Chillar Wich!!!!! HAHHHHHAHHHHA!!!!

Picture this:  Saturday morning....my son's class just got rescheduled, my daughter is still recouping, so she did not have to go to class so did not have to get ready!!  Feels luxurious to have sooooo much free time on hand!  Or...you will typically see me getting everyone ready, their bags ready,whipping up waffles or pancakes or eggs with per-programmed recipes and on auto mode.  

                                                  Scurry hurry scurry!!!  You get it!!!!  I am suspecting, it is the same scenario at your home too!!   

                                                  But....today, I don't have to hurry anywhere, scurry anywhere, so I decide to sleep in and enjoy those freebie minutes!!!  My hubby thinks otherwise!!!  Nooo.....don't get naughty yet!!  He wants to smell the coffee!!!  Everyday I get to drink his....and for once he wants to be "served"!!!  

                See...I am blessed with a great hubby who also plays the role of a perfect kapee maker to the "T"!!!!!  Kapee aka coffee aka cafe latte is my primal need first thing in the morning and I look forward to everyday morning when I get it delivered to my hands or  woken up some-days with...."Good Morning...your coffee mam"!  some days....."kapee kapee"...resonating the hustle bustle voices form the Indian railways!!!  Or some days, it is his turn to demand and he will, in his tam bram lingo....will demand "chuda chuda pongal, idlee, vadai, and coffee!!!"   Meaning piping hot south Indian breakfast and coffee like back home in India (I am guessing from an era which is now long forgotten ...hahahha!!).  

                                  Do you think I comply, as much as I love to cook???!!!   Hahahahhaha!!  Nooooo!!!  And today was no different, was woken to the perfect cuppa....but with his yearning look of wanting to eat something with it!!!  Now....I drag myself out and comply a bit....after all it is only decent enough to  return his favor, when he tirelessly makes me his yummy coffee every morning!!!!

                                                                  He wants my "egg-cup"!  That is another breakfast that is a big favorite around my house.  It is a soft eggy souffle that is whipped in a matter of couple minutes!!  Shall save that for another blog!   Now, I do not have any eggs, but my brain is working in super fast mode and as recipes come cramming inside, one stands out!!!  I do not need eggs, this is for you my vegetarian friends.....it is an egg less omelet....at least that is how I treat this!  OK!!  I am not going to keep you in the blind,  I am making CHILLA, a crepe made from chick pea flour/besan from the north east region of Southern India....Andhra Pradesh!  Here is my twist...of course (!) I had to make it my own....Chilla crepes in a sandwich leading to the most delicious Chillarwich!!!!!!!!!!!  Howzzat for a great breakfast???!!!   !  What a lovely ingenious idea!!!  Sometimes, I do surprise myself!! 

              So, with a huge smile on my face I march down and open my pantry and refrigerator and take out these......

1 cup Chickpea flour, 3 Tbsp scallions, chopped, 1 Serrano pepper, chopped, 2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped

 You embellish this above fragrant Chilla base a little more with the following......

Add 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 2 tbsp coconut powder, and 1/2-3/4 cup room temp water.

Mix all of the above and whisk the batter to a smooth, light consistency like so.......

the batter should resemble a thin pancake batter! 

 Now....onto the pan!  

Heat the pan to medium -medium high heat.

Brush it evenly with 1/2 tsp canola oil.  

Add 3 tbsp of the batter, swivel the pan around to coat the batter evenly.

As soon as the bubbles appear on the crepe and the sides start curling inwards, flip the crepe.

Let it cook on the other side till it gets a few brown beauty spots on the back as well.

Take it off the pan and stack it up on a platter. 

Now...how do these yummy, rustic chillas get transformed into chillarwich???!!!!!   Like so......

I used some of the classic sandwich fillers used in my household.... some mint and coriander chutney, some cheese, some tomato ketchup and of course good old butter!

This is how a chillarwich is constructed!

