Vada Paav - Mumbai Ishtyle!

Tried my hand at making authentic Vada paav last night for a snack and it turned out awesome! It is such a popular street food in Mumbai that it also has a wiki entry honouring it, read here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vada_pav

The best part about making this lip-smacking snack is how easy the ingredients are to find in your own pantry/fridge and how simple the entire process is. You can take my word for it, as I am a person who hasn't ventured much into the world of fried snacks [i.e pakoras/vadas etc].

Ingredients:
2 whole boiled potatoes - you can pressure cook them in a bit of turmeric and then mash them either by hand or with a masher.
1 tsp mustard seeds [rai]
a few curry leaves and coriander leaves, finely chopped
Asafoetida [Hing] - a pinch
1 or 2 green chillies finely chopped as per your taste.

For the batter:
3/4 cup of gram flour [besan]
1/2 tsp of tamarind paste
1/2 tsp / as per your taste, of red chilli powder
A hint of salt and asafoetida

1. Heat a bit of oil in a kadhai and add mustard seeds in it. When it finishes sputtering, add green chillies, coriander leaves and curry leaves. Mix together and then add the mashed potatoes, and salt as per taste. Mix well and fry for a bit of time. Remove off the flame and allow to cool.

2. In a bowl, add besan, and the other ingredients mentioned for the batter, with as less water as possible, just to make a thick paste. Remember, if the paste is too thin, it will not coat the potato mix.

3. Make medium sized balls of the potato mix, dip in the besan batter and deep fry. Serve hot with Indian paav and you can also make a coriander chutney and garlic chutney to go with it. I made neither as this was just a last minute effort. I did serve it with sliced onion though.

                       

Onion,tomatoes and Dill Uttapams

Ingredients:
Uttapam batter: enough to make for 3-4 people
I bowl of finely chopped tomatoes
1 bowl of finely chopped onions
1 bowl of finely chopped dill.
2-3 finely chopped green chillies ( depending on spice level required)


Method: 
 For the batter:
Uttapam batter is made up of 1 portion of urad dal and 3 portions of rice. One half of the rice is boiled rice and other half is kolam or basmati or any rice other than boiled rice. Rice and dal are washed separately and left overnight to soak well and after grinding them very fine separately, they are mixed well and left to ferment in a warm place for 12 to 18 hours.
 To make the Uttapams : 

• Put your non-stick pan or tawa on burner and heat it up to medium heat. Use a serving spoon to spread the batter thick, spread a tsp of oil on sides (optional) take a handful of all the ingredients ( tomatoes,onions,chillies and dill) and spread over one side of the uttappam( side facing you- do this while the batter is still wet so that the veggies settle into the batter well).Cover the pan for a while.
•  Fire should be between medium and low. When it is ready (light brown) remove the lid and turn the Uttapam with the help of a spatula.
• Allow it to bake for a while without the lid now. Turn it once more and keep it for less than a minute to make it crisp.
•  Serve with sambar and coconut chutney

Spring Onion Parathas

Ingredients:

• -2 cups maida
• -2 cups atta or wheat flour
• -salt to taste
• -5-6 spring onions
• -very finely chopped green chillis (can be omitted for kids)
• -water to knead the dough
• -2 tsps oil
• -butter for frying the paranthas
• 
  
• Directions:
• 

1. Make a not very hard dough of maida (plain flour), atta(wheat flour), salt and very finely chopped spring onions. You may add finely grated green chillis also.
2. Add 2 tsps oil and set aside for half an hour
3. Roll each parantha into a circle of 6"diameter and fry in hot tava adding butter on both sides till golden brown. 

Serve hot with Tomato pickle or Raita.

Falafels!!

Falafels are a specialty of the Middle Eastern cuisine. It is pretty much the staple in the region's vegetarian snack menu options, and is largely enjoyed with a side dip of either labneh, moutabel or hummus (Arabic dips). Falafels are flattened balls made of chickpeas and are a very tasty snack, much enjoyed by one and all. Here I have a nice simple recipe for it, and trust me when I say they are incredibly tasty.

You'd need:

1 Cup soaked and cooked chickpeas [soak it either overnight or for 5 hrs, and pressure cook on medium flame for about 5 whistles]

1 Medium onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

3 tsp cumin seeds

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

2 tbsp flour

4 tbsps coriander, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Creating it:

Run all the ingredients [except the flour, salt and pepper] in a food processor, until it is chunky. It needs to be a thick, dry dough. Remove, and add the flour, salt and pepper. Knead together with your hands till it's all mixed up. Form lemon sized balls and flatten a bit to get the right shape. Deep fry these mini patties on a medium flame till it's golden brown. Enjoy !!!