Baked Ziti

This is one of my daughter's favorites after Spaghetti with tomato sauce. One of our favorite versions is from Olive Garden and after searching for quite some time, I have found this mouthwatering dish on Martha Stewart's website.I have adapted it based on some other recipes through out the internet.

8 oz Ziti pasta
3 cups of Tomato Sauce
1 cup Ricotta Cheese1/4 cup Italian Blend (I used Sargento)
1 egg lightly beaten

Ziti topping

1/2 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup Italian Blend cheese

Preheat the oven to 450F
Cook the pasta according to the package instructions until Al Dente
Combine the Tomato sauce, cheeses and egg together well
Spread the tomato sauce and cheese mixture on the bottom of the baking dish
Then layer the cooked ziti pasta and spread the remaining the tomato cheese mixture
Now, combine the ziti topping ingredients and put the topping mixture evenly on top
Bake it for about 20 min, until the cheese begins to bubble up
Serve hot!



Hugs,
Shri

Aviyal

I have eaten Aviyal a lot of times but my aunt's version just made me a big fan of this highly flavorful and popular curry from Kerala. You could serve it with rice but I like it to eat with puris.
This recipe is the exact version from my aunt.She got it from her friend and I am not so sure of the exact source but try it and you wont be disappointed.

Ingredients-
Sour Cards - 2 cups
Raw Banana - 2
White Pumpkin: 1 piece
Carrots - 2
Arabhi (Colacasia) - 6 - 7 pieces
Drumstick - 4
Beans (Medium) - 100 grams
Potato (Medium) - 3
Cluster Beans (Chikudukai) - 100 grams
Yam (Kanda) - 100 grams
Oil - 2 tbsps

Grind to paste:
Coconut - 1 or 1 cup grated
Green Chillies - 6 - 8
Cumin Seeds(Jeera) - 2 tsp

Cut vegetables into long strips.
Pressure cook with little water adding salt and turmeric.
Make coarse paste with coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds.
Mix with curds and add curd mixture to the cooked vegetables.
Boil for five minutes.
Add hot oil (preferably coconut oil) with curry leaves and serve.



Lots of love,
Shri

Simple Okra curry with Peanuts

Love the idea of adding peanuts to Bhindi and cashews or peanuts to Tindora.

1 frozen bag of Okra, thawed
1/2 cup of peanuts
1 tbsp of oil
1 tsp Urad Dal
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 red chilly broken into pieces
5-6 curry leaves
1 tsp cumin coriander powder
1tsp Pepper powder

• Heat a tbsp of oil.
• Add Urad Dal, Cumin Seeds, Mustard Seeds.Fry them for a min
• Add curry leaves and red chillies
• Add Peanuts and roast them for about 3-4 min
• Stir in the Cumin Coriander Powder
• Add the thawed okra and cook over medium for about 8 min until all the moisture has evaporated and the curry looks more or less dry.
• Serve hot with rice
  

Have fun
Shri

Pineapple Smoothie

It has been quite hot lately and a good smoothie might help to stay cool:) Here is a quick one.

• 2 scoops of Frozen Yogurt (Vanilla or Vanilla Bean)
• 1/2 can of Pineapple Rings
• 1 tbsp of Orange Juice

Blend them all with a few ice cubes in a blender

Stay Cool:)
Shri

Roasted Tomato Soup

Cream of Tomato Soup is very popular in India.Every restaurant that you go to has this on its menu.My favorite has to be the one in Palace Heights in Abids, Hyd.It is hard to replicate the Cream of Tomato Soup.Tomato Soup in any shape or from is really tasty and here is an oven roasted tomato soup and you can always top it off with cream.

