Alu Patties

It was Divu's Pizza Party before his school reopened. Divu is my 6 year old friend. So there was no way I could miss this party. There were 4 more friends of his along with their moms'. The party was in full swing with these lil monsters running all over the house. Toys were all over the place with little or no place to walk. One could hear intermittent fights about sharing toys and about deciding which game they wanted to play. The girls tried to boss over the guys and these boys refused to listen ..... guess that's how it is everywhere !!

Anju (Divu's mom) was busy in the kitchen preparing pizza ...... sorry let me correct myself. She was busy preparing customized pizza for everyone. The kids demanded cheese pizza .... that was the perfect time when they could escape their mom's feeding them with any green stuff. Mom's were no less demanding ..... including myself. I wanted one topped with bell peppers, mushroom and onion with extra cheese.

But when it was time for 'Alu patties', everybody jumped in. We all made a bee line at the table to grab one. They were baked to perfection. That was the only time when the all the noise subsided and everyone was busy eating. But this was not for long. The kids went back playing and fighting. And mom's got busy asking the recipe for 'Alu Patties'. I made my trip to Anju's kitchen to grab my custom pizza.

Alu Patties are perfect for parties and get together. They are hassle free to prepare and you can never go wrong with them. Thanks Divu for the invite :-)

Preparation Time 30 minutes
Serves - 4

Ingredients
Puffs Pastry Sheet - 1 packet
Boiled Patoto - 3-4
Finely chopped Onions -1 Cup
Red Chilli powder per taste
Turmeric powder per taste
Salt per taste
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation

Thaw the Puff Pastry sheets for 30-40 minutes before
making the patty in room temperature. Thawing time also depends
upon the room temperature.

1 Mash the Boil Potato .
In a pan heat oil and sauté the onions and add turmeric, chilly powder and salt.
2 Mix the mashed potato and keep the prepared filling aside.
3 Set the oven to 400 degrees F.
4 Lay the Pastry sheets flat. If the sheets are thawed too much and becomes little sticky, use the all purpose flour
or maida to dust your hands a little.
5 Cut the single pastry sheet in small 9 squares. (So out of 1 packet you will be able to make 18 patties).
6 In the middle of the square put 1tbsp filling and fold the pastry square from middle in triangle shape.
7 Seal the ends of the filled triangles by applying little pressure on the edges.
8 Lay the filled triangles on the greased baking tray.
9 Once the oven is preheated to 400 degree, put the baking tray in oven and bake the patties for 12-15 minutes. Make sure to flip the patties in between so that they are evenly baked from both sides.
Serving Tips
Serve hot as snacks/starters or as breakfast . Serve with tomato sauce, chilly sauce or green chutney.
Variation
You may add green peas along with potato to make it more healthier. You may make any filling of your choice. Also you may egg wash them before baking them. This gives a nice golden color to it.
Other Names
All purpose flour/Maida, Green Chutney/Coriander sauce/cilantro sauce.

Chandrakanti

I have noticed a drastic change in the way we celebrate festivals today compared to my years of growing up. Or is it that I am growing older by the day and am looking at things from a different perspective. Whatever the case, but festivals have become just another date in the calendar for me.

I no more wake up at dawn and go out with my group of friends and cousins to pluck flowers from the neighborhood and make garlands out of them. Neither am I excited about wearing anything new and going 'Pandal hopping'. Preparing and eating 'prasad' has become just another thing.The sweet shop at the street corner sells ready made prasad items. And meeting relatives on festivals is out of scope.

Instead I just go to the florist, spend some money and buy flowers. I shop impulsively almost on every weekend when I am at the mall. I no longer wait for festivals to buy clothes.I rather buy clothes for parties and outings and to be in fashion.

Everything has become so convenient and I am living a life of luxury ...... but it doesn't make me feel any better.I do have the answers when I sit and introspect. But am I ready to give up the comfort and do things like before ? That's the question which puzzles me. I am not sure of it ..... but I always miss the warm welcoming atmosphere in almost every festival.

I am posting another recipe from Sangeeta's kitchen. You might be amused reading the name of this dish ..... But just to let you know, this is a traditional dish from Odisha. It is prepared in every household during festive occasions.

I just hope that all of you celebrate these festivals with grandeur. Wish all of my readers and friends a very happy Vinayak Chaturthi.

Preparation Time - 60 minutes

Serves - 4

Ingredients

Moong Daal - 2 cups

Cardamom - 15

Sugar - 1 cup

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1/3 cup

Method of Preparation

1 Soak Moong Daal for 3 hours. Grind finely.

2 Put a wide open pan on flame and add the finely ground moong daal to it.

3 Add sugar and salt and oil and stirr continuously till the moong daal become light yellow in color.

4 Ground the cardamom and add to the moong daal.

5 Remove to another dish and spread uniformly.

6 When cool, cut into desired shapes.

7 Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry till golden brown.

