MY HIGH TEA IS DONE!

The greenhouse window made a good background to set the stage with my collection of cups and saucers n(the guest admired them while drinking tea out of disposable cups), and my collection of biscuit tins, tea tins and boxes from all over the world (most of which are now empty). It was a great chance to display stuff just lying in the cupboard.

Thanks to all of you who helped me with the recipes and ideas it was a great success.
Special thanks to Joan, Prabha, lan of Cheenachatti (http://cheenachatti.blogspot.com/), Mallu Girl of Malabar Spices (http://malluspice.blogspot.com/) and Cynthia Nelson of Tastes Like Home (http://www.tasteslikehome.org/).
The only bad part was I was so busy I didn't get to take too many pictures of the food to share! Can you believe that?

Last week I made Guava Tarts. Unfortunately I made them too early. The family tasted them, decided we all loved them and polished them off, accusing me of depriving them this far in their lives of such a delicious treat. I had to point out I had just discovered the recipe this year. I made them with really ripe guavas. The green one is just for effect in the picture. I did not ice them as I wanted to avoid the extra sugar.


Here's the link to the recipe, from Cynthia Nelson's wonderful website. The link comes with a warning from me: Hide them, if you want to serve them to guests.
http://www.tasteslikehome.org/search?q=guava+tarts

Tips for the tarts: I had very small guavas which were a nuisance to peel, de-seed and chop.
It took a couple of hours to get 4 cup fulls. Next time I'll wait for larger guavas before attempting this recipe. It was super delicious.

The next item I made, and you are all going to laugh at this, was murku/chakli.
I hid the box and guess what: when I put out all the other food I forgot to put this out!
I remembered it when only 3 couples were left here, and gave them a packet each.
So much for hiding things.

Murku

4 cups rice flour
1 cup gram flour (besan).
Besan is gram flour made by grinding channa dal (a variety of lentil).
1 small stick butter melted.
1 Tbsp brown til/sesame seed or cumin/jeera.
or
1 inch piece ginger ground.
Salt to taste.
Cracked pepper optional.
Oil for frying.

Mix flours, butter, sesame seed/ginger, salt with warm water to the consistency of cookie dough...NOT like chappatti dough or your murkus will be HARD.
Push through murku mold and deep fry to a golden brown in hot oil.

TIP: When I make it I use a large skillet and make the murku as big as the pan.
After it is fried and cooled, I break it into one to two inch pieces and serve.
This makes the frying process easier than shaping umpteen perfect little murkus, and helps us oldies with leg pain!


This is what the final menu was:

Sangria with red and white wine.
There are so many recipes for this on the Internet that I picked a few and then once I got the idea of how it is made, I picked the fruit I liked the best, chose to use sparkling cider as the base and made it with that.
I used a Cabernet Sauvignon for red and a dry white wine.
In the red I added sliced strawberries, orange, lemon and lime slices, with some of the juice too.
In the white I added frozen peaches and sliced kiwi with orange, lime and lemon slices and juice.
Both marinated in the refrigerator overnight.
HONEST TIP: It wasn't very easy to make at the last minute for every guest as ice had to be placed in each glass, then sparkling cider poured in, then topped off with sangria.
Luckily I had help serving but making it was crunch time.

The rest of the menu went like this: (recipes and pictures that i have are coming...having a problem uploading them today.)

Sweets:

Jam Tarts
Lemon drop biscuits
Pistachio cake
Almond thins (from Trader Joe's)
Fruit salad.
Rice kheer
A tray of sliced pineapple.
Brownies.
(The last two items were brought by friends).

Jam Tarts: Recipe given by someone very dear to us. Thanks Joan.
I didn't make the pie crust from scratch...just bought two pie sheets, which gave me such a hard time to unroll, I don't know why. They cracked , broke and stuck together....which according to Murphy's law always happen if you're in a hurry.
I re-rolled the sheets, cut with a circle mold, placed the circles in muffin pans, put a spoon of jam or marmalade in each, and baked for 15 minuted keeping a watch on them.
They came out scrumptious but not as good as Joan makes.
TIP: Do not make last minute unless you have nothing else to do. They store great when cooled in an airtight container, and taste just as great the next day!



Lemon drop biscuits.

