Ragda Pattice

I had a couple of friends over on Sunday, so I decided to make ragda pattice and dahi wadas. The ragda pattice turned out really good. It is pretty straight forward. I had soaked about 2 cups of the white vatana(white peas) overnight. Here is the recipe:


Ingredients:

For the pattice
2 large potatoes
4 small green chillies finely chopped
2 tablespoons grated ginger
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
3/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
3/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon amchur powder(mango powder)
3 slices soaked bread(without the outer rim - soak the bread slices in water for 30 seconds and squeeze the water out)
salt to taste
Oil for shall frying

For the ragda
Soaked white vatana
6-7 curry leaves(kadi patta)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons date tamarind chutney
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt to taste

Garnish
cilantro chutney
date tamarind chutney
finely chopped onions
finely chopped cilantro


Method:

For the pattice
1) Boil the potatoes, cool them and peel the skin off. Mash the potatoes.

2) In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the pattice together, and mix it thoroughly with your bare hands. Make round balls, and flatten them out about 1/2 inch thick with oil brushed on both sides so that they dont stick.

3) Shallow fry the pattice, 4 minutes on each side, until a dark goldenish brown in color and it shows that its crisp enough! Place them on paper towels to soak the excess oil.

For the ragda
1) Pressure cook the vatana for 5 whistles. Dont do more, else it will overcook.

2) In a large vessel, at medium heat, put in the oil, wait for a couple minutes for the oil to heat up. Put in the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, and wait for a minutes for it to splatter.

2) Add the cooked ragda, and all the remaining spices, chutney, cilantro and salt. Add about one cup of water and let it boil for about 10 minutes and then switch off the heat. It is ready!

Final Preparation:
On a plate, place 2 pattice. Add about 2-3 servings of the ragda on top of it. Add a couple teaspoons of cilantro chutney and date tamarind chutney on each pattice. Top with onions and cilantro and its ready to chow down :P Have fun!!

Herb Coated Goat Chese Crostini

I made this as an appetizer as well for the party, and it turned out really good!! A great tip though would be to make the goat cheese spread a couple days in advance and let the flavors of the different ingredients blend in well together. The taste is even more defined, and is great by the time of the party!

Ingredients:

36 slices (1/2-inch thick) baguette bread
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces soft fresh goat cheese
4 ounces cream cheese
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
Salt and coarsely ground multi-colored or black peppercorns
1/2 cup pitted Sicilian green olives or kalamata olives, finely chopped
2 tablespoons thinly sliced chives


Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Arrange the bread slices on 2 heavy large baking sheets. Brush olive oil over the bread slices. Bake until the crostini are pale golden and crisp, about 15 minutes.

Blend the goat cheese and cream cheese in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Add the parsley, thyme, and lemon peel. Using the on/off button, pulse just to blend. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Spread the cheese mixture over the crostini. Sprinkle with the olives, chives, and more pepper. Arrange the toasts on a platter and serve.

As I mentioned before, the cheese mixture can be made a couple of days ahead. Cover and refrigerate the cheese mixture. Let the cheese mixture stand at room temperature for 1 hour to soften slightly before spreading over the crostini.

Avocado and Corn Tostaditas

The avocado sour cream works as a dip, and so does the black bean and corn salsa. I uesd them as dips for a party that I had recently, but this is the actual recipe, where you put both the dips on a tortilla chip and this tastes heavenly! Excellent appetizer for parties ! :)

Ingredients:

1 ripe Hass avocado, peeled, pitted, and halved
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro leaves, plus leaves for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cups store-bought fresh salsa
1/2 cup canned black beans rinsed and drained
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, defrosted, rinsed and drained
2 scallions, white and light green parts only, chopped
Dash hot sauce, or more to taste
20 round tortilla chips


Method:

Place the avocado in a bowl. Mash with a fork and add the sour cream, lime juice, and chopped cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Stir well and mix to form a cream. Set aside.
In another mixing bowl, combine the salsa, black beans, corn, scallions, and hot sauce; season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
Take 1 of the tortilla chips and add a small dollop of the avocado cream. Top with the corn mixture. Garnish with a cilantro leaf.

Papdi chaat

Here is the recipe for papdi chaat! This recipe is crazy delicious as I mentioned in my previous entry!

Ingredients:
2 boiled potatoes, peeled and diced into small cubes
About 20 puris broken into big pieces
(One can even use tortillas, cut into small squarish pieces and fry them till cripsy golden brown)

1/2 cup sev
Dahi wadas(Recipe for Dahi Wadas in label: Appetizers, Snacks)

Method:

In a serving dish, plate the puris at the bottom, then spread the potatoes all over. Then plate the dahi wadas as in the dahi wada recipe method. After putting the yogurt, date tamarind chutney, and spices, sprinkle sev generously on the top and then garnish with cilantro.

You will NOT have leftovers! ;)

Dahi wadas

I had some friends over yesterday for dinner, and I had decided to make dahi wadas since they are so popular with everyone! I dont know anyone who does not like dahi wadas!! It is a perfect blend of fried wadas with yogurt, tamarind chutney and spices! I learnt how to make these from my dear mom, who made the best dahi wadas!

