Potatisgrätang-Creamy potatoes

MOVE!..How many of you dread moving countries.cities or even apartments!!.I hate moving places.I have to move to my new place in just 2 days and its driving me crazy.I am on the verge of insanity rather.A place which I can  finally call home sweet home.Not that I am not excited about my new den.which is much bigger then my previous apartment.It even has a garden and a much bigger kitchen.What I dread the most is when it comes to actual moving- packing and moving cartons .The actual winding up bit.Its like end of an episode.Now that I start to fill in the boxes I realise how much junk I have collected over the years.I have moved 4 apartments and two countries over the past four years,by now I must be an expert.unfortunatly nothing of that sort.I still procastinate things and just before the D-day panic hits and I tire myself by doing all the work which I could have done over the weeks in just two days.No matter how much I feel incontrol and that I-will-be-able-to-do-it-sorts nothing works.The history repeats always.The final few days in an apartment which is so empty and packed off of the stuff are the tuffest.
I have been trying to empty my pantry since a month and its still not as empty as my husband would have wanted.but its much lighther then before.so thankfully I wont have a lot to carry in that department.There, a bit of positivity, a lighter grocery box.I winded my kitchen today and from now on the two of us would be surviving on the mercy of the restaurants in our area.(escape from routine cooking for a while).When I was cleaning the shelves on sunday I had a few potatoes and the moment I took them out my husbands caught their sight and requested for his favourite dish "potatisgrätang" Its actually a potato gratin- a Swedish specaility I just couldnt resist making since its not very often that he requests for special meals even though I dint have anything to pair it with I just made it.

Its a very simply and super tasty mix of potatoes and herbs cooked in cream.And yes its quite a calorie loaded mix.But I usually do it once in a blue moon.and besides we have been stressing our selves physically with the whole packing and moving thingy that a bit of indulgence seemed justified.

You can have it as a side dish to meatballs or grilled chicked.It just works perfect with any sort of meat.

Ingredients

• 2 whole medium size potatoes. Sliced thinly as possible.
• Rosemary a few twings
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Thsps olive oil
• 1 & 1/2 cups of 40% cooking cream.you can use any kind of cream the more higher in fat the better is the taste.I used 38%.You can even add a bit of milk to thin out the cream.
• 1cup of grated hard cheese.best is to use vasterbotten cheese.Its a specail swidish cheese so might not be available everywhere else.The closest variety to vasterbotten is Parmesan cheese.or any hardcheese that you have works fine.

Method

1. Grease a shallow baking dish with olive oil.
2. Spread a layer of sliced potatoes and season with salt and pepper,add rosemary and top it with some cheese.Now do another layer the same way potatoes,seasoning,herbs and cheese.do it till your done with the potatoes.
3. Mix olive oil ,cream and rosemary and spread it over the layered potatoes.
4. Bake it in a preheated oven at 170C for about 40 -45 mins. 

Grilled Salmon on Orange salsa & Quinoa

In these chilly dead winters with no real sun for over a week.This recipe brings a lot of memories from the past summers.I spend a lot of time whining, about the weather even though its getting better with the days getting a bit longer.And not to forget the fact that I do get some light on my way to work these days.If I am lucky enough then some fading off on the way back too.But such days are rare.
Living in 30 degrees for all my childhood I am not friends with snow.All I wish for these days are unlimited warm-warm summer.By this time of the year I have forgotten how sunny the sun can get.Summers on this side of the world are truely lovely.Everything glitters around with fresh streak of life.It starts to feel like the world around me is smiling and is glad.Chirpy and happy people all over the parks sunbathing,empting bottles of wine,grilling and making the best of their time.And those lovely sunny afternoons which I spend lazing around under the sun.And how can I forget the weekend BBQ's.Ahh!!..ABSOLUTE BLISS!.
I was really craving for some sunlight on saturday, really missing the beautiful summers.
So just to revive some of my memories I decided to do some grilling and what could be a bettter option then Salmon (Since I am a seafood eating vegetarian).I had never done this sort of combination ever before but belive me it turned out to be the best salmon recipe I have ever done so far and trust me I do a lot of fish grilling experiments.

