Full English

"To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day". - W Somerset Maugham

"Full English" or "Traditional English" or "Farmhouse Breakfast" or "Fry-Up" are a few of the names given to this sumptuous, heavy, filling & satisfied breakfast of the Great Britain. This is the most popular breakfast of the UK just like the American breakfast. Like Pancakes in an American breakfast, over here its bacon & eggs. A Full English Breakfast consists of many dishes put together in just a plate & is served in almost all the pubs throughout the day. One can very well differentiate it with any other Continental Breakfast.

A typical "Full English" consists of bacon, poached or fried eggs, fried tomatoes & mushrooms, toast, sausages, baked beans & hash browns. But as you go to different areas in the UK certain items in the plate are either included or removed from it. Some people include black pudding, mashed potatoes, oatcakes etc to their breakfast. Hence the names too differ as the Irish, Welsh, Scottish or the English Breakfast....All in All it tastes yum!!

The picture shown above this para is a typical breakfast served at a pub & the pic below is made by me at home last Sunday. One can make this breakfast almost anywhere as you get all the ingredients in any super store around the world. There is no much to cook, its all about assembling all the items together in a dining plate. Have a good relaxed Weekend with this luxurious breakfast & you don't have to think about lunch anymore.... :)

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bacon rashers (unsmoked)
• 2 pork sausages (good quality ones & not frankfurters)
• 2 eggs (medium sized)
• 2 slices hash browns (frozen)
• 1 tomato (sliced in half crossways)
• 200 g (small tin) baked beans (preferably heinz)
• 2 slices of bread
• 2-3 button mushrooms (optional)
• cooking oil
• butter or spread
• 1 tbsp milk
• salt & pepper to season

Method:

1. Preheat the oven on High.
2. Heat a non stick frying pan & pour a tsp of oil in it. Fry the bacon rashers & sausages simultaneously in it or one after the other if the pan is small. Cook till all the sides of the sausages is fully cooked & the rashers is fully done & golden crisp.
3. Put the hash browns in the oven on a baking tray & place the cut tomatoes along with it & let it cook for 12-15 minutes. Read the Hash brown packet instructions. Turn the hash browns frequently in between the cooking.
4. If the bacon & sausages are fully done, remove and place it on a kitchen towel to absorb the oil. In the same pan, tip in the mushrooms (optional) & stir fry for over 3-4 minutes until soft, season it & remove it from the pan.
5. Keep the pan on heat, simmer it. Take a small bowl and beat the two eggs, 1/2 tsp of butter or spread, milk together until smooth.
6. Pour the beaten egg to the pan & scramble it well with a wooden spoon. Remove the scrambled eggs as soon as it cooks. Do not over cook it. The eggs should retain its white colour. Switch of the heat. Season the eggs with salt & pepper.
7. Toast the bread slices until perfectly golden & crisp.
8. Switch off the oven & remove the hash browns & the tomatoes. Open the tin of baked beans & heat it for a maximum of 2 minutes in a saucepan or in a microwave.
9. Take a large flat plate & tip in the sausages, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, baked beans, scrambled eggs & the toast like in the image shown below.
10. Enjoy your full English with a nice hot cuppa!!

You can also enjoy a Full English breakfast while you are trying to lose weight, just do some substitutions in the recipe:

• Reduce the quantity by half (for eg: use 1 egg, 1 slice of toast, 1 sausage, 1 rasher, 1 hash brown)
• use brown bread instead of white.
• use a low fat cooking spray
• use a low fat spread

Hubby's Birthday "Chocolate Mud Cake"

Today is Arun's Birthday & I had already decided not to buy the Birthday Cake from a Bakery. Baking is not my strength but I just wanted to take a risk this time and wanted to bake a good chocolate cake all by myself. So I baked the cake yesterday to give him a surprise at midnight. As soon as I put the cake tin inside the oven, I started calling all the Baking Gods to help me bake this one. And luckily my prayers were answered! That was a relief!! He indeed was surprised to see a home baked cake and the happiness & love in his eyes was all I wanted to see. :)

Chocolate is our all time favourite dessert, hence to decide upon which cake to bake was not a tough task. "Chocolate Mud Cake" was the final unanimous decision taken by me as I didn't want my two main ingredients "Love & Calories" to feel out of place....;) And I was thrilled by seeing the final product all baked by me from scratch!! "Chocolate Mud Cake" when tasted, was pure indulgence!!

Ingredients:

• 150 g self raising flour
• 155 g plain flour
• 250 g unsalted butter
• 250 g dark chocolate (broken)
• 2 tbsp instant coffee powder
• 60 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate (baking soda)
• 550 g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp oil
• 125 ml buttermilk
• shaved chocolate to decorate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 Degree Celsius. Grease a deep 22 cm round cake tin with melted butter or oil.
2. Stir the butter, chocolate, coffee & 3/4 cup hot water in a saucepan, over low heat, until melted & smooth. Remove from the heat.
3. Sift the flours, cocoa & baking soda into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar & make a well in the centre.
4. Add the combined eggs, oil & buttermilk & using a large spoon, slowly stir in the dry ingredients, then the chocolate mixture until combined.
5. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin.
6. Bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Take out the cake tin & let it cool for a while. When completely cold, remove the cake from the tin.

