Pav Bhaji Recipe

I was craving for Pav Bhaji last weekend......So went to a near by bakery just to eat this chat and unfortunately Pav bhaji was not there on that particular day the reason being Pav buns were out of stock so came back home disappointed. The next day I got pav buns(I had vada pavs in mind too as I wanted to click stepwise :)) and pav bhaji was ready at home for the next day breakfast :)

Pav Bhaji Recipe:

Recipe Source : Mangayar Malar

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• Pav buns - 2
• Potatoes - 2
• Tomatoes - 2
• Peas - 1/4 cup
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Pav bhaji masala - 1 tbsp
• Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
• Cooking oil - 1 tsp
• Butter - 2 tbsp
• Onions - 1 chopped finely
• Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp for garnish
• Lemon - 1/2

Method :

1. Boil the potatoes and peas till it becomes soft. Smash potatoes and keep aside. Grind the tomatoes and take tomato puree, keep aside.
2. Heat oil and 1 butter in a pan, saute the onion(reserve some for garnishing too), add ginger garlic paste and fry till slightly browned. Now add capsicum and saute for 2mins.
3. Add chilly powder, salt to taste and fry for sometime.Now add the tomato puree, and the boiled veggies. Add pav bhaji masala powder
4. Mix well, smash all the veggies well till it becomes mushy and is well blended with the masalas add very little water if required. Simmer for 5 mins and switch off .
5. Toast the buns with remaining 1tbsp butter. Serve the toasted pav buns with bhaji . Garnish onions and sprinkle few drops of lemon. Always serve hot!

My Notes:

• You can also veggies like beans and cauliflower.
• If you dont get pav buns, go ahead with normal milk buns or butter buns
• Chopped tomatoes can be added too. Dont skip chopped onions and coriander leaves while serving.
• The bhaji goes well with toasted bread too.
• Dont skip butter as its the main ingredients which makes this chat tastier

Yummy homemade pav bhaji is ready in minutes. Once ur veggies are boiled and kept ready pav bhaji can be done in a jiffy. Whenever its chat outside I go blindly with either pav bhaji or dahi puri, they are my fav anytime and in my case the craving never ends for chat atleast when it comes to pav bhaji and dahi puri.

This requires no additional chat chutneys so that was another convincing thing that made me go ahead to make this at home :)

Bread Cup Pizza and Bread Channa Cups | Bread Cups

I have seen and tasted cup pizza at Nilgiris and I badly wanted to try it with the normal pizza dough recipe. Fortunately when I saw the bread cup channa chat recipe at Nithis space, I took the idea of bread cups from there and took the short route of making the bread cup pizza :) I also tried the channa in bread cups as in the orginal recipe and I luved both of them. As the cup pizza ingredients are instant and readily available in most of our kitchens, I almost make these cup pizzas everytime I buy bread.

As I have mentioned in this space so many times, I luv bread in any form so this adds another feather to the cap :)

Bread Cup Pizza Ingredients:

• Bread(white or wheat) - 3 slices
• Butter - 1 tsp
• Capsicum - a handful finely chopped
• Onion - a handful finely chopped
• Pizza sauce - 2 tbsp
• Tomato Ketchup - 1 tbsp
• Cheese - 2 tbsp ( as required to cover the topping)

Method:

1. First cut the edges of the bread. Now cut circles using a round cookie cutter or a container lid. Flatten the bread circles using a chappathi roller. Dont try to stretch too much, just flatten a bit.
2. Apply butter slightly on both sides of the circles. Now spread the pizza sauce in the 3 slices and then gently fit in the muffin pan. I didnt grease the muffin pan.
3. As shown in the below pic I left three bread cups empty to bake and then after baking filled it up with channa masala.
4. For the remaining 3 breadcups for making bread cup pizza, add capsicum, onion on top of the pizza sauce. Grate the cheese over it then finally add tomato sauce in each of the cups.
5. Preheat the oven to 190 deg C and bake it for 10-12mins until the bread turns slightly golden brown at the corners.My bread cups were done exactly in 12mins. They were firm and cripsy to hold the filling.

