Cone Chaat

"Chaat"! If  hearing the sound of that din't explode a bag of flavors in your mind then I don't know what will! Here's presenting to you a very fresh version of our very loved street food. Simple, homemade and absolutely finger-linckingly good.

CONE CHAAT: Straight from the Indian Streets, a finger lickingly good snack!

Category:Vegetarian

Best served: As an appetizer

Serves: 4

Preparation Time: 2 hours

Serving Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:  

• For homemade cones:  flour - 2 cups
•  salt to taste
• oil- 1 1/2 tbsp
• ajwain seeds- 2 tsp
• water for kneading
• oil for frying
• cone shaped steel mould

• For filling: boiled chickpeas- 1/2 cup
• boiled potatoes- 3 (medium sized)
• tamarind pulp
• salt to taste
• fresh green chilies- finely chopped (1-2)

• For yogurt ice cream : hung curd- 2 cup
• castor sugar- 6 tsp
• date chutney- 6 tbsp
• black salt- 1 1/2 tsp

• For garnish : date chutney
• fresh pomegranate seeds
• mint chutney
• bhujia
• mint leaf

Method: In a bowl add  the hung curd, castor sugar, date chutney and black salt. Whip it well and place it inside a freezer for about one and a half hour so it sets like an ice cream. For preparing the dough of the cones. Sieve the flour, salt and ajwain seeds together in a bowl. Add oil and water to bind the ingredients into a tight dough. Keep the dough aside and rest it for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, set aside a pan on medium high flame with oil for deep frying the cones. Roll out the entire dough into thin round sheets (like we do for flat bread) and cut these sheets into vertical thin slits. Take the steel mold and apply oil on the mold. Carefully place one slit on the top of the mold and start rolling it along. Keep joining the other slits along the mold by applying water to neatly join the ends. Deep fry the cone along the mold in the pan. As soon as the cone is fried it would leave the ends of the mold itself and you can take out the mold to fry the other cones similarly. To make things clearer this is how it should look:

Now for the filling take a bowl and add into it mashed boiled potatoes, finely chopped green chilies, salt and tamarind pulp. Mix these ingredients well until they transform into a fine mash that can be piped out into the cone. 

While serving the yummilicious cone chaat place the cone on top of a shot glass and start piping it with our tangy boiled potato mash. Fill the cone about midway with the mash and then put in some boiled chickpeas. Place on it a huge dollop of our hung curd ice cream. Garnish the cone with some pomegranate seeds, bhujia, date and mint chutney, along with a mint leaf.
A lipsmackingly delicious appetizer is ready in no time!

Tomato Rice

Tomato Rice: Looking for a quick yet filling main course? This mouth watering one pot recipe is the perfect fit. 

Category: Vegetarian main course
Preparation Time: 20-30 minutes
Cooking Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients: 

• Tomatoes- 5-6 (big sized)
• Onions-2 (big sized)
• Garlic-6 cloves
• Green chilly -3
• Ginger- 5 julienne
• Salt to taste
• Red pepper powder-3/4th tsp
• Garam masala- 3/4th tsp
• Coriander powder- 3/4th tsp
• Kasuri Methi (Dried Fenugreek Leaves)
• Butter- 50gm
• Oil-3 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
• Basmati Rice- 3 cups
• Fresh Mint leaves and ginger julienne for garnish.

Method: 

• Soak the rice in a bowl of water for 30 mins before boiling for enhancing the flavor and reducing it's cooking time.
• Finely chop tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chilly and cut the onion into very thin slices.
• Heat water in a vessel until it come's to boil and add salt as per your taste. Now drain the water from your rice and add the rice into the boiling water. Cook until par boiled and then strain the water.
• In pan heat 3 tbsp oil and add mustard seeds, ginger, garlic and green chilly. Saute until ginger garlic turns golden.
• Now add your thin slices of onion and 10 gm of butter, cook until golden brown. Add the tomatoes and saute until cooked.
• Add red pepper powder, coriander powder, kasuri methi and garam masala to the tomatoes.
• Now add half of your boiled rice to the mix along with 20gm butter and mix well. Then add the rest of your rice along with 20gm more butter and stir until mixed.
• Serve hot with ginger julienne and fresh mint leaves.

Paneer Kathi Roll

Paneer Kathi Roll: Looking for a quick yet filling evening snack? This mouth watering wrap is not only yummy but absolutely nutritious to serve the purpose.

