Veg Casserole

It is that time of the year again. When you want to snuggle into your quilt and watch movies all day long or sleep or well just not study. So I am jealous of all you people out there who do not have to write exams. 

To snuggle you need comfort food. This is when all your mac n cheese, soup pasta, french toast etc come of use. 

Here is another. That you can make and tuck away into your refrigerator to be warmed up and has with buttered bread. Presenting the casserole!

You can add whatever vegetables you want (chicken if you eat meat).

I have here: Green Bell Pepper, Broccoli, Carrots, Yellow Squash and Mushroom. 

You can also add: French Beans, Potatoes, Cauliflower and Zucchini. 

A very important component of a casserole is the cheese. I bought Cheddar from Go Cheese. It isn't at all expensive. The pack you see below is only Rs. 139 a quarter of what you would pay for the imported stuff. The cheese mixes beautifully into the sauce and it smooth and gorgeous.

So chop all the veggies, into bite sized pieces.

Boil the broccoli for 2 mins, saute the carrots in olive oil with basil and garlic.
Then add the bell peppers, saute more, ass the broccoli and the mushrooms.
Close and toss it around for a while till almost cooked.

Make a white sauce and add the cheese, so it becomes a beautiful liquid.

Layer the veggies as desired and pour the sauce on top. Make sure it goes all the way through.

Grate some (a lot) of cheese on top.

Cover and bake on 180 for well 30 minutes.

Then take it out, let it cool or like risk burning your tongue.

Cuddle up and enjoy.

What are your yummy cuddly winter treats? 

Happy! Happy!

Yesterday was a fun day! I was to go for my farewell lunch organised by some friends. See the cake below? That was for me! It was a chocolate fudge cake. It was divine and not too sweet, as sometimes fudge cakes can be. It was soft and moist and gorgeous. 

My friend had borrowed my recipe book for it (i know!) and this was the first cake I had ever baked. I trust this book and all it's recipes with all my heart and I am glad it didn't let her down. 

The top view of the cake. The prettyness courtesy, my arty friend. 

There was also paneer chilli and stir fried noodles. Both were amazing. the noodles was simple and mildly garlicky. The paneer was great, soft and spicy.

Another reason for yesterday being a good day was my friend who was vacationing in the US, came back and with her came my new laptop (Nemo. yes we name inanimate objects) and her gift for me, the gorgeous recipe book you see below.

Her choice was great because all the ingredients are easily and cheaply accessible in India. They even suggest substitutes that can be used, which I find very useful because some books can be pretty obstinate that way. 

Oh the pictures in tho book! AAH! They are so pretty and look so delicate with tea china. I have a secret obsession with tea china since we did a cultural paper on Jane Austen and had to display things from her era. My mother produced this gorgeous tea set from the depths of her kitchen attic complete with miniature victorian paintings on it! (In case you are nit picking, I know Jane Austen didn't write about the Victorian Era, but the tea set looked very English). Also one of our favourite professors who looks as delicate as the tea set herself, fell in love with it. 

What keeps you happy these days?

P.S It is my sister's birthday in a week and I will get to try the new book!

Mother's Day Special: Oreo Pie

Kraft buying Cadbury has to be a good thing. It has made Oreo cheap and widely available in India and I hope that they start producing other range of craft products here too.

My sister and I were obsessing over Oreo's since their recent launch. We would find just about any occasion to buy them. While thinking about making an Oreo inspired dessert, I thought of cheesecake, and while looking for recipes I found this by the Purple Foodie.

The recipe calls for Philadelphia cream cheese which is available in India (supermarkets like Hypercity) but costs a bomb (Rs.400 for 8 ounces). So I decided to make it for the big lunch I made for my friends and also thought it would be fit for mother's day.

Why Mother's Day? Well because after tasting it, my mother who was in a migraine induced half sleep stage, got up and came to me all bright eyed to tell me how awesome it was.

