Appetizers Archives - Page 2 of 4

Posted on March 4, 2016 July 21, 2016

Hummus Recipe using Canned Chickpeas

Hummus

Hummus is the most popular addition to the American food landscape in the 20th century, that has also been a great part of the vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Though originally a part of Egyptian cuisine, it is now prominently known as a part of Middle Eastern, Lebanese cuisine. In Palestine hummus is made of yogurt and butter instead of tahini and olive oil. Per Wikipedia, the oldest record in the history shows a dish of hummus made with cooked chickpeas, lemon, salt, olive oil, herbs and nuts, but no garlic and tahini. This non-garlic version is what I also prefer, as somehow garlic seems to be a recent addition to the dish, that, in my opinion takes away the original flavour. Lots of herbs such as parsley, red pepper, cumin powder, can be used to garnish the hummus.

I found an interesting link about a travelogue of a vegetarian foodie while visiting Middle East Jordan that I found quite entertaining. One can read more about it here Middle Eastern Vegetarian Options. The article talks about household recipes, which in my opinion are the backbone to any great cuisine. Hummus is used as a peace symbol in some middle eastern cartoons, where one of them stated “Make Hummus, Not War” which I thought was quite apt!

This recipe is for my brother, who fell in love with the hummus from California Pizza Kitchen, which incidentally is made from Fava Beans. And I may just try the fava bean base on the third thursday in May, which is celebrated as “Hummus Day”

Hummus is one delicious recipe that is very easy to make under 15 minutes, using canned chickpeas, and so should be your go to recipe for those in-between meal moments of hunger !! Am looking forward to seeing an Israeli movie Hummus released in 2015, that was intended to set a Guinness Book of World Record for biggest quantity of Hummus made by a group of people. The featured image on the top shows garnishes of olive oil and red chilli flakes in the picture on the left, and dried mint leaves and roasted cumin powder and olive oil in the picture on the right. For vegetarian and vegan eaters, this is a very easy, fancy and highly nutritious recipe that should become part of your everyday menu as it gives a great protein booster. It tastes great whether it is cold or slightly warm. Its varied uses can be as accompaniment to pita, falafel, or as spreads in sandwiches or as dips with salads and veggies. Many many ways to eat this Hummus!!

Hummus Recipe

Recipe makes for 10-12 people

Prep Time 12 min

Ingredients

2 cans of 540 ml of garbanzo/chickpeas beans, or four cups of soaked and semi cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup white sesame seeds or 1/4 cup tahini paste
6 tbsp lemon juice

6 tbsp olive oil ( extra virgin olive oil preferable)
red chilli powder /red chilli flakes or roasted cumin powder
3/4 cup-1 cup water based on the consistency needed
3 finely chopped thai hot red chillies(optional)
2 tbsp chopped coriander/cilantro leaves(optional)
a pinch of baking soda to be added while cooking soaked chickpeas
salt to taste

Garnishing Choices

Roasted cumin powder,crushed dried mint leaves
Olive oil , red pepper flakes
Parsley leaves
Cilantro leaves
All the garnishing choices can be used alone or in combination,

Method

Drain the chickpeas off its liquid
Grind the sesame seeds into fine powder in an electric blender.

Add red chillies, chickpeas, cilantro, lemon juice, olive oil and salt,

Churn for 4-5 min on high speed.

Add water and blend for another 4-5 minutes, till the paste is extremely smooth.

Garnishing

Make a hole in the center and pour some olive oil on top and sprinkle some red chilli flakes
Alternatively garnish it with some olive oil and dried mint leaves and roasted cumin powder.

Enjoy with some warm pita or pita chips ! The image below shows the toppings of olive oil and red chilli flakes.

Tips

Using extra virgin oil gives it a rich taste. I have used both the thai red hot chillies and cilantro in this recipe as well as cans of organic garbanzo beans.

Ensure that soaked chickpeas are soft to bite, alternatively, cook them to 1-2 whistles. The texture of the soaked chickpeas should be whole but soft to bite.

Other flavours of hummus include plain, roasted red pepper, cilantro and hot peppers.

Instinct Factor

Continue blending till the paste is extremely smooth.

With correct amount of lemon, water and olive oil, the hummus will have a slight shine on the top.

Feel Factor

Now Middle Eastern cuisine can be cooked way more often than earlier, as there is the extra satisfaction that the hummus was made at home. The homemade hummus is free from all preserving chemicals added to store products to increase the shelf life, plus its cheaper and equally tastier too. We enjoyed this spicy hummus and could taste the lemon and olive oil, both, while relishing the falafel meal at home. The smooth and thick texture was just right, and one can get addictive to this highly nutritious snack dip!

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Posted on February 15, 2016 February 16, 2016

Masala Puri Spicy Puffed Bread

MASALA PURI SPICY PUFFED BREAD

Masala Puri Spicy Puffed Bread is a recipe from a close family friends, where both the husband wife duo are excellent cooks! It’s always a joy to have a meal at their house. On one of our family outings, my friend had got this, and I immediately took a liking to it. The taste was spicy, texture was soft yet crispy, can be enjoyed hot or cold and with a unique flavour of coconut, ginger, green chillies, red chilli powder and optional garlic

Surprise factor was that it did not have wheat flour but rice flour and all purpose flour powder. Gujarati cuisine also has masala puri but it is made of wheat flour and has the common spices of turmeric and red chilli powder as this one.

You know the saying goes, when the time is right or when you need something, you find the right stuff and bingo! I had misplaced this recipe since past 3-4 years and rediscovered it while deleting old pictures on the computer just last week! And the timing was perfect, as my husband and a friend were planning 5 day long road trip down south in the USA, where food for vegetarians is kind of a question mark! This version of Masala Puri Spicy Puffed Bread was much appreciated by the guys who nicknamed themselves as “Two Guys and a Truck”! The puris will stay fresh for at least 3-4 days so it is a perfect for long journeys.

