Chatpat Veggies for BBQ

Ingredients
1 pack mushrooms
3 bell peppers ( of different colours)
½ kg cottage cheese (Paneer)
½ cauliflowe
4 table spoon curd
8-10 garlic cloves
3 table spoons salt 
4 tablespoon red chilli pepper
3 table spoon chat masala
Method
Chop mushroom into half, peppers & paneer into cubes.
Add the curd, garlic cloves, salt, red chilli powder, chat masala into the grinder and make a smooth paste. this should be little spicy and salty
Add this paste into the veggies and marinate for 12 hrs
Add these veggies and paneer on a skewers and BBQ until done
Use the remaining marination as a dip by adding little more curd if it is too salty/spicy

Please note:This recipe can also be prepared on Grill-fry pan

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients

1 small cauliflower (florets only)

1 cup chopped onion

2 green chilly 

1 bunch spring onions

1 small green capsicum

finely chopped garlic as needed

Finely chopped ginger as needed

Soy sauce

Green chilly sauce

Oil – 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Ingredients to prepare of cauliflower fritters

4 tsp corn flour

Finely chopped garlic

Finely chopped ginger

Salt to taste

Oil to fry
1 cup water

Method

Cut the cauliflower into medium size florets & add it to the boiling water with a pinch of salt and leave it for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat before it gets overcooked and then drain the water. Keep it aside.

Make a thin batter with water using wheat flour, corn flour, ginger and garlic & salt

In a wok, heat 2 tbsp of oil, add  ginger, garlic, onions & fry till they become translucent

Now add the chopped green chillies, green onions, chopped capsicum & toss for a minute, add salt, Mix them together and keep on frying till you get rid of the raw smell.

The capsicum should be crispy.

Add soy sauce, green chilly sauce, 3 to 4 tbsp of water, mix well.

Add some more water if required and cook for a couple of minutes and turn off the stove.

Heat oil in a deep and thick bottomed pan, dip the florets in the batter & drop it in oil, Fry till golden brown. Repeat the process with the rest of the florets.

Turn both the sides and fry. Leave enough space between frying to retain the heat of oil.

Now add the fried cauliflower to it and toss it carefully till the fritters are coated with the sauce

Leave it for 5 mins.

Remove from heat and garnish with green onions.

Note: Add the fritters to the prepared sauce about 5 to 8 minutes before serving. This will keep them crispy

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients
1 pack of button mushrooms (Use the big one's)
1 boiled potato (medium size)
1/2 onion (very finely chopped)
1 small green chilly (finely chopped)
3 tsp lime juice
3 sticks of coriander (use the leaves only)
1 clove of garlic (finely grated)
2 inch of cheddar cheese (finely grated)
salt & pepper as needed
2 tsp Butter for cooking mushrooms & 2 tsp for potato mixture
Method
remove the  mushroom stem with a sharp knife, soak the mushrooms in cold water.
mash the boiled potato when they are hot, add butter, the chopped onion, green chilly, lime juice, coriander, garlic, salt as per taste. mix well, see to it there are no potato lumps left.
Use a zip lock bag, pipe in the potato mixture & cut a one inch hole at one end from where you will pipe in the potato over the mushrooms.Keep aside
in a small wok add butter, add salt & pepper as per taste & fry the mushrooms in the butter until they are properly cooked, See to it that the mushrooms are well coated with salt, pepper & butter. Mushrooms doesn't take much time to cook, this procedure will take about 2 minutes.

Now take a baking dish & arrange the mushrooms over it, pipe the potato mixture into the mushroom pocket, sprinkle some grated cheese. Grill the mushrooms at 130 degrees until the cheese melts.

Don't over cook the mushrooms as they are already cooked and may shrink
Remove the mushrooms& serve immediately.

Sabudana Vada

Sabudana wada- Delicious snack eaten during fast, mostly popular as a road side snack. Sabudana Wada has a crunchy coating which melt in the mouth & leaves you craving for more. It can be eaten with a simple yoghurt dip. It goes well with a hot cup of tea.
Sabudana Wada is traditionally made during fasts like Ashadi Ekadashi or Shivratree. Elders in the family often used to follow these fast and me including all my cousins used to gorge on the delicacies made on that special day. I've grown up eating these wada's not only during fast but also during the rainy season sitting in the balcony looking at the rains with a hot cup of tea, chatting with my dear friends, cousins & family. These wada's brings back my memories of my P.G. days when my non- marathi friends used to call up mom and ask her to make her special treat while we completed our projects, feasting on the wada's.
 

