Baked Falafel in Pita Sandwich

Falafel

Ingredients:
Dried chickpeas - 1 cup
Onions - 1 (diced)
Garlic - 3 cloves (chopped)
Cumin powder - ¾ tsp.
Coriander powder - 1 tsp.
Chili powder - ½ tsp.
Parsley - 2 tbsp.
Coriander - 2 tbsp.
Baking powder - 1 tsp.
Bread crumbs - ¼ cup
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Olive oil

Method:
Soak chickpeas with enough water over night.
Drain the chickpeas.
Place the uncooked chickpeas in a food processor or blender with onions, garlic, cumin powder, coriander powder, chili powder, parsley, coriander leaves and salt.
Process all until pureed & NOT a paste (without water).
Now add the baking powder and give a pulse.
Transfer the mixture into a bowl and add the pepper (optional) and bread crumbs. Mix well.
Cover and refrigerate for a hour.
Form a ball or use a falafel scoop. I used a bottle cap to shape them.
Brush the falafels with olive oil on one side.
Bake them at 190°C for 25-30 minutes by flipping them in the middle of the baking (after flipping brush with oil on the other side and continue baking).


Tahini sauce

Ingredients:
Tahini - ½ cup
Fresh lemon juice - from 2 Indian lemons
Salt (to taste)
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
Cilantro - 1 tsp. (chopped)
Parsley - 1 tsp. (chopped)
Olive oil - 1 tbsp.

Method:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and add required water to make the sauce quite thin.


Pita Sandwich

Method:
I lightly toasted the pita bread and cut it open into half . Stuff the pita bread with tahini sauce, sliced onion pieces, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, baked falafel and enjoy!

We had it for our lunch and the whole falafel batch was finished!

Note:
In Egypt, people don't use coriander leaves and chickpeas are substituted by fava beans.


Sent off to MLLA-20 event hosted by Rachel and originally started by Susan.

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Roasted Eggplant Pasta

Ingredients:

Eggplant - 1

Pasta (Fusilli Tri-colored) - 500 gms

Onions - 1 (diced)

Garlic - 3 big cloves (chopped)

Roasted tomatoes - 5 to 6 (chopped)

Green peppers - 1 (diced)

Red chili flakes - 1/2 tsp.

Pasta seasonings - 2 to 3 tsp.

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup

Feta cheese (crumbled)

Method:

Cut the eggplants into bite sizes. Mix the pieces with salt and throw them in the colander. Let it be for 20-30 minutes.

Rinse the eggplant and pat dry.

Now mix the eggplants with olive oil, salt and crushed pepper.

Bake them in 200°C by placing them in a single layer on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes or until tender.

Heat oil and add the onion onions.

Add garlic, red pepper flakes, seasonings, green bell pepper, roasted tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Add half a cup of water and bring it to a boil.

In another burner, cook the pasta.

Once the sauce thickens add the coriander leaves and remove.

Serve the pasta with roasted eggplants and crumbled feta cheese.

How I roasted tomatoes:

Cut the ripe medium sized Roma tomatoes into 4.

Place them on the baking sheet and sprinkle olive oil, dry thyme, crushed pepper and salt.

Bake the tomatoes in 200°C for 25 to 30 minutes.

Adapted from Kevin's "Closet Cooking".


Sent off to Anita's "Vegetable Marathon: Eggplants" and Jyothi's "Pasta Party".

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Makki Di Roti, Sarson Da Saag & Lassi

Makki Di Roti

Ingredients:

Maize flour - 2 cups
Salt
Asafetida - 2 pinches
Ghee/cooking oil
Butter (to smear on top of roti)

Method:
Mix flour, salt and asafetida.
Add sufficient hot water to form a stiff dough.
Carefully add the water by using a large spoon.
Knead well and form balls. Cover and keep aside for 10 minutes.
Place a plastic sheet on the surface. Place the ball on sheet.
On the top of the ball, again place the plastic sheet.
Now flatten into round discs with fingers.
Carefully remove the upper sheet and remove the disc and place over the greased griddle.
Add cooking oil or ghee.
Cook thoroughly on both the sides.
Continue with the remaining balls.
Smear the roti with butter and serve with sarson ka saag.