Toast the bread, butter both the toasts, Apply green chutney on one and Tomato ketchup on the other.  Place half a chilla folded, on the green toast, top it with your choice of cheese, close it with the tomato toast.  Press down and slice it on a diagonal.  Love the layers inside!!!  Spicy and Yummmmm!

Your Chillarwich is ready!!!!!  You can enjoy it with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast; with a bloody mary (spiked or un-spiked) for brunch; or with a bowl of tomato soup for lunch!  Either way...it is going to be a happy camper in your tummy!!

Enjoyyyyyyyy!!!!! 

Dimple Pakodiyans!!! Noodle Pakodiiiiiis!!!!!

Pakodiiiiiiiiiis!!!!  Yummmmooooo!!!!   

whatever might have been the reason for me to pull this together when I had just 30 minutes to spare!!!!!       This is for my little princess!!!    My sweet little daughter is sick :(  Really sick!!!  Just got back from the doctor, who proclaimed that she was alright but with an ear infection!!   

Alas!!!  She was soooooo crestfallen!!!  She is one person in my family, actually one of the four (!) who has a robust appetite, loves, simply loves "good" food!!  I have a secret feeling that she hates falling sick as she is refrained from eating normal yummy food!   Now who wouldn't??!!!   So, I decided to treat her!  I was taking her to my friend R's house, for a dance session,  No people!!!  I am not going to have her dance!!!  LOL!!!  She is just going to sit out!  But, thought shall treat her to something before I took her!!  

The kids wanted Maggi!!!    Now, this one dish without me having to do anything, except boil a pot of water actually a cup of water per pack....gets 100 points....Bingo...everytime!!   

                                            I am sure my mother felt that way too when I was growing up!!!  Oh boy!!  Has Maggi been around really that long??!!!  I remember, when it first came out, it was Rs.2.00 per pack and was a rage!!!  My mother  always an enthusiastic shopper, would try all products that would get launched!!  And my dearest dad had a huge part in it!!  He used to work in a food research institute and they would get samples from all of the food industry to try their product, do shelf life studies, analyze, to find nutritive value and so on!!  Well...though he was a biochemist, he had a ton of friends who would pass on these products to him....and he would bring them home for us to try, even before it hit the market!!!  

                                               Now who doesn't like trying and devouring yummy food for free??!!!  hahahhah!!!  That was us!!  Mom would tirelessly try out different things out of the prepackaged products.....these yummy pakodis are the result of one such pursuits in her food experimentation of ready to eat foods!! 

                Here is my reproduction of the same to my family and you!!!  But how did this get its name??!!  you wonder??!!!  well!  Let us make the pakodis and talk about that while munching on them with tea shall we??!!!!  

Here goes it........

You will need....

A.  The Filler Mix:  1/4 yellow onion, minced; 1 Serrano pepper minced; 3 tbsp cilantro, chopped; 1 small carrot, peeled and grated; 

B.  The Star of the Pakoda filling:

1 packet of Maggi prepared with the Maggi bouillon,  according to the package

C.  Base Mix --  1 cup Chick pea flour/Besan; 3/4 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp baking soda; 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder; a scant 5 oz of room temperature water.

Add all the ingredients of the base into a bowl and whisk the mixture until nice and airy for about a minute or so!

Now... add the filler ingredients, and the star ingredient - the prepped noodles into the base mixture and mix well.  The mixture should be very chunky!!!  Like so.....

  

Meanwhile, heat a pan with canola oil.  Add a droplet of the pakodi batter.  If it floats up and sizzles, then the oil is ready for you!!  If the droplet burns, then it is too hot!  Move the pan away from the heat immediately and wait for couple minutes for the oil to cool down.  If the droplet sinks -- your oil needs to come up to temp.    That was frying 101 for you!!!

Use a tablespoon of the batter, drop it into the hot oil.  Do not overcrowd the pan.  My pan could easily fit 4-5 of these yummy morsels. 

