Coconut Almond Raisin Bread

When I saw a coconut bread recipe in wholefood.com. I felt like trying it. It is similar to Honduran bread "Pan de coco".  This bread is served along with soups and as breakfast and afternoon snack. If you are a follower of this blog, you might have already noticed that I have weakness/fondness towards coconut. I want to bake bread with coconut. It is white bread traditionally, however I wanted to make a healthier version.

In Kerala, we like to add coconut to everything, sweet or savory dishes you name it we have it. I think for us, coconut makes everything complete. We always use coconut and cumin seeds in our savory dishes especially stir fry. So I thought okay I will add cumin in bread also. I don’t want to use eggs in my bread so used flax seed meal. I have some chopped almonds in my pantry, so they also found a place in my bread. In order to make it slightly sweet I added 1 teaspoon of honey, coconut milk and raisins. 

After going through lots of recipes, I came into the conclusion that I need more yeast than I use for my usual bread, but I am not comfortable using one package yeast in my bread. I used 2 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast. While baking, my entire house had a nice smell. Even my hubby who was upstairs came and told me he can smell the aroma. This bread is wonderful tasty, it has slight sweetness of honey and raisins with crunchiness of coconut and almond. We ate this bread without butter or jam. You can have it just like that. I enjoyed making them. Sure I am going make them again with fresh coconut. If you want to make it sweeter add some more honey or sugar. Here goes the recipe. 

What you need

Whole wheat flour: 2 cups
Bread flour: 1 cup
Yeast: 2 ½ teaspoon ( I used active dry yeast)
Sugar : ¼ teaspoon
Honey: 1 teaspoon
Water:1 cup
Flax seed meal: ¼ cup
Almond: 1/3 cup ( I used chopped almond)
Coconut: ½ cup ( I used unsweetened coconut, Use fresh coconut for authentic taste)
Coconut milk: 1 cup + 2 tablespoon
Cumin seeds: 1 tablespoon
Oil: ¼ cup ( I used canola oil)
Salt: ¾ teaspoon
Raisins: 1/3 cup

For egg wash
Egg: 1no
Water: 2 tablespoons

How I made

In a small sauce pot add ½ cup of cold water and raisins bring to a boil and drain raisins in kitchen towel to remove extra water. Set aside.

In a small bowl add active dry yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water along with 1/4 teaspoon sugar. Keep aside for 10 minutes or until yeast gets foamy. I kept it for about 20 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, bread flour, flax seed meal, coconut, salt, and the yeast. Add the honey, oil, raisins and coconut milk into the flour mixture. Mix everything until the dough forms a loose ball, adding an additional tablespoon of coconut milk or two if necessary to bring the dough together. Knead for 7-10 minutes. The dough should feel supple and pliable but not sticky. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling to coat it all over. Cover and set aside.

Keep aside knead dough in slightly oiled vessel for doubling. It took about 2hours to double.

Transfer the dough into a lightly floured surface and spread into loaf and keep it in a lightly greased loaf pan. Cover with a proof cover or greased plastic wrap, and let the loaf rise for 45 minutes, or until they're quite puffy. Brush the top with egg wash. ( If you don’t want you use egg wash, you can brush with oil or butter, when they come out of oven) By the end of second rising time preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit. 

Bake them in a preheated 375°F oven for 30minutes, or until they’re well browned or registered an internal temperature of 180-190 °F on an instant-read thermometer. 20 minutes into the baking time cover the loaf pan with aluminum foil to prevent the crust become harder. Remove it from the oven, and remove from the pans. Allow them to cool completely before serving.

Preparation time: Preparation time: 30 minutes for preparing dough,

Doubling time: 2hours + 45 minutes for second rise

Baking time: 30 minutes

Yield: 1 loaf

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Yes

This delicious bread is going to

Bread baking day #31 hosted by Zorra.
Yeast spotting event  hosted by Susan

Swathi

Avocado Chapathi/Avocado Paratha/Avocado Flat bread

My hubby likes roti /chapathi of all kind. You can give him 3 times a day and he won’t grumble. He makes good chapathi too. During my last grocery shopping I bought some Avocado, thinking of making salad with them. I didn’t get the chance and in the end they reached their expiration date. They were telling me “Use us today or throw us tomorrow”. So I had to do something with them.

