Pav Bhaji

 

I love Pav bhaji and especially the one i make it :). After various trails i have perfected the recipe for the same. So here goes the recipe.

1.Chop 3 potatoes, 1 carrot and some cabbage .  Here you can use veggies of your choice.

2.Pressure cook these along with a handful of fresh peas for 3 whistles.

3. Heat oil and butter in a pan and add 1 small chopped capsicum and saute them for a minute, add puree of 1 onion, 3 small garlic cloves and some ginger and fry nicely.

4. Add r.chilli powder, pav bhaji masala, haldi , dhaniya powder and salt and cook for some seconds.

5. Add puree of 3-4 tomatoes and also the boiled and mashed veggies at this stage.

6. Mix nicely, add little water if required to get the right consistency and cook for close to 15 mins.

7. Just before taking it off the heat add a tbsp of butter and coriander leaves.

I always taste and adjust the masalas and seasoning according to my taste. So taste and make it more spicy or less accordingly. The main difference and the best taste was when i added the veggies along with tomato puree. Earlier i used to fry the puree nicely and then only add veggies.

Serve hot with buttered and toasted pav, chopped onion and lemon wedges.

 

Advertisement

Chutneys – The Basis of Indian Snacks.

 

Chutneys are a integral part of out daily food and Coriander Mint Chutney, Tamarind Chutney and Garlic Chutney are a main part of indian street food snacks. Without these any snack will lack the punch required in taste. My fav among these is the coriander chutney and it is always there in my refrigerator. Tamarind Chutney and Garlic Chutney is prepared very occasionally depending upon the snacks. So Lets head to the recipes directly. 

Coriander Mint Chutney

Ingredients

1 cup coriander leaves (Cleaned and chopped)

1/2 cup Mint leaves 

3 Medium G.chillies 

1″ Ginger Chopped

Roasted Jeera 1/2 tsp

Jaljeera Powder 1 tsp (You can chat masala as well)

Rock Salt 1/2 tsp

Juice of half a lemon

Method

Add all the ingredients in a blender and make it to a smooth paste. Add little spoonfuls of water if required.

Transfer it to a air tight back and this can be stored in the fridge for upto 2 weeks.

Notes

I never add regular salt in  this chutney as the color of the chutney changes to a darkish color after a couple of days.

Adding rock salt gives it a different taste as well and the chutney will stay in green color for a longer time.

This chutney has a tangy taste due to the addition of chat masala and lemon juice.

Skip any one of these if you want to reduce the tanginess.

Tamarind Chutney

Method

Tamarind  cup

Jaggery 1/4 cup grated

Rock Salt 1 tsp

Roasted Jeera Powder 1/2 tsp

Method

Soak tamarind in warm water for 1/2 hour.

When the tamraind is fully soft remove the pulp by pressing it between your fingers.

Transfer the pulp to a pan add all the remaining ingredients and cook it till it reaches a semi thick consistency.

Cool and transfer to a air tight box and store in the fridge.

This can be stored for upto a month as well.

Garlic Chutney

Recipe Source Tarla Dalal

Ingredients

2 whole garlic pods cleaned

1 tbsp Chilli Powder

Salt

Method

Combine all the 3 ingrediets in a blender along with some water and prepare a smooth chutney.

Transfer to a box and store this for upto a week.

Notes

garlic chutney can be prepared in many different ways , i had prepare this along with a famous gujrathi street food (recipe coming soon)

So try out these lip smacking chutneys and tickle your tastebuds!

These Chutneys are off to “The Big Chutney Chowdown” event hosted by Priya of Now Serving.

Kothimbir Vadi – A Lip smacking Appetizer!

Cooking for me has never been restricted to the food i grew up eating at home, from starting i was happy to wander from the regular food and try something new. Like most girls i have learnt cooking after getting married and have slowly learnt from step to step. From a girl like, whose 1st dish Upma was a disaster, i have come a long way. The daily meals in my house is a mix of Rajasthani, Marathi and diff cuisines thrown in together.

Some 3 years back i dint have any knowledge of food blogs and in search of some recipes i landed on Harini’s Blog, I was awed of her blog from starting and hers must be one of the blog where i have read all the archived post as well. Love her ideas of being a vegan and how she follows it so religiously. I can’t imagine my day without a cup coffee or without ghee and butter. Hats  off to her for following her ideas and she is an inspiration to all of us. I love her photography and i am always on the lookout of her post, there is so much to learn from her and she was one of the 1st person i had contacted when i creating my blog and so thankful for the tips she had given. Please Hop over to her blog and you will be glad to have discovered it if not u have stumbled upon it earlier.

Kothimbir Vadi is a maharastrian snack and i remember eating these long time back on a visit to my in-laws  place , had liked the taste of it and completely forgot about it  till recently when Harini posted a pic of it on Facebook. So decided to finally give them a try and so happy with the outcome of it. It is a Quiet healthy snack as well and uses of loadz of coriander. I have followed her recipe to the ‘T’ and  have not made any changes. But have written down the recipe here as well for my reference.

Kothimbir Vadi

Recipe Source : ToungeTicklers

Ingredients

Coriander leaves  3 cups

 Besan  1 cup 

Ginger  1″

G.Chillies 2

Garlic  1 pod

Water 2 cups

Haldi 1/4 tsp

Salt  to taste

Oil 1 tbsp

For Seasoning

Oil  3-4 tbsp

Sesame seeds  1 tsp

Mustard seeds  1 tsp

Curry leaves

G.chili 1

Method

Grind Ginger, Garlic and G.chillies to a paste.

Clean the coriander leaves and wash them nicely keep aside.

