Cooking Her Own Harvest...

Alu Chaat (Spicy Potato Salad)

 My 7 year old was back from an outing to a vegetable farm! She was super excited and her most prized possession for the day was her precious bag full of fresh potatoes, other vegetables & cotton which she'd picked up / harvested herself! And she proclaimed that SHE & ONLY SHE would cook the potatoes and serve us!

And what would that be? Super confident after her debut as a masterchef just the week before with nothing less than SCRAMBLED EGGS, she proclaimed ALU CHAAT!!! I did a mental somersault in joy, thanking my lucky stars that she hadnt been too ambitious and opted for other lofty dishes!!!

So the potato harvester's recipe of Alu Chaat...

Ingredients for :

A) Potato Mash

8 medium-large sized potatoes

A bowl of Chhole - luckily it was readily available at home as when she announced her culinary plans for the day, the overnight soaked Kabuli Chana had been pressure cooked for our breakfast of Chana Masala!

very finely chopped onions - 1-2

rock salt

roasted jeera powder

chili flakes

Chaat masala

chopped green chilies (was not added today...for obvious reasons ;))

Chopped coriander

B) Tamarind chutney/water

2 tbsp of readymade tamarind paste or a 2" dia ball of tamarind soaked in water and made into a pulp

rock salt

roasted jeera powder

chili flakes

chaat masala

sugar - a little

a mug of water

Procedure :

1. Wash and pressure cook the potatoes after halving/quartering them. 2 whistles are enough. 

2. While the potatoes are being boiled, prepare the tamaring water (tetul jol/imli paani) by mixing all the ingredients under "B" with water.

3.Now coming back to the potatoes....Cool, dunk in cold water and peel the skin. Mash with hand or masher.

4. Mix the mashed potatoes with all ingredients (except chopped coriander) under "A".

5. Add the tamarind water / tetul jol to make a moist  spicy potato mash. Taste and adjust the other spices if required. 

6. Garnish with sev bhujia / crushed phuchka/paani puri's puri / cornflakes and then finally with chopped coriander leaves

The yummilicious ALU CHAAT was ready!! And what made it yummier was the fact that it was harvested and prepared (fully) by my little lady!

A fresh harvest of Red Radish ...

A fresh bounty of red radishes landed straight from the fields to my kitchen...Thanks to a friend who gave me a bunch of the fresh roots from her farm. The veggie loving SD being away, I wasnt too keen on cooking up anything elaborate.....


And hence this simplest of simple salads....

Ingredients :
Small Red Radish - 5-6
Cucumber - 1 medium sized
Olive Oil - 1 -1.5 tsp
Lemon Juice - 1 lemon
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Chili flakes - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Procedure :
1. Wash the radishes and scrub them. Trim the top and tip of the radish. You may peel the skin...I did not.

2. Wash and peel the cucumber

3. Slice the cucumber and radishes very thin.

5. Add the olive oil, sugar, salt, chili flakes and squeeze the juice of lemon into the sliced radish-cucumber. Toss them well.

6.Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy the freshness!

Alu Chaat with a Healthy Touch

The name Chaat makes me drool...literally!

Chats from roadside eateries are what we've grown up with. The sweaty, dirty fingers kneading the 'Alu', the water from suspicious sources, the unwashed shaalpata containers never dettered us from savouring the delights of Phuchkawalas / Chaatwalas dishing out mouthwatering phuchkas, churmurs and many more yummy treats to die for.

Time changes, so do we and so does our priorities. Today after a tired day's work, Chaat, though still tempting, does not make us jump and run out to the roadside vendor. And the squalor and lack of hygiene does make us squirm once in a while...though there are times, when we turn a blind eye and just let the taste take over ...

Today being a Sunday, lunch was late, as is usual. A warm Sunday afternoon rolled into evening while we watched a movie, chatted and were just being lazy. Wasnt in the mood to get dressed and go out anywhere....Moreover, AD was busy playing with her friends ...so no whining or demands for an outing came our way. That's when the mood for some Chaat time set in and Alu Chaat being the easiest and fastest, I dragged my lazy self into the kitchen and set to work.

A peep into the fridge and veggie basket brought out a bit of this and that and I smiled to myself... so healthy chat it will be and thus shall I redeem myself from commiting the sin of Gluttony!

So here goes my recipe for Alu Chaat with a touch of Health

Ingredients :
1. Boiled Potato - 4 medium sized
2. Moong Sprouts - 1/2 cup
3. Bengal gram sprouts - 1/2 cup
4. Tamarind pulp - 6 tbsp or add some more till the taste is right
5. Black salt - 3 tsp (or to taste)
6. Green chillies - finely chopped (depending on your tolerance for chillies)
7. Dry Red Chillies - roasted & powdered - 1/2 tsp
8. Roasted & ground Cumin powder
9. Chopped Coriander leaves
10.Cornflakes - 1/2 bowl
11.Sev/Alu Bhujia - 1/2 bowl

Procedure :
1. Mash the boiled potatoes or slice them finely. (I mashed them)
2. Add all ingredients from 1 - 8 (of Ingredients)
3. Mix well.
4. Garnish with Cornflakes, Alu/Sev Bhujia and Chopped Coriander Leaves....
5. Serve & Eat
6. ...Mmmmmm......Bliss....

Sausages in a Sea of Colour

Stir fried Sausages with Colourful Bell Peppers, corn kernel & Baby OnionsFast to cook....great to eat!

That is exactly what this dish is all about.

My fridge always (well almost always!!) has stock of certain things. Permutation/combination of these, result in some kind of eatables in case of an emergency (Eg. in case of an otherwise empty fridge without any meat/fish/veggies). Of these emergency saviours, egg, sausages, sweet corn kernels, bell peppers (mostly the green capsicum), cheese, babycorn (AD so loves them that in case she isnt in the mood to eat, I just fry her some babycorns and like magic her plate is licked clean in a jiffy....well in most cases, at least!) are a few.

Today's dish is one which can be cooked up fast; can be eaten for dinner and packed as a tiffin for AD, can be used as sandwich filling, Spring roll filling or eaten as it is.
It is easy, fast, looks great and tastes fresh, crunchy and yummy!

So here goes the recipe....

Ingredients :-
-Chicken Sausages : 250gm
-Bellpeppers : I used green, yellow & red - 1 each
-Baby Onions : 3/4th bowl (Bowl size - 250ml)
-Freshly ground black pepper : 1 1/2 - 2 tsp
-Chilly flakes : 1 tsp (or as per preference)
-Corn kernels - 1 bowl
-butter : 25 gm
-Salt


Procedure :-
1. Slice the sausages in thin discs
2. Cut the bell peppers in thin strips
3.Take the butter in a wok and after the butter melts, add the baby onions (whole)
4. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of pepper. Fry till translucent.
5. Add the sliced sausages. Stir fry on medium to high heat till it has browned. Sprinkle pepper, chilly flakes and stir again.
6. Add the thin strips of bell pepper. Stir fry on high heat but dont over cook. The bellpeppers need to retain their colour and crunchyness.
7. Add the bowl of corn kernel (I used frozen which I'd thawed and added raw. You can slightly fry the corn in butter if you want, or boil them in salt water)
7. With a final dash of pepper, chilly flakes and salt (if needed) and one final stir, take it off the flame. Ready to eat.



This recipe goes to the WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING #172 hosted for the week by Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. The history of WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING is available here. The logo for the event is .....