CHINESE SAMOSAS FOR PPCS

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Its Party time again ladies. I can not wait to see your entries. I am here with a starter this month. The best way to avoid making more quantity of main course!! Starters!! If starters are tasty, then the main course remains behind, Just joking :-)))))

Starters are the main attraction of any party in any season. We Indians are more attached with fried food for starters. Baked or steamed or raw food starters are still not popular in India. I prefer even any salad bar as a starter but I don't want my guests to scold me for giving a raw food. So I am here with a fried starter which is famous in India... Samosas. Who does not like Samosas?? I!! I really don't like those regular big and hard covered samosas. This one food is always last in my menu. But I love the Mini Samosas . And here today I am with Chinese Samosas. Wondering what is this Chinese? I have stuffed the samosas with Chinese style stir fried vegetables. 

Actually to confess, I started making spring rolls, but could not get proper rolls. I was upset, this was second time it went wrong while preparing for the party. Last time also I had prepared Veg Sheekh kabab but went wrong with the clicks. 

This time I thought I will make use of the same ingredients and make something special then got this idea of converting Spring rolls into Samosas 

:-) 

All is well that ends well... Here is my story of Spring rolls to Samosas. 

Ingredients:

For the Cover:

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Corn flour - 1/8 cup

Salt to taste 

Warm water - required to make soft dough.

For the filling:

Cabbage - 1 small or 2 cups, finely chopped into very thin strips(very imp)

Carrot - 1 big, again finely chopped into thing strips

Beans - 12-15, finely cut in to cubes

Sprouted moong - 1/2 cup

Corn - 1/4 cup,(fresh or canned one)

Oil - 2 tbsp

Green Chilly or small bell pepper - 1 finely chopped

Garlic - 3 cloves, finely chopped

Ginger - 1/4", finely chopped

Soy sauce - 2 tbsp

Vinegar - 1 tbsp

Corn flour - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Sugar - 1 tsp

Pepper - 1 tsp(if not giving for kids, add some more)

Oil to fry.

Method:

Take all the ingredients for cover except warm water. Slowly add the water to make a very soft dough. (I used my darling Food Processor.) Keep the dough covered with a damp cloth for half an hour at least.

Till then,

Take oil in a pan, when its very hot, 

Add ginger and garlic, fry for few seconds, add beans and sprouts, cook for a minute. Add the carrot, corn and cabbage. Mix well and fry for 2 minutes on high flame. Turn in slow flame.

Add  all the other ingredients slowly one by one, mixing it well after each ingredient.Cook it for few more minutes till the vegetables are cooked but till little crispy.

Keep it aside.

I had kept both in the fridge for two hours(waiting for my kids and hubby to come home)

Take the dough, make small lemon size balls. Roll into small size puri 

(please follow this LINK to give the samosa shape) 

Fill the ready stuff with a small spoon.

Cover it nicely. Repeat with other stuff.

Keep the ready samosas in the fridge for 10 minutes before frying (optional)

Heat oil in a frying kadai.

Fry the samosas in batches. Serve hot with Ketchup. 

Green chutney won't go well with this as the stuffing is having Chinese flavor.

Its lovely and very different. Till you get a first bite in your mouth, your mind will be expecting the potato taste and you are fooled!! 

my spring rolls :-(

This is my entry to 

Jagruti's  event:

Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng...

Keep Smiling, 

EGGLESS TUTTI FRUTTI SHORTBREAD(Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Its two years now, BAKING has become a passion for me. Before,it was a nightmare for me. My kids loved cakes, pastries, brownies, cookies, all the possible baked sweets! Only and Only because of them I pushed my self to baking. If you remember, my first baking was My first bake - Chocolate Cookies which was a success then I did not turned back from baking. I faced may failures, I have thrown the whole unbaked cake into dustbin, I burnt the cookies, I forgot to add sugar while mixing... I took an oath not to bake again... But my Baking Saga continued. Now every one in my family, my friend circle their kids love my brownies, biscuits and cookies. Every one tells me that I should start a home bakery :-) Thanks every one for supporting me and encouraging me.

