Rice & Sausage Casserole

My dear cousin has been experimenting away with cooking in her  new city of residence. And has been encouraging me to post my recipes online, so that experimenters like her can benefit from my experience. So thank you dear ARV.

Today's recipe is dedicated to you - Mwuah!

Rice & Sausage Casserole

Ingredients

1. Cooked Rice (I used leftovers) - 2 or 3 cups
2. Sausages (I used chicken sausages, but this recipe will work with just about any kind of sausage), chopped - 2 cups 
3. Onion, chopped - 1/2 cup
4. Oil, for sauteing - 2 tbsp
5. Tomato ketchup -  1 tbsp
6. Cauliflower, cut into florets - 1 small head
7. Carrot, chopped into 1 inch cubes - 3 medium size
8. Butter - 1 tbsp
9. Maida - 2 tbsp
10. Milk - 1 1/2 cups
11. Salt & Pepper - to taste
12. Pizza (Mozarella Cheese)  - 2 tbsp

Method

1.  Boil/steam the vegetables (Cauliflower and carrot)

   

   Veggies merrily boiling away - i used the veg stock also in the recipe ;) shhh... secret ingredient which is not mentioned in the recipe!

2. In a frying pan, heat oil and saute onion. When onion is translucent, add the chopped sausage and stir fry till sausage is cooked. Add tomato ketchup to this, mix and set aside.

   

   Blurred close-up of chopped onions

   
   

   

   Chicken sausages whole

   
   

   

   Onion & Sausage stir fry. Yum, can eat this itself as a meal.

   
   
   
3. Make white sauce with butter, maida and milk.
   • Melt butter in saucepan
   • Stir in maida so that there are no lumps
   • Add milk and keep stirring till milk heats up through
   • Season with salt and pepper

     

     This is a photo of the white sauce after i dumped the boiled veggies in it

4. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius
5.  In a casserole dish, layer the rice, sausage mix, vegetables and pour the white sauce over all. Top with cheese.

   

   Rice Layer

   
   

   

   Sausage Layer

   
   

   

   White sauce and veggie layer

   
   

   

   Cheese Layer

   
   
6. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes, or until the cheese has just melted.

   

   And the final product!

   
   
   Enjoy!

Hi there

I haven't blogged here for so very long. My Bangalore Mama blog had me excited, and also want to share with you another blog that I have started - Annu's Calligraphy Portfolio. Why did I start a separate blog for my calligraphy efforts? I don't know, maybe to keep these facets of my life all compartmentalized.

Yoga goes on once in a while. Have been baking muffins. Will post recipes and photos soon. My Nokia phone camera is acting weird.

And lots more happening in life. This is the update from me :)

Breakfast Pizza

And another recipe!

Had an extra pizza base at home. And was wondering what to do for breakfast. Married the two, and here is the result of the union:

BREAKFAST PIZZA!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1. Pizza Base: 1
2. Tomato Sauce: 2 tablespoons
3. Chilli Sauce: 1 tsp
4. Basil Leaves: a few
5. Black Olives: 5, halved
6. Sweet Corn kernels: 1 tablespoon
7. Mozzarella Cheese, grated: 2 tablespoons
8. Egg: 1

 Method

1. Mix tomato sauce and chilli sauce, and spread on pizza base.
2. Sprinkle the basil leaves, olives and corn over the pizza base. 
3. Cover pizza base with the grated cheese.
4. Bake at 180 C for 7 minutes
5. Crack egg over hot pizza, and place back in the oven for 6 minutes.
6. Check if egg is cooked to your liking.
7. Voila! Breakfast Pizza!

Fusili Pasta in White Sauce with Pepperoni

Here's the Pasta recipe. Please note that my measurements are not precise, cos my cooking isn't! It's only for baking that I use exact measurements (and I can be pretty dedicated then!!!)

So here goes:

Ingredients

1. Fusili Pasta (boiled al dente) - 3 cups
2. Butter - 2 tablespoons
3. Flour / Maida - 2 tablespoons
4. Chicken Stock - 2 cups. If you don't have ready chicken stock, you can also use milk/ water mixed with chicken cubes/ vegetable stock
5. Cornflour - 1 tablespoon (may not need the whole amount)
6. Pepperoni / Salami/ Sausage/ Any meat - As much as you like!
7. Cheese - Again, as much as you like!
8. Salt - to taste
9. Pepper - to taste

 Method

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan
2. Add the flour, stirring all the time. Stir till the butter is incorporated into the flour (or the other way around)
3. Add the chicken stock.
4. Add salt and pepper
5. Add pasta
6. If the sauce is too runny, add cornflour, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to thicken it
7. Add pepperoni.

Voila! Fusili Pasta in White Sauce with Pepperoni! Serve with grated cheese sprinkled on top! Enjoy!

Mamuni arrives!

Kakuli the cook has brought Mamuni the maid now! Am tickled pink by their names!

Dinner Menu

Wanted to share with you all the dinner I made for my family last night...

Sweet Corn on the Cob

Barbequed Chicken Wings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fusili Pasta in White Sauce with Pepperoni

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grilled Zucchini and Potato

and a decadent dessert.... will upload photo tomorrow.

May write out my recipes later. But for now, happy drooling!

Yoga!

And my next interest... yoga. Yes, sweeties, I have finally decided to get off my butt and actually move, sweat (oops, i meant perspire) and hopefully, lose some of those goddamn kilos. I remember when I paid through my nose and hardly went for three months to the gym. What a waste of money. What a waste of effort cos I put all that lost weight on again in such a short while.

So lets hope that this effort is more long term. As those closest to me say, I need to see this yoga not as something ultra-exciting, but as a part of my daily routine. I have been for three classes till now, and am enjoying every bit of it. The best part is that the classes are held every other weekday, so I don't get a chance to be bored as yet.

I have tried yoga at home earlier. Couple of reasons why I think this group class will work more for me. One is that I have an instructor who is encouraging and so so flexible herself. The other is that when I see the others exercising, that's encouraging and challenging. And appeals to the competitive streak in me.

So as I make this yoga a part of my life, lets hope the kilos fall and I feel better. Cheers!