 

Let it turn golden brown, and flip the pakodis and let them brown up on the other side also.  

Drain the pakodis on a platter lined with paper towel to drain off excess oil from those golden morsels!! 

Serve them with a chutney of your choice.  I went with the theme and served my pakodis with Maggi hot and sweet sauce!!   And......my daughter loved them....she gave me her signature thumbs up sign.....get well sooooooon sweetie!!!  Miss your little snippets of your day in your sing song voice around the house!!!

 Now, armed with a cup of Chai and a plate of Pakodis, would like to reflect the conversation that I had with Jay when I came up with the name for these .... at the dance...we were discussing Dimple Kapadia,...a famous actress from Bollywood, and munching on one of these, and somehow with the twist in the syllables the name was coined!!!!  Haahahhahahhaha!!!  Some girl friend humor!

Enjoyyyyyyyyy!!!!

Crepeliciously Delicious!!!

I feel I have been a "pleaser"  all my life!  

I have been a very good daughter, my mom can vouch for it!!  

I have been a very good sister...I think my brother, grudgingly and forgivingly will vouch for me!!  "S", please say "yes"!!!  

A wonderful hubby pleaser, hubby will happily vouch for that one, if I promise to dish out endless supply of gourmet eats all his life!!!  My kids....yes...they will scream out that I am the best mom in the whole wide world ...... 

                                  Errrrrr.... maybe that was a bit of a stretch there!!  Maybe as long as I let them watch endless hours of TV, arrange play dates all the time, do not bother them about their school work and say yes to everything they think is fun under the sun.....Yes!  I will be the best mom on the block!!!  

Alas!  Reality check:  I am a mean, task master....which I am hoping one day they will come to realize it was after all orchestrated towards their betterment in life!!!!!!  Till then I am willing to wait for them to hand over the coveted prize of "best mommy award" to me!  

                                                                                  But, I do try to please them...I do! I do! I do!!!   Especially with food!  Today was no differnet!  Came back from school and after the usual wanting to do something....I grudgingly let them watch tv, so could get some quiet time for myself.  I urged them to help themselves to some snacks...healthy junk option (huh??!!!).....hahahhahha!!  But, they were bored with all my regular options and could not stand the fact that I was admiring my own pictures shamelessly on facebook and bantering  smart comments back and forth with friends!    They had this strong, saddistic desire to put me to work!!!  

                                                             So, my daughter came up with this idea..."hey mom, can you make me some crepes, those yummy chocolaty ones for IHOP??"  huh!  IHOP..eh???!!  Now, she has bruised my small ego big!!  I had to come up with a better recipe than them....IHOP, ofcourse!!!  I went to the internet, looked around, pulled up the first one....and tweaked it big time!  

It called for less flour, upped it!  More eggs...nah...hate the eggy smell...so decreased the egg!!  There was oil....do not like the sliminess of the oil in the batter, so did not bother to add that!  Love the sweet flavor of vanilla which magically sweetens things without adding any sugar....so included vanilla....pretty much had hit everything on the list...hahahaha...my dear friends........ did you realize....there are very few ingredients to a good crepe recipe.....some flour, milk, and egg???!!  Viola!!!! Can you believe.... these gorgeous little silky roundels can be whipped up with just 3 basic ingredients!!!!   So here it is......

You will need..... 

1 Scant cup of milk (I used 1%), 3/4 cup of loosely packed all purpose flour, a pinch of salt, 1 whole egg, and 1 tbsp good quality vanilla essence!

 Add all the above ingredients into a jar of a blender, and blend well until combined.  Blend at low speed for 30 seconds and high speed for another 45 seconds and this is how it should look...with lots of bubbles!!

Your crepe batter is ready!!!  No resting time required, these can be spread into silky sheets of soft indulgence and they come together in no time!!!

Cautionary Pointers: 

Use a well seasoned pan

Heat is always on medium-medium high

Start making the crepe just before the pan starts smoking

Use a brush to moisten the pan with either oil or butter (I used bland canola oil ...about 2 tbsp in all)

Be alert...these thin sheets cook up very fast!

Now follow the picture to make a crepe.....

• Add 2 tablespoons of the batter into the pan.  
• Swivel the pan around to spread the batter around in the pan.  
• Wait for the edges to uncurl away from the pan, and small bubbles should appear in the crepe.  
• Gently lift the edge, nudging with a spatula. and gently coax it out of the pan.  As you get couple of these done, you will be able to literally pluck it out of the pan with your fingertips and flip it around.  A nonstick pan helps the process to go smooth!!!   
• Flip it around and let it cook for 30 seconds or until you see tiny bubbles from beneath.  
• Now, transfer the crepe to a serving platter. 

Work with one crepe at a time..... you could apply chocolate hazelnut spread aka Nutella or strawberry preserves.  My kids went the whole 9 yards....they squeezed a jolly god amount of the whipped cream on top of the chocolate spread, rolled it up and enjoyed them!!!  

                                                               These are so delightfully light, delicate, thin, silky sheets, they disappear in no time!!  Was very hard to keep aside a few for the pictures!!  If it is easy and quick to whip these beauties up it is super easy to devour them, takes no effort at all!!! 

  
Enjoy making them with ease with this easy recipe!!  The flair of crepe making (please.....it is not rocket science!) will come to you within the second or the third crepe.  Enjoyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Super Bowl Favorite -- Guacamole!

Guacamole...

green goddess dip...is the name I christened it when I first had it in a small Mexican place in the lazy breezy fantastic town of Fresno!!!  Every time I savor it (my version), I feel, I am taking a bite of Fresno!!!  I am about to digress a bit here....

                                                                Fresno cozily situated in the central valley in the sunny California boasts of it plush produce!!!  Such produce that I have not seen anywhere else....I am yet to step into Florida!!  So, my apologies dear Floridians if I happen to brag too much about this golden city!!!  

                       I visited dear Fresno city after 13 long years, and as I was whizzing past the streets...I was shedding tears and missing my hubby!!!  I was visiting for my aunt's daughter's wedding, with my 2 chipmunks...they were aghast to see me get so emotional (actually being emothional kinda runs in my blood...that is a different story alotgether!)  about a city!!!   SanFransisco was the first city I set my eyes on and then Fresno was the first city I set up and played house for the very first time in my life!!  And that is special right??!!!  

                       And ....... Guacamole was the first snack I had in this country.  

                                                               We, newly weds, would lazily drag ourselves out of the bed by11:00 AM....after a marathon movie night the previous night....and then have a hearty late lunch ...and about 5 would head out to tour the city.....with its couple main boulevards and main streets and tonnes of charm!  We continued this tradition for about a couple months till hubby dear got bored of his paid vacation/honeymoon!!!!!      

                                                                       On one such outing, I think the first day...we stepped into this mom and pop owned Mexican place and hubby ordered guacamole!!!  I fell in LOVE with it...he, the waiter,  came to our table and made it in his little mortar and pestle.  He added the spices, and seasonings according to our taste!!  Quite fancy for a small shop like that....but was indulgence, nevertheless!!!! 

                                                      I make exactly like him minus the mortar and pestle, I use my trustworthy fork and a sturdy ceramic/stainless steel bowl and rely on perfectly ripe avocados to oblige under my mashing prowess!!  I figured after tasting countless varieties....they do come in different textures/spice levels/colors et al.  This is my favorite and hope so, that it will become yours too!!!! 

You don't need very much apart from the avocados!

Here is what you will need --- 

3 Avocados, 2 Thai peppers, 2 small onion, minced, 1 tomato minced, 2 garlic cloves, minced, 1/4 cup lemon juice, adjust to taste, salt to taste and a couple sprigs of cilantro for garnish!

