Daily Archives: November 21, 2014

Gol gappa shots

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 5 minutes to deep fry the pain poorie’s . If using ready made pain poorie’s cooking time is nil .

Serving : 8-10 members

Description

Entertaining people through food with uniquely pleasurable dining experience is my hobby . Though it sounds like a hope less hobby , I enjoy feeding people and to touch their hearts through my food . Now this hobby of mine has become an obstacle for me as every time I have to entertain through food the expectation is high . It’s like I have added more pressure on myself through my hobby guaranteeing to impress . So I make sure to add new short cut , rare and unique menus and ideas to any grand feast at home . Like wise having to entertain my hubbies newly wedded niece , I came up with this gol gappa shots idea to add a dash of glamour to the meal . I vaguely remember seeing this done in one of master chef India series long before. Having dried ready made pain poorie’s in hand that’s available in the local market here at my place .( such a genius product , just deep fry these and they pop up to pani poorie’s , drain and store them in air tight containers until to be used ) i knew I had to execute this with a drink in a short glass and the pani puri to be filled with some thing . Just the day before I had tried out a salad dressing from celebrity chef vikki ratnanis cook book which tasted like a chat accomplishment so thought of filling the pani poorie’s with that salad and serve a juice with it . Having fresh oranges in hand added some chat masala powder and black salt to go well with the salad stuffed pani poorie’s that had an Intense burst of salty , citrusy flavours. Served it to the guests at home as a starter and they were all head over heels with this new version of eye popping pani poori with a twist . I happened to meet my hubbies niece a few day before and she told me how her newly wedded hubby raved about the feast at our home to her in – laws which they listened with interest at first ( earning me loads of brownie points :-)) and when the same was repeated over and over again they did get irritated . I did share this recipe with my friend rabia Marliya who had a Diwali thyme cooking competition at her office in Trivandrum . She made ten dishes with which four recipes were from sauté , fry n bake . The most liked dish by the judges was this gol gappa shots . This mighty easy to make old fashioned classic dish has travelled places and gots it’s say every where in a stylish way .

Ingredients

Deep Fried crisp whole pain poorie’s – 8 to 10

Ingredients for the salad

Ingredients	Quantity
Red cabbage	1/4 cup shredded
Raw mango	4 tablespoons peeled and grated
Carrots	4 tablespoons peeled and grated
Cucumber	4 tablespoons grated with skin
Beetroot	4 tablespoons peeled and grated

Ingredients for salad dressing

Ingredients	Quantity
Chat masala	1 teaspoon
Tabasco sauce	1/2 teaspoon
Amchoor powder ( dry raw mango powder )	1/2 teaspoon
Olive oil	1 tablespoon
Vinegar	1 tablespoon
Honey	1 tablespoon
Salt + pepper	to taste

Method for salad

Mix all the ingredients together for the salad dressing .
Taste and adjust the dressing . Mix in all the veggies for the salad into the dressing .
Toss well and place in the refrigerator until needed to be served

Ingredients for the orange juice

Ingredients	Quantity
Orange juice	from 4 oranges
Water	to dilute the juice
Sugar	to taste
Chat masala powder	1/4 teaspoon
Cumin powder	1/4 teaspoon
Black salt	1/8 teaspoon
Salt	a pinch

Method for orange juice

Mix all the ingredients together until the sugar dissolves . Taste and adjust . Chill in the refrigerator until needed to be served .

Assembling

Take one fully puffed up pain poori . Break it in the middle on one side to get a hole in the centre .
Fill the dent with chilled salad . Do the same to all the pain poorie’s and salad . Pour orange juice 3/4 level into the short glasses .
Place salad filled gol gappas over each glass and serve immediately .

Notes

1, Fill the pain poorie’s with salad just before serving or else the poorie’s get soggy .

2 , make the orange juice half an hour before serving . If made in advance before it tends to get a bitter taste into the juice .

