Chhole Tikki

Instead of a big lunch or dinner, our meals are small and spread out during the entire day. Very often, I run out of ideas for snacks. A fruit box, sundal, or a salad sometimes doesn't make the cut. And I have very little time to actually cook something for our snack box. I had some leftover chhole in the fridge. I decided to use it to make these tikkis. Incidentally, I also found a couple of cooked potatoes in the fridge. I put everything together and then allowed these patties to cook on a skillet while I got the rest of our lunch going. If you don't have chhole, I'm sure cooked chickpeas will work just as well, with a teaspoon of chhole masala.

1 cup Chhole

2 Potatoes, cooked and peeled

1 slice Bread

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1/2 tsp Coriander Powder

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Blend the chhole in a mixer. Transfer the mixture to a vessel. Add the potatoes and the slice of bread. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder and the salt. Mash everything together and form 5-6 balls. Flatten each ball.

Heat a skillet and spread a little oil over it. Place the flattened balls on the skillet and cook them on both sides. Serve with ketchup or chutney. This is a perfect afternoon snack and helps keep hunger pangs away for a long time.

Egg Masala Rice

For many years, I cooked for just one person. I ate my meals by myself. No television, no radio, just myself for company. Many a weeknight, I would skip dinner entirely and have a glass of milk or some fruit. On some days, I would make a little extra lunch so that I would have food if I didn’t feel up to cooking. I would always come back not wanting to eat the same food. Sometimes, when I look back, I think I really hadn’t gotten used to the idea of eating alone. I didn’t enjoy it that much. I had no problems living alone and, come to think of it, I did enjoy my company. But the meals were a big problem. So year after year, for most part of the 9 years, I struggled with meal times. S has a job that requires him to travel a lot. I thought all those years of training would come in handy. But each time he is out on work, I struggle with meals. I have near zero interest in cooking for myself. Breakfast and lunch are fine. But dinners I can’t seem to have by myself. Of course, more often than not, it is just that there is no dinner for me to have as I can’t drag myself into the kitchen. Then it comes down to popcorn and apple milkshake. When my enthusiasm gets the better of me, I try to make a little something for myself. This egg masala rice is one such attempt to feed myself on a busy weeknight when there was just one mouth to feed. All it took was an egg, some leftover rice and an onion.



1 Egg, hard boiled, peeled and cut in two
1 Onion, sliced
1 cup cooked Rice
1 tsp Chilli Powder
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
½ tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Cumin-Coriander Powder
½ tsp Kitchen King Masala (optional)
2 tsp Oil
Salt to taste



In a frying pan, heat the oil. Add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the onion slices. Fry for a minute or two and add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, Kitchen King masala, if using, and the cumin-coriander powder. Fry for 2 minutes and add the salt. Add the egg halves and fry until they are coated with the spices. Allow the egg to roast to a golden colour and then take the pieces out. Add the rice to the onion mixture and cover and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the egg and enjoy it hot with a bowl of curd on the side.

Dal Paratha

Dal parathas! I absolutely love them. My colleague's mom makes them for breakfast and whether my colleague touches the parathas or not, I devour them. They are quick to make and are an ideal breakfast item. With some curd and pickle, they're enough to keep you going till lunch time. Plus they help clean up some leftovers without much fuss.

1/2 cup Atta

1/2 cup Dal

1/4 tsp Carom Seeds

Salt to Taste

Knead the dough thoroughly by mixing all ingredients, adding a little water as necessary, and roll out rotis. Toast them evenly on both sides and serve them for breakfast with curd and Punjabi mango pickle. The twist in the tale here is that I served it with fresh Avakaya pickle.

I'm sending this to Srivalli as part of her Roti Mela and to myself for the WBB: Express Breakfasts.

