Air fryer aloo tikki and aloo tikki chaat

The newest toy in my kitchen is an air fryer. I dithered over the purchase for a long time, and finally, last month, decided that I should it buy one. The husband and I have been experimenting with various dishes that we would normally use a lot of oil for,  and so far, all the experiments have been successful. Today's aloo tikki is made with minimal oil in the air fryer and it turned out nice and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside - just the way a good tikki should be.
Once the tikkis are made, they are topped with green chutney, spiced curd, sweet tamarind chutney, chopped onions and sev. This makes for a great starter or snack.

What you need:

For the tikki:
Potato - 4, boiled, peeled and mashed well
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 12/ tsp
Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp
Chaat masala - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Corn flour - 1.5 tbsp.

Mix all the ingredients to a smooth dough. Oil your hands well and roll out small golf ball sized pieces of dough and flatten them into tikkis. Brush some oil on both sides of each tikki.
Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes.
Place the tikkis in a single layer in the air fryer basket. Cook at 360 degrees for 12 minutes (6 minutes on each side).
If you do not have an air fryer, you can shallow fry the tikkis in a pan, adding about a teaspoon of oil around the tikkis and cooking them until they are well browned on both sides.

For the green chutney:
Cilantro - a small bunch
Green chilli - 2
Juice of half a lemon
Salt
Grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste along with a quarter cup of water.

For the spiced curd mixture:
Yogurt/curd - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/4 tsp
Salt
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Whisk all the ingredients together till smooth.

To assemble:
Place two tikkis on a plate. Top with generous helpings of curd, green chutney, tamarind chutney, finely chopped onion and sev.
Serve immediately.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM 

Mini tiffin - a South Indian breakfast platter and the recipe for Mysore bonda

BM #74 Week 3 Day 1
Theme : Thalis
Dish : Mysore bonda

Buffets, thalis, quick meals, mini tiffins - any meal where an assortment of dishes is served on one platter is something that I can never resist. The last time we were in the husband's hometown, we went to a small restaurant where I tried out the breakfast tiffin thali. With small portions of pongal, vadai, kesari, sambar, chutney, puri masal and dosa served in a visually and gastronomically appealing manner, this is one breakfast that has been fondly talked about and remembered very often.  In fact, every time I've felt even slightly hungry, I've wished that there was some place here that served this kind of thali.  Making a large number of dishes when I don't have company is usually not my style of cooking, but  this time, I decided to make an exception.

In the platter are an Onion Dosa, mini idlis soaked in sambar, rava kichdi, rava kesari, mysore bonda and coconut chutney.

Some of these recipes have been shared on the blog before and I have included links to older posts with the recipes.
Today, I will be sharing the recipe for Mysore bonda - a deep fried snack that, though a little time consuming, is not very difficult to make.

What you need :
Urad dal - 1 cup, soaked in plenty of water for an hour and drained
Curry leaves - a few, chopped
Green chillies - 3, minced
Black peppercorns - 7 or 8, coarsely crushed
Coconut sliced into tiny bits - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - for deep frying

Grind the drained urad dal, adding as little water as possible, in a grinder (recommended) or a blender (second best option). When well ground, the batter will be light and fluffy, floating when a bit of it is added to water.
Remove this batter into a container and add all the other ingredients except salt. (*)
Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. When the oil is hot, add salt to the batter, mix it well and drop small balls of batter to the oil. Fry on a medium flame until well browned on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain off excess oil using a paper towel.
Serve hot with coconut chutney.

* Salt, when added to the batter, makes it watery and difficult to shape. So, add it at the very end, just before you start frying, and mix it in well.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#74.

Onion tomato corriander thokku/chutney

The days are getting hotter and hotter. Summer, technically at least, is still a month away but the temperature where I live is already in the 40s. This means that spending time in the kitchen is something that I progressively avoid. These days I have taken to cooking late in the evening so that the sun doesn't glare at me blindingly through the kitchen window. The next day's lunch is usually made,packed and refrigerated during these relatively cooler hours. This onion-tomato-corriander thokku is something that I put together last night. It started out as the tomato thokku that I regularly make as an accompaniment for methi theplas, but then I thought why not add in some onion and corriander, both ingredients which make for awesome thokku by themselves. And as they say, the rest is history and this recipe was born.

What you need:
Onion - 2, medium sized, cut into large chunks
Tomato - 9, medium sized, cut into large pieces
Coriander - 1/3 cup, chopped
Garlic - 6 cloves
Green/red chilli - 2 (adjust to taste - I made mine only mildly spicy)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Split urad dal - 1 tsp
Bengal gram dal - 1 tsp

Grind to a smooth paste onions, tomato, corriander, garlic and chilli. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, urad and bengal gram dal. When the mustard seeds pop, reduce the heat and add the ground mixture to the pan. Add turmeric powder and salt. Mix well, cover and let it cook, stirring every now and then to avoid burning, until all the moisture evaporates and the mixture becomes thick.

