Chholay Bhatura

Bhatura is a traditional North Indian bread which is usually paired with a Chick Peas side-dish called Chholay – together called as “Chholay Bhatura”. This is a recipe by Sanjeeve Kapoor, and adapted slightly to suit our taste. Enjoy.

For Bhatura :
Flour -Maida 2-1/2 cups
Yogurt 1/2 cup
Baking powder 1/2 teaspoon
Baking soda a pinch
Salt 1 teaspoon
Sugar 2 teaspoons
oil – 2 tablespoons (during kneading)
Oil for frying
Extra flour for rolling the bhatura

Take flour and add baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well and sieve it into a large bowl. Mix yogurt and sugar. Add this to the flour and about a cup of water and mix gradually to make a sft dough by light kneading.

Incorporate two tablespoons of oil into the dough and knead. Then cover the dough with a wet cloth and keep it aside for an hour.

Divide into about 16-18 equal portions and roll them into balls. Cover and keep to ferment for 10 minutes.

Grease your palms with a little oil and flatten the balls and roll into five inch circles. Use dry flour to roll only if needed.

Heat a deep frying pan and deep fry the Bhaturas on high flame till light brown on both sides.

Serve immediately with Chholay.

For Chholay (Chick Peas side dish) :

Chick Peas -1-1/2 cups
Salt to taste
Tamarind (lime size) or Dried indian gooseberry -3 (for tanginess)
Onions -3-4 large
Ginger – 2 one inch pieces
Garlic 10-12 cloves
Green Chillies – 2
Tomatoes – 4 medium
Corriander leaves 1 small bunch
Oil 4 tablespoons
Cumin seeds 2 tablespoons
Coriander powder 3 teaspoons
Red Chilli powder 1 teaspoon
Anardana-pomegranate seeds (1 tablespoon)
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Soak the chick Peas in water overnight. The next day boil with water, salt, tamarind/gooseberry till tender.

Peel and chop onions. Peel ginger garling. Wash green chillies and make a paste of ginger, garlic and green chillies. Wash and chop the tomatoes and coriander leaves. Dry roast cumin seeds, cool and grind to a powder.

Heat oil in a pan, add chopped onions and saute till brown. Add ginger garlic and green chillie paste and saute for sometime. Add coriander powder, ground cumin seeds, red chillie, turmeric and anardana and cook till oil separates.

Add drained Chick Peas and mix well. Add tomatoes and cook till the channas are well mixed with gravy and the tomatoes are cooked too. Add any seasoning, if required, at this stage, like salt or chillie.

Serve hot, garnished with lots of coriander leaves.

Singapore Chicken Satay

One of the most famous Malay dishes in Singapore, Satay is a must-try. It is made of skewered meat grilled over charcoal or a grill, to an irresistibly smoky, savoury finish. This meaty delicacy is served with a velvety peanut-based sauce and accompanied with cucumber, chopped onion and steamed rice. I had some lemon grass left over and so made a fried rice with mixed vegetables and was amazed at the flavour the lemon grass infused into the rice. Do try it.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

For the Chicken Satay
1 Kg Chicken breasts/boneless chunks
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
5 candlenuts or macadamia nuts or cashewnuts
10 shallots or 1 large red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 stalk lemongrass (use only the root)
1 cm slice galangal or blue ginger
1 cm slice fresh ginger
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
50 grams jaggery or palm sugar
2 tsps tamarind pulp
1/2 cup water

For Satay Sauce
40 grms to 60 grms tamarind pulp, 2 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup toasted skinless peanuts ground till fine
1/4 cup peanut butter (crunchy)
1 stalk lemon grass
1/4 cup sugar or equivalent jaggery
3/4 tsp salt

Spice mixture for Satay Sauce
3 candlenuts or macadamia nuts or cashewnuts washed and drained
15 dried red chillies, soaked in hot water till softened
3 cloves garlic
30 g shallots or 1 large red onion
1 tsp shrimp paste or belacan (optional)

Method :

Satay Sauce
Mix tamarind pulp with water and strain, discard pulp. Pound or grind spice mixture until fine. Fry spice mixture in hot oil till fragrant. Add tamarind liquid and remaining ingredients. Boil for 15 minutes, stir well. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Satay Chicken
Dry fry coriander seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds till fragrant and grind till fine. Pound or grind candlenuts, shallots, garlic, lemongrass and ginger till fine. Mix the tamarind pulp with quarter cup of water, then knead and sieve. Mix the jaggery/sugar with quarter cup of water and dissolve over low heat.

