Papdi Chat

Papdi Chat is one of the famous Indian fast food and it is one of my favorite too. When the weather is dull and gloomy, a plate of this crunchy, spicy delicacy can do all to make your day and perk your mood. Most pf the time I have papdis made well in advance, as they cant be stored and keeps well for a month or so and as in most Indian households, I always have a jar of tamarind chutney and green chutney in my fridge. With these things readily available, making 'Papdi Chat' is just a matter of chopping some veggies and assembling them. It can be made in under 10 minutes.

 Ingredients:

15 papdi (follow the link for the recipe)

2 medium potatoes, boiled.
1 large onion.

1 large tomatoes.

1/2 cup yoghurt beaten with 1/4 cup water, salt and sugar to taste.

2 tbsp chat masala
¼ cup nylon sev.
¼ cup tamarind chutney. (follow the link for the recipe)
¼ cup green chutney. (follow the link for the recipe)
Juice of 1 lemon.

Assembling the papdi chat:

1.Peel the potatoes and dice them into small pieces. Keep them in a bowl and drizzle lemon juice over it.

2. Dice tomatoes and onions into small pieces.  

3. Arrange the papdi on a large plate. Place a teaspoon of potato over each papdi. Then add a teaspoon of diced tomatoes and onion.

8. Drizzle 2 teaspoon of yoghurt on each papdi. Sprinkle a pinch of chat masala and add teaspoon tamarind chutney and half a teaspoon of coriander chutney. Sprinkle sev over it and chopped coriander over it.


Devour one papdi at a time.. Ah Bliss!

If you think that is too much of work, then crush the papdis and place them on a plate and heap all the ingredients over it one by one! It won't look that beautiful, but I tell you it is as delicious as the other one! My DH likes it this way while I prefer to have it the other way.

Linking it to Priya's Olympics Games Event. This event is the brain child of Jagruti

Besan ki Puri ~ Crispy Chickpea Flour Crackers

These 'besan ki puri' is my childhood favorite. It was one of those special breakfast mom used to make once in a while and each of us used to get no more than 2. Fresh off the pan and served with a hot cup of ginger tea, it was unbelievably tasty. It keeps well for a few days, so whenever we went to Rajasthan to visit my grand parents during the winter holidays, it was made in good numbers for the train journey(from Assam it took 2 days in those day as there was no direct trains). I have made it on my own a couple of times and every time I call mom up to confirm the process and measurements. When I saw Gayathri's event -Walk through the memory lane, I thought to share this recipe.

Makes 8 
Click here for a printable version

Ingredients:

1¼ cup whole wheat flour.

¼ cup AP flour
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt.
Water to make the dough.

For the filling:

½ cup chick pea flour (Besan).
2 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves.
2 tsp coriander seeds lightly crushed
1 tsp red chilli powder.
3- 4 tbsp oil.
1 chopped green chilli or as per taste.
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp water.
1 ½ tsp salt or as per taste.
Oil for shallow frying.

Procedure:

1. Mix whole wheat flour, AP flour, salt, oil and knead the dough using water as necessary. Dough must be a little tough as for the puris. Let it sit for 15 mins before rolling.

2. For the filling masala, heat a pan and add the oil. When the oil is ready, add the chick pea flour and heat it for 2-3 mins such the raw smell goes away. Do not overdo it, or the mixture will become very dry.

3. Turn off the gas and add all the spices. Sprinkle a few drops of water over the mixture and using your hand rub it to mix it well. The filling mixture should be moist yet crumbly. This is very important; otherwise it will be a little problem in rolling the puris with filling inside.

4. Now knead the dough well again and make 8 Golf size balls. Using some dry flour roll it into a roti about 3cm in radius.

5. Using a spoon place 1 tbsp of masala in the middle. Join the edges and close it forming a ball.

 Roll it again about 6 cm in radius.

6. Keep a heated tava ready. Heat the roti on tava, when one side is done turn it over and heat on the other side. Brush oil in the top side and turn it over again. Brush oil on the other side as well. Apply pressure with a big spoon while heating. It will help it to become crisp.

7. Repeat the process with rest of the dough. Place the puris on a paper towel separately and let it cool completely before storing.

It is an excellent snack with tea and even goes well with yogurt. It can be stored in air tight container for at least 7 days. How ever, it does become a little soft after storing, still it is great in taste.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Aloo Patakha ~ Spicy Potatoes

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It was only a few days back that we were welcoming the new year and now the first month of the new year is already gone. I hope all of you are still sticking to your new year resolutions and implementing all the new plans you had in mind.

I had been trying to eat healthy as much as possible and I hope to continue the trend. When I talk of eating healthy, the first blog that comes to my mind is this. It is an amazing space with a variety of recipes and there is not a single deep fried dish. I have bookmarked and have tried a number of dishes from her space and they turned out every bit delicious! The recipe of today's post comes from there too.

Potatoes are very versatile and I make something of it very often. The day I spotted the very small variety of baby potatoes in the supermarket, I knew instantly what I had to make of them. This dish is versatile too and you can have it as a chat all by itself or as a curry with chapattis. There was a time when I didn't use garlic in my cooking because, I found the smell too overpowering and it was only slowly with time I began to appreciate the flavour it added to dishes. Still, I use it in moderation so that my dishes would have a very subtle garlic flavour. But, this one is an exception. Although I have used less garlic than stated in the original recipe, it has a predominant garlic flavour, which I actually LIKED in this dish. I have made only a few tiny changes to the original recipe, I grilled the boiled potatoes instead of baking them and I reduced the garlic and chilli to my taste and increased the tamarind. Thank you Rachana for this amazing versatile recipe.

