Sprouted Chatpata Chana in Sev Katori Chaat

Hi friends!

I am sharing another version of katori chaat today but this time it is not using APF but I have used gram flour to make Sev in the form of katoris and then filled it with stuffing. I had seen the Sev form of Katori on TV and had loved the idea. So I just used the idea of katori and then concocted my own version.

This one katori chaat is very filling and can make a great evening snack for kids. Using sprouts to make the filling makes it healthy and an interesting way to eat. One can make fillings of their choice and come up with their own versions.

I always find Chaat an easy and interesting way to introduce veggies/sprouts into my younger one’s diet and the ‘Only’- Chaat event happening here has given me a good platform to try more. If you have not sent your entries please send it now as the event ends today.

Ingredients

FOR SEV KATORI

a cup and a half of gram flour

2-3 tsp hot oil for shortening

1 tsp carom seeds

1 tsp cumin pwd

salt to taste

a pinch of turmeric

1 tsp red chili pwd

a pinch of asafetida

water to knead

FOR SPROUTED CHANA FILLING

a cup of parboiled sprouted chana

2 tsp chaat masala

1 tsp red chili pwd

1 green chili finely chopped

1/4 tsp rock salt

salt to taste

Garnish

Green Chutney and Nylon Sev

Method

TO MAKE SEV KATORIS

Make a dough using all ingredients under the heading sev katori and fill it in the Sev making machine ( Chakli machine with a Sev attachment).

Take a tea strainer and press out the sev into it’s depth so aas to form a katori.

Place the tea strainer in oil and fry the Sev katori on a medium –low flame.

Remove and cool.

 

For Sprouted Chana Filling

Mix all ingredients under the heading and check the seasoning. Adjust as per taste.

Assembling the Katori

Take the Sev Katori and put a spoon full of the filling into it. Garnish with green chutney and fine sev, serve immediately.

Sending this also to Priya’s Bookmarked Recipes Every Tuesday

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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT AND GIVEAWAYS FOR DECEMBER

Hi friends!

With the winter set in and with the greens available easily in the market I thought it’s the perfect time to relish greens, so this month we cook with ‘Only’-Greens. We have two giveaways again, the first is  $60/£60 giveaway by CSN stores. There are innumerable options available for shopping here, for this month let’s check out there SLING BACKPACKS. Providing you a virtual treat for you to have a look on a few of these.

The second giveaway is by http://www.tarladalal.com/ and  for this month the winner gets Know your green leafy vegetables

One can buy similar books which are health and nutrition based from her website .

This month’s event is hosted by Saraswathi  of Sara’s Corner. She will announce the details of the event today in her space, so please do check it out.



The event has been announced here.

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Cone and Cup Chaat and the II dose of FEEL GOOD HORMONE for my 201 post

Hi!

What do people do to feel happy? Smile, laugh, play, amuse themselves, get a body massage done or exercise.  Every one has there ups and downs in life and people find different means to face it. I have told you my friends that for me cooking good food is a big stress buster and when I cook something which is challenging,  trying it for the first time and I succeed in it gives me immense happiness.

Last few days I have been feeling very low for various reasons and I was really trying hard to smile and be pleasant to everyone but internally feeling shattered. In one of those days I went back to read  this post on Serotonins where I discussed the feel good hormone and was amazed to see the response. I can say it is one of my favorite posts as I felt that this post provided a platform for people to discuss. I thought of furthering this topic and discussion, which I am doing today and discussing another important topic “ENDORPHINS”.

The word "Endorphin" comes from the two words, "endogenous + morphine." These are produced by the pituitary and the hypothalamus and act as neurotransmitters in our body. Chemically speaking, endorphins are polypeptides, which are able to bind to the neuro-receptors in the brain to give relief from pain. These are possibly the best chemicals to achieve a natural high, what we call euphoria. Although more research needs to be done, endorphins are believed to produce four key effects on the bodymind: they enhance the immune system, they relieve pain, they reduce stress, and postpone the aging process.

If the endorphins are so important how can we help our body release them? Researches have shown that there are various ways in which these can be released in our body.

1. Exercise hard. Endorphins are released when you are involved in strenuous exercise that allows your body to go beyond physical pain and its limitations and it may leave you with a euphoric high.

2.Listen to soothing music such as classical and instrumental selections. It has been found that thirty minutes of listening to this kind of music has released endorphins that have an effect equal to that of the muscle relaxer pill known as Valium.