Enjoy this spicy, crispy soft coconut flavoured puri that can be great as a breakfast, snack, tea/coffee accompaniment! You will like it for the fact, that so many different tastebuds will be satisfied from just one piece of Masala Puri Spicy Puffed Bread and possibly you will not miss home cooking that much when on a long journey away from home!

Masala Puri Spicy Puffed Bread

Recipe makes about 30 Puris

Prep TIme 10 min

Cooking Time 20

Ingredients

1 cup of all purpose flour or maida
i cup of rice flour
1 tbsp chopped coriander
11/2 tbsp white til or sesame seeds
5-7 thai green chillies finely chopped
1 1/2 inch ginger minced
1/2 cup finely shredded dry coconut powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
1/2 cup of water to bind
6 garlic pods minced(optional) See Tips section for Jain version
Oil for frying

Method

Mix everything and bind into a medium soft dough using up to 1/2 cup water.

Divide the dough into two parts and roll it into a long cylindrical shape.
Further divide each roll into approx 15 pieces each and make small flat rounds.

Using rice flour as dusting, roll each piece of small ball into a flat round, about 4 inch in diameter

Heat oil for deep frying.
When the oil smokes, reduce the flame to medium level and insert the rolled puri after upside down.
Try to gently press the puri into the oil, to puff it up, in case it does not.

Once the puri puffs up, flip it over and drain after frying it to golden red color.

Serve warm or store for later use, either by wrapping in foil or container.

A good accompaniment to enjoy this might be a great cup of Chai Tea with Fresh Ginger!

Tips

If the puri is rolled too thin, it will not puff and taste crispier. To get it puffed up, high to medium heat is needed as well as the puri needs to be slightly thick.

The puris will stay puffed only if served warm, as they cool, they are likely to collapse but stay soft.

Jain version– instead of garlic and ginger, add an extra tsp of green chillies, 1 tsp of sesame seeds and i tsp of red chilli powder.

Instinct Factor

Had to use my instinct, as the recipe did not call for oil,( just an oversight in the recipe I guess) so I relied on my measurement of 1 tbsp per cup of flour and it worked well. One can also warm the oil and mix in for more crispier taste. So trusting your instincts is the first thing to success!

Even if the shape is not perfectly round, and the edges are not smooth, the taste is just delicious, so not to worry about the looks, but be excited about the taste!

Feel Factor

A great find from a friend at the perfect time, a quick recipe for some tea time moments with near and dear ones. Enjoy some sweet, spicy conversations with a hot cuppa of tea and Masala Puri Spicy Puffed Bread that has unique flavour of rice, coconut, sesame, green chillies and ginger!

Posted on December 14, 2015 December 15, 2015

Vegetarian Gado Gado Salad

Vegetarian Gado Gado Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce comes from the cuisine of Indonesia, specially Java. A distant aunt of mine now no more, was born and brought up in Java and she introduced this recipe which fits even the strict Jain diet! Gado Gado literally means “Mix Mix” so the dish involves mixing of a lot of vegetables and coating this with spicy peanut sauce! As I did some more research about this dish, I came to know that original version had many more vegetables such as spinach, green beans, cucumber, carrots, onions etc.. This recipe seems to be in the highlight, as even Bon Appetit, a prestigious cooking magazine talked about it recently, as I pleasantly so discovered. Read more about it at Bon Appetit Gado Gado.

Traditionally this dish contains tofu, tempeh, shrimp, but the version listed below is purely vegetarian which I have grown up eating and relishing and I just made this for a lunch event at my place, and everybody was super impressed with the color, texture, taste and health benefits of this dish,as well as the crunch from the fried rice papads, and not to mention something totally different from the usual menu!

The spicy peanut sauce is the key ingredient for this recipe to be so famous! The best peanut sauce is made from fresh red hot chillies, which at least in USA is not easily possible through the year! My mother in India often makes this in the winter months as the chillies are fresh then and stock it for year long consumption and the base recipe of the spicy peanut sauce comes from her! I have used dried red chillies, which also turned out pretty close to the original flavour and well worth the time! Eat it just as a salad, with brown rice or with bread and butter, or use it as a quick mix recipe!!

Enjoy this version of Vegetarian Gado Gado Salad – a gem from the land of Indonesia and lose weight without losing taste and color in 2016!

Recipe makes for 10 people

Prep Time 1 1/2 hour

TIme to cook 1 hour

Ingredients

For the Gado Gado Salad

2 kg cabbage chopped

2 1/2 cups long bean diced long (approx. 400 gems of long beans)

4-5 raw bananas boiled and skinned and diced

For the Spicy Peanut Sauce

200 gms Kashmiri Red Chillies dried or 500 gms fresh

1 1/2 cups peanuts fried with skin
1 cup plus 2 tbsp jaggery thinly diced or powdered
5 big lemons
salt to taste

For the toppings

12 Rice Papads ( Khichiya) Fried and crushed
Oil for frying

For accompaniments

Dinner Rolls and butter

Method

For the Salad

Put 7 cups of water to boil in a deep vessel and add salt.
Once the water starts to boil,add four fistful of vegetables of cabbage at a time and cook for about 8 min covered with lid. Strain the cooked cabbage with slotted spoon. Repeat till all cabbage is cooked.
After boiling all the cabbage, add the long beans with a pinch of sodium carbonate and salt. Open cook for 10 min.
Cut the raw bananas to half and pressure cook them with salt and 1 tsp turmeric powder for 5-6 whistles.
Cool the bananas.
Long slice the bananas into halves and then the halves into further three parts. Remove the center black part of the banana and then dice them.

Once all the vegetables have cooled, mix them.