Avocado has lots of health benefits; it contains oleic acid healthy mono saturated fats and lowers cholesterol. Avocado contains phyto-nutrients which can protect us from breast cancer and oral cancer, further it helps to increase the intake of Carotenoids from other vegetables. It is a good source of potassium, which is known reduce blood pressure. "Diets containing foods that are good sources of potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke” this claim was also approved by U.S drugs and Administration. While mentioning about heart health I have recently seen an episode on Nightline ABC about salt intake . If you reduce the salt intake, you will live longer. This is true. My dad was diagnosed with high blood pressure at age of 40. Doctors told him to reduce the salt intake and he did that religiously. At present he is quite healthy other than some old age related problems. My Mom died of cardiac arrest and she was diabetic. Diabetes and high blood pressure is running in our family. Hubby is diabetic; and he is controlling his blood sugar levels by strict control of his diet and exercise. Because of dad’s blood pressure amma use to add less salt, while cooking the dishes. It has become a habit for us to use less salt. After marriage, my hubby also takes less salt. If we can make small changes in diet and that can help us to have good life why wait. I think good health is real wealth. If you want to read more health benefits of avocado read from here. 

When Ivy announced a blog event in memory of Rosie from “Baking Cakes Galore", who passed away due to heart attack, I thought I should mention about my mom also.

After reading all these good things about avocado I try to buy them whenever I get them fresh. Finally I decided to make paratha/chapathi with them. The chapathis came out soft and fluffy because of avocado and tasted great too. I also added some kalonji and cumin seeds with spices like gram masala, amchoor powder. I had them with blacked pea masala curry. In the end, the meal turned out to be a healthy one. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

Whole wheat flour: 2 cups
Water : ½ cup
Avocado: 1 no( Seeded and mashed )
Armchoor powder: ¼ teaspoon
Gram masala: ½ teaspoon
Chili powder: ½ teaspoon
Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
Kalonji/Nigella seeds: ½ teaspoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon
Oil: 2 tablespoon ( I used Olive oil)





How I made

In a large bowl stir together flour, salt, kalonji, cumin seeds, avocado, gram masala, chili powder, armchoor powder and 1 1/2tablespoon of oil. Slowly add water until a soft dough forms. Knead, until smooth and elastic dough similar to chapathi forms, it takes about 15 minutes.

Form dough into a ball and coat with 1/2 tablespoons oil in a bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough stand at warm room 20 minutes.

Divide dough into 14 equal pieces and, keeping remaining pieces covered with plastic wrap. Roll out each piece into a round approximately 6 inches in diameter. 

Heat a dry large cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat until hot,  cook chapathi, turning once, until puffed and browned in spots, 30 seconds on each side. Transfer to a plate .Roll out and cook 13 more chapathi, stacking them on plate. 

Enjoy warm with black eyed pea masala.

Preparation time: 50 minutes
Yield: 14no
Verdict: Good, soft chapathi
Will you make it again: Yes I will

This Healthy Delicious Avocado Chapathi is going to

In Memory of Rosie event hosted by Ivy

Veggie/Fruit  :A month  event :Avocado hosted by Priya

Think Spice: Think Garam masala hosted by Saraswathy  originally started by Sunita.




Swathi

Chocolate Coconut Pavlova with Mascarpone chocolate Mousse: Daring Baker's challenge June 2010

Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert created in honor of Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova in New Zealand and Australia during her tour. This month Daring Baker’s challenge was to make chocolate Pavlova with mascarpone chocolate mousse and mascarpone cream. The recipe is based on Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard . 

