Guest Post: Baked Creamy Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

Earlier on when I had just begun to document recipes, my friend by the name Ekta P shared her recipe Guest Post-Rajma and Potato curry  which received 144 views all thanks to her. As a new blogger a three digit view meant a lot. 

Well, she is back with a Guest Post, sharing her tried and 'tasted' recipe for 

Baked Creamy Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms. 

Creamy Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

1. Fresh Whole Baby Portabello Mushrooms (used here 1 dozen)

     2. Cream Cheese, Softened (brand used here Philadelphia, approx.3/4th of a 250gram block)
3. Pack Of Baby Spinach  (brand used here Supafresh 200 grams)

     4. Grated Parmesan Cheese (I've used Millel; you can use any brand)
5. Salt- to taste
6. Black Pepper- to taste
7. Bread Crumbs
8. A few Tablespoons of Butter Or Olive Oil
9. 2 Teaspoon Of Garlic Paste
10. ¾ Hot Green Chilies   

    Directions

Wash the mushrooms and pat dry. Next detach the stems gently from mushroom caps & chop (as shown in the pic).  

Mushroom stems detached from the Caps.

Chopped Mushroom stems (to be used as filling)

Take a saucepan, pour a few tablespoons butter or olive oil once the oil is slightly hot add garlic paste, then let the garlic paste cook until slightly golden brown then add in chopped mushroom stem. Let this cook for few minutes.

Add Salt & pepper & chopped green chilies as per your taste let this cook for few minutes. 

Add in baby spinach (do not chop spinach as chopped spinach releases more water). Stir this mix until spinach is completely cooked.

Now add in the last ingredient the crème cheese & mix this well into a nice paste. You can also add Parmesan cheese in this mix but it’s completely optional you can skip this step.

Now let this mix cool down (suggestion keep the mix in the fridge for at least 30min). meanwhile preheat the oven to oven to 180 degrees.

Time to get the mushrooms caps ready take large baking tray place a baking sheet on the tray. Line up the mushroom caps on the baking tray.

Add a teaspoon of the spinach crème cheese paste into mushroom caps, mounding slightly. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese & bread crumb mixture over filled mushroom caps.

Finally bake 30 minutes or until you can see the cheese melt and brown. Serve hot and fresh.

Do give it a try when you feel like having some earthy and healthy food (as mentioned earlier , the cheese and creme are totally optional) and leave a comment/feedback. She will definitely be watching this page. 

Dinner at Panasia Bahrain (Asian Cuisine)

Last week we celebrated my Dad's birthday by going for dinner to Panasia Restaurant and Tea Lounge.

Panasia is a aesthetically decorated Restaurant situated in Um Al Hassam, certainly away from the hustle bustle of the popular restaurant road in Um Al Hassam.  The restaurant offers a good range of Chinese, Thai and Indian delicacies.

Unfortunately I do not have snaps of the main course, but I do have photographs of the Starters that we ordered as well as of the Dessert.

It didn't take them long to bring our starters, but as we waited, they gave us two plates loaded with Spicy Pappadoms and Prawn Crackers with their special sauces (I call them the traffic signal sauces-you ask why?-well because of their colors). 

Here are photographs and descriptions of the Starters we chose,

Chicken Lollypops with Oriental Sauce....sorry about the blurry photo, can't help it when you have good food in front of you ;)

Chicken Siu Mai- minced chicken, water chestnut, mushrooms served with their '3 G dip/sauce'-which I found very YUM and for some odd reason reminded me of Beef Pickle that a Keralite friend had brought from her house to our hostel in Mangalore. That is one pickle I ate daily, religiously.

Once we were done with the starters, we were given some breathing time and more importantly time to get back to those yum PRAWN CRACKERS.

In a few minutes, our Main Course was laid before us on the table, and the waiter served us all. 

Like I mentioned earlier we had the Brocolli Beef (thinly sliced beef stir fried with brocolli in oyster sauce) and the Kung Pao Chicken, again, stir fried diced chicken pieces with scallions and cashew nuts as garnish.

Sorry no photos of our main.

Considering how much we ordered for the five of us and it being dinner time (light food time) and us having a three course meal..I expected us to have no room for dessert or being unable to walk to the car but the food was astonishingly light and we didnt' have to take a doggy-bag as there were no leftovers. NONE AT ALL!

