Veggie Pot Pie

Things we need
Pie crust - Store bought
Vegetable broth Pacific Natural Foods (can be homemade too) - 2 cups
Potatoes - 2 cubed/ julienned 
Carrots- 2 cubed
Green peas,Corn Fennels, Green beans, Zucchini, Broccoli - 4 cups 
Onions - 1/2 chopped
Butter - 2 spoons
Salt
Pepper
Grated cheese


Preheat the oven to 400 C .

Thaw the pie crust as per the package instructions. Place one sheet on a pie plate and make tiny holes with a fork. Bake it for 10 mins. 


Meanwhile, In a sauce pan, add butter and saute the onions and potatoes until golden brown. Then add the veggies, salt and pepper. Add the broth to this and allow the veggies to cook well.


On the pie crust laid on the plate, layer with half of the cheese. Now spoon in the cooked veggie mix.  Add the rest of the cheese on top and cover it with the other pie shell. Seal the pie crust and make small slits on top for the steam to escape. With an aluminum foil. cover the edges so that they don't get burnt. 

After 20 mins take out the aluminum foil.  Bake it for around 45 mins or till the pie is golden brown. 

Enjoy the Pie.....

Dahi Puri - Chaat

Things we need

The chutneys we are making for this can be refrigerated or frozen.


Green Chutney
Mint   1 cup
Green Chilli  2
Black pepper corns - 3 or 4
Onion 1/2
Tomato 1/2
Ginger - small piece
Lemon Juice - 1/2 lemons'
Salt
Chaat Masala - to taste
Coriander leaves (Optional)
Sugar - 2 pinches

Grind all these together to a paste.

Tamarind Chutney

Tamarind Paste - 3 tbs  (or extract the same from raw tamarind)
Jaggery - 1 1/2 cube or nearly 3/4 cup grated
Red chilli powder
Roasted cumin powder - 2 spoons
Roasted Fennel powder - 1 spoon
Black Salt
A little grated ginger

Take the tamarind paste in a bowl with 3/4 cup water, add the jaggery and allow it to melt. Then add the chilli, cumin, fennel powder, black salt, ginger. Allow it to boil well till it thickens.



Puris - Store bought
Thin Sev - 1 cup
Chopped Boiled potatoes 1/4 cup
Seeded & Chopped tomatoes 1/4 cup
Pre soaked & pressure cooked chickpeas 1/4 cup
Onion, chopped- 1/2 
Salt
Chaat masala
Red chilli powder
Yogurt - well beaten
Chopped Coriander leaves


Mix potatoes, onions & chickpeas along with little red chilli powder, chaat masala and salt. 
Make a hole in the puri, Stuff with the potato mix, tomatoes. Add the green & the tamarind  chutneys, the yogurt then sprinkle a little of chaat masala, red chilli powder, cilantro.
Garnish with Sev. 


Serve immediately after its made. 

Paani Puri/ Gol Gappa/ Puchka

Chaat is the ultimate snack in India. Every alley has a guy selling us that. It tastes different in different parts of India.
So here is my version of it. I got the puris at the desi grocery store. But one can make these too.
The green paani we make is spicy and its for the katta taste. The sweet chutney is made for the hint of sweetness

Things we need
Puris - Bought at the desi grocery store.

For the paani
Mint - 1 1/2 cup
Coriander leaves- 1 cup
Green chillies - 7
Coriander powder - 1 spoon
Roasted Cumin powder - 1 1/2 spoon
Tamarind paste - 4 spoons
Ginger - 1 small piece
Black pepper - 1/2 spoon
Lemon Juice - 1/4 cup
Paani puri Masala
Black salt - to taste
Salt

Grind all these together well and in a big bowl, add water to it. Be mindful not to add more it might dilute the taste. Add a little boondi to it.

Tamarind Chutney

Tamarind Paste - 3 tbs  (or extract the same from raw tamarind)
Jaggery - 1 1/2 cube or nearly 3/4 cup grated
Red chilli powder
Roasted cumin powder - 2 spoons
Roasted Fennel powder - 1 spoon
Black Salt
A little grated ginger

Take the tamarind paste in a bowl with 3/4 cup water, add the jaggery and allow it to melt. Then add the chilli, cumin, fennel powder, black salt, ginger. Allow it to boil well till it thickens.

For the stuffing
Potatoes - 2 boiled and mashed
Garbanzo beans or Whole green gram - soaked over night and pressure cooked
Onions - sliced well
Red chilli powder
Chaat masala
Salt

Mash all these ingredients together to make the stuffing.