Pizza Style Sandwich

Thank God I overcame my fear of yeast last year. I have been baking bread, pizza and rolls regularly since then. Each time I make a yeast bread, I wonder why I hadn't started earlier. Pizzas have become weeknight regulars at our place. The weather ensures that my dough rises to the occasion. I baked a pizza a couple of weeks ago and had some sauce leftover. (Lightning does not strike liars, does it?) No, I didn't have sauce leftover. I kept aside some sauce so I could make sandwiches for breakfast later on.

4 slices Brown Bread

1 tbsp Butter(optional)

2 slices Low Fat Cheese

For the sauce:

1 Onion, sliced

2 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely

1 Capsicum, sliced (I used small portions of green, red and yellow capsicum)

2 tsp Chilli Flakes

1/8 cup Sweet Corn

1/8 cup Paneer, cubed

3 pods Garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Olive Oil

Salt to Taste

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum, paneer, and corn and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, oregano, chilli flakes, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.

To proceed:

Place a slice of cheese on a slice of bread. Place 2-3 tbsp of the sauce over it. Cover this with another bread slice. Repeat with the other 2 bread slices as well. If using butter, apply some butter to both sides of the sandwich (outer sides) and grill in a sandwich maker.

This is great at breakfast time as long as you are able to eat pizza in the morning. (My brother and I can eat pizza at any meal and as many times.) Else, you can have it as a snack or a light meal.

This is off to Anupama's Sandwich festival.

This is Day 5 of the Recipe Marathon and my fellow bloggers have posted:

Siri: Hash Brown Melts
Lakshmi: Mango Fool

Arundathi: Bell Peppery curry

Srivalli: Andhra Mutton Pepper Fry

Dhivs: Fried Herb Mozarella

Swati: Aloo n Gobhi

Divya: Carrot rice

Ranji: Banana Chips

Bhags: triangularly yours

Cauliflower Cheese Parathas

I love using up leftovers. These days we don't have as many leftovers as I am learning to cook just what we need. But every now and then, we do end up with stuff. In more ways than one, it makes my life easier when I have something. But at times, I tend to think up more than one dish with the leftovers and can't decide. So, my maid gets to take extra stuff home on those days. I'd much rather someone eat the stuff than waste it.

On several occasions, we are left with rotis. I try and make something nice so the rotis aren't boring. Kothu Roti and Egg Paratha are some of the things I've tried. I tried Amma's cauliflower and cheese paratha recipe with used up rotis (she makes them fresh). Since the cheese melts, the rotis stick together. This one's a keeper.

6 Rotis
1/4 cup Cauliflower, grated

1/4 cup Cheese, grated

1 tsp Coriander leaves, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Chilli Paste

1/2 tsp Ginger Paste

Salt to Taste

Oil for frying

Heat a griddle (tawa) and grease it lightly.

Mix the cauliflower, cheese, coriander, chilli paste, ginger paste and salt and keep aside.

Place a roti on the griddle and spread some of the cauliflower cheese mixture on to it. Spread the mixture evenly over the roti. Cover this with another roti and cook for a couple of minutes. Turn it over and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. Use a little oil for frying. Take it off the griddle and cut into quarters. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Off these parathas go to Mansi who is hosting this month's WBB, my dear friend Nandita’s initiative. This month's theme is "Balnced Breakfasts" and she urges us to include Fruits or Vegetables, Grains, Dairy or Protein. I have used all four four food groups in this dish. The rotis are made from wheat flour and soya flour. The stuffing has cauliflower and cheese. I couldn't have gotten a better dish.

Kabuli Kabab

You know how you come up with an idea. Then suddenly you find that that idea sort of takes over your life. And then you either lose sleep over it or you start dreaming about it the minute you fall asleep. I wish I could say this about my ambitions in life. At this point, I am only able to say that about food.

I’d been meaning to make chhole for ages. And the reason that I wanted to make it was not the craving for chhole or any such thing. It was so that I could make kababs from the leftovers. S was content eating the chhole as it was, but I stopped him on day three to make these little beauties. We argued a bit about why I had to turn the chhole into something else when it was perfectly good and was being consumed as is. I finally told him, “This is what I want to do with it. I’ve been dreaming about it. If it works well, you’ll love it.” He couldn’t say much about it. And the best part was that we both loved it.

