Street Smart: Aloo Tikki Chaat

I love standing by stalls - heat/rain - no barrier, just digging into whatever particular food that I was in the mood for that day. Panipuris, Chaat, Kachori Chaat, Pav Bhaji, Dahibara aludum, Vada pav, Dosa, Chuski, Momos, Chicken chops - there is nothing that you cannot find in the streets of India. You move from north to west to east and then down south - you will find variations of various food in its most deliciousness when you turn every corner. And you have your favorites in all those places. I mean you have to have jaleba from the corner of Chandni chowk[Delhi] when it is freshly fried and then dunked on to sugar syrup before being handed out to you. Or have Dahibara Aludum from Naya Sarak[Cuttack] and follow it up with ice golas to soothe your burning throat. And I could write entire posts on the multifarious street food from all corners of India.

 

 But, this is just the beginning. The paeans and odes to joy will follow in the wake of more blog posts. Bear with me when I do that. You know that I am justified. So coming back to this post - I am probably beginning with one of the easiest to make at home snacks or quick dish to served at a street food themed party. And it is delicious. And easy to make. Need I say more. The recipe for the matar curry is my beginning post for this blog. It is simple but remember - for this recipe you need to add one more whistle. This will give make your curry a more stewy version and perfect canvas to build your chat for the crowd. Check out the recipe at here.

 

Make your tikkis:
4 medium potatoes boiled
2tsp red chili powder
2tsp garam masala
2tsp cumin powder
salt
a handful of chopped coriander leaves
Oil for frying
Mash the potatoes. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix everything together. Make small balls and then flatten it with your palms.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Fry tikkis till golden brown on both sides.

Assembling your Chaat:
Matar curry
Tikkis
3 medium onions sliced
2 lemon wedges
Coriander leaves chopped
Sev depending on how much you want[Haldiram's Aloo Bhujia is a good choice but check out your local shops for cool combinations]
Imli ki chutney
Put the curry at the bottom of the bowl. Add a tablespoon of chutney
Arrange the tikkis - maybe three to four per serving.
Put some onions on top.
Sprinkle lemon juice. Then sprinkle coriander leaves and sev.
Serve with bowls of lemon wedges, coriander leaves and sev for the guests to pile on when they want.

Leftover Takeover: Chicken Samosa

After the first re-heating, there are very few times that you want to go back for another helping of one paricular dish. And thats the time when you pull a rabbit out the hat and make something ingenious with the dish. Well, the author tries. This particular dish is not very ingenious but it is a tasty way to use up leftover chicken curry or masala and it certainly is a very good snack for evening tea. Vegetarians, stop right here.
I posted a recipe for chicken curry earlier which forms the basis for this dish. You can heat this up and vaporize all the water out of the curry. And make some dough for the curry to fill in to. If you are in the mood -  like I was - then you could make your dough from scratch. The recipe from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking gives excellent results. I am going to include the recipe here if you want to make your dough but otherwise you can buy store-bought samosa patti available in Spencer's or Big Bazaar. It cuts down your cooking time drastically and makes this recipe really leftover takeover. The trick is to get all your various dishes ready so as to assemble and fry your samosas quickly.

Samosa Dough:
1&3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup oil
1tbsp salt
1/2 cup water
Sift flour and salt together. Heat all the oil.
Make a hole in the flour. Add the oil. Mix it together with a fork. The oil will be too hot to handle otherwise. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.
Add the water slowly and knead it to a smooth dough.

Making Samosas:
Chicken Curry
Samosa dough
Chopped onions
Lemon wedges
Oil for frying
Chop the chicken into small pieces. Mix with chopped onions. Sprinkle the juice of lemon and fold everyting together.
If you are using samosa dough, make balls and roll out into rotis. Cut it in half. Fold the half circles into one side. Fill the cones with the filling. Seal the edges with water.
Heat oil in a pan. When the oil becomes smoky, add the samosas. The oil should sizzle in contact. If it does not, you need to let it heat up for a few minutes more. Fry till samosas are golden brown. Serve hot with red chili sauce and a nice cup of tea.

Onion Pakoras in Five Steps

The author loves her fried food. Fry mostly anything[except fish or seafood] and she will happily consume it with some chai or coke. And be grateful to you. Because this love began early, her interest in cooking also began early. The whole drama of whisking a batter, coating all the manner of food in it and then watching it sizzle in hot oil - how could she resist! The years have long gone but this almost childish anticipation has not yet left her. And so yet again I go on the road of pakoras. Back home, pakoris would be sourced from this local place near High court which caters to people from the whole expanse of the town. And when it is brought home, its heady scents would invariably be accompanied by hot, freshly brewed ginger tea. This post is my attempt to recreate those times - complete with picture albums and all.

