Archive for December, 2009

Masala Puri with a twist!

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Or shud I say,Masala Puri without the Puri?

Last month at the Hindu temple here,along with four other friends I cooked for 400 people.Each one was supposed to take up a dish and make it in three hours time,set the buffet table,serve the food and the proceeds went to the temple. It was a different experience handling huge vessels and spoons/spatulas(some which I wasn’t even able to hold).I had made Shahi Dum Aloo(recipe to follow shortly).The Original idea was to make Poori’s to go with the Aloo,but making it for so many was certainly a challenging task.At the last minute we got to know about frying Flour Tortillas instead of making Poori’s.After trying it at home,i realized how perfect they were.On the menu the Tortillas by itself was a hit. A friend of mine had mentioned about using corn tortillas for masala puris.I thought even Flour ones would do good.Making small Puri’s (for all chats) is again a painful job.So to make things easy,I baked these Tortillas until crisp and used them instead of Puri’s.

Being here,so far from India I miss eating so many variety of food,especially chats.Who doesn’t like them??? The only way I can relish is by making them at home.Masala Puri is a very popular street food/chat found in Bangalore. Small Puris are crushed,topped with the Masala ie., nothing but a semi gravy made with few spices.The Puri’s which either get crushed or broken( the ones which cannot be used for making Pani Puri )are used to make Masala Puris.For the Tamarind Dates Chutney you can either settle for the store bought ones or make it from scratch(Cook 5-6 roughly chopped dates in Tamarind water.Once done,use a mixer and grind them well,sieve it.Add 2 tbsp of jaggery and allow it to boil until it thickens).

Preparation Time: 20mins
Serving – 4

Ingredients:For the Masala
1 Cup Frozen Peas(boiled and mashed)
1 medium sized Potato (boiled and mashed)
A tsp chilli powder
As per taste,Salt
A pinch,sugar
2 tbsp Tamarind Dates Chutney(recipe above)
¼ Cup grated Carrot(optional)

Grind to a smooth paste-
¼” cinnamon stick
3 Red and 2 green chillies
4 -5 Mint leaves
1 tbsp coconut(optional)
A tbsp chopped Cilantro
A tsp of each – cumin seeds,coriander seeds,poppy seeds
4 tbsp Dalia (Roasted split pea) – Optional(I prefer without them)
Ginger

For the Puri –
4 Flour Tortillas

Garnishing
A tbsp cilantro (chopped)
½ cup Onion finely chopped
¼ cup Tomatoes finely chopped
½ Cup thin Sev

Method: Add 2 cups of water and bring the masala paste to a quick boil.Add Chilli powder,salt and sugar.When the raw smell disappears add the peas ,tamarind chutney, mashed potatoes along with enough water to cook.Allow it to boil until it reaches a semi gravy consistency. The Dalia and the Potato will act as a thickening agent. In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.Place the Tortillas(you may wana cut them into two or four) on a cookie sheet and bake for about 12 mins or until crisp.Remove and cool.Break them into pieces.

Just before serving,place the broken Tortillas in a serving plate,pour a ladle of Masala Mixture enough to cover the Puri’s,sprinkle chopped tomatoes,onions and cilantro.Garnish with sev.

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Masala Puri always tastes good when its hot…actually piping hot .Instead of Flour you may even try the corn Tortillas.Some dislike the smell of Tortillas,but believe me once they are baked and broken you can hardly make out their taste(this is how I fooled P:-D).Also instead of baking you can just dry toast them in a Tava,it actually takes time but it’s not bad at all.

Verdict: It’s a perfect chat for the evening (especially if you are in 16F like me:-).

Rugelach and am back!

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Note - I have moved my blog from www.aromasfrommykitchen.blogspot.com.

Alright am back.Welcome to my site,I am extremely delighted about having my own space for blogging. A big big thanks to friend R who helped me work this out. After having made peace with Plagiarism I have decided to move on.Thanks for your solidarity.This site was completed a few days back,but had a li’l bit of technical glitches here n there, it’s all done now ….. up and running(Haven’t you heard that a zillion times at work:-))

I wanted to come up with something different and unusual. On my page, you would find Kitchen Vocab & Chemistry -where I will share some tips,ideas etc.The Art work section is for all my creative work.I have worked a li’l on these pages for now,however I will keep updating them . Recipe Index – the name says it all.

I wanted to start blogging with a sweet and baked these cute li’l ones.Rugelach is a cookie made with cream cheese dough spread with any filling such as jam,syrup,cinnamon and nuts.It is called the “ultimate pastry cookie”,also referred as butter or nut horns(origin being European Jewish Community).As far as I know,they come in two shapes,one in the form of small rolls and the most popular being the crescent shaped one.There are again ways to make them,some use sour cream and others use cream cheese (like I did).These doughs are rolled out into circles,sugar,cinnamon and nuts are spread over,cut into pie shape/pizza shapes and rolled up in the form of crescents.I believe in the US the dough is called as “cream cheese dough”.I have tweaked the recipe a li’l as per my requirement.

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Recipe Source : Joy of Cooking book

Preparation Time: 40 min(including baking time,excluding cooling time)

Servings: 16 large crescents and 14 small rectangles

Ingredients:

1 Cup Butter (2 sticks),softened

6 ounces cream cheese(softened)

2 ¼ All Purpose Flour

A tsp ground Cinnamon

1/3 Cup Sugar

¼ cup Strawberry Syrup(The original recipe asked for any fruit preserves or Jam)

¼ Cup mini chocolate chips(Raisins can also be used)

3 tbsp grounded Walnuts/Almonds(coarsely grounded)

Method: Beat Butter and Cream Cheese on medium speed until blended(I used my Kitchen Aid,an electric mixer will do good too).Add the flour and beat until; the dough comes together. Divide the dough into three parts.Flatten one part of it into 6×4” rectangle or 6” circle. Wrap in a plastic and refrigerate for an hour.(I divided them into 1 rectangle and 2 circles).

Preheat oven to 350F.Cover a cookie sheet with Parchment paper.Work with one portion of the dough(leave the remainder refrigerated).Mix Sugar and cinnamon together.

Rectangular Rugelach:

Shape by rolling each portion in to a 16X10” rectangle,about 1/8” thick.Use flour for dusting.Leaving ¼” border spread 1 rectangle with the syrup,place a line of chocolate chips in one end.Sprinkle sugar cinnamon mixture and nuts.Roll the dough starting at the chocolate end ,gently tucking and tightening as you go.Cut the roll into 1 1/2” slices.Repeat with remaining rectangles.(I wanted them to look like cinnamon rolls hence,sliced them really thin).

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Crescent Rugelach:

Shape by rolling each portion into a circle about 14” in diameter.Spread the jam in thin layer,sprinkle cinnamon mixture and the nuts.Cut the circle like a pizza,creating 8 large or 16 small even triangles.Roll up from the wide end to the point,tucking the point under.Repeat with the remaining circles.(I made a small and a large circle)

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Place the Rugelach to the cookie sheet and sprinkle each cookie with the cinnamon sugar mixture.Bake until bottoms are golden brown (top will still be blond),about 25mins.Remove and let stand on a rack until they firm slightly.

Verdict:

I usually buy the crescent rolls and bake them at home, which makes a perfect snack for evening.But nothing can beat the home made ones.The nutty texture really stands out.Its not that fluffy as the usual crescent that we get in grocery store.Its very easy to bake and the ingredients aren’t that complicated.Rugelach rocks!!!

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