Dhokla

First time when I had Dhokla (a dish of Gujarat) I was like 17yrs. That time I was pretty busy with my studies and all, so never gave it a thought about it. That is the age where cooking is not your option & all you know is to educate yourself & enjoy life.

Later years life has changed. Now it’s time I have to think about cooking. So then can a friend in my life who invited me to her house for a tea party. She was also a newly married just like me & she was experimenting in cooking. She made “Dhokla” for our tea party & that’s when I got this recipe from her to try it out. 

Yields: 6 Cupcake dhoklas

Ingredients 

1 Cup besan flour
1 Tsp. sugar
1 Tsp. lemon juice
1/2 Cup curd
1/2 cup water 
1 Tbs. ginger green chili paste
Pinch of hing
3/4 Tsp. baking soda 
Pinch of turmeric 
Salt for taste 
For seasoning  
1 Tbs. mustard 
1 Tbs. sugar 
2 Tbs. lemon juice
10 Curry leaves 
5 Gree chilies slit in to half
1 Tbs. Olive oil

Grease a pan with butter & keep aside. I used silicon cupcake molds as you see in the picture so skipped this step.
In a bowl take all the ingredients other than baking soda & mix them well.  Add the baking soda to the mixture and stir it once & don't over do it. 
Now pour the batter in to the greased bowl & either steam cook it or microwave it. 

I steam cooked them for 15mins & checked it by inserting a tooth pick in it. Once it came out clean I removed the cupcake dhokla's & allowed them to cool for some time. 
Mean while heat a pan with oil for seasoning & add mustard, curry leaves & green chilies to it. Once the mustard starts jumping add a 1/4 cup water to the pan. To that add sugar & lemon juice & allow sugar to dissolve. Switch off heat. 

Now gently remove the dhokla on to a plate & spread the seasoning on to it.
Serve it right away.

Note: 
1. I used baking soda instead of Eno. So feel free to use Eno while trying.
2. Microwave method saves little more cooking time. Try it @ your convenience. 

Pudina Kothimeera Pachadi | Putina Kottumalli Thuvaiyal | Green Chutney | Coriander Mint Chutney

Sharing a simple condiment, which is called as Hari chutney /Green chutney in India. This is one those dishes which goes perfectly with any chat pakoda, fritter & any finger food you want to. They flavors of the greens are very well balanced with lime, garlic & ginger. 

Yeilds : 1 Serving

Ingredients

1/2 Cup coriander 

1/2 Cup mint

1/2 Tsp. minced garlic

1 Tsp. minced ginger

1 Tbs. lemon juice

3 Green Chilis 

2 Tbs. grated coconut

Salt for taste 

In a blender add all the ingredients. Blend them till they are smooth. Take the chutney in a container & serve it as you want. 

Note: 

- Instead of lime juice you can add tamarind pulp or amchur powder as replacements in emergency.

- Adding coconut is optional. I love coconut when serving it with dosa or idli.

Baingan Bharta

   Long weekends are always fun to have. But the after holidays blues are hard.I feel lazy to do anything around & just love to stuck myself on a sofa with a good drama. This long weekend is no different from the other, we went to beach, watched an idiotic movie "the World's End" & did a little shopping of grocery & other stuff. So now it's time for me to get back to reality & start working on the blogging marathon again. Wishing myself a good luck with that & I'm here sharing a regional dish for Maharashtra, Bengal, Orissa & Bihar. (Acc. to wikipedia) This dish has a smoky flavor to it becoz of grilling it on a stove top & that makes this dish more delectable. 

Yields : 2 Servings

Ingredients

1 Large eggplant/brinjal

½ Cup chopped onions

1 Cup chopped tomatoes

1 Tsp. ginger garlic paste

1 Tsp. garam masala

1 Tsp. paprika

½ Tsp. turmeric

1 Tsp. mustard

1 Tsp. jeera

1 Tbsp. Olive oil

1 Tbsp. Cilantro for garnish

Salt

- Place eggplant on your stove top & cook it in medium heat. Rotate the eggplant on the burner to cook it on all sides. You can see the brinjal getting softer on all sides & that is when you switch off heat.
- Allow it to cool for at-least 15mins on your counter top. Then peel the outer burnt skin & keep the pulp aside. Mash the brinjal without any lumps.

- Heat pan with oil & to that add mustard & jeera. Once the mustard starts jumping add the onion to pan.

- Sauté them for few minutes. To that add ginger garlic paste & fry for few seconds.

- Add tomatoes to pan along with turmeric, garam masala powder, and paprika & salt.

- Close it with a lid allowing tomatoes to cook & once they are done add the mashed eggplant to pan. Mix well & cook on low heat for 5mins.

- Switch off heat & garnish it with cilantro.

Serve it with roti , naan & chapati.

Aloo Tikki

Snacks are very less to happen in my kitchen. It’s not becoz I’m lazy but it’s that there is a snack menu in our timetable. My hubby is so busy for past 2yrs & he will be in future too. Generally his office timings are very long  & it’s hard to munch a snack for him. On weekends we end up eating in restaurants most of the time.

With these circumstances I struggle to a lot time for snacks in my recipe index. So I thought I need to take full advantage of this marathon & stared it with a yummilicious street chat. I tried making it on this Friday & he was home early. We got a chance to enjoy the snack to full.
Blogger marathon #32 is a 26 day event & named as ABC cooking.

Yields - 6 Tikkis
Ingredients 
1 Large potato cooked & mashed
1/2 Cup cooked green peas
1/2 Cup onions
1 Tsp chat masala
2 Tbs corn flour
2 Tsp coriander cumin powder
2 Tsp lemon juice / amchur powder 
1 Tsp paprika
Salt for taste
2 Tbs oil for frying 

- In a bowl mix all the ingredients.

- Divide it in to 6 equal balls. Shape them into flat patties.

- Heat a wide pan with 1 tbs oil. Place the patties on the pan & fry them well on both sides. Once they are nice and brown on both sides remove them on to a paper towel or tissue. 

- Do the same with the next batch too. 

Serve them with coriander mint chutney & enjoy.

Note: 
1. I used one big potato, which are usually used to make "Garden Potato" dish.
2. To retain the color of peas I added little salt & baking soda while boiling them.
3. I dusted corn flour instead of bread crumbs to get a crispy texture outside. I recommend bread crumbs for sure.
4. You can replace chat masala with garam masala in emergency. 

Corn Salsa

I'm sharing one of the easiest mexican dishes. I love this when they serve it on my chipotle rice & the chunky texture it gives is just awe some. For me it is a eve time low calorie snack to fill up.

Ingredients 

1 Cup corn kernels

1/4 Cup diced onion 

1/2 Cup diced tomatoes

1 Tsp paprika 

1 & 1/2 Tsp lime juice

1 Tbs thinly chopped cilantro

1 Tsp olive oil

Salt 

Heat a pan with oil & toss the corn kernels in it. Sauté them for few minutes or till you the brown crispy kind of coat on the kernels. It takes around 5mins to get the consistent color to kernels. Switch off heat & allow them to cool.

In a bowl toss kernels & the other ingredients one by one. Mix them well & serve it cold or @ room temperature.