Tortilla Samosas

On a wintery or a gloomy rainy day, deep fried Indian snacks are my go to comfort foods. Though onion/ chilli pakodas (fritters) top the list, the second thing that comes to mind is Samosas, which has undoubtedly gained a lot of popularity in the world. While making samosas from scratch at home is quite a lengthy and tedious process, making these from flour tortillas is pretty easy and can be made relatively quickly. Moreover, if you have any leftover dry curry, you can easily transform it into delicious samosas in a jiffy. In this recipe, I have used leftover potato masala that I made for masala dosas, but you can use any curry of your choice  -  from mutter paneer to chicken tikka masala, anything will work great. Just make sure you heat the curry to allow it to thicken a little or maybe add some boiled mashed potato to it so it becomes little dry and the samosas don't break open while deep frying. These samosas came out pretty good  and it was very comforting to have them on a snowy wintery Saturday afternoon.

Ingredients -
Tortillas
Potato Masala
All purpose flour
oil for deep frying

Method -
1. Cut the tortilla through the center to create two semi circular halves as shown in the picture. Take some all purpose flour in a small bowl and add some water to it form a thick paste. This will act as glue to seal the edges of the samosas.

2. Take each half of the tortilla and form a cone. Seal the edge with all purpose flour paste.

3. Stuff the cone with some potato masala or curry of your choice. Seal the edges with the paste and set them aside.

4. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the samosas on both sides till they turn golden brown.
5. Serve hot with condiment of your choice.

I'm sending this to Tamanna's Comfort Food Event and Radhika's Deep Fried Snacks event.

Doodhi Methi Muthiya/ Bottle Gourd Fenugreek Dumplings

I have been away from the blog world for over a month now. I was in India for a few weeks for my brother's wedding. The wedding went really well and we had a blast. Also enjoyed wearing my beautiful sarees and jewellery for all the wedding ceremonies. The only sad part is I did not get to spend enough time with my bro and my lovely SIL :-(. Well, will do that when I go back to India next year.

Since I got back from India, there has not been much activity in my kitchen. This Doodhi Methi Muthia has been in my archives for a while and so I finally decided to post this today.

Muthiya is a very popular Gujarati dish which can be served as a snack or as a meal by itself. It's named after the way it's made with the "gripping" action of the fist ("muthi" in gujarati). This dish can be served either steamed or fried after steaming. Of course, my preference is the latter version. My mom would make these very often at home. She mostly made doodhi muthiya, but these can be made with methi, cabbage, zucchini or also a combination of veggies of your choice. She typically made these by adding a mixture of handva flour (flour of different lentils) and chickpea flour. However, the other day when I made these doodhi methi muthiya, I added some sooji/ semolina in addition to the handva and besan flour and they really came out very light and yummy. The handva flour is optional and can either be left out or substituted with some whole wheat flour. I served these with some yogurt but they can also be served with some cilantro chutney.

I usually make a big batch of these and store the steamed muthias in an airtight container in the freezer. When ready to serve, just thaw the muthias and flavor it with nice aromatic vaghar/ tadka. They stay fresh in the freezer for up to 2-3 weeks.

Ingredients -
For the muthias -
4 cups grated bottle gourd (doodhi / lauki)
½ cup chopped methi/ fenugreek leaves
½ cup chopped cilantro
1 medium size onion, grated
1 cup handva flour/ wheat flour (You may need to add more)
1/2 cup semolina
1/2 -1  cup gram flour/ besan
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp red chilli powder
2 tbsps cumin -coriander powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsps fennel seeds
3-4  tbsps ginger-green chilli paste
1-2 tbsps finely minced garlic
3- 4 tbsps lime/ lemon juice  
6 tbsps oil
1/2 tsp soda bi-carb
1/2 tsp hing/ asafoetida
2 -3 tbsps sugar
salt to taste

