Alu Puri - all time favourite

Today like all weekends started out with a hungry tummy and a houseful of people thinking what to eat....
the all time favourite Alu Puri (potato curry and fried indian bread) came to mind and mouth starts watering... :D

its a pretty simple recipe and mom and my roomie, switi would make it very conveniently... well !! here u r talking about 2 of the best cooks i have come across in my life... for me... cooking anything is a good challenge...

so step 1: google the receipe... :D (would never know what to do if google didnt exist)

post initial disappointment of not getting the well known "sanjeev kapoor" recipe, i looked at the 1st recipe link i got on google and went ahead... (the inclination to that link was also because of the fact that it said Punjabi Alu Puri... which was what i wanted to make)

so heres what to do!! :)

Ingredients:
4 -5 potatoes
2 onions
2-3 tomatoes
green chillies
garlic
ginger
cumin seeds
masalas/curry powders - red chilli powder, garam masala, haldi (teaspoon each would do)
salt to taste

Preparation:

for the gravy
1. boil the potatoes to medium cooked to help make the dish faster
2. slice the onions, green chillies, garlic and ginger fine, the tomatoes into chunky pieces.
3. put a pan on the gas
4. add oil, a few tablespoons, enough to roast the onions and other ingredients
5. once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, a teaspoon
6. ones the cumin seeds are roasted, add the onions and roast them till they are transparent
7. add the ginger, garlic and chillies and roast till they seem roasted (sorry dont have any other identification to how long to roast it
8. add the tomatoes and cook till they are soft.. crush the chunks of the tomatoes to make them little liquify.
9. season with the curry powders - red chillies, garam masala (1 teaspoon each) and a bit of turmaric powder (haldi)
10. cook for a min to let the curry powders roast in the tomato and onion mix. add the potatoes and half a glass of water.
11. cover the pan and cook for a bit, keep stirring periodically
12. smash a few potatoes into the mixture so that the gravy is a bit thicker and has a taste in it of the potato
13. open it and cook the potatoes while simmering the liquid.
14. add salt to taste and sprinkle freshly chopped coriander leaves for taste and smell. :D

for the puri (fried indian bread)
1. heat oil in a deep frying pan
2. take wheat flour, knead the flour with some water and oil into a stiff dough to roll up.
3. make small balls of the dough and roll it into a flat, thin rounds.
4. fry them into the hot oil, till they puff up and are golden in colour brown

Serve hot with the curry... enjoy!! :D

Tips:
1. grinding the tomatoes will also help, gives you that liquidy consistency.
2. the curry can be extremely watery also... dont worry
3. if the spices become more, like mine did... easy way to mellow it is to add a bit of yogurt.
4. fried indian bread is the literal traslation of "puri"... :D


the original recipe is: http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/aloo-poori-punjabi-aloo-poori/

Yogurt Dip with veggies and chips - Lesson 3

Lesson 3: Yogurt Dip with veggies and chips

Ingredients:

Dip - Reshma ka dip 

Veggies - carrot, kakadi , beet and chips 

Dip: 

• 500gms hung curd
• 12 cloves of garlic
• Coriander - Daniya generous lot 
• Salt
• Pepper

How to make:

• Hang curd in a muslin cloth for 30 mins
• Fine chop the garlic and Daniya 
• Add to the dahi and keep in the fridge 
• Before u serve, add salt and pepper

a few basic things to remember:

• your friends are the best people to tell you easy ways of making yummy dishes. 
• hanging the curd makes it thick and non watery... more like a dip and not a raita. 
• garlic amounts can be changed depending on how garlicy you want the dip. :D 
• experimentation with other herbs and spices can change the look and taste of this dish. 
• salted chips (the standard packets) will go very well with this. 

