The year 2020 was one of devastating year as an unexpected pandemic broke out in the planet i.e. COVID 19. Many countries were severely hampered with this and are still fighting against it with all their strength. Chaos was created among people and everyone was clueless about future, meanwhile in the early stage government implemented social distancing and quarantine. It was tough initially for people to quarantine them self from their near and dear ones but later people got a hang of it. Honestly quarantine was a new jargon for most of us, but soon people understood it.

One of the major challenge that people like me working in metro city and staying far from family faced was cooking food while working from home. As most of us were either dependent on Dabba wala during office hour and for dinner either some of us would cook or go out nearby or have a cook coming home. Meanwhile the carving for street foods and restaurant dishes were really hitting hard after couple of weeks. So all these days during lockdown I cooked multiple dishes starting from whole some comfort meal to some exotic dish to some street side dish which we carve for most of the time.

I will be sharing 5 best snacks to eat during quarantine out of which some are really simple and easy to make and some require little effort to be honest.

  1. Veg mayonnaise Sandwich and Toast

I am quite sure many of us loves mayonnaise, be it in plate full of Momos or spread over a bread or put some into maggie. It as versatile thick sauce which can be consumed as per choice. Mayonnaise sandwich is very simple and quick to do also as a can be consumed as quick snacks to eat during quarantine. We can have it as breakfast or evening snacks as well. You can call it a comfort bite too. Kids love sandwiches more and this can be a good stuff for mothers for their kids in this lockdown.

(Veg Mayonnaise Sandwich)

So I took some vegies of my choice which had carrot, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, coriander leafs. Need to finally chop all and add mayonnaise to them, black pepper and salt as per taste. With your stuffing is ready, spread them evenly over a slice of bread put another slice on top of it and cut them diagonally with a thin knife and tadaa its ready! If you like having toast then you can toast them as well.

2.Bread Pakora

Bread Pakoras are one of the most common street food leaving the Southern part of India. Mostly you will find it with every Bhajiya wala or the Vada Pav wala. This goes with morning breakfast, tea time or with evening snacks during quarantine. It is a quick bite and easy to make, crispy from outside and soft from inside.

All you need white bread slices, mashed boiled potato, some basic home spices and besan. Boil potato and mash them nicely. Heat a kadhai put some normal cooking oil add basic spices like turmeric, cumin powder, coriander powder and little gram masala and quickly put the mashed potato into it and put the flame low and mix them well, add salt as per your taste. Allow them to cool post which spread them over a slice of bread put another slice on top and genteelly press a little then cut them diagonally. Prepare a gram flour batter make sure the batter should not be thin. Heat sufficient oil in kadhai for deep frying and deep those stuffed bread into batter and pour them one by one into oil and deep fry them until they get golden brown colour. You can serve these pakoras with either green chutney or ketchup!

3. Red Sause Pasta

The first thing that comes into our mind when we think of Italian cuisine is either Pizza or Pasta. Pasta has got different variety in terms of their shapes and also in terms of their sausages in which they are cooked. Red sauce pasta is one of the most popular and famous Italian dish among all Indians especially among kids. Generally red sauce pasta is supposed to make with tomato sauce, bell pepper, garlic, onions, herbs and veggies (optional) , but we have our own Indian or desi version of pasta too which generally our moms cook when we demand for and trust me it has got its own nostalgic taste and flavour. Generally pasta is consumed in breakfast, brunch or dinner but there is no hard rule, we can have it as evening snacks also during this quarantine.

I made it in Italian style, first boil some pasta whichever is available near your grocery store until it get cooked but make sure you don’t overcook. I took Rotini pasta as Penni past was not available. Take 3 medium size tomato boil them for 5 min and then take out and blend them into fine puree. Heat some cooking oil in a pan add some chopped garlic some finely chopped green chillies and finely chopped onion, statute them for 2-3 min. Now put the tomato puree into it and mix them well. Wait for first boil and then add small table coriander powder, mix herbs, chilli flakes, little butter, small table spoon tomato ketchup and salt as per taste. Now mix tem well and low the flame to medium, keep string if you have fresh cream you can add it else its optional as it gives a rich texture to sauce and taste. Now add the boiled pasta into it and mix them well and put the flame off and serve it hot!

4.Cheese Maggie

Starting from kids to millennials maggie is one of the most popular hunger saving food. Maggie is an emotion be it home, hostel, PG, office, streets joints and even some hotels also. Be it any place it has always got some wonderful memories in almost all part of nation. It’s something that has endless variety, as every part of nation has its own variety and story. Some like it simple way, some soupy, some like the masala way.

(Cheese Maggie)

Also its preparation and availability is very easy. After its recent controversy its production and sales suddenly went drastically down and it was completely ban in market mean while other brands like Yeppie, Patanajali Noodles and many more entered market, they tried their best to capture the market but the taste and emotion that maggie had created over the time not only in peoples mind but also in their heart was irreplaceable. Soon maggie’s issue was resolved and it came out with all education communication that clarified peoples mind about the toxic lead founded in its noodles. Soon it gain its old pace in market again and people were really happy to have it back.

I mostly like to have it during my quick evening snacks in this quarantine. So I made cheese maggie, which is as simple as the plain Maggie. Heat oil in a pan add your choice of veggies like green peas, chopped carrot, chopped onion, half a cup corn and salt as per your taste sautee them well for 5 min the add water to it and add two cheese slices and maggies masala, mix all well and bring it to boil. Now add Maggie into it, put some mix pasta herbs (optional). Cook them well and serve them hot.

5. Chicken Pakoda

When it comes to non-vegetarian dish chicken is one of the most common and popular among all parts of the nation with it economical price and easy availability in various form. Even for all non veg lovers chicken has got thousands of variety from different parts of states forms different culture and stories. Some make meals out of it some snacks it one of the versatile ingredient We grown up having our very own desi homemade chicken curry which our mom cooks having a mind blowing taste. We also carve for some street variety also like the chicken roll, chicken tikka, chicken tandoori, chicken fry, Chicken pakoda etc. There are n number of variety and stories.

I was craving for some pakodes as the monsoon has approached and the situation was perfect so thought of having some garma garam chicken pakode as an evening snack while enjoying the rain during this quarantine. All you need some bone less chicken around 250 grams cut into small size.  Clean the chicken well in water add maida around 3- 4 table spoon, then add corn flour powder one and half table spoon, to this crack an egg and add, next add some salt as per taste and chilli powder, half table spoon coriander powder, one table spoon ginger garlic paste, chopped green chillies. Mix everything thoroughly, cover it and keep it aside for an hour. After an hour heat oil in a kadhai for deep fry, check if the oil is heated completely post which start putting chickens into hot oil batch by batch and fry them until golden colour. Serve them hot with green chutney or tomato ketchup.

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