For the Spicy Peanut Sauce

If using the dried chillies, soak them for couple of hours in lots of water so they become soft.
Remove the stems from the chillies and the seeds.
Fry the peanuts in hot oil with skin to brown color and drain will.
Once the peanuts have cooled, first blend the peanuts with skin red chillies.
Then add one and half cup of water and chillies and blend for 6-7 min.
Then, add jaggery, salt and lemon juice and blend some more till the texture is smooth.

If the texture is uneven or if you have missed out on removing the seeds, like I did, sieve the mixture through a strainer and retrieve the smooth textured chutney, throwing away the dried seeds and extra fibre.

Extra chutney/sauce can be preserved for long in the refrigerator for future use. The spicier version of this chutney is shown in the below pic in the bigger bowl to the right.

For the sweeter version of this peanut sauce

Take about a 1 cup of the above mixed chutney and add 3 tbsp of jaggery powder, 2 tbsp sugar and 1/2 cup of water, juice of 1 lemon and mix well. The sweeter version is what I am used to having it since childhood, is shown on the left side in the above picture.

Frying Rice Papads

Heat oil to smoking level.
Fry the papads by pressing them with a slotted spoon on a medium high flame.

Drain and cool for 10-15 min.
Using the pressure of flat palms, crush the papads gently.
Then crumble and gently and make smaller pieces.

Store in air tight container till serving.

How to Serve

In a bowl put some mixed boiled vegetables, pour some spicy peanut sauce chutney and top it with crushed papads. Alternatively you can make put a little of both the versions of peanut sauce, which also tastes good.
Serve this with buttered dinner rolls or atop cooked brown rice

Tips

While chopping cabbage, remove the thick inner white portions and buy a cabbage that is more green than white.

Remember to add salt while boiling all vegetables and turmeric while pressure cooking raw bananas.

One can also serve this with rice and the peanut sauce needs to be thick but pourable consistency and all the vegetables need to be coated with it to get the perfect taste,

Instinct Factor

Try any mix of vegetables instead of the above mix, to suit your taste. The peanut chutney makes more quantity then needed, and this can be frozen for future use. Just add a tiny bit of water when re using it.

There are lots of other vegetables that one can add as also listed in the original non-vegetarian version in Indonesia. These include bitter melon, spinach , tofu, french beans.

Feel Factor

A warm salad, a warm vegetable bhel, or a truly innovative crunchy colorful healthy appetizer /entree, are some of the names that came to my mind while cooking and relishing this. My most favorite ingredient in this recipe is the spicy peanut sauce. for its color, taste and texture. The whole recipe gets a whole new spice kick because of this sauce and the dish has an extreme healthy look and feel. One can eat this alone or one can eat this with buttered bread or even rice, and I prefer the second option as it goes well and gives it a touch of a complete meal. The true taste of this delicious Vegetarian Gado Gado Salad from Indonesia lies in the steamed vegetables coated with the spicy peanut sauce, so for anyone having a taste of Thai food, will find this appealing too and the fried rice papads giving an extra depth and taste to the salad! Musical name with a spicy kick is what makes Vegetarian Gado Gado Salad a truly delicious meal!

Posted on September 11, 2015 June 24, 2016

Dahi Vada Lentil Fritters in Yogurt

Dahi Vada Lentil Fritters in Yogurt, is a popular dish across India via various names, such as Dahi Bhalla in Punjab, Dahi Vada in Maharashtra and Gujarat, Thayir Vadai in Tamil, Thayir Vada in Malayalam, Perugu Vada in Telegu, Mosaru Vade in Kannada, Dahi Bara in Odia and Doi Bora in Bengali!! Whew!! A truly popular snack item across the land of India. But my gut tells me this snack would have originated from Southern India, where Vada is ancient traditional cuisine, still very much appreciated and consumed in today’s world too! Thanks to this process of blogging, I now know so many ways to say yogurt and learnt my new word for the day!! This recipe talks about fresh as well as freezing the dahi vadas, enabling it to easily serve this popular item for dinner guests! It is interesting to know eating lentils and yogurt, is a highly healthy combination for the body to make protein and I am sure our ancestors had an inkling about it!

The dish looks colorful, can be prepared in advance and the yogurt gravy hides the round fritters or vadas. It can be enriched with cashews and fennel seeds, which gives a refreshing feel to it. A lot of talent is displayed by many, by the way the tamarind and green chutney are garnished on top,which could be a perfect line of green red, or one can go the famous Jackson Pollock way of painting and just splatter the same and have fun! This highly delicious combination cools the heat in the summer, and is a perfect menu item for Jains following strict diet regulations on aatham, chaudas or paryushan and it is quite filling too,. So one can easily have this as a complete meal too.

The trick to having really soft Dahi Vada lie in the type of lentil and the grinding of the lentils. Urad dal gives the softest taste, for sure, but using green and yellow dal also taste equally good, if grounded correctly. It has 3-4 garnishes on the top, but one can either use pre-made chutneys, or go the simpler way of using just red paprika powder , salt and cumin powder and it still tastes satisfying!

Everyone should give this a try, as this is definitely one healthy snack/meal that is simply satisfying to mind and body and it is not a wonder that this cashew flavored spongy dahi vadas are a family favorite at our end, specially as the summer rolls in!

DAHI VADA LENTIL FRITTERS IN YOGURT

Recipe makes 18-20 Dahi Vadas for 4-5 people

Prep time: 30-45 min

Pre-Soaking time 5-6 hours

Ingredients

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For the Vadas

2 cup urad dal split black lentils OR ( this is more popular)
1 cup split yellow moong dal and 1 cup split green dal (this is more healthy)
4 green chillies
1/4 cup broken cashews
1 tsp fennel seeds
salt to taste
oil for frying

For the Yogurt Gravy

2 quarts of yogurt
Salt to taste
2 tsp Red chilli powder
1 1/2 tbsp Sugar(optional)
1/4 tsp black pepper powder

For the Garnishes

3-4 tbsp Green chutney
3-4 tbsp Tamarind Chutney
4-5 tbspChopped Coriander
Salt
Roasted cumin powder
Red chilli powder

Method

For making the Vadas

Wash the lentils thrice in plenty of water, and soak them in 8 cups of water for at least 6 hours.
Drain almost all the water from the lentils and add salt, green chillies, and grind it to a batter having smooth paste consistency.