For the Tempering and Garnish -
4-5 tbsps oil
2 cloves
3-4 small pieces cinnamon
3 dried red chillies
7-8 curry leaves
2 tsps mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsps sesame seeds
1/2 tsp hing/ asafoetida
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut

Method -
Muthias -
1. Squeeze all the water out of the grated bottle gourd and keep it aside to knead the dough if required.
2. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients for the muthia and form a soft dough adding the water squeezed out of the grated bottle gourd if required.
3. Form long cylindrical muthias of the dough. Grease your palms with some oil to avoid the dough from sticking to your palms.
4. Steam the muthias for 15- 20 mins. Insert a toothpick in the center of the muthias to check if they are done. If it comes out clean, the muthias are cooked.
5. Let the muthias cool and then cut them into thick slices.

Tempering/ Tadka -
1. Heat some oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the cumin seeds.
2. Add the cloves, cinnamon, dried red chillies, curry leaves and fry for sometime.
3. Then add hing/ asafoetida and sesame seeds
2. Add the sliced muthias and fry for 10- 15 minutes till they are slightly brown in color and crisp.
3. Garnish with coriander and coconut.
4. Serve hot with yogurt or cilantro chutney.

I'm sending this to Nayna's 'Flavors Of Gujarat' event.

Corn Cutlets

Although I have been trying out new recipes in the kitchen for quite some years now, I started cooking full fledged meals only after I got married. Though not a novice in the kitchen, I certainly had some trouble initially estimating and cooking the right portions/servings for the two of us. Most of the times, D thought I had either invited people over or was not planning to cook for the next few days :-). Back then, I really didn’t like to eat/serve the same food for consecutive meals but also didn’t want to waste the leftovers. So, I would dump them in a plastic container in my refrigerator and we would call this a 'well' :-). After I had enough leftovers in the container, I would add some boiled potatoes, finely chopped onions, green chillies, cilantro and few other seasonings, mash them all up and make delicious cutlets from them. Every week the cutlets had a delicious unique taste which was impossible to recreate.

Over the years I have overcome that problem and so we don’t have many leftovers these days. Last week, I made these stuffed corn parathas and had about a cup of the corn stuffing which was not enough to make a few parathas for the 2 of us. So, I used that leftover stuffing, a slice of leftover bread and few other ingredients to make these tasty corn cutlets for a quick evening snack. Like I said before cutlets with leftovers taste awesome and these were no different!

Makes 12 -15 cutlets
Ingredients -
1 cup corn stuffing
1 small boiled potato
1 tsp minced green chillies
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/2 tsp frankie masala (You can also use chaat masala)
1 slice bread
1 tsp lime juice
Salt to taste
Bread crumbs as needed
Oil as needed

Method -

1. Take the corn stuffing in a bowl.

2. Mash the boiled potato. Dip the slice of bread in water, squeeze out all the water. Add the mashed potato and bread slice to the stuffing.

3. To this add green chillies, chopped cilantro, corn kernels, frankie masala/ chaat masala, lime juice and salt. Mix all the ingredients and knead well making sure there are no lumps.

4. Form small balls of the mixture and flatten them. Heat the skillet or tava.

5. Coat the cutlets with bread crumbs and shallow fry them in some oil. Fry both sides till they turn golden brown. Serve with tomato ketchup.

I'm sending this to TorView's Veggie/ Fruit A Month - Corn event originally started by Priya Mitharwal.

Also sending these to PJ's Scrumptious Delights From Leftover event.

Potato Masala N Sesame Toast - French Toast Indian Style

Last memorial day weekend, my nephew was in town and spent the weekend with us. I treated him with all his favorite Indian food from chicken kadhai to shrimp balchao and masala vada to masala dosa. As a result, I had plenty of leftovers and didn’t have to cook much last week. Sometimes we are not in a mood to have the same food for 2-3 consecutive meals and I love to transform the leftovers into innovative tasty dishes. I had some leftover potato masala and coconut chutney that I made for the masala dosa and decided to make this Indian style French toast for a quick evening snack last week. This 'Potato Masala N Sesame Toast' was delicious and would make an excellent breakfast. I guess you can use any leftover curry (that goes well with egg) for the stuffing and make delicious French toast (Indian Ishtyle) with ingredients you have on hand.

