Credits to this Video goes to my beautiful daughter Ananya Vikram .
I have been getting so many requests from people for short food videos with recipes and finally I decided to give it a shot! I was hesitant only due to the amount of time and effort it takes to put together one of these videos:)
Looking at the bigger picture during lockdown days, I want to be able to contribute to my community and give back even if it is in the most tiniest way possible. So here goes my quick video on how you can cook absolutely pillow soft delicious homemade gnocchi in less than 20 minutes. My recipe is very easy and uses very limited basic pantry items to prepare the Gnocchi.
You may use any sauce with the homemade Gnocchi and it tastes delicious. In this video, I have a basil pesto white sauce combo that my kids love to eat so I have used that. But you can use something as simple as butter and cheese to a marinara or a white sauce depending on your family s preference.
Ingredients for Gnocchi:
1 Large potato
1 Egg whisked well
1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons of Semolina Flour/ Corn Flour/ AP Flour to roll out dough
Baking pan
Pot of boiling water
For the Sauce:
2 Tablespoons Basil Pesto Sauce
1 Tablespoon of Bechamel or White Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan Cheese for garnish
1 Teaspoon of EVOO
Preparation:
Microwave the potato for 5 minutes in a bowl covered to cook it completely. I prefer a microwave since it gives me a dry dough or a mash versus a potato steamed with lot of moisture in it.
Peel and Mash the potato well in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add 1 egg that is whisked well to the dough and mix well.
Add 1/4 cup of AP Flour and mix and knead well to form a dough .
Take a baking pan sprinkled evenly with Semolina or Corn Flour. If you do not have either of these you may use All Purpose/ AP Flour.
Oil both the palms of your hands so the dough does not get sticky.
Roll out and spread the dough in the pan. The Semolina flour helps the dough not to stick to the pan and makes it easy to work with.
Cut the dough into 4 strips and chop these strips into small even pieces.
Take a pot of water and place it in medium flame and keep covered till it boils. Add salt to the boiling water.
Now take small pieces of the chopped dough and press down using a fork to give it some ridges. This step is so the sauces gets into the ridges and helps the gnocchi soak up the sauce it is cooked in.
Toss them in the pot of salted boiling water and cook for about a minute or two until the gnocchi rises up to the top of the pot. Now remove the gnocchi floating on top with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a bowl. Keep aside.
For the sauce, take a pan, add 2 teaspoons of EVOO, salt and pepper to taste, 2 tablespoons of Basil Pesto Sauce and 1 tablespoon of bechamel or white sauce. Mix well and add 1/4 cup of water and wait till the sauce simmers. You may use any sauce to cook your homemade gnocchi with.
Gently place the cooked gnocchi in the sauce when it simmers and cook for about 2 minutes before turning off the flame.
Garnish with Parmesan cheese -optional. You may use basil or pine nuts if you have some for the garnish too.
Bon Appetit!
Credits to this Video goes to my beautiful daughter Ananya Vikram .
I have always looked at meat balls in a sauce and wanted to create the same exact vegetarian or vegan version of it. So here goes:
Ingredients for the spinach balls:
1 cup of spinach finely chopped
1/2 cup potato cooked really well
Spices- turmeric, salt, cayenne, garam masala or curry powder, coriander and cumin seeds crushed-all 1/2 teaspoon
Rice flour- 1tablespoon
Oil for frying- any
Preparation:
Take a big bowl, add all your spices and mix well, add chopped up spinach and toss then throw in the well cooked potatoes and mix with your hands to make a dough. Let it rest in the fridge for a half hour. Once you take it out prior to frying them add 1 tablespoon of rice flour and mix well again. Rice flour gives you that golden brown surface.
Take a frying pan, add oil and you could either deep fry if you like it really golden brown or you could shallow fry and it still tastes delicious.
Ingredients for the Sauce:
Onions- 2 large chopped
1 tsp Ginger garlic paste or 1/2 inch of fresh ginger and 5 cloves of garlic
Green Chili- 2
Tomatoes- 4 diced
Oil
Salt to taste and 1 tsp of turmeric powder and curry powder
Preparation:
Place a pan under medium flame and saute ginger garlic in 1 tablespoon of oil and as soon as garlic starts to turn golden, throw in chopped onions, green chili’s and diced tomatoes along with the spices and salt and let it cook down with a lid to a pasty consistency. Blend this to a sauce with 1/4 cup water and cook for another 5 minutes until simmer and then transfer the spinach balls.
We try and eat healthy for the most part but we are all human:) and love to sink into those delicious goodness of carbs once in a while!
I make a dish which my whole family loves and await for me to finish cooking so they can dig in. Its very popularly called as “Chaat” in India. Its a dish which you find in the streets of Mumbai popularly and I am going to share an easy recipe today with you. ALOO TIKKI CHOLE CHAAT means Potato patties with chickpeas in a curry sauce along with some tamarind sauce and cilantro chutney with chopped up onions as garnish! You may squeeze some lemon for acidity if you like.