Category: Vegetarian snack
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 5-10 minutes

• Ingredients: Paneer or Cottage Cheese- 250 gm
• Bell peppers (red,yellow,green)- 1 each
• Onions-3
• Tomato puree- 1 cup
• Spring onion greens
• Garlic-6 cloves
• Lettuce leaves
• Green chillies-3
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper powder-3/4th tsp
• Chings chilly chutney - 1tbsp
• Wheat / refined flour for the dough 
• Oil-3 tbsp

• Method: First make a dough of refined flour or wheat as you do for your regular chapattis. Then make thin chapattis out of the dough and half cook them. You can also take the ready made tortillas for the same. Keep them aside. Now for the filling,finely chop the garlic,green chillies and spring onion greens. Finely slice the bell peppers and onions and cut the paneer into small cubes. Heat a pan and put oil in it, saute garlic and green chillies in it. After the garlic turns a little golden brown put the sliced onions and saute until they turn a little pink, add bell peppers and spring onion greens to it. Now add the black pepper and salt. Put the tomato puree and stir for 2 minutes until it turns thick.Add the chilly chutney into it and mix well. Then lastly add the paneer cubes and turn the heat off. 
• For the roll, take the half cooked chapatti and put a lettuce leaf on it. Then add the filling on to it and fold the chapatti like a roll. You could also stick it with a toothpick if the roll seems to be messy. Now grill the roll or heat it on a non stick pan until the chapatti is cooked.
• Cut the roll into a slant and serve it with a dip of mayonnaise and tomato ketchup.

Sandwich Dhokla

Sandwich Dhokla: A Gujarati delicacy which is absolutely refreshing to the palate is the spongy Khamman Dhokla. A little twist to which is the 'sandwich' part,nowadays easily available at food stores.Here goes your home made sandwich dhokla..

• Category: Vegetarian

• Preparation Time: 15 minutes

• Cooking Time: 6 minutes

• Ingredients: For the Dhokla: Gram flour or Besan - 2 cups
• Semolina or Suji- 1/2 cup
• Eno or baking soda- 1and a half tsp or 1 sachet
• Salt to taste
• Curd- 1 cup or more
• Paneer or cottage cheese: 100 gms
• Green chutney and tomato chutney
• For the Tadka: 
• Water: 1 cup or more
• Lemon- 1
• Sugar-2 -3 tsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• Sesame seeds- 1 tsp
• Curry leaves- 4 to 5
• Oil- 2 tbsp
• Green chillies-2 to 3
• Grated coconut 
• Chopped coriander

• Method: In a bowl mix gram flour,semolina,salt and curd. Beat it quickly so that no lumps are formed, till it comes into a smooth batter consistency (add more curd if the batter seems thick). Keep it for rest for at least 15 minutes. On the other hand take a pan and add oil in it. After the oil is heated add mustard seeds, sesame seeds, curry leaves and slit green chillies into it and stir for about 2 minutes until they crackle. Then add water to the tadka, along with a squeezed lemon and sugar and bring it to a boil,then turn the heat off. Now take the batter which was put to rest and add a sachet of eno or baking soda to it,mix it properly and quickly put it in a greased container. Put the container in the microwave for about 5 and a half minutes.
• Take the dhokla out after two minutes and check if its properly cooked from all sides otherwise you can microwave it for about a minute more. After you think your dhokla is done add the prepared tadka onto it and refrigerate it for about 3-4 hours.
• While you are about to serve your dhokla slit the dhokla into two parts put green chutney on one half and tomato chutney on other. Keep cottage cheese between the two halves and close it. Garnish it with green coriander and grated coconut and cut it into pieces. Best served chilled along with a dip of tomato ketchup and hung curd.

Grilled Soya Chaap

GRILLED SOYA CHAAP: Straight from the Indian Rasoi, an absolutely sinful delicacy is this pan fried and grilled soya chaap.

Category:Vegetarian

Best served: As a snack, best when served piping hot,with tea

Serves:2

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:  

• For marination:  Garlic paste - 1 tsp
•  ginger paste- 1 tsp
• green chilly paste- 1/2 tsp
• salt to taste
• chilly flakes-1/2 tsp
• crushed black pepper-1/2 tsp

• For grilling: refined oil or butter
• soya chaap - 4 sticks
• grill pan

• For accompaniment : hung curd-1/2 cup
• mint paste-1/2 tsp
• salt to taste
• green chilly paste-1/2 tsp
• finely sliced onions
• finely sliced carrot

Method: Take the soya chaap sticks and with the help of a knife put slits on both sides of the chaap so that it gets marinated properly. In a bowl mix ginger and garlic paste,green chilly paste, red chilly flakes,crushed black pepper and salt to taste. Put this marinade on the soya sticks and keep aside for about half an hour. After hour an hour heat the grill pan and put oil/butter on it. Grill roast the chaap sticks on medium heat until cooked golden brown.Let it char a bit,it tastes great that way.
For the chutney mix mint paste,green chilly paste,salt and hung curd together.
Serve it with sliced onion and carrot salad.


 

Gourmet Central

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Well, as the name says it all, this blog is going to be only about Food, Food and more of Food! With some interesting recipes,some quick fix smart tricks, some ready to eat snacks, some lavish main courses, some yummy desserts, some party poppers and some refreshing drinks. It will be an effort to bring it all on a single platter.
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