There are few things which are MUST in  the kitchen. We women are attached emotionally with our utensils(some times, feel bad to throw the burnt vessel or even a broken glass) and we are more careful with many gadgets like FOOD PROCESSOR, BLENDER, MICROWAVE, MIXER, OTG.. For me I can not stay without FOOD PROCESSOR AND OTG. Those were the years where it was difficult to search for such KITCHEN APPLIANCES in the market. We did not had any option other  than getting the best available (which ever) in the local market.

Now the time is changed. Its an ELECTRONIC ERA, This is an age of ONLINE SHOPPING.  We get many things sitting at home with just few keys pressed on the computer. I have a good experience with ONLINE SHOPPING. I enjoy it as its easy to search, compare and get it. I have ordered books from FLIPKART, I have ordered shoes from JABONG. But I was not knowing about the website CupoNation till few days back.

This website is connected with most of the ONLINE STORES with the DISCOUNT COUPONS on every product. The categories include Fashion, Books,Movies and Music, Electronic Items, Home and Living Appliances, Restaurant coupons, Travel coupons. They are connected with JABONG, FLIPKART, MAKE MY TRIP, SNAP DEAL, MYNTRA AND SO ON.. THE LIST IS ENDLESS. YOU GET THE DISCOUNT COUPONS FOR EVERYTHING.  Isn't it great? Visit them to get the full details and take the maximum advantage. Its really good,Try this link http://www.cuponation.in/homeshop18-coupons and you will get many kitchen appliances with the description, rate and the discount code. I am planning to buy Magik Gola/Slush Maker soon, as my kids love gola :-) "

They are on Face Book also. Follow them to know their regular promotions.

Isn't it a big introduction before my recipe starts? Yes, but without having OTG how can you bake the short breads I sharing with you all? So visit the site or share with others about it to buy all magical things.

Coming to the recipe,

Its not my own recipe, I have followed it from Priya of Enveetu Kitchen and she followed from  Sharmi's Passions, The chain continues like this if someone follows my recipe here. There is little bit change in my method, only because of my carelessness. But the result was good. 
I got around 20 cookies

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Butter,unsalted - 1/3 cup, at room temperature

Sugar - 1/2 cup 

Milk - 2 tbsp

The easiest baking with tastiest results.

Method : 

In Actual recipe, you need to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. But because of my carelessness I skipped this step and directly added all the ingredients except milk. Then I realized my mistake but it was late to take the butter and sugar out from the flour. So without any option I mixed everything for more time and added the milk at the end(after 5 minutes) and turned it into soft dough. I divided the dough in to two small balls, rolled it into 1/4" thick circle. Covered it with plastic wrap(I used) or parchment paper).You can roll into log also(Priya has done this) Refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven at 170C.

Grease a Baking tray and line it with parchment or just grease the tray(I did it)

Remove and cut into cookie shape(if you have cookie cutter) or any other shape with a sharp knife.

If you have the dough log, slice them into thick circle.

Transfer these in to tray.

Bake them 10-12 minutes, depending on YOUR OTG or oven capacity. Keep an eye after 8 minutes. 

Once the edges are brown, they are done. They will be soft when hot and turn crispy once cold. 

Allow then to cool :-)

Enjoy these sweet short bread with a hot cup of tea or a glassful of milk or just like that. Perfect for kid's in the evening.

Sending this to  Amrita's 

Event Announcement-Bake Fest# 21 

she is a host of this month's Bake Fest

Keep Smiling, 

ALU BHATHURE (FOOD REMAKE FOR PPCS)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

This is food world, We all girls(??) are working in the kitchen from a very young age. And the blog world is getting bigger everyday with a newbie trying her/his food and posting it in the blog. Here where we cross each other with the same recipe. Though the name is same, preparation is same, sometimes, the ingredients and the method or presentation is different. This is what happened with us, Jagruti and me! She had brought Ajwain Paratha - Flakey Indian Pan Fried Flat Bread with Carom Seeds for the Potluck Party which even I like and make it often. And the recipe is already there in my blog.Ajwain flavored flat bread !!!

