Muruku for Indian Cooking September Challenge

I think all these event’s actually force me to blog:).August Challenge was Dhokla,though I’ve made it “n” number of times something or the other was always wrong.I was thoroughly impressed with the recipe provided by Srivalli.I actually missed the event but tried the recipe later and it was jes PERFECT! I guess it was the best Dhokla I had ever made.The key to any food is the perfect recipe.Similarly the Muruku’s recipe was wonderful.I made some Muruku’s couple of days back with my own recipe,it was so hard eventually ended up being a disaster.Made them again using Srivalli‘s method and they were just perfect.Thanks to her for super recipes:).So here it comes,crispy Murukus for Indian Cooking September challenge.

Preparation Time : 20 – 30 mins
Cooking Time : 20 – 30 mins
Makes : app 250 kg of Muruku
Cuisine: Andhra & Tamil Nadu

Utensils needed:
Muruku /Chakli Press.
Kadai

Ingredients Needed:

Raw Rice – 4 cups
Urad Dal – 1 cup
Water – app 1/2 cup or more

For Seasoning

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Sesame seeds- 1 tsp
Asafetida/ Hing – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Butter – 75 gms

Method to prepare:

Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr. Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool.
If you are using more quantity, you can get it ground in rice mil, else use your mixie to grind both Rice and Urad dal.

First grind rice into a fine flour, keep it aside. then grind the urad dal to fine powder.

In a wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well. Add cumin, Sesame seeds to the flour, mix well.

Whether you use Asafetida powder or the solid ones, you got to mix it in water, make sure it is dissolved before adding to the flour. If its not dissolved properly, when deep frying the muruku, there are chances for the hing to burst our due to air bubbles.

Mix in the hing to the flour and finally add the butter. Gather everything well and you will get more of a crumbling mixture. Now slowly add water and knead a dough which is little more softer than the puri dough.

Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame.

Take the Muruku Aachu, wash and wipe it clean. Then divide the dough into equal balls. Fill the Muruku maker with the dough. You can either press it directly over the flames or press over a paper and gently slide it down the hot oil. But since the quantity mentioned here is less, you can press it directly over the kadai.

Cook over medium flame, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. You will know by seeing the colour that its cooked. Remove to a kitchen paper and store it in a air tight container.

Verdict – I don’t have words to say…its brilliant!

Vols-au-vent – Daring Baker’s September Challenge

“After one bite we could die and go to heaven” thats what Vols-au-Vent is all about”.

I seem to have been regularly irregular.This Summer has kept me really occupied.I will surely get back soon with a “Bang”,for now its gona be another Daring Baker’s Challenge.I just enjoy being a part of it,the recipes are so perfect and also very challenging.Puff Pastry makes life alot easier,variety of appetizers can be made in a jiffy.I have always wanted to make the pastry dough from scratch.Thanks to Steph for making this happen.These sheets are not available in all the places,atleast am pretty sure its not available in India.So people take out your rolling pins and get ready:)

Never did I realize that it was so easy to make them all by myself.From now on its gona be “No No to ready made Pastry sheets”!!!

The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ Challenge has been chosen by Steph of a whisk and a spoon. Steph chose Vols-au-Vent, which we are pretty sure in French means, “After one bite we could die and go to heaven!”

She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Puff pastry (aka pâte feuilletée) is something most of us usually buy at the grocery store, but in order to be really daring, we should make our own at least once in awhile, right? Kitchens should be getting cooler in the northern hemisphere, and are hopefully still cool-ish in the sourthern hempisphere, so I’m hoping you will all join me in making homemade puff pastry from Michel Richard’s recipe, as it appears in the book Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. With our homemade puff we’ll be forming vols-au-vent cases to fill with anything we chose.

