Oriental Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• Button Mushroom - 100 gms fresh
• Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chillies - 2 Sliced
• Ginger Paste - 1/2 tsp
• Soya Sauce - 1tbsp
• Juice of half lemon
• Vegetable Stock - 1/2 cup
• Maida
• Cornflour - 1 tbsp
• Ajinomoto
• Coriander Leaves
• Roasted Sesame Seeds
• Lemon Grass

Process:

1. Marinate the Mushrooms in Maida, Salt, Ginger and Garlic.
2. Fry till golden.
3. Add deseeded red chillies to hot oil.
4. Add the ginger, garlic paste, fried mushroom and soya sauce.
5. Let it cook for 10 mins.
6. Add Vegetable stock and Lime Juice.
7. Thicken with Cornflour.
8. Garnish with Coriander Leaves.

Tips:

1. Serve it with steamed rice or noodles.
2. You can use baby corn, vegetables or cottage cheese  instead of using mushrooms. 

Canneloni

Ingredients:

• French Beans - 50 gms
• Carrots - 50 gms
• Cabbage - 50 gms
• Paneer - 100 gms
• Babycorn - 50 gms
• Lasagne Sheets
• Red Sauce - 1.5 cups
• White Sauce - 1.5 cups
• Onion - 3 finely chopped
• Salt, Sugar and seasoning to taste
• Cheese - 1 cup grated
• Butter 1-2 tbsp

Process:

1. Saute the onions in the butter.
2. Add the onion and cook till brown.
3. Slowly add all the vegetables and let it cook for 10 minutes.
4. Add oregano, red sauce and seasoning.
5. Roll up the lasagne sheets with the vegetable mixture.
6. Top it with white sauce.
7. Cover with grated cheese.

Tips:

• You can add spinach instead of paneer to make it healthier.

Red Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 Box of Kissan Tomato Puree. ( 200 gm)
• Garlic: 8-9 Chopped.
• 6 Large Boiled and Strained Tomatoes
• 3 Onions Chopped.
• 1 Capsicum Chopped.
• Butter or Oil: 2 tbsp
• Chilli Powder: 1 tsp
• Salt, Sugar, Oregano and Basil to taste. 

Process:

1. In a pan saute the onions, capsicum and garlic.
2. Once its golden brown, add both the tomato purees.
3. Add the seasonings.
4. Boil till thick.

Tips:

1. You can add Red Peppers and Yellow Pepper and serve it on a piece of toast or Potato.
2. You can add Mushrooms and Babycorn and toss it with some noodles or rice.

White Sauce

White Sauce also known as Bechamel Sauce is known as the mother of sauces in French Cuisine (Not Italian).  But it is used more in Italian dishes than French, for e.g.: Lasagne, Canneloni etc. 

Ingredients:

• Maida - 2 tbsp
• Butter - 1 tbsp
• Milk - 1/2 ltr
• Salt and Oregano for seasoning. 
• Fresh Amul Cream 

Process:

1. Melt the butter, add the Butter and mix well.
2. Take the pan off the stove and add milk slowly little by little (Don't add all the milk in one go)
3. Once there are no lumps return to the gas and stir till sauce thickens.
4. Add the seasoning.
5. Add fresh cream for a more creamier sauce. 

Tip:

1.  If you are planning to keep the sauce unattended for sometime, cover it with a wet muslin cloth so that it does not form a thick layer on top.
2. If the butter is too hot, your sauce will be yellow in colour and not white.

Poha - Maharashtrian Style

Poha an ideal and one of the most popular breakfast items is made of flattened rice. Flattened rice can be eaten raw by immersing it in plain water or milk, with salt and sugar to taste, or lightly fried in oil with nuts, raisins, cardamoms, and other spices. In India, poha is cooked with lightly frying mustard seeds, turmeric, chilli powder, finely chopped onions and then moistened poha is added to the spicy mix and steamed for a few minutes. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Poha
• 1tsp Mustard Seeds (Rai)
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 3 Onions chopped finely
• 2 - 3 Green Chillies Sliced
• 1 sprig Curry Leaves
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder (Haldi)
• 2 Potatoes Boiled - Healthier Version: Use Sprouts or Corn 
• 1/2 tsp Sugar
• 2 tsp peanuts roasted
• Coriander Leaves to Garnish
• Juice of 1 lemon

Process:

1. Wash the Poha and drain it well till all the water comes out.
2. Add sugar, turmeric powder and sugar to the poha and leave it for sometime.
3. Heat oil in a pan.
4. Add mustard Seeds, Cumin Seeds and Bay Leaf.
5. Once it crackles add the Green Chillies and Curry Leaves.
6. After 2 mins add the Onions and Potatoes (Or the sprouts). 
7. Once the Onions are golden in colour add the Poha.
8. Then add the Peanuts and Lemon Juice.
9. Toss it well.
10. FInally Garnish it with Coriander. 

