Benne Biscuit

Since I have’nt been to Bangalore in a while now, my cravings for all the goodies I used to eat at home and nearby places have only been increasing. And as there is no way I can get the things I used to there, I have been on a quest to find the recipes and recreate the magic myself. Ofcourse, my mom’s recipes, I can always call her and get them. But, I have been finidng it pretty tough to collect the recipes for some of my favorite bakery stuff. Topping the list are Dilpasand, Benne Biscuit, Kobbari Biscuit, Honey cake……I’ll keep the hunt going… Meanwhile, when we took our last vacation, my friend S had made Benne biscuits…they were mouthwatering and delightful. She did give me the recipe too, but, it included dalda. I read somwhere that using dalda is not healthy and did not try the recipe. Finally, I came across …Vaishali’s recipe for Nankhatai urf Benne Biscuit (its a North vs south name game, huh?)

They looked soo good, a quick look at the ingredients and I immediately set to work, following Vaishali’s recipe word to word. I’ll anyway repeat the recipe for my own quick reference later…Thanks Vaishali!

Ingredients:

Maida – 1 cup
Sugar (powdered) – 1/2 cup
Ghee – 6 tbsps (approx)
Elaichi crushed – 3 to 4 pods
Baking powder – 1/2 tsp

Method:

1.Mix all the ingredients except ghee.
2. Add ghee a little at a time and knead the dough into a nice soft ball.
3.Keepthe dough for a couple of hours.( I did not, as I had no patience to wait)
4.Preheat the oven to 300deg
5. Divide the dough into small round balls and flatten them on the top with your fingers.
6. Bake for 15 mins or until the bottom starts to turn slightly brownish.
7. Let cool before eating (forget about storing )!!!

Here’s a fresh batch straight outta the oven!

Gobi Manchurian

Fusion cooking at its best is what Indo Chinese food is. You get the best of the world’s 2 most tastiest and oldest cuisines. Dishes like the Gobi Manchurian, Hot and Sour Soup, the Hakka noodles, American Chopsuey, ofcourse the Fried Rice and a few others are all eternal favorites. With the right ingredients, these wonderful dishes are a breeze to make too. Today I chose to make Gobi Manchurian for a weekend with friends and all I can say is it was yummylicious!!! Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower – 1 Big
1 med onion, cut into big pieces.
1 small bunch green onions, chopped
8-10 green chillies, finely minced
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
4 tbsp Maggi Hot and sweet tomato sauce

For the batter:

Maida – 1 cup
Corn flour – 1/2 cup
Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1tsp
salt to taste

Method:

Wash the cauliflower and separate or cut the florettes into bite sized pieces.
Boil water and put the florettes into the boiling water for a 3-4 mins.
Take it out and rinse immediately in cold water to prevent further cooking.

Make a medium consistency (Dosa flour consistency) batter with all the above mentioned ingredients.
Dip the florettes in the batter and deep fry in hot oil until golden brown and crisp.
Remove into kitchen tissues or any absorbent paper to drain the excess oil.

Heat 2 tbsp oil on high.
Add onion and saute for 2-3 mins.
Add ginger garlic paste.
Add soya sauce, tomato ketchup and tomato sauce.
Add the fried florettes and mix to uniformly coat the sauce.
Finally add the chopped green onions and green chillies and switch off heat.
Serve piping hot.

Masala Peanuts

Peanuts! A protein powerhouse! Back home, peanuts are eaten boiled, roasted, salted, in a variety of dishes, both sweet and savory! My favorite way of eating peanuts is with Jaggery like in “Kallekkai Unde”…my mom makes the best crucnhy peanut undes or balls! Will get the recipe from her and post it later. My oldest memories of peanuts goes back to when we were kids, one of my aunt had a farm in Chennai and they grew peanuts. Every year, when she came visiting us for the summer she would bring with her bags full of peanuts and cashewnuts and other goodies. The entire family would sit and try to open the peanut shells and we would either boil them with salt or roast them and eat. Those were farm fresh delicious peanuts, Thanks Atthe! for that! .