These are buttery and melt in your mouth.
TIP: These are definitely another make again recipe but be careful about the 'room temperature butter'...my dough got a little too soft and my cookies came out as discs not balls. When you visit this site for the recipe read the other comments and watch out for that butter getting too soft! Also they are VERY buttery and melt in your mouth.
Wonder if they are called Lemon DROP cookies because you drop them into your mouth again and again!
Here's the site for the recipe:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Cookie/HighTeaCookies.htm




Pistachio Cake



Our daughter brought that and I'll have to get the recipe from here.
It's an old favorite of ours and was a big hit.
She made one big one in a castle mold and the others were five small bundt cakes like the one above.

Fruit Salad



A new variation of the old recipe contributed by my friend, Prabha.

Drain cans of fruit cocktail, pineapple pieces and mandarin oranges reserving juice.
I added lychees too as I had a can.
Cut apples and bananas...place in juice and then strain and add to other fruit.
Add half a packet of vanilla instant pudding mix and stir. Check for sweetness and then add more if needed. Chill and serve.

Variation 2: My neighbor has just been to a party where she saw a combination of condensed milk and whipped light creanm cheese added, which she liked.

TIP: I ran out of space in the refrigerator before the party and as I could not accomodate a large bowl of fruit salad, I just placed all the cans in the refrigerator till it was time to open and serve. The cans could go into nooks and crannies in the refrigerator.

Rice Kheer

I cooked a cup of rice in the rice cooker and then transferred it to the crockpot and added milk and let it simmer for hours. Halfway through I added, blanched, sliced almonds and raisins (1/2 a cup each), 1/2 a tsp of saffron, 1 level tsp of elaichi/cardamom powder, 1 tsp of vanilla essence, one tiny speck of edible green camphor. I should have added 1/2 a tsp of nutmeg too.
Ten minutes to the end I added 1 1/2 cups of Splenda.
Taste and add more or substitue sugar...our friends watch their sugar so this was a good dessert with all the other sweets. Also there were no kids or expectant mothers coming so I could use Splenda.
It was creamy and thick and I put it in the freezer for an hour for a quick chill.
Had it been a cold day, I would have served it hot from the crockpot.

Pazham Pori: Fried Ripe Plantains

3 plantains repose on my counter eying me reproachfully.
I had no time to make this favorite at the end but I promised the plantains they would be relished by me!
Here's the site for this delicious recipe: http://cheenachatti.blogspot.com/search/label/banana.

TIP: Avoid too many last minute dishes.

Snacks/savories:

Chicken pie
Baked Salmon
Egg salad
Bean dip with a variety of crackers.
Coconuty corn
Chole samosas
Red ghatia (which is a kind of thick spicy sev... this was store bought.)
Khandvi (brought by a friend and yummy).
Cucumber sandwiches.

You'll have to do a Google search for 'ghatia', and 'khandvi' to get recipes and pictures of what these dishes are like, if you are not familiar with them. They are both made with gram/lentil flour and are popular snacks in India.

It was quite a spread at the end and we were happy that we could serve it up!
Finally a friend made Indian tea with ginger as that's what everyone wanted.

Chicken Puffs

Got two rotisserie chicken and took the meat off and shredded it into little pieces.
Fried 3 really large onion and added chilli powder, and garam masala to it.
Mixed chicken with the onion. and put it into baking pans.
Took puff pastry squares (from our local Lebanese store...they are like Pepperidge farm sheets but are square), and laid them on top.
Baked it in a 375 oven till pastry was golden brown and then cut into two inch squares.

TIP: Don't bake in a too hot oven or chicken will become too crisp.
Next time I'm going to try to bake just the puff pastry squares alone and then place on the chicken and cut.
I didn't wrap the chicken in the squares or place a layer underneath to avoid too many carbs which are a big no-no for diabetics.

Egg Salad

Boil 10 eggs...peel...mash with hand.
Add salt and pepper to taste with one cup mayonnaise and one tablespoon of dill chopped really fine.
This was really yummy.
I meant to serve this with focaccia bread but forgot to take it out of the oven and after the party discovered the focaccia was toast!

I need to take a course of Gingko biloba tablets...it is supposed to help improve memory.

7 Layer Bean Dip
Another recipe from my friend, Prabha.

First layer...vegetarian refried beans...I heated this and added one pkt of Fajita mix to it,
some chilli powder and some salsa as our Indian friends need something spicy.
Second layer...on top of the hot bean I put a mix of Monterey and Cheddar cheese so that part of it would be melted into the beans.
Third layer...Guacamole dip from the local Mexican supermarket which was HOT with onions, tomato and what had to have been jalapeno peppers.
Fourth layer...sour cream.
Fifth...green onions...just a thin layer.
Sixth...olives...I don't like them so I left his layer out.
Seven...tomatoes finely chopped with another dollop of sour cream in the middle for decorative purposes.
I tried to take this picture transversely so the layers would be visible.
I served this with a variety of crackers, small toast and multi colored tortilla chips.