Bread Channa Cups Ingredients:

• Bread(milk or wheat) - 3 slices
• Butter - 1 tsp
• Onion - 1/2 finely chopped
• Chat Chutneys - 1 tbsp in each (optional) - I had no stock so didnt add :)
• Channa Masala - 3 tbsp
• Coriander leaves - 3 tsp

For assembling the Channa Cups:

1. Once the bread cups are done, add channa masala with less gravy as it will make the bread cups soggy.
2. Then add the onions, drizzle the dates and green chutney if you are adding and garnish with coriander leaves.
3. Your bread channa cup chat is ready :)

My Notes:

• The filling is endless you can even add paneer, babycorn , tomato etc as we do for normal pizzas
• If you are using wheat bread, check carefully after 10mins as the browning doesnt show up clearly as in white bread
• If you use milk bread variety then flattening it will crumble the bread so flatten it slightly or even fit it in the muffin pan without flattening it
• It is easy to hold and eat and truely fancy to attract the kids
• You can also use the bread as such with the edges, no need to trim it. It tastes good even with the bread edges, I have tried that way too.

Sweet Corn Soup and Cup Corn Chat

As I always say, I am not a soup person but when it comes to tomato soup and sweet corn soup, I just can break the rule. The sudden change of chill climate makes me crave for something hot and this soup perfectly fits the bill. Its easy and tasty, do try and see.

Sweet Corn Soup Recipe:

Serves 2

Ingredients :

Serves 2

• American Sweet Corn Cob - 1
• Butter - 1/2 tsp
• Water - 1.5 cups
• Pepper - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Corn Flour - 1 tbsp (mix it with 5 tbsp's of water)
• Vegetable Stock - 1/4 cup (optional)
• Soy Sauce - 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Pressure cook the corn for 4-5 whistles or until soft with a cup of water. After the pressure releases, take the corn cobs and shred the kernels completely.
2. Grind the corns kernels with little water say 1/2 cup to a thick paste. Reserve few for garnishing.
3. Add the corn flour with water , mix well without any lumps and keep aside
4. Heat a pan with butter, add the corn paste, allow it to boil for 3mins. Add 1 cup water, vegetable stock(boiled vegetable water), cornflour water paste and mix well. Add required salt.
5. Add soya sauce,pepper and mix well. Allow it to boil for 5-7 mins until the soup is thick. Switch off. Garnish with remaining corn kernels and serve hot with soup sticks or bread.

My Notes:

• Adding soyasauce gives a nice flavour to the soup. If you dont have vegetable stalk just ignore and proceed with the remaining ingredients.
• Adjust water according to the thick consistency of the soup.
• Spring onions can also be added for garnishing
• After adding corn flour the soup thickens faster so adjust water accordingly at this stage.

Cup Corn Chat Recipe:

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• Corn cob - 1
• Butter - 1 tsp
• Garam masala / chat masala powder - 1/2 tsp
• Pepper - a pinch
• Lime juice - 1 tsp
• Salt - for taste

Method:

1. Pressure cook corn cob in water with salt for 5mins or until soft.
2. Once the pressure releases, remove the cobs from water. Shred the corn kernels with a knife in a serving bowl.
3. Add butter, garam masala powder, pepper powder and lime juice to it. Mix well and enjoy.

Vegetable Kati Roll / Kathi Roll | Indian Wrap

Rolls or Wraps or Frankies I like them very much. They are perfect for on the go snacks/breakfast for kids.I had this feeling in mind that making kathi roll was time consuming until I saw the recipe in a TV show. It was well explained and sounded simple to me.So here goes the recipe with minor modifications from the orginal.And now u know how I finished the paneer bhurji :)

Kathi Roll | Indian Wrap Recipe:

Recipe Courtesy:Vijay Tv show

Makes 5-6 kathi rolls

Ingredients:

For parathas:

• Whole wheat flour - 1 1/4 cups
• Maida - 1/4 cup
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Milk - as needed to knead the dough

For the stuffing:

• Mixed vegetables(I used carrot,capsicum and beans) - 3/4 cup (Chop it lengthwise)
• Turmeric pwd - a pinch
• Garam masala powder or chat masala - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger green chilli paste - 1 tsp (Recipe below)
• Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
• Green chutney - few tbsp
• Onion -1 finely sliced
• Olive oil - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method:

To make ginger green chilli paste:

Take a small piece of ginger and 1 green chilli, grind it to a smooth paste with little salt and your ginger green chilli paste is ready :)

To prepare the parathas:

1. Mix salt, wheat flour and maida. Add milk slowly to form a soft dough.
2. Keep covered and let it rest till the stuffing is done

To prepare the stuffing

1. Heat oil, add onions and saute until golden brown.Add ginger chilli paste and saute for a min then add all the veggies, saute for 3mins or until cooked till the veggies are crunchy.
2. Add turmeric, garam masala powder and lemon juice mix well. Cook keeping lid closed for 2more minutes and switch off.

