Bhel

Anytime of the day(or night) you ask me whats my favourite snack, by default you'll hear "Any chaat item".. More specifically Bhel :) Then Paani Puri, Ragda Patties, SPDP, Dahi Wada... and the list continues :D I can live my entire life eating chaat.. There was a time I used to eat bhel every alternate evening during college times, that too when I used to stay home and get "maa ke haath ka khana" everyday.. The one thing I miss here is the bhel at "bheleshwar", a famous joint in Pune where I used to have bhel with my colleagues.. Spending hours there having bhel, then paani puri followed by malai kulfis.. How I wish Bheleshwar had a branch here in Belgium!!!!

I can enjoy bhel at any place, anytime... Though my husband doesnt like to eat bhel on roadside thelas (but who cares!!!!!), he doesnt mind homemade bhel.. The easiest snack on a sunday evening, mostly coz it is to be followed by a shortcut dinner ;) Bhel can be best enjoyed when its a bit spicy and has a proper balance of the sweet n sour tamarind chutney and the hot green chutney! My bhel hops over to Hima for the lovely event she started hosting this month-- WYF-Snacks!

Bhel

Serves:

3-4 (Only 1 if its me! ;))

Preparation Time:

5-6 mins

What you need:

2 cups Murmura/Mamra/Puffed Rice
1 cup Farsan/Shev Mix
1/4 cup Tamarind Chatni
1/4 cup Green Chilli Chatni
1/2 tsp Chaat Masala
1 tbsp roasted Peanuts
1 chopped Onion
1 chopped Tomato
2 tbsp chopped Green Mango (Kairi)
Salt to taste

For Garnishing:
Chopped onions, Tomato and Green Mango (Kairi)
1 tbsp Thin Shev
Few roasted peanuts

To make Chatnis:



Chatni 1:
Blend 3-4 chillies, corriander, salt, lemon juice with some water to make the hot green chutney!

Chatni 2:
Mix tamarind pulp, jaggery/sugar, some water to make the sweet sour tamarind chutney!

How to proceed:

1) In a big bowl, mix all the ingredients well
2) Serve in plates topped with chopped onions, tomatoes, green mango, corriander, some roasted peanuts and thin sev.



I prefer adding more of tamarind chutney to have proper ooli (wet) bhel and eat with potato chips which serve as my disposable (read as edible) spoons ;)

Zhaal Muri

After Zhanzhanit(Marathi word for extra spicy), its Zhaal(Bengali term for extra spicy). Zhaal Muri is a famous bengali chaat, which is as famous in Calcutta as bhel is in Mumbai. Zhaal Muri, meaning spicy mamra(puffed rice/murmura) tastes best when prepared from crisp puffed rice and eaten with extra hot chillies!

I have a Bengali friend here whom I visit quite often. Once I took along murmura chivda for her and she loved it.. Siad that it reminded her of Zhaal Muri, a bengali chaat/snack. She told me how its prepared(plus minus some ingredients) and served.. As a true chaat lover, returning back home, my first task was googling for the recipe.. found it at some places and finally prepared a mix n match combination.. Tasted lovely.. Next time my friend visited me, I said I was preparing sukki bhel(dry) for her. She had the first bite and said "This tastes exactly like Zhaal muri".. Now this was the real compliment and confirmation I was waiting for. :) So this perfect bengali favourite chaat goes for Nupur's "Z of Indian Vegetables"

I just thought what were the other words that come to my mind when i think of Z.. in general, just for timepass.. firstly zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, ofcourse sleep :) secondly Z for Zebra and Zoo, strong basics :) Z for zucchini, a common vegetable here in europe, Z for zunka, a maharashtrian vegetable dish, Z for Zimbabwe, thanks to my love for cricket few years back.. Z for zero, my childhood score for drawwing paper where I painted the sun green and the mango blue. :D Z for zhakkas, my favourite appreciatory word meaning awesome when extremely happy with something... Z for..........Wondering if I have missed some important Z words? :D

Zhaal Muri

Preparation Time:

15-20 mins

Makes:

2-3 servings

What you need:

