Potato Samosa

Makes about 8 medium samosas

For Filling:

1. 1 large Potato
2. 1/4 tsp Red chilly powder
3. 1/4 tsp Mango powder
4. 1/4 tsp corriander powder
5. pinch Astefotida
6. 1/4 tsp Cumin
7. Salt

For Outer cover:

1. 1 Cup all purpose flour
2. 2 tbsp Warm oil
3. Salt to taste
4. 1/4 cup warm water.

Method:

1. Mix together All purpose flour and salt and mix,to this add warm oil and mix it,without water to make crumbles.
2. Now add water bit by bit and make it into a dough.
3. Cover with most paper towel for 30mts.
4. Boil potato and peel it.
5. splutter cumin in oil,fry rest of the powders in it as well
6. Add this along with salt to the potatoes and mix well.
7. Divide this into 8 equal portions
8. Divide the flour dough into 4 equal portion.
9. Roll each portion into round flat into a size of a side plate,
10. Cut into 2 halves,
11. Take each half and bring together the 2 corners along the edges to make it into a cone.
12. Press the edges together with a little water if needed
13. fill the cavity with one portion of the potato mix.
14. now join the rest of the edges.
15. Follow the steps 11-14 for the second half.
16. and steps 9-15 for the rest of the dough portions.
17. Prepare the wok with hot oil for frying this samosa pockets on medium heat for 7-8mts or till they are golden brown all over.
18. Serve hot with chutney or in the case above Maggi Hot and sweet chilly sauce,

 

Indori

 

 

“Indori” ,this sweet is a reminiscence of my time at my dear grand parents place,though never much of a sweet eater I used to always love the whiff of this dish running around in my grandparents place when ever I would chance visit them on Fridays,Saturdays or auspicious days. My grandparents were devout people ,so most of the auspicious days they would have special poojas and some sort of dessert offering to the lord,amongst them were burfi,phenori,churmi laddoo,besan laddo,lai panchkadai,regular panchkadai  and other things,amongst it was “INDORI”.

I used to believe that Indori is a sweet dish belonging to the GSB ,but I found that my belief was partly true. Indori was particular to the GSB from the north Malabar and people who originated in that area.So  I began to wonder why that was so,per chance one day my friend brought in a similar tasting dish called the “ARIUNDA” ,a ball made of pretty much the same ingredient and belonging to the kitchen of the Malayali folks of the same region but made in a little different manner. Whats even more coincidental is that the name “INDORI” seems like a play on the word ARIUNDA,which brought me to the conclusion that perhaps it was the influence of the MALABAR on the GSB which probably brought it to their kitchens ,and the GSB ladies being smart gave it a different name 😀 .

Another factoid behind this was shared by my mom recently,it seems this sweet dish was considered a “poor mans dish” something they could make out of things readily available at home and dint require any of the luxury ingredients which normally goes into making most desserts around the world.

An interesting myth (also shared by my mother),this dish requires rice to be fried which was considered in auspicious there fore they would not make this dish on auspicious days or fridays,saturdays or mondays which are considered the more important days of the week,what a contradiction !!!!

 

Here is the recipe :

1. 1 Cup red/boiled rice.
2. 1 cup Jaggery
3. 1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
4. 1/2 tsp CArdamom
5. 1 few drops of ghee
6. a small bowl a size golf ball.

 

MEthod:

1.In a thick bottomed pan fry rice on medium heat by constantly stirring them,the rice will started changing color ie would become opaque from its translucent shade and puff up a little,do this till most of the rice has turned without burning it.

2.Make a fine powder of this fried rice.

3.In another pan,add the jaggery and about one cup water and cook it medium flame,constantly stirring it.when it starts bubbling check on the consistency by taking a bit of the syrup in between 2 fingers and bringing them together to see if the syrup makes strings,when the syrup does this take it off flame and add cardamom and coconut gratings.

4.when it has cooled down a little add the rice powder.

5.while still warm take the bowl and grease it with little ghee.

6.Put the mixture in the bowl ,and press it to its shape.

7.Now band the bowl on a plate upside down so as to release the indori on the plate,which would have taken the shape of the bowl.

8.Do this till as many times as u have the mixture left.

