Green Olive hummus

The perfect middle eastern dip just a little oomphed up! Minus the tahini and plus some beautiful green oliviness, This hummus recipe is quick, simple and Uh-mazing!! 

Ingredients:

Chickpeas(boiled or canned (water separated)) (1 cup)

Green olives (pitted) (16)

Garlic cloves (9-10)

Habenero chili sauce (2 tsp)

Lemon juice (2 tsp)

Coriander (2 tsp)

Olive oil (8 tsp)

Method:

1. In a food processor bowl or a grinder jar combine all the ingredients and process till you get a smooth texture.
2. Add about 2-3 tbsp of water that was used for boiling the chickpeas if you think the mixture looks thicker than you want it.
3. Once done process it for a further 30 sec this ensures your hummus has that perfect smooth texture.
4. Scrape out the hummus from the food processor and serve at room temperature or even cooled and a generous drizzle of olive oil just makes it that little bit better:) dip away! enjoy:)

Vegetable and corn soup

With the winters finally arriving in town, we are going to have to up our cooking game because with the cold comes the hunger! It is also a very good time to eat healthy to boost your immunity; given the holidays dawning up you are bound to eat those little extra calories, so here is a recipe that's low on the calories and up on the health scale, my vegetable and corn soup recipe because nothing beats the wintry chills like a pipping hot bowl of soup!

Ingredients:

Corn kernels (1 cup)
Onion (1 medium sized) (roughly chopped)
Ginger (1 inch piece)
Mixed Vegetable (1 bowl of finely chopped vegetables)
(Carrot, capsicum, cabbage, spring onion, corn kernels)
Coriander (1 tbsp) (finely chopped)
Milk (1 cup)
Black pepper Powder (1 tsp)
Soya sauce (2 tsp)
Green chilli (1-2) (finely chopped)
Water (2 cups)
Olive oil (1 tbsp)
Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a deep bottomed pan heat 1 tsp of oil and saute the onion.
2. Add the ginger and 1 cup corn kernels to the onions and cook for a minute on medium flame.
3. Add the milk and water to this and cook the 10 mins or till the corn kernels are nicely cooked.
4. Let this cool and run it in a food processor to get a smooth soup. Make sure to not have any chunks of ginger left behind. Grind nicely and set aside. 
5. Now heat the remaining oil in the pan and saute all the vegetables for 2-3 mins while stirring well. Add the soup to the vegetables.
6. Now add the black pepper powder (freshly ground pepper is recommended), soya sauce, coriander, green chilli and salt.
7. Cook for 5 mins on low flame and serve hot. Add some fried noodles before serving for that added crunchiness (don't add if you are watching the 'calories'). Enjoy :)

Kachori (Stuffed Puff pastry)

Kachori or Kachodi is a popular Indian snack, often served with different chutneys and curd. A crisp and flaky pastry filled with moong daal (golden gram) and spice mixture. There is a little bit of hard work involved here, i won't lie but the end result is worth it completely, i assure. As to this particular recipe, there is this small yet beautiful village in Satara, Maharashtra called Phaltan, that is where my mother was born and brought up. Also where I spent almost all my summer vacations while i was in school, the one thing I never miss eating while I am in Phaltan is this amazing 'kachori'. This man, the second or third generation of the family making these amazing puff pastries, works alone to keep the recipe a secret! Every time I have been there I have had to wait at least for an hour because of the constant rush of people and the fact that he works alone and prepares every order to the perfection, which is irritating sometimes when you are drooling because of the fragrances but the moment you put the kachori into your mouth, you are in another world completely! I have had kachori's from a lot of places but this one is out of the world, so I had to get the recipe but even after trying all my contacts and every way to persuade him to let out the recipe, the man did not budge:( so i decided to do a dissection of the kachori and find out what goes into its making, and to the content of my heart i have almost nailed it!! i have eaten atleast 7 of these and can't move anymore, So here it is for you guys to enjoy too:)

Ingredients for the dough:

Maida (plain flour) (1 and 1/2 cup)

Roasted rawa (semolina) (1/4 cup)

Ghee (2 tsp)

salt (1/4 tsp)

water (as needed)

Oil (for frying)

Ingredients for the filling:

Moong daal (golden gram) (1 cup) (soaked in water for 2 hours)

Green chili (3)

Coriander (1 tbsp)

Ginger (1 inch piece)

Red chili powder (1 tsp)

Saunf (fennel seeds) (1/2 tsp)

Zeera (cumin) (1 tsp)

Garam Masala (1/2 tsp)

Coriander powder (1 tsp)

Hing (asafetida) (a pinch)

Salt (to taste)

Oil (2 tbsp)

Ingredients for imli chutney:

Imli (tamrind) (3 tbsp)

Gud (jaggery) (3 tbsp)

water (1 cup)

Ingredients for green ragda:

White vatana (yellow peas) (2  cups) (soaked in water overnight)

Turmeric powder (1 tsp)

Green chili (4)

Coriander (1/2 cup)

Chaat masala (2 tspn)

Pani puri masala (2 tspn)

water 

Salt

 Moong daal before and after cooking. That's how you want it to look once its cooked.

