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.

chaat ...chaat..chaat !!!!

Chaat is one of the street foods which I relish apart from the mirchi bajji and jilebi.It is so much fun and yummy when you buy rather than make at home.But my view changed after coming overseas ...can be due to lack of a good chat store that offers the chat comparable to what we get back home.After realising how easy it is to make I got much more addicted to it.Bhel puri and pani puri are 2 chaats which I make often at home.I got this recipe from my North Indian friend who makes absolutely mouth watering chaat.I am posting this for cfk-rice event hosted by Trupti and brainchild of Sharmi .

This is going to the event sunday snaks-chats hosted by pallavi

Bhel puri:

Ingredients:-

3 bowls bhel puri mix (you can buy ready made mix from Indian store),

1 medium potato boiled and mashed,

1/2 cup chick peas boiled and mashed,

1 small onion finely diced,

1 medium tomato finely diced,

1 cup fine sev(you can get this from Indian store),

1/2 cup finely diced cilantro,

salt to taste,

chaat masala,

tamarind chutney(recipe below),

green chutney(recipe below)

Method:

1. Take the Bhel mix in a bowl and add mashed potato and mashed chick peas.
2. Add the finely diced onions,tomatoes, 3 tsps green chutney, 5 tsps tamarind chutney ,salt(bhel mix also contain salt so be cautious) and mix well.
3. Put the mixture in the bowls and put lots of tamarind chutney and top with fine sev.
4. Garnish with coriander and chat masala and enjoy quickly or else it becomes mushy.

Tamarind chutney:

1 cup tamarind juice (soak tamarind in water and extract juice),

1/4 cup grated jaggery/sugar,

1/2 tsp red chili powder,

1/2 tsp cumin powder,

1/2 tsp salt (kala namak/black salt is best),

method:In a pan put tamarind juice and sugar/jaggery and bring to boil and simmer till it thickens a little (soup consistency ..kind of ) and cool .Then add the other ingredients and mix well.You can store in a air tight container in fridge for 4 days. Alternatively you can buy this in an Indian store near you...

Green chutney:

1 cup chopped mint,

1 cup chopped coriander,

2-3 green chilies,

2-3 tsp lemon juice,

salt to taste

Grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste adding little water if required.

Sev puri:

Pani puri puris ,

1 medium potato boiled and mashed,

1/2 cup chick peas boiled and mashed,

1 small onion finely diced

1 medium tomato finely diced,

1 cup fine sev(you can get this from Indian store),

1/2 cup finely diced cilantro,

green chutney,

tamarind chutney,

chaat masala

method:

make a little assembly line of all the ingredients.Make small hole in puris and add potato,chick peas,onion,tomato,green chutney,yogurt,tamarind chutney,sev,chaat masala and coriander in order and enjoy them.

curry puffs -- baked puff pastry with potato curry filling

It is always pretty difficult to satisfy kids who are picky eaters.Often they indulge in appetisers than a regular meal.So it is best way to persuade them by offering more vegetables concealed in the form of appetisers.Curry puffs are one such dish which most of the kids relish on and my daughter is one of them.She absolutely loves curry puffs.

I am posting this recipe as a part of event cooking for kids authorised by sharmi of neivedyam and hosted by Deepa hari.

Ingredients:

4 medium potatoes boiled and cut into cubes,

1 medium onion diced,

3-6 green chillies(depends on spice level),

1" ginger crushed,

1tsp urad dhal,

1tsp mustard seeds,

1tsp cumin seeds,

few curry leaves,

1tsp turmeric powder,

1tsp coriander/dhaniya powder,

salt to taste,

1 tbsp oil,

1 package pepperidge farm puff pastry sheets.

Recipe:

1. Grind green chillies and ginger in a mixer.
2. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and do the seasoning using urad dhal,mustard seeds,cumin seeda and curry leaves in order.
3. Add the turmeric powder ,green chili and ginger paste and fry.Add diced onion and cook till the onion become translucent.
4. Add the potato pieces and add cook for about 5 mins till the onions are completely cooked.
5. Add the coriander powder and you can also add fresh coriander.
6. Allow it to cool and meanwhile thaw the puff pastry sheets according to package directions.
7. Each box has 2 sheets folded in three parts.Make each part into 3 pieces..ie each sheet will make 9 curry puffs and the whole box 18..(ha..ha math wizz)
8. take 1 piece of sheet and take some curry (about half lemon size) and place it on one side and fold the sheet in half.
9. Seal the edges by pressing the sheet firmly.

baking part:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Place the prepared pastry sheets in a baking pan and bake for about 20 mins tuning in between.
• They are ready once they are golden on both sides.