Pizza (Peeza) Recipe

Ingredients:

For 2 pizzas

• pizza base 2 ( i used ready made ones)
• 2 cheese cubes
• 2 medium size tomatoes
• 1 medium size onion
• 1 small capsicum
• 1/2 tsp ginger garlic pastepinch of cumin seeds
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 4 tsp tomato sauce
• salt to taste
• oil to cook
• butter as required
• coriander leaves (optional)

Method:

1. Cut tomatoes , onion and capsicum into very small pieces
2. Heat oil in a kadai , Add cumin seeds and onion.
3. When onion is little pink , add ginger garlic paste
4. Cook it onion is little brown
5. Now add cut tomatoes and capsicum , chili powder and cook it till they are really soft.
6. Add tomato sauce. cook this masala for 10 to 15 mins on a low flame , (make sure its dry and no tomato water is there.) when it starts leaving oil , its ready
7. You can add little butter to this masala if you feel like
8. Add few coriander leaves (optional)
9. Now apply little butter on the pizza base , it should be on the bottom side which will be placed on tawa, so that it does not stick.
10. Now spread the masala on the on the pizza , sprinkle cheese and as shown in the below image cover it with the lid. cook it for 4 to 5 mins.
11. Keep checking the pizza bottom to make sure its not burning or sticking.
12. Ready to serve

Tips:

• You can add many other vegetables to it.
  
• You can add green chili sauce instead of red chili powder

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Chicken Karahi (Chikin Karrahe) Recipe

Ingredients

• 6 garlic cloves
• 1/3 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
• 2 cups Spanish onions, diced
• 2 1/2 cups tomatoes, diced
• 2 green chili peppers, diced
• 6 tablespoons fresh cilantro (including stems)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 15 whole coriander seeds
• 7 whole cloves
• 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
• 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon garam masala
• 1/4 tablespoon turmeric
• 1/2 tablespoon salt (to taste)
• 1/4 tablespoon green cardamoms
• 1 tablespoon ground red chili pepper

Directions

1. Prepare all ingredients before cooking.
2. Slice thinly the 6 garlic cloves.
3. Dice or chop the onions, tomatoes, peppers, and cilantro and keep seperate.
4. Add ½ cup of oil (preferably ½ vegetable, ½ olive) to karai (wok) over med heat and warm.
5. Add 15 whole coriander seeds and 7 whole cloves.
6. After about 45 seconds, add 2 lbs of cubed boneless chicken. Stir until most of the outside of the chicken is not raw.
7. Add the sliced garlic, ginger, juice of ¼ lime, onion, and tomatoes and stir to combine.
8. Cook 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are softened.
9. Add spices: 1 tablespoon ground coriander, 1 tablespoon garam masala, ¼ tablespoon turmeric, ½ tablespoon of salt (to taste), ¼ tablespoon green cardamom, 1 tablespoon (more or less to taste) ground hot red chili pepper.
10. Add half of the cilantro, a pinch of the green chili peppers, and cook for a few more minutes.
11. Plate and garnish with the remaining cilantro and Serve.

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Chicken Kabab (Chicken Kebab) Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 skinless and boneless chicken breast (about 12 oz.)
• 1/2 green bell pepper (cut into big cubes)
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper (cut into big cubes)

Marinate:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon paprika (if you like spicy, use 1 teaspoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
• 1/4 of one small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves (or dried parsley)

For Grilling:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (for brushing)

Method:

1. Cut the chicken into small cubes (a total of 16 pieces if you will), pat dry and marinate with the ingredients for 1 hour.
2. Thread four pieces of chicken meat with two pieces each of green bell pepper and yellow pepper (see the picture above for the order) onto a metal skewer or bamboo skewer.
3. Repeat the same and make four skewers. Set aside.
4. Fire up your outdoor grill (or indoor grill) and grill the chicken kebab until cooked.
5. While grilling, brush the chicken and bell peppers with olive oil. Serve hot.

