Potatoes in Poppy & Sesame Seeds

Ingredients:

Baby Potatoes                  - Boiled, peeled and cut in half
Onion                               - 1 medium
Garlic                               - 5-6 cloves
Ginger                              - 1 inch
Green Chillies                  - 2-3
Tomato                             - 2 medium
Poppy Seeds                     - 2 tblspoon
Sesame seeds                    - 1 tblspoon
Mustard Seeds                   - 1/2 tspoon
Asafetida                           - a pinch
Turmeric powder               - 1/2 tspoon
Coriander powder              - 1 tspoon
Garam Masala                    - 1/2 tspoon
Amchoor Powder               - 1/2 tspoon
Mustard Oil                        - 1 tblspoon
Salt                                      - to taste
Fresh Coriander                  - 1 tblspoon finely chopped for garnish


Method:

Wash and Soak poppy seeds in warm water for 1/2 hour
Wash and boil the potatoes. Peel them and cut in half, keep them aside.
Puree the onion, garlic and ginger in a blender, keep aside.
Now puree poppy seeds, tomato and green chillies in the blender.
Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan.
Put mustard seed, sesame seeds and asafetida in the oil. Beware the sesame seeds will sputter wildly.
Now add onion, garlic and ginger pure in the oil and cook untill the raw smell is gone.
Now add poppy seeds, tomato and chilli pure to it. cook for another 2 minutes.
Now add all dry spices, turmeric, coriander, amchoor, garam masala and salt to it. Mix well.
Now cover the pan with a lid and let this mix cook for about 5-7 minutes or untill the mixture starts to leave the oil.
Once you can see the oil around the spice mix add the potatoes and give it a good mix.
Cover the pan again and let it cook for another 5-7 minutes, so that potatoes can soak the flavours of the spices and poppy seeds.
After 7 minutes you can see ll the moisture from curry is gone and spice mix will be well around the potatoes.
You potatoes are ready to serve, garnish with fresh coriander and serve as a side dish in your lunch or dinner parties.

Eggless Banana Walnut Cupcake

Ingredients:

Banana                        -1
Plain Flour                  -3/4 cup
Walnut,chopped         -1/4 cup + 2 tblspoon to Sprinkle on top
Sugar                          -1/2 cup
Oil                               -1/4 cup
Baking powder           -1/2 tsp
Baking soda                -1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence           -1/2 tsp

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 C.
Peel and mash the banana if it is over-riped otherwise use blender to mash the banana well and make it a paste.
Now add oil,vanilla and sugar to banana mash and mix well. Keep it to aside.

Now mix the flour,baking powder,baking soda in another bowl. Mix it with the help of a hand whisk.

After mixing properly make a dent and pour the banana mixture in the dent.

Fold gently,do not over mix,just mix well so that everything blends properly.
Make sure not to use electric beater to mix the cake batter.
Now add 1/4 cup of walnuts to the batter.

Line the muffin tray with paper liners and spoon the batter in it up to 3/4 th of it.
Sprinkle some walnut over the cupcakes.

Cupcakes will rise a bit so make sure to leave some room for it.
Bake for 25 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean and top turns golden brown.
I made fun sized cakes, so they came out in 20 minutes.

But the one normal size cupcake took 27 minutes to bake.
Once baked, keep the cupcakes one rack to cool down before serving.

Cupcakes are ready to be served as dessert for the parties!!!!

Chinese Chilla Rolls

Ingredients:

For Chilla: (Serves 5-6)

Besan (gram flour)                    -1 cup
Ajwain (Carom Seeds)              -1 tblspoon
Asafetida                                   -1 pinch
Fresh coriander leaves              -1 tblspoon, finely chopped
Green Chilli                              -1 tblspoon, finely chopped
Salt                                            -to taste
Oil                                             -2 tblspoon for making Chilla

For Filling:

Noodles                            -1 cup boiled
Carrot                               -1/8 cup grated
Cabbage                           -1/8 cup finely chopped
Onion                               -1/8 cup finely chopped
Capsicum                         -1/8 cup finely chopped
Spring Onion                   -1/8 cup finely chopped
Garlic                               -1 tspoon paste
Ginger                              -1 tspoon paste
Soya Sauce                      -1 tspoon
Salt                                  -to taste
Black pepper                   -1/2 tspoon
Chinese 5 spices             -1 tspoon
Oil                                  -1 tblspoon

Method:

Chilla Batter:

Combine besan, salt, Ajwain, Asafetida, Coriander, and green chilli with enough water to make a batter for Chilla and set aside.