Dessert Lesson 1 - Choco Cake with Choco Sauce

Dessert Lesson 1: Choco cake + choco sauce and cherries

Ingredients:
The choco cake this time was bought from the store near my house. its the sauce that made a difference and attracted me to the recipe in the 1st place. :) 

For the chocolate sauce

• 1 tablespoon butter
• Good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into small pieces
• Hershey's choco syrup
• 1 splash brandy, rum, Amaretto or Baileys

How to make:

• Melt the butter in a pan
• remove off flame, put the dark choco into it and melt it. i used lindt dark choco (the white wrapper packet) 
• once the lindt is melted, for extra taste add hershey's choco syrup 
• last but not the least, a teaspoon of kahlua and the sauce is ready. 
• cut the choco cake pieces and spread a generous amount of the sauce on it. 
• add a tang with berrys (any) on the top, gets great appreciation! :D 

People come back for 2nds!! thanks friends!! :)  

A few basic things to remember:

• if the sauce becomes thick, heat it and add water to make it thin and flow. 
• just melt the butter else it will taste burnt
• use your judgement on your favourite chocolate to make the sauce. 

Original receipe: thanks Jamie Oliver - 
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chocolate-recipes/chocolate-love-cake-with-cherries-and-booze

Doodi ka kofta - lesson 2

Lesson 2: Doodi ka kofta!! (Bottle Gourd meatballs (just the balls :D )

my mom's best cooked dish.. took this up just by watching mom.. who says eves dropping and staring is wrong... :D 

Ingredients:
Bottle Gourd (Doodi)
gram flour (besan)
tomatoes 
onions
ginger
green chillies
salt
garam masala (garam masala - indian spice)
coriander powder
oil to fry

the usual is MANDATORY
khali pet (empty stomach)
some roomies  to experiment on... :D 

How to make:
Step 1: get all the ingredients in place so that they are handy when u making the dish. 

there are 2 steps to this recipe - 
1) making the Bottle Gourd meatballs. 
2) the gravy where the meatballs will float.. 

Step 2: making the bottle gourd meatballs 
1. the bottle gourd or doodi needs to be grated. choose a piece that's long and straight and firm. this will give the perfect taste to the dish. 
2. peal the skin of the doodi
3. use a grate to fine grate the whole doodi
4. add salt to the mixture which will make the stored water from the bottle gourd to release. 
5. squeeze and remove all the water. make it as dry as it can be by tightly squeezing the grated mixture.
6. to the dry mix add the gram flour enough to cover the grated doodi. this is only for binding. 
5. pour sufficient amount of oil (vegetable or olive) in to a pan to deep fry. 
6. roll the mixture into small sized balls and deep fry in hot oil. 
7. let the balls get nice and golden brown. 
8. remove the fried balls onto a tissue paper to help soak the excess oil. the balls are ready. 

these are ready, keep them aside to cool!! :D 

Step 3: gravy
this is the most common and simplest gravy to make... (i dont know how to make it) 
1. grind garlic, ginger to a good paste
2. grind tomatoes and onions to a good paste
3. take a little oil in a pan and roast the pasted garlic and ginger. 
4. add the tomatoes and onion paste to it and roast it. 
5. add water to make it a thick gravy. 
6. add the spices and salt to taste. 

step 4: add the fried meatballs to the gravy and get it to a boil so that the gravy soaks into the meatballs. 

ready to eat!! :) 

a few basic things to remember:
1. havent tried baking this dish to make it healthy. if someone tries it, pls let me know if it worked!! :D 
2. make sure the oil is nice and hot, else the balls will break when you drop it to fry in the pan. 
3. pls donot use your fingers to test the temp of the oil. word of caution, that burns really bad. my moms tactic is to test it with a smallest amount of the mix. it should rise immediately and sizzle. thats the right temperature. :) 
4. these fried bottle gourd meatballs can be served just like that also with ketchup or green chutney. :D interesting and amazing snack. 
5. this dish is a test of judgement when it comes to spices and cooking process. as this is moms recipe and no google reference, the measures are judgement. happy cooking!! :) 

Gobi ka Paratha (Cauliflower paratha) - lesson 1

Lesson 1: Gobi ka paratha!! (cauliflower paratha)

the traditional food turned out to be pretty simple to make... :D google bhagwan and a little bit of watching mom cooking in the kitchen!! 

call it beginners luck or call it in born cooking skills ;) the parathas turned out palatable and good looking too.... 

