Paav Bhaaji…No, No Bhaaji In The Paav | Quick Bite | Step Wise Method

 

Hi All!!

I’m sure many would relate to me when I say that the kid’s exam is your own exam..though my kid is grown up and quite independent in many ways but during his assessments he needs me the most. I do not indulge myself in teaching him word to word but I’m always there to solve his difficulties and also to boost up his morale, so I get tied up at home..last few days saw me doing that only..After finishing morning chores, I would sit and make a test paper for him to solve once he is back from school and then stay with him till he finishes studies. Amongst all this I was also helping a friend to look out for a house. Today is the day when I’m breathing in a relaxed manner, now that the tests are over and the friend also has has got an extension in her lease, phew!!

The kid had a half day in school today, so I wanted to make something interesting before he came home. I had not made pav-bhaji in a long time, so thought of making that for lunch but I was also in the mood to bake a bread to relax myself as it has a therapeutic effect on me. Plus, I also wanted to use the bread flour which I had eagerly bought in Thailand. My mind started working on how to accomplish both the things simultaneously and  that’s when the thought of making a stuffed pav-bhaji came to my mind. I made the bhaaji and used it as a filling. Instead of making regular stuffed round buns, I thought of making a more attractive bread, so indulged in a braided version.

The product formed after the baking was a soft braided bun with a bhaaji filling. Kid entered home sniffing, I had just finished the first batch of baking the buns before he stepped in and he was too eager to pounce on them. I had to push him away so that he could wash himself before he could savor the pav-bhaaji..First bite of the bread into his mouth and instantly the thumb was up with a smile and he was ready to finish more. He couldn’t stop praising the new version of Paav bhaaji or Bhaaji in a Pav and I was more than overwhelmed..

At night we savoured the remaining bhaji with the paav in the authentic paav bhaji style. The bhaaji has turned out too good and S mentioned that it is as good as Amar Juice Center, in Mumbai.

Preparation Time for bread: 20mins

Total Time to Make Bhaaji: 1hour

Rising Time:40-45mins

Baking Time Per Batch:16-20mins

Serves: 4-6

Difficulty Level: Moderate/ Needs Skill

 

Ingredients:

a cup of bhaaji

For The Bread

4cups APF or Bread Flour + more for rolling and dusting

1/4cup of Butter/ Oil/ Shortening +1tbsp oil

1tbsp active dry yeast

1tbsp sugar

1-1/2tsp salt

1 - 1-1/2cup of warm water

milk for milk wash

 

Method

For step by step tutorial on how to make an authentic bhaaji, read the post here.

Heat a cup of water to a lukewarm temperature. Add sugar and yeast and let the yeast proof (makes a froth).

 

Take 3cups of the flour and keep 1cup of flour aside. To this add the salt and 1/4cup oil/butter. Mix thoroughly.

Using the proofed yeast, knead the doug. Add the remaining flour gradually, stop adding flour when you feel the dough is slightly sticky. Knead the dough for 10mins, by the end of the kneading it should be smooth and not stick on the floor and hand. Apply some oil and cover with a greased plate or cling film.

Let the dough rise and double in volume, this takes about 45-60mins depending on the temperature outside. One can also read this post on working with yeast in low temperature to get a better understanding.

Punch down the dough and release the trapped air and knead it again for 2mins.

Break the dough into portions slightly larger than a lemon and using the flour roll an oblong shape of 1/2cm thickness.

Place about 2tsp bhaaji vertically in the center of the rolled dough.

Give equidistant slanting cuts on either side of the bhaaji on the rolled dough.

  

Start folding the cuts crossing over the bhaaji, first left touching the second cut on right, the first cut on right touching the second cut on left and so on.. Fold the last end underneath.

 

Let the braided bread rise again for 15mins covered. Apply a milk/egg wash. Bake 4-6 at a time. Bake for 16-20mins in a pre-heated oven at 180C till golden in color and when tapped on top produces hollow sound.

Serve warm.

 

Sending this to my event 'Only' Crazy For Potato, guest hosted at Nivedhanam.

Tips

Never take the full measure of water mentioned in the recipe at once to knead the dough as the absorption of water varies from flour to flour.

Always take lukewarm water for proofing the yeast. Insert the finger in the water, if the heat is bearable and not hurting, one can proceed with the addition of yeast. Hot water shocks the yeast.

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Shahi Dosa, Step By Step Filling & The Winner of March Month’s ‘Only’ Event

 

Hello Friends!!

