Jaljeera

Summer here is coming to an end.. And so is my entusiasm to try my hand at summer drinks.. But Sunita inspired me to try this summer cooler when she started a lovely Spice-driven event called Think Spice.. Think Cumin! Cumin is one spice that is used daily in every household.. Whole cumin seeds or cumin(jeera) powder.. Its an absolute must in my masala dabba! Another speciality of tis spice is that I can use it in fasting foods.. Maharashtrian fasting foods allow the use of cumin seeds and hence sabudana khichadi and batata bhaaji can taste so yummy on these days. :D As a kid, I couldn't distinguish cumin from fennel seeds (saunf) and once ate jeera after dinner.. I had stopped eating saunf for years after that.. Mom explainedme the difference in their sizes and taste... After that I got back to eating saunf, but only the roasted one which had distinguishable yello color :D Now I wanted something some recipe for this event which was rich in cumin.. Though I use cumin in lots of things there are other spices used alongwith which dominate the taste.. Then I thought of the lovely summer cooler- Jaljeera.. A drink dedicated purely to the real taste of Cumin.. And a lovely appetizer to excite the taste buds!

Jaljeera

Preparation Time:

8-10 mins

Makes:

2 glassfuls

What you need:

2 tbsp Cumin seeds, roasted and powdered
11/2 tbsp Mint(pudina) leaves paste
1/2 tbsp Corriander leaves paste
1 tbsp Dry Mango(Amchur) powder
1/2 tsp Black Salt
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1/2 tsp Sugar
2 glassful Water(normal/cold)
1/4 tsp Salt
Salted Boondi for garnishing

How to proceed:

1) Mix all the ingredients except water
2) Add water and put in fridge to cool (Optionally add cold water if you wish to serve immediately)
3) Garnish with boondi and serve cold as an appetiser.

* Sieve the jaljeera if you wish to.. I prefer having it with the masala layer on top alongwith boondi! :)

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.

Paneer Lumpia

Hush! Finally an easy letter positioned between two tricky ones. :) Coincidently this week was P week at my place with Pulao, Palak Parathe, Pav Bhaji and Pakode! All being so common, I decided to experiment something new.. thus happened Paneer Lumpia! The name of the dish talks about: Paneer- The yummy Indian cheese, Lumpia- fried Vietnamese and Indonesian pastries! I combined these to make Paneer Lumpia for “P of Indian Vegetables” for Nupur’s A-Z of Indian Vegetables. This is an Indian dish since just the preparation style and looks of Vietnamese Lumpia are used while the remaining important features.. the filling, the covering and the taste are full-to Indian! :)

Paneer Lumpia

What you need:

1/2 cup Maida
Few drops of Lemon(this makes the covering crispy)

1 cup grated Paneer
1/2 cup finely minced Cabbage
1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
2-3 Green Chillies, minced
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Corriander Cumin Powder
Pinch of Turmeric
1 tsp Soya Sauce
1/2 tsp Vinegar
2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup

Water
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

How to proceed:

1) Take Maida in a bowl, add one tsp oil, 2-3 drops of lemon and 1 tsp salt. Knead into a soft dough and keep aside covered
2) Add vinegar to grated paneer and leave aside for 5 mins.
3) For the filling, mix all the remaining ingredients with grated paneer (except water and oil).
4) Divide the dough into balls of 1 inch diameter; roll each ball into thin circular rotis.
5) Spread the filling across at one end, roll to over to the other end so as to cover it and seal with little water. Fold and seal the sides with water.
6) Fry on both sides and drain excess oil on paper towel.
7) Garnish with grated paneer and serve hot with tomato sauce.

* Serve as is as “Paneer Lumpia” or serve as “Paneer Spring Rolls” by cutting each in 2-3 pieces :)

Strawberry Lassi

I had prepared this drink for hubby dear on V day this year and it was my entry for Pooja’s Valentine Day Special. Needless to say, my hubby loved it. Thanks to the summer and our love for strawberries, we prepare it every other day now. I thought of re-posting it here for fellow bloggers (and for me as well ;) ) to enjoy summer time with some chilled beverages.

Strawberry Lassi

What you need:

1/2 cup plain Yogurt
1/2 cup cold water
5-6 big fresh strawberries
4 tbsp sugar

How to proceed:

1) Wash and cut strawberries in big pieces. Grind them in a mixer with sugar.
2) Whip yogurt using a blender and add water.
3) Add the strawberry sugar mix to yogurt and mix well.
4) Served chilled with crushed ice(optional).

How about another look???