Crispy French fries

 French fries or Finger chips is deep fried potatoes originated from France or Belgium. Potatoes are cut into strips , drying and the frying them. It is used as a snack, and it is also serves with steaks as side dish. It doesn't need much ingredients and it is very easy to cook . You can add cheese, chili and other seasoning depends on your taste. It can be served with ketchup, mayonnaise and barbecue sauce etc. Instead of normal potatoes one can use sweet potatoes also. Other than strips we can cut it into wedges, curls also.

For the best fries we have to take good potatoes which are high in starch and low in water and sugar content. The oil to be used for frying the potato is another factor that will increase the taste of French fries. You should take a neutral oil that will not impart a great flavor. here we want all the flavors from potato not from oil. I am using vegetable oil you can take peanut oil or canola as these oils are neutral.

Cook time: 25 minutes

Servings: 3

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 potatoes
• 1 1/2 cup oil
• salt per taste
• Seasoning( oregano, chili flakes) Optional
• Sauce( Optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

• You can use potato with or without peeling. Its up to you, but if you are opting for not peeling them you have to scrub potatoes before cutting. But peeling potato will give a uniform look . 
• Next thing is cutting potatoes. You can use a better knife and cut potatoes about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick.
• Best way to do this is cut a long slice off potato so that flat side rest on.
• Make vertical cut with uniform thickness. Once entire potato is cut , cut them lengthwise.
• Once it is cut put it in to a bowl of ice cold water. So it wont turn grey and also removes excess starch from potatoes. It will help the fries from sticking together while cooking.
• Soak for 2 hours and keep in refrigerator.
• Drain water and pure fresh ice cold water to same bowl. Again drain
• Wipe with a clean cloth to remove starch .
• Transfer to a tray for quick drying . Don't allow to sit too long.
• Next step is frying.
• When potatoes are dried u can heat oil in a pan .
• Now you can put potatoes in pan and make sure don't add too much potatoes.
• In around 3 minutes it will cook and now you can remove potatoes from oil.
• Drain them in a rack or tray and allow to cool.
• Continue with frying rest of the potatoes.
• Once all are fried sprinkle salt .
• If you want other flavors you can add garlic powder, oregano, chili flakes etc.

Cherry-Berry Iced Tea with Lemon and Mint

Cherry-Berry Iced Tea has all the goodness of berries and freshness of mint .It is a perfect summer drink that makes you cool and the cherries and berries make your skin glowing. We are using honey for sweetness you can use any other sweeteners like sugar. It is a prefect drink to beat the heat.

If you are controlling sugar in iced tea , these home made iced teas are much better because the iced teas we are getting in shops contain large amount of sugar and full of artificial flavors

Prep time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 7 minutes

Serving: 5

INGREDIENTS:

• 100 gram cherries 
• 100 gram berries
• 3 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• honey per taste
• 2 teaspoon Dust or leaf tea 
• 2 tablespoon sliced ginger
• 5 fresh mint leaves
• 5 cup water

INTRUCTIONS:

• Wash and then remove stem of cherries and berries
• Place cherries and berries with sugar and mash using fork.
• Set for 30 minutes and after that sugar is completely dissolved 
• Add this to a blender and add 1/4 of water and blend until smooth.
• Make water to boil and add tea leaves and boil for 3 minutes.
• Close the lid and allow to coo for 10 minutes.
• Pass through a sieve to remove excess leaves.
• Add cherry berry syrup.
• Pour honey and lemon juice
• Add mint leaves, ginger slices and chill for 15 minutes.
• Add ice cubes (optional) to serving glass and pour tea.
• Sip your healthy berry tea.

Indian Tea Rusk

 Tea Rusk is an Indian Version of Italian biscotti which contains wheat flour, milk, sugar etc. Its crunchy, tasty and a perfect snack for any time of the day. Rusk is a dehydrated version of bread which is made tastier by adding a bunch of ingredients . Rusk is a twice baked bread, first it is baked in a bread form and then again baked to get in rusk form.

Unlike cookies or biscuits, the crispiness and perfectly toasted taste of rusk is absolutely delightful . Would you ever think of making it in your home? You may think that it is a very difficult job, but I am sure that it is not much difficult to make crunchy, tasty tea rusk in your home.

