Vada Paav/Indian Burger

Vada Paav or Indian Burger - One of my favorite comfort foods found very commonly on the streets of Maharashtra. Everyone who has lived in Maharashtra knows Vada Paav but it is a novelty for the rest of India. I was surprised when my friends from Andhra Pradesh had not heard of Vada Paav.
One of our family friends live in Delhi and when they visited us in Solapur, we fed them Vada Paav and they loved it. Now whenever anyone flies to Delhi from Solapur or Mumbai, they order a few Vada Paavs.
I personally feel that nothing can go wrong with potato preparation. This was made for a friend of mine who is expecting with Twins - a boy and a girl. Nothing better than Vada Paav for an expecting women.

Ingredients: 
Paav/Bread - 8-10 pieces
Dry Coconut Garlic Chutney - 1/2 cup

For Vada's inner filling - 
Potatoes, Boiled and Mashed - 4
Onions, finely chopped - 1
Green Chillies - 3
Ginger Paste - 1 tspn
Hing/Asafoetida - 1/4 tspn
Rai/Mustard seeds - 1/2 tspn
Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tspn
Curry leaves - 6-7
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tspn (levelled)
Cilantro - 4-5 strands


For Outer Coating - 
Besan/Chick Pea flour - 2 cups
Jeera - 1/2 tspn
Baking Soda - 1/8 tspn
Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tspn
Salt
Water
Oil


Procedure: 

1. Heat 2 tbspn oil in a wok. Add Hing, Rai and Jeera to it and once it starts sputtering, add curry leaves and green chillies. Mix this well then add onions and garlic paste. Cook till the onions are translucent.
2. Now add turmeric powder and then the roughly mashed potatoes and mix well. Add some salt to taste and cook for 2 mins and turn off the heat.
3. Now mix the besan, chilli powder, jeera, salt and soda with some water. Make sure the mixture becomes a thick paste (without lumps) and not a runny paste. If it becomes runny, add some besan and salt to it. Adjust the chilli powder accordingly too.
4. Now heat some oil to fry the vadas. When oil is well heated, add 1 tbspn of hot oil to the besan paste and mix well. 
5. Now make small balls out of the potato mixture and dip in the besan paste and deep fry in the oil on High heat till the Vadas are golden brown in color.
6. Now open some paav and spread some dry coconut garlic chutney and place a vada on it and enjoy it with some fried green chillies.

Variations: 
I had added some mint and meethi chutney to the Vada paav just for my taste buds.
 
Conclusion:

My friend seemed to crave for Vada Paav and I happened to visit her with the same. She was quiet happy and so was I.

Rajma Do Pyaza

As a student in US of A, my husband always made Rajma. I would rather say all the students make Rajma as the canned kidney beans are easily available in any grocery store. One need not visit the Indian grocery store and go through the pain of soaking it overnight and then pressure cooking it.
Whenever I feel want my husband to cook, I ask him to make Pasta or Rajma (These two things are tried and tested on his 6 other room mates, so it's safe!) He makes it really simple and easy and we eat it with rice. Today I was at home and wanted to try some new style Rajma and so I did some research online and mixed and matched all the ingredients I liked from every recipe and added my own ingredients too.

Ingredients: 
Red Kidney Beans/Rajma - 2 cups
Onions (Sliced) - 1 large
Green Chillies (Chopped/slit) - 3
Tomato (Finely Chopped) - 1
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tbspn
Coriander/Dhaniya Powder - 1tbspn
Cumin/jeera Powder - 1tspn
Cumin Seeds/jeera - 1/2 tspn
Kasuri Methi - 1tbspn
Garam Masala - 1tbspn
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tbspn
Yogurt - 2 tbspn
Salt to taste
Oil - 3 tbspn


Method of Preparation:

1. Soak the Kidney beans / Rajma overnight and pressure cook it with 3-4 cups of water and take one whistle. I used 1 can of chilli beans instead.
2. Heat the oil and put cumin seeds, then add onions to it and saute till they become brown/semi-translucent.
3. Now add green chillies and ginger-garlic paste and saute it some more. 
4. When the onions become brown in color, then add tomatoes to it and cook it for 2 minutes.
5. Now add red chilli powder, cummin powder, coriander powder and kasuri methi to it and cook for 2-4 minutes.
6. Now add the beans, salt, yogurt and 1 and 1/2 cups of water and mix well and cook for 8-10 minutes on med heat.
7. Garnish with Cilantro and serve with rice or parathas.

 Variations: 
Add some lime juice and chaat masala for a tangy tingling taste.

 Conclusion:
The Rajma turned out really yummy. My husband rewarded me with some yummy pastry. Please try the recipe and provide feedback.

Tandoori Paneer Tikka

When I was a child, my family rarely visited the restaurants. We did not have a 'Once-in-a-week' restaurant schedule like other families. But when we went, we always ordered a sabzi with Paneer and daal for sure (Ithink that is what an average Indian family orders). My dad never liked the Paneer Sabzis  but was a big fan of the Tandoor Paneer Tikka. So I thought I should give it a try and impress my dad when he visits me next in US.

Ingredients:

Paneer - 500 gms/1 LB

Yogurt - 2 tbspn

Chaat masala - 1 tbspn
Tandoor Masala - 2 tbspn (Available in Indian Stores)

Lime Juice - 4 tbspn

Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 tbspn

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tspn

Onions - 1 large (Cut into cubes)

Bell Peppers - 2 medium sized (Cut into cubes)\

Salt

Method of Preparation:

1. Cut the Paneer in larger cubes. Make sure they are a little larger so that they dont break when you put them in the skewers.
2. Mix the ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, tandoor masala, 1 tbspn lime juice, salt and yogurt together.
3. Add in the paneer, onions and peppers to it and marinate it for atleast 2 hours.
4. Now arrange the paneer, onions and  bell peppers on the skewers in an order
5. Place the skewers on an aluminium foil in the broiler (on High) for 5-7 minutes each side. Do not overcook it or the paneer will become chewy.
6. Remove from broiler and sprinkle chaat masala and some lemon juice on it and relish it with mint chutney.

Variations:
You can also add 1 tbspn of chicken curry powder to the marinade to get a different taste.
You can spread some Mint Chutney on a Tortilla and make a wrap of the Tandoori Paneer Tikka you just made!

Conclusion:
My dad is in India, so he couldn't try it but for now my husband tasted it and really loved it. Hopefully you all love it too!