Ingredients

1. 1 cup Sabudana (sago)
2. drinking water to soak sabudana.
3. ½ cup roasted peanut powder (Danyacha kut) 
4. 6 finely chopped green chillies
5. 1 big potato (boiled & mashed)
6. ½ tea spoon sugar
7. juice of lemon juice as required
8. Salt for taste 
9.  chopped coriander
10. curd if the mixture becomes too dry.
11. oil for frying

Method

1. Soak the sabudana in  drinking water for 1 hr, water level should be just above the sabudana. After 1 hr press sabudana and see if it has become soft. if not keep it in water for another ½ hr. otherwise drain excess water by transferring it into a strainer. leave aside for 2 hrs or overnight if you want to make it the next day. 
2. In a wide plate mix all the ingredients- the soaked sabudana, along with mashed potato, roasted groundnut powder, chopped green chillies, coriander, juice of a lemon, salt & sugar. 
3. make lemon size balls and flatten them to make vadas by help of your palm, if the mixture is too sticky to make vada's wet your palms.
4. heat oil in a deep kadai and fry the vada's on medium heat until they turn golden brown. remove on a tissue for excess oil to soak.Serve with jeera curd.

Ingredients for Jeera curd

1. curd 2 small bowls
2. ghee 2 tsp
3. jeera ½ tsp
4. 1 very finely chopped green chilli
5. sugar and salt as per taste
6. coriander for garnishing

Method

1. Add jeera & finely chopped chilli to hot ghee, add this to curd and mix well.
2. Add salt and sugar and garnish with coriander.

Note: Over the years, I have noticed each company's sabudana takes different time to soak. One trick for soaking sabudana is when you buy the sabudana from the shop soak a tablespoon of sabudana and note the amount of time it takes to become soft. It may differ from the regular brand you always use. 

Other Recipes for fast

Sabudana Khichadi 

Batata Cha Kiss

 Spiced Buttermilk -मठ्ठा

Chicken Strips

Hubby darling was in the mood to cook dinner for me. I grabbed this opportunity to make the most of my free time watching a movie I'd missed in the recent past. But honestly I was distracted by the delicious aroma from the kitchen & followed it (like they show in cartoons) & was surprised to see the food was almost ready to eat! it looked so juicy, moist & tender piece of meat that was ready to dig in. I guess the picture says it all :)

Ingredients

4 chicken breast

salt & pepper to marinate the chicken strips

5 tsp ready-made garlic-chilly tomato sauce

1½ tsp honey

2 tsp olive oil for cooking

Method

Cut chicken into wide strips.

heat the grill pan, while you combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
Grill chicken over direct heat for 5 minutes on each side, coat with sauce. Cook another 4 – 5 minutes with the grill lid closed until chicken is no longer pink inside.

can be served with salad or fried rice of your choice.

the above quantity will serve 2 adults & 1 child

Pasta Salad

Ingredients (1)

1 cup pasta (cooked as per instructions on pack)

1 small onion, sliced

1 cucumber, chopped

1/2 capsisum, chopped

10 leaves of lettuce, finely chopped

1 cup corn kernels, thaw if you take frozen corn otherwise cook the kernels

for the vinagratte (2)

3 tsp olive oil, 1 stem chopped parsley leaves, 1 clove of grated garlic, chilli flakes salt & oregano as per taste, juice of half a lime

Method

Take a salad bowl and add all the ingredients from (1)

how to make the vinagratte?

add olive oil, lime juice, chilli flakes, salt & oregano and whisk for 1minute. add garlic, parsley mix again

toss the salad while adding the vinagratte.Serve chilled
some tips:
While cooking the pasta add olive oil so that the pasta doesnt stick to one another. Also add some salt.

Sprouts Chaat

A proud moment for my food blog. One of my recipe appeared in Saakal Times "Young Buzz" a children's daily circulated in schools in Maharashtra & Goa reaching 30,000 kids. Here's the recipe of "Sprouts Chaat". Thank you all for your encouragement & support always!

Chaat is one of the popular street food loved by people of all ages! you will find many vendors all across India serving yummy chats but I have not come across anybody serving "sprouted green moong chaat" Sprouted Moong are considered very healthy as it is rich in proteins.If sprouted moong are available, preparing this recipe won't take much time.I am sure many of you, just like me store tamarind chutney in their deep fridges so that they can enjoy any of their chaats at home within no time.Kids are surely going to love making sprouts and it will be a "fun activity" for them to see the green moong emerge into sprouts.

Ingredients
1 cup sprouts (green moong)
1 medium size onion
1 small tomato
tamarind chutney as needed
salt as per taste
red chilli powder as per taste
2 tsp chopped coriander 
4-5 tsp zero number shev
chaat masala as required
Method
Soak moong over night (or 8 hrs) in boiling hot water.In the morning rinse the water, you will notice the moong dal has is plump with light green colour. clean the moong dal  with fresh l water. now take a soft cloth and tie this moong dal into the cloth.
some tips: don't tie the cloth very tightly otherwise sprouts may not emerge.Use a casserole to store the moong dal tied in a cloth. keep this casserole in a microwave since the temperatures inside the microwave is warmer (esp during winters & rainy season)
After the sprouts emerge, add these into a mixing bowl, and add chopped onion, tomato, tamarind chutney, red chilli powder, chaat masala & salt as per taste, also add shev  and toss lightly.
Serve immediately otherwise the shev will turn soggy.