Note:
To this roti, spinach, fenugreek leaves & radish can be added and prepared. But I preferred the plain one.
Always Knead every ball before making discs.
If you want to make rotis in larger quantity, knead them in smaller quantity.

Sarson Da Saag

Ingredients:
Mustard greens - 1 bunch
Spinach - 1 bunch
Onions - 1 chopped
Ginger - 1 inch (grated)
Garlic - 3 cloves (finely chopped)
Tomatoes - 2 (small chopped)
Ghee
Maize flour - 1/3 cup
Green chilies - 4 (chopped)
Black pepper - ½ tsp. (crushed)
Red chili or red chili powder - ¼ tsp.
Salt

Method:
Clean, wash & chop the greens.
Bring water to a boil and add the greens, pepper, red chili and salt.
Cook over a slow flame or medium flame till the greens are tender.
Don’t discard the water.
Blend them coarsely.
Make a paste of maize flour and add it to the cooked greens.
Mix well.
Now return the saag to the fire and cook for 5 minutes in a low flame.
Meanwhile in another burner heat ghee and add onion, garlic, ginger, green chilies one by one and fry till they turn golden color. Add the tomatoes and fry.
Add this to the greens and stir for a couple of minutes and remove.
Serve the saag with butter.

Note:
Bathua or fenugreek leaves can be added in a small quantity.

Lassi

Ingredients:
Yogurt - 500 gm
Khoya or pedas - 50 gm (I used sweetened khoya)
Milk - 100 gm
Sugar - 3 to 4 tsp.
Kewra essence - 2 to 3 drops
Almonds - 4

Method:
Beat the yoghurt thoroughly.
Add khoya or peda and sugar to it.
Add the milk. Blend properly.
Add the essence. Sprinkle the chopped almonds.
Serve the lassi in glasses.
Note: Add ice cubes in summer.

Serves 3 persons.



Sent off to Pari's "Combo event".

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Adai & Aviyal

Adai

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Ingredients:
Raw rice - 1 cup
Arhar dal - ½ cup
Bengal gram - ½ cup
Urad dal - ¼ cup
Whole dry red chilies - 4
Asafetida - ¼ tsp. to 2 pinches
Coconut (grated) - ¼ cup
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs (chopped)
Corainder leaves - 3 tbsp. (chopped)
Salt
Oil

Method:

Soak rice and the dals separately for 2 to 3 hours.
Then grind the rice.
Add red chilies, asafetida and dals in a blender and grind coarsely like sooji.
Mix rice, dals, coconut, salt, curry leaves and coriander leaves.
No fermentation required.
Batter should be thicker than idli batter.
Spread one ladle of batter on a griddle and make a hole in the centre.
Sprinkle oil on the sides and the centre of adai.
Cook on both the sides.
Continue with remaining batter and enjoy with aviyal and jaggery.

Note:
You can also add water in batter if it’s difficult to spread.
Instead of coconut, shallot pieces can be added.



Aviyal
Ingredients:
Drumsticks (murungakai) - 1 (chopped into pieces of 1 inch)
White pumpkin - 1 cup
Plantain - 1
Yam - 1 cup
Carrot - 1
Coconut (grated) - 1/3 cup (firmly packed)
Curd - ¼ cup
Green chilies - 3
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp.
Coconut oil - 2 tsp.
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Salt
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Method:
Grind coconut, green chilies and cumin seeds without adding water. Keep aside.
Cut the vegetables like thick french fries with a length of an inch.
Add water in a pan and bring it to a boil.
Add turmeric powder and salt.
Add the veggies one by one.
Harder vegetables goes first and tender veggies after few minutes.
Once all the veggies are boiled, discard the excess water.
Now add the coconut mixture to the veggies. Mix gently (vegetables shouldn’t be mushy).
Let it cook for 2 to 3 minutes in simmer mode.
Remove from heat.
Now add the curd, coconut oil and curry leaves.
Mix and enjoy with adai.
Note: You can also add vegetables of your choice.
Also you can grind 4 to 5 shallots and curry leaves along with coconut.

Sent off to "Pari's Combo" event.

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Kachori-ICC

My kachoris did puff up well which you can see in second photo.

