Vada Pav

I LOVE Bombay street food...I miss Bombay street food...woh Jai ka Sandwich, woh Anna ka Dosa, woh Mithibai ka Vada Pav, woh Juhu ka Pav Bhaji ...hmmmm.... 

And hence nostalgia is a form of self torture ;-) ;-)

Batter for the Vada's outer crust:

Mix Besan (gram flour), salt, chilli powder, a pinch of cooking soda and water to form a rather thick batter (slightly thicker in consistency than what you make for pakodas)

For the Vada:

1. Boil and mash some potatoes. Keep it aside.

2. Heat oil in a small pan. When oil becomes hot add some mustard seeds. After the mustard seeds crackle, add a pinch of hing (asafoetida), chopped curry leaves & coarsely chopped ginger-garlic-green chillies. Saute this for about a minute and then add this mixture to the mashed potatoes.

3. Additionally add salt & haldi (turmeric powder) to the mashed potatoes.

4. Mix all of the above ingredients well together and then make small round balls for frying.

Assembling the Vada Pav:

1. Heat some oil in a kadhai for deep frying.  

2. Dip the round potato balls into the thick batter and roll till they are coated with besan. Now fry the Vadas till the batter cooks into a crisp crust.

3. Cut some Pav (bread) into two halves. Apply coriander chutney and tamarind chutney on both sides. Put the fried Vada in between the slices and serve. 

Note:

1. For the bread you can use mini burger buns, dinner rolls, hot dog buns, slice of bread cut into 2 halves....anything goes :-)

2. Be generous with the chutneys or else the Vada Pav will taste very dry.

3. Do not add more soda or the batter will drink too much oil. 

Andhra egg curry (Curried poached eggs)

I learned this recipe from my roommate at CSU, Joshna, who was from Andhra Pradesh. This poached egg technique can be applied to any of your favorite traditional egg curry recipes. Sorry the picture looks like mush :-( but I promise it tastes good :-)

Method:
1. Take some oil in a skillet and add whole jeera (cumin seeds) & dried red chillies
2. Add chopped onions, chopped green chillies and ginger-garlic paste and saute till onions are golden brown.
3. Add  haldi (turmeric), chilli, dhania (coriander) and jeera (cumin) powders followed by tomato paste. Mix them together and cook till oil begins to separate from the masala.
4. Now add some water to make it a rather watery consistency. Add some garam masala and salt to this watery gravy, get it to a boil. We are now ready to add the eggs.
5. Take the eggs and crack each one directly into the gravy. Each one should be dropped slowly into the gravy to try and keep it as intact as possible. Each egg should be placed away from the previous one so they don't touch each other.

6. Cook the eggs for about 5-7 minutes and then flip the eggs over. At this point the portion of the egg submerged in the gravy will be cooked and the top half will be raw. Cook the second side for another 7 minutes or so.
7. Serve with some fresh cilantro.

Note: 
1. Use a rather flat kind of  vessel so you can drop the eggs away from each other.
2. You can choose to cover and cook on the first side and not flip the eggs over. This is really a personal egg choice. Some like their yolk runny, I like to cook the yolk till they are well done.

Methi Paratha

For the dough:
1. Finely chopped fresh methi leaves (Fenugreek)
2. Aata (whole wheat flour)
3. Besan (chick pea flour) approximate proportion: for 2 cups aata, add a fourth of besan
4. Haldi (turmeric)
5. Chilli powder and/or finely chopped green chillies
6. Jeera powder (cumin powder)
7. Dhania powder (coriander powder) approximate proportion: 1 part cumin pwd :: 2 parts coriander pwd
8. Whole jeera
9. 1-2 tablespoons of yogurt
10. Salt to taste

Mix all the above ingredients together and knead into a firm dough using warm water. Keep aside for 15-20 mins.

Optional: You can add grated ginger & garlic.

Method: 
Roll out the parathas and bake them on a tava (griddle) by applying ghee on both sides.
If you are calorie conscious, skip the ghee and the parathas still taste just as good :-)

Baida Roti (sort of an egg roll with keema filling)

This recipe is a variant of chicken frankie. The original dish takes mutton/lamb keema, but since I did not have access to either meat, I used chicken keema instead.

For the chicken filling:
I used the recipe from Chicken Frankie to prepare the chicken filling.

For the roti:
Use wheat flour & water to make the dough. Keep aside for atleast 30 mins.

To assemble the Baida roti:
1. Whisk together some eggs with salt and pepper. 1 egg :: 1 Baida roti is good enough number of eggs.
2. Prepare the rotis before hand. Make the rotis bigger than your average chapati so that you have enough room to fold the roti into packets.
3. Place a roti on the tava/frying pan. Put required amount of keema filling in the middle. Now pour a couple of spoonfuls of whisked egg into the roti, along the inner edges. Fold the roti to create a squarish shape.
4. While holding the folded side together, pour or paint some egg onto that side and flip it over to the tava/frying pan side. Drizzle a few drops of oil onto the sides of the tava.
5. Similarly pour or paint some egg onto the other side of the roti packet and flip that over to the tava/frying pan side.
6. When both sides are crisp and covered with eggs, cut through the middle and serve hot with sauce or chutney of your choice.

Chicken Frankie

For the chicken filling:
1. Heat oil in a saute pan and fry ginger, garlic & onions till onions turn golden
2. Add tomatoes and the following spices i.e. haldi(turmeric), chilli, jeera(cumin) , dhania(coriander) and garam masala. Cook till masala gets done i.e. tomatoes loses its moisture and oil starts separating along the sides of the pan.
3. Add chicken keema and salt and let it cook in its own juices. Add water if you absolutely need to. We want a moist filling for the frankie but not a runny one
4. Once the chicken is cooked add amchoor (dry mango powder), fresh coriander leaves, mint leaves and give it a stir. Taste check and set aside.