Coconuty Corn

Here's Cynthia Nelson's site for this delicious recipe.
http://www.tasteslikehome.org/

Chole Samosas

Recipe given in this blog under 'Puffs'.

HIGH TEA PREP

PREPARING FOR THE DESI HIGH TEA

Thanks to my friends and neighbor for the recipes and tips for make ahead dishes.
More on that when I make them and have pics to show everyone.

This week has been intense prep week...I can't tell you how much stuff we have lying around that needs putting away and how much needs taking out before company comes!
The grandchildren (5&3) have their art gallery in place, to be admired by the guests. The two little ones also listen seriously to my tales of party etiquette and are trying to pick up their cups with their 'pinkies in the air', and giggling a lot. Grand kids are so much fun.
Our daughter, who will be away that weekend, has offered one of her best make ahead dishes (recipe later) and has also lent all her best crystal. She's worrying she won't be around to help me on that day and her busy schedule and my needs make it hard for us to find a free weekend together. Besides, it's good for me to see how much I can manage to do myself.

HD who HATES to put a nail in any wall, deplores the idea that after ten years I want to move some of my pictures around. In some place, our walls need special screws and I distinctly remember him asking all that time ago, "Is this place permanent?" before he put in the screws. I said yes at the time. What other choice did i have?
Now there's lots of rebellion from the bitter half on discovering it is not so.
The only reason I ask him to help is he hangs pictures perfectly. I eyeball the wall space and go bang, bang bang...then discover it's not straight...then go bang bang bang a little to the left. Oops that;s no good, so try again. In the end I have to hang the picture to cover the five other holes I've made in the wall...so now you know why I ask HD and endure the disapproval! He doesn't like parties and this one is making him nervous as usual.
Can anyone tell me why someone who just has to show up and smile and talk to people would get stressed about a party? I'm inviting friends whom I like not throwing a gala official dinner for diplomats where everything has to be 'just so'.

I'm using a set of Corelle plates I got for my grandson's Namakarna (christening). They will lend a touch of elegance as they are white with tiny red and pink roses in three places.
I'll have to use paper for glasses and cups as we are having over thirty guests.
I've planned the table covers and centerpieces trying to come up with the High Tea ambiance. I'm planning to have a good 'desi' (Indian) High Tea which will fill up my guests.
Good food and plenty of it is always the main thing at an Indian gathering.
I am getting stuff from outside too, but the fun for me is making items that we haven't had for a long while... thus breaking up the monotony of all the meals we attend at restaurants that have the same, repetitive menu.
I do have an alternative menu in case I don't feel well or come down with something, as happens often with diabetics...but perish that thought. I'm visualizing a healthy, happy me, able to do all I want to.

Researching dishes, getting ideas from my foodie friends, and a day to day discussion with my neighbor as we walk, is all helping me come up with a party. By the way, my neighbor is from the Phillipines and yous hould see the spreads they have at their party. She has a large family here and everyone brings their BEST dish to the party and there's so much food there's no place to set the dishes down. She cannot imagine the way I work solo, which is what I like to do when I entertain.

Back to the fun I'm having...some people call it work...have to taste the dish I just made and add or drop it from my list.

Do your prep at least two weeks before the party: clean dishes, wash crystal, polish brassware (if like other Indians you have a lot), move pictures, clean cobwebs. cover everything you've washed with a clean cloth so it doesn't get dusty. I do one thing a day to ensure I'm not wearing myself out.
Sit like your guest would and look around critically and you'll be surprised at the things that catch your eye that need doing.
Final cleaning will be done the day before the party by a cleaner, (floors, bathroom, dusting, kitchen), but all this attention to detail, helps ensure success finally. It's confidence building too, to know you have all this under control.

All about the dishes after the party mid-November. Lan, thanks for all the continuous help and support..it's like having another daughter. Prabha, you're my ace in the hole....thanks for all your help too.

HIGH TEA

Entertaining is part of life growing up in an Army family.
Add to that, having a Dad who was in the British Army before it became the Indian Army, and you have a plethora of rich experiences related to entertaining.
As far as entertaining and being entertained is concerned: as a child I didn't enjoy the fact my parents were out almost every evening. As an adult and married to a civilian, I entertained and went out on a moderate scale, keeping in mind that I didn't want the kids to be alone at home all the time.
Now as a senior with diabetes, it isn't easy to entertain. However, we really want to repay all the hospitality extended to us throughout this year. The summer heat makes me dizzy and the winter cold makes me stiff. I have a small wedge of time in the Fall to do the things I want to, so I decided to do something quickly.
I've come up with the idea of having a HIGH TEA, and am looking forward it.

