Author: Manisha’s Kitchen

Hello Friends, I am Manisha. Greetings from spices aroma. Ah, what an aroma around, aroma of blooming flowers, freshly mowed lawn, rain on dry mud and in midst of chirping of birds and aroma of spices inside my home wow! Life is full of aromas of all kinds including love, kindness and humanity. When it comes to cooking my heart fills with joy. I cant say when I started cooking and when it became my passion. As for back as I can go in my childhood memory I only remember that aroma which also use to fill my house for days when my mother use to make "Garam Masala" of freshly grinned and roasted spices . It never faded in my memory and therefore I chose this name "Spice Aroma." Those were the days trying new dishes, spoiling some raw material getting tired not coming up to what I wanted. All Parents praise their children so mine too. It use to fill me with joy and pride when they praised my dishes and when all this turned in to my passion for cooking I don't remember. I was nurtured as a vegetarian and planted as a non-vegetarian. Friends I got married at a young age in a total non-vegetarian family and to my surprise I started cooking non-vegetarian dishes as well. Having blessed with two lovely kids and a caring husband I kept my passion intact. Their encouragement kept me going. More I try more I get satisfy.To give my passion a formal shape I learned food and safety by joining a course. I then joined as a chef in Golf club Princes Risborough and worked there for a good 18 months. Friends road up to this point was not easy but as always hard work brings something good in it. I learnt a lot. This work infused many more domain to my cooking, it brought many more qualities to my work like food decoration , table arrangements of the events and cooking for large number of people for the event a total change in out look. I decided then to share all my abilities and love for cooking with you all through this Spice aroma@.....! I will share with you all small and big dishes, Indian and Western style , all trics and tips which I gathered in these many years. Your likes, your comments, your praises and your criticism, your corrections , your suggestions all will be my assets in this journey. Please be a part in my journey. With this spice aroma I also want to share beautiful aromas which never fade are of love ,care and kindness. With best wishes to all of you. Yours Manisha.

Appetizers

Scrumptious Broccoli Soup

Posted on 12th Aug 201910th Jun 2021 by Manisha’s Kitchen

Broccoli is a very healthy and nutritious vegetable for all of us. Unfortunately, there are many broccoli haters out there who think that the vegetable tastes bad. However, I believe that they just aren’t eating it right. My scrumptious broccoli soup is just one of the ways to consume this ingredient whilst enjoying or even loving the dish you are eating. Many recipes use cream to make the soup rich and creamy but this also hugely increases the number of calories in it and makes the nutritional value of the broccoli worthless. My recipe will provide you with thick creamy soup but without using any cream, maintaining all of its nutritional value.

So here’s what you need to make this scrumptious broccoli soup.

Ingredients for Broccoli Soup

Around 400 g of broccoli
3-4 garlic cloves
Small piece of ginger
Half a medium sized onion
Black pepper (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
2 tbsp butter
Croutons

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

Step-by-step recipe

Cut the broccoli into large chunks and wash them thoroughly. Then put them to boil until they are cooked and feel soft. When this happens, drain the water and keep them aside.

Chop up the onion, garlic and ginger.

Melt some butter on a pan and then add the garlic and ginger. Stir for a bit and then add the onions. Allow them to cook until they brown slightly.

Fry the onion, garlic and ginger on a pan

Once they have browned, add the boiled broccoli and mix it in well.

Add all of the contents of the pan to a blender to form a paste. Then add some hot water and blend again to make the paste smoother.

Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a saucepan and then add the blended paste.

Add some hot water to the blending container and pour the contents into the saucepan. This clears any leftover paste in the container and also makes the soup slightly thinner and smoother.

Pour the remaining paste into the saucepan.

Add salt and pepper to taste and then you’re good to go.

Serving suggestions: This dish is best served with a side of fresh bread and topped with croutons.

If you would like more visual assistance or details on how to make the soup, please feel free to watch the video below.

