CHANA USLI.(BLACK CHICKPEA USLI)

CHANA USLI: ( Black chickpea usli)

Chana Usli is an extremely healthy option which can be had at any time of the day. I could eat it along with breakfast or as a midday snack or even during tea time. We generally make this as prasad for festivals. Since it is healthy I make it very often especially as a teatime snack.  I use the black chickpea variety, you can also use the kabuli chana or the normal chickpea.

You’ll need:

Black chickpea(black chana): 1 cup (soaked overnight and then boiled)

Grated coconut: 1/4 cup

Dry Red chillies: 3-4 nos

Jeera powder: 1/2 teaspn

Corriander powder: 1/2 teaspn

Oil: 1/2 tablespn

Salt: to taste

mustard seeds: 1/2 teaspn

cumin seeds: 1/2 teaspn

Asafoetida: a pinch

curry leaves: 4-5 nos.

fresh corriander: 2 tablespns

Procedure:

Soak the chana overnight and pressure cook it till they are soft with a pinch of salt added to it.

In a wok, heat  some oil, add mustard and cumin seeds to it. Let them splutter then add red chillies, curry leaves and a dash of asafoetida. Add boiled chana and mix it properly. Add Jeera, corriander powder and salt to taste. Please note that a small amount of salt has already been added to the chana whilst boiling. mIx it thourougly and then add freshly grated coconut and garnish it with some corriander and usli is ready in a jiffy!!

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CORNFLAKES-CRISPIES

Cornflakes- Crispies:

This is a very crunchy munchy affair and belive me you wouldn’t stop at a single helping. It’s an easy to make snack and tastes heavenly with a hot cuppa chai!!

Basically you can fry all the varieties of rice, sabudana (sago) crispies, fryums etc and mix it with the cornflakes. The cornflakes used here are without any flavour, the plain variety. So go ahead and try this easy to make recipe..I’m sure the kids will love this.

I also try this recipe with Khakras, especially the masala ones. Tastes awesome!!!

You’ll need:

Cornflakes: 1 cup (plain variety)

Crispies: as much as you like and any variety.

Rice Flakes (Poha-paper thin): 1 cup (microwaved to make them crisp)

Dry coconut pieces: 1/2 cup cut into long slices

Curry leaves: 8-10 nos.

Groundnut: 2 table spoons

Red chillies: 5-6 nos.

Mustard seeds: 1 teaspn

Cumin (Jeera) : 1 teaspn

Jeera powder: 1/2 teaspn

corriander powder: 1/2 teaspn

Salt to Taste

Asafoedita ( hing): a pinch

Turmeric: 1/2 teaspn

Sugar: 1/2 teaspn

Oil: to fry the cornflakes and crispies and for tadka.

Procedure:

In a wok, fry the crispies first and then the cornflakes and transfer these to a dish with tissue paper to soak extra oil. In the remaining oil, add mustard and cumin and let them splutter. To this add, asafoedita, groundnuts and let the groundnuts turn a little reddish. Once done,  add dry coconut pieces, and wait till the pieces turn a little yellowish. Add curry leaves and red chillies and keep stirring  for a while.  Switch of the gas and then add turmeric, sugar, salt, jeera and coriander powder. Let this mixture cool.

In a large bowl, mix the drained cornflakes and break the crispies to the size of cornflakes. Add the above mix to it and mix it with hand carefully and lightly, taking care not to powder the crispies. That’s it, the snack is ready. You can serve this snack with some nice hot chai. Enjoy your evening…

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LET’S CHAAT!!!!

‘Let’s Chaat!!’

This whole week has been very dull and gloomy. Thanks to the weather depression, it’s really got me depressed. It’s been raining the whole day, getting out is an ordeal. I haven’t been able to go for my evening walks also, so no breath of fresh air.. Finally not being able to withstand, I called it ‘enough is enough’ and thought will spice up my life. I had picked up a packet of golguppas (small fluffed up puris) from a shop. I eventually ventured into making some chaat at home. At first I didn’t realize the amount of hidden work involved, but by the end of it, I guess it was worth every bit. The best part is the chutneys made can be stored in bottles and can be used whenever in mood for some more chaat. That means many more evenings to chaat..