Roll out small portions of dough into a small circle, the size shown in the picture.Place one spoon full of the moong daal filling in the center. Bring together all the sides and seal tightly.

Roll the filled portion again into a circle, but ensure that the filling does not spill out. Fry these in hot oil on medium flame until golden brown from both sides, and you are good to go.

Method for the dough:

1. Mix the flour, semolina and salt together in a deep bowl.
2. Heat the ghee for 1 min and pour it over the flour. Rub the flour with both your hands to form a bread crumb like texture.
3. Add the water and knead into a soft but firm dough.
4. Cover with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 15 mins.

Method for the filling:

1. Drain the moong daal and grind it coarsely in a mixture.
2. Remove from the mixture jar and keep aside. In the same jar grind the rest of the ingredients for the filling except for the asafedita, salt and oil. 
3. Heat oil in a deep bottomed non-stick pan and add the chilli mixture to it and add the asafedita and mix well.
4. Saute for 2 mins and add the moong daal to it.
5. Mix well and add 1/2 cup of water to it. Continue to cook on medium flame while stirring in  between.
6. Cook till the daal is soft.
7. Switch off the flame and let the filling cool.

Method for green ragda:

1. Pressure cook the white vatana along with turmeric powder and 1/4 tsp of salt, till the vatana is completely cooked.
2. Grind the chili and coriander.
3. Mix the chili and coriander in the ragda along with the rest of the ingredients and keep aside.

Method for imli chutney:

1. Soak the tamrind and Jaggery in the water for an hour.
2. Squeeze the tamrind and remove from water, the jaggery must have dissolved in the water by now.
3. Mix well and keep aside. 

Method for making the kachori:

1. Divide the dough into 12-15 equal portions and keep aside.
2. Roll out each portion of the dough into a small circle.Place one spoon full of the moong daal filling in the center.
3. Bring together all the sides, seal it tightly.
4. Roll the filled portion again into a circle, but ensure that the filling does not spill out.
5. Make the rest of the kachori’s in the same way.
6. Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel. And fry 2 kachori's at one time till nicely golden brown on both sides.
7. Serve immediately, make a hole in the kachori fill it with both the chutneys and serve. Enjoy:)

Carrot-Beet-Tomato Soup

Personally, I am not a big fan of eating beetroot raw, so I have to keep finding ways to make it delicious, because we can settle for nothing less! So I figured out one of the best ways to eat this extremely healthy root, and that is to turn it into a soup. My amazingly smart mother is always telling me to somehow, anyhow eat beet which I keep trying to avoid but after this recipe I will be happy to be eating it as much as she asks me to:) Moreover it's a very easy recipe so it's a great thing to add to the regulars on your menu. The combination of health without much hard work is my type of thing, wondering if I should have named my blog the lazy fooding;)

Ingredients:

Carrot (1 small) (shredded)

Beetroot (1 1/2) (pealed and roughly chopped)

Ripe Tomato (1 big) (roughly chopped)

Red Onion (1 small) (roughly chopped)

Coriander (1 tsp)

Mint leaves (1 tsp)

Ginger-Garlic paste (1 tsp)

Garam masala (1/4 tsp)

Red chilli powder (1/2 tsp)

Chaat masala (1/4 tsp)

Dry oregano (optional)

Olive oil (1 tbsp)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pressure cooker heat 1 tbsp of olive oil, add the onion and saute for a minute.
2. Add the ginger-garlic paste and and give it a nice stir and add the rest of the ingredients except the oregano.
3. Mix everything and add one and half glass of water and mix again.
4. Cover the lid and pressure cook on medium flame. Take 3-4 whistles and turn off the gas.
5. Once done, let the soup cool for a bit and process in a food processor.
6. Reheat the soup before serving. You may add some boiled macaroni to the soup when reheating to make the soup more filling. Sprinkle dried oregano before serving. Enjoy:)

Palak pakoda (Spinach fritters)

Hungry at 5 pm and can't find much in the fridge, to top that, its drizzling outside and I have loads of work pending to do. So I go back and look at the fridge with hopeful eyes, as if expecting something to pop up magically! And my eyes fell on the spinach I got last night, after thinking for a moment I was already sifting through some gram flour and what a delicious batch of fritters these turned out to be. A perfect companion for your tea. And yeah, just so you know I hardly got any of these, the other hungry souls in my house devoured them as fast as they were made! just a tip : hide some for yourself before putting them on the table.

