Homemade Pizza From Scratch

Hi everyone,

Who does not like Pizza? The delicious crust, the tangy sauce, the juicy toppings & the cheesy crust mmmmmmm. But what stops us from enjoying this delicacy is the extra fat from the fast food chains & let's not forget, its never easy on the pocket as well.

Like everyone me & my family tried to make the pizza at home, but we always got the base from outside. Now that base is as good as a pita bread / Big bread slice depending on where you get it from. I always wanted to make the pizza from scratch at home & my latest purchase, my beloved oven made it possible for me.

So without further delay,
Here's a simple easy to follow recipe.

Makes 2-3 medium size Pizzas
Preparation time 2-2.5 hours
Cooking time - 20-30 mins

For The Dough :

2 tsp active dry yeast
1.5 cups all purpose flour (maida) or whole wheat flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup warm water (it should be warm enough to dip your pinky in, too hot & the yeast won't rise)

Add sugar, salt & yeast to the warm water & mix gently. Cover it up & leave it undisturbed for 10-12 mins. Try to use a transparent cover so that you can check whether yeast is bubbling or not without disturbing the cup.
PS - If your yeast has not foamed & bubbled, it won't raise so start again with new yeast.

Take the dry flour in a large mixing bowl & add the oil & the yeast water.
Start kneading the dough similar to how you would knead it while making Roti / Chapati / Bread.
If needed use a little extra water. Knead the dough until it's smooth & elastic for 3-4 mins.

Take a ziplock bag & oil the insides well. Now rub olive oil on the dough nicely & place it in the ziplock bag. Leave it in a dry & warm place, I kept it inside my oven itself. Leave the dough undisturbed for at least 2 hours. By this time the dough will have doubled in size.

Rolling out the Dough:

Place the dough on your rolling board & divide it into 2-3 pieces.
Dust your rolling board with a moderate helping of flour & gently start rolling it out like a Roti / Chapati.
For Thin crust pizza - Roll out your dough till it is as thick as a well stuffed Aaloo Paratha
For Thick crust pizza - Roll out your dough till it is as thick as 1.5-2 well stuffed Aaloo Parathas

For The Sauce:
1/2 medium size chopped tomato
1/2 medium size finely chopped onion
3-4 cloves of grated garlic
1/4 tbsp pizza mix herbs / pasta mix herbs OR make a combination of dry basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme or any herb you like
1/4 tbsp dry garlic powder
1/4 tbsp mustard sauce
1/2 tbsp crushed black pepper
1/2 cup tomato ketchup 
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste
Water to get the desired consistency 

Take a nonstick pan & add olive oil & garlic to it (add garlic to the cold oil itself to get the best flavour out of it). Once the garlic starts to sizzle add in the finely chopped onions, cook the onions till they become translucent. Add in the tomatoes & salt, cook till the tomatoes get pulpy & start separating.
Add in the dry spices & cook for about a minute followed by ketchup & mustard.
Cook for 2-3 mins & add water. Reduce the sauce to the desired consistency (It should be more or less like runny ketchup for easy spreading.)

The Toppings:
This is a step which depends on your taste.
You can cut some toppings small, some big, do them anyway you like.

I went for a capsicum, mushroom, jalapeño & chicken sausage topping.
I sautéed the mushrooms & capsicum lightly in the pan that I had used to make the sauce. This helped  give my mushrooms & capsicum another dimension of flavour. The jalapeños & chicken sausages were cut into small bite size pieces.

Layering the Pizza:
Preheat the oven to 180 degree C for 8-10 mins with all the four rods elements on.

Dust your baking sheet with some flour & place your rolled out pizza base on it directly. (Alternatively you can also roll out your base & place it on the butter paper & then layer, this step avoids mess & prevents the base from burning. )Add a generous helping of the sauce & spread it all over the base. Make sure to leave half inch space around the edges. Put all your toppings & then top with cheese. Optionally you can brush the non sauce covered area of the base with some olive oil / Garlic oil for the extra flavour. 
Remember to do this as quickly as you can & do not let your topped pizza sit on the tray as it may lead to soggy pizzas.