After “Na- Na” episode with my hubby regarding taking up this challenge I decide to try them. I was not comfortable with adding ¼ cup of cocoa powder, as well as too much sugar in my Pavlova. I am not a chocoholic; I can live without them also. So I made a light chocolate version of coconut Pavlova and white chocolate mascarpone mousse. It was topped with fruits and I dusted some powdered sugar and did not use cream. As this one is calorie ridden dessert, I want to reduce the calories as much possible in my version. 

I made a few changes in the recipe given by Dawn of Doable and Delicious  by adding some red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon cocoa powder  and coconut in Pavlova and used white chocolate mascarpone mousse and made individual serving. However my piping skills not yet developed fully so Pavlova got the shape which I was not intend. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

Chocolate coconut Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):
Large egg whites: 2no
White granulated sugar: 1/3 cup
Cocoa powder: 1 tablespoon
Red wine vinegar: ¼ teaspoon
Coconut: 1 tablespoon (I used desiccated coconut)

Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (for the top of the Pavlova base):

Heavy cream : ¾ cup(cream with a milk fat content of between 36 and 40 percent)
White chocolate: 2 ounces ( I used Lindt white chocolate)
Mascarpone : ¼ cup ( I used homemade mascarpone)
Nutmeg: ¼ teaspoon
Vanilla extract: 1/4 teaspoon

For topping
Mango: 1 no (Chopped into cubes)
Blue berries: ½ cup
Kiwi: 1 no (chopped in to cubes)
Powdered sugar: 1 tablespoon

How I made

Chocolate coconut Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350º F degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Put the egg whites in a metal bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. Add red wine vinegar and beat for another minute.(The whites should be firm but moist). This took about 15 minutes.

Gently fold in coconut and cocoa powder over the egg whites until everything combines very well. 

Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. I was planning for round end up with oval. 

Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (for the top of the Pavlova base):

Put ½ cup (120 mls) of the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.

Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK).

Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. 

Assembly: 

Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas . Arrange fruits in the top and dust with confectioner’s sugar. Enjoy

Preparation time: For pavlova: 1 hour and 35 minutes
For chocolate mascarpone mousse: 20 minutes
Assembly: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: yes

Swathi

Sago in coconut milk/ Burmese-Thai-Malyai dessert

If you need to make a quick dessert, try this one. I found it this week as I was searching for quick dessert recipes. When I was searching for desserts with sago pearls/sabudana, I was quite surprised to see that it is used in all of south East Asian countries. In Malaysia it is Sago gula Melka/ Sago in palm sugar syrup and coconut milk. When it crossed the borders and reached Thailand it is Kleo Boo Chee / Sago pudding in coconut milk and slices of banana or other fruits. In Burma it is thar-gu ohn nyot/ Moh Let Saung and in Vietnam it is Che dau xanb where moong beans, bananas and sometimes root vegetables are added. Any way they are rich, luscious creamy dessert usually served chilled .An excellent way to beat the summer heat.

In India sago/sabudana is used to make savory items like upma (my mother-in-law special), vada (fritters) as well as sweet like sago/sabudana payasam. Amma used to add sabudana or sago in kadala payasam (chana dal pudding). During my childhood I loved them because they become transparent and looked like eyes or clear balls in the payasam. When you want to touch them, it will slide away. Sago mainly contains carbohydrates with little protein if you want to read about more from here .

I liked this dessert because it contains coconut milk. I have a weakness towards coconuts. Amma used to make it with fresh coconut milk always. Now days because of non-availability of fresh coconut I use canned coconut milk. It is an essential item in my pantry.  After going through lot recipes i settled with this one.   Instead of palm sugar I used jaggery and for pandan leaf  used cardamom made a barely sweet dessert. If you want you can increase the amount of jaggery. You can use palm sugar if you want authentic recipe or use sugar/maple syrup. 

You need only 1 hour preparation and 2 hour chilling time to make this dessert. If you want you can add fruits too. Here goes the recipe. 

What you need

Sago/Sabudana: 1/3 cup
Coconut milk: 1 cup
Cardmom: 3 nos
Jaggery: 1/5 cup
Salt: 1/8 teaspoon
Water: 5 cup










How I made

Soak sabudana in half cup water for 20 minutes.