8 Remove to a paper towel.

Serving Tips

Serve at room temperature

Notes

Keep stirring the moong daal continuously else it may form lumps.

Variation

You may choose to add sugar per taste.

Other Names

Cardamom - Elaichi

Spicy Coconut Rice

I am always in the look out for opportunity to venture into my friends' house .... especially their kitchens. I leave all inhibition and hesitation at home when I am at their place. I absolutely feel free to ransack their pantry and refrigerator .... in a nut shell I make myself at home :). Thankfully I have a lovely group of friends who handle me and my tantrums with a smile.
Well this doesn't stop here .... I am demanding at times (read as most times). Sometime back when I was at Ritu's place for some girl to girl talk (Reminder - we refuse to call ourselves women ..... I am sure you have read this for the n'th time now), I told her to share her spicy coconut rice recipe with me.
Since she delayed sharing the recipe, she ended up preparing it for me. Later I got the recipe from her. At the moment I am content eating what she prepared. But will definitely try this soon.
Ritu you are a sweet heart ..... do let me know when you try something new, I will be there ;-)
Before I forget, this spicy rice recipe is a great one pot meal.
Preparation Time 30 mins
Serves - 4
Ingredients

Rice - 6 cups

Urad Daal - 1/2 cup

Grated Coconut - 2 cups

Cashewnuts - 1/2 cup

Chopped Giinger - 2 tbsp

Cumin Seeds - 1tbsp

Mustard Seeds - 1 tbsp

Curry Leaves - few

Dry Red Chili - 2

Green Chili - 4

Chopped Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup

Salt per taste

Oil for cooking

Method of Preparation

1 Rinse and drain rice in cold water. Cook the rice and drain of the excess water. Keep aside.
2 Heat oil in a saucepan,when hot add Cumin seeds,Mustard seeds,green chillies,Red chilli,Chopped Ginger,and Curry leaf.
3 Once Cumin seeds and mustard seeds start cracking add Cashewnuts and fry on a medium flame till they are light-golden brown in colour.
4 Add Urad dal and fry untill they turn brown in colour.
5 Now add the grated coconut.
6 Add Rice into this mixture. Add salt per taste and mix well.

7 Cook for three more minutes so that all the ingredients are mixed properly.
8 Garnish with coriander leaves

Serving Tips
Serve it hot with any kind of Raita or Gravy.
Notes

Do not over cook the rice. Else it will get mushy while mixing the ingredients.

Other Names

Spicy Coconut Rice - Coconut fried rice, Cumin - Jeera, Mustard - Rai, Coriander - Cilantro

Tip

Left over rice can be used to prepare this dish.

Gobi Manchurian

The kids love her and so do the kids at heart ! She is every body's favorite .... she is Anju Aunty. Always ready to throw pizza parties for the kids .... well mom's are also invited ! Did I also mention that she is my 'Chai' Partner. Always full of energy, she is a great friend to hang out with.

She was super excited when she heard about my guest recipe corner. But ..... she was the last one to share the recipes (hope she doesn't kill me for this).

Trust me her chinese specials are finger licking good. Thank you Anju for being being such a wonderful friend. You are such a darling !

Preparation Time 30 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

Cauliflower Florets medium size - 12

All purpose flour - ½ Cup

Corn starch - 1 cup

Crushed Garlic - 1 tbsp

Finely chopped Onions - 1 Cup

Soya Sauce - ½ tsp

Vinegar - 1 tbsp

Red Chili sauce - 1 tbsp

Tomato Sauce - 1 tbsp

Red dried whole chillies - 2

Ajinomoto - 1 pinch

Red or orange food color - 1 pinch

Crushed Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Salt per taste

Chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Oil for frying

Method of Preparation

1 Cut the cauliflower in medium size florets. Wash and drain the florets properly.

2 Mix All purpose flour, corn starch, salt and food color.Slowly add water to make a thick batter.

3 Heat the oil for frying.

4 Coat the Cauliflower florets individually with above batter and deep fry them on medium heat till they are crispy. Keep the fried florets aside.

5 In a big Pan heat oil on high. Put whole chillies in hot oil for the spicy aroma. Now put the crushed garlic in the oil .After 1 min put the chopped Onions.

6 When Onions are little translucent put Ajinomoto salt, black pepper, soya sauce, vinegar, chilly sauce and tomato sauce in the fried mixture and mix it properly.

7 Add the fried florets in the above fried mixture so that florets are properly coated with the masala.

8 Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serving Tips

Serve hot as snacks/starters

Variation

You may use Broccoli instead of cauliflower to make it more healthier.Add crushed pepper per taste.

