Chegodilu (murukku) ~ ICC Nov 2009

This month's challenge is chegodilu (murukku) which is a famous snack in Andhra.

I have never tasted this and I had no clue how it looks like while going through the recipe.

But the recipe was very clear and hence I could make this yummy yummy snack with ease.

Thanks, Srivalli for letting me know that such a snack exists.

Here is the recipe as given by Srivalli.

Changes I made: I used store bought flour and it required a little more water.

I also added a pinch of hing and 2 tsp margarine while kneading the dough.

Ingredients Needed:

Rice Flour - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup

Split Yellow Moong dal / Pesara pappu / Mung Dal / Pasiparuppu - 1 1/2 - 2 tblsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Sesame Seeds - 1 tsp

Chili powder - 1 tsp

Ghee or oil - 1 tblsp

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Method to prepare:

Making the dough:

Soak moong dal in water for half hour to 1 hour.

In a deep bottom pan, boil water, then add salt, ghee and moong dal. Bring it to boil, simmer and slowly add the rice flour. Using a rolling pin or the ladle, mix the flour with water by stirring it well. When the flour is mixed and done, turn off the heat immediately. Cover with lid and keep aside for 10 to 15 mins.

Once the dough is cool, add chilli powder, sesame seeds, cumin seeds and mix well. Knead till you get a smooth dough. Adjust the salt and spice depending on your preference.

Frying the Chokodi:

Heat a pan with oil, enough to fry 3 -4 at time, if you conscious of not using too much oil. Simmer once it gets hot. The temperature should not be smoking hot.

Grease your fingers with oil and pinch out a small lemon size ball and roll between your palms to form a thick rope. Bring the two ends to together and press to form a rope. Ensure the ends are firmed pressed as not to give out during frying.

Continue with the rest of the dough until you are done with the entire batch. You can either cover it with a plate or a cloth to prevent the dough from getting dried.

Check if the oil is in the correct temperature, by dropping a tiny bit into the oil. Then gently slide the rings or the chakodis in batches of 4 -5. The flame has to be on high until the chakodis come up to the surface, then lower the flame to medium and cook till you get a golden colour on the chakodis.

When the chakodis are golden all over, using a slotted ladle, remove to a kitchen towel and cool. Store in an air tight container for longer shelf life.

Notes: Remember to turn the heat to medium to high and high to medium for getting the chakodis to golden colour and also to be cooked evenly. Only this way you get crispy chakodis. These should not be cooked on low flame as they will absorb more oil and can turn soggy also at times.

Variation: Instead of Cumin and Sesame seeds, 1 tsp of Ajwain or Omam can be used along with chili powder.

Pani Puri / Gol Gappa

Pani puri! I am sure the very mention of it would make you drool, just as I do. It is an evening snack falling under the chaat category, which originated from Uttar pradesh. But, it has now touched every part of India and most Indians would have relished the snack.

The crisp puris are filled with a potato or sprouts filling, dipped in a pot of spicy/sweet pani(water) and gulped, all at once. That instant, you get transported to heaven.

My association with pani puris started when I was six. My brother and me used to have a plate of pani puris frequently, near Secunderabad station, on our way back home from school. There used to be lot of pani puri walahs selling in carts on the roadside. The taste till lingers on my taste buds and I have not tasted better ones, till date. After moving to Chennai, I didn't have much chance to try this, till my school final. Pani puris were not very common in Chennai, those times. Pani puris sold in street side shops are the best; but now a days, we can't risk to have it there due to hygiene reasons.

In the recent years, I used to frequent the chaat stall outside nilgiris super market, Velachery, while returning from work. The one outside krishna collection in Pondy Bazaar also serves excellent chaats. However, Gangotri is my favourite hangout.

I do not like to have it in restaurants where they are served together as a plate. In a typical chaat stall, each customer would be given a plate or bowl, the chaat walah would fill the puri with paani from a clay pot and serve it to the customers in a round-robin fashion. We need to be really quick in gobbling the puris to keep the pace. I am amazed on how the server keeps the count of puris. He also remembers the client requirements/ customization and serves according to that. There are 2 kinds of paani; one sweet and another spicy.

