooking isnt rocket science” where Manju Malhi, a popular chef from Britain, shows us how to whisk up dishes from around the globe with utmost ease. Since we dont have the long grained rice that is used originally in Portugese dishes we can substitute it with Indian Basmati which works just as well.

I liked the flavor of this salad. It was somewhat like a fried rice just that its flavors are more raw and strong. This is my entry to mixed rice varieties event hosted by Easycrafts.

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup Long grained Basmati rice
• 1 teaspoon Olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1/2 cup finely chopped spring onions
• 5-6 black pepper corns
• 3-4 garlic pods
• salt

Procedure :

1. Cook the basmati rice with excess water. Drain out and let the rice cool. ( Be careful not to overcook)
2. Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a mixing bowl. Let it rest for a while so that the dressing seeps into the spring onions well.
3. Now mix the dressing into the rice.

Happy Birthday Mayank!

This cake is for you….

I spent a happy afternoon yesterday baking this cake for my husband. Followed every trick in the book to make the cake light and fluffy. I was cautious and used a recipe thats tried and tested from mom’s bakery classes. When its an occassion you dont want to go wrong.

Well, he cut the cake early this morning. I was eagerly waiting for him to eat it. He said ” Its excellent!” and I was happy.

Ingredients :

• Maida 150 grams
• Baking powder 1/2 teaspoon
• Cocoa – 20 grams
• Sugar – 175 grams
• Margarine (else unsalted butter) 115 grams
• Eggs – 3
• Milk 1/4 cup

Procedure :

1. Sieve Maida, baking powder and cocoa three times.
2. Cream fat with sugar until light and fluffy. You should be able to see pits of air on the surface of the butter.
3. Whisk and egg at a time and add to the creamed mixture followed by one tablespoon of flour. Cream well.
4. Add eggs in similar way and cream mixture well.
5. Once the flour and eggs are all blended into the batter use a flat wooden spoon and cut the cake to fold in air.
6. Add milk and blend into a pasty consistency.
7. Grease a cake tin and pour in the batter. Bake at 200 deg C for 20 mins.

For Icing:
I have used a chocolate butter spread for the icing (like Nutella). Just heat the spread for a few seconds with milk and pour it over the cooled cake.
Decorate with brown sugar, cherries and serve.

Please NOTE

1. Use a wooden spoon to beat the cake initially. Once the batter is almost ready, use a flat wooden spoon / knife to cut the cake while beating it. You need to move the flat spoon in a circular motion and cut it through the diameter of the circle. Repeat this kind of whisking a couple of times so air fills into the batter.
2. Milk should be added to the cake batter only enough to make the batter drop from the spoon when lifted. The batter should not stick to the spoon or drop too freely.