I checked with Jagruti to guide me for this, and she suggested me to try some other recipe from her blog. I thought of searching something similar to paratha, so I browsed her space in "Paratha and Roti" label. Ohh! there are so many! and again many of the recipes are in my blog also. I selected two recipes to try. One was "Raw banana and oats paratha" and "Bhathure" But I could make Bhathure as I was not getting time to go and get raw bananas. But it was good that I made her bhathures and they were simply amazing. My family loved it as an evening snack and already there is an order from my elder one to make it often :-)

Its easy to make, I loved the taste of stuffing, though its a normal potato masala, its different. I loved it :-)

Coming to the recipe,

I followed exact recipe from her blog but reduced the quantity to half. I got medium sized 10 Bhathure.

For the cover:

All purpose flour  - 1 cup

Semolina or fine sooji - 1/8 cup

Instant dry yeast - 1/2 tsp

warm milk -1/4 cup

For Potato masala:

Medium Potatoes  - 4 boiled, peeled and mashed 

Oil - 1/2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Green chilli - 1/2 tsp. paste

Ginger - 1/2 tsp, crushed(I used more)

Haldi - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Hing - a pinch of

Sugar - 1 tsp

Lime juice - as per taste, I used 1 tsp

I skipped Red chilly powder

Fresh chopped coriander - 2 tbsp

Oil to fry Bhathure - 1 to 1 1/2cup

Method:

Take all the ingredients under "for cover" Mix well to make soft dough. 

Cover it in a muslin cloth(it really helps) and keep it for 3 to 4 hours.

It allows the dough to ferment and you will get soft bhathures. 

Heat oil in a kadai.

Add mustard seeds when they splutter add hing, green chilly and ginger together. Saute for a minute. 

Add haldi and salt. Mix well. 

Add lime juice and sugar, mix well again and add the mashed potatoes. 

Mix well, adjust the seasoning.

Keep it aside to cool.

Divide the dough in to small balls. 

Keep oil in a kadai to heat. 

Divide the stuffing masala also into small balls 

Take one dough ball, roll into small circle. Keep one stuffing ball on it. Cover it with all the sides and close it to make a small ball again.

Slowly roll into small oval shape puri.

Repeat with other dough and the stuffing.

Fry the bhathures one by one in hot oil.

Serve hot with anything, curds, green chutney, sauce or eat it just like that.. :-)

Down is the link from Jagruti's blog:

Aloo Bhathure - Indian deep fried bread stuffed with potatoes

linking it to Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng... 

What's in your mind for the next Potluck Party girls??? I am waiting :-)

Keep Smiling,

CORN AND CABBAGE SOUP

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

How are you all ladies? Are you ready for the party for this month. I am waiting for your entries and waiting to get my partner. :-) Thats the specialty of this event right??

This month I was in confusion about choosing the recipe and at last I am here with a very simple but very essential part of any great party. Yes, meal is not complete without soup.The original Indian food never had soup in its list. But, its long time that SOUP has become the integrated part of our cuisine.

My younger daughter loves soup. She has kept the name for all soups, like Palak soup is Green soup, Tomato soup is Red soup, cabbage soup is White soup...

I always make hot and sour soup at home, but never tried this Corn soup. The weather is also cold in the evenings now a days. So thought of making this one and bringing it to our party :-)

I have followed very basic and simple recipe:

\

Ingredients:

Fresh corn - 2 medium(or take frozen one or canned one, in that case 1 cup)

Cabbage - 1 cup grated

Butter - 2 tsp

Garlic - few cloves, chopped finely

Onion - 1 small or half, chopped finely

Green chilly - 1 chopped(avoid if serving it for kids)

Milk - 1 cup

Water - 1/2 cup(if needed)

Corainder - 1 tbsp shopped + 1 tsp to garnish

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Lemon to taste

Method:

Clean the corn and take out the corns, you can remove the corns with sharp knife or grate it (if using fresh one),

Finely chop the cabbage. 

