Tag: quick dinner
Roast Chicken Breast with Smoked Paprika
This recipe is for those of us who want to eat healthier now that summer is over and school has started.I can’t believe summer is all done and my daughter is back to school. Summer was filled with a lot of indulging but I was very good at balancing my day with healthy foods and making sure over eating didn’t happen.
Anyway, it is time to get serious and eat well. This is a simple and healthy dish one can make through the week. I took good quality chicken breasts and roasted them with a lot of flavor- that is my trick when I am eating healthy- I boost the flavor. I mixed up garlic, oregano, smoked paprika and lemon juice with olive oil in a mortar and pestle. I marinated the chicken for several hours and roasted it in the oven.
I served the chicken with a ribbon salad- recipe to come tomorrow…
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Haryali Keema (Ground Turkey) with Green Beans
With all the abundant vegetables in the farmer’s market, it is hard not to pick up lots and lots of fresh produce with out thinking twice. I bought too many vegetables and didn’t know what I was going to do with them. I had not made keema in a while and already had some ground turkey in the fridge.
Keema is any kind of ground meat cooked with either potatoes or any other kind of vegetables.
I decided to use up my green beans, green onions, dill and cilantro by making a green sauce. I then used the sauce as the base for the keema. I cooked the ground turkey in it with cumin seeds. I then added the chopped green beans and cooked them till they were soft but not mushy. I made sure they retained their color.
As I was cooking, I realized I had a one pot meal in front of me- and how I love coming up with these beauties! I made fresh rotis and it was a perfectly balanced meal that the whole family enjoyed.
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Chicken Paprika
I had forgotten about this dish. I grew up eating it. My Mom would make it with green peppers and served it over white rice.
While she was a young girl, she stayed with her brother and sister-in-law in the UK. She learnt a lot of local cooking and one of the dishes my aunt used to make was chicken paprika.
Even after moving to the US, my Mom made this particular chicken dish quite often. I am usually not a big rice eater, but love white rice with this particular dish. As some of you know I am big into healthy eating and brown rice is part of the repertoire- but with this meal white rice tastes the best.
The dish itself is very easy to make. The gravy consists of onion and garlic and the main ingredient is sweet paprika. A pinch of cinnamon brings out the sweetness in the chicken and the peppers. As I mentioned before, my Mom would use green peppers but decided to use one green and one red. It makes a delicious and colorful dish.
My daughter was very curious while I was cooking it. She was a bit put off by the peppers- she doesn’t like them. I told her I would give her the chicken with the rice and one or two pieces of peppers. She loved the chicken and tolerated the peppers. Overall she enjoyed and so did my husband- he thought it was delicious.
Next time you are wondering what to do with the chicken in the fridge- try Chicken Paprika.
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Easy Breakfast Dish-Kerala Style Scrambled Eggs
I somehow always forget to make eggs for dinner or even lunch. I take them out for breakfast on the weekends or unless I am baking- which seems to more and more often these days.
A cousin was in India recently and told me about her trip down to Kerala and described the cuisine. One of the things she couldn’t stop talking about were scrambled eggs cooked south indian style. She carefully described the ingredients or whatever she could decipher. While I was listening, I thought I will definitely make these but didn’t think of writing down the ingredients (duh). Anyway, a couple weeks went by and suddenly the scrambled eggs came to mind. It was one of those evenings where there wasn’t much in the fridge and I wasn’t in the mood to make an elaborate meal.
Now, I had forgotten most of the ingredients for the dish- but I was able to come up with what ever I thought belonged in there considering the part of India we are talking about. Mustard seeds, curry leaves and coconut were the main ingredients- and I had all of them. I also had fresh cilantro, tomatoes, onions and green chilies-perfect.
I used all the ingredients and came up with a fantastic, quick and delicious dinner. I made fresh rotis with it. That is what my husband and I ate. For my daughter I made plain scrambled eggs- she is not into fresh tomatoes, green chilies, etc.
I added extra cayenne pepper for myself. I like things spicy but my dear husband likes it really mild. It was really enjoyable- I plan to use more eggs for dinner in the future. Maybe a nice mushroom omelet with gruyere- yum, that sounds delicious. Try the easy scrambled eggs for your next quick meal.
