Baked Vegetable Pie

This was during last November when we  were in London.My mother’s sister was in the US at the same time with her daughter Nivedita. We skyped often ,laughed, cracked jokes ,pulled each other’s legs  and exchanged recipes  just like we did way back at home ,In Kerala. Thanks to The Internet. To Skype too . …Like I said people in two different parts of the world brought together, talking with each other as if they were sitting  across a table … How science has changed our lives and has brought with it innumerable oppurtunities…to the extend that my cousin would be grinding something in her mixer  and she would ask me to mute my microphones lest A happily sleeping Aniket(my sonny) would wake up in his home in London…We even got to give each other running commentary while cooking …The”No no don’t fry that too much or hey that looks yummy “happened over Skype.My Aunt makes amazing palada. Watching her making palada on skype did 2 things to me-

It made my mouth water.

I learned how to make it

But that’s another post.Will try to recreate that amazing palada some other time…..

So it was during one such skype session I watched the making of The baked Vegetable Pie .Hmmm it looked yummy in her baking dish she showed us through skype that day.I promptly asked my cousin to mail me the recipe. That was it . Over. As always I bookmarked the recipe but didn’t get to making it. The recipe had travelled all the way from her paternal Aunt in  Chennai all the way to The US, then to  Us in UK  through skype only to  stay put in my  1 Mile long cooking wishlist…..Grrrr….

Then suddenly yesterday while I was putting Aniket to sleep The Veg pie popped up in my mind. A nice baked dish full of stringy cheese and vegitables coated with the white sauce and I couldn’t resist the temptation to make it….here goes the recipe-:

Ingredients

Carrot-1 cup chopped into cubes

Cauliflower-1/2 cup shredded

Corn kernels -1/2 cup

Potatoes-1 medium sized or 1 cup

Butter-1/4 cup (to dot the  vegetables)

Bread crumbs-1/4^th cup or more(enough to sprinkle over vegetables)

Macaroni-3 cups                                                                  

Pepper powder-1 tsp

Cheese-Mozzarella, processed cheese or cheddar

Sauce

All purpose flour-4-5 tbsp. or more

Butter-3-4 tbsp or more

Milk-1/2 cup or more (enough to make the sauce creamy)

Garlic crushed-1-2 cloves(small)

Pepper powder-1-1 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Pressure cook potatoes, cauliflower and carrot (2-3 whistles).You can pressure cook carrots and cauliflower together but potatoes separately. Mash the potatoes and add little salt to it.

Add corn to boiling water. You may add little salt to it if you require (a pinch) and let it bubble. Once water bubbles simmer and heat corn with closed lid for 3 minutes

Boil water .Add macaroni and boil with little salt and 1/2 tsp. of oil till cooked.

Mix macaroni, carrot and cauliflower.

Sauce

In a non-stick pan add butter, and fry Maida.

Add salt, pepper and crushed garlic. Mix.

Switch the gas off. Add milk till the mixture becomes creamy.

Coat vegetables and macaroni with sauce.

Assemble

In a baking dish spread butter.

Layer mashed potato at bottom.

Then spread the coated vegetables and macaroni.

Dot the layer with dollops of butter.

Sprinkle bread crumbs.

Spred one more layer of coated vegetable and macaroni and sprinkle bread crumbs again on top of it.

Sprinkle grated cheese.

Preheat oven to 180 C .Reduce to 150 C and bake for 15 minutes or till cheese is melted.

Turn the knob to grill and grill for 2-3 minutes.

Serve it with tomato sauce.

 Notes

You may also add peas, mushrooms and capsicum to the dish.

You can also omit the grill option if you prefer so.

You can mix butter to mashed potatoes for richer taste.

Cheese Chilli Toast

I had my cheese chilli toast first time in Pune. My cousin Priya chechi (chechi is sister in Malayalam) had taken us out .She knows my fantasy for cheese and suggested we try the cheese chilli toast on the menu. As always she was right. I loved my very first bite of the toast- smothered with cheese, dotted with the spice of green chili and capsicum….Very simple to make but very filling.

We had a great get together that day …..Priya chechi’s  kids Rohit and Ananya were  playing around as we sat around the table ,my mother and her siblings talking about their wonderful childhood back in Kerala in a small village called  Karukaputhur,pulling each other’s leg and indulging in some harmless gossip… … …….By the time we left  all of us were burping ,our bellies full of yummy cheese,chats ,ice creams  and more…….

My mother’s sister-in law-Reshmi Ammayi (ammayi is aunt in malayalam)makes lovely cheese chilli T’s too…..  so we had another round of them again ,this time at my uncle’s place another day the same week…..The more you have the more you want..

I have been wanting to feast on cheese chilli toasts for some days now….so today I decided I’m certainly going to make them….thankfully I had some cheese and  just enough capsicum in my pantry to make them……They are really easy to make…..especially if you want to pack a fast lunch to office or go on a picnic at short notice…they’ll be ready in minutes…..here goes the recipe:-

Ingredients

Bread-2 Slices

Cheese- 4-3tbsp(mozzarella or cheddar)

Green Chilli-2

Green capsicum-2 tbsp cubed

Pepper powder-1/2-1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Method

Chop the chillies . Cube the capsicum. Grate cheese and mix the chillies and capsicum. Add pepper and salt. Take a bread slice. Spread the cheese mixture on the top. Preheat oven to 180 C for 10 minutes. Bake at the same temperature for 3-5 minutes or till cheese melts. Then turn the switch to grill mode and grill for 3 minutes till cheese starts bubbling and becomes slightly brown.

Serve with tomato sauce.

Notes:

You can add red or yellow  capsicum, tomatoes(deseeded) or onions to above cheese mixture.

You can also toast the bread on the tawa till slightly crisp.Spread cheese and put it on the tawa with cheese side up.Donot flip.Heat till cheese melts.

Garnish with coriander leaves

Little Aniket wanted to try them out with me today…He was chomping away some ghee dosa (Aniket loves dosas especially if its crisp and crunchy  and restaurant style)when his eyes fell on something cooking inside the oven…I tried to divert his attention… he wouldn’t be able to eat the toasts …. With the chilli and peppers they were a bit too spicy, especially for a 2 year old…But he wouldn’t budge until I slowly took them out, meticulously pulled out the chills and fed him some pieces of“unchillied “cheese toast….A glee on his face told me he loved it….He even asked for more….So we both  sat down… I unchillied one more toast and gave it to him. …He nibbled one  small slice…then looked at me and smiled…..My little dosa champ  suddenly turned out to be another cheese lover… 

 Lakshmi....