happy pongal

samosa chat

Samosa chaat is one of my must to order dish at gokul chaat in hyderabad.I love samosa chaat (ofcourse any chaats) and miss them soo much after coming to US.In my effort to get over the winter blues and beat the cold arctic air I made this chaat yesterday and it was sooo comforting.Here goes the recipe.....

Ingredients:

6 -10 samosas,(fried)

2 cups dried green peas or channa,

2 big tomatoes,

1 medium onion,

1tbs ginger garlic paste,

2tsp chole masala,

5 green chillies,

1tsp cumin powder,

1/4 tsp turmeric,

2tbs oil,

salt to taste,

1/2 tsp red chili powder,

1tsp sugar/jaggery,

coriander to garnish.

tamarind chutney,

green chutney,

plain yogurt,

chat masala

Method:

• Soak peas/channa in water for at least 4-6 hours.
• Boil tomatoes and when cooled puree them.
• Grind the onion and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker pan and add green chillies,turmeric and onion paste and fry.
• Add cumin powder and ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell of onions is gone.
• Add pureed tomato and cook for few minutes.
• To this add the soaked peas ,red chili powder and chole masala and mix well.


• Add little water and pressure cook for 1 whistle.
• Once cooled remove the whistle and cook till you get the desired thickness(like chole)
• Add sugar or jaggery and mix well.

Assembly:Take 3 tbs of peas curry in a bowl and add crumbled samosa(fried) to it.Add green chutney,tamarind chutney and plain yogurt to it.Add the finely diced onions and coriander and chat masala .enjoy your chaat.

coriander/cilantro chutney

I got this recipe from my friend's mom who is an excellent cook and an awesome person.When I first tasted this I was soo much charmed by the taste and decided to make it the next day and also promised my friend(who was pregnant then) that i 'll give her too.Meanwhile for some reasons I got soo busy...and after thrashing few bunches of cilantro ...finally I made it and it turned out awesome.So here goes the recipe.....

Ingredients:
3 bunches coriander/cilantro washed and chopped,
2 tbs channa dhal,

2tbs coriande seeds,
1tbs urad dhal,
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds,
6-7 red chillies,
1tsp cumin seeds,
1/4 tsp poppy seeds,
5 garlic pods,
small ball tamarind(half of lime),
few curry leaves,
salt to taste,
pinch of turmeric,
3tbs oil
Method:
Heat a sauce pan and add 1tbs oil .when hot add chopped cilantro,turmeric and cook on low flame till the water is gone and let it cool. In a separate vessel heat 2tbs oil and do the seasoning adding fenugreek,channa dhal, coriander seeds,urad dhal cumin ,red chillies, curry leaves and garlic in order.Turn off the stove and cool it.Grind the seasoning adding salt and tamarind.now add the cooked cilantro and grind(use pulse button to make coarse chutney).
Enjoy it with rice and ghee or roti or dosas.

Italian breadsticks

From food

Breadsticks are one of my favorites wether they are olive garden style or pizza hut style.I stumbled upon this recipe from real moms kitchen and tried out my hand at it and you can see the result.

Happy new year