Add cashews and fennel seeds and mix well.
Heat oil for deep frying on high flame. Once heated reduced to medium flame.
Using a cookie dough scooper or ice cream scooper, or even plain spoon, drop spoonful of batter for frying the vadas or fritters.
If the grinding is correct,the vadas will turn over on its own, otherwise flip them when edges become golden.

Once the vadas are fried, drain them on bounty paper to remove excess oil.
At this stage, the vadas can be frozen for future use
Or let it cool completely and soak a few of them in 7-8 cups of water for 10 minutes.
If you have excess vadas, you can freeze them in an airtight container for future use.

Using Frozen Vadas

Remove the vadas from the freezer, and heat 6-7 cups of water to boil. Once it boils put the frozen vadas and simmer for 8-10 and allow it to cool completely.

Using Fresh Vadas:

In 6-7 cups of water, put the freshly fried vadas and soak for half an hour or so. Remove from water and press the vadas in between palms and remove the excess water. If the vadas have turned out spongy, they will bounce back to a round ball shape- This is the test for sponginess or softness of vada.

For making the yogurt gravy

Blend the yogurt using a whisk in a smooth consistency, and add salt, chlli powder, sugar, and black pepper.

Assembling the Dahi Vada Lentil Fritter in Yogurt

Arrange the soaked vadas in a flat and deep dish, and you will notice the color of the fried vadas has also become lighter now.
Pour the yogurt gravy on top. so that the entire vada is soaked in yogurt, and leave it for 10 min to chill in the refrigerator
Add some more yogurt gravy before serving, and sprinkle all the garnishes on top and serve.

Tips

Frozen vadas, need to be soaked in hot water so as to regain its sponginess. If the fresh vadas are not that soft, one may try soaking in hot water for achieving softness.

If not using green chutney due to Jain Paryushan or aatham chaudas, one can spice it up with extra red chilli powder

Black Pepper powder addition is from the Dahi Bhalla version of Dahi Vada.

Instinct Factor

Frying the dahi vada and grinding the dahi vada batter comes with practice, so keep on trying, as I realized the perfect grinding level only recently!!Might explore with a bit of mint flavor next time.

Feel Factor

One gets protein, fibre, and yogurt and in this delicious dish of Dahi Vada Lentil Fritters in Yogurt. I have also found that vadas frozen and used later on are also equally tasty, so , definitely a dish that can be made once and savored over and over again. 5-6- Dahi Vadas make a complete meal and many happy with the cooling spiced yogurt on the top and soft spongy fritters on the inside and the garnish artwork on the top and not to forget the very many names you can call this dish by!! A real treat in heat of the summer!

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Posted on May 21, 2015 May 21, 2015

Steamed Doodhi Muthia Bottle Gourd Dumplings with Cheese and Olives

This is a special thank you recipe for the people who have shown appreciation of my efforts, especially in the past few weeks. What can be a better way to celebrate than share a special tea time snack recipe and also one that uses the quite famous Amul Products, from the area of Gujarat! Amul is famous for its milk, butter, vegetarian cheese, sweets, and my recent favourite, its cheese spreads. I was thrilled to see Amul enter this market, so I was very excited to try out one of its flavors, Tikka Cheese Spread, with the flavor of coriander/chillies in the cheese. To me, this sounded like the perfect blend of the eastern and western flavour. I was excited to use it, but was looking for a good recipe to try it with, rather than the simple bread or pizza.

I guess one always goes back to the roots, as a highly popular Muthia Dumpling recipe with Bottle gourd seemed to flash in front of me. The idea was to modify the recipe and make it more innovative and eclectic to suit the need of the moment. The name Muthia comes from the fisting imprint on the steamed dough.

With great enthusiasm, I share this traditional Gujarati recipe in a new way, and with the flavour of Tikka cheese spread and olives. it gives a nice mediterranean feel and look to the traditional doodhi muthia. It also comes across as an amazing starter recipe, which quite likely will also start some conversations on fancy food recipes!!

The texture of the dumplings or muthia is firm on the outside and soft to bite, and the absence of turmeric gives it a western look. It is a highly popular, healthy and nutritious snack from Gujarati cuisine, and since it is steamed, it is easy to cook and can be made in advance for a get together with friends and family or for a quick warm snack which is quite filling and tasty for sure.

Explore, enjoy, and relish the global palate of tastes, textures, colours and fusion with this Steamed Doodhi Muthia Bottle Gourd Dumplings with Cheese and Olives. If not in the mood of trying a new flavour, the traditional garnish of mustard seeds,cumin seeds, curry leaves and coriander to spice up the flavour can always be enjoyed!! And another version is simply dipping warm doodhi muthia bottle gourd dumplings in garnished oil/olive oil.

Recipe Makes 30 pieces of muthiyas of set of 15 muthiyas stacked with olives.

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time : 25 min

Ingredients

2 cups grated doodhi (Lauki or Bottle Gourd)
1/4 cup grated paneer(cottage cheese)- optional, but it went well with the flavour of cheese and olives
1 1/2-2 tsp finely minced green chillies
3 tbsp chopped coriander

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup semolina rava
1/2 cup besan (gram flour)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
2 pinches of bicarbonate soda
salt to taste

For Garnish

Amul Cheese Tikks Flavour
Toothpicks
15 Black Olives

Method

Mix bottle gourd, paneer, whole wheat flour, semolina, besan, green chillies, lemon juice, sugar, coriander, soda bi-carb, salt and 1 tsp of oil in a bowl and knead into a soft dough adding water if required (1-2) tbsp. The should make finger imprints as below.

