The foodie feeds

[Comes close to: the Palak-Paneer sandwich in the Food Court at City Pride] [Serves 4] If you are like most other Indians, you like Spinach and Paneer (Cottage Cheese). And if your kid is like most other kids, he or she’ll probably savor the paneer but throw tantrums around the spinach. Trust sandwiches to ensure everything goes in the tummy! Palak-paneer sandwiches on the menu chart of a food court in City Pride, Kothrud seemed promising. And they did not disappoint. They seemed easy to make and victory followed in just one attempt. So here goes...   Ingredients: 1 bunch of spinach - chopped 1 small onion - chopped 1 cup paneer – crumbled. Homemade is best. 10 cloves of garlic – chopped fine. 1 tbsp olive oil. 1 tsp black pepper powder. Salt to taste.   ½ cup shredded cheese.   Bread slices or bread rolls (better) Recipe: Heat oil in a pan (Non-stick is better so that paneer does not stick) Add garlic and sauté. Add chopped spinach and sauté till a

[Comes close to: Olive Garden’s minestrone soup] [Serves 4] [Inspiration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jflYa63XhE4 Watch it more for how this lady does it calmly with her little kids helping(?) around the stove. I could never do it!] I don’t remember a time when I walked into Olive Garden and walked out without having their Minestrone soup. I missed it sorely, here in Pune. Every restaurant in Pune that served Minestrone, thought it was tomato soup with pasta, or worse. The day I tried Minestrone soup which came as ‘tomato soup with a spicy tadka’ , my quest to find it in a restaurant ended. And a new quest began – to try it at home. The video recipe after some variations and some omissions (no celery and zucchini here) finally resulted in Nirvana – my home made chunky Minestrone soup. Mind you – you need a lot of ingredients, albeit in limited portions, so make sure you have made plans for what’s left over. Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 1 cup chopped/shredd