But our High Tea is going to be easy on us (I hope) with make ahead dishes and one last minute standing-by-the-stove fried item.
It is going to be in the comfort of our home and though I plan on using Corelle plates, I will concede to using paper cups and disposable glasses. The plates will go in the dishwasher with the dishes, and I have helped the environment by using them.

Planning this High Tea brings back memories of my varied experiences with them.
I've always loved High Teas, and have enjoyed them in Singapore at Raffles, in London at Claridges, in Victoria BC at The Empress, besides a lot of places in the USA.
Of all these places, The Empress wins hands down for the best tea.
The incredible quality of the high tea at the Empress though expensive, has to be experienced to be believed. Each and every dish was fresh and superb in taste and presentation.
The quantity filled us up and there was a mix of dishes for vegetarians and non-veggies.
An excellent tea selection was served with each cup freshly made not over stewed.
The attentiveness of our waiter throughout the meal topped it off perfectly.

The usual High Tea is made up of scones with clotted cream and a variety of jams, an assortment of sandwiches (I hate the ones made with chicken paste, salmon paste, preferring the actual fresh meat instead), miniature cakes and biscuits and of course a selection of different teas.
Raffles in Singapore with the most extensive menu I have seen of any High Tea, combining tastes and flavors of East and West with huge tables groaning under the weight of the food.
The curried chicken puffs stand out in my memory.

This is what I intend to do for my High Tea: combine Indian sweets and snacks with the cakes and sandwiches to please the palates of all my guests and fill them up as this was what High Teas were originally intended for.

A brief history of High Tea: Low tea was the normal tea served with dainty treats, whereas High Tea was what the farmers and working class wanted when they came in from work. It was filling, it took the place of dinner, and there was nothing 'dainty' about it. High Tea was also known as Meat Tea in early England.

Here I've gone out for High Tea at 10 a.m, noon, mid-afternoon, evening and dinner time!
For mine this year, I'm inviting my guests at 3 o'clock, knowing most of them will show up at 4 (Indians have their own standard time). My High Tea menu is going to be a mix of the menus of low and high teas, so it fills up my guests. That's what a good party is all about, to me: good food, good people, good conversation and nowadays a good chair to sit in!

If you have any easy make ahead sweet or savory suggestions, please send them to me.
I really would appreciate time-saving recipes with great results and I will give you full credit here.

In the meantime while I invite you to stick with me while I plan this event, I'll give you my tentative menu. The recipes will follow when I make the dishes.

Sweet dishes:

1. Scones with lemon curd.
2. Cake
3. Biscuits/cookies/tarts.
4. Fruit salad
5. Brownies (a friend is bringing them)
6. An Indian mithai (sweetmeat)/dessert.

Savoury dishes:

1. Chicken and vegetable puffs
2. Sandwiches
3. Matri/chakli/kodbilla (make ahead dish)
4. Salmon dish (my neighbor is bringing that)
5. Chips/crackers/dip (bought and set up).
6. My last minute fried dish...tikkis/vades/?

Beverages/Drinks: Tea, coffee, soda, punch.

Let me know what you think of the menu and especially if you have GREAT suggestions for easy dishes.
I look forward to hearing from you with anything from sweet, snack, drink recipes and I will be haunting the cooking blogs for ideas too.

12 dishes with an assortment of tea, coffee and soft drinks/punch should make 30-35 people happy. I had a list of 20 but that was too much and I cut back. As a foodie, I want each dish to taste it's best, be really fresh and make my High Tea a 'moment on the lips but forever in their memory' type party.

5 star Dahi Vada

Why does the temperature have to catapult to over one hundred suddenly, for days on end? Just when we thought we were over the worst for this year. Well, the heat sent my mind off in a desperate search for cool foods and I came up with dahi vades. Having loved these for years, I have to share this recipe as it comes out great.
For those who have never heard of them...
What are dahi vadas/vades?
Deep fried lentil balls, soaked in seasoned yogurt. Served cold as an accompaniment to a spicy meal or alone as a snack, these are mouth wateringly satisfying.