Now...onto de-stoning. the Avocado....use a sharp knife to go around the avocado, your knife will not go through the avocado...there is a perfec little spherical stone in the middle!!!!  Now, twist the top and the bottom in opposite direction and separate the 2 hemispheres!  Pat the knife with a strong pat on the stone, and gently coax the seed out!  Now using a tip of a paring knife....score the avocado in a graph manner.  Using a sharp spoon, scoop out the flesh of the avocado into a bowl.  Act fast, avocados brown as soon as they come in contact with air.  So drizzle a little of the lemon juice, and mix well.

Add the chopped avocados to the onion tomato mixture, add the lemon juice in little increments...according to your desired taste.  Add salt.  And mash the entire mixture with a fork...today I used a potato masher.  Mash it till you get a desired consistency!!

Transfer the dip onto a serving bowl, garnish it with some cilantro and serve with your favorite tortilla chips!!!  

Now...you are fabulously ready for your party...I am too...I am going to my friend A's house, where they have this fabulous home theater, a well stocked bar and tonnes of munchies!!! But, I have a feeling...I am going be socializing with all the ladies, nurse or gulp a few drinks, snack on the munchies, gossip, snatch a clip or two of a movie between endless conversation!!!  Sounds like a lot of fun.....I better go find out who is playing who tomorrow!!  Kidding.......have fun people!!!!  And as always .... do not forget to drop in a line.......
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OOdles of Noodles!!!

My kids like all children who return from school chant the same mantra....we are hungry...we are hungry....we are hungry.... but are not satiated with whatever you give....sandwich?  naaa... chips and dip??  naaa...  chicken nuggets??  naaa.... I am running out of options here, and my light bulb just refuses to go on today!!!!  

                             I let the kids be for a minute, they turned on the TV which kept them going for awhile.  I opened the refrigerator to get some milk out to make myself a cuppa... my eyes fell on a box of cooked spaghetti.....my light bulb started flickering....hey...why not make a veggie noodle dish???  Better yet, why not something Indo Chinese... Veggie Hakka Noodle?  I turned around and took a look at the stove and saw the tava/frying pan resting on my stove top... and another improv idea popped into my head....hey why not Tava Hakka Noodles???!!  

                                                         So, done!!!  Decided!!!  Tava Hakka Noodles it is!!!  this is a combination of the good old  Hakka noodles and the Shanghai Dan Dan Noodles.  So, let us get cracking shall we??! 

                     I am going to take you through the recipes as I moved along in my kitchen!!!

 Heat up a large Tava/ griddle.  Add 1 tbsp of oil to the hot pan.  Once the oil shimmers in the pan....

 add the following in the clockwise direction.....

1/4 purple/red onion, sliced -- saute well; 3cloves of garlic, minced -- saute well until browned; 1" ginger, grated -- saute well; add 1/2 cup grated carrots and 1/2 cup of broccoli slaw -- saute well until the veggies are glazed over.  All this on a medium high flame!!

Add the following spices -- follow the pictures in  anti clockwise direction...

Salt to taste ; cracked pepper about 1/2 tsp ; scallions -- only the white part .. for the mild onion flavor; 1/2 --  1 tbsp soy sauce; saute all this well for a minute or two. 

Add 2 cups of cooked spaghetti! 

And toss the noodles well to incorporate the veggies and spices into the noodles!!

Add couple tablespoons of white vinegar to the dish!  Toss well again!!!  

Spread the noodles on the tava...which comes very handy for the crust formation!!  Spread as evenly as you can and let it sizzle for couple minutes on medium high heat, let it form the crust, toss and repeat it around thrice or until you are satisfied with the crunchiness of the noodles!! 

serve the noodles, piping hot   garnished with green part of scallions, minced! 

tastes great even at room temperature!!  light bulb moment!!!  great as a lunch box option also!!!!  Yippppeeeee!!

Winter soul warmer!!!!

Winter Warmer Soup.... AKA Tamatar Shorba AKA Tomato Soup!!  

