Cashew Masala Toast

Sometimes all it takes is a little imagination and re thinking our regular staples to come up with interesting ideas for snacks. Here I have taken the classic french toast, eliminated milk and sweet and made it into a indianized savoury. This recipe uses egg , but a eggless version is just as delicious. Do try out your own innovations too.

4 slices of bread ( Can use any firm bread)
2 eggs *
1 large sized onions finely chopped
1 green chilli finely chopped ( optional)
2 tblsp green corriander leaves finely chopped
2 tsp tomato ketchup or tomato chilli sauce
8 pcs cashews, broken and roasted
2 tblsp oil
salt and pepper to taste

* If eggless use a thin batter made with 2 tablespoons besan/ chick pea flour and 1/2 cup water.

Cut the bread slice into halves. Whisk the eggs . Add the chopped onions, chillies, corriander. sauce, salt and pepper to the egg ( or besan batter) . Add the cashew pieces. Heat oil in a skillet . Dip the bread slice in the mixture and place in the oil. Carefully place a spoonful of the chopped onions mixture on the bread. Repeat with all the slices. Cover and cook on a low flame till the egg/ besan sets. Flip and cook the other side. Serve hot.
This does not need any other side dish or relish/ chutneys/ sauce.

Oatmeal and whole wheat pancakes.

Pancakes are a huge breakfast favourite. They can be dressed up or down according to your mood and time available. But they are so easy to make. A pancake drizzled with some honey or jam or maple syrup just makes breakfast look exotic and fancy.

1 cup whole wheat flour 

1/2 cup quick oats 

1 cup milk

1/4 cup Greek yogurt

2 egg whites

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon 

2 tblsp sugar ( I prefer using raw sugar)a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional : 1/2 cup of berries/ chocolate chips/ dried fruit or 1/4 cup sliced nuts. 

Mix together flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon powder. Separately whisk together milk , sugar and vanilla essence, then add in the yoghurt. Whisk egg whites and slowly add to the milk mixture. Gradually blend in the milk-egg mixture into the flour-oats mixture. Stir lightly so as to just about mix it. Do not beat or whisk together or the pancakes will not be fluffy and light. Sprinkle your favourite optional ingredients and give a quick light mix.

Heat a tawa or a non stick pan . brush with butter or oil. Spoon out 2 tablespoonfuls of the batter and gently spread in a thick circle. Cook till the sides look light brown , then flip over . 

Til ke Laddoo

This recipe comes with a warning. Once done, resist picking up a laddoo and popping into your mouth. Its extremely addictive. And as they say ..... no one can eat just one. 

There is a trick to making this laddoo of just the right texture. It has to be light , crisp and the sweetness just enough. Its easier than it sounds actually. Just the right proportion will give you a til laddoo worth flaunting. This recipe has been corrected till I finally got the right proportion. No, its not the recipe handed down by my mum, but something that has evolved over the years.

Ingredients:

500 gms polished til

350 gms gud or jaggery

1/2 cup mixed sliced nuts ( Almonds, Pistachios, Cashews)

2 tblsp small golden raisins

4 green cardamoms crushed

tblsp lemon juice

Heat a heavy bottommed pan and dry roast the til on a slow flame. The colour should not change, but the til puffs up slightly once it is well roasted. Keep aside and cool. Grate the gud and melt in the heavy bottommed pan. Add 2 tblsp water to help melt it. Once it melts, it starts bubbling. Cook on a low flame till the mixture turns golden brown. Add the lemon juice. In a small bowl of cold water , put in a drop full of the mixture. Pick the drop, roll in your fingers and drop it back into the ater. It will make a sound like a piece of gravel hitting metal. The syrup is now ready. Mix the raisins, nuts and til seeds and pour into the syrup. Mix well. Grease your palms with a little ghee and roll , lemon sized balls of the mixture. Allow to cool completely before storing. The laddoos will keep well for over a months, though they may not last that long. 

