Green Peas Cutlet |Hare Matar Ki Tikki

Life is a wonderful journey of constant discovery ! The desire to learn new recipes never stops in my case. Like if I am travelling in a different city, I try to order a new dish, this in turn gives me a opportunity to get inspire and make something of my own. This particular Peas Tikki/  Green Cutlet is an example of one such evening at a high end Pub in Bangalore. I liked it so much that after returning home I tried to recreate the same peas tikki. I love the peanuts in it here, it gives the dish a nice crunch. And ofcourse the mint leaves gives an amazing flavour combination. 

Ingredients :

1 cup Cottage Cheese(homemade)

3/4 cup Green peas

1 big boiled potato, mashed

1/4 cup Peanuts, dry roasted and peeled

2 Green chilies

5-6 Mint leaves

Aniseed /Saunf (roughly pounded)

White oil for frying

Salt to taste

Method:

Mash the chenna /cottage cheese well for 5 minutes. Grind peanuts in a coffee grinder so that it remains coarse. Do not add water. Keep aside. Now add green peas, chilies, mint leaves in the same coffee grinder and make a smooth paste. If you are finding very difficult to grind without water then add 2-3 drops at a time and run it. I never needed to add water though.

 In a big mixing bowl add all the above ingredients and mash properly. Make small round balls and slightly flatten them. In a non-stick pan, add 2 tbsp oil and shallow fry (flipping them intervals) till light brown in the center . When both the sides are done and you can see brown crust in the center it is ready. Serve with your choice of chutney.

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Honeydew Melon Juice | Honeymelon Juice Recipe

Honeydew a kind of melon, having a smooth whitish rind and light green flesh inside. Mostly it is round to slightly oval shape. And like any other fruit is has seeds inside. This variety of melon has many nutritional values and is a great source of Vitamin C, Vitamin B, potassium, folate and niacin. While purchasing honeydew look for melons that are slightly soft with a creamy yellow navel. Don't go for hard surface melons as they will not be sweet. And above all the best sign is a pleasant honey like aroma.

Ingredients:
1/2 of a Honeydew, thinly slice away the outer skin
1 tsp Honey or Sugar (totally upto you)
2-3 Pudina / Mint leaves
Ice cubes 

Method:
Remove the seeds, cut into 2 inch cubes so that you can run the juicer smoothly. Add sugar or honey if you wish, mint leaves and ice cubes. Your freshly made frothy juice is ready to  be enjoyed! The pastel green color juice is easily digestible too.

Tips:

• This melon is best to be taken without mixing any other fruit. As the mild refreshingly fresh juice is a solo hero in itself.
• You can also enjoy the cubes with fresh cream or with cold salad.
• Slightly soft melons can stay on the shelf for 1-2 days or 5-6 days if you keep in fridge. 

Linking this summer special drink to Shailaja's 'Only' Summer Food And Drinks, an event started by Pari of Foodelicious

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Ice-Cream Sundae's at Cream N Fudge |Chennai

It is peak summer already and we crave for something cold all the time. Juice parlours, ice-cream parlours are the most preferred destinations. So when I got an invitation for making my own Sundae at Cream & Fudge  last Saturday meant for bloggers I gladly accepted the opportunity to beat the summer in 'cool' way and went there in excitement to make my own sundae. Cream N Fudge offers the world's creamiest ice-creams, is a part of GFA group. The Pizza Corner and Coffee Worlds are two other retails. Cream N Fudge offers a mix-in concept of hand folding ice-creams on a frozen marble stone where you can mix it with sauces or fruits of your choice.

We were a small set of bloggers to try our hand at the counter and almost all of us got a fair share of time to make our own Sundae. The outlet is small but good place to hang out for youths. The moment you enter you will find big display of different flavours of ice-cream with a cold stone adjacent to it for mixing flavours. I was an early bird to reach there (yes before time ;-)) so introduced myself to the manager Mr. Irfan at Cream N Fudge. 

There are three categories of Sundaes at their store: Classique collection, Royal collection and Marble collection which can be served as single scoop (Delight) and double scoop (Indulge). Now you have a choice to enjoy your Sundae in either waffle cups or in cones.

 The choice is yours : Plain, Chocolate Dipped, Chocolate Rainbow or Nutty Cone. To tempt you more they have variety of Mix-ins (Rs.15/Rs.20/Rs.25) in the menu (my personal choice would be Royal Mix-Ins where they have Ferrero Rochers, Peach Slices to name a few). The prices may seem a bit steep but if you have just Rs.100 in your pocket, restrain yourself from adding any extras then you can enjoy this creamy ice-cream (single scoop).

To maintain the hygiene we all are handed over  caps to cover our head and we were shown how to make our own Sundaes. The folding techniques of spatulas to mix in two flavours of ice-cream scoops with Mix Ins on the cold stone was a good learning experience. 

Later Pari  and I decided to make Cafe Au Lait which had Coffee Ice cream, Nuts, Cocoa powder, Whipped cream, Vanilla Ice cream, combined together and we had it in waffle cone. 

Over enthusiastic assisting aids at the counter had sprinkled Cinnamon powder instead of Cocoa powder over whipping cream which marred the taste of Coffee flavour ice cream. Never mind as other blogger friends were also making their own Sundaes so tasted a spoon of many flavours. Like Aarti made Apple Crumble, as she loves anything with apple and cinnamon. It was sinful.

 But the surprise element of that day was Pari's husband skilled hands ! He tweaked Chocolate Truffle Sundae with 2 Ferroro Rochers, Brownies and Hazelnuts to suit his taste and boy !! It was fantastic. I wanted to taste Lichi flavour with lichis in it as whole. But it seems they do not stock lichis and mangoes. 
In between the staff showed their 'throw and catch' skills, where a guy tossed a scoop of ice cream over his head to be caught by another staff waiting with an empty cone.

At the end thank you Cream N Fudge for giving us a chance to go behind the counter and make our own Sundaes. Will go there to enjoy other flavours soon.

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Chire Bhaja (Fried Flaked Rice) | Snacks For a Rainy Day

Whenever I look back in my early years, I feel that the rainy season is that period when all of the children used to wait for and during that time it was not frowned upon. During those days the moment we heard the first drops of rain, we all rushed out to feel the 1^st drops in our faces and the smell of the freshly soaked soil was simply irresistible. We were not stopped by our parents that you would catch a cold. So coming back to culinary tastes during that period, one snack that is embedded in my mind is Chiwda/Chide bhaja.

 Literally Chide is a flattened rice and bhaja means fry. This mixed with peanuts used to be the one which we craved for once we are back home during evening. The sound of us munching these crispy snack mixed with the background sound of the rainfall on the asbestos roofs of our garage used to be an astounding experience. So instead of the rain part, presenting this snack for all your viewing and feedback.

Ingredients:
200 gms Chire / Flattened Rice
2 tbsp Coconut flakes
3 tbsp Peanuts
2 tbsp Chana Dal /Split Chickpeas
1 tbsp Mustard seeds
1/4 cup Chanachor (Mixed Bhujia)
2 Dried Red Chillies
1 sprig Curry leaves
Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp White oil

Method:
Heat oil in a wok on low heat fry peanuts and coconut slices. Keep aside. Now in the same oil fry chana dal till light brown and keep aside.

Add Mustard seeds and let them crackle. Immediately add dried red chillies, