Chole tikki: An utimate Chaat

Chole Tikki: An ultimate Chaat
Chole tikki is one of the most common mouth-watering street foods. It is a kind of Chaat [Spicy and tangy snack] which is flavorful and filling at the same time.

Ingredients:
For the Aloo tikki: [Approx 8 tikkies]
 

Potatoes –3 medium [boiled and peeled]
Bread – 2 slice [cut the brown sides and use the white part only]
Green chilies –2 finely chopped
Cilantro – 2 tbsp finely chopped
Roasted Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Black pepper –1/2 tsp
Salt as per taste
Oil for shallow frying

For Chole:
Kabuli Chana or Chole [Garbanzo beans]dry – 1.5 cup
Tea bags- 2
Dry Ingredients for gravy:
Whole garam masala – 1 tbsp
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
Garam masala powder – ½ tsp
Chana Masala -1.5 tbsp

Wet Ingredients for gravy:

Onion -3/4 (pureed or finely chopped)
Tomato puree -1 cups
Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Green chili -1 tsp (finely chopped) [Optional]
Olive oil – 2 tbspn
Salt as per taste

Method: to make Aloo Tikki

• In a bowl, take boiled and peeled potatoes. Add bread, green chilies, cilantro, cumin powder, black pepper and salt. Mix very well and form a smooth dough if it. 
• Make 8 equal portions of the dough. Take each portion in your palm make a tennis ball sized ball. Now flatten it to make tikki. Tikkies can be round or oval shaped. Smooth out the edges of the tikkies and keep aside. [Apply little oil on your palms to avoid tikkies sticking on your hand].
• Heat griddle or pan, add 1 tbsp oil and fry the tikkies golden brown on both the sides. Keep the heat medium high. Drain them on kitchen towel and keep aside.

Method: to make Chole

• Wash dry Kabuli Chana or Chole a couple of times and soak them overnight in water.
• Add soaked chole, turmeric powder, salt and 4 cups of water and tea bags in the pressure cooker. Pressure cook it for 30 minutes on medium heat.
• For gravy, heat olive oil in a pan. Add whole garam masala. Let it crackle. Then add pureed onions and sauté it, till turns light golden. Add ginger paste, garlic paste and chopped green chilies (optional). Cook for 2 minutes.
• Add tomato puree, red chili powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder in the gravy and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes on medium-low heat.
• Discard the tea bags from the boiled chole. Add the gravy to the boiled chole and add a cup of water and simmer it on low heat for 10 minutes.
• Finally, add chana masala and let it simmer for 2 more minutes.
• Chole is ready to serve.

Garnish  and serving suggestions:
Place 2-3 Aloo tikkies on a serving plate. Pour 1-2 ladles full of Chole. Garnish it with sweet tamarind-date chutney, green chutney and spiced yogurt. Also add chopped red onion, namkeen sev and chopped cilantro.

Yummy Tikki-Chole is ready to eat.

Navratri Special: Singhara paratha with Aloo subzi [Potato curry]

Singhara Paratha with Aloo subzi [Potato curry] 

During fasting, one can only eat certain things. Singhara flour is one of those. Here I'm sharing with you my mom's recipe for making parathas from singhara flour [singhara atta] and simple aloo subzi.

Ingredients:

For making Singhara parathas:

Singhara flour - 1 cup
Potatoes -1 cup [boiled, peeled and mashed]
Green chilies- 1 finely chopped
Cooking oil for shallow frying

Salt as per taste

For making Aloo subzi [potato curry]:

Potatoes - 2 medium (boiled and peeled)
Tomatoes - 1 small (chopped)
Green chilies - 1 (finely chopped)
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fresh cilantro - 2 tbsp chopped
Cooking oil - 1tbsp
salt as per taste

Method:

For making singhara paratha:

• In a large bowl, add singhara flour, boiled and mashed potatoes, green chilies, salt. Mix well. Add little water as needed to knead it into a smooth dough. Keep aside for 5 minutes.
• Divide the dough into 6 even parts. Make balls of each part nad very carefully roll them flat into parathas. If it is difficult to roll, try using parchment paper. Place the dough ball  between two sheets of parchment paper and gently roll. Later peel the parchment paper from both sides and shallow fry it on the griddle or frying pan using very little oil on both sides.
• Fry parathas till they trun golden brown on both sides. Parathas are ready to serve.

