Vada Pav - Street Food from Mumbai- Indian Burger

India's very own street side vegetable burger! You cannot go to Mumbai and NOT have VADA PAV- its a mortal sin if you do that ...lol

VADA PAV

This snack is synonymous with the city of Mumbai, with almost every resident, from factory workers to college students to Bollywood stars, to Visitors are unabashed in declaring their love for it. This street side business has given life to hundreds and thousands of families. A Vada Pav cart owner may be a millionaire for all we know. It is a meal of a poor and snack of the rich. Fills every one's tummy with yumminess!

Vada Pav is a crispy, flavorful sandwich that is consumed in millions across India’s financial capital and largest metropolis every single day. It's made with potato as filling for the vada which is dipped in chickpea flour batter and deep fried. It is then kept in between pav[bread roll] and served with various spicy and tangy dry/wet chutney and fried green chillies. There was a time when I used to ask for extra dry chutney from the vendor. I then brought the leftover chutney home and ate with my roti... its super yummy!

I lived with my aunt in Mumbai for a couple of years when I started work. There used to be a cart by the gate outside the colony which was taken care by a lady who was a widow. She made such excellent Vadas- the taste still lingers on my tongue. To relish hot Vadas which is made in front of you has its own bliss.
Now when I think of it, during shopping breaks I preferred to have Pav Bhaji , Chatpata mumbai special sandwiches or Cheese loaded Sandwiches :) wonder why?

One will find a thela of Vada Pav outside every train station - I am sure thats the hottest spot that is there for a great business! Tired commuters who are always in a hurry to reach somewhere take a quick break indulging in a flavorful Vada Pav which will keep them full till next pang of hunger :)
Mumbai and Vada Pav are inseparable!


Thanks to my aunt who happens to be a great cook and my goto chef :) Its her recipe that I am sharing here.

So without any further delay lets check the recipe:

We will need following: please dont lose interest looking at the ingredients, :) it just has few steps but can be done in fairly good amount of time.

Ingredients:

Dipping Batter

• 1/2 cup besan / chickpea flour
• 1 tbsp rice flour [for crispness]
• big pinch turmeric powder 
• 1 tsp chili pwd
• salt to taste 
• A pinch baking soda 
• water

In a mixing bowl, add all the above ingredients except water.
give it a toss - let everything mix.
Add water slowly taking breaks while you whisk the batter together. Let there be no lumps and get medium consistency batter. I dont like it too thick. Now let the batter rest for 15 plus minutes atleast while you get other things lined up.

For Dry Red Chutney 

• 4-5 cloves garlic fried in oil
• 1 tbsp red chili powder [adjust as you like]
• 1/2 cup peanuts slow roasted
• 1/2 cup boondi [ either store bought or while you make vadas, try to do some boondi with besan batter and use that]
• Salt to taste  

Grind coarsely all the above ingredients and your red dry chutney is ready!! Can be made before and kept. Also this can be used as a condiment and can reside happily in your kitchen pantry for other purposes :)

Red Dry Chutney

Vada Stuffing and Frying

• 3 med size boiled and mashed potatoes 
• 1 tbsp oil 
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds 
• pinch asafoetida (hing)
• 10 curry leaves 
• 1 tbsp of green paste [For me this is the USP of any Vada: 1/2 inch ginger, 3-4 garlic, 2-3 green chili , 1 cup cilantro ground to paste]
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1/4 th tsp turmeric powder 
• salt to taste 
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice 
• 1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves for garnish 
• oil for frying

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a pan on a medium heat. 
• Add mustard seeds, as it splutters- add asafoetida, curry leaves 
• Add onion and saute for 2-3 minutes till translucent. And turmeric pwd, green paste. Stir for a minute.
• Add salt, then boiled potatoes. Mix every everything nicely.
• Add lemon juice, coriander leaves and mix well. Try not to add water, if need be add very little so that potatoes gets nicely mixed with the seasoning. Stuffing is ready. 
• Let it cool a little.
• Take small portion of stuffing and roll it in the shape of ball [makes around 8 balls] - as seen in the pic

For Frying

• Heat the oil and always fry the Vadas on medium heat. 
• Stir the dipping batter that has been resting well. 
• Dip the potato ball (Vada) in the batter. Coat the batter from all sides hold it on top of the batter bowl till excess batter drops down then slowly slide it in the oil and fry it from all the sides until you see nice fried orange color on it probably couple of minutes on each sides. 
• Using a slotted spoon take out the Vadas and place on paper towel to drain out excess oil

Serving:

Take a Pav, slice it in the center, slather dry red chutney, place your Vada and couple fried chillies with it. 

You may also like Misal Pav, Ragi Rotti, Pav Bhaji

Thank you for visiting my page. 

njoY cookinG! 

