Paav-Paav-Paav

Vada-Paav,Samosa-Paav,Bhaji-Paav, Usal-Paav and so goes the list. Being a Mumbaikar, I have grown up eating all the mentioned delicacies.
Paav-Yes, a common food for a common man.Eating a single pav with a cutting chai would power a man for half a days work.It is so abundantly available in Mumbai that I never bothered to think if I dont find paav some day.
Now, that I am in the USA, I was forced to think the absence of paav. The other day, I thought of making paav-bhaaji and went to the local grocery store to find bread roll very much similar to Indian Paav. I was so happy thinking I dont have to worry of not getting the Paav at Indian store. But,I was struck with disappointment on my first bite...the bread roll was sweetish in taste.We had to eat a spicy Paav-bhaji with a sweet paav :(
At that very moment I decided, the next time I want to make any delicacy which needs paav, I would bake paav at home. And here it comes my recipe for homemade paav.

Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour(Maida) - 2 cups
Warm Milk - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/2 tspn
Sugar - 1 tspn
Dry Active Yeast - 1 heaped tspn
Oil -  2 tblspn

Steps:
1. Mix all the above ingredients together to make a soft dough.
2. Add a bit of water if the dough turns to be too dry.
3. The dough should be mixed thoroughly so that the granules of sugar and yeast get mixed properly.
4. The consistency of the dough would be a bit sticky.
5. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rest for 2 hours in a warm place.
6. Pre-heat the oven at 400F.
7. After 2 hours, you will find that the dough has doubled the size.
8. Punch the dough thoroughly to remove the air.
9. Make balls of the desired size and place them in a row leaving some space between them on a greased baking tray.
10. Cover again with a cloth and let it rest for 1/2 hour.
11. After 1/2 hour, you would find that the paav-balls have rose in size and stuck to each other.
12. Place the baking tray in the oven and bake the bread for 10 min on 400F.
13. Remove the baked bread and brush butter on the still hot paav for the glaze.
14. Let the paav cool down a bit and then are ready to eat with any delicacy or as is.

I love the smell of freshly baked paav and we hardly can wait for preparing any delicacy to accompany paav ;)

Baked Biscuit Pockets - Healthier version of the traditional Biscuit Roti

Few days ago, while on a chat with my cousin, she told me that she tried her hands on biscuit roti. That reminded me the yummy taste of it and was tempted to make it myself. Being a bit health conscious, my mind went on to try the traditional  biscuit roti with a twist. And here came the Baked Biscuit Pockets.:)

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

Maida - 3 tbsp
Wheat Flour - 3 tbsp
Semolina(Rava) - 2 tbsp
Kasuri Methi - 1 tbsp
Dhaniya-Jeera Powder - 1 tspn
Chilly Powder - 1/2 tspn
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt

For the filling:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Red Chilli - 1 or 2
Curry Leaves - 12-15
Urad Dal - 1 and 1/2 tbsp
Semolina(Rava) - 3 tbsp
Gram Flour(Besan) - 1 tbsp
Dry grated Coconut - 1 tbsp
Red Chilly Powder as per taste
Finely Powdered Sugar as per taste
Salt as per taste

1. Knead a soft dough with the ingredients mentioned in for the crust with warm oil.
2. Let the dough rest for an hour.
3. Grind together red chilies and Urad dal to make a powder (Don't make a fine power if you like the crunchiness of urad dal in the mouth)
3. In a non stick pan, take a teaspoon of oil to heat.
4. Add mustard seeds. When the seeds start to splutter, put in the curry leaves by cutting them roughly with hand.
5. Add the ground urad dal-chilly mixture and saute till you get the aroma coming.
6. Add besan and saute for sometime.
7. Now add the rava and grated coconut and saute till rava changes its colour to light brown.
8. At this point add salt and chilli powder as per the taste.
9. Let this mixture cool down completely and then add the finely powdered sugar.
10. Preheat oven to 425 for 20 mins
11. Roll the dough in square (whatever shapes you want the pockets in), fill in the mixture and fold the layer to cover the pockets. Please take care that there is no multiple layer of the dough to avoid the pockets from becoming very hard.
12. Brush the pockets with olive oil on both the sides and bake for 20 mins (10 mins each side) on 350.
The time might vary, depending on the thickness of the pocket layer.
13. Baked Biscuit Pockets are ready to eat :)

Mind On Run!

