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Saturday 27 October 2012

Pav Bhaji

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 5 to 7

Ingredients:

  • 2 packet pavs(approx. 16 pav)
  • 5 potatoes boiled and mashed
  • 1 carrot finely chopped
  • 1 capsicum finely chopped
  • 1 cup peas boiled
  • 2 onion finely chopped
  • 2 tomatoes finely chopped
  • 2 green chilies finely chopped
  • 1tsp garlic minced
  • 1tsp ginger minced
  • 1/2tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/2tsp jeera
  • salt as per taste
  • red chili powder as per taste
  • 1 pinch hing(asafoetida)
  • 1/2tsp garam masala powder
  • 4tsp pav bhaji masala powder
  • 1tbsp coriander leaves chopped
  • 2tbsp butter
  • 2tsp lime juice
  • Butter for garnish and toasting pav
Steam carrots and capsicum. Heat the butter in a wok, add jeera, ginger-garlic paste. Fry for a minute and add chopped onions. Cook till onions turn pale, add turmeric powder. Mix well and add the tomatoes and green chilies. Season with salt and chili powder. Add hing and cook till tomatoes are done and oil separates. 

Add the potatoes and rest of the veggies. Mix well and add little water if the bhaji seems too dry. Add the garam masala and pav bhaji masala. Mix well and use a potato masher or hand blender to mash the bhaji. Add lime juice.


Garnish with butter and coriander leaves. Slice the pav into two and toast them with butter on a tawa. Serve hot with onion rings. Enjoy!!!



Thursday 25 October 2012

Bread Rolls

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 9 to 10

Ingredients:

  • 1 packet bread
  • 3 potatoes boiled and mashed
  • 1/2 cup grated cottage cheese
  • 1/2 peas boiled
  • 1 bell pepper chopped finely
  • 2 onions chopped finely
  • 2 green chilies chopped finely
  • 1/2 cup mozarella cheese(optional)
  • salt as per taste
  • red chili powder as per taste
  • 1tsp amchur(dried mango powder)
  • 1tsp anardana powder(pomegranate)
  • 1/2tsp garam masala powder
  • 1/2tsp black pepper crushed
  • 1/2tsp cumin powder
  • 1tbsp coriander leaves chopped
  • 3 cups water
  • oil to fry
Mix all the ingredients except bread, water and oil. 

Remove the sides of the bread slices with the help of a knife. Staler the bread, nicer the rolls. Dip the bread slices in the water quickly, squeeze out excess water by pressing the slice between your palms. Spoon the mixture into the slice and roll it with your palms such that the mixture is completely sealed in the bread.

Chill the rolls in the fridge for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan and deep fry the rolls. 



Serve hot with imli chutney or ketchup. Enjoy!!!

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Easy Pasta Salad

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:

  • 200g pasta
  • 2 carrots diced and steamed
  • 1 capsicum diced
  • 2tbsp peas boiled
  • 1 potato boiled and diced
  • 3tbsp black chickpeas cooked
  • 1 onion sliced
  • 1 tomato diced
  • 1 cucumber diced
  • 2tbsp roasted peanuts
  • 1 apple peeled and diced
  • 1tbsp coriander leaves roughly chopped
  • 2tbsp cabbage chopped
For dressing
  • 2tbsp olive oil
  • 2tbsp lime juice
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1tsp black pepper freshly crushed
  • 1/2tsp castor sugar
Put all the salad ingredients in a large salad bowl. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator  Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing. The dressing should always be poured on the salad right before serving it. Toss the salad properly so that the dressing spreads evenly. You could even add 1 tbsp of  mayonnaise to the dressing if you are a mayo fan.


Serve immediately and enjoy.           

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Bhalla Papri Chaat

Everyone loves chaat and it is so easy to make.

Preparation time: 1.5 hours
Cooking time: 15 mins
Serves 9 to 10

Ingredients:

For Bhalla

  • 1 cup urad dal
  • 4 cups water
  • 1tsp ginger mince
  • 1 pinch hing(asafoetida)
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1tsp cumin seeds
For Papri
  • 1 cup wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup sooji
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1/2tsp ajwain seeds(carom)
  • 1tsp oil
  • water to knead dough
For plating Chaat
  • 500ml curd(yogurt)
  • 2 potatoes boiled and diced into small cubes
  • 1/2 cup black grams(kala chana) pressure cooked with water
  • 3 onions finely sliced
  • handful coriander leaves chopped
  • finely chopped green chilies(optional)
  • 1 cup imli chutney
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1tsp black pepper crushed
  • 1tsp cumin powder
  • 1tsp chat masala powder
  • 3tbsp castor sugar
  • 1tbsp cashews(chopped)
  • 1tbsp raisins
  • 1/2 cup sev
  • julienne ginger(optional)
  • oil for frying
For making bhallas soak the dal in the water over night. Drain excess water and grind the dal along with rest of the ingredients for bhalla. You may require 1-2tbsps of water to grind the dal properly. To check if your batter is ready to be fried, drop a small amount of the batter in a bowl of water. If it floats, it is ready. If it sinks, you need to beat your batter to incorporate air. Heat the oil and drop balls of batter into the oil. This amount of batter would make around 20 golf sized balls. Fry them till golden-brown and place them on paper towel to remove excess oil.