Ingredients you may shop for:

Puran Poli (Holige, Ubbati, Bobatlu)

Many names and one magical sweet dish that melts in the mouth. Holi, festival of colors and Puran Poli go hand in hand, it is a must to do dish during this festival in the state of Maharashtra. It is offered into the fire which is lit for Holika Dahan and after that everyone gets to eat and enjoy it. It is a fun dish and one may need a little practice to roll out these stuffed polis. It basically contains 2 parts, puran(huran) the stuffing (chana dal/jaggery mixture) and all-purpose flour dough called kanik. It feels like an accomplishment when you make these polis successfully :)
Let's quickly check the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chana dal
• 1 cup jaggery (grated)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (maida)
• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
• 4 tbsp Oil (vegetable)
• 1 tsp cardamom powder

puran and dough

 Preparation:

• In a pressure cooker, add 3 cups of water and washed chana dal. Pressure cook for 3 whistles, then switch off the gas and let the cooker cool down.
• Open the pressure cooker, strain the cooked chana dal and reserve the water. This water can be used to make katachi amati. Drain water completely from the dal. Then add this dal into a deep pan. 
• Add jaggery in it and let this mixture cook over medium heat. Keep stirring over medium heat until the mixture becomes thick (keep stirring for like 7-8 minutes). 
• Let it cool down a bit. Then using a mesh strainer try to gather all the smooth mixture and keep aside else you can use mixer to blend this mixture smoothly too or if you feel lazy you can skip this step, just see to it that dal and jaggery is nicely mixed.
• Add cardamom powder and mix. * Keep aside, this is your puran.
• In a mixing bowl take all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour and turmeric pwd. Add 4 tbsp oil and mix well. Now add water little by little and make a smooth consistency dough. 
• Knead the dough until the it becomes very elastic. Put this dough into a bowl and cover it with lid. Let it rest for 30 minutes atleast.
• Make small balls of the stuffing. Then make balls (smaller than stuffing) of the dough. Grease your fingertips and spread one dough ball gently to make a small round disc. Put one stuffing ball on it. spread the dough gently over the stuffing with fingers and cover the stuffing. Use dry rice flour to roll the poli. Heat the frying tawa, place rolled roti in the center and roast on both sides over medium heat, add little ghee while roasting. Serve hot with Ghee. Puran-poli tastes good with cold milk too.
• These puran polis stay fresh for approximately 1 week at room temperature.

njoY!! happY cookinG!!

Note*: The huran has to be nice and dry for rolling out the Poli without breaking it. If you feel that the huran has moisture you can either freeze it for some time or microwave it for a couple of minutes stirring it after every minute. Knead the kanik nicely for couple extra minutes before making balls and rolling out. 

I made one batch with 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup maida without adding turmeric, see the picture below. 

Maida Poli are more fluffy and soft.

                                          HAPPY HOLI 

Making of Puran Poli in pictures:

Soft Ubbati

Health Benefits: Puran Poli made with whole wheat is rich in complex carbs, fibre and certain minerals. Jaggery used in the preparation is loaded with iron, calcium, phosphorus minerals. It digests slowly and hence helps to release energy slowly. Cardamom used also aids in digestion.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Crispy and Crunchy

You won't believe it when I say that I still say Biscuits for Cookies every once in a while :) Yes, the term that we used since childhood (BRI english) doesn't go away easily :) Now I have a kid who corrects me instantly so I am getting better by the day :) Here in USA, biscuits are buttery fluffy bread made with buttermilk, butter and flour.

My kid is my motivation when it comes to baking cookies of any kind. He loves all sorts of cookies- crunchy, chewy, soft, brittle, shortbread- just about any kind. He can live on Oreos for all I know. So yesterday before he went to sleep he tells me, "mom will you please bake me some yummy chocolate chip cookies tomorrow?" Now who can deny that sweet little request? Right?? And as a ritual I have to save a little dough for him to taste. :)

The aroma of freshly baked cookies have a way of melting your stress and giving your brain that instant dose of happiness! House smells fantastic. I have made C C C many times before using store bought packets. But in the past couple of years have been making it at home with fresh ingredients. So here is one such crispy and crunchy recipe of chocolate chip cookies. Just realised the title of my post has 5 C's :)

Let us take a look at the recipe of Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
• 3/4 cup fine sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl.
• In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a hand held mixer until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes. 
• Beat in the egg and then the vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, to make a soft dough. Fold in the chocolate chips.
• Either spoon a heaping tablespoon of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 3-inches apart or make a small balls of the dough and press gently to form a disc of 2-3 inches.
• Bake the cookies until brown around the edges, about 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining dough.

njoY!! happY bakinG!!

You may also like:

Eggless Coconut Cookies

Eggless Saffron Cookies

Nankatai

Crinkled Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies made by Scooping with a spoon

And I have a happy little camper at home enjoying these bites from chocolate chip cookies with his milk :)
Thank you for stopping by this post!