Ingredients-
2 bread slices
1 egg
2 tbsps milk
1 cup Potato Masala/ Bhaji
2 tbsps Coconut Chutney
2 tsps tomato ketchup
2 tbsps chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
1 pinch pepper
Butter
Sesame seeds

Method -
1. Mash the potato masala to form a smooth mixture and add some chopped cilantro to it. Reserve a tbsp of cilantro for the egg batter.
2. Mix the tomato ketchup with the coconut chutney
3. Beat the egg and add the milk, salt, pepper, remaining chopped cilantro and mix well
4. Heat your skillet/ pan while you prepare the bread slices.
5. Spread some butter on the bread slices on one side followed by the chutney- ketchup mixture.
6. Now spread the potato stuffing on the bread to form a thin layer
7. Dip the bread slices in the egg batter and place them on the hot skillet with the stuffing side up. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on the bread. Fry both the sides by drizzling some melted butter around the bread slices. Fry till they turn golden brown.
8. Serve them hot with ketchup or chutney.

I'm sending these to Priya's Global Kadai - Indianized French Toast event and Helen and Sarah's 'Breakfast Club # 1 - Asian' event.

Chawli Vada/ Black- Eyed Pea Fritters

I keep a decent stock of dried peas/pulses in my pantry and use them regularly in my cooking. However, Chawli or Black- Eyed Peas is one of the pulses that I had not cooked with until last year. Although these peas are used in many traditional Indian dishes, the red peas were more popular at my mom's place and were widely used in several dishes. These red peas are called 'Alsande' and are similar in shape and size to the black eyed peas. I believe they are only available during a particular season in certain regions in India. My mom usually buys these in bulk during her trips to Goa.

Anyways, coming back to the black eyed peas, I came across a recipe for the black eyed peas vada on Indira's blog almost a year back and immediately bought these peas to try these vadas at home. However, my plan to make these vadas never materialized and I ended up using them to make this Chawli Methi Dhokla, definitely a healthier option to the deep fried vadas. Since then, I have made these dhoklas a few times but never got to making the vadas. When I read about Nupur's BB4 event and was looking through my pantry, I found some black eyed peas in a canister. I immediately soaked them overnight in water and finally made these delicious vadas for dinner last week. I used the regular procedure I follow to make any other dal vada batter and shaped them like medu vadas. These vadas tasted really good and from what I understand are usually served with non- vegetarian chicken or mutton curries. However, I served them with some coconut chutney and sambhar and they go very well with these too!

Ingredients -
1 cup black- eyed peas/ Chawli
2 cinnamon sticks (or 5-6 small pieces)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
2-3 green chillies finely chopped
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
6-8 curry leaves roughly chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
Pinch of sugar
Salt to taste

Method -
1. Soak the black eyed peas in sufficient water overnight or 6-8 hrs.
2. Drain the peas and grind them along with the cinnamon sticks and cumin seeds into a coarse paste in your food processor or blender. The batter should be such that if you form a round with it, it must hold its shape. Do not add water while grinding as there's enough moisture in the soaked peas.
3. Remove the batter in a bowl. Add chopped curry leaves, green chillies, fennel seeds, onions, cilantro, sugar and salt and mix well.
4. Heat oil in a pan or kadai. The vadas can be formed on the palm of your hand or on a Ziploc bag whichever is convenient for you. With clean dry hand, take a small ball of the batter and put it on your palm. Then lightly flatten it and make a hole in the center like doughnuts or medu vada.
5. Gently drop the vadas into the hot oil and deep fry the vadas on both sides till golden brown. Several vadas can be fried at a time.
6. Serve hot with sambar or chutney of your choice.