Now break a bit of the poori, stuff it with the potato mixture, add a little sweet sauce to it. Then dip it in the green paani and directly to your mouth.
This should be consumed immediately after making it.
Enjoy hogging it....No one can eat just one....

Bhel Puri Chaat

This is an easy wonderful snack. If the chutneys are made, the other items are easy to gather.

Things we need

The chutneys we are making for this can be refrigerated or frozen.

Green Chutney
Mint   1 cup
Green Chilli  2
Black pepper corns - 3 or 4
Onion 1/2
Tomato 1/2
Ginger - small piece
Lemon Juice - 1/2 lemons'
Salt
Chaat Masala - to taste
Coriander leaves (Optional)
Sugar - 2 pinches

Grind all these together to a paste.

Tamarind Chutney


Tamarind Paste - 3 tbs  (or extract the same from raw tamarind)
Jaggery - 1 1/2 cube or nearly 3/4 cup grated
Red chilli powder
Roasted cumin powder - 2 spoons
Roasted Fennel powder - 1 spoon
Black Salt
A little grated ginger

Take the tamarind paste in a bowl with 3/4 cup water, add the jaggery and allow it to melt. Then add the chilli, cumin, fennel powder, black salt, ginger. Allow it to boil well till it thickens.

This chutney goes well with samosas, cutlets, pakodas, parathas, vada pav, Sandwiches, any chaat items like dahi puri, papdi chaat, Dahi vada.

The quantity Given below serves 2 to 3 people. One can alter the quantity according to taste.

Puffed rice - 2 cups
Thin sev - 1/2 cup
Crushed Puri or papdi chaat - a little
Chopped Boiled potatoes 1/4 cup
Chopped Cucumber 1/4 cup
Seeded & Chopped tomatoes 1/4 cup
Pre soaked & pressure cooked chickpeas 1/4 cup
Chopped raw mango - a little
Lemon Juice
Chopped Coriander leaves

Roast the puffed rice to make sure they are crispy. Mix all the above ingredients. Add a spoon each of the chutneys. And mix well. Serve immediately else it would become soggy.
You can try out any other veggies too.

Enjoy.

Paruppu Podi/ Dal Powder

This is a must have kitchen item in case we are so bored to cooked.


Things we need


Urad Dal    - 1/2 cup
Toor  Dal     - 1 cup
Moong  Dal  - 1 cup
Black Pepper - 1 1/2 spoons
Red chilli   - 2 or 3
Salt

Dry roast the chilli, black pepper and add asafoetida to it.. Roast the dals separately. Then grind both into a fine powder adding salt .
Its ready. Make hot rice, add ghee mix the powder with it. Serve hot with deep fried or roasted masala papad.

Its has a lot of  protein

Rasam Podi/ Rasam Powder

Moving to a new place, I need to equip my kitchen for comfortable functioning. I had already posted the Sambar Podi. This is the homemade instant rasam podi. It is pretty easy to make & shelve.

Here are the things we need

Toor Dal              -  1 cup
Coriander seeds   -  3 cup
Black pepper       -  3/4 cup
Red chilli              -  4 or 5
Cumin Seeds        -  1/2 cup
Asafoetida            -  a little

Dry roast the first four ingredients and allow it to cool. Grind them along with the cumin seeds.

For the recipe of how make Rasam, follow the link.

Sambar Podi / kozambu Podi/ curry powder

Living In the U.S and running out of stock for homemade Sambar powder is something I always dreaded. I always make the freshly ground masala for sambar. And when I ask for a recipe, I get stone walled telling that I needed a machine (a typical one in India to grind these powders) or I need to have it dried under the hot sun. Both of which is an impossible thing here. My quest ended with my Sister in law, Sumithra Ranganath's easy recipe. It came out really great.

Here are the things we need
Coriander seed - 1 cup
Urad dal           - 1 cup
Channa dal       - 1 cup
Methi seeds     - 1 table spoon
Mustard seeds - 1 table spoon
Red chilli          - 250 gms ( typically this is only a rough measure) 
Asafoetida       -  a little
Turmeric powder - 4 spoons
Cinnamon    - 5 grams.
Maratti Mogghhu (Star Anise) - 5 grams


Dry roast all the above ingredients until golden brown and once you smell the fried chilli Switch off allow it too cool  and grind it to fine powder.


One can skip the last 2 ingredients too.


This powder can be used to make  Sambar, Curries.