Prawns Masala

Some dishes are ridiculously easy to cook and yet look downright exotic . Some of these recipes handed down from my grandmother are even today on demand and enjoyed by all generations. One such lovely and absolutely delicious dish is Prwans Masala. Its so easy to cook and can still be the one dish that gets maximum number of ooohs and aaahs at a party. Beware: You need to cook it in a larger quantity than you would another entree. Guests go for seconds and thirds too.

So here goes
Ingredients
500 gms medium to large size prawns, shelled and de veined
2 onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes cut into medium size chunks
1 capsicum ( optional) , cut into medium size chunks
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp chopped green chilli
1 tblsp each chopped ginger and garlic
2 tblsp oil
1 tsp each red chilli powder , haldi, garam masala, corriander powder
Salt to taste
Finely chopped green corriander leaves

Heat oil , add mustard seeds. Once they splutter add in the chillies, ginger and fry for a minute. Add the onions and cook till transluscent. Add garlic. Then mix the red chilli powder, haldi, corriander powder and garam masala with 4 tblsp water. Add this to the onion mix and cook till oil separates.Add salt to taste.  Add the tomatoes and capsicum. Cover and cook till the tomatoes have softened. Add the prawns and 1/4th cup water. Cover and cook. Once the prawns turn opaque, take off the lid and dry out the water. Add the green corriander leaves and mix well. Serve hot with Rotis/ Bread or steamed rice.

Falahari Poori

Fasting food is often restricted. The number of cereals allowed is not only limited but the taste is bland too. These days to get the younsters to confirm to traditional food is getting more and more difficult. However certain traditional food served with a proper accompaniment always hits bullseye. This nutty tasting poori is one such side. The crisp yet soft pooris go well with potato gravies, chutney , kadhi and even with raitas.

Ingredients:
2 cups Rajgira / kuttu ka atta ( Amaranth/ Buckwheat flour)
1 boiled potato
2 tsp Ghee
salt to taste ( if cooking on a fasting day , use rock salt)
water for kneading dough
oil for frying


Mix together the flour, salt and ghee. Grate in the boiled potato. Mix the flour well , add a little water at a time and form a stiff dough. Keep aside for half an hour.

When ready to serve, heat the oil. On a plastic sheet or foil. Place a drop of oil and place a dough ball on it. rub a little oil on your fingers and start patting the dough into a circle using your fingers. The poori needs to be as thin as a biscuit. Carefully lift up the poori and lower into hot oil. Hold down the poori with a slotted spoon till the poori fluffs up. Check the bottom for a even brown colour, then turn. Fry to a golden brown colour and drain.

Serve hot with Potato curry or a yoghurt raita or with a chutney of your choice. 

Potato Dryfruit Kachori

With Mahashivratri starts the appearence of Hindu festivals. Routine life is punctuated by fasting and feasting. While fasting would essentially mean abstinence from cooked food, there have been certain food stuff marked for consumption during fasting days. Most green vegetables and dry spices are not allowed, as are onions and garlic. More information on foods that are allowed can be had by writing to me, as I would like to restrict this post to a recipe. A decadent snack meant for fasting days but can be eaten almost on any day. Great to impress people with, easy to make. It always gathers compliments. Its the combination of ingredients that make this a wow snack. So here goes.

Ingredients:

2 medium boiled potatoes

1/2 cup dessicated / coarsely ground fresh coconut

2 tblsp green corriander leaves chopped

1 tsp each chopped ginger and green chilli

2 tablespoons grated paneer or cottage cheese

1 tablespoon each of sliced nuts of choice ( cashews, almonds, pistachios)

1 tablespoon chopped raisins ( optional)

1 tsp pure ghee

salt to taste ( if fasting , use rock salt)

2 table spoons Kuttu/ rajgira flour if fasting or otherwise use plain flour.

Oil for frying

Coarsely grind together coconut, corriander leaves, chillies, ginger. Add salt to taste. Mix this with dried nuts and raisins, Add in grated paneer. Mix well and keep aside.

Grate and mash the boiled potatoes well. Add  the ghee and a little salt to taste. 

