Edible Entertainment

Monday, 27 June 2011

Mint-Coriander Chutney

The ever popular Mint-Coriander chutney gives the much needed spice and zing to the recipes like Ragda Puri, Sev Puri, Ragda Patties etc. :-) It can even be eaten with Dosa, Idli, bread etc! So, let us learn how to make this evergreen chutney!

What you'll need-
Chopped Mint (Pudina) Leaves - 2 cups
Coriander (Dhania) Leaves - 2 cups
Green Chilies - 4-5 (or more, depending upon your taste)
Ginger paste - 1 teaspoon
Tamarind pulp - 1-2 teaspoons
Salt - 1 tablespoon (or as per taste)
Sugar - 1/4 teaspoon

What you have to do-
1. VERY SIMPLE. Just combine ALL the ingredients in a blender/mixer & grind it well into a thick mixture.
2. If you intend on consuming withing a day, you could even add some onion slices to give it an extra flavor!
3. Refrigerate the chutney. When you wanna use, you can add water (or not) and use as per your taste!

Now, wasn't that EASY?? :-) Instead of spending big bucks everyday at hotels for the chutney, cant you make your own? And enjoy it with just about anything? Go go go! And let me know how it tastes!

Bye!!!!

Ragda Recipe

When I think of Ragda (to be pronounced as ra-ga-daa), I think- yummmmmmm!!!!! It also is a perfect example of Minimum Efforts; Maximum Results. It is a kind of stew which we can eat with Patties, Chaat or just plain Rotis too! It requires very little oil & hence can be a very good option for health freaks too! I am dedicating a separate blog post to Ragda because I use it in quite a few dishes. So it seems silly to repeat the same thing again & again. So, here it goes:

What you'll require-
White Peas (maybe called Yellow Peas too) (Safed Wataana) - 250 grams
Onion (finely chopped) - 1 medium sized (optional)
Green Chilies - 3-4 (chopped)
Turmeric/ Haldi Powder - 1 teaspoon
Grated Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 teaspoons
Asafoetida / Hing - 1 teaspoon
Cumin Powder or Seeds (Jeera) - 1 teaspoon
Fresh Coriander Leaves - for garnishing
Salt - 3/4 tablespoon or as per your taste
Oil - 2 teaspoons
Water - around 450 ml

How to proceed-

1. Wash & Soak the Peas overnight. The next day, you'll see beautiful yellow coloured peas almost doubled in size!

2. Take a pressure cooker ► Add the oil, Cumin Powder, ginger garlic paste, onion, slat & fry till the onion slices turn translucent.

3. Add Asafoetida, Green Chilies, Turmeric & stir for a few seconds.

4. Add the peas, water & stir the mixture. At this stage, you can just taste the water a bit. If you feel you need to add extra salt, you can add at this stage.

5. Let the peas cook in the pressure cooker for about 10 minutes (at least upto 8-10 whistles)

6. When you can, open the lid & check if the peas are fully cooked. They have to be really soft. In case they aren't cooked, you must again keep them in the pressure cooker for 5 minutes.

7. Once you get the Ragda mixture, heat it on low flame until the mixture thickens a bit.

8. Garnish with coriander leaves & store in a cool place until use.

9. Consume it fresh. If you have left overs, make sure you consume it within a day! :-)

Enjoy it with Ragda Puri, Ragda Patties etc!

Dates-Tamarind Chutney/ Khajur Imli ki Chutney

Hello People!!!!!! J

Continuing my post on Chaat food dishes, I'd like to tell you all about this sweet & sour chutney (like a dipping sauce) which is an indispensable part of so many Indian dishes like Samosa Chat, Sev Puri, Ragda Patties, Pani Puri etc etc etc... In short, we use this for so many snack items that it would be foolish not to make it & store it! J
I'll be posting about Ragda Patties, Dahi Puri (& many more!) very very soon. So, if you plan on making these dishes, I advice you to be prepared with this & the Dhania-Pudina Chutney (Coriander-Mint).
This is how I made the chutney. You can find many other methods online, but I find this the easiest.

Ingredients
Tamarind (Imli) Paste - 1 cup
Deseeded Dates finely chopped (Khajur) - 1 cup
Jaggery grated (Gud) - 1 cup (if you don't have or want to use jaggery, you can use sugar too)
Water - 1 cup (or as required)
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Red Chilli Powder - 1-2 teaspoons
Cumin Powder - 1 teaspoon
Ginger Powder - 1 teaspoon
Chaat Masala - 1-2 tablespoons
Vegetable Oil - 1 teaspoon

Method
1. Check to see that the seeds of Dates and Tamarind are removed.
2. Immerse them together in about half a cup of warm water for 5 minutes.
3. Put them into a blender/ mixer and grind them to a somewhat smooth paste.
4. Add in the broken/grated jaggery and again grind it until you get a fine paste.
5. In a pan, head about 1 teaspoon of Veg. oil
6. Add in the cumin powder, chilli powder, Chaat Masala, Ginger Powder, Salt and sauté for about half a minute.
7. Add the Tamarind-Dates paste to it & keep boiling the mixture. If it is too thick, add another half a cup of water & keep stirring it until it forms a thick paste.
8. Remove from the flame, let it cool & store it in the refrigerator.
9. When you want to use the paste for garnishing, take a small amount in a cup, add water according to the required pouring consistency & use it!

** the cups can be of any size. Just keep the proportion! J

Simple, no? It takes 10 minutes of your time, if the ingredients are pre-arranged! And it blends beautifully with Chaat food dishes! So, what are you waiting for? Go make it baby!

