Green Chutney/Hari Chutney

Green chutney also known as Hari chutney is one of those ingredients without which our Indian chaats are incomplete. Probably it is most favorite sauce for dhoklas, samosas, bhaji... etc. and also used as a sandwich spread.  The chutney can be stored refrigerated for up to a week without freezing.

Green chutney is mainly made from mint leaves and coriander leaves. In addition to these  leaves few other ingredients like lemon juice, green chilies and salt are added to this chutney. I recently started to add 1/2 green capsicum to get some thickness.. Add little cooking oil if you are going to freeze the chutney. Adding oil increases the shelf life of chutney. 

Ingredients

2 cups chopped mint leaves (phudina)

1 cup chopped coriander (dhania)

1/2 capsicum chopped  (Optional)

1 - 2 tbsp lemon juice (Required - Helps in preserving chutney's green color)

4 - 6 green chilies (adjust as per taste)

salt to taste

1/4 tsp roasted cumin powder (optional, if add enhances the flavor)

1-2 tbsp oil

How I Prepare 

Combine all the ingredients and grind to a smooth paste in a blender. Add little water if required.

Refrigerate and use as required.

If freezing it 

1. Add 1 tbsp of cooking oil, during the last stage of blending and give a quick mix.  

2. I pour the chutney into the ice cube tray and keep the tray in freezer for few hours.

3. After few hours, take the chutney cubes out from the ice tray and store it in zipper lock. The chutney stays fresh for 2-3 months.

4. Take cubes as needed and defrost it.  It's ready to use. Enjoy !!!!

Healthy Corn flakes Chivda/Cereal Chivda/

Yes you read it right, Chivda from cereals :).  A healthy and great substitute to our regular traditional poha or deep fried corn Chivda. This recipe is simple, quick and easy to make.  This was introduced to me by our babysitter (Asha Ben)

Ingredients
1 bag of Corn flakes
1/2 bag Rice Krispies
1/2 cup fine Potato Sticks
1/2 cup Peanuts
1/2 cup Roasted Chana Dal (Phutana)
4-5 tablespoons oil
Pinch of asafoetida (hing)
2-3 green chilli chopped into 1/4 inch pieces (increase it if u like Chivda to be more spicy)
About 10-15 curry leaves
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 spoon red chili powder
Salt as per taste
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/4 teaspoon Citric Acid (nimboo sat)

How I Prepare
1. Heat the oil in a wide saucepan over medium high heat.  Once hot add hing, green chili, curry leaves and stir it for few seconds. Add peanuts and roasted chana dal and fry it on low flame until the peanuts are golden brown.
2. Now add chili powder, turmeric, and salt. Mix it well on low flame.
3. Add Rice Krispies cereal, corn flakes and potato sticks and  stir the mixture gently, mix it well. Turn off the heat once cereals are warm enough.
4. Allow the Chivda to cool at room temperature before serving.
5. Store the Chivda in airtight container for several days. It stays fresh and crispy. It is a good evening time snack with tea or coffee.

P.S I made it less spicier so that my 14 months old toddler also can eat it. Just make sure to remove the chilies before giving it to kids.

Simple Gobi manchurian

Gobi Manchurian the most loved Indo chinese dish in India and my hubby's all time favorite appetizer. He loves it so much that every time we go to India, this is his first MUST to have dish. Initially I use to think its tough to make it. But I was wrong if you have all the right ingredients handy, this dish is simple and easy to make. Every time I make it, I see a big smile on my hubby's face :) .

Ingredients

1 medium Gobi (Cauliflower)

3/4 cup all purpose flour (Maida) 

1 tbsp Corn Flour

1 tbsp rice flour 

Salt to taste 

1 Chopped green chili 

1 tbsp Garlic Paste

1 tbsp Ginger Paste

1/4 tbsp  pepper powder

Water to make batter.

4-5 big garlic cloves minced into small pieces

1/2 inch ginger minced into small pieces

1/2 cup capsicum cubed (red, green)

3-4 green chilies cut into half

2 tbsp Soya Sauce 

2-3 tbsp Sriracha sauce or tomato Ketchup 

2 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp chilli sauce

2 tbsp Oil

Finely chopped Coriander Leaves 

Finely chopped spring onions leaves

How I Prepare

1. In a mix bowl add maida,  corn flour, rice flour, garlic paste, ginger paste, pepper powder, salt and few drops of  Sriracha sauce or tomato sauce.

2. Slowly add water to the above mix and make a thick batter. 

3. In a frying pan, add oil and heat it up

4. Cut the Gobi into florets and dip them in the paste and deep fry till golden brown. Keep aside.

5. Heat oil in another pan and add the minced ginger & garlic, chopped capsicum and green chili to it.

Saute it for 2-3 minutes.