Man-chow soup

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 30-35 minutes

Serving : 4 -5 members

Description

My every visit to Coimbatore in every two weeks once at least , my daughter Anisha makes sure to take me to mushrooming new eat outs there .like wise once , she ordered a take away from some chines restaurant for soup , starter to main course and sides . All ready to start our chines lunch , she served me man -chow soup that was a deep dark in colour with veggies , chicken and a thick slippery consistency . I hate thick soups , my vote goes to clear water like soups always . So as she served it to me I told no thank you but she forced me to give a try . She sprinkled few deep fried crisp noodles over and we both started our lunch with a slurp of soup . The first mouth full , I experienced all the possible textures , taste and flavours at one shoot . This soup did prove me wrong about thick soups and made me change my mind once for all . ( Uff , I at least had one think I didn’t like and now even that’s gone into the bin .. ) from that day I have been having the taste and aroma of the one bowl wonder soup haunting me every now and then . Made it on a cold rainy day for dinner as nothing offers comfort to an Cold day than a cauldron of soup bubbling away on the stove top , sharing the heat and aroma with you in the kitchen . Cold rainy days are the perfect time to enjoy a recipe to cosy up to a warm soothing bowl of hot soup and it vanished in seconds from the table

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
garlic	2 tablespoons chopped
Ginger	1 inch piece chopped
mushroom	1/2 cup sliced
Oil	2 tablespoons
capsicum	1/4 cup juliens
carrots	1/4 cup juliens
Beans	1/4 cup juliens
chicken	3/4 cup – minced
Stock or water	4 cups
light soya sauce	2 tea spoon
cornflour	1 teaspoon
salt and pepper	salt and pepper
Vinegar	1 teaspoon
ajinomoto	1/4 teaspoon ( optional )

Method

Heat oil add garlic , ginger and sauté till light brown .
Add all the vegetables , chicken and stock or water . Cook till vegetables and chicken are cooked .
Add soya sauce , vinegar , salt and pepper to taste ,ajinomoto and cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoon of water . Cook on low flame for 5 minutes stirring constantly .
Serve hot .
Vegetarians can omit chicken and can add celery and more leafy vegetable instead following the same recipe .

Ingredients for Fried Noodles

1 packet par boiled chinese eggnoodles Drained and Dried on a kitchen towel

Ingredients	Quantity
cornflour	1/4 cup
maida	1/4 cup
Salt	to taste
oil	to deep fry

Method to fry noodles

Mix cornflour , maida and salt to taste together .
Sprinkle over the boiled noodles and toss well making sure no moister is left on the noodles .
Heat oil to deep fry . Fry one cup noodles reducing the flame to medium to get crisp and golden colour noodles .
Drain in absorbant paper and repeat with the rest of noodles . To serve , place the fried noodles on a plate beside a hot bowl of soup as each individual can have more or less of the deep fried noodles per taste .
Usually the deep fried crisp noodles is crushed and sprinkled on top of the soup but I like more crisp noodles than just a sprinkle .

Baked peach cheesecake

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Preparation Time : 15-20 minutes

Cooking Time : 35-40 minutes

Serving : 8-10 members

Description

Dessert is always made at home only on festive days , special occasions , guests around or kids coming home . I always have two moods when it’s about desserts . One is to try out the most awaited interesting dessert recipes I have been waiting to try out or Russell up a dessert with ingredients that’s been in my pantry for a while to finish it off . The second mentioned has it’s risk factor of working either way good or bad . This baked peach cheese cake was made to finish of the tinned peaches that I had in my pantry for quite some time when my kids were here on a holiday . Followed a recipe from the net and tweaked it to my convenience of ingredients at home . Baked , cooled and placed in the refrigerator to be served later . The next evening had my hubbies cousin sister wahida and his niece Faiza visit us at home . I did serve this peach cheese cake along with a spread of nibbles . Not knowing how the dessert tastes with the trial I made to finish off stuff from my pantry , quietly was watching every one eat it . Faiza was the first one to say ” mami this so yum . What’s this ? ” feeling a bit of relief , made sure to serve her another piece of peach cheese cake . This dessert was over in a day and I did get my share to taste but still was not satisfied . Think the thought that the dessert was made to finish off a tin of peaches made me feel so . The following week , I get a call from wahida ( hubby dears cousin sister ) asking for the recipe of the peach cheese cake saying her daughter Faiza is craving for it ever since she ate it that day at your place and my other daughter Zeno is fed up listening to Faiza go gaga about the peach cheese cake and tempting her to the core . I am forced to make this peach cheese cake because of you and I hate it when I am pushed to do things the main reason being my daughters compare me with you . I was like are you serious !!! You really want the recipe of that hassled up cheese cake in my mind . I had deleted the recipe thinking I am not going to make this cheese cake again . Now , I had to search for the recipe and send it over . What else could I do … I did so and made up my mind thinking not everything that tastes good to you is going to be liked by others or any thing that tastes bad to you is not going to be bad for others . Dum me , at times I just loose my mind .. Well … I guess , I am being human actually :-)) .

