Kutcchi Dabeli and an Award!!

Kutchi Dabeli is my favourite Street side food. I remember when I was in 12th grade there used be be this thela (stall ) outside our classes....which used to sell tasty kutchi dabeli. Ohh how we used to love it. I rarely use to go back home without having 1 dabeli I was so crazy about it. After marriage I was even more delighted when I got to know that my hubby was also crazy about dabeli. So, I thought i should try my hand and make this dish and ofcourse impress my hubby... uhhh uhmm I can say I did succeed....... Thanks to the lovely recipe that my friend Hetal forwarded to me. I have used the same recipe...but I did make some few changes according to our taste.

Thank you Hetal for sharing this lovely recipe with me. The dabeli without a typical dabeli masala. We dont get Dabeli masala here and I never tried making this dish mainly becoz of the same reason.when Hetal told me that she is gonna make dabeli without the masala....I was a bit skeptical about the recipe... thinking if it would taste just like the one we get back home. But I should agree that it turned out amazing. Just so yummy.! Thank u once again Hetu. I am gonna send this recipe to SWC-Gujrat hosted by Priyanka and to the MBP- Street food hosted by Monsoon Spice. Here goes the recipe. You can find the original recipe here in Hetals blog.


You need :

Buns / paav - 5

Potatoes - 4 boiled and mashed

Onion - 1 finely chopped

Roasted Spicy peanuts - 1/2 cup

Tamarind Chutney - 3 tbsp

Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Coriander & jeera powder - 1 tbsp

Garam Masala - 2 tsp

Hing /Asafoetida - a pinch (optional)

Salt to taste

Sugar - 2 tsp

Butter

The Dabeli filling

To serve your Dabeli :

Spicy roasted Peanuts - 1/4 cup

Pomegranate seeds - 2 tbsp (Frozen or Fresh)

Nylon sev - 1/2 cup

Tamarind chutney - 1 tbsp

Garlic chutney - 1/2 cup (see recipe below)

Onions - 1 cup finely chopped

Butter - 1 tbsp

Method :

Firstly boil, peel and mash the potatoes.

Next, prepare for the Garlic chutney, and the Instant Tamarind chutney.

For the Garlic chutney :

Garlic - 9-8 pods chopped

Dried red chiilies : 6-7 soaked for 10 minutes in some water

Olive oil - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method : Put all the above ingredients in a blender and blend into a smooth paste using some water. You may use the water u used to soak ur chilli. Dont make ur chutney very watery.

For the tamarind chutney :

Tamarind Concentrate - 1 tbsp

Sugar - 1/2 tbsp

water

Method : Dissolve the concentrate in around 1 cup of water and mix well. Add sugar to it and heat on stove top or in microwave for around 6-7 minutes or until it becomes a bit thick. Your Instant tamarind chutney is ready.

So once ur chutneys are ready we are all set to make our lovely dabelis. In a pan take some butter and add asafoetida and chopped onions to it and saute well for 6-7 minutes.Add the turmeric powder, garam masala, Coriander-jeera powder, sugar, salt and red chilli powder and saute for 2 mins.Now , add the mashed potatoes, peanuts and mix well. Add the tamarind chutney and around 1/3 cup of water. let it cook on medium flame for around 10 mins and then remove from flame. Your dabeli filling is ready.

Now to serve it, butter the buns and roast them on a hot griddle/ tava. Apply some garlic chutney to the base piece of the bun. Now spread the dabeli filling on the base bun. Garnish with Spicy peanuts, chopped onions and some nylon sev. Cover it with the top piece of the bun and serve it garnishing with some more sev and some fresh chopped coriander.

Serve hot as an evening snack.... or even as a light lunch or dinner. Bet u cant stop with one...!


Some things about Hetal and her Lovely blog. Hetal is a very good friend of mine. I have the priviledge to know her personally. She is my hybby's friend's wife, yeah thats how we both got introduced hehe but then Now we r good friends ourselves. She is a great cook. I got to taste her amazing pav bhaji and we simply loved the way she prsented it. I am so happy she started her own blog now and is sharing all her lovely recipes with us. Keep it up Hetal ur a great cook and U really make my day with all the amazing comments u leave for me.... for each and every post of mine.... Check out her lovely blog do check out her lovely recipes and pics...:) ..

Hey and one more thing.... Hetal also passed me the award " you make my day" Thank u so much sweetheart....ur a darling and u really make my day... Thanks for all ur lovely words and appreciation.

I would like to pass this award to my fellow bloggers. You guys have always made my day with all ur lovely and encouraging words... Thanx for all the lovely words from all of u.... Keep it coming it really makes me do more and more. Anyways as I have to forward this to few... I would like to pass it on to....

Cham
Swati
Hetal
Uma

Congratulations dear and thank u so much for always making my day!