The Dough
Ingredients:
All purpose flour/Maida - 2 cups
Oil/Ghee - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Water (for kneading)

Method:
Mix the flour and salt. Add the oil/ghee and mix till you get a bread crumbs texture.
Slowly add water and make a soft dough. Knead well for about 8 minutes.
Cover and keep aside to rest for atleast half hour.

Special Tips/Notes:
Keep the dough covered at all times, if not it will dry up and not puff up when frying. If the dough is made right wet cloth can be used if not just a towel.

The dough could spring back for many reasons:
Dough is too cold (If wet cloth is used)
Dough is not soft enough.
Not kneaded for enough time.
Oil is less.
Not rested enough.

The Green pea filling
Ingredients:

Green peas - 2 cups
Green chillies (chopped) - 1 tsp.
Ginger (grated) - 1 tsp.
Nigella seeds (kalonji) - 1/2 tsp.
Fennel seeds (saunf) - 2 tsp.
Bay leaves - 2
Chilli powder - 1 tsp.
Garam masala - 1 tsp.
Coriander (chopped) - 4 tbsp.
Oil - 2 tbsp.
Salt


Method:
Coarsely grind the green peas, green chillies and ginger in a blender without using any water. Keep aside.
Heat the oil in a pan, add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves and ground green pea mixture and saute over a very slow flame for 8 to 10 minutes.
Add the chilli powder, garam masala, coriander and salt and saute for 2 more minutes. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Divide into 12 equal portions.


Kachori
Method:
Make a small ball from the dough. Roll out into a 2 inch diameter circle. Or flatten the ball using your fingers having the center thick and sides little thin.
Place about 1.5 tsp. of the filling in the center of the rolled dough.
Cover the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the ends and remove excess dough. Repeat with all the balls and keep aside for 5 -7 mins.
Then using your palm, flatten the balls by lightly pressing it, as using the rolling pin will make the filling come out. (See notes below). Keep aside covered. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Meanwhile heat some oil for deep frying. The oil should not become smoking hot. Test to see if the temperature is right by dropping a tiny ball of dough and see if it is rising slowly to the top.
Drop the kachoris in batches of 3-4 gently into the oil. It should rise up slowly. If you don't want to use lot of oil, use just enough for two or three at a time and fry them.
After it rises up (about 2 minutes), turn it over.
Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes till the side down gets a golden brown color.
Turn and cook the other side for another 6 minutes or till its golden brown in color.
Remove when done, cool and store in airtight container.
Serve with coriander chutney and tamarind chutney.

Special Tips/Notes:
You can fry 3 kachori's at a time.
The oil should be at a heat when you drop some dough it should come up slowly, if the dough comes up too fast the oil is too hot, if it does not come up then the oil is cold.
It will not be crisp if the oil is too hot.

The Green Chutney
Ingredients:
Coriander leaves - 1.5 cups
Mint leaves - 0.75 cups
Green chilies - 3
Salt
Lemon juice - from half an Indian lemon

Method:
Throw all the ingredients in the blender except lemon juice in the blender and grind them by adding little water.
Finally add the lemon juice and enjoy with kachori.


This is a participation of the Indian Cooking Challenge for January 2010.

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Curried Shrimps with Mushrooms

Ingredients:
Shrimp - 250 gm
Mushrooms - 10 (chopped)
Onions - 2 (big-chopped)
Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic - 2 cloves (big)
Tomato - 2 (chopped)
Fennel (saunf) - 1 tsp.
Cinnamon - 1 inch
Chili powder - ¾ to 1 tsp.
Coriander powder - 2 tsp.
Turmeric powder - 2 pinches
Salt
Oil
Coriander leaves (chopped) - 1 tbsp.

Method:
Crush ginger, garlic, fennel seeds and cinnamon in mortar with pestle.
Heat oil and add onion. Fry till onion changes color.
Now add crushed ginger mixture and stir fry for 2 minutes.
Add shrimp and mushrooms. Sauté for 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes and fry till it becomes mushy.
Add chili, coriander, turmeric powders & salt and fry for a minute.
Pour a cup of water. Cover and cook .
When mushrooms and shrimps( turn pink) are done, fry till it becomes dry.
Add coriander leaves and serve hot.

Sent off to Priya's "Hearts for St. Valentine's" event.

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