To make it as a wrap:

1. Pinch a lemon sized ball from the dough and flatten it like we do for chapathis. Dust flour if needed.
2. Then heat a dosa pan,once it is hot place the prepared parathas and cook on both sides.Likewise prepare all the parathas and keep aside.
3. At the time of serving, add little oil and toast the prepared parathas . Then spread 1/2 tbsp of green chutney, add a heaped tbsp of stuffing(either paneer bhurji/veg stuffing).
4. Then gently seal it from the bottom then close it tightly from the both the sides(left & right) to form a roll as shown in the pic(Rolling this way avoids stuffing from dropping out)
5. Then wrap the lower part of the parathas with butter paper/silver foil and enjoy ur kati rolls.

I love paneer bhurji in wraps and rolls. So reserved little for this sake itself and made these rolls. You can keep the stuffing in middle and close from oth the sides and prick a tooth pick in the middle and serve but wrapping in the above said method avoids filling from coming out and its easy to hold too :)

The recipe is the same for paneer bhurji too just filling differs and you can find paneer bhurji recipehere.

When I googled to find the orgin of Kathi rolls, found that it orginated from Kolkata where kathi roll is a famous street food.

My Notes :

• The stuffing idea is endless, you can even make chicken vegetable stuffing. You can also makepaneer tikka kathi roll.
• You can make the stuffing and parathas ready the previous night and just assemble the wrap, there you go with your yummy, filling on the go wraps for breakfast. It is a perfect evening snack for kids.
• Serve with tomato sauce or can be had as such itself also. The thickness of each parathas can be slightly thicker also.

And I am sending this to Fast Food NOT Fat food event

Vada Pav Recipe - Step by Step Included

The first time I had vada pavs was during our college tour to Mumbai as my friend suggested to taste it and I just loved it. This is a famous chat item/street food in Mumbai and after that I didnt get chance to taste it anywhere else. Recently when hubby got these pav buns I didnt have any clue of what to do with it as I didnt have any ingredients required for Pav Bhaji so googled and found this to be interesting from Tarla Dalal site, I modified the measurement a bit and here is the recipe

Vada Pav Recipe

Recipe Source :Tarla Dalal

Makes 4 vada pavs

Ingredients:

• Pav Buns - 4
• Red chutney - See recipe below ( 2 tbsp)
• Green chutney - as required ( 2 tbsp)

For the vadas :

• Boiled Potatoes - 2 medium sized
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Green chillies - 1/2 tsp chopped finely
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Onion - 1 medium sized chopped finely
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander leaves - 2 tsp
• Oil - 2 tsp

For Vada outer coating:

• Besan flour - 1/4 cup
• Rice flour - 1 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Baking soda - a pinch
• Oil - to toast / deep fry

Red Garlic chutney:

• Coconut - 5 tbsp
• Red Chillies - 1
• Garlic - 4 chopped finely
• Tamarind - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste

Dry roast coconut and tamarind till lightly browned. Grind together with all other ingredients. Do not add water its slighly pastey and dry.

Method:

For the vadas:

Heat oil, add mustard seeds and jeera, allow it to crackle. Add green chillies, ginger garlic paste and saute for mins.Add onions and saute till it turns lightly browned. Then add mashed potatoes, turmeric powder, required salt and mix well. Add chopped coriander leaves,mix well and switch off. Allow it to cool and make small balls and keep it ready.

For the vada coating

Mix besan flour, rice flour, salt, turmeric, chilli powder, baking soda.Add little water to form a paste like we do for bajjis and bondas.

Now take the balls and dip it to the flour paste and deep fry it till golden brown (I didnt deep fry them instead toasted them in a paniyaram pan)

For the vada pav assembling:

Take the buns slit it into halves taking care one end is still connected to the other bun.Apply the green chutney on one side , red chutney on another side. Keep the prepared vadas in between as shown and enjoy your vada pavs!

This is very famous chat in north india especially Mumbai and Kolkata. If you dont pav buns go ahead with normal buns.

My Notes:

• This sure needs time but when you are ready with the chutneys then making vadas and assembling them as vada pavs is easy.



• Usually the vadas are nothing but our aloo bondas. The chutney combination and assembling it as vada pav gives a unique taste.



• I chose to toast in paniyaram pan, instead you can deep fry them as the orginal recipe says.

You can make the chutneys ready the before day itself and refrigerate them. The red garlic chutney is fiery hot which makes a apt combination for this vada pav.

Bread Dahi Vada and Bread Dahi Chat

Hope you all had a great new year. I made a simple baking on new years eve - Eggless basic sponge cake which is everyones favorite at home, will post the recipe sooner. The day went great too, started off with receiving phone calls, then visiting temple, then to a near by park finishing it up with a dinner at a new restaurant.

