Vegetable Kachori

One of my favorite dish made by my nanima (grandmother) is kachori. It is her signature dish, and since I started on this journey I knew I had to learn it.

Few days ago I was feeling confident in my cooking (which is rare) and decided to give it a try. I called up my nanima and got the recipe and gave it a go. I am impressed with how well it turned out, although not as good as my nanima’s but pretty close. Without further ado...here it is.

Makes: ~ 18

Ingredients:
Dough:

1.5 cup All Purpose flour
3 tbsp butter
1/5 tsp baking powder
Salt to taste


Stuffing:

2 cups Mixed Vegetable
2 potatoes
1/2 cup chana Daal
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp cumin-coriander powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Dahi Bara Chaat seasoning (available in Indian Store)
1 tbsp Oil


Method:

Dough:

In a pan, mix All Purpose Flour, butter, baking powder, and salt, Refrigerate for half hour.

Stuffing:

Boil mixed vegetables, potatoes, and chaana dal. Strain and set aside.

On medium heat, in a pan add oil, followed by mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splatter, turn off the heat. Then add ginger-garlic paste, and rest of the dry ingredients as well as boiled ingredients and mix well. Add salt to taste.

Once the mixture has cooled down, make small size balls and set them aside in the refrigerator.

Take the dough, knead it well and divide it up in small balls to match the number of mix vegetable balls. Then roll the dough into neat circles and then place the ball of mix vegetables in the middle and neatly fold the dough around.


Fry on medium heat until golden brown.


Serve with coconut-cilantro chutney.

Dessert: Dahi Wara

I finally got back in the kitchen!

For my birthday my brother and sister made me a book of my first year blogging. It's a nice remainder that I actually very much enjoy the process of cooking and sharing my experience. Moving forward my goal is to do weekly posts and keep at it.

Over the weekend I made Dahi Wara (dahi means yogurt). Dahi wara are served as deserts, easy to make, and light for a dessert. They are little buttons of heaven.

Makes 16.
Ingredients:


1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sooji
3 tbsp melted ghee
1/4 tsp baking powder
Plain Yogurt to bind
Orange food color

For syrup:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Method:

In a food processor add flour, sooji, ghee, baking powder, and orange color (enough for the dough to catch the color). Then slowly add plain yogurt to bind all the ingredients together. Keep the dough aside for an hour.

While the dough kept aside, make the sugar syrup. In a pan add sugar and water, over medium heat let this mixture dissolve, until is thin in consistency, meaning when you dip your wooden spatula and pull it out there should be three drops of the mixture (on the third drop it a long thread should form).

Then roll out the dough and cut out small round circles.

Over medium heat fry until golden brown. Dip the dahi wara one by one in the sugar syrup and remove set it in another bowl, if you leave it in sugar syrup they become a bit soggy. Let it cool at room temperature and then serve.

Garlic-Pepper Chicken

This is one of the most easiest dish i have made thus far. It requires simple ingredients and it does not require effort-but it mouthwatering...delicious.

Lets get right into to it..

Ingredients:

15 pieces of skinless chicken (drumstick & thighs)

8 tbsp unsalted butter

5 tbsp grated ginger

4 tsp freshly ground pepper

2 tbsp lemon juice

4-5 seeds whole peppercorn

Salt to taste

Chopped cilantro for garnish

Method:

In a pan, heat butter on medium heat and add ginger. Once the butter & garlic starts to simmer add chicken (be careful not to burn the butter), followed by ground pepper, and salt.

Let this cook for 5 minutes on high heat until the  chicken changes color. Then turn the heat to medium-low and cover the pan. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until the chicken is tender. Let this cook for 5 minutes on high heat until the  

Remove the lid and cook on high heat again, add the lemon juice. Cook until the chicken is dry.

Garnish with cilantro and coarsely pounded whole peppercorn.

Nan Khatai

Nan khatai are Indian version of shortbread cookies. I remember my mom use to make it all the time when I was little, so when she forwarded me the recipe I had to give it a try. There are different versions of the nan khatai, this recipe is simple and easy to make, no fuss. Theses are perfect for an afternoon tea (chai).

Prep time: ~ 20 minutes
Makes: 30

Ingredients:

2.5 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup margarine
1 cup powder sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup of soji
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp rose essence

For the decoration
orange food color

Method:

Using a hand blender mix margarine and sugar together. Then add an egg and blend. Once the mixture is smooth add rest of the ingredients and blend.

Once all the ingredients are uniformed, knead for few minutes. Then in a baking tray, make medium size balls (rolling evenly in your palm and slightly flattening).

For the decoration, take orange food color and add little bit of water-just enough to make a watery paste. Using your ring take a little bit of color and slightly press on top.

Preheat oven at 350, for approximately 15 minutes or until golden. Once done let it cool before storing.

That's it!

Kitchen Fail: Part Deux :(

In most of my posts I have been recommending pairing dishes with naan. Couple days ago I decided to attempt to make some from scratch instead of using store bought. I came across the recipe in indiansimmer (I highly recommend following this blog-beautiful pictures and variety of Indian recipes). I followed her naan recipe but I was light handed with cumin and salt, therefore, mine turn out pretty bland.