I'm sending this to -
Nupur's 'BB4: Whats Lurking in the kitchen' event
Susan's 'My Legume Love Affair (MLLA)' event hosted by Diana for the month of June

Though we had these vadas for dinner, they would make an excellent breakfast. So, I'm also sending these to Helen and Sarah's 'Breakfast Club # 1 - Asian' event.

Tandoori Chicken

This is a spicy roasted chicken traditionally made in a earthen clay oven called 'Tandoor'. The chicken is marinated for several hours in a spicy yogurt sauce and then grilled to perfection.

Ingredients -
2 lbs whole chicken
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon garlic paste
2 tsp turmeric powder
3 tbsp vinegar
10 tbsps thick yogurt
salt to taste
TANDOORI MASALA - Use store bought tandoori masala or the ingredients below
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp cumin- coriander powder
1 tsp black pepper powder
1/2 tsp red food color (optional)

Method -
1. Cut the chicken into 4-6 big pieces and make incisions on them with a sharp knife.
2. Apply salt, turmeric powder and vinegar to the chicken.
3. In a bowl mix together yogurt, ginger paste, garlic paste, tandoori masala or (garam masala powder, cumin- coriander powder, pepper powder, red food color) and salt
4. Rub this mixture over the chicken and marinate for 6 -8 hours in the refrigerator.
5. There are several ways to cook the chicken
#1. Skew the chicken onto a skewer and cook in a moderately hot tandoor
#2. Skew the chicken onto skewers or arrange the chicken on a baking sheet and grill in a preheated oven on high. Grill the chicken on both sides @ 10 minutes each side or until done (you should see some black grill marks on the chicken).
#3. Cook chicken in a pan on the gas stove on low heat. This method takes longer to cook. The chicken can be grilled later in the oven for 5 minutes for the smokey flavor.

Masoor Kachori

A very common Hindu saying that I grew up listening to is 'Anna Hey Purna Bramha' which means food is equivalent to God. My parents always taught me and my brother to respect the food we ate and avoid wastage. I remember my mom creatively using leftovers to make delicious meals the next day. She would turn leftover chapatis into delicious phodnichi poli or chiwda, leftover bhajis and curries into exotic parathas and cutlets, usals into sweet and spicy misals and leftover rice into many a tasty dish.

Last week I made some masoor usal in a jiffy for Thursday night dinner. I had enough leftovers and thought of using it to make a quick snack on Saturday evening. I reheated the usal to make it completely dry and added few more ingredients to it. Then I formed round balls of this mixture, dipped them into some rice flour batter and deep fried them to make these Masoor Kachoris. I served them with some sweet and tangy khajur- tamarind chutney. The kachoris turned out to be very delicious. 

Masoor Usal (These are approx. measurements)
Ingredients -
1 cup masoor usal (Soaked in water for 2 hrs and cooked in pressure cooker)
1 large onion finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander –cumin powder
2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp sugar
Chopped cilantro
Salt to taste

Method –
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic cloves and fry for sometime. Then add chopped onions and cook them till they turn slightly golden brown.
2. Add ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute. Then add chilli powder, coriander- cumin powder, garam masala powder, salt and sugar and mix well.
3. Add the cooked masoor and mix well. Add little water and cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Garnish with chopped cilantro

Masoor Kachori
Ingredients –
Leftover masoor usal (I had @ 11/2 cups masoor usal)
1 tbsp dried raisins
1 tbsp broken cashewnuts
1 cup rice flour
Chopped cilantro
Salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Method –
1. Take the leftover masoor usal in a kadhai and cook it on slow flame till all the liquid evaporates and the usal becomes very dry.
2. Add raisins, cashew nuts and chopped cilantro and mix well.
3. Form round ball of this mixture and set aside
4. Mix rice flour, salt and water and make a thick batter similar to potato vada batter.
5. Heat oil in a pan. Dip the round balls into the rice flour batter and deep fry in hot oil on all sides.
6. Serve with chutney of your choice.