When it comes to chats I can never say no to it. Bread being my favourite thought to give a try chats with it and it has been a instant hit at home. Here goes the easy and sure low fat chats:

Bread Dahi Vada - Ingredients :

Makes 8 to 10 vadas

• Wheat Bread - 4 slices
• Onion - 2 tbsp chopped finely
• Salt- to taste
• Turmeric powder - a pinch
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chutney - 1 tbsp
• Green Chutney - 1 tbsp
• Boondi - 1 tbsp
• Chopped coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
• Oil - to toast
• Curd - 3/4 cup

Method:

1. Dip the bread slices in water, immediately squeeze it and transfer this to a bowl and smash it.



2. Now add chopped onions, turmeric powder, chilli powder and mix it well enough to form patties. Now form small sized balls and pat them using ur palms. Heat oil in a dosa pan and toast the vadas till slightly cripsy and browned



3. Now for the assembling : First add little curd mixed, drizzle very little green and red chutneys then add the vadas on top of it add the remaining curd enough for the vadas to immerse fully. Then drizzle the remaining green and red chutney on top. Garnish with boondis and finely chopped coriander leaves.

Bread dahi chat is an out come of trying to reproduce dahi poori cutting down the deep frying and potatos alone. So instead of bread you can use pooris too.

Bread Dahi Chat - Ingredients

• Wheat Bread - 4 slices
• Red Chutney - 1 tbsp
• Green Chutney - 1 tbsp
• Sev - 1/4 cup
• Green Gram - 1/4 cup
• Raw Onions - 2 tbsp
• Chopped Coriander Leaves - 1 tbsp
• Curd - 3 tbsp

Method :

1. Soak green gram for 30mins and pressure cook until soft and keep aside.



2. Dry toast the bread in a dosa pan (or add little oil and toast) until crispy or toast it using a toaster which makes it very crispy. Cut each bread slice into 4.



3. Now for the assembling : Lay the bread slices first(may be 9 peices in a plate), add boiled green gram, then add the chutneys generously. Spread a layer of curd over it, then chopped raw onions then garnish it with sev and chopped coriander leaves.

Both the chats are very easy to make if you have the chutneys ready. The chutneys keeps well for about a month so make it in advance and refrigerate them.

The idea of bread dahi vada was from a TV show but I vaguely remembered the recipe, so modified it according to our taste, it is ammas most favorite and bread dahi chat is my favorite :)

Dates Tamarind and Green Chutney for Sandwiches and Chats | Chat Chutneys

Red Chutney(Dates Tamarind) and Green Chutney(Coriander Mint)

Does anyone say no to chats?! I am not a crazy fan of chats but then few items like dahi poori and pav bhaji are my fav. One fine day when I was craving for a chat and it was raining outside, I decided to give a try at home myself. So my first attempt was to make these chutneys ready. And these chutneys comes in handy for sandwiches too, it gives a nice flavour to it.Stay tuned for the low fat chats coming up soon here...so get ready with ur chutneys and store them in advance :)

Dates Tamarind Chutney(Red Chutney) Ingredients:

• Dates - 10
• Tamarind - 1 tbsp
• Jaggery - 3/4 tbsp
• Jeera - 1tsp roasted powder [Dry roast it and grind it to a coarse powder]
• Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Pressure cook dates and tamarind(seperately in a small container) with very little water for 2 whistles.



2. Grind dates to a smooth paste. Extract thick pulp from tamarind and mix with dates mixture.



3. Take a kadai/pan add dates tamarind paste, then add jaggery and bring it to a boil.



4. Now add red chilli powder and roasted jeera powder and give another boil till the chutney becomes thick like sauce consistency.



5. Switch off and store it in clean container, refrigerate until use.

Coriander Mint Chutney(Green Chutney) Ingredients:

• Coriander Leaves - 1/4 cup
• Puthina/Mint Leaves - 1/4 cup
• Green Chillies - 1
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp
• Garam masala / Chat masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Clean mint and coriander leaves,remove the root part and wash it well.



2. Grind all the ingredients mentioned above along with coriander and mint leaves to make a smooth chutney.Add water while grinding as needed but the chutney should be a little thick in consistency.



3. Now add lemon juice to the chutney and mix well. Transfer to a clean container and refrigerate it until use.

This green chutney has become my fav these days. It goes well with murukku, papad or any fry items apart from being a main ingredient for chats and sandwiches. The puthina with coriander flavour is so good, try it for urself and see.

