Poha Chiwda

      

          I learnt this recipe from Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s show. But then I made some changes in his original recipe…

          It’s a hot favorite at my home especially during Diwali. And since Diwali is near, thought will share this recipe. After eating so many sweets, you tend to eat something spicy.  So here is an easy to make, ready in jiffy healthy snack, which can be made and stored for nearly a month.

         

Ingredients

½ kg thin flat rice flakes (patal poha)

1 cup groundnuts

½ cup mixed nuts like cashewnuts, badam, pista and Kismis (optional)

¼ cup roasted channa dal

1 tablespoon rai (mustard seeds)

1 tablespoon jeera (cumin seeds)

1 tablespoon Saunf

2 teaspoons white til

Some Ingredients

2 teaspoons haldi

3-4 strings of curry leaves

1 teaspoon hing

½ cup thinly cut slices of dried coconut

Salt and Powdered sugar to taste

½ cup Oil

Ingredients for green paste

½ cup dania (coriander) leaves (washed and air dried)

2-3 green chillies

5-6 garlic cloves

1” ginger

1 bulb garlic (optional)

1.    Make a paste of ingredients given for green paste. Don’t make a very fine paste. Keep it bit coarse. Don’t add water.

2.    Sieve the rice flakes (poha) to remove all powder or any dirt.

3.    In a kadai, dry roast the poha till crisp and keep aside.

Roasted Poha

4.   Take ½ cup oil in that kadai and fry the coconut pieces and keep aside.

5.    Similarly fry the dry fruits and groundnuts separately and keep them aside.

6.   Now add rai to the oil.

7.    After it starts to splutter, add jeera, saunf, hing and curry leaves.

8.   When the curry leaves becomes crisp add the green paste and stir till the raw smell of garlic goes away.

9.   Now add other ingredients like chana dal, til and haldi.

10. Now add the roasted items, poha, coconut pieces and nuts.

11.  Mix well.

12. Add salt and powdered sugar according to your taste.

13. Allow it to cool and then store it in an air tight container.

Ready to Eat

NOTE:

1.    You can make chiwda from kurmura or puffed rice in similar manner.

2.    If you don’t want to add garlic, it can be avoided.

Instant Dahi Wada

                

                   I am back to blogging after ages… I have neglected my food blog and I was dying to get back but something or other kept me away. I lacked the motivation, perhaps…

Then last month, my daughter's therapist Sujata & Smriti asked “why don’t you conduct the flameless cooking classes for kids?” It was what I needed. The reason to get back…

So here I am with one of the recipes of my 1^st Flameless cooking class.

This recipe reminds me of my childhood. As this was the instant snack my Mom used to make, after I came from school. Instant and healthy, ready in jiffy & tasty too…

So here is the recipe of Instant Dahi wada.

Preparation time: 15 min.                                            Serves: 2 People

Ingredients:

4 jeera butter

1 pack masala buttermilk

1 cup thick dahi/curd

Sugar to taste

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

1 teaspoon chaat masala

Chopped corainder leaves for garnish

Method:

1.    Soak butter in the masala buttermilk for 5 minutes on each side or till they turn soft.

Jeera Butter N Buttermilk

Butter soaking all the flavour

Some more soaking

2.    Mix sugar and curd, till sugar melts. Add salt to taste.

3.    Now remove the butter and place in a plate. Pour sweet curd over it.

Dunked in Sweet curd

4.    Sprinkle chaat masala and red chilli powder over it.

Some spice

5.    Garnish with corinder leaves and serve.

Instant Dahi wada

Undiyo

Come winter and all the Gujarati women get busy with preparation of one seasonal favorite “Undiyo or Oondiyo”.

Undiyo is one of the favorite dishes in our house and we used to wait till the sweet shops put on boards saying “Undiyo Available”.

I always thought it’s not in my capacity to prepare this dish, but thanks to my friend Vishakha Mehta,who gave me this recipe, which though time consuming, but is still worth the effort.

I never thought that I’ll be able to prepare this tough dish. Though when I prepared it for first time, it was not that perfect, as I did get heath conscious and added less oil. But then we do learn from our mistakes.

