Kashta Kachori

Ingredients

All-purpose flour: 2 cups

Salt: To taste

Oil: For frying

For stuffing

Split green gram dal (Moong dal): 1 cup

Ghee: 2-3 tsp

Ginger paste: 1 tsp

Green chili paste: ½ tsp

Asafoetida: A pinch

Turmeric powder: ¼ tsp

Coriander powder: 1 tsp

Cumin powder: ¼ tsp

Red chili powder: 1 tsp

Fennel seeds powder: ½ tsp

Lemon juice: 1 tsp

Salt: To taste

Add caption

Method

Soak split green gram dal for 3-4 hours.

Sift flour and salt in a bowl. Add 2 tsp of ghee and mix well. Knead into soft dough using sufficient water. Cover with a moist cloth and set aside.

Coarsely grind soaked green dal. Heat ghee in a pan and add ground dal, ginger, green chilli, asafoetida, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder and fennel powder. Cook till all the moisture dries. Add salt and lemon juice, mix well and remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Divide the dal mixture into 20 equal portions. Divide the flour dough also into 20 equal sized balls. 

Roll them into small puris and place a portion of stuffing in the centre and bring the edges together to form a ball. Lightly press them with your palms to make thick puris.

Heat oil in pan. Deep fry kachoris on a low flame till golden brown.

Serve with tamarind chutney or tomato ketchup.

Panko Lamb Chops

Ingredients
Thick bone-in lamb chops: 2
Panko breadcrumbs: ½ cup
All-purpose flour: ¼ cup
Grated Parmesan cheese: 2 tsp
Minced Italian Parsley: 1 tsp
Eggs: 2
Salt: To taste
Black pepper: To taste
Oil: 5-6 tsp

Method
Preheat the oven to 400⁰ F.

Season lamb chops with salt and black pepper and set aside.

Mix Panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan, parsley and salt. Keep flour in one bowl, beaten eggs in another and the Panko mixture in another bowl.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 3 tablespoons of oil over medium high flame. Roll the lamb chops first in the flour, then in the egg and lastly in the Panko mixture. Make sure to coat the chops evenly. Add the chops to the pan and cook till golden brown and crispy on each side.

Remove the chops from the pan to a baking sheet. Cook the chops in the oven, uncovered, for about 12-15 minutes. Serve the crisp and juicy lamb chops with slices of onion.

Crispy Chicken Strips

Ingredients
Boneless chicken breasts: 6 (sliced in strips)
Spicy mustard: ½ cup
Breadcrumbs: 2-3 cups
All-purpose flour: ½ cup
Italian Seasoning: 1 tsp
Garlic powder: 1 tsp
Water: 2 tsp
Salt: To taste
Pepper: 1 tsp
Oil: For frying

Method
Heat oil in a pan. Mix flour, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the spicy mustard and water. In another bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Roll all the chicken strips one by one, in the flour mixture first, and then in the mustard mixture and then in breadcrumbs, and deep fry in oil till golden brown.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients
Butter: ½ cup
Peanut butter: ½ cup
Sugar: 1 cup
Egg: 1
All-Purpose flour: 1 ¼ cup
Salt: ¼ tsp
Baking powder: ½ tsp

 

Method
Whisk together butter, peanut butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. 

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into batter and refrigerate the mixture for one hour.

Roll the mixture into equal size 12 balls and flatten them lightly with your palms and put on a greased baking sheet. Make criss-cross pattern with a fork. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F for 10 minutes or till the cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

Rava Dosa

Ingredients

Rice flour: 2 cups
Rava/ Semolina: 1 cup
All-purpose flour: ½ cup
Salt: To taste

Chopped onion: ¼ cup

Mustard seeds: ½ tsp

Chopped green chili: ½ tsp

Pepper corn: 5-6

Cumin seeds: ½ tsp

Chopped curry leaves: 1 tsp

Chopped ginger: ½ tsp

Chopped coriander leaves: 2-3 tsp

Oil and ghee 

Method

Mix the rice flour, all-purpose flour, semolina and salt well. Add water and prepare a very thin batter, thinner than the normal dosa batter. 

