Ruchik Randhap

Old Fashioned Masala Oats ~ Gluten Free + Vegan

Oats – my latest love! I am amazed at how our tastebuds ‘grow up’ over a period of time. Foods that I once detested are back on my plate today. I never took to liking it too much because I believed that it was bland and tasteless. However, in the recent times, I have been experimenting a lot with savoury versions of oats and I am a convert! Oats was something that was fairly new to us during my growing up years and I probably purchased my first pack of quick cooking oats after I got married. Today, there are a zillion oat related products that have flooded the market, all claiming to be ‘healthy’. However, if you notice, packaged oats that are supposed to cut down cooking time may not always be the best bet as they are loaded with preservatives and…

Pao (Pav) ~ Dinner Rolls (with Eggless option)

Folks! I can’t stop raving about this recipe! I am so over the moon today as I type this post. After several failed attempts (and I mean way too many attempts!) I managed to create the perfect pao. Pao is also spelt as Pav and is synonymous with the famous pav-bhaji, a quintessential Mumbai style street food that has been a pocket-friendly meal for thousands of people on a shoestring budget and over the years has found its way into fine dining restaurants too. Making my own pao at home was not going to be that simple or easy I thought. You see, I had given up even before I started. Creating mounds of fresh, spongy bread from a blob of dough took a lot of hard work I thought. Well, the secret lies in the recipe, no? And of…

Mancakes ~ Savoury Pancakes with Bacon & Spring Onions

Friday mornings always call for a fancy breakfast at my place. Well, to be honest, it is either something absolutely fancy or absolutely simple, like beaten rice (poha) in some form or the other. My son is an ardent fan of continental breakfast and enjoys his fill to fullest. I try to replicate breakfast recipes from around the world and indulge him whenever possible. The Dutch Baby, a recipe by Chef John that I had posted recently was my son’s discovery on YouTube and I made that at home with great success. Today’s recipe is also by the same chef and something that was really enjoyed by everyone at home although I ended up with too much batter. I would recommend you to halve the recipe if you intend to serve these mancakes to a smaller audience. However, if you…

Mince Puffs

Mince puffs have been my all time favourite. Infact, I love any type of puffs – egg, chicken, meat, especially the ones we get in bakeries in Mangalore. The joy of finding fresh & hot puffs and biting into one is something else. I totally relish them whenever I travel to Mangalore as I make it a point to pick up some from either Vas Bakery or the little bakery near my in-law’s place. Sometimes I am so tempted to buy some and bring them back with me to Dubai, however, the rules that concern bringing of cooked food back to the UAE are very strict and I prefer not to take any chances. Speaking of puffs I wanted to share a very important message to all those travelling to any of the Gulf countries. Please make sure that if…

Chocolate & Avocado Smoothie ~ With Vegan Options

Chocolate & Avocado smoothie ~ a perfect after-school drink for growing kids! How I wish I had such fancy things to enjoy during my growing up years! Well, to be honest, my mum did serve us some delicious stuff like the bread pudding, sheera and beetroot bonda. We had a host of other yum stuff to gorge on – most of which I am yet to recreate in my own kitchen here. Very occasionally she would put together a quick bowl of Maggi instant noodles – something that was considered to be ‘healthy’ in those days and something that we greatly relished. She would throw in some veggies sauteed together with onions & tomatoes for good measure. Today we all know that instant noodles are only meant as an occasional indulgence or an emergency food option. At least that is…

Savoury Oats with Mushrooms & Spinach ~ Gluten Free + Vegan

Oats has pretty much been a new entrant into my life. Never ate it during my growing up years as eating oats for breakfast wasn’t a thing back then. We greatly relied on our dosas & idlis to provide us with our daily carbs and that was about it. Perhaps since the time we came to Dubai we got a little more health conscious and I would occasionally make porridge for the hubby who loved it. I’d like to make it clear that switching to oats doesn’t necessarily mean that you are eating healthy or you will lose those extra kilos magically. These are marketing gimmicks that we must be aware of. What will make us healthier is conscious eating, portion control, lots of exercise and knowing that the best way to keep your weight in check is to remember the calories-in Vs…

Butter Chicken ~ Restaurant Style

As a family, we have savoured many a bowl of butter chicken with a host of accompaniments – roti, naan, roomali roti, chapathi, jeera rice and plain white rice. Since my son became a butter chicken convert after eating it at a small restaurant in Mumbai, the search for that perfect pot of succulent shreds of chicken dunked in creamy-spicy masala has been on. While we did find a suitable match in one of the restaurants in Karama, Dubai, the chef probably quit the place later and our search for that perfect bite was back on. We did try a few recipes at home and nothing came close. A month ago we were introduced to the perfect recipe and life has never been the same again! My husband has tried making it and then I made it a couple of…

Sesame Prawn Toast

I don’t recall the first time I ate the Sesame Prawn Toast. Perhaps it was in Mangalore, but I do remember the first time I enjoyed it and took notice of it. It was at a party hosted in Dubai. I remember munching on them, unstoppable at first and realising that I was piling on the extra calories, I stopped midway. A couple of weeks ago I was going through my collection of recipes cut out from the Friday magazine and I came across an image of sesame toasts, looking ravishing as ever and inviting me to try them out immediately. I needed some prawns which I didn’t have so at the first opportunity that I got I bought them and made some right away. My son who couldn’t figure out the prawns on the toast happily ate a few…

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