Tostitos chaat

This time we got the shell shaped(like small diwali panati/diya) tostitos, our favourite mexican corn chips! Its goes really well with the chunky salsa.
But my taste buds (seems to be missing the chaat) brought a chatpatta thought to mind. So is born a tostitos chaat that taste so much like the channa jor garam back home....aamchi ruchira agadi sukhawli :)

Ingredients:
10-12 Shell shaped tostitos scoops
2 tbsp sweet corns
2 tbsp finely chopped onions
2 tbsp finely chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp finely chopped cucumber
1 green chilli/jalapeno finely chopped
1 tsp chaat masala
1 pinch of garam masala
1 tbsp fresh corriander finely chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste


Directions:
Mix all ingredients except tostitos to make a chaat mix. Line the tostitos shells on plate. Place a spoonful of the mixture on each shell.
Serve just like that.
This can make a nice light starter for a vegetarian party or can be used as a last course of the meal!

Orange Almond Cookies

Orange and almond two adorable flavours make these adorable, Orange Almond cookies. These are great as to snack upon any time of the day. I have made these using whole wheat flour in order to add the fibre content. This way I can have these cookies without feeling guilty about it.

Ingredients:

2 Eggs

1/3 cup Almonds

1/3 cup Sugar

4 tablespoon Ghee

Juice of one orange

Zest of 0ne orange

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup All purspose flour

1/2 tsp Baking powder/Pinch of Baking soda

Salt to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven at 350F.

Roast almonds and coarsly grind them. Zest the orange.

Mix half orange zest, half almonds and some sugar together. This mixture will be used to top the cookies.

Beat eggs using a whisk till it doubles in volume. Add orange juice, remaining zest and sugar to the eggs and mix well. Now add melted ghee (when cooled) to the wet ingredients and beat well.

In another bowl mix whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt half of the ground almonds and baking powder/soda. Keep aside.

And incorporate dry ingredients together by adding in 3-4 parts. Adding in parts ensures easy mixing.

Butter and flour the baking sheet. Put a scoopful of batter 2-3 inches apart. If the batter is too thin you can use the muffin tray to keep your cookies in shape. Now sprinkle the zest and almond topping on each cookie.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. When done cool on a wire rack. Serve as you like it!

Homemade Khari or Pastry Puff

I always wondered how khari must be made. As kid I used to like it very much.

I have tried making khari to know that the end result is nowhere close to it in my first attempt. In my second attempt though my khari came out perfectly fine, crisy and mutilayered, perfect texture and taste too. I was pleasantly surprised at myself.

My younger brother being a chef told me that you can't be assured about the end result of a perfect khari or pastry puff. But I still tried and will peasantly surprise him with this post of mine.

Ingredients:

1 cup All purpose flour

2.5 tbsp butter for kneading

Pinch of salt

3-4 tbsp milk

6-7 tbsp margarine or butter

Note: Margarine having a higher melting temperature will give better result. Butter being easily available, I have used butter. Just increase the refrigeration time when using butter.

Directions:

1) Mix salt and 2 1/2 tbsp butter in the flour to form a crumbly mixture. Knead this mixture using milk to form a little soft dough. Let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes in a cold place or refrigerator.
2) Take out the dough and kead well again. Divide it into 5 parts. Make a ball of each part and roll out a circular chapati making 5 flat breads.

3) Now take one flat bread and spread about 1 tbsp butter/margarine at room temperature on it evenly.

Cover with another flat bread.

4) Repeat for all 4 flat breads to form a layer of bread and butter. Cover with the 5th flat bread.

Keep this layered rotis in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

5)After 15 minutes, take out and roll it out to make little thinner. Then spread some more butter on top to form a thin layer of butter. Fold this into a square.

Square shape can be formed by closing the flap action on all four sides (right, left, up and down) .

6) Make sure that the buttered portion is completely covered. Refrigerate again for another 15-20 minutes.

7) Take out the folded pastry sheets. Roll it to make it thin. Again spread a thin layer of butter. Cover it folding properly and refrigerate.