Puff pastry is in the ‘laminated dough” family, along with Danish dough and croissant dough. (In fact, if you participated in the Danish Braid challenge back in June 2008, then you already know the general procedure for working with laminated dough.) A laminated dough consists of a large block of butter (called the “beurrage”) that is enclosed in dough (called the “détrempe”). This dough/butter packet is called a “paton,” and is rolled and folded repeatedly (a process known as “turning”) to create the crisp, flaky, parallel layers you see when baked. Unlike Danish or croissant however, puff pastry dough contains no yeast in the détrempe, and relies solely aeration to achieve its high rise. The turning process creates hundreds of layers of butter and dough, with air trapped between each one. In the hot oven, water in the dough and the melting butter creates steam, which expands in the trapped air pockets, forcing the pastry to rise.

Once we have our puff pastry dough made and chilled, we are going to roll and form a portion of it into vols-au-vent, which are little puff pastry cases designed to hold a filling. I chose vols-au-vent specifically because I think they do a beautiful job of showing off the hundreds of flaky layers in the homemade puff. They can be made large enough for a full meal, or made small for little one-bite canapés, the choice is yours. Vols-au-vent are typically served hot and filled with a creamy savory filling (often poultry or seafood-based), but cold fillings, such as chicken or tuna salad, work, too. Whipped cream or pastry cream with fresh or stewed fruit often goes into sweet versions. If you are stumped for ideas for your filling(s), a quick on-line search or a glance at a traditional French cookbook will give you plenty of things to consider. I have photos of the ones I made near the bottom of this post.

Mandatory parts of the challenge: You must make Michel Richard’s recipe for puff pastry (as seen below), and form at least part of it into vols-au-vent (instructions below).

Optional parts of the challenge: You may make your vols-au-vent large or small, and may fill them with whatever you choose (savory or sweet).

Equipment:
-food processor (will make mixing dough easy, but I imagine this can be done by hand as well)
-rolling pin
-pastry brush
-metal bench scraper (optional, but recommended)
-plastic wrap
-baking sheet
-parchment paper
-silicone baking mat (optional, but recommended)
-set of round cutters (optional, but recommended)
-sharp chef’s knife
-fork
-oven
-cooling rack

Prep Times:
-about 4-5 hours to prepare the puff pastry dough (much of this time is inactive, while you wait for the dough to chill between turns…it can be stretched out over an even longer period of time if that better suits your schedule)
-about 1.5 hours to shape, chill and bake the vols-au-vent after your puff pastry dough is complete
Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent

In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:
-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d’oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

*For additional rise on the larger-sized vols-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to “glue”). This will give higher sides to larger vols-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.

*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

*Shaped, unbaked vols-au-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).
Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Steph’s note: This recipe makes more than you will need for the quantity of vols-au-vent stated above. While I encourage you to make the full recipe of puff pastry, as extra dough freezes well, you can halve it successfully if you’d rather not have much leftover.

There is a wonderful on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book. In it, Michel Richard and Julia Child demonstrate making puff pastry dough (although they go on to use it in other applications). They do seem to give slightly different ingredient measurements verbally than the ones in the book…I listed the recipe as it appears printed in the book. http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that’s about 1″ thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10″ square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with “ears,” or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don’t just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8″ square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24″ (don’t worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24″, everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24″ and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you’ve completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.
Steph’s extra tips:

-While this is not included in the original recipe we are using (and I did not do this in my own trials), many puff pastry recipes use a teaspoon or two of white vinegar or lemon juice, added to the ice water, in the détrempe dough. This adds acidity, which relaxes the gluten in the dough by breaking down the proteins, making rolling easier. You are welcome to try this if you wish.

-Keep things cool by using the refrigerator as your friend! If you see any butter starting to leak through the dough during the turning process, rub a little flour on the exposed dough and chill straight away. Although you should certainly chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns, if you feel the dough getting to soft or hard to work with at any point, pop in the fridge for a rest.

-Not to sound contradictory, but if you chill your paton longer than the recommended time between turns, the butter can firm up too much. If this seems to be the case, I advise letting it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to give it a chance to soften before proceeding to roll. You don’t want the hard butter to separate into chuncks or break through the dough…you want it to roll evenly, in a continuous layer.

