Pumpkin & Raisin Bread




Pumpkin, grated – ¾ cup
Wheat flour – 1 cup
Flour – ½ cup
Yeast -1 ½ tbsp
Hot water – ¼ cup + ½ cup
Sugar – 1 heaped tbsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Olive oil / Veg oil – 2 – 3 tbsp + 1 tsp
Butter – 1 tsp
Milk – 1 tbsp

Ingredients to sauté the pumpkin

Veg Oil / Butter / Olive Oil – 1 ½ tbsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Chilly flakes – 1 tsp
Garlic, grated – 4 cloves
Mixed Italian spices – 1 ½ tsp
Raisins, finely chopped – 10

To sauté the pumpkin


Heat oil in a non-stick pan . Add the grated pumpkin, chilly flakes, salt, garlic and oil and saute for a minute and a half. The pumpkin would have reduced to 3/4th its quantity. Add the chopped raisins, stir for few seconds and turn off heat. Add the mixed Italian spices immediately and stir well. Let it cool.

before baking
In a bowl mix the wheat flour and flour. Add the sautéed pumpkin and mix it with the flour to make crumbs. Make a well in the middle of the flour mix. Add the sugar, salt and yeast. Pour ¼ cup hot water. Stir it gently and cover it. Leave it for 5 – 7 minutes. The yeast would have come on top. Start kneading the flour with the yeast mix and then gradually add the oil and the ½ cup water until a dough is formed. Add 1 or 2 tbsp flour if the dough is sticky. Knead the dough for 7 – 10 minutes. Pour 1 tsp oil over the dough and spread it thoroughly. Cover the dough with a wet cloth and leave it aside for 1 ½ hours. The dough would have doubled. Press down the dough.





Grease a baking tray. Place the dough in the middle of the tray. Flatten it gently. Use a dough cutter or knife to draw lines over the dough. Leave it aside for half an hour. Apply milk on top of the dough and bake it at 170 C for 22* minutes. Apply butter as soon as the bread is taken out of the oven. Serve hot or cold with butter or tomato sauce.

* Baking time may differ depending on the oven used. Check the bread with a skewer or tap the bottom of the tray to get a hollow sound to check whether the bread is baked..

Chilly Fried Rice with Peanuts & Veggies





I prepared this chilly fried rice with inspirations from Chinese, Thai and Schezwan cuisine. Though the title boasts of many ingredients, this is a simple preparation.....hope you will try and enjoy this!


the recipe

Long grain cooked rice – to serve 8

Chopped or julienned vegetables

Cabbage – ½ cup
Carrot – 1 or 2
Celery – 3 stalks
Spring onion bulb – 4
Capsicum – 1
Onion – 1

Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Chilly flakes – 2 tsp
Soya sauce – 3 tbsp
Tomato sauce – 1, 2 or 3 tbsp
Sugar – 2 tsp
Salt – to taste
Veg Oil – 3 – 4 tbsp
Vegetable stock or water – ½ cup
Peanuts, roasted & slightly crushed – 5 tbsp
Spring onion shoot chopped – 4 shoots

the method
Heat oil in a wok or wide pan. Add the vegetables and onion and stir well in high heat. The vegetables should remain crispy and partially cooked. Add the crushed peanuts (Put the peanuts in a grinder jar and grind the roasted peanuts for 2-3 seconds). Stir for a while and add the ginger garlic paste. Stir till the raw smell is gone. Add the chilly flakes. Add soya sauce and sugar and stir briskly for 10 seconds. Add adequate salt for the vegetables & rice. Make space in the middle of the pan and pour the vegetable stock. Add the cooked rice in one shot. Mix all the ingredients. Add the tomato sauce. Toss the rice well. Sprinkle the spring onion shoot. Serve hot with tomato sauce or a side dish. We had this with Prawn Ball Curry (recipe to be posted soon).

Spicy Brinjal and Potato Stir Fry

Brinjal is one of my favourite vegetables. Growing up in the hillstation Valparai we had our own patch of vegetable garden and we use...