Note:

• If you use bamboo skewers, soak them in cold water overnight so they don’t get burned during the grilling process.

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Vegetables Pulao (Vegitabls Palao) Recipe

Ingredients:

• - 1 cup basmati rice (soaked in warm water for 30 minutes)
• - 2 cups mixed chopped vegetables (any combination of green beans, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, peas, etc)
• - 1 onion, sliced thin
• - 1 bay leaf
• - 1 medium-hot red chilli, sliced into very thin rings
• - 3-4 green chillies, slit (optional or adjust to taste)
• - 1/2 tsp garam masala
• - 1 tsp cumin seeds
• - 1 tsp slivered garlic (2-3 pods)
• - 1 tsp ginger root, grated
• - 2 tsp oilSalt to taste
• - 1 tbsp coriander leaves, to garnish
• - Handful of roasted/fried cashewnuts, for garnish (optional)

Method:

1. - Heat the 2 tsp oil in a pan and add the bay leaf, garlic, grated ginger, slit chillies, sliced red chilli and cumin seeds. Fry for 30 seconds or so, stirring continuously.
2. - Add the garam masala and onions and stir-fry till they start turning soft, then add the vegetables and stir again.
3. - Drain the rice and add that to the pan as well and fry for 2-3 minutes.
4. - Add 2-1/4 cups water and salt to taste. Pour it all into a microwaveable bowl and cook it for 15 minutes or so on high without a cover. (Start with 10 minutes and see if the vegetables and rice are cooked - the cooking time depends on the wattage of the oven.)
5. - Cover the bowl and let the pulao rest for 5 minutes.
6. - Just before serving, fluff the rice up gently with a fork and sprinkle the chopped coriander over. Also top with the fried cashewnuts, if using.
7. - Serve hot with chilled tomato-yogurt raita.

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Fruit Smoothies (Frut Smuthies) Recipe

Refreshing, delicious and healthy, fruit smoothies are so easy to make at home that you hardly need a recipe. All you need is a blender and some fresh ripe fruit and you can have a natural and tasty drink in seconds, which will provide you with loads of vitamins, anti-oxidants and minerals. Smoothies are a great way of getting kids to eat their daily five portions of fruit and veg without them even noticing that they are doing so.

In summer you are spoilt for choice with fruit to use in your smoothies: strawberries, raspberries, peaches, apricots. Even gooseberries and blackcurrants make wonderful smoothies, on their own or mixed with other fruits. In winter you can still make great smoothies using frozen berries, but you can also use bananas, mangos, kiwis, oranges, passion fruit, pomegranates and pineapples to add freshness and vitamins to your fruit smoothie.
You can make up your own smoothies with whatever fresh, ripe fruit you have available and mix them with yoghurt or fruit juices. When the fruit is properly ripe you won’t need to add sugar at all making your smoothie even healthier. In summer you can add crushed ice cubes to the mix for instant chill.

Here are a few smoothie recipes to start your imagination going:

1. Cranberry and Raspberry Smoothie

Ingredients

• - 1 cup cranberries
• - 1 cup raspberries
• - 125ml / ½ cup cranberry juice
• - 1 cup yoghurt

Method:-

• Blend until smooth. Taste to check for sweetness and add a little more juice if you need it a little sweeter.

2. Mango, Banana and Strawberry Smoothie

Ingredients

• - 1 mango / 100g chopped mango peeled
• - 1 small, ripe banana
• - 3-4 strawberries
• - Juice of 1 orange

Method:-

• Blend all the fruit together until smooth.

3. Tropical Smoothie

Ingredients

• - 1 small pineapple peeled and diced
• - 1 banana
• - 1 cup yoghurt
• - 1 tablespoon dessicated coconut
• - 1 cup pineapple/orange juice
• - 1 passion fruit

Method:-

• Blend together until smooth.

Note:-

Don’t forget you can add extra oomph to your smoothies with a little grated ginger root, or a dash of ground spice. Cardamom, cinnamon, and even coriander can work well to add variety to your smoothie recipes.