Mix the shallot mixture with the ground seeds, turmeric powder, tamarind water, sugar/jaggery syrup and salt. Marinade meat in this mixture for 6 hours. To grill, skewer 3 or 4 pieces of meat on each skewer, bush with oil and BBQ till golden brown on both sides.

Serve with Satay Sauce and steamed rice/fried rice.

Rice Pancakes and Coriander Chutney (Dosa N Chutney)

There are various types of Dosas/Rice Pancakes; crisp, fluffy, spongy, wafer thin, thick, large, small, These are not your crisp and wafer thin type of Dosa; but a spongy and holey one variation. My son loves these and calls them “Holey Dosas”; as you see a large number of holes in them. You can have your ‘Dosa’ with any side dish. Most popular are coconut chutney, coriander chutney, tomato chutney, potato bhaji, sambar etc. I made ours with a Coriander Chutney.  Do try them.

Recipe :
5 cups of rice (I used the ‘Rozana’ Basmati rice).
1 cup urid dal
1 teaspoon yeast
Sugar – 3-4 tablespoons
Salt to taste.

Wash and soak the Rice and Dal separately for at least 4/5 hours or overnight. Grind to a fine batter adding water as required. Transfer the batter in a deep vessel, add sugar, salt and yeast. (Dissolve the yeast in ½ cup luke warm water and wait till it bubbles. Then add to batter. This to ensure that yeast is good).

Take an onion and peel it. Flatten it at the bottom and just make 5/6 cuts on the surface of the outer layer. Put this onion on the surface of the batter and cover with a lid. After 2 hours the batter will have risen and the onion floating on the surface will have disappeared into the batter. (This is an indication that your batter has risen. If not wait for sometime more time till this happens).

Remove the onion from the batter and wash it. Take a cupful of oil and keep aside. Pierce a fork into the top surface of the onion and soak it into the oil. (You are going to use the onion to lighly coat the Tawa/skillet with oil).

Heat a tawa/skillet. Rub the tawa/skillet with the soaked onion so that a thin film of oil coats it. Drop a large ladle full of batter on the tawa/skillet and immediately cover it with a lid and let the dosa cook on medium heat till done and you see no raw batter on the surface.
Between dosas, grease the tawa or skillet lightly with oil/onion and then pour the batter.

Best had directly from pan to plate with side-dish of your choice.

So there you are, a ‘Holey Dosa’, which leaves no hole in your wallet ;).

Crispy Rice Flour Sticks

 Hi there !  You are going to love these crispy rice sticks.  So make these ASAP and go crunch, crunch, crunch.

Recipe :

Rice Flour  - 1 cup
Gram Flour – 1/2 cup
Butter  (melted) 5 to 6 tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Sesame Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder – 1/2 to 1 tsp
Asafoetida – 1 pinch
Baking soda – 1/2 pinch
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

In a medium sized bowl sieve the rice and gram flour and mix together.  Heat butter and add to the flours.  Mix so that all the butter is incorporated and no lumps remain.  Add the other ingredients.  If you want it spicier, add more chillie powder.  Add water little by little so that a dough a bit softer than chappati dough is formed.

Use an cookie press with a star nozzle or a chakli press and put the dough into it in small batches.  Heat oil in a pan and when hot press long zig-zag strands into the oil.  Be careful – the oil will be hot –so ensure that there are no splashes and press in a handful of sticks at a time.

Fry till light brown and crisp.   Remove on to a bamboo sieve or paper towels.  Store in an air-tight container when cool.

These rice flour sticks are very crispy and crunchy and very tempting too.

Masala Peanuts

Hi folks. Hope you have really got into the Christmas spirit, your Christmas Tree has been decorated and your house is stuffed with all those lovely nibbles;  and of course,   love is in the air.