So here is the recipe of one of my favorite winter delicacy.

Ingredients:

Tuvar n Surti papdi

100 gms small baby potatoes

100 gms sweet potato

100 gms purple yam

100 gms small brinjal
100 gms suran or yam

2 medium size raw bananas

2 small not so ripe elachi bananas

150 gms tuvar

150 gms surati papdi

For green masala:

250 gms shelled peas

1 bunch of coriander leaves

Green chillies 5-6

1 bunch of green garlic with leaves

Ginger

1 cup grated coconut

1 whole garlic

1 tablespoon red chilli powder

1 tablespoon dania powder

1 tablespoon jeera powder

1 teaspoon hing / asafoetida

1 teaspoon owa/ajwain

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon sugar

1 table spoon oil

Ingredients for methi muthiya

1 bunch of methi/fenugreek leaves

Besan/ chick pea flour

2 table spoon jowar flour

1 teaspoon hing

1 teaspoon haldi powder

2 teaspoon red chilli powder

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon owa

2-3 table spoon oil

1 litre oil

Salt to taste

Little grated coconut and coriander leaves for garnishing

Procedure

1.    Firstly wash all the vegetables and pat dry.

2.    Destring surati papdi, don’t throw away the outer shells, but remove the seeds from the shells.

3.    In same way remove seeds from tuvar but discard the shells.

4.   Clean and keep all the vegetables aside.

How to prepare methi muthiyas

Methi Muthiyas

1.    Clean the methi leaves and roughly chop them.

2.    Add all the ingredients given for its preparation except besan.

3.    Add besan bit by bit till chapatti like dough is formed.

4.   Adjust salt and keep aside for 5-10 min.

5.    Make small balls and deep fry them and remove them on tissue paper to drain out excess oil and keep them aside.

How to prepare green paste

1.    Keep aside some green leaves of green garlic.

2.    Coarsely grind all the other ingredients given for green paste.

3.    Adjust salt and keep aside.

4.   DON’T add water while grinding the paste.

How to prepare Undiyo

1.    Cut all the potato, yams, and bananas into large cubes with a slit in between for the stuffing.

2.    If baby potatoes are big, cut them into half and then make a slit or keep them whole with a slit in middle.

3.    For small brinjals don’t cut the stem. Make cross slit on the broader end and fill the stuffing as we usually do for stuffed brinjals.

4.   Stuff the green masala in all the veggies.

5.    Apply some masala to the papdi’s and tuvar also.

Purple Yam, sweet potato, raw banana and potato

Brinjal n Elachi banana

6.   Pressure cook potatoes, yam, raw banana, papdi and tuvar upto 2 whistles in a covered vessel so that water doesn’t enter the veggies.

7.    DON’T pressure cook brinjals and small banana.

8.   In a thick bottom vessel or non-stick kadai pour ½ litre oil (yes, this recipe is not for diet conscious people or for faint hearted ones also as it consumes lots of oil).

9.   Sauté remaining green masala along with green garlic leaves till the raw smell goes away.

10. Add all the veggies (the pre-boiled and brinjals, small bananas) and with light hand mix and cover them with this mixture.

11.  Lower the gas to minimum and cover the vessel and allow to cook on low heat.

12. Keep checking in between as it tends to stick and burn at bottom.

13. Keep cooking till all the veggies are cooked.

14. Adjust the salt.

15. Add the methi muthiyas to the mixture and let this cook for few more minutes.

16. Don’t keep stirring again and again as the vegetable will become soggy.

17. Close the gas and serve hot garnished with little grated coconut and coriander leaves with hot piping puris or chapattis.

Note :

1.    In ingredients I have written 1 litre oil, whereas in procedure I have used ½ litre. While cooking if you feel the cooking is drying up oil heat little oil and add to mixture.

2.     It does take some time for preparation but I promise that after slogging of 3-4 hours in kitchen when your family praises you makes you forget all the slogging.

3.    While trying for first time, don’t go for making in large quantities. Try doing with smaller portions of vegetables, in case if something goes wrong not much will be waste.

Happy cooking and Happy Eating…

Enjoy the winter foods.