Make a paste with the flour and 3 tablespoons water. The flour-water paste  should be of a pouring custard consistency. 

Divide and form the coconut and nuts mixture into small lemon size balls. Divide the potato paste into the same no of portions. flatten the potato paste in your palm and keep the coconut ball in it. Gently spread the potato paste to cover the coconut-nuts balls. cover all the balls in the same fashion. Keep aside. Heat oil for frying. Dip each potato covered ball into the flour paste and carefully lower into the oil. Repeat with all the balls. gently move the balls inside the oil once the underside looks pinkish brown. lower the flame and fry the balls to a light golden colour. Drain and serve hot with a coconut chutney . 

Sesame seed Mathri

Sesame or Til has to be one of my favourite dry condiment to cook with. A sprinkling of sesame seeds here, a chunk of Sesame Halawa there, a spoonful of Tahini paste in this.... and so the list goes on. Sesame just gives every recipe a nutty rich edge. Whether its in a small portion, sprinkled over a noodle dish or toasty seeds encased in a rich crunchy hardened sugar base as chikki , its taste stands out. So here is a yummy dry snack , which is extremely versatile . You can use it as a teatime snack, a canape, as sticks to serve with dips or as a base to make Indian chat. Its yummy in every form.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour / maida
2 tblsp toasted sesame seeds/ til
2tblsp ghee or vanaaspati/ veg shortening
1 tsp salt or to taste
few black peppercorns roasted and crushed.
water for binding into dough
Oil for frying


Mix together flour, sesame, salt, pepper. Add in the ghee/ vanaspati and mix well. Bind the mixture into a hard dough by adding a little water at a time. Once the dough forms a ball, cover with a damp kitchen cloth and leave aside for half an hour.

To make round mathris the traditional way:
break the dough into small size of  olives. Roll out into thick discs. Using a fork , stab both the surfaces of the disc. Prepare all the discs likewise. Heat oil , lower flame and slowly drop in the discs. Fry on a low flame till they turn pinkish brown. They will continue to get darker even after you drain them out of the oil so make sure they are still just pinkish when you remove them from the oil.

Shortcut method
Divide the dough into 2 parts . Roll out each part to the thickness of a tortilla. Stab the surface with a fork to make pock marks all over. Turn the flattenned dough and repeat. Using a small cookie cutter , cut the dough and fry the shapes till pinkish brown.

You can cut this rolled out dough into strips or discs. These can be used as chat base or canapes, or with a dip.

Vegetable Lasooni

Cooking for vegetarians is always a challenge. While there are scores of vegetables that one can cook, a lot of guests have limitations. Some don't like cauliflower, some don't eat mushrooms, and yet others don't like paneer. This poses a problem. Having mixed vegetables usually takes care of this problem. This allows you to then cook other vegetables without guilt . Mixed vegetables in different gravies can taste very different. Gravies like onion tomato , cream based, coconut based or cashew based. All can use the same vegetables yet taste distinctly different. This vegetable uses the flavour of garlic to make the taste different.

3 cups of mixed vegetables of your choice ( carrots, beans, peas, capsicum, mushrooms, cauliflower, potatoes, broccoli )
1/2 cup of paneer cubed and sauted.
5-6 spring onions sliced ( use only the onions and the white portion under it)
7-8 cloves garlic sliced
6 cashews ground into a fine paste with 1/2 cup milk.
1/2 cup yoghurt.
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 green chillies chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
Salt- pepper to taste
1 tsp garam masala
2 tablespoons olive/ vegetable  oil.

Steam together all the mixed vegetables with a small sprinkling of salt. The vegetables should still be firm and not cooked through and through.
Heat oil and add in the sliced onions ( reserve a few slices for garnishing) . When the onions are just about turning pink add in the garlic.Saute for till you can smell the garlic, add in chillies and ginger. reduce heat. Mix the garam masala  with a little water to form a paste and add to the oil. stir till the oil separates. Mix the yoghurt with cornflour and add to the oil. mix well . Make sure the heat in on low  so that the yoghurt does not curdle. Add in salt and pepper and the vegetables and paneer.Mix well. Add in the cashew paste and cook till the gravey coats the vegetables well. Serve hot with Rotis/ Parathas/ Naans.

