Let it snow, let it snow...!

Happy New Year to all! We brought in the new year watching "3 Idiots" and a fun movie it was! Much as I'd have liked to watch the London Eye light up when the clock struck twelve, it wasn't a great idea to expose a baby to freezing weather! So we went to the theatre, with fingers crossed that the little one would behave well and also braced ourselves for the eventuality that she may scream the place down and we'd have to leave the movie mid-way! But the sweet little lady was at her best behaviour and slept five minutes before the movie began, all through to the next morning!

Corn Bhel

With some guests coming over for tea and no mood to fry up some snacks, I remembered reading a corn bhel recipe in one of Tarala Dalal's books. Most of the ingredients were available at hand and very minimal work to do, a nice looking evening snack was ready without much of a fuss and hardwork.

I had store bought sev and puris in my pantry and some frozen corn and date-tamarind chutney in the fridge which saved a lot of effort. Recipe for date-tamarind chutney is here.

You need:

1 cup cooked corn

1 large potato boiled, peeled and cubed

1 large tomato finely chopped

1 smal onion finely chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp red chilli powder

salt to taste

3 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped

2 green chillies finely chopped

juice of 2 limes
4-5 tbsp sev (nylon sev used in bhel puris)

date-tamarind chutney

15-20 flat puris (as used for bhel puris)

Heat oil in a pan and sputter the cumin seeds. Add the onion and fry till transluscent. Add the green chillies, potato, tomato, red chilli powder and salt and toss for a minute. Turn off the heat and add the lime juice and mix well. Arrange the puris on a serving plate and add the warm corn mixture on it. Sprinkle the sev and spoon some date-tamarind chutney on top and garnish with coriander leaves.

Pumpkin Patties

Pumpkin is a versatile vegetable that can be boiled, steamed, roasted or even baked. Even the flowers, seeds and tender skin of the pumpkin is edible. Pumpkin is a good source of vitamin C, magnesium, fiber, potassium and other minerals, protein and essential fatty acids. Pumpkin is ideal for those who watch their weight as it is low in calories. Consuming pumpkin is an idea way to keep away worm infections, prevent cataracts and keep kidney and gall bladder problems at bay. The beta-carotene in pumkins are excellent anti-oxidants. Read mre about the benefits here.

How do you feed pumpkin to pumpkin-hating, unsuspecting guinea pigs? Like this. :)

You need:

2 cups pumpkin cubed and cooked
1 large potato boiled and grated
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped
salt to taste
3-4 tbsp cornflour or plain flour or a mix of both


Mash the cooked pumpkin and add the remaining ingredients to it. Mix to form a thick dough-like consistency. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry small patties of the pumpkin mixture till done on both sides. Serve hot with sauce or chutney.

For more ideas check out these recipes at Asha's Aroma.

Savoury Appams

A holiday, illness and laziness later I was craving to have a deep fried something that wouldn't require me to slave over the stove too much. With idli batter in the fridge and a few other ingredients to bring in colour, appams, a childhood favourite was ready in minutes. This savoury version also called uppu-appams are equally popular as the sweet version called nei-appams. A special cast iron/non-stick pan with moulds called the appam pan/ aebleskiver pan is used to give the appams a round shape.

You'll need:
1 1/2 cups idli batter
2 or more green chillies minced
a sprig of curry leaves
a handful of coriander leaves
a carrot finely grated
2 tsps finely chopped red bell pepper
3 tbsps onion finely chopped
a few peppercorns
oil for frying

Chop the green chillies, coriander and curry leaves finely. Add all the ingredients to the idli batter and mix well. The batter already has salt, so there is no need to add more. Place the appam pan on the stove and pour 1 1/4 spoon oil into each mould. Let the oil heat well, turn down the flame and drop spoonfuls of batter into each mould. Allow it to cook through and turn and fry the appams evenly on all sides. Serve hot appams with coconut chutney or ketchup.

HAPPY GANESH CHATHURTHI TO READERS OF CURRYBAZAAR!

