Vada Pav- An amazing street food

This is a  lip smacking Indian street snack which is available almost in all the stalls and restaurants in India. In this recipe, boiled and mashed potatoes are spiced, coated in gram flour batter and then deep fried. The fritter is served inside a butter toasted buns along with dry garlic chutney/ coriander chutney/ tamarind chutney.

Every day by evening, my mind will be thinking of making something healthy for my husband and daughter. With the craving for a spicy and a tangy chaat, I ended up with this not so healthy chaat as it’s not possible to find any chaat here. I love the dry garlic chutney a lot. And once when I learned how to make it, I made a lot and stored in refrigerator, and that is what I am using as a spread on bread and rotis…

Ingredients:

• Pav- 8 nos

For the filling:

1. Boiled Potatoes- wnos
2. Green Chillies- 3 nos
3. Ginger and Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
4. Oil- 1 tbsp
5. Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
6. Asafoetida- ½  tsp
7. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
8. Salt- as required
9. Besan- ½ Cup
10. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
11. Salt- as required
12. Oil- for deep frying

Method:

1. Grind the green chillies and ginger, garlic paste to a fine paste.
2. Heat oil, splutter the mustard seeds and add asafoetida powder. Add the boiled and mashed potatoes.
3. In the above add the green chillies, ginger and garlic paste. Mix well. Add the turmeric powder and required amount of salt.
4. Divide this into 8 equal proportions and keep this aside.
5. Heat oil for frying in a kadai.
6. Combine the besan, turmeric powder, salt with required amount of water. It should be thick with dropping consistency.
7. Dip each of the potato balls in the above besan mixture and coat well. Drop these in hot oil and fry till golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper.

For the Dry Garlic Chutney:

1. Garlic cloves (crushed)- 4 tbsp
2. Dry Coconut grated- 4 tbsp
3. Red Chilli Powder- 2 tbsp
4. Oil- 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat oil, fry the garlic for about 2 minutes. Add the dried coconut powder and stir well.
2. Switch of the flame, add the red chilli powder and salt.
3. When it is cooled down, grind to a fine powder. Keep this aside.

Assembling the vada pav:

1. Slice each pav into half and spread some garlic chutney inside and place one vada in each pav.
2. Complete the process with remaining and serve along with Salted green chillies and Tomato ketchup.

Nutella Cookies

Those who love chocolate will definitely love Nutella. Me and my daughter are huge fans of Nutella. Anything made out of Nutella is to die for. Since past few days, my daughter has been asking for cookies and as I bought two big bottles of Nutella recently, I thought of baking cookies using them.

I have many different varieties of cookie recipes using Nutella, but this recipe got my attention as it required only 4 ingredients which were easily available in kitchen. These cookies were made within minutes and they have a chewy texture. These spread very well so give a nice gap between the cookies while baking. I have baked exactly for 8 minutes and they all vanished the next day. Kids will love this amazing cookies. Just try this out and see the magic.

Adapted From Kirbie cravings

Ingredients:

1. Nutella- 1 Cup
2. Maida- ½ Cup
3. Baking Powder- 1 tsp
4. Egg- 1 no

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees C. Grease a baking tray and keep it ready.
2. Meanwhile mix all the ingredients one by one in a bowl using a wooden spoon until smooth without any lumps.
3. Shape into round balls and flatten them on the prepared tray giving a nice gap between the cookies or else they may spread and stick to each other.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

Garlic Noodle Soup

Who doesn’t like a hot steaming cup of soup on a cold evening. After coming to this new place, our hunger pangs have increased and so we are munching on something or the other all the time. Junk, unhealthy, healthy,... anything goes :-)

So to reduce the junk intake, I thought of preparing some delicious healthy dishes and one among them is this amazingly lovely smooth silky soup made out of garlic.

We all know that garlic has so many medicinal benefits and is a very good immune booster.I thought this would be a perfect soup for my husband who is a big garlic fan and so I googled many recipes and got this method, which is very simple and which requires noodles, that is a perfect for my daughter who is crazy about noodles in any form. Just try this out and I bet nothing feels as warm and comforting like a hot bowl of garlic soup.

Adapted From fxcuisine.com

Ingredients:

1. Garlic Cloves- 20-25 nos ( Chopped)
2. Olive Oil- 3 tbsp
3. All Purpose Flour / Maida- ¼ Cup
4. Water- 2- 3 Cups
5. Dried Herbs- 2 tbsps
6. Hakka Noodles- a handful
7. Salt- as required
8. Pepper- a pinch
9. Fresh Basil- for garnish

Method:

1. Chop the garlic to very fine. Heat oil in a kadai, add the chopped garlic on low heat and stir well till they become soft and little brown in colour.
2. Add the all purpose flour in the above garlic and mix well till the raw smell disappears and the flour gets mixed with the garlic infused oil and turns slightly brown in colour.
3. In the above mixture add  water and stir well without forming any lumps or else you will end up with lumpy flour soup. Here I used egg beater for a smooth texture.
4. Add any dried herbs and simmer for about 15- 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile crush the noodles lightly and add to the above soup. Mix till the noodles turn soft and cooked well.
6. Switch of the flame add the required salt and pepper and garnish with fresh basil. Enjoy this amazing soup on a cold evening.

Easy ‘n Healthy Baked Fish

From so long I was thinking of baking fish and this happened on a Sunday when my husband was at home, we both planned to make a simple lunch and this was his idea of baking fish.

This is a super easy and a simple dish which can be made within minutes. This is one of the best party ideas, which will be loved by all, even kids…

In this preparation, the fish is smeared with mild spices and then baked in a pre heated oven. This can be a quick entry to any party menu which will be unique.

Ingredients:

1. Fish Fillet- 4- 5 nos
2. Pepper powder- 1tbsp
3. Salt- as required
4. Lemon juice / Apple Cider Vinegar - 2 tbsp
5. Garlic ( crashed)- 2 tbsp
6. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
7. Oil-1tbsp
8. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tbsp
9. Ajwain / Carrom Seeds( slightly crushed)- 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
2. Wash the fish fillet and pat dry this using a kitchen towel.
3. Mix ajwain, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder, lemon juice/apple cider vinegar, oil, garlic and salt to a paste using little water.
4. Brush this on the fish fillets and bake this for about 20 minutes. In between flip the sides and enjoy an amazing delicacy with your choice of steamed veggies or steamed rice.