So coming back to last night's dinner, I had friends over and decided to make papdi chaat instead of serving dahi wadas, and they turned out amazingly delicious! :) Papdi chaat is made with puri and sev, where puri is fried small rotis made with white flour. You can even make puris out of tortillas, cut them into small pieces and fry it. I will post the papdi chaat recipe next :)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup urad daal
2 green chillies
1 teaspoon ginger minced
salt to taste
oil for frying

2 cups nonfat yogurt
1-2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder(make sure the cumin seeds are roasted and freshly ground)
1-2 tablespoons date tamarind chutney (Recipe in Label : Chutneys)
Chopped cilantro for garnish

Method:

Soak the ural daal in water overnight. Next morning put all the ural daal in the grinder with very little water, and grind it along with the green chillies and ginger until it is pasty and of smooth consistency. It should NOT be watery at all! it should be of thick consistency for the wadas to be fried well. Add salt to taste.

Heat the oil at medium to high heat in a large frying pan. Wait till the oil is really hot. You can ensure this by putting a drop of the batter into the oil and if it rises up quickly, you know that the oil is ready. Now drop in tablespoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil and fry the wadas till golden brown. Let them rest on a plate for a couple minutes.

Keep a large bowl with water next to the stove. Next soak the fried wadas into the water for 2-3 minutes and then squeeze them between your hands, till the water is drained out. Put them in a container and let them sit in the fridge for an hour for them to be cold.

In a medium bowl, take the yogurt and mix it with a little water, and a pinch of salt and the sugar, and mix it until it is well blended. It should again NOT be of runny consistency. It should be smooth.

When ready to serve, in a serving dish, place the wadas neatly. Now pour the yogurt mixture all over the wadas. Drizzle the date tamarind chutney all over it. Sprinkle salt, chilli powder and the cumin powder all over evenly. And finally garnish it with cilantro! Its ready to eat!:)

Batata wadas

Last Sunday, I had this urge to eat pav wadas, an indian fast food dish, readily available at any street or any corner of Bombay! I was making batata wadas for the first time, and was extremely enthusiastic about it! They turned out really tasty(thats's me praising my own food! ;) ) and Raj, who had never eaten a pav wada, loved it too! Here goes the recipe!

Ingredients:

3 medium boiled and peeled potatoes
2 green chillies finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon ginger finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
6-7 curry leaves
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
pinch of asafoetida(hing)
salt to taste
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 - 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

For the batter:
3-4 tablespoon of gram flour(besan)
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
1/5 cup of water

vegetable or canola oil for frying

Method:

First step, mash the potatoes, not completely though.

In a deep pan, on medium heat, put the oil. Once hot, put in the asafoetida, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and let it splatter. Then put in the ginger, garlic, green chillies, and saute for a couple of minutes. Put in the mashed potatoes, and the spices, namely turmeric and salt, lemon juice and cilantro. Mix it until well blended. The paste is ready.

Now for the batter, in a small bowl, take the gram flour, with the spices and mix it until blended. Now put in water a tablespoon at a time, and put just enough to make a thick pastey like batter. It should NOT be runny. It should be smooth and thick enough to be able to coat the potato mixture.

Now, make small balls of the potato mixture. They should be about the size of small limes.

Heat the oil for frying in a saucepan at medium heat. Put a drop of the batter, if it comes up immediately, the oil is ready to fry. Now coat each potato mixture ball in the batter, and put it immediately into the oil. Put about 4 at a time for frying. Fry them until golden brown about 1-2 minutes each side.

The batata wadas are ready!! :) To make the pav wadas, cut the bread roll in half, put a little garlic chutney, tamarind chutney and the batata wada, and ENJOY! :)

Falafel sandwiches

Yumm! Raj and I both love falafel sandwiches and I make them quite often. I usually make falafels, with tzatziki dip, hummus and harissa sauce, as well as some salad in a whole wheat pita. Its delicious and I make extra so that I can take it for lunch the next day as well!

Ingredients:
1 cup dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon baking powder
4-6 tablespoons flour
vegetable oil for frying

Whole wheat pitas
Harissa sauce (recipe to follow)
Tzatziki dip (recipe to follow)
Hummus (recipe to follow or you can buy hummus from Trader Joe's)
romaine lettuce cut lengthwise into thin strips
1 tomato diced into small cubes
1/2 peeled cucumber diced into small cubes(remove the seeds before chopping)
1/4 onion finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of chilli powder


Method:

Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight, then drain. Or use canned chickpeas, drained.

Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed.

Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough bulgur or flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.

Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts. Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees in a deep pot or wok and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

To make the salad, in a bowl, combine the diced tomatoes, cucumber, and onions. Mix it with little salt and pepper to taste, as well as a pinch of chilli powder and mix it.