Place the baking dish in the oven & cook with all four rods on for 7-8 mins or till your pizza starts to shrink a little. Switch to top 2 heating rods & cook for 3-4 mins or till the outer crust starts to develop a little color. Take out your pizza from the oven & drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil.

Your home made pizza is ready to be eaten :)
Making pizza at home may sound complicated but its really easy.
Do try this recipe & let me know how it works out.

Happy Cooking :)

Simple Quick & Easy Palak Paneer

Hi everyone, it's been a long time since I have added anything here. Basically I am adding the recipes which I have perfected. Being a young working women, I am not always able to make my recipes perfect.

Ingredients : (for 2 people)

One Spinach (Palak) bunch

2 medium sized tomatoes / 1 big tomato

2 medium sized Onions / 1 big Onion

3,4 garlic cloves

1/2 inch ginger piece.]

1-2  Green chillies (as per taste, but do use one at least)

Panner (according to preference, I have used 200 gms)

1 tbsp jeera for tampering

1-2 tbsp ghee or 3-4 tbsp oil

1/4 tbsp of red chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder & garam masala

Salt to taste

Preparations

Thinly slice the onions & keep aside. Remember the thinner they are, the better the taste :)

Wash the tomatoes & keep aside. Basically we need to blanch the tomatoes.

This can be done in two ways, either we put them in boiling hot water or cook them for 2-3 mins in microwave. The important thing to remember here is, before we proceed with blanching, we need to remove the top green part & on the bottom side we need to make very thin cuts in a cross shape. This is to loosen the skin of the tomatoes so that they are easier to peel.

So once we have prepared our tomatoes we need to blanch them & then set them aside for at least 10 mins so that they get cooled.

Once the tomatoes have cooled down, take out the skin as much as you can.

Add the blanched tomatoes, garlic, ginger & green chillies to a blender or chopper & process till its a smooth paste.

Now for the spinach-

We need to cut off the roots & wash it properly.

Next we need to take about 100-150 ml (small cup) of water & heat it in a vessel.

Once the water is hot we add the washed spinach to it & cover with a lid.

The idea here is to partly steam & not exactly boil the spinach, boiling the spinach takes out most of the flavour so we should use as little water as we can.

Once the spinach is reduced to half & still looks green, we need to turn off the flame & let it cool.

Once cool, we need to grind it to a fine paste in the blender or chopper. If you need additional water, use the one in which we boiled the spinach.

Take the paneer out & dunk it in warm water if you have time.

Otherwise just cut into small cubes.

Some people like to fry the panner a little in ghee/butter/oil to. I avoid this part for some health reasons but it really enhances the taste :)

Cooking:

Take a kadhai & add the ghee/oil to it.

Once the ghee is hot, add the jeera, please ensure that the jeera floats up in the ghee otherwise it will taste a little raw.

Next add the thinly sliced onions & cook them till their edges start turning a little brown.

Next add the blanched tomato, garlic, chilly ginger mixture & Salt

Cook till the mixture starts to leave the ghee / oil.

Add the pureed spinach to the mixture & mix well. Cook for less then 1.5 mins & add the paneer cubes.

Mix everything and cook for less then 2 mins on medium flame.

Turn off the flame & cover the kadhai with a lid. (this helps keep the paneer soft & palak green & the curry is cooked in its own heat)

Open the lid after 10 mins & your yummy Palak Paneer is ready to be served!

Some people like to top it off with a spoon full of malai or lemon juice to :)

It's very simple & will not take more then 20 mins from start to finish.

Tastes excellent with roti or paratha.

