“Indori Patties” is a super delicious and a unique street food from Indore (M.P.) which is known for its richness in food and snack varieties. This dish is so rare that if you are not from Indore or haven’t visited it ever then there is good chance that you haven’t even heard of this dish. Don’t confuse this patties with the usual veg-puffs which are available in most places and called patties because “Indori Patties” is completely different in the way it looks, is made and tastes. If you want to surprise your family and friends with an uncommon but awesome dish, “Indore Patties” could be your to-go recipe. I am sure you would like to add this in your cookbook. Good luck and happy cooking!!

Ingredients:

• 2 – Medium sized boiled Potatoes (Ubale huye Aloo)
• 1 table spoon – Corn flour (Makke ka atta) / all-purpose flour (Maida)
• 1 – Slice of bread
• 3 table spoons – Grated dry coconut/ desiccated coconut powder (Khopre ka Boora)
• 1 table spoon – Roasted peanut powder (Bhuni huyi Moongfali ka powder)
• 1 tea spoon – Ginger and green chilli paste (Adrak aur hari Mirch ka paste)
• 2 tea spoons- Lemon juice (Nimboo ka ras)
• ½ tea spoons- Red chilli powder (Lal Mirch powder)
• 1 table spoon- Chopped Raisins (Barik kati hui kishmish)
• 1 table spoon- Chopped Cashew nuts (Barik kate hue Kaju)
• Salt (as per taste)
• Oil for frying

Method:

The entire cooking process, is divided into following three steps:

1. Patties Dough:

• Take boiled potatoes, remove the skin and mash/grate finely.
• Add corn flour, crumbled bread slice and salt (as per taste) into mashed potatoes and knead into a smooth dough.

Note: You can use 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs instead of slice of bread if your boiled potatoes are too sticky.

2. Patties Filling:

• Take dry coconut powder in a bowl and add lemon juice, ginger green chilli paste, peanut powder, red chilli powder, cashew nuts, raisins and salt into it and mix all ingredients well.

3. Stuffing and Frying Patties:

• Now take small ball of potato dough, flatten it softly with your fingertips.
• Place coconut mixture in it and enclose all sides and make round ball out of it.
• Repeat this process with remaining mixture.
• Heat oil in a frying pan/kadhaai. Deep fry these balls in batches on low-medium heat until they become golden brown evenly.
• Take out these balls on an absorbent paper/kitchen towel to remove excess oil and serve hot with date-tamarind chutney and green chutney.

Summer is finally over. Hope you had a great vacation and enjoyed some cool summer favorites like our Mango Smoothie and Cranberry-Yogurt Drink. Now that Monsoon is on full swing, it’s the perfect time to enjoy some spicy, crunchy snacks with some hot tea while enjoying the rainy showers. Although “Pakora” is the usual choice for the occasion yet there is always room for new options. And that is what today’s recipe, “Corn Kachori” is all about. It gives you another variety to relish and drench your taste buds with this mouth-watering snack while you watch tiny rain drops dancing on your terrace. You bet, this can’t get any better…so don’t wait and make the best of this beautiful season!!

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup- Corn Kernel (Bhutte ke daane)
• 1 Cup- All-purpose flour (Maida)
• 2 tablespoons- Corn flour (Makke ka atta)
• 2 to 3 – Finely chopped Green chilli (Barik kati hui hari Mirch)
• 2 teaspoons- Ginger paste (Adrak ka paste)
• 1 tablespoon- Fennel seeds (Saunf)
• ½ tablespoon- Coriander seeds (Khada Dhaniya)
• 3 to 4- Whole Cloves (Laung)
• 1 teaspoon- Red Chilli powder (Lal Mirch powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Turmeric powder (Haldi)
• 1 teaspoon- Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
• 2 teaspoons- Cumin powder (Jeera powder)
• 1 pinch- Asafoetida (Hing)
• ¼ cup- Finely chopped coriander (Barik Kata hua Hara dhaniya)
• 2 tablespoons- Clarified butter (Ghee)
• Salt as per taste
• Oil for frying

Method:

The entire cooking process for Corn-Kachori, is divided into following three steps:

1. Dough Preparation:

• Take all-purpose flour and salt (½ teaspoon or as per your taste) in a bowl and mix well.
• Now add ghee in flour and mix with your fingertips until you get crumbling texture.
• Add water in parts and knead a soft dough (see Figure-2 for reference).
• Let the dough rest while covered for at least 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Filling Preparation:

Figure-3 : Filling preparation for stuffing

• Take corn kernel in a grinding jar and add little water if needed. Coarsely grind it and keep it aside.
• Heat a pan and dry roast Coriander seeds and whole cloves. Once roasted, crush them either with rolling pin or mortar and pestle (Khal-Batta).
• Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan. Add asafoetida, ginger paste, chopped green chillies, turmeric powder, fennel seeds, corn flour and crushed Coriander seeds and cloves. Roast everything for a minute.
• Add ground corn in masala mix. Give it a good mix and cook it for 2 minutes.
• Now add coriander powder, cumin powder and red chilli powder. Mix everything and cook for another minute. Sprinkle chopped Coriander, mix and keep it aside to let it cool down (see Figure-3 for reference).

3. Stuffing and Frying:

Figure-4 : Stuffing and Frying the Corn-Kachoris

• Smooth the dough and divide it into equally small sized balls.
• Take a ball and flatten with your fingertips or roll it into a shape of “Poori” with the help of rolling pin. Keep the edges thin.
• Now place the small amount (approximately a tablespoon or according to the size of your Poori) of stuffing mixture on the flattened dough. Bring the edges of the dough together and join it (Remove or pinch off the excess dough). Press the stuffed Kachori gently with the help of palms.
• Make all the Kachoris as the process mentioned in the previous step. Keep Kachoris covered to avoid getting cracks from being dried.
• Heat oil in a deep pan/Kadhaai for frying. Keep the heat on low. When the oil is hot enough for frying (to check whether the oil is perfectly hot, first drop a pinch of dough).
• Carefully slide the Kachoris one by one into the frying pan. Once the Kachoris start puffing and the colour changes to slightly golden from the one side then gently flip them over.
• Fry the Kachoris until they become golden and crispy from both sides. Turn them often and regulate temperature from low to low-medium as required to get even colour and crispy texture.
• Take out Kachoris on kitchen towel/absorbent paper to remove excess oil.
• Fry all Kachoris as per the process explained above (see Figure-4 for reference).
• Serve hot Kachoris with any chutney/ sauce of your choice. It’s goes perfect with hot tea especially in the rainy season.

Bhindi (a.k.a. Okra or Lady Finger), is one of the most popular green vegetables. Just like in our last post Bharwan Baingan (Stuffed Eggplant) where we discussed the long list of dishes that the king of vegetables “Baingan (Eggplant)” can be prepared in, Okra also enjoys a rich set of recipes attributed to it. Some of these dishes are Masala Bhindi, Bhindi Do Pyaza, Stuffed Bhindi etc. Today’s recipe Crispy Okra or Kurkuri Bhindi is another very interesting variety of this green and fiber-rich vegetable. Due to its crispy and complete taste, this can be used both as a side dish and a snack item. So try this delectable recipe and I am sure, your admiration for Bhindi will increase to a greater extent.

Ingredients:

• 500 gms or 1 lb – Bhindi/ Okra
• 2- Long sliced medium sized Onions (lambi kati hui pyaaz)
• ½ Cup- Gram flour (Besan)
• 1 tablespoon- Red Chilli powder (Lal Mirch powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Turmeric powder (Haldi)
• 1½ tablespoons- Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
• 1 tablespoon- Cumin powder (Jeera powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Mustard seeds
• Salt (as per taste)
• Oil for frying

Method :