Garlic chilly Paneer

Recently I prepared garlic chilly paneer, one of the popular & favourite dish in Indo-Chinese cuisine for dinner.This recipe works well as an appetizer or with veg fried rice.As I write this post I'm craving for this spicy,tangy lip smacking recipe.

Ingredients

500 gms paneer

4-5 green chillies (slit) use more if chillies are not very spicy

15 cloves of garlic (chopped)

3 strands of green spring onions 

½ capsicum

1½ tsp-Soy sauce

1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp chilly sauce

1½ tsp garlic tomato ketchup 
½ tsp sugar

Salt to taste

cooking oil as required

Method
Slit the green chillies, chop garlic,spring onions fine.cut the capsicum into 1 inch juliennes.

Cut the paneer into 1 inch square cubes.In a wok, stir-fry the paneer in some cooking oil till they turn brown. soak the paneer in salted water for a few minutes to retain the softness
In the remaining oil, fry the green chillies, garlic for 2 mins. Add the spring onions and sauté for a minute. add the capsicum, cook for 2 minutes.

In a small bowl mix the soy sauce ,vinegar, chilly sauce, garlic-tomato ketchup, sugar, add salt but as required because the paneer is soaked in salty water.Add this sauce to the vegetables.

Now add the paneer pieces, see to it that the paneer is well coated with the sauce. If required add more chilly sauce & garlic tomato sauce.

Cook for 5 more  minutes and serve hot!
Can be served with garlic fried rice

Halloumi Bruschetta

First time I had a tomato Bruchetta (pronounced "brusketta") at an Italian restraurant & fell in love with the freshness & the simplicity of the recipe (and the best-est part being it can be prepared within 10mins) Although the traditional tomato bruchetta has basil in it I just added my favourite Halloumi cheese to this recipe along with some Indian flavours like onion & capsicum.This can be eaten as a starter or an afternoon snack.Kids are surely going to fall for its rich colours & the cheese

Ingredients

100gms Halloumi cheese

1½ tomato

½ capsicum

½ onion

few parsley leaves

olive oil as required

salt as per taste

freshly ground pepper

1 clove of garlic (sliced into half)

Bruschetta bread ½ loaf

Method

finely chop the tomatoes (squeezing the seeds and water from it), add finely chopped onion and capsicum.Mix olive oil, salt and pepper & finely chopped parsley.Toss this mixture well and keep aside for all the flavours to combine well

Grill the halloumi cheese cutting it into squares of the similar size of that of the bruschetta slice

grill it until it take this colour

now preheat oven to 180°C, slice the bread diagonally with ½ inch thickness, toast the bread from both sides and brush one of the side with the mixture of olive oil and garlic

After the slices are grilled, arrange the slice of halloumi cheese and on top of it heap the veggie topping

If Halloumi cheese is not available, grill the bread and spoon out the topping of the veggies over it, and serve immediately, for the bread might turn soggy!

Buon Appetito!  

Serves : 2persons

Bakarwadi Chaat

The popular crunchy, crispy, delicious tea time snack Bakarwadi from Pune need no introduction. It is famous all over the world now. A friend of mine described it as a Fiery hot Swiss roll :-)

I visited my sister-in-law during my recent India trip and she prepared this amazingly yummy, 'to die for' bakarwadi chaat, thanks a ton swarada and bagshree for sharing the recipe with me. I prepared the chaat the very next day after I landed here in Muscat. The taste of the bakarwadi chaat is still linguring on my taste buds. 

here's the recipe of the  "King of the chaats" :-)

Ingredients

250 gms bakarwadi

2 medium size onions (finely chopped)

1 big tomato (finely chopped)

1 small bowl zero number shev

5 tbsp tamarind chutney
Chaat Masala as required

salt to taste

coriander for garnishing

Method

Crush the bakarwadi into smaller pieces, add the above ingredients mix well and serve immediately.Garnish with coriander

Honey Glazed Prawns

If you are looking for a healthy alternative consider making this recipe. These prawns were marinated for a while and finally grilled to perfection. Although these prawns had their own flovour to be served for themselves you could also serve them with chilli honey dip.For the minimal amount of effort they turned out excellent!