2-3 cups crisp Puffed Pice(Mamra/Murmura/Muri)
1 Onion, finely chopped
1-2 Potato, boiled and finely diced
1 Tomato, finely chopped
Cucumber chopped (1/4 cup)-Optional
2 tbsp roasted Peanuts
1 tbsp roasted Cashews-Optional
3-4 Green chillies, finely chopped
Jucie of 1/2 Lemon
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Corriander Powder
A pinch of Turmeric
2 tbsp chopped Corriander
1 tbsp fresh grated Cocunut
Salt to taste

How to proceed:

1) Mix all the ingredients.
2) Garnish with corriander and cocunut.
3) Serve freshly prepared before mamra's become too soft

I served it topped with crushed Paprika flavoured Potato chips

* Best way to serve....



* A tsp of Mustard oil is usually added at the end before serving. I didnt have it and so didnt opt for it.. The quantity of lime, salt and red chilli powder should be adjusted as desired!

Dahi Wada

I am an avid fan of chaat items(do i need to say that again???) and miss them here in Belgium. Although I try to prepare some chaat items at home, the taste of the ones served at roadside chaat corners in India is ohh so yummy!!! :) When I settled down here, I decided to try n cook as many chaats n snacks as possible at home so that I do not sacrifice my love for these foods :) If I would have not tried, I would have been extinct by now :D

Dahi Wadas are fried dumplings prepared using Urad Dal(Split Black Gram Dal) and served with loads of dahi (Yoghurt). Dahi wadas are my top favourite in chaat items and I am glad to say that my dahi wadas turn out equally good as the ones served in restaurants! :) Its a easy to prepare (with some preparatins before time) and a quick n appetising Punjabi snack which goes for RCI Punjabi Cuisine!

Dahi Wada

Makes:

8-10 wadas!

What you need:

1 Cup Urad Dal
2 tsp Cumin Powder
Pinch of Sodium Bicarb
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
1 kg Plain Yogurt
4-5 tbsp Sugar
2 tsp Roasted Cumin Seeds
Red Chili Powder
Sweet Tamarind Sauce*

How to proceed:

1) Wash and soak Urad Dal overnight.
2) Grind into smooth batter and add cumin powder, sodium bicarb and salt to taste, set aside for 10 mins
3) Beat the yoghurt and divide it in two portions. Leave one portion as is(normal yogurt) and add sugar to other portion to make sweet yoghurt
4) Heat oil in a pan, take handful of batter and slide into hot oil
5) Deep fry the vada on medium heat till crispy and golden brown
6) Drain excess oil and soak the vada in water for 10 mins
7) Press each vada to drain off excess water and soak in normal yoghurt for 10 mins
8) Put the soaked vadas in serving dish and cover with 2-3 tbsp of sweet yogurt
9) Garnish with roasted cumin seeds, red chilli powder, cumin powder, salt and tamarind sauce (optionally Corriander)

*Add tamarind pulp to water and mix sugar/jaggery to make sweet tamarind sauce

Samosa

Now that my true love for chaat items is truly justified, I have the feeling that I am free to go ahead and eat more chaat items :D Waise bhi I doubt that anything in this world can stop me from eating chaat! :) So this time its the lovely Samosa. Samosa is a North Indian snack but famous all over India. Since samosas are easily available at any sweet marts or chaat joints in India, these are hardly prepared at home. Wish wish wish they were so easily available here! :( Two euros for just one cold samosa.. isn’t it better to try at home and eat as many fresh hot samosas as you wish till your stomach is full?? :) I never ever thought that 1 day I would prepare samosas at home!! I had samosas at an Indian friend’s place here, found them very easy to prepare at home and decided to try it the other day for hubby dear. Needless to say, 10 tempting hot samosas disappeared in less than 10 mins!!

Samosa is my entry for Nupur's "S of Indian Vegetables".. I know its too early for the event, but my next post will soon justify why I am in such a hurry :) Till then, enjoy these yummy hot samosas! :)

Samosa

What you need:

For the covering
2 cups Maida
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds (optional)
1 tsp Ghee
Few drops of lemon (this help to make the covering crispy)
Salt to taste

For the filling
3 Potatoes boiled and peeled
1/2 cup Peas boiled/frozen
1 tsp Ginger Paste
2-3 Chillies finely chopped
2 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
Chopped Coriander
Juice of half a lemon
Salt to taste

How to proceed:

For the covering
1) Mix all the ingredients and prepare soft dough.
2) Leave aside for an hr or two.