3.Eat some spicy food. Spicy food can trigger the brain to release endorphins because it thinks the mouth is on fire and needs chemical relief to the brain.

4. Spend some time in the sun. Overexposure to light can also cause a release of endorphins.

5. Have a healthy sex life. Intense pleasure causes the same effect as intense pain when it comes to endorphins.

6. Laugh and cry. Some people claim that laughing hard for ten minutes can give at least two hours of pain-free sleep to those affected by painful illnesses. Some researchers claim that the body releases endorphins to release pain while experiencing the emotion that causes tears.

7. Eat something sweet or have something chocolate. These items stimulate your brain's pleasure pathways and cause the release of endorphins. Unfortunately when the short-lived sugar rush is over, so is the effect of endorphins and you will be left feeling tired and worn out.

(courtesy ehow)

Do let me know what can be your good source of endorphin? Since spicy food also helps release endorphins and it suits my palate too I decided to indulge in it and get my dose of endorphins.

In the Master Chef cookery class they had shown the cone chaat which reminded me that I had this ages back when Mom’s friend Mrs.Agarwal had partcipated in a cookery competition hosted by ladies club and she had won the first prize. I had marveled  the idea that time. After seeing the demo on TV, I was too tempted to try it and with the ongoing ‘Only’-Chaat event here I did not want to postpone it either. So during the weekend shopping I picked up cone moulds to try out this chaat.

Making the cone is an easier task than frying it. Yes, frying the cone is tricky, needs patience and skill. This Chaat is surely not for the beginners in cooking as it does need a level of expertise. The cone can break while frying if not handled properly and the real skill goes in removing the cone moulds from the oil without breaking the cone. I must admit I broke the first cone but sailed through the second and more..

It was fun eating a cone chaat like eating an ice-cream, I will surely make them  when I have loads of patience once again. With some dough remaining I made some bite size cups to make cup chaat, which I deep fried this time. For baked version of chaat cups one can check here and here.

Ingredients For Dough

2 cups APF

2 tsp carom seeds

4-5 tbsp oil for shortening

salt to taste

water for kneading.

Ingredients for Filling

a cup of frozen corn/ fresh corn

2 boiled and mashed potatoes

1 tbsp chaat masala

1 tsp red chili pwd

1-1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

1/2 tsp rock salt

1 tsp cumin pwd

2 tsp coriander pwd

salt to taste

For green chutney

a cup of coriander

1 tbsp chopped walnuts

2 garlic pods

1/2 lime’s juice

salt to taste

4-5 green chilies

water to adjust the consistency

For garnish

teekhi boondi

beaten curds

sweet tamarind chutney

also oil for frying

Method

For the FILLING

Heat oil and add corn followed by ginger-garlic paste and saute. Add all the spices, salt and mix this with the mashed potatoes.

For the GREEN CHUTNEY

Mix all the ingredients and grind together to a paste.

                                       HOW TO MAKE THE CONE?

1. Mix all ingredients under the heading dough and knead to make a soft and firm dough, cover and let the dough rest for half an hour.

2. Take a small portion of the dough to make a ball of about 5cms diameter and roll it thin. Cut the edges to get a square/ rectangular shape.

3. Cut equidistant strips.

4. Take a cone mould, starting from the base start wrapping the strips around the mould. If one strip gets over, press the second strip at the end of first strip and keep wrapping it. Press the final end on the wrapped portion and seal the ends properly.

5. Check the oil for it’s temperature. If a small piece of dough immediately rises to the surface the oil is ready for frying.

6. Insert the cones in the oil, here one must ensure that the pan is deep and broad enough to place the cone completely and oil deep enough that the cone submerges in it. Once the cone is half done, place the ladle gently on the cone and remove the mould with the help of tongs. This needs a lot of skill and patience else you will land up with a broken cone.

7. Cool the cones and then fill in the filling and pour the green chutney over it. Finally garnish with the whisked curds, tamarind chutney and teekhi boondi.

                      A PICTORIAL ON HOW TO MAKE CUP CHAAT

  

To understand in detail how the cups are made check here. I have used small cups here as they are easy to fry.

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Choco-Nut Fudge For My 200th Post

Hi!