In the mean time heat jaggery with ¼ cup water and bring it to boil it takes about 3 minutes. Strain the impurities and keep aside.

In sauce pan heat coconut milk and ¼ cup water and bring to a rolling boil with continuous stirring( otherwise coconut milk will separates) and add jaggery syrup and crushed cardamom seeds . Keep aside. Chill the coconut milk-jaggery mixture in the refrigerator.

Boil 4 cup water in sauce pan when it starts boiling add sabudana and cook for 20 minutes or until they become transparent. Switch of the flame and cover the sauce pan with lid and let it sit for another 15 minutes.

Drain the sago/sabudana using a colander and wash with running water to stop cooking.

Once it is cooled add to chilled coconut milk jaggery mixture.Serve chilled.

Preparation time: 1 hour for preparation and 2 hours for chilling
Yield: 2 serving
Verdict: yummy
Will you make it again: I will.



This  dessert is going to going to AWED : Burma  hosted by me originally started by DK.

Swathi

Deep Fried Vegetables in Batter/ Burmese Style Bhaji/ Abkyaw soun

Nowadays I am hell bent on improving my bread baking skills. I have even joined the public library to get books on baking and to learn the finer points of bread baking. I also looked at books on International cooking along with the ones on bread baking. I am not an avid reader of Indian cookbooks and rarely follow their recipes, as their spices quantities will not match our taste, either too much or too little most of time it will be first scenario. 

When I saw this book “The Asian Vegan Kitchen” by Hema Parekh, I was curious to turn the pages. The book is about cooking from Asian countries, other than Indian, all other Asian cuisines mainly contains meat or sea food in their dishes with a few vegetable dishes. There are also a few recipes about Burmese cuisine also in this book. As I am hosting this month’s AWED: Burma, I needed some Burmese recipes for event I found it interesting. The recipe on Deep fried veggies in batter got my attention along with a few others. Today I made this for my evening tea.

They taste really good. It is similar to our vegetable bhaji. However I found that adding ginger garlic paste to bhaji batter is a new idea to me. Rest of ingredients are similar ones such as besan (chick pea flour), Rice flour, red chili powder, coriander leaves etc. Only change I made in the recipe was I didn’t use toasted chickpea flour and increased ¼ cup of water. Hema says “these fritters are common in the streets of Mandalay and Rangoon. Locals rarely make at home and buy from the local street vendors and shops where they can get fresh and hot.” They usually serve this one along soup and salad. It is not spicy, if you wish you can increase the  red chili powder.Next time i will increase the  amount of chili powder.

If you like Japanese tempura or Indian bhaji try this at least once, I bet you will become fan of this dish. Here goes easy breezy recipe.

What you need

For batter/Pemonb asut ambit


Chick pea flour/Besan: 3/4cup
Rice flour: 3/4 cup
Baking powder: a pinch (optional, I didn’t used)
Turmeric: ¼ teaspoon
Chili powder: 3/4 teaspoon ( Increase if you need Spicier)
Ginger: 1 inch piece
Garlic: 2 cloves
Fresh coriander leaves: 2 tablespoon (finely chopped)
Olive oil: 1 teaspoon
Salt: 3/4 teaspoon
Water:1 cup

Vegetables 

Egg plant: 1/2 of one( cut into rounds)
Green bell pepper: 1 no (cut into 4 inch strips)
Onion: ½ of one onion (cut into rounds)

How I made

Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan .

Wash and peel the skin of egg plant, onion and cut into thin rounds and keep aside. Cut green bell pepper into 4 inch strips and keep aside.

In a medium bowl, all the ingredients for the batter and slowly add the water to form a thick batter. Not too loose. When you are dipping the vegetables it should covered with the batter.

Once the oil becomes hot about 360 degree Fahrenheit. Dip the vegetables in the batter and slowly add to hot oil few at a time.

When it cooks for about 3 minute on one slide flip the other side and cook another 2 minutes or until they become golden yellow color and crispy. Remove them using slotted spoon and drain the excess oil using a kitchen towel.