I have given the recipe for the spicy paani as it is my choice of taste. I am not sure how the authentic paani is made but I like it this way.

I have used the ready made puris purchased from the Indian groceries and didn't wanna make it as the puris were really fresh. I will post the recipe for puris, once I try it.

For the pani:
Cilantro - half a bunch

Mint leaves - a handful

Tamarind Paste - 1.5 tsp

Green Chillies - 2 medium

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Black salt - 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp

Jal Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Chaat masala - a pinch

Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp

Jaggery - 1/2 tsp

A dash of lime juice

2 to 3 cups water

Grind cilantro, mint, tamarind paste and green chillies into a smooth paste. Add rest of the ingredients, water and refrigerate for 3 hrs. Alternately, add ice water. Adjust salt.

For the filling:

Boiled and mashed potatoes 2 medium

Soaked and cooked black channa (You can use kabuli channa, as well. I like it with kala channa)

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Chopped green chillies - 1 medium

Garam masala - 1/2 to 1 tsp

Chopped cilantro

Salt to taste

(You can also fill the puri with whole moong dhall sprouts.)

Mix everything well. I microwaved for 30 seconds to get rid of the raw smell of chilli powder and garam masala. You can also break 2 puris and mix, as they do in the street shops.

Break the top of the puri using your thumb, fill with the potato mixture, dip it in the paani and enjoy!

Kwik Fix Series # 8 - Grilled Paneer & Carrot Sandwich

The weather is getting colder here and I had no mood to cook anything elaborate for lunch, today. As you all know, that is when a recipe for my kwik fix series originates. Normally, I am a person who is least interested in eating bread. I always try to add an Indian touch to it. Just yesterday, checked the round-up of snacks with bread at Priya's blog, here. Inspired, here I come up with my own version of sandwich. One good thing about this is, you can serve this any time of the day. Will taste good even for lunch boxes. You can also use your left over curries from lunch/dinner. Another great thing is, the filling is concealed and hence people can enjoy the sandwich without the feeling of what went into it. That ofkors excludes us, the cook who knows what all went into it. ;) But anyway, we are foodies and we don't say no to anything. :D

As I said earlier, you can use your leftover curries as a filling for your sandwiches. If you have leftover filling after making this sandwich, you can use it up as a stuffing for your parathas.

Ingredients:
Bread - 4 slices
Grated Paneer & Grated carrot - equal parts - about 1 cup
Chopped Onion - a handful
Chopped green chillies - 2
Green Chutney - 4 tsp (I used my leftover mint- coriander chutney)
Jeera - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder & chilli powder - 1/2 tsp each
Chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
Butter - 1 tsp plus a little to spread on the slices

Method:
1) Heat 1 tsp butter, season with jeera. Fry the onions and green chillies till tender. Add the grated paneer and carrots. Saute well. Add salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Fry for a min, switch off and add cilantro.


2) Cut the corners of the bread. Apply a little butter on one slice. Apply green chutney and place a little paneer filling. Spread it evenly. Do the same for another slice. Place one slice on top of another such that the paneer filling is sandwiched in between the slices. Repeat the same for another set. Apply a very little butter on top and bottom of the sandwich.

3) Grill the sandwiches in a toaster or cook both the sides on a tawa. Grilling on a toaster gives a better effect since the edges are effectively sealed.



Serve hot with tomato ketchup and potato wafers.



Variation:
1) If you want to reduce the calories, replace paneer with grated cabbage or cauliflower.
2) Substitute paneer with boiled and mashed potatoes.
3) You can used ground spinach for green chutney. Grind a handful of spinach with a green chilli and spread it over the bread. Spinach requires very little/no cooking time.
4) Can use any leftover curry from lunch. If you don't have time to make a green chutney, spread a little maggi masala ketchup.

You can come up with umpteen variations depending on the time of the day and the end-users (kids or adults) (:D)

Sending this to kid's delight event at Srivalli's blog.

