COCONUT SWEET WITH JAGGERY

This is the last of my recipes for 2016 and I thought I’d end the year on a sweet note with a recipe that was a part of my childhood.

As a kid, I used to eat these coconut sweets made with jaggery, available in little shops that sold anything from needles to rice. Usually these sweets were displayed in glass jars and looked quite revolting with a few flies hovering around them…but ah! The taste!! The taste is something I cannot forget even today. I used to buy them with 10 or 20 paisa coins and savor them bit by bit. I have added the coins in the pictures, now no longer in circulation. It brings back memories of those days where simple pleasures like this, so inexpensive, was all it took to be happy.

Ingredients:

100 gm jaggery OR
50 gm jaggery and half a cup of jaggery powder (this is the combination I used.)
½ cup of water.
2 cups fresh coconut ground a mixer/processor so that it comes out a fine paste.

Method:

In a non stick pan, add water and add the jaggery in the pan till it melts completely and thickens slightly.

Add the coconut paste and stir.

and stir..and stir..and stir…and stir…:) that’s all there is to the recipe. Just stir till all water evaporates and the mixture looks thick enough to make into little coconut balls with your hands. Switch off the stove when the mixture thickens and do this while it is still warm.


NOTE:

Water: I added a little bit more while melting the jaggery. Though this makes the moisture take a longer time to evaporate, I prefer it over using too little water and it turns out too thick, sticking to the pan.

Add: Raisins and nuts when stirring if you wish. Cardamom powder. Orange red food coloring for a brighter look.

Don’t forget to stir in low flame and keep it going till you get the desired consistency. Keep an eye on it at all times.

PEAS & CABBAGE CLEAR SOUP

Winter time in my city and there’s a nip in the air and one of the comfort foods to turn to in this weather is piping hot soup! I’m partial to thin, clear soups over the thick variety usually where corn flour is added. This is one of my favorite soups that has healed me through typhoid and colds and coughs - quick, healthy, comforting and so, so filling that I can skip a meal after having this. I like it best with lots of water (more than the usual mentioned in the recipe) along with the ingredients.


RECIPE:

200 gm - frozen peas.
1 cup finely chopped cabbage
4 cups - water.
Half a lemon.
One pinch - pepper powder.
1/2 tsp - vinegar. (i used chilli vinegar)
Salt to taste.

METHOD:

In a kadai/pan boil the peas and cabbage with the water. I like to add lots of water for boiling so that it is thin and the flavored water is delicious to drink.

Remove from flame and transfer to a bowl.

While it is still hot, add pepper powder, a half a spoon of vinegar and salt to taste.

Finally, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.

Delicious hot, peas n cabbage clear soup is yours to have on a cold evening.

I have made this soup with peas and cabbage (and half a carrot) to keep it simple, but you can add chopped carrots, cauliflower, even finely chopped tender beans and broccoli to the pan and turn this into a healthy vegetable clear soup. The rest of the ingredients remain the same (pepper, vinegar, salt and lemon and that’s what gives this soup its yummy flavor.

CRISPY VERMICELLI BONDAS

When it comes to experimenting with ingredients for bajjis, pakodas and bondas, there are dozens of options available. I have tried my hand at quite a few of them …sometimes even making bajjis out of betel leaves (paan bajjis). This recipe, vermicelli bonda, was first made by mom and then I learnt it. Elaborate though it seems compared to the usual dip n fry bajjis, the end result is worth every bit of time and ingredients. With the monsoon just about to say bye and the winter all set to say hello, I felt it’s time for another round of my favorite snack – not that I need an excuse to make bajjis and bondas ;)

Ingredients for the pakoda batter:

2 cups - Besan/gram flour
1 tsp – red chilli powder
1 tsp – turmeric powder
One cup water
Salt to taste

Or you can buy any ready made brand of a bajji bonda mix.

For the aloo mash:

2 or 3 medium sized potatoes - boiled and mashed
1 pinch – Turmeric powder
1 to 2 green chillies, finely chopped (or you can add more according to preference).
1 small bunch of finely chopped coriander leaves
1 pinch chaat masala
Salt to taste


For the Chilli Chutney:

Grind a small bunch of fresh coriander leaves, mint leaves and about 10 green chillies, one cubed onion with a little water.

1 to 1.5 cups - Vermicelli
1-2 cups cold water
Oil for frying


METHOD:

Mix all the ingredients listed in the pakoda batter, adding water little by little to make a smooth batter. Keep aside.

Mash the boiled potatoes with turmeric powder, salt, and green chilli, coriander leaves and chaat masala.

Heat a little oil in a wok and fry the vermicelli till slightly golden; add water to it and cook till tender.

