Edamame and Carrot Burgers served with Almond Butter

Edamame and Carrot Burgers 

served with Almond Butter

I love burgers! Well, who doesn't. I love cooking up innovative burgers to give them an edge overs others. Of course, they are healthy and nutritious so I am very particular as to what goes in them. I like using never heard combinations while making the patties. Like the time I made Eggplant and Chickpea Burger. I quizzed my friends over what was in it and they were pleasantly surprised to know that it had eggplant!

Broccoli Paratha

Broccoli Paratha

There are generic parathas and then there is this paratha - Broccoli Paratha! This is totally a fusion dish. I mean, in India, people have just begun using broccoli since the last few years..at-least the people I know, including me. In fact I first time used broccoli when I moved to US two years ago. I like the taste of it. So far I had only used it in pastas, soups and salads. You can check them here - Pink Spaghetti, Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli Soup and Sesame flavored grilled tofu & veggies.

Cheese Corn Toast

Cheese Corn Toast

It was the end of the week, my groceries were well used this week and by end of it I only had some potatoes and frozen corn in my fridge. So I knew had to make something using these 2 as my core ingredients. I have made Supremely spicy Mushroom Toast and Hummus flavored Chickpea Toast before.

Vegetable Frankie

Vegetable Frankie

If you have ever lived in or even been to Bombay, India you will food stalls selling Frankies at every corner. However the best ones are mainly found around colleges or in Ghatkopar Khau galli. Having lived away from home for a couple of years now, I have realized how much we take these things for granted. I would just step out of my house and there would be food vendors selling all kinds of dishes on the go. Outside railway stations, offices, schools and colleges, it was all on your face. Here, sadly you miss street food so much that now I feel we took them for granted back home. After all we are known for our super tasty street food! I have attempted few of them in my blog. You can find them here - Ragda Pattice Vada Pav Potato Capsicum Grill Sandwich Mysore Masala Dosa Sukha Bhel and Pav Bhaji

Indian Quesadilla

Indian Quesadilla 

Since the time I came to US, apart from enjoying occasional Chinese food takeouts, I have really loved Mexican food. I feel these two cuisines come close to Indian style because of the spices and flavors used in the recipes. I love Italian food as well, however only if its loaded with pepper flakes! I am a sucker for spicy food you see. :)
Anyways coming back to Mexican cuisine, Obviously the ones you get in the restaurants are loaded with calories and unhealthy. I have made whole wheat Quesadilla in the past and they have turned out good. It is always an achievement when you can replicate a restaurant dish at home minus all the fats and calories.

Naan Pizza made with Italian Red Sauce

Naan Pizza made with Italian Red Sauce

All my life I have had naan only with regular sabzi. Never had it occurred to me that we could do this with naan. Now why didn't I think of this earlier? This makes pizza making so much simpler and gives it a very desi touch to it. This is why I loved this pizza even more. In order to stay honest with my diet, I chose to use wheat naan instead of the regular one and of course used fat free mozzarella cheese :)
Pizzas in general are very calorie dense because of the base, toppings, sauce and cheese. It has become a popular dish across the world. So it is interesting to see if we can come up with healthier options to make it. Specially if you have a pizza loving husband or child at home like me!
So go ahead and try this out. After all, cooking is all about innovation.. :)

Paneer Papad Paratha

 Paneer Papad Paratha

I never thought papad and paneer could taste so well in a paratha. It is an unique blend. There is the crispiness of the papad that hits you as you take a bite and the softness of the paneer that melts in your mouth. Personally I think this is one of my favorite paratha after Aloo Paratha. I would love to try adding papad with some other paratha filling next time. Again I have tried to keep this recipe as healthy as possible. Adding soy flour, flax seed powder, oats and cooking it in very little oil are some of the things I did to stay honest with my diet.
I must have been a Sindhi in my past life for sure. I love papad. I have stories from my childhood where I have cried like a small baby when my papad broke accidentally into pieces. I would relish every bite I ate and take small bites of it so that it lasted longer. Today I purposely broke it down for this recipe and it didn't break my heart!. I guess, I have aged now ;)
However even the fact that I combined papad with anything to make a paratha goes on to prove that my love for it has not reduced. Hope you enjoy making this as much as I did.
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Potato Capsicum Grill Sandwich

Potato Capsicum Grill Sandwich

I was missing home terribly and wanted to eat something which will give me the same feeling of comfort like home. So I decided to make my dad's favorite dish - Grill Sandwich. During my college days, he would always ask me to get a parcel of his favorite sandwich from outside my college. He would really look forward to eat it. This memory made me smile and hence I had to make it today..for him!

Beets Bahaar

Beets Bahaar

This one is totally my invention! I am super excited. I envisioned this before going to sleep yesterday night. I wanted to create something never heard of and it had to be with Beets and its leaves! So it is basically a Beet leaves paratha with a curd spread on it and a Beet cutlet over it. So it's like an open burger or paratha maybe. I didnt know what to name this dish, KR came up with this name. So Beets Bahaar it is!

