Dahi Bhalle (fried lentil dumplings in yogurt)

Dahi Bhalle is one of the most famous snacks in Northern India, served cold it makes an excellent starter. There are some tricks to it, and once you know it you can never get them wrong :)

Here is what you would need (it would make approximately 50 bhallas)

Oil for deep frying 

For dahi bhalla

• 1 cup split urad dal without skin washed, soaked overnight with 8-10 methi seeds and grind this to a fine paste adding very little water 
• 2″ piece of ginger and 2-3 green chilies ground to paste
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

For yogurt

• 3 cups thick fresh yogurt
• 1 cups water
• 2 tbsps roasted cumin  powder
• 1-2 tbsps ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of dahi bhalla masala

For garnish

• Mint coriander chutney
• Tamarind chutney

Mix all the dahi bhalla ingredients in a bowl and deep fry small dumplings (a little smaller than the size of a ping-pong ball) of this paste until golden brown. Check the first batch to see if dumplings are cooked from inside, fry them little longer if not so. As soon as you take them out from oil, put them in cold water in a large bowl. You will notice that bhallas (dumplings) in water start to lighten in color after 10-15 minutes. Keep these in water for another 15-20 minutes, and meanwhile mix in ingredients of yogurt. Squeeze out water from bhallas gently and place them in a flat tray adjacent to one another and pour the yogurt mixture over them evenly. Refrigerate 2-3 hours before serving. For serving put 3-4 bhallas in a bowl and garnish with mint and tamarind chutnies and serve.

Mint and mango chutney

As one of my friends would say "I can make a meal out of chutnies made by you", so here I am with my first chutney recipe.
This can be served with any kind of snack (pakoda, dahi bhalla, chat papdi etc. etc.) or you can eat it just by itself like my friend.
Here is what you would need

• One small bunch of mint leaves washed and drained (take off the thick stems)
• One cup chopped green mango
• One cup chopped cilantro (coriander)
• 1/2 lemon juice
• 2 green chilies 
• 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 1/2 tablespoon roasted jeera (cumin) powder
• 1/4th inch of ginger
• 1-2 cloves of garlic (optional)
• Salt to taste, you can replace half of the regular salt with black salt

Grind everything together in a mixer adding water gradually to bring it to the consistency you like and its ready to serve.

This recipe is for the green one in the picture, recipe for other two coming soon.

Quick Cheesy Bread

If you like garlic bread, jalapeno bread or cheese bread, I bet you will love this. Not from scratch but as good as it can get.

Here is what you will need

12 oz tube of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1 cup shredded cheese (I used pizza mix)

3/4th cup finely chopped onions

1/4th cup chopped basil (or 1 tbs dried basil would also work fine)

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 Tablespoons olive oil 

1 tbs chopped green chilies or chopped pickled jalapeno (optional) 

Preheat oven at 375F.

Open the biscuit can and pull biscuits apart, chop each into four parts. Mix rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
Take a 13X9 inch baking pan and line it with aluminum foil, place the cut biscuits in it leaving little space between them. Sprinkle on the cheese mixture and tuck it in-between the biscuits. Bake it in oven for 15-17 minutes until the top is golden brown. Serve it hot with soup or just by itself as an appetizer. 
There are a lot of variations possible here, you can try cilantro, parsley, Parmesan cheese, Cheddar cheese, green onions etc. If you can think of an interesting twist on this, I am all ears!

Tandoori Cauliflower

Today was a day of experiments, and this one worked very well! Its marinated whole cauliflower baked with marinated onions and potatoes.

Here is what this recipe calls for

• One whole cauliflower (cut its stem and remove the leaves so that it can sit on a tray, wash it and drain the excess water)
• Half of a large white onion (sliced)
• Four small red potatoes (sliced, you can leave the skin on if you like)

Marinade ingredients

• 3/4th cup of yogurt
• 2 tablespoon of tomato ketchup
• Tandoori masala or any Garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (optional)
• 1 tablespoon of oil 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)

Mix together all the marinade ingredients in bowl, and put it generously all over the cauliflower. In rest of the marinade put in sliced onion and potatoes. Leave everything to marinate for 2 hours and then bake it at 400F for 35 minutes. It can be served just by itself as a meal or with Roti or Naan.