 

Tandoori chicken curry

 

This is a curry I stumbled upon on day when I had some Chicken legs pre marinated with SWAD tandoori chicken,ginger garlic paste,curd and salt in my refrigerator and i had only a few mts to prep for lunch .

Fairly easy,

1.In a pressure cooker,fry 1-1.5 Large red onions to translucent,add green chillies and tomato and fry some more with salt.

2.Add Marinated chicken and fry in along with the onions for a few mts.

3.Add adequate amount of water based on the amount of chicken.

4.Close lid and pressure cook on medium for 3-4 whistle or more depending on the chicken.

5.Switch off stove,after pressure is let of naturally,serve hot with rice.

 

 

Shrimp pepper manchurian

 

 

 

 

1. 1/2 lb Shrimp :peeled and de veined
2. 1/2 tsp Paprika powder
3. 1/4 tsp pepper powder
4. 1/2 tsp Lemon juice
5. Salt
6. 1/2 tbsp Rice powder
7. 1 Red onion chopped
8. 1/2 Green bell pepper chopped
9. 2-3 Green chilly/jalapeno chopped
10. 2-3 pods of garlic chopped
11. 1/2″ ginger chopped
12. Salt
13. Sugar
14. 1 tbsp soya sauce
15. 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour(only for gravy can be avoided for a semi dry reicipe)

 

Method:

1.MArinate the shrimp with items 2-6 and set aside for 30mts.Shallow fry for 4-5mts(ie half done).

2.In a pan fry onion,green chilly,garlic,ginger,bell pepper with salt to taste ,and add about 1/2 tsp sugar and soya sauce.

3 to this add the fried shrimp and mix well,add 1/4 tsp if need be

 

4.For gravy make a mix of all purpose flour and water and pour it over the above and adjust the salt accordingly.

 

 

Undi with ready made rice flour

When you need to make undi but do not have the time to soak and grind etc,this method seems to work as good .

All you need is about 1.5 cups if Idli rava,Soak it in water for a couple of mts. Drain it, and add corasely ground 1 cup coconut gratings with about  1 cup water and salt to taste.

Then follow step 2 onwards of the regular Undi method mentioned : https://iamcookingtoday.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/undi-and-piyava-gojju-konkani-breakfast-dish/

 

 

 

Rasa odo

 

A New year delicacy amongst the GSB,is actually a savoury item which is accompanied by a sweet dish called the Madgane.

“Madgane” is a sweet dish made out of Chana Dal ie Bengal Gram Pulse,cooked in a Sweet Jaggery Mixture to which coconut milk is also added to make it into a sweet dessert with a few more other spices to make it more interesting. Madgane as such can be had as is,but Rasa odo is specifically had with Madgane and none other ,during the New year Festivities as a GSB household. New Year for GSB how ever do not fall on Jan 1st of the Julian Calendar,but the first day of the Chaitra Masa(chaitra month) of the Luni Solar Hindu Calendar and falls mostly in and around End of March to 2 week of April every year.

Rasa Odo on the other hand ,is a fried item mostly made of Rice ,which can be eaten as it is,but works best with Madgane.

 

Method:

1. Soak 1cup  Rice for 1hr,
2. Wash and grind it with 2 tbsp Coconut gratings with as much less water as possible into a fine paste.
3. On your kitchen counter spread out a large muslin cloth
4. Pour the ground batter on the muslin cloth,the muslin cloth will start pulling out the excess water if you let it on for some time,but make sure u dont let the dough dry out in which case move it into a bowl.
5. PS:If you find our batter is too runny,take this out into a bowl and mix some all purpose flour till you find it has come to a pizza dough consistency.
6. Take small round ball of the dough and place a few at a distance of about 4 inches from each other,Also place a small bowl of water to dip your fingers on the side.
7. Heat a pan full of frying oil of your choice.
8. Meanwhile ,dip the the tip of your ring ,middle and index finger,into water and spread out the little balls into flat round about the size of lime.
9. leave it on the  cloth if the oil is not hot enough,but not too long as it dries out.
10. When the oil is hot enough,wet your fingers a little and transfer the flattens balls into oil making sure the flattened puris actually,slip from your finger into the oil and not the fingers touching the oil.
11. See that after being in oil for a 20 secs the puris puff up,if they don’t little touch the center with your slotted ladle so it gets some hot oil on top.(most often this step will be required as the puris would puff on their own and flip over.)
12. Fry either sides and remove it from oil onto a paper towel.
13. PS:Make sure you do not make too make flatten ed balls and leave them out on the cloth to dry,the flattening and frying is a simultaneous process