Do let me know how this recipe worked out for you & Happy Cooking :)

Pav Bhaji- Street Style

Ingredients:
Vegetables: Capsicum, Green Chillies, Onion, Beetroot, Tomato, Gobhi, Yellow & Green Peas, Boiled Potatoes, Ginger Garlic Paste, Fresh Coriander.
Spices: Pav Bhaji Masala, ,Turmeric, Red Chilly powder, Kasuri Methi.
Butter, Buns.

Method:
Boil yellow peas (soaked over night) & potatoes with some salt and keep aside Take 2,3 tbsp of butter in the cooking vessel and cook capsicum & green chillies(without seeds) till capsicum is done
Add the boiled yellow peas & green peas, cook till they are tender
Next add finely chopped onions & ginger garlic paste,
Add finely chopped tomatoes & beetroot, salt and cook till tomato melts, mash everything up
Add boiled mashed potato & add water
Add a little chopped coriander while the water is boiling along with pav bhaji masala & some kasuri methi
Keep Mashing till you get the desired consistency 
Turn off the flame & garnish with chopped coriander & half lemon juice.

For the bun, sprinkle some pac bhaji masala over it before toasting in butter

Serve with finely chopped onion & a wedge of lemon

Italian Omelette / Frittata in A Pan

Hi Everyone, 
I realise I have neglected this blog and cooking for a long time now and its making me sad. So here I am, back to my kitchen and now I have decided I will cook something nice every week no matter what and will share my recipes & experiences here. Hope you all like it :)

So today I will be sharing the recipe of Italian omelette ( Frittata). This is a simple dish and makes an awesome breakfast/brunch. Goes really well with simple wheat toast for breakfast or with pasta as brunch on those lazy sunday mornings.

So here's the recipe

Ingredients (for two servings)

3 Fresh Raw eggs
Milk (equal to one egg)
Fresh chopped vegetables, according to taste (I have used Capsicum, Onion, Tomato and garlic. You can also add mushrooms, Zucchini, Broccoli, Parsley, Spinach or pretty much any vegetable you like)
1 tbsp cheese (i have used cheese spread as its readily available)
1/2 tbsp Italian herbs (Basil, Oregano, Parsley etc etc, I have just used Pasta mix which is a premixed mixture of all the italian herbs readily available in market)
1 pinch of black pepper
1 pinch roasted cumin powder
Salt to taste
Olive Oil to taste

Method:

Heat some olive oil in a deep flat pan and add the garlic, let them fry in the oil till they start getting golden spots.
Next add in the onions and wait till they get translucent.
Add in the chopped capsicum and any other vegetable you want to add except for tomatoes and mushroom. Mix everything well and cook for about 30secs.
Next add the chopped tomatoes and mushroom and cook for 20 secs
Sprinkle the herbs all over the vegetables followed by cheese.

Mix everything well and cook till cheese completely melts and coats the vegetables.

Beat the Eggs, Milk, Pepper Powder, Roasted Cumin powder and salt together nicely and pour all over the vegetables in pan. do not mix, the egg mixture will find its way between the vegetables, dont worry about it.

Now cover the pan with a lid and leave for about a minute.
Remove the lid and check if the lower side of Omelette is cooked.

Now this part is a little difficult, since the Omelette is so big, its really difficult to flip it over with out breaking it, so i cut the Omelette into four pieces and then flip each piece. 

Cover again with the lid and cook on low flame for about a minute or as desired.

Tada!! your delicious brunch is now ready to be enjoyed :)

   
Serve with some fresh Juice or Hot coffee along with Wheat Toast or Pasta. 

So go ahead, try this delicious, quick and easy to make Italian Omelette and enjoy a delicious breakfast/Brunch :)

If you have any comments pls feel free to post them. Good or bad I would love to hear them all :)

So have fun and happy cooking everyone :)

Golden Rules & Tips for cooking!!

