Chilli Parotta

A quick, easy and finger-licking snack.. Chilli Parotta is a famous menu item at the hotels (esp. Saravana Bhavan) and Kaiyendi bhavans and my friends vouch for the yummy chilli parottas at Madurai and Thirunelveli.

This version is a popular version served at hotels and street food joints, and of course it is Chinese - Indian Fusion.. This tried and tested receipe is a favourite and has rave reviews from my son and his friends!


Ingredients:

Sumeru Flaky Frozen Parottas - 2 nos
Veggies :
Onions - 2, Spring Onions - 1/2 cup, capsicum - 1 (Cut the onions and capsicum length-wise)
Chillies, slit lengthwise and deseeded (or else, you'll have a red-hot dynamite in your plate)
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Ajinomoto - a pinch
Soya Sauce, Tomato-Chilli Sauce and if your need a sweet tinge, add the sweet chilli sauce too.


1. Thaw the Parottas in a Microwave for a minute. Chop the Parotta pieces, stir fry in hot oil. Keep the crisp pieces aside.

2. In a Kadai, add oil, saute the onions, ginger garlic paste, capsicum pieces with a pinch of ajinomoto. Add the de-seeded chillies according to your levels - hot, hotter, hottest!

3. Stir fry it quickly, add the sauces and toss in the fried parottas. Finally add the spring onions..

And you have a fab menu quickly in place.. Enjoy!
Variation : You can also add the Bajji chillis or molagai during the season

For some hot trivia on chillies,

The Hottest Chilli in the World- Bhut Jolokia

The Bhut Jolokia (also known as Naga Jolokia, Ghost Chili, Ghost Pepper, Naga Morich) is a chilli pepper originating in Assam, India, that has earned Guiness World Records' recognition as the World's Hottest Chilli Pepper!

Weighing in at 1,001,304 Scoville Heat Units(SHUs), the Bhut Jolokia chilli from India blasted the previous champion Red Savina which was at 577,000 SHUs) by almost double.

This landrace chile originates from the northeast of India, particularly Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. It belongs to the Capsicum Chinense family and is known by many names in the different Indian provinces. The most common names include Bhut Jolokia, Bih jolokia, Nagahari, Raja Mircha, Raja chilli or Borbih Jolokia. For example Bih jolokia translates to 'poison chilli' in Assamese. Bhut Jolokia translates to 'Ghost chilli' probably due to its ghostly bite. Raja Mircha means 'King of Chillies'.

Instant Dhokla

A Yummy snack in a jiffy!

Ingredients:

Dhokla Atta – 2 cups
Pinch of turmeric powder
Salt
1-2 cups – sour curd
Eno Fruit salt – 1 sachet
Paste of Corainder leaves, 2 green chillies and ½ lemon
Oil for greasing and tempering
2 tsp sugar dissolved in water (to sprinkle on the dhokla)

For tadka:

1 sliced green chilli
Mustard seeds (optional)
1 – 2 tsp sesame (white til)
1-2 tsp – Grated fresh coconut (optional)
Chopped coraineder

Mix the Dhokla atta, turmeric, salt with curd. Add the coriander paste and whisk it into a smooth paste. Let it stand for 20 minutes. ( The consistency of this batter would be like adai mavu)

Grease a pan with oil, keep it aside.

Just before pouring out this mixture to this pan, add the eno salt and mix it well with your hand. The batter will become fluffy with bubbles and looks light.(Acutally, Eno's fruit salt is an antacid which is a combination of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).. When this is added to the batter which contains water, they release carbon dioxide, and the bubbles trapped in the batter result in a lovely sponge..)

Steam well for 10-15 minutes. Let it cool well before you invert the steamed dhokla.

Sprinkle the sugar water and pour the tadka on top.

Serve with Spciy Mint chutney or Sweet tamarind chutney.

Kara Appam - Kuzhi Paniyaram

You can belt out this recipe quickly with some leftover idli batter and rava. Turns out perfect in a non-stick Kuzhi Paniyaram vessel.