I am surely at cloud nine as I type this post, one and a half years of blogging and 200 posts, not bad right! People say ‘slow and steady wins the race’, I know I am slow and steady and I do feel happy in saying that this blog has surely won a few hearts if not many.

There’s a lot to learn and explore and I am glad to have so many friends who have now become a part of ‘my culinary journey’ at Foodelicious. It’s said that a long journey becomes easy if you have company and this journey till the 200th post would have been difficult without my blogger friends and the readers. Your mails and your comments inspire me to try new and attempt better, so please let them coming in.

I wanted to make a quick dessert as these days I tend to lose patience early, so was in no mood to make anything elaborate. I started exploring my refrigerator and landed on a pack of dark compound. Also, during Diwali I had received large packs of dry fruits as gift which I had to finish, so thought of mixing both the things and make some fudge. S, loves chocolate fudge and I surely was in a mood to pamper his sweet tooth.

I used the bitter chocolate as S loves that, one can use any chocolate of their choice to make this fudge. Please bear with my in process clicks as this process is done very quickly it surely has affected my clicks.

Ingredients

500gms dark Compound

a can of condensed milk

a cup and a half of chopped roasted nuts

75gms unsalted butter

1/2 vanilla essence

 

Method

Grease a 7”-8” square tin.

Break the chocolate into pieces. In a sauce pan mix the chocolate, condensed milk and butter and heat on a slow flame, stirring continuously till the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Do not let the mixture boil.

Remove from heat and mix 3/4th of the chopped nuts quickly ( I used walnuts, almonds and cashewnuts ). Mix properly.

 

Pour it into the greased tin and sprinkle the remaining nuts on top. Even the top.

Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or till firm, then cut into square pieces. Makes about 25 pieces.

Store in an air tight container in a cool and dry place.

 

Sending this to Akila’s Dish Name Starts With C

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Quick Cherry and Cheese Bites

Hi!

First of all a quick reminder to all of you to send your entries for ‘Only’- Chaat and Flavours Of Punjab events hosted here by me, which ends on 30th Nov.

These days I am facing a big problem, my younger one refuses to eat his lunch box. He is so engrossed in his  school activities and play that he prefers to chuck his meals. So, I ensure that he eats something in the morning before he leaves as he leaves quite early and then provide him some quick bites in his lunch box that he can gobble up (that’s what they do in school).

I am always on a look out for such preparations which are easy to make and look attractive too. While watching one of the cookery shows, in the kids segment they had shown these attractive and healthy bites and I also felt like grabbing them right from the TV. These are extremely quick to make, need very few ingredients which are easily available in our kitchen. Since, I had all the ingredients in hand I tried them immediately. In the original recipe they had used raw asparagus, since that is not easily available here I replaced it with tender French beans which I preferred to saute a little.

I was extremely glad to see the younger one gobbling these and I was happy to see some vegetable going into his system. This is perfect snack to go for the line “taste bhi aur health bhi”.

Ingredients

a whole wheat bread slice

3 french beans

mayonnaise

3 cheese slices

1/2 tsp olive oil

cherries

toothpicks

for seasoning- salt,white pepper and garlic powder

Method

String the beans and saute them in olive oil for a minute. Season them with salt, pepper pwd and garlic pwd. Cool them.

Take  a bread slice and cut off the edges. Spread a tbsp of mayonnaise on it. Cut the slice into three equal parts.

 

Take a cheese slice and keep a french bean on one edge and roll the slice over it. Make three cheese rolls.

 

Keep each roll on the three bread pieces and then cut each bread piece again into 3 equal parts to get bite size squares.

Place cherry piece on each bread square  and then insert a toothpick into it. Arrange on a plate and serve. These can be given in the lunch box or it can be good after play snack.

Sending this to Priya and Aipi’s

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DROITS D'USAGE

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Pizza Style Braided Bread

Hi!

I love braided breads, now my friends would say, what’s the new information in that? No, nothing new about making braided breads, the only thing new is, innovating the fillings and making the bread more scrumptious.

I had mentioned to you earlier that I love this bread that I get here in a bread shop called Grand Plaza and the last time I made the braided bread I wanted to make something similar to that. The bread was surely amazing  but the flavour was different and I was still trying to attain that taste. So this time I tried a filling using Marinara sauce and veggies and then used cheese as a filling as well as a  topping and I must say that I was happy with what I ate. It was good and very similar to what I get from the bread shop.