Shift to a colander to drain out the water and run cold water over it to prevent it from sticking to each other.

In a mixing bowl, mix the chilli chutney, cooked vermicelli, and potato mash well.

Heat oil for frying.

Take a little and make small balls with your hand.

Dip the vermicelli balls into the besan batter until well coated and drop these into the hot oil.

Fry till crisp and golden brown.

Serve hot with tomato sauce.

Note:

1.Salt is to taste, so be careful with it; too much of it will ruin the snack. Ensure you do a taste test.
2.You may skip the onion in the chilli chutney if you wish.
3.You may skip the chilli chutney altogether if you want and use just the aloo and vermicelli combo it’ll taste good, but the chutney gives the bondas an unique flavor.

CHOCOLATE PLUS

There is a saying that for some there is therapy and for the rest of us, there’s chocolate and what’s more it is cheaper than therapy and doesn’t need an appointment!!

Truer words were never spoken at least where my experiences are concerned. Not a single time has chocolate let me down then I turned to it as my “go to” food.

While my consumption has reduced (just a teeny bit), for me it’s a piece of heaven wrapped in crinkly sparkly paper and I so love chocolate jokes:

Teacher: If you had 10 chocolates and someone asks for two, how many do you have left?

Me : 10

Teacher: Okay what if someone forcibly takes two of the chocolates, how many would you have left then.

Me: 10 and a dead body!;)

This is one of my earliest recipes I learnt before I ventured into cooking big time was how to make chocolate. I am including it here along with some variations

Ingredients:

1 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

2 cups milk powder

1 cup sugar (preferably powdered sugar)

Butter – 50 grams (unsalted only)

Ingredients mentioned in variations: dates, nuts, fruit etc.


Method:

1. In a bowl, mix the cocoa powder and milk powder well.

2. Turn on the stove and melt sugar along with 1.5 cups of water. Add a bit more if it is too thick but do not overdo it.

3. Stir it continuously till it comes to one thread consistency.

4. Add the butter and allow it to melt.

5. Switch off the stove as soon as the butter has melted and it looks frothy.

6. Now add the cocoa-milk powder mixture to this – ONE SPOON AT A TIME stirring continuously till you get the thickness you desire.

7. Step # 5 and 6 is most important. If you end up adding the cocoa – milk powder by the cupful or all at once, it becomes powdery and hard and ruins it completely. You need to add the mixture bit by bit so it looks all shiny and buttery.Do not forget to switch off the stove after the butter has melted.

8. At this stage, it’ll look like chocolate sauce. Transfer it into a bowl and you can use it as a dip mentioned in variations below.

9. OR wait till it cools down completely and you can roll them into chocolate balls. You can also pour the sauce in moulds and allow it to set for a couple of hours

10. Note: If the sauce is too thin even after transferring it to the bowl and it is not really up to rolling consistency, add some more cocoa-milk powder one spoon at a time and stir it well till you get the desired consistency in the same bowl. This has to be done while it is still hot. There is no need to heat this up.

11. Tip: Do wash the vessels immediately as the chocolate tends to harden over time and it would be tough to scrub it off. I use a non stick pan for this recipe.

Variations: now this is the fun part!;)

1. Dip seedless dates in the chocolate mixture until fully coated.

2. Dip strawberries or bananas. You may need to use toothpicks for this.

3. Add raisins and cashews. You can also add bits of roasted almonds.

4. Roll the chocolate balls in desiccated coconut powder.

5. Spread the sauce on sponge cake slices.

Description of pictures above:

I have added raisins and cashews to the mixture.

While still in the sauce stage, I dipped seedless dates till completely coated with chocolate as you can see above.

After the sauce had cooled and hardened slightly (though it still had to cool further), I rolled them into shiny chocolate rounds.

It took all my will power to wait to eat till I clicked the photographs;)

Forget love! I’d rather fall in chocolate;)

BHELPURI SANDWICH

I used to contribute recipes to a popular cooking website a few years ago. The website once asked its viewers to contribute a kid friendly recipe that is easy to prepare and different and this was my contribution. I don’t make this very often, but when I do, I skip lunch for it is a meal in itself. Very tasty and filling!


BHELPURI SANDWICH

For the Bhel:

100 gms plain puffed rice.
One medium onion – finely chopped
One medium tomato – finely chopped
One medium potato – boiled and chopped.
Mint chutney. (see recipe below).
Sweet chutney (see recipe below)
Salt to taste.
Lemon juice to taste.
Sev/mixture for garnishing – a spoonful.
A few sprigs of cilantro/coriander leaves – finely chopped.

For the mint chutney:

1 bunch mint leaves
1 bunch coriander leaves.
1-2 green chillies. (or see the spicy green chutney recipe for the month of July 2016 in this blog)

For sweet chutney:

Combine a handful of seedless dates (10-12) and a small marble sized ball of tamarind and grind to a fine paste with a little water.