Ingredients:
Gobi (cauliflower)
dhaniya (coriander leaves)
adrakh (ginger)
mirchi (chillies)
namakh (salt)
garam masala (garam masala - indian spice)
dhania powder (coriander powder)
ata (flour)
butter
tawa (pan)
khali pet (empty stomach)
some roomies  to experiment on... :D 

How to make:
Step 1: make sure you have all the ingredients!! :) 

Step 2: shopping, assuming that you dont have the ingredients... fun for some.. not so much for some others... :) 

pick up a good looking whole cauliflower. 
pick up the ingredients as per the list... be generous to pick up more than u think you would need. all these ingredients can be recycled into other dishes!! :D 

Step 3: enter the kitchen... 

chopping time.. 
remove the greens of the cauliflower, cut in to large pieces with the stem of the cauliflower to hold. 
Chop the daniya, adrak, mirchi and keep it aside. 
keep the knife down.. its done... personally i find it easier to chop on a glass top chopping board. 

grate the cauliflower smoothly, the finer the better, will help roll the parathas easily. :) tricks to make the process easier... and of course get better results and praises at the end... 

Step 4: Mixing

put all the chopped stuff together and mix it. for me it works to use a flat bowl. adding the spice becomes easier. :) 
spread the mixture in the flat bowl, as much as you can spread it. 
sprinkle the salt, garam masala and daniya powder evenly on the entire spread. generally would suffice. 
mix all of it up and then taste it. :) if the garam masala feels stronger, add a pinch of salt (Exactly a pinch) to mello that taste. 

Step 5: Atta
mixing the flour is an interesting and a complete workout for the hands and fingers. the key is to make sure you keep the water flow as steady and slow as possible.  i dont know of a ratio of atta to water, just go by the amount of water that makes it easy to mix. 
for the parathas, the softer the atta mix, the easier it is roll it and make the paratha. 

Step 6: waiting!! ;)

let the mix and the atta sit for 10 mins.. give yourself the rest to work on the next stage. :) 

its a good thing also to check how much time your stove would take to heat up. i have an electric stove hence it takes a while for the tava to get hot. so i use these 10 mins to heat the tava. 

Step 7: rolling the parathas... 

there are 2 steps of rolling that will need to be done for the paratha... 
Step 1: take a ball of atta, roll the paratha into a thickness that should be  supporting the cauliflower mix.
Step 2:add a generous portion of the mix in the centre of the roti. covering 3/4th the space with the mix, a thin layer and close the mix up with the sides of the roti. 
i only roll the folded side of the roti to smoothen and flatten the roti. roll the roti around so that u know when the bottom is stretched enough and starts sticking to the base. 
once the roll seems thin enough 
the tava will be hot now. put a little bit of butter on it and spread the same around. 
put the roti on the tava, spread some butter on the top and grill it to make it crisp. 

Step 8: eat it!! :D  and get praises!! :D 


a few basic things to remember:
1. salt to taste is a very hard concept.. only moms can get that. i have never got my way around that... 
2. garam masala adds a lot of taste to anything :D (saving grace)
3. taste whatever you are making at all times.. gives you the confidence and the tasalli that things are going well
4. last but not the least... keep the masala and taste makers to 1 component of the whole food process... this makes the screwing up part only to 1 portion of the total meal!! :D 
5. watch your mom cooking over the years will give u the confidence and the knowledge of what anything needs to look like or the process of making it. :) 
6. the ingredients are indian and this is an indian dish, for translation of the ingredients and the names in english, pls try google translator or a few written in the list of ingredients.
7. i am always accessable to give tips and translations to fellow cookers!! :D