Firstly apologies for disappearing suddenly, I was just held up with too many things..

Today I’m posting a Dosa recipe very close to my heart. This brings in many childhood memories..Almost once in a month after the Sunday meditation, I and my brother would accompany my parents and visit a vegetarian restaurant called Naivedyam, where I and my dad would religiously order the Shahi dosa and  savor that. While my brother ordered spring rolls and my Mom would order a paav bhaaji or chhole bhature. This happened for several years till the restaurant shut down. My dad also loved their Kashmiri pulao and after the restaurant shut down I tried the preparation

at home for him and fortunately in my first attempt I made it exactly like the restaurant and then whenever we had guests coming over my mom would ask me to make the pulao. After the success of the pulao, I tried my hand on the dosa, I did not have any recipe in hand what I remembered were the ingredients, flavor and taste. Keeping all that in mind I attempted making the filling and I got it right the first time .

I had almost forgotten about this dosa preparation and recently while remembering old memories I was reminded of it and I was too eager to try it again and when DH asked me to make masala dosa on a Sunday, I also made the filling for Shahi dosa and treated myself with age old memories and relived those moments..

The word ‘Shahi’ means ‘royal’, and the word royal is related to the richness of the filling. It is cooked in ghee with nuts, raisins and cottage cheese all of which make the preparation rich looking and obviously high on calories. But once in a while indulgence is okay, isn’t it?

I felt like a kid after eating the dosa and wished that I could go 20yrs back and visit the place again. Me and my dreams..nevertheless, I know whenever I want to be a kid again, I’m going to make this Dosa.

 

Shahi Masala Dosa

Preparation Time For Filling: 15mins

Preparation Time For Dosa Batter: 8-10hrs

Cooking Time For Filling: 10mins

Cooking Time For Each Dosa: 2-3mins

Makes: 8-10 dosas with the filling

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

For Dosa Batter

3cups parmal rice

1cup boiled rice

1cup thick beaten rice

1cup urad dal

1tbsp methi seeds

1cup mix of chana, tuvar and yellow moong daal

For Filling

10-15 cashew nuts

1tbsp raisins

2-3tbsp ghee/clarified butter or oil

an inch of ginger, grated

1green chili, chopped

2medium tomatoes chopped

1 onion chopped

250gms cottage cheese/paneer grated

a pinch of garam masala

1/4tsp turmeric

1-1-1/2tsp red chili powder

1tbsp coriander powder

salt to taste

1tsp cumin powder

salt to taste

1 green capsicum, finely chopped

Method

For Dosa Batter

Soak all ingredients separately for 4-5hrs and grind them into a smooth paste, mix and leave aside for 5-6hrs to ferment. Add salt and mix again. Adjust the consistency of the batter, it should not be very thick nor too thin. It should have a consistency thinner than a cake batter. The addition of three yellow lentils adds more nutrition as well as color to the dosa. For another version of Dosa batter check here. Sending this dosa rich in legumes to my event ‘Only’ Cooking With Legumes hosted by Nalini.

Heat a griddle or non stick pan and grease it. Pour a ladle full of dosa batter in the center and spread it using the base of ladle in circular movements. This process has to be done really fast else the batter gets cooked and does not spread.

Cook on one side till it develops a golden color and then turn and cook on other side.

Turn again and put the filling in center and fold the dosa or turn the edges lightly on three sides (I did it).

For Filling

Heat the ghee and add the cashew nuts and fry them.

Tip in the onions and ginger, sauté.

Add the green chili, tomato and dry spices, raisins along with salt, mix and cook.

Finally add cottage cheese and capsicum and cook for a minute. Do not overcook, the capsicum needs to be crunchy. This filling is multi purpose, it is great as a side dish with paratha and a good stuffing for sandwiches too.

Coming to the winner of last month’s event. Out of the 25entries sent under Indian Category posted here, the winner is number 18 picked by random selector.

The recipe at number 17 is Shell Pasta in Spianch Pesto Sauce, posted by Sharanya of Sara’s Tasty Buds. Congrats Sharanya, you win ‘Baked Dishes’ cookbook by Tarla Dalal. Please mail me your address in India, with landmark, pin code and phone number to cookingoodfood@gmail.com within two days to claim the win. If you are unable to claim within two days, I will pick a new winner.

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Cilantro-Parsley Pesto.. Indian Chutney in an Italian Avatar

Hello everyone!!

