Potato Crostini

This is an Indianized version of the Italian hors d'oeuvres, crostini.  Prepared this along with the mushroom bruschetta, this morning.

Potato Crostini

Ingredients:

Regular bread, 8 slices (or french loaf slices)
3 boiled and cubed potatoes 
Spices (chilli powder, crushed kasoori methi, pepper)
Salt
Oilve oil
Chopped coriander leaves

For the basil pesto:

Basil leaves, 1 bunch
Ground nuts, 1 tbsp
Green pepper/chilli, 1
Crushed garlic, 1 tbsp
Olive oil, 2 tbsp
Pepper powder
Salt

Method:

• Blend basil leaves, groundnuts, chilli, garlic, olive oil into a paste.  Add pepper and salt.  Keep aside.
• Cut each bread slice into 4.  Brush with oil and grill in oven until toasted to golden brown.
• Heat some oil and toss in the cubed potatoes and the spices, add salt.  
• Take a serving dish and arrange the toasted bread pieces.  
• Spread some pesto sauce over it and top it with a spoonful of potatoes.
• Sprinkle finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.
  
  
  
  

Mushroom and Vegetable Bruschetta

Italian cuisine tickles everyone’s taste buds with its rich variety of cheeses, breads, pastas, and delectable spices and herbs.

This morning, felt like eating something Italian.  Since pasta was already prepared last week, decided to use bread and prepare bruschetta and crostini.  Bruschetta is either served as an appetizer or part of the main course.  Crostini is also an antipasto like bruschetta i.e. they are served before the meal.      

Mushroom and Vegetable Bruschetta (pronounced brusketta)

Ingredients

Regular bread (or French loaf) – 8 slices

Finely chopped button mushrooms

Finely chopped mixed vegetables (capsicum, onions, tomatoes, cucumber, basil leaves)

Green or black olives

Crushed garlic

Olive oil

Grated cheese

Herbs and spice mix (pepper, chilli flakes, basil, oregano, rosemary)

Salt

Method

• Infuse olive oil with garlic, herb and spice mix.  Keep aside.
• Brush the bread slice with the infused oil and grill in pre-heated oven for 5 minutes.
• Add salt, pepper, and drizzle the remaining garlic-and-herb-infused oil over the chopped vegetables.  Add the mushroom and chopped olives to this and mix well.  
• Arrange the toasted bread on the tray and top each slice with the vegetable-mushroom mix.
• Sprinkle grated cheese over this and heat in oven for another 3 to 4 minutes until cheese melts.
• Cut into triangular-shaped bruschetta and serve hot with ketchup.

Bhakarwadi

This is a tea-time snack popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat.  Quite easy to prepare and children as well as grownups love it.   

Ingredients

For the dough:
1 cup gram flour (besan)
1/2 cup wheat flour
pinch of asofoetida (hing)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp oil
salt
water as required

For the filling:
2 tbsp fennel seeds
10 to 12 pepper corns
2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp grated coconut
1 tsp lemon juice
salt

Method:
   
1.  In a bowl put the gram flour, wheat flour, salt, hing, turmeric, chilli powder, and oil.
2. Crumble it nicely and reserve some to dust over the filling. 
3. Add water little by little to form a soft dough.  Keep aside.

4. Coarsely grind all the ingredients for the filling except lemon juice and salt. 
5. Add salt and lemon juice to this mix.  Add the crumbled flour reserved earlier.  Keep aside.
6. Divide dough into two portions.  Use kitchen surface to roll the dough into rectangular-shaped chappati with the help of some dusting flour. 

7. Spread the filling all over the the rolled out chappati.
8. Start rolling the chappati from one end (the longer width).  Seal the end with some water.

9. Press lightly and keep rolling gently so that all the filling is evenly coated inside.  

10. Cut into small slices and dust some flour over the pieces.



11. Fry the bhakarwadis until crisp.  Store in air-tight container.  They stay fresh for 2 to 3 weeks. 

Uppu Seedai (Cheedai)

Ingredients

Rice flour - 1 cup
Urad dal flour - 2 tbsp
Ghee or butter - 4 tbsp
Sesame seeds - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Grated coconut - 3 tbsp
Salt to tast
Oil for frying

Method

• Dry roast rice flour on medium flame for 1 to 2 minutes.
• Roast the urad dal flour until aromatic.  
• Also roast the sesame seeds.
• Roast coconut until the moisture is gone.
• Mix the flours, coconut, sesame, ghee, asafoetida, salt together. 
• Add water to make a stiff pliable dough.
• Pinch out small portions and make them into not-so-perfect-shaped balls. Let this rest for 15 minutes.
• Deep fry them and when cool store in airtight container.  

Unniappam

Ingredients

Rice flour - 2cups
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Jaggery - 250 gm
Ripe banana - 2 to 3
Coconut, grated - 1/2 cup
Black sesame seeds - 1 tbsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Oil for frying


Method

• Add 1 cup water to jaggery and melt it.  Strain and allow it to cool.
• Roast sesame seeds, then roast coconut in ghee until golden brown.
• Grind banana in little melted jaggery to a smooth paste.
• Mix together the rice flour, wheat flour, banana paste, sesame, coconut.
• Add jaggery gradually and mix, add water if need to get the required consistency. 
• Add baking soda and mix well and keep aside for 30 minutes.
• Fry in 'appachatti' or in a frying pan. 
• Sprinkle sugar over hot unniappams (optional).

Newbie on the Food Blog

Posted - Monday, October 21, 2013

Though not new to blogging, this is my first food blog.  I know I am joining this fraternity very late, all along wanted to but my full-time job kept me busy.  

Now, who does not love good food.  With the 24-hour food channels on television, recipes galore on the internet, apps to download recipes, we are all caught in the whirlwind of this culinary art.  Not only established chefs, wannabe chefs, amateur chefs, but ardent food lovers in every corner of the world dish out newer recipes every second to recreate innovative cuisines to titillate the modern taste buds.  There are others who revive the traditional recipes from our grandmas' times.

I will post and build this blog as I go along.

Choco Shells

Choco Shells

              

                 Meal Type - Dessert

This is an awfully easy to prepare dessert which requires no cooking or baking.  The ingredients are readily available in your kitchen.  Impress your family and friends and keep them wondering as to what it is made of.

Ingredients

For the coffee syrup dip:

I packet marie biscuits

2 tsp instant coffee powder

4 tsp flour

2 tsp icing sugar

Approximately quarter to half cup water

For the icing:

4 tbsp icing sugar

1 tbsp cocoa

2 tbsp butter or ghee

Method

·       Mix instant coffee, flour, icing sugar by adding water little by little to form a semi-thick syrup to dip the biscuits.

·       Mix the ingredients for icing with water as required.  Keep aside.

·       Dip marie biscuits one by one in the coffee syrup and stack them one on top of the other.

·       Once stacked, apply icing all over this with the help of butter knife.

·       Firmly roll/wrap the biscuit log in a plastic sheet or butter paper and keep in refrigerator until the icing is set.

·       Remove from refrigerator and cut them into slices in a slanting manner.

·       Drizzle chocolate syrup before serving.