Take both the cabbage and the corn in a cooker, add little water(just to cover)

Give 2 whistles.

Allow to cool. Once cool, grind into fine paste.

Heat butter in a sauce pan or kadai,

add chopped garlic and onion. Saute it till brown.

Add the corn and cabbage puree.

Stir well and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the milk and cook for a minute.

Add chopped chilly and coriander.

Add water if you feel the soup is thick.

Mix well and boil it few more minutes.

Remove from the heat and add salt, pepper and lime juice.

Serve hot garnished with some more chilly(if you like raw chilly taste) and pepper.

We all loved it. 

This is my entry to 

Jagruti's  event:

Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng...

Keep Smiling,

MANGO PAYASAM(Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Living in a season where you are  breathing mango, I am here with one more recipe with mango. I brought it from OUR Potluck Party partner ,  Sini of Sini's Menu.....The Kitchenmagic......., MANGO PAYASAM. 

Should I say I am lucky to get this recipe? Yes, because its easy, its quick, its tasty and yummy, its available now and I would not have tried it if I was not in Potluck party.

It has gone into my favorite dessert list to prepare when more guests are in. The best thing is you can use canned mango when its out of season. 

Coming to my recipe,

if you check Sini's blog, her dish looks different, the payasam looks different color, may be because, we both used different variety of mango or may be the jaggery I used is darker and more red in color than her. And her paysam looks thick, again may be because of the thickness of the coconut milk. 

Whatever, my payasam was really very good, tasty and different. My family loved it and again, I got little to taste :-(.

Ingredients:

Mango - 3, ripe, (I used the small ones with fibre, though Sini has told to use without, but I did not had any option)

Jaggery,- I pureed the mango and checked the qty of the puree and took the jaggery 1/2 of it, because the mangoes were very sweet.

Water -little more than the qty of jaggery

Coconut milk - 3/4 cup, thick(see notes)

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup, thin (See notes)

Ghee - 1 tsp+1 tbsp

Salt a pinch

Cashew nuts - 1 tbsp,

Raisins - 1 tbsp

Dry ginger powder - a pinch

Dry coconut pieces - 1 tbsp 

Method:

Wash, peel and puree the mangoes.

check the quantity and take half of  the jaggery.

Melt the jaggery with water and cook till its dissolved . 

Strain it to remove the dirt and keep it aside.

Take a thick bottomed kadai, add mango puree and the jaggery syrup in it .Mix well and boil it for a minute.

Add 1 tsp ghee and keep on cooking on a low flame, stirring continuous.

Cook till thick consistency.

Add ginger powder and mix well. 

Add the thin coconut milk slowly and cook till it turns thick.

Now add the thick coconut milk and cardamom powder. Mix well and DO NOT allow to boil as it curdles the payasam.

Take it from the heat.

Heat 1 tbsp ghee and fry the nuts and coconut pieces separately.

Add these to the payasam.

Allow it to cool,

have it warm or chilled :-)

linking it to Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng... 

Thanks Jagruti once again.

Keep Smiling, 

SANNA ~IDLIS | STEAMED RICE CAKE FROM MANGALORE FOR ICC

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

A recipe prepared with yeast always puts me in tension till it is prepared and its served on the table.

This time, when Valli announced this month's  Indian Cooking Challenge and I checked the ingredients, my first response was NO!! This month also I am not going to participate in the event. I removed it from my mind to make it. But last week, when I saw the active yeast packet in a super market, somehow I felt I should try it. Its better to try and fail than never trying and crying afterwards. I brought the packet and boiled rice. Still I took few more days to make up my mind. 

Valli has chosen the recipe from  Shireen Sequeira's Mom. 

Day before yesterday I tried these Sannas. My first batch was a flop. Sannas were hard and tasteless. May be the reason was the batter was not fully fermented.

Please visit Valli 's PAGE  for the ingredients and the method. 

Lets see how I prepared these Sannas.