1 lb Tomatoes ( like Grape/cherry or I am thinking even plum might work well), vertically slit
1 small potatoes,peeled,cut and boiled
1 medium Onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 Bay leaves
1./4 tsp Curry Powder
1/4 tsp Cumin-Coriander Powder
2 cups Water/Stock
1 tsp chopped coriander

• Preheat the oven to 350F
• Cut the tomatoes and onions lengthwise and spread them on a baking sheet
• Drizzle olive oil and season with salt and pepper
• Roast them until they look wilted and take them out
• Cool the potatoes and tomatoes
• Blend them with boiled potato,garlic and enough stock with out making it too runny(You could pass this through a strainer if you don't like the tomato skins)
  
• In a pan, heat a table spoon of Olive oil and add the Bay leaves
• Transfer the blended tomato-onion-potato mixture into the pan
• Stir in the curry powder and cumin-coriander powder
• Simmer it for 15 min
• Add the chopped coriander and salt and heat it for 5 more min
• Serve hot!
  

Hugs,
Shri

Orecchiette Pasta with Spinach, Chickpeas & Ricotta Salata

This pasta is very unique in shape, almost like small cups.The Ricotta salata (Not ricotta cheese) is the Italian version of Feta Cheese.

Recipe:Giada

1 pound Orecchiette (You can usually find this in specialty stores)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, crushed

6 cups of Spinach or greens of your choice

1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups (12 ounces) small cherry or grape tomatoes

2 cups (8 ounces) crumbled ricotta salata cheese

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (from 1-2 lemons)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedure:

Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil

Add the pasta and let it cook until it is tender/al dente about 10 min.I cooked it a little bit more for my daughter, about 8 more min.

Heat oil in a pan and add the garlic and cook until the garlic turns light brown.To this add spinach or greens and cook until they wilt.

Add the tomatoes and cook for a couple of min and add the garbanzo beans

Drain the pasta, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water.

Transfer the pasta in to the pan and add half of the cheese and lemon zest.If it is thick, thin with the reserved pasta water.Season with Salt

Add the remaining cheese and serve it hot!

Love,
Shri

Mango and Methi Dal

One of my all time favorite dals.Well, actually Mango Dal is my favorite and one of my cousins was mentioning about this dal that she made that day and I tried it out.It was a great combination of a subtle bitter taste along with the sour taste.I love to eat this dal especially with the fried buttermilk chillies (Majjiga Merapakayalu)

1 Green Mango,peeled and cut into pieces(Throw the seed out)
1 cup Toor Dal
1 bunch of methi leaves, stalks discarded
1/8 tsp of Turmeric
1/4 tsp of Ginger Garlic paste
3 green chillies chopped
1 tsp of Urad Dal
1/2 tsp of Cumin Seeds
1/2 tsp of Mustard seeds
Pinch of Hing
2 red chillies, roughly broken
4-5 Curry leaves, washed and chopped I believe it tastes better as opposed to the whole curry leaves
1/8 cup of Tamarind juice (If the Mango is not sour enough)

• Wash and Soak Toor Dal with Turmeric for about 15 min
• Pressure cook/Boil Toor Dal (I usually use 1 Cup Toor Dal to 3 Cups Water) You could always use more or less water depending on the consistency that you want
• If you are pressure cooking, after 2 whistles, you can add the mango pieces and let it cook with out putting the lid on.With the regular method, you can add the mango pieces once you feel that the dal is beginning to become soft.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan
• Add Urad dal, Cumin Seeds, Mustard Seeds and red chillies.Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and hing.
• Add the methi leaves and cook until they wilt but not dry
  
• Add immediately to the cooked dal.Add Salt to taste.
• If the dal is not sour enough, you can always add tamarind juice or lemon juice and cook for 5 more min
• Serve hot with rice
  

Hugs,
Shri

Minestrone Soup with Pesto

This is very close to Olive Garden style Minestrone soup.I am not sure if Olive Garden's soup has pesto in it but the pesto just takes the soup to an entirely different level in terms of the flavor.If you dont like pesto or for some reason allergic to pine nuts or nuts in general , you can always avoid it.I simmer the ingredients for half hour in Veg Broth (Could always use Broth of your choice) and I serve it with Rosemary & Olive Oil Bread (That I got from Wegmans)