1 cup Chhole
2-3 slices Bread
½ tsp Chilli Powder
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Mash the chhole or puree it in a mixer. Add the bread slices and crumble them into this mixture. Add salt and chilli powder to taste. Make small balls and cook them in a lightly greased “Appey Kayli”. (You could also flatten the balls slightly and shallow fry them on a griddle.) Cook on each side for a couple of minutes. Serve with green chutney or tomato ketchup.

Since I used a non stick pan, I had low fat kababs. The oil that went into the chhole was the only oil in these. I will try this with different leftovers (like rajma) and share my success stories with you.

Egg Paratha

Leftovers. They always come in handy, don't they? There are days when we plan to have rotis for dinner and so they are made, but then we decide to eat dinner outside. The next day, I’m in no mood to reheat the rotis and have them. And our rotis are not exactly great the next day as they are zero fat rotis. At times I make Kothu Roti and at others, I make stuffed parathas. The only problem is that I cannot use any dry ingredients. I have to use something that will keep the two rotis together. Egg is one such ingredient.

6 Rotis

2 Eggs, beaten lightly
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Chilli Paste
1/2 tsp Ginger Paste
Salt to Taste
Oil for frying

Heat a griddle (tawa) and grease it lightly.

Mix the onions, coriander, chilli paste, ginger paste and salt with the beaten eggs and keep aside.

Place a roti on the griddle and spoon some of the egg mixture on to it. Spread the mixture evenly over the roti. Cover this with another roti and cook for a couple of minutes. Turn it over and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. Use a little oil for frying. Take it off the griddle and cut into quarters. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Apart from breakfast, these can be had as an anytime snack.

Avakaya Rice

There are ways and ways to use up leftover rice. I recently tried the Fried Rice from Jugalbandi and I am glad I have one more way to use up rice.

S made this with leftover rice one day when I was out for lunch and I would love to have it again.

2 cups cooked Rice

3 tbsp Avakaya Pickle gravy

1 Onion, sliced

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

4-5 Curry Leaves

Salt to taste

Mix the rice and the avakaya pickle. Add some salt if necessary.

In a kadhai, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the onions and fry for 2 minutes. Add the rice mixture and fry for a few minutes.

Enjoy this with some curd on the side.

Off this goes to the Jihva for ingredients event started by Indira of Mahanandi and hosted by Sharmi of Neivedyam.

Avakaya or Aavakaaya is a traditional pickle from Andhra Pradesh, S's home state. You can read more about it here. The main ingredient in the pickle is aava or mustard which gives the pickle its famous pungent kick. So, this also goes to Sunita for her monthly event Think Spice... Think Mustard.

Strawberry Trifle Pudding

There are days when you set out to make something and you end up making something else. And then there are those days when you want to make something, but you're not quite sure what that is. S's birthday was one of those days for me. I knew I was going to make a nice cake. I knew I would have some portions of cake. But I had no idea what to do with them.

A long time ago, I had made chocolate rum balls with cake leftovers. But chocolate cake, chocolate balls. That would have been a little too much for us to take. I wanted to make a layered dessert. After seeing Meeta’s Strawberry Mirror Cake, I wanted whatever I was making to have a strawberry jelly layer on top.

But halfway through the exercise, I changed my mind and created my own trifle pudding. I mean if those guys at restaurant buffets can serve me anything in the name of Trifle, why can I not cheat myself?

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Cake slices

5 tbsp Strawberry Crush (I used Mapro)

2 tsp Gelatin

3 tbsp Strawberry Custard Powder

3/4 cup Milk

2 tsp Sugar

Arrange the cake slices in a baking dish. Pour 2 tbsp of Strawberry Crush over them and bake for 15 minutes at 350F.