Repeat the above process until all the batter and vegetables are used up.

Enjoy with sweet chutney or hot and sour tamarind chutney. I didn’t use any chutney. We had it without any chutney.

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Tasty
Will you make it again: Yes I will

This Deep fried vegetables in Batter/Burmese style Bhaji is going to AWED : Burma  hosted by me originally started by DK.


Swathi

Triple Berries and Mango Smoothie

As the heat index in going up, it is once in a while necessary to have something to cool down. Ice creams, smoothie, sorbet etc are all good. Yesterday during the usual grocery shopping, I saw that blueberries and blackberries are on sale. Blue berries and black berries are rich in antioxidants and I love forward to a good sale price on these. One box of blueberries cost about 1.50 dollars and black berries cost about 1.00. I was very happy and picked them to put in shopping cart. I had some strawberries in my refrigerator. Strawberries are my weakness, and I always will have a box in my refrigerator during the strawberry season.

So this morning I was lazy and decided to make something that is easy to make: a smoothie for breakfast. As my little one loves to do taste testing from my glass, I added one mango to smoothie. She loves mango, if you give her mango smoothie she is more than happy. Otherwise it is very hard to get her to even have a sip. I wanted to add yogurt instead of ice cream to make it a healthy drink. I know ice-cream make it a rich and sweeter smoothie. Both black berries and blueberries go well with yogurt, ice-cream or whip cream. So I made a smoothie with strawberries, blackberries, blue berries and mango ad also added homemade yogurt and ½ tablespoon of honey for sweetness. If you want more sweetness you can add 1 tablespoon. Here easy healthy colorful smoothie recipe.

What you need
Blue berries: ½ cup (I used fresh one)
Black berries: ½ cup (I used fresh one)
Strawberries: 5 no (I used fresh one)
Mango: 1 no
Yogurt: 1/3 cup
Honey: ½ tablespoon

How I made

Peel the skin of mango and cut into small pieces. Keep aside.

Combine Blackberries, Blueberries, chopped mango and strawberries, Yogurt and honey in a blender; cover and blend until creamy. Serve immediately. Enjoy.



Preparation time: 5 minutes
Yield: 2 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will



This delicious gorgeous smoothie going to 

Sizzling summer contest  hosted by Spicy tasty ( Shirya,Nithu and Arthi)

 Also going Srivalli's Coloring your Kid delights

Swathi

Honey Wheat Bread

Nowadays I have craziness for freshly baked bread, just like what will happen when fish is put in front of a cat, yes I will be excited even thinking of baking bread. I stopped buying bread from the store. I love the smell of freshly baked bread from the oven. It makes me intoxicated. After trying Rye bread and braided bread I got some confidence in baking bread. My hubby also agrees that homemade bread tastes better than the store bought one. 

We usually buy 100% whole wheat bread from store. However I am not confident in baking 100% whole wheat bread at home. So I am using 66% of whole wheat in my bread gradually I want to change to complete whole wheat bread that is my goal. For the time being I will stick with my ratio of whole wheat. I want to make the bread healthier by adding flaxseed meal and oat meal (That is an excuse to finish the flax seed meal sitting in my refrigerator). I used only quick oat meal. If you are using old fashioned rolled oats you need to soak it over night. Most of the times I will forget to soak them in the night. So I found out that using quick oats is easier. 

This bread is really good sandwich bread with touch of sweetness. Already I have made it 3 times, every time it came out perfect. It tastes great that you can even eat browned crust. You can make wonderful breakfast toast with them. Earlier I was afraid of yeast and not knowing how much kneading is important and end up hockey puck like bread. Now after trial and error I am able to make good bread. 

Here goes my no fail bread recipe, if you want, add more multigrain’s and seeds to make them more healthier version.

