Hummus recipe

HUMMUS
 FROM SCRATCH  RECIPE

Hummus is a middle eastern dip or spread made from cooked and mashed chickpeas mixed with salt, lemon juice and tahini which is made of seasme. Tahini is not available everywhere so I have replaced it with home-made sesame paste.

Traditionally hummus is eaten with pita bread or as an accompaniment to Falafal , grilled chicken, fish or eggplant. But now a days, all over the world it is enjoyed with tortilla chips or crackers.

Ingredients:-

Seasme seeds                        - 1/4 cup
Olive oil.                               - 3 tbsp
Soaked and boiled chickpeas- 2 cups
Garlic.                                   - 4to5 cloves
Salt                                        - 1 tsp
Lemon                                   - 1 1/2

Roasted cumin powder and little paprika to garnish

Method:

Roast Seasme seeds in a heavy bottom pan until light golden in colour. Let it cool.

Grind roasted seeds in a grinder for few seconds... scrape from sides...repeat two three times then add 1/2 tbsp of oil.
Run grinder at full speed for 30 seconds. Paste should become of running consistency.
This is our substitute of Tahini.

Now, in a big jar, add boiled chickpeas, garlic cloves, salt and Seasme paste. Run the mixer at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes to get creamy consistency.

Add 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and squeeze lemon juice to this.
Run mixer to mix everything equally.

Take out in a deep bowl and sprinkle roasted cumin powder, paprika and pour rest of olive oil over it.

Enjoy with pita bread or crackers.

FIG AND PEAR LOAF

When I went to buy figs for my KHAJOOR ROLL,  I fell prey of today's marketing skills and ended up buying four packets of dried figs instead of just one. And even before putting the bag on my kitchen counter my mind was  looking for the ways to use it as knowing the fact that no one in the family is a big fan of dry fruits.  After an unsuccessful attempt of using it in halwa I found this loaf recipe on taste.com  and since then I have made it many times because it's new favourite in the house.

This fruity loaf is quite simple  to make and great for breakfast or as after school snack with a glass of milk.  You can have it toasted with butter or as it is,  it's  delicious any way. 

Ingredients :-

Self raising flour - 1 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 2/3 cup
Cinnamon (powder)- 1/4 tsp
Soda bicarbonate - 1/2 tsp
Eggs (lightly beaten) - 2
Milk - 1/2 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/3 cup
Dried figs(chopped) - 1 cup
Pear (peeled, cut into small cubes) - 1 cup

Method :-

Preheat oven  to 170 C. Sift flour into a large bowl  and add brown sugar,  cinnamon and soda bicarbonate.  Mix and make a well in the middle. 

In a separate bowl add eggs, milk and oil and whisk until well blended. Pour the egg mixture into flour mixture,  mix gently until just combined. Fold in the fig and pear. 

Pour the mixture into a lightly greased loaf pan. Bake for 40- 45 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Let it cool for 5 minutes then turn on a wire rack. 

Slice and serve.

Note: In original recipe canola oil was used but you can use any flavour less oil.

DAHI- VADA

DAHI- VADA

INGREDIENTS FOR VADAS:-

Skinless urad dal (split black gram) – 1 cup

Hing (asafoetida) – ¼ tsp

Soda-bicarb – 1 pinch

Salt – ¼ tsp

Oil for frying

Youghert – 2 cups

Sugar- 2 tbs

To Garnish:-

Roasted cumin powder – 2 tea sp

Black salt- as per taste

Red chilli flakes (optional) - ½ tsp

Tamarind chutney

Green coriander – finely chopped

 

METHOD:-

 

Clean, wash and soak urad dal for 6-8 hours.

Drain water and grind the dal in mixer, add a little water if it seems stiff, now add salt, hing and soda bi-carb and whip it for a minute.

Now heat sufficient oil in a pan/kadhai, once oil is hot lower the heat and put in approx. one table spoon of batter in  oil and fry on low to medium heat until light golden In colour. You can fry 4-5 vadas at once. Fry all vadas like this.

Take 2 cups of lukewarm water and add ½ cup of yoghurt to water and mix it, soak all vadas in this water until you are ready to serve.

Mix rest of the yoghurt and sugar and beat to make it smooth.

To serve take out the vadas from watery mixture, squeeze it softly between your palms to take out extra water, be careful not to break the vadas.

Place  vadas in serving bowl, pour smooth yoghurt over it and sprinkle black salt, cumin powder, chilli flakes and tamarind  chutney and some green coriander.

Dahi vadas can be served as snack or as side dish with a meal.

HEALTHY TIKKIES

 

Tikkies are a very popular street food in India, specially in UP. Whenever we visited my uncle’s place in Gorakhpur, eating tikkies used to be on the top of the to-do-list.

Though the original recipe uses potatoes as main ingredient, I tried to sneak in as many vegetables as I could to make it healthier (as name suggests itself) and added bread for better binding.

These are just perfect for a healthy snack/starter or your kid’s lunch box. Though the list of ingredients does look a bit longer, but believe me it is a quick recipe. On the other hand, You can prepare and keep it frozen, just fry before serving.

INGREDIENTS:-

Boiled potatoes- 2

Bread slices – 4-5

Spinach – ½ bundle

Carrot – 1 finely chopped

Green peas – ½ cup

Corn kernels – ½ cup

Onion – 1 finely chopped

Ginger – 2” grated

Green coriander – 2 tab sp

Red chilly powder – ¼ tsp

Chat masala – ½ tsp

Garam masala powder – 1 pinch

Lemon juice – 1 tab sp

Salt – 2 tsp

Oil -1 tab sp + shallow frying

METHOD

Heat 1 table spoon oil in a pan, add chopped onion, fry till it becomes translucent

Add carrots and green peas cover and cook for 2 minutes.

Open and add spinach and corn kernels, cook for  1-2 minutes stirring frequently. 

Now add salt, grated ginger, chili powder and amchoor powder and garam masala, mix well and switch off the gas.

Now take bread slices soak them in water for few seconds, take them out and squeeze it properly. Now to this add boiled potatoes, fried vegetables and lemon juice.

Mash everything together with hands or you can use a potato masher, try not to puree everything.

Make tikkies of your desired  size. Shallow fry on a griddle or Tawa.

Serve with your choice of sauce .