It is finally COLD out here!!!! Really really cold or at least feels like it. I just put my groceries away, wish had done it during the day, when the sun was out and when it did not look this dismal!!! Well.... Calls for planing which has eluded me off late...I kinda scurry around, rush around but get things done and call myself an "impromptu" person!!! With the same spirit....I am going to whip up something that has been on my mind all evening, actually ever since I set my eyes on my friend's post on face book about having soups.... She is having soups every day this week... Not a bad idea eh? But I cannot go through soups the whole week, a whole set of 7 days...but I thought, hey,  why not just for tonight?! So this is my winter warmer series of comfort foods...you see, winter did start everywhere but here in MN... We have been having almost spring like weather....so it kinda started this week, with the wind gusts, wind chills, wind swept flurries et al!!!!  

                                                                         Coming back to my friend's post.... all her friends have penned down their favorite soups and I don't think I saw any mention of good old tomato soup!!!!  Also, might have not had its name penned on the roll of honor as it could very well pass for an everyday soup!!  sigh!!  But, it is my absolute "go to" dish when I want to have soups as comfort food!!!  The others, I enjoy as a dish on their own.  But, tomato soup is in its league of its own, and I enjoy different forms of it as well....when blended with coconut milk and is fondly had as Saar in Maharashtra; Tomato rasam in Madras; Mysore Rasam in Krnataka, my own Gujarathi version -- Lal dal soup, my friend K's tomato bisque (to die for!) or cream of tomato in restaurants in India!!!   These were just to name a few!!    

                                      Mulligatawny or Mallagu thanni soup is considered as India's national soup....but hey, wonder whose idea was that... when you open a restaurant menu in India, the soup that takes the coveted top spot is the "cream of tomato" which also happens to be the most popular, and widely ordered soup!!  

                                So, here it is folks, a desi style, soul warming, tongue tingling, full bodied yet... absolutely low fat, please, by all means to make it well rounded and wholesome, go ahead and fatten it up with heavy whipping cream or butter or coconut milk!!  The choice is all yours and endless!!!  Let me also know what you did, so others who read this might benefit too!!!  

You will need:

1 tomato, chopped; 1 small onion, chopped, 1 small carrot, peeled and diced; 1/4 green bell pepper, diced, for flavor; 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp each of cumin powder, cayenne pepper powder; 1/4 tsp pepper powder, 1 tbsp all purpose flour and the star ingredient....5 oz of tomato paste.

Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp of room temperature butter and 1 tbsp of canola oil.

Add cumin powder, mix well and add 1 tbsp of flour and whisk well.  You are making a roux here, a mixture of flour and fat (here butter and oil), usually in a 1:1 ratio.  Here, more fat is used, which works fine.  Stir fast so you do not burn the roux.  A roux is used to thicken soups, stews, sauces.  

Add the following ingredients in the numerical order given above, and saute after each addition... garlic, onion, saute well, carrots, tomatoes and finally the green bell pepper.

Add the base ingredients:  cayenne pepper powder, pepper powder, salt, tomato paste, and saute well!

When all the ingredients look pulpy and well blended, add 24 fluid ounce of water. Mix well and bring to a gentle simmer.

Transfer the mixture into the blender and puree the mixture into a smooth puree. It should have this bright saffron hue to it and is ok if it is chunky!!  Chunky soup = rustic soup!!!!  Or if you desire a smooth soup, then go ahead and strain it. But if you have a good quality blender...this step can be avoided!!!

Tamatar shorba simmering in different stages.  Let it come to a rolling boil for 5 minutes and simmer for another 5 minutes.  Add a pat of butter if desired at the end, just before turning the heat off, to give a silken texture to the soup.  

I served the soup with garlic pannetini, is excellent with additional ground black pepper and served with a toasted lentil wafer.  A perfect soul warmer this winter season!!!  Enjoy huddling with a warm bowl of soup by the fireplace this season!!!  Happy eatings!!