The pakoras of this recipe is made of onions, chillies and coriander leaves. And a particular favorite of mine on certain cold days with too much rain and not enough sunshine. You can slice or chop the onions and the chillies and finely mince the coriander leaves. A little more assembly of ingredients and you are good to go. Trust me, when you have a bite of this, it will soon become a tradition. So, here I go - onion pakoras in five simple steps.

Ingredients:
6 small onions
2 green chillies chopped
1 bunch of coriander leaves, minced
2 tsp red chili powder
1tsp garam masala
salt to taste
baking soda a pinch
2/3rd cup of besan or gram flour
1/2 cup of water
Oil for frying

Step one:
Slice onions, chop chillies and mince coriander leaves. Mix all of them together.

Step two:
Mix the besan with 1 tsp of oil. Add the spice powders, salt and baking soda. Mix. Pour the water in a steady stream until a thick-ish batter is formed.

Step three:
Heat oil.

Step four:
Add the onion mix and fold everything together. If you think the batter is too thin, add besan. If it is too thick, then add a tablespoon of water.

Step five:
Drop a little batter into the oil. If it starts to sizzle, then start adding spoonfuls of batter into the oil. Fry till golden brown.

Though technically it is five steps, there is a sixth step. That would be to brew some tea, add red chili sauce to the side and serve the pakoras hot alongside it. And life will be good.

Shree Datta Vada pav

So the plan was wake up at around seven and leave by seven-thirty and be on the hills in the next hour. But, plans rarely go like clockwork. So it was delayed by a couple of hours. And by the time the hills were in sight, we were all hungry [ even though we all had breakfast] and my cousin would not stop raving about this highway side snacks place - Shree Datta Snacks. The place on the Mumbai-Pune expressway is a detour but one you absolutely have to take.
The place is surrounded by major franchise chains - Subway, Mcdonalds, KFC - as well as other food stores. And yet, this place is full to the brim. Families laughing and dining together, friends chatting, kids running around even as others walk in - all of them munching on vada pav or digging into sabudana khichdi and misal pav. When my brother got the order, we all carried our plates to side stand and started digging into our vada pav.

 You know that's when I realized something. Nobody does it like the Maharasthrians. The batata vada before would be encased with thick, doughy flour and the bread or the pav is too dense and kills any flavor that you might have from the cutlet. And, a tart chutney that would make everything unbearable.

This order from this innocuous place was so, so different. My time in Pune was a revelation. When I had the first one - my taste buds found their new addiction. I mean I was having them every other day. And then when you have from this particular place, you know you have been changed. The mashed potato is spicy and is coated with crispy besan batter. And, there is something different about the bread here. It is soft and melt in the mouth. The dish is served with a spice powder and a chilly. And, once you have taken your first bite, you really fall into it - ravenous for more.
So, when you are on the road and want something quick and portable, stop at this watering hole and have yourself this snack with a hot cup of chai. It is totally worth it.

Location: Mumbai-Pune Expressway
What to try: Vada pav, Misal Pav, Sabudana khichdi
Rating: 5/5

Anda chop

In the heart of Oriyaland chops carry a different connotation. They come in a range of vegetables and meats encased with a shell of mashed potatoes, crumbed and fried. Lamb, mutton, chicken, egg, vegetables, potato - they all undergo this uniform and delicious treatment and people go far and wide to avail themselves of this delicacy. There are people who chart the map of the town based on which places sell these crispy fried mouthfuls. My mother learned to make these chops for chai in the afternoons because I loved it so much - which would account for my growing weight in the pre-teen and teen years.This post is dedicated to my favorite among all these varied offerings.

The egg chop is one of those snacks that you have once a week and then salivate about it for the rest of the month until you break down and give into the urge to make it again. Unless of course you take a vacation home and have it every alternate day. The key to this is having the eggs done just right - not soft nor hard but the perfect yellow yoke. Then of course you have to have the potatoes boiled right so that the mash is firm enough to form a shell around the egg and then have the batter stick around it.

The boiling of eggs and potatoes are the main waiting parts. The assembly is easy and made with minimal of ingredients. After that it is almost surprisingly easy - going one after the other till you have a golden brown crispy exterior and melt-in-the-mouth interior. And I will stop before I descend into a stream of cliches.

Mise-en-place:
2 eggs
3 medium potatoes
Peel potatoes and cut into quarters. Add into the water along with the eggs.
For the eggs bring the water to boil and then lower down to simmer. Cook for twelve minutes. Remove after twelve.
Cook the potatoes for seven more minutes.

Ingredients:
Boiled eggs and potatoes
2tsp Red chilli powder
2tsp garam masala
salt to taste.
3tbsp besan or gramflour
water as required.

Method:
Make batter with the besan and add water to make a thick batter. Season with Red chilli powder, garam masala and salt. This step depends on the eyes-whenever you feel right just stop.
Mash the potatoes and season with red chilli powder, garam masala and salt.
Slice the eggs. Take a handful of mashed potatoes and encase it on the eggs so that the it resemblance a complete egg.
Dip into the batter.
Heat oil. Add the eggs one after the other. Fry till golden brown.
Serve with red chilli sauce or coriander chutney.