I am going to attempt to make this again very soon, and I will re-post the results, but in the meantime if you are interested in the recipe go here.

Vacation: Tanzania & Kenya

After 18 years I finally went back home for a visit. It started with a bang--flight delay, one connecting flight-in total 21+ hours plane ride (no empty seats!!), and on top of it my luggage got delayed--essentially my luggage missed it's connecting flight. Nonetheless I got there, and from there on it was an adventure. It was jammed packed two weeks. We started in Dar-es-Salaam, followed by Zanzibar, Morogoro, back to Dar-es-Salaam, and finally to Nairobi, Kenya. Besides visiting all the familiar childhood places and some new ones, the best part about the trip was the FOOD, especially street food. Luckily, I went with two people who enjoy food as much as I do, if not more.

Here are some of the pictures of street food we had:

Nyama Choma (barbecued meat) served with salt. We had a side of grilled banana and ugali:

                                   

Roasted cassava served with tomato and onion sauce:

Zanzibar mix:

Zanzibar 'pizza':

Steak and mishkaki (small cubes of skewered beef):

Nundu (beef fat--yum!)

 Bajia-in Nairobi-

I would just go back for the food!

Vegetable & Vinegar Achar (Surka nu Achar)

Today we are making a vegetable vinegar achar.

One of the things that I like about this achar is its vibrancy in color. It provides a pop-up of color to the plate, at the same time giving a little crunch to the palate. This is one of my family's favorite achar. However, due to the tedious prep work it is not often made; but doable.  I suggest dividing the prep work and cooking between two days. Day 1, chop up the veggies, and day 2 prepare the syrup.

Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: ~15 minutes
Makes: ~2.8 liters (that's a lot of achar!!!)

Ingredients:
1 Cauliflower
8 Carrots
15 Serrano peppers

For syrup:

2 cups vinegar
1.5 cup sugar
3 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp Kashmiri chili powder
1 tsp hot chili powder
1 tsp ground mustard seeds
Salt to taste

Method:
Chop cauliflower, carrots, and Serrano peppers into small cubes. Wash and set it aside to dry (I left it overnight). Also it is tempting to use the food processor instead of chopping them by hand, however in the food processor the veggies have consistency of a mush, which we don't want.

For the syrup:

In a pan add vinegar, sugar, ginger-garlic paste, Kashmiri chili powder, hot chili power, salt, and bring it to boil. Once the syrup starts thickening, set it aside to cool.

Once the syrup has cooled add ground mustard seeds, your chopped vegetables and mix well.

Coconut Cilantro Chutney

This is one of the easiest and most delicious chutneys to make. It pretty much complements many of Indian dishes from samosas, dosas, pakoras, and everything in between. 

Prep time: < 5 minutes
Makes ~ 2 bowls

Ingredients:
2 cups grated Coconut
1 bunch Cilantro
1 Lemon 
3 Serrano Chilies
1/2 cup of hot water
Salt to taste

Method:

In a food processor add shredded coconut, cilantro, squeeze the lemon juice (if you want it to taste tangy, add more), Serrano chilies (cut them in medium size pieces), salt, and add hot water. Blend it together until consistent paste, add more water if needed, but make sure it is hot water. 

                           

Thats it!

Kolhapuri Chicken

Kolhapur is located in the southwest Maharashta state in India. It is known for beautiful temples, chappals, jaggery, and cuisine,especially the mutton dishes. 

I was going through the one of my mom's recipe books,  and I came across 'Kolhapuri Chicken' recipe. The description made it enticing, and it looked simple to prepare and cook. 

Prep time: ~30 min
Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients:
2.5 lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks
3/4 cup of plain yogurt
2 tbsp grated coconut
1 tomato (chopped)
2 onions (chopped)
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
*1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp lime juice
5 tsp cooking oil
2 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves 
1/2 tsp crushed black pepper
1 tsp Kashmiri chili
salt to taste
Cilantro for garnish

Method:

Marinate the chicken with turmeric, salt, ginger-garlic paste, yogurt and lime juice. Set it aside for 30 minutes.

Heat oil (2 tbsp), add cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and the onions. Saute the onions until they are cooked halfway, and then add tomatoes. Saute the mixture until the onions turn translucent. Next add the grated coconut and cook for few minutes. 

Let the mixture cool, and puree it in a food processor. 

Heat oil (3 tbsp), and add the marinated chicken. Cook the chicken on medium heat until it is almost done. Add the blended paste from the food processor, along with Kashmiri chili (for color) and mix well together. 

Simmer the mixture for approximately 10 minutes occasionally stirring the chicken. 

That's it! Garnish with cilantro before serving. 

*I added 1 tsp of turmeric, I did not realize that it was pure, and it turned out to be a bit over flavoring. I would recommend only adding 0.5 tsp if you are using pure turmeric.