To spice up your Christmas Season, here is a recipe for Masala Peanuts. Depending on your liking you can increase the chilly-content, however I would recommend that you keep it moderately spiced up.

Recipe :
2 Cups of peanuts (raw and shelled) (Available in UAE Supermarkets-shelled and in packets of 1 kg)
3 to 3-1/2 tablespoons of gram flour
2 teaspoons of red chillie powder
1/4 teaspoons of turmeric
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

In a large platter, spread the peanuts and pick and discard any who have any blemishes or dark spots. Sprinkle a little water on it so that they are moist.

In another bowl sieve the gram flour add salt, turmeric, red chillie powder and mix. If any peanuts clump together, just separate them. You should have peanuts which are equally coated with the spice mix. If you feel that the spice is not staying on the peanuts – you must have added more water. Just add a little more flour and keep aside for some time.

In the meanwhile heat oil till hot. Segregate the peanuts into 4 batches and drop into hot oil, one batch at a time. Do not stir or touch for the first 2 minutes, then gently stir and ensure that they are equally fried. When they are done remove onto paper towels and after they are cooled store in air-tight containers.

You will be surely making another batch – because the first batch will be over in no time !!

Cheers have a good time ….this is really the one time in the year when you can indulge without feeling guilty.

Spicy Squares

Its nearly Christmas time folks; cant be true I mumble softly, I pinch myself….and its true; Christmas is nearly at our door step.   This year has indeed rushed by.   For those who have been regularly following my blog,  I owe you an apology,  an apology for not being as regular with posts as I would like to be.   Was busy with family meetings,  personal issues and things which kept me away; kept my mind occupied and kept me away from our blog.   I will try and be more regular from now one.  I want to thank all those who sent me messages asking if I was still around and those who prodded me to come out of my shell and go on.

Christmas is the time to share love & joy.  A time to recollect beautiful memories. It is a time to sit back & relax.  May the Christmas season, fill ur home with joy your heart with love & your life with laughter.

I was in a fix,  wondering what to post for our readers;  the traditional Christmas Sweets were already on the blog and I did not want to repeat them again.  Finally I came up with the idea of putting up a mix of  sweets and savories which are firstly not already on our blog,  and secondly which can be made not only for Christmas time but throughout the year………….so here I am….with the first Christmas post………….. “Spicy Squares”

These make just enough for two-three people,  so you could double the batch if you want a whole lot :

1 Cup Maida/flour
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
1/2 tsp Ajwain / carraway seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1-1/2 tablespoons hot oil or hot melted butter
Water
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Sift the flour in a large bowl and add turmeric, chilly powder, salt, cumin seeds, ajwain seeds and 1 tablespoon of hot oil/butter.  Mix with a spoon immediately till well mixed.  Using your fingers gently rub the flour till all small lumps formed are squashed.  Add enough water with a spoon and knead well to a soft rollable dough.   Cover with cling wrap and keep aside for 1-1-1/2 hour for the flavours to mix.

Divide into 6-7 balls and roll each into a circle of 8-9″.  Cut with a zig-zag cutter or with a pizza cutter.   Spread the squares on a flat surface ensuring that they do not overlap.

Head oil in a deep pan and deep fry till crisp.  Remove on a paper towel.  When cool you can sprinkle with a mixture of chilly powder and powdered sugar (Optional).   Store in an airtight container.

You are sure going to love the crunchy sound they make when you pop them in your mouth .

Lamb Spare Ribs

These Lamb Spare Ribs  will leave you licking not only the  Spare Ribs but also your fingers. 

       Please try them and let us know how they turned out.

Ingredients :

1 Kg. Lamb Spare Ribs

6 Medium Tomatoes

1 tablespoon ginger paste

1 tablespoon garlic paste

2 teaspoons of bafat powder or any masala powder of your choice  or chilly powder

3 tablespoons of curds

3 onions –sliced fine

2-3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

2-3 sticks of cinnamon

1 cup water

Coriander leaves few – for garnish

Cherry tomatoes and lettuce for garnish

Wash and dry the Ribs with a clean kitchen towel.  In a ceramic bowl add the ribs, salt and Worcestershire sauce and  keep aside for 10 minutes.  In a large preferably non-stick vessel/pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil. 

