Suruttai Poli - Indian Cooking Challenge, Feb 2011

Suruttai poli, a traditional sweet preparation of South India, was chosen by Srivalli as the recipe for Indian Cooking Challenge for the month of February, 2011. This recipe is suggested by Nithya of 4th sense cooking, who stated her mother�s traditional, tried & tested recipe.

I had never heard about this dish so it was a real challenge to attempt. When I searched the net for pictures, I came across Pavithra's recipe on how the final dish will look.

Suruttai means rolled up and poli, generally refers to the sweet poli. It somehow resembled patisapta (a traditional sweet / savoury preparation in Bengali), stuffed with fillings of khoya & kheer / grated coconut, mixed with jaggery and rolled tightly.

Here the outer covering should be thin, like a papad. It came out nicely and everyone enjoyed this delicious sweet treat. The only addition I made, I added some raisins in the filling mixture�.

Ingredients:

For filling:

• Roasted gram: 1 cup
• Sugar: 1 cup
• Cashews, chopped: 3-4 tbsp
• Raisins: 3-4 tbsp
• Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
• Coconut, grated: 2 tbsp
• Ghee: 1 tsp

For dough:

• All purpose flour: 1 cup
• Salt, a pinch
• Water, to knead dough
• Oil, for frying polis

For garnishing:

• Sugar, powdered: � cup
• Cashews, chopped: 5-6
• Raisins: 10-12

Preparations:

Method for filling:

1. Dry roast the gram and powder the roasted gram and sugar together in a mixer.
2. Heat ghee and roast the chopped cashew, add grated coconut and saut� them till golden brown. mix well.
3. Add the powdered gram & sugar mixture, mix thoroughly by stirring continuously and switch off flame. Pour the mixture in a bowl and keep aside.

Method to prepare dough for Polis:

1. Sift flour and salt in a bowl, add a little water and knead to prepare a soft dough (like chaapati consistency). Ccover and set it aside for 10-15 mins.
2. Powder sugar, sprinkle on a plate and keep aside.
3. Make small balls from the dough, flour the rolling surface and roll the dough into very thin circles. (like papad consistency) (You can prick the rolled dough with fork on the surface to prevent them from puffing while frying). After rolling, keep aside for 10 mins.
4. Heat oil in a kadhai. Gently release the rolled dough in the oil. Turn and lightly fry on both sides and ensure that it do not change colour (It should be flexible and should not turn brown or crispy).
5. Drain oil and place the fried poli on the plate, coated with the powdered sugar. Carefully and immediately add 2-3 spoon fulls of filling on one side and roll tightly to form suruttai poli.
6. Keep aside face down in a flat surface. (The polis should be soft when hot but once they cool down they will become crispy).
7. Repeat with all the dough balls and prepare a whole batch of suruttai poli.

For serving, arrange the polis on a serving plate. Sprinkle some powdered sugar, garnish with cashews and raisins and serve.

Mojito and an Award

A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink, containing spirits, mixers (soda / fruit juice), sugar, water and bitters, enhanced with ice, honey, milk, cream and various herbs.

Wanted to post a cocktail recipe since I started blogging, 2 years ago...Here�s celebrating 2 years of blogging and an award from Chandrani of Cuisine Delights. Sharing the award with all my fellow bloggers.

Pl collect the award from my blog and let's start the party with Mojito......

Mojito (pronounced: Mohito) is a traditional Cuban highball, traditionally made up of 5 ingredients, namely white rum, sugar (traditionally sugar cane juice), lime juice, sparkling water and mint.

When preparing a Mojito, lime juice is added to sugar (or syrup) and mint leaves. The mixture is then gently mashed with a muddler in the bottom of a glass to release their flavor. Then rum is added and the mixture is stirred to dissolve the sugar. Finally, the drink is topped with ice cubes & sparkling water and served in a Collins glass. Mint leaves and lime wedges are used to garnish the glass.

Ingredients: (1 Serve)

• White Rum (Bacardi): 1.25 oz / 35 ml
• Lime: 1 / Fresh lime juice: 0.5 oz / 15 ml
• Mint Sprig: 1 / Mint leaves: 12
• Sugar: 1 tbsp
• Soda water: 2 oz / 55 ml
• Ice, crushed

Procedure:

1. Cut the limes into quarters and pick the mint leaves off of the stems.
2. Place mint leaves in the bottom of a tall glass and add sugar & about three lime wedges. Muddle sugar, mint leaves and the lime wedges.
3. Fill the glass with white rum and crushed ice (the glass should appear about 3/4th full). Shake / stir the mixture until fully blended.
4. Transfer the shaken cocktail to another glass (As the muddled lime and mint often stick to the bottom of the glass). Fill the remainder of glass with soda water.
5. Garnish with a lime wedge & mint sprig and serve with a straw.