For the outer Roll you need:
1. Traditionally frankie is made with maida (all purpose flour). But you can use whole wheat if you are health conscious. I use 2 parts of whole wheat flour:: 1 part all purpose flour. Mix flour into a soft dough. Cover and keep aside for atleast 15 mins.
2. Roll out the rotis (tortillas) one at a time and half roast them on a tava. Half cook all your rotis first.
3. Whisk some eggs with salt and pepper. Use slightly lesser eggs than the number of rotis. e.g. for 4 rotis, I use 3 eggs. You can go 1 roti::1 egg, but it becomes too eggy :-)

For the salad stuffing:
thinly sliced onions + thinly cut lettuce + lemon juice + little chilli powder + salt. Add salt right before assembling the frankie.

Now to assemble the frankie:
1. Heat the tawa and apply some oil on it . Pour some whisked egg onto the tava and immediately lightly press a roti onto the cooking egg. The egg will get cooked while getting stuck onto one side of the roti.
2. Remove the egg-coated-roti from the tawa. Place some salad and chicken onto the center of the roti forming a line. Sprinkle some chat masala, kala namak (black salt) and fresh squeezed lemon on the assembled roti. Roll it up into a frankie.

Note:     
1. Don't overcook chicken as it will become dry and chewy.
2. I use store bought tomato puree instead of tomatoes....gives better color and texture to the keema.
3. Add salt to the salad stuffing at the very end or else the onions will start oozing water.
4. I assemble my frankie on top of an aluminium foil, so that it rolls up easily and is easy to eat by peeling the foil away. You can even use Parchment/wax paper.

Egg Biryani

This is my favorite quick recipe. It doesn't take much effort or time, and ends up tasting pretty good. For about 1 1/2 cups of rice, use atleast 6 eggs, from here on the more the eggs the merrier :-)


Hard boil 4 of the eggs and soak 1 1/2 cups of rice in 3 cups of water.

Heat some oil in a pan and add whole garam masala (i.e. some jeera, 1 black elaichi/cardamom, a stick of cinnamon, couple of bay leaves, few whole black peppercorns, couple of whole star anise).

Now add half an onion (julienned), whole slit green chillies, ginger-garlic paste and saute them till onions turn brownish. Add haldi, chilli powder, biryani masala and tomatoes.

Once the masalas are fully cooked i.e. you can see the oil leaving the sides of the pan, crack open 2 eggs into the pan and stir it vigorously so that it cooks in a scrambled fashion. Quickly add your pre-soaked rice along with its water, the 4 hardboiled egg halves and salt to taste.

Let the rice cook through and serve with your favorite raita. (I just used yogurt + diced onions + green chillies + salt + water).

Tips: 
1. Use fresh pudina/mint leaves if available, it gives a wonderful aroma
2. Use chicken bouillon if you have some at home and accordingly use less or no salt. It adds to the flavor of the biryani.
3. I used a pressure cooker to cook this so it took me very little time. You can cook this in your rice cooker or on your stove, anything works :-) 
4. I use Everest Biryani masala, probably because Mom uses the same. Prefer its flavor over MDH and Shaan

Pepper Chicken and Lemon Rice

My mom made this for us while she was visiting this holiday season. It was very tasty and extremely easy to cook. I have listed my Mom's chicken recipe and my friend, Roopa Shankar's, lemon rice recipe. Bon Apetit!!!

Pepper Chicken

Heat oil. Add mustard, jeera & whole garam masala (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves & bay leaves).

Add chopped onions, ginger/garlic paste. Fry till it turns brownish.

Add 3-4 slit green chilles, lots of curry leaves, haldi, tomatoes. Cook till oil separates from the masala.

Add chicken ( preferably small cut thigh pieces) Mix, cover & cook till done (it took me about 7-10 mins on medium heat).

Add about 2 tsp or more ( till you get taste & flavour) of pepper pd, garnish with coriander leaves & serve hot.

Tips: Add the pepper powder right before you serve the dish for the best aroma and flavor. Use fresh ground pepper if possible. 

Lemon Rice

Precook 1 cup of rice ( not too hard or sticky)

Heat Oil. Add mustard and jeera.
Then add 1 fist full of raw peanuts and saute for about 1/2 min.
Then add 1 tbsp of urud dal and 1 tbsp of chana dal (the dahlia used for chutney, not the chana dal used for dal). Just when they start to turn brown (less than 15 seconds) add the following:

split green chilies
curry leaves.
2 pinch turmeric powder
1/2 cut lemon juice (I mean the huge US style lemons)
salt
1 - 2 pinch sugar

Mix the above well, add rice and toss together. Right before you serve add remaining 1/2 lemon's juice and fresh cut coriander.

Tips: 
1. Cook on medium or low heat, or else ingredients can get burnt very easily.
2. Keep all the ingredients ready before you start. There shouldn't be any delay in adding the ingredients or the previous ingredients in the pan will get burnt. 
3. Always add the peanuts before the urad dal & chana dal because the peanuts will take slightly more time to roast.
4. Add the remaining lemon juice to the rice, right before you serve, or else the flavor of the lemons get absorbed by the rice. 
5. You can make Onion Lemon Rice or Garlic Lemon Rice by adding onions or garlic to the tadka before adding the rice.