Hetal once again thanx for the lovely Dabeli recipe and the Amazing award. You really made my day girl...:)

Batura thin crust Veggie discs......

Okie don't wonder what in hell is this with the name I have given this dish. Batura thin crust Vegie disc?? well yeah I made it out of leftover Batura dough. hehe yeah. Thats y this funny name. It is just like how u make pizza. I had this leftover batura dough which I didnt wanna use again coz we where in no mood for oily baturas. So what else can I do with this leftover dough? And then this idea clicked me. I made these thin crust coz I wasnt sure if the batura dough will form a base like the pizza dough as it has no yeast in it. So the best option is to make it thin crust..:D. To make these




You need :

Leftover Batura dough
Tomato ketchp : 1 cup
Onions : 1 medium finely chopped
Tomato : 1 finely chopped
Mushroom - 1/2 cup chopped
Chopped Olives - 1/2 cup
Green bell pepper - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Mozarella cheese : 1 cup
Oregano - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Butter




Method :

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

Take the leftover batura dough and add some salt and around 1 tsp of oregano to it and mix the dough well. Now roll the dough into small marble size balls or a little bit bigger. Roll them out in circles and roll it very very thin. Once the the circles are ready, lay them on a big pizza plate or a pan at around 1 inch ditance from each other. Spread some butter over each circles and then spread a spoonful of tomato ketchup on it. Now, add a bit of all the chopped vegetables on the circle and then lastly top with some mozarella cheese. Put it in the oven and bake it for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. Keep checking in between. When the cheese melts and the pizza looks cooked remove it from the oven.






Serve hot with tomato ketchup. Great as a teatime snack.enjoy!!

Food to Art : Mango to Manthram.!!

Mangoes! Mangoes and Mangoes everywhere.This being the mango season, what better than talking about it... ofcourse other that eating it. I made this mehendi design for the mango season.This is my entry to the Mango manthram hosted by Indra of Mahanandi. I have taken different closeups of the mehendi art : mango art. Hope u all like it. Do comment :D

Another Mango design for the Mango manthram

One more and the last ...:)

Enjoy the Mangoes :)

Vadiyams.....thanks to the summer heat.

Summer is here and so r my vadiyams... ready to be munched :) Yeah this summer i made some sagubiyam vadiyams/jauarusi vadams and it came out really good. I remember my mom and my granny used to make this every summer.Ohh thats so was long back... when we were in Nagpur... hmmm after we shifted to the busy Mumbai, that got left behind. We didnt have a balcony or personal terrace to dry those vadiyams and the busy mumbai life never gave my mom time to make these at home.

Now, after so many years, when I see the sunlight pouring in inside our house and small patio, I remembered those old days again. I faintly remembered how my mom used to make those vadiyams. Yeah, I was a kid then but I do remember how she made it, coz I used to stand next to her all the time when she used to make the batter for the vadams. And when its done I would cry for a cup full of batter. Hehehhe I used to eat it just like that and it tasted so yummy...Hmm I miss all that... I miss u maa and ur cooking so much... hmmm

So here I am back to my vadiyams. Its pretty easy to make but u need lots of patience to allow it to dry completely. To make this

You need :

Indian pearl sago/ Jauarusi - 2 cups

Green chillies - 2 to 3

Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tsp

Toasted Sesame seeds - 3 tsp

Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Method :

Wash the sago well in warm water. drain the water and keep it aside for 1 hour. After one hour pour in half a glass of water to it and keep it to soak for overnight.By morning the sago will be swollen and nicely soaked.

In a big pot take some oil and put in the jeera, and the green chillies. Saute for some time but take care that u dont burn it. Now, add the the soaked sago to the pot and mix well. Add around 5 glasses of water to the pot. Add the salt,(put a bit lesser than u normally do..) and coconut oil to the pot and bring to a boil. When its done add toasted sesame to the batter and mix well. Cool it to room temperature. The batter has to become a bit thick, and the sago should cook well. The batter shouldn't be runny. But also remember that the batter will become very thick after it cools down, so be a bit judgemental about when to remove ur batter from the flame. If it thickens a lot, just add a bit of water and heat it for 5 minutes. you are ready.

Now spread a nice clean plastic sheet in your patio. Remember to clean the surface well before spreading the sheet. Now pour a spoonful of batter on the plastic sheet in a pattern and make small circles. Let it dry for a day or 2 until the surface of the vadam dries up. Once its done peel it and flip it to the other side and let the other side dry up well. Once the vadams are dried up and are not any more soft or sticky remove them and keep it on a plate and keep it under the sun for 1 whole day. Your vadams are ready to be fried and munched. Deep fry fo the extra taste. Orelse you can even brush some oil on it and microwave it for 40 seconds. Thats wt i do and it taste good. :)

Lovely snack. Serve along with rice and any gravy. :) Or just munch away as we do.

