PAPDI

 

Last year when lockdown was announced, I had a sudden craving for Chaats. I walked about (the house) wondering when I could next get my hands on some good Papdi Chaat. I don’t have Chaats that often, probably a few times a year, but last year, it felt like I had been deprived of the most essential food item.

Someone suggested I make them at home.

Chaat at home? What would I do for the papdis and ‘sweet chutney’?

So I made the papdis and sweet chutney and enjoyed Papdi Chaat at home and the next day ( since I had become a chaat expert) proceed to make Aloo Tikki Chaat. This was one of the dishes that I didn’t have to look at others with raised eyebrows for approval. It may not have been perfect with the limited ingredients I had, but I had finally made Chaat at home and it was tasty enough to be put up on the blog. (Sweet chutney and Chaat recipes to follow).

When things got back to a ‘false normal’, not once did I eat or order in Chaat and now as we realise that the wave has not ebbed but is looming over our heads, I find myself looking for Chaat ingredients in the kitchen.

Recipe is from Hebbar’s Kitchen.

These Papdis are baked and not fried. The baked ones will not be as flaky and crunchy as the fried ones and let’s admit it, the fried ones always do taste better. I would still recommend baking, unless you plan to eat them plain.

PAPDI

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour (Atta)- 2 cups

Fine semolina (rawa)- ¼ cup

Ajwain (carom seeds)- 1 tsp

Salt – ¾ tsp

Oil – 2 tbsp (for the dough)

Water – about ½ cup

Method :

1.     Mix the wheat flour and semolina. To this add ajwain, salt and oil. Mix well.

2.     Add required amount of water and knead into a tight dough.

3.     Roll out the dough and cut out small rounds as you see in the picture.

4.     Prick holes into the Papdis so that they don’t puff up wile baking/frying.

5.     Either fry the Papdis in oil or bake at 180C for about 10 mins.

6.     Done.

 

 

 

 

ONE BOWL BANANA BREAD

Yes! Third post on Banana bread. The first was a Banana Walnut Cake, the second an Eggless, Whole Wheat one and now this. I think I’d pick this recipe over the first Banana Walnut Cake. The whole wheat one besides being eggless, also has a nutty flavour imparted by the whole wheat and the walnut streusel topping,  hence cannot be compared to this recipe.

While I do love a slice (or three) of Banana Bread, I avoid repeating recipes since I need to have new ones for the blog. Why, then, so many Banana Bread recipes, you may wonder?

The Bananas at my place ripen overnight (!) and the minute brown spots appear on them, Skip and Sky turn their nose up and walk away in spite of my frequent lectures on spotted bananas being heathier. I had 5 overripe bananas lying in the fridge. I came across a new recipe from Food Network Canada shared on Facebook and decided to try it (There is only so much mashed banana that one can use as hair mask).

Such a feeling of joy when you come across a great recipe. Skip declared this to be the best banana cake I’ve baked and I agree. It is moist and so flavourful. I love adding walnuts to banana breads, you could add chocolate too.

BANANA BREAD

Ingredients:

Ripe Bananas  - 3 (large)

Unsalted butter – 6 tbsp

Granulated sugar – ½ cup

Light brown sugar – ½ cup

Egg - 1

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

All purpose flour(maida)  – 1 ½ cups

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Salt – a pinch

Walnuts/chocolate chips – 1 cup (optional)

 

Method:

 

1.     Preheat oven at 180C. Grease and flour a baking dish.

2.     Melt the butter and set aside.

3.     Hand mash the bananas with a fork. Add the melted butter to it and mix well.

4.     Add the sugars and mix well.

5.     Add the egg and vanilla essence and mix well.

6.    Sift the all purpose flour, soda and salt and add to the mixing bowl above. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to gently blend all the ingredients together.

7.     Add the walnuts or chocolate chips and mix it gently.

8.     Bake at 180C for about 45-50 minutes.

9.     Done.

 

Recipe Notes:

·       I used granulated brown sugar instead of light brown.

·       I added walnuts because they taste great with banana bread.

 

 

 

 

SMASHED SWEET POTATOES (5 INGREDIENT)

R looked at the sweet potatoes and then back at me with raised eyebrows. I hadn’t ordered these in ages. I have a new recipe in mind I told her. I hadn’t.

The fancy recipes I came across on the internet had fat, succulent, orange sweet potatoes. What I had was scrawny, purple ones.