Murukku ~ Indian Cooking Challenge September 2009

This month's challenge is murukku. This is not the first time I am making this. I have already made murukku using rice flour and besan. That, we call as magizhampoo.

This recipe makes use of rice flour and urad dhall flour and we call this as thenguzhal.

Before I started cooking, I used to think making murukku needs lot of skill and practice. I have not even seen some one making it and had no idea about the procedure.

After coming here to US, chances of getting good quality snacks is less, rather zero and only then, I decided to invest in a murukku press. I was quite hesitant to try making it. But to my surprise, the result was awesome. I got perfect, oil free, melt-in-the-mouth murukkus in the very first attempt. I even managed to send a pack of them to one of my friends in a different state.

This time, I followed the exact recipe as given by Srivalli and was a great success.

Preparation time - 20 to 30 mins
Cooking time - 20 to 30 mins
makes: approximately 250g of murukku
Cuisine: Andhra & Tamil Nadu
Utensils needed:
Muruku/ chakli press
Kadai

Ingredients needed:
Raw Rice 4 cups
urad dhal 1 cup
Water app 1/2 cup or more

For seasoning:
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter - 75 g

Method to prepare:

Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr. Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool.

If you are using more quantity, you can get it ground in rice mil, else use your mixie to grind both Rice and Urad dal.

First grind rice into a fine flour, keep it aside. then grind the urad dal to fine powder.

In a wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well. Add cumin, Sesame seeds to the flour, mix well.

Whether you use Asafetida powder or the solid ones, you got to mix it in water, make sure it is dissolved before adding to the flour. If its not dissolved properly, when deep frying the muruku, there are chances for the hing to burst our due to air bubbles.

Mix in the hing to the flour and finally add the butter. Gather everything well and you will get more of a crumbling mixture. Now slowly add water and knead a dough which is little more softer than the puri dough.

Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame.
Take the Muruku Aachu, wash and wipe it clean. Then divide the dough into equal balls. Fill the Muruku maker with the dough. You can either press it directly over the flames or press over a paper and gently slide it down the hot oil. But since the quantity mentioned here is less, you can press it directly over the kadai.

Cook over medium flame, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. You will know by seeing the colour that its cooked. Remove to a kitchen paper and store it in a air tight container.

This normally stays good for weeks, provided you forget about these which hardly happens!

Notes:

Things to remember for not making your muruku break into pieces. Its important to roast the Urad dal to just brown and not very brown.

Rice used should have some starch to hold the shape, else it might crumble down.

Adding too much butter can also result in the fried murukus to break. You can start with half and slowly increase by feel the dough. The dough with the right amount of butter, will be soft but not very soft.

If you don't have a muruku aachu, you can use a plastic cover/ ziplock cover with thin hole to press out the dough or even icing bags with different heads can be thought of.

Idly Manchurian ~ Fried Idly

This recipe has been residing in my drafts for a long time now; finally getting down to post it. Took a little break from blogging. I made this for dinner with the leftover breakfast idlis. I have tasted this in several restaurants at Chennai and completely love this. It has different names in different restaurants ; to name a few - idly manchurian, fried idly, kaima idly, chilly idly. I had some colourful bell peppers sitting in my fridge and wanted to use it in a manchurian. So combined everything with the leftover idlis, added a little of each masala and came up with this yummy dish in minutes.

I didn't want to deep fry the idlis. So resorted to shallow frying and saved oil. But you need lot of patience to fry them thoroughly.

Ingredients:
Idlis - 4 to 6 (medium size)
Bell peppers (diff colors) - a little of each amounting to half a cup
Slit Green Chillies - 2
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Idly chilli powder (optional) - half to 1 tsp
Onions - 1 small cut into cubes
Oil to fry (I did shallow frying. so 1 to 2 tablespoon is enough)
salt to taste
Cilantro to garnish

Method:
1) Cut the idlis into small pieces and fry till golden brown in oil. I did shallow frying which requires patience. You should fry all sides. If you want it quick, do deep frying.Set the fried idlis aside in a paper towel for the oil to drain.
2)Add a little oil and fry the onions, green chillies. Then add the bell peppers and fry.
3)Add chilli powder,idly chilli powder and salt, sprinkle a little water and cook well.
4)Mix the fried idlis and fry everything together for a min.
5)Garnish with cilantro and serve with curd or onion raitha.

