Vegetable Panini

" I love spring and summer when we get to see all the colorful veggies and greens arranged so beautifully in the local market, i feel they are calling out to us cooks to make something beautiful and creative with them. I sometimes feel tempted to buy some just because they look so good ...lol!!! Sandwiches and paninis are my all time favs, so easy to make on those days when you don't feel like cooking a lot. Today was one of those days, rummaging through my fridge to find whatever I could and putting together a beautiful panini- and you have so many options to substitute. I was also trying my hand today at photography, excuse me if my photos don't appeal to the expert food photographers.I am still a novice at best. Anyways, it was quite a hearty meal and so filling. " 

Ingredients:

• Sandwich /Panini bread ( I used sourdough rye bread ,you can use whatever you want- multigrain,whole wheat ) 
• Sundried tomato pesto /basil pesto 
• Spicy brown mustard 
• slices of tomatoes,cucumbers, onions 
• slices of potatoes cooked in the microwave for 2 mins 
• spinach leaves 
• fat free mozzarella 
• salt and pepper 

Method: 

• Take the bread slice and spread the pesto on the base slice and layer spinach, onions,cucumbers ,potatoes.
• Sprinkle salt and pepper. If you have any chat masala you can also add at this time. 
• Layer the tomatoes and mozzarella. 
• Spread the mustard on the bottom of the top slice. 
• I used a panini press to grill the sandwich. Place the sandwich on the heated grill/press and leave it on for 3-4 minutes until the cheese melts. 
• Cut it into two pieces. Serve hot with soup. 

Potato Fritters ,Bonda

Ingredients: 


Batter

• 1 cup Besan (gram flour)
•  1/2 tspn Red chilli Powder 
• 1/2 tspn cumin (jeera) powder 
• A pinch of  Asafoetida (hing) powder
• 1/4 tspn  baking soda
• Salt (to taste) 
• Little less than 1/2 cup water     

• 1.5 cups oil 
• 1 medium sized yellow potato 

Method:

• Wash and peel the skin and slice the potatoes into thin slices-not wafer thin, a little thicker than that. 
• Mix all the dry ingredients with water and break any lumps with a spoon. 
• Heat the oil and drop a little batter to see if it gets fried properly, then dip the potato slices into the batter and drop them slowly into the hot oil. Be cautious when you are handling hot oil. Keep the temperature between medium and high.

• After it turns golden brown remove the fritters with a slotted spoon and place it on a paper napkin to absorb excess oil and serve with hot tea or as an evening snack with ketchup or chutney.

Roti/Phulka

"Being a South Indian i love my rice ,but any day would bow for phulkas. When we were kids we hardly ate out, but there used to be those rare occasions when we used to get curry to-go from restaurants and along with phulkas- they used to be so yummy. During the first year of marriage ,i was terrible at making chapathis let alone phulkas. They often turned out to be flying saucers!! Thankfully over time they have improved. But its still hard for me to get them to be round. Phulkas are very nutritious and made with very little oil and goes well with curries, palyas/sabji. To make it more tasty, smear it with a little ghee after puffing it up."




Ingredients: 

• 2 cups whole wheat flour 
• 1 cup warm water
• Salt (per taste) 
• 1/2 tspn sugar (if desired)
• 1 tspn oil 

Method: 

• Add salt and sugar to the wheat flour and pour the water slowly while mixing the flour by hand. Make it into a dough like consistency. When it is almost done , put oil into your hands  and knead it thoroughly to get a smooth and soft dough. 

         

• Cover and leave it for abt 20-30 minutes. And make it into small round balls and using a rolling pin and roll it into a circular shape. 

          

• Heat a tava/pan and put the roti on the tava and flip it over so that both sides are cooked. 

          

• Put it on a flame to make it puff up. 

          

Makes about 12- 15 rotis. 

Dosa / Crepes

" My husband is one of the biggest dosa fans - his cousins call him - Dose veera in kannada which means dosa champion. And this was one of the first recipes that I learnt. I particularly remember this time when we were in Paris,it was the last leg of our tour and it had been days since we had eaten Indian food and all that was on my husband's mind was  dosa. Now the french are known for their savory crepes which you can say is Dosa's step-sister. And trust me when we found a creperia we were so happy and gobbled them up like little kids. Although crepes are made with flour and have some cheesy stuffing normally, we do enjoy it quite a bit. And when you are in a foreign-land , anything that seems remotely Indian is welcome to your tummy." 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Idli Rice 
• 1/2 tsp methi seeds/fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp chana dal /kadlebele
• 1 cup Urad dal 
• Salt (per taste)

Method: 

• Wash and soak the rice ,methi, chana dal in a bowl . Soak the urad dal in water separately. Leave it for about 6 hours. 

          

• Wash the urad properly with water. Grind using mixer/grinder. Add water slowly increasing by 1/2 a cup till you get the desired consistency. You should not add too much water to urad while grinding. 
• After urad dal gets a smooth consistency, drain the water from the soaked rice and add it to the grinder and grind it till it has a smooth paste like consistency.
• Add salt and leave it overnight for fermenting. By morning the dosa batter should have fluffed up and risen. 
• The batter shouldn't be too thick ,otherwise it will be difficult to make the dosa. Add water to bring it to the desired consistency. Once the batter is fermented, do not keep it outside,refrigerate it. You can make dosa batter for a week and keep. 
• Pour the batter onto a griddle with a circular motion from the bottom of a round soup spoon,going inside out. Put a few drop of oil onto the dosa. Cover it with a lid and leave it for a few seconds until it is done. Flip it over and cook again for a few seconds. 

Vegetable Kurma

Ingredients: 

Masala:

• 3 dry red chillies 
• 5 cloves 
• 1 inch cinnamon stick 
• 5 garlic cloves 
• 1 inch ginger 
• 6 cashews /kaju 
• 1/4 tspn jeera 
• 1/2 tspn coriander seeds/dhania 
• 1/2 tspn fennel/saunf 
• 1 green chilli
• 1/2 cup grated coconut 

Paste: 

• 1 cup onion -chopped 
• 1 cup tomatoes -chopped

Other Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked mixed vegetables- peas,potato, beans,carrot etc.
• Garam Masala -1 tspn 
• Salt - as per taste 
• Butter - 1/2 Tbspn 

Method: 

• Take 1 teaspn oil  and when it is heated, add the red chilly , cloves, cinnamon,ginger,garlic,cashews  and slightly fry it till you get the aroma of the spices .Add the remaining masala ingredients and fry it for some time. Switch off the stove and add grated coconut. Allow it to cool and then make a paste out of this. While making the paste add warm water instead of cold water. 

           

• Take 1 tbspn of oil and fry onions till they become transparent and add tomatoes and cook them. Let it cool and make this into a paste and keep aside. 
• In a kadai/ pan take the butter and heat it and to this add the tomato -onion paste and fry on medium heat tillit changes its color to brownish red. 
• To this add the masala paste and fry it ,till the raw smell goes and you can see the butter separating from the mixture. 
• Now add the cooked vegetables to this mixture and add salt as per your taste. Cook for few more minutes until the vegetables are thoroughly blended into the kurma. Add the garam masala and bring it to a boil.

         

• garnish with coriander leaves. 
• Serve hot with rice/roti.
• Makes 4-5 servings