Hot and Sour Soup

You need
1/4 cup each Shredded cabbage,carrots,french beans,cauliflower and capsicum
1/4 cup tofu cut into 2" long strips
2 tbsp oil
5 cups water
5 tbsp corn flour dissolved in 1 cup water
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp soy sauce
3/4 tsp chili sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
salt to taste


Heat oil in a saucepan,add veggies.Stir fry on high flame for 2 mins. Add water,cornflour mix,pepper,soy sauce,chili sauce, vinegar,sugar and salt. Bring to boil, stirring continuously and simmer for a minute. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.

My tip:
Add egg to the soup. Lightly beat 2 eggs and pour it in a thin stream to the boiling soup.Stir briskly till the egg separates into shreds.Turn off heat immediately.Garnish and Serve.

Tomato Sev sabzi

This is my hubby's creation :)

You Need
1 onion chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
All masalas available (yeah, men!)
1 tbsp mc seeds
1 tbsp oil
2 cups water
1.5 cups Sev

Heat oil in a pan. Add mc seeds and allow to splutter.
Add onions and tomatoes (again, men!)
Bombard all masalas 1 tbsp each into this.
Add water and let boil forever :) i mean sanely 20 mins.
Put Sev just before serving. This goes well with rice.

Classic Spritz Cookies

You Need
3.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1.5 cups butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

Preaheat oven to 350F
In bowl, combine flour and baking powder
In mixer, blend butter,sugar.Add milk,vanilla and blend again.
Knead properly with flour.
Fill the dough in cookie press and place desired disk.
Press cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 mins or until edges are light brown.
Cool 2 mins on cookie sheet on cooling rack.
Fill in airtight container.

You can have a variation by adding chocolate bits and walnut powder to the dough.
Here is how tht looks :

Naan

You Need:
2 cups of All Purpose flour (Plain flour or maida)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of baking soda
2 tablespoons of oil
2 1/2 tablespoons yogurt (curd or dahi)
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon of butter or ghee to butter the Naan
1/4 cup All Purpose flour for rolling

Dissolve active dry yeast in lukewarm water and let it sit for 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes frothy.
Add sugar, salt and baking soda to the flour and mix well.
Add the oil and yogurt mix, this will become crumbly dough.
Add the water/yeast mixture and make into soft dough.Note: after dough rise will become little softer.
Knead until the dough is smooth. Cover the dough and keep in a warm place for 3-4 hours. The dough should almost be double in volume.
Heat the oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone for at least thirty minutes so stone is hot. Using a pizza stone will help to give naan close to same kind of heat as clay tandoor.
Next turn the oven to high broil.
Knead the dough for about two to three minutes and divide the dough into six equal parts.
Take each piece of dough, one at a time, and roll into 8-inch oval shape. Dust lightly with dry flour to help with the rolling.
Before putting the Naan in oven, lightly wet your hands and take the rolled Naan, and flipp them between your palms and place onto your baking/pizza stone into the oven.
You can place about 2 Naan on the baking/pizza stone at a time. The Naan will take about 2 to 3 minutes to cook, depending upon your oven. After the Naan is baked(Naan should be golden brown color on top).
Take naan out of the oven and brush lightly with clear butter or ghee.
wait 2 to 3 minutes before baking the next batch of naan. It gives oven the chance to get heated again to max.
Serve Naan with Daal, Chola, Palak Paneer or any vegetable. Enjoy!

Strawberry PunchBowl Cake

This one was a hit @ Christmas party.Easy to prepare for huge quantities.

You Need
* 1 box yellow cake mix, prepared according to box
* 1 box instant vanilla pudding, prepared according to box
* 1 large can crushed pineapple, drained
* 2 cans cherry pie filling
* 6 bananas
* 1 large (12 ounce) container whipped topping
* 2 cups strawberries

Preparation:
In punch or trifle bowl, crumble one layer of cake, spoon 1/2 pudding over cake, add 1/2 can pineapple, then 1 can cherry pie filling, slice 3 bananas on top.
Repeat layers.
Spoon whipped topping over top and decorate with sliced strawberries.

Molten Chocolate Cake with Icecream

One of the most ordered when v eat out.

You Need
For Cake
1 18.25-ounce box chocolate fudge or dark chocolate cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

1 bottle Hershey hot fudge topping
8 scoops vanilla ice cream
Hershey Chocolate syrup


1. Make cake batter 'following directions on the box and pour 1/2 cup of batter into the greased cups of a large (Texas size, muffin pan. If your pan has six cups, bake the cakes in two batches of 4 cakes each. Turn all of the cakes out of the pan and let them cool.


2. Traditionally, the cakes will be served upside down, but I prefer it straight. A serrated sandwich knife works best for this. Use a sharp paring knife to cut out a 1 1/2-inch diameter cylindrical chunk in the center of the top of each cake. The hole should be about 1 1/2-inches deep. After slicing straight down into the cake in a circle, scoop out the chunk of cake with a teaspoon and discard the piece. Now you have a secret compartment to conceal the hot fudge payload.

3. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of fudge into each of the holes you've made in the cakes, then store the cakes in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

4. When you are ready to serve, heat one cake at a time in the microwave for 40 to 45 seconds on high, or until you see the fudge begin to bubble. Remove the cake from the microwave and let it rest for 30 seconds or so, then place a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the cake. Pour a coating of Magic Shell chocolate topping over the ice cream and serve.

Makes 8 desserts.

Banana Bread

You Need

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour


Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.
Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.
Add the flour last, mix.
Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. I just have a 9 inch pie pan so used that.
Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack.
Remove from pan and slice to serve.