I’m back with yet another quick recipe and this time it is not a meal but a dip or in an Indian terminology, a chutney. In India we make chutneys of various kinds dry, wet, with oil, without oil. If we start looking out for various chutneys of different regions in India, thousands of recipes would surface.

Pesto is also a kind of chutney and has an Italian origin. A traditional  pesto has basil, parmesan cheese, olive oil, pine nuts and garlic. The word pesto  has originated from the word ‘Pestare’ which means ‘to pound’. But traditionally the pesto is not pounded but ‘ground’ in the pestle and mortar.  Traditionally a   Pesto is made with basil but today a variety of Pesto using different ingredients are available.

In India every household has it’s own chutney recipe and of all the chutneys made, coriander chutney is most common. This coriander chutney can also be made in various ways and one of the ways also makes use of peanuts. While making this peanut version of coriander chutney, it suddenly occurred to me,  that with a few changes in this chutney I could convert  it into an Italian preparation.  I experimented with my thought and gladly I succeeded too and this version  of coriander pesto  was produced. It turned out a far cheaper version as compared to the Basil Pesto, as pine nuts as well as the   basil leaves are very expensive here. I served the pesto with home made herbed bun and I must say, it was a great combination to eat.

Cilantro-Parsley Pesto

Preparation Time:10mins

        Serves:4

 

Ingredients

a small handful cilantro/ coriander/ hara dhaniya
a small quantity of parsley
2-3tbsp roasted and peeled peanuts/ bhuna mungfali dana
3-4 plum garlic cloves/ lahsun
1/4cup extra virgin olive oil/ jaitun ka tel
about 4tbsp parmesan cheese
1/4tsp of salt

Method

In a mixer pot take washed cilantro and parsley leaves.   Add garlic to it.

Add roasted peanuts.

Add cheese, salt and olive oil. The cheese also has salt so less salt is added.

Grind to a coarse paste.

Serve as a sandwich spread or a dip.

This dip can be stored in an air tight container for about 8-10days in a refrigerator.

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Hi All!

Cooking food is all about experimenting with new ingredients and flavors. I’m decently good at mix matching flavors and ingredients. Most of the times the experiments are quite successful and rarely disastrous. A few days back the kids came back after playing soccer and were very hungry. The younger one demanded to make something very interesting and new. 

 

My mom always says that a good cook is a one who is able to cook good and tasty food from the ingredients available. So though my little grey cells were not of much help that day I still did not give up.I quickly rummaged through my fridge and pantry. My fridge was completely out of veggies and had two corn cobs staring at me. In the pantry, I knew I had a few ready to use pastes which were to be finished fast before expiry, amongst that was also the Thai Curry Paste.

I thought of making something using the two. I quickly removed the corn using my corn peeler and crushed it in the mixer.I must say that the corn peeler is one tool which I simply love. I added the Thai curry paste to the corn and tasted the mix, it tasted good so decided to make patty of the mix. I needed a binding agent, so used the potato flakes. I have started loving these flakes, they are so useful when one is  in a hurry. I gradually added the flakes and adjusted the consistency.

The Tikkis turned out tasty and  I kept 2pieces for S to taste. He liked it so much and was  disappointed that I left only two pieces for him to sample. Since the mix of the tikki turned out tasty, I thought of posting it so clicked the pics in a hurry with two children hovering over me with hunger. So, pls do not assess my pics critically.

Thai Corn Tikki

Serves:4

Preparation Time:10-15mins

Cooking Time:15mins

 

Ingredients

2 American corn, grated

2tsp Thai green curry paste

1-1/2cups potato flakes

1tsp red chili flakes

salt to taste

oil for shallow frying

Method

Remove the sweet corn from the cob and grind it coarsely.

To the corn, add the green curry paste and red chili flakes.

Add potato flakes gradually, these will absorb the moisture present in the corn. If required add a little water.

Take ping pong ball size mixture and wet the palm. Flatten it and shape it to like a tikki on the palm.

Smoothen the edges and shallow fry on both the sides till golden in colour.

Remove on a kitchen towel and serve hot with tomato sauce.

These tikkis are perfect finger foods for the kids. They are healthy and tasty too. If required one can omit the addition of chili flakes. I have added it solely because my kids love spice and corn has a sweet taste, the chili flakes balances that.

Sending it to Healthy Foods For Healthy Children- Preschooler snacks guest hosted here and originally the brainchild of Nithu.

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