Tuesday 21 April 2020

Chana Butter Masala Chaat




I remember the Chana masala chaat vendor.. while my stay in Bandra and an evening stroll at Bandstand, I use to enjoy the hot, spicy chana masala chaat he use to make... Special chana masala chaat had butter in it. It had green chana which was boiled and then sautéed in butter with onions, tomatoes and chaat masala... Lime juice and coriander leaves was sprinkled before serving and it was served in disposable eco friendly bowl with a thick paper cutting used as spoon...

Ingredients
1 cup Boiled Chana / Green or Red Grams
1 small Onion finely chopped
1 small Tomato chopped
1 small Boiled Potato chopped
1 or 2 Green Chillies chopped
1 tsp Butter
1/2 tsp roasted Cumin seed powder
Chat Masala to taste
Black Salt to taste
1 tsp Lime juice
1 tsp Chopped Raw mangoes - optional
 Few Coriander leaves chopped
Method
Take a pan, add butter, add onion and chillies. Sauté it for a minute. Add the tomato and potato, sauté it for another 2 minutes. Add the boiled chana. Stir and cook the chana for another minute. Add the roasted cumin powder, chat masala, black salt, lime juice, coriander leaves and raw mangoes, stir for another few seconds... serve it. 

Friday 17 April 2020

Kolkata Style Egg Roll


It’s one of the most popular street food of Kolkata. Well when we visit any of the shops for an egg roll... you need to tell them double dim (egg) or single dimer egg roll... it’s made with flaky Egg Paratha assembled with some vegetable, sauce and seasoning. This makes a great snacks or an early evening meal on the days you are lazy to cook an elaborate meal, specially this recipe is appropriate for this lock down situation. We can make this easily at home. For the flaky Paratha, the dough is made with All Purpose Flour, salt, oil and water. The flour is kneaded into a semi hard dough. Normally when I make this at home, I make this with normal whole wheat dough. 

To make One Single Dimer Roll 
Ingredients 
1 Lemon size portion of the whole wheat dough 
1 Egg beaten with pinch of Salt 
3/4 tsp Oil 
Some slices of Onion
Some long strips of Cucumber 
Few chopped Green Chillies 
Few chopped Coriander leaves 
A big pinch of Chaat masala and Black salt Seasoning 
1 1/2 tsp Tomato Ketchup 
1 1/2 tsp Kasundi or Mustard Sauce



Method 
Roll out the dough, place the rolled dough on the hot skillet, cook the roti well from both the sides, put 1/4 of the oil on the roti and continue to cook till it’s cooked from both the sides. Remove the roti, pour the remaining oil, pour the beaten egg and cook the egg for few seconds, place the roti on the egg, continue to cook till the egg and the roti is done. Place the egg roti on the flat surface. Now to assemble, place the slices of onion, cucumber, chilli and coriander leaves on the egg roti. Sprinkle some Chaat masala and black salt seasoning, drizzle with tomato ketchup and Kasundi or mustard sauce. The roll is wrapped in a butter paper or a kitchen tissue paper. 




Thursday 16 April 2020

Watermelon Rind Barfi / Tarbuje ka Chelka ka Barfi


In this lock down state we should try to keep our mental state healthy, the best way is to keep ourselves busy and work on hobbies we love. We also have to eat proper food, since the whole family is at home, we need to make some delicious dishes that our family will enjoy.... Keeping in mind that simple ingredients which are easily available should be used, zero wastage policy should be taken into consideration. Try to use the complete vegetable including the vegetable peel and transforming the leftover meals into delicious recipes. 
There are many vegetable peels that can be eaten and can be made into delicious snacks or vegetable or sweets... like we can make Chutney out of the peel of bottle gourd, pointed gourd, ridged gourd, raw banana, water melon rind, peas etc. In Bengal we have many types of bata / mash  that are made with different vegetable peels like raw banana, pointed gourd, cauliflower stem etc. 
Some delicious fritters/ fry can be made with peels of bottle gourd, potatoes, water melon rind etc. Some sweet dishes too can be created with the peels of watermelon and green peas like candy, Halwa, barfi or kheer. Today we will make water melon rind Barfi... 