Carrot and Peas Paratha

Carrot and Peas Paratha

We are going on a vacation in two days so I wanted to make sure that my fridge is empty and there are no degradable leftovers. I managed to use all the veggies except these baby carrots, cilantro and green chillies. While green chillies are a rare commodity in US for now, so I decided to freeze them. But I had to use the carrots somehow. Both me and my husband are not a fan of any carrot dish but I had to use them and not waste it. My husband did make a face when I told him that I was thinking of making carrot parathas. I had to add something more to it. Lucky for me, I did have a packet of frozen peas in the freezer. So I decided to make Carrot and Peas Paratha. I knew that the carrots would be too sweet so I ensured that I add enough spices and green chillies to keep the hot quotient high. I also tried to keep it healthy by adding soy and oats flour in the dough and using less oil. So here I am with these delicious parathas. Give it a try..

Edamame & Spinach Paratha

Edamame & Spinach Paratha

In my quest to find healthier recipes to take us through the week, I came up with this idea to mix edamame and spinach to make parathas. I usually use these beans in pasta. I have used them in paratha once when I had combined them with Beetroot. They turned out very well. So today I decided to go green. :) I decided to make spinach and edamame parathas. My husband would never eat it if he knew what was inside beforehand. He is not a big fan of Edamame. So I let him have a bite, got his reaction and then revealed the true ingredients to him. He was pleasantly surprised to know the contents and was asking for more! I got my verdict right there. Go ahead and try these yummy parathas at home and let me know how they turn out!

Coriander Peas Paratha with Green Peas Masala

Coriander Peas Paratha with Green Peas Masala

I am sure you all relate to the feeling of coming back home from a lovely vacation and then not wanting to enter the kitchen at all to cook. Well, I was going through this emotion yesterday. Just got back from Key West and we were exhausted. We didn't do the groceries on our way back either. So I was left with very few options to cook a meal. So finally overcoming my laziness to cook, I entered the kitchen to figure out what to cook. Luckily there was still some cilantro and frozen peas in the fridge. So I decided to use these as my main ingredients. Thankfully, the meal turned out good and tasty.

Hummus flavored Chickpea Toast

Hummus flavored Chickpea Toast

In my quest to find healthy and protein rich food, I keep trying different dishes. So far I have only had chickpeas in the traditional chole recipe or in the Middle eastern hummus. I was wanting to try something different with them. Since I hadn't done my grocery this weekend, I had to make do with whatever I had at home. I decided to soak the chickpeas overnight and worry about my dish in the morning. Sandwiches are usually considered as zero oil diet food. So I decided in the morning that I will make a sandwich out of this. I raided my fridge to check on what other ingredients I could use. I love hummus so I decided to surely add them in my dish. This is a very easy recipe and the prep just takes few minutes. There is not much chopping and can be a quick fix meal if you have the chickpeas ready. It is very filling and can be eaten as a meal along with 1 glass of buttermilk.

Sesame flavored beetroot & edamame parathas

Sesame flavored beetroot & edamame parathas

I have read many recipes where lot of different ingredients are mixed together to make varieties of parathas. So I wanted to make my own variation. I decided to combine beetroots and edamame and see how it works. Luckily the combination worked well together and our hunger pangs were satisfied.
For people who don't know what is edamame, it is young soybeans. They are green in color, soft and edible. Usually used in Japanese cooking. It very nutritious as well. 1 cup of cooked edamame contains 17gms of protein while only 8gms of fat. So for vegetarians, this is a very good option to include some healthy food in their diet.

Supremely spicy Mushroom toast

Supremely spicy Mushroom toast

I was craving to have something very spicy for my breakfast. I had some leftover mushrooms I had got for making pasta,  which I made yesterday. Mushrooms are my favorite because of their unique taste, the flavor it gives to any dish and also that it is very easy to cook. Plus it also has its own health benefits. So I decided to make mushroom toast.

Mutter Palak paratha

Mutter Palak paratha

I love eating parathas at a restaurant or when my mother makes me one, however just the thought of making it on my own daunts me. Post marriage, I always kept the idea of making parathas at a two arm distance even though my hubby is a foodie and would eat anything I cook. I deprived him of  these yummy little thing called parathas. Well, before the bollywood in me overcomes my personality and I get more melodramatic, let me stop here ;)

Coming back to parathas, well I just felt that I needed a paratha recipe on my blog and I might as well make my husband happier by making it for him. So as always in my obsessive need to keep most of our weekday meals healthy, I decided to make these parathas diet friendly. Now I must say that I am totally hooked on to making parathas and I plan to try out different varieties soon. Anyways, here is my recipe of Mutter palak paratha. Happy cooking!

Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji

This is one popular dish across the streets of Mumbai. Every locality has that one stall which serves the best Pav Bhaji & every Mumbaiite will swear that they have had the best one in their neighborhood. This is one of the top 10 dishes we miss when out of the city or the country. Every Indian attempts to make this dish at-least once in their lifetime. Of course there are many who master this dish. Here is my version of this tasty dish!

Beetroot cutlets sandwich

Beetroot cutlets sandwich

Are you looking for a filler snack or a mid day meal. I think this definitely comes to the rescue. This is very easy to make & guess what..its healthy too!