Category: Snacks

Oats Masala Idli

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My love for traditional Indian fare is well known and I have discussed this in my previous posts. I do not like to tamper with the classics but sometimes you like to give it your own twist. One such craft master whose expertise is well known Michelin star awarded Chef Vineet Bhatia who owns Rasoi in London, Geneva and Indego by Vineet in Dubai.

I have been following his culinary journey to Indian cities looking for unique flavors and incorporating his own take on them in his popular series showcased on “Twist of Taste” on Fox Traveller with his beautiful wife Rashima in Season 1 who used to uncover the tourist attractions or shopping secrets the city had to offer.

In the first season of the show, Chef Vineet made Tomato Sev Rice with Ghatta Sabzi(Gramflour dumplings in tangy sauce)and Shikari Murg. Being a vegetarian I substituted the chicken with paneer and the result came out well. My husband loves this recipe so much that now even when I do not have the Paneer(Cottage Cheese) handy, I just make the ghatta sabzi with sev rice. This looks pretty too, recipe to follow soon šŸ™‚

Tomato Sev Rice

I even tried the Besan Chilla stuffed with Dal served with a side of crispy okra. Unfortunately I’m not able to find a picture for that as yet.

I was at my mum’s place last month and was catching up on Season 2 wherein this recipe for Oats Masala Idli was showcased. I immediately tried this recipe since I knew it would be great as a evening snack. Healthy, nutritious and a quick savoury dish which can be served to a hungry army in a jiffy.

Oats Masala Idli

Ingredients
1 cup oats
1/2 cup semolina
1 cup yoghurt
2 tsp fresh coriander roughly chopped

Tempering
2 tsp oil
1 tsp urad dal
Few fenugreek seeds
7-8 curry leaves finely chopped
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1/4 cup grated carrots
Salt to taste

Dry roast cooking oats and semolina in separate pans on medium heat and keep it aside.

Whisk yoghurt and add the oats and semolina to it. Blend well and let the mixture rest for a while.

Now prepare the tempering, heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, once it splutters add curry leaves, fenugreek seeds, urad dal, green chillies and let the flavors get infused.

Add onions and cook them until they are translucent. Now add grated carrots to the mixture. Add salt to taste, you may also add coriander powder I skipped this.

Saute them for a minute and take it off the heat. Allow it to cool for sometime and then add this to the oats mixture.

Add fresh coriander to the mixture and blend well.

In a idli steamer, pour little water and grease the idli moulds with little oil. Add a spoonful of batter to the idli moulds and put them in the steamer.

Cover the steamer with a lid and let it cook for 7-8 mins. This mixture yields 18 Idlis in total.

Uncover the goodness after a while and serve with Garlic Rasam, Tomato Thokku, Coriander Chutney or Tiffin Sambhar.

Tomato & Roasted Pepper Dip

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Tomatoes are my favouriteĀ ingredientĀ to work with. With an abundance of so many varieties available in supermarkets, it is interesting how different varieties result in getting different textures.Ā I prefer the Plum, Roma or cherry tomatoes the most while cooking.

As a kid, I used to eat tomato ketchup with everything – be it fries, crackers, roti, bread, rice, crisps. I used to even put it in a bowl and just eat it as is. And who can forget painting lips with ketchup and licking it clean later. Yumm! Don’t judge me, we all have done crazy things as kids!

I think as a teen, I took a liking to Italian cuisine since they use tomatoes liberally in their sauce base and other wise. Picture Caprese salad looking pretty with rings of mozzarella nestled between thick slices of tomatoes cut round and with a generous drizzle of olive oil and basil leaves or give me tomato soup at the end of the day with toasted garlic bread on the side and I’m back to being my chirpy self again.

Dinner parties see me making this tomato dip often. This also happens to be a staple dip at home, I’d even eat this with dal (lentils) rice or plain roti (Indian flat bread).

Salsa

Cooking Time : 20 minutes
Ingredients

5 large plum tomatoes finely chopped
1 medium red onion finely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 Thai red chilly deseeded and finely chopped
20 ml olive oil
1/2 tsp rock salt
Salt to taste
Ground Black Pepper to taste (optional)

Blanch the tomatoes in warm water until the skin comes out clean. Let them cool and dice them finely.Ā If you are running short of time, just chop them finely.

In a pan, warm the olive oil and add the thai red chillies. Do not deseed them since they impart the heat to this mixture. Once they splutter add the onion and cook them until they are translucent. If you would like to keep the heat quotient low, use cayenne pepper or red chilly flakes as per your preference.

Add tomatoes, cook them until they are mushy and leave the oil on the sides of the pan.

Add red bell pepper and cook them until they are soft. You can also toss them separately in a pan with little olive oil on high flame until they wilt. When I am not short of time I prefer roasting the bell pepper on high flame, peeling off the skin and then adding it to the tomato mixture. It gives a nice roasted flavor to the dip!

Season it well with salt to taste and pepper. You may also add dried herbs if you wish. I also add little garlic butter towards the end to give the mixture a glossy finish.

Dip & Dhokla

Serve with Crackers, Falafel, Pita Bread, Potato Wedges, Chips, Nachos or even Dhokla.

Spicy Peanut Balls

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I like to work with left overs in the fridge. The most common left over in my kitchen happens to be cooked rice. Some days you do not want to go the traditional route and make a dal, curry or stew to go along with left over cooked rice from the night before.

Whenever I’m out at a book store I either gravitate towards the cook books featuring appetizers, baking, party food or books on entertaining and hosting dinner parties. I came across this recipe in “Party Food & Appetizers” and I immediately bookmarked it to try out later. I picked this cook book from Borders.

Cookbook

I have made this recipe many times with a slight changes and it has consistently been a crowd pleaser. It’s amazing how people try and guess what these were made with. I usually cook a batch of rice and leave it for 2 hours to cool at room temperature before I start making this.Ā I first made this for a dinner party I hosted for my colleagues and served it with an assortment of dips to choose from like Creamy Spinach Dip, Homemade Hummus, Tomato Roasted Pepper Dip and Tzatziki.

Look wise they almost seem like “Falafel” but are crunchy and crumbly at the same time.

Spicy Peanut Balls1

Cooking Time : 20 minutes
Ingredients

2 garlic cloves
1 tsp ginger
2 green chillies finely chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp caster sugar (optional)
2 tsp soy sauce
3 tsp coriander finely chopped
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup peanuts coarsely chopped
Bread crumbs as required
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste

In a blender, put garlic cloves, ginger, green chillies, coriander, peanuts, sugar, turmeric powder and salt.

You can choose to dry roast the peanuts before hand. They would add to the crunch.

Blend well and now add soy sauce and lemon juice. If your guests can take spice, add chilli sauce. I prefer Nando’s Peri Peri sauce.

Add cooked rice to the mixture one cup at a time and blend until it turns in to a slightly sticky mixture.

Remove in a bowl and add bread crumbs as required for binding. I also use bread crumbs sparingly to coat the spicy peanut balls before deep frying. As per theĀ original recipe, roasted peanuts were used to coat the balls.

Grease your palms with little cooking oil and shape in small round balls.Ā Deep fry and serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Until next time happy cooking!