Hot Cheesy Spinach Dip with Garlic Toast

Its snack time at USMasala again. And talking about snack time, it is just in time for the weekend to gather around your big flat screen with your favorite people and favorite snacks and just have a good time. Now I don't claim to be a big fan of the game, heck I barely know how it is played. I am still at heart the good old girl from that part of the world that lives and breathes a good game of Cricket. But watching a great game with family and friends gathered around definitely brings back some vivid memories. Just remember to handle this ever popular dip with care. It comes out of the oven really hot and just so flavorful and yummy with all that creamy spinach goodness ready to be scooped up with your favorite chip or a nice crunchy garlic toast that if you got too much into the game you might be scraping the bottom of the bowl - no pun intended.
Read more »

White Spinach Pizza Grilled Cheese

Not much of an exciting story behind this one, just one afternoon felt like making a sandwich for the three of us. Well, to make it less boring than 'just a sandwich' thought of playing a little with some stuff I had in the fridge. Didn't feel like a cold sandwich and what better than a grilled cheese with a twist to make a warm sandwich. With some crafty use of ricotta, mozzarella and spinach, I could give it a catchy name as well, a name with the word 'pizza' in it. The little one sure bought it and loved it too. Let me know what you think.

Read more »

Mushroom Spinach Lasagna Rollups

Lasagna is many things to many people. For some it would be a daily deal, for some, a dish that they only make when their kids ask for it, for some it is an exotic dinner they have only when they visit their local fine Italian restaurant. I simply think of it as comfort food. Super easy to put together yet super impressive in the way it sounds and looks. If you love Italian food this is definitely for you, something you will most definitely want to try. It is fancy - hey it's 'Lasagna' - loaded with fresh goodness of spinach, mushrooms, creamy ricotta - hearty and beyond good! The simple twist with this preparation is that instead of the lasagna sheets being layered, the sheets instead are rolled into a... well... rollup. This is a meal you are going to remember on how well it came out and your 'customers' can be a regular feature of your weekend brunch.

Read more »

Pasta in avocado sauce with chickpeas and spinach

his pasta dish is again a story of how to keep everyone happy. The hubs is a BIG avocado fan, me and kiddo - not so much. Pasta however is liked a lot by kiddo.
The sauce is the highlight in this pasta preparation. It is not your regular creamy cheese laden sauce but instead a healthier and tastier alternate with all the goodness of avocado and spinach. The richness of the Avocado lends the perfect amount of creaminess to the pasta and not to mention the beautiful and appetizing green color. If you are already an avocado fan you are in for a treat, if not, you just might turn into one.
Read more »

Masale wali Palak Puri/Spicy Puffed Spinach Bread

ndian food is never complete without the wonderful breads which are of vast and varied variety. Some of the ever popular ones are Naan, Paratha, Tandoori roti and of course the fluffy deep fried Puris.

We Indians have a special place in our heart for these cuties. Who doesn't love fried bread- sinful, but worth every little bite :) Weekend breakfasts, indulgent evening snack, lunch, dinner, picnics and lunch boxes, festivals and special occasions from birthdays to weddings, train journeys, famous street foods- all consist of one common thing - Puris.

Here's a confession- I am a puriholic. It has been my favorite bread since I was very little. These days I am not much into deep frying. In fact I try to avoid it at all cost but when it comes to puris I sometimes do go weak in my knees and indulges once every so often. For me, I don't even need a side - just some Indian pickle and I am all set.
This puri recipe here is how traditional puris are made in India but with a little twist. It is the same old puri but packed with the goodness of Spinach. This again is my mom's recipe as many others that you will find on USMasala. Serve with any kind of curry and creamy yogurt  srikhand or halwa or even some homemade pickle for am amazing breakfast or brunch.