For the filling
1) Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds.
2) Add ginger paste, finely chopped chillies, garam masala, coriander powder and cumin powder
3) Add potato and boiled peas and mix well
4) Add salt as required
5) Squeeze juice of half a lemon , mix well and keep aside to cool

Putting it all together
1) Roll a chapatti (of size of rolling pin) using oil to roll, cut it into half, such that you have two semi circles.
2) Take one semi circle and make a cone from it. Seal the edges with water.
3) Fill in the potato filling and seal the edges with water.
4) Deep fry in hot oil and drain excess oil.
5) Serve hot with tamarind chutney or Pudina chutney

Ragda Pattice

With respect to my eating habits, I am a kid!! Its true.. I love junk food... I can stay on chaat items for my whole life.. chaat for breafast, chaat for lunch, chat for teatime and chat for dinner.. Wish wish wish I had such a lifestyle!! :) Anyways, fortunately/unfortunately, I dont find any restos/thelas/chaat joints here.. Back in my hometown Pune, there used to be many chaat joints.. the most famous was Bheleshwar near SNDT college backgate... was the local hangout with colleagues and friends! Then the famous Ganesh bhel in Kothrud area and Kalyan bhel in Bibwewadi.. Also Deepak sweets in Aundh.. And how can I forget the chaat basket at Manmeet on FC road... How I miss all the chaat items that I used to eat!!! :( Thankfully, I have started to try prepaing some of these at home.. These are hygenic (i seriously dont care which water they use for preparation at the roadside thelas!) and I even get a chance to prove their nutrition value :D Many of you guys will agree with me that chaat items are not junk food... Murmura, aalo, tamatar, pyaaj, a bit of fried shev, groundnuts... we include these items regularly in our meals! To conclude, chaats are not junk food and I should try more of these dishes at home :) So here comes Ragda Pattice!

Ragda Pattice or Ragda Patties--(whatever u call it.. I mean, however u spell it) is my entry for Nupur's "R of Indian Vegetables". Ragda pattice consists of the thick gravy prepared from white peas(I used chickpeas instead) called ragda(probably due to the process of mashing some peas to thicken the gravy) and shallow fried Potato dumplings called pattice(probably because they are patted during shallow frying).. LOL.. what a logic!!! Well well.. the try wasnt bad at all.. Here goes the recipe!

Ragda Pattice

What you need:

For Pattice
3-4 medium sized Potatoes
2 Slices of Bread
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

For Ragda
1 can (250 gm) Boiled Chickpeas
1 small Onion finely chopped
1 tsp Ginger Gralic Paste
2 tbsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Jeera Powder
Salt to taste
1 cup Water
2 tbsp Oil

For Garnish
1 Onion finely chopped
2-3 tbsp Sweet Tamarind Chutney
2-3 tsp Corriander chopped
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Chaat Masala
Thin Sev
Yoghurt (Optional)

How to proceed:

For Ragda
1) Take oil in a skillet. Fry onion till translucent
2) Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a min or two
3) Add all the spice powders and mix well
4) Mash half chickpeas and add them to spices.
5) Add remaining half can of boiled chickpeas
6) Add water and salt and let cook for 5 mins
7) Add more water if ragda is too thick, mash more peas if too thin

For Pattice
1) Boil the potatoes in a pressure cooker (4 whistles)
2) Mash potatoes well.
3) Soak bread slices in water, extract all water and add to mashed potatoes
4) Add salt and red chilli powder and knead well
5) Form 8-10 small round balls; place each ball on palm and flatten it to make pattice
6) Shallow fry/roast each pattice on a hot tava/skillet using a tsp of Oil


Putting it all together
1) Place 2-3 patties in a plate
2) Cover the patties with hot ragda
3) Garnish with onion, corriander, a pinch of chilli powder, chaat masala, tamarind chutney and sev.