Roma's Space

Spring Onion Toasts

Herbs and Spring onions add flavor to this dish which is a cousin of the famous French Toast. Herb powders are readily available in most grocery stores these days. If you dont find them, not to worry. Use your old packet of Pizza seasoning that has been lying in your fridge since your last Pizza Party. Go on, experiment with this yummy breakfast….

Making of bread cubes

Ingredients :

• 2 eggs
• 4 slices of bread
• Mixture of powdered Herbs
• 1/2 cup Finely chopped spring onions
• Salt to taste

Procedure :

1. Beat eggs with salt.
2. Place 2 slices of bread, one on top of the other and chop it into 4 equal squares.
3. Dip each cube into the egg batter and toast on a hot greased pan.
4. Sprinkle some herbs, black pepper and finely chopped spring onions on the upper surface.
5. After few minutes, turn over the bread cube and cook on the reverse side.
6. Serve hot Spring onion toasts with tomato ketchup.

Spicy Potatoes

Baby Potatoes

Baby potatoes are much tastier than their adult counterparts. When coupled with some spicy, tangy ingredients they can render a very classic taste. Spicy potatoes, can either be had like a side dish or can be served like a chaat.

Ingredients :

• 10 baby potatoes
• 1 cup pudina leaves
• 1 green chilly
• A small piece of ginger
• 2 teaspoon dhania seeds
• 1 teaspoon jeera seeds
• Pinch of white salt, black salt and black pepper
• 1/2 lemon
• Finely chopped Coriander leaves to garnish

Procedure :

1. Grind the following ingredients into a paste :

• Pudina leaves
• Green Chilly
• Ginger piece

1. Dry roast jeera and dhania seeds. Crush them into a powder.
2. Boil baby potatoes. Cool and peel off their skin.
3. Heat oil. Add pudina paste and saute. Now add the boiled baby potatoes and mix well.
4. Add the roasted jeera-dhania powder, black pepper, black salt and salt. Stir till masala coats the potatoes.
5. Now turn off the heat and squeeze some lime juice on the potatoes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Please NOTE :

Its important to allow boiled potatoes to cool off naturally. If you place them under running water they tend to get soggy.

Basmati Kheer

Ingredients :

• 1.5 cups of Basmati rice
• 3 tablespoons of ghee
• Few pieces of chopped Badam, Kaju, Kismis, elaichi
• Few strands of Kesar
• Milk 1.5 litres
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 100 grams khoya

Procedure :

1. Soak rice for an hour and wash till milkiness goes away.
2. Heat 1.5 tablespoons of ghee in a cooker and fry the rice for sometime. Add 2.5 cups of water and pressure cook till rice is done.
3. In a kadai heat remaining ghee and fry the badam, kaju and kismis in it. Once done, take them out of the kadai and fry the cooked rice in it.
4. Now add 1 litre of boiled milk and mix well with the rice, stirring continuously. Once thick, add another 1/2 litre milk and continue to cook.
5. Heat a small quantity of milk in a vessel and add the khoya to it after mashing. Let it boil once. Add this to the kheer and stir well with mathani (a long stirring rod with plates at the end).
6. Mix kesar in small quantity of milk and mix into the kheer, stirring continuously.
7. Once kheer is thick, add the fried dry fruits, sugar and teaspoon of ground elaichi and mix till sugar dissolves.

Please NOTE :

1. Khoya needs to be boiled in small quantity of milk so as to ensure that it isn’t sour. If it is, the milk will split and the rest of the kheer will be safe. In this case you may have to try thickening with malai (cream of milk).
2. The above recipe makes a thick kheer. If you like it thin, please add some more milk towards the end and boil well.

Moong Moth Salad

Salads are the healthiest way to consume our veggies and what can add more to the nutrition than sprouts. This salad is a crunchy munchy hi-protein dish which keeps you feeling full for longer. Yes, calorie conscious people can stop binging in-between meals with the help of this dish. As for others, its just another treat for the taste buds.

Ingredients

• Salt, Black Salt (to taste)
• Juice of one fresh lime
• Pinch of Black pepper powder
• 1/2 cup soaked moong dal
• 1/2 cup soaked masoor dal
• 1/2 cup grated carrot (preferably both red and orange)
• Finely chopped coriander leaves

• 2 tablespoons each of the following vegetables (finely chopped)

• Cabbage
• Cucumber
• Tomatoes
• Radish
• Spring onions

Procedure :

1. Soak moong and moth dal separately overnight.
2. In the morning strain out the water and let it stand for a day or so, till it sprouts.
3. Mix in the finely chopped vegetables. Add White and Black salt, pepper powder, lime juice and mix well.
4. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve chill.

Please NOTE :

Once soaked you need to drain the water out of the sprouts, otherwise it can start smelling of stagnant water.

White Pumpkin Curry

Ingredients :

• 10 medium sized pieces of white pumpkin
• 3 small red chilly flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• Few pieces of fresh coconut
• 3 tablespoons of raw rice
• 2 teaspoons of coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Rai (Big)
• Curry leaves
• 1 cup curds

Procedure :

1. Grind coconut, red chillies and raw rice in the blender with some water.
2. Boil the pumpkin pieces in a vessel with 4 cups of water and haldi powder till the water quantity reduces to half.
3. Once pumpkins are done add the coconut paste and continue to cook for 5 more minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and let pumpkins cool. Add curds and stir well.
5. Heat coconut oil and add rai, curry leaves for the tempering. Mix this into the pumpkin curry.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice.

Please NOTE :

Adding curds to the curry when its hot can make it split. In this curry, we don’t want that to happen. You can heat the curry once its completely done and serve hot with rice.