Variation: You can mix boiled channa or other veggies like carrot,peas.

Khaman Dhokla ~ Indian Cooking Challenge July 2009

First, let me brief about the Indian Cooking Challenge, a monthly event initiated by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons. As she rightly points out, many of us do not venture out cooking authentic & traditional recipes. Though, it can conveniently be attributed to lack of time in the fast pace of modern life, only a part of it is true. Now a days, we get a lot of good quality, authentic dishes from various shops at quite affordable (though that's a relative term, the flourishing catering business evinces it ) prices and so we do not want to put in that extra effort. Well, even this is only partly true. One more factor is, we might not want to cook out of our comfort zone (the roti-rice routine with occasional easy to make sweets) and daringly try out the traditional family recipes particularly so when it involves lot of time, effort or utmost perfection. For eg., you can make mysore pak or rasgullas in less than an hour but you should know the tips & tricks of the trade. Calling myself a foodie & a passionate cook, it is not fair to keep away from authentic recipes by quoting the above factors. By naming it a challenge, Srivalli kindles my interest further more. So, I am game for it!

This is how it works. Srivalli had already conducted a poll and finalised a list of recipes. She will announce a dish for the month and post a tried & tested recipe. We will have to try it out and post it end of the month. It can't get easier for me! Thanks to her for all the effort she puts in. For more info, visit her announcement. I have posted the logo on my blog's side bar.

The challenge for July is Khaman Dhokla. This is a food from Gujarat and made of fermented chickpeas batter. Chickpeas is soaked overnight and ground to a batter. But we can alternatively use besan and make perfect dhoklas. The batter is spiced up with chillies, sugar, steamed and seasoned. I have tried eating dhoklas in Saravana Bhavan's Gujarathi restaurant and few other eat-outs. I wouldn't term it as my fav food but still I love to have it occasionally. I am posting the recipe here as exactly given by her.

Updates: The changes I did are, I added a little salt to the batter, I used a non-stick tawa to steam the batter (removed the handle and placed it in the cooker just as a plate) since I didn't have a thali plate and reduced the sesame seeds. I overturned the dhokla plates before seasoning. No big alterations and it turned out great. All praises to Srivalli!

Makes 20 medium sized pieces
Ingredients:
For Batter:

Bengal Gram flour / Besan - 250 gms (1 & 1/2 cup)
Curd - 1/2 cup (not very sour)
Water - 1/2 cup
Cooking Soda - 1/2 tsp

For seasoning to be mixed to the batter (to be added just before cooking)
Oil - 1 tbsp
Turmeric a pinch
G. Chili paste - 1 - 2 long (as per taste)
Sugar - 1 tsp
Citric acid - quarter tsp
Eno - 1 packet (green colour fruit lime) + sprinkle or dust few bits on the plate

For tempering

Sesame seeds
Mustard Seeds
Curry leaves
Grated coconut
Coriander leaves
Little water + Oil to be topped on dhoklas

Method to prepare:
Mix first 1/2 cup curds with 1/2 water. To this add the besan and mix well to get a lump less batter, the consistency should be of idli batter, more of dropping not pouring consistency. Slowly add more water if needed else, add the soda. Keep it aside to rise for 1 hour.

If you are using a pressure cooker, fill the pan with water, place a plate over which you will have use a plate for steaming the dhoklas. Thali plate can be used for steaming
To the batter mix in the citric acid, oil, salt, sugar, green chili paste and turmeric powder. Mix well. This has to be done just before pouring to the plate.



Meanwhile have the pan on stove, and let the water start boiling. When the water reaches the rolling stage, you can mix the eno to the batter (Save little of eno for dusting on the plate), mix gently, you will see bubbles coming out.