Chilla Roll Filling:

Now heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan or kadahi over medium heat.
Now add onion and cook until lightly browned. Add ginger garlic paste to onions and mix well. fry all of this well for 2 minutes.
Add spring onion and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Now add other vegetables into pan and mix well.
Now add salt, black pepper, chinese 5 spice powder, soy sauce and again mix very well. Cover the Pan and let the mixture cook for 8-10 minutes on medium flame.
Once vegetables are cooked, add boiled noodles into vegetables and mix gently but well. avoid breaking the noodles.
After mixing all of it switch the flame off and take it out in a plate/bowl and let it cool down.

Making Chilla Rolls:

Heat a non-stick Tawa over medium heat, add 1/2 ladle full of the batter and spread it like dosa, cook it on both the sides by adding oil. Try to keep the chilla thin.

Now transfer it the plate or onto a clan working surface, put 2 tblspoon of filling onto it, roll it and Cut it in the middle.

Chinese chilla rolls are ready to serve with different chutneys.
These Chilla rolls make brilliant breakfast, evening snack or could be a starter for your Dinner parties. Best is to serve it in your kid's parties.

Vada Pav Mumbai Style

For the vada filling:

Potatoes                   -2 cups boiled and mashed (Aloo)
Green chillies          -2 (Hari Mirch)
Garlic                      -3/4 (Lehsun)
Mustard seeds          -1 tspoon (Rai)
Asafoetida               -1/4 tspoon (hing)
curry leaves             -6 to 8 (kari patta)
Turmeric powder    -1/2 tspoon (haldi)
Oil                           -1 tblspoon

For the outer covering:

Gram Flour                    - 3/4 cup (Besan)
Turmeric Powder           - 1/4 tspoon (Haldi)
Baking Soda                  - 1/8 tspoon
Oil                                 - 1 tspoon
Salt                                - to taste

Oil for deep frying


Method:

Making the vada filing:

Crush the green chillies, ginger and garlic using a mortar and pestle or you can coarsely chop them in a chopper.
Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds to it.
When they start to crackle, add the Asafetida and curry leaves and sauté for a few seconds.
Add the chili, ginger, garlic mixture and sauté again for a few seconds.
Add the mashed potatoes, turmeric powder and salt, mix very well.
Remove from the flame and keep aside to let it cool.
Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions. Shape into rounds.

For the outer covering and frying:

Combine all the ingredients under "Outer Covering" in a bowl and make a batter using approximately 1/3 cup of water. Keep it  thick mixture not runny.
Dip each round of the vada filling into the batter and allow it to coat the mixture well.
Deep fry in hot oil, till golden brown. Drain on paper towel to absorb excess oil and keep aside.

Assembling the Vada Pav:

Slice each pav into half and spread some tomato garlic chutney inside.
Place one vada in each pav and serve immediately.
Fry some green chilis to go with the Vada Pav.

Ladi Pav

Ingredients:

Plain Flour / Maida           -2 Cups
Milk                                  -1 cup warm
Vegetable Oil                   -2 tblspoon
Dry Active Yeast             -1 tspoon
Sugar                               -1 tspoon
Salt                                  -1/2 tspoon
Water                              -1/2 cup


Method:

Mix Maida, yeast, sugar, salt and oil in a deep mixing bowl, mix it well.









Now add milk little by little not all at once, knead it to dough.

The dough will be very sticky, keep on kneading for 8-10 minutes and the sticky dough will turn into smooth dough. We knead it for 10 minutes just to activate the gluten in it.

Now cover it with cling film and keep it in a warm spot to rest untill double. it can take from 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and knead it again.

Now take a baking tray and grease with some butter and dust it with some flour so that your Pav doesn't stick to it.

Now cut the similar size balls or pieces from the dough and roll them to form a small ball.

Keep these dough balls on the baking tray within a distance of 1/2 inch.

Once all the balls are made and placed on the baking tray, cover it again with cling film and keep it in a warm spot to rest for at least 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes the balls will rise double to their size.

Preheat the oven to 180c.
Now put the baking tray on to middle rack of your oven and bake the rolls for 20 minutes or until the top turns golden.
Your Pav Rolls are ready to serve with Bhaji or vada.