Other Names

Ajinomoto - Chinese salt, All purpose flour - Maida, Coriander leaves - Cilantro

Kakara

"Well how do you call yourself a cook when you do not know how to make Kakara ?" That was Aai's (maternal grand mom) expert comment when she saw my blog. Yah you read it right .... Aai belongs to the cyber era. She knows it all - Orkut,Gmail,Blogging ! .... I hung my head low while talking to her over the phone. She tried explaining me the recipe for Kakara ..... along with it came the gyan of why it is so important to Odiyas' and stories from mythology etc etc.

In short this is a traditional sweet from Odisha and is delicious. Talk about it to a fellow Odiya and you will know.

All these years I was only bothered eating .... never cared to ask anybody about the recipe.How can someone expect me to know such complicated stuff ..... I have the excuse of belonging to generation X ..... or whatever !!

Even after an hour long bashing I could not gather enough courage to prepare this dish all by myself.

I picked up the phone and called Sangeeta Bhabi. She lives a stone throw away. We share a special bond .... we both belong to the same place.

Frankly I felt a little awkward in asking her to prepare it, knowing the amount of time and effort it needs. But I did it ..... she was generous enough to give me a demo of it. I offered to help her with it so that I could learn along. I can't thank her enough for teaching me this wonderful recipe. Not to forget I had my share of eating it too :-)

Well with Kakara up on my blog, I hope Aai approves my cooking ! Thanks a ton to Sangeeta Bhabi, I know how to make Kakara :-)

With Janmastami around the corner, this is a great recipe to be tried out.

Preparation Time - 1 hour

Serves - 4

Ingredients

Semolina - 2 cups

Water - 4

Sugar - 1.75 cups

Salt per taste

Cardamon - 10

Fennel Seeds - 1tsp

Grated Coconut -1 cup

Whole black pepper - 10

Oil for frying

Method of Preparation

1 Take 4 cups of water in a deep vessel and bring it to a rolling boil.

2 Add sugar (1.5 cups) and salt to the water and stir well till they dissolve continuously.

3 Slowly add semolina. Stir continuously till the water gets absorbed.

4 Make sure there are no lumps formed.
5 Spread it to a plate.
6 When the semolina mixture cools down make a soft dough using very little oil and water.
7 Pinch out small balls. Roll between your palm to make smooth balls. Keep aside.
For the stuffing
1 Pour little ( 1 tsp) oil or ghee in a pan.

2 Add the grated coconut to it.

3 Also add remaining sugar, crushed cardamom powder, crushed pepper and fennel seeds.

4 Fry till golden brown.

5 Remove to a plate and let it cool.

How to do the stuffing

1 Grease your hands with some oil. Take a ball and make a deep depression in between ( make it like a cup) using your fingers.

2 Put a little of the stuffing and close the ball. (Something similar to the process of stuffing potato while preparing alu paratha.

3 Make it a bit flat.

Frying

Heat some oil in a kadhai. When hot, drop these stuffed balls one by one. Fry till brown. Remove on a kitchen towel.

Serving Tips

Serve at room temperature.

Notes

Do not make the dough extra soft, else it will be difficult yo stuff it.

Do not put more stuffing, else the crust may break and the stuffing may come out.

Make sure the oil is hot before you drop them in.

Variation

You may vary the sweetness, depending upon your taste.

Other Names

Semolina - Suji, Cardamom - Elaichi, Fennel Seeds - Saunf.

Sending this recipe as an entry for Priya's cooking with Fennel Seeds.

Bottle Gourd Pudding

Ritu served some chilled kheer after a lovely wholesome dinner.It tasted heavenly.I finished the entire bowl of it trying to figure out what kheer it was. After a round of guessing game, Ritu told it was Ghiye (Bottle Gourd) ka kheer. I could have never imagined it had she not spelled it out.

This Kheer is her mom's signature dessert recipe ! Can't imagine how our moms' cook so well.

Later I asked her to share this recipe for my 'guest recipe corner'. Frankly, I tricked her to prepare this lip smacking dessert again. And no prizes for guessing why :-)

Next time when you are preparing kheer, give this a try. You will absolutely fall in love with it.

Preparation Time - 1.5 hours

Serves - 4

Ingredients

Ghia - 1 medium size

Full Cream Milk at room temperature - 8 cups

Sugar - 1 cup

Cardamom - 3

Saffron - 1 pinch

For Garnishing

Chopped Almonds and Cashew Nuts - 1/3 cup

Whole Almonds - few

Rose Petals (optional)

Ghee for frying

Method of Preparation

1 Peel off the skin of the bottle gourd and grate it.
2 Heat ghee in heavy bottom pan, add grated Bottle gourd and fry on medium heat
till it is soft and turns slight brown in colour .
3 Take 8 cups of milk in a deep pan and allow it to boil on medium heat. Keep stirring intermittently.
4 Keep on stirring till the milk reduced to half of the original quantity.
5 Add the fried bottle gourd to this reduced milk.
6 Add sugar now and cook for another 5 minutes.
7 Turn off the heat and add cardamom powder and saffron.
8 Garnish with almonds, cardamom powder and rose petals.