Khandvi, Indian Cooking Challenge, Dec 2010

Gujarati cuisine mainly consists of vegetarian recipe and have unique culinary traditions of India. Gujarati cuisine is also distinctive in its wide variety of Farsans or side dishes served with the main meal. Some Farsan are eaten as snacks / light meals.

Gujarati food mainly comprise of 4 major regions, North Gujarat, Kathiawad, Kachchh and South Gujarat. North Gujarat is popular for its traditional Gujarati thali consisting of rice, dal, curry, vegetables, sprouted beans, farsan, pickles, chutney and raita. Some of the popular farsans, popular for their tastes are Pathara, Khaman Dhokla and Khandvi.

Khandvi is a delicious savoury made with gram flour (beasn) and curd, tempered with sesame seeds and mustard seeds and served with fresh grated coconut and chopped coriander leaves.

Srivalli chose Khandvi as the recipe for the Indian Cooking Challenge for the month of December. Preparing Khandvi is an art by itself and requires lot of practice to perfect the dish. I have never prepared Khandvi before and had to try 2-3 times, before I got a perfect rolled Khandvi.

Srivalli provided two recipes for khandvi, I followed Lataji�s recipe, only difference is that, I used only mustard seeds for tempering�

Ingredients:

• Gram flour / Besan: 1/3 cup (heaped)
• Sour Curd / Yogurt: 1/3 cup
• Water: 1 cup
• Ginger & Green Chilli paste: 2 tsp
• Turmeric Powder: 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida: 1/4 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Cooking Oil: 3 tbsp

For tempering:

• Cooking Oil: 2 tsps
• Mustard seed: 1 tsp

For Garnishing:

• Grated Coconut: 2 tbsp
• Fresh Coriander Leaves, chopped: 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Grease a flat plate and keep it ready before proceeding to cook Khandvi.
2. Beat curd and keep aside. In a bowl, add gram flour, salt, ginger-chilli paste, beaten curd, turmeric powder, asafoetisa and water and mix well to form a smooth batter (Ensure that the batter is thin and free of lumps).
3. Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadhai and add batter. Stir the batter continuously till well cooked. (You will know that the batter is ready, when the batter take a light brown tinge & glaze from the oil and do not stick to the walls of the kadhai).
4. The batter should still be in a semi liquid state, tipping more towards solid state (Over cooking will result in a solidified mass which will not spread evenly).
5. Transfer the cooked batter onto the greased plate and spread uniformly into a thin sheet over the flat surface with a ladle. (Do this quickly or else the batter will thicken as it cools and become difficult to spread.)
6. Using a knife, make strip marks on the sheet. Carefully roll each strip into spirals and place the khandvi rolls on a serving platter.
7. Heat the rest of the oil in another kadhai, add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Pour the tempering over the rolled khandvis.
8. Garnish the Khandvis with grated coconut and chopped coriander leaves and serve.

Tutti Frutti Cake

This festive season is never complete without a slice of Tutti Fruitti cake or a rich Fruit cake.

Tutti frutti is basically an Italian confection made with sliced fruit which has been candied or dried to preserve it. In Italian, �tutti frutti� means �all fruit, where a varied fruits like pineapple, papaya, mango, apricot, and grapefruit are used.
All of the fruits are diced fairly small and often brightly colored with various dyes to make it more visually appealing.

As far as I can remember, in my childhood days, there were some great bakeries in New Market like The Jewish confectioner "Nahoum's" and Imperial Cake shop.

Though curently there are several cake & bake shops in Kolkata, I still reminisce the drooling fruit cake, plum cake and rum balls of Nahoum's and it was a must to have them during the Christmas and New Year's time.

Here is the recipe of preparing a simple and easy Tutti Frutti Cake at home.

Ingredients:

• Refined Flour / Maida: 250 gms
• Eggs: 5
• Baking powder: 2 � tsp
• Sugar, powdered: 250 gms
• White butter: 250 gms
• Tutti frutti, Raisins and Cashew Nuts (chopped): 1 cup
• Vanilla essence: 2 tsp
  

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 390 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 8" round baking cake tin with butter and dust it evenly with a little flour.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together, sieve thrice and keep aside.
3. In a bowl, add butter and powdered sugar and cream them together till light and fluffy.
4. Add one egg at a time and beat till well combined. Add vanilla essence.
5. Add the flour gradually and fold to form a smooth cake mixture. (Do not over beat and combine the flour in one direction only).
6. Sprinkle some flour over the tutti frutti to coat them, add them to the batter and fold gently into the batter. (Keep a little tutti frutti, raisins and chopped cashew aside to sprinkle on top).
7. Spread batter evenly in the greased baking tin and sprinkle the remaining tutti frutti on the top.
8. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 390 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 30-45 minutes or until done. (Test by pricking the cake with a tooth pick and if it comes out clean then the cake is done).
9. Place on a wire rack to cool for 15 mins.
10. Slice and treat yourself or your guests with tea / coffee.