Divide the mixture into 3 equal portions.
Shape each portion into a cylindrical roll
Put water in the steamer container and boil.
Arrange the rolls on a greased steamer plate and steam in the steamer for about 20-25 min on medium-high flame.

Remove, cool slightly
Cut into half inch thick slices

Spread some Amul Tikka Cheesepread on one side of the cut pieces.
Stack on on top of each other with olive in between and insert a toothpick through all three.
Assemble all pieces of muthia and serve.
Alternatively one can also serve with Oil and some red cayenne pepper powder or chill flakes. This is one of the traditional ways of eating muthia.

Tips

If its extremely warm, the cheese spread will melt, so based on your liking, apply cheese spread as appropriate.

Alternative option is for regular garnish with mustard, cumin seeds, some curry leaves , asafoetida and oil. Heat about 3 tbsp oil and put the seasonings in it. Once it crackles pour it a top the muthia.

Garnish the oil with red chilli powder, sea salt , or just olive oil with basil will be good dipping accompaniment to these warm muthiya dumplings.

Instinct Factor

If the dough is too soft, the steamed version will not hold shape and it will flatten out. Grate the bottle gourd just when ready to make, otherwise it will release a lot of water, and if too much water is there, remove the excess water.

Check if the muthias are cooked, by inserting a knife/fork. If found sticky, steam some more.

Feel Factor

I like the half moon look of these muthia dumplings as well as the colors of black olives against the cheese spread and the finger food toothpick look! It sure is tempting enough to give it a try and relish the soft,warm, mildly spiced dumplings with the hint of spiced cheese spread. If you have never tried Doodhi Muthias before, I certainly encourage you to try this healthy tea/breakfast snack item for many years, that has a special place in a Gujarati household. The use of semolina and bengal gram flour gives it a firm shape and the bottle gourd gives it the softness. For fans of bottle gourd, this has to be a recipe on your list, and for those who are not fans of bottle gourd, this is sure way to eat in a disguised manner, as bottle gourds give the much needed cooling in the summer heat!

Posted on March 18, 2015 March 19, 2015

Spicy Papaya Salad

Spicy Papaya Salad contains, a tropical and exotic fruit, that is extremely high in Vitamin C , vitamin A and Folate, all the ingredients needed to boost the immunity during this seasonal pollen allergy time. One serving of Papaya contains 224% of Vitamin C, according to http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=47 . Papaya originally a Latin American fruit is not easily found appetizing by many. So when I came across this recipe in salad form, it was tempted to try out!. The ingredients of lemon, ginger and chillies reminded me of Thai cuisine and I varied with some roasted peanut powder addition to it. This gave some additional crunch to the salad. The lemon dilutes the heavy musk taste of Papaya. In my childhood days, we used to eat ripe Papaya with sugar and ghee. Raw Papaya was made with green chillies and turmeric and salt and was knows as Kaccha Papaya Sambhar. This is one of the favorite of the various fresh sambhars( in lieu of pickles) made in Jain families. Often green papaya sambhar is served with fafda gathiyas, speciality of my hometown Rajkot. I am a bit nostalgic writing about Fafda Gathiyas as that is something one truly does not get anywhere else, not even in Mumbai. I believe it has something to do with the water in Rajkot. This salad recipe of Papaya is quite delicious with the spice of chillies and ginger and tangy taste from lemons. With this salad form, it is much easier to eat this highly beneficial fruit more often and take advantage of its special digestive enzymes and assisting in reducing cholesterol buildup in arteries. Additionally it boosts vision too, and that too without consuming carrots! Enjoy this as a salad, or finely dice it to create a salsa recipe!

Recipe make for 3-4 people salad serving

Prep Time 10 min

Ingredients[shopeat_button]

4 cups of cubed papaya about 1 inch in size
1 tsp finely diced ginger
1 tsp finely chopped kashmiri spicy green chillies
2 tbsp lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup chopped coriander
2 tbsp peanut powder
salt to taste( preferably sea salt)
3/4 cup thinly sliced red onion(optional)
1 tbsp sugar (optional)

Method

Mix everything just before serving.

TIps

If you like sugar, 1 tbsp of sugar gives slightly rounded flavour, as sugar binds in all the flavours.

Jain Version – omit onions and ginger and increase the peanut powder by two tbsp and green chillies by 1 tsp.

Instinct Factor

Papayas need to be well ripened, in order to get the full flavour of salad. If in the mood of salsa, finely dice it and variate with habanero peppers or jalapeno peppers. Adjust the quantity depending on how spicy are the chillies/peppers you are using.

Feel Factor

Spicy Papaya Salad Feels Thai, feels fresh, feels spicy, colorful and a delectable way of eating Papayas! This can easily be a lunch menu too!!

Posted on February 19, 2015 November 30, 2015

Vada Pav Potato Fritters with Bread

Vada Pav, Pakoras with bread, is a popular street food item in Mumbai, India, and which I strongly believe that you will find very few people in Mumbai, who would have not tasted Vada Pav. The ones who would not have tasted it even once, would be probably be the traditional Jains who would not consume root vegetables. A bee line queue exists at extremely famous places, such as, at my alma mater NMIMS College in Vile Parle, Kirti College Vada Pav stall, Sion Vada Pav, or H R College Vada pav place. at Churchgate. Every college going kid would find Vada Pav a quick meal to grab in between lectures, and often these street stalls would be a quick meeting points for the young in love, ,a place to hang out with a special someone and be treated to vada pav and chai. This is something that is easily afforded by a college going kid! Before the Baristas came into the scene, these were the local street baristas for the youngs ones to hang out!