What you need

Whole Wheat flour: 2 cup (I used Atta flour)
Bread flour: 1 cup
Oil: ¼ cup (I used canola oil)
Salt: 1 ½ teaspoon
Yeast: 1 ¼ teaspoon
Sugar: ¼ teaspoon
Flax seed meal: 1/5 cup
Oat meal: ½ cup (I used quick oats)
Honey: 1/8 cup
Water: 1 ½ cup










How I made

In a small bowl add active dry yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water along with 1/4 teaspoon sugar. Keep aside for 10 minutes or until yeast gets foamy. I kept it for about 20 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, bread flour, flax seed meal, oat meal, salt, and the yeast. Keep aside 1 tablespoon of oat meal for sprinkling in the top of bread. Add the honey, oil, and water into the flour mixture. Mix everything until the dough forms a loose ball, adding an additional tablespoon of water or two if necessary to bring the dough together. Knead for 7-10 minutes. The dough should feel supple and pliable but not sticky. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling to coat it all over. Cover and set aside.

Keep aside knead dough in slightly oiled vessel for doubling.

It took about 1hour and 36 minutes to double.

Transfer the dough into a lightly floured surface and spread into loaf and keep it in a lightly greased loaf pan. Press the loaf with oat meal. Cover with a proof cover or greased plastic wrap, and let the loaf rise for 45 minutes, or until they're quite puffy. By the end of second rising time preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. 

Bake them in a preheated 350°F oven for 50minutes, or until they’re well browned or registered an internal temperature of 200 to 210°F on an instant-read thermometer. 30 minutes into the baking time cover the loaf pan with aluminum foil to prevent the crust become harder. Remove them from the oven, and allow them to cool completely before serving.

Preparation time: Preparation time: 30 minutes for preparing dough,
Doubling time: 1.36minutes + 45 minutes for second rise
Baking time: 50 minutes
Yield: 1 loaf
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes

This bread is  going to
Yeast spotting event  hosted by Susan
It also going to bread mania hosted by Chaitra



Swathi

Ethakka Chakkakuru Mezhukkupuratti/Plantain Jackfruit Seed Stir Fry

Plantain is one of thing I love to keep it in my house at any time. This is one of the essential items like milk, egg, banana in my grocery list. While growing up also plantain was available in our home most of time. I make them into chips, turrón, ripe plantain fritters. 

When I go to specialty store I usually buy things like jackfruit, jackfruit seeds, Chinese potato etc. Off course they are frozen getting them in fresh will be a herculean task. I have seen fresh ripe Jackfruit in Hong Kong market. However they cost a fortune to buy. So my dream of eating them fresh will always remain as dream. May be it will become a reality when I visit India. 

Usually amma made stir fry with Vazhakkai/ green banana (we call it monthankai). It is good only to make curries and making savory fritters. I don’t like them when they are ripe. Amma used to eat that as some of them which were bought for curries get ripe. Both I and amma love jackfruit seeds very much, she used to boil them with salt and some time cooks in open fire. She also added jackfruit seeds to all the curries she make during jackfruit season. Now it is jackfruit and mango season in India. You can see lot of mango trees and jackfruit trees are carrying the fruit at their maximum. 

Here I rarely see the green banana. So I decided to try stir-fry with plantain. I wanted to be authentic, as much as possible so used coconut oil. The smell of coconut oil and fried curry leaves with roasted plantains pieces and jackfruits with chili and cumin powder was out of the world. They came really very well. Here goes my easy breezy recipe for plantain and jackfruit seeds stir fry. 

What you need

Onion: ½ cup chopped
Raw Plantain: 1 ½ cup chopped in cubes ( About 1 plantain)
Jackfruit seeds: ½ cup ( I used frozen )
Garlic: 2 cloves
Turmeric : 1/8 teaspoon
Salt : 1 teaspoon
Cumin powder: 1 teaspoon
Pepper powder:1/4 teaspoon
Chili powder: ¼ teaspoon

For seasoning

Mustard seeds: ½ teaspoon
Red chili: 2 no ( Halved into two)
Curry leaves: 1 sprig( About 10 leaves)
Urad dal : 1 tablespoon
Coconut oil: 2 tablespoon

How I made

Wash and Peel the skin of Plantain and jackfruit seeds and cut into small pieces and keep aside.