Crunchy Vegetable Salad

This is a salad we enjoyed eating. Me and R both love salads. Lots and lots of salads. My hubby R loves anything thats tangy and gives the natural flavour of the vegetables. And he simply adores this salad. Yeah, he was a bit down when he saw the white salad dressing though....hehe. We normally go for salads with store bought dressing.. this was my first time trying and making a proper dressing at home, other than the lemon and salt indian style dressing ofcourse. The first thing he said after seeing the dressing was..... Ohh y this dressing... its high in Calories.. hehehe yeah he is more calorie conscious than me..... hehehe. He is very choosy when it comes to the dressing. He like the tangy low fat dressing, than the creamy ranch or any mayonaise or cream based salad dressing.But, ofcourse I did manage to get a wow from him when he tasted it and... his second serving was with " more dressing please" hehehehe. So thats our colourful salad story. Now, let me move to the recipe of this colourful salad.





First thing we like about this salad is that its very crunchy and its very very colourful.Hope u enjoy it too..:)

You need :

Red Cabbage - 1 cup finely chopped (julianed - julian all vegetables)
Iceberg Lettuce leaves - 1 cup finely chopped
Roman lettuce - 1 cup finely chopped
Carrot - 1/2 cup julianed
White onions - 1/2 cup sliced
Napa cabbage - 1 cup finely chopped (optional)
Pineapple - 1/3 cup finely chopped (optional)
Fresh Parsley - 1/2 cup




Dressing:

Low fat sour cream - 1/4 cup
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Lemon juice - 1/2tbsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Pineapple juice - 1tbsp (optional) or sugar - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Salt to taste



Method :

Slice and chop all the vegetables and put them all together in a big bowl. Wrap the vegetables with a cling foil and keep in the refrigerator. Covering with the foil keep the vegetables crisp.

Now, mix all the ingredients of the dressing in a bowl and mix well.Add pineapple juice if ur using pineapple slices orelse u may just add sugar. But again tis is optional. U may skip the sugar or juice if u dont like ur salad dressing sweet. Keep the dressing in the refrigerator to and chill.

When ready to serve, mix this dressing to ur chopped vegetables and serve immidiately. Enjoy ur salad cold and crisp. Enjoy!

* Variation - You may use Mayonaise instead of sour cream.




Serve cold with ur supper or maybe a hot cup of soup. Enjoy!

Spicy herbed Potaoes

Crisp is the word for this. This is very famous and asked for snack at our place. Whenever we r bored and want to eat some spicy and crispy snack. we go for these spicy herbed potatoes. They taste yummmm !

You need :

Potatoes - 4 (chopped in quaters - dont peel.)
Olive oil - 1tbsp
Rosemary - 3 tsp
Paprika (crushed red pepper) - 2 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Oregano - 3 tsp
Salt to taste
*(You may also use mixed italian herb instead of using seperate herbs)




Method :

Making this is quite simple. Firstly preheat your oven to 375 degree F. Line your baking pan with a foil. This helps in easy cleaning and also avoid the potatoes from sticking to your baking pan.

Put in the quatered potatoesin the lined baking pan. Pour the oil, salt, the spices and the herbs on it and mix well with ur hand. You may add some mozarella cheese if u like on top before u put it in the oven.





Put ur tray into the preheated oven and bake in 3 75 degree for about 30 minutes. Remove it once in betwen turn and toss the potatoes for even cooking.

Your Spicy herbed potatoes are ready. Yummmm!


Serve hot with tomato ketchup.... relish...:)

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Cardamom Pancakes with Kesar Elaichi syrup.

I am a big fan of cardamom.... also known as Elaichi, yelaka and etc, etc, etc,.....I love the smell of cardamom....It has a sweet smell in itself. So here I am presenting my breakfast recipe with cardamom. sending this as an entry to the Think spice Cardamom event hosted by Simple indian food blog.

We also love pancakes. Making this is very easy.

You need :

Pancake mix - 1 small packet

Elaichi (cardamom powder) - 1/4 cup

Kesar (Saffron strands) - a small pinch

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Water - 3/4 cup water.

Kesar Elaichi Syrup

Method :

Mix the pancake mix according to the directions given in the box. Add a tsp of elaichi powder to it and mix it well. Keep aside.

In a pan, heat the water and add sugar to it and mix till the sugar dissolves. Add a pinch of kesar and about 2-3 tsp of elaichi powder to it and mix well. Bring to a boil. Let the mixture boil well and become a bit thick. Your Kesar-Elaichi syrup will be ready.

