Vada Pav (BOMBAY BURGER)

Back with a mouth-watering snack.  THE BOMBAY BURGER, yes it is a snack packed with calories and all the things diet conscious should avoid.  Once in a while, leaving all the diets aside you can dig into this wonderful fried snack.    But here's a twist.  To keep the fried bit away, we have made them in the appe kadai, (remember the appe recipe I had put up).  Yes it is made in the appe kadai to enjoy the vada's a little guilt free.   Let's just get into the making without any delay.

 

INGREDIENTS:

Potatoes	5-6 nos
Salt	1 tsp (for potato mixture)
Lime/lemon juice	1 tbsp
Coriander leaves	A handful
Gram flour	1 cup
Salt	1 tsp (for gram flour)
Hot oil	1 tsp
Turmeric powder	1/2 tsp (for gram flour)
Asaoetida	1/2 tsp (for gram flour)
Oil	To fry

To temper:

Oil	2 tsp
Mustard seeds	1/2 tsp
Asafoetida	1/4 tsp
Garlic	5-6 pods (chopped fine)
Turmeric powder	1/2 tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Green chillies	2-3 nos (spicy variety)

To serve:

Pav's/ bread	As required
Garlic chutney	As required
Coriander chutney	As required

METHOD:

1.       Boil the potatoes in a pressure cooker until soft and mushy.  Once cool, peel off skin and mash them well.

2.       Put oil in a kadai(wok) and keep it on low flame.  Once it's hot add in the mustard seeds.  Let them splutter.  Add the asafoetida, turmeric, green chillies (chopped fine) and curry leaves.  Add in the chopped garlic and cook it for a minute taking care not to let it burn. 

3.       Put this tempered mixture onto the mashed potatoes.  Add salt and mix well.  All the potatoes should get covered with the tempered mixture.  Add in the lemon juice, coriander leaves and mix well again.  Adjust salt according to your taste.

4.       In another bowl add in the gram flour, salt, turmeric powder and a little asafoetida.  Add sufficient water to make a thick batter. (the batter should be like a thick ribbon consistency).

5.       Make small balls of the mashed potato mixture.  Drop these balls in the gram flour batter and coat them well.

6.       Heat oil in a frying pan and once it is hot enough, fry these vada's on a medium flame till they are golden brown.  Alternately, heat a appe kadai and brush each hollow cavity with oil.  Place these potato balls dipped in the batter into each cavity and cover and cook them on each side for 3-4 minutes and remove them once they golden brown.

7.       Take the pav and slit them open.  Smear the pav's with garlic chutney and place the vada in the pav and serve hot.  ENJOY.

FOR THE WET GARLIC CHUTNEY:

Garlic	10 pods
Red chillies	6-7 spicy variety
Salt	1/2 tsp

METHOD:

1.       Heat water and add in the red chillies and soak them for 15 minutes.  The chillies will turn soft. 
2.       Peel the garlic pods.  In a mixer grind the chillies along with salt and garlic pods with very little water to a fine paste.
3.       Keep aside and use as required to smear it on the pav along with the vada's

FOR THE CORIANDER CHUTNEY:

Coriander leaves	1 cup (packed)
Green chillies	2 nos
Garlic	1 pod
Salt	1/2 tsp
Lime/lemon juice	1 tsp

METHOD:

1.       Wash the coriander leaves well.

2.       Grind together coriander leaves, green chillies, garlic and salt with little water. Grind this to get a  smooth chutney.

3.       Add in the lime/lemon juice and mix well.  Keep aside to be served along with the vada's.

NOTES:

1.       You could use only the frying method for these vada's.  I have given an alternative to the otherwise fried snack.

2.       Pl adjust the salt according to your preferences.

3.       Here, I have used dry garlic chutney.

4.       I have given the recipe of wet garlic chutney to be served with the vada's.  Just like the way, it is served at some places.

5.       Using spicy variety of green or red chillies gives a zing to the wonderful vada's and chutney respectively.

6.       I will post the recipe of dry garlic chutney soon.

 

 

 

 

Breakfast Bread

As you all know by now, how much I love baking bread.  Though I am not able to bake as often, whenever I do, it's at least two or three type of breads.  Believe me, home smells divine to me.  With the fragrance of bread spreading all over, I wait like a small kid wanting to lay my hands on the freshly baked bread.  This is one such bread that you can have at breakfast with just butter or with your favourite spread, or team it up with soups and you will love it.  Soft and fluffy and a winner with bread lovers.  You could have it with soups or at dinner time with any gravy or curries of your choice.  So here goes how I made this yummy bread.