Tips: Poha can be had in the following manner:

1. Incase of an upset stomach: Wash and Drain the poha well, add salt and sugar and have it.
2. You can roast or fry the poha, add sev, peanuts, green chillies, chilly powder and salt to make and anytime snack.
3. Incase you are bored of the normal Roti, Poha an be mixed in the dough to give it a different taste.
4. You can also Schezwan Poha but add Schezwan sauce after step 6.
5. It can also be served in layers: 1 layer of Maharashtrian Style Poha, then a layer of roasted Veggies and the a layer of Coconut Chutney or Schezwan Sauce. And then finally another layer of Poha and then Sev. 

10 étiquette mistakes that Indians make while dining out

Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential.



It was a Sunday, my husband and I went to a popular restaurant in Mumbai. As we were having our meal, we noticed a group of young kids ordering their meal. The first one snapped his fingers, the second whistled and the third shouted, 'anna' waving his hand out. It was then that I realised that we were taught a lot of subjects in school but the most important one was missed. Etiquette is not a loud and explicit rule; it is soft and subtle and yet always carries you further when you observe appropriate etiquette in the right setting.  The following are the top 10 mistakes which most of us make while dining out:

1.     Keeping their bags on the table:

Purse Hook

Correct

A table is purely meant for keeping crockery, cutlery, food and beverages. Bags and clutches are supposed to be kept either on the floor (in front of your feet) or on your lap. In India very few restaurants have the convenience of a ‘purse hook’, otherwise it is the ideal and best way to put your bag

Wrong

Bags should not be kept on the table or bags should not be hung on the chair. 

2.     Eating big bites and talking while eating:

No one is interested in seeing how well you are chewing your food. Food bites should be small so that you can chew it properly before talking. Smaller bites are good for your health and also spare your neighbor from seeing a sight, which they wished they could avoid seeing.  The entire food on the plate is yours no one will take it away J

           

3.     No slurping, No burping, No licking:

Music is entertaining but not while eating.  You love noodles, even I do but not when it is treated as a musical instrument. You enjoy beverages, everyone does but please don’t make sounds.

Eating neatly and tidily is an art, will start practicing it. No one enjoys watching people licking and sucking the food on their fingers in public.

I know the food is delicious :) But should we not eat as much as our stomach permits? Over eating leads to people burping loudly, which if wanted can be done softly. 

4.     Making the ‘kit-kat’ sound:

If you’ve noticed people rub their forks and knifes so much on the plate that you can hear sounds when they are eating their food. While eating your spoon and knife or fork is not supposed to rub against the plate, you should just slide your fork cleverly enough not to make a sound. People should not feel as if you are struggling to have your meal, it should look as if you are enjoying every bit of it.

5.     Dirty Napkins:

The moment you are seated on a table, in a lot of fine dining restaurants the server comes instantly and pulls the chair for you and puts the napkin on your lap. But incase they don’t, please make the effort do it on your own. Napkins are supposed to be placed on your lap from the moment you are seated till you finish your meal. You are expected to remove your napkin after everyone else on the table is done with their meals. You are expected to fold your napkin and not crumple it and keep it on the left side of your plate. Another thing which people should keep in mind is, incase they have to get up from their chair during their meal, majority of the people conveniently soil their napkins with dirty hands and leave it on the table. NO you cannot do that. You should politely say excuse me, get up, and then leave the napkin on your chair which indicates that you are not done with your meal and you will come back.

6.     Mobile Phones.. Ouch ;)

The moment we see the red light blinking, our heart beats starts racing . I know its difficult to not read the message, the text or the email but it is basic courtesy to keep your phone on silent so that you make your guest feel that he or she is getting undivided attention. Messaging, chatting, texting, browsing, emailing and talking is just an indication that you have other important things to do, so you wish to get done with dinner fast.

7.     Elbows on the table:

When seated your elbows should never be on the table, your hands should be on your lap when not eating. While eating you can put your forearms on the table but not your elbows. Tables are big but they need enough space for many other things.

8.     Biting your food:

Animals bite their food because they don’t have any other option. As human beings we have the skills to use our hands efficiently and also added options of spoons and forks. Indians were once considered to be very well mannered while eating because we never had to bite our food; we used our hands to have our breads and rice. But as we love being influenced we’ve started biting out sandwiches, pizzas, rolls etc. We should use a knife and fork to have any item, which needs to be cut before it enters our mouth. There is nothing wrong in tearing a piece of bread with both our hands and having the torn piece, what is wrong is to bite the bread directly.

9.     Our favorite ‘Anna’ or ‘Bhaiya’ and at times ‘Boss’ too ;)

Its good to treat the servers well and make them feel comfortable, its appreciated by everyone. But you cannot be whistling to call them or screaming ‘bhaiya’ or ‘boss’ or ‘anna'. One of the very first things we are taught in school is to say ‘excuse me’. Lets start using it more often than we do. And lets save our talents to whistle for cricket matches or movies.

10. Keeping the chairs and napkins back in place:

I know we all feel we own the world and when the servers are there to keep things back in place why should we? But it is considered to be polite to keep things back in place. After getting up from the chair it’ll take a second to push the chair back in place. Please fold your napkin and not crumple it and keep it on the left side of your plate.

It is very important to be well mannered and well behaved. It reflects on our upbringing, education and awareness. Not everyone gets a chance to talk to everyone sitting in the restaurant but you never know whose eyes are on you. You are being watched.