Punjabi Kadi Pakoda

Picture speaks more than words, I can eat this everyday :)




Following recipe will make 4-6 servings.

Ingredients

For kadi

• 1/2 cup besan
• Lassi - 16 oz (I used small bottle of Gopi Lassi)
• Water - 4-5 cups
• 1/3rd of a large onion thinly sliced for tadka
• Paste of 4 cloves of garlic, 1/2 inch ginger and 2 green chilies
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tbs dhaniya jeera (cumin coriander) powder
• 1/2 tbs garam masala
• 1/2 tbsp of turmeric powder
• Pinch of hing (optional)
• Whole spices - 
• 1/2 tbs jeera
• 1/2 tsp methi seeds
• 2-3 green cardamom
• 1 black cardamom
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp whole black pepper (optional)

For pakoda

• 1/2 to 3/4 cup besan
• 2/3rd of a large onion sliced into thick slices
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tbsp of cumin coriander powder
• Ginger garlic paste (1/2 inch ginder, 1-2 cloves of garlic)

Step 1: Chop 1/3rd of a large onion into thin slices as shown on left, and rest into thick slices (for pakoda). make a paste out of green chilies, garlic and ginger.

Step 2: Take 1/2 cup besan in a bowl, add half of the lassi and mix well to make a smooth batter. Leave it undisturbed for 5-10 minutes and then beat it again to dissolve any left out lumps. Add rest of the lassi and mix well

Step 3: Start tadka by putting oil in a pan (on medium-low flame), when oil is hot add whole spices and let it cook for a minute, add sliced onion and saute until it starts becoming translucent. Add ginger garlic and chili paste and cook for 5-6 minutes stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste, cumin coriander powder and garam masala and cook for another minute until masal is cooked.

Step 4: Add besan lassi mix and 4 cups of water to the tadka and turmeric powder, mix well and let it cook on medium-low flame stirring occasionally (do not cover it may boil over). Cook for 20 minutes and check the taste, if you can taste raw besan keep cooking and checking otherwise you are done with the kadi part :).

 Step 5: Mix all the ingredients for pakoda in a bowl, add a little water to make a thick mixture (besan should be all stuck to onion slices). Make pakodas, preferably small size. 

Step 6: Dump pakodas in kadi and heat it agian for 4-5 minutes and you have kadi ready to serve. Serve it hot with white or jeera rice.

Desi style tomato soup

Wonderful soup for winter season and great if you want to eat something light (sans butter and heavy cream).

This will serve 8-10 people

Ingredients:

• 3 pound tomatoes (I use roma tomatoes but other varieties will do equally good)
• 1 large white or red onion chopped into chunks
• 2 green chilies (add more if you want it more spicy) cut in halves
• 5-6 cloves of garlic cut in halves
• 1 tbsp dried oregano (even better if you can replace it with fresh)
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 10-12 fresh basil leaves
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tsp cumin coriander powder
• Salt to taste
• 1/3rd cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp butter

Step 1: Wash the tomatoes, put them in a pot covered with water and heat it until you see tomato skin braking. Drain the water and let tomatoes cool down. One tomatoes cool down, peel off and discard the skin.

Peeled tomatoes

 Step 2: Heat oil in a large pot, saute garlic till lightly brown. Put in chopped onion and saute until translucent. Add green chilies dried basil, oregano, fresh basil, black pepper, salt, cumin coriander powder and saute for another 2 minutes.

Step 3: Add peeled tomatoes and 2 cups of water to sauteed onion and cook for 8-10 minutes. Let it cool a bit and puree using a food processor or hand blender. Add heavy cream and butter and bring the soup to a boil. You can adjust the consistency by adding more water.
Serve it hot with garlic bread or just like that.

I forgot to take a picture of the final product and it was all gone by the time I thought of it :).

Jalapeno potato puffs

There are so many variations of this appetizer one can make. You can replace the filling with anything and everything you like, make it sweet or savory.



Here is a savory spicy version. This will make 18 puffs adequate for 8-9 people.

Ingredients

• 9 Jalapenos
• 1 box of puff pastry (it will have 2 sheets and each sheet will make 9 puffs)
• 3-4 medium size potatoes (boiled)
• Half onion finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cream cheese (can be replaced with any other cheese you like for example 4 cheese mix or mozzarella etc.)
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp amchoor powder (can put more if you want)
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder (optional)

Step 1: Chop off Jalapeno stems, cut them in half and deseed using a sharp knife. Use gloves if you can while deseeding, and don't touch your eyes until you wash your hands thoroughly after doing this :).

Step 2: Mash boiled potatoes, add chopped onion, cream cheese, salt, pepper, red chili, amchoor powder, and any other spice (like garam masala) if you want.

Step 3: Stuff Jalapeno halves with above prepared mixture as shown in the pic below.

Step 4: Thaw puff pastry sheet (I take it out of the freezer and keep it in fridge overnight), spread it out and cut it into 9 squares. Put a piece of stuffed Jalapeno on a square and fold the puff pastry to completely cover the  Jalapeno.

Step 5: Preheat oven to 400F, place stuffed puff pastry on a foil covered baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes then broil for 3 minutes. Keep an eye on it while baking, to avoid burning.
Enjoy just like that or with a hot cup of tea.