Sandwich bread slices.

METHOD:

1.To prepare mint chutney, grind mint leaves, coriander leaves and green chillies to fine paste by adding a little water and salt to taste and grinding it in a mixer.

2.Keep some mint chutney aside for layering the bread slices.

3.Mix all the vegetables – chopped onion, tomato, potato and puffed rice in a bowl.

4.Add a spoonful of mint chutney, sweet chutney, lemon juice, and salt to taste and give it all a good mix.

5.Add sev and cilantro leaves and mix once more.

6.To prepare the sandwich, take one bread slice, spread a spoonful of mint chutney and a spoonful of sweet chutney over it.

7.Add the bhel on top of the chutney. You may add extra sev if you wish.

8.Place another slice of bread on top of the bhel mixture.

9.Tasty bhelpuri sandwich is ready.

10.*You may add grated carrot if you wish to the bhel mixture.

SPICY GREEN CHUTNEY

This recipe has gone international! I am not kidding when I say that. It is not as if world renowned hotels and chefs use it, but more in terms of talking about it whenever the topic of childhood memories comes up.

This recipe was actually taught to me by my mother. When I was younger, my brother and I used to love raw mangoes and cucumbers smothered with the spicy green chutney sold by vendors in carts around the city. Mom replicated it with a touch of her own. There were times she used 40 (yes 40!!) green chillies and it was enough to make one go through the roof! But nothing stopped us from liberally spreading it on tomatoes, cucumbers and mangoes and relishing every bit of it.

I introduced it to my friends and neighbors (some who were children that time). To say that they loved it is an understatement. Now they are all grown up married with kids of their own and settled abroad. Yet on their rare visits to India and my neighborhood, the first thing that they say when we meet up is how delicious mom’s green chutney was and how they still drool when they mention it to their friends abroad when speaking about childhood.

Such is magic of the spicy green chutney which can be used to make chaat, bhel, spread it on bread to make sandwich, dip bajjis into it or eat it like we did – on raw mangoes and cucumbers and lemon squeezed over it.

Ingredients:

1 small bunch of coriander leaves – Washed and chopped

1 small bunch pudina/mint leaves – Washed and chopped

Marble sized tamarind (do not soak this)

5-6 cloves of peeled garlic cloves

1 or 2 medium sized onion cubed

1 inch piece of ginger peeled and chopped

Green chillies – 8 to 10 or depends on how spicy you want it. For the picture above I added 30 of the spicy variety.

Salt to taste

Method:

Combine all the ingredients in a mixer with very little water and grind to a smooth paste. If water is less then add it bit by bit. Chutney should not be too watery.

For salt: Do a taste test after grinding and before transferring it to a bowl/jar, then add some more per taste if you feel it is not enough and grind again.

Preferably store the chutney in a glass jar. It’ll stay fresh for up to a week.

STUFFED CHILLI BAJJIS

What’s monsoon season without Bajjis and Bondas? I can finish them in batches, good for the soul and not so good for the waistline.

For me, rainy weather + good book + Hot bajjis = Happiness. As far as bajjis go, I like them all but my favorite is chilli bajjis.

I make them just like the ones you’ll find in any regular bajji shop – street side or in small hotels, but the onion topping included here gives it its own unique mouthwatering flavor.

Ingredients

5-8 Green chillies big bajji variety.

One or two medium sized finely chopped onions.

Chaat masala 1 lemon.

Oil for frying.

For the bajji batter-

Two cups of besan/Gram flour.

1 tsp chilli powder. 1 tsp Turmeric powder.

A pinch of sodium bicarbonate.

One or two cups water.

Salt to taste. You may also use any of the readymade bajji/bonda mixes available in most supermarkets.

METHOD

Mix the chopped onions, chaat masala with lime and salt and keep aside.

Mix all the ingredients of the bajji batter along with water to make a fine paste. Ideally, you need to add water little by little to ensure that the batter does not become too watery or remain too thick.

Slit the green chillies in half (this means you get two bajjis for each chilli). Heat the oil for frying.

Dip the green chillies in the batter and fry in the oil. Ensure that the bajji is well coated with the batter.

Fry till golden brown.

Once they are all done, take them out and arrange them on a flat plate. You may want to drain the excess oil on to a paper towel.

Wait for them to become warm. Then using a knife, slit the prepared chilli bajjis.

Stuff each of the bajjis with the chopped onion mixture.

You may even add finely chopped coriander leaves to the mixture if desired.

Serve immediately as the lime and onions may make the bajjis soggy and they may lose their fresh, crispy taste.