Read more »

Spinach Mushroom Cutlets

hat to make for our daily evening snack always gets me thinking. I try to go for something quick, nutritious as well as fun. The 'fun' part is especially important to get my little princess excited to try it out and obviously I care about the nutritious aspect. In short that is the basis on which I came up with this cutlet. It turned out to be a good way to get spinach into my little one. Hubby was sure enough onboard as he mostly is with anything fried :) You can dip them in your favorite sauce or chutney and eat them as is or stick them inside a bun and enjoy as a sandwich.

Read more »

Assortment of Raitas

To me, raitas are yogurt done the right way. I can literally live off of them. Raita is actually a generic name of yogurt diluted to a given consistency, mixed with seasoning and any chopped or grated fruit or vegetable or even boondi (small fried gram flour balls). The idea is to have raw yogurt the main component of the dish. Raitas pack the nutrition of yogurt without being the boring old 'yogurt' besides being refreshing, tasty and extremely easy and versatile; what more can you ask for. It is an Indian accompaniment and goes very well with spicy Indian food. It is particularly served with Biryani and spicy Pulao.
I make raitas almost everyday as an accompaniment for our lunch. It has the ability to jazz up even the simplest of meals and can be whipped up in matter of minutes (sometimes even seconds, no kidding!). I prefer raita any day over plain yogurt. Here are a few of my favorites -

Read more »

Palak Kadhi / Spinach in Yogurt Gravy

There are two reasons for me making this dish, firstly kadhi is all my time favorite comfort food and second I had a big bag of spinach sitting in my fridge that I had to finish :). I am glad I made this because I know this will be a regular in our household now. Two reasons again. My not-so-much-kadhi-loving dear hubby had second serving of it and was raving the whole time how good it tasted and second it is a much healthier option than the regular with pakodas that I often make so no deep frying required and obviously it is full of all the goodness of spinach. We had it with some peas pulao but I bet it will taste awesome with some plain hot steamed rice and spicy crispy potato bhunjiya/fry. Do try it and you definitely will fall in love with this simple, rustic n comforting dish :)
I got the idea while I was chatting with mom on the phone the other day. She casually mentioned eating a version of it at a get together. It hit home with me. So the idea was 'bookmarked' in my head right then and there over the phone :)

Read more »

Palak/Spinach chaat

I vividly remember my first time going back to my mom's place or my "mayeka" from my in-laws place a few days after we were married (funny I started thinking of it as my mom's place as only a few days back I always referred to it as 'my place'). Being the first and the only son-in-law, hubby was being pampered big time with all the best dishes that mom knew that hubby liked. There was festivity, food, people coming to meet us and family sitting together and chatting away till the wee hours of the morning. It was an overload of good food and tons of fun. Among all that, hubby and I always found time to sneak out of the house to go walk around the city streets with the 'newly-married' tag painted all over our faces, shopping, talking about our favorite places and mostly stocking up on street food we knew we were gonna miss so much in a few days. 
The speed with which the local 'chaat walas' prepared their delicious goodies is just amazing. Apart from the regular favorites, there was always something new they had to offer. Spinach chaat was one of them. We both loved it.
Coming to the US, I was excited to see that the Indian restaurants also offered the basic chaat on their menu. Tried it at a few places but was rather disappointed as it did not come even close to the real deal. That is when I decided to do my own. I have posted the more common form of chaat before, the Aloo Tikki Chaat. This past weekend I got reminded of the spinach chaat and hence this post. This is kind of like papdi chat only palak pakoda is used in place of papdi, also it is very easy to make and a lot more healthier. Hope you guys like it as much as I liked making it and we did eating :)

Here goes-

Read more »

Vegetable pot pie

Pot pies are very fuss free, easy breezy, scrumptious, very pretty and elegant looking meals with which you can always impress your guests. They are a wonderful treat for oneself too. A pot pie is basically a savory, cheesy pie filling baked in a pot with a flaky top crust. Chicken pot pies are more famous and are more readily available, but that doesn't mean us vegetarians should be deprived of this delicacy. So here goes my recipe for veg pot pie.

Read more »