Dust or sprinkle the plate with eno. Then immediately pour the batter to the plate. Place the plate carefully inside the pressure pan and cover with lid. You need not use the whistle. After covering you will find steam coming out of the outlet, simmer and don't disturb for almost 5 -7 minutes.

After 5 -7 minutes, remove the lid and proof it using toothpick or knife. If the knife comes out clean and does not have any batter sticking, then its done. Cover back and let it remain on flame for 1 min and switch off the gas and allow it for 5 minutes.
In a bowl, mix 3 tsp of water along with a tsp of oil

Remove the plate from the pan, pour the water and oil mix over the top.

For seasoning, heat a pan with oil, add curry leaves, sesame seeds, mustard seeds and finely chopped green chilies. When mustard starts popping, remove and pour over the dhokla


Points to Ponder:

The batter should be filled to only 1/2 as it will rise up. After adding eno the batter should not rest. Amount of sugar can be increased on preference.

If you want perfect shaped ones and not the crumbling, cut and handle gently

Dhokla can also be steamed in kadai filled with water and a plated titled over it.

Green chutney
Ingredients:

Green chili - 4-5 no
coconut - 4- 5 pieces
coriander - bunch
few mint leaves
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Lime -1 big
Salt to taste

Take all the ingredients except coriander in a food processor. Grind to a smooth paste.

Then add the coriander and again grind. Remove to a bowl, add the remaining lime and serve with Dhoklas.

Srivalli's replies to doubts posted by readers:

Lemon can be used instead of citric acid. Citric acid is basically used for giving the sourness. I confirmed with Aunty that we can replace this by adding lemon juice or sour curds.

Eno is normally not replaced with anything else. This is added to give the spongy texture. She said we can try using baking soda, but is not sure of the measurement.
She normally uses the Eno sachet which is app 5 gms,

Rolling stage is when the water starts boiling and reaches peek.

Water and oil (at room tempt) is just mixed together and added to the cooked dhoklas immediately after removing from pan, Since the dhoklas will be hot and this mixture will make it more soft and spongy. This is just to prevent the surface from getting dry. So the oil need not be hot.

Another way is to temper the mustard, curry leaves, remove the pan from heat, add water to that and pour over the dhoklas..either way is fine.
Chutney is not mandatory...I asked aunty her version so that we make both the dishes traditionally

Any small plate also can be used, but to be filled to only half..

You can use idly cooker too.. the vessel used for cooking is left to the member's choice, only thing is you should steam the dhoklas...Nowadays we get steamers for dholkas too.

Verdict: Perfect dhoklas & Roshan loved it. I survived the challenge! Looking forward to the next month's challenge.

Kwik Fix Series # 4 - Spinach Cashew Pakoda

This is an ideal snack for a cloudy evening or a rich starter for a party. Both preparation time and cooking time is less and hence qualifies for the kwik fix series. You got to just put together the stored ingredients and the pakoda is ready in a jiffy. No soaking, no grinding and no standing in the kitchen for long! I was actually quite bored of the usual onion pakoda and tried this as a variation. It was ready in just 20 min. Try it!

Ingredients:

Besan - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1 table spoon
chopped onion - 1
Chopped spinach - few leaves
Cashews - 15 (I used fried cashews available in tin)
Curry leaves - 5
Chopped coriander - a handful
Chopped green chillies - 3
Chopped ginger - a small piece
Asafoetida - 2 pinch
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method:

1) Heat oil in a deep frying pan. The heat should be medium.
2) Mix all the other ingredients including salt, sprinkle a little water to bind them together. Beware it should not be sticky.
3) Make into small balls and fry in oil till golden brown. Serve hot.

Tips:

1) Start mixing after the oil becomes hot. This way it will consume less oil. Also, mix a tsp of hot oil to the flour base.
2) Oil should be medium hot for the pakodas to cook evenly and crispy outside.
3) Just sprinkle enough water to bind the ingredients and do not make it sticky.

Sending this to EC's fried snack event. Thanks Chitra, for letting me know about the event.