6. Add Soya sauce, chili sauce, vinegar, sriracha sauce or tomato sauce. Mix it well.

7. Increase the flame and add fried Gobi.Mix it well. Toss it couple of times until gobi is nice and hot.

8. Garnish it with coriander leaves and spring onions and serve it hot.

 I was out of coriander and spring rolls that's the reason my Gobi is missing the garnish :)

Ragi Rotti (Easy way)

Ragi Rotti is a breakfast item in Karnataka and it is quite filling. It is made of ragi (finger millet) flour. It is prepared in the same way as Akki rotti (Rice flour rotti). Ragi flour is easily available in Indian stores over here. Many people have different technique to spread the rotti dough, some spread the rotti over banana leaf, some on plastic cover and some on steel plate. In my house my mom used to spread it on a flat steel plate and then place the steel plate on the hot tava. After few minutes she use to separate the rotti from the plate and drop it on tava and cook it. This method is bit time consuming and there are chances that the rotti might break, if you don't allow it to cook properly on one side before taking it out from plate. Later after marriage I found that my MIL  has a different technique and she followed none of the above methods. She takes the dough spread it directly on the tava (before heating up the tava) and then keep the tava on stove to cook it. It cooks perfectly without any broken piece. I have been using her method every since for both ragi and Akki rotti.

Ingredients
1. 1 1/2 cup ragi flour ( you can make approximately 4-5 rotti)
2. 1/4 cup rice  flour
3. 1 onion medium/big size finely chopped
4. 4-5 green chillies finely chopped (increase/decrease it per your taste)
5. 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
6. Few string of coriander leaves finely chopped
6. Salt to taste
7. Water to mix dough
8. Oil


How I Prepare
1. Add ragi, rice flour in a mixing bowl. Add onion, green chilli, coriander, salt, cumin seeds and mix it nicely by crushing onions with your hands for few minutes. This allows to get more flavour incorporated in the flour.

2. Start adding water little by little and knead it nicely in a dough. The dough should be such that its easy to spread. It should not be too hard.

3. Take a tava spread little oil in it and take small ball size portion of dough and spread it evenly on the tava using your hands.

4. Cook both the sides of rotti by applying little oil. Serve it hot with ghee or any chutney you like. It's best when eaten hot.

Notes
1. Once one rotti is cooked, switch off the stove. Remove the rotti from the tava. Turn the tava such that the bottom side is under the tap. Run it under the water for 1-2 minutes. The tava will become cool to make the next rotti.

2. Alternatively if you have two tava, you can allow the tava to cool naturally and make the next rotti on a different tava.

Pani Puri(Gol Gappa) - Pani Recipe

Pani puri also known as Gol Gappa is a very popular Indian street food. Being in States we miss eating street food a lot, only few restaurants offer chats here and usually there aren't fresh enough. I generally make the pani at home and get the puri's from the Indian stores. It's easier that way to make it in few minutes. 

Ingredients

1. 5-6 cups cold water
2. handful of fresh pudina leaves
3. 2 green chilli (Increase it if u want it to be spicy)
4. 1 tbsp amchur pwd
5. 1/2 teaspoon chaat masala powder
6. 1/4 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
7. 1/2 teaspoon black salt (this gives the pani the aroma)
8. few strings of fresh coriander leaves
9. 2 teaspoon thick tamarind pulp
10. 1 teaspoon sugar or Jaggery
11. salt to taste

How I Prepare

1. Grind pudina leaves, coriander and green chilli together into a fine paste. Empty the paste in a bowl and use cold water to rinse  jar/blender.

2. Empty the rinsed water in a big bowl, add remaining water and all other ingredients.

3. Stir  water nicely by adding 2-3 spoon of  grinded paste. Taste it and if required add more until you get pani of your taste.

4. Keep pani in refrigerator for few minutes before serving with puri.

Notes
1. I don't add all the paste at once because I keep pani to medium spice. While serving I serve the paste as side dish so that if anyone wants more spicy they can just add to their bowl and mix it.

2. While mixing all ingredients to Pani, stir it nicely and taste the water couple of times. Adjust the ingredients quantity as per your taste. Some like it more tangy, some sweet, some spicy so just play with the ingredients. 

