Masala Pav / Masala Buns

Masala Pav

Pav Bhaji is one of the most famous quick eats from Mumbai streets. You would think making fast food faster would not be possible - but trust Mumbaikars to come up with unique ideas! This take on Masala Pav is an ode to the famous Pav Bhaji with unparalleled simplicity and flavor. It is the perfect 4pm snack with a hot cup of tea!

Ingredients:

• 4 Pav (you can use hard rolls or water rolls from the Deli)
• 2 Tblsp butter
• 1 Tblsp garlic paste (or 3 cloves garlic)
• 2 fresh tomatoes
• 1 large onion
• 1/2 large green pepper (capsicum)
• 2 Tsp salt
• 1.5 Tblsp Pav Bhaji masala
• 1.5 Tsp red chilli powder
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped

First, chop the onions, green pepper and tomatoes fine.

Put a large saucepan or griddle (tava) on medium heat and add 1 Tblsp on butter to it. As the butter melts, rotate the saucepan slowly so that the butter covers the entire base. Add the garlic paste to this and saute it until it starts to turn brown. If you're using fresh garlic cloves, crush them fine before you add them to the butter. Using fresh garlic is always better - the paste has vinegar based preservatives which can sometimes play into the food flavor but for this recipe you're fine either way.

Add the onions to the pan and saute them well. As they start to get translucent, add the peppers and cook for 3 minutes before adding the tomatoes.

Cook the mixture for 3-5 more minutes. Now add, salt, chilli powder, the pav bhaji masala and the water to the mixture and mix well. If you have a potato masher handy, use it to mash the mixture. It should start to look like pav bhaji. :)

Add the lemon juice, mix well and move the mixture to one side of the pan. Now, add 1/4 Tblsp butter on the empty side on the pan. Slice one of buns in half (like a burger) and cook the buns in this butter on both slides.

For the assembly, add the mixture on both sides of the bun, adding some cilantro on the bottom half. Add the top part back on, smear more mixture on the outer side as well, garnishing with cilantro. Enjoy!

Tomato Soup ...Super simple!

Tomato Soup

I made some pretty good tomato soup and I was amazed at how simple this recipe really is. Anushka gave me this awesome recipe. The ingredients below are for 3 servings, so you'll have to adjust accordingly.

Ingredients:

• 15 Tomatoes
• 1 Potato
• 1 Onion
• 2 Carrots
• 2 cups of water
• 3 Tblsp Sugar
• 2 Tsp Salt
• Freshly ground Black Pepper
• 3 slices of bread and some Oil (for the croutons)

Before we begin, I want to mention that you will need 2 specific things - an electric mixer-grinder and a sieve. 

To start with, wash the vegetables well and roughly chop them in chunks - for instance, I chop the tomatoes in 4 chunks. Add these to a pressure cooker, add the salt and water. Cook this on high heat until the first whistle. Then, turn the heat to low and heat for 15 minutes further. Then, take the cooker off heat.

Once the pressure is released, transfer the boiled vegetables to the mixer-grinder, and grind the vegetables well till it turns into a pasty consistency. It is advisable to just add the vegetables to the grinder and not the water from the cooker as well. If you pour the entire mixture from the cooker into the grinder, water tends to flow in and this doesn't help the grinder.

You want to transfer the resultant mixture onto a sieve with a large bowl beneath it as shown in the image below. Slowly run a spoon in a circular fashion on the sieve, so that resultant soup drips into the bowl below. At this time, also add the water from the cooker onto the sieve so it passes into the bowl below. This way we do not lose any nutrients.

 

You basically have your soup in the bowl - but we now will simmer this soup for about 10 minutes on low heat. This is time to adjust salt and sugar. Once you have the desired consistency, turn off the heat. I usually sprinkle some fresh black pepper to add that extra zing.

For the croutons, slice the bread into a 4 x 3 matrix and fry these pieces until golden brown. Serve them with steaming hot soup and some grilled cheese sandwiches.

 

Spicy Vegetarian Chili

If you come from the same part of the world as me, the heading of this blog post probably doesn't make sense. Why specify "spicy" with "chili"? Traditionally to us, Chili is just this spicy hot pepper that is an essential part of out cooking. Chili, whose actual name comes from Spanish Chili con carne meaning peppers with meat, is a very popular food in America. Usually, meat, tomatoes and beans are the norm with other ingredients being the basis for variation.

Here is a recipe I tried out to create a spicy vegetarian version of Chili. it turned out great, and since I used canned ingredients this first time, it was also real simple. In fact, it was actually so good that I have decided to stick to the canned goods :)

Ingredients:

• 2 Cans of Del Monte diced tomatoes - Zesty Chili style
• 1 Can of Great Value Chili beans (Walmart brand)
• 4 Cloves garlic minced
• 1 Red onion chopped fine
• 1/2 Spanish onion chopped fine
• 1 Cup green, yellow and red bell pepper diced
• 2 Habanero peppers seeded and chopped fine
• 1/2 Cup sweet corn
• 2 Tblsp olive oil
• 2 Tblsp Italian spices
• 3 Tblsp sugar
• 3 Tsp salt
• 1 Tsp cumin powder
• 1 Tsp red chilli powder
• 3 Sprigs of green onion chopped
• 1/4 Cup of cilantro chopped

You begin with a large enough saucepan and start with heating the olive oil on medium heat. Once heated, add the garlic and the Italian seasoning and fry these for about 30 second. Then, add the onions to the mix and cook until you can see the onions begin to lose their color. This should  take around 3-4 minutes; keep the heat on medium all through this.

Now, add the peppers - habanero and the bell peppers, corn and all the spices except sugar. Cook these well until the bell peppers have lost their crunch and yet are not completely squishy - allow for some texture. While the peppers are cooking, puree the tomatoes. This step is optional. Like I have mentioned before, I just dislike chunks of tomatoes in  my food, so I puree them.

Once the peppers are done, add in the tomatoes and mix everything well. Bring the mix to a boil, and then add the sugar. The sugar helps tackle the tomatoes' tangy flavor which can sometimes overpower the other flavors. Simmer this for 8 minues and then add in the beans. Mix well again, and cook for another 5 minutes. At this time, you can taste and adjust spices, if you so wish.

Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro on top.

You can eat a bowl of chili on its own, but we prefer it with Chicago Italian bread slices toasted with olive oil and spices...