Category Archives: Food

Food

Mashed Potatoes Recipe

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Aditi & I have forever been crazy fans of mashed potatoes. I hadn’t cooked anything on the flame other than maggi before (don’t go by the order of posts here) and a (part-successful) attempt at roti prata (aka roti canai). Aditi was out for work on a weekend and I thought of trying this out as it needs very few ingredients. Most indian households will have all of this. Check: oven, baking dish and cream.

Ingredients:

The Final Product
The Final Product
  • 4-5 Potatoes50 grams butter or fat spread
  • Processed or soft Cheese (optional)
  • 1/4th cup milk
  • 2 tbsp cream
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 2 tsp Pepper
  • 2 tsp Chat Masala (to Indianize it)
  • 2 tsp Oregano (optional)

Procedure:

1. Boil potatoes as usual, peel the cover and mash them

2. Pre-heat the oven at 170c. I used the convection function on my microwave

3. Add butter. I used Nutrella fat spread as its cholesterol free, tastes just like Amul butter and provides better binding

4. To keep the recipe low fat, I went easy on the cream, and used more milk instead

5. Grated cheese – processed or mozarella to make it thicker

6. Salt, pepper, chat masala & oregano and mix well to form a consistent mixture

7. Grease (apply butter) to the surface of the baking dish and pour the mixture in it. If you do not plan to eat it right away, apply shrink-wrap to the dish and refrigerate.

8. Bake in the oven for about 40mins at 170c, or until the surface changes color.

9. If you’re making this for your wife or mother, make sure you return the platform spick-n-span 🙂

 

Food

Open-toast pizza recipe

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Sandwiches are my favorite food. I’ve been a subway patron for years. If you need something to accompany mashed potatoes or baked beans, this recipe is a no brainer.

Ingredients:

Open Toast Pizzas with Mashed Potatoes
Open Toast Pizzas
  • Bread slices, 8
  • Sliced capsicum, 2
  • Sliced tomatoes, 2
  • Sliced onions, 2
  • Olives, to your taste (optional)
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Oregano, chilli flakes (optional)
  • Butter or fat spread
  • Processed cheese slices
  • Tomato ketchup
  • My no longer secret sandwich sauce

Procedure:

1. Butter both sides of the bread slices
2. Apply My no longer secret sandwich sauce on one side
3. Place all sliced vegetables: tomatoes, onions, capsicum on top. If you’re not feeling lazy or prefer the vegetables cooked, you can saute them in a pan with some cooking oil, 2 garlic cloves & tomato ketchup/puree.
4. Sprinkle salt, pepper, oregano & chili flakes as per taste.
5. Grate processed cheese or place an entire cheese slice over the toast. Avoid mozarella as it takes longer to melt, and your toasts will be burn.
6. Place them on pan over medium flame and let it toast.
7. Serve with tomato-chilli ketchup.

Food

My no longer secret sandwich sauce recipe

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I always had a fascination of stocking up all the various sauces that they have at Subway. I try to gather as many as I can find. Some at local malls, and the more exotic ones at Crawford Market. And I’ve figured out a wonderful combination of a few of these sauces for myself. They go with almost everything. I’ve tried it with sandwiches, open-toast pizzas and salads.

Ingredients:

  • Mayonnaise, 1 tbsp
  • Honey Mustard Sauce, 1-2 tsp
  • Curry (Tangy) sauce, 1-2 tsp
  • Tomato Ketchup, 2 tbsp
  • Sambal/Schezwan sauce, 1-2 tsp
  • Oregano, 1/2 tsp
  • Milk, 3-4 tsp (for the diet conscious, optional)

Procedure:

Just mix all of these as per your taste. The milk increases quantity sans the fat that mayo adds. Adjust proportions of the honey mustard, tangy & spicy sauces as per your taste.

Its damn simple, and trust it will make your sandwiches fly!

Food

Baked Beans Recipe

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Baked Beans is my favorite part of a continental breakfast. The canned version with haricot beans is easily available in hyper marts and is very close to the original. I had no clue of where to find haricot, so I went ahead with kidney beans. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Preparing the base
Preparing the base
  • Kidney beans, 200 gms
  • Onions, 2
  • Blanched tomato puree or just ketchup
  • Honey, 2 tsp
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Cooking oil, olive or any other vegetable oil
  • Garlic cloves, 2

Procedure:

1. Soak the beans overnight Continue reading Baked Beans Recipe →

Food

What a ‘gluttonous’ weekend I’ve had

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This weekend has been quite different. With Valentine’s day falling on a Sunday, it should have been something for my heart, but instead it was great for my stomach. I had been eating out all the time. The food forced me too take long walks to make place for another meal, and I used it to compile 5 new foodie reviews at Burrp. Do check them out! By the way, did you know that I have a dedicated RSS feed for my food reviews? If not, please do subscribe through your favorite reader!

Food

Coffee with Prasad

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I never spent more than 2 mins on making my coffee: 1 minute to mix coffee, sugar & milk and another to heat it in the microwave. But then I came across a great way of making coffee – by spending 10 mins. Not that I suddenly have more time, but once in a while its good to take interest in something that makes you feel so good. Especially when you want to spend some time talking to your honey 😉

This is how you make it...

Continue reading Coffee with Prasad →

Finance & Accounting, Food

Jaffa Cakes & their VAT exemption

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Jaffa Cake is a popular (& controversial type) of cake in Great Britain. McVitie’s (United Biscuits) is a notable brand selling Jaffa Cakes. It is controversial in the sense of its classification: it is produced as a cake and becomes hard like a (chocolate-covered) biscuit when stale. Incidentally, the former is exempt from VAT while the latter is charged at 15%. This story is about how McVitie’s proved that their product was a cake and never paid VAT.

Continue reading Jaffa Cakes & their VAT exemption →