Besides the colleges, one often finds this street food on railway stations in Maharashtra, and some railway stations such as Karjat near Lonavala are famous for their Vada Pavs too! A meal that is quick to eat, tastes yummy and for a native of Mumbai, it is simply irresistible. It is the vegetarian version of McDonalds Burgers, accompanied with tamarind, green and garlic chutneys.

According to an article in The Hindu, credit for creating this Mumbai Vada Pav Potato Fritters with Bread staple is given to Ashok Vaidya, a snack vendor who set up his stall just outside Dadar station, a major commuter hub in the metropolis. Vaidya reportedly came up with this recipe in 1971 to appease the hunger of the rush of commuters who wanted a snack they could carry and munch on without needing implements or cleansing wipes. He served it up with a fiery red chutney that could include coconut, peanuts, chillies, garlic and tamarind pulp. And it flew off his stall and straight into the eager mouths of the always-rushed daily commuter. More interesting details of the Vada Pav can be read at http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/article3657300.ece

On a frigid sub zero fahrenheit temperature day, Vada Pav Potato Fritters with Bread will definitely give you warmth, sparkle and comfy feeling, as often one tends to eat fried stuff, to beat the cold, My only regret is that one does not get raw green bananas that are easily available in India, and are the easiest substitute for a Jain family not wishing to consume potatoes. Since I am presenting the original version, I have enlisted all that is needed per the original version.

Recipe makes 9 Vada pavs

Ingredients[shopeat_button]

5 potatoes cut in half or 4 cups boiled and mashed potatoes. ( you can also use raw bananas , boiled and mashed)
4-5 garlic pods
2-3 tbsp of minced green chilies (5-6) and ginger ( 11/2 inch)
1 tsp mustard seeds
asafoetida
4 tbsp coriander leaves chopped
5-6 curry leaves
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
oil for deep frying
Greeen, Tamarind and Dry Garlic Cbutney ( refer recipe at http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/03/vada-pav-sandwich-recipe-potato-chutney)
9 ladipav, or dinner rolls

For the covering

1 1/2 cup of besan gram flour
3/4 cups water
salt to taste
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp hot oil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chilli powder
pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp lemon juice

Method

For the Filling

Cut the potatoes/raw green bananas in half, and boil in a pressure cooker with 3 cups of water to 6-7 whistles. A Jain householder would never boil anything as a whole, as if a vegetable has any worms or insects, it may get get burnt out.

On cooling mash the potatoes/banana.
Put 3 tbsp oil to heat.
Add mustard seeds when the oil is warm and let it crackle.
Add a pinch of asafoetida, curry leaves, coriander leaves minced green chillies, garlic and ginger to the oil.
Remove from heat it after a minute.
Add the oil flavoring to the mashed potatoes.
Add, salt, turmeric and red chili powder, lemon juice and coriander to the potato/raw banana mix.
Let it cool and make 9 balls

For the covering

Mix all the ingredients and make a thick batter.
Rest the batter for 1520 minutes, till all lumps are dissolved and the batter is smooth.

Frying the potato/banana fritters

Put the oil to heat for frying.
Coat the potato/green banana balls with the gram flour batter.

Deep fry the potato/banana balls to golden color and drain the excess oil.
The side droppings of the gram flour batter that is found in the fryer are also fried and used as an insert into vada pav

Preparing the Vada Pav

Slice the pav/dinner rolls
Put some green chutney and top it with tamarind chutney on both the sides of pav/dinner rolls.

On the lower base of the pav/dinner roll, you can put the excess gram flour droppings that are fried.
Put a fried potato/banana vada ball on that.
Top this with dry garlic chutney.
Close it with the other layer of the dinner roll/pav with the chutney and serve

TIps

The gram flour batter needs to be thick so as to have a nice coating. Deep fry on a medium-high flame.

The date tamarind chutney gives a sweet flavour so ensure that you have a tamarind with dates flavour in it.

Jain version of this recipe will be made with raw green banana and will omit potatoes, ginger and garlic from the recipe.

Instinct Factor

Batter needs to be thick enough to have a well covered potato fritters

Feel Factor

Vada Pav Potato Fritters with Bread is a taste of home, the original Aamchi Mumbai ( my home Mumbai) Vada Pav , a comfort giving street food, that is spicy, filling, inexpensive, colorful and freshly assembled. The crunch of the potato fritter inside a soft dinner roll with the tanginess of the chutney is simply irresistible and such is the demand for the vada pav in Mumbai, that a recent new article says that this inexpensive street food vendors should be open all night long, to feed one and all.

Posted on January 26, 2015 February 26, 2015

Stuffed Mirchi Peppers

66th Republic day of India is kicking excitement in India and USA, with the President of USA Mr. Obama visiting India for the majestic celebrations of Republic Day. The grandeur, glory, sights and sounds of the parade march is yet to be seen by me, but am hopeful that will happen one day for sure!! Caught up in the excitement, I found a perfect opportunity to make something that symbolizes India in terms of food and color-Stuffed Mirchi Peppers!! Indian cuisine is known for its spicy and colorful cuisine. Chilli peppers originated in the Americas so just the right shape to symbolize the warming of Indian – American relations.

Stuffed Mirchi Peppers can easily fool some into thinking that they are real raw chilies!! I owe my mother gratitude for introducing me to this wonderful recipe as a young kid, which I made it more colorful by using more colors in sync with India’s Flag having Orange, Blue and Green. Yellow Stuffed Mirchi Peppers representing the orange in the Indian Flag.

