Roasted Tomato Soup

Roasted Tomato Soup

6 Roma Tomatoes split in half

1 red onion quartered

5 cloves of garlic

Heat oven to 375 degrees and roast the above ingredients for an hour. Sprinkle with some olive oil and roast. Keep the garlic in a small parcel made of foil wrap and roast with the rest of the vegetables.

Blend all the above when cool. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.

When serving, bring to a boil and add a dollop of crème fraiche and croutons.

Vada Pav – My version

I just call these Indian sliders.

Makes 9 mini sliders

3 russet potatoes – boil
Heeng
Curry leaves
Rai
Cumin Seeds
Tamarind ( I used lemon juice which I regret)
Fresh Coriander
Salt
Ginger garlic paste
Haldi

To some oil in a pan, add the zeera, rai, ginger garlic, curry leaves, haldi, and add it all to the potatoes. Add fresh coriander. Make 9 spheres out of the mixture.

Mix the following

Ajwain, besan, water, red chilli powder, salt till you get a thick batter.

Coat the balls with the blatter and deep fry on medium heat.

Assembling

Pav
Patak’s eggplant relish
Tamarind date chutney
Coriander chutney

Heat the Pav at 350 degrees and slice in half. Make a sandwich using the pav, with the chutneys and vada.
The original vada pav is served with garlic chutney, which is made of red chilies, coconut, garlic and tamarind.

Paani Poori

I got the poori from the Indian store.

For the paani – Blend the following

1 cup of mint leaves
½ cup of coriander leaves
3 tbspn tamarind – soaked in warm water. Remove any seeds.
½ tspn chaat masala
1 tbspn zeera powder
1 tbspn Salt
1 tbspn Sugar
½ tspn black pepper
Juice of half a lime
1 pinch of heeng
4 green chilies
¼ tspn sonth

Now strain this mixture along with 4 cups of water. Fill each puri with 1 tspn boiled potatoes and 1 tspn kala channa.

Dahi Bada

Dahi bada is traditional north Indian snack food. It consists of lentil dumplings in a yoghurt sauce. This should be served chilled with tamarind chutney.
In order to make dahi bada you need

1/3 cup split mung dal
2/3 cup split urad dal
Oil to deep fry
Cumin seeds
Salt
Red chilly powder
Chopped coriander leaves

The two lentils should be soaked overnight in water. The next day blend to a fine paste with minimal water. Now take a fork and whip the mixture till it is light. Heat the oil and on medium flame deep fry the dumplings.

Now take a container of yoghurt. Add salt. Roast the cumin seeds to a light brown and grind the seeds coarsely.

Soak the dumplings in water for 10 minutes. Take out the dumplings and squeeze out the water. Now add the yoghurt to the serving dish. Add the dumplings. Sprinkle the cumin and red chilly powder on top. Make swirls of tamarind chutney in the dish and garnish lightly with chopped coriander.

Tamarind Chutney - Imli Ki Chutney

Imli chutney is a versatile chutney which goes well with aloo tikki, dahi bada, bhel poori, or even spicy samosas. The tangy sweet chutney compliments yoghurt well. My dad always says - titrate your chutney. Add each ingredient slowly till you get the right balance of flavors.

1 cup tamarind
1/2 cup palm sugar ( I used two 1.4 oz lumps )
1 tspn fennel seeds
1 tspn ground ginger powder (sonth)
1 pinch salt



1. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of hot water or microwave tamarind with the water for 50 seconds.Fish out the fibre and the solids till you get a smooth paste.
2. In a saucepan add all ingredients to the tamarind pulp. Add 1 cup water.
3. Boil for 10 minutes, till you get a consistent chutney. The raw taste of tamarind should disappear and the sugar should melt smoothly.
4. Store

A ver quick and immediate way to use this chutney is to dress up a masala burger from Trader Joe. Grill the masala patty. Take three tablespoons of yoghurt and add a pinch of salt and cumin powder to the yoghurt. Spoon on top of the patty. Add a tablespoon of chutney on the top and garnish with corainder leaves.

I bought the palm sugar from the local chinese supermarket. Palm sugar is a commonly used ingredient in Thai cooking - you need it for all sauces and pad thai. A better substitute for the palm sugar would have been jaggery, which would have given a deeper flavor to the chutney. If you cant find either , use dark brown sugar.

Tomato Rasam

Courtesy my lovely Iyengar friend Subhadra from Virginia........

1 Cup water
1 big tomatoe- chopped
1 handful of cooked arhar dal
pinch of turmeric
salt
1 tspn rasam powder
1 spoonful of tamarind paste
Little jaggery ( optional)
Tadka- ghee, rai, chopped dhania

1. Boil water. Add the tomato.
2. Add turmeric, salt, rasam powder, tamarind.
3. Let it cook and add jaggery.
4. Add a handful of cooked daal.
5. Tadka- Heat ghee and add the rai. Garnish with chopped dhania.

Zucchini Potato Fritters

Level of difficulty - Low

Hello 2009 !!! I am kicking off the year with a blog on a quick and easy appetizer. The only indian ingredient is garam masala. This cutlet is a good appetizer and can also be served for breakfast as well. You can also use it as a patty for a sandwich.

Ingredients

1 zucchini
1 large potato
1 thai chilli ( diced finely)
1/2 onion ( finely diced)
1 egg
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1 tspn garam masala
1 tbspn salt
1 tspn black pepper
Canola Oil

Instructions

1. Grate zucchini and potato.
2. Mix all infredients except oil.
3. Make 8 cakes and shallow fry on low heat.
4. Serve