-Roll the puff pastry gently but firmly, and don’t roll your pin over the edges, which will prevent them from rising properly. Don’t roll your puff thinner than about about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick, or you will not get the rise you are looking for.

-Try to keep “neat” edges and corners during the rolling and turning process, so the layers are properly aligned. Give the edges of the paton a scooch with your rolling pin or a bench scraper to keep straight edges and 90-degree corners.

-Brush off excess flour before turning dough and after rolling.

-Make clean cuts. Don’t drag your knife through the puff or twist your cutters too much, which can inhibit rise.

-When egg washing puff pastry, try not to let extra egg wash drip down the cut edges, which can also inhibit rise.

-Extra puff pastry dough freezes beautifully. It’s best to roll it into a sheet about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick (similar to store-bought puff) and freeze firm on a lined baking sheet. Then you can easily wrap the sheet in plastic, then foil (and if you have a sealable plastic bag big enough, place the wrapped dough inside) and return to the freezer for up to a few months. Defrost in the refrigerator when ready to use.

-You can also freeze well-wrapped, unbaked cut and shaped puff pastry (i.e., unbaked vols-au-vent shells). Bake from frozen, without thawing first.

-Homemade puff pastry is precious stuff, so save any clean scraps. Stack or overlap them, rather than balling them up, to help keep the integrity of the layers. Then give them a singe “turn” and gently re-roll. Scrap puff can be used for applications where a super-high rise is not necessary (such as palmiers, cheese straws, napoleons, or even the bottom bases for your vols-au-vent).

Since I could come up with my own fillings,I made them into different shapes.

Heart shaped ones filled with roasted nuts and sprinkled with Chocolate sauce

Cream Cheese and Jalapenos filling

Larger size with stir fried beans and cheese topping

Stuffed with spicy vegetables

Verdict – As the names says,”After one bite we could die and go to heaven”.Its a perfect appetizer/snack for all occasions.It goes well with practically anything.I love it,love it,love it!!!!

Crispy Onion Rings and FIC reminder!

Two more days to go for FIC – Express your Mood.I have been wondering now for a while about the nature of the event, was it complex?.My apologies to my fellow bloggers if they have found it a li’l complex,however that wasn’t my intention.I really wanted to kindle the creative instincts in each one of us.In any case, I thank the people who have shown interest and I must say am indeed impressed with your innovation.Am looking forward to more entries for the event.

Have you seen “What about Bob”? or its remake the tamil movie “Tenali”.Its about this main character who fears about anything and everything,be it crossing the road,heights,water basically he is someone with multiple phobias. I feel embarrassed to admit but I do,I have some too,though I feel phobias is a very big a word to use,I would say am scared of certain things be it darkness,heights or water.Two weeks back we had been to Wisconsin Dells which is the “Waterpark Capital of the World”.The name says it all,it was water rides and dry rides everywhere.Me not being a ride person,wasn’t too keen on this trip.But P wanted to visit this place and hence the plan was made.We tagged along with our eight other friends and it was surely a fun filled trip.I was ready for any group activities/group rides but nothing alone,I am not all that brave and daring.sigh! I was scared even of Go Karting…can you beat that??? Huh! That’s me.

I thoroughly fell in love with the Dippin’ dots Icecream which i tried there – they are icecream snacks , very tiny beads of icecream,shaved ice and yogurt.I took this pic from the net,this is how they look.

They come in different flavors chocolate,cookie dough,vanilla,banana split and bubble gum to name a few.The craze for this continued even after I got back from the trip.I looked for this icecream on the net,found the nearest location,with few other friends I ended up going and to my surprise it was not a shop but jes an vending machine inside a movie theatre.What amused me was the fact that the details of a small vending machine was available on the net.Wow!!!!

Onion rings are my all time fav appetizer.I have had them in “n” number of places but the best one would always be in Applebees.Tried this out at home, keeping the taste in mind and I was very excited,it was jes perfect!