Serve with methi theplas/roti/puri/idli/dosa.....well, it goes well with just about anything. Makes for a flavourful sandwich spread too.

Hot red chilli chutney

I am going to let you in on a secret today. While my cooking skills have vastly improved compared to what they were like when I started cooking, I still do slip up every once in a while and make certain errors of judgement. If you need proof of that, go read this post where I inadvertently end up making glue.
If you need further proof, all that you have to do is continue reading this post.
The markets in Bangalore sell an amazing looking red chilli. These are not dried chillies, but fresh, ripe chillies that are a beautiful red.

After buying a packet full of these because they looked so good, I let them languish in the fridge because I had no idea what to do with them. Finally, one fine day, I decided that i would make a chutney with these chillies to go with dosa.
I chopped up about 8 of those chillies and sauted them in oil as I had heard that sauteing chillies in oil takes away some of the heat. While the chillies were kept aside to cool,  I  ground tamarind, jaggery, garlic, cumin seeds, salt and curry leaves  into a fine paste. The chillies were added to the paste and once again ground in the blender.
The chutney looked just as gorgeous as I thought it would look.

 I served heaped spoonfuls to hubby and myself and sat down to eat. The husband started eating and his smile sort of froze as soon as he had his first taste of the chutney. He then kept taking progressively lesser and lesser amounts of chutney until finally, he pushed the chutney aside and gulped down what seemed to be a whole bottle of water. This didn't deter me in any way. I had made this chutney and I was definitely going to eat it, come what may. I added a huge helping of jaggery to the chutney and tried eating it that way. Despite my pride, I couldn't eat any more than the husband did. Finally, I learned that there is truth in the maxim - Appearances can be deceptive.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#14

Onion chutney with a twist

I hate mixing up flavours that are best enjoyed separately. I know there are umpteen people who go gaga over hot gulab jamuns served with a scoop of vanilla ichttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gife cream. I am not one of them. I enjoy both, but give them to me in different bowls, please. The same goes for gajar ka halwa and ice cream. I cannot stomach the two together, though my stomach has ample space to accommodate the two separately.
By now I am sure you are wondering where on earth I am going with this argument. Well, it so happens that Kalyani sent me a mail about a month back asking if I would be interested in participating in Magic Mingle - a challenge where we have to use two given ingredients to create a dish. The combo chosen for the first mingle is Cinnamon and Chillies. Ever since she revealed the first two magic ingredients, I've been racking my brain - trying to think of a way in which I can use these two together. I had to get out of my comfort zone to even think of using cinnamon in a spicy dish. I definitely knew that I did not want to make a pulao/biriyani as this is the one dish which I like and usually make where this combo rules the roost. It definitely had to be something new.
I came up with this recipe as I was peeling some sambar onions with the intention of using it for a chutney to go with rotis. The thought of adding cinnamon to it is something that only a fellow blogger wanting to create something new for an event will understand.
What you need:
Shallots/pearl onion/sambar onion - 1 cup, peeled
Red chilli - 3 (adjust to taste
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Jaggery - a small piece
Oil - 3 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Grind the onions and red chilli to a smooth paste. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they pop, reduce the heat and add the ground paste, salt, cinnamon and jaggery. Stir well. Cook until the raw smell of the mixture goes away, stirring every now and then.
Enjoy!!!
Note : None of the photos that I have of this chutney look very appetising. Hence, they are not shared here.

Tomato-peanut chutney

For the final day of Blogging Marathon #6, I was paired with Pavani of Cook's Hideout, to cook something from her blog. The marathon finished a while back, but it is only now that I am getting down to posting what I made from her blog. This chutney is quick and easy to make, tastes good as soon as it is made and tastes even better the next day. Thank you, Pavani for the recipe.

What you need:
Tomato - 2
Peanuts - 1/2 cup
Red chillies - 3
Tamarind extract - from a gooseberry sized ball of tamarind
Salt
For tempering:
Oil - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 3/4 tsp
Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
Curry leaves - a few

Take the tomatoes in a microwave safe bowl. Add 1/4 cup of water, cover and microwave for 3-4 minutes until the tomatoes turn mushy. Let it cool.
Toss the peanuts and red chillies in 1/4 tsp of oil and microwave for 2 minutes. Let it cool.
Add salt,tamarind extract and grind the tomatoes, peanuts and red chillies to a smooth.
Heat the tempering ingredients. Once the mustard seeds pop, pour it over the chutney.
Serve with idli/dosa.
Don't forget to leave your comment on this post for a chance to win a copy of Cooking at home with Pedatha, an award winning cookbook.

Peanut chutney

Peanuts (called Verkadalai in Tamil and kappalandi in Malayalam) are a store house of protein.
This chutney using peanuts is very simple and quick to put together. It requires only 4 ingredients including salt and is thick, creamy and mild tasting. It goes really well with dosa/idli.

