Dry Fruit Delight

DRY FRUIT DELIGHT

Dry Fruit Delight

Cuisine:  Experimental

SuperKook: Prema Sheshadri

Ingredients:

- butter. ghee (1 tea spoon, optional)

- dried coconut (2 tea spoons for presentation, optional)

- dried coconut (3 tea spoons)

- khus khus (3 tea spoons)

- chopped dates (20-25)

- pista, badam, cashew, cranberry, raisins and any other dry fruit of choice. Cut these fruits into small pieces. Use a knife to cut them into small even pieces.  this makes it easier to roll the cake (1/4 cup)

Recipe:

- Heat ghee/butter in a pan.

- Fry khus khus and dry coconut. (these two together bring down the 'sweetness' of the final product. So you can decide the quantity of these two according to taste)

- Add the chopped dates to the above mixture.

Hint: To make it easier for the dates to be chopped, soak them in milk for a few hours. You can also add milk and microwave with the dates if you are running short on time.

- Cook the mixture well while stirring constantly. Make note that you have not added any water/liquid to it at all.

- When the dates become soft, switch off and allow it to stand and cool.

- Knead it thoroughly once cool and roll it to a thin film. This film needs to be as thin as possible as we are going to be rolling it into sheets later on.

- On the film, spread evenly the broken pieces of nuts and dry fruits.

- Use a rolling pin on top of these nuts and dry fruit pieces to push them into the film gently.

- Now roll the entire film tightly into a cylinder and flatten the sides.

- Roll this cylinder over dried coconut powder and then cut this cylinder into small slices.

- Refrigerate this before eating.

Health benefits:

- If you do not add the coconut and ghee, this is a dish made only with dry fruits and zero sugar. Very healthy and very tasty.

Masala Puri

SuPeR KooK: Smitha

Cuisine: Bangalore :)

I got this recipe from a friend, with no hints about quantities of each ingredient. So I simply add them based on 'i feel like adding this much today'. I cooked this for about 7 people as an appetizer.

This is a dish best had from a Chaat Gaadi vendor. But if you have time on your hands, here is the recipe.

Dry Fry these ingredients till you get a nice aroma. These spices will be ground with a few more ingredients in the next step:
Cinnamon - an inch long
cloves - 2 or 3
black pepper - 1.5 tea spoon
jeera - about 1 Tbsp
saunf - 1 Tbsp
star anise - 1
javantry (Mace - powder of nutmeg shell) - 1 tea spoon
khus khus - 1.5 t spoon
cardamom - 4 to 5 pods

To grind:

Dry fried spices
Dates (More dates = sweeter chaat. I used 10 for 7 people.)
green chili - 2 to 3 . i suggest using green chili paste later in the plate to make it spicier.
onion - I used 1 large sized onion. (that is probably 3 India sized onions)
garlic - 1.5 cloves. (Used less since I don't like garlic.)
Coriander leaves - 1/2 a bunch
pudina leaves - 1 bunch
Grated Coconut (optional) - I used about 3 Tbsp

Heat some oil in a kadai, and pour the ground mixture in. Cook till the mixture thickens. Dilute this with some water and cook again till it thickens. Repeat this process a couple of times.

I usually wait till there is no raw smell, plus the consistency is correct. The consistency should be thicker than Sambhar, but more dilute than gravy.
At this point, add a very little paste of ground peas , little coriander powder,red chilli powder, salt and boil for a few more minutes.

This mixture tends to splutter a bit, so keep a lid handy for the kadai.

You now have the main part ready.

To serve:

Halve about 5 pieces of papdi on a plate.

Add about 3 tablespoons of cooked peas on this.(You can also cook this peas in the gravy.)

Then pour about 1/4 cup of the cooked gravy on it. You could just sprinkle some masalas on this (jeera powder, chat masala).

Add a couple of T-spoons of finely chopped onions and tomatoes.

Top it off with sev and coriander leaves.

optional :Grated carrots

Note about cooking peas :

I simply microwaved them for 4 minutes.

A pressure cooker might over cook the peas, so dont do that...another option is to boil them for 10 minutes.

the best option would be to simply cook the peas in the gravy. You will not get the raw-ish taste of the peas you might be used to, but its still awesome.

Enjoy!

Aaloo Dil a.k.a Meenakshi Curry

SuPeR KooK: Vijay

Cuisine: South Indian

I dedicate this recipe to Appa. I remember him making this many times. He used to take particular pleasure in chopping the potato into those thin slices. He could not sit silent at the dining table while eating it and would keep saying "Avan supera pannirukkan ille?"

I did/tried to make the same with some little modifications.

Ingredients:

- potatoes (SURPRISE!!!!)

- Dil leaves

- Jeera

- Jeera Powder

- Coriander Powder

- Chilli Powder

- Garam Masala (Optional)

- Salt (to Taste)

- chana dal

- urad dal

- turmeric

- curry leaves

Preparation:

- Chop the potatoes into really thin slices. I like to keep them long for this particular recipe. I like them to be a little thicker than a mouse wire and as long as 2 inches.

- Store them in a bowl of water to avoid oxidation.

Tadka:

Heat Oil and add:

- Jeera

- Chana Dal

- Urad Dal

- Turmeric

- Curry Leaves

-To this, add the chopped potatoes after removing as much water as possible.