Ingredients:

Spinach leaves (2 cups)(roughly chopped)

Gram flour (1/2 cup)

Green chilli (4-5)

Garlic cloves (3)

Ajwain (carom) (1/2 tbsp)

Chaat masala (1/2 tbsp)

Oil for frying

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Grind the chilli, garlic and ajwain together and keep aside.
2. In a big bowl mix the spinach leaves, gram flour,chaat masala, chilli mixture and salt. Add 1 tbsp of water or a little more if needed, but you don't want a runny batter you want it to be thick and a little sticky. mix well so that the spinach is nicely coated with the flour and masala. 
3. Heat the oil in the pan on medium heat for deep frying. 
4. Once oil is hot, add spoonful of pakoda mixture. Make sure that oil is hot enough. If it is not hot then it will absorb too much oil. 
5. Fry it till it becomes golden brown on both sides. Turn it around while frying for even cooking. Fry a few pakoda's at a time,but do not over crowd them.
6. Remove it on paper towel. And serve hot. Enjoy:)

Paneer Makhmali kebab (Cottage cheese kebab)

Paneer Makhmali the name itself reminds me of a smooth texture and this recipe lives up to its name. It’s a delicate paneer (cottage cheese) based Kebab, packed with oodles of flavors yet a really delicate taste. This one is sure to keep you asking for more. You can serve this, in a basic tomato gravy or by itself, it’s amazing both the ways.

Ingredients for Filling:

Paneer (Cottage cheese)(100 gm) (grated)

Onion (1 small) (finely chopped)

Capsicum (1/2) (finely chopped)

Carrot (1 small) (finely chopped)

Cashew nut (12-15)

Green chilli (5)

Coriander (small bunch)

Ginger-garlic paste (1/2 tbsp)

Chaat masala (1/2 tbsp)

Lemon juice (half a lemon)

Processed cheese (2 cubes)

Butter (2 tbsp)

Sugar (1/2 tbsp)

Salt to taste

Ingredients for Cover:

Potato (2 big ones) (boiled)

Butter (2 tbsp)

Coriander (1 tbsp) (finely chopped)
Corn flour for dusting
Oil for frying

Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a grinder jar, grind together the green chillies, cashew nuts and coriander for the filling and keep aside.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of butter in a non stick skillet and add the onions, capsicum and carrot to it.
3. Saute for 3-4 minutes.The onions will start looking a little transparent at this point. Add the ginger-garlic paste along with the chilli-cashew mixture.
4. Mix well and saute for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the rest of the ingredients for the  filling except for cheese and sugar.
6. Cook for 2 minutes on low flame while stirring and then for 2 minutes with a lid on.
7. Check if the vegetables are thoroughly cooked by pressing with a spoon. If properly cooked the vegetables should get easily mashed when you press them with a spoon, cook for another few minutes if the vegetables are still uncooked.
8. At this point add the sugar and stir well.
9. Turn off the heat and add the cheese. Mix well and keep aside to cool.
10. Mash the potatoes and mix in the butter, salt and coriander.
11. Mix well with a spoon to blend in all the ingredients.
12. Sprinkle a cutting board with cornflour generously. 
13. Place a heaped tablespoon of potato mixture onto the cutting board.
14. With your hand form a circular ball and flatten it.
15. Place a heaped teaspoon of the paneer-vegetable filling on the flattened potato patty.
16. With well floured hands fold the potato patty such that the filling is completely covered by the potato, make a flat patty but be careful not to break it.
17. Make the rest of the patties and keep aside.
18. In a skillet, heat oil and shallow fry the patties.
19. Serve hot. Enjoy:)

Guacamole

Guacamole is a delicious avocado based dip. It originates from Mexico, some smart Aztecs created it:) Avocado is a super food, high in dietary fiber and a variety of vitamins and to top it, its delicious too. Although i had to do my bit of searching for it through the super market but its easily available these days in Mumbai. Here is a simple and quick Guacamole recipe, for a lazy evening when all you want to do is lay down on your couch, watch your favorite movie and hog on something delicious without having to work hard to make it! Just pour in a bag of your favorite nacho chips along side this delicious dip and hog away!!

Ingredients : 

Ripe Avocado (1 medium sized) (peeled and mashed)

Onion (1 small) (diced)

Tomato (1 small) (diced)

Fresh red chilli (2) (finely chopped)

Coriander (2 tbsp) (finely chopped)

Lemon juice (half a lemon) 

Oregano dry (1/2 tbsp)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a bowl mash the avocado using a fork. You can keep the avocado as smooth or chunky as you would like it, there is no rule to that.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients to the mashed avocado and serve with your favorite nacho chips, i personally love the cheese and herbs flavored Cornitos with this. 
3. Guacamole also makes a great breakfast spread on your toast! enjoy!