For making the papri, mix all the ingredients and knead to form a smooth, non-sticky and soft dough. Divide the dough into around 20 equal sized balls and roll them into small circles with a rolling pin. Heat the oil and fry the papris till golden-brown. Place them on paper towel to remove excess oil.

Soak the bhallas in water half an hour before plating them. Squeeze them to remove excess water. Place them in the serving dish along with papri, potato cubes, onions, black grams, cashews, raisins, and chilies. Beat the sugar into the curd to dissolve it and make the curd smooth. Mix the chaat masala, salt, black pepper and cumin powder together. Pour the curd over the serving dish so that it just covers its contents. Sprinkle the masala mix on top. Pour the imli chutney on the top.

Garnish with coriander leaves, sev and julienne ginger. Enjoy!!!

Friday 5 October 2012

Fruity Mini-Tarts with Cream

This is the first time I have tried making tarts and i loved them. I tried the easiest filling of whipped cream and fruit, next time would try different filling. This one is vegetarian without any eggs. You can use any fruits of your choice: apples, raspberry, grapes, bananas, strawberries, etc.

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Baking time: 12-14 minutes at 220 degree C

Ingredients:

For Crust

  • 1 1/2 cups maida
  • 7tbsp butter
  • 1/3 cup castor sugar
  • 1tsp vanilla essence
For whipped cream
  • 1cup heavy cream
  • 3tbsp icing sugar
  • 1tsp vanilla essence
Fruits for topping
  • 1apple peeled and cut into small cubes
  • few raspberrys sliced(used frozen ones)
  • 1 banana cut into small cubes
To make the crust beat butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes till it turns creamy. Add vanilla essence and beat for another minute. Now mix in flour till the mixture starts coming together in form of dough. Dough should not be sticky, add more maida to make it smooth. Roll it on a greased surface. The thickness should be consistent. Wrap it in a plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for 15 minutes. 

Cut 10 circles slightly larger than the molds on the rolled dough. I use silicon molds as they are so easy to use. Grease the molds and press the circles into the molds so that they take the shape of the mold. Remove the excess dough with a knife. Cover the mold by pressing the foil into the mold and again chill the molds in the fridge for another 15 minutes. This prevents the dough from shrinking during baking. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220 degree C.

Bake the molds for 12-15 minutes till they turn light golden-brown. Take the crusts out of the molds within 2-3 minutes when they come out of the oven. Let them cool.

For the whipped cream, beat all the ingredients together for 3-4 minutes until it thickens. Stop immediately. Chill it in the fridge.

When the crusts cool down, pipe in some whipped cream and top with the fruits. 



Enjoy!!!

Palak Paneer

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 7 to 8

Ingredients:

  • 250g paneer(cottage cheese) sliced into small cubes
  • 500g palak(spinach)
  • 4 cups water
  • 3 large onions(blended into paste)
  • 3 tomatoes(blended into paste)
  • 1tsp garlic mince
  • 1tsp ginger mince
  • 1tsp green chilies finely chopped
  • 1tsp cumin(zeera)
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 green cardamom pods
  • 3 cloves
  • salt as per taste
  • red chili powder as per taste
  • 1tsp coriander powder
  • 1tsp turmeric powder
  • 1tsp garam masala powder
  • 1tsp cumin powder
  • 1tbsp olive oil
  • 1tsp butter for garnish
Wash and chop the spinach and pressure cook it with water and half a tsp of salt for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in the wok and add cumin, cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon. Let them crackle and then add the ginger-garlic mince. Fry it for half a minute and add the onion paste. Cook it for few minutes and add the coriander and turmeric powder. Cook till onions are done and oil starts separating. Add the tomato paste, salt red chili powder and green chilies.

Let it cook till the tadka is done and oil separates. Meanwhile, blend the spinach into a paste. Add the spinach paste to the tadka and bring it to the boil. Add the garam masala and cumin powder. Simmer and cook till the mixture reduces by 1/4th. Now add the paneer cubes. You can fry them light golden brown beforehand. Stir well and let it cook for another 4-5 minutes.


Garnish with butter and enjoy.