 

 

Bombay Ice halwa

In many of my posts I have mentioned that I am not a “sweet” person,;-) oh yes,in this context I actually meant “sweet” as in Dessert.Some time I wonder if I lost my “sweet tooth” to the dentist 😉 ,or wonder if there were something in the pasts that would make me want to eat sweet.So when thinking on those lines ,I was reminded of “paper halwa” ,my aunt who lives on the border with Maharashtra used to bring this for us every summer ,along with “kunda”,and I used to always look forward to her visit anticipating this in her “goodie” box for us and she would never disappoint us.

That was childhood and this is now,it must have been more than couple of decades now,that I ate “paper halwa” ,and to add it was the fact that this sweet dish was never known as “paper halwa”,found this out when as I kept scouting for a recipe of the same.

Eventually last morning,I accidentally found that this was called the “Bombay /Mahim Ice Halwa”.Thanks to the different food group available on social networking sites.

I refer recipe on Bhavana’s kitchen to the T,but found that it was not as easy she made it to be.May be its her experience which made up for where I was challenged.

http://bhavnaskitchen.com/bombay-ice-halwa/

 

Ingredients:

1. same as mentioned in her recipe X 2
2. Did not have pista so replaced with crushed cashew.

Things I learned:

1. Like she said have everything ready!.
2. Have your sheet on which you are gng to spread the halwa,greased thoroughly.
3. Do not spread the dough too thin,this causes it to break when trying to flip,I really could not flip when I had to get the other side dried,I cut the pieces and then tuned individual pieces over and peeled of the greased sheet after placing it on wax paper.
4. unlike she said,it took more than 3hours for it to dry in my case nearly 12hours each side .

As I said this is my first time,and I am not sure if I have optimised the technique,the outcome after 24hours is exactly how I remembered it from my childhood,though the effort spent is not as much as the technique optimization is needed.

So till I try that…

 

Chicken Cutlet

 

 

The other day I went to a function where they were serving this yummy chicken cutlets,though they were cold they were rather delicious.Ever since then I have been craving for chicken cutlets like the ones I used to eat back home.

Our place is well know for its over the counter bakery items. Kumars ,the confectionery most  closest  to my house used to carry variety of stuff like cutlets,rolls,parippu vada,Puffs,arikadukka etc which used to be my daily routine getting back from school or during vacation a run for the evening or mid morning snack.

Its at around 11am that Kumars get the fresh stock for the day and ,since this place was walking distance from home 11.15am I would be at their counter for my daily dose .The best thing about their chicken cutlet was that ,there would rarely be a piece or 2 of chicken in the whole cutlet,yet it would taste totally awesome and completely different from their Vegetarian cutlet,!

.So one of these days ,I was really craving to eat Kumars chicken cutlet and i decided to make it,after scouting around for recipe on the internet,I came across Rinku’s kitchen,and the picture posted there was so captivating I decided to make it,there were a few items from her recipe missing in my pantry ,and hence I did the following.

1. 2/3 sheet chicken-stir fry pieces.-comes up to like 1 cup of chicken pieces.
2. 2 medium sized potato-peeled and cooked.
3. 1/2 onion finely chopped
4. 1/2 carrot finely chopped
5. bunch of cilantro finely chopped
6. 1 grren chilly finely chopped
7. 1/2 tbsp garlic paste
8. 1/2 tbsp ginger paste.
9. 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
10. salt to taste.
11. 1 Egg
12. bread cumbs.

Method:

1. Wash and cook the chicken with salt. drain and putt it in a chopper .
2. Mix with mashed potato,
3. In a pan add some oil and fry onion with ginger garlic paste.
4. Add chopped cilantro and green chilly and fry well,for like 3-4mts on medium flame ,take care as to not burn the bottom.
5. Add garam masala and salt to this and mix well.
6. Add this to the chicken potato mixture and bring it together add salt as required.
7. Take the egg and separate the white and yolk.Add the  yolk to mixture and mix well.
8. Beat and keep the egg whites ready ,next to bread crumbs.
9. To fry,take a ball of the mixture dip it in egg white,roll in bread crumbs and shallow fry it with little oil till both the sides are golden brown.
10. Serve with ketchup.