Ingredients
15-20 frozen prawns
4 tsp of honey for marination
2 cloves of garlic, minced
fish seasoning
salt to taste
juice of a half lime
Olive oil as needed
chili flakes
honey as required for chili honey sauce
skewers, soaked in cold water for ½ hour
Method
In a large bowl mix olive, garlic, fish seasoning, lime juice and salt.Add prawns tossing them to coat, leave these to marinate for about an hour
Thread 3 prawns on each skewers, grill prawns for 5 minutes by turning on both the sides
Serve with chili honey sauce/ dip

Toasted Triangles

Ingredients

5 bread slices

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1 tsp olive oil

Method

Cut each bread slice into 4 small triangles.

Apply olive oil evenly on the triangles and bake in a pre-heated oven at 150°C for 2 mins

Remove and rub the crushed garlic on the triangles, bake again at 150°C for 5 mins or till the bread is toasted well.

Serve with spinach & walnut dip

Guacamole

Ingredients

2 large avocados

4 tbsp finely  chopped white onion

2 tbsp finely chopped tomato

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

Salt to taste

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro

Method

Mash avocados in a mixing bowl, add chopped tomato, onion, cilantro, lime juice & salt to taste

Chill and serve with tortillas

Pico de Gallo

Ingredients

2 cups tomatoes
1/4 cup onion
2 jalapeños
1 clove garlic
1 lime (juice)
1 handful coriander
salt and pepper to taste
Method
chop tomato's, onions, garlic, coriander, jalapeños
Add juice of lime, salt and pepper to taste
Serve chilled.

Rava Dhokla

Ingredients
1 cup rava.
1/2 cup curd
2 green chillies chopped
1 tsp citric acid
1/2 tsp fruit salt
1/2 cup chopped coriander chopped
1 tbs oil
Buttermilk or water as required
curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seed
1/4 tsp hing
Method
Mix rava and curd in a mixing bowl and add water/buttermilk as required.
Then add green chillies &ginger paste, citric acid keep a side for 5 minitues, then add fruit salt in it and mix well. and pour mixture in the plate (grease plate with oil)which u want to make dhokla in.
steam it for 10 minitues. then let it cool for 10 minitues,and cut in medium size square.
In a kadai and add oil and heat it when oil is hot add musterd seed after that add hing
serve hot or warm  with ketchup and green chutney.

Vegetable Cutlets

Ingredients
2 potatos (boiled & mashed)
1 large onion
1 cup of peas
1 carrot (grated)
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp of gram flour(besan)
4 tbsp of bread crums
2 tbsp of kitchen king masala
salt to taste
1 tbsp sugar
juice of 1 lemon
oil for frying
Method
In 1 tbsp of oil add garlic, grated carrots, onion and fry until carrots are soft and onions turn golden brown.
Add mashed potatos and peas.
Add lemon juice, kitchen king masala, gram flour(besam) which works as a good binding agent, salt and sugar.
mix well.
remove from flame and let it cool
Make heart-shaped cutlets and keep them aside.
Pour bread crumbs on a dish or tray.
Deep fry/ shallow fry the cutlets carefully on low heat till it becomes golden brown.
Serve hot with ketchup.

Mexican Salad

Ingredients
Kidney beans (Rajma) - 1 bowl ( pre-soaked & boiled)
Chickpeas (Chole) - 1 bowl ( pre-soaked & boiled)
Frozen corn- 1 bowl
Red pepper- 1 large finely chopped
Yellow pepper- 1 large finely chopped
Onion- 1 large chopped
Tomato- 1 large chopped
Freshly chopped coriander
Few jalapeños for garnishing 
For dressing
Freshly crushed cumin seeds -3 tsp
Freshly crushed black pepper powder- 1 tsp
Freshly crushed red chilly flakes- 1-2 tsp
2 large cloves of garlic crushed
Lime juice -3 tsp
Olive oil- 2-3 tsp
Salt to taste
Method
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Keep aside.
For the dressing mix the freshly crushed cumin seeds, freshly crushed black pepper powder, chilly flakes, crushed garlic, juice of lime, olive oil & salt as per taste . Beat well and keep aside
Add the dressing to the above ingredients and mix properly.
Garnish with jalapeños.
Chill and Serve

Rocket Pesto sauce

I can bet there's anybody out there who dislikes eating pasta !! Pasta is my favourite food, I love the creamy, saucy texture, my favourite being rocket pesto sauce. last week I prepared this sauce at home and it turned out pretty good. Following is the basic recipe for rocket pesto sauce you can make varietions too, like  try using walnuts instead of pine nuts, and replace spinach instead of rocket.

Ingredients

50 gm pine nuts

50 gm fresh rocket, stalks included

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

50gm Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1 tbs lemon juice

salt to taste

8-10 tbsp extra virgin olive oil(if the sauce is too dry use more oil)

freshly ground black pepper

25 gm pine nuts toasted

Method

Place all the ingredients, expect olive oil in a food processer and blend for 30 seconds or until roughly chopped.

Then slowly pout in the oil and blend until smooth

Toss with pasta, season with pepper and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and parmesan