For Salmon

• Any good quality salmon fillet.Wash and pat dry it.I took 4 pcs.wanted to save some for dinner too.

Sprinkle with salt,pepper,chilliflakes and juice of half a lemon on all the sides.Cover with a cling film and leave it to marinate in the fridge for an hour.

For Quinoa

• 1 cup quinoa.

Cook it according to the packet instructions.You can take any type of quinoa.I used black variety since I have a big box of black quinoa sitting on my shelf since eternity.Needed to use it.

Orange Salsa

•  1 Green capsicum
• 1 onion (medium)
• 1 orange
• 2 avacado

Dice all the above ingreidients into small cubes.

• 5 Tbsp olive oil
• 5 Tbsp Orange juice
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1&1/2 tsp grated orange rind
• 1&1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
• salt to taste 
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes

Mix well all the above ingredients together to get a thick dressing.And dress the salsa with it.

Preparation

Grill the salmon for 3-4 mins on each side.I used a double sided electric griller which I usally do in the winters.You can even have it on a charcoal grill.I am sure that the smoky flavour of the charcaol grill will add to the yumminess factor.

PS:Sorry for same clicks.My hungry husband just dint lemme click!!

Dahi Phulki -Gram Flour Dumplings In Yogurt Sauce.

Better late than never!
Enough of procastination!!.I need to break the ice!!..yes get back to blogging.Cant even tell you how much I missed sharing all the wonderful recipes pictures and travel and now that I have got a new Camera.. yes!! a Nikon D3100 (well got it more then a year back).Its high time I should get back to what I loved.So from now on I promise to share my recipes along with a piece of my not so spicy life.So no more broken cameras travel breaks or lazy weekends or even super busy weekdays can keep me away.So here to start with I have a very easy peasy recipe.

These can be eaten as a side dish or simply as an Appetizer.This one is my moms traditional recipe.And its an absolute must during the ramadan.Dahi phulikis are quite a north indian delight.Havent seen it anywhere else though.Its not a dish which can be found in restuarants or on a street food stall.Its a very homemade sort of dish.The phulkis or the dumplings are usually made of gram flour but I have tasted a variant variety of phulkis made of moong dal.My pakistani cousins   usually have the monng dal variety.But personally I love the gram flour flavour.Plus its gluten free.
Go ahead and enjoy the recipe and lemme know!

Ingredients

For Phulki(Dumplings):

• 1 cup gram flour (Besan),sifted
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3/4 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves,chopped
• water,as required
• oil,for deep frying

For yogurt Sauce:

• 750 gm. plain yogurt
• 1 tsp salt
• chaat masala,according to taste 
•  1tsp dry mint

For Tempering:

• 2 whole dried red chillies.
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 5-6 curry leaves (optional)

Method

 For the dumplings.

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.Add water and beat well with a spoon or whisk.Take care to add water little by little.We dont want a very runny batter nor a very thick one.The consistency of the batter is important it should be that of a creamy consistency.Leave it to rest for 15-20 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a wok or a fryer.Test the temperature by dropping a small amount of batter into the hot oil.It should rise to the top at once.
3. The oil should be medium hot.Drop teaspoonful of batter.Fry to a golden in color.Remove and drain on a kitchen towel.Let it rest for 20-25 minutes or till it has cooled.
4. In another big bowl take some hot water.The water should be enough for the dumplings to dip in.Add salt to the water and soak the phulkis for atleast 15 mins.Squeeze out the excess water gently by pressing them and place them in a serving bowl.Keep in fridge or at room temperature for 10-15 minutes so that Phulki absorbs the yoghurt.

 For Yoghurt Sauce.

1. Whisk yogurt with 1\2 cup water,salt and dry mint to make a smooth paste. Pour evenly onto the Phulki in the serving dish and stir gently.

 For Tempering:

1. Heat oil in a small saucepan.Add the tempering ingredients till light brown.Temper the dish.Garnish with Chaat Masala