Hi friends,
Here I will be posting all the useful, essential handy time saving and taste savouring tips for cooking. You know how there are these small small things which matter so much for cooking. So here's a list of all such secrets. Feel free to share your secrets too here :)

1. Oil: any oil should be smoked first before adding any ingredient to it. 
It greatly enhances the flavour, makes the cooking faster and reduces the heavy oily feeling. If you all remember our grand ma's always used to do this for all the oil before storing it away, now a days we don't do that coz of lack of time, but make sure u smoke the oil before cooking. You will feel the difference :)

2. Herbs: Should always be crushed in between warm palms before adding to food.
Be it italian herbs like basil, oregano, indian herbs like kasuri methi etc, always crush them between ur palms and add to the food. The heat produced by rubbing between our palms enhances the flavour. A simple quick & good trick

3. Fresh herbs: Should not be cut if possible
Cutting the herbs with knife makes them loose their color and a bit a flavour on our chopping board itself. Instead tear the leaves apart with your own hands. It feels good and tastes better.

4: Whole spices: Should always be dry roasted first
The whole spices we use are often kept in storage for long time. So before we start using them, just dry roast them till you start getting their aroma and then pound them using pestel & mortar or add just like that to the dishes, you will see that the taste of spices has been greatly enhanced. 
P.S in practical day to day life this step is hard to do coz of lack of time, so just fry your whole spices in hot oil before you add any vegetable, this improves the taste to :)

5. Tea: Should also be given passive heat
Never add tea leaves to the water/milk mixture with the heat still on, the heat burns the leaves and gives an odd bitter/burnt taste. Traditionally hot water was brought in kettle and tea was added then, these days we just make the quick fix tea, so what's the solution, heat the water/milk/flavour mixture and bring to boil, with the flame still on add the desired amount of tea leaves and immediately turn off the heat, cover with a lid which covers the vessel completely and leave for a min. After that drain the leaves, this gives a nice delicate tea flavour. I know this works coz I used to make bad tea, always used to burn it, but with this trick I get just the right flavour :)

I'll keep updating here and looking forward to getting to know more & more handy tips from all you.
till then,  

If you have any comments pls feel free to post them. Good or bad I would love to hear them all :)
So have fun and happy cooking everyone :)

Quick & Easy Spaghetti / Pasta !

Hi everyone,
Lately I have had lots of work at office, as a result of which when I come back home, I am just too exhausted to cook anything with a long recipe.

So I make this 10-15mins time taking spaghetti. Its easy, quick, filling & delicious!

So here's the recipe

Ingredients: (for one serving)
Spaghetti ( use any number you like, for one person about 20-30 should be good enough, but its a personal choice)
1 medium sized onion
3-4 peeled cloves of garlic
Italian herbs ( I use this pre mixed mixture of pasta herbs, its easily available in the market, else one can use basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, if fresh herbs are available its even better :)  )
olive oil
1 tbsp cheese (optional use 3-4 tbsp cheese if you like it cheesy :)  )
4 big tbsp ketchup / tomato sauce
1 tbsp any ready made italian sauce ( i like primavera sauce, you can use any red sauce available, trust me using these sauces save a lot of time)

Optional ingredients: (veg)
Capsicum, mushroom, corn, carrots, spinach, basically any vegetable you wanna add. Cut them in small pieces or any way you like
note: if using broccoli or brussel sprouts, dont cook them, add them just 2-3 mins before serving the pasta, else they develop a weird bitter taste

Optional ingredients: (non-veg)
sausages, shredded/diced meat, boiled egg whites
note: if using sausages, add them just 2-3 mins before turning the flame off. There is no harm adding the sausages before, its just then they loose all their flavour. Adding towards the end helps retain their own flavour & yet it absorbs the juices for enough time to blend in.

Method:

Cut the onion in long thin slices, crush the garlic and cut the other vegetables as you like, just make sure the pieces are not too big.

