Tuesday, November 23, 2010

COCONUT CHUTNEY


Ingredients:
Fresh grated coconut – 1 cup
Roasted peanuts – 2 tbsp
Green chilies – 3-4
Ginger – 1 tsp, chopped
Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp, chopped
Curry leaves – 3-4
Salt

For tempering (tadka):
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Asafetida a pinch

Cooking Procedure:
Grind the coconut, peanuts, green chilies, ginger, coriander leaves, curry leaves and salt to a fine paste. Add little water while grinding if required. For tempering, heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splatter, add the cumin seeds. Remove the pan from heat and add the asafetida, till the oil is hot. Pour the tadka over the chutney. You can use this chutney with dosa, dhirde, appe and even sandwiches.

DATE AND TAMARIND CHUTNEY



Ingredients:
Pitted Dates – 1 cup
Tamarind paste – ¼ cup
Jaggery – 1 cup
Water – 4 cups
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Asafetida – a pinch
Salt

Cooking procedure:
Wash the dates properly. Add the dates to a pan, and then add the tamarind paste, jaggery, red chili powder, asafetida, salt and water. Bring this mixture to a boil and cook it for about 20- 25 mins. Then after the mixture is completely cooled, grind it to a fine paste. Strain it and store it in an airtight container. You can store this chutney in the freezer for a month. This chutney can be used to make bhel puri, pani puri, as a topping in many chaats, topping on dahivade.

DAHI VADE


Ingredients:
Urad dal – 3 cups
Moong dal – 1 cup
Yogurt – 5 cups
Green chlies – 4
Ginger – 2”
Sugar – 5-6 tbsp or as required
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Salt
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Date and tamarind chutney – ¼ cup

Cooking Procedure:
Wash the urad dal and moong dal in separate containers till the water runs clear. Soak the urad dals in 8 cups of water and moong dal in 3 cups of water for about 8-9 hours. Then drain the water and grind the dals to a fine paste. Don’t add too much water while grinding. The batter should be little bit thick in consistency. Add salt to the mixture abd whip the batter for 2-3 mins till it becomes little fluffy. To fry the vadas, heat some oil in a pan. I use a flat bottom pan to fry the vadas and add as much oil to cover 2 inch of the pan. To see is the oil is sufficiently hot, add a drop of batter in the oil, and if it comes to the top immediately, that means the oil is ready for frying. Add tablespoon size balls of batter in the oil and fry till golden brown. For one batch of vadas add 5-6 balls of batter in the oil or adjust the number of vadas as per the size of pan. The vadas tend to expand during frying. Fry the vadas on medium heat till golden brown. Fry all the vadas. Take some luke warm in a big bowl and add salt to it. Transfer the fried vadas to the water and leave them for a minute. Gently press the vadas in palm of your hands, to remove the excess water. Keep them aside.
To make the yogurt, grind the ginger and green chilies to a fine paste. Add the chili paste to the yogurt along with sugar, cumin powder and salt. Whisk everything very well. Add little water if the yogurt is very thick. Keep the yogurt in refrigerator to cool.
To serve the dahi vada, place the vadas in the plate and top it with the yogurt and sprinkle little red chili powder on the top. Finally drizzle with some date chutney.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

BREAKFAST PANINI


Ingredients:
Sandwich buns – 2
Eggs – 4
Green chilies – 3-4, chopped
Onion – 2, medium sliced
Tomato – 2, medium sliced
Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
Cheese as required
Salt
Pepper
Butter – 2 tbsp

Cooking Procedure:
First make the omelettes. To make the omelettes take 1 tbsp of water in a bowl. Add salt, black pepper powder and coriander leaves, mix well then add the eggs ( I use 1 whole egg and 1 egg white to make one omelet). Whip everything very well. Then heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and add the egg mixture and spread all over the pan. After one side gets completely cooked, flip the omelet and let the other side cook. Remove the omelet and keep aside.

Prepare the sandwich, apply butter to the outer sides of the snadwich buns. I use alluminium sheet for easy cleanup. On the bottom bun, place the omelette and top it with onion and green chilies.

Place the tomato slices on top of the onions. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

Then add the cheese, I used mexican four cheese mix

Now place the other bun on top of the prepared sandwich and place it in the panini maker. Grill for 4-5 minutes till it has golden brown crust. We like to eat this sandwich with tomato ketchup and ranch.