Mushroom and Ham pasta

While I was settling in the daughter in Newcastle, England, I had to prepare her for living alone. Eating out was not an option as it is expensive. Yet the foodie needed her share of fancy food, but it had to be easy to cook. The supermarkets offered great options for meats. A little ham would go a long way. Piping hot pasta with a simple green salad was a perfect yet fancy meal.

1 cup pasta ( cook till just about cooked)
1 cup milk
2 tblsp flour
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
salt pepper to taste
red chilli flakes ( optional)
2 tblsp cheese ( optional)
few pieces of sliced ham Chopped ( Optional) , you could use sausages , bacon, bits of chicken or even fresh shrimp.
1 tblsp olive oil
2 cloves chrushed garlic
1 knob of butter

In a pan heat the olive  oil. Toss in the ham/ meat and fry for a minute, add the garlic. Add the cooked pasta and toss it together. Add the chilli flakes . Keep warm

Mix together Milk, flour, salt - pepper, nutmeg. Heat a small knob of butter and pour in the mixture. On a slow flame, stirring constantly till the sauce thickens. Add in the Pasta mixture. Sprinkle Cheese, cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Serve with a Salad on the side.

Sabudana Khichadi

An now for the king of all falahari dishes. Falahari food is the food that is consumed during fasts. As per Hindu religion certain foods are pure enough to be consumed during fasting. While milk and milk products are undoubtedly the purest form of food to be consumed , other things which can be eaten are all Nuts, Makhana ( Popped lotus seeds) coconut, Sabudana ( sago ) , Potatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, bottle gourd. Special flours are used such as singhada ( water chestnut) , kuttu ( Buck wheat) , Rajgira ( Amaranth) . Only ghee ( Clarified butter) is used as a medium of cooking . All recipes then are basically permutations and combinations of these raw materials .

While my mother in law was alive, we fasted on various occasions. Navratri ( Nine days/ nights) , Ekadashi , Maha Shivratri, Janmashtami. These were the fasts when we would plan elaborate menus . Personally I do not subscribe to the eating of special meals on fasting days. I believe a fast is the day when you are able to control your thirst and hunger and be in a physical state which is close to God. Consuming fruits or fruit juice in small quantities for sustenance is fine. However with the mother in laws religious beliefs and an enthusiastic daughter in law , fasting days certainly felt like feasting days. One of the fasting dishes however frequently made its way onto the dinner table on non fasting days as well. That's the sabudana khichadi. Extremely easy to make once you understand the way to cook it. Any mistake in the steps to follow and you will end up with a gooey lump instead of the lovely separated pearls khichadi.

For the khichadi 

1 cup cleaned sabudana, soak for 2-3 hours. Then drain till all the moisture has dried up.

2 tablespoons pure ghee

1 tsp jeera ( cumin ) seeds

1- 2 green chillies slit and cut in half. (If you like the fiery taste of green chillies, coarsely chop them up) 

1 cup dry roasted non salted peanuts, coarsely crushed.

1 tsp sugar

salt to taste

2 tablespoons dessicated fresh coconut

green corriander for garnish

Once the mositure has dried from the sabudana, add crushed peanuts, sugar and salt. Mix well and keep aside. In a heavy bottommed pan heat the ghee. Add the jeera seeds and green chillies. Add in the sabudana and mix well. Reduce heat and do not cover. Gently and frequently turn the sabudana. As it cooks the opaque beads turn transluscent. The peanuts will make sure the sabudana does not stick to each other. Check the salt at this stage. Once all the sabudana look transluscent , take off the heat. Garnish with fresh coconut and corriander and serve hot. You can serve it with a coconut chutney. Potato wafers, sweet potato/ potato fries make great accompaniments and a complete meal.