Cappuccino at Home ( without using coffee maker )

I am a coffee lover ! In our family everyone loves coffee. At our home we don't make a regular instant coffee, we always makes cappuccino. When I was in India I always prefer to have coffee from " Coffee Beans " here, its " Starbucks".

You don't need to have a coffee maker, or an espresso machine at home to make cappuccino.

Ingredients

Coffee mate or any coffee creamer : 1 heaped tbsp

Instant coffee powder : 1 1/4 tsp ( I prefer nescafe )

Sugar : 1 levelled tbsp

Boiling water : 1 cup

Preparation

Take a cup ( or mug ), add coffee powder and sugar. Add 2 to 3 droplets of water. When adding droplets of water, the mixture in the cup should not become too wet. So add only little just for mixing.

Now start stirring the content in the cup quite fast with the back of a spoon.

You have to stir until you get a thick-gooey-coffee-cream kinda mixture. It will take two to three minutes. The dark brown coffee miture will turn to beige color. It should smell heavenly.

Now add the coffee mate into the coffee mixture and add boiling water by a rotating movement and give a gentle stir.

You can see the froth gushing up just like in cafes.

You can sprinkle some coffee powder over the top.

Sweet Potato Podimas / Madhura Kizhangu Podimas

Sweet Potato Podimas is my hubby's favourite side dish for rice. This recipe is little different from usual potato podimas recipe. This is so easy to make and tastes delicious. Sweet potatoes are more healthier than normal potatoes. They are fiber rich and an excellent source of antioxidants. We can prepare a vatiety of indian dishes with sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

Sweet potato (Madura Kizhangu) : 1/4 kgs

Oil : 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds : 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves : 2 sprig

Asafetida : 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

To be ground to a coarse paste :

Fresh grated coconut : 1/4 cup

Cumin seeds : 1/2 tsp

Shallots : 3

Dry whole red chillies : 4

Method

Wash and trim the edges of sweet potatoes and cook in enough water. Let it cool. Peel the skin off and crumble. Potatoes should not become mushy, and neither should there be very large lumps.

Grind all the ingredients mentioned for grinding to a coarse paste.

Heat a pan with oil, add the mustard seeds and when they pop, add asafetida and curry leaves.

Add the coarsely ground paste, salt and mashed sweet potato. Mix well and keep in low flame for two minutes. Serve hot with plain rice and your choice of curry.

Tags: Vegetarian, Side Dish, Potato

Chilli Cheese Toast Recipe

Crispy toast with bubbling cheese and hot chillies, it really tastes great !!

Ingredients

Bread - 4 slices

Cheese ( mozzarella ) - 6 tbsp

Green Chillies - 3 

Capsicum ( green, yellow and red ) - 3 tbsp 

Onion - 1 big ( thinly sliced )

Coriander and mint leaves - 2 tbsp chopped

Butter - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method

Cut green chillies finely. Cut capsicum in thin stripes. Mix onion slices with green chillies, capsicum, coriander and mint leaves. Add salt and mix well.

Cut the bread slices diagonally and apply butter on one side, place it in a oven dish as the buttered side down.

Sprinkle onion green chilli mixture on it and top with mozzarella cheese.

Preheat oven at 180 deg C for 10 mins and bake it at the same temperature for 3-5 mins until cheese melts completely.

If making in stove top place the bread pieces on a nonstick pan and sprinkle onion chilli mixture on it and top with mozzarella cheese. Toast in low flame until cheese melts.