What you need:
Peanuts/groundnuts - 1/2 cup
Red chillies - 3 (adjust to taste)
Curry leaves - a few
Salt

Either dry roast or roast in half a teaspoon of oil,the red chillies and curry leaves. Then reduce the flame and fry groundnuts until they are well roasted. Let it cool. Add salt and blend until smooth.
This, along with adai was our dinner tonight.
Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me  Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Me, Kaveri, Pavani,Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: KalyaniSummer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Thoppi dosa/Cap dosa/Cone dosa

Very often when we make variations in the shape or the colour of a dish that is normally served, children show an interest in eating it. This dosa is one such variation. Have you noticed how, in some restaurants, hot, crispy dosas are brought to the table, shaped like a cone? As a child, the cone used to remind me of a cap, and I have always called it thoppi(cap) dosa. Yesterday, I tried replicating the shape at home, and found that it is quite easy to do.

What you need:
Dosa batter
A non stick dosa griddle
Two wooden spatulas

How to make it:
Pour a ladle of batter on the hot griddle. Spread it into a thin circle. Let this cook on low heat until well browned and crisp. Do not turn over.

Holding down the dosa with one spatula, use the other one to make a cut from the center of the dosa to one end.

Fold this as shown in the pic below.

Now roll the other side over this to form a cone. Place the crisp cone on a plate and serve it hot with chutney/sambar/molaga podi.

Do take a look at my fellow marathoners' kitchens....Srivalli,
Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Kamalika, Meena, Mina, Padma,  Pavani,PJ, Priya Mahadevan, Priya Suresh, Priya Vasu, Rujuta, Santosh, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Sowmya, Suma, Usha, Veena

Nellikka chammanthi (Gooseberry chutney)

Nellikka(also known as amla or gooseberry) is a powerhouse of nutrients. Eating raw gooseberries every morning is said to improve digestion, lend a healthy glow to the skin and keep hair black and glossy.
Nellikka is available in plenty in my part of the world during this time of year, and I try to incorporate it in our diet a few times a week.
Here is a chutney that I made using nellikka.

What you need:
Large nellikka (gooseberry) - 4 large, deseeded and roughly chopped
Red chilli - 3
Salt - to taste
Onion - 1 large, peeled and chopped into large pieces
Curry leaves - a few

Heat a tsp of oil. Add the red chilli, curry leaves and onion. Fry until the raw smell of the onions goes away. Lower the heat, add nellikka to the kadai and fry for a few minutes. Let it cool. Add salt and grind to a coarse paste.

This goes really well with idli/dosa.

Karuveppila thogayal/curry leaf chutney

When I was younger, I was always told that curry leaves are good for my hair and that eating the leaves would give me "karu-karu-nnu"(black-black) hair. Maybe it is just one of those tales that parents invent to make their children eat stuff, but I did believe this with all my heart, and never wasted curry leaves. This reasoning doesn't work with my daughter 'coz she couldn't care less if her hair is black,blue or red....so I resort to grinding the curry leaves with other ingredients and mixing it into different dishes.
In one of my previous posts, I've talked about how my grocery store here gives me a whole lot of curry leaves for free every time I go there to get something and about how I put the leaves to good use by turning them into karuveppila podi.
This time round, I have used it to make thogayal/chutney.


What you need:
Curry leaves - 1 cup
Urad dal - 3 heaped tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Ginger - a large piece, chopped
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Tamarind - a gooseberry sized ball soaked in just enough water to cover it
Green chilli - 2 or Red chilli - 3
Salt

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the slit green chillies and ginger and fry on low heat for 2-3 minutes. Then add the urad dal and fry till reddish brown. Add the curry leaves. Stir for a few seconds and switch off the heat. Let it stay in the pan for a while as it will wilt further in the heat of the pan. Once it is completely cooled, add the other ingredients and blend together to a coarse paste, adding as little water as you possibly can.
This tastes great when mixed with rice and topped with a dollop of ghee or gingely oil. It can also be served with idli/dosa.

Spring Onion Chutney

Most of the weekends over the last few months have been spent travelling. So much so that I've come to think of the railway station as a home away from home. It also means that I usually try and use up anything that is likely to spoil if left in the refrigerator over the weekend.

A bunch of spring onions + an upcoming weekend trip = this recipe.

What you need:
Spring onions - 1 bunch, chopped (the greens can also be chopped)
Red chilli - 2
Oil - 1 tsp
Tamarind - a gooseberry sized piece, soaked for 10 minutes in just enough water to cover it
Urad dal - 3 tsp
Salt

Heat the oil, urad dal and chillies in a microwaveable bowl for 2 minutes or until the dal turns reddish brown. Stir in the chopped spring onions. Heat for another 4 minutes or until the onions are browned.
Let it cool. Blend coarsely along with the tamarind and salt.
Heat a tsp of oil in a pan. Season with some mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, pour it over the chutney.
Enjoy with dosas or as a dip.

This chutney goes to Valli's potluck and to Culinarty's Original Recipe Round-up.