8) Repeat this action for about 6-8 times. The intention of doing this is to make as many layers as possible. Refrigeration is done so that the layers are intact and do not mix into each other. Chilled butter in between the layers keeps the layers separate.

9) When you are satsified that enough layers are made the finally roll (roll lightly otherwise butter will come our tearing the dough) the dough into a flat bread of about an inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes( squares, rectangles or triangle etc).

10)Refrigerate again before baking. Store the extra pieces in a ziplock bag and keep in freezer. Use as and when reuired.

Baking Instructions:

Preheat the oven at 450F. Line the pastry sheet pieces on a baking tray.

Pop the baking tray in the oven and turn down the oven temperature to 400F.

Bake for 15-25 minutes.

Enjoy with a hot cup of tea. Wonderful tea time snack!

Variations/Note: Any kind of filling (apples, pears, some sauted veggies etc) can be used to make different varieties of puffs or turnovers using these pastry sheet.

Apple Turnovers: Put peeled and chopped apples, sugar and cinnamon mixture on a 4 inch square pastry sheet. Fold diagonally and seal the edges. Bake following the baking instructions to make a perfect Apple Turnover.

Peach Turnovers: Same as apple turnover just add peaches instead of apples.

Veg Puff: Put sauted cabbage sabji on the pastry sheet, fold to form a rectangular shape and seal properly. Bake as per the above instructions. Veg Puff is ready.

Make your own variations! Happy Baking!

Samosa

Samosa is the most popular Indian snack around the world. Liked by one and all, its a very filling snack. Its unique triangular solid shape makes it stand apart from a variety of appetizers.

The fillings can vary to make different varieties of samosa like paneer samosa, keema samosa or the authentic potato stuffed samosa. You can think of any innovative fillings and make a different samosa altogether.

Recipe for the original potato filled samosa.

Ingredients:

For Crust:

2 cups All purpose flour

4 tbsp soft butter or ghee

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon carom seeds(ajwain)

Water to knead the dough (Use milk for kneading if you are planning to bake the samosas instead of deep frying)

For Filling:

2 Large sized boiled potatoes

1 medium sized onion chopped

3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

3-4 green chillies coarsly chopped

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Salt as per taste

2 tablespoon Oil

1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds

1/2 cup green peas(optional)

2 tablespoon fresh corriander coarsly chopped

Few Curry leaves

1 teaspoon garam masala(if you like it spicy)

Directions:

Mix flour, butter/ghee salt and carom seeds to form a coarse crumble. Knead with water or milk depending on your cooking style. If you are planning to bake knead with 4 tablespoon milk. Otherwise knead with water.

Keep aside in a cool place or refrigerator for few minutes.

Now for making the stuffing, heat oil in a pan. Add Mustard seeds when oil is hot. When mustard seeds splutter add cumin seeds and curry leaves. Now add garlic, onions and green chillies. Saute till onions turn translucent. Now add turmeric, salt and garam masala(optional). Saute well.

Now Add boiled and chopped potatoes and peas. Mix well and cook covered for few minutes.

When done garnish with corriander. This Stuffing is a mutlipurpose one. Its used as masala in masala dosa, filling for batata-vada(vada of the vada pav), as a side dish in main course Indian food, its stuffed in breadpakodas too. Truely versatile.

For making samosas: Take out the dough and knead well to make it soft. Divide in appx 5-6 balls. Roll out each ball into a cirular sheet. Cut it into halves. Whole dough will make 10-12 semicircular sheets.

Take one sheet and make a cone shape out of it, keeping the center of the semicircle as your one corner of the cone. Fill the potato stuffing inside it and seal edges of the cone. Similarly make all the samosas.

For baking preheat the oven at 375 degree F. Line samosas on a baking tray. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Or Deep fry the samosa in vegetable or canola oil on medium heat. Fry them till nice golden brown in color. Drain on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

Serve with tamarind or pudina chutney. Or Simply serve with fried green chillies like you get on a street food shop.

