Recently we grew our own mushrooms thanks to Yash's uncle (Here is his website http://swethamushroom.wordpress.com/) who gave us a mushroom kit. All we had to do was sprinkle some water every day to the pre- prepared kit that he had made and in 3 weeks we had these awesome mushrooms. This variety is called Milky mushrooms and tastes much better than the normal button mushrooms which I was used to buying. 




 

  






































Here is the recipe of the sauteed mushrooms which we cooked with these mushrooms.


Method

1. Shred the mushroom into thin strips. This gives a much better texture to the dish than cutting it with a knife...almost like the texture of chicken
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in a pan. 
3. Add finely minced garlic (7-8 flakes) and fry it. When soft, add the mushrooms and stir
4. You need to cook this on high flame as the mushroom tends to release water
5. Saute for 5- 10 mins till the mushroom is well coated and looks cooked. Add salt according to taste.
6. You can garnish it with red chilli flakes and some dried herbs like rosemary. You can dribble some extra virgin olive oil too, to add to the flavor.

Have been experimenting with different salad dressings recently. Here is one I made today which was extremely tasty. The flavors linger on far after you have devoured the salad :)





Method

1. Cut baby tomatoes, onion, cucumber into thin slices. Shred iceburg lettuce leaves  and mix them all well. Add bean sprouts - all proportions according to your tastes and likes.
2. Now make a dressing in another bowl. For this take a mortar and pestle and grind 4 garlic pods and 2 chillies. Add this to the bowl. Add 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp fish sauce, 2 tsp honey, juice of 1 lemon and salt. 
3. Mix them well and pour them on the salad. Serve with coarsely ground peanuts
4. I added some  some pepper and ground chilli flakes for additional taste.

I was not a fan of hummus until we went to UK. I ate some store bought ready to eat hummus for breakfast and started developing a taste for it. Cook it often  these days as a starter or even as an evening snack. Like to eat it for breakfast too.

Here is my recipe ...

Method

1. Soak 1 cup of chickpeas overnight. Pressure cook in 3 cups of water for 3 whistles. Cool it and keep aside
2. Take 2 tsp til (sesame seeds) in a grinder. Add 4 pods of garlic, 2 tsp curd and the boiled chickpeas and grind to a coarse paste.
3. Remove from the grinder and adjust the salt, Add juice of half a lemon, 2-3 tsp olive oil 
4. Sprinkle ground red chilli flakes and serve with Pita bread.

I also like to eat it as a spread with whole wheat bread for breakfast. This also tastes as a good dip to eat with freshly cut cucumbers and carrots.

I love bhindi !! Though I have cooked this recipe many times, I realised I had never put it on the blog. So her goes.


Method

1. Wash and dry 1/2 kg okra and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Trim the ends and cut them into 1 inch pieces and keep aside.
2. Wash and pat dry 2 medium sized potatoes, peel off the skin and again cut into cube sized pieces.
3.  Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and saute the okras and the potatoes till almost cooked. Add some salt while sauteing.Stir occasionally to ensure it doesn't stick to the pan. Remove the okra and the potatoes and keep aside
4. In the same pan, add 1 tsp cumin seeds and a pinch of asafoetida. Add some grated ginger and fry for a minute. Now add 2 onions chopped into thin longish slices and sweat them till they are nice and pink. Add a pinch of salt while doing this. Now add 1 tsp till seeds. Add 1 tsp chilli powder, pinch of haldi, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp amchur powder and 1 tsp garam masala and mix well and fry for 2 mins. Now add the okra and potatoes. I also threw in 1 onion chopped into  4 pieces with the florets separated. Now mix well, cover partially and allow to cook for 10 mins on a slow flame.
5. Adjust the salt and serve with chapatis.