pani puri

Pani puri aka golgappa aka Puchka aka water balls.



A street food which you find around the corner of most streets in India.If the puris are brought from shop, this can be easily made without spending lot of kitchen time during summers and what's more it can be made by the kids themselves. Can be fortified and made nutritious with sprouts as fillers and by adding dates syrup in sweet water.

Ingredients:

For the spicy mint water: (to make 2 litres)
De-stemmed pudina leaves - 2 cups
de-stemmed coriander leaves -- 2 cups
green chilly ------------- 1 (optional)
pani puri masala powder ---- 1 table spoon
juice of 1/2 lemon

For sweet sauce

Tamarind ---- 1 lemon size
jaggery ------- 1/4 cup
ajwain ------- a tea spoon
dates syrup ---- 1 table spoon (optional)

for the filling :

1 cup of boiled sprouts of green gram/ kabuli channa/ alu
salt ---- 1 teaspoon

METHOD:

For filling:

Pressure cook channa/alu/sprouts.Season it with salt and keep aside.

For the masala pani:

Grind the washed pudina, coriander and chilli in a grinder.
Add the ground mixture to a litre of water along with a table spoon of pani puri masala.

For the sweet/meeta pani.

Mix the extract of tamarind and jaggery and filter to remove the fibre or dust if any.
boil the mixture till the raw smell of tamarind disappears.
sprinkle with ajwain seeds and add a spoon of dates syrup.

For garnishing:
finely chopped onions.

Assembling:

Punch the top of the puri, fill in with the sprouts and onion, dip it in the green mint water and pop it into the mouth. If you want it slightly tangier and sweeter, add a spoon of sweet tamarind water.

P.S: with a little help from elders like in soaking and boiling the children can make this food themselves.

Aloo tikki burger

An easy food which can be assembled by children themselves.

Ingredients:

Buns---- 1 no
sliced cucumber -- 4 pieces
sliced onions ----- 4 pieces
sliced tomatoes----- 4 pieces
cheese slice ------ 1 no
washed and cleaned cabbage/lettuce leaf ---- 1 no
tomato sauce ---- 1 tbspoon
mayonaisse ------- 1 table spoon
sweet onion sauce ---- 1 table spoon

for the patties
Boiled and mashed potato -- 1 cup
a slice of bread
chilli paste --- 1 spoon
salt to taste:

Mix the patty ingredients and bind them well. pat them into patties and grill.

To assemble the burger

cut the bun horizontally.
arrange the following over the base bun in the following order
lettuce/cabbage leaf
cucumber slices
tomato slices
cheese slice
alu patty
onion slices
drizzle

drizzle the choice of your sauce between the layer
cover the top cut bun
Pin a toothpick from the top most bun to the bottom most through the center.

Ragda patties

Ragda patties - as the name suggests are patties made of potato and the ragda is a mishmash of spicy green peas. This dish tastes good when accompanied with sweet chutney,green chutney and tossed with some sev and finely chopped onions.

Ingredients:

Boiled dry green peas --- 50 gms
juice of tamarind -------- 2 table spoons
onion paste made from 2 big onions
red chilli powder--------- 2 teaspoon
Dhania powder------------ 2 teasoon
ginger- garlic paste------ 1 teaspoon
turmeric ----------------- 1 teaspoon
coriander ------- for garnishing
salt for seasoning

Patties:( to make 10)

potato(big)------- 4
red chilli powder
dhania powder
salt to taste
ginger powder(optional)
bread crumbs (to coat the patties)
cooking medium for shallow frying.


Method:( for patties)

Boil the potato and mash them. To the mashed potato add the spices and mix them well till they bind well.

Now shape them like small cutlets and coat them with bread crumbs.

shallow fry the patties on a tava till they turn brown. Lay them on a serving tray.

Method: ragda

Soak the dry green/white peas overnight.
Boil them well in a pressure cooker.
When done mash them.

In a wok, add a table spoon of cooking oil.
Add jeera and after it splutters, add ginger- garlic paste , after some time add onion paste and saute them till they cook in the oil. Add red chilli powder, haldi, dhania powder and allow it to cook well in the oil

Now add the tamarind juice and cook for 2 minutes. Add the mashed pea puree into the wok when the raw smell of tamarind disappears and cook till done.

Serve them with green chutney( made of coriander, pudina and green chilli) and sweetchutney( made from tamarind,jaggery,dates and raisins).

serving tip:



Take a patty in a bowl/ plate
Ladle the required amount of ragda over the patty.
serve green chutney if you want it spicier or sweet chutney if you want it milder or both chutneys if you want to enjoy it spicy-sweet.
Toss over some finely chopped onions and sev and it is ready to relish

Ideal for kids parties.

(My children make this dish with my help)

Thenkuzhal

A fried teatime snack.

Ingredients:
Raw rice -----1/2 kg
Roasted urad dal ----- 200gms
Roasted sesame seeds ---------- 2 spoon
50 gms ----- dalda/butter
Salt to taste
Cooking medium for frying

Method:

Dry grind the rice and roasted urad dal together in a flour mill.
Sieve the flour. To this add salt and sesame seeds and mix it with butter/dalda and water to make a pliable dough.

Put a fistful of dough in the thenkuzhal extruder( available in the market ), extrude circular patterns in the pre -heated cooking oil and cook till the sound drowns.

Tip: Resting the dough for a longer time yields darker thenkuzhals, so mix the dough and use it immediately to have white thenkuzhals.

Somasi/karchikai

A fried sweet stuffed with sweet filling.

Ingredients:
for outer covering
Upma Rava(semolina)-- 1 cup
a pinch of salt

for filling

sugar------ 1 1/2 cup
gratings of copra( dessicated coconut) --- one
poppy seeds---- 2 table spoons
fried grams--- 1/2 cup
cashew nuts(optional)----- 5 nos ( cut into small pieces)
a teaspoon of cardamom powder

Method:
For outer covering.
Mix rava with enough water and little salt and bind into a tight dough (like chappati dough). Rest the dough for half hour.

for filling.
Dry roast poppy seeds, fried grams,copra gratings and grind them with sugar and cardamom powder in a mixie. To this add roasted cashew nuts.

Now take a big marble sized dough and roll it into a small chappati. Add enough filling into the chappati and fold into semicircles. Twist/punch the edges with your fingers to tightly bind the edges.

Deep fry them in cooking medium.







P.S: MIL says the outer covering dough was usually pounded in a pestle and mortar in olden days, so that the dough would bind well.

Avial

A medley of vegetables cooked in coconut milk. A traditional tamil dish.





Ingredients:

vegetables cut into 1" pieces lengthwise ---- 2 cups (vegetables like carrot, french beans, cluster beans,drumstick, green peas,potato, capsicum, ash gourd, pumpkin, raw banana)

Gratings of 1/2 coconut
green chillies--- 4 nos( if you want it spicier add 2 more)
jeera ---------- 2 teaspoon
curd --------- 1/2 cup( for sour taste)
edible coconut oil -- 1 table spoon(for garnishing)
salt to taste

Method:
Grind coconut gratings, jeera and green chillies in a mixer.
In a dish boil vegetables with salt.
When the vegetables are boiled, add the ground coconut mixture into the dish.
Switch off the stove when the vegetables and coconut mixture have blended.
When cool, mix in the curd into the vegetables.
Finally garnish with coconut oil.

P.S: Never reheat avial, since it has curd.Garnish it with plain coconut oil.
Vegetables like raddish,lady's finger and brinjal are not used for avial.