You can use this chutneys even for sandwiches. Spread one layer red chutney and another layer green chutney in 2 breadslices with raw onions in one layer and enjoy your sandwich. You can toast them too.

Kara Pori / Spiced Puffed Rice

Just back from the trip to CBE....had a funfilled week with family, relatives and friends. I was not accessible to net for these days though mobile browsing now and then was a different story ;) Hope all is fine with you as well......Mittu enjoyed the journey and the trip...she was so excited in the train that she didnt sleep half of the night making me take her walks in the train. I wonder how kids easily grab everyones attention.....Be it the lady in the Krishna sweets offering her a sweet and another sweet when said thanks or be it the friends she made in the hotel within the short time :) She was called 'friendly kiddo' by everyone whom she met for the first time....exactly opposite the way I was during my childhood days.....I was a timid and reserved kiddo. May be her dads genes at work :)

Now coming on to the recipe...Kara pori is my fav....esp during the rainy season.

Ingredients:

• Puffed Rice/Puri - 2 cups
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Peanuts - a fistful
• Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
• Dry red chillies - 1
• Curry leaves - a fistful
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Garlic pods - 5 big ones
• Salt as per taste

Method:

1. In a wide bottomed pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds let it splutter. Add peanuts & fry on low flame for a 2-3 mins.


2. Add red chillies, turmeric, red chilli powder, curry leaves, garlic pods all in one go and fry for sometime till garlic turns lght brown.Fry on low heat until groundnuts become crisp.


3. Add puffed rice, salt and mix well till the puffed rice is mixed well with spices and becomes crispy.


4. Allow it to cool and store in airtight container.

I am sending this to my own event which is closing this 26th. I am sure everyone wud luv to munch on tea time snacks for this chilli weather so do rush in ur entries soon. And a bunch of thanks for all those who are sending/sent their entries. Hope you remember the logo in which I've used this kara pori picture which is why I skipped the logo here.

Wheat Bread - Pizza

This one was tried even before I owned a OTG.....Now homemade pizzas from the scratch are my fav......which will be soon coming up here. But this instant pizza doesnt munch up your time. I tried it with wheat bread......You can use white bread also. Donno when I am going to start baking bread at home...Its like a dream for me....Is that too much to ask for a baby baker like me? ;)

Ingredients:

• Wheat bread slices - 3 [You can use white bread also]
• Capsicum - 1 chopped thin lengthwise
• Onion - 1 medium size sliced thin
• Cheese - 1 small cube [I used britannia flavoured cube cheese]
• Tomato sauce/Pasta sauce - 3 tbsp
• Pepper - as required to sprinkle
• Ghee - 1tsp for toasting

Method:

1. Heat the tawa, Toast the bread slice on both the sides with little ghee. Spread a tbsp of tomato sauce on one side of the bread, now add the sliced onions and capsicum.


2. Keeping in medium flame, grate the cheese such that it covers the veggies.Sprinkle pepper on top


3. Let it stay in the tawa until the cheese melts a little. Repeat this for all the slices. Serve hot and Enjoy every bite!! :)

NOTE : You can also try to add veggies like carrot, cabbage or corn....The toping is endless...its purely ur choice

Macroni in Milk Peppery Sauce in 15mins!!

A month ago happened to taste this macroni at office, they served it as a evening snack. So the next day when the cook came to serve the snacks.....I asked him the recipe and this is the 1st time I am remembering a recipe without jotting down and it came out as it should. Thats just becos its so simple, with less ingredients and it takes only 15mins (this is the main hightlight for me to try this) altogether...hmm my kind of recipe it is! Isnt that very quick....Hmm come lets get on to the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Macroni - 1 packet [I used Bambino shell type]
• Milk - 1 cup
• Pepper - 3 tsp
• Onion - 1 Sliced lengthwise
• Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Green Chilli - 1 finely chopped

Method :

1. Add 2 cups of water, let it boil now add the macroni cook for 5 mins in medium flame.Strain water and keep aside.


2. Heat oil, add ginger garlic paste, onions.....saute till onions turn light brown, then add green chillies saute.Add the cooked macroni, milk and mix well till all is combined and should look creamy...this will take another 5 mins.


3. Sprinkle pepper, stir for 5more minutes....hmm ur peppery milk macroni is ready to serve.

So did I keep up the promise.....?! Yes its done in 15mins...Try it out for urself and see!!

NOTE : The milk tends to get absorbed soon so serve it straight from the stove.

And I am sending this to Creative saga's Pasta event