Ingredients:

1 cup urad dal (white lentils from the Indian grocery store).
( This quantity makes about forty vades of one inch diameter).
2 quarts yogurt.
For seasoning: mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and hing (asafoetedia).
1 small carton buttermilk.
Ginger, green chillies, jeera and chilli powder, chaat masala.
Green and sweet chutney.
Store bought, very fine sev. (Sev is a crunchy mix made by deep frying a lentil mixture pressed through a fine lentil press).
Oil for deep frying. (I use a mixture of corn oil and olive oil).

Wash and soak these for 3-4 hours. Grind till smooth but do not add too much water.
Dough should be a little thicker than idli batter...dropping consistency.
Add 1/3 tsp baking soda to dough and blend another minute to mix well.
Allow dough to rise for 2-3 hours. (I leave it in the blender to rise.)

Season 2 quarts yogurt/curd: Heat one tsp oil. Add 1 tbsp rai, 4 red chillies, twenty curry leaves and 1/3 tsp hing. Add salt and one tsp sugar to yogurt. Mix and refrigerate.

Grind 2 green chillies, 3/4 inch ginger. Mix into vada dough. If you're making this for kids or people who can't eat spicy food, remove some batter for them and add masala to the rest.
Mix well with salt.

Heat four cups water in a saucepan and keep on simmer on a back burner.

Heat oil in a wok/frying pan/kadai. When you put in a drop of dough and it rises to the top immediately, oil is ready. Drop vades in by the teaspoonful and fry six at a time. Vades flatten out in oil. If oil is smoking turn it down as only outside will fry. If oil is too cool, the vades are going to absorb the oil. Fry golden brown on both sides, then pick up with slotted spoon and slide into hot water on back burner. Leave for a minute or two...this strips the layer of oil on the vades.
Drop next batch of vades into the oil and while they fry, use a different spoon, remove the vades from the hot water and place them in a flat dish. Turn the vades that are frying over in the oil.
When you have them all in a single layer in a flat dish, pour buttermilk to cover them. If buttermilk is too thick, dilute it with a little water. I get the store bought buttermilk and some brands are too thick. The idea here is for the vades to soak up the buttermilk.
If you are freezing the vades, this would be the stage to do it.
I refrigerate them after adding the buttermilk and half an hour before serving, I add the thick seasoned yogurt in a layer on top, gently making room (with a small spoon) for yogurt to settle between the vades.
People use less yoghurt and water it down, but this dish is el supremo when thickest yoghurt is added at the end. These dahi vades just melt in your mouth and once you make them, you will never be able to eat those hard in the center vades some people serve.
On top sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves, chilli powder, jeera powder and chaat masala. When I can get it, I add some fine sev on top. A drizzle of hot chutney (made with green chillies, coriander, salt and lime) and sweet chutney (blend dates with a little tamarind, jaggery, chilli, jeera and ginger powders) makes this even better.
I usually save the chutney when we order samosas and then use those on the dahi vades...if there's a shortcut you can trust me to find it.
Beat the heat with this cool treat.

PUFFS, SAMOSAS, TURNOVERS

The Puff Digest.


This really is a Digest as it contains a compilation of all I know, have learned and researched in cookbooks, on television and the Internet about Puffs.
I've found enough shortcuts with this to ensure original taste without the labor, time and energy originally involved in the recipe.
Puffs are also called turnovers in some countries, samosas in others...by whatever name you know it, a puff still is really amazing. In our house it's a meal in one and I wanted to share all the shortcuts I know with you. The history of my experience with puff making is recorded for those who love reading 'the real version'.

Before I married HD, I had only made puff pastry taught in my high school cooking class by Sister Rita Mary.
This was the American/English version with cold butter, flour, water and `cool' hands.
Again, in those days this was a very long version and done only under compulsion in class.

When I got married, to my surprise I found, HD's family made the best puffs with a labor intense version of home made puff pastry, and their own unique filling.
They made a dough out of maida (all purpose flour), water, salt and a little ghee. After letting the dough rest for a couple of hours, they rolled it out to a big circle, then spread a mixture called `saatta', made of equal quantities of ghee and maida. This was spread on the circle, the circle rolled up into a cylinder, starting with a 3/4 inch fold. This large roll was then cut into 1 inch pieces, then each piece rolled out in one direction only, keeping the cut pieces at the ends. This small circle was filled, sealed with a mix of flour and water and then deep fried. The layers were amazing, the taste incredible and the work mind boggling.
The whole process from start to finish took quite a few hours and more than one pair of hands. which in a large family there was no shortage of.

