Veg Pizza - Stove Top version

 Pizza is the most loved quick bite that's enjoyed by all ..Be it kids or adults ,there is something in Pizza that makes it everyone's favorite. 

Kids find the long string of hot melted cheese  while they take a bite as an attraction while elders love the various toppings that are used on the Pizza to make it tasty and enjoyable .

As much as many consider pizza as a junk food or a overload of fat due to cheese,I would say we can make it really healthy by using the whole wheat or multi grain pizza base , loads of vegetables and very minimal cheese or no cheese at all . 

One of the best ways to get the kids eat as much as veggies as possible.  I keep trying various toppings and this time I used even some grated carrots and it was a very nice welcome change.  

Nowadays markets are flooded with a variety of ready made pizza base breads and I was super impressed with the thin crust multigrain base which I have used in the recipe. Though we can bake our own pizza bread at home, for sudden pizza cravings I pick up the pizza base from the nearby organic store. 

Cheese was used very minimally and a mix of cheddar and mozzarella from my favorite brand Amul . Amul is a very famous brand which is widely used in India and known for its superior quality of diary products ,ice creams and chocolates.

This flavor packed and tasty pizza was  prepared for the World Street Food Theme on our food group Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge.  I was partnered with the amazing blogger Preethi who was also the host for this month's theme. She gave me the secret ingredients Oregano and Tofu while I gave her Yeast and icing sugar with which she has made delicious Firi Firi . 

Preparation Time - 15 - 20 mins
Cooking Time - 5 to 10 mins
Complexity - easy 
Serves - 2 to 3

Ingredients 

2 multigrain pizza base bread 
1/2 cup finely chopped assorted bell peppers 
1/4 cup boiled sweet corn 
1 medium onion chopped 
100 gms tofu /paneer diced into cubes 
1 medium carrot finely grated
Chilli flakes 
Oregano flakes 
1/4 cup tomato sauce / pizza sauce
50 gms grated mozzarella cheese
50 gms grated cheddar cheese 

Method 

• Take a pizza base , spread some sauce over and layer it with some cheese. 
• Add the toppings one by one as you wish .
• Sprinkle Chilli flakes and Oregano all over the toppings .
• Spread some more cheese as you like.
• Place the pizza base on a heated tava/griddle ,and roast on slow flame until the cheese on top melts .
• Cut into wedges and serve hot .

Aloo Kabli / Alu Kabli - Kolkatta style Alu Chaat

 Alu Kabli or Aloo Kabli is a classic street side delicacy from the streets of Kolkatta . Unlike other street food which is normally loaded with lot of oil and spices ,Alu Kabli is totally oil free and healthy.  It is more like a potato salad loaded with the goodness of boiled chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers etc .

Alu Kabli infact is also Vegan friendly and if all the ingredients are available handy we can put this together in less than 15 mins.

Alu Kabli can be served as a starter for any parties and will also pair well with drinks just like Peanut Masala  or classic Potato Wedges from Sujata's blog .

There is no hard and fast measurements for making this lipsmacking and refreshing chaat ..we can increase or decrease the quantity of ingredients based on our likes.  Only thing is that potato needs to be the Hero of the recipe as compared to the other ingredients.  Instead of Kabuli channa (boiled chickpeas) we can also use peanuts or cooked white peas as well.

Traditionally only tamarind sauce/chutney is used in the recipe but I have added the Tamarind Dates chutney for the extra punch and flavor .

Preparation Time - 10 min
Cooking Time - Nil 
( assuming we already have boiled potatoes and chickpeas on hand ) 

Complexity - simple
Serves - 2 to 3 

Ingredients 
2 medium sized boiled potatoes
1 cup boiled brown chick peas  or yellow peas
1 medium sized tomato finely chopped 
1 small cucumber finely chopped
1/2 onion finely chopped ( I haven't used )

2 - 3 tbsp dates tamarind chutney 
1 small green chilly finely chopped
Fresh corriander chopped 
1/2 tsp red chilli powder 
1/4 tsp kala namak
1/2 tsp chat masala
Salt as needed
Juice from 1/2 lemon

Method 

• Cut the potato into small cubes . 
• Mix the chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onions (if using) along with the potatoes and chickpeas. 
• Thrown in all the spice powders along with salt,green chillies and the tamarind chutney and give it a gentle mix . Donot be harsh while mixing as the potatoes will turn mushy .
• Squeeze in the lime juice and garnish with fresh corriander and serve immediately. 
• Alternatively if you donot have boiled chickpeas you can also add roasted peanuts or even boiled peanuts.