Prep time – 5 min
Start to finish – 15mins
Servings – 2 to 3 (as an appetizer)

Ingredients:

White Sweet Onion – 1 large sliced into ½” thick pieces and separated into individual rings.
Buttermilk – 1 ½ Cups
All Purpose Flour/Maida – 1 ½ cups
Breadcrumbs – ½ cup
Black Pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Oil – for frying
Salt – as per taste

Method:

Soak the Onion rings in buttermilk for about 20 – 30mins. Mix all the dry ingredients together except for the bread crumbs which has to be kept in a wide plate separately. Heat oil in a wok/skillet.Take one ring at a time,coat them with the flour,dip it again onto the buttermilk and coat it back with the flour,immediately drop them onto the breadcrumbs,coat it well and drop them in hot oil and fry until golden crown. Don’t crowd them in the fryer.Use paper towel to drain off the excess oil.Serve hot with any sauce.

Note: Soaking the rings in buttermilk for long might end with sour onion rings,so be careful.Adding breadcrumbs surely makes a difference in the taste,however this can be avoided.As the flour by itself will make the rings crispy,but adding crumbs might help it stay crispier for a li’l long than usual. Dropping them one by one for frying might be a li’l time consuming,instead keep about 5 to 6 rings ready and fry them at once,in the meanwhile keep the next batch ready.

Verdict : Its simple awesome….i have no other words to say:)

Sending this to CLICK Allium hosted by Jugalbandhi,FIC Express your mood hosted by me and to WYF – Fried Snack hosted by EC.

Bourbon Biscuits and am back!!!!

Okie…am back,not that I ever left,am back to the blogging world! I thought I would take a moment today to welcome myself back from a long and a wonderful vacation.Am I happy or sad???? Well,I have mixed feelings,feeling bad coz am missing my family,happy coz am back to my space,my sweet home. It was a long long….very long vacation,huh and its over now!

As it is said,”If you come as happy as you leave,you have had a good vacation”.I am thoroughly happy to get back,whatever it is end of the day you really wana get back to your den!. Have you heard this one too – “No one needs a vacation more than the person who just had one”.So am ready,P wat say,eh?

Few bloggers thought I disappeared, few kept checking on me…felt nice with all responses.Thanks a lot for stopping by my blog even in my absence. To kick off,I decided to make something sweet, which is actually both P’s & my favourite – Bourbon Biscuits.Does it ring a bell??? Yeah this is the one which is like a sandwich biscuit consisting of two thin dark chocolate biscuits with a chocolate cream filling.This one was one of my all time fav as a kid,I remember licking the cream inside first and then have the biscuit. It surely is a hit amongst kids.The chocolaty color makes this all the more appealing:)

This is P’s cousins recipe, I believe she learnt baking before her wedding and his Aunt collated all the recipes n gave it to me during my visit this year.I did change a li’l as per requirement.

Ingredients –

All Purpose Flour/Maida – 1 cup
Sugar – 1/3 cup
Butter – ¼ cup
Baking Soda – 1/4tsp
Honey – 1tsp(optional)
Baking Powder – 1 tsp
Cocoa – 3 tsp
Vanilla Essence – 2tsp
Cold milk – 3-4 tbsp

For Filling(Butter icing)-

Butter – 1/4cup
Icing Sugar – 1/3 cup
Cocoa – 1 tsp
Vanilla Essence – a few drops

Method:

Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add essence,honey and Baking Soda and blend well.Sieve the Flour with Cocoa and baking powder.Mix the Flour to the creamed mixture and form a soft dough.Add cold milk to this dough.Roll out the prepared dough on a board(You may use a li’l flour for dusting) and cut with a biscuit cutter(I cudn’t find mine,hence used a knife to cut into rectangles).Prick on top of the cut shapes with a toothpick and sprinkle sugar.Place on a greased and floured baking tray and bake at 355F for 8-10mins.Cool it for 2mins before using the filling.