Bird's Nest - A Spring Treat

I wanted to send an entry to the click event at jugalbandi. I was thinking about various options till I chanced upon this recipe by Mrs. Chellam in a tamil magazine. I followed the recipe exactly and it came out pretty well, aptly bringing out the spring theme. I have given the same recipe below.

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 1 kg
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Ginger a small piece finely chopped
Green chilles - 2 finely chopped
Dhaniya powder -2tsp
Salt to taste
chilli powder - 2 tsp
coriander finely chopped half bunch
amchur powder - 1 tsp(optional)
oil to fry
cumin - 1 tsp

For Binding:
maida half a cup
water - 1 cup
Make into a batter

For coating:
Fried semia - 1oog

For stuffing:
boiled Green peas

Method:
1.Boil and mash the potatoes. Mix the dry powders and chopped coriander.
2.Heat oil, season with jeera, fry onion,ginger and green chillies. Mix the potato mixture. Cook and make into small balls.
3. Stuff the peas inside the balls and make into patties.
4. Dip in the maida batter, roll over semia and deep fry.
5. Garnish and serve.
http://jugalbandi.info/2009/03/click-april-2009-springautumn/

Paneer Bhurji & Kathi roll

I feel paneer and potato are similar in more ways than one. Both are versatile and universally acclaimed. Of course, paneer is mostly used by Indians but still those who taste it once, will crave for it ever. Not to mention, both of them starts with the letter 'p' :) I'm leaving the potatoes here and going ahead with paneer to make a very simple and quick dish - paneer bhurji. You can use your creativity to come up with various other recipes using this as the base.

Paneer is Indian cottage cheese which is a rich source of protein good enough to substitute for meat. I have also mixed a handful of spinach in this recipe for extra nutrition. It is always better to mix a variety of vegetables/ingredients to get all possible nutrients in a single meal.Not only that, this strategy can be used to make your kids(sometimes even adults) eat things which they normally resist. But ofkors, the ingredients should blend well to make the meal tasty.

Ingredients:
Grated Paneer 2 cups
Jeera - 2 tsp
Onions - 1 or 2 finely chopped
Tomatoes - 1 (grated)
Chopped spinach - half a cup
Crushed green chillies - 2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
Chopped Coriander to garnish
Salt to taste

Method :
1. Heat oil, season jeera, fry the onions.
2. Add the chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry.
3. Add spinach, fry half a minute and add the tomatoes.
4. Add the dry powders after the tomatoes get cooked.
5. Add paneer and a little water and cook till done. Be careful while adding salt as the paneer might be salty already. I made use of the masala paneer available in the Indian grocery. Give it a try.
6. Garnish with coriander and serve with rotis.

Serving tips:
1. You can use this to make paneer kathi rolls. Spread the paneer on the rotis and roll them tight to make the kathi rolls or wrap. You can heat it once on a tawa if you wish to. This can be used for travel or pack lunch boxes. It can be served anytime of the day. This is also a way to use your leftover rotis. You can also use this idea to conceal veggies which your kids don't eat otherwise.


2. You can stuff this inside dosa to make paneer masala dosa. The other way is, arrange 2 or 3 layers of dosa with paneer in between, roll them tight, slice them into pieces and serve. You can pour some curd on the top and serve as curd dosa similar to curd vada.

3. You can make paneer sandwiches by filling this in between bread slices and toasting it or even make stuffed paneer parathas.

Needless to say, this goes to the kids lunch event.

http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2009/03/monthly-mingle-31-kids-lunches.html http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-monthly-mingle.html

Veg Samosas

A samosa, a stuffed pastry is a common snack in most parts of Asia. The outer shell is made of maida flour and is filled with a potato savory. It's a wonderful party snack and has become quite popular across the globe. I find it under the starters category in every other restaurant here. Like all other potato recipes, it is dangerously delicious. You might take a try on baking the samosas instead of frying, if you wish to make it oil free and do let me know.
Now, for my recipe...