Guacamole with Mint leaves

Ingredients
1. 1 ripe Avocado
2. 1/2 lemon
3. 1/2 teaspoon pepper
4. 1/4 cup red bell pepper finely chopped
5. Few strings of Coriander leaves finely chopped
6. 10-12 fresh mint leaves finely chopped
7. Salt to taste

How I Prepare
1. Cut the Avocado into half, remove the seed and scoop the fruit out.
2. Place it in a bowl, immediately squeeze the lemon juice and then mash with a fork until it forms a smooth paste.
3. Add remaining ingredients and mix it well. It's ready to eat. Serve it with some Nachos. We even tried with roasted papad and it taste Yummy :)


Notes
1. Lemon juice is must as this will avoid avocado from becoming brown.

Tips
1.Add back seed to guacamole to delay oxidization (browness)
2. If you want to store the mix in refrigerator then seal it air tight. This will be good for 1-2 days.

Veggie Frankie's

I and my hubby love to eat something quick and spicy for dinner on those lazy winter days and I find this recipe just doing that. It's super quick even though the recipe calls for multiple steps. If you have most of the stuff handy (like chutney, tortilla, left over dry curry) then its even more quicker.  This recipe is very close to the bombay frankie.

Ingredients

1. 1 packet of whole wheat tortillas (My sister makes thin roti's of maida (all purpose) flour) Or use any other flavoured tortillas.
2. One Onion
3. Mixed peppers (yellow, green, red, orange) or use which ever handy.
4. 3 potatoes boiled
5. 1/2 teaspoon black salt
6. 1/2 cumin seeds
7. 1/2 garam masala
8. 1/2 amchur powder
9. 2-3 green chilli minced
10. Salt to taste
11. 3-4 teaspoon Oil
12. Cheese ( I prefer mixed mozzarella and jack cheese). Any cheese will do
13. Coriander for garnish
14.  Chaat masala

15. 4-5 tbsp of green chutney

How I Prepare

1. Cut onions into thin slices. In a pan add little oil. After the oil is hot enough, add onions and caramelize them until golden brown. Keep stirring so that onions don't get burnt. 

2. Mash boiled  potatoes in a bowl, add black salt, amchur powder, regular salt as per taste, 1/4 tsp garam masala and mix it nicely.

3. Divide the above mix into small size portion and roll it in a hot dog shape. In a pan add little oil and roast the potato mix on both sides until golden brown. See the picture below.

4. Cut green pepper into long slices. In a pan add little oil, once oil is hot add cumin seeds, saute for 1-2 minutes. Add green chilli, sliced pepper, salt  and left  out garam masala. Saute for 3-4 minutes on medium-high flame. We want the pepper to be crunchy.

5. Now we start the frankie assembling.  Heat the tawa on a stove top. Warm the tortilla lightly on both sides. Take the tortilla out place it on a plate and spread green chutney on it. Place caramelized onions, potato and some sauteed green pepper. Sprinkle on top as much cheese you like. Also sprinkle some chaat masala and roll the tortilla and place it on tawa.  Apply some oil on top and let it cook for 1-2 minutes.

6. Cut it into 2 piece before serving. Serve it hot with green chutney and tomato ketchup. Yum Yum !!

Note
This recipe is great option for kids lunch box, you can change the ingredients as per your kids taste.

Bangalore Masala Puri

Ingredients

1. 1 cup dry yellow peas, soaked for 4-5 hours or overnight.
2. Small medium size onions finely chopped
3. Small ripe tomato chopped in small pieces
4. 1/2 teaspoon roasted cumin seed powder
5. 1/2 teaspoon black salt
6. 1/2 teaspoon amchur powder
6. 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
7. 2 cloves
8. 2 bay leaves
9. Salt to taste
10. 3-4 green chilli paste (add more for spice)
11. Tamarind chutney (I used home made)
12. Green chutney (I used home made)
13. Corainder leaves for garnish
14. Chat masala
15. Lastly have some pani puri's or flat sev puri (ready or homemade)

How I Prepare

1. Pressure cook soaked peas with cloves, bay leaves, little salt with 2 cups of water.  Let it cook for 3-4 whistles. If  peas are not well cooked , cook it for couple of more  whistles or until they are mushy.
2. To the pressure cooked  peas, add cumin powder, black salt, green chilli paste, black pepper powder, amchur powder and boil for 2-3 minutes. Add more water if required. By now the peas should be in semi solid state (few peas smashed and some whole)
3. Taste the above gravy and adjust salt and spice accordingly.
4. Take a bowl, crush few puris. I usally take 3-4 per bowl.
5. Add 2-3 spoons of cooked peas mixture. 
6. Top it with onions, tomatoes, coriander, green chutney, tamarind chutney and sprinkle some chat masala and its ready to eat :)

Tip
1. If cooked peas is watery, mix one teaspoon of roasted dalia powder with little water and add it to the gravy and boil  for 2-3 minutes. Gravy will become thick.