The stuffing is made of rice flakes and peas with loads of green chilies, grated fresh coconut and coriander. It is quick to make, and one of the few recipes, that uses a totally different stuffing from the usual peas, potatoes,cheese or lentil based stuffing. This stuffing is definitely arising from a Jain household that traditionally does not consume any root vegetables. I made this a year back for one such family visiting from India, and it was heartwarming to see their genuine appreciation for this recipe.

Stuffed Mirchi Peppers will surely catch the attention of all, for its effort, color, texture and taste of lemon and coconut flavoured spicy rice flakes stuffed inside mirchi peppers!!

Happy Republic Day to all my Indian Readers!!

Recipe makes 9-12 Stuffed Mirchi Peppers

Cooking time : 30 min

Prep time: 45 min

Ingredients[shopeat_button]

For the stuffing

1 cup poha rice flakes
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tsp finely chopped hot chillies ( about 8-9 green kashmiri chillies)
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup green peas
2 tbsp chopped coriander
3 tbsp fresh grated coconut(optional)
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
salt to taste
food color ( blue/yellow/green)
4 tbsp spinach puree as an alternative for all green colored mirchi peppers

For the cover

1 cup maida or all purpose flour
2 tbsp oil ( heated for 30 sec in microwave)
Salt to taste
Water to bind about 3/4 cup
Food color ( blue/green/yellow) (optional)
Alternatively puree of spinach 3-4 tbsp to give it a green color(optional) Reduce the water level needed to bind the dough, if using puree.
Can be made without puree or color too.
Oil for deep frying

For Garnish/Accompaniment

Chat Masala ( MDH brand)
Tomato Ketchup/Chutney

Method

Microwave frozen peas in a bowl of water for a minute and half.
Drain the excess water from the peas.
Wash the rice flakes very gently in water, three times, and drain all the water.

Let it rest for 20 min.
To the rice flakes, add peas, sugar, green chillies, black pepper, lemon, coriander, fresh coconut and salt as needed.
Mix everything gently, so that the rice flakes do not break.

Binding of the dough

In a broad pan, mix the flour, oil, salt and about 4 tbsp water
Make three equal parts of the flour.
If using food color, put 5-6 drops of blue, yellow and green food colors, on each part of the flour. Using about 1/2 tbsp of water for each pile,

Knead the color and flour into a smooth dough.Keep kneading until the color cover the entire flour. If needed, add extra color as needed. Do this for all the parts of the flour.

If using puree of spinach, add that instead of the color. And add about 2 tbsp water and knead into a soft dough.
If not using color or puree, knead into a dough using about 2 tbsp of water
Cover the dough with wet towel or paper towel so that it does not dry out.

Rolling/Frying the Mirchi Peppers

Take about a quarter size dough and roll it into a 6-7 inch wide circle.

Drop a tbsp of rice flakes onto the centre of the rolled circle.

Close the edges of the circle into a V shape flaps, leaving the top open.

Pinch the edges where the flaps meet all the way to the open part of the circle.
Gather all the edges of the open part of the circle, by pinching in the centre, creating a stem like.

Push the stem downwards to create a bit of indent and make sure all edges are sealed well on the top and the sides.

Use up all the dough to make the stuffed mirchi pepper.

Heat oil for deep frying on a high flame.
When hot, reduce the flame to slow and deep fry the peppers till crisp on all sides.

Remove and drain excess oil.
Sprinkle the stuffed mirchi peppers with chat masala and serve plain or with ketchup/chutney.

Tips

If making this for non-indian guest, I would reduce the green chillies to one tsp.

If you do not fry on slow flame, you will get bubbles on frying.

If the dough has dried, or if you feel your peppers may open up, seal the edges with a paste( from all purpose flour/maida and water)

While kneading doughs of different color, I would advise wearing gloves, as one color bleeds into another.

Instinct Factor

Be innovative on your garnish and stuffing!! Such as cheese and jalapeno on the inside, or a jalapeno green chutney are some of the things that come to my mind.

Create new shapes as more short and round habanero chillies and invite your guests to be gutsy.

Taste the mixture before stuffing, to ensure it has enough of spicy, sweet, sour and salty taste. Everything should taste on the excess, which will get diluted with the pepper cover.

Feel Factor

Colorful, hot, spicy, sizzling stuffed mirchi peppers are sure to catch everyone’s attention and taste buds for sure!! What an interesting way to fool your guests and you may just end up having a spice contest at a party with this lovely appetizer that has a unique stuffing, colorful look, and a highly innovative appetizer that your guests will keep talking about for a long time. It tastes crunchy, with the sweetness of coconut and spice of the green chillies, is fun to hold and bite, is attractive and a totally new way of having rice flakes and peas.

Posted on November 3, 2014 February 26, 2015

Pumpkin Soup

Welcoming Fall with everything orange!! Orange leaves in the backyard, orange pumpkins lined up in the front for halloween and orange colored soup in the dinner menu!! Fall with its chilly climate is perfect to sip a warm colorful soup in the evening along with some fresh baked bread and home made pesto sauce.

Making a pumpkin soup was like bringing the nature indoors for me, as we have had a few fall trips this year, and I was just amazed to see pumpkin patch or pumpkin farms, dotting in orange over a brown background of soil. This was one of the first exposure of mine to pumpkin farming.

This pumpkin soup recipe is extremely quick and convenient as it uses all ready to go material and gives a gourmet feel at home. A bisque like soup with ginger, green onions, red chilli flakes, peanut butter (yum!) and sea salt,.. The ingredients list is so tempting and while the soup was simmering, I actually could smell the peanut fragrance in the soup!!

I am of the belief that nature takes care of us and provides us with nutrients as needed. So if we can incorporate them in our regular diet. we are well covered with our needs. All things orange, carrots, pumpkin are loaded with beta carotene, a much needed ingredient for sharp eyes and your DNA. As a Jain follower would often look for substitutes for carrots, pumpkin is an ideal alternative to carrots. 1/2 can of 16 oz pumpkin puree serves 763% of your daily Vitamin A needs. So making this a part of your weekly diet even once, will fulfill the needs of Vitamin A, without having to resort to carrots. And that is very cool finding I made, thanks to the frequent posting to this blog!