For making Aloo subzi:

• In a pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil. Add cumin seeds and green chilies to it.
• Saute for 2 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook it for 5 minutes till tomatoes get little soft.
• Add red chili powder. Mix well. Now add 1 cup water to it. Bring it to a boil.
• Add boiled, peeled and chopped potatoes and salt. Also add 1/2 tsp sugar to neutralize the sour taste from tomatoes [optional].
• Cook for 5 more minutes and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.

Enjoy garma garam parathas with aloo subzi.

More falahari recipes on this blog:
Sabuhana vada

Singhada aloo vada

Sabudana Khichadi

Holi Special: Namkeen Karele [Savory snack]

Namkeen Karele [Savory snack]

This attractive treat tastes as good as it looks. It is flaky, crunchy and super delicious. I bet not only kids, grown-ups get tempted to grab some of them. I have learned this recipe from my mother-in-law few years back. Since then, I try making them during festivities.

Ingredients:
For 50 pieces approx.
All purpose flour (maida) - 1.5 cups
Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Vegetable oil – 3 tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Ajwain – 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
Water (enough to make firm dough)
Cooking oil to fry

Method:

• Combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, cumin seeds, ajwain seeds, vegetable oil and salt.
  
• Mix together well and add water very slowly to make dough. Knead well to make it a little firm dough (puri kind).
  
• Keep the dough aside for 10-15 minutes.
  
• Take a small ball out of this dough and roll a small puri.
  
• Cut it vertically, but take care not to cut all the way. Do not separate the cuttings.
  
• Slowly roll the slit puri and gently twist both the sides to give it a karela shape.
  
• Repeat the above process to make all the karelas.
  
• Fry them carefully in medium hot oil.

Serve them any time with tea of coffee.

Holi Special: Gulab Jamun

होली और रंग पंचमी के शुभ अवसर पर,
होली के रंग, मिठाइयों के संग।

Gulab Jamun 

Gulab Jamun is my favorite dessert since my childhood. My mom makes the yummiest gulab jamuns of all. On almost all the occasions, in India, she makes them from scratch.But here in US, since I don’t get mava as we get in India, so with my mom’s suggestion, I tried these Gulab Jamuns from the Chitale gulab jamun mix (from Pune). They turned out pretty good.
Chitale gulab jamun mix is now available is most of the Indian grocery stores in Bay Area.

Ingredients: For Gulab Jamun (50 pieces)

Chitale Gulab Jamun mix- 1 pkt [400 gms]
Sugar – 6 cups
Cardamon powder [Elachi powder] – 2 tsp
Saffron strands [Kesar] – ¼ tsp
Goldan raisins [kismis] – 1/2 cup
Water – 240 ml [ 1.5 cups]
Water – 6 cups [for syrup]

Method:

• In a bowl, gradually add little by little, 1.5 cups of water to the mix. Mix well.  
• Gently knead the mixture to make it an even dough.  
• In another large vessel, take 6 cups of water and add 6 cups of sugar. Also add saffron and cardamom powder to it. Bring it to a boil. Mix it well and boil again.  
• Take the dough and divide it into small 50 parts. Take golden raisin and put one raisin in the center of each portion. Roll each portion into a smooth ball. Make all the balls and keep aside.  
• In a pan, heat cooking oil for frying the gulab jamuns. Deep fry the gulab jamuns on medium high heat. It should take approx 7-8 minutes to become golden brown. If it happens before that, oil is too hot and jamuns won’t be able to cook all the way through. If it takes more time than 7-8 minutes, the oil is not hot enough.  
• Drain all the fried gulab jamuns on a kitchen towel. Let it sit for 4-5 minutes and then add all jamuns to the sugar syrup. Let them completely soak for couple of hours.  
• Gulab jamuns are ready to eat.  

Serving Suggestions:

Enjoy Gulab jamums hot or chilled. I prefer them hot with chilled vanilla ice-cream on the side.