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Sev Batata Puri | Paapri Chat | Papdi Chat

Sev Batata puri is one of the famous and sought after street food items from Bombay alongside Bhelpuri,  Paani Puri and Pavbhaji .

 Sev (सेव) is deep fried string hoppers made using gram flour, Batata (बटाटा) in Marathi is potatoes and Puri or paapdi (पूरी / पापडी) are small deep fried discs made using All purpose flour / maida . . 

Well,not only is this famous in Bombay,it is also famous all over the Northern India popularly know as Paapri Chaat or Paapdi Chaat .  Though there is a slight difference in the chutneys used,  the end result is always too good to be put in words . With each bite you can feel an explosion of flavors and various tastes in your mouth which needs to be experienced and enjoyed :-) 

 We can also make these discs using whole wheat flour .  For this recipe today,  I have used store bought puris which were made out of maida .

You can look up my video link  below to prepare whole wheat puris at home . I generally prefer to use a slightly spicy version of the puris as it adds up to the taste of the chaat .

If we have all the ingredients ready ,it hardly takes 15 mins to put this snack together else you will need about 1-  2 hrs to prepare the potato filling , chutneys, chopping of onions , tomatoes ,corriander etc. 

Preparation Time - 1hr
Assembling Time - 5 mins
Serves - 2 
Complexity - Simple 

Ingredients 

14 puris / paapdi
2 medium sized potatoes boiled and mashed 
1/2 cup onion finely chopped  (skip for the No Onion No garlic version)
1/2 cup tomato finely chopped 

1/2 cup khajoor imli chutney / dates tamarind chutney 

1/2 cup green chutney / hari chutney 

1/2 cup nylon sev 

Chat masala to sprinkle 

Finely chopped corriander for garnish 

Method 

• Arrange 7 papdis each on 2 set of plates.
• Season the boiled and mashed potatoes with some salt and red chilli powder and mix them well.
• Place about 1/2 tsp of potato filling on each puri.
• Place some onions and tomatoes over the potato filling.
• Top the puris with 1/2 tsp each of dates tamarind chutney and green chutney. 
• Sprinkle some chat masala and garnish with a lot of sev and finely chopped corriander. 
• Delicious sev Batata puri is ready to be served.

Serving Suggestions/ Tips 

• Keep all the ingredients ready before you start assembling the sev puri .
• Serve it soon after assembling, else the puris will lose the crunch due to the chutney and the charm of biting into the crunch will be lost. 
• You may also add some boiled whole moong beans or black channa (black chickpeas) to the potato mixture. 
• You may add or reduce the amount of chutney you top up on the potato mixture depending on how spicy or mild you like the chaat to be .

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Dates Tamarind Chutney | Khajoor Imli Chutney

 Have you all wondered about the recipe of the tongue tickling and lipsmacking brown colored chutney that is poured over your chaats or filled in panipuris ? Do you ask for some extra khatta meetha chutney to be packed when you buy samosas or Dhoklas for your family ? 

If you thought that making this recipe is very complex ,worry not , now you can whip this chutney at the comfort of your home and even store it away for a long time in your freezer and enjoy it as and when you like .

Khajoor Imli Chutney is a very simple recipe using 3 main ingredients Dates(khajoor) , Tamarind (Imli) and jaggery (Gud). 

No Desi Chaat is complete without a generous pouring of the khajoor Imli chutney and the spicy green chutney. I generally have a batch of this khajoor imli chutney my fridge  which comes in handy to satisfy my sudden pani puri cravings . All I need to do is grind some fresh coriander chutney and dunk the pani puris in these two chutneys and stuff my mouth and relish .. 

If you are a crazy fan  of lipsmacking  chaats like me ,then you must check out these recipes on my blog.

