PAV BHAJI

Friday night dinners are always special for us.It is our little celebration:That we can sleep a little late the following morning,and that I don't have to wake up early to pack Hubby V's lunch.Normally Ananya does not sleep long after I have woken up so Saturday and Sunday mornings are tension free for me because then I do not have to worry about having to cook with her in my hands (yes,she is 3 yrs old now and still wants to be picked up and cuddled for at least 10 mins after she wakes up) .So as usual this last Friday I was worrying over what to make:Worrying because I had been busy all day with different chores,went to visit friends because Ananya insisted on playing with her friends, and had little time left to actually plan what to make.Then came the final blow(well,sort of):Hubby V wanted Pav Bhaji!Now I do make bread and pavs often but using active dry yeast would push our dinner time to 10 pm!Then memory came to my rescue:I remembered having bought a pack of instant yeast,so the only thing to do was to search for a recipe which would make a good pav/bun.

I found it HERE

The only thing I did was to to shape the buns as usual,not the way mentioned in the recipe.The result was an incredibly soft bun.Very tasty when eaten warm from the oven.

Added on 9th March:I did not use the egg glaze suggested in the recipe.Instead,I just brushed the buns with some soft butter.Ghee can also be used.Only thing is to brush it with ghee/butter as soon as you take it out of the oven.




The Bhaji was not a difficult task.I had chopped some carrots and tomatoes earlier in the week.I looked into my freezer and found frozen peas,and viola!the bhaji came together:

Ingredients:1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup green peas(frozen or fresh)

1 cup chopped potato

1 big onion(about 3/4 cup)chopped

1 cup chopped tomato

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp grated fresh garlic

3-4 green chillies

2 tsp Pav Bhaji masala

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:Boil the vegetables in a pressure cooker.If you have a microwave steamer,all the better and faster.

Heat oil in a pan and add the ginger and garlic.Fry till they turn light brown.Add onions and chopped green chillies.Let fry till onion is pinkish in colour, and turns translucent.Add the chopped tomatoes.mix well,cover and cook till tomatoes are soft.

Add the pav bhaji masala to the tomatoes and mix well.Now add the boiled vegetables to the mix and keep mashing the vegetables using a ladle.The mix should be nice and mushy.If you have steamed your veggies in the microwave,you will need to add 1 cup water to the bhaji to make it to a thick gravy type consistency.

Once you have mashed the veggies,you do not need to cook the curry for long-just about 5 mins.Take it off the heat and add juice of half a lemon and chopped coriander,mix well and cover till ready to serve.

Preparing the Pavs:Slice the pavs into to using a bread knife or any serrated knife.Apply a thin layer of margarine(better than butter health wise)and toast the buns on a hot griddle until the pavs turn light brown.Serve the buns with the hot pav.

CHEESE AND SUNDRIED TOMATO SCONES

Eversince I saw Asha's post about scones,I was wondering if there was a way I could make savoury scones.Our local store named Somerfield brings out a great magazine every month with lots of recipes and meal ideas,though I cannot use them all as most are based on non-vegetarian ingredients.But I found a great recipe for a savoury scone,the recipe of which I had pinned into my file of recipes.I tried them out recently and they came out great.So without much ado,here is the recipe:

Ingredients:175 gms Self rising flour

1.5 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp chilli powder(not in the original recipe:just my addition)

50 gms butter

60 ml milk

1 egg(I omitted the egg, added a little more milk)

50 gms Grated mature cheddar cheese

50 gms Finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes

Method:Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas mark 6.


The butter should not be too soft.Cube the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour until you get the consistency of fine bread crumbs.

Add the milk to the flour(if you use egg,beat it with the milk before adding to flour) along with the grated cheese and the chopped sun dried tomatoes.Mix well until you have a smooth dough.

Roll into a round about 3 cm thick(I rolled it out thinner and it came out fine).

Cut into scones using a round cutter ,or if you donot have a cutter,use a knife to make either squares or triangles.

Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake for about 15 mins until well risen and golden brown.

Serve warm.I served these sliced,and warm with some tomato sauce on top.This is yummy,for a quick breakfast or a snack.

My Notes:The original recipe yield is 6 scones but with the thickness recommended,I would have got about 3-4 3 inch scones.


I rolled out the dough a little thinner and the scones were great!I also omitted the egg and used a little more milk,about 2 tbsp more.

This is very yummy served warm and freshly made.But I stored them in air tight boxes and these were great reheated in the microwave for a few seconds.

You could serve these with any sauce of your choice.Enjoy!

This is my entry to Coffee's MBP event.I just hope she is going to excuse my lateness!