Here abroad, where there is only one person to make your favorite dishes...you...I soon found a shortcut that was pleasing to the palate without compromising taste.
I have made these puffs many times over the years, keeping the original filling but using my healthier shorter version.
Originally, Pepperidge Farm sheets provided the puff pastry. I cut each sheet into three rectangles along the creases lengthwise, and then each rectangle into three squares. I rolled out each square further then cut into two lengthwise, stuffed each portion, sealed it with a mix of flour and water.
So here's the Math: from each rectangle I got six puffs and from each sheet eighteen puffs in total.
Even with the rolling out, there were enough layers in the final puff to impress everyone.
I baked the puffs following package instructions, switching the baking tray from top to bottom rack half through to ensure even baking.
If you don't roll out the dough squares a bit, you'll end up with a cover that's too thick.

Older and wiser now, I have switched to the five by five inch squares (or four by four, depending which brand you pick) of Puff Pastry sold in packets at my local Lebanese store. I roll out the squares and make two large puffs out of each...four would be better and smaller, but I'm not that patient.
I bake them in a 425 degree oven, in the middle rack. They come out great.

On a search for other covers, I came across mention of all these wrappers on different websites and television shows: wonton wrappers, phyllo dough sheets, phyllo dough cups, egg roll wrappers, empanada wrappers, pie crust sheets, puff pastry.

Recently, much to my delight, after reading a recipe for baked empanadas, I discovered frozen empanada wraps in the Mexican Supermarket.
I fill each circle, put water on half the semi-circle, fold over, and press the edge with the tines of a fork.
I was a little disappointed with how dry the baked empanadas were, so I broke my rule of very little fried foods and fried one just to see the difference.
The results overwhelmed me. Though the crust was a little bubbly for some reason, it was a perfect samosa crust....all one could ask for, dream of and enjoy tremendously.

Then I came across a recipe for samosas stuffed with chole (garbanzo beans/chick peas cooked with spices...recipe below). I've looked for the site repeatedly to give them credit here, but I cannot find it. This idea of chole in a samosa, caught my attention and tantalized my tastebuds. Which clever person had thought the recipe up and why was I never that clever person?
For a picnic, I made them with the empanada wrappers. It was just like eating puris and chole in a neat package...so I made them again for a friend to take on a long flight, and stuffed two of them with shrimp from my shrimp curry and four with chole. She loved them and I loved her enjoyment of them.
I use the whole circle of dough, which is each empanada wrapper and make them as crescent samosas. (picture one, top right.)
My daughter came over to help me make the samosas last year, to take on a picnic with her friends and all their tiny tots. She cut the empanada crescents in half and made little triangular samosas so we could differentiate between the non-spicy and the spicy. So if you want triangular ones, there's your method. (picture three top left).

A few days later after we made the samosas for the picnic, I saw Robin Miller making empanadas rolling out a ready made circle of pie crust dough (they come two big sheets in a pack). After rolling it a little, she cut out circles using a round cookie cutter, stuffed and baked them. That's a good baked empanada cover as it comes out flaky and delicious.
Her recipe is on The Food Network.

As for phyllo dough, it's a challenge to work with in small quantities because of the way it dries out, but I do love the Greek spanakopitas (spinach puffs), when someone else makes them.

I tried egg roll wrappers as covers and they do crisp up nicely when deep fried, but really the winners are the puffs made from the puff pastry squares (baked), and empanada covers for the fried ones.

I have done this over and over so I know the best covers when I eat them!

Now on to the fillings.

Filling 1.

HD's family filling. (This is a unique mix of ingredients that makes strange reading but once made and eaten is addictive).

Boil 2 Tablespoons channa dal...mash half of it.
Boil 2 potatoes...mash them.
Combine potatoes and channa dal.
Cook the following together, if all veggies are fresh. If some are frozen, add when the fresh veggies are two thirds done.
1/2 cup peas.
1/2 medium finely chopped nukol (kohlrabi).
1 bunch dill, washed and finely chopped.
1/2 cup carrots. (I use grated carrots ).
1/2 cup beans, finely chopped.
When done add 1 large finely chopped onion.

Masala: Grind 1 bunch coriander, washed and cleaned. 1/4 coconut, 1/2 inch piece ginger, 2 cloves garlic, green chillies to taste, 1 tablespoon khus khus (Indian poppy seed), 2 cloves (the spice).

Assemble all veggies in a pot, add masala and salt to taste and let it cook for a few minutes more till mix is dry. Cool before filling.

Filling 2.

The usual mix of potatoes, peas and spices. You'll find this recipe on a number of websites/cookbooks.

