Sunday Brunch

We've had a very wet Mumbai all week. The rains not only make the city dull and damp, they also impact our food preferences. After a long day at work and a long commute home, the desire to have a hot and light meal is very strong. A hot soup and a delicious sandwich is the perfect answer to such a meal. So today I suggest spinach soup that is very easy to make, delicous and highly nutritious too and is even tastier with a few baked Hippo Munchies. Cheese Tomato Sandwich Toast provides the perfect accompaniment and completes the meal.

Cheese Tomato Sandwich Toast
Ingredients:
• 2 cubes cheese (50 gms)
• 1 green chillie
• 1 small / medium tomato
• Few coriander leaves finely chopped
• 4 slices of bread buttered on 1 side
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedure:
Grate cheese/ cut into small pieces and chop tomato, chillie and coriander fine. Mix all together. Add salt & pepper. Divide mixture into 2 portions. Take 2 buttered slices of bread at a time and fill in one portion of mixture, keeping the buttered side outside. Place in a sandwich toaster and toast on low gas flame till both sides are golden brown.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup / chilli sauce / green chutney and potato chips.


Spinach Soup
Ingredients:
• 2 Bundles Spinach finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons oil
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
• 100 gms cheese grated
• 100 gms fresh cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:
Heat oil in a pan. Sauté the onion. Add chopped spinach. Stir for a minute or two. Now add salt, cumin seeds, pepper and ginger paste. Stir and cook for a few minutes on low flame. Add milk. Cook for a few minutes. Remove from fire. When cool blend in mixer. If the mixture is too thick dilute to gravy consistency with a little water. Serve hot garnished with grated cheese.

Moong Dal Pakodi

Monsoon months are great to socialise and catch up with friends over a movie, game of cards, high tea or a meal. All of these activities make one want to unwind with a nice chilled drink and a hot snack to accompany. Moong Dal Pakodis are delicious and convenient thing to make. The batter can be stored in the refrigerator to last for two days, so ideal for a weekend.

Ingredients:
• 1 ½ Cups Moong Dal
• ½ piece ginger
• 2 Green Chillies
• ½ tsp Cummin Seed
• Few coriander leaves finely chopped
• ¼ tsp. ajwain
• 1/8 tsp soda bicarb
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

Procedure:

Soak dal in 3 cups of water for about an hour. Grind in mixer with ginger and green chillies to a fine paste. Remove in a bowl. Add cumminseed, ajwain, coriander leaves, salt and soda bicarb and mix well.

Heat oil in a kadai. When quite hot, add one teaspoon of the mixture at a time making pakodis. Put 10 to 12 Pakodis at a time. Reduce flame and deep fry till golden brown and crisp. Serve hot with tamarind chutney, mint chutney or tomato ketchup.

Mango Murabba

“With the onset of the rains we bid good bye to the much love Alphonso mango and welcome other vaieties of mangoes like Langda, Badam, Dusehri and Totapuri. The Totapuri mango has a very distinctive longish shape and is pointed at both top and bottom ends and has a distinctive taste too. As a young girl many , many years ago I watched with interest my mother make delicious Mango Murabba with Totapuri mangoes . Now, I try to make it at least once every year around this time. I made it last week and am sharing the recipe so you can try it out if you have a sweet tooth and love to have something sweet with your meal. “

Ingredients

1 kilo Totapuri Mangoes
½ kilo sugar
30 cardamoms (remove seeds and discard skins)
1 pinch boondi colour

Procedure
Peel the mangoes and cut into slices of about 2 inch length and 1 – 2 cms width. Add two glasses of water to the sugar and boil in a pan for about five minutes, reduce flame and add mango slices. Cook on low flame. After about 10 minutes add cardamoms to the mangoes being cooked. Cook till the sugar syrup thickens and the mangoes are cooked. The consistency of the sugar syrup should be like gulab Jamun syrup. Add a pinch of boondi colour and turn off the flame. Cover the pan with napkin and allow to cool. When cool fill in jars and refrigerate. This Murabba tastes very good with hot roti, paratha or puri.

Kothimbir Wadis

Its been raining all day today in Mumbai and its the perfect Friday evening to have friends over for drinks and gupshup, a perfect evening for a hot and tasty snack that's light on the stomach and I can think of nothing more suitable than Kothimbir Wadi, a Maharashtrian delicacy that I learned from a friend. It's pretty simple to make and liked by most....

Ingredients
• 1 bunch Coriander leaves (Kothmir)
• 1 cups gram flour / Besan
• 1 green chilie
• 1/4 tsp red chili powder
• 1 pinch turmeric powder
• 1/4 teaspoon asafetida
• 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 3 tbsp oil

Procedure

Separate coriander leaves from stalks, wash thoroughly and chop fine. In a bowl, mix coriander leaves, besan, green chilie and all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Knead into stiff dough with a little water if required. Shape the dough into a roll of two to three inch diameter. Place the roll in a seive and steam, covered and placed above a pan containing boiling for about 15 minutes till it is cooked well. You can confirm that it is properly done if you pass a knife through it and the dough does not stick to the knife. After it cools, cut the roll into slices of 1 cm thickness. In a non-stick pan, put a little oil and when hot, place the slices and fry till both sides become sides are crisp and brown.

Serve hot with mint or coconut chutney or ketchup.

Crunchy and Yummy

The management mantra of "Innovate or Die" seems to have pervaded in all businesses including food, which today witnesses interesting variations and product introductions virtually everyday. On a recent visit to Ahmedabad, I was told by a friend to visit the popular store Induben khakhrawalla in Meethakali Village, Ahmedabad and was amazed to see the mind-bloggling varieties of khakhras in flavours as varied as manchurian, pani puri, pav bhaji etc. Innovation can be taken a step further for making khakhras an even more interesting snack and substantial snack in just a couple of minutes. Some ideas:

1. Khakhra broken into quarters and topped up with chopped boiled potato, onion and tamarind chutney with bhel sev sprinkled on the top.

2. Khakhra topped with finely chopped onion, tomato, green chillies and coriander leaves

3. Khakhra topped with paneer or egg bhurji

4. Apply a layer of cheese spread on the khakhra sprinkle finely chopped spring onion and chilli flakes and put in the grill for a minute or two and serve hot.

5. Khakhra topped with cooked moong, kabuli channa or chowli and green chutney

6. Pav Bhaji bhaji served on Khakhra

The next time you are in a mood for a quick snack try one of my variations on khakhras