How to make Scrumptious Broccoli Soup

Mains

Marathwada Style Brinjal Curry ( Wangyachi Bhaji)

Posted on 1st Aug 20191st Aug 2019 by Manisha’s Kitchen

Brinjal is a much loved vegetable in India and is used in a variety of foods all over the country. My favourite whilst growing up in Marathwada was the authentic brinjal curry made in my mother’s village. I would visit there almost every holiday and this amazing curry would be one of the first things on my mind. My recipe uses fresh masala, leaving it hard to tell that the dish has not been prepared in the depths of Maharashtra. This differentiates the curry from the bland food served at the local takeaway and gives you a true taste of Marathwada.

So here’s what you need to make this mouthwatering curry.

Ingredients for Brinjal Curry

1 kg small brinjals
3 medium sized onions
6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp chilli powder
1tbsp coriander seeds (dhana whole)
1 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
2 tbsp ground coconut
2 tbsp white poppy seeds (kaskas seeds)
Garam Masala(any brand)
salt
cooking oil
fresh coriander

Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Serves: 6 people

Special Notes: You can add chilli powder according to your test on how spicy you want the dish to be.

Step-By-Step Recipe for Brinjal Curry

Thoroughly wash the brinjals. Then, score them with a knife about half an inch deep twice at perpendicular angles and set them aside for now.

Score the Brinjal at perpendicular angles.

On a hot pan, roast the cumin and coriander seeds along with white poppy seeds and coconut for just over a minute. Then remove the contents of the pan And place it in a separate dish. Now put the onions on the heat.

Roast the coconut, cumin, coriander and white poppy seeds

Cook the onions until they are slightly brown

While the onions cook, grind the roasted contents into a fine powder and then place it aside.

Grind the roasted contents into a fine powder

Once the onion has browned a little, put it in a blender and make a paste. Then add garlic and some coriander to the paste and blend again.

Make a paste using onions, garlic and coriander

Add some oil to the pan. Once heated, cook the paste and add chilli powder, garam masala, and salt. Mix it well and allow it to cook for around 3 minutes.

Add chilli powder, garam masala, and salt to the paste

After a few minutes, add the powder made of the roasted ingredients. Also add some fresh coriander. Allow this to cook for another 3 minutes.

Add the brinjals and stir them into the mixture well. Then, pour some hot water into the pan. Put on a lid and allow this to cook for 15-20 minutes .

Once the curry has cooked, finish off with a fresh coriander garnish.

Garnish the curry with fresh coriander leaves.

Serving Suggestions: best served with chapati, bhakri, rice and buttermilk

If you would like more visual assistance or details on how to make brinjal curry, please feel free to watch the video below.

How to make Marathwada style Brinjal Curry

Mains

Blissful Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)

Posted on 23rd Jul 20194th Apr 2021 by Manisha’s Kitchen

Butter chicken, traditionally known as ‘murgh makhani’, originated from North India. When making this dish, many restaurants use sugar, butter, and cream which makes the dish unhealthy. However, my recipe has more nutritional value as it doesn’t contain these ingredients.

Blissful Butter Chicken: Authentic Curries

So here’s what you need to make this delicious curry.

Ingredients for Butter Chicken

800g chicken (boneless or with bones)
4 tbsp tandoori masala
1/2 cup Yogurt
4 tsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1/2 cup cashews
2 tbsp garlic paste.
400g chopped tomatoes
Fresh coriander
Lemon juice (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Cooking oil
Charcoal and Ghee for dum

Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

Special notes: the charcoal and ghee infuses extra flavour into the curry but is not a necessary step to completing the dish.

Step-by-Step recipe

Firstly, marinate the chicken with yogurt, tandoori masala, salt, kasoori methi, lemon juice and oil. Once marinated, wait 10 mins or directly grill for 15 minutes.

Ensure all of the chicken is covered in the marinade

Let’s move onto the makhani sauce. Heat some oil on a saucepan and add the garlic paste.

Then add the tomato paste and leave until the oil oozes out. After that, add the kasoori methi ,one tablespoon tandoori masala and add some salt according to your test. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Take the chicken out of the grill and place it in the sauce.

Place the grilled chicken in the saucepan

Pour in the cashew nut paste and mix well. Add some water to change the thickness of the sauce. Allow to cook for around 5 minutes and make sure to check that the chicken is cooked.

