Bread Bhath / Bread Masala / Bread Upma Recipe in simple steps

What's in a name? You call it Bread bhath, Bread Masala or Bread upma..it sounds tastier with every name. This super quick easy dish can be prepared for breakfast, as a snack or as a light dinner. 

If you have loafs of bread lying and if you are bored of eating same old bread toast every time, this simple yet tasty recipe can fill your stomach and it is healthy too with your favorite veggies added.

Ingredients :

Bread slices - 5,6 (Take more if preparing more quantity. I have used brown bread, you can use any)

Onion - 1 chopped

Tomato - 1 chopped

Green chillies - 3-4

Vegetables - Carrot, peas

Curry leaves

Ketchup - 2 tbsp

Soya sauce - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbsp

Chopped Coriander

Water - half cup

Salt

Procedure : 

1. Cut each bread slice into 9 pieces and keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan, add curry leaves, onion and green chillies. Once the onion turns brown add vegetables and fry for couple of minutes.

3. Add chopped tomatoes and give nice mix. Add turmeric powder, salt and cook until all the veggies are cooked. This shouldn't take much time.

4. Now is the time to add bread pieces. Add and mix pieces well so that the mixture coats to bread pieces. Sprinkle water over the bread pieces, so that they become soft and absorb the mixture.

5. Keep mixing. Take a small bowl, mix ketchup, soya sauce and 2 tbsp of water. now add this mix to the bread bath and mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander. 

Stuffed Bread Pakoda

A lovely and filling snack for you. It is more of a breakfast than snack. If you have left over aloo sabji then it can be made in a jiffy. Here is the recipe for the yummy, crisp bites!

Ingredients :

For the stuffing

Potato - 2 (boiled and mashed)

Onion - 1 Chopped finely

Ginger - 1/2 sp grated

Green Chilleis - 1, 2

Frozen Peas - 1/4 cup(optional)

Mustard seeds

Cumin seeds

Turmeric - a pinch

Coriander powder, garam masala - 1tbsp(optional)

Salt

For the Covering :

Bread - 6 slices

Besan(chikpea flour) - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1/2 cup

Turmeric - a pinch

Chilli powder - 1/2 tbsp

Water

Salt

Procedure :

1. Prepare the stuffing. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard, cumin seeds, ginger, green chillies and onions one by one. Add mashed potato and mix well.Adjust the seasoning.

2. In the meanwhile, prepare the batter for the covering. Take flours in a bowl. Add chilli powder, turmeric and salt. add water and mix them to a medium consistency.

3. Cut the crusts off the breads. Take one bread and spread the potato mixture tightly. Place another slice over this. Press it.

4. Cut this diagonally into two slices

5. Dip one piece into the batter, turn both sides so that it is coated nicely on both sides

6. Deep fry until it turns brown one by one in medium high hot oil. 

7. Serve them with your favorite chutney!

Veg Hakka Noodles

Noodles are a favorite of young and olds. Hakka noodles, an Indo-Chinese dish is quick and easy to make and tastes delicious. It is a healthy breakfast, a spicy snack and a perfect recipe for your kids' lunch box too.

Ingredients :

Veg Hakka Noodles - 1 pack (readily available in the market)

Onion - 1

Green chillies - 3,4

Carrot - 1

Tomato - 1

Capsicum - 1

Cabbage - 1/2 cup shredded

Beans - 5

Spring onions - 3 sticks
Ginger - 1 inch cut into thin pieces

Garlic - 3,4 pods

Tomato sauce - 2 sp

Chilli sauce - 2 sp (as per your taste)

Soya sauce - 2 sp

Salt

Cooking Oil

[Note:Chop all the vegetables preferably lengthwise into thin pieces - it takes less cooking time and looks great too]

Procedure :

Cooking the noodles

1. Cook the noodles as per packing instructions. Boil 8 cups of water, add pinch of salt, 1sp oil, and put the noodles.

2. Let it cook for 3, 4 min. Keep checking in between if its done. Once done strain all the water, put cold water and strain it once again.

3. Put 2 tbsp oil and toss it nicely. [Cold water and oil prevent sticking of noodles]. Keep aside

Preparing the noodles

1. Heat oil in a thick bottom pan, when it is hot add ginger, garlic and vegetables one by one while tossing.

2. Once the vegetables are cooked, add cooked noodles and all the sauces. Mix and toss well. Put salt and pepper.

3. Garnish with spring onions. Serve hot!

Semiya Upma / Vermicelli Upma

A modified version of Upma, for those who run away from the usual traditional upma. Kids would surely love this. A quickie and healthy breakfast and a perfect dish for the lunch box too!

Ingredients :

Vermicelli/ Semiya (I have used Bambino available in stores) - 2 cups

Onion - 1 large, finely chopped

Green Chillies - 3,4

Ground nut - 1 spoon

Urad Dal - 1 spoon

Mustard

Curry leaves

Vegetables - Carrot, beans, peas or any veggies of your choice

Lemon Juice - 1 spoon

Salt

Chopped Coriander

Procedure :

1. Put vermicelli and 5 cups of water , pinch of salt and 1spoon oil and bring it to boil. Check if the vermicelli is done and switch off the heat immediately. Drain the water and rinse vermicelli with cold running water.

This way vermicelli doesn't form into a lump

2. Take a pan, add oil, mustard, urad dal, ground nut, curry leaves. Once they start spluttering, add chopped onions, chillies and all the vegetables one by one.