INGREDIENTS:

White flour/maida	3/4 cup
Wheat flour/atta	3/4 cup
Wheat vital gluten	1 tsp (heaped)
Oat meal	1 tbsp
Yeast	1 1/4 tsp
Sugar	1/2 tsp
Salt	1 tsp
Luke-warm water	1/2 cup
Olive oil	1 1/2 tbsp

METHOD:

1.       In a bowl add sugar and luke-warm water and mix till the sugar dissolves.  Add the yeast and keep it aside for 5-10 minutes or till it froths up.  (if the yeast doesn’t froth up pl start all over again).

2.       In a measuring cup add the wheat vital gluten and top the white flour over it.  Put it in the bowl of a stand in mixer/food processor if using one.  Else you could knead it by hand too.  Add the wheat flour, oatmeal and salt to it. 

3.       Add the yeast mixture and knead well.  Add a tbsp of oil.  Add warm water little by little (about a tablespoon and a half more water is what I required).  Knead on medium speed for 10 minutes. (If using electric mixer).  Then knead with hand to get a soft and pliable dough, add another 1/2 tbsp of oil while kneading the dough

4.       Once kneaded well, cover the dough and keep it in a well oiled bowl in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour.  Till it rises well.

5.       Punch down the well risen dough and shape it round and place it on a baking tray to rise again for another half an hour to 45 minutes.  Once risen you could give a cut to the dough into a cross

6.       Pre-heat the oven at 200⁰ C for five minutes.  Bake the bread at 200⁰ C for 20 minutes to a nice golden brown colour, (the bread should sound hollow when tapped).

7.       Enjoy the bread at breakfast, with soups or dinner

NOTES:

1.       Mine took 20 minutes so pl do keep a watch after 20 minutes as sometimes baking time depends from oven to oven.

2.       You could use only white flour or just wheat flour too.  I have used both flours.

Citrus cake (in pressure cooker)

First off, A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU.  Hoping you all had a great time ushering in the new year.  I did want to post this on the 1st itself, hmm, what can I say.  Everything but the typing bit was ready.  Believe me, I had been so caught up that I couldn't devote my time to writing the post.  So to begin the year on a sweet note, I have put up a wonderful, moist and super soft citrus cake and paired it with vanilla ice-cream and strawberry compote.  Not only did I want to try an eggless version of this otherwise egg cake but also wanted to try it in a pressure cooker.  I was always sceptical using a cooker to bake the cake as I would think that the cooker would be burnt and I would have a whole lotta cleaning up to do.  But I happened to realise that if one can put sand and bake why not try with salt.  So finally put salt in the cooker and baked this wonderful cake.  So after trying out the recipe a few times I settled to this one finally.  Whoa!!! Do I want to eat a cake soon again, nah!! On second thought thou, I wouldn’t mind as it's not very sweet and also for cake lovers, it's a little addictive.  Thou, I must say too many sweets in the last few days and so a conscious effort to stay away from anything sweet.  Oops, sorry I took a detour from the recipe bit.  So this is how I worked on the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Flour	1 1/4 cup
Cornflour	1/4 cup
Orange juice	1 cup
Lemon juice	2 tbsp
Orange and lemon rind	11/2  tsp each
Oil (Odourless)	4 tbsp
Sugar	1/2 cup
Baking powder	1 tsp
Baking soda	1/2 tsp
Salt	1/2 tsp

METHOD:

1.       Take out the juice of 2-3 oranges and keep aside.(If using fresh oranges).
2.       Sieve together flour, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3.       In a mixing bowl pour in the orange juice, lemon juice, and sugar and mix well with a whisk till the sugar dissolves completely.
4.       Add the oil and mix well again to incorporate it.
5.       Slowly add in the sieved flour mixture and beating slowly in one direction and blend it well so as to get a smooth cake batter. (The cake batter should have a ribbon like consistency)
6.       Grease a cake tin and keep the pressure cooker on low flame with a cup of salt and let it heat for 5 minutes.
7.       Pour the cake batter in the tin and keep the tin in the pressure cooker taking care not to let the sides of the cake tin touch the cooker.
8.       Close the pressure cooker with the cooker lid without the whistle.
9.       Bake this on low flame for 25-30 minutes or till done.  (You should have a clean skewer when inserted in the cake).
10.   Alternately this cake can be baked in an oven at 180⁰C.  Pre-heat the oven for 5 minutes at 180⁰C and bake the cake for 25 minutes or until done.
11.   Once done remove the cake from the cooker/oven and let it cool.
12.   Un-mould the cake and serve as you like.  I have served it with vanilla ice-cream and strawberry compote.  Enjoy..

NOTES:

1.       I got a 1 cup of orange juice from 2 medium sized oranges. 
2.       Adjust the sugar according to your taste and the sweetness of the orange juice.  If you like your cakes a tad bit sweeter, pl feel free to add more sugar.
3.       1/2 cup is just about right. 
4.       I have used canola oil.  You could use rice bran or sunflower oil too.

P.S. would love to hear your comments.  So do keep them coming.