 

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add curry leaves, chopped onion, chopped green chili, chopped ginger, pepper corn and chopped coriander. Saute till the onion turns translucent and then add this seasoning to the batter.

Heat the tawa well.  Rava dosa cannot be spread like ordinary dosa from the middle to the sides, so take one ladle full of batter and spread it on the hot tawa starting from the sides and finishing off in the middle. Sprinkle ½ tsp of oil and ½ tsp of ghee on the sides. When it becomes golden brown turn it over. Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Falafel

Ingredients
Dried chickpeas: 1 cup
Dried fava beans: ½ cup
Chopped onion: 1 cup
Chopped parsley: 3-4 tsp
Chopped coriander: 3-4 tsp
Garlic cloves: 5-6
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Red chili powder: 1 tsp
Cumin powder: ½ tsp
All-purpose flour: 2 tsp
Salt: To taste
Oil: For frying

Falafel stuffed in pita bread

Soaked chickpeas

Soaked fava beans

Mixture

Falafel

Method
Soak chickpeas and fava beans overnight. Drain chickpeas and fava beans and grind it with garlic, onion, coriander, parsley, cumin, coriander powder, salt and chili powder, without adding water.  Transfer the thick mixture to a bowl and add all-purpose flour. Mix everything well and make small balls from the mixture and slightly flatten them between your palms. Deep fry them in oil till golden brown and serve falafels hot.

I serve falafels sometimes as an appetizer with hummus and tahini and often I stuff it in pita bread along with lettuce, tomatoes, tahini, salt and pepper. Yesterday evening, I used them instead of patties and served them in burger and my hubby loved it :)

You can follow tahini recipe here: http://arjunpurikitchen.blogspot.com/2011/09/hummus-and-tahini.html

Cauliflower 65

Trust me when I came across the word Chicken 65 for the first time, I was thinking how a single person can eat so many pieces! But later realised it's just the name and god knows why they gave that name to that dish. So thinking about that yesterday I had prepared Cauliflower 65 and here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

Cauliflower florets: 2 cups
Maida: ¼ cup

Besan: 2 tsp

Ginger-garlic paste: 1 tsp

Ajinomoto: A pinch

Salt: To taste

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

For Seasoning
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Chopped onion: 1

Green chillies: 3

Curry leaves: 2 springs

Chopped coriander: 2-3 tsp

Method

Boil the cauliflower florets in salt water for 5-6 minutes. Drain and keep aside. 

Prepare batter by mixing besan, maida, salt, ginger-garlic paste, chili powder and ajinomoto by adding sufficient amount of water. Let the batter be neither thick nor thin. Dip each florets in the batter and deep fry till golden brown.

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, chopped green chillies, onion and sauté for a minute. Add the fried cauliflower pieces to the seasoning mixture and mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Crispy Cauliflower

Ingredients 

Cauliflower florets: 4 cups

Salt: To taste
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Maida: 1 cup

Ajwain: 1 tsp
Lemon juice: 1 tsp

Yoghurt: ½ cup

Ginger-garlic paste: 3-4 tsp

Garam masala: 1 tsp

Red chilli powder: 2 tsp
Finely chopped coriander: 3-4 tsp

Finely chopped green chillies: 3-4 tsp

Oil: To fry

Method

Boil water and add salt, turmeric powder and cook cauliflower for 10 minutes. Drain and keep aside.

Take a bowl and mix maida, ajwain, lemon juice, yoghurt, ginger and garlic paste, garam masala, chilli powder and salt and prepare a thick batter.

Heat oil in a pan and dip each cauliflower in the batter, coat evenly and deep fry till golden brown. Garnish with green chillies and coriander before serving.

