Tofu also called Bean curd is almost sister like to Paneer. Except for Tofu is made up of soya milk compared to Paneer made from cow milk. The texture and the look more or less remains the same. It is really high in iron and protein and exceptionally low calorie wise. The recipe will include sesame seeds which goes really well with Tofu. To add some greens we will use broccoli and Water chestnuts for the crunch. Let us get started with this Asian dish.

Ingredients:

-          500 gm tofu

-          500 gm broccoli

-          1/2 cup sesame seeds

-          1 cup water chest nuts cut into squares (canned or fresh)

-          2 spoon soy sauce

-          2 tsp chilli sauce

-          2 tsp brown sugar

-          4 tsp olive oil

-          Salt to taste

Preparation:

-          Place tofu slab on cutting board, cover it with a plastic wrap and put some weight on it for 15 minutes.

-          This will drain all the excess water out of it and it will be ready to use.

-          Now cut into little squares and add to a bowl.

-          Sprinkle pinch of salt and toss it gently.

-          In a separate bowl take sesame seeds.

-          Heat the griddle with a spoon of olive oil in it.

-          Dip each tofu squares in sesame seed and press it so that it is covered with sesame from both sides.

-          Place tofu squares on hot griddle and grill them on both sides until golden and crisp. Sprinkle another spoon of oil when you turn the sides.

-          In a Pan boil 5 cups of water with sold in it.

-          Add nicely cut broccoli florets into the pan and let it boil for another 7-8 minutes until broccoli is little tender. Make sure it does not lose the colour.

-          Drain broccoli so that no water is left.

-          In a shallow pan, heat 2 tsp oil and add sugar, chilli sauce and mix well.

-          When you see sugar melting, add soy sauce and mix well.

-          Now add broccoli and chest nut and about 1/4 cup of water mix it all well and let it saute for another couple minutes. If the texture is too runny, add a spoon of corn flour and mix well to have thick gravy.

-          In a serving plate make a little pile of tofu and slowly flow in broccoli mixture and allow some of the juice to get down while some to be coated on tofu.

-          It’s ready to serve.

Tips:

-          If tofu is not available, you can substitute it with paneer. However it will taste different.

-          Instead of grilling tofu on griddle, you can also bake in oven for 5-7 minutes with preheating of 375 degree F.

-          Also, if you are allergic to sesame seeds, you can choose to completely avoid using it and recipe will turn out to be just fine.

-          To add a little kick to it, add more of chilli sauce or chilli flakes.

Instead of traditional fried kachori, this winter let us try baked pastries from almost similar ingredients.

Ingredients:

-          2 cups fresh green pigeon peas (green lentil or tuvar)

1/2 cup green peas fresh

-          1/2 cup coconut shred

-          1/4 cup green chilli paste

-          1/2 cup sugar

-          salt per taste

-          1 tsp garam masala

-          200 gm butter

-          1/4 cup cashew pieces

-          1/2 cup poha

-          2 cups of whole Wheat flour

-          1/2 cup bread crumbs

Preparation:

-          In a mixing bowl, add, flour, 150 gm butter and bread crumbs.

-          Add salt to taste and knead a soft dough out of it.

-          Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.

-          Take it out and roll it flat with rolling pin in.

-          Brush it with butter and fold a nice square.

-          Wrap it again in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for another 30 minutes.

-          In a food processor, make coarse paste of green beans and lentils.

-          In a pan, heat 2 tsp oil.

-          Add chilli paste, and peas and salt to taste

-          Roast it for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

-          Add sugar, poha, coconut shreds, nuts and garam masala.

-          Roast it for another 10 minutes until lentils are completely cooked.

-          Your filling is ready.

-          Take out the dough from refrigerator and again roll it with rolling pin.

-          Brush it with butter and fold it and gain place in refrigerator.

-          After 30 minutes, Take out the dough roll it flat and cut into square thin pieces for the outer layer of pastries.

-          Now in the square pieces, add the filling in the middle.

-          Fold each sides over each other brushing water on the sides before the fold.

-          Make the folds so that filling is secure inside the layers.

-          Preheat the oven a 375 degree F.

-          In a baking sheet, place pastries distant from each other and bake them until golden in colour. For almost 8 to 10 minutes.

-          Your warm and fluffy pastries are ready to be served.

Tips:

-          You can use filling of your choice for your pastries. I sometimes use spicy paneer and bell pepper fillings

-          Also, you can add cheese to these pastry fillings to make it kids friendly.

-          You can use pastries without any fillings for warm breakfast recipes. Just that when you use butter after rolling the layers, double the quantity of butter. This will make it more layered and fluffy.

 

Yet another chaat recipe. Because, it is just never enough. No matter what the season or events, chaat is hot favourites in party menus. This time I bring u a combination of hot and cold ingredients to get the delicious taste of chaat. Crunch and nutty taste of the stuffing along with cold yogurt makes a refreshing appetizer.

Ingredients:

-          1 cup urad dal

-          1 cup chola dal

-          700 gms plantains (raw bananas)

-          1/4 cup green chilli finely chopped

-          1/4 cup cilantro finely cut

-          1 tsp ginger

-          1tsp mustard seed

-          1 tsp fresh curry leaves

-          pinch of asafoetida

-          2 tsp oil

-          oil to fry

-          1 cup beaten curd

-          1/2 cup imli chatni

-          Set and cilantro to garnish

-          Salt to taste.

Preparation:

-          Soak urad and chola dal for couple hours.

-          Cook plantains in a pressure cooker or just boil them with skin until they are soft.

-          Mash the plantains into smooth paste.

-          In a shallow pan or griddle, heat oil and add mustard seeds.

-          Once you hear them cracking, add curry leaves, chilli, and asafoetida.

-          Now add plantain paste and salt and mix well.

-          Leave it on heat for 2 minutes and add cilantro.

-          Mix all well and turn off the heat.

-          Once the mixture cools, make small round balls out of it.

-          Your stuffing is ready.

-          Now add soaked dal and salt as per taste to blender.

-          Add 2 spoon of water and make a thick coarse paste out of it.

-          Your batter is ready.

-          Now heat oil in a frying pan.

-          Dip each stuffing balls into batter and fry on low heat until light golden.

-          Crisp wada (dumplings) are ready.

-          Top the stuffed dumplings with dahi (plain yogurt), chatni, sev and cilantro.

-          Serve them immediately to maintain the crisp.

 

Tips:

-          You can alter the stuffing and topping as per your choice. You can sweeten the yogurt lightly and also add cilantro chatni as topping.

-          Just like dahi wada, you can sprinkle jeera powder and salt on the top.

-          Wada (dumplings) can be also served by itself with tea or any other drink.