Recipe Source: Veggi Fare

Serves 2

Ingredients 

400 grams baby potatoes, boiled and peeled

4 tbsp - sunflower oil + to grease the baking tray
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp - coriander powder  

3-4tbsp - tamarind pulp
salt  to taste

To be coarsely ground together:

 
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped  

4 pieces - whole red chillies
2-3 inches of ginger
1 tbsp - cumin seeds 

little water to help in grinding

Lemon juice and loads of finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Click here for the printable version

Process

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C on grill mode. Grease the baking tray with a little oil. Place the potatoes and mix lightly so that the oil coats the potatoes. 
2. Place the tray in the upper rack of preheated oven and grill until slightly golden. It took 15 minutes in mine and I tossed them around once in between so that they were grilled uniformly.
3. Heat oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds, bay leaves and the coarsely ground paste.
4. Saute the paste on a medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add the coriander powder and salt and cook for another 6-7 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. 
5. Add the baked potatoes. Mix lightly, cover the bowl and let it cook for 10 mins, stirring occasionally. 
6. Add the tamarind pulp. cover and let cook for another couple of minutes. 
7. Remove from the heat, but leave the pan covered. To enhance the taste and the flavours, prepare a few hours in advance.
8. Serve at room temperature, after garnishing with the lemon juice and coriander leaves.

Linking it to Spice Your Food and Health With Spices- Cumin seeds by Tomato Blues. It is an event started by Anu, New Year, New Dish by Nupur , This Month Potato Mania by Siri and to my Event Healthy & Hearty.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Samosa ~The Indian Appetizer ~ For Blog Hop Wednesdays

I know books are not featuring in my posts for a long time now. Of late I have been blogging about food only. I can't help it when the season is so festive. With Christmas over, we are at the cusp of new year. 

Yeah! I can't really believe that 2011 is going to be over in  just a few days and I am sure most of us are making some new year resolutions or other. I know many would say, new year resolutions are crap, no one sticks to them. But, at the back of our mind we do set some goals for ourselves.  Wondering where this conversation is heading towards when you actually have a luring 'Samosa' picture at the beginning of the post! For those who  do not know what Samosa is:

Samosa is a pyramid-shaped pastry stuffed with a savory potatoes peas filling. It is calorie rich, deep fried, famous Indian appetizer/road side snack.

I am ACTUALLY thinking of abstaining from deep fried food at least for the first month of 2012, so thought it was a good idea to indulge in these yummy samosas, one last time this year. 

And why was I tempted to make them after all?

For Blog Hop Wednesdays, an bi monthly event by Radhika, I am assigned Sukanya's Saffron Steaks, a beautiful blog about food and travel. As I was browsing through her space, I found she blogs from Kolkata. She has posted a number of recipes and when I saw this, I knew I had to make it soon. I have just tweaked the filling from being cauliflower based to potato based.

Check out what blog hoppers are up with

This recipe makes 8 samosas.

Ingredients:

Dough:

1 1/2 cup AP flour.
1/2 tsp salt.
3-4 tbsp oil.
1/2 tsp carom/ ajwain seeds.

Filling:

3-4 large boiled potatoes peeled and mashed finely.
½ tsp cumin seeds
2 chopped green chilies
½ tsp garam masala
½ teaspoon mango powder.

½ tsp turmeric powder.
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
½ cup green peas.

1 carrot grated.
2 tsp grated ginger.
2-3 tbsp peanuts

Handful of fresh coriander leaves chopped.

Process: 

1.       1. For the dough mix the AP flour, ajwain seeds, salt and oil together to make dough. Use water little by little and knead the dough for about 1 to 2 minutes to make it smooth. Set the dough aside let it sit dough sit for at least 15 minutes before using it for the samosa.

2.      2.  For making the potato filling, heat the oil in a frying pan on medium high heat. Add cumin seeds, as it cracks, add green chilies, grated ginger and sauté for few seconds. Next add the peanuts and cook for a few minutes.

3.       3.Add the mashed potatoes, grated carrot, peas and all the spices and cook for about 4-5 minutes.  Add the chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Take the pan off the gas. Let the potato masala cool down.

4.       

4. Now to make the samosa knead the dough for a minute and divide it into 4 equal balls. Roll each of it into 6-7inch diameter rotis and cut each roti in half. 

5.  5.  Now fold the half roti into a cone shape. Pinch the side of this cone so that it is completely sealed. Use some water at the edges to help in sealing. Fill the cone with 3-4 tablespoons of filling. Press this filling down with your fingers. Now close the top of this cone into a triangle shape, pinching the top edge so that it is completely sealed. 

6.  6.  Heat oil in a deep pan on high heat. Once heated turn it to medium and after a minute add the samosas. Fry the samosas on medium high until they turn a light golden-brown color on all sides. Turn them when one side is done so that it is fried evenly on all sides.

7.   7.  Put samosas 2-3 at a time so that the pan is not crowded or it depends on the size of the pan. Once fried put the samosa on a paper towel so that excess oil is soaked out.

Serve Hot with Tamarind Chutney, Green Chutney or Tomato Ketchup. Enjoy it with a cup of Tea or Coffee!

Notes:

1. Fry them in medium heat only. If the oil is too hot bubbles will form on the shell of the samosa and the samosa shell will not be crisp enough. 

2. The oil added to the dough is important. Do not skip it, otherwise the samosa shell will not be crisp.

3. Add the filling into the dough pastry only after it has cooled down to room temperature.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!