I am sending these Masoor Kachoris to COL- Leftover Delicacies event at Spicy Lounge.

These are also going to 'My Legume Love Affair (MLLA)' event hosted by Ruchika for the month of April 2010.

Plantain Green Peas Cutlets

Plaintains are available all year round in the Indian Stores here in the US. I end up buying these pretty much every time I go grocery shopping. I usually use these to make phodis or chips and sometimes curry. I love to experiment by replacing potatoes with plantains in several dishes. This makes the dish healthier and the natural sweetness of the plantains makes it taste even better. Few weeks back, I bought some plantains, hoping to make some paneer stuffed veg shami kebab. However, I was so crunched for time that weekend that I ended up making these simple Plantain Green Peas Cutlets. These cutlets turned out to be so delicious, that I thought of making a note of the recipe, so I can make it many more times in the future.

Ingredients -
2 plantains
1 small onion
1 tbsp green chillies – garlic - ginger paste
1 cup green peas
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 pinch asafoetida/ hing
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp amchur powder
1/2 tsp Frankie masala/ chat masala
1/2 tbsp lemon/ lime juice
3-4 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1 tbsp oil + oil for shallow frying cutlets

Method -
1. Cook the plantains in the pressure cooker, peel them and mash them into a smooth mixture while they are still warm.
2. Boil the green peas and grind them into a paste. Some frozen peas are already cooked and only need defrosting in the microwave.
3. In a pan, heat some oil. Then add cumin seeds, asafoetida/hing and turmeric powder.
4. Add finely chopped onions, salt and ginger- garlic- green chili paste and cook till the onions turn translucent.
5. Add the green peas paste and cook for sometime.
6. Turn the stove on low and then add the cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, amchur powder, Frankie/ chat masala and mix well.
7. Add mashed plantain mixture and mix well. Cook for a couple of minutes.
8. Turn off the stove and add lime juice and cilantro and mix well.
9. Let the mixture cool and shape them into desired shape. Roll the cutlets in semolina and shallow fry them on a skillet. Fry both sides till they turn golden brown in color.
10. Serve with chutney or sauce of choice

Egg Methi Pakoda

Chef. Sanjeev Kapoor of the "Khana Khazana" fame needs no introduction. He was one of my inspirations during my formative years in cooking. I used to religiously watch his cooking show every Sunday at noon and I still have all the handwritten recipes that I would jot down every week while watching his show. While browsing through his website last week, I came across these egg methi pakodas. They sounded like a delicious yet healthy protein rich pakodas and I decided to make these as part of the Valentine day celebration. This is an excellent dish for kids as well, as these would add some good protein to their diet. The methi / fenugreek leaf enhances the flavor of the pakoda, but we can always leave the methi out. I shaped these pakodas to look like eggs and deep fried them to a nice golden brown color. They were awesome. I served these with some sweet and spicy sauce (regular ketchup + spicy Shiracha chilli sauce). I modified the recipe and proportions slightly to suit our taste.

I served these pakodas on this lovely oyster platter with chinese print. We bought this platter and mini sauce serving bowls from China Town in Montreal, Canada when we were on vacation couple of years back.




Ingredients -
3 Eggs
1 cup chopped methi/ fenugreek leaves
3 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 inch ginger finely chopped
3 green chillies finely chopped
1 stalk spring onions finely chopped
3 tbsp gram flour/ besan
1/4 tsp carom seeds/ ajwain
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp chaat masala
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 pinch soda bicarbonate
salt to taste
oil to deep fry