Veg Momos

When my hubby told me that he wants something light for tonight’s dinner, I thought of preparing some Dim Sums. They are light and easy to prepare. I first tasted veg dim sums in 2003 in Bangalore. Trust me, I had not liked them, but had loved the chilli-garlic dip that was given with it. Those dumplings were not steamed properly and the dough was too thick. Later, I had them at a different Chinese restaurant and I absolutely loved them so much so that I started preparing them at home once in a while. The reasons are, they are light, can have lots of vegetables, less oily, steamed plus they are yummy. Dim Sum, a Cantonese delicacy which means “a little bit of heart”, originated in China hundreds of years ago. Oh, let me tell you one more thing, there is no difference between dim sums and momos except for the name! I usually prepare dim sums in three ways – deep fried, pan fried and steamed – depending on my mood and time available. I use different fillings at different times. Usually, I prepare vegetarian dim sums and depending on the availability, I use broccoli, radish, cabbage, cauliflower and sometimes even pineapple. Here is the recipe for veg dim sum I prepared for tonight’s dinner.

Steamed dim sums

Veg Dim Sum 

Ingredients
For Dough

Maida: 1 cup

Salt: ¼ tsp

For Filling

Finely minced any mixed vegetables: ½ cup

Finely chopped onion: ¼ cup

Finely chopped garlic: 1 tsp

Vinegar: ¼ tsp

Pepper powder: ¼ tsp

Olive oil: 1 tsp

Salt: To taste

Method

Add enough water and salt to maida and prepare stiff dough and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add onion and garlic and sauté well. Add vegetables and fry for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the flame and add salt, vinegar and pepper powder.

Roll the dough very thin and cut four inch circles with the help of a bowl. 

Take a round, wet edges and place some vegetable filling in the centre, bring edges together to cover the filling and press to seal it and twist it lightly giving the shape of a dim sum. 

Steam for about 10 minutes and serve hot with hot sauce.

Deep fried dim sums

Deep fried dim sums in a different shape ;)

Eggless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
Maida: 2 ½ cups
Sugar: 2 cups
Unsweetened cocoa powder: ½ cup
Baking soda: 2 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Warm water: 2 cups
Vanilla extract: 2 tsp
Oil: ½ cup
Apple cider vinegar: 2 tsp

For Chocolate Glaze
Sugar: 1 cup
Butter: 8 tsp
Milk: 4 tsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder: 4 tsp
Vanilla extract: 2-3 tsp

Method
In a baking dish, mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Make sure all the ingredients have blended together properly. Add water, vanilla, oil and vinegar and mix all the ingredients properly. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the mixture for about 30 minutes. Later allow the cake to completely cool.

Take a pan and boil sugar, butter, milk and cocoa powder. Stir frequently and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the flame and stir for another 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla, stir and pour onto the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before cutting.

Note: The glaze dries very quickly, so you have to spread it immediately and add any sprinkles.

Vegetable Kebab

Ingredients
Potatoes: 2 medium sized, boiled and peeled
Paneer: 1 cup
Cauliflower: 1 cup
Cabbage: 1 cup
Green chili: 2, finely chopped
Coriander leaves: 2 tsp, finely chopped
Maida: 1 cup
Chili powder: 1 tsp
Ghee: 2 tsp
Salt: As per taste
Water: 1 cup
Oil: For deep frying



Method
Grate the boiled potatoes, paneer, cabbage and cauliflower. Heat ghee in a pan and fry both cabbage and cauliflower for 4-5 minutes. Then add potato, paneer, green chilies and salt. Check the salt at this stage and cook till all the water from the vegetables dries up. Remove from the fire and allow it to cool. Make small balls of the mixture and flatten between your hands and keep aside. Make a batter by mixing maida, ¼ tsp salt, chili powder in 1 cup of water. Heat oil in a frying pan, dip all the kebabs in the maida batter and deep fry them till golden brown. Serve them hot with pudina or tomato sauce.