You can also turn your smoothies into a liquid health breakfast, by adding ingredients like nuts, flaxseed oil and wheat germ along with the berries and fresh fruit.

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Sicilian Vegetable Stew (Sisilian Vegitabal Steu) Recipe

Ingredients

• - Aubergines 500g
• - 1 courgette (sliced)
• - 1 Celery stick (sliced)
• - 825 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• - 1 Onion (cut into thin rings)
• - 2 Peppers (1 Red & 1 Yellow - sliced into strips)
• - 400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
• - 1/2 tbs Dry Basil
• - 300g Potatoes (diced)
• - 10g Sugar
• - 100ml White wine vinegar
• - 25g Capers
• - 25g Pine nuts
• - 25g Raisins
• - 75g Green olives (stoned and cut into half)
• - 60g Sun dried tomatoes
• - Salt and black pepper for seasoning

Method

• - Dice the aubergines (roughly 2 by 2 cm dice) and put the dice into a colander, sprinkle with lots of salt and leave to rest for a couple of hours. The salt will extract the bitter dark juice from the aubergines. After two hours, rinse the aubergines and pat them dry before frying them.Meanwhile, you have plenty of time to prepare the rest of the vegetables. Slice the courgette into 3 mm thick slices. Do the same with the celery.Peel the skin off the peppers. If your peppers have a full round profile, a peeler will save you lots of hassle; otherwise you can use a pairing knife and with a bit of patience you will get the job done.Then, cut the peppers into strips, roughly 5 cm long and 5 mm thick (I wouldn’t go any thicker than this because it will be more difficult to sauté them).

• - This is the stage where the vegetables are ready to be fried. The timing for the frying is dictated by the aubergines, which need to go through a self cleaning process before to use them. Once the aubergines are ready, lay the vegetables to be fried onto a kitchen towels and see the next stage.Just before you start frying, revive the raisins soaking them in lukewarm water for about 15-20 minutes, then drain them using a little sieve and set aside.Put the Olive Oil into a pan suitable for deep frying. Heat the oil until it gets the right temperature for frying. Start with the aubergines, frying the dice for about 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, remove the aubergine dice with a slotted spoon and put them into a large bowl lined with kitchen paper, to absorb the excess oil.Using the same oil, fry the courgette for 4 minutes and then put them onto kitchen paper. The same applies for the celery. Fry for 4 minutes and then put the slices onto kitchen paper. Finally, once the excess oil is absorbed, then you can put all three fried vegetables together and set aside. The next step is the initial sauté.

• - Put the extra virgin Olive Oil into a large pan, bring the heat to medium and gently start to sauté the onion.When the onion starts softening (we would say after 2-3 minutes), add the peppers and continue with the sauté. Give it a good stir so that both the onion and pepper are well coated with oil. Continue cooking until the onion becomes well golden in colour. This is the stage where you add the chopped tomatoes.

• - Add the chopped tomatoes, the dry basil and the diced potatoes and give it a good stir. If you think the sauce is too dry, there is nothing wrong in adding half a glass (roughly 100 ml) of boiled water.Cover with the lid and cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat. After 10 minuets, add the sugar. Add the vinegar, capers, pine kernels, raisins, green olives, and finally, the sun dried tomatoes (roughly cut into pieces).Season with salt and pepper.

• - Add the fried vegetables into the pan. Also in this case, if you think that the stew is too dry, half a glass of boiled water will help.Cover with the lid and continue cooking for about 20 minutes over very low heat, gently stirring once or twice. After 20 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool down; traditionally it is best served cold (some people prefer it still hot).Use some home made bread to prepare a bruschetta-like dish. Take a slice of bread and a griddle pan. Once the pan is piping hot, grill the bread on both sides.

• - Finally, serve the vegetable stew over a slice of bread. Buon appetito! PS: this is where a good glass of south Italian red wine will come handy, to complete this Sicilian experience!

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