Cherry Tomato Frittata

Ingredients:
10 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
6 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
3 Tbs. finely chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
Kernels cut from 1 ear of corn (about 1 cup)
1/2 pint small cherry tomatoes

Preparation
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, 4 oz. of the goat cheese, 2 Tbs. of the basil, the lemon zest, the 1 1/4 tsp. salt, the red pepper flakes and black pepper. Set aside.
2. In the deep half of a frittata pan over medium heat, melt 1 Tbs. of the butter. Add the corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the egg mixture and cook, gently scraping the sides and bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula to allow the uncooked eggs to flow underneath, about 2 minutes.
Do the same if using a regular pan.
3. Reduce the heat to low, place the shallow pan upside down on top of the deep pan and cook until the frittata is partially set, about 5 minutes. Remove the shallow pan and arrange the cherry tomatoes and the remaining 2 oz. goat cheese on top of the frittata. Cover with the shallow pan and cook until the eggs are almost completely set, 7 to 9 minutes more.
(If using the regular frying pan, invert the half cooked frittata in a plate, and then slide the frittata into the pan so that the undercooked side touches the base).
4. Remove the shallow pan, set it over medium heat and melt the remaining 1 Tbs. butter. Place the shallow pan upside down on top of the deep pan and flip the frittata into the shallow pan. Cook, covered, until the eggs are completely set, about 3 minutes. Flip the frittata back into the deep pan, remove the shallow pan and gently shake the deep pan to loosen the frittata.

Slide the frittata onto a cutting board. Top with the remaining 1 Tbs. basil and a sprinkle of salt. Cut into 8 wedges and serve. Serves 8.

Gulab Jamun from scratch

Ingredients:
Khoya – 1 pkg
Sooji – 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
Oil/ Ghee – enough for frying

For the syrup:
Sugar – 2 cups

Preparation:
1. Thaw khoya by leaving it in the refrigerator overnight and resting on the counter for couple of hours.
2. Add water to sooji and knead till it resembles roti dough. Cover and let it rest for about 1 hour. Knead again for another 5 minutes.
3. Add 2 cups of water to sugar and simmer till the sugar melts about 15-20 minutes.
4. Crumble khoya in the food processor and add sooji dough & cardamom powder. Pulse until it almost comes together, about 3-5 minutes. Remove into a bowl and knead well for at least 10 minutes.
5. Roll them into small balls.
6. While the jamuns are being made, heat oil/ ghee; when it is hot enough, slowly slide in the first batch of jamuns and fry on medium flame till golden brown. Do not over crowd the pan; always fry in batches. Also keep an eye on the oil temperature; too hot jamuns burn.. not hot enough jamun centers are uncooked. Remove the fried jamuns onto a plate and let them cool for couple of minutes, before sliding them into the sugar syrup.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate morsels
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.
3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
6. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
7. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
9. Bakes 60 Cookies

Veg Dum Biryani

Ingredients
Rice Layer
• Brown basmati rice - 2 cups
• Water - 5 cups
• Salt to taste (only for rice)
• Star Anise - 5-6
• Black Cardamom - 4-5
• Mace - 4-5
• Nutmeg - 1 whole crushed
• Cinnamon - 1.5 - 2 sticks
• Cloves - 3/4 tbsp
• Black Pepper - 1 tbsp
• Fennel - 1 tbsp
• Shahi Jeera - 1/2 tbsp
• Nigella - 1/4 tbsp
• Ghee - 2 tbsps

Aroma Milk
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Green Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Saffron - 1 big pinch
• Rose essence - 1/2 tsp
• Kewra essence - 1/2 tsp

Vegetable Layer
• Potato - 1 large, diced
• Carrot - 1 large, diced
• Cauliflower - 1 cup
• Peas - 1 cup
• Onion - 1 large
• Cottage Cheese - 12 -15 1/2 inch pieces fried to a golden brown (optional)
• Ginger - 1-1.5 tbsp, minced
• Garlic - 1-1.5 tbsp, minced
• Green chili - 1 tbsp, minced
• Yoghurt - 1 cup
• Water - 1 cup
• Chili powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Cumin powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Kasuri Methi Powder - 2 tsps
• Salt to taste (only for veggies)
• Ghee - 2 tbsps