• • Rinse the Bhindi (Okra) with fresh water. Wipe them with a kitchen towel. Remove the top stem and slice Bhindi vertically into 4 pieces. If Bhindis are long in size, first cut them into halves and then slice them vertically.
  • Take gram flour, turmeric powder, ½ tablespoon red chilli powder, 1 tablespoon coriander powder, ½ tablespoon cumin powder and some salt in a big bowl mix everything all together. Add ½ table spoon of oil and give it a mix. Then add little water in a mixture and make a smooth batter (same as Pakora batter).
  • Marinate sliced Bhindi with gram flour batter. Bhindi must be evenly coated with batter.
  • Heat oil in a deep pan/kadai for deep frying.
  • Deep fry (in batches) marinated Bhindi till golden brown. While frying, do not overcrowd kadai and the oil must be hot, otherwise, the Bhindi will absorb too much oil and end-up being soggy.
  • Take out fried Bhindi on an absorbent paper/ kitchen towel to get rid of excess oil. (You can also serve these fried okra/ Bhindi as a snack with a sprinkle of chat masala).

• Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wide pan, splutter mustard seeds and add sliced onions and sauté till they become golden brown. Now add ½ tablespoon of coriander powder, ½ tablespoon cumin powder, ½ tablespoon red chilli powder, some salt, mix everything all together and cook for a minute on low medium heat.
• Now add fried Bhindi and mix gently with onions and spices. Turn off the heat and immediately remove the pan from the hot surface or else it will turn soggy.
• Delicious Crispy Okra is ready. Transfer it to a serving bowl and serve hot with chapatti/paratha (any bread) or Daal-Rice as a side dish.

Today’s recipe ‘Poha Cutlet’ is an interesting variation of usual cutlets. It uses ‘Poha’ as one of the main ingredients and gives a deliciously different flavour from the usual taste. It can be used both as an evening snack or an appetizer. You can either shallow fry with little oil or you can use an air fryer for a healthier cooking. The ingredients are easily available and the cooking method is quite straightforward. Optionally, you can also add other vegetables of your choice like peas, beans, corn etc. So here it goes…

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup- Thick Poha
• Medium sized boiled and mashed potatoes (Aloo)
• ½ Cup- Finely chopped onion (Barik Kati Hui Pyaz)
• ¼ Cup- Finely chopped capsicum (Barik Kati Hui Shimla Mirch)
• ¼ Cup- Grated carrots (Kisi Hui Gajar)
• ½ Cup- Finely chopped coriander leaves (Hara Dhaniya)
• 1 tablespoons- Garlic and ginger paste (Adrak- lehsun paste)
• 2- Chopped green chillies ( Barik Kati Hui Hari Mirch)
• 1 teaspoon- Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 teaspoon- Red chilli powder ( Lal Mirch powder)
• ¼ teaspoon- Turmeric powder (Haldi)
• 1 teaspoon- Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Cumin powder (Jeera powder)
• ½ teaspoon- Black pepper powder (Kali Mirch powder)
• 1 teaspoons- Black salt (Kala Namak)
• 2 teaspoons- Chat masala
• ½ Cup- Breadcrumbs
• 1½ tablespoons- Oil
• Salt (as per taste)

Method :

• Wash poha two to three times with clean water. Leave it in water for a minute and then drain excess water and keep it aside for 5 minutes. After this process poha will become very soft.
• Take a big bowl, add soaked poha, mashed potatoes, finely chopped onion, capsicum, grated carrots, chopped coriander leaves, chopped green chillies, garlic-ginger paste, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, chat masala, black pepper, black salt, turmeric powder and salt.
• Mix everything altogether very well. Taste the mix; you can add more salt and spices as per your taste.
• Take a small portion of a mix and give it a shape as you want.
• Coat your cutlets with breadcrumbs.

Now, you are ready to fry your cutlets. You can either shallow fry it or use an air fryer. Process for both frying methods are given below:

1 – Using pan or griddle:

• Take a pan or griddle, brush it with some oil and let it heat.
• Place the poha cutlets on the pan or griddle, cook for 2-3 minutes on the low Medium flame.
• Brush some oil on the cutlets and flip the cutlets upside-down once they turn slightly golden, repeat the process until it cooks completely (becomes golden brown and crispy) from both the sides
• Once cooked, take the cutlets out on a kitchen paper towels/absorbent paper.
• Serve poha cutlet hot with mint-coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.
• Refer pictures in top strip of below picture (Poha Cutlets – Frying Methods) for reference.