Method -
1. Boil water and cook eggs for about ten to twelve minutes or until hard-boiled. 2. Drain and immediately put into cold water. Remove shell and finely chop.
3. Mix methi leaves, coriander leaves, onion, ginger, green chillies and spring onions.
4. Sprinkle besan and mix well.
5. Add ajwain, red chilli powder, chaat masala, cumin powder, soda bicarbonate and salt.
6. Add chopped boiled egg, sprinkle a little water and mix to combine all the ingredients well.
7. Heat sufficient oil in a deep frying pan/ kadhai,
8. Shape the mixture into small oval balls and drop in the hot oil. You may need to wet your hands to shape the balls.
8. Reduce heat to medium and deep-fry the pakoras in small batches without overcrowding the kadhai.
9. Turn the pakoras occasionally for even browning.
10. Once they are golden brown, drain onto an absorbent paper.
11. Serve hot with sauce/ chutney of your choice.

Bhendi Jaipuri

This is another classic dish from Vahchef . I tweaked it a little to suit our palate. This is a great accompaniment with a simple sambhar rice meal or can also be served as an appetizer.





Ingredients -
300 gms okra/ bhendi
1 tsp amchoor powder
2 tbsp broken cashewnuts
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp dhana jeera (coriander & cumin) powder
1 cup besan/ gram flour
3-4 tbsp of vinegar
salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
onion slices (optional)

Method -
1. Cut the ends of the okra and slice them at an angle into thin slices.
2. In a bowl, add the sliced okra, broken cashewnut pieces, cumin seeds, amchoor powder, chilli powder, dhana jeera powder, salt and sugar
3. Now sprinkle some vinegar on the okra mixture. Mix well. Adding salt and vinegar brings out the moisture from the okra and also reduces the sliminess of the okra.
4. Now add some sliced onions
5. Add some besan and mix. Dont over mix and let the mixture sit for sometime.
6. Add few drops of water if the mixture is dry.
7. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry okra mixture. Drop the mixture in hot oil just like onion bhajji. Fry till crisp.
8. Garnish with cilantro

Phaldhari Kebab

I think plantains/ green bananas is a very versatile vegetable and can be substituted for potatoes in many dishes. I believe Jains who abstain from root vegetables like potatoes, extensively use raw bananas in their cooking. These are easily available throughout the year in the Indian stores here in the US, so I'm always looking for ways to add these to our meal. I guess, by now everyone knows or have heard of Sanjay Thumma of the VahrehVah fame. He has been a huge inspiration for me and has definitely taken by cooking to a whole new level. When I saw this Phaldhari kebab recipe on his website I immediately wanted to try these. I guess they are called Phal- dhari kebab bcoz they use bananas, cashews, raisins etc that fall in the fruit category. These kebabs turned out to be awesome and is a must try for vegetarians.



Ingredients -
2 Plantains/ raw bananas
1 cup finely chopped fresh corn
1 small finely chopped/ grated carrot
1 tbsp chopped raisins
2 tbsp crushed cashewnuts
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 green chillies
1/2 lime juice
1 cup paneer
1 pinch red chilli powder
1 pinch chat masala
Handful of cilantro leaves finely chopped
salt to taste

Method -
1. Boil green plantains for 20 mins and remove from hot boiling water. You can also pressure cook the plantains. Just make sure you take them out of the water as soon as possible and wipe them with paper towel to remove any excess moisture
2. Use a grater to grate the plantains
3. Add finely chopped green chillies, chopped cilantro, cumin seeds, chopped corn, finely chopped carrots.
4. Then add some chopped raisins, crushed cashewnuts, grated paneer, garam masala, chilli powder, pinch of chaat masala, salt to taste and mix well.
5. Now knead the mixture like dough. Needs to come together and hold shape. If there is any moisture, add some maida or corn flour.
6. Once ready put it on a wooden spoon or a skewer to form elongated kebabs and remove from the skewer.
7. Deep fry till they turn golden brown.

Note - I deep fried the kebabs and they tasted heavenly. Nothing beats that but the kebabs can also be baked in the oven. Just brush it with some butter and bake it till they turn golden brown