Glaze:

• 250 g dark chocolate, chopped
• 125 ml pouring whipping cream
• 145 g caster sugar (or grind the normal sugar in a blender to make it superfine)

Method:

1. To make the glaze, stir all he ingredients in a saucepan over low heat until melted.
2. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat & simmer for 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat & cool slightly.
3. Put a wire rack on a baking tray & transfer the cake to the rack. Pour the glaze over the cake, making sure the sides are evenly covered. You may need a spatula knife for that even spread.
4. After some time, decorate the cake as you wish with some chocolate shavings. :)

Paneer Ke Parathe (Cottage Cheese stuffed Indian Bread)

Here's a dish for the Paneer lovers, a super delicious yummy "Paneer Parantha". Famous in every North Indian household, Paranthas have a special place in every South Indian's heart too....:)Out of all the stuffings, I like Paneer stuffed Paranthas the most, Simple to make, looks perfect when cooked & tastes yummy when you put it in your mouth. My dinner tonight was PKP and I was so desperate to post the recipe tonight and share the picture of my yummy parantha with you all, that I sacrificed my sleep for a little while. Its eleven in the night & my husband is snoring next to me....Well, you won't get a sleep with the snores anyway!! ;)

For the Dough:

• 3 cups wheat flour (plus some for dusting)
• 1 tbsp ghee (clarified buter)
• pinch of salt
• enough water to make a dough

1. In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, salt and ghee and rub everything with your hand. Then add enough water to it to make a stiff, smooth dough. Cover and keep aside.

For the Stuffing:

• 2 cups grated paneer (indian cottage cheese)
• 1/2 tsp ajwain (carom seeds, optional)
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (put either ajwain or cumin seeds, subject to availability)
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp chat masala
• 2-3 green chillies (finely chopped)
• 1 cup coriander leaves (finely chopped)
• salt to taste

Method:

1. Take a mixing bowl & combine all the above ingredients together. Mix well with your hands & keep aside.
2. Heat a Tawa or a flat skillet on medium heat. While its getting hot, divide the dough into lemon sized balls. Take a ball of dough and dust it in a little flour and flatten it round till it is a little more than a size of your palm.
3. Put two spoonful of the paneer mixture on the middle of the rolled roti.
4. Now close the roti with their sides pulled to the middle and press it well so that it does not open while its cooking.
5. Dust the stuffed ball again in the flour & start making a round flat thin rotis as you normally make. The Paranthas can be thick or thin. I like my paranthas thin & little crispy.
6. Place the flattened parantha on the hot tawa & let it cook well for 30 seconds on one side. Flip it to the other side and give another 30 seconds to cook on the other side. Brush some ghee (clarified butter) on both the sides of he paranthas.
7. Take it out if you think that the paranthas are well cooked on both the sides. Repeat the stes for the rest of the dough balls.
8. Serve hot with a cup of thick yoghurt & some tangy pickle.....:)

Chilli Gobi (Spiced Cauliflower)

"Chilli Gobi" is the most popular and the most wanted appetizer in any Indian Restaurant. As the name goes "Chilli", its a very spicy dish yet super tasty and you just can't stop eating after the very first bite. The recipe is very much similar to Gobi Manchurian, but this one is a dry dish with no gravy. The Chilli Gobis and Gobi Manchurians are a Chinese inspiration which the Indians improvised it to suit their own taste buds. We Indians have a tendency to make everything heavy and mostly fattening but we concentrate only on the TASTY OUTCOME!! Healthy living is always secondary for us!! ;) But once in a while, you can spoil yourself...aye..!!!

• 1 large cauliflower (cut into florets)

Marination:

• 4 tbsp maida (plain flour)
• 3 tbsp cornflour
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp chilli sauce
• 1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• pinch of ajinomoto (MSG)
• salt to taste
• pinch of food colour (red)

1. Bring water to boil in a big saucepan & add the cauliflorets with some salt to it. Add a drop of lime juice to it. Blanch the florets for a maximum of 3 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
2. Take a mixing bowl & combine all the above ingredients to a thick batter. Add required water to combine all of it. Add the blanched florets to it & coat the batter on them. Keep tossing until the florets are fully covered with the batter. Keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a deep based pan or a kadai for deep frying these battered florets.
4. When the oil is super hot, fry these florets in batches until crispy on the outside & till the batter is fully cooked. Place the fried florets on a kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.

Final Saute:

• 2 big onions (diced)
• 1 capsicum/bell pepper (diced)
• 3-4 green chillies (slit lengthwise)
• 1/2 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp grated garlic
• 3-4 spring onions (finely chopped)
• 2 tsp chilli sauce
• a pinch of ajinomoto (MSG)
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp oil

1. Heat oil in a deep base pan & add the slit green chillies, diced onions, ginger & garlic. Saute well for couple of minutes until the onion turn light golden. Add in the diced capsicum/bell pepper to it & saute again.
2. Now add the fried florets to it along with chilli sauce, ajinomoto, chopped spring onions & salt if needed. Mix everything together for 4-5 minutes. Switch off the heat.
3. Garnish it with some chopped coriander & serve it as an appetizer.