Have been thinking of this since many days now..how our mind works..how do we connect and relate so many things at one time. Finally thought will jot down a few lines on it and maybe come again later and throw some more light on the topic.
Human brain is an fantastic piece of creation by the Creator. This is only one part of the body that can be at so many places at a single time :). Just a word, an image, a thought can tour you to different places, help you to relive the memories, make you feel good or bad,energize you, weaken you can give you all kind of emotions at one time :)
The realization on this topic started with my first blog on Shevai.
The word Shevai got me to my childhood days, my vacation at my aunts place, my cousins...I again relived all those moments. My brain went in so depth that I could even recollect the conversations made then :)
Even now while writing this blog, I again went through those moments.
Just wondering how a human brain could relate and recollect so many things at the same time..think the science of Neural Networks can help me out in some way :P

Back to the roots with Surnali :)

After posts on the western foods..I come back to my Indian roots but with a twist :)
Here,I post the recipe of healthier version of Surnali made with brown rice.
We, South Indians can guarantee that we will not die hungry, we are blessed with treasure of various mouthwatering dishes. We can make Dosa out of everything which would turn out yummy. One such type of Dosa is Surnali.
Surnali can be made both sweet and non-sweet version. Considering my husbands sweet tooth,I recently made the sweet version of surnali but with a twist. I made surnali with brown rice instead of the usual white rice.

Brown Rice - 2 Cups
Cucumber - 1 grated
Jaggery - 1/4 cup grated
Poha (Flattened Rice) - a handful
Salt - As per taste.

1. Soak rice for 2 hours.
2. Grind the rice along with poha,cucumber and jaggery.
3. Add salt.
4. Let the batter rest and ferment for atleast 7-8 hours.
5. Once the batter is fermented, you can make soft, yummy sweet dosa
called surnali :)

Boring Green made Yummy yet Healthy! - Spinach and Mushroom Pasta

My husband has been telling me to post my recipes on Konkani Amchi Food(KAF) for a while now.
The blog consists of a theme every week and the members posts their recipes according to the theme.
The theme of the week was "Go Green". We all know that how good are greens for healthy but also find eating those boring. Even I am in one of those categories, I had spinach in my fridge for some days now, but did not want to make regular spinach dishes with it.  Looking over the other compartment of the fridge, I found I also had some mushrooms, I knew I had some Rotini Pasta (Made from Semolina) at home. So my mind went on to try to combine the three to make Spinach and Mushroom Pasta

Pasta - 1 cup
Spinach - 10-12 leaves chopped
Mushrooms -5-6 diced
Onion - 1 small- diced
Capsicum - 1/2 -diced
Garlic -4-5 cloves chopped
Pepper - crushed
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2 tablespoons
Milk - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
White Flour (Maida) - 1 and 1/2 teaspoon
Cheese - As per taste

1. Boil the pasta as per the instructions on the pasta pack.
 Usually raw pasta is added in boiling water and is boiled till they become soft. They are next drained and passed through the cold running water for 1-2 mins. 1 teaspoon of oil is added in the pasta so that they do not stick to each other.
2. In a saute pan, add oil.
3. Oil the oil is heated, add diced onions and chopped garlic.
4. Saute until the onion become translucent.
5. Now add capsicum and saute for a few minutes. It is fine if the capsicum is bit raw, it will give a crunchy taste to the dish.
6. At this stage add chopped spinach and mushrooms.
7. Add salt and half of the crushed pepper to the vegetables and saute. Remember Spinach are salty by nature so be careful while adding salt.
8. Spinach and mushrooms will start leaving water, now add the boiled pasta to the mixture
9. Make a batter of flour with 1/4 of the water and add to the pasta.
10. Now slowly add milk and water to the pasta and keep on stirring.
11. Take care not to have lumps of the flour in the pasta .
12. Add the remaining crushed pepper and keep on stirring until the gravy thickens.
13. Garnish with shredded cheese and your Healthy yet Yummy pasta is ready to be served :)

Though I was late for posting this in KAF, they changed the theme on the day I made this :), I was happy to reward myself with some changed form of healthy green :)

Videsi-Desi-Burrito :)

When in Rome..do as the Romans do! This phrase has been an apt for me now-a-days  :)
Coming to USA and very less on Indian resources, I have been trying some American rather Mexican dishes with my limited resources I have.
So..Today I present before you the recipe for Burritos.

Burrito is a Mexican recipe consisting of blend of healthy beans, rice and vegetables.
Vegetables for me as I am a vegetarian .. you get many non-vegetarian version of Burrito.

Tortillas - I used Wheat tortillas
Sour Cream/Curd
Brown Rice
Beans- I used black beans
Onions
Tomatoes
Garlic paste
Ginger Paste
Cilantro
Tomato Ketchup

1. Boil brown rice until mushy
2. Saute onions,ginger paste, garlic paste and tomatoes.
3. Add salt, a bit of sugar, chilly powder and tomato ketchup.
4. Add black beans and boil till 2 whistles.
5. Once the cooker cools down, add the rice into the gravy.
6. Add cilantro
7. Chop the vegetables (onion,mushroom,capsicum,cabbage) and place aside.
8. Roast the Tortillas.
9. On the roasted tortilla, apply butter, then place a spoon of mixture of rice and beans,cut vegetables.
10. Put a spoonful of sour cream.
11. Garnish with shredded cheese.
12. Fold the tortilla in form of a burrito.
13.Place the burrito in the oven for 10 mins on 350 degrees.
14. Your burrito is ready to eat :)

Should we grow up?

