Monday, November 24, 2014

Kacchi Dabeli/ कच्छी दाबेली

Kacchi Dabeli/ Kutchi Dabeli/ Mumbai Dabeli/ दाबेली -कच्छी दाबेली


Dabeli or Kutchi dabeli or Kacchi dabeli (दाबेली - कच्छी दाबेली) is a snack food of India, originating in the Kutch or Kachchh region of Gujarat. It is a spicy snack made by mixing boiled potatoes with a dabeli masala, and putting the mixture between Pav/ dinner roll and served with chutneys made from tamarind, date, red chilies, etc. and garnished with onion, pomegranate, sev and roasted peanuts.

Even if it is from Gujrat or Kutch, it is also a popular snack item in Maharashtra and other parts of India. With ready-made dabeli masalachutneys made-in-advance (or store bought), Shev/ Sev, roasted pea-nuts, pomegranate and boiled potatoes, readily available, dabeli hardly takes 8-10 minutes to be prepared and as such has become a popular Indian fast food item of any household.

Ingredients:



Boiled potatoes: 2 Medium sized (mashed)
Onion: 1 Small (finely chopped)
Dabeli Masala (Store bought): 2 Tbsp (or as per your taste)
Pomegranate seeds: ½ Cup 

Roasted peanuts: ½ Cup
Oil (of your choice): 1 ½ TBsp
Butter (Salted or unsalted): ½ stick
Date-Tamarind Chutney: ¼ Cup
Red chilies or Samosa Chutney: ¼ Cup
Pav/ dinner rolls: 6
Sev/ Shev: ½ Cup
Salt: To taste

Procedure:

Take 2 medium sized boiled potatoes and mash them nicely. Now heat 2 Tbsps. of oil in a pan and put these mashed potatoes to it. Sauté them for couple of minutes. Now add salt and dabeli masala as per your taste buds. My family likes it little less spicy so I usually add about 2 Tbsps. of masala. Also it depends on the spiciness of the store bought dabeli masala, sometimes it’s really spicy so please adjust the proportion of the masala accordingly. Sauté it for another 3-4 minutes. Now your kitchen will have a nice Dabeli aroma and bingo, your stuffing is done for delicious dabeli. Spread this mixture on a plate or Thala which has little deep sides. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, roasted peanuts & chopped onions. (Sometimes people add a little onion to the mashed potato mixture however it isn’t authentic and I don’t like it)


On a plate take chopped onion, roasted peanuts, shev / sev & pomegranate seeds. Now the magic begins. Take one pav, cut it in half (do not cut completely, just cut it till it’s another edge), flip open it. Spread date-tamarind chutney and samosa chutney on its base. I used all store bought chutneys this time since I had them already in my pantry. Now take a spoonful of potato mixture and spread it on the base of your pav, put little extra roasted peanuts & pomegranate seeds, flip close the pav. Prepare all pavs like this and keep it aside. Now take little butter in a pan/ tava on medium-high heat and start putting the pavs on it. Butter well from both the sides. Once you see golden brown color on the bottom, flip over the pav and hear that awesome sizzling sound
J Press a little with the help of a flat spatula. You will see nice golden-brown crust and this is the time to take the pav out of the pan and put it on another dish. I don’t like to drain it on a paper towel because I like that extra buttery flavor. However, if you wish you could always put them on a paper towel before serving them.


Spread shev/ sev on a plate and dip each dabeli in it. Serve it hot with some chutney or just like that. You may sprinkle some cheese on it before serving.


If you wish to make these yummy pav at home please follow this link. 
http://kirtikitchenkatta.blogspot.com/2014/11/homemade-ladi-mumbai-pav-dinner-roll.html

Don’t forget to enjoy this yummy & quick evening snack. Happy Cooking!!!! :) 

Please leave your comments and suggestions about this recipe on my blog page. We welcome your feedback :)

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Thursday, November 20, 2014

Flax-Seed Meal, Wheat Flour, Oats & Methi Paratha

Flax-Seed Meal, Wheat Flour, Oats & Methi Paratha



I recently visited my Doctor and he said my Hemoglobin is little low than normal range. Since this was happening for the 1st time, I panicked. Came home thinking what can I incorporate in my cooking which will take care of this issue and at the same time my family (I have a 3 yr old toddler) will love it. I love Indian cooking, so decided to try something healthy yet interesting food item. Doctor said eat meat, eggs or green leafy vegetables and then just struck in my mind why can’t I make parathas? Went to my pantry and found Flax seed meal which is really high in Omega-3, found old fashioned oats & wheat flour. Didn’t have fresh leafy vegetable so just took frozen methi (fenugreek) and started. Hope you will enjoy this paratha the same way as me and my 3 year old did.