Chaat Powder / Masala

Chaat Masala/Powder is a masala, or spice mix, used predominantly in Indian Cuisine. It helps to make & store the powder - because believe me, it comes in handy for so many dishes! And even if it is not typical to sprinkle the Chaat powder, doing so will only enhance the taste! J In India, you get ready-made Chaat powders in almost ANY store for hardly 8-10 bucks! But I like to make my Chaat Powder at home. In case you live abroad & don't have access to ready-made Chaat powder, worry not. Here's the recipe I used to make one of the simplest & yummiest powder ever! J

Ingredients :
3-4 Red chilies

2 tablespoons Dhania (coriander seeds)
2 tablespoons Rock salt (powder separately) (if unavailable, skip it & put some extra white salt)

10 pieces - Cardamom
7-8 pieces Cinnamon
5-7 pieces Cloves
2 tablespoons amchoor (dried mango powder)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt (white)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper (optional)
Method :
1. Dry red chillies,dhania and spices under hot sun.
2. Pound to fine powder and mix other ingredients.

3. Put them in a blender/mixer & grind it very well.

Here's a picture:-

Oh, and please note: this will come in handy for many of the Chaat foods that I'll be posting very soon! So, its better you either buy or make it & keep! ;-)

Friday, 24 June 2011

Black Forest Cake

This is my very first recipe on the web and it is so good to finally start my own thread! :)

Black Forest is a simple cake. If you want to master decorating cakes, then it is best to start off with a black forest, because it doesn't require perfection! Although it did take me 4 hours to make it the 1st time, it really is a quite simple cake to make. I made it within 1 hour the second time.

Steps to making a Black Forest Cake:-
1. Baking a simple chocolate cake.
2. Preparing the Frosting
3. Assembling & Decorating the cake

I. Simple Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Condensed milk- 400 grams (1 can)
Butter – 125 grams
Maida/ All purpose Flour – 225 grams
Cocoa powder – 3-4 tablespoons
Baking powder – 1 teaspoon
Baking soda – 1 teaspoon
Aerated cola – 200ml (I used Coca-Cola)

Method
i) Preheat the oven to 160°C
ii) Grease an 8 or 9 inch baking pan. (Don't know how to grease a baking pan? Click here)
iii) Melt the 125 gms of Butter in a Microwave (or medium flame) and let it cool.
iv) Add milkmaid and beat well till you get a gooey mixture.

v) Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.

vi) Add maida mix to the milkmaid-butter mixture alternating with cola till maida and cola are finished.

vii) Pour into the greased baking tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean

viii) Let it completely cool on a wire rack

II. Preparing the Frosting/ Cream

Fresh cream (Heavy Whipping) ** – 300 ml

Powdered sugar – 4-5 tablespoons

Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon

** Make sure that it is heavy whipping cream. Non fat cream cannot be whipped.

Method

- Keep cream and the beater blades in the freezer for about half an hour.
- Add sugar and essence to the chilled cream.
- Beat well till the cream is thick and forms soft peaks.
- Keep refrigerated till use.

Alternative - If you aren't able to find whipping cream in the market, you could use the ready-made whipped cream powder. In India, you get such a powder by the Bluebird Foods.
Check out my detailed post on Whipped Cream

III. Sugar/Cherry Syrup

The black forest cake is extremely soft in texture. What brings about such a delicate texture is the Rum/ Cherry/ Sugar syrup we sprinkle on the cake generously before applying the frosting! To make the cherry/ sugar syrup:-

- Boil 1 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar & 8-10 cherries until the pulp of the cherries start coming out.

- Keep smashing the cherries and boiling the water.

- Once the pulp is completely smashed, filter out the syrup & let it cool.

- Alternative: if you don't wan't cherry water, simply use sugar water to sprinkle on the cake.

IV. Assembling & Decorating the CAKE

Ingredients

A cup of cherries. (if you want to use strawberries, go ahead! J)

A bar of hard Milk / Dark Chocolate (depending upon your taste)

Edible Silver Beads (optional)

Chocolate Chips (optional)

Method

(i) Cut the cake into 2 or 3 layers

(ii) Keep one layer of the cake on the serving plate

(iii) Sprinkle 3-4 tablespoons of cherry/sugar syrup generously all over it.

(iv) Spread 3-4 tablespoons of whipped cream on top of the layer. Leave the sides.

(v) Chop the cherries & add them to the layer.

(vi) Close the whole layer with another cut layer of the cake.

(vii) Again sprinkle syrup & repeat the whole process.

(viii) After all the layers are completed, cover the whole cake with whipped cream on the sides & top

(ix) Decorate the cake with chocolate shavings, cherries, chocolate chips, silver beads, etc. You can decorate them however you want!

I made Black Forest cake two times. The second time, it came out even more beautifully! Here is a picture:-

Do try out the recipe & let me know your feedback!

My very first post

Hello fellow Homo-Sapiens!

Here I am, with my own space on the web and I hope that this would give that zing which I find lacking in my life at the moment. God knows how many people will be reading this, but at least there's a space! I HAVE A BLOG!! And write I will! After a lot of thinking, I decided to start a food blog after all. I have seen numerous blogs online. The list is endless! And yet, I feel that people would like to read my trials and experiments with food.

I'm an amateur chef. Cooking is not even something I do everyday. But it is something I LOVE doing. And with this venture, I hope to feed that tiny passion of mine! :) Hope you enjoy!