Ingredients 
Grated Watermelon Rind from 1 medium size Water Melon 
1/2 cup or as required Sugar
1/4 cup Water + Juice extracted from the grated Watermelon rind 
1/2 cup Milk 
2 Pinch of Salt 
1/2 tsp Cardamom powder 
2 tbsp Milk Powder
2 tbsp Almond and Pistachio flakes 
Few Saffron strands



Method 
Squeeze out the juice from the water melon rind. Add water, juice of grated water melon rind and sugar in a pan. In few minutes add salt and let the liquid simmer for a minute. Add 2 tbsp milk and continue to simmer. Strain the liquid out and pour the liquid back into the pan and let it continue to simmer until one string is formed. Add the water melon rind into the sugar syrup and continue to cook on low flame until the ingredients changes it’s colour to golden brown. Add the milk, cardamom powder, milk powder, few saffron strands and 1 tbsp of almond - pistachio flakes into watermelon rind. Continue to stir and cook on low flame until all the ingredients form into a lump. Pour in the mixture into a greased square mould, level the barfi evenly. Sprinkle the remaining saffron, almond and pistachio flakes. Leave the mixture to cool down. Cut the barfi into square pieces and serve them.  

Monday 13 April 2020

Pyar Mohabbat ka Sharbat


It’s extremely hot... only way to cool yourself down is to have a cool summer drink and to get back into life. This is a very unique drink originally found in the lanes of Old Delhi during summers.. but now sold in many places. it’s also a popular drink during the month of Ramadan... 
This drink is an ideal drink for summer.
 This drink is a sweet rooh afza flavoured milk and adding watermelon pieces makes the milk more flavourful. 

To make a glass 
Ingredients 
1/2 Glass Milk
2 tbsp Rooh Afza Sharbat
2 to 3 Ice Cubes 
2 to 3 tbsp small Watermelon pieces 
Garnish with Dried Rose petals


Method 
Add rooh afza sharbat into 1/2 glass milk, stir the milk, add the ice cubes. Then add small pieces of watermelon and garnish it with dried rose petals and a cube of watermelon. Enjoy this drink with your family and friends... 

Friday 3 April 2020

Home Made Healthy Cookies


This healthy cookie is not only delicious in taste, but healthy too. These can be enjoyed not only with a hot cup of tea, but you can munch on at anytime of the day. Hope you will enjoy this recipe. 
                  

       
Ingredients 
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour 
1/2 cup Jaggery Powder 
1/2 cup Clarified Butter / Ghee
1 tsp Chia Seeds
1 tbsp Almond Flakes 
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Nutmeg Powder 
1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder 
1/2tsp Baking Powder 
1/2 tsp Ginger Powder 
1 tbsp Any Vegan or Cow Milk




Method
Sieve the wheat flour, jaggery powder, salt, nutmeg pd, cardamom pd, baking pd and ginger pd together. Add the almond flakes and chia seeds and mix all the ingredients together. Add the ghee and knead the ingredients into crumbs. Take small lime size portions and try to make small balls. Incase it does not bind, add 1/2 tsp of milk and mix the ingredients again. Take a greased baking tray. Take small portion of the crumbs, flatten the ball and press it gently from the center. Preheat the oven at 190 degrees celsius. Place the flatten balls on the baking tray, leaving little gaps between the two cookies. Bake the cookies at 190 degrees celsius for 15 - 20 minutes, depending upon the oven temperature. Once done remove the tray, leave the tray above the hot oven until the tray cools down... don’t worry if you still find the cookies soft at this point... by the time the tray cools down the cookies will be done.
To bake the cookies in the wok, place a cooker stand on the base of the wok. Cover the wok and preheat the wok for 10 minutes on medium flame. Open the lid and place the baking tray, close the lid. Bake the cookies for 25 to 30 minutes on a low medium flame. Once done open the lid, switch off the flame and leave the baking tray in the wok until the wok cools down completely. Remove the cookies from the tray once the cookies cools down completely.
Cool the cookies further for another hour or two. Enjoy the cookies with a hot cup of tea.