After two posts on recipes, today I wanted to write on some serious topic.. Should we grow up?
I have heard people saying "Grow Up" ..What is growing up?
According to me growing up means, to act sensibly wherever required,mature enough to take certain decisions or give our thought on some serious matters.
But should this so called "Grown Up" devoid us from small pleasures of life?

The world divides behavior in two categories :
1- Grown Up
2- Childish

Why can't there be an intermediate behavior? Why cant a Grown Up person acts childish sometimes if it is harmless to others but pleasure for him?

 What would you say  about a person who is sensible enough to take decision, give an opinion but start jumping out of  excitement on seeing something though his jumping is harmless to others?
Is he a Grown Up or Childish person?
He is a person who is grown up yet some part of his heart is still childish and want to enjoy life.
We, today are scared of our society and modify ourselves as per the society requirement.
What a third person will think of me if I do this or that? Will he think I am childish?
Being childish has been looked upon as a curse that will cut you out from the rest of the world.
What does a third person has to do with the things you do if it is not of his concern, he might see and forget.
But for that why do we have run away from our happiness?

For me everyone has a child inside him which sometimes want to come out. So let that happen, it is OK to behave childish sometimes unless it is a problem for others.

Live Life Love Life :)

Cold in Cold...Coleslaw!

Today I was not in mood of preparing anything for dinner but yet wanted to eat something HEALTHY.
Yes stressing on word healthy as I did not want to order anything for the dinner. Was just going through the social networking site..when I eyes caught something called "Coleslaw".
I had heard about this many times..but never knew what it was. Coleslaw is shredded cabbage with mayonnaise or buttermilk base. I got my plan for dinner "Coleslaw Salad". These are Cold Salads. Thought of trying my hands on these coldies today :)
You will find many recipe of Coleslaw Salad online but this is my version..especially with the stuffs I  had handy at my house.

You can try these with the veggies you love to eat, I had these at home

Cabbage - Shredded
Carrot - Cut into fine pieces
Onion - Cut into fine pieces
Cucumber - Cut into fine pieces
Capsicum - Cut into fine pieces
Apple - Cut into fine pieces
Coriander - Cut into fine pieces
Chilies - Cut into fine pieces
Pasta - Boiled with some salt

For Base :
Sour Cream
Curd
Peanut Butter
Salt
Pepper

Beat together Sour Cream,Curd, Peanut Butter together in such a way that they mixed very well..Peanut butter should get mixed well so as to form a creamy texture.Now add salt, pepper, chopped green chilly and coriander and mix well so that the flavor gets mixed in the curd-sour cream-peanut butter paste.
Now add the chopped vegetables or fruits of your choice and let it sit for an hour. Place this salad in the refrigerator to cool it and here is your Cold Coleslaw Salad ready to eat.. :)

Yummy Shevai!

Which Konkani would not like "Tandlachi Pilleli Shevai"? And being a hardcore Konkani, Shevai has been my favorite since childhood :) Memories take me to remember my stay at my mhave's (aunts) place during vacation and she would have prepared for making shevai for the next day breakfast and yet ask me what would I want for breakfast? She knew I would always come up with only one answer that is "Shevai" :)
Even after marriage, my hunger for Shevai has always been fulfilled by my parents and in-laws by either preparing it themselves or getting those from the Mangalore stores. 
Though such a huge fan, I had never tried making it myself, thanks to its tedious procedure :)
I was quite delighted when my father-in-law gave me a very simple recipe for making shevai.
Never done in India, I found the so called mahurat of making Shevai in USA :). So,here comes recipe from my F.I.L for Tandlachi Shevai

Rice Four - 2 Cups
Water - 3 cups
Salt - As per taste
Oil - 2 teaspoon

The above quantity is enough to make 6 bhaatti(set) of Shevai

The quantity of water would be 1 and 1/2 times of the rice flour. We do not use coconut in any form in this recipe.
1. Bring water to boil.
2. Add salt and oil to the water.
3. Once water boils, switch off the gas.
4. Now slowly add rice flour to the water. See to it that no lumps are formed.
5. Place the steamer to preheat it.
6. Once the mixture comes to a dough consistency, it will be a bit sticky,make small balls of the dough and place in the steamer.
7. Steam these balls for apprx 15-20mins.
8. Keep you Shevai maker(daante) ready. Place the steamed rice balls in the maker and make shevai.

Your yummy, easy to make shevai is ready to eat.
Shevai can be relished with spicy rasam or sambaar..but I simpy
love it with coconut oil and appe-middi nonche.. ;)

I did not have Shevai maker so used the Chakli maker with the Shev making blade.
Take care that the Shevai should me made while the rice balls are hot, once they cool down, it becomes very difficult  to make Shevai.