Grease a plate and keep aside.

Mix besan, salt, haldi and water and prepare a batter. Mix coriander leaves as well and mix.

Heat oil in a non stick pan and add the g.chilli paste and cook for a min till then raw smell of the garlic goes.

Add the besan mixture and keep on stirring regularly till all the water evaporates and the whole mixtures comes to thick consistency like a wet dough.

Here the non stick pan really helps as the mixture doesn’t stick on the bottom or else u can also use a very thick bottomed kadai.

This whole cooking process will take up to 8-10 mins on a medium flame.

Transfer the dough like to the greased plate and spread evenly and let cool completely.

Cut into desired shapes.

Heat oil in a non stick pan and add all the ingredients under seasoning. Place the cubed pieces and shallow fry them on both sides till the outer layer is nicely crisped and browned.

Serve them hot with chutney of your choice or it will be also a good side dish for Dal and Rice as we had. 

Cutlets:The best ones.

I love cutlets, tikkis hand veg. kababs but i hardly prepare these. The last time i had prepared cutlets must be some years ago. I know it is a very easy cooking process to prepare these and but dont know why i never prepare these when i want to prepare some good snack to ,maybe this can also be coz these dishes are not which i have grown up eating but only found out when i was old enough to eat out and discovered these dishes. But still i have to kick myself for not experimenting more in my kitchen. I love cooking and whenever i see a recipe which interest me i usually bookmark it and also write down the recipe in my diary but i never prepare these….most of the time i am too lazy too cook and go for the shortcut methods which i am familiar in preparing…. i really think i should rename my blog as “A lazy but interested cook”. Have made up my mind to keep cooking new recipes and try to blog regularly maybe twice a week should do it. I am really not the one who can blog everyday and i love some blogs who update it everyday. My salute to them in keeping up.

Coming to the recipe the 1st time i had cutlets was when i was in my 12th and had it in a very famous chat restuarant near my college.Have prepared it harldy maybe 5 times in so many years… but i am surely going to change this and prepare them regularly like maybe atleast once in two months maybe. These cutlets are made of Potato and some addition of paneer as well and by god there are a treat to eat. Love the crunchy texture outside which comes from breadcrumbs and soft texture inside. Do try these atleast once and you will surely fall in love with them.

Cutlets

Ingredients

Potato 3 medium Boiled peeled and grated

Paneer 1/4 cup grated

Kissan cream cheese 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves as much as u like

Mint leaves 5 sprigs

Salt to taste

Chaat masala 1 tsp

R.chilli powder 1 tsp

Lemon Juice 1 tsp

For Outer covering

3 tbsp maida

Water

Flavored bead crumbs

Method

In a bowl mix all the ingredients from potato till lemon juice.

Mix them nicely and prepare cylindrical rolls.

You can prepare these beforehand and let them sit in the fridge till further use.

Mix maida with water and prepare a smooth paste. the consistency can be that of the dosa batter.

Spread the bread crumbs in a wide plate.

Heat oil in a kadai.

Take the rolls and dip them 1st in batter and then roll them in bread crumbs.

Again dip them in batter and again roll them in bread crumbs.

I double dip these to get the extra crunchy texture.

Plop them in oil 2 at a time and deep fry till dark brown in color.

Serve Hot Hot with chutney or sauce or any dip you prefer.

These are sure yum in taste and you wont be able to stop yourself from eating more than 2. I dare on that.

Pinks Notes

For Flavored Bread Crumbs: Grind bread in a mixie along with some pepper and dried mint leaves.

These cutlets  are not spicy but you can finely chopped g.chilli or a spoonful of garam masala.

You can prepare these in round tikkis shape and add it you burger.

I did sandwich the rolls between chutney spread bread slices and had my own bread burger.

Adding veggies is always good and there are a number of them you can add like beans carrot peas corn…they can go endless

Have Fun and Do Enjoy!!!!!!

Thattai (Nuppitu)

This is a savory snack i had prepared for Diwali but hardly had time to post this. his is something similar to nuppitu which you will find in any churmuri stall in Mysore. This was my 1st attempt at making them and loved the way they came out, and when bloggers post step to step pics it becomes much more simpler to understand a recipe. I suck at step by step pics and hardly can take clicks of the whole process.

Thattai

Reicpe Source  Sharmis Passion

Makes 30 No’s 

Ingredients

Rice Flour 2 cups

Urad dal Flour 1/8 cup

Dalia/Roasted gram dal 1/2 cup

chana dal 1 tbsp

Butter 1 1/2 tbsp

Curry leaves 10 no’s

salt to taste

Sesame seeds 1 tbsp

R.chilli powder 1 tsp

water

oil to deep fry

Method

Prepare urad dal flour

Take 1/2 cup urad dal and dry roast them till slightly brown in color.

when cooled grind to a smooth and fine powder.

Seive and use as required.

Soak chana dal for 15 mins.

Dry roast rice flour for a min and keep aside

Dry roast dalia and when cooled grind to a fine powder

In a bowl mix all the ingredients from rice flour to R.chilli and mix nicely.

Add enough water to make a smooth and soft dough..It should not be very sticky so be careful while adding water.

Take 2 plastic sheets and grease both of them.

Take a big ball sized of the dough and roll it between 2 sheets. roll it thinly and prick all over.

Cut rounds using a round cutter or else a lid of a bottle will also do.

Heat oil in a pan for frying and drop the thattai’s in hot oil and fry them on a medium flame till brown in color.

Let cool and store in a jar.

Note.

Adding some halved roasted and soaked peanuts will also be a good addition.