2 – Using air-fryer:

• Brush oil on each side of breadcrumbs coated cutlets and place them in air-fryer.
• Set air-fryer at 320°F (160°C) for 10 minutes.
• Once fried open it and flip the cutlets and again fry them for 8 more minutes at the same temperature.
• Serve poha cutlet hot with mint-coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.
• Refer pictures in bottom strip of above picture (Poha Cutlets – Frying Methods) for reference.

Please post your experience or any feedback in comments section. Thanks.

As the saying goes, “Well begun is half done”. This also applies to a multi-course meal. Starters or appetizers play an interesting part of the meal as they not only stimulate the hunger but they also give a great start to your menu.

Today’s dish “Honey Chilli Potato” is an Indo-Chinese preparation. This popular starter is a combination of sweet, spicy and tangy flavours and can be used a snack by itself. The fried potatos marinated with sauce along with the sprinkling of sesame seeds give a nice crispy and crunchy texture from outside however it’s very smooth from within. Moreover, Spring Onions adds a gush of freshness to your taste buds. Without any further adeu, let’s get to the recipe. Happy cooking!!

Ingredients:

• 5- Medium sized potatoes (Aloo)
• 5 or 6- Spring onions (Hari Pyaz)
• 2 tablespoon- Corn flour (Makke ka atta) or all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon- Rice flour (Chawal ka atta)
• 2 teaspoons- Red Chilli flacks
• 2 teaspoons- Honey (Shahad)
• 1 tablespoons- Sesame seeds (Safed til)
• ½  tablespoon- Vinegar (Sirka)
• 1 tablespoon- Chilli sauce
• 1 tablespoon- Tomato ketchup
• 1 tablespoon- Soya sauce
• 5 or 6- Garlic cloves (Lehsun)
• 1 inch- Ginger (Adrak)
• 2-Green chilli (Hari Mirch)
• Oil
• Salt (as per taste)

Method :

I have broken down the full process into multiple steps to make it easy to follow:

Step-1 (Preparation)

• Finely chop garlic and ginger.
• Slice green chillies lengthwise.
• Split the Spring onion into green and white portions, chop them separately and keep them aside.
• Dry roast sesame seeds.
• Dilute 1 tablespoon cornflour in 2 spoons of water and make it a paste.
• Wash and peel potatoes. Cut them into wedges (lengthwise as french fries)^*.

Step-2 (Potato Wedges)

• Soak potato wedges in cold water for 5 mins. Drain and pat dry with the absorbent paper or kitchen towels.
• Boil 4 cups of water and add 2 teaspoon salt and potato wedges, cook for 3-4 minutes on high flame.
• Take out boiled potato wedges in a bowl, add 1 tablespoon corn flour, 1 tablespoon rice flour and some salt. Toss everything together gently so that wedges get a coat of flours.
• To make wedges crispy, we need to fry them twice; Heat oil in kadai or frying pan. Deep fry potato wedges^# in batches, on low-medium flame till the colour changes to slightly golden. Take them out on an absorbent paper.
• Fry potato wedges again in the same oil on high-medium flame till the colour changes to golden brown. Your potato wedges are done, take out on an absorbent paper and keep them aside.

Step-3 (Sauce)

• Heat 1½ tablespoons of oil in another pan add chopped ginger, garlic and sliced green chillies. Sauté for 2 minutes. Then add the chopped white portion of the spring onions and sauté for one more minute. Now add soya sauce, chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and Vinegar, mix well.
• Add corn-water paste into the pan and cook for another 2 minutes. Now add half of the chopped green portion of spring onion (keep the other half for garnishing) and honey and sauté for a minute. Your sauce is ready.

Step-4 (Final step)

• Add fried potato wedges into the sauce and mix well. Now add roasted sesame seeds and sprinkle some chilli flacks, give everything a nice mix.
• Transfer in a serving plate and garnish it with green spring onions. A tangy and flavorful appetizer is ready to serve hot.