Ingredients:
For the potato patties:
Potatoes- 3/4 medium cooked by boiling or steaming peeled
Onions-1, Tomatoes -1, chopped up garlic ginger, 2 cloves, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon powder, 2 cardamoms,
Coconut or any oil
Salt to taste
Cayenne as per spice level
Preparation:
I usually like to boil my potatoes first and peel them and transfer to a bowl which has all the above mentioned spices to make the patties with salt and cayenne in it. I then mash up the potatoes with all the spices until dough like consistency. Then I cover it with a damp paper towel and stick it in the fridge for atleast 3-4 hours.
Now while the potato mix is inside the fridge, I prepare my chick pea or chana curry. You may use canned chickpeas for this. (I soak mine overnight and cook it in a pressure cooker until 3-4 whistles).
Take a pan and add 1-2 tsp of coconut oil over medium flame. Add chopped garlic, onions and saute with all the spices mentioned above for the chickpea curry along with salt and cayenne for about 5 minutes. Now transfer the tomatoes and add 1/4 cup water and cook covered for 5 minutes as well. Add the canned chickpeas and mix well and let it cook for another 5 -10 minutes.
Once this is done, take out a pan and add 2 tsp coconut oil over medium flame. Now is the time i take out my bowl with the potato mix from the fridge and add rice flour. The main reason to adding rice flour is to get perfectly crispy surface. Quick tip- I usually oil palm of my hand and make patties so they dont stick to my hands and slide it on the pan and cook them till the surface is golden brown.
Final step is Plating. If using a bowl, add chickpea curry first, then the patties on top then if available store bought tamarind and cilantro sauce. For garnish – add finely chopped onions for crunch, some green chilis and cilantro leaves.
This is my take on a French dish inspired by Jaques Pepin the legendary French Chef whom I respect and admire a lot. I have been wanting to make this dish for quite some time now and finally found the time and a great recipe for a mouth watering carrot puree.
So here goes:
Ingredients:
For Carrot & Potato Puree:
2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon melted butter/ olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For poached egg:
1 egg
2 teaspoons white vinegar
small bowl
salt to taste
1/2 slice of Brioche bun toasted in olive oil or butter
Preparation of Potato Carrot Puree:
Add the chopped carrots and potatoes in a pot of salted boiling water and cook for about 30 minutes till they turn soft. Then transfer the cooked carrots and potatoes to a food processor. Add mayonnaise, salt, turmeric, ground cumin, garlic powder, curry powder and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle olive oil or butter and process for 20- 30 seconds until creamy.
Preparation of Poached Egg:
First bring water in a saucepan to almost boiling. If the water is already boiling, lower the heat until it is no longer boiling. At this point, you can add one or two teaspoons of vinegar to the water, if you want. The vinegar will help the egg whites to come together more easily.
Crack an egg into a small cup, then place the cup near the surface of the hot water and gently slide the egg into the water. With a spoon, nudge the egg whites closer to their yolks. This will help the egg whites hold together.
Turn off the heat. Cover. Let sit for 4 minutes, until the egg whites are cooked.
Lift eggs out of pan with a slotted spoon.
Plating:
Take a plate and using a spoon place the carrot potato puree in the middle and spread to form a circle. Then place the poached egg on top of the carrot potato puree and the toasted brioche bun on top with some cilantro as garnish.
All of us crave Potatoes fries at some point in our lives lol! I simply crave them the whole time so it was important that I come up with a guilt free recipe that would let me enjoy my craving every single time!
This is such a simple, quick dish and can even be served fancy if you have guests over:) I used Yukon Gold potatoes but you can use any kind- Russet maybe!
I simply peel the skin and chop them into these thin finger lengths and place in a bowl filled with cold water. Wipe them clean with a paper towel whenever ready and arrange them in a baking pan. Sprinkle some salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon pepper, curry powder(of course!!!!) and drizzle some olive oil and mix them evenly.
In goes these puppies for about 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven. Leave it in for 10-15 minutes and then make sure to take them out and flip the finger potatoes and place them back in the oven so that both sides get cooked and crisp up(yum!)
Now time for my SECRET!!! Take 4-5 cloves of garlic with skin on it. Throw in some love with salt and pepper on the garlic pods and generous amount of EVOO. Wrap ’em in foil and place this in the oven for 20 min’s. You can do this the same time you place the potatoes in that way you save some time and both will be ready around the same time you take ’em out!
After you take out the potato fingers out of the oven, you will see them a little crisp, a little brown and little golden!!!!! I love all these three shades in my potatoes:)
Now take out your pocket of love- the garlic!!!!! Be careful while opening the pouch- You will know immediately with the burst of flavors once you start unraveling the foil:) The skin easily sticks out or can be removed. Now crush this garlic that’s smothered with oil infused with salt and pepper! and mix it with your baked finger potatoes.
Nutrition facts: The potato contains vitamins and minerals, as well as an assortment of phytochemicals, such as carotenoids and natural phenols. Although they are known for their carbohydrate content, they are rich in fiber, they are very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol . It is also a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium and Manganese.
Potatoes are good for you as long as you prepare them in a healthy manner. Boiled and baked potatoes are good for you, French fries and potato chips are not.
My kids absolutely love them! Serve it fancy or simple- totally up to you! Enjoy!!!!!
