samosa

Now this vegetarian variety has got to be one of the most popular foods. I dont really know anyone that doesn’t like samosas. The crispy light pastry encasing a mouth-watering vegetable filling is a huge hit in our household and amongst our friends. I make samosa at least once a fortnight and find it to be a perfect lunch item or a snack with garma garam masala chai.

What is it about these little triangular deep fried pastries that is so soul satisfying? Is it the crispy pastry or the mystery of what it is encasing? Yes they are deep fried, yes, the pastry is white flour and I am certain they are calorie laden but ohhhh it is so utterly comforting to eat a samosa or two or even three four five….

Brimming with fresh vegetables, spices and cilantro, the vegetable Samosa is a perfect rainy day snack, easy to make and just as easy to eat I might add.

I usually serve these with nariyal chutney (please see previous blogs) and quite often in our household, they are the main meal.  When I make samosa for lunch, I rarely have to prepare other dishes for the meal (who wants to eat anything else when samosas
are on the menu?)

Samosas filling

3/4 cup chana daal – soaked for a couple of hours in water

1/2 tea sp salt

2 potatoes,cut in small cubes

1 cup green peas

1 caroot (grated)

1 small onian (cut in to small cubes)

3/4 tab oil  (for waghar)

1 tea sp fungreek seed

1 1/2 tea sp salt

3/4 tea sp turmeric powder

1/4 tea sp garam masala

3/4 citric acid

1 tea sp salt

Chapatis ( makes appx 25)

3 cup white fl

2 tea sp salt

1 tab sp vinegar

3/4 water

Oil for deep frying.

To make a paste

appx 5 /6 tab sp white fl

3/4 tab sp water

Boil the chana daal in water add 1/2 tea sp salt drain and keep on the side.

Take 3/4 tab  oil in a pot. Heat this oil add fungreek when it starts to crak add potato cubes and green peas. Mix well add salt,turmeric,chili powder, and cook on medium heat add the dal and cook some more while stirring at regular intervals until vegy done. Let it cool,add citric acid,sugar,garam masala,gretted carrots and choped onians. Mix well.

Chapatis

Mix all toghter in a bowl, knead into a dough if its too stiff then add couple tab sp water. Devide the dough in to appx 25 portions. Roll each portion make thin chapati. Heat the flat pan and cook on both sides each few sec.

make the paste by mixing the listed “paste ingredients”

Dived all the chapatis in to 2. Give it a triangle shape seal on the side with paste. Stuf the above prepared masala and seal from the top sing the paste.

Deep fry samosas on medium heat.   Tastes good with coconut chatni.

Mandhazi – More street food at home

Now here is a reminder of East Africa if you ever needed one.  This scumptious doughnutlike deep fried pastry is a snack sold in most local tea houses and by street vendors in Tanzania.  They are commonly known as East African Doughnuts.   I normally make Mandhazi for Sunday brunch or breakfast when my son and nephews are around.

There are of course many variations to this dish but I have used the basic recipe, obtained from the locals.  I do not use coconut milk to bind the dough, or for that matter milk.  Mildly sweet these can be served with chai, kahawa or even with savoury food like Bharazi.  The Mandhzi differ from the regular doughnuts as they are not glazed or drenched in sugar or syrup or injected with sticky jam but they are delicious nonetheless.

I do hope you will try making these at home and let the delicious aroma take you to East Africa…..

MANDHAZ

 

2 cups white flour

4 tab sp gree

6 tab sp sugar

1 1/2 tea sp baking powder

water.

oil for  frying

Mix all above ingredients with warm water.Knead the dough well until its nice and soft.Cover and set aside for an hr or two.Divide the dough in to balls .Roll in to circle appx 1/2 an inch,cut in to four pieces,keep on the side for 30 min.Deep fry.

 

 

USAD BHAT

This is a one pot rice dish that used to be very popular choice for Sunday lunch at my in-laws place.   I have adapted the recipe to suit my taste and added several different vegetables which were not part of the original recipe.  Essentially, this is rice cooked in coconut milk with loads of vegetables added and the result is a delicious one pot meal.

The ladies that belonged to the Dar Mahila Mandal will very quickly notice the adaptations. The dish does take some preparation time but anyone who loves rice and coconut will love this particular recipe.

The fragrance of coconut permeates through the rice and vegetable dish which I recommend you serve piping hot perhaps with a side salad and yoghurt.

Here is what you need and how you make this simple dish.

1  cup rice

2 cups coconut milk

1 cup cabbage shreded

1/2 cup guwar cut in to small pieces

1/2 cup french beans

1/2 cup pegeon peas

1/2 cup peas

1/2 cup corn

1 onion chopped

2 stufed potatoes ( see recipy for bharulu shak )

2 stuffed brijal (small egg plant)

3/4 tab sp oil

1 tea sp ginger paste

1 tea sp chili paste

1/2 tea sp garlic paste

1 1/2 tea sp salt

1/2 tea sp turmeric powder

1/2 cup crushed tomatoes

Put oil in the pot,add chopped onians stir until turns golden.add cabage stir for few min.Add carlic,ginger and green chili paste add rice stir again add all the above ingredients mix well and let it cook on medium heat.

USAD BHAT

This is a one pot rice dish that used to be very popular choice for Sunday lunch at my in-laws place.   I have adapted the recipe to suit my taste and added several different vegetables which were not part of the original recipe.  Essentially, this is rice cooked in coconut milk with loads of vegetables added and the result is a delicious one pot meal.

 

 

The fragrance of coconut permeates through the rice and vegetable dish which I recommend you serve piping hot perhaps with a side salad and yoghurt.

 

Here is what you need and how you make this simple dish.

1  cup rice

2 cups coconut milk

1 cup cabbage shreded

1/2 cup guwar cut in to small pieces (optional)

1/2 cup french beans

1/2 cup pegeon peas

1/2 cup peas

2 stufed potatoes 

2 stuffed brijal / eggplants

1  tab spoon oil

1 1/2 tea spoon salt

1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder

1/2 cup crushed tomatoes or chopped

Hand ful peanuts

Topra Pak (Coconut Ice) the Guju way

My son Vishal loves this sweet.  A very simple and delightful mithai that is so easy to cook.  Sometimes when I am in a more indulgent mood, I add a layer of chocolate to this topra pak once its set. The one thing I can say about this particular mithai is that if you love coconut as much as I do, then you will have a difficult time keeping away from the mithai tin….it is so more..ish

For a more fascinating twist you can divide the mixture (once cooked) into two or three and and a drop of food color to each portion then layer these and leave to set.

TOPRA PAAK

Grease and line a cake tin in readiness for the cooked mixture to be poured in (use a little oil to grease)

7 cups shredded coconut

3 cups sugar

1/2 pint/236 ml whipping cream.

Mix all together and  cook on medium heat, stirring continuosly for appx 15 min or until the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of pan.  Spread on a dish cool and cut in to pieces while the mixture is relatively warm (as the topra pak cools it will harden)