Ingredients:




Jawas/ Alashi pith (Flax-seed meal): 1 Cup
Kanik/ gavache pith (Wheat flour): 2Cups
Old fashioned oats (whole): ½ Cup
Fresh/ Frozen Methi (Fenugreek): 1 Cup (very finely chopped)
Ale-Lasun paste (Ginger-garlic paste): 1 TBsp
Jeera (Cumin): 1 Tsp
Ajwain (ova): 1 ½ Tsp
Roasted Til (Sesame seeds): 1 Tsp (optional)

Dhana- Jeera powder (Cumin-coriander powder): 1 ½ Tsp
Haldi powder (Turmeric): 1 ½ Tsp
Hing (Asafoetida): ½ Tsp
Lal tikhat (Red chili powder) 1 Tsp (according to your taste)
Italian seasoning: 1 ½ Tsp (completely optional)
Salt: To taste
Water: For kneading the dough (You may replace water, with either milk, butter milk or half n half to knead the dough)
Tandalachi pithi (Rice flour): You may use it while rolling the paratha as required (however you may use any flour of your choice while making the paratha)
Desi Ghee (Clarified butter): While roasting the paratha

Sour Cream/ Yogurt/ pickle : As a side with paratha

Procedure:

Take wheat flour and flax seed meal (2:1 proportion) in a bowl. Add whole old fashioned oats, methi, ginger-garlic paste and other spices to the flour. Knead well. You may use little olive oil while kneading the dough. The dough shouldn’t be very tight or watery.


Now take a small tava/ Pan and keep it on the gas on medium-high heat. Start rolling the parathas, I usually use rice flour while rolling the paratha or roti. This will avoid the dough from sticking to the rolling pin or to the surface on which you are rolling the paratha. You may use any flour of your choice while rolling the paratha. Put the paratha on hot tava and roast it. Put desi ghee while roasting the paratha, this will give a nice flavor to this very healthy paratha. Also anytime ghee is better than any oil, since we are making a kid friendly paratha.
Serve hot with your choice of side. I usually serve it with a dollop of sour cream with a small pinch of chat masala on it. However, you may serve it with yogurt, pickle, ketchup or with some other condiments of your choice.


I found this a very healthy version of paratha, what do you think? Please post your comments on this blog on my blog page. If you like it give a thumps up and please share it with others.

Don’t forget to enjoy this yummy, kid-friendly dish. Happy Cooking!!!! J

Please leave your comments and suggestions about this recipe. We welcome your feedback J 

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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

PITHALE/ MAHARASHTRIAN PITHALE

PITHALE/ MAHARASHTRIAN PITHALE





Pithale is an authentic food preparation from state of Maharashtra, India. It is a staple of many in the state. It is very delicious and can be eaten with bhakari. 

We usually get to eat this preparation in an authentic form in any small village in Maharashtra. It can be thick or thin form. Today we will see how to make semi-thick pithale. 

Ingredients:


  1. Besan (Chickpea flour): 1 Cup
  2. Kanda (Onion): 1 medium (chopped)
  3. Lasun (Garlic): 4-5 cloves
  4. Oil: 3 TBsp (For tempering)
  5. Lal Mirchi (Whole, dry Red Chilies): 2-3 (adjust according to taste)
  6. Fresh hiravi Mirchi (Fresh Green Chilies): 1-2 (adjust according to taste)
  7. Kadhi patta (Curry leaves): 5-6
  8. Mohari (Mustard seeds): 1 Tsp
  9. Hing (Asafoetida): ½ Tsp
  10. Haldi (Turmeric powder): 1 Tsp
  11. Dhana-jeera powder (Coriander-cumin powder)
  12. Jeera (Cumin): 2-3 TBsp
  13. Suke khobare (Grated Dry coconut): ½ Cup
  14. Danyache kut (crushed peanuts): 1Tbsp (optional)
  15. Water: 2-3 Cups (take more water later according to your desired consistency of pithale)
  16. Fresh Kothimbir/ Dhaniya (Coriander): ¼ Cup (Finely chopped)
  17. Salt: To taste

Procedure:

Take a bowl, add besan, dhana-jeera powder, danyache kut (crushed peanuts), salt, and water to make a thin paste. Keep it aside. Now take jeera, grated dry coconut, green chilies in a mixie bowl and grind it coarsely. Do not add water to this mixture. Roast this mixture on a dry pan and keep it aside.

