6 Easy recipes for beginners | Make others lick their fingers

~Yash Kapoor (@itsme._.yash_)

Cooking is an art, which can be easily learned by anyone. The more you to cook any recipe, the more you’ll develop a cooking style that is natural and fitting for you.

I enjoy cooking, it’s really easy, and I’m not so bad in it. But such cooking skills come naturally. I was also among the beginners once. There were a lot of trials and errors. A lot of wasted ingredients, veggies, and a lot of hours spent watching cooking recipes to pick up tips and tricks. Anyone can cook easily but it requires practice. Remember practice makes a man perfect.

Now, I assume you are one of the beginners, looking for some easy recipes. All of these following recipes are easy to make. It takes only 15-20 minutes. And I’m sure, you can nail it, even if you’re a beginner.

1. Flattened Rice (Poha)

So, let me begin this list of easy recipes for beginners with this classic.

Ingredients

Flattened rice (Poha) 100 gm (2 measuring cups) , Peanuts (moongfali/shingdana) 50 gm, 2 Chopped onion (medium) , 2 to 3 Green chili (slit) , 2 tbsp Lemon Juice , 15 to 17 Curry Leaves , 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds , 1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds , 1/2 Sugar (optional) 1/3 tps Turmeric powder, Salt according to taste , 3 to 4 tbsp Cooking oil , Chopped coriander leaves, Aloo bhujiya/Sev for garnish.

Preparation

1. To make Poha, choose medium flakes. Avoid thin flakes. Add them to a strainer.
2. Pour 4 to 5 cups of water and rinse quickly. Drain the water completely
3. Cover and set aside to soften. Meanwhile, prepare the veggies.
4. Press a few flakes of poha in between your thumb and forefingers, they should be soft and break easily. If they don’t be soft then sprinkle little water mix and cover.
5. Then add some sugar and salt
6. Run your fingers through the poha to break the lumps and spread salt. Cover and set aside.

Procedure

1. Heat a pan and add 2 tbs oil and peanuts.
2. Dry roast them until golden. Put it on a plate.
3. Pour oil to the pan, and then heat it. Add mustard and cumin seeds. 
4. When they begin to pop up, adding, onions, curry leaves and green chillies.
5. Saute until the onions turn light brown.
6. Add small cut potatoes and saute for a min. Cook on medium flame until it is soft and cooked completely. Besprinkle some water and cook. Once done, saute for another minute.
7. Add turmeric and Poha. Mix well, and cover the pan.
8. Cook on a very low heat until its hot.
9. Add some Coriander leaves and off the flame.
10. Taste it and sprinkled lemon juice.
11. Use roasted peanuts and coriander leaves for garnishing.

2. Sandwich

Ingredients

Bread (any), 2 tsp butter or ghee (optional), 1 tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp garlic chopped, 1 tbsp Haldi, salt according to taste, 2 green chillies chopped 1 cup mixed veggies (carrot, onion, corn, beans, capsicum), 1 Tomato finely chopped 1/2 to 3/4 tsp Garam Masala, 2 tbsp Coriander leaves. 

Preparation 

• Add oil to the pan, add cumin seeds and allow to splutter. Saute chopped garlic until a nice smell comes.
• Next, add tomatoes and sprinkle salt. Cover and cook until soft.
• If using red chilli powder add it now and saute for a minute.
• Add the veggies and begin to saute on a medium to high flame until half done or soft-cooked to suit your taste. You can also cover it.
• Next, add garam masala powder, and coriander leaves. Stir and saute for a few minutes.

Procedure

• Smear butter over the bread and toast it until they become golden on the outer side and crisp on the inner side. Transfer the prepared veggies.
• Adding cheese is optional at this step. Cover with another bread and pressed it. 
• If using cheese, turn the flame low and heat it until it gone melts.
• Press down the bread. It helps the bread to stick to the stuffing
• Serve hot veg sandwich.

So, who knew that sandwich would be among the list of easy recipes for the beginners out there.

3. Pulao

Yumm! This is a tasty recipe. But is it justified to put it in the list of easy recipes especially for beginners? We’ll see.