6 Cups of Vegetarian Broth
3 garlic cloves, sliced vertically
1 Big Yellow Onion, chopped
1 can of 14 1/2 ounce of crushed/diced tomatoes
2 celery stalks, diced
2 carrots, chopped/cubed
2 Zucchini, peeled, chopped
1 cup of Fresh Spinach, chopped
1 can of Canellini beans
1/2 can of Kidney Beans
2 red potatoes, peeled, cubed
1 cup seashell pasta
1 tablespoon of dried thyme
2 tbsps of Basil pesto
Salt and Pepper

• Heat 2 tbsps of Olive Oil.Saute the chopped onions until soft
  
• Add garlic, celery and carrots and cook till tender
• Add the spinach and cook for 5 min
  
• In the meantime, bring a pot of water with some salt to a boil.Add Pasta and cook till tender about 8 to 10 min.Drain the water in a colander.
• Stir in the Thyme and Pesto
  
• Now, add the beans, zucchini, and potatoes along with the tomatoes
• Pour in the broth and stir all the contents once before you bring it to a boil.
• Cook until potatoes are soft.
• Simmer it for about half hour or so and then add the pasta
• Season with parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
  

Ciao,
Shri

Has it been that long? Vanilla Panna Cotta

Tasty Touch has turned 1!And Can you believe it, I missed it!It just seems like yesterday when my SIL was pushing me to open a blog. At the time it felt like a good idea to have an online recipe diary and interact and share ideas with fellow bloggers. I thought I had some idea of what I was getting into but little did I realize that I will be knowing some fine chefs, incredible photographers, articulate writers and some very warm people. It has been a wonderful experience throughout and thank YOU, especially the readers of my blog.Some of you have even become my household names. I have seen a lot of you celebrate 2nd, 3rds and even some 4th anniversaries.So in that way, it is a very small thing to celebrate for..Trivial or not, I personally feel its a huge accomplishment. Given my lethargy levels, I did not imagine I will stay in 'business' for this long! So, Thank you so very much for that:)

I do have some good news that I would like to share with you all.I will be going back to work full time after 4 years which is exciting and at the same time nerve wrecking.So,I may not post dishes for a while until I settle down with work.So, please bear with me and I promise, I will come back even before you know it!

Panna Cotta (Recipe: Gale Gand with some changes)

3 tbsps water
1 tbsp Powdered Gelatin like Knox (About 1 sachet)
4 cups Heavy Cream
1/2 of Vanilla bean, seeds scraped
1 tsp Vanilla bean extract
1/2 cup Sugar

• In a small bowl, take water and sprinkle the gelatin powder.Do not stir.Let it soak for 10 min
• In a pan, heat the cream, sugar, vanilla extract and Vanilla bean seeds.
• Bring the contents to a simmer.Add the gelatin mixture and stir in until gelatin is completely dissolved.
• Pour in ramekins or glasses.It should serve about 6 people.
• Chill it for 4 to 6 hours
• Slice the berries and top the panna cotta.
  

Lots of love,
Shri

Ricotta Raspberry Mousse

Happy Mothers day to you all moms out there!This post comes in late in wishing but I hope I caught just in time to wish you all of you.
It is after a long time, almost month and a half that I am posting this recipe.So I will keep it easy, simple, quick and out of this world.

Recipe: Giada
15 oz Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup Raspberry Jam
1 cup whipping cream'
3 tbsps powdered sugar
Strawberries or Raspberries to garnish
In a blender or with an electric mixer, beat the cheese until light and fluffy
Add the jam and beat it until it is well incorporated
In a separate bowl, whip the cream until thick.
Add the powdered sugar until the cream forms stiff peaks.
Fold the cream into ricotta mixture in batches.
Refrigerate for atleast an hour.
Spoon into bowls and enjoy!



Love,
Shri