Moving on to our dessert.....here is what he shared like a good family ;) 

PanAsia's Signature Dessert- two scoops of Vanilla ice-cream, deep-fried and the outcome, a warm crispy outer shell that hold cold vanilla flavored ice-cream inside it. PURE MAGIC!

(This is TMI, but I had to mention, while trying to sleep my sister and I YouTube-d the recipe for Fried Ice cream)

Warm Chocolate Brownie topped with a scoop of Vanilla Ice-cream, cashew nuts and Chocolate Fudge sauce on the side (this doubled as Dad's birthday cake)

I do not have the break down of the bill but the total as per my memory came to BD21.300 for 5pax.

Please Note: This not a sponsored blog post. 

Dinner at Bonchon, Bahrain [South Korean- American Cuisine]

On the first day of Eid Al Fitr this year we went out for dinner to a new place I had been longing to try out. Tucked away in a very cozy spot at the Seef Mall-Muharraq on the 2^nd floor next to TGIF is ‘Bonchon’- a South Korean based international fried chicken franchise that serves rather interesting food.

Bonchon means 'my hometown'.

Photo Source: (www.twentyfoursevennews.com)

It didn’t take us long to locate the place since we already had most of the clues we needed thanks to facebook-bonchon-bahrain.

We took our seats by one of the huge glass panel windows and we were given the Bonchon menu in two different ways, one on a Samsung Tab and the other on a wooden board with their menu strapped on to it.

I had absolutely no idea about Korean food –all I knew is that I wanted to try this place coz the food looked…. We studied the menu, thankfully there were photos of the dishes they served and we of course took plenty of help from their service staff who were so kind enough to patiently explain to us about some dishes we set out eyes on.

Anyway this is what we ordered….*controlling drool*

For starters we ordered the 'Half and Half' Bonchon Chicken (boneless) (serving size: small i.e. 8 pcs). The Bonchon chicken ones on the left were with spicy sauce and the ones on the right were coated with soy garlic sauce. These pieces of chicken were served with a tiny portion of coleslaw.

The second starter that we opted for was the 'Kimchi Fries'- they are fries that are baked and seasoned with Korean chii seasonings and is basically served with various toppings such as lightly carmelized white onions, kimchi, jalapenos, scallions, beef bacon, and topped with cheese.

Our first main course recommended by the staff there was the 'Bibimbab Beef' (this means 'mixed rice' also available in Veg). This was a bed of jasmine rice flavored with some secret sauces covered with assorted veggies (sauteed carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, sprout stems) and sliced juicy beef and topped with a sunny side up egg. 

Bonchon staff showed us their special way of stiriing this up before we attacked this dish. 

Bibimbab Beef was served with Kimchi sauce (cabbage stem fermented with spicy and sour seasoning) .

 Our second main course was the 'Japchae'- glass noodles with vegetables and beef. This was slightly  on the sweeter side. (Glass noodles are made from sweet potatoes)

Close up of the glass noodles that I was fascinated with. My first time eating glass noodles :P

The bill for 5 persons breakdown:

1 Boneless Chicken small (half and half) 4.900

1 Kinchi Fries                                           3.500

1 Bibimbab Beef                                       5.900

1 Japchae                                                 4.500

2 7Up regular                                          2.400

2 Pepsi regular                                        2.400

Total:                                                     23.600

Pop over Bonchon Bahrain this weekend if you are in a mood to try something different.
                                                    Please Note: This not a sponsored blog post. 

Guest Contribution: Sabudana (Sago) Khichdi

My friend with whom I share the same first name, who is also my 'regular recipe contributor' has shared one of her favourite snack recipe with us. A typical Gujarati snack that can be eaten with pickle or yogurt (dahi/curd) and on its own. The main ingredient here is 'Sago' also called Sabudhana, and is used in a popular dessert-ish drink called 'Falooda' with a rose flavouring to it and a generous amount of vermicelli in it. Sago is basically starch extracts.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Sabudana(sago)
• 1 big potato-chopped into small pieces
• Half cup peas (you can use frozen too)
• 4 Curry leaves
• Half a teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
• Less than half teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
• Half teaspoon Red chilli powder
• A pinch of Turmeric (haldi) powder
• Lemon or lime juice (as per your taste)
• Roasted peanuts
• Coriander (Cilantro/Dhania) leaves
• 1 or 1 and a half tbsp Ghee/oil (I used ghee)
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

1.Soak 2 cups sabudana in cold water for 2 hours. Drain the water after 2 hours and leave it overnight so that any little trace of water is evaporated.