I would like to recognize a very special friend at whose house I first tasted this pumpkin soup! Thats what friends are for as Dionne Warwick song goes..so hope you enjoy this colorful season of Fall, with this colorful pumpkin soup.

Recipe makes servings for 3 people

Time: 15 min

Prep time 5 min

Ingredients

1 15oz can of pumpkin puree
2 cups vegetable broth or water
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup peanut butter
salt to taste, preferably sea salt
2 tbsp green onions chopped (optional)
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp grated orange rind
1 stalk of lemongrass
Fresh Cilantro/coriander leaves for garnish

Method

Mix pumpkin puree, vegetable broth/water and orange juice and put it to boil.
Ater 3-4 min , add peanut butter, salt and the rest of ingredients.
Simmer for 12 min on medium flame.
Remove the lemongrass stalk, before serving.
Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves
Enjoy this with a slice of olive or tuscan bread or fresh baked baguette slice!

TIps

Freshly squeezed orange juice tastes better than the packaged juice, as there is a slight after bitter taste in a pre packed juice.

If you have peanut allergy, you can thicken the soup with cornstarch or potato starch. Mixt 2 tbsp of starch in a tbsp water and add to the sou

Instinct Factor

Just enjoy the fragrance and trust your friends choice in food!

Feel Factor

A warm colorful soup for the cold evening, with an unusual but delicious flavor of peanut butter, orange juice , lemon grass and ginger. This will definitely, spice up the chilly dark fall nite!

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Posted on September 9, 2014 February 26, 2015

Caprese Salad with Paneer Cottage Cheese

Caprese Salad is one of favorite Italian Salads of my daughter, and also quite commonly found at most Italian Restaurants. The best Caprese Salad we recently had was at EUNO, Italian Restaurant in Boston, referred to us by our new tenant. I have yet to be able to get the highly green olive oil that looked so colorful against the white of mozzarella cheese! Since I wanted to avoid cheese, I decided to try this with Paneer, and I am pleasantly surprised with the results!

A fancy item for lunch for sure, when you are observing 10 day Jain Paryushan and are not able to consume any green vegetables and root! During this 10 day period, I was in the mood of trying all sorts of cuisine which would reduce the pinch felt by non-consumption of green vegetables. Few of the dishes included pongal rice, caprese salad, pasta with alfredo sauce, rava idli, sabudana wada, gatte ki sabji, chana dal rice, moong puri! This variety of cuisine helped in making the school lunch palatable as well as enable us to follow the Paryushan easily.

While doing some research on Paneer and Cheese – I came across the benefits of eating Paneer over Cheese, specially if you want to lose some weight and you would also like to avoid excess sodium in case of hypertension. What is interesting is also a website listing all Cheese brands and their products and identifying if they are vegetarian or not. Cheese can be manufactured with rennet sourced from calf stomach, and hence I found this website quite helpful to cross check if the cheese is vegetarian or not at http://cheese.joyousliving.com/CheeseListBrand.aspx I often use Amul cheese, sourced from India, and Horizon Organic cheese for my dishes.

Caprese Salad with Paneer Cottage Cheese is extremely easy!! Making Paneer at home is a simple job! Just boil the milk, when it boils over, add lemon juice, heat for a couple of minutes, till whey is separated, and then strain and cool! So give this salad a shot at home, as it is simply refreshing and cooling, and you will enjoy the crunchy tomatoes against the soft paneer cheese, soaked in olive oil and dried basil leaves. A sure way to have protein consumption that is colorful, quick and easy!

And lastly to my readers, it is my turn to say Micchami Dukkadam,(which means “please forgive, me” as a Jain follower would say) for not blogging for a long time- reason being international travelling over the summer!

Bon Appetit!!

Recipe makes 3 servings

Prep time 20 min

Chilling time : 2-3 hours

Ingredients

1/2 gallon of whole milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 vine tomatoes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
dried basil leaves or fresh basil leaves
Butter/ghee to grease the utensil

Method

Grease the pan with butter/ghee if not using a non-stick utensil
Boil the milk on medium flame
When the milk boils over, add lemon juice.
Leave it on the heat for couple of minutes till whey separates and you see liquid water separated.
Strain this liquid and leave the paneer cottage cheese in it for about half an hour to cool.
Once it cools down, spread the paneer cottage cheese in a flat dish and sprinkle some salt in it.
Smoothen the paneer with your palm of hand for a few minutes.
And roll it in a oblong dough shape.
Cover it with a wet cloth and chill for about 2-3 hours.
Slice the chilled paneer into 1/2 inch slices, using a serrated knife.
Slice the tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices.
Lay the tomatoes and paneer slices alterantivley.
Mix salt to taste in the olive oil.
Drizzle oil around and over the tomatoes and paneer cottage cheese slices.
Sprinkle dried/fresh basil leaves.
Serve as a salad or an appetizer.

Tips

When slicing the paneer, go forward backward motion gently , rather than one strong cut. This will have less crumbles chipping off the paneer log. Make sure the tomatoes are well chilled, before slicing, Tastes best when freshly assembled!

Instinct Factor

Nothing much left to instinct except, slicing thick or thin! Alterante this with your variety of cheese!

Feel Factor

Aren’t you happy to create a dish of Caprese Salad with Paneer Cottage Cheese that has a lot of oomph factor and surprise your family and friends! An extremely healthy, colorful, easy and filling salad without much effort. Enjoy this with Pasta in white sauce or spinach based sauce. An item to be included in your diet, specially if you are lacking vitamin B12, a common deficiency among vegetarian people.
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