Afternoon Snack

Remember what Nigella Lawson keeps saying, "It's so easy its almost embarrassing". The recipe of this particular post seems to be an embodiment of that line.

It began with the thought of making cream of mushroom soup. The larder, however, was empty of cream and butter. So the soup became a fusion - something that came midway between French and Asian or as my friend called it after tasting it, an "updated Kerala stew". Well, whatever you call it, it has now become my perfect lazy Saturday afternoon snack when you want something very quick and do not want to potter around the kitchen for an extended period of time. I mean all you have to do is chop some onions, garlic and mushrooms. The chillies are optional - if you want the added heat by all means go ahead.
The end result is light yet creamy with a touch of heat. Have it with crusty bread for an absolute feel good late afternoon snack.

Ingredients:
3tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
2 green chillies
250gms button mushrooms
1 large potato
1tbsp flour
1 and 1/2 cup water
1/2 cube of vegetable stock
2tsp paprika
salt to taste
1 cup coconut milk
Red chili flakes[for garnish]

Mise-en-place:
Mince garlic. Chop onions and green chillies. Slice the potato and mushrooms.

Method:
Heat oil.
Add garlic and stir for five seconds. Stir in onions.
Sprinkle a pinch of salt and stir so that the onions do not brown. Cook for ten minutes.
Add the flour and mix through the onions for five minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of water and the stock cube. Stir the mixture.
Add the mushrooms and potato. Sprinkle paprika and salt. Add the rest of the water. Simmer for fifteen minutes.
Finally stir in the coconut milk. Adjust for seasoning. Simmer for final five minutes.
Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle red chili flakes on them. Serve with slices of bread or spoon in some rice along with it for a light lunch or snack.

The consummate hostess's favorite snack

This particular post is a tribute to a very close friend of mine who introduced me to the delights of Poha - Tulika Bathija. Poha is a Maharasthrian dish that can be eaten for breakfast or an afternoon snack and always served with chai. There were times in my early postgraduate days when on Sundays we would wake up to smells of tempered mustard, onions and chillies, the sound of kettle buzzing, the tinkle of spoons as they stirred sugar in the cups of tea[they were pink cups as I recall]. It was like the piper's call, one by one all of us would end up in her room and be handed heaping plates of almost golden, lemon-scented goodness.

Now that she has left the building and gone back home, it seems like a good enough time to write this post and remember those memories.
The dish is made with puffed rice as the main ingredient and finished with a dash of lemon. The base tempering is made with onions, chillies and turmeric and you really can't go wrong with them. Poha combines the ease of cooking with the concentration of the right taste so that it is the perfect food on the go.

Ingredients:
500 gm poha
1tbsp mustard seeds
3 medium onions sliced
4 green chillies slitted
2tbsp turmeric
1tbsp red chilli powder
salt to taste
1 tbsp lemon juice
a bunch of coriander leaves chopped
2tbsp vegetable oil

Method:
Wash the poha and keep it aside.
Heat oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add the the chopped onions and chillies. Cook till the onions are softened. That will be for about 10 minutes.
Add turmeric, red chilli powder.
Fold in the poha and then season it with salt.
Finally when ready to serve add in the lemon juice and coriander leaves on it. Serve with hot cups of strong chai. 

5 am Pakoras

Hegel, cravings and five am - in some parallel universe it might make sense, but in this one it meant a trip to check the supplies at hand for a really late night snack. In the perfect world there might be leftover fried chicken or egg fried rice kindly left to assuage your hunger. However since I am a very greedy person and not at all a domestic goddess all I could find staring back at me were one small onion, one red chilly and half a potato. And what I wanted out of them - pakoras. Crazy, I know!
Crispy, melt-in-the-mouth, golden brown, pakoras are the ultimate Indian snack food. Served with tea, for breakfasts, as starters for main course meals or a welcome morsel for guests it is as versatile as it is delicious. And apparently I have found a new use for it - satisfying late night cravings when you are deep into  studying western philosophy and you need something desperately unhealthy.

This recipe is very easy to make and can be adapted to any time when you are hungry and can spare a few minutes to make it.
Ingredients:
1 small onion
1 red chilly
Half a large potatoes
1 tbsp red chilly powder
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp amchur
1 tsp kasuri methi
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 cup besan/gram flour
water as required
Oil for frying
Chop the potatoes, onion and chilly into a tiny dices. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix in. Add the water slowly to achieve a thick paste like consistency.
Heat oil in the pan/wok enough to immerse the pakoras. Add spoonfuls of batter. Fry till golden brown.
Serve hot with red chilli sauce and if you like a can of coke.