Heat 1 ½ tablespoon oil in medium skillet and once it become hot add mustards seeds, curry leaves(keep few aside), urad dal, and halved red chili. Once mustards seeds starts popping add chopped onion and fry for 5 minutes or until they change the color or become translucent. 

To this add plantain and jackfruit seeds and add turmeric, salt and cover with lid and cook for another 7 minutes in slow flame. 

When plantain and jackfruit seeds are almost done add chili powder, pepper powder and cumin powder and stir everything and cook for another 3 minutes or until the spices blend well. 

Add the rest of curry leaves and oil and mix once again and switch off the flame. 

Enjoy with any rice of curry.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will make it again: Yes I will

Swathi

Pani Puri / Gol Gappa for ICC

Pani puri is one of the popular street snacks all over northern part of India. Its popularity in southern India is limited to metro cities. It is a crispy semolina ball filled with potato/chick pea filling with sweet and tangy chutney along onions dipped in spicy water made of coriander and mint leaves. It needs to be eaten at one stretch, don’t worry you can do it. Semolina balls/puris are small and bite sized one. According to Wikipedia, this snack originated in Bihar, as migration took place, it spread to other parts of India. My first tasting of pani puri happened in Mumbai when I visited India after my marriage. It was tasty, still I was worried about hygiene conditions in which it served.

Srivalli selected gol gappe/pani puri after discussing with fellow challengers to try this month. I was not that happy. It is not that I don’t like pani puri but because I failed making Puri for pani puri miserably not once but twice. So when I told my better half, he told not to try if you want try buy store bought one and makes accompaniments to it here at home. I always tell him I am not trying this month, after some time I develop intense itch to make it. So I decided to make it yesterday, started in afternoon so that I can finish by evening. Then hubby will see only finished product not the preparation. However operation of pani puri was long and extend until 9.00 P.M in the night. When I made first batch some of them did not want to puff up, meaning no space for putting filling and chutneys. So I end up making a second batch, this time I reduce the dough resting time and learned the trick to make them puffs. My baby was crying in between, she needed mommy time. Further my hubby was asking did you finish it. What you need to make more?

After a long struggle and in between taking photographs by my hubby (He is photographer when he is available) I finished my pani puri making project successfully. We had it as our dinner. It was tasty. I had to change the Srivalli’s recipe for gol gappe as some challengers find difficulty in puffing the puri when Baking soda is used as ingredients. So I used Baking powder along with 1 teaspoon of olive oil with semolina and all purpose flour. I used her recipe for spicy pani/spicy water and mashed potato filling. I however ended up using my own recipe for chick pea filling and sweet tangy chutney. In her recipe, one cup of jaggery is used to make sweet chutney along with tamarind. I don’t want to use that much sugar. I made a healthy version of it by using apricot and tamarind with 2 tablespoon of Jaggery. Here go the recipes. 

What you need

Semolina: 1/2 cup
All purpose flour: 1/2 tablespoon
Salt: 1/4 teaspoon
Oil: 1 teaspoon
Baking powder: 1/8 teaspoon
Water: 1/4 cup
Canola oil: 4 cup ( for frying the puris)
For potato Filling
Potato: 1 no
Chili powder: 1/8 teaspoon
Salt: ¼ teaspoon
Water: 4 cups

For Chick pea filling

Chickpeas: 1 can( Washed and cooked)
Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon
Coconut: 1/5 cup (I used desiccated coconut)
Red chili: 2 no (halved into two)
Salt: ¼ teaspoon
Olive oil: 1 tablespoon















For spicy water

 Fresh Mint Leaves: 1 1/2 cup
Chopped Coriander leaves: 1 tablespoon
Tamarind: Ping pong size
Ginger: 1" piece
Green Chilies: 1(I used Serrano pepper)
Ground Cumin Seed (roasted): ½ teaspoon
Kala Namak (Black Salt):1/2 tsp.
Salt : ¼ teaspoon
Water: 3 cup







For Apricot tamarind chutney

Apricot: 5 no (I used dried one)
Tamarind: a golf size ball
Cumin powder: ½ teaspoon( roasted)
Clove: 1/8 teaspoon
Pepper: 1/8 teaspoon
Chili powder: ¼ teaspoon
Black salt: ½ teaspoon
Salt: ¼ teaspoon
Jaggery: 2 tablespoon
Water : 2 cups


For Chopped onions

Onion: ¼ cup finely chopped.