To assemble the falafel sandwiches, cut the pita into 3/4ths lengthwise and open it up. Layer it with hummus and harissa sauce. Add the chopped romaine lettuce, salad, and the falafel balls, and the tzatziki dip. Add more lettuce and salad for that extra crunch! and its ready to eat ! :)

Pita chips

This is an excellent snack with various kinda dips! Its healthy too, to snack on after a tiring day at work!! I have made these a few times and they always turn out great! It lasts for about 2 weeks. It goes great with the following dips: Muhammara, Hummus, Tzaztki, recipes coming next ;) Its gonna be a mediterrnean string of recipes!


Ingredients:

4 whole wheat pita bread(Trader Joes)
1/4 cup olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of dried oregano

Method:

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

Cut the pita bread into neat triangles, by first slicing it into half to make semi circles, and then cutting each semi circle in quarter circles. There should be 16 quarter circles, which you will then cut further into half, to make 32 pieces in total.

Spread the pieces onto a baking sheet, and coat them completely with the olive oil. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and oregano over the pita triangles uniformly.

Bake them in the oven, for roughly about 15-20 min, until they are slightly brown. They will still be a little soft. Remove it from the oven and let them cool. Once cooled, they will be crisp and ready to eat with the dips! Enjoy!

Mediterranean Rolls

My husband Raj and I like going to California Pizza Kitchen many a times, and we ate these appetizer rolls once and really liked it. It had simple ingredients and looked pretty easy to replicate! I have made a few varitions to this appetizer and it comes out really tasty every single time! Its well received by whoever has tried them! So go ahead and try it out:)

Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper thinly sliced
1 japanese eggplant thinly sliced
1 1/2 small white onions thinly sliced
7-8 crimini mushrooms cut into cubes
6 garlic cloves roughly chopped
4-5 sun dried tomatoes
2 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded mozarella + Fontina cheese
5 large flour tortillas
olive oil to brush
salt and pepper to taste

Method:


Put the cut bell peppers, onions, eggplant, mushrooms, garlic and parsley in a large bowl and mix it along with 1/4 cup olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Grill these veggies on a hot grill pan, until the veggies look done, well charred.

Once cooled, mix the veggies with chopped sun dried tomatoes. Take a flour tortilla, and spread 1/5 of the mixture in the middle of the tortilla. Put parmesan cheese, fontina and mozarella cheese in the middle on top of the veggie mixture. Roll the tortilla from one side, onto the veggie cheese mixture and slowly start rolling it over until it forms a thin wrap. Cut it diagonally into 3 pieces. Do the same for the remaining 4 tortillas.

Take a baking sheet, covered with aluminum foil. Put these cut rolls on a sheet, brush both sides with olive oil and bake it in an oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Turn each roll and brush it again with olive oil and bake it until golden brown for 12 more minutes.

They are ready to eat! DELICIOUS!! :)

Potato corn cakes

Ok, I know I was going to put up the recipe for vegetable sandwich but I like this recipe a lot, and its really tasty and turns out really good. I try to control the amount of oil that goes into it to make it healthy.

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes parboiled(for about 5 min in boiling water)
1 cup cooked corn
1 small onion finely chopped
1/4 cup cilantro finely chopped
3 green chillies finely chopped
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp rice flour
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1.) Grate the potatoes coarsely along with the skin. Coarsely chop the corn in the food processor.

2.) Saute the onions in a pan with the butter.

3.) Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well till its all blended.

4.) Make small pancakes out of the mixture and put little oil in a pan and put the pancakes till they turn slightly brown. Brown them on the other side also. Put them on a tissue paper to drain out the excess oil and its ready to eat!

You can eat this with the cilantro mint chutney or tomato ketchup.

Vegetable Samosa

So for my signature recipe, I have vegetarian samosas for you today! Everyone loves vegetarian samosas. So here we go!

Ingredients:

2 Large potatoes (or 4 small potatoes)
1 cup peas
1 small onion diced
2 large garlic
same size ginger
3-4 green chillies(depending on how spicy you want it)

Spices:

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fresh coriander
puff pastry

Method:

1.) Boil the peas and potatoes that have been peeled. Let it cool down and mash it completely.

2.) In a pan, take about 2 tbsp oil, let it get slightly hot, and then we ate the finely chopped onions. I have the chopped ginger, garlic and onion paste, and I put that along with the onions. Saute it till it becomes golden brown.

3.) Next we add the mashed mixture, and add all the spices(give measurements for all the spices) and let it cook for about 7 minutes, till its all well mixed.

4.) We let the mixture cool.

5.) Now to assemble our vegetarian samosa, we take the thawed puff pastry and put about a tablespoonful of the mixture and cover it! Brush it with some olive oil for a crusty top.

6.) Next you bake them in the oven at 350 degrees preheated oven till they turn golden brown, which is for around 5 minutes. Voila! The samosas are ready!!:)

You can eat them with cilantro mint chutney or with ketchup. ITs DELICIOUSSSS!!!!!

Next, I shall be giving you the recipe for cilantro mint chutney.

Inputs for the vegetable samosas are most welcome!!