2. Take a saucepan. Pour ghee or oil.

3. Once the ghee or oil is heated, add mustard seeds and as they splutter add cumin seeds.

4. Then add curry leaves followed by chopped potato. Let the potatoes cook for about 10-12 minutes.

5. Then add roasted/unroasted peanuts. Stir well.

6. Now add peas let it cook for 3 to 5mins.

7. Pour lime/lemon juice. Add Red chilli powder, turmeric, salt (as per your taste). Stir it well.

8. Now at end add sabudana (sago) mix it very gently and slowly.

9. Garnish with chopped coriander/cilantro leaves.

Serve with yoghurt, pickle, or even just as it is.

Thank you for sharing your recipe Ekta.P. Lots of love- Ekta .D


-bPv

Cheese Bites

I love cheese.
Cheese on my pasta
Cheese on my pizza
Cheese on my mind
Cheese in my pictures.
I love cheese. period.

Was that cheesy enough?

Hi all.... ever since childhood, my parents have fed my cheese in anything and everything. I remember, them sending cheese slices in my lunch box for kindergarten too. And my teacher seemed to like that about me. Cheese and me go wayyyyy back.

So this blog post is dedicated to my buddy *Cheese* and one awesome way (among many others) to fill yourself on this amazing and humble ingredient. Cheese bites are clearly comfort food but heyyy its not limited to that category.

Here is my recipe of , how to make cheese bites.

Ingredients (makes 7 cheese bites):
Cheddar cheese (shredded 1 and a half cup)
Mozzarella cheese (shredded 1 cup)
Fennel seeds (optional)
Pepper (seasoning)
Milk 3 tbsps
All purpose flour 2 tbsps
Oil for frying

For Coating:
1 beaten egg in a bowl
1 and a half cup of breadcrumbs

Steps:

1. Shred the cheese.

2. Toss in the fennel seeds.

3. Add the flour and milk.

4. Add the seasoning. Mix all of this up and you will get a lump.

5. Roll out balls from this doughy-lumpy mix

6. Dip each ball into the beaten egg and then into the crumbs and set on a plate.

7. Deep fry these on medium heat (make sure the oil is hot). Fry till golden brown evenly.

*Avoid frying them for longer because the cheese can burst out if you haven't coated each ball well.
*Serve with ketchup
* I haven't added any salt because for me cheese is already kind of salty. But you can add some salt if you like.
* You can use you choice of cheese, but make sure you add mozzarella to give that stringy effect.


Enjoy!

-bpV

Easy Pancakes [1] (Using Yogurt)

I had quit making pancakes a couple of years back because they mostly turned as crepes (thin pancakes). For some reason my pancakes refused to get fluffy, all my efforts would go flat..(literally). This week, I took it up as a mission to dish out fluffy pancakes one way or the other. I browsed through various recipes but none of them very consistent and in the pictures the pancakes did not look fluffy enough for me. Having learnt different ways of preparing pancakes, I decided to combine a few techniques and prepare them anyway....here is an account of what I did and how I did it....trust me I couldn't believe my eyes.

Ingredients (makes 4 *thick* pancakes):

Dry Ingredients:

• All purpose flour 1 cup
• 2 tbsps sugar (add more or less according to your taste)
• a pinch of salt
• 3 tsps baking powder

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp honey (optional)
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence (add more or less according to your taste)
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp of yogurt
• 3/4 cup milk

Steps:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a deep bowl and in a smaller bowl mix all the wet ingredients well. (remember to beat the egg really well, until you see bubbles.

2. Pour the wet ingredients mix into the dry ingredients mix and stir well until you get a thick batter , that come off the ladle slowly due to its thickness.

3. Leave the batter aside for about 10 minutes, (do not refrigerate).

4. After ten minutes, take a skillet/pan and heat it at low-medium heat, once the pan it hot, add a  little butter for frying the pancakes in.

5. Using a cup-like-ladle, scoop out the batter and pour onto the pan. Do not spread it out you may form a crepe. Let the thick batter sit. Cover the pan.

6. After about 30 seconds, turn over. Wait. 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds...take off the pan.

7. Add butter on the pan and continue frying pancakes with the remaining batter.

Om...nom...nom....

They were so good...we ate them plain... :P

Enjoy!

-bpV