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cup basmati rice, 2 tbsp oil or ghee, 1 medium onion chopped, 2 green chillies, 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of mix veggies chopped (carrot, beans, potatoes, peans), salt according to taste, 2 and 1/2 cup water, 3 tbsp pudhina chopped, 1 and 1/2 ginger garlic paste,1 bay leaf (tej patta), 1 strand mace (javithri), 1/2 to 3/4 tbsp cumin seeds, 4 green cardamoms,6 cloves, 2 inch cinnamon (dalchini), 1 small piece nut mug (jaiphal), 1/4 tsp fennel seeds powder(saunf powder).

Preparation 

• Add basmati rice to bowl and wash it a few times until the water runs clear.
• Soak it for at least 15 mins. Drain off the water and set aside.
• While the rice soaks, rinse carrot, beans, peas, potatoes, onions, chillies and mint leaves.
• Peel the carrot and potatoes. Cut both the ends of beans and chop all of them.
• Slice onions and slit chillies. Fine chop the mint leaves. Set all of these aside.

4. Egg Toast

Egg Toast comes fourth in the list of easy recipes for beginners. Let’s see how it is made.

Ingredients

2 slices brown bread, 1 egg, salt according to taste, 1 small onion chopped, green chillies chopped, 1 small tomato chopped, turmeric (optional), 1tbsp coriander leaves chopped, tsp oil or butter, red chilli powder.

Preparation

• Add chopped onions, chillies, tomatoes, coriander leaves, turmeric and salt to a bowl.
• Break the egg and beat everything well.

Procedure

• Heat a pan with oil or butter and spread it well.
• Dip single side of the bread in the egg and place over the hot pan and cook until done.
• Set the bread aside and pour the rest of the egg mixture to the pan.
• Cook until slightly set and then place the cheese, then the bread over it and press.
• Cook until the egg is completely done on the both the sides. Serve hot egg bread toast.

5. Cheese Balls

Ingredients

250gm potatoes, 1 tsp garlic paste, salt according to taste, 1/2 to 3/4 tsp chilli flakes, 1/8 to 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp herbs, 6 tbsp bread crumbs, 2 tbsp coriander leaves, oil according to need, 80 to 100 gm cheese, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 2tbsp corn flour, 1 egg.

Preparation

• Boil potatoes. Remove the peel and mash them well until smooth with a masher. There should be no lumps.
• Add garlic paste, herbs, coriander leaves, salt, chilli flakes, pepper, and bread crumbs.
• Mix them well and make a ball. The mixture must bind together and should not be sticky or too dry.
• Cut the cheese to 1/2 inches cubes. Toss the cheese in the filling paste.

Procedure

• Take a potato ball and spread it evenly to a small patty in your palm.
• Place a slice of cheese in the centre.
• Gently bring the edges together to make a ball. Ensure the ball is sealed well without any cracks.
• Add 2 tbsp cornflour and bread crumbs to another wide plate.
• Spread it.
• Roll the finished ball in corn flour and bread crumbs.
• The same way make all the cheese balls. Fry these cheese balls in a pan until they become golden.

6. French Fries

Last but not least, in the list of the easy recipes for beginners, we have the tasty French Fries.

Ingredients

3 Large potatoes, Oil, 1 tbsp corn flour, Salt according to taste, 1 tdp chili powder, 1 tsp coriander leaves, 1 tsp chaat masala, 1 tsp pepper, parsley (ajawain), Black pepper.

Procedure

• Peel the potatoes properly and cut like french fries shape. Put the cut potatoes in water and then dry it carefully with the help of a towel.
• Fry the potatoes for 30 seconds moderately hot oil and transfer on a tray and pat with tissues so as to absorb the oil.    
• Now add the cornflour and mix well. Freeze the coated fries for 30 minutes and fry again in moderately hot oil until crisp and golden brown in colour.
• Once fried, transfer them on a tray and sprinkle salt on need according to taste.
• At last garnish with fresh parsley and black pepper.
• Crispy and Crunchy french fries are ready to eat!

Conclusion

So, these were the 6 easy recipes for you beginners out there. Go on. Try them out. And be sure to feed your friends, post the pictures and tag us.

Image courtesy: Pixabay