INGREDIENTS: 
Oreos: 45 (I ate 3-4 while preparing the dessert)
8 ounces/ 226gms Cream Cheese
200ml whipping cream
1/4cup melted butter
1/2 cup caster sugar

METHOD

• Crush around 28 cookies.( Make sure there aren't any big pieces left. Use a mixer is necessary.) Mix with butter and line the dish. 
• Beat the cream cheese with the sugar till it is fluffy
• Whip the whipping cream and add it
• Mix in the rest of the crushed cookies
• Pour in the dish and let it set for about 4-5 hours

Make sure you use Philly cream cheese as it gives a slight sour taste to the pie, which is just heavenly. 

Eat, serve and enjoy. Also, you will love the compliments which will come your way.

how we celebrate the end of exams.

The exams are over! I am almost a graduate now, with only a marksheet between me and my degree.

We girls went slightly mad post exams. And what do we do when we go mad? We eat.

Here is what I ate the last two days.

clockwise from left top: Sprouts and green salad with feta cheese at KGC; Homemade Pizza; Penne Pesto; Oreo Pie

The salad was at Kala Ghoda Cafe, which was brilliant! I loved the Feta cheese. 

The rest three I made at home for my girlfriends. Recipes to follow!  

Celebration: Devil's Food cakcupcakes with an Oreo icing

After an year of studying for and dreaming about my post-graduation I have finally managed to secure admission to MICA! I was am still ecstatic and can't believe I will be moving out in around 2 months.

I knew I had to celebrate, even though I am supposed to be studying for my exams. Celebration is equivalent to baking for me, and my new muffin tray was calling out to me to be used. Also the fact that Oreos are now cheaply available here, and have caught my recent fancy, meant that I just had to bake cupcakes with something Oreo.

I decided to bake a Devil's Food cake cupcake with a Butter Cream Oreo icing.

For my cupcakes I used my trusty-never-fail-go-to-guy, Sanjeev Kapoor. Here's the recipe from his site.

The baking time for cupcakes was around 20 minutes. It really depends on your oven. They were the softest cakes i have ever had/baked. they felt like cotton when I took them out. 

A good thing about them is that, post refrigeration they get your slightly dense cupcakes consistency. Also, I think if the cakes are so soft you can go ahead and add hidden surprises in the cupcakes, like mini-oreos, chocolates, chocolate chips without altering the recipe at all. 

I made the Butter Cream Oreo Icing myself. 

As you all can see I suck at icing. I couldn't find my piping bag and any ziplock bags, so had to be content with smearing icing onto them with a spatula. 

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients: 

7 oreos (or 1 small packet)

100 grams salted or unsalted butter (I used salted)

4 tbsps of icing sugar (I am sure normal powdered sugar will do just as well)

Method: 

• Cream the butter and sugar till they are creamy and light
• powder oreos in your mixer/food processor/beat them by hand to desired crumbliness
• Mix Oreo and butter mix 

TADA! 

It really is that simple. This icing is really rich. If you want a lighter one you can add egg whites to it. 

My family and friends gobbled them up in no time. 

I also got a big envelope (they couldn't find a bag) full of assorted chocolates from my friends. I guess they know what exams do to me. 

I can't wait for the farewell parties to begin. ;)

So, what are your recent food obsessions?

P.S: A shoutout to Siddhartha for the header. I will send a lot of cupcake love your way. 

"life needs frosting" - Cinnabon

I love Cinnamon. I love the texture of the bark, the colour, the smell and spicy after-taste, in short everything.

I secretly wish my future boyfriend smells of cinnamon, because the last time I baked a Cinnamon cake, I didn't wash my hands well because I loved the lingering smell of Cinnamon. So one can only imagine what will happen if I come across someone who actually does smell of cinnamon.

So now that everyone knows how loco I am about Cinnamon, I just lost it when I saw Cinnabon on the way to our PUKAR meeting. On our way back I made the autowallah stop while I went in and bought my very first Cinnamon roll from the very famous Cinnabon. 


I have had Cinnamon buns before. But at Theos (Theobroma) there wasn't any frosting (I know!) and I had heard so much about Cinnabon. So, I was very excited when she went all happy on the frosting.

Source: internet. For representational purposes only.

I wasn't let down at all. It wasn't overtly sweet. It was very spicy at times. So yes, it was perfect!

Now all I need is that cinnamon perfume I have been looking for and a guy who smells of Cinnamon.

So what spice or smell of food turns you on the most?