Black eyes bean / Rongi Cutlets

It's evening. I stretch my legs on the couch, reach for the remote and flick the TV on. The phone rings, hubby tells me he'll be home sooner than usual. Now that's great news and the perfect setting to have a snack and tea – not something we do usually. Checking the fridge, I find some leftover rongi staring at me. Now, I'm not in a mood to have the same thing again for dinner, and being the way I am, I cannot throw it away either! I wondered if the leftover rongi would turn into a chubby, charming cutlet. With a light salad on the side, it seemed perfect for an instant evening snack. Here we go, ready, steady, cook!

I had around 2 cups leftover rongi to make around 12 cutlets. The rongi should not be runny at all, it should be thick. As the rongi already contains spices, it didn't require any more. Run a potato under water, stick the wet potato in the microwave, cover and cook it for 3 minutes and leave it in the microwave itself for another minute. Remove, peel and mash it. I tore 2 slices of bread, ran it in the chopper for a few seconds. Add it with the mashed potato to the rongi to bind it and shape into cutlets. Heat oil in a pan, shallow fry the cutlets 5-6 at a time, about 2-3 minutes each side on a medium flame. As all the ingredients are already cooked, you don't have to fry it too long.

While the cutlets are frying, grate a carrot, chop some coriander leaves finely and slice an onion and mix them. Squeeze half a lime over it, add some salt and pepper and toss.

I served the cutlets with bread, the salad, tomato ketchup, mango-chilli sauce and tea. The whole process took about 20 minutes. It was a complete meal with a bit of all nutrients -carbohydrates (bread, potatoes, breadcrumbs); proteins (rongi/black eyed beans); vitamins(salad); minerals (spices); fat (oil). This idea should work with left over rajma or kale channe or chhole too.

I'm sending this over to Mallugirl for her Summer Express Cooking Event.

Savoury Cakes

"Hmmm, it smells great", said the husband. "I'm trying out something different", said the wife. "Oh, whatever it is, it smells good", repeated the husband. "I'm baking a cake, a savoury cake", said the wife. "A what?" asked the husband. "A savoury cake", repeated the wife. "What's that!" the shocked husband asked. Unsure how the cake turned out, what it would taste like, the wife kept mum. The husband turned to his newspaper and was lost in the business section.
Later, the wife cut the cake and served the husband – she didn't dare to taste it herself. "What's that?" asked the husband yet again. "The savoury cake", replied the wife. "It's salty and spicy, not sweet like the regular cakes", the wife proceeded to inform. "Ok, I'm the guinea pig anyway", the husband replied resignedly. He took a bite, delivered his verdict and polished off the plate.
The next morning he announced," I'll have that thing you made yesterday for breakfast." He had it with his lunch and dinner too.
The following day a friend came over, the last piece of cake was left, which the husband offered the friend. "What's that?" asked the friend. "A savoury cake", he informed knowledgeably, '"it's got salt and spices in it." "Hmmm, it's good" said the friend, "you must teach my wife to make this."
Here's how the wife baked the savoury cake. It's got a bit of all types of spices, and it's healthy – atleast the wife thinks so!!

You'll need:
2 cups wholewheat four
2 tbsp ragi flour/finger millet flour
2 green chillies
A handful of coriander and parsley leaves finely chopped
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp chilli flakes
4-5 tbsp red, orange, yellow and green bell peppers and mushrooms lightly roasted in 1 tsp butter
½ tsp dry basil
½ tsp dry thyme
A pinch of clove powder
A pinch of cinnamon powder
Salt to taste
1 cup of cheddar cheese
3 tbsp mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Line and grease the baking tin. Combine all the ingredients, reserving some cheese for the topping. Mix well and scrape into the baking tin. It will be a sticky mixture. Top with cheese and bake for 40 minutes. I know the brown colour of the cake isn't appetising, it's due to the wheat and ragi flours. You get a nice crusty, dense cake that is spicy and filling. tastes wonderful, especially when you bite into the bell peppers. And if you decide to overlook the cheese, it's really healthy too!! :)

My entry to Meeta's Monthly Mingle #8 : Savoury Cakes.

Tip: Substituting plain flour with whole wheat flour and a bit of ragi flour in this recipe. Read about the benefits of ragi/finger millet here and here. This is also my entry to Sushma's Monthly Cooking Tipology.