In a small bowl, mix the custard powder with about 2 tbsp of milk. Bring the rest of the milk to boil with the sugar. Add the custard powder misture to the boiling milk while stirring continuously. Boil this for a minute and set aside. After 5 minutes, pour this mixture over the cake slices and allow to set in the fridge for an hour

Dissolve the gelatin in a little warm water and add this to 2/3 cup of boiling water. Add the remaining strawberry crush and mix well.

Pour this jelly over the custard cake mixture and allow to set for a couple of hours in the fridge.

Cut into slices and serve. I had some left over jelly which I froze. I enjoyed my trifle with the frozen jelly pieces.

Why did my pudding not turn out the way I'd expected? Because I didn't wait for the custard to set fully before pouring the hot jelly over it. But that did nothing to affect the taste. S isn't too fond of jellies so I've been treating myself to a little slice every 2 days.

Taro-Rice Balls with yogurt dip

What do you do with leftovers? Left over curry, left over rotis, left over rice. I always try to do something. And I’m always looking for ideas. Some years ago, while I was at a Gujarati Restaurant in Hyderabad called Indian Harvest, my thali had a rather unusual fried snack. Small cutlets made with cooked rice and spices. I tried making the stuff at home and they turned out very nice.

Taro Root (Colocasia) is made in several ways in Tamil cuisine. I have talked about Seppankizhangu Karumadhu(Colocasia Curry) and the Seppankizhangu Mor Koottu earlier. The third way is to deep fry cooked taro root pieces smeared with spices. I had some left over curry and decided to convert it into the deep fried version on S’s birthday. But I also had leftover rice. And I didn’t know what to do with that. And what do I make to complete the meal?

It struck me just then. I thought, “Why not combine a Gujarati snack and a Tamil side dish into one?”

Ingredients:

1 cup Seppankizhangu Karumadhu
1 cup Cooked Rice
1 tsp Chilli Powder
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
¼ cup Flour
Salt to taste
Bread crumbs or Rava to coat
Oil for deep frying

If you don’t have the ready made curry, you can use cooked taro root and increase the salt, turmeric and chilli powder accordingly.

Mash the taro root curry along with the cooked rice. Add the salt, chilli powder and turmeric powder. Make small balls out of this mixture.

Mix the flour with a little water to make a thin paste.

Roll the balls in this paste and coat with breadcrumbs.

Heat the oil in a kadhai and deep fry these balls till they turn golden brown.

Drain on a slotted spoon over another small vessel so that this oil can be reused.

Yogurt dip:

1 cup Curd, beaten
½ Cucumber, grated
1 Onion, chopped finely
½ tsp Chilli Paste
½ tsp Ginger Paste
½ tsp Chilli Flakes
¼ tsp Oregano Flakes
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients well. Garnish with coriander leaves. I got the idea of using oregano and chilli flakes from Nandita’s entry for WBB#12.

And since this becomes a complete meal in itself and is ready in way less than 30 minutes, this goes to Mallugirl’s Express Cooking challenge.

Rice being used here, I am also sending this entry to Jihva for ingredients started by Indira of Mahanandi and hosted by Sharmi of Neivedyam.

Kothu Roti

I blame this all on Nupur. She made this post a few days ago about "Eating out while eating in". And that is why I am craving restaurant food.

S broke his leg on Sunday and that rules out eating out for a while. (He actually tore a ligament and I am told that it is worse than having a bone fractured.) We're going to be eating out a lot for the next few days, at home that is! We started with French Bread Pizza and this is my next venture.

I have, very often, come home from a restaurant itching to recreate the dish I've just devoured. One of those has been the Kothu Parotta that I've had at Komala's in Madras. My last trip there was when we'd gone to book accommodation for the groom's party before my wedding. I ordered Kothu Parotta again and was so disappointed. The chef just dumped chilli powder over the parottas and I had to eat the dish with about 10 glasses of water. (Finally, Appa said to order a plate of idlis to undo the damage!)