MURUKKU

I first blogged about murukku when I started this blog. But the recipe that I used that day was a little different .Try as I might,I did not get the perfect spiral shapes out of the dough-the dough kept breaking off.So I delved into my faithful friend-my recipe diary and fished out this recipe.Here it is:

Ingredients:1 cup/200 gms Urad dal

3 cups/400 gms Raw rice

2 tbsp butter

2 tsp Jeera/Cumin seeds

1 tbsp Sesame seeds

2 tsp salt

2 tbsp chilli powder

500 ml of vegetable/canola oil to deepfry the murukkus.


Method:Soak the raw rice in water for 2 hours.Drain the water and grind to a smooth batter to the consistency of dosa dough.

Meanwhile,dry-roast the urad dal in a skillet until the dal emits a nice aroma and turns a nice light brown.

Cool until lukewarm and then grind to a fine powder using your mixer.

Now Heat the oil in a deep and wide skillet/kadhai.

While the oil is heating,add the finely ground urad powder to the rice paste,and then add the other ingredients from butter to chilli powder.Make a soft and pliable dough ,using water only if needed.The dought should form a nice ball without cracking.Keep it covered with a wet papertowel as the dough has the tendency to dry out.Whenever you feel it dries out,add a few drops(only drops,no more) and knead well with your hand.

Now break off a lime sized ball of dough and place into the murukku maker.Press our murukkus onto pieces of parchment/wax paper.I cut 4 inch by 4 inch squares of baking parchment and pressed my murukkus onto them.Carefully transfer them into hot oil. This is the murukku maker I used.


Test the oil before putting your murukkus in:Put a small piece of dough into the oil and see how it reacts.If it sizzles and comes up immediately,oil is ready.But if the dough browns too quickly,reduce the heat.Medium heat is best for making crisp,light murukkus.


Depending upon how wide your pan is,you can add upto 5 or 6 murukkus.I pressed out murukkus of 3 inch diameter.Fry till they turn golden brown.Drain on paper towels and store in air-tight tins.

My Notes:I used Sona Masoori rice.I have made these with Basmati rice in the past and they came out a little softer.I also find that with new rice,the murukkus are not so crispy,they turn softer after cooling down.

The butter is essential as it make the murukkus light and they melt in your mouth.

You could adjust the chilli powder according to how hot you would like it.I generally use less chili because my daughter won't eat anything with chillies in it!

SUNNY COCONUT BUNS

I have been making these buns since the last 7 months now.I actually made it up in order to use up some dry coconut that I had,which was not enough to make anything else,plus I had some dough leftover from making buns.Anyway,these turned out great and so here it is:My entry for JFI Coconut:

Ingredients:

For Bread Dough: 200 gms All purpose flour or maida

50 gms soya flour

2 tsp Active Dry Yeast

2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup Milk,warmed

1/2 cup water,warmed

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp ghee

Some more flour to knead the dough

For the Filling:

12 teaspoons Dry Coconut/fresh coconut(Grated)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp Red chilli powder/2-3 fresh green chillies chopped finely

1/2 tsp Garam Masala powder

2 tbsp lemon juice/Juice of half a big lime(US)/juice of 3/4 indian lemon

1 Teaspoon Turmeric

A few curry leaves or 2 tsp chopped coriander leaves

Method: Prepare the bread dough: Warm both the milk and water , and sprinkle yeast on the milk.Add 2 tsp sugar .Sugar helps yeast to grow.Set it in a warm place until the mixture starts frothing.This will take about 15 mins.

Put both the flours into a mixing bowl,add salt and mix well.Make a well in the centre , and pour the yeast mixture into it,along with 2 tbsp ghee.

Mix with a fork until all the flour is incorporated.You may need to add upto 1/2 cup more of flour in order to knead it .Now dust your countertop with some flour and invert the bowl onto it.Once the flour is on the countertop,dust your hand with flour and knead the dough until it feels elastic.If the dough is too sticky,add some more flour.But take care not to add too much or else the rolls will be dense.

Coat a large bowl with oil and put the dough into it.Cover with a soft kitchen towel and keep it in a warm place to rise.It will take about 1 hour in a really warm place.


Meanwhile,prepare the filling by mixing all the ingredients.

Once the dough has risen,punch it down gently to release all the air,and divide it into 12 portions.

Oil your hands a bit and then knead each ball gently and flatten it on your palm.Now place 1 tsp of the filling on the flattened ball and close it completely.Prepare all the balls in a similar way and then place them on an oiled bun tray or a baking sheet.

Cover with a tea towel and let rise again in a warm place.This takes about 20 mins.

Meanwhile,preheat the oven to 400F/200c.Once the buns are risen,bake them in the preheated oven for about 15 mins.As soon as they come out,brush the tops with some butter or ghee(Clarified butter).Let cool.