Heat the Tava / Griddle and well and brush some oil on it. Pour a spoonful of the pancake batter on the Tava and spread to into a small circle. You will see the pancake bubble and you will be small holes being formed on it. when the pancake is cooked, flip it around and let it cook on the other side. Pour some oil aroud the sides if desired. Your pancakes should be golden brown in colour and nicely cooked.

Stack 2 hot pancakes on each other and pour 2 spoonful of the kesar elaichi syrup on top of it. Spread it well and serve hot. Relish these lovely hot Indian style Pancakes.

Serve hot and enjoy!

MBP - Roasted Tomato and Red Bell Pepper Soup

I came across this Delicious soup in Madhavi's blog and I knew I have to try this one. This soup is so simple to make and so tangy and tasty.....Yummmmm....! This is a very good option when ur inviting friends at ur place.... I am sure they r gonna be all appreciation for u. Thank you Madhavi for such a lovely recipe. Do come out with more... which I can make and impress my guests...:) Me and my hubby both loved this soup, its so nice, tangy and rich in texture.... loved it...:) I am sending this soup to the MBP - soups and salad held by Raaga this month. The MBP was started by Coffee of the Spice Cafe and I participating in it for the first time. I am simply loving it. That Coffee for starting an event like this..:)Now back to the hot soup...:)


Here is the original recipe. I Just used Sour cream instead of fresh heavy cream here.Here goes the recipe.






You need:

Tomatoes - 4
Red bell pepper - 2 cups chopped
White onions - 1 medium chopped in wedges
Garlic - 3 cloves
Olive oil - 2-3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Strawberry/ cherry tomatoes - 5 (optional)
Ground black pepper to taste
Bay leaves - 2-3
Butter - 1 tbsp
Oregano or mixed italian herbs - 1 tsp
Fresh Basil leaves - 1/2 cup chopped
Fat free Yoghurt - 1/4 cup
Low fat sour cream - 1/4 cup



Method :

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Chop the Tomatoes in wedges. ( I dont core my tomatoes... you may if u wish to..) Put all the tomatoes, onions and the red bell pepper in a baking tray. Add the cherry tomatoes too if ur using them.Add the chopped garlic and olive oil over it.Add some salt as well pepper to it. Mix gently with hand. So that the bell pepper and the tomatos are coated with oil and the spices. Roast in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes or until it is roasted well.

Remove the roasted tomatoes, onions, bell pepper and garlic from the oven and transfer it in a pot. Keep aside the cherry tomatoes aside. We will be using it for garnishing. I would advice u to use this even if its optional..it adds a lot to the flavour. Cook the items in the pot on medium flame. Keep stirring.

Add 2 -3 cups of water to the roasted tomatoes and bell pepper that we have transfered to the pot.Add the bay leaves, and butter, mix well.Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat and let it cook for 20 minutes or until it becomes a bit thick.

Add 3/4 of the total basil leaves to the pot and cook it for about 5 -6 minutes. Off the gas and let the soup cool down. Once the soup is at room tmeperature, pour it in a blender and make a smooth paste out of it.Pour the blended soup in a pot and bring it to boil once again.Add the yoghurt and a spoonful of sour cream to the soup and mix well, until u get the exact smoothness and consistency.You may add more water of needed. Add black pepper, oregano and salt, (remember we added salt to the vegetables, so be careful to taste ur soup before adding more salt now.) Your soup is ready. It smells divine believe me.

Pour the soup to a nice serving soup bowl and becorate with sour cream and freshly chopped basil leaves. Enjoy!

To decorate ur soup - Fill a sandwich bag with the sour cream and snip one corner of the sandwich bag with a scissor. Now u have ur cone ready for decorating... top ur soup with sour cream in ur desirable shapes...:) I enjoyed doing this... These are our bowls... The heart one I gave my hubby.... Just to say "I LOVE U" and the spiderweb is mine.... hehhe well iam not caught in any web other than the world wide web..... heheh... I just simply love making the swirls and webs..:D Enjoy ur soup. Dont forget to top ur soup with the chopped basil leave and ur roasted cherry tomatoes for extra taste...:) Serve hot along with some garlic cheese croutons and sesame breadsticks..... Enjoy!

The heart cream topping for my hubby and the spider web for me....:) cool isn't it?

I promise !..... no more snaps :) Now some thing about Madhavi and her lovely blog Vegetarian Medley. Firstly I am so thankful she is in Los angeles. What better can u ask than a good cook like Madhavi staying nearby. heheheh... maybe I can drop by sometime.... what say Madhu?

Well, I got acquinted to her just few months back and she is a nice human being and a great cook. What I like most about her blog is her creative recipes. Half of the names I have never heard.... But they just make me drool. Check her site for all her amazing and creative recipes.:)

Thanx madhavi for the lovely soup recipe. We both loved it. And I am so sure I am gonna try more of ur lovely recipes.

Okie thats it for now, will come back with more nice recipes.. Cya..:)