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.

                       

Gobhi ke Parathey

Gobi Ke Parathey !! They were quite yummy, a successful attempt :)

Ingredients :

Whole wheat dough made as you would make usually for parathas. 

For the filling:

1 medium sized Gobhi [cauliflower] - into florets and minced finely

Instead of onions, I used shallots - so, 7-8 shallots, minced finely

Garlic cloves - 2 or 3, as per your preference, finely crushed.

Usual spice mix - dhaniya powder, haldi [turmeric], garam masala [a teaspoon each]

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Make the dough for the parathey and let it stay for about 30 minutes, covered with a moist cloth.

2. Mince the cauliflower and shallots together and saute well with the crushed garlic in a little bit of oil with the spices. It should look like this when it is done. This is your filling. Top with coriander.

3. Stuff and roll out. Fry each paratha lightly, drizzling the pan with a bit of oil when required. 

4. Enjoy the delicious treat - I served it with some black gram curry [kaale channey] and a bit of curd by the side. 

Scrumptious Italian Pasta Salad

Yes I know we've been away from this blog for so long - but not without reason :D Here is a super easy recipe for a yummy dish I assembled up today! :)

Veggies chopped up and waiting

Homemade Italian dressing

Veggies you need:

Capsicum - 1 medium, finely chopped

Red onion - 1 medium, finely chopped

Cherry tomatoes [optional]

Olives 

Garlic [finely chopped or crushed] - 2 cloves

Cucumbers - 2 medium, finely chopped

For the dressing:

1/4th cup olive oil

3 tbsp vinegar

Salt

Mixed dried herbs or Oregano

Method:

Cook the penne pasta until tender and run it under cold water mixing with your fingers to make sure the starch is washed off. If any starch remains, then the pasta is sure to get sticky. 

Combine ingredients for the dressing and set aside. 

Toss the veggies with the pasta and pour dressing over it, coating it fully. Add a dollop of cream cheese or reduced-fat mayonnaise to get a creamy consistency.

The yummiest Pasta Salad ever ! :)

Green Moong and Grated carrot Pulao

Ingredients:

Green Moong Dal - 1 cup

Rice - 1 and a half cups

Carrots -2, thickly grated

Onion - 1 medium, thinly sliced

Method:

Wash the green moong dal and rice and soak together for about half an hour. Meanwhile, grate the carrots, and slice the onions finely. In a pressure cooker, heat a bit of ghee and add whole garam masalas. Saute a bit, then add onions [and chillies, as per your preference]. Now add the rice-moong mix and saute together until the rice is brown. Add salt, haldi, a pinch of coriander powder and then add the grated carrots and mix. Add 3 cups of water, or enough to cover the rice mix

Remove the weight of the lid of the cooker, and shut the cooker. Steam in this way for 15 minutes, check to see if it is done, depending on the texture that you prefer. I need it a bit softer for my son, but 15-20 minutes should be fine.

Enjoy !! :)

Gawarfali ki Sabji - Rajasthani style

Ingredients : 
Cluster beans- 250 gms
Oil- 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida-1 pinch
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2tsp
Coriander powder-2tsp
Powdered peanuts
Salt to taste
water as required
Dried Mango powder- 1 tsp


Method :
Remove the strings from cluster beans. Boil and drain. Heat oil in a pan add cumin seeds and asafoetida. Add beans and saute for 2 minutes. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder and salt. Add dried mango powder and cook till water dries off. Add powdered peanuts and cook on sim for 10 minutes. Take off heat. 
Serve with hot phulkas!!

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

Aloo Rassedar

Ingredients:( serves 2-3 people)

2 Potatoes boiled and broken into big chunks

2 large tomato chopped in chunks

1/2 inch ginger minced

3-4 pods of chopped garlic

2 green chillies minced

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

a pinch of hing

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp chilli pwd

1/2 tsp coriander pwd

1/4 tsp mango pwd

1/4 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

salt to taste

1 tbsp oil

Method:

Heat oil add cumin seeds and hing, let it splutter.

Add tomatoes, grated ginger, green chillies,garlic & saute for a minute.

Add turmeric, chilli pwd, coriander pwd, and mango pwd.

Keep stirring the tomatoes, add a little water if it starts sticking to the bottom or gets too dry.

Cover it up and cook on low to medium heat and let it come together.

Once the tomatoes are soft and the mixture looks like it's blended well add potatoes, salt and 1 cup of water, if you want a really watery gravy add more water.

Once done add garam masala and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with hot with puris or jeera rice!!