Aloo Kachori (Potato Puffs)

Potato is a staple vegetable loved by all, especially children. Can be consumed in baked, mashed, roasted whichever way, you will just love it. One of the first words my son uttered was batata(potato), he used to say it a lot:) It's easily available and there are countless ways to incorporate it in our meals. Here is one simple way that makes an impressive appetizer or a snack called kachoris.

Let us take a look at the recipe of Aloo Kachori,

Ingredients:
To make outer Shell

• All purpose flour (maida) 2 cups 
• Cooking oil 3 tbsp or 3 tbsp ghee
• Lemon juice 1 tsp 
• Salt as per taste (1tsp)

To make the Stuffing

• 4 potatoes medium size boiled and roughly mashed
• Mint leaves chopped handful (optional) 
• Green chillies minced 1 or 2 
• Ginger chopped 1 inch 
• Dried Pomegranate seed powder 2 tsp ( if you don't have it add more of amchur pwd)
• Red chili powder 1 tsp 
• Mango powder(amchur) 1 tsp 
• Coriander powder 1 tsp 
• Salt 1 tsp 
• Cooking oil 1 tsp 
• Cooking oil to deep fry

Preparation:

• Take a big bowl and add all the ingredients listed for making outer shell. 
• Mix well and make a soft dough with cold water, cover and keep aside for 10 minutes. 
• Knead well and make equal size balls. 
• In a bowl add all the ingredients for stuffing and mix properly. 
• Make equal size balls from the mixture, slightly bigger than the dough balls. 
• Now dust the dough balls with refined flour and roll to make a medium thick puri. 
• Place the potato ball in the centre and pull and close the poori from all sides,pinch off extra dough and make a round ball. 
• Heat oil in a deep pan(kadai), add the kachoris on medium heat . 
• Now lower the flame after a minute and fry the kachoris on low heat on both sides till golden in color. 
• You can drain on a paper napkin to absorb the extra oil 
• Serve with mint chutney or date-tamarind chutney or ketchup.  

recipe source credit: Maayeka.com [ made little changes in measurement of oil and spice powders ]

Health Benefits: Potatoes are an exceptionally healthful low calorie, high fiber food that offers significant protection against cardiovascular disease and cancer. Potatoes qualify as a very good source of vitamin B6 and a good source of potassium, copper, vitamin C, manganese, phosphorus, niacin, dietary fiber, and pantothenic acid. Vitamin B-6 helps in building cells, brain cells, cardio vascular protection (maximum benefits provided when eaten mashed, baked, roasted without oil/butter/cream)

Carrot Kofta Balls

Carrot is one vegetable which has to be in your diet almost everyday, doesn't hurt even if you include it in each one meal. This recipe comes with a fun story.  There was an online cooking competition with two groups and I was given a recipe by a team member to do carrot kofta balls and guess what, this recipe won 1 round for our team and I was thrilled to no end :) Preps are very easy and this dish will be enjoyed by all. In fact, it will make a very good healthy snack for kids.

Let's take a look at the Carrot Kofta Balls recipe:

 Ingredients:

• 3 cups carrots shredded 
• 1/2 cup besan (chickpea or garbanzo flour) 
• 1/4 tsp ajwain seeds (carom seeds) or cumin seeds 
• 1-2 green chilli finely chopped 
• 1/2 cup grated paneer 
• 1 tbsp lemon juice 
• oil for deep frying koftas 
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish 
• 1 tsp sesame seeds (add roasted sesame seeds to the batter itself) 
• salt to taste

Preparation:

• Squeeze the water out of shredded carrots and add chilli, ajwain seeds, sesame seeds, paneer, salt. 
• Add besan spoon by spoon and start kneading the mixture to make a soft dough. 
• Moisten hands with little oil. Take a small portion of dough at a time and using your palms, form into a round shaped ball. Repeat the process until all the dough is used up. Set aside on a platter. 
• Now heat oil in small pan or wok, on med flame, deep fry the koftas until they are golden brown on all sides. 
• Remove fried koftas from oil using slotted spoon. Drain and set aside. 
• Serve with hot cilantro or mint chutney or with ketchup. 

njoY!! happY cookinG!!

Health Benefits: Carrots rank high in the list of antioxidant vegetables because of its beta-carotene content. It has cardiovascular benefits, anti-cancer benefits and everyone know about how it helps in having a good vision. Studies have shown carrots reduce the risk of lung cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer. The high level of beta-carotene in carrots acts as an antioxidant to cell damage done to the body through regular metabolism. It help slows down the aging of cells. Vitamin A and antioxidants protect the skin from sun damage. Deficiencies of vitamin A cause dryness to the skin, hair and nails. Vitamin A assists the liver in flushing out the toxins from the body. It reduces the bile and fat in the liver. It’s all in the crunch! Carrots clean your teeth and mouth. They scrape off plaque and food particles just like toothbrushes or toothpaste. So YAY to carrots!!
info source from: care2.com