Ingredients:

For the filling:

Potatoes - 2 (boiled and mashed)

Onions - 1 finely

Chopped Peas -1 cup boiled

Green Chillies- 3 finely chopped

Dhania Powder - 2 tsp

Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Amchur -1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Jeera for seasoning - 2tsp

Crushed ginger - 1 tsp

Chopped coriander - 1 cup

Oil for frying

Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat the oil, season with jeera.
2. Fry ginger, green chillies and onion till tender.
3. Add the mashed potatoes and peas.
4. Add the dry powders and mix well.
5. Add the chopped coriander and cool the filling.

For the Pastry or Patties:
Maida -3 cups
Salt to taste

Water to mix

Mix together and make a soft dough. Keep aside for atleast an hour.

Method:

1. Roll out the dough into thin triangles and cook both the sides over dry tava for 10 to 20 seconds.
2. Place the filling in the center, fold and seal the edges with maida batter.

3. Deep fry in oil.

Sending this to Sunday Snacks - Chaats hosted by Pallavi.

Veg Cutlet

Ingredients:

Beans 100g

Peas 100g

Carrots 100g

Potatoes 1/4 kg

Onions 1 finely chopped

Green chillies 6

Ginger 1 small piece

Dhania powder 2 tsp

Chilli powder 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves 1 bunch

Oil 2 tsp

Method :

1. Wash and cut veg into very fine pieces

2. Pressure cook the veg and potatoes separately without water(Jus fill the cooker vessel with water and place the veg in a small vessel without water. The idea is to have minimum moisture)

3. Chop onions,green chillies and ginger finely

4. Heat oil in a pan and season with jeera

5. Add the chopped onions, chillies and ginger and fry till pink in color and tender

6. Add the mashed potatoes, cooked veg, salt, dry powders and the chopped coriander.

7. Mix well and keep aside

8. When cool, divide into small portions

9. Shape the cutlet,dip in maida batter roll over powdered rusk and shallow fry.

Tips:

1. You may also use egg white instead of maida batter to coat the cutlets

2. You can make the cutlets beforehand and shallow fry it just before serving. This way you can serve them as starters for parties.

3. Shallow frying is better than deep frying since the latter will make the cutlets soggy and this way u also get to eat less oil. :P

4. The cutlet must be hard and dry before frying to have it intact. I generally coat the cutlet with powdered rusk twice or thrice to achieve this.

Sending this to Sunday Snacks - chaats hosted by pallavi.

Pav Bhaji

Wow! A platter of colorful vegetables. What else could you expect from a person like me who loves different colors and a variety of vegetables? It is actually good to eat a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables by means of which you are giving your body a wide range of nutrients that are important for good health. Each color offers something unique, like different vitamins and minerals that work together to protect your health. So try and include as much in your diet.
Having said all this, I only made use of the veg to make a fast food snack - Pav bhaji :)
C'mon u can't eat low calorie food all the time :P
But you can make this healthier by reducing the amount of potatoes and butter. I did omit the potatoes today mainly because I didnt have any but compensated by adding more butter than usual :P Easier said than done



Ingredients:
Peas (unshelled) 1/4 kg
onions 1/4 kg
potatoes - 350g
carrots 1/4 kg
beans 1/4 kg
red and yellow bell peppers 1 each
cauliflower 1
Butter 1 table spoon
coriander 1 bunch
tomatoes 1/4 kg
chilli powder 3 tsp
pav bhaji powder 3 tsp
ginger(small piece),garlic 6,green chillies 6 - ground to a paste
salt to taste

Method:
1. Cut the veggies into fine pieces and pressure cook
2. Add a little butter to the pan and fry finely chopped onions till light brown.
3. Add the ground paste(I was lazy to grind so just added the ready-made ginger garlic paste and crushed chillies) and fry well
4. Add the dry powders, tomatoes and cooked veg. Mix well and add some more butter
5. Roast the pav bun with a little butter over a tawa.
6. Serve it hot with chopped coriander, raw onions and squeeze a lime

Sending this to Sunday Snacks - Chaats hosted by Pallavi.