Note:
*- To save time, you can also use frozen potato wedges readily available in the market.
#- For a healthier cooking, you can choose to air-fry or bake the potatoes instead of deep frying.

Do you want a homemade snack for the hunger between the meals? Do you need something to munch on with your tea, coffee or drinks?  Do you prefer to pack a quick bite with your kids when they go to their dance or Karate classes so they don’t eat junk food? If you answered ‘Yes’ for any of the above questions then your search ends here. Presenting “Masala Kaju” which is an easy recipe for a great homemade snack that is tasteful and crunchy.

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 cups- whole Cashew nuts (Kaju)
• 2 table spoons- Gram flour (Besan)
• 1 table spoon- Rice flour (Chawal ka Atta)
• 2-3 tea spoons- Red chilli powder (or as per taste)
• 1 tea spoon- turmeric powder
• 2 tea spoons- coriander powder
• 2 tea spoons- cumin powder
• 1 tea spoon- black salt
• 2-3 tea spoons dry mango powder
• Salt ( as per taste)
• 1 table spoon- water
• Oil for frying

Method :

• Take gram flour, rice flour, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and black salt in a big bowl and mix all together.
• Add water in the mixture, make it like a paste.
• Now marinate whole cashew nuts with the paste. Keep them aside.
• Heat oil in a deep pan for frying.
• Deep fry the marinated cashews in batches.
• After frying keep the cashews on the paper napkin to remove excess oil.
• Homemade tea-time snack is ready to serve.
• Store in an air tight container.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup- Maida/ All purpose flour
• 1/2 cup- Mango pulp
• 1/2 cup- Condensed milk
• 1/2 cup- Milk
• 1/3 cup- powdered sugar/ organic refined sugar
• 1/3 cup- Melted butter
• 1/2 cup- Chopped dry fruits (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon- Baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon- Baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon- Elaichi (cardamom) powder
• 1/4 teaspoon- Salt, if using salted butter skip adding

Method:

• Place the muffin liners in the muffin mould, also preheat your oven at 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit, 15 minutes before you start baking.
• Wet mixture- Take a big bowl add condensed milk, melted butter, Mango purée, Elaichi powder and sugar and whisk well to make homogeneous mixture.
• Dry mixture- Take another bowl add Maida, baking powder, baking soda n salt, mix them well and strain with the help of strainer to remove any lumps.
• Add dry mixture in the wet mixture bowl and fold gently with the help of spatula. Do not over do. Slowly add milk ( if needed) to make the consistency of batter like consistency of Mendu vada.
• Add chopped dry fruits and gently mix it.
• folding is the most important step and can make or break your muffins or cake. so do it
• Fill the batter in the muffin liners more than 3/4 volume of the liners. gently even the top with the spatula.
• Now put the filled muffin moulds in the preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 25-30 minutes.
• The final check is a tooth pick or wooden skewer coming out clean from the mango muffins.
• After 3 to 4 minutes, remove them from the moulds, let them cool.
• Serve the muffins as dessert or a sweet snack.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups maida/all purpose flour
• 200 grams butter
• Salt
• 1 tbl spoon lemon juice
• Water
• Chat masala
• Ghee (melted butter)

Method:

• Mash butter In a bowl and make it soft (do not melt)
• In another bowl add flour, salt (as per taste) , lime juice or vinegar, 10 gm mashed butter, water and knead the soft dough ( like chapaati) until the texture becomes soft and rest the dough for 10 mins.
• Roll the dough gently in square shape and put the rest of the butter and seal it so that butter doesn’t come out.
• Spread the dough and sprinkle flour and fold 3 times and keep in the fridge for 20 mins repeat the same process for 6 times and in the final roll the sheet evenly all the side and brush some ghee and sprinkle chat masala as per taste. Fold the sheet n role it thin (half of centimeter approx)
• Cut into small square pieces(or in desired shape)
• Grease the tray and Bake in a preheated oven of at least 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) to get the maximum puff from your pastry
• To preserve crisp, store in airtight container after cooling down
• Serve with Tea time snack