How I made

Pulse the semolina in coffee grinder/ mixer for 1 minute. Keep aside

In small bowl mix semolina, all purpose flour, baking powder salt, oil and gradually add water to form dough. Knead 3 minutes to form smooth not sticky dough. 

Keep aside semolina dough to rest in a slightly oil bowl for 20 minutes covered with damp cloth. 

Spread the semolina ball into a thin sheet. Using biscuit cutter/cookie cutter of 2 1/ 8 inch diameter cut into thin rounds. 

Spread these rounds into slightly damp cloth and cover with another damp cloth to prevent drying. 

In the mean time heat 4 cup of oil in a thick bottomed pan. When the oil is hot, add each round into the oil don’t touch them with slotted spoon until they starts popping to top. Once they starts pop slightly press with slotted spoon to help them in puffing. Fry them until they become golden brown filliping them in between. It took about 4 minutes to get golden brown in 7 mark electric stove. 

Remove them using a slotted spoon and drain excess oil using kitchen towels.Continue to fry rest until you finish entire dough. 

For extra crispiness bake the puris/gol gappe at 200 Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

For Potato filling

Boil the potato in medium sauce pan until they cooked very well. You can check them whether they cooked or not by piercing them with knife. If they slide through the knife then they are well cooked.

Remove the skin and mash with potato masher and add salt and chili powder and mix everything.

For chickpea filling

In a medium sauce pan heat oil and add mustard seeds and halved red chilies once mustard seeds starts popping add chick peas, coconut and salt. Let them cook for another 3 minutes and switch of flame and use.

For spicy pani

I didn’t made extract of tamarind or chopped the mint and coriander leaves.

Add mint leaves, coriander leaves, ginger, chilies and dry roasted cumin seed and tamarind into the blender along with 1 cup of water and blend into a smooth paste.

To this add salt and black rock salt to taste.

Put it in the fridge to cool down. (I haven’t done) As we are ready to eat I mixed with another 2 cup of water and used.

For apricot tamarind chutney

In small bowl add ½ cup water and tamarind and warm it in microwave for 20 seconds at high. Tamarind becomes soft and easy to extract the pulp. Strain and keep aside.

In small pot add ½ cup water and jaggery and let it boil for 5 minutes or until jaggery melts. Remove from the fire and using a strainer strain jaggery to remove any impurities.

In another medium sized pan add tamarind pulp, jaggery, ½ cup water and apricot and cook for 6 minutes or until apricot become soft and mushy.

To this add salt, black salt, pepper, clove, cumin powder and chili powder and boil it for another 3 minutes. Switch off the flame and keep aside.

Transfer entire things into a food processor bowl or mixer and pulse or blend for a minute to form a smooth paste.

Add rest of ½ cup warm water to the paste and keep aside.

Assembling the Pani Puri / Gol Gappa

Poke a small hole in the center of the Gole Gappa/ Puri

Add a tsp of mashed boiled potato / Channa in the middle of the puri. Add a little of the red tamarind Chutney. Add few chopped onions. Dip it in the spicy water / pour some spicy water in it

Gulp it down.

Notes: Alternatively you can mix small quantity of Tamarind Chutney, Spicy water and pour this on stuffed puris and gulp down too.

Preparation time
For gol gappe/panipuri: 5 minutes to prepare the dough
                                   20 minutes dough resting time
                                   20 minutes cooking time.
Yield: 25 no
For mashed potato, chick pea filling, Apricot tamarind chutney, spicy chutney: 45 minutes
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: I will


Swathi