These taste great with a hot cup of tea.I have taken these buns on our trip to the zoo,museums, and what not.

My Notes:I made these without the soya flour this time as I ran out of soya flour.They came out great and we finished off atleast 6 soon as it came out of the oven!

COCONUT CHIKKI / KOBBARI PAAKAM

There are some things we can never forget.In my list of unforgettable things is this simple sweet which we used to buy in shops near temples in Andhra when we were very young. I can never forget the taste of the roasted coconut chips coated with jaggery.

Thanks to JFI-Jaggery,I managed to re-create this simple but classic sweet at home today.So here is how I made it:

Ingredients:1 big coconut

2 cups of grated jaggery

1 tsp green cardamom/elaichi powder

Method:Break open the coconut,and then carefully take it out of the shell.Now peel off the brown layer on the coconut and slice it into very thin chips,about 1 mm thin and 1 inch long.If you cannot take the coconut out of the shell intact then don't bother too much as the taste of this sweet lies in toasting it.

Preheat the oven to 325F and spread the chips on baking trays.I used trays lined with parchment paper.Put these chips in the oven for about 30 mins,until they turn a nice light brown and smell toasted.

Melt the Jaggery with 1/4 cup of water.Pass it through a strainer once to remove any impurities.Then put it back on heat again and keep boiling until it crosses the soft ball stage.

Now,I don't have a sugar thermometer and here is what I did:I took a bowl of cold water, and then put a small amount(maybe some drops) of the melted jaggery into the cold water.Then I tried to scoop it up with my fingers.The jaggery held shape and was soft and could be moulded.This is when I took it off the heat.

Now add the toasted and cooled coconut chips into the jaggery and mix well.Immediately,put it into a greased tray or tin and let cool.

Break into pieces when cooled and store.

My Notes: The yeild of the coconut chips will be dependant on the size of the coconut and this will in turn decide how much jaggery is enough for it.I measured the amount of coconut chips I got ,which was 2.5 cups(standard measuring cups).The jaggery used was according to that.If you have less than this amount,reduce the jaggery a little.
Bottomline:Make sure you have enough jaggery to coat all the pieces and hold them together once you pour them into a greased plate or tray.Too much jaggery will not be good as you want to taste the toasted coconut chips with just a little sweetness.

This is a good sweet to nibble upon when you crave that odd mid-morning snack or even a mid-afternoon snack.

I originally wanted to send this one for JFI Jaggery but could not,due to problems with uploading photos to blogger.Anyway,I hope you all enjoy this one too as much as you enjoy the other ,wonderful and diverse entries sent in.

UPDATE:Well friends,the gracious Kay agreed to accept my second entry for JFI Jaggery,so this is going to be my second entry to JFI.Thanks a lot,Kay!

Added on 18 Dec 2006:I have decided to send this to VKN,who is inviting recipes for the FAHC Campaign.

MURUKKU

I wanted to make something for Diwali this time.But my electric coil stove does not allow me to really do deep fried stuff easily.It takes very long for food to cook properly as well as brown at the same time.Finally,I borrowed a flat based,wide mouthed deep pan from my friend to make some murukkus.

Ingredients:1 cup Roasted Urad dal flour(Deskinned black gram dal)

3 cups rice flour

2 tbsp butter

1 teaspoon whole jeera(Cumin)

1 tbsp sesame seeds

3 teaspoons chilli powder(more if you like )

2 tsp salt

Oil to deep fry the murukku

Method: You need a murukku maker for this.If you have a cookie press,that works fine too.Infact,before I bought my murukku maker,I used my icing gun to make murukkus,although I must admit that was a tough task.


Roast the urad dal until pinkish in colour.Then,cool and grind to a fine powder.Mix this with the rice flour,salt,chilli powder,sesame seeds,jeera seeds.

Now add in the butter.This is important.Butter makes the murukku really light.Next,add enough water to make a tight dough.You may need about 3/4th cup.I did not measure the water-just eyeballed it guided by the consistency of the dough.

Keep the dough covered with a damp tea towel or paper towel.This is important as the dough tends to dry up otherwise.Heat oil in a deep pan.To test,drop a small piece of dough-it should come up immediately but not brown very quickly.

You will need a Murukku press for this.You can use a Cookie press too.

Fill a lime sized ball of the dough into the press.You need to use the disc with the single star for this.

Press out the murukkus into hot oil.Fry until golden brown.Take it out using a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels.

When cool,store in air tight tins.This stays fresh for 15 days.

This dough is not pliable enough to make the round spiral shaped murukkus.It tends to break apart because it is made using flours.

I shall post another recipe which I use to make the spiral shaped murukku very soon.Until then enjoy this!