 

 

 

Bun ga xao-Vietnamese vermicelli and chicken

 

 

I will not claim this to be an original Vietnamese recipe,but rather my take on it. Ever since I have come across this dish I have kind of fallen in love with this simple tasting light dish which is really easy to make.Since my pantry  did not have many of the authentic Vietnamese sauces I did what best I could and the outcome was splendid.

Ingredients:

1. 1/3 sheet of Stir fry chicken strip.
2. 1/2 cucumber-peeled and cut into long strips.
3. 1/2 carrot cut into strips.
4. 1/4 shallot-sliced.
5. 2 garlic pods-finely chopped
6. 1/4 inch ginger-finely chopped.
7. 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce for marinade.
8. 1/2 dark soy for sauce.
9. 1/2 tsp thai ild peanut sauce.
10. 1/2 tsp Lime juice
11. 1/4 tsp sugar
12. 1/4 tsp pepper powder.
13. 1/2 packet rice sticks
14. 2tbsp canned bamboo shoots
15. Salt to taste.
16. 1 tsp olive oil
17. pinch of chilly flakes.

 

Method:

1. wash and Marinate the chicken strips with salt,pepper powder,soya sauce,chopped ginger and 1/2 of the chopped garlic ,1tsp olive oil. Set it aside for 30mts .
2. In a large pot boil 3 quarts water,add the rice sticks and cook for 4mts.Drain and keep aside.
3. Make the sauce by mixing 4 tbsp water,1/4 tsp Dark and 1/4 light soya sauce(optional),rest of the chopped galric,chilly flakes,salt,sugar and peanut sauce with 1/2 tsp olive oil and keep aside.
4. In a pan,dribble some oil and stir fry shallot,carrot and bamboo with some soya sauce(1/4 tspt ) & salt.-Placed the cooked veggies aside.
5. grill the chicken or stir fry them as you look,I stir fried them for 10mts.cut them into bite size pieces.
6. To serve:
   1.  In a bowl,place the stir fried veggies at the bottom.
   2. Add place a handful off rice noodles over it,and pour little sauce over it.
   3. Place chicken pieces along with cucumber pieces and garnish it with more sauce.
   4. optionally garnish it with crushed roasted peanuts.

 

Banana ball curry

 

 

Another nostalgic entry from my childhood,recipe courtesy my aunt “saripachi” one of the best vegetarian cooks I know.

Ingredients for the banana ball.

1. 1 Raw Banana
2. 1/2 potato.
3. 1/4 chopped onion.
4. 1/2 tsp paprika powder
5. 1 tsp coriander /cilantro chooped
6. 1 tsp Besan /gram flour/

For Gravy:

1. 1 /2 chopped onion
2. 1 Onion ground.
3. 1 tsp ginger garlic paste.
4. 1 finely chopped tomato.
5. 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
6. 1/4 tsp garam masala powder.
7. 1 tbsp cream
8. cilantro & cheese  for garnish

Method:

1. Cook Potato and banana with their skin on  in Microwave for 10mts.
2. remove the skin,mash them well and mix with chopped onion,chilli powder,cilantro and gram flour.
3. Mix well,and make round balls,
4. Deep fry these balls and keep asode.
5. In another pan,fry some chopped onion,when translucent add onion and ginger garlic paste.Fry some more.
6. When mixture leaves oil,add chopped tomato,paprika ,turmeric and garam masala powder.
7. Mix well and let the tomatoes reduce.
8. Add 1/2 cup water and let it bring to a boil.
9. Add cream mix well .
10. When it is time to serve,bring the gravy to a boil drop the balls and garnish with cilantro and cheese(optional).

To make balls:

Cook 3 raw banana and 2 potatoes in cooker till 2 whistle.
Remove the skin of both and mash them well.
Add onion chopped, chilli powder, coriander leaves, and little besan for binding. Mix well and make small balls.deep fry balls till light brown.

To make gravy:
Fry onion chopped length wise, add onion paste ground sepearately, ginger garlic paste, tomato, haldi, garam masala,salt and required water and boil well. At the end add beated milk cream(shaahi).garnish with coriander leaves and chesse.

Add balls to gravy just before you serve.