Or Serve with yogurt on top to make a samosa chaat. Top with tamarind and pudina chutney, some chopped onions, some fine shev, chaat masala, salt and chilli powder.

Or Serve as appetizers in the party if you are planning a light main course.

Enjoy your samosa as per your taste and mood!

Pastry Shell Kachori

"Pastry shell Kachori" sounds interesting isn't it? Ya even I was excited when that came to my mind. But actual execution was little time consuming, may be because I started with making my own pastry shell instead of using the readymade ones. Otherwise the recipe is easy, tasty and ideal to be served as an appetizer at the parties. Its an effort to " remix" the kachori by presenting it in new avatar :). If you are also interested make note of the recipe.

Ingredients:

For Filling:

1 cup yellow Moong dal

1 small Onion finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon Corriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon corriander powder

1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

salt as per taste

2 tablespoon oil

You can use the ready made pastry shells. They are easy to use. If you plan to make your own note ingredients.

For Pastry shells:

2 cup All purpose flour

5 tbsp butter at room temp

Salt

Cold water to knead

Directions:

Mix flour. salt and butter till a crumbly mixture is formed. Add cold water little by little and knead the dough. Wrap in a plastic sheet and refrigerate for half an hour.

Soak moong dal for half and hour and then boil in enough water for 5 minutes. Strain all water and coarsly grind it or use it whole. Its good either way, but I have grounded it a little so that the masala sticks to most of the dal.

Now heat oil in a pan. Add all the seeds. When the seeds crackle add onions and cook till onions turrn light brown. Now add all the powders and mix well. Add the dal now, mix well and put off the flame.

Now take out the pastry dough from refrigerator. Let it rest for 5 min. Now its ready to work with. Take a small portion on your palm and turn into a ball. Now roll into a circle of 3-4 inches.

Preheat the oven at 450F.

Now put a spoonful of the dal filling in the middle of the pastry circle. Now make 4 Z shape folds at four corners to form a shell filled with stuffing. Similarly form all your filled shells and line on a baking tray.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Then take out from the oven. Put a small piece of mozarella cheese on each shell and sprinkle a small amount of the garlic-herb seasoning.

Put it back in the oven and bake for 3-5 min. Its just for the cheese to melt and form a tempting top layer.

Serve the pastry shell kachories with tamarind or pudina chutney. They are bitesize and perfect to kick start the party.

These "Pastry Shell Kachories" is my entry for theMonthly Mingle-Appetizers & Hors'Doeuvres. Some more details at Meeta's blog.

Chiwda

Its the ultimate homemade snack for munching while you are travelling. Its also one of the main items in the Diwali Faral(Festive snack). It may make so many hostellites nostalgic thinking how they have survived on the chiwda and how chiwda kept their taste buds happy when they had no option for the mess food :(
So lets indulge in the chiwda making process to discover what was the secret of those memories apart from mom's love in it :)

Ingredients:

4 cups Thin Poha (Rice flakes)

Onions thinly sliced (1 cup)

Green chillies slit

Peanuts

2-3 Garlic cloves(thinly sliced)

Saunf (fennel seeds)

Cumin and mustard seeds (I can't do without these)

Salt

Turmeric

Chilli powder (optional)

Curry leaves

Corriander leaves

Oil

Thinly sliced dry coconut

Method:

Lightly roast the poha in a pan till little crispy and keep aside.

In a pan add 1/3 cup oil enough for frying. Fry the peanuts and keep aside.

Add Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, onions, garlic and slit chillies. Fry onions and garlic on medium heat till it turns brown and crispy ( this will take at least 10-15 min). Add Fennel seeds, curry leaves and corriander and coconut slices. Fry till coconut is light brown in color. Now add the remaining ingredients i.e salt, turmeric, chilli powder. Mix well. Now add the fried peanuts and roasted poha. Mix well till all the poha mixes well and not a single poha is white in color. Mix till the whole mixture takes same yellow color.

Let the chiwda cool completely. Then store in an airtight container.

Whenever you feel the urge for some munching action, you know which container to look upto!