Rusk in India is a favorite tea time snack and dipping rusk in a tea or coffee is world to most of the people who read this. Am I right?

While cooking it first they will come out like a soft cake and then you allow it to cool for 10 minutes or more and then again keep them bank to oven and bake again at a lower temperature to get crispy, crunchy rusk. 

Making batter for rusk is very easy because it contains only  very few ingredients but however baking time is bit high which may test your patience😉. But I think it is quite okay, once your rusk is prepared you will be satisfied by the taste of it and we are doing something that you truly love.

Here I am adding some extra ingredients to make my rusk more tastier. We can make sweet, crispy, crunchy rusk with raisins, tutti-frutti and some other dry fruits like cashew nuts, almond and pistachios.

I always wondered in my childhood how these tasty rusk are made and I was surprised when I get to that it is very easy to prepare.

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 2 hours

Total time: 3 hours

Servings: 4

 INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups all purpose Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 grams Tutti-frutti
• 1/4 cup chopped cashew nut
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds
• 1/4 cup unsalted chopped pistachios 

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven at 180C.
• Put baking paper to tin and grease with butter and then sift together flour and baking powder.
• Beat butter and powdered sugar until creamy.
• Add egg one after other and then vanilla extract.
• Add milk and beat well.
• Add tutti-frutti, cashew, almonds, pistachios.
• Mix together and pour the batter into tin and bake for 40 to 45 minutes.
• Allow it to cool and then peel of the baking paper.
• Cut the cake in vertical pieces.
• Bake the cake again for 20 to 25 minutes at 180C or until golden brown and crispy.
• Cool and store in air-tight containers.

Beef Steak with Honey mustard sauce

 Beef Steak with Honey Mustard Sauce is a perfect dish for a treat or birthday. Easy to cook and less preparation is the benefit of this dish. Earlier I prepared chicken steak with sauce , mashed potato and sautéed vegetables. You can take the recipe of mashed potato, sautéed vegetable from that recipe. You can make small changes depends on your spiciness level. Its a super tasty dish that your family will loves it and be ready to prepare it when they are asking🤤🤤.

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS: 

• 4 steaks
• 2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 clove garlic
•  salt
• 2 tablespoon cilantro
• 2 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Add olive oil, honey, chopped garlic, salt , yellow mustard, lemon juice to a bowl and whisk until emulsified.
• Marinade steak with salt , black pepper for 10 minutes.
• Pour the sauce over the steak and again marinate for 30 minutes minimum.
• Pre heat grill to medium heat.
• Pour remaining marinade into a pan and bring to simmer for 10 minutes.
• Grill the steak 3 to 4 minutes each side.
• Serve along with mashed potato, buttered vegetables and garnish with cilantro or rosemary.

Vegan Chili Garlic noodles

 Chili garlic noodles is flavorful, spicy and can be prepared in 20 minutes. This is an Asian Chinese recipe so it is lightly spicy flavor of red chili. You can add vegetables of your choice like carrot, bell peppers, cabbage ,mushrooms etc.  Anyone can make it in home without much effort. This dish is so satisfying and filling. 

Prep time:10 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Serving: 2

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup fresh noodles
• 1/2 cup carrot
• 1/4 cup cabbage
• 1/4 cup bell pepper
• 1/2 cup onion
• 4 clove garlic chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon chili sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon soya sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
• water as required
• salt as required
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 2 tablespoon oil
• spring onion ( optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Chop onion and keep in a bowl. Then cut carrot and bell pepper into julienne and keep aside.
• Add 3 cups of water into a pan and heat water. Once boiled add noodles and cook until it is soft.
• Once it is boiled transfer into another bowl and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan and add onion, carrot, bell pepper, garlic, cabbage, ginger paste, garlic paste and salt.
• Stir and mix well.
• Add cooked noodles to pan with vegetables and mix well.
• Cover with a lid and bring flame to low and cook for 3 minutes.
• Add chili sauce, soya sauce, pepper and mix well.
• Add chili flakes as per your spice level.
• Garnish with spring onion or celery.