Mumbai style Bhelpuri 

Paani puri 

Karnataka special Masal Puri 

This week is the 287th week on our foodie group FMBH and it was Aruna's turn to suggest the theme . She came up with this novel idea to post recipes using "dates" as the star ingredient and called this theme as DateWithDates.  If you are a die hard fan of Indo Chinese cuisines and love your spring rolls or wontons with a generous helping of Schezwan Chutney, then do check this fiery and flavorful recipe posted on Aruna's blog .Recipe link SCHEZWAN Chutney 

Preparation Time - 20 mins

Cooking Time - 20 mins

Complexity- simple 

Ingredients 

250 gms seedless dates 
50 gms seedless tamarind 
5-6 tbsp jaggery powder
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp roasted jeera powder 
Pinch of dry ginger powder
1/2 tsp black salt/kaala namak
Pinch of salt 
2 cups water 

Method 

• Boil the dates , tanarind and jaggery powder in 2 cups of water until they become soft.  Alternatively you can pressure cook it for 1 whistle.
• Let it cool down completely, blend it in a blender to a very fine paste. Adjust water while grinding incase it feels too thick .
• Pass this paste through a sieve so that we have only the date tamarind extract and nothing else.
• To this fine extract , add the red chilli powder, roasted jeera powder, salt ,dry ginger powder and 1/2 cup water .Mix it well and bring it to a  rolling boil and add the black salt in the end after turning off. 

**this step is done to ensure that the chutney has a longer shelf life .

• Cool the chutney completely and then transfer to a clean and dry bottle and store in the fridge .
• Always remember to use a dry spoon to take out the required quantity of chutney and then store it away immediately. Don't thaw it for a long time .

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Bread Bhajiya | Bread Pakoras

 Bread Pakoras or bread bhajiyas are very famous as street food special across the northern part of India. The snack is filling all by itself that many people have it even as a lunch option if they are pressed for time or have no restaurants close by. 

Bread slices are dipped in gramflour batter which is spiced using red chilli powder , finely chopped chillies and the slices are deep fried in oil.  

Apart from the simple variant, there are many variations like stuffing two slices with potato filling and then deep frying the gram flour coated bread or at times slices are layered with green chutney and sauce and then deep fried

Street food culture basically came into existence to help people especially laborers have some food which can be affordable and they can easily grab a meal as they keep working..but over the time it so happened that Street food became everyone's choice due to various varities , options and tasty choices being made right in front of your eyes and at a pocket friendly price too. 

If you are wondering why am I talking of street food , then let me tell you this week my namesake who blogs at Photowali, suggested we share popular Street food recipes for the 283rd week of FMBH . Priya has shared everyone's favorite Pav Bhaji as part of the theme posting.

Bread or paav is widely used in street foods all over India. Children as well as adults both love to munch on delicacies made using Bread. 

If you are a bread lover like me, then you must definitely check out these special street foods of Bombay which are too hard to resist. 

Mumbai Special Toast sandwich 

Vegetable Cheese Grill Sandwich 

Buttery Paav Bhaji 

The other famous street food delicacies from Mumbai is also on my blog , do try them and I  promise you will be spoilt for choices 😉  . The links are added below here 

Bhelpuri

Pani puri 

Kothimbir Vadi 

Sabudana Vada 

Moong Bhajjiya / Moong Pakoras

Masala Khichiya papad

At home we  like our bread pakoras plain and spicy without any stuffing . I generally make the batter a little spicy by adding some extra chilli powder . The bread slices are either cut into triangles or small squares  , both of them taste equally delicious.  I retain the bread crust and don't cut the edges . These edges when deep fried in oil gives a very nice crunch while we take a bite of the pakora . Sprinkle some chat masala over the bajjiya and serve it with hot masala tea.

Preparation Time- 10 mins

Frying Time - 20 mins

Complexity - simple

Serves - 3 to 4 

Ingredients 

6-7 bread slices 

1 cup gram flour/besan

2 tbsp rice flour

2 tsp red chilli powder 

Salt as needed

1/2 tsp ajwain/carom seeds 

Pinch of asafoetida 

Chat masala to sprinkle.

Oil to deep fry

Method 

• Cut the bread slices in to triangles or small squares the way you like .
• In a wide mixing bowl , add the gram flour , rice flour , salt, chilli powder ,carom seeds and asafoetida with water and make a batter . The batter should be off dropping consistency like that of dosa batter .
• Heat the oil in a deep kadai. 
• Dip these bread slices in the gram flour batter and drop them into the oil carefully. 
• Fry them on medium flame until the oil ceases to sizzle and the bhajiyas are fried to golden brown color and look crisp .
• Drain them on an absorbent paper and serve hot with some green chignrybor tomato sauce with a dash of chat masala sprinkled over .

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