But, here, I am always looking for easy to make recipes. One such recipe, I came across on this wonderful website, Masala Peanuts. Absolutely effortless and yet delicious and crunchy. Its now a family favorite. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

Raw groundnuts – 1 cup
Besan – 2tbsp
Rice flour – 2 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt
Oil – 4-5 tsp

Method:

Wet the groundnuts completely, by smearing water on them, very lightly but thoroughly.
Mix all dry ingredients well.
Sprinkle over the wet groundnuts & shake the vessel well for them to get a uniform coating.
Heat the oil in a shallow microvessel for 4 mts Hi. (pls. note microwave timings vary)
Carefully transfer the coated groundnuts to the vessel.
Microwave on Hi for 4 mts.
With the help of a fork, try to separate the peanuts(while still hot), if they are sticking to each other
Allow to stand for 5 mts.
Remove to 2,3 absorbent tissues for the oil to be absorbed completely.

Enjoy the crunchy masala peanuts!

Veggie Puffs

When I think of my hometown Bangalore, the most memorable things regarding food that comes to mind is the Iyengar Bakery near my home, the vade bonda shop, which opens only in the evenings, Janata Hotel and Veena stores and the little roadside chat corners in Malleswaram. Even after being away from home for almost 10 years, the nostalgia only keeps growing! I am always trying to make the dishes just the way we get in these places! Never the same though, I keep going with the philosophy “something is better than nothing”!! Growing up, not a single day would have gone by when I didnt visit one of these shops. The closest one being the bakery, everyday in the afternoon, we were treated to this wonderful aroma from all the baking, tempting us to go get it straight from the oven. Most of the time, they would say “cant cut the bread, its too hot! ” Who cares?? All we need is the bread, cut or not! I had lots of favorites from this bakery, one of them being the Vegetable puffs!

I know there are 100s of recipes on the net with the potato filling. But, this bakery never put the potato filling in it. So, I kept searching and kept thinking….finally, just going by my hunch and trying to recollect the stuffing from “my bakery” , I came up with this recipe.

Ingredients:

Pepperidge farm puff pastry sheets
Onions – 1 big
tomatoes – 3 med
1 carrot , grated
green chillies – 6
1/4 tsp jeera for seasoning
coriander leaves for garnish
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil, add jeera and then add the onions and saute till the raw smell goes.
Then add green chillies, finely chopped tomatoes and grated carrots.
Saute for about 5 mins, or until everything is cooked and comes together.
Garnish with coriander leaves.
Take off the heat and let cool.

Roll out the pastry sheets and cut them into small rectangles. (about 2 inch x 2inch size, approx)
Slightly roll them little bigger.
Take a tbsp of the prepared filling and cover all sides by smearing a little water and pressing.
Finally, give them a butter wash (or egg wash for egg eaters).
Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 mins at 350 deg, until golden brown.

Alu Bonda

Who doesnt like a warm deep fried snack on a day you get a foot of snow?? As soon as my daughter came back from school, we went sledding and making snow angels and snow balls and after all the fun, we were dying to eat something warm. Thinking back, at my home in Bangalore, on a rainy or cold day, my dad or my sister would always walk to the nearby Vade-Bonda shop, and get them right out of the Tawa for all of us to enjoy! Talk about Nostalgia!!! So, I thought what could fit the bill more perfectly than Alu Bonda? And thats exactly what I did!

Ingredients

For the batter:
Besan(Kadale maavu) – 1 cup
Rice flour -2tbsp
Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Soda – A pinch

Potato – 3 med
Onion – 1 med
Fresh green peas – 1/2 cup
Green chillies 6-8
Ginger – 1/2 inch finely minced
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Oil – 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves – 2tbsp
Oil for deep frying.

For seasoning:
Mustard, Jeera

Method

Filling:
Boil the potatoes till soft, peel skin, mash coarsely and keep aside.
Heat oil, add seasoning.
Add onions and green peas and saute until soft.
Add salt, turmeric powder.
Remove from heat.
Add the mashed potatoes and coriander leaves and mix well.

Mix the ingredients for the batter to a nice thick dosa flour consistency.
Make small balls of the filling and dip them in the batter and immediately drop them in hot oil.
Deep fry until golden.
Serve plain or with mint chutney or any chutney of choice.
Enjoy your evening snack!