Take (preferably) a cast iron pan and if you do not have a cast iron pan simply take any wok or kadhai and add oil to it. Put it on high heat. Once the oil is really hot add mohari, let it splutter nicely. Put hing, haldi, kadhi patta & red chilies to the tempering. Now add Lasun (garlic) first and then kanda (onion) to this tempering. Fry till kanda is translucent and lasun is brown in color. Now add grated coconut mixture to the wok, stir it for 2-3 minutes. At this time put the heat down to medium, we don’t want to burn the tempering while adding the besan-mixture to the wok.

Stir besan mixture once again before putting it to the hot wok. Now pour besan mixture to the wok slowly with one hand while stirring the mixture with another hand continuously. There should not be any lumps of the besan mixture. Put little extra water at this time if you see any lumps or if you feel the mixture is too thick. However, just keep one thing in mind while adding the water, that you need to stir the mixture continuously otherwise this will be lumpy pithale and it will not cook through. If you are happy with the consistency, put a lid on the wok. Let it cook for about 6-7min, stirring in between. Drain the water or moisture on the lid to this pithale mixture every-time you open the lid to stir, this will keep the pithale moist & will not be dry in the end.

Just taste it for salt and to check if the besan is cooked through. Now add kothimbir. 


Serve hot with Bhakari/ Roti or Rice. Serve dry garlic chutney & freshly cut onion as a side.
Don’t forget to enjoy this spicy but yummy dish. Happy Cooking!!!! J

Please leave your comments and suggestions about this recipe. We welcome your feedback J 

Monday, November 17, 2014

Rava Ladu/ Coconut-Rava/Suzi/Semolina Ladu

 Rava Ladu/ Coconut-Rava Laddu/Suzi/Semolina Laddu




Rava ladu is a well known delicacy or sweet of Maharashtra, India. It is usually made during Diwali festival as part of Diwali faral. Diwali Faral is nothing but few snacks that are made and distributed among friends and families. They are made for the winter season.

Ingredients:


  1. Rava (Suzi/ Semolina): 2 Cups
  2. Grated Coconut (Fresh or Frozen): 1 Cup 
  3. Desi Ghee/ Tup (Clarified butter): ¾ Cup
  4. Sugar: 1 ¾ Cup (Adjust sugar according to your taste) 
  5. Water: ¾ Cup
  6. Velachi pud/powder (Cardamom powder): 1 Tsp (grind coarsely) 
  7. Badam (Almonds): 5-6 peeled & sliced
  8. Bedane/ kishmish (Golden Raisins): 15-20

Procedure:

Take a non-stick pan and add ghee to it. Once the ghee is melted add rava to it and keep stirring until golden in color (your kitchen will have beautiful aroma of this rava-ghee mixture, that's the indication of well cooked rava). Now add grated coconut to this rava and keep stirring on a medium heat. Stirring is a very important step while making these ladu because we don’t want to burn the mixture at any time. Rava, coconut and other ingredients in this recipe really can get burnt quickly, so be very careful. Now keep this mixture aside.

Take another non-stick pan. Add water and sugar to make sugar syrup. We need to boil this syrup just for 2-3 minutes, once it starts boiling and becomes transparent, immediately turn off the heat. This is also called as “Ek-tari pak” in Maraathi language.

Now add velachi pood, badam, bedane and rava mixture to this sugar syrup. Rava and coconut mixture will absorb the sugar syrup in some time. Approximately after every 30-45 min keep stirring this mixture. After 2-3 hours these ladus will be ready to roll in a balls. Now make medium sized balls, you may need to put a little ghee on your palms while rolling the balls. Garnish each ball with bedana or a raisin. Voila…Your yummy Rava ladus are ready to dig in.

This mixture will make approximately 12-13 medium sized ladus. Keep it in an airtight container in refrigerate since it has coconut in it.

Don’t forget to enjoy these yummilicious sweet J Happy Cooking!!!!!! 