Filling 3. (Middle picture, 2nd row).

Keema (Mince): I use lean turkey minced/ground meat for this.
Fry chopped onions brown, add garam masala (ground cloves, cinnamon and cardamom), chilli powder, salt, chopped coriander and washed & drained ground turkey.
Cook till dry.

Filling 4.

Chicken: Cook chicken well and chop fine.
Fry a lot of onions, add finely chopped coriander, ground ginger and garlic, 1 tsp garam masala, chilli powder and salt to taste.
Add to chicken. Fry till dry.

Filling 5.

Shrimp/Fish: I use leftover shrimp and fish for this from a curry or a fry.
Remember the filling has to be dry as possible, so drain well if using from a curry.
Spicy Salmon makes a really good filling.

Filling 6

Chole/Garbanzo Beans/Chick Peas: Fry 1 finely chopped onion. When brown add 2 tomatoes, finely chopped coriander, 2 cloves grated garlic, channa masala, chilli powder,1/2 tsp amchur powder or 1/4 tsp tamarind paste, and drained chole from one can. Cook till thick.

Any leftover tasty vegetable makes a good filling the next day.

Filling 7 (First picture, 2nd row).

And then for dessert there is the sweet filling given with the Rawa Puffs recipe in this blog.

lan of Cheenachatti http://cheenachatti.blogspot.com/, thanks for getting my batteries re-started.

Eggplant and Potato

Some travel, some health challenges, something or other to do, have all kept me away from this blog for a while. Now the summer heat forces me to rest, so I spend time at the computer playing 'catch up' in a number of areas.

Recently a relative who is a good cook asked us for this recipe.
We both tried to help him with it, shocked that we hadn't made it ourselves in eighteen months or more, and even more surprised that we had forgotten parts of the recipe!
When we got home, we tried it out, forgot parts of it even then, and realized it was time to write it down! A few days ago our daughter reminded me that I had said I would write this recipe down, so here goes.

This is not an easy, quick dish but it is a family classic developed by HD (Hubby Dearest). In the early years of our marriage, we were both impressed by a lady from Andhra who grew her own Japanese eggplant each summer, stuffed them with masala and froze them. Whenever we were invited for dinner, she served a delicious eggplant dish.
At one party HD heard me asking for the recipe of the masala. The next day he got all the info from me, wrote it down and then proceeded to concoct this dish. It turned out so different from our friend's recipe, but so outstanding, that it shot to the group of Family Favorites immediately!
It really made me understand why the kids sometimes used to tell me, "You rest Mom. Let Dad cook!"

Of course HD is aka The Maharaja of Butter, so the amount he used to put into each dish made it `delicious on the lips but forever on the hips!'
Now we know it is `forever in the arteries' too.
Now that he can't cook much, I use the best olive oil in the dish and no one (except HD) can tell the difference.

This is not one my quick recipes...in fact when HD used to make it, he took the whole day to prepare it and then two hours to clean the kitchen!
I do it in three hours but am so exhausted that I make it only once a year when I get his help with it!
As i write this I am reminded of the old biriyani recipes that the cooks would take a whole day to prepare.
Your investment in time making this masala from scratch, will be fully re-paid by the number of times you can make this dish quickly in the future, using the stored masala.

EGGPLANT AND POTATO









MAIN INGREDIENTS

6 Japanese eggplants (six inch dark purple eggplants.)
3 red potatoes (yellow/brown is fine too, but cooking time is longer.)
Olive oil for frying.
Ingredients for masala 1 and masala 2 listed below.

Masala 1

1 cup rai (mustard seed)
1 cup jeera (whole cumin)
3/4 cup split urad
3/4 cup channa dal
1/2 cup toor dal
1 tsp whole methi (fenugreek seeds).
1/2 cup whole pepper
2 Tbsps whole dhania (coriander seeds).

Fry each separately in a skillet on medium heat.
Rai, methi, jeera and dhania need a few minutes only
Urad and dals take a little longer and will be light brown and smell good.

Shortcut: I do rai,methi, dhania and jeera in microwave for 10 seconds each while frying the dals stovetop.
If dhania and jeera are not done in ten seconds, I put them in for another 5 seconds.
Watch carefully as whole spices will start burning in the middle of the plate first.

Let everything cool, grind everything in a blender till really fine, cool again and store in an airtight container.
We made it after two years. I might refrigerate it this time to make it last a long time.

Masala 2

1 medium large onion
2 Tbsps fresh grated coconut.

1/2 tsp tamarind (this adds the required tang to the masala).