3. After all the veggies are cooked, add the cooked vermicelli and give a good mix. Sprinkle lemon juice and garnish with chopped coriander.

How to prepare Instant Rava Dosa

There are hundreds of varieties of dosas. Plain dosa, masala dosa, Onion dosa, set dosa, rava dosa, vegetable dosa, poha dosa, besan dosa, spinach dosa, uttappam ......and the list goes on and on.Here is another variety of dosa, the paper dosa/rava dosa, very rarely tried and tested at home. I never thought it so easy until i tried it myself. Believe me, try this at home and you will stop asking this at restaurants!

Few plus points of Rava dosa over the regular one :You can fix up this instantly, don't have to leave it overnight, no fermentation needed and very crispy.

Ingredients :

Semolina/Sooji/Rava - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1 cup

All purpose flour(Maida) - 1/2 cup

Chopped green chilles - 2 spoon

Chpped Ginger - 1 spoon

Cumin seeds

Pepper powder - pinch

Asofetida(hing)- a pinch

Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Take a mixing bowl. Add rava, rice flour, maida, then ginger and green chillies, cumin seeds, hing pepper powder and salt.

2. Mix well and add water and make it into a thin batter. It should look somewhat like this.

[it appears similar to the butter milk consistency]

3. It is as simple as that. Now place the tawa on the heat. If you want to make onion rava dosa, spread chopped onions all over the tawa. Now as the batter is so thin, we cannot put it like the regular dosa. So we will sprinkle the batter throughout the tawa!! A net kind of formation is made.

3. Then put oil/butter/ghee, whichever you want on the dosa generously. Leave for a minute. If you want more crispier ones, you can scrape out the extra batter and make it thin. (No fear of burning, as we have spread onions initially which acts as nonstick!)

4. And thats it. Remove it and serve it with coconut chutney!

Aloo Paratha made easy

It really took quite some time for me to get these perfect shaped, perfect stuffed, crisp Aloo parathas. Earlier whenever i tried making this paratha, always aloo lumps used to pop up, tearing the paratha, thus ruining the whole thing.I know some of you must be struggling the same way. Here is an easy method. Try it out

There are many ways of making aloo paratha. This is the one i have followed and succeeded.

Ingredients :

For making Dough:

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups

Water to knead

oil - 2 sp

For the stuffing:

Boiled potatoes - 2

Ginger garlic paste - 1 sp

Cumin powder - 1/2 sp

Garam masala - 1/2 sp

Green chillies - 1 sp

(Finely chopped)

Finely chopped Onion- 1small(optional)

Chat masala - a pinch

Chopped coriander

Chilli powder - a pinch(optional, if you want more spicy)

Lemon juice - 1 sp

salt to taste

Prodedure:

1. Take flour in a mixing bowl. Add 2 sp oil, mix well, then add salt and knead into a dough using water to a soft dough. After kneading, put little bit of oil and knead completely. Covert it and set aside for 20 min

(The process of adding oil earlier makes the paratha crispier)

2. Now we will prepare the stuffing. It can be prepared by grating the raw potato and mixing all the spices. Though it is quick, it doesn't tastes as good as the one prepared in the mincing way.

3. Cooked version. Take oil in a pan. Add ginger garlic paste, cumin powder, chopped chillies, garam masala, red chilli powder, chopped corainader, salt and mix. Now grate the boiled potatoes and mix well. Add lemon juice to give a fresh flavor.

4. Divide the above prepared mixture into small dumplings.

5. Now take a portion of dough, spread the dough with your fingers to a small circle making the edges thinner compared to the center. Place the filling at the center and pull the edges through out. Seal the edges by twisting a bit. Remove off the extra dough.

6. Now apply flour and press the paratha evenly with your hands in all the directions. You may get air bubbles, using a fork you can press them.

7. Now in a frying a pan, applying sufficient oil fry it on both sides till you get a nice golden color.

8. Serve hot parathas with chilled curd and your favorite pickel.

Vermicelli Idli

Welcome to my cooking class. This is the first time am posting a recipe on my blog. Recently i have been going through lot of cooking and recipe blogs and trying out variety of dishes. Some are hits and some misses. Here is one such hit- Vermicelli Idly.

Ingredients:

1 cup vermicelli/semiya

1 cup rava/sooji

1 cup finely chopped vegetables of your choice (i had put carrot, green peas, potato)

Finely chopped coriander leaves

Few curry leaves

1 tbsp mustard seeds

Salt to taste

Pinch of soda

1 cup curd

1 cup water

2 tbsp oil

Procedure :

1. Roast the vermicilli and rava seperately in 1/2 spoon ghee/oil till brown. Keep aside.

2. Take oil in a pan. When it is hot, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and vegetables.

3. Fry untill the vegetables are bit soft. Switch off the heat.

4. Take a mixing bowl and add all the ingredients, roasted vermicelli, rava, vegetable mix, soda, salt and coriander leaves.

And it looks somewhat like this....

5. Now its time to add curd. Put curd and adjust the consistency adding water. Mix well and keep aside for 10 min.

6. In the meanwhile, oil the idli plates and keep the water for boiling. Pour the batter into idli plates.

7. Steam for 7-8 min. Pierce a knife and check if it comes out clean. Remove from heat and serve hot with chatni