Ingredients for the Crust

Ingredients	Quantity
Digestive biscuits	12 crushed to a coarse powder
sugar	1/4 cup
Melted butter	4 tablespoons

Ingredients for Filling

Ingredients	Quantity
eggs	2
cream cheese	250 gms softened
sugar	1 Cup
vanilla essence	1/2 teaspoon
peach jam	1 cup+ 1/4 cup ( I used chopped tinned peach's instead for the filling )

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F / 180 degrees Celsius .In a medium size bowl, combine the digestive biscuit crumbs with the sugar and butter. Mix well and place in the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform cake pan / tart pan .
Make sure to press against the sides and bottom of the pan. Set the crust aside keeping it in the refrigerator .Prepare the filling by beating the eggs and cream cheese together.
Add the sugar and vanilla and continue beating until well blended. Add 1/4 cup peach jam and mix until incorporated. Pour mixture into prepared biscuit crust and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.top with remaining 1 cup peach jam. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate overnight. Serve chilled

Sesame masala bread toast

Preparation Time : 30 minutes

Cooking Time : 5-8 minutes

Serving : 2 members

Description

Some times when you come across unique recipes with ingredients that you use in your kitchen nearly every day and go ” why on earth didn’t I think of this genius way to use these daily ingredients before ” . Well this is one such recipe that really shamed me off . I came across this idea through my fellow home chef mubeen sulthanas recipe . Gave it a try and it didn’t work out for me as I burnt the toast while shallow frying them and that was the end of this unique easy toast . But it was there in my mind always popping up every now and then alerting me that you still have this dish pending with out perfecting it . Last week had so much left overs in the refrigerator that I had to come up with a new versatile way to get it down every ones tummies at home as left overs are always considered as old food and no one is ready to eat it when on the table . The mighty sesame masala toast did spark up in mind and pressed for time i just went with my inner gut amusing the recipe . This time I made sure to bake the toast instead of shallow frying them not wanting to commit another flaw again and to come with a healthier version .served it with a bowl of hot soup for a filling dinner . The sesame in the toast added a crunchy bite bursting with flavours and was devoured in no time . Happy me with ticking another dish from my must try and the left overs treating all at home in a well deserved , healthy , eye appealing new way .

Ingredients

Ingredients	Quantity
Bread slices	3
Boiled Potatoes	50 grams
Carrots	15 grams ( 1 1/2 tablespoon) grated
Beans	15 grams ( 1 1/2 tablespoons ) boiled and chopped
Boiled green peas	15 grams ( 1 1/2 tablespoons )
Onion	1 chopped finely
Chat masala powder	1 teaspoon
Cumin powder	1/2 teaspoon
Coriander greens	chopped few
Mint leaves	chopped few
Black salt	a pinch
Cornflour	1 tablespoon
Maida	1 tablespoon
Sesame seeds	1/2 cup
Oil	to brush
Salt + pepper	to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius .Mix boiled potatoes , beans , green peas , grated carrots , chopped coriander green , mint leaves and onions together .
Top with salt , pepper , cumin powder , chat powder and black salt . Mix well together .
Taste and adjust seasoning . Mix cornflour , maida , salt to taste and little water to get a thick paste of coating consistency and set aside .
Apply the potato mix over each bread slice . Spread the flour paste over and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top of the flour paste well .
Press gently so that the sesame seeds stick to the bread slices . Do the same to all the bread slices .
Place the bread slices over a foil lined baking tray . Brush oil over the top of each bread slices and bake for 5-8 minutes until crisp and light golden colour on top . ( check every 3 minutes once as each oven varies in cooking time . ) make sure not to burn the toasts .
Remove and serve with any dip of your choice .

Notes

can add any filling of choice ( non – veg also ) but a pasty filling not a dry one