Potato Cups

Pretty aren't they? The versatile potato is cooked in my kitchen very regularly. After all, who does not like potatoes? So my entry to Jihva for Ingredients – Potatoes, hosted by Vaishali of Happy Burp is Pomme de terre cups. Simple and quick, you can fill in any stuffing you wish into these cups. Here's what I did:

Parboil the potatoes, keep the skin intact. Cut the potatoes into two. Scoop out the centre and keep aside. Grate/mash the centre, add some cooked corn, dry basil, salt, crushed black pepper, a few scrapings of cheddar cheese, a few drops of milk and mix well. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes at 200 degree C.

One more mellowed look.....

Chicken Burger

This recipe has been inspired from Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's programme "Khana Khazana". The recipe has been tweaked a bit, but the end result is great!! So good bye Burger King, Mac Donald's and others, here I come…!!

Ingredients:
1 cup chicken kheema/mince
1 large carrot
4 cloves garlic
1 green chilly
A handful of coriander chopped
4 burger buns
Lettuce/ cabbage leaves
1 large onion cut into rings
1 large tomato sliced
Butter/Mayonnaise
2 tsp olive oil
Chilly sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Cheddar cheese slices
Salt/pepper to taste

Grate the carrot. Pulse together the minced chicken, carrot, green chilly, garlic, salt and pepper. Do not add water. Divide the chicken mixture into balls and flatten them to make patties. Heat a skillet/ grill. Drizzle olive oil on it and shallow fry/grill the patties on both sides till done and a nice shine appears on the patties. Separate the onion rings. On the same skillet/grill, brown the onion rings with a dash of Worcestershire sauce and chilly sauce. Now slice the burger buns and apply butter/mayonnaise on the lower slice. Now arrange a lettuce leafs/ cabbage followed by the onion rings, pattice, tomato slice, and cheese. Place the top slice of the bun and serve with tomato ketchup, French fries and coleslaw/salad.

Chilli Chicken

Hubby and I love Chinese - let me correct, Indianised Chinese cuisine and visit our favourite restaurant Bamboo Chinese whenever we want to dig into some hot and spicy food. It was a rather dull and gloomy day and what was better to brighten our day than some hot and spicy chilli chicken! It was my first try at this, and it turned out to be really simple!

To make Chilli Chicken, you need:

Chicken breast - 200 gms
Green Chillies - 6
Garlic heaped – 1 tbsp
Onion – 1
Capsicum – 1
Chicken stock – ½ cup
Salt/Pepper to taste
Ajinomoto/MSG – ¼ tsp (optional)
Soya Sauce
Chilly Sauce
Cornflour
Egg white
Spring Onion greens – 2 tbsp

Chop the chicken into cubes and marinate with ½ tbsp each of soya sauce, chilly sauce and garlic paste; add egg white, salt, pepper and ajinomoto. Chop the onion into dices and capsicum into juliennes, marinate with ½ tbsp each of soya sauce, chilly sauce and garlic paste and keep aside for 20 minutes. Sprinkle cornflour on the chicken and deep fry. Heat oil in a pan and stir fry onion till brown. Add garlic, ginger, chillies, capsicum and stirfry for a minute. Add chicken, seasonings, stock and cornflour for thickening and cook till the chicken is dry. Garnish with spring onion greens and serve hot.

This version of chilli chicken makes an excellent starter. By adding more stock, you can make chilli chicken gravy and serve with steamed rice.

Spicy Bites

Simple, tasty and easy to make snack.

Ingredients:

Potatoes – 2 medium sized
Peas – ¼ cup
Green chillies – 4
Ginger – 1inch piece
Chilli sauce – 1 tbsp
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Coriander leaves – ¼ cup
Bread slices - 6
Salt – as per taste
Butter/mayonnaise

Method:
Boil the potatoes and mash well. Boil the peas and mash slightly. Grind ginger, green chillies and coriander leaves to a paste. Mix this with the potatoes. Add peas, chilli sauce, salt and garam masala and mix well. Butter the bread slices on one side. Apply this mixture on the other side of the bread slice. Grill or toast in a sandwich toaster. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.