Shakarkand pakoda ( Sweet Potato Fritter)

Sweet potato pakoda is my recipe inspired by the pumpkin sweet pakoda. I have just replaced the pumkin with sweet potato. The pumpkin pakoda is treated as the sweet feast for the guest in the rural vidardha region of Maharashtra. But its simplicity is the key to its wonderful taste. Your kids will just love it and will ask for more! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
3- medium sized sweet potatos
1 cup All purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
3 tsp poppy seeds
1/3 cup of grated coconut (optional)
Oil for frying

Directions:

Boil or steam the sweet potatoes. Peel and mash them. Add sugar, cardamom powder, flour, poppy seeds and shredded cocunut. Mix well to form a semi-thick dough (little thicker than cake mix consistency).
Heat oil in a kadhai or frying pan on medium heat. Put the pakoras with hand or small spoon.
Fry till golden brown. Serve hot.

Drizzle some honey or date syrup while serving. Garnish with coconut.

Peanut-Jaggery Chikki/ Peanut Brittle

The peanut chikki was a favourite sweet of the kids even before chocolates became so popular!
Its full of iron and gives warmth to the body. So its good to have peanut chikki during winters. And its super simple to make!

Ingredients:
Peanuts 1 cup
Jaggery 1 cup
Ghee 1 teaspoon



Preparation:
Mix Jaggery with 1/2 water in a pan and keep on medium heat. The Jaggery will mix thoroughly with water.

Meanwhile roast the Peanuts, Remove the skin and keep aside.

Keep stirring the jaggery mixture. When the jaggery starts boiling and thickening, add 1 teaspoon of ghee. Adding ghee will lighten the brown color of the jaggery mix. It will ensure that the chikki becomes brittle/crispy and non-sticky when cooled. Now add the roasted peanuts and mix well.

Oil a flat dish and spread some flour on it. Pour the Jaggery-peanut mixture on the oiled and floured dish . Spread it evenly to form a layer of 1/2 inch and let it cool.

When cooled down completely, invert the dish and the chikki will come out.

The delicious chikki is ready to eat. Break it and serve it. (It can also be cut on the dish before cooling).

Note: Instead of peanuts, Kaju or Seasame seeds can be used to make Kaju chikki or Til Chikki.

Kothimbir vadi/ Cilantro stuffed Spring Rolls

Writing a recipe blog was on my mind from a long time. Finally I am here writng one. All the credit goes to my temporary break from the work and I want to make the most of it.

Being a foodie I love to eat and to feed! And I would like to give the honour of being the first recipe on my blog to our regional favourite "Kothimbir vadi". Here is the recipe for all food lovers.

Ingredients:

For the Stuffing:
Corriander(cilantro) 1/2 kg
Onions 1
Garlic 2-3 cloves
Ginger small piece
Besan(Chickpea flour)
Salt
Chili powder
Turmeric powder
Oil to cook
Cumin and mustard seeds
Kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves)

For the Rolls:
Wheat flour/All purpose flour
Oil
Salt
Ajwain(Carom seeds)
Cumin powder


Preparation:

For preparing the stuffing heat enough oil in the pan. Season with cumin and mustard seeds.
Put finely chopped ginger and garlic . Saute well and next to go are the chopped onions. Add salt, turmeric , chilli powder. Add the washed, drained and finely chopped corriander (cilantro) leaves. Saute till its half cooked. Add dry besan to it and mix well . Sprinkle little bit of water and keep stirring. After its cooked properly(15-20 min) you should get a coarse crumble of about the size of the peas. Put the Kasuri methi and heat till its flavour is incorporated well . The stuffing is ready.

For the crust of the "Kothimbir vadi", add little oil, salt, cumin powder and ajwain to the flour and knead a tight dough.

Roll circular chapatis from the dough. Put the stuffing on it at the center and make rectangular rolls like the spring rolls.

Heat oil in a deep vessel . Deep fry the rolls till golden brown.

Serve hot with Tamarind chutney or Kadhi.

Its a refreshingly different snack from the popular lots. Try it ........you are going to love it!