I did not take the step by step pictures  but will write down the method I followed.

I took the exact measurement of all the ingredients as in the recipe.

I soaked Urad dal(1/4 cup), Boiled rice(1 1/2cup) and raw rice(1/2 cup) separately at 11.45 AM.

At 3.00PM. I prepared the yeast(1 tsp heaped) solution with sugar(1 tsp) in tepid water(3 tbsp). Kept it for 10 minutes.

Till then, I prepared the urad dal paste first and then both the rice. It took time for the rice to get into fine paste.Mixed all the three nicely and added the yeast solution. Mixed it well. Added the salt to taste and 2 tsp more sugar. Mixed well and kept it closed till 5.30 PM.

Checked the batter, it was not fully up but my daughter was hungry. Thinking that given time in the original recipe was 1 1/2 hour, I tried making first batch.

This is what I got: hard and taste less.

                         First time, my elder daughter had it with sauce.

Then I waited till 7 PM and prepared two more batches. I got them nice puffy and tasty :-)

I prepared a simple sambhar and we had it for our dinner. My both the kids enjoyed it. Hey, one sanna I made in a Thatte idly stand, a big round one. My younger one loved it with ghee and sambhar.

I enjoyed my yeastwala sannas :-)

Keep Smiling, 

POTATO AND KIDNEY BEANS SALAD WITH HUNG CURD

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Its party time again Ladies :-), How I wish if it was really happening!!!

Potluck party is a great idea for people to come together with their dishes and share with others and enjoy and have a great time too.

Last time I brought the pickle which was the basic food for any Indian food party. For this party I have brought a Salad.  Salad comes next to pickle.

I tasted this potato and kidney beans salad in PIZZA HUT first time in UAE and everytime I got the chance to taste it. I liked it so much but never tried at home. No specific reasons, somehow I could not.

So I thought let me make this for the potluck party. Most of the recipes use Mayonnaise but I have used Hung curd and the taste was superb.

Coming to the recipe,

I prepared only for 2 persons, you can increase the quantity to make it for more people.

Ingredients:

Potato -2 big

Kidney beans - 1/2 cup

Hung curd - 1 cup

Salt to taste

Fresh Cream - 1 tbsp(Optional)

Green Chilly -  1 tsp finally chopped

 Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Soak the kidney beans overnight.

1. To make hung curd:
2. Take the yogurt or curd in a muslin cloth.
3. Tie it tightly and hung it with a vessel down so that the water from the curd should not spread on the floor or platform(where ever you are hanging it) Remove it after few hours(may be 3 to 4 hours), keep it in the fridge till serving time or it will become sour.

1. Boil the potatoes and the soaked beans till soft.
2. Peel the potatoes and mash it.
3. Drain the water from the kidney beans.
4. Take the hung curd, salt, chopped chilly, sugar and fresh cream in a bowl.
5. Mix it well. Add the mashed potato and beans. 
6. Mix well  keep it in the fridge for some time before serving.
7. Serve it chilled.

You can serve it on the bread slice or plain paratha slices to serve as a starter or for kids. I know kids will love it because my both the kids were happy to eat this..

Sending this  to three events:
Jagruti's  two events:

Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng...

and 

Event Announcement -My Bowl of Salad !

AND 

Pavani of Cook's Hideout

Kid's Delight Event Announcement - 5 Ingredient Fix

which is started by Valli with the name Kid's Delight announcement post

Keep Smiling,

Jamoon Fruit Juice -Two ways, Re posting for the event

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,

Summer is here, and the events are coming up to help us to beat the thrust :-),

When I went through Swathi's zestysouthindiankitchen space, I thought of re posting this juice as the season for this fruit is already started and its easily available.

Read my original post HERE.

Swathi has asked to write about any interesting story behind this recipe or if you have any memories with this. Down is my story :-

Jamoon fruit brings many sweet memories in my mind.. These fruits are seasonal and we used to wait for it. During school days, we used to run to the houses where these trees were grown. House people enjoying their afternoon nap were never disturbed till one stone fell on their roof or window glass :-). And then there were few old ladies carrying these jamoon fruits in their round baskets and selling it for 10 Paises. I always love the color of these fruits.