Break the spaghetti into half if you dont have a vessel big enough to boil it. Now we all know boiling pasta takes a lot of time, so I have a short cut, boil the pasta in a pressure cooker with the whistle on, as soon as you get the first whistle, immediately put the cooker under running water till you can open the cooker. Drain the spaghetti / pasta in a strainer taking off all the water, coat with one table spoon oil. It saves a lot of time n the pasta is just al dente (to the bite)

While the spaghetti gets boiled in the pressure cooker, heat about 2-3 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan. As soon as the oil starts to smoke, add the crushed garlic cloves followed after 5secs by long thin sliced onions. cook the onions till they start to shrivel a bit. Add in the herbs and let them fry a little in the garlic onion oil mixture.

Add the tomatoes n 1/4 tbsp sugar & wait till tomatoes start dissolving.

Next add the cut vegetables and meat/eggs and cook them till they are also al dente. If using boiled meat/eggs, add them after the vegetables are al dente as they dont need much cooking.

Add the spaghetti to the mixture and mix well with all the ingredients. Add in the cheese and keep mixing till all cheese has melted and has coated the vegetables and spaghetti.

Now add the chosen pasta sauce and mix well and let it stay for 30 secs.

Next add the tomato ketchup/readymade pasta sauce and mix. Follow by 1 cup of water ( the quantity should be such that 1/8th of the spaghetti gets covered, our aim is to form a sauce which isn't too liquidy but at the same time the pasta should not feel dry.) Add salt to taste. 

Bring to a boil as you constantly keep mixing, add the sausages if using any.

Turn off the heat and add broccoli / brussel sprouts and mix.

Now is the time to get a bowl and enjoy a delicious easy to cook meal. Tadaa!!

I just use the garlic & onions & sometimes frozen corn to cook after coming from office, & trust me folks, it tastes  really good!

So go ahead, try this basic, quick and easy to make spaghetti :)

If you have any comments pls feel free to post them. Good or bad I would love to hear them all :)
So have fun and happy cooking everyone :)

Easy to make sheera/ kesari bhath/ suji ka halwa/ semolina pudding

Hi friends,

I am writing after many days. Finding very little time to write as the work keeps me really busy.
So here I am posting about the easy to make & good to eat sheera.

Its a very good breakfast and since it takes just 10-15 mins to make, its a good choice for when in hurry :)

Ok so let's get started!

Ingredients:
Suji/ rawaa/ semolina
ghee
milk
water
1-2 cardamoms
sugar
Turmeric/ Saffron (To give color)

Time: 10-15 mins

Now as you all would have noticed, I have not specified the quantity, well for this delicacy, there is a ratio, remembering which goes a long way :)

its: 1 cup suji-1 cup sugar-3 cups milk-1 cup water - 2tbsp ghee

Method:

Take a deep bottomed pan ( preferably non stick) and add the suji and powdered cardamom, you can add cardamom at the end to. Add the pinch of turmeric now if you are using it, if using saffron soak it in milk n add when you add milk.
Roast the suji for about 3-4 mins till you just start getting the aroma of roasted suji. Add the ghee now and mix well with the suji.

Now some recipes say you should boil the milk/water and then add sugar to it, but honestly who has all this time, so here's my effective shortcut

Once the suji is roasted, add in the milk and water and keep stirring the mixture constantly. If any big lumps are there, try to break them with the spatula but keep stirring, the lumps dissolve sooner or later. Keep stirring for 2-3 mins like that and then add the cup of sugar and keep mixing and stirring constantly. No stopping the stirring folks, that's the key :)

Now the mixture will come to a boil so be careful while stirring, in a minute or two you will see that the whole mixture starts moving in the pan more or less like one big mass. Now that's the point when you can turn off the flame n tadaa!! :D

Sprinkle with some powdered cardamom and coconut and enjoy :)
P.S if you wanna add dry fruits like resins, cashew nut, almonds etc, put them in while you add ghee, no need to fry, roasting them in ghee along with suji gives them a nice delicate flavour and does not make them heavy.

So here it was, the easy and quick to make sheera/ suji ka halwa/ kesari bhath/ semolina pudding.


If you have any comments pls feel free to post them. Good or bad I would love to hear them all :)
So have fun and happy cooking everyone :)