For the filling:

Mix all the filling ingredients to a smooth paste.Sandwich the biscuits with this chocolate butter icing.

Brown is one of my fav colors too,hence this recipe perfectly fits in for FIC:Favourite.So here it goes to Curry Leaf who is hosting this event originally started by Harini of Tongueticklers.

Except for the baking,which is less than 10min this one is an easy stuff to make.So off it goes to 15 minutes cooking,hosted by Mahima of the Indian Vegetarian Kitchen.

I have missed alot of awards,i did see messages from alot of them about the same.Am yet to check and accept,however would like to thank each and every individual for having thought about me & passing it to me.Thanks a bunch!

Easy Coconut Macaroons and awards

While making Coconut Macaroons yesterday, I was thinking about my Dad.After a good meal,he would go to the kitchen and ask my Mom “ Wats there to eat”? He actually meant something to munch or savories. We call it “Norukuthini” in Tamil.I wud ask “ Wats there to Norukufy”? (jes a modernized way of calling it).Mom used to get wild at times as we would have jes finished our dinner.My Bro and me wud end up laughing:).The funniest part are the things that he would enjoy eating – If he din’t find anything like a Muruku,Mixture or cookies, he would scrape li’l coconut and eat it with sugar,Toasted Peanuts/Cashewnuts/Pistachios or even as simple as milk powder. Things haven’t changed even now!

Similarly,once P gets back from work he looks around in the kitchen to “norukufy” something:-P.I try and make different stuff for him and this was the easiest I could think of making yesterday.

Ingredients:

Shredded coconut – 2 ¾ cup (I used sweetened coconut)
Sweetened condensed Milk – ¾ cup
Vanilla extract/essence – 1 tsp
Salt – a pinch

Method :

1.Mix all the ingredients together
2.Use an Ice cream scoop or spoon to drop the mixture onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 325F (preheated)for about 15 min or until golden brown. Cool it before munching:-D

Prep Time – 5 mins apart from the baking time.
Serving – Makes around 25-30 small Macaroons.

I also used Hershey’s Chocolate syrup on top of the macaroons.P doesn’t prefer this much,so jes made a few for myself.Few even add eggs to the recipe.Let me know if anyone has tried that.

Varsha of Will–O’-the–Wisp has passed on this award.This is my second one,feels so good!

Also, Mahimaa of the Indian Vegetarian Kitchen has passed on the above mentioned award.Thanks Mahimaa!
And I would like to pass on both these awards to Ramya of Maneadige,Mangala of Recipes24x7,Vidhas of Appetizing recipe,Trupti of Trupti’s Food Corner,Nags of Edible Garden,Varsha of Will-O’-the-wisp,Hema of Adlak’s Kitchen,Asha,Harini of Sunshinemom and Lubna of Yummy Food.

This goes to the “Just for you” event organized by Alka of Sindhirasoi.

Last but not the least,this is also off to Varsha of Will-O’-the-Wisp event Recipe for the rest of us – Dessert originally started by Ramki of One Page Cookbooks.

Onion Pakoda

If Potlucks are based on a theme, it makes it all the more fun…something to do with a particular region,the same color,same cuisine,ethnic food,Americanized Indian food etc.My personal favourite would be one revolving around a particular vegetable/ingredient…eg – Potato,Eggplant ,Pepper. I also prefer the Indianized American food or vis-à-vis …….there is so much to do.While browsing I came across an interesting theme which is calling it “The Best Story dish” meaning whatever dish is brought it should have an interesting story behind it,as to how it was created,when was it made,where was it tried etc. I will keep this in mind,when I host the next Potluck!

Today at my Husband’s work place, there was a Potluck lunch organized with the clients. There were people from this country, Latin America and India. So I had to think of something which would suit everyones taste buds .I decided on Appetizers and what could be more better than our very own Onion Pakodas.