Kashmiri Dum Aloo, Indian Cooking Challenge, Nov 2010

Traditional Kashmiri cuisine is characterized by the use of curds in the gravies, which gives the dishes a creamy consistency.

In Kashmir, potato is called 'Oluv' (Singular), and potatoes are called 'Olav' (Plural). 'Dama Oluv' is a poular North Indian cusine, having its origin in Kashmir.

Better known as Kashmiri Dum Aloo, it is an all time favourite and mouth watering potato based curry recipe, prepared with whole / diced baby potatoes simmered in a rich and creamy gravy.

The credit for the mouth watering and unique taste goes to the use of exquisite spices and ingredients. Dum means anything cooked under pressure. Here the aloo / potatoes are cooked under pressure in their own juices.

Kashmiri Dum Aloo recipe is generally flavored with Kashmiri chillies and it uses typical Kashmiri spices like fennel / aniseed and ginger powder. Kashmiri Dum Aloo is particularly served with naan or roomali roti.

Srivalli choose this dish as the recipe for Indian Cooking Challenge for the month of November. She choose the recipe of Kashmiri Aloo Dum from Indian food.

Ingredients:

• Baby potatoes / small potatoes - 1 kg (round and uniform size)


• Cumin seeds, roasted and powdered: 1 tsp


• Kashmiri red chillies, roasted and powdered: 3-4


• Curd / yogurt: 2 1/2 cups (must not be sour)


• Ginger powder: 1 tsp


• Fennel / aniseed powder: 1 tbsp


• Cloves, roasted and powdered: 6


• Mustard oil: 4 tbsp


• Garam Masala: 1 tsp


• Mixed powders (Black cardamom, Cinnamon and Black Pepper): 1 tsp


• Asafoetida: a pinch


• White oil to deep fry potatoes


• Salt to taste


• Firm dough made from wheat flour and water Chopped coriander leaves: 1 tbsp

Method to prepare:

1. Wash the potatoes well, peel, and prick the potatoes all over with a fork. Then soak in salted water for 15-20 mins.


2. Heat white oil in a kadhai and fry the potatoes on medium flame on all sides till golden brown. Drain excess oil and keep aside.


3. Make a paste of curd / yogurt, chilli powder, ginger powder and fennel powder. Add the potatoes and marinate for about an hour.


4. Heat mustard oil in another kadhai, add the clove powder and asafoetida and mix well. Add a half cup of hot water with a little salt and bring to a boil.


5. Slowly add the marinated potatoes and the yogurt mix and thoroughly stir to mix the spices.


6. Cover with a lid, seal the edges with the dough for the �dum� so that steam do not escape. Cook in a low flame for 10-15 mins.


7. When the gravy thickens and the oil begins to separate, turn off the flame.


8. Add garam masala, roasted cumin seeds powder and the mixture of cardamom, cinnamon and black pepper powders. Turn gently with a spatula so that all the spices are mixed well.


9. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with Naan / Roomali Rotis / Chapatis.

Varo (Indian Praline with Mixed Nuts), Indian Cooking Challenge, Oct 2010

Praline is a family of confections made from nuts and sugar syrup. Originally inspired in France at the Ch�teau of Vaux-le-Vicomte by the cook of the 17th-century sugar industrialist, Marshal du Plessis-Praslin (1598�1675), early pralines were prepared with whole almonds individually coated in caramelized sugar, as against dark nougat, where a sheet of caramelized sugar covers many nuts.

Pralines have a creamy consistency, similar to fudge. They are usually prepared by combining sugar, butter and cream / buttermilk on medium-high heat, stirring constantly, till most of the water evaporates and they reach a thick texture with a brown color. They are then dropped by spoonfuls on a greased flat surface and left to cool to solidify into a crispy candy.

Alka suggested Sri for choosing Varo to be the recipe of Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC) for the month of October.


Varo is a kind of Indian praline with mixed nuts. Varo is a part of Sindhi cuisine, where Sindhi people make this as a Diwali special treat.

In West Bengal, we are used to Badam Chakti (Peanut Chikki / Brittle), which is a sweet preparation made from broken peanuts and jaggery. In Varo, sugar syrup is used instead of jaggery.