Ingredients:

2 cups Idli batter
1 cup semolina / rava
1/2 cup maida or atta
1/2 cup rice flour
1 finely chopped onion
2 - finely chopped green chillies
Curry leaves - chopped
Cut ginger - 1 tsp
Salt
1/2 cup water (to be added as necessary)


For seasoing the batter : 1 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard, 1 red chilli, asafoetida

Method:

1. Mix all the items with the seasoned idli batter. Add little water to this batter.

2. You should be able to take out the batter with a spoon and put in the "Kuzhi Paniyaram" kal.

3. Add little oil to each crevice in the kal and fill the batter in. Cook in medium flame and turn it around with a fork.



4. Serve with chutney / sambar

Tomato Salsa

Salsa time! Enjoy with Tacos or Tortillas..

Ingredients

5-6 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 small green bell pepper or capsicum - (in whatever colors you get)
1 garlic cloves, finely chopped (if needed)
6 onions, finely sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh corainder leaves
1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeño chilis ( Pickled Jalapenos are available bottled in Nuts & Spices)
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp olive oil

Method :

1. The secret to a good salsa is the right texture of tomato. The presence of seeds and fleshy centre part would make the salsa too liquid.
2. To seed the tomatoes, cut the tomato crosswise in half and squeeze each half gently over a bowl to remove the seeds. (OR) You can also cut the tomato in to two, place in the conventional pre- heated oven for 5 minutes. Take it out from the oven and scoop the centre part.
3. Toss the rest of the ingredients and refrigerate it so that it would be crunchy.

Muesli Bars

One way of eating Muesli - Sometimes I do hate a cold breakfast..

When you are on the run (always we do!), carry these Muesli bars as breakfast!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup demerrara or brown sugar
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup Muesli (preferably the ones with dry fruits)
1 tbslp almonds / peanuts
1 tbslp dessicated coconut
1 tbslp sesame seeds (white til)

1. Preheat a conventional oven to High and keep a greased square baking pan ready.
2. Meanwhile, heat a sauce pan over low heat. Add butter, brown sugar and honey. Just wait till the sugar melts.
3. Now remove from heat. Add muesli, almonds, coconut and sesame seeds.
4. Mix this mixture and pack this in to the prepared baking pan
5. Bake for 10 mins, until the top becomes golden brown.
6. Allow to cool and then cut into bars.

Crispy Baby Corn Fritters

Yummy baby corn crispies, goes well with fried rice! This was last weekend's creative output!

I was too lazy to make the original sweet chilli dip to go with the fritters. So I just took out the Schezuan ready made stir fry, sauteed in a hot oil (about 1 tsp of oil) for less than a minute, and mixed 2 tsp of sweet chilli sauce and my lip smacking dip was ready!

For the coating batter for baby corn, instead of maida, you could also try out with corn flour.. but make sure its served hot!


Baby Corn - 1 cup (sliced lengthwise)
1 tablespoon maida
Ajinomoto - A Pinch
1 tablespoons, garlic finely chopped
1 tsp, fresh red chillies, finely chopped
Green chilli paste - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil
Lemoneez - 1 tsp

Method :

1. Add little water to maida and add all the rest of the ingredients.
2. The coating should not be too thick (Nor too thin)
3. In a pan, heat the oil, fry the baby corn fritters.
4. Serve hot immediately with a sweet chilli dip (Schezuan Sauce Stir Fry + Sweet chilli sauce)

Paneer Balls

A quick evening light snack. Watch it disappear when it is served hot!

Ingredients

Paneer – 200 gm – (Shredded)
Green Chillies – 2
Pepper Powder – 1 tsp
Baking Powder – A Pinch

Bread – 4 slices
Curd – 5 tsp
Maida – 3 tsp
Cashew nuts - 15


Grate the paneer, add the cut green chilles and baking powder. Make it in to a dough.

Cut the edges of the bread, smear curd on both sides, leave it for a minute.

Now add this to the dough. Add pepper powder and maida to the dough.

Make this in to nice rolls/ balls with a cashewnut inside.

Deep fry in medium flame

To be served with Mint Chutney / Tomato Chutney.