Please leave your comments and suggestions about this recipe. We welcome your feedback J

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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Homemade Ladi (Mumbai) Pav/ Dinner roll


Ingredients:


  1. Maida (All purpose flour): 3 cups + approximately ½ cup while kneading the dough later
  2. Wheat gluten: 2 Tbsp (Picture and description is at the end of the recipe)
  3. Melted butter: 3 Tbsp
  4. Sugar: 1 Tbsp
  5. Milk: 1 cup
  6. Water: ¼ cup
  7. Rapid dry yeast: 2 ¼ Tsp (Picture is at the end of the recipe)
  8. Baking powder: 1 Tsp
  9. Salt: 1 Tsp
Procedure:

Take a microwave safe bowl, mix milk and water in it. Put it in microwave for about 20 to 30 sec on medium high. The mixture should not be boiling hot but just luke warm. Add sugar to the milk, stir well and now add rapid dry yeast to this mixture and put it aside for getting it activated. If the milk-water mixture is boiling hot then it will kill the yeast and the pav will not rise at all.


You will need a large bowl for kneading the dough because you will be keeping this dough in the same bowl for rising, if the bowl is small then the dough may come out and it will be a great mess. (I put 4-5Tbsp of olive oil in the bowl, coat the dough nicely in the oil and keep it for rising. This avoids the dough to dry while rising) 

Now take maida, wheat gluten, melted butter, baking powder & salt in a bowl and stir it well. If the yeast is bubbling by now and has changed its color a little, put it in dry ingredients. Stir it well with spatula. Put this mixture under a standing mixer with a dough attachment and start the mixer on low setting initially and when the flour is incorporated well increase the speed. If you do not have this kind of mixer you may knead the dough either on a large cutting/ kneading board or on a clean plain surface like platform for about 10 min till the dough is of sticky consistency. Oil the bowl properly. Put this dough in the oiled bowl and cover it tightly with plastic or cling wrap. Keep this bowl in dry and warm place. I usually keep it in microwave or in oven (obviously on switched off mode) till this dough is double in size. This is your 1st rise of the dough. Usually it takes about 2-3 hours (If you have more time you may keep it a little longer but not more than for 4 hours). 

Tip: If you feel the dough is not rising or you are in a hurry you may preheat the convection oven on 200 F and switch it off. Now your oven is enough warm and you can keep the dough bowl in it. However at this time do not cling wrap the bowl initially otherwise there will be moisture on the wrap from inside which will spoil the entire process. After an hour or so cling wrap the dough-bowl and let the magic happen
J

Once the dough is double in size, take it out on a lightly floured board. Knead it again for about 5 min. Grease the baking tray with butter or oil. You may put an aluminum foil in this tray and then grease it. This will avoid unwanted oil stains on the baking pan for the future use. Now make 12 equal balls of the dough. Stretch each dough ball and make it like a small pillow. Arrange it on the baking pan leaving some space in between each ball. This will give enough room to the dough balls to rise. At this time you can brush either butter, milk or egg wash to the balls. This will give that perfect golden-brown color to the pav. Also your pav will not be dry when baked. I sometimes use butter flavored oil spray which is easily available in any super market. With this spray you will never go wrong on that beautiful color once these rolls are baked. Now cling wrap the pan again for our 2nd rise. Put this tray again in the same dry and warm place to rise for about 2-3 hours more. The 2nd rise is equally important as the 1st rise. If you don’t allow it to rise nicely, they will be uncooked or mushy from inside once baked. You want that fluffy and beautiful dinner roll/ pav. When the pav are risen nicely usually they will come together and hug each other and that’s the indication of nicely risen pav.



Preheat the oven on 375 F. Remove the cling wrap from the pan and bake these pav for 25-30 min or till the time you may see the nice golden-brown color on the pav (each oven may take different time so please keep an eye on it from the 25th min, you don’t want to over bake it). My pav are usually ready in about 30 min.

Wear oven mittens and take out the baking tray. The beautiful aroma of this pav will fill your kitchen. As soon as you take the pav out you may want to butter them again which will give a nice glazy look to your pav.



Serve it potato vada (vada-pav) or make pav-bhaji or dabeli or eat it just like that. Don’t forget to enjoy these delicious pav….Happy cooking!!!!

You may find Batata/ potato Vada-pav recipe by clicking on this link.

Check the link for Dabeli by clicking here. 

