Jhatpat Chhole

I had always wanted to share the 'jhatpat chhole' recipe. The chhole event at Anna Parabrahma decided the timing. Its easy and faster to make. I received this recipe from one of my friends mom. This chhole was always a part of her birthday treats at home, primarily because its delicious and can be cooked in huge quantities without much hassle and with almost a guarantee that it will come out well.

1 cup Kabuli Chana (chickpeas) -soaked overnight

1.5 cups onion finely chopped

3 med tomatoes finely chopped

2 tbsp corriander powder

1 tsp dry mango powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp garam masala

1 black cardamom (crushed)

1/4" cinnamon stick

3-4 cloves

1 tbsp ginger

1 tbsp garlic

1/3 cup oil

1 cup water

salt to taste

Drain the water from kabuli chana. Add all the ingredients mentioned above and the kabuli chana in a pressure cooker and mix well. Put the lid and let it cook for around 35-45 mins.

When the pressure is released mash up a part of the kabuli chana to make the gravy thick. The consistency of the gravy should be thick so you may heat it for sometime for the any extra water to dry off.

This would be my entry for Anjali's chhole event.

Besan Ka Halwa

Now this recipe is special...u know why..because it comes from the better half.
One of the few dishes he prepares for me.

1.5 cups chickpea flour(besan)
3/4 cup clarified butter(ghee)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup Sugar
cashews and raisins

Take a 1 tbsp of ghee and roast the raisins and cashews and keep it aside.
Now roast the flour in the remaining ghee till golden brown. Add the raisins and the sugar to it and immediately add the milk. Keep on stirring till there are no lumps and it becomes dry.
And the besan ka halwa is ready to eat!

Poori,Kale Chane And Sooji ka halwa

The Jihva Special Edition : Festive Series this season got me thinking…what am I reminded when I think Dussehra- Diwali?

Of course the ‘Kanchaks’ !! no second thoughts…

‘Kanchak’s ‘ or the kanya bhoj is done on the 8th or the 9th day of the Navratras, after strenuous fasting for the rest of the period, wherein female kids from the neighborhood, revered on that day as the ‘Goddess Durga’ herself, are invited for lunch.

Now here comes the interesting part…the menu. The menu was always the same ‘Poori’, ‘kale chane’ and ‘sooji ka halwa’ - and the taste, one to be always remembered.

I would not go into the making of the poori or sooji ka halwa.The making of poori has been explained, step by step, in an excellent way out here. Only addition may be 1 tsp of Ajwain to the dough before kneading it for flavoring. Sooji ka halwa can be made referring here.

A very dear friend has lent me this recipe.

For the Kale Chane take:
1.5 cups of black gram and soak it overnight.

Forgot to soak overnight? Here is the trick instead of soaking in cold water soak it in warm water (not hot water!) also add 1 tbsp of wheat flour and 1 tsp of baking soda to it.
This way it will become soft enough to cook sooner.

Now take
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 brown cardamom
5-6 Cloves
½ aniseed star
Grind all the above spices to a coarse mix.

Drain the water from the soaked black gram. Incase you have added Wheat flour to it while soaking you may have to wash it thoroughly.

Pour the black gram into a pressure cooker .
Add the spice mix
salt as per taste
½ tsp of turmeric powder
1.5 cups of water

Cook it for ½ hour.
Water should be just enough to cook the black gram thoroughly. Remember this is a dry dish.

Take a pan and when the pan is sufficiently heated add 1-2 tbsp of clarified butter(ghee) to it.
When the clarified butter heats up add
1 tsp of cumin seeds

As cumin seeds crackle add
1 tbsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of red chilli powder

Salt to taste

Saute it for 2-3 mins on high flame constantly stirring it.
When done pour the boiled black gram into pan and mix it well so as to coat it well with the sautéed spices. While doing this also mash some part of the black gram with the ladle to give it a thick look.
Its done when the water content if any gets fully evaporated.

And you know the best way to enjoy the taste …..mix it will sooji ka halwa and eat it with hot poori!

Parippu Vada

Before getting married to an absolute foodie husband, I had been living in hostels. So it goes without saying that one of the most important things that I always missed during my stay in the hostels was the aroma and goodness of all the goodies my mom used to dish out from her kitchen.

Like most of you, I am firmly convinced that my mom is the best cook in the world!! :).
So when I set up my own kitchen one of the first things that I tried out had to be the parippu vada which had for years managed to reign as our family favourite. So it was only natural that my first recipe in my food blog had to come from her.

This one’s for you mom.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup Chana dal (split Bengal gram)
1 medium sized onion
2- 3 green chillies (more or less if you want it hotter or milder)
1" Ginger piece
1-2 Whole red chillies
Few sprigs of Curry Leaves
Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Soak the chana dal for 3-4 hours till it becomes soft. Drain the water in a colander and let it dry in the open for half an hour so that all the extra water drains off.

Dice the onion, chillies and the ginger into cubes or bite size pieces. You don’t have to be very precise as all these are anyway going to be ground into a coarse paste.

Now comes the crucial part. Put all the ingredients including the salt and dry grind in the grinder just for 15-20 seconds. There is no need to add water while grinding as the water absorbed by the chana dal would be sufficient to grind it along with the other ingredients into a thick coarse mixture.

If you grind it too much then the vadas will turn out soggy. At the same time the mixture should be thick enough to be made into vadas. Let some pieces of the ingredients be visible in the mix. This would make the vada crispy and let the flavour of ginger n onion to melt in your mouth.

Take out the mix from the grinder in a vessel and hand mix it.

Now heat oil in a vessel (kadhai) with heat turned on full.
When the oil is heated, make balls out of the mixture and flattten it from the centre. Tap the edges so that it slopes away. The discs thus formed should be approximately 1 ½ - 2 inches in diameter.
Lower the vadas into the oil one by one.The oil should be hot enough for the vadas to come sizzling to the top. Fry the vadas till the lower side is done and then turn it over. You may want to reduce the heat at this point so that the inside of the vada is also cooked.

Let the vadas turn properly brown before taking them out and place it on tissue paper. This would take care of the excess oil on the vadas.

This can be served hot and piping with chutneys or tomato sauce and I am sure no one would mind a hot cup of ginger flavoured tea to wash it all down!

And of course I also discovered that they don’t lie when they say “the way to a man’s heart is through his tummy”.

So just in case any of you have designs for bowling your hubbies put on your Marco Polo hats and discover the shortest way into their hearts.