Someday I'll be able to make parotta all by myself. These are best savoured at roadside shacks and Puru's opposite the Pondicherry University campus will go down in my books as one of the best Parotta Kurma joints. My dear readers may note that a parotta is very different from a paratha and the two are not the same bread. The parotta has saved me on many an occasion from the "the-mess-food-is-lousy-hence-I-will-go-to-bed-hungry" syndrome.

I had some rotis in the fridge. They were made on Saturday morning and we were fully expecting to eat them for lunch. But S went to work and when he came back it was already 4 p.m. I was busy blogging all day and didn't get up to make anything to go with the rotis. When S got home, he quickly made 2 egg rolls and we ate them before heading out. Our rotis usually have no fat in them and that makes eating them any day after they're made, rather difficult.

But then again, I am not given to wasting food or randomly giving it away. So, when I was working from home on Monday, to help S at home, I decided to use rotis instead of parottas and make Kothu Roti instead of Kothu Parotta! I was making this purely from my memory of the taste.

6 Rotis, torn into bits

1 large Onion, sliced

2-3 medium Tomatoes, chopped

1 tbsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Cumin Powder

1/2 tsp Coriander Powder

1 tsp Green Chilli paste

1/2 tsp Ginger paste

1 tsp Pav Bhaji Masala (I used MDH)

Salt to Taste

Heat the oil in a kadhai and add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, ginger and chilli pastes, and onions. Fry the onions for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the chilli, turmeric, cumin and coriander powders and fry for a minute. Add the pav bhaji masala and fry for another minute or two. Add the salt and the roti bits. Mix well. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes and then cook without the lid for a couple of minutes more.

Enjoy this piping hot. Wash my roti version of Kothu Parotta down with a glass of buttermilk. It'll be a treat, I promise.

Bread Upkari

Upkari is the konkani name for a curry that's made with tadka, cooked in its own steam and is served with scraped coconut. (At least in my books, that's what it is!)

This is probably called Bread Upma or something like that elsewhere, but for me, it is Bread-a Upkari, which literally means, upkari made with bread.

Usually made with left over bread, I sometimes start craving this when we get a fresh loaf at home. I remember a trip to Adyar Bakery House with Amma many years ago. We came back home with a huge loaf of brown bread and as soon as we got back home, I said to Amma, "Makka atta breada upkari khaunchasa. Karta vey?" (I want to eat Bread Upkari now. Will you make it?) She laughed and said that it is usually made out of old bread and that her mother would have laughed had she known that someone was making it out of fresh bread. Even now, sometimes I feel like making this when we buy a loaf. But I find that there are so many things one can make with a loaf of fresh bread and so I leave this for the third day.

6-8 slices Bread, cut into cubes

1 tbsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1/4 tsp Urad Dal

1/4 tsp Chana Dal

7-8 Curry Leaves

2-3 Red Chillies

1 tsp Sugar

Salt to taste

Scraped Coconut for garnishing

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard seeds, asafoetida, urad and chana dals. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves and the red chillies. Add the cut bread pieces and fry for a little while.

Dissolve the sugar and the required amount of salt in a little water and pour over the bread. (Rememner that the bread is already salted). Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove the lid and allow some pieces of bread to brown. Garnish with scraped coconut and enjoy this at any time of the day.

Misi Roti with leftovers

During my trip to Punjab, my friend’s mother made this roti for breakfast. I asked her if this contained besan. She laughed and said, “Among other things”. She said she puts any leftover stuff in it and makes the dough.

A day or two before the burglars cleaned my house, I had decided to clean my fridge and kitchen. I had loads of stuff in my fridge and decided to use them all.

I had some left over wheat atta in the fridge. To this I added some maida, besan, paneer paratha stuffing, the leftover kadhi from gatte ki kadhi, dal palak and moong dal sambar. I kneaded this dough thoroughly and rolled out the rotis. I toasted them evenly on both sides and served them for breakfast with curd and Punjabi mango pickle.

This is one of my entries to the RCI: Punjabi Cuisine which is being guest hosted by Richa of As Dear As Salt.