One more way to arrange the pav if you have a bigger quantity

Note:

Substitute for wheat gluten is plain wheat flour. 
For 3 cups all-purpose flour add 3 to 4 tbsp of wheat flour however, if you are making a wheat bread then there is no need to add wheat gluten to the recipe. I used the exact same product shown in the link which I usually buy from Walmart and shift it to an airtight container. 

Here is the link which will show you why we use wheat gluten in any bread recipe. 
http://www.thekitchn.com/vital-wheat-gluten-what-is-it-84612


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Friday, November 14, 2014

Vada-pav/ potato pakoda/ Batate vada

Vada-pav/ potato pakoda/ Batate vada


Vada pav is a well-known delicacy in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, India.  It is the most popular form of street food in Mumbai. For many people, including me, it brings back memories of childhood. It makes for a quick comforting snack.



Stuffing for Vada:

Potatoes: 4 medium sized
Onion (optional): 1 small size finely chopped
Jeera powder (Cumin powder): ½ tsp    
Haldi (Turmeric): 1 tbsp
Hing (Asafoetida): ½ tsp 
Ginger-garlic paste: 1 table sp
Coriander (Dhana) –cumin (Jeera) powder: 1 tsp
Salt: to taste
Green chili-coriander paste: to taste (I had put about 1½ table spoon)
Lemon juice: around 1-2 table spoon (according to sourness of the lemon)
Oil: 2-3 table spoon (for tempering)
Mustard seeds (Mohari): 1 tsp
Kadi-patta (Curry leaves): 4-5 cut coarsely. Do not use curry powder as a substitute. It does not do the job.
Oil: For deep frying the vadas. Preferably use vegetable oil, although Canola or Corn Oil can be good substitutes.
Kitchen paper towels for draining the oil post frying the vadas.

Whole green chilies: As a side (Completely optional)

Binding / Cover:

Besan (chick pea flour): 2 medium size cups
Red chili powder: 1 ½ tsp
Haldi (Turmeric): 1 ½ tsp
Jeera (Cumin): 1 ½ tsp
Ajwain (Ova): 1 tsp (optional)
Baking soda: 2 pinches
Lemon juice: 2 tsp
Water: as required to make a semi thick batter
Salt: to taste
Cooked Toor dal: ½ cup (optional)

Procedure: 

Boil all the potatoes in pressure cooker up to 4-5 whistles. Alternatively potatoes can be boiled in the microwave oven. Alternatively they can be boiled on the stove-top.

Take a large bowl, peel and mash them as you would mash it for mashed potatoes. Add onion, cumin powder, haldi, hing, ginger-garlic-green chili-coriander paste, coriander-cumin powder, lemon juice and salt to taste to the mashed potatoes. Mix everything together nicely. I have often found that mixing with the hands is the easiest way of doing this. Check the taste and adjust salt or spice according to your taste. Put a wok or kadhai on the stove top for tempering (tadka). Add Mustard seeds to the hot oil, let it splutter nicely. Add curry leaves and the entire mashed potato mixture. Cook for 5 – 6 minutes in a covered vessel.
Take it off the stove top and spread it on a plate. Allow it to cool down. This is the mixture that forms the filling for the vada.
Potato sabji or bhaji for filling
The next step is to prepare the binding or cover for this mixture. The binding forms a thin layer that holds the mixture in place.

Take besan, red chili powder, haldi, jeera, ajwain, baking soda, salt & cooked toor dal, add water and make a semi thick batter. At this time do not add lemon juice. This batter is going to be the binding for the Vada.

Roll small balls/ tikkis of the potato mixture and set it aside on a plate. Heat oil in a wok for deep frying the vadas. I took vegetable oil, you may take oil of your choice. Check the temperature by dropping a few drops of besan batter, if it floats immediately that means our oil is ready for frying the vadas. Now put lemon juice in the batter and stir nicely. You may see a little bubbles in the batter. This will make vadas really light and fluffy from outside. 

Dip vadas/ tikkis in the batter with the help of a table spoon and fork. Coat it nicely with besan batter and gently, carefully put 4 vadas at a time in the hot oil. Fry till nicely brown from outside. Put it on kitchen paper towel, it will drain away the excess oil from the vadas. Now put 3-4 green chilies in the hot oil and take it out immediately otherwise they may splutter and accidents can happen. Put the hot green chilies in little salt and serve it as Vada-pav's side. 

Serve hot vadas with Pav, green chili or chutney of your choice (usually it is served with dry garlic chutney). 
Don't forget to enjoy....Happy Cooking!!!!!