Tofu Fried Rice

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked white rice
1/4 cup red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
1 cup tofu, cut into cubes ( I use firm tofu)
2 tsp oil
1 tsp sasam (black mustard seeds)
1/2 tsp jeera (cumin)
3 green chillies, slit (increase or decrease as per taste)
1 sprig curry leaves
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
salt to taste

How it's made:

To prepare tofu.....Hold tofu cubes between palm & try to squeeze out as much water as possible. Set aside.
In a non stick pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves & green chillies. Cover until mustard stops popping. Add peppers & tofu. Saute for a few mins. Let the peppers remain crunchy. Add rice, salt & pepper powder. Mix well. Cover & let stand on low flame for the rice to heat evenly. Adjust salt & serve hot.

Serves : 4-5

Note: Vegetables like cabbage, carrots, green beans, green peas can be substituted instead of peppers. I go by the vegetables left in my refrigerator.

Cupcake

Merry Christmas! Cheers to good health & great food!

This past weekend, I had volunteered at a kids event to bake 3 dozen cupcakes which needed just frosting & sprinkles. My kitchen has been like a bakery for the last 10 days with cakes, cookies & brownies. To end all the baking for this season, I baked another dozen more to play around with frosting & create something different. With a few Wilton tips that I had, I enjoyed decorating these cupcakes.

Another year older...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

My baby turned a year older today. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"! Years fly by and I still remember the first cry, first tooth, first step, first word......... and many other first's. Little Mr. Personality was always energetic, enthusiastic, inquisitive and a big social person. At times, I thought it was dangerous for him to be too social- (worrying he would let the cat out of the Bag)! A voracious reader of fiction books, a budding percussionist and a master of silly faces is quite a joy to be around with. I was recently going through family albums and it was a trip down memory lane. Although the memories are always carried with us, the picture brought life to many growing stages. All the passing years, the changes and the challenges, feels like it's hard to catch up and they grow up too soon.

This time of the year is always crazy but we try to put aside our daily schedules, Christmas activities and make this day a very special one.

Since last year, his birthday celebration has been a week prior to the actual birthdate in order to make it convenient for all his friends. Although, the birthday boy is not a big fan of cake, I was determined to bake a football theme cake for my die hard "Steelers" fan. With the amount of time I had, I was debating between home made or store bought cake.

So, I brain-stormed a few thoughts before going to bed the previous night & the next morning I baked a cake before heading for work. On my way back, I picked up decorating supplies and after dinner, spent a few hours & managed to finish it. I had initially planned on a design which I realized was a little complicated & this was the final result.

The cake was made with store bought yellow cake mix and I used store bought vanilla frosting. While icing details on the cake, I realized home made icing with confectioners sugar would have been a better choice. Store bought frosting is perfect for spreading or sandwiching the cake. Using fondant would have made the details look neater but it has never been a favorite, especially with the birthday boy!

I used a very thin layer of icing which controlled the sweetness.

Pepper Chicken

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs, with bone cut into bite size pieces
2 medium onions, sliced
2 medium tomato, chopped
2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
3 green cardamom
3 cloves
1"cinnamon
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
3 tsp pepper powder
1/4 cup coriander leaves
oil
salt to taste


How it's made:

In a bowl, take 2 tsp of pepper powder, salt & marinate to the chicken for 30 mins. In a pan heat oil, add green cardamom, cloves & cinnamon. (I grind the spices in a coffee grinder & add to oil). Then add onions & fry until light brown. Add ginger garlic paste. Fry for a minute. Add tomatoes & salt. Cook until the sauce looks mushy. Add chicken, coriander powder & chilli powder. Cover & cook until chicken is almost done. Lastly add remaining pepper powder & coriander leaves.

Serves : 6