Ingredient-

Onion – 2 large thin sliced
Besan – 2tbsp
Rice Flour – 1tsp
Corn Flour – 1 tsp
Green chillies- 2 finely chopped
Red chilli powder – 1tsp
Curry leaves – few
Mint/ Pudina Leaves – Optional (few leaves)
Asafoetida powder/hing- A pinch
Oil – for deep frying
Salt to taste

Method :-

1.In a large vessel, mix Onions,asafoetida(hing) and salt. Keep it aside for 10mins…this is something like marinating it.
2. Add green chillies,chilli powder,curry leaves and Pudina leaves.Mix well.
3.Heat oil in a kadai. In the meanwhile add besan ,cornflour and rice flour to the above .By default the Onions would have left some water as they were marinated with salt, so excess water wouldn’t be required to make the mixture.The flours should just stick to the Onions.
4. Take the mixture in hand and sprinkle them onto the hot oil.
5.Deep fry the pakodas .Crispy Pakodas are ready to eat.

If the besan is added well in advance, the Pakoda’s turn out to be a li’l soggy.Mint/Pudina leaves is optional. If we are left with excess mixture, we tend to refrigerate and use it later, but this recipe doesn’t hold good for that. The entire mixture should be used at once, else it gets soggy instead of crispy.

These crispy Pakodas are off to Trupti‘s Winter Treat Event

Dabeli

Long back, I was in Mumbai on an official visit.At about 1 in the morning,a friend of mine picked up Dabeli’s from the cafeteria…..it looked like Vada Pav to me….I din’t even know what “Dabeli”was.I saw the cafeteria guy make it in front of me and got a hang of the recipe.Jes to check on it, i spoke to my friend’s mom who shared her method. I also found an interesting version of the same in Tarla Dalal’s site….I tried her recipe with a l’il bit of addition and deletion which is mentioned below.

After coming here, I started cooking alot.I guess thats one good time pass too.
All of a sudden, I decided to make this to please my husband:-P.They say “The best way to get into a man’s heart is through his stomach”…and I think I already made my way:-)

Ingredients:-

Dabeli Masala

Jeera – 1/2 tsp
Dhania(coriander seeds)- 1/2 tsp
Red Chillies – 3
Cinnamon – 1 an inch length
Cloves – 1

Roast the above in a dry Kadai and grind it to a fine powder.

Filling

Potato – 1 large (Boiled and mashed )
Dabeli Masala – 1 tbsp
Jeera – 1/2 tsp
Cilantro/Coriander leaves – li’l
Tamarin & Dates chutney (Imly & Khajur chutney)- 1tbsp
Asafoetida -a pinch
Oil – 3 tbsp
Salt – as per the taste

1.Heat oil in a kadai.Add cumin seeds,Asafoetida,Potato & Dabeli Masala.
2.Saute well.Add salt & 1/4th cup water
3.Add the Tamarin & Dates Chutney,mix well and switch of the flame.
4.Add Cilantro/ Coriander leaves too.

Also required –

Hamburger buns/Pavs – 4
Oil/Butter – 2tbsp

Onions – 1 cup finely chopped
Sev – 1 cup
Roasted peanuts – 1/2 cup
Cilantro/Coriander leaves – for garnishing
Pomegranate seeds – 1/4cup
Garlic Chutney – 1 tbsp
Tamarin & Dates chutney (Imly & Khajur chutney) – 2 tbsp

Keep all the above ingredients ready

1. Slice the Pav/hamburger buns into half(Similar to Pav Bhaji’s Pav),apply butter on both sides and toast it on a pan.
2. On the lower half of the Bun/Pav, place one spoon full of the filling,peanuts,Onions,Pomogranate,Tamarin Chutney,garlic chutney,Cilantro/coriander leaves.Close it with the other half Pav/Bun.This would look like a sandwich.
6.Sprinkle Sev on the top and sides.

Hot Dabeli is ready to eat.Its definetly a sweetish dish.I have never found this anywhere else other than Mumbai:-) I am not quite happy with the pic,will change once I take a better one.