Serving Tips

Serve chilled.

Other Names

Ghiya ka Kheer - Bottle Gourd Pudding,Ghia - Bottle Gourd/white gourd/calabash gourd/lauki/doodhi, Cardamom - Elaichi, Saffron - Keshar, Ghee - Clarified Butter

Sending this to Indian Khana - Festive Food

Sprouts Chaat

It was no ordinary day. Why ? It was girls day out and our potluck ! Sorry but we absolutely refuse to call ourselves ladies. There was utter chaos .... everyone trying to talk and no one to listen. We all absolutely had to know the recipes just then .... as if that was the last time we would be seeing each other. We all are good cooks ..... that was the point we all wanted to make :-) I was amused watching all the 'girls' and listening to the discussions.

I was getting hungrier by every minute with the aroma of food every where.

I tip toed into the kitchen ..... and gobbled down whatever I could without getting caught. I know it's not good manners, but who cares of manners when it comes to great food.

Are you wondering what this has to do with the Sprouts Chaat ? Well Nothing !! I just remembered the incident .... lol

Before I forget, this Chaat is from Shruti's Kitchen.

Preparation Time - 30 minutes

Serves - 3

Ingredients

Whole green Moong Daal - 1 cup

Lemon Juice - 2 tsp

Chopped Onions - 1/2 cup

Chopped Tomatoes - 1/2 cup

Chopped grapes - 1/2 cup

Chopped Green Chilies - 1 tsp

Roasted Cumin Powder - 1 tsp

Black Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Cumin - 1/2 tsp

Method of Preparation

1 Soak the green moong overnight.

2 Drain water in morning and cover it with a wet cheese cloth. Keep till evening.

3 Heat 1tsp oil in pressure cooker add cumin seeds and turmeric then the green moong daal and salt.

4 Remove from heat before the first whistle.

5 Open cooker and let it cool.

6 Add all other ingredients with sprouts as mentioned ( Lemon juice + Chopped Onions + Chopped Tomatoes + Chopped grapes + Roasted cumin powder + Black pepper powder). Mix well

7 Garnish with chopped Cilantro.

Serving Tips

Serve at room temperature.

Variation

You may add boiled potatoes, pineapple chunks, cucumber and chat masala to this dish.

Add lemon juice per taste.

Other Names

Sprout Chaat - Daal Moth Chaat, Whole Green Moog Daal - Moth, Cumin - Jeera, Cilantro - Coriander

Celebrate the festive season with Nariyal Laddu

It's just the beginning of festive season for we Indians ..... Festivals are always associated with family get together, good food, new clothes, exchange of gifts, warm feelings .... it's just an never ending list of good things.

How much I miss all the fun and frolic in this far far land. But I have to stop complaining ..... especially with such nice friends around. They are family now....

Yesterday I was at Shruti's place. Like always I was shameless to explore her kitchen. Voila .... Nariyal Laddu !! She has a huge sweet tooth and is known for her sweet dishes ..... especially Nariyal ka laddu. Well I had hogged on Shruti's laddu's on several occasions .....but never ever did I care to get the recipe from her. Every time I would catch up with her I would praise her for the perfect laddus she makes and make a plea to make some for me.

Guess it was high time to put a full stop to my tantrums of asking her to prepare them for me. She passed me the recipe .....well I am happy and not so happy about it !! Happy because I can share the wonderful recipe with all of you ...... and not so happy because I may have to stop asking her to prepare laddus for me (now that I got the recipe I have to prepare it myself, no more excuses !!).

Thanks Shruti for the lovely Nariyal Laddu's. I would love to share her recipe with all of you ....... as this is just the beginning of good times !!

Preparation Time - 60 minutes

Ingredients

Whole Milk - 3 cups

Powder Sugar - 1 cup

Coconut Powder - 2.5 cups

Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp

Raisins - 2 tsp

Method of Preparation

1 Take a heavy bottom vessel. Heat the milk on medium heat for about 40 minutes stirring occasionally. Continue till the milk reduces to 1 cup.

2 Remove the milk from flame and keep aside to cool.

3 Mix the sugar, coconut powder , cardamom powder and raisins to the milk once it is cooled.

4 Grease your palms with little clarified butter (ghee) and prepare smooth balls by rolling between your palms.

5 Roll these balls on some dry coconut powder.

Notes

Make sure you add all the ingredients only after the milk cools down

Variation

You may add more raisins if you want to the mixture.

Other Names

Nariyal Laddu - Coconut Laddu, Cardamom - Elaichi

I am happy to send this to Festive Food - Rakhi