I came across a recipe for smashed baby potatoes and decided to make smashed Sweet Potatoes instead.

I haven’t mentioned the quantities. It’s all as per your taste preference.

I mentioned cheese only because I have added it to the batch of which I clicked pictures. I would recommend skipping cheese as I could hardly taste it or perhaps, I put too little of it. 

These are soooooooo good. The sweet potatoes are garlicky, sweet and spicy and crispy and baked! So much healthier than the packet of Lays Chips I’m eating as I type this post. You may add other herbs if you wish to but salt and red chilly powder go perfectly well with these sweet potatoes.

If you do not have an oven, fry them on a pan. You must try these, have I said it already? These are so good. So good.

You could use regular potatoes instead but I do insist that you try it with sweet potatoes too because they are so good ;P

For more such simple recipes, please do follow me on Facebook @Lucidlucent and Instagram @lucidlucent.

SMASHED SWEET POTATOES

Ingredients:

Sweet potatoes

Butter

Garlic

Salt

Red chilli powder

Cheese (optional)

Method:

1.     Boil the sweet potatoes until cooked. (let it not be too soft, I pressure cook it along with our rice and it’s perfectly done). Leave the peel on.

2.     Preheat oven at 180C.

3.     Slice the sweet potatoes into ½ inch rounds.

4.     Add crushed garlic to butter and heat it until the butter melts.

5.   Transfer the chopped sweet potatoes into a mixing bowl. Drizzle the garlic butter on it. Sprinkle salt and chilli powder. Give it a good toss until the sweet potatoes are well coated.

6.     Place the sweet potatoes on a greased baking dish. Smash it slightly with a fork.

7.     Sprinkle cheese on it. (optional)

8.     Bake at 180C for about 15-20 mins until the edges have crisped and browned.

9.     Done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PEAR COBBLER

 

28.10.2020: Shugu sent me a bag full of juicy pears and I immediately set about looking for some pear recipes. After a few minutes of scrolling and not having found anything to my liking, I googled peach cobbler and came across this recipe by Preppy Kitchen. I replaced pears with peaches.

The recipe calls for using a 9*13 inch dish. While I flitted about in the kitchen waiting for the butter to melt in the dish, I realised that the flour batter wouldn’t be enough for a dish this large and I didn’t want to eat a flimsy, thin slice of cobbler. I transferred the melted butter into an 8 inch baking dish and poured the flour batter into it only to then realise that I had chopped too many pears. I set aside a quarter of the pears. I will soon be posting the recipe for a Pear Crisp. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram @lucidlucent. This crisp calls for something different from the regular recipes for a Fruit Crisp. I also have the  recipe for an Apple Crisp on my blog.

Doesn’t this Cobbler look so pretty with its uneven, bumpy surface? The top feels like a springy cake and base has sweetened, sticky pears. I wanted to have it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but the thought itself of walking 100 metres to the store close by tired me out. 

You may have it plain or have it warm with ice cream, either way it tastes delicious.  

 PEAR COBBLER  

Ingredients:

For the pears:

Pears – 4 yellow ripe ones

Granulated sugar – ¼ cup (50 gms)

Brown sugar – ½ cup (50 gms)

For the cobbler:

Butter – 7 tbsp

All-purpose flour (maida) – 1 cup

Granulated sugar – ¾ cup

Baking powder – 2 tsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Milk – ¾ cup

Cinnamon – ½ tsp

Method:

1.     Preheat the oven to 180C.

2.  Chop the pears into bite sized pieces (or smaller) and transfer to a pan. Add the granulated and brown sugar to it. Mix well. Heat on medium flame for about 5 minutes until the sugars dissolve and the pears are partially cooked in the sugar syrup. Set aside.

3.     Place the butter in the baking dish and pop it into the oven. In the ‘warm’ mode let the butter melt. Set aside.

4.     In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Pour in the milk and mix till no lumps are visible.

5.   Transfer this batter to the baking dish with butter. Do not mix but spread the batter to cover the edges.

6.  Transfer the pears along with the liquid onto this batter. Again, do not mix but spread it evenly making sure to leave some gaps between the pear bits.

7.     Bake at 180C for about 40 mins or until done.

8.     Done.

 

       Recipe Notes:

·       If you don’t have cinnamon, you may use cardamom powder or vanilla essence.