Saturday, 4 June 2016

Basic Food Recipes

Hey!

The other day someone texted in a group chat asking how to make tea. Now, this made me realise that not everyone can cook and I started to feel bad. Fear not, because I am going to list some basic foods and how to make them. If you are someone that can't cook, I am not making fun of you. This is to help you! Think about this, you can surprise your mum by making one of these and you can make it for yourself too.

1. Rice

Basmati:

Take 2 cups of rice grains and wash thoroughly 2-3 times with water. Put 4 cups of water in the rice grains. Put it on the stove in medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes. After 10-15 minutes, check that the rice is soft and cooked. If it is cooked and water has dried off, turn off the stove and cover it. If you have a rice cooker, just put the rice and water and click the "cook" button and done.


Brown (mota chal):

Take 2 cups of rice grains and wash thoroughly 2-3 times with water. Make sure you use a large pot. Fill up the pot with water almost to the top and cook in high heat for 30-40 minutes. Check if the rice is cooked after 30-40 minutes. If cooked, drain the excess water, put the rice back in the pot and put it back in the stove in low heat for 3-4 minutes so excess water is dried. Turn off the stove.


2. Tea/Coffee

Water:

Boil a cup of water. When the water is bubbling, add the tea bag or coffee grains. With tea bag, let it release the colour for 30-40 seconds and turn off the stove and serve with sugar or 1/2 tsp lemon/lime juice if desired. With coffee grains, immediately turn off the stove and serve with sugar if desired.

Milk:

Take a cup of milk and boil it. When the milk is boiled, add the tea bag and let it release its colour for 4-5 minutes. Turn off the stove and serve with sugar if desired. If coffee, then add the coffee grains, dissolve the coffee grains and turn off the stove and serve with sugar if desired.

3. Omelette

Crack an egg in a small bowl. Add a pinch salt and pepper (we add chopped onion and green chillies) and whisk. Turn the stove in medium-high heat. Heat up a pan and add 2 tbsp of oil and heat it up. Add the whisked egg in the heated pan and cook it for 2-3 minutes. Turn the omelette over and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and turn off the stove. Serve!

4. Chapati/Paratha

Take 3 cups of chapati flour (atta) in a bowl (if you are making parathas, add 2-3 tbsp of oil or butter and knead). Add 1-1.5 cups of water. Add the water bit by bit and keep kneading until the dough is soft. Separate the dough into smaller dough balls. Roll them out into thin circles (if you're making parathas, roll them out with a pinch of oil). Heat the pan dry and fry without oil (unless it is paratha, which you should use a bit  of oil or butter when almost done) until cooked. Serve with curry or omelette.


5. Fried chicken

Marinade your chicken in salt, pepper, lemon juice and any spice you may fancy like paprika. Let it rest for a few hours. Crack an egg and whisk. Pour flour in a plate and add salt, paprika and chilli powder and mix together. Coat your chicken pieces with egg and then coat with flour and let it rest. Heat oil to deep fry. Fry the chicken depending on the size of it. Breast pieces should take no more than 10 minutes and drumsticks around 15-20 minutes. Drain excess oil with kitchen tissue. Serve!

6. Jhal muri (spiced Bombay mix)

Chop onions, green chillies, tomatoes and coriander in small pieces. In a big bowl add Bombay mix (chanachur/sanasur), puffed rice (muri), chopped veggies and mustard oil. Mix them together. Serve!




7. Pakora

Grate aubergine, carrot, potato, or any other veggies you may like. Chop onion and green chillies. In a big bowl add the veggies, onion, green chillies, chickpea flour (besan), turmeric powder (haldi) , red chilli powder (lal mirch/moris), cumin powder (jeera), onion-garlic-ginger paste, salt, baking powder and mix. Gradually add cold water and mix until you have a semi-runny batter with the veggies. Heat oil to deep fry. With your hands, scoop out a bit of veggie mix from the batter and carefully drop it in the hot oil. Fry them until golden brown and drain excess oil with kitchen tissue. Serve!


I hope you enjoyed it and it actually helps you. Is there any other food you would like to know how to make it. Let me know in the comments!

Take Care

Yours, Nafiza

No comments:

Post a Comment

Featured post

Letter To Younger Self

This is a letter for my 10 year old self: Dear Younger Me, How are you doing? You must be doing well, even though you might not think...