Paniyarama with Spicy Tomato-Onion Chutney

I may have found a good way to cook good food, watch my calories and earn good karma (and make friends) in the process. Cook and feed others.

With this recently found wisdom, I decided to share my very first set of paniyaram and super-quick tomato-onion chutney that I learnt from my mom.

The chutney is spicy and goes well with Idlis, Dosas, utthappams and, of course, paniyarams. Lets start with the recipe for chutney first, shall we?

Tomato - onion Chutney

Ingredients
   1. Tomatoes -3
   2. Onions -2
   3. Red chilli Powder - 0.5 tablespoon (I used Tikhalal; adjust spice as per taste and variety of chilli powder used. It is recommended that you keep spicy level up since tomato and lemon will balance the heat well at the end.)
   Optional: Mint or Coriander leaves - few or 1 tbsp finely chopped (I didn't use either this time)
   4. Oil - 2 tsp + 1 tbsp
   5. salt - 1/4 tsp or as per taste

   For the seasoning
   1. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
   2. Optional:  Urad dal - 1/2 tsp (I didn't use it this time since I wasn't looking for the crunch)
   3. Curry leaves - few tender ones
   4. Lemon - Juice of half lemon

Method

  1. Slice onions and tomatoes and keep aside

  2 . Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan,add onions and saute until onions turn transparent.
  3. Add chilli powder and mix well with onions till it is well-coated with chilli powder. This should   take about 30 seconds. 

  4. Add tomatoes, mint/coriander leaves (if using), add salt and cook until tomatoes become slightly mushy.

  5. Allow the mixture to cool. Once it cools, grind to smooth paste
  6. Heat 1 tbsp of oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal (if using) and curry leaves.
  7. add to the ground paste, add lemon juice and mix

Note -  The chutney can be refrigerated and used for up to 2 days.

Paniyaram

Ingredients

   1. Idli batter - 2 cups

   For the seasoning
   1. Oil -3 tsp
   2. Mustard seeds -1 tsp
   3. Urad dal -1/2 tsp
   4. Onion - 1
   5. Green chilli -1 finely chopped
   6. Ginger -1 inch piece - finely chopped
   7. Curry leaves - few tender ones
   8. Coriander leaves - few finely chopped
   9. Salt to taste

 
Method 

1. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add urad dal. When dal turns golden brown, add finely chopped onions, ginger, green chilli and curry leaves.

2. Saute till onions turn pink, add needed salt and coriander leaves. Let it cool a little.

3. Now mix the above with the idly batter. Our paniyaram batter is ready!

4. Heat a paniyaram pan, add 2-3 drops of oil in each hole and pour a tbsp of batter in each hole.

5. Keep the heat on medium low and close the pan. Once the edges turn golden brown, flip over the paniyaram to the other side using a stainless steel rod or spoon.

6. Cook the other side also until golden brown. Remove from pan using a rod or spoon and serve hot with the tomato-onion chutney (or any spicy chutney and/or sambhar).

Burma Burma @ Cyberhub, Gurgaon

The day started with beautiful light drizzle in the morning and a downpour that looked lovely from the windows of my air conditioned office. It seemed like a nice day to step out for lunch and that gave me the perfect opportunity to check out the new restaurant in Cyberhub, Gurgaon, Burma Burma.

A quick research prior to my colleague and me embarking on our food quest brought a surprise...Burma Burma serves only vegetarian food. To hardcore non-vegetarians like my colleague and myself, ordering vegetarian-only meal outside is a deal-breaker...usually.

This time, however, our curiosity got the better of us and we decided that we would go with an open mind and no high expectations.

This is what we walked up to:

I had always been curious about the ambiance and I must say that I loved what they have done with the space.

Here's another view of the interiors.

It certainly made us strangely happy to see our table graced by the clear teapot.

Coming to the food, we ordered the Raw Mango Salad, which was amazing in the way the sweet and sour and tangy hit our senses. The closest thing I could relate it to was our good ol' bhelpuri but so much better! 

We also got brave and ordered the tamarind-coconut mocktail, which took a few precarious minutes to settle on our palates. However, perhaps paired with the raw mango salad, the overall tanginess was a bit much.

The next to follow was the soft steamed buns with brown onion and chilli paste, which was slightly sweet rather than hot or spicy. Nonetheless, we loved it!

The third dish we ordered was coconut rice with spicy peanut sauce. This dish, sadly, disappointed us for 2 reasons. One, the flavors were strangely bland and, second, I chomped on a tiny piece of stone. Yes, stone. I brought it to the attention of our server who promptly took away the "sample" and came back back with,"the chef says it's a piece of raw rice." I'm not sure if they thought it was a better response but I was not taking it. They offered to replace the dish but we politely declined and they didn't charge us for the barely eaten food.

PS: on our way out we noticed that nearly every table had raw mango salad. It clearly is their best seller and worth trying in the first visit for sure.

Overall, the experience was good though I might need a bit convincing to go anytime soon.

Ratings:

Ambiance: 4/5

Food: 3.5/5

Price for two: INR 1500

Galawati kebabs---Lucknow's famous kebabs in your kitchen

A couple of years ago, I had the good fortune of tasting Galawati/galouti kebabs in its city of origin, The land of the nawabs, Lucknow.

True to its reputation of being the softest kebabs imaginable, these flavorful kebabs are hard to forget once you have had them.

Every trip to Lucknow meant more Galawati kebab but then the trips were not happening frequently enough. Then I learnt how easy it was to make them and my life changed! 

Now Ino longer need to be in Lucknow to enjoy this delicacy. Here's how I made them:

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 kg minced meat  
  
  
  Grind together:
  
  100 gm grated raw papaya 
  
  Salt to taste 
  
  1 Tbsp chopped ginger 
  
  1 Tbsp chopped garlic 
  
  8 cloves 
  
  Seeds of 2 black cardamoms 
  
  2 tsp poppy seeds-roasted and dry ground 
  
  4 peppercorns 
  
  1/2 tsp pieces of cinnamon 
  
  2 Tbsp dessicated coconut-lightly roasted 
  
  2 blades of mace 
  
  5 green cardamoms 
  
  1 tsp chilli powder 
  
  1/4 tsp grated nutmeg 
  
  
  For the Kebabs:
  
  1 cup sliced onions-fried brown and crisp in 1/2 cup ghee
  
  1/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaves 
  
  1 Tbsp finely chopped green chillies 
  
  3 Tbsp roasted gram flour 
  
  1 egg 
  
  Ghee to pan fry the kebabs
  
  Lemon juice to sprinkle over the kebabs

METHOD

• Marinate the minced meat in the ground ingredients for 4-5 hours.

  
  

  
  
  
  Mix together the coriander leaves, green chillies, fried onions, gram flour and egg. 
  
  Add to the meat and work at it for some time, almost kneading it like a dough. 
• Shape mixture into round patties of desired size, and refrigerate for half an hour or so. 
• 
  
  
  
  
  Heat the ghee in a heavy-based frying pan or griddle. 
  
  Fry the kebabs, browning first one side and then the other, over medium heat.
•  
  
  
  
  Arrange them on a serving dish, sprinkle lemon juice and serve.