 

When hot add the Cinnamon sticks and then the sliced onion and fry till the onion gets brown flecks all over.  Add ginger garlic paste and fry till raw smell disappears.

Then add tomatoes and fry till they turn to mush and are well fried (say 10 minutes).  Add bafat powder/or chilly powder/masala powder, curds and marinated spare-ribs and fry till oil brims to surface.    Add water,  2 tablespoons at a time, till all water is used up and fry on a slow fire till the ribs are done –say 30-40 minutes.  Garnish with coriander leaves when done.  Serve hot on a bed of lettuce leaves and cherry tomatoes.

Kerala Beef Fry

This Beef-dish is one that can be served as a starter or also as a main dish.   The spices and the coconut oil give this its unique Kerala flavour.    Please do try it out.

Beef – 1/2 kg -sliced into small cubes
Onion – 1 big, sliced finely
Kerala pearl onions – 3/4 cup, sliced
Chili powder – 1/2 tbsp
Coriander powder – 1tbsp
Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
Ginger & garlic – 1 tbsp, crushed & cut fine
Vinegar – 2 tsp
Aniseeds/fennel/Shah-jeera –1 tsp
Cinnamon – 1 inch piece
Cloves – 4-5
Star anis – 2
Garam Masala powder 1 tsp
Bite size coconut pieces  – 1/2 cup
2-3 tomatoes
Coconut oil
Salt
Curry leaves

Powder the Shah-jeera, cinnamon, cloves and star anise and keep aside. Combine the powdered spices above with kerala onions,  chillie,  coriander , turmeric, ginger, garlic, vinegar ,  coconut pieces, salt, curry leaves & beef.  Make sure that beef is marinated well with the spices. Pressure cook the marinated beef till it is done.  Just add a little  water while pressure- cooking,  and if there is any water left  after pressure cooking,  just simmer with lid open till the water is dried-up

Heat oil in a pan and saute the sliced onion till it becomes golden brown. Add chopped tomato and fry till the tomatoes become into a paste. Add the cooked beef & some more curry leaves.  Add garam masala at this stage. Mix well. Stir-fry  over a low flame,  till it is roasted well and it is dryish.  Add a few coconut pieces just before serving.

Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:Two chicken breasts – slice vertically into two or three slices– and beat with a meat-mallet till very thin.
Make the following three batters and keep in separate plates.

1st Batter :
2-3 tablespoons hot sauce or chilly sauce
Ginger/garlic paste – 1 tablespoon
Mayonnaise 2 tablespoons
Mix and keep aside.
2nd Batter :
1 Cup flour (maida)
1 tablespoon chilly powder
Salt to taste (already put salt earlier so go easy on the salt)
Black pepper
Mix and keep aside
3rd Batter/Mix :
Breadcrumbs
Little oregano -1/2 teaspoon

Preparation :
Add just a little salt/pepper to chicken breasts and keep aside. Dip the chicken breasts in 1st batter, then 2nd and then once again in 1st batter and 2nd, roll in the 3rd batter once and shallow fry.

Slice onions into rings and separate them. Dip in the remaining batter and fry and serve alongside the chicken.

Serve piping hot with ketchup and mayonnaise dip.

Chapli Kebabs

Ingredients:
½ Kg. mince (double minced)
2 tomatoes chopped very fine
2 onions – finely chopped
4-5 green chillies chopped
1 tsp. freshly crushed black pepper
1½tsp. coriander powder
1 tsps. crushed chilly flakes
2 tsps. ginger paste
4-5 garlic –crushed and chopped fine
Small bunch of coriander
few mint leaves
1 tsp. dried pomegranate seeds (anardana)
Salt to taste
1 boiled potato (mashed)
½ tsp. chaat masala
1 egg

Preparation:
Mix all together with a fork. Form balls and press to form a flat cake/patty. Keep in a refrigerator for 1 hour. After one hour – shallow fry on both sides. Serve hot.
This is a very soft and succulent kebab. Best when served hot.