- Lower flame is better as it tends to stick to the vessel lesser. That way we can also reduce the oil needed to cook this.

- After the potatoes are half cooked, add Jeera powder, Coriander powder and salt. If you like the taste of Garam Masala, add it now. Mix everything and cook again. Cover the pan with a lid if you want.

- Keep stirring occasionally.

- When the potatoes are almost done, Add a good chunk of Dil Leaves. I don't let them cook a lot. It keeps the nutirtion high and I like a slight raw taste also better.

Thats it. Enjoy the delicious curry.

After all, "Avan panninadhu..."

Aaloo Mutter (Aaloo Mutter Gobi extended version)

SuPeR KooK: Rajah Chandrasekhar a.k.a Sathya

Cuisine: North Indian

Ingredients:

- Potatoes Red/White 10 small size
- Large Red Onion half 1/2
- 1 Large Tomato
- Peas 1/2 cup
- Green chillies 4-5
- Ginger 1-2 inches long
- Garlic 5 - cloves
- Fresh Corriander leaves
- Cumin/Jeera
- Salt
- Oil
Masala Items
- Fenugreek leaves/Kasoori Methi
- Corriander Powder 1/2 spoon
- Dry Mango Powder/Aamchur 1/2 spoon
- Pinch of Turmeric
- LG/Asafoetida
- Red chilli powder 1/2 spoon

Prep:

- Cut the potatoes into large long pieces and soak them in water for about 1 hour to remove excess starch
- Make small pieces of ginger and garlic and grind them to a paste
- Cut the onion into small pieces and then grind it into a paste with green chilli
- Puree half the tomato and dice the remaining half
- Chop Fresh corriander and keep aside covered
- Mix Aamchur, Chilli powder and Corriander powder in 1/4 cup of water and keep aside

Method:

- Heat some oil in a wide pan (Make sure the pan has a lid, as you have to cook the dish covered)
- Add cumin/geera seeds, when they are done, add some LG/Asafetida
- Now add ginger garlic paste and wait for it to fry, when done add the onion paste and turmeric and fry till brown
- Add the tomato puree and the the diced tomatoes till the mixture forms a nice sauce
- Now stir in the contents of the masala mix to this sauce and let it cook on medium flame
- Crush in some kasoori methi and add half the chopped fresh corriander
- Drain water from the potatoes and add them along with peas
- Add salt to taste and mix the contents well. There should be a good coating of sauce on all the potatoes
- Cover with lid and let it cook on low flame
- Occasionally, open to mix the contents and drain water condensed on inner surface of lid
- When the potatoes are done, add remaining chopped corriander and mix well
- Taste to adjust for salt
- Enjoy with Rice dishes or Roti

Note: You can add Cauliflower flowerlets to make it aaloo mutter gobi

Whole Wheat Pizza

SuPeR KooK: Rajah Chandrasekhar a.k.a Sathya

Cuisine: Italian

Pizza Base: I used wheat, you can replace with Maida for the familiar texture and taste of pizza base.

- 1 cup wheat/maida (you can also do half and half)

- 1 spoon yeast (optional, can be made without yeast also)

- 1/2 spoon baking soda

- 1/2 spoon sugar

- salt to taste

Add the yeast and water to some lukewarm water and let it sit for about 20 minutes. The mixture should double in quantity if the yeast is active. Mix the baking soda and wheat/maida well. Add some salt (not too much as it can kill the yeast) to the flour mixture. After the yeast has been sitting for 20 minutes knead the mixture with the yeast solution. If required, add some more water. The dough has to be a little more runny than chappati dough. After kneading the dough well, let is sit in a warm place for about 2 hours (keep it covered so that the dough does not dry).

Pizza preparation: For one pizza

- 1/4 Onion thinly sliced

- 1/2 tomato diced

- 10 black olives thinly sliced

- 1/4 capsicum thinly sliced

- 2-3 button mushrooms thinly sliced

- a few pineapple pieces, diced

- Jalapeño or chilly flakes

- Any other toppings that you fancy

- 2-3 button mushrooms thinly sliced

- a few pineapple pieces, diced

- Jalapeño or chilly flakes

- Mix of Mozzarella and Provolone cheese grated

- Pasta/Pizza sause (I get the Tomato and herb combo)

- Italian seasoning or Oregano (optional)

- Any other toppings that you fancy

Preparing the Pizza: Before starting, pre-heat the oven to 450 F (230 C). Make sure that the oven tray for the pizza is not in the oven, the oven tray should go in cool. Take a dab of oil in your hands and spread it on an aluminium foil placed on the tray. Now take the dough and spread it on the foil with your hands. Make the dough thin if you like a crispy crust. After spreading the dough, spread the pasta sauce on the dough evenly. Add some cheese first and them spread the toppings evenly. The cheese at the bottom will hold the veggies from falling when eating. Don't over do the veggies, too much will make the pizza soggy. Add some oregano/seasoning and top off with some more cheese.

Baking the Pizza: After the pizza is prepared, make sure that the oven has reached the right temp. Place the pizza at the bottom of the oven and set your timer to 8 minutes. If after 8 minutes, you feel the pizza is still not done leave it in for 2 more minutes. Usually, if the cheese is bubbling the pizza is done. Let it cool and enjoy.