Sri chose two recipes for Varo, one is from Simply Sindhi Recipes and the second one is from Madhvi's Foolproof Recipes.

This was a new preparation for me. I tried the recipe from Simply sindhi recipes.

Ingredients:

• Mixed Nuts (Almonds, Pistachios, Cashew nuts), sliced: 1 cup
• Dry Coconut slices: 2 tbsp
• Poppy Seeds / Khus Khus: 2 tsp
• Black Cardamoms, crushed: 4 -5
• Sugar: 1 cup
• Clarified Butter: 1 tbsp

Method:

1. In a heavy bottomed pan, add butter and sugar and cook in a low flame till the sugar melts.
2. When the sugar is caramelized to a light brown color, add the sliced mixed nuts, poppy seeds and crushed cardamoms. Stir and mix well till all the nuts are coated with the caramelized sugar evenly.
3. Pour this mixture onto the back of a greased plate / rolling board.
4. Flatten the mixture by using a rolling pin very quickly or else the mixture will harden as soon as it removed from heat.
5. Score lines before the mixture begins to set, as this will make it easier to break and get uniform pieces of Varo.
6. Leave the Varo to set for some time. Break into pieces and store in air tight containers.

Punjabi Kadi with Pakora (Dahi Besan Kadi)

For the month of September, Srivalli announced a delicious dish, Punjabi Kadhi for the Indian Cooking Challenge. Thanks to Srivalli for choosing this yummy Punjabi kadi and Simran for the awesome recipe.

Kadhi / karhi is an Indian dish, specially a part of Gujarati and Punjabi cuisine, basically made up of vegetable fritters (pakodas) simmered in a spicy yogurt-based gravy containing chickpea flour (besan / gram flour) with tempering of black mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida, dried chili peppers, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves in oil / ghee and eaten with steamed rice and roti / phulkas.

Pakoda is a common Indian snack like onion pakoda, potato pakoda, eggplant, cauliflower or chopped spinach or chilies, prepared by dipping the ingredients in batter and fried into crunchy pakodas.
Punjabi kadhi is a typical North Indian recipe made up of pakodas simmered in a thick yogurt gravy.


Ingredients:
For Pakodas:

• Gram flour: � cup
• Onions, sliced: 2 medium
• Red Chilli Powder: � tsp (as per taste)
• Baking Powder: � tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Water, for batter
• White oil, for deep frying pakodas

For Kadi

• Curd / Yogurt: 1 cup
• Chickpea flour / Besan: � cup
• Onion, chopped: 1 large
• Mustard Seeds / Sorse: 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds / Jeera: 1 tsp
• Carom seeds / Ajwain: � tsp
• Fenugreek seeds / Methi: 1 tsp
• Curry leaves: 5-6
• Dry red chillies: 2 whole
• Turmeric powder: � tsp
• Red Chili powder: � tsp
• Garam Masala powder - � tsp
• Asafetida / Hing: a pinch
• Oil: 2 tbsp
• Salt, to taste

Preparation
Pakora:

1. Take slice onions in a bowl, crush them a little to separate the slices.
2. Add besan and all the other ingredients except water and oil to the bowl. Mix well. Slowly add water and make a batter of semi thick consistency.
3. Heat oil in a deep bottomed kadhai. Add a little oil in the batter and mix again.
4. Take small amount of batter coated onions, form a round shape and slowly release the balls in the hot oil.
5. Deep fry the pakodas, turn and cook both sides until crispy and golden brown.
6. Drain oil and take out the pakodas, put on a paper towel to soak the extra oil. Keep aside.

Kadhi:

1. Blend yogurt, besan and water with a pinch of turmeric powder, salt and red chilli powder to make a thin batter / buttermilk (lassi) mixture consistency. Keep it aside for half an hour before starting to make kadi.
2. Heat oil in a kadhai, add the dry spices (mustard seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds and fenugreek seeds) and let them splutter. Add curry leaves and dry red chilli to tadka (frying mixture).
3. Add chopped onions and saut� them until light brown. Add the turmeric powder, garam masala, red chilli powder, salt and saut� a little more.
4. Add the yogurt / besan (kadhi mixture) to the tadka. Keep stirring the gravy, as it may stick to the bottom. First keep it on a medium flame, bring it to a boil, reduce flame and simmer on low flame for 20-30 mins.
5. Keep stirring occasionally, check if the gravy is thick enough (add little water if required) and release the pakodas in the kadhi.
6. Boil for 2-3 mins more and turn off gas. Garnish with chopped coriander, serve hot with steamed rice or chapati.