This is now the optional step that adds a flavourful charcoal zing to the butter chicken. Place charcoal on an open flame so that it begins to burn. Next, take it of the heat and place it in a small bowl. Put 1/2 a teaspoon of ghee or butter on the charcoal so that smoke starts to appear. Quickly place the small bowl inside the saucepan and cover it with a lid immediately. 2 minutes should be enough for the curry to be infused with the flavour.

Place bowl in the centre of the pan and cover immediately

The dish is now complete. You can finish off by garnishing the curry with fresh coriander leaves.

Serving suggestions: This dish is best served with plain steamed rice or naan

If you would like more visual assistance or details on making this glorious Butter Chicken, please feel free to watch the video below

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Uncategorized

Welcome to My Food Blog

Posted on 8th Jul 201917th Oct 2024 by Manisha’s Kitchen

“There is no sincerer love than the love for food”
— George Bernard Shaw.

Hi, I am Manisha, a passionate and creative home cook and also a Comic Chef working for Sodexo @ Royal Air Force in the UK. who loves to brag about my culinary successes, just as I like to laugh at my food (mis)adventures. Yeah, that’s right. I am exactly one of those home chefs in air-quotes, if you know what I mean.

So that’s me. I learnt basic cooking from my mother and my grandmother. Originally from Marathwada India. After marriage I explored my cooking skills. I’m in the cooking world because of my passion, my husband , my children who motivated me to explore my dream comes true . I dream food. Now, yes; but even way back then when my dreams were steered differently. While I was studying school and college in India , my heart would always find itself in my mum’s kitchen. Under assignment pressure, I would still find the time to jot down my mum’s original masala ingredients.

I have been dreaming of food and cooking, practically all of my life. I have been devising my own recipes and cooking both new and modern innovations as well as traditional and heritage foods in my kitchen for practically all of my adult life. I have also worked chef jobs in professional kitchens here in the UK. So, it would seem that I am long overdue on WordPress, with my very own food and recipes blog.

Whether you are a creative chef or are just a ‘grease-n-grind’ home cook who just cooks to survive, I can personally guarantee that the recipes I create here will appeal to you. I keep things simple in instructions and ingredients, and I cater to various different food tastes and choices. I give vegan and vegetarian alternatives wherever possible, just as I give insider tips on how to get things done faster, more efficiently, in a more health-conscious manner or in a tastier-than-normal version. Trust me, you have to go through my recipes in order to know just how valuable they are, and how easy they are to incorporate into your daily food lives.

Hope you enjoy them. Don’t forget to let me know via your comments. Looking forward to your love and encouragement.

Happy Cooking,

Love, Manisha

Dessert

Mouthwatering Sevaiya Kheer

Posted on 8th Jul 201916th Jul 2019 by Manisha’s Kitchen

Some call it shevai, some sevaiya and some even shemai, but whatever you call it, this delicious recipe made with usual, household dessert staples is a simple and uncomplicated dessert. Sevaiya are essentially thin, hand-tossed vermicelli noodles (the mee variety in Malaysian lingo) typically made of refined flour (maida) in Northern India, and rice flour in Southern India.

Mouthwatering Sevaiya Kheer: Desserts that Impress

So, you like what you see, right? So here’s what you need to make this tasty, simple dessert that looks just as impressive as it tastes.

Ingredients for Sevaiya Kheer

1/2 a cup broken sevaiya (refined wheat flour noodles)
2-3 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 a cup of white sugar
1 pint of normal milk (full fat milk optional)
A few strands of saffron
1 tsp cardamom powder (elaichi)
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder (jaiphal)
Assorted dry fruits such as almonds, raisins, pistachios, cashew, etc.
Pistachio or almond for garnish

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6

Special notes: Substitute sugar with sugar substitutes to make this recipe healthier. You can also make this recipe with jaggery (expect a change in taste, colour and texture) to make the recipe more nutritous. You can make this recipe with milk subsitutes such as soy milk to make it vegan (expect a change in taste, colour and texture).