The other change that I made this time was that I rolled the crust more thin, cut more braids and kept the spice level a little high. The end result was that it gave me a feel of a spongy, thin crust pizza. The family loved it and the loaf disappeared in a go.

The only problem I faced was, as the winter is setting in, the dough took a long time to rise and did test my patience. If you have any tips to share with me on how I should work with yeast in winter, do let me know.

I used the same measure to make the dough as I had used here and the recipe of marinara sauce used to make the filling can be read here. In the marinara sauce I added about half a cup of boiled corn. Apart from that I used grated mozzarella cheese and chopped capsicum for the filling and topping too.

Method

I followed the same method of making dough and braiding as I did here. I filled it with stuffing of marinara sauce and corn, then sprinkled 2-3 tbsp mozzarella cheese and capsicum.

After the braiding I applied an egg white wash and then sprinkled some more mozzarella cheese and chopped capsicum as a topping.

Let it rise again and then bake  in a preheated oven at 190C for 15-20 mins till the crust turns golden in color.

Cool it and cut into slices and serve.

I also want to send two of my best posts of this year, which I loved writing and then reading the valuable comments on it, to 30 Best Recipes of 2010 hosted by Chackos Kitchen along with Little Food Junction, Alka at Sindhi Rasoi and Cooking With Thas.
1. Cauliflower Butter Masala, The Feel Good Hormone and My experience with Kashmiri Red chilies
2. Mughlai Dum Aloo On a Foggy Day

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Ram Laddoo..A Street Chaat From Old Delhi

Hi!

Delhi is a place famous for it’s food and especially it’s chaats. Tourists never miss an opportunity to taste the chaat at Chandani Chowk/ Purani Dilli. To top the list is surely paani-poori , aloo chaat and dahi bhalla but another chaat which is extremely popular here is Ram Laddoo.

When I heard this name for the first time I thought it’s a sweet dish as the name  laddoo suggested that but later when I came across this chaat in a local market here, I realized it’s a savory dish. We thought of trying it, so ordered  a plate and then the taste simply caught us, we could not resist ordering a second one. Since then, we do make it a point to have this chaat whenever we visit the local market. It’s best to be eaten in winter as the hot dumplings melt in the mouth or in monsoon, enjoying the rains.

The laddoos are golden balls of lentils which are light and fluffy, crunchy on the top and soft inside. They are served with a spicy, tangy green chutney and grated radish. An amazing and lip smacking combination. I had been planning to attempt making them at home and  thought it would be an apt entry for my event ‘ONLY’- CHAAT hosted here.

The laddoos turned out excellent and needed a few precautions while making them. The lentils are ground coarsely and then beaten vigorously to get a light and fluffy mixture. It is very essential that the lentil be ground using minimum or no water to get the perfect texture, the mixture is so light that while frying it fluffs to almost double the volume.

These can make a great appetizer for parties, in that case they can be fried partly in advance and then re fried in hot oil just before serving. It is essential that these laddoos be served hot with chutney to relish them completely.

Ingredients

For the Ram Laddoo

1/2 cup dhuli moong dal/  yellow lentils

1/2 cup chana dal/ bengal gram

salt to taste

oil for deep frying

For spicy and tangy Green Chutney

1/4 cup mint leaves

a cup of coriander leaves

3-4 tbsp onion

2 garlic pods

5-6 green chilies

a tsp lemon juice

1 Indian gooseberry/ amla chopped

1/4 tsp rock salt

salt to taste

1/8 cup water

and

grated radish

Method

Wash and soak both the lentils separately for 3-4 hours. Decant the water completely and grind the lentils to a coarse paste.

Mix the lentils and then beat them till the mixture attains a white color and becomes light and fluffy. I used my beater to beat and it took almost 3-4 minutes to become light. One can compare the colour of the mixture before and after beating.

 

The mixture should have a dropping consistency like that of a cake. Heat oil and using a spoon  put the laddoos in the oil. The oil should be hot enough (use medium flame) so that when the laddoos are put they immediately rise to the surface. Deep fry from either side till golden in color, in batches of 7-8 laddoos per batch and remove on a kitchen towel.

 

Grind together all the ingredients under green chutney using water.

Serve hot with green chutney and grated radish.

Sending it to my event ‘Only’ Street Foods of The World hosted by Archana of Mad Scientist’s Kitchen.

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