- 1 tablespoon extra light olive oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 4-5 curry leaves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
- ¼ cup white onion, chopped
- 1 serrano chili, chopped
- 1/3 cup chopped tomatoes, or halved cherry tomatoes
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
Beat the eggs salt, cayenne pepper and cilantro. Keep aside.
In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil. Add mustard seeds and sauté for minute on medium high heat or till the seeds begin to sizzle. Add the curry leaves, coconut, onion, chili and ginger. Saute for 2-3 minutes on medium heat or till the onions are soft. Add the tomatoes and sauté for 4-5 minutes. Lower the heat and add the beaten eggs, stir till the eggs are cooked yet still soft. Serve with fresh rotis or tortillas.
Shrimp and Broccoli Brown Fried Rice
I find fried rice and quesadillas a great way to use up left overs. The quesadillas can be stuffed with virtually anything as long as shredded cheese in involved. As far as fried rice is concerned- same rules apply- anything and everything can be added to it. I think the key is to have a well stocked pantry- it always comes back to that, doesn’t it? In this case I had eggs in the fridge, broccoli and shrimp in the freezer, tamari in the cabinet, garlic and onion in the basket.
I had a cup of cooked brown rice in the fridge and didn’t have any plans for dinner- what was I going to feed my always hungry daughter?? I have never made fried rice out of brown rice but why not?? In fact, I thought with all the loud flavors going on in fried rice, I could totally get away with using brown rice instead of white. so, that is what I did- I chopped some onion and garlic, took out some frozen broccoli florets and 3 frozen raw jumbo shrimps. It was the quickest meal I have ever made. I minced everything and sauteed it with lots of tamari. That is all it took and it was delicious!
My daughter couldn’t stop eating it- and when she told my husband on the phone what she ate- he got very excited as well. I had to disappoint him by telling him I had just enough for her. Don’t worry I didn’t leave him hungry- we ate leftovers from the day before- which were delicious as well.
Everyone was happy..
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 3 raw jumbo shrimp, cleaned and deveined and chopped
- ½ cup frozen or fresh broccoli, chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ white onion, minced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt
- 1 to 2 tablespoons tamari (depending on how seasoned you like the rice)
Heat a wok like saucepan and add the oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté on high heat for two minutes. Add the broccoli and sauté for a minute. Add the egg and stir until the egg is cooked. Add the raw shrimp and sauté for another minute. Add the rice and tamari. Stir well until heated through.
Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (Italian Style)
There is really no reason to buy boxed macaroni and cheese- it is so easy and fast to make your own- plus you can control the amount of fat and salt.
Of course I understand why people buy the boxed kind- I do too- sometimes you just don’t have the time or the inclination to cook anything. I do buy the healthy box and have a bunch in my pantry. It is my emergency ‘go to’ for last minutes play dates that turn into a dinner date, etc.
I was making an adult dinner and something that my daughter was not that much into. I was going to give her some components of the meal but I was missing the starch part. I thought of mac and cheese. I went into to my well-stocked pantry to look for a box of macaroni and cheese- well, what do you know- it was not as well stocked as I thought. I couldn’t find any… That is when I decided to make my own. Honestly, it took me less than twenty minutes to cook. I immediately put a pot of water to boil for my whole wheat pasta. I took out some butter (oil can be substituted) and flour; cooked them for a minute and added some milk. I always have shredded cheese in the fridge- in this case, I had a mixture of Italian cheeses- delicious! I added the cheese and my sauce was done. I then added the cooked pasta and topped the whole thing with some more cheese and placed the frying pan under a broiler and browned it- done!
My daughter gave it a thumbs up! She loved it- and I gave it to some of her friends the next day and they all ate it up- no mention of the whole wheat pasta at all. Try this one next time your child asks for macaroni and cheese…
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons white whole-wheat flour
- 1½ cups one percent milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ pound whole-wheat penne, cooked al dente
- 1½ cups mix of shredded four Italian cheeses- parmesan, provolone, fontina and asiago (available at Trader Joes)- divided
Preheat oven to broil.
In a medium frying pan heat the butter and add the flour. Whisk the flour on medium heat till the butter is melted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk, making sure no lumps remain. Add salt and nutmeg. Bring to a boil and cook till it is thickened- about 3-4 minutes. Turn the heat off and whisk in one cup of the shredded cheese. Add the cooked pasta and mix well. Top the mixed pasta with the remaining cheese and broil for 7 to 8 minutes or till the top is golden brown.