I made some Pani Puri and some Sev Puri. Thankfully,I didn’t have churmuri at home or else in that fit of excitement would have tried Bhel Puri also.

Pani Puri:

I relish pani puris simply because they are very light on the stomach and ‘no one can eat just one’:)…You just can’t stop at one plate and keep asking for more. Actually that’s what happened at home.. I felt like a Thela walla, kept dipping puris and serving, my great husband just never stopped gulping one puri after another. I finally had to call it quits.

So here’s to add up some spice to your life on those sultry days:

Pani Puri and Sev Puri

For Pani Puri you’ll need 2 types of chutneys, the tamarind-dates chutney and the pudina (mint) chutney (pani), moong dal stuffing and some grated carrots, onions and corriander for garnishing.

Tamarind-Dates chutney: (Meetha chutney)

Tamarind: ½ cup (soaked for 2 hrs)

Dates: ½ cup (soaked for 2 hrs)

Jaggery: ¼ cup (according to your taste)

Cumin (Jeera) powder: ½ teaspn

Salt: to taste.

Soak the tamarind and dates for 2 hours and grind this pulp in a mixie. In a wok, add tamarind-dates paste and some jaggery . You can decide on the amount of jaggery to suit your taste. Add some cumin powder and salt. Let it boil till this whole mix thickens up. You can further strain it in to a bottle when cooled.

To dissolve the jaggery faster, you can also soak the jaggery for sometime into water and add this water to the mix.

Pudina chutney: (Pani)

Pudina: 6-8 leaves

Green chillies: 1

Corriander: 1 tablespn.

Salt : to taste

Fresh lime juice: 1 tablespn.

Everest Pani Puri Masala: 1 tablespn (you can add more, for tangy taste)

Chilled water: 3-4 cups

Grind all the ingredients in a mixie. In a bowl, add 3-4 cups of cold(fridge) water. To this add 1 tablespn of pudina chutney, salt and Pani Puri masala and stir. Let this liquid be a little tangy.

Dal Stuffing:

Moong dal: 1 cup (boiled)

Potato: 1 (boiled and mashed)

Salt: to taste

Chaat Masala: to taste

Mix all the ingredients and fill a teaspn of this stuffing into the puris.

Garnishing:

Grated carrot: ½ cup

Chopped onion: ¼ cup

Corriander: ¼ cup

Serving:

Take the dal stuffed puri, add the garnish mix ,1 teaspn tamarind-dates chutney into the puri and dip the puri in the pudina chutney liquid (pani) and serve it. You can also arrange the chutney and pani and puris in a plate and ask people to help themselves. This way you’ll save a lot of trouble for yourself:)..For sev puri, arrange all the dal stuffed puri on a plate and add the 2 chutneys to it and top it with some crispy sev. Garnish it with garnish mix mentioned and serve.

These chaats can really spruce up your mood. Nothing like having a nice hot spicy chaat on a rainy day.

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SAGO CUTLETS (SABUDANA WADA):

SAGO CUTLETS (SABUDANA WADA):

sago cutlets

This was a trial and error recipe for me. I had soaked some sago overnight to make some yummy sabudana khichdi. I actually forgot to drain the extra water from the sago and when I checked the sago in the morning they were over soaked and soggy. I definitely couldn’t make the khichdi out of this. That’s when it struck me that maybe I could try my favorite sabudana wada. It’s actually a maharashtrian dish and I’m very sure that everyone will relish it. It was a good attempt and the wadas turned out to be very crispy and delicious. Generally cucumber is never added to this wada, since I had already grated to make some khichdi, I ended up using it in the wada and the taste was good.

You’ll need:

Sago -1 cup soaked and drained.

Chilies: 2 nos

Cucumber grated: ¼ cup

Roasted peanut powder: ¼ cup

Curry leaves: 4 nos

Jeera (cumin) powder: 3/ 4 tablespn.