Broil one medium onion till outside is charred.
(30 to 40 mins on top shelf).
Peel black, outer layers and put inside in a blender jar.
Roast 1-2 Tbsps fresh grated coconut in oven or stove top till golden brown.
Watch carefully as it burns quickly in the oven.
Blend to a smooth paste. (the onion will release water so don't add any).

(I double this quantity too and freeze half of it for the next time).

The masala mix:

To the onion and coconut paste, add 1 heaping tablespoon of masala 1, along with red chilli powder and salt to taste.
Mix well.
Wash and let eggplant and potatoes dry on a paper towel.
Slit eggplant upto one inch of where the green sepals of the stalk begin.
Stuff masala between slits of eggplant taking care to keep it whole.

Halve potatoes.
Heat one inch of oil in a 10-12 inch wide skillet.
Put in potatoes, face down and let it fry till cut surface is golden brown.
Turn and fry for a minute or two on the other side.
(Potato does not have to be fully cooked...3/4 done is fine).
Remove and place in 9 by 12 baking dish. Sprinkle with a little salt when hot.

Remove extra oil carefully to another pan, leaving about 1/4 inch in skillet.
Heat.
Put eggplant into hot oil, only one layer at a time, taking care to sear every side (brown lightly).
If needed, add a little more oil to pan with each set you sear.

Remove and place in dish.

Add garlic cloves to hot oil and let them soften on stove.
Add to dish.

Make sure eggplant and potatoes are in a single layer.

If there is masala remaining, and there usually is; put it on top of potatoes and eggplant.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 mins.

This dish comes out looking and tasting superb...decorate with green coriander if you want to but the colors look so great, the dish needs no garnishes.

Enjoy with garlic bread or naan or rice and dal.

The eggplant can be frozen, but the potatoes can't so I use less potato and more eggplant.
This dish can be refrigerated for a day (two at the most), but not longer.

When I had a veggie garden, I too prepared the eggplants, stuffed them, fried and froze them as I got so many eggplants from each plant. Now, I'm content just to do this blog.

Three great finds

Three friends, three great recipes...

I met two of them through their blogs and one of them while researching a recipe.
I started out trying out their recipes and the results made me appreciate what they share through their blogs...their taste buds and mine get on like peas in a pod.
Their recipes and the stories that go with them not only entertain me; they inspire me to get into the kitchen and start cooking...so when I'm suffering from 'the cooking blues', I just go to all 3 blogs and read till I have compiled a list of dishes to try. Sometimes I just go through them and get inspired to make my own dish!

A personal message to these great cooks:
I'm so glad I know you three through your blogs. Thank you for the enjoyment I get reading your stories and making your recipes. You've earned my trust.

I made one recipe from each site and here they are, with my shortcuts and tips.

Orange Marmalade from Cynthia Nelson's Tastes Like Home.

Click on the above link for the original recipe.

I always loved orange marmalade as a kid. Even now a piece of toast with a little butter, a teaspoon of marmalade and a hot cup of tea is a near perfect breakfast. To my surprise I couldn't find any marmalade in the States, with that slight tinge of bitterness that makes it perfect for me.
When I saw Cynthia's write-up, I had to ask for the recipe and try it. It really has that slight tinge of bitterness I expect in a good marmalade.
Success at last... and this was truly spoon licking good.



My shortcuts: I grated the orange peel in a food processor using a large hole grater and the pieces (top right) came out like matchstick pieces.
Then when I read 'cook for two hours', I got out my trusty old crockpot and let it cook down there...if you go this route, stir every half hour.
The smell of this marmalade cooking was out of this world and the end result was as shiny as Cynthia's recipe said it should be.

What a great find this recipe is...


Beetroot Thoran from Malabar Spices.

Click on the above link for the original recipe.



My variation: I fried some of the chopped beetroot leave I got with my beets in a tsp of ghee with the masala and added it to the beetroot.
I pre-cooked beetroot in the microwave and then let it slow cook on stove for ten mins on very low heat.

I love the masala used for this dish and the flavor it lends the beetroot.

Excellent, scrumpilicious recipe.


Pazham Pori (Fried Ripe Plantains) from Cheenachatti

Click on the above link for the original recipe.



Don't laugh at my brown bits and the bubbles on the fritters...think the oil got too hot.
I made no changes to this recipe; just made my batter like the thicker version stated in the recipe.

Absabloominglutely delish.
Couldn't stop eating them...can't wait to have them again.

Again, thanks to you amazing trio of great cooks.