Travel memories - Comfort Fried Rice

Its a little late in the day to write about a holiday that I took almost a couple of years back but then that's the thing with memories..they can just crop up anytime, anywhere! Couple of years back we went on a holiday to Thailand - Bangkok and Pattaya. Both these cities are a food lovers paradise...innumerable cafes , food joints and the fabulous street food. But we had a toddler in tow so we had to be careful in our food choices so we kind of avoided too much gorging and stuck by with food from the hotel. Now one such dish is etched in my memories and that's this fried rice  that I would invariably order everynite and me and my little boy would gorge on it. It was a simple egg fried rice and the star of the dish were these little cherry tomatoes that they put in it. So the other day when I bought a pack of fresh cherry tomatoes from the supermarket I knew that I had to make this dish. Its easy to make and extremely flavourful. My twist here however is the fried egg on top.. soak up the rice in the runny yolk and get transported to food heaven.

Ingredients :

Par boiled rice  - 1 cup ( I used gobindobhog)

Baby onions - 4-5 halved

Cherry tomatoes - 6-7 halved

Spring onions - 2 tbsp finely chopped

Red chillies - 2 nos finely julienned ( use fresh if you can get them)

Salt - to taste

Pepper - to taste freshly crushed

Ajino moto - a pinch ( optional)

Oil - 1 tsp

Egg - 1 no

Method:

Keep all the ingredients ready because this is a quick cooking dish.

In a non stick pan  add the oil , saute the onions and the chillies. Next tip in the tomatoes.
Add the rice , salt, pepper and ajino moto and fry for 5-7 mins.

Sprinkle the chopped spring onions. Put the fried rice on a plate and garnish with a fried egg and serve hot. Cooking cant get easier than this!

P.S - We are travelling to Thailand again this weekend and I cant wait to gorge on some fabulous food again and create some more memories!

Mood uplifters anyone? Nutella muffins with buttercream frosting

Let me start by accepting that I am no good at baking. It is definitely not my forte. So its only very rarely that I muster up the courage to bake. And most of the time take baby steps coz it breaks my heart when the cake doesn't rise or the cupcakes go dry.Call me foolish? will ya? I see so many talented bakers around..some dear friends and feel that they truly have an edge. But I pray everyday (or rather whenever I bake) that the baking genie will shine down upon me and one day I will be able to churn up a beautiful looking cake ( the ones with handmade flowers...detailing and stuff) sigh.... Today's attempt however i would say didn't go that bad rather it was kinda good...at least I was happy to see my boys gobble up a few in no time. The little joys of life I say! You note the recipe which is loosely based on a recipe I scoured on the Internet.

Ingredients:

Flour - 2 cups

Brown sugar - 1 cup

Butter - half cup ( softened)

Oil - 2 tbsp

Egg - 1 nos

Nutella - half cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Milk - 1 cup

Salt - a pinch

For the frosting:

Butter - 100 gms (softened)

Icing sugar - 1 cup ( i just used powdered sugar)

Food colour of your choice - few drops

Method:

For the muffins:

Heat oven to 200 deg C. Grease and prepare the cupcake tin.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder and keep aside.

In a mixing bowl , mix together the butter, nutella and sugar until light and creamy.

Add the egg and mix well.

Now add the flour mixture alternatively with the milk to the creamed butter mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin.

Bake for 15-20 mins till done. Don't over bake or it will go dry.

And while they were baking I made some mini ones too!

So once they are done...just let them cool for a while. In the meanwhile cream together the butter , icing sugar and the food colour. Fill your piping bag and dress them up pretty!!