Jeera (cumin): 1 teaspn

Salt: to taste

Coriander: 1 teaspn

Oil: to fry

Since I had over soaked the sago, I had to coat the sago patty with some maida and then fry it to prevent the cutlet from sticking to the pan.

Procedure:

In a wok, heat some oil. Add the full cumin to the oil and add chopped chillies, curry leaves and cucumber and sauté for a while. Once the cucumber is cooked, add roasted peanut powder, cumin powder and salt. To this add the soaked and drained sago and mix well and leave it on a simmer to cook well. Keep mixing and checking to avoid the base from getting burnt. Once this mix is cooled, you can make small patties and deep fry them and voila the cutlets are ready.

Generally these cutlets are served with sweet yogurt. They also taste great with some tomato sauce.

When its raining pouring outside, all you could do is have some crispy sago cutlets and steaming hot tea. Now that’s what I call bliss.

This is my contribution to Monthly Mingle:High tea treats hosted by Aparna and

and Meeta Monthly Mingle:High tea treats.

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GARLIC BREAD

Garlic Bread:

GARLIC BREAD

It was raining pouring one evening last week and I had the urge to eat some nice hot garlic bread from Pizza Hut. Ravi was in a call and I couldn’t go out by myself. So I decided to try it at home and quickly went thru all the recipes on the net to check how Garlic bread is made. Finally found one and I think we emptied the whole loaf of bread in no time. I tried the simple variety and called the other one Garlic Bread Exotica (with all veggies) a la Pizza hut Ishtyle:)

You’ll need:

Plain bread slices: 4 nos.

 Melted butter: 1 tablespn

 Olive oil: 2 teaspn

Garlic: 2 pods crushed

Salt: to taste

Pepper: a pinch

Oregano: a pinch

Tomato: 2 tablespn (finely diced)

 Onion: 2 tablespn (finely diced)

Capsicum: 2 tablespn (finely diced)

 Cheeza (cheese for pizza or mozzarella): 2 tablespn grated.

Procedure:

 In a bowl, mix melted butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed garlic and oregano thoroughly. Apply this mix on both the sides of the bread. Sprinkle tomato, onions and capsicum and top it with some mozarella cheese. Preheat the oven and keep these slices in the oven and bake them at 160 deg C for 6-8 min with heat only from the top. For the simple garlic bread, continue the same procedure minus the veggies. Voila, here’s yummy garlic bread for you.

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BENNE BISCUITS (BUTTER BISCUITS):

BENNE BISCUITS (BUTTER BISCUITS):

Benne Biscuit

 

This was an experiment to try my own dishes in the oven. I had no clue of the time and temperature.. So just crossed my fingers and gave it a shot. It is also one of the easiest recipe to bake especially for the beginners. The result was nice, crisp, golden coloured biscuits just right with a hot cuppa chai!! My mum bakes these biscuits in the pressure cooker (basically any hard bottomed container) as she doesn’t have an oven. All she does is half fills the cooker with sand and allows the sand to get heated up sufficiently. She then places an aluminium plate of pedas on this sand and bakes it. The biscuits done this way also turn out to be very crisp. 

 You’ll need:

Maida or all purpose flour: 1 cup

Sugar: ½ cup (finely ground)- you can add more sugar if you need them sweeter.

Unsalted butter: ¼ cup (you can also use Amul nutralite- if you are cholesterol conscious)

Ghee: ¼ cup

Cardamom: 3

Cloves: 3

Nutmeg powder: 1 teaspn (optional) – I haven’t added as I didn’t have one:)

 Procedure:

 Melt the butter and ghee in a container. Meanwhile grind sugar along with cardamom and cloves in your mixie. Once the butter and ghee has melted add sugar mixture to it. Add maida to this mixture spoon by spoon. The whole mixture should turn into a dough (just like the chappati dough). Add little more maida if the dough is still in the liquid form.

Once the dough is ready make small peda like forms and place them in a greased and floured tray. Preheat the oven at 160 deg C and then bake it at 160 deg C for 10 min. Since I wasn’t very sure with the time, I first tried it for 10 min and it worked. You can try poking a tooth pick. Allow the biscuits to stand for 10-15 mins and they’ll be nice and crisp.

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