You can read the benefits and other details in my original post.

Coming to the recipe,

Ingredients (for making 2 glasses) for basic juice

Jamoon fruits - 20(big)

Drinking Water - 1 cup

Keep the fruits in water for some time. Clean and put it into a vessel. Add the water and allow one boil. Let it cool. Mash with the hands, remove seeds. Sieve in a serving cup. The basic juice is ready which tastes very raw and bitter. 

To make salty juice :

Add a pinch of salt, Crushed mint and white pepper powder. Mix well. Serve chilled or add few ice cubes if you want to serve immediately.

To make Sweet juice :

Add 1 to 2 tsp Sugar, half a pinch of salt. Mix well. Serve chilled. 

Sending this to Swathi's event:

Favorite Recipes Event: Drinks

Keep Smiling,

HANDVO FOR POTLUCK PARTY(Food Remake)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita                             

Hi All,

Welcome to Potluck party of this month. If you remember, I had taken pickle for the  Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng... this month. And my friend Arthy brought Handvo. Now its my turn to make her recipe at home and take it to the party.

Gujrathi cuisine is my favourite!!!(which is not mine??), I have tried many recipes. And Thanks to Arthy that she prepared this one and forced me to try. Sometimes though we want to try new recipes many unwanted reasons(lazyness, not getting things ...) stops us from doing it. Actually, now also I do not have OTG  or Convection oven to make as I am in Pune, I still have tried to bake! or steam it in the cooker. Lets see how it comes out. Fingers crossed ladies...

Please visit http://savaadhjevana.blogspot.in/2013/04/handvo.html and meed Arthy Shama with her delicious recipes.

So, here is my version of making Handvo.

 

 

 

I have missed the whole wheat in it as I did not get it and forgot to add the wheat flour to the paste.

AND

I have used half the qty from the quantities given in her blog as I had to steam it and Arthy suggested me to use half.

Take

1/4 cup - Raw rice

1/8 cup - Tvar Dal

1/2 tsp -  Urad Dal

1/2 tsp -  Moong Dal

1/2 tsp -  Chana Dal

1/4 tsp Rock salt

1/4 cup Sour curd

 

soak all the above ingredients except salt and sour curd for 4 to 6 hours.

Grind into coarse paste.

Add the salt and sour curd, mix well and allow it to ferment for antoher 6 hours.



 

Take

1 green chilli finely chopped

1/2 tsp crushed ginger

1/4 cup grated bottlegourd (squeezed to liberate juice)

1/4 tsp haldi or turmeric powder

1/2 tsp chilly powder

1 tsp dhania powder

1/2 tsp Eno

 

Mix well all these ingredients except Eno

when ready to bake or steam,

 

Add the above mix in to fermented paste.

Mix well,

 

Ingredients to temper

2 tsp oil

1/4 tsp - mustard seeds

1/4 tsp - sesame seeds

1/4 tsp jeera

2-3 dry red chillies

few curry leaves

Add the above tempered mix to the ground paste. Mix well.

Keep the cooker with little water on heat.

When the water starts boiling(I have tried to make the same way as we do for Dhokla)

Add eno to your paste. Mix well, transfer it to the container that fits in the cooker.

Keep it inside the cooker.

 



 

 

 

Remove the weight of the cooker, close the lid, steam it for 45 minutes.

Check it and if its cooked remove it or continue steaming for few more minutes.

 

 

  

 I am not sure how the real Handvo tastes as I never got the chance to try it. But I am happy with my result, the handvo came out very good and tasty and of course these are healthy ones. I enjoyed it with my regular dal.

Once again thanking Jagruti for this lovely event, will wait for the next party :-)

Potluck party, Cyber style! - Fun and the Challeng...

I am out of station and scheduled this one on 28th. Hope it gets published and you will enjoy my steamed handvo for the party.

 

Keep Smiling,