Pani Puri – This is something that everyone in India, young or old, thoroughly enjoys! While pani puri (or gol gappa for North Indians) is ubiquitous in India sold by street vendors to five-star hotels, the best pani-puri needless to say is found on the street!

It consists of “puris”: made from semolia. The puris are made round like a ball, hollow and deep fried until crisp.

“Pani” literally means water. The puris are filled with some “masala” and then dipped in the “pani” and then consumed! The “pani” consists of mint. cilantro and green chillies.

A couple of weekends ago was Raksha bandhan, which we celebrated at my aunts’ house. Like most Indian festivals, we had a ceremony followed for lots and lots and lots of food! For starters, we had pani-puri and sev-puri (another snack).

The puri’s are usually available at any Indian grocery store.

Preperation time: 30 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the stuffing)

• 2 medium boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes
• 1 cup chana (black chickpea) soaked and boiled (canned chickpeas can also be used)
• Finely chopped cilantro to sprinkle
• 1/2 tea spoon of roasted cumin powder
• 1/2 tea spoon of salt
• 1/2 tea spoon red chilly powder (optional)

Directions:

• Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl and keep it aside.

Ingredients (for the “pani”):

• 1 bunch of mint leaves
• 4-5 green chillies (adjust as per spice tolerance)
• 5-6 sticks of cilantro
• 1 thin slice of ginger
• 1/2 tea spoon black salt
• 1/2 tea spoon roasted cumin powder
• 1lemon juice
• 3 cups of water
• 1/2 tea spoon salt(adjust as required)
• 1 table spoon boondi’s (optional)

Directions

• Add mint leaves, green chillies, cilantro, ginger, lemon juice, salt and few sprinkles of water in a blender and blend it to a smooth paste.
• Put the paste in a large bowl and add the three cups of water, black salt, roasted cumin powder and stir well. Add salt and lemon as per your taste.

Consumption

To eat the pani puri, pour the “pani” in a largish bowl, then make a small opening in the puri and put some stuffing in it. Finally, dip the entire puri in the bowl with the “pani” until the liquid fills the “puri”. Open the mouth wide and consume!

Warning: Once you start, its hard to stop eating!

Khichadi means a mix/combination of rice and dal as the main ingredients. Some veggies are added as well. It is easy to cook, does not require much effort and/or ingredients either and is perfect when you just want quick Indian comfort food!

Since the weather was nice and warm, I wanted to spend some time at Union Square with Rahul relaxing and chatting with him. We both wanted to eat Indian food, but did not want to eat that greasy restaurant food. So I decided to make some khichadi and bengan aloo sabji (eggplant and potatoes) when we returned home. It took me 30 mins to prepare and lay the table, but the satisfaction you get is worth million dollar. Khichadi can be eaten with sabji, Kadhi or yogurt. This recipe is very simple with few ingredients, yet tasty. Hope you all enjoy it as well!

Preparation time:20 minutes

Serves:4 people

Ingredients

• 1 cup rice

• 1/2 cup toor dal

• 2-3 table spoons ghee

• 1 tea spoon cumin seeds

• pinch of asofotedia (optional)

• 1/4 tea spoon turmeric powder

• 1/2 tea spoon red chilly powder (adjust as per taste)

• 2-3 cloves

• 2/3 cup frozen veggies (carrots and peas)

• 1 3/4 th cup water

• 1 tea spoon salt (adjust as per taste)

Directions:

1. Take the rice and dal in a bowl and rinse it with water 2-3 times.
2. In a pressure cooker , heat the ghee and then add cloves, cumin seeds and asafotedia, and sautee until it all turns golden-brown.
3. Now add turmeric powder, red chili powder, frozen veggies and stir for for a minute.
4. Add salt, water, rice and dal mix and stir well.
5. Close the pressure cooker lid and switch off the gas flames and let the rice and dal saok for 10 minutes.
6. Turn on the flames and cook up to 1 whistle and then switch off the flames again.
7. Once the pressure cooker cools down, ENJOY!

Note:

1. Kichadi can be eaten with pickles (Indian style achaar), chaas (buttermilk) or Yogurt.
2. While serving add a spoonful of ghee for more ehananced taste, if you like it.

Total Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2

Part 1: Making the syrup Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

Mix the above ingredients and let it cook on a slow-medium flame for atleast 8-10 minutes. (The sugar syrup should neither become too watery nor remain too thick). Let it cook and in the meanwhile you may finish part 2 ,3 and 4 – we need the syrup hot/warm when pouring it.

Part 2: Deep fry the bread

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread
• Oil for deep frying

Directions:

1. Take the bread and cut with a round cutter into a nice big round shape and deep fry it till it turns to a crispy golden brown color.

Part 3: Dry fruit mix

Ingredients :

• 1 table spoon dry coconut powder
• 1/4 tea spoon cardamom powder
• 4-5 Almonds (cut into thin long slices)
• 4-5 Pistachios unsalted (cut into thin long slices)

Directions:

• Mix all the ingredients and keep it aside.

Part 4: Bread and milk mix

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread
• 2/3rd cup milk

Directions:

1. Remove the brown edges of the bread and cut into big cubes.
2. Add milk and cook the mix for atleast 5 minutes on a medium flame, stirring it constantly. Cook it until it has a consistency of a thick porridge.

Putting it all together

1. Take the deep fried round slice of bread and on it, put a lump of the bread and milk mix.
2. Put some syrup all over the mix and let it soak. Ensure that the syrup is warm or hot.
   
3. Now sprinkle the dry fruit mix and enjoy!

Coconut laddoo’s are among my husband and brothers’ favorite sweets. I used to make these laddoo’s for Diwali back in India. However, for the past 4 years, I’ve not made them. We had a few friends come stay with us during the recent holidays, so I decided to make these laddoo’s since they’re easy to make and loved by all!
Preparation time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 14 oz. or 397 g: Sweetened condensed milk
• 10 oz: Desiccated coconut or dried shredded coconut
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 drop of red food color (make sure you do not put too much since all we want to achieve is a light pink color)

Directions

1. Pour the condensed milk in a pot and leave it on a low flame for few minutes (up to 5 minutes maximum). You will see that the condensed milk starts melting.
2. Add vanilla essence and red food color and mix well.
3. Set aside 3 table spoons of dried coconut powder.
4. Switch off the flames and start adding rest of the desiccated coconut into the condensed milk and keep stirring. Slowly, you will get nice pinkish color. Stir well so that there are no lumps of coconut powder left.
5. Now start making balls from the mixture above. You can make any size you want. I usually make them the size of a lemon.
6. Roll each ball of laddoo in the dried coconut powder that we kept aside in step 3.
7. Enjoy!