Pani-Puri - Totally home-made

The incredibly popular range of street food in India - the yummy Indian chat. I had not introduced this at home as yet. But when little ones mingle with other little ones, they get to know of all the junk food in town and it was only a matter of time before "bingo", "oreo", "poppins" and eventually "chat" is discussed. So the little girl asked me what pani-puri is one day. I explained to her how the tiny puris are stuffed with potato-peas or channa and some sweet-and-sour chutney and topped with onions, cilantro and mint. And finally dipped into some spicy water and eaten. She was particularly amused by the name "Gol Gappa" as it is called in some parts of India. I was postponing it for some time, since I was not so confident of making the puris at home. But finally decided to give it a shot. 

Recipe Source RiasKitchen

Ingredients 

For the Puris

Maida - 2 tbsp
Chirotti Rava - 1 cup
Water - as needed
Oil - for frying

Sift maida and rava together. Add water form a course, but soft dough. Knead a little more and make it smooth. Keep covered with a damp cloth for 10 mins.

Pinch out a little dough and roll it out into a very thin disc approximately 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter. Keep the discs on top of the wet towel.

Heat the oil in a small kadai. When the oil is hot enough, drop one disc. Press the disc deep into the oil using the back of the slotted spoon and it will puff up. Then drop the next one. Once the puris are golden brown on one side, flip them over and fry the other side. Remove the puris from the oil and place them on blotting paper/newspaper to drain out the oil.


Tips: The puris have to be rolled out really thin. 1 cup of semolina dough yields atleast 60 pruis. I tried the 1/4 cup maida, and 3/4 semolina combination. I rolled out slightly thick puris and it turned out very rubbery. So the next time I used the above proportions, rolled the puris very thin and it turned out fine.

For the Pani or Spicy Water:

Mint leaves - 1 cup
Green chilly  - 3-4
Tamarind syrup - 3 tbsp
Lemon juice - 3 tbsp
Roasted Cumin powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - as needed
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 2 pinches
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Thyme - 1/2 tsp

Water - 4 cups

Grind all ingredients together into a fine paste with a little water. Strain the paste and add the remaining water. Adjust salt as needed.

Assembling the puris

Make a hole in the puris. Put a teaspoon of potato-peas masala or channa masala into the puris. Slightly warm the stuffed puris in the microwave. Add a teaspoon of Katta Meetha chutney and garnish with chopped onions, cilantro and mint leaves. Serve the puris and Pani in a bowl or plate and some katta-meetha chutney.

Verdict:

The puris, the pani and the chutney tasted so authentic. I don't think we will ever enjoy something from the street stall anymore. The little girl found the pani and chutney a little spicy to her taste. So she ate the stuffed puris.

Katta-Meeta chutney (Dates, Jaggery and Tamarind Chutney)

If you liked the manga-vellam pachhadi, or any tangy and sweet taste combination, then this one is for you. This is the chutney that is served with the chat items.

Recipe source - Yummy Tummy
Ingredients
Deseeded Dates - 1 cup
Tamarind pulp - 4 tbsp
Grated Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Water as needed

Method
Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan. Add enough water to cover the surface of the mixture. Bring to a boil. Simmer and allow to cook for 20-25 minutes. The dates should feel soft and cooked. Allow the mixture to cool down. Blend it into a fine paste and pass through a sieve to get a smooth paste. 

Verdict
This goes well with all tiffin varieties and starters, chat items. I originally made it for pani puri and had quite a quantity left-over. So we used it for idli, dosa, parathas and chapatis and everyone loved it.

Baking Eggless July Challenge - Savory Pie

Have you ever experienced doing something based on someone's guidance only to vary the execution to suit your needs and situation at every step of the way such that the end result is completely different but yet a success? More specifically in cooking, we start with a tried and tested recipe given. We adapt and adjust to ingredients available or permitted and vary it along the way. And at the final stages of cooking we keep our fingers crossed hoping the final outcome of the dish is as expected. The joy when the dish turns out successful is a clear indicator that inspite of the variations we did get the technique right and we nailed it.

This months Eggless Baking Challenge was Savory Meat-Pie from Saveur with the option to vary the stuffing as per our choice.

I had no meat at home this weekend, so meat stuffing was ruled out. Mushrooms were the next natural choice, but I did not have mushrooms either. So I went through other options from Popina's book. There is a whole section on savory pies in this book. But unfortunately for no recipe do we get all ingredients in this part of the world. Spinach and garlic, sorry not available. Feta and tomatoes, what is that? just to name a few options.
I could not choose any of those recipes but got some ideas on what veggies go with what spices/herbs and how to prepare the veggies before stuffing them in the pie shells. What did I finally choose? Keep reading to the end...

I am not presenting the original recipe for the stuffing this time. The egg substitution was only for the pastry dough. So here goes the original recipe for the dough.

FOR THE DOUGH
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1¼ cups lard or vegetable shortening
2 eggs, beaten

INSTRUCTIONS

For the dough: Sift together flour and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut in lard; then add up to 1 cup ice water, stirring with a fork until dough holds together. Transfer to a lightly floured surface, and shape into 2 balls. Roll out each ball until ¼'' thick. Use a 3'' round cutter to cut 36 circles from each half of dough. Fit half the circles into 2 ½'' round fluted tart tins. Fill each with 1 tbsp. filling, and cover each with remaining dough circles. Seal edges with a fork. Brush with egg wash, and prick top once.

I scaled the recipe down, varied the butter to flour ratio slightly and substituted a little all-purpose flour with wheat flour. I made 6 small tarts and 6 medium tarts with this recipe.

My egg-less version follows:
For the Dough
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup - wheat flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup - cold butter
1/4 cup - cold milk
2-4 tbsp - cold water

Method
Sift together flour and salt. Cut the butter into the flour and gently rub it with fingers together until you get a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle the milk as you combine the flour with your fingers. If the dough comes together then you are done. If not add a tablespoon of cold water at a time and try to bring the dough together with the finger tips only, without kneading. 

For the filling:

Potatoes - 2 medium sized, sliced in rectangles. 
Onions - 2 medium sized, diced
Sweet Corn kernels - 1/4 cup

Olive Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp

Spices
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp (or to taste)
Thyme - 1/4 tsp
Oregano - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Basil - 1/4 tsp (optional)

Binding
Cheese, grated - 1/4 cup (I used cheddar) See Note
Garlic paste - 1/2 tbsp

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Combine the potatoes, onions and sweet corn with the spices and olive oil. Arrange on a roasting tray and bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees C. Allow it to cool for 10 mins.
Combine the roasted vegetables with the binding ingredients (cheese and garlic), and keep aside. 

Roll out the dough and cut out circles that will just cover the tart tins. Grease the tart tins slightly and line the bottom and sides of the tart tins with 4 mm thickness of dough. Stuff as much filling as possible and place the cut out circle on top. Try to seal the edges. If the edges do not seal then you can skip pricking the top. If the edges seal well then prick with a fork. Brush the tops with milk or egg-wash. I always use milk to brush the tops. 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Place the filled out tart tins on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until the tops turn golden brown. 

Note:You could add more cheese if you like your filling very cheesy. You could use pizza cheese too if you please.

Verdict 
These were delectable - mildly spiced and utterly delicious filling. I only felt that the filling could have been a little juicier. The idea was to add cream and cornflour paste to add to the moisture content, but I was out of cream too. I plan to try it out next time with either extra cheese or cream filling. So I finally decided to call it potato-corn-cheesy pie. What do you say?