Garnish
• Onion - 1 large, sliced to 1inch pieces
• Cashew - 2 tbsps
• Raisins - 2 tbsps
• Almond Slivers - 2 tbsps
• Coriander - 3 tbsps, finely chopped
• Mint - 3 tbsps, finely chopped
• Ghee - 2 tbsps

Preparation
1. Wash and soak rice for 15-20 mins.
2. Chop all required veggies and keep them separately
3. Drain water completely from the rice and spread out to dry on some paper towels

Rice Layer
4. Heat the water in a pan, add all the spices (for rice layer), cover & simmer. Let it steep for 20-25 minutes, then switch off stove, add salt & keep covered.
5. Heat ghee in a heavy-bottomed skillet.
6. Add rice and saute for a few minutes, till the rice changes colour. Take care not to fry the rice too much. We need soft, yet separate grains of rice for the biryani, if over fried, the rice gets too crisp, we don't want that.
7. Strain 4 cups of water into the rice (keep 1 cup water aside for later), cover & simmer.
8. Cook covered till almost all the water is absorbed. The rice should be a little crunchy now.

Vegetable Layer
9. Heat ghee in a heavy-bottomed skillet, add the onions and saute till it becomes transparent
10. Keep heat medium to avoid burning the veggies / spices. This layer needs to cook slowly.
11. Add ginger, garlic, chilies, jeera, dhanya & turmeric powders, saute 2-3 taking care not to burn the spices
12. Toss in potatoes, saute till they turn brown.
13. Throw in carrots, keep sauteing
14. Add peas, cauliflower, & cottage cheese
15. Pour in yoghurt & water
16. Sprinkle on chili powder & salt
17. Cover and cook for 2-3 mins
18. Toss well and remove from heat.
19. Keep aside. The veggie layer should be moist, but have no gravy.

Garnish Layer
20. Heat ghee in a heavy-bottomed skillet
21. Fry onions, cashews, raisins & slivered almonds separately.
22. Keep aside separately

Assembling
23. Now all the layers are ready and the biryani can be put together. The first and last layers are always rice.

24. Take an oven-safe dish.
25. Put a layer of rice at the bottom
26. Add a ladleful of spice water in a circle
27. Add a ladleful of aroma milk in a circle
28. Spoon in a layer of veggies
29. Sprinkle some chopped coriander and mint leaves over the veggies
30. Throw some fried onions over the leaves
31. Top off with a layer of cashews, raisins & slivered almonds
32. Finish with a layer of rice
33. Repeat steps as needed.
34. Add spice water & aroma milk only for the top & bottom layers of rice.
35. Keep aside some nuts, onions and coriander & mint leaves to garnish top of biryani

Punjabi Chole

Ingredients
• 3 Cups Kabooli Chana soaked overnight
• ½ t soda-bi-carb
•
• 1” piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 Cups chopped onion
• 1 Cups chopped tomatoes
• 2-3 Tb spoon oil
• 2 t red chilli powder
• 1 t garam masala (optional)
• salt
for the masala
• 2 T (heaped) coriander seeds
• 1 T anardana ,omit if not available
• 1” piece dalchini or cassia bark
• 4-5 cloves
• 1 t black peppercorns
• 3-4 badi elaichi (black cardamom)
• 2 t cumin seeds
• 1 tejpatta
• 1 or 2 whole dry red chillies (optional)
Garnish
• green chillies, slit down the middle
• tomatoes, cut into thick wedges
• lime, sectioned

Preparation
1. Drain the chhole; some of what makes these beans hard to digest is water soluble and you will get rid of some of that this way. Rinse them out once more to make sure.
2. Put them in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover them (by about an inch). If you like your chhole a bit on the softer side, add half a teaspoon of baking soda (more will make them mush) to the chhole. No salt at this point.
3. Cook under pressure for 20 minutes, or cook covered in a heavy pan till tender.
4. While the chickpeas are cooking, heat a pan to roast your whole spices. On medium heat roast the spices, all together, shaking and tossing, till they have almost blackened. Cool and grind to a powder.
5. Heat oil in a heavy pan (or karahi). Add ginger and stir till just fragrant. Add chopped onions and cook till pink, when they are just getting tinged at the edges.
6. Now add the tomatoes and fry (bhuno), stirring all the time, till the oil separates. There isn’t much oil to separate here, so it has to be done on medium heat and takes a long time (20-30 minutes).
7. If there is some parallel kitchen activity going on, then this works very well. When cooking a larger quantity (or when short on time), I would suggest you increase the amount oil (one and half times or double) since you don’t want to be in the kitchen for the good part of a day.
8. Once the ginger-onion-tomato is fried well and almost dry, add the fresh ground spice blend, garam masala (optional), and red chilli powder.
9. Add the slit green chillies and stir for a few minutes .
10. Remove the green chillies and add this fragrant paste to the cooked chhole, and salt.
11. Adjust water to your liking. Mix and cook (simmer) for 20 minutes, stirring every now and then, or cook in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes.

Rogaliki (Polish Crossiant-like dessert)

Ingredients
• 1 cup butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 (8 ounce) box Philadelphia Cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups flour
• jam or preserves (your favourite kind)

Directions
1. In a medium bowl mix egg yolks, philly cheese and baking powder using a hand held mixer. Carefully start adding the flour. When the mixture will not be mixing well, and will look like wood chips, put away the blending mixer and using your hands knead the dough.
2. Create a roll and cover in foil and freeze for 15 minutes. At this time preheat the oven to 375.
3. Take the dough out and separate into two. Roll and cut out 3 inch trangles.
4. Make as many as you can and on centre of each put a small spoon of jam. Roll them into a croissant shape.
5. Place the croissants onto a greased cookie sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden.
6. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
7. When you take them out, put aside and sprinkle with powdered sugar on top.
8. This makes about 3 batches of 20 cookies each.
9. Total count about 60 cookies.

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients
• 1 medium sized cauliflower, cut into florets, placed in salted hot water for 10-12 mts, drained
• 2 tbsps maida/all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsps cornflour
• 1/2 tbsp rice flour (optional)
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic-green chilli paste
• Approx a little less than 1/2 cup warm water
• salt to taste
For sauce:
• 1/4 cup spring onions, finely chopped,
• 1/2 capsicum, finely sliced
• 1 1/2 tbsps finely minced garlic
• 1/2 tbsp finely sliced ginger
• 2 finely chopped green chillis
• 1 tsp red chilli pwd (preferably Kashmiri)
• 2 tsps soya sauce
• 1 tbsp chilli sauce
• 2 tsps vinegar
• 3 tbsps tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar (optional)
• salt as required
• 1 1/2 tbsps sesame oil
• 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

Preparation
1. Heat oil for deep frying in a heavy bottomed vessel.
2. In a bowl, combine maida, cornflour, rice flour, salt, ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and water to make a thick paste.
3. Dip the washed and drained florets into the batter such that its well coated. Place each floret that is well coated with the batter into the hot oil. Do not crowd the vessel.
4. Reduce flame and deep fry till the gobi is almost cooked.
5. Increase the flame towards the end of the cooking process and fry the gobi till it turns golden brown. Remove onto absorbent paper and keep aside.
6. Heat oil in a large wok and once the oil is piping hot, add the chopped garlic and stir fry for a few seconds. Add the green chillis and ginger and stir fry on high for a few seconds.
7. Add the whites of spring onions and stir fry on high for 3-4 mts, constantly tossing them. Add the sliced capsicum and stir fry for another 3 mts. They should retain their crunch.
8. Reduce to medium heat and add the brown sugar, soya sauce, tomato ketchup, chilli sauce and vinegar. Combine well and cook for 2 mts. Add 3-4 tbsps of water and cook for 2 mts.
9. Add the deep fried gobhi and combine. Toss on high flame for 1-2 mts. Turn off heat. Garnish with the chopped spring onion greens and coriander leaves.