Chocolate French Toast

Okay! So I had this sudden craving for something chocolaty and something that had to do with bread. Ummmm.. Bread + Chocolate = NO, not that chocolate bread spread again! The only proper thing I know to make with bread was the bread toast. So why not a simple, easy-to-make chocolate toast? ;)

Ingredients: 

White bread slices - 4 (Preferably thick ones because I used normal ones and they broke off)
Milk - 1 cup
Granulated sugar - 3/4 cup
Cocoa powder - 1/3 cup
Eggs - 2
Table salt - 1/4 tsp
Unsalted butter - 2 tbsp
Sliced bananas or strawberries - For garnishing

Method:

1. Mix granulated sugar, cocoa powder and table salt together in a bowl. 
2. Pour half a cup of milk and the eggs into this bowl and blend till there are no lumps formed.
3. Arrange the bread slices in a plate and pour this mixture over the bread slices.
4. Poke the slices with a fork so that it absorbs well. Let it soak for about 20 minutes, turning it once in between.
5. Heat butter in a nonstick tawa and fry the bread slices until they are well cooked (usually 3-4 minutes).
6. Remove from heat and garnish with bananas or strawberries.

I know this doesn't look like the original French toast. It was because of two reasons:

1. The bread was of the normal size. I should have used the thicker ones.
2. I didn't include a lot of ingredients which actually go into the making of the French toast. Will try the original version soon.

Cheers! ☺

Sumer coolant - Iced tea / Lemon iced tea

It's summer and I'm beginning to crave for anything and everything that is cold. I'm a tea addict but having hot tea in this hot climate really didn't seem a good idea. That's when ice tea stuck me! Yes, a better alternative to those canned sodas. This has become a part of me now. In the mornings, for brunch, in the evenings and sometimes, even at midnight :D Introducing you'll the ice tea:





























Ingredients:

Teabags - 4 (Black tea or green tea)
Water - 8 cups (4 cups of ordinary water and 4 cups of cold water)
Sugar - 1 cup
Lemon - 4 tbsp (optional)
Ice cubes - 4-5 for a glass
Mint - A sprig (optional)

Method:

1. Boil 4 cups of ordinary water in a pot and dip in the teabags. Allow the tea to steep for not more than 4-5 minutes (You don't want a bitter tea, do you?) and discard the bags. 
2. Mix 1 cup of sugar with 4 cups of cold water in a jar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
3. Pour the brewed tea into this mixture and stir.
4. Refrigerate this for a good half an hour and serve in glasses over ice cubes.
5. Garnish with mint.

For the lemon iced tea:

         Add 4 tbsp of lemon juice along with sugar and cold water in step-2.

►  Sweetness is a matter of taste and it varies from individual to individual. So add or subtract sugar as per your taste ☺

Indo-Chinese veg / egg noodles

Is there anybody who doesn't love noodles? Here is a simple recipe of an Indian-type Chinese noodles.

Ingredients:

Noodles - 1 pack
Onion (finely chopped - lengthwise) - 1
Vegetables (beans, cabbage, capsicum, carrot - chopped finely lengthwise) - 1 cup
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Green chilli (slit lengthwise) - 3
Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp
Soya sauce - 1-2 tbsp
Chilli sauce - 1 tsp
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Black peppercorns/pepper (powdered) - 1 tsp
Salt - To taste
Cooking oil - 4-5 tbsp
Eggs (optional) - 2

Method:

1. Boil water with 1 tbsp of oil, 1 tsp of salt. When water starts to boil, add noodles and cook. (usually 5-6 minutes)
2. Once cooked, remove from flame and drain the water. Run some cold water over the noodles so that they don't stick together. (You can place the noodles in a hollow sieve and then run water through it)
3. Meanwhile, heat 3-4 tbsp of oil in a wide pan and add chillies, ginger-garlic paste and fry for half a minute.
4. Add onions and saute till they turn golden brown. Add veggies and fry till they are half cooked.
   
   
   For veg noodles:
   
   
5. After step-4, add noodles, tomato ketchup, soya sauce, chilli sauce, vinegar, pepper powder and salt. Keep mixing till they are well-cooked. Serve with sauce.

      For egg noodles:

1. After step-4, move the veggies to one side of the pan and pour eggs on the other empty side and scramble it.
2. Add salt and pepper powder (for the eggs alone) and mix it well with the egg.
3. Once the egg is done, proceed with step-5. 

Indo-Chinese veg/egg noodles is ready :)

Paneer butter masala

Okay, here goes my first recipe. The first to have tried in fact. Paneer butter masala is a Punjab delicacy made out of paneer, onions, tomatoes and a variety other spices. 

Serves : 3-4

Ingredients:

Paneer/Indian cottage cheese (cut into cubes)  - 250 grams
Onion (blended) - 2 (Blend after boiling large pieces of onions in water for 10 minutes)
Tomato puree - 1 cup (Boil tomatoes in water for 10 minutes. Remove skin after boiling and then puree)

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp 
Cashew nuts (made into a paste) - 2 tbsp (Soak 2 tbsp of cashew nuts in hot water for 10 minutes and grind it to a paste)

For seasoning:
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 3/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Cooking butter - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1
Cardamom - 2
Salt - To taste

For garnishing:
Fresh cream - 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves - as required

Method:

1. Mix butter and oil and heat it in a wide pan/kadai/karahi/wok. Add cloves, cinnamon and cardamom and saute till they splutter.
2. Add onion paste and saute till they turn golden brown.
3. Add ginger garlic paste and saute. Make sure it doesn't stick to the pan or get burned.
4. Add cashew nut paste and saute till the raw smell goes.
5. Add tomato puree and all the spices (garam masala powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder). Cook till it leaves oil.
6. Meanwhile, take another pan and shallow fry the paneer cubes in 3 tsp of oil till they turn light brown.
7. Add this paneer to the cooked tomato mixture.
8. Add 1/2 cup of water and salt. Simmer and cook for a few minutes.
9. Garnish with fresh cream and coriander.

Serve with:

Naan or chapatis.

Why this name?

Been getting queries about why I chose to name my blog with ginger and garlic. So here it goes... According to me nothing is food without both of them! ;) I drool over anything that has ginger and garlic in them. The aroma of them when blended... tantalizing!

Courtesy: Keith Tsuji photography

So that's the end of the story guys! ;)