All posts tagged: Easy

Unbelievably Easy Chicken Lollipops

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‘Let’s meet for dinner’ during my college days, almost always meant ‘Let’s go out for Chinese food’. The décor in all Chinese restaurants was the same – dimly lit with red lanterns and tables covered with a red cotton tablecloth where a single red rose stood proud in a small white ceramic vase. Old timers will remember Continental on Residency Road being one of the upmarket Chinese restaurants. For me it was synonymous with fine dining because (ahem) it had a small waterfall in the entrance!

On Trial – Chef’s Basket Recipe Kits

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Busy lives have a direct correlation to the number of times a packet of Maggi is ripped open for dinner. Unfortunately as I’ve grown older and more conscientious of what goes into my system, the packet of Maggi doesn’t fit into the scheme of things (often at least: P). But a hungry tummy needs to be fed, and though going out for dinner or ordering in seems the most logical option – we can now add one more avenue into the mix. Recipe Kits with a complete set of ingredients and minimal prep and cooking time to rustle up World cuisine at home! Chef’s Basket sent me two of their recipe kits and I put it to the test last week.

Banana, Walnut and Honey Loaf

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I make many variations of Banana Bread at home. It’s easy and the ingredients are always available in my pantry. Add to it the fact that I still haven’t come across a Banana bread that has failed me. That’s a big seller in my repertoire of recipes. You deliver what you promise and I will love your forever. (Take a hint hubby… and random colleagues I work with :P)

Arugula, Cucumber and Pasta Salad

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I hardly find Arugula in the market these days. All the good stuff is siphoned off by restaurants and we are literally left with little or none of this zingy, peppery, salad leaf. So every time I want to eat Arugula or Rocket, I need to go to a fancy restaurant and order their over-priced salads. I know a lot of friends with green thumbs who just scoff at the idea that I don’t grow my own arugula. According to them, it is insanely easy to grow – almost like a ‘salad leaves for dummies’ kinda thing. Unfortunately none of them realize that I have managed to kill even the most resilient cacti, given enough time!

Pasta Aglio Olio to the Rescue

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I don’t know what it is about the 1st of January that everything touches ground zero and everyone has hopes of suddenly turning over a new leaf. And for most people that new leaf is losing weight. Everyone writes down that great resolution and goes on some sort of diet (or at least they start thinking of one). Unfortunately for me, everytime I even think of a diet – I get crabby and mean and generally ill-tempered. So to ensure everyone around me and I stay sane, my easy fix for a more healthy meal is to just cook at home.

Lazy Lunches and Calcutta Egg Rolls

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I get up on Saturdays and have these grand plans of elaborate four course meals that I am going ruffle up complete with menu tags and napkin rings. Unfortunately there has not been a day in the past five years that this ‘plan’ has materialized. A lesser mortal would have been aghast at the failure and made amends as soon as the realization struck. But I’m made of stronger fiber and clearly shake it off and move on with another quick meal Saturday.

Old Fashioned Carrot Cake

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If someone told me a couple of years ago, that I’d be making a carrot cake at home and polishing it off with joy, I would have guffawed. First of all Carrots Cakes are so old fashioned. It reminds me of somebody’s grandmother baking it and inviting her bridge friends over for tea. I don’t really remember ever ordering it myself at the local bakery or even trying to make it at home. If I was offered Carrot Cake at a friend’s place I would vehemently refuse a slice. A Cake with veggies in it was clearly not my idea of dessert.  

Easy Grilled Chicken with Pasta

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The grill pan is one of my favorite kitchen treasures. It lets me (almost) replicate the look and taste of an outside grill, right on my stove-top. I’m all for shortcuts and making life easier, so you well know how this fits into my lifestyle 😉 Another thing that makes life easier is ready-made sauces – for the life of me, I can’t imagine slow simmering some BBQ sauce over 12-14 hours! I have better things to do, like read a juicy cookbook or go grocery shopping for exciting ingredients! Now, there’s two kinds of grocery shopping I indulge in. The first one is running to the local kirana store (doubles up as exercise) for curry leaves or a loaf of bread and the second is where I make a huge list and plan an exciting day at a large and well stocked supermarket. (yes, I’m sad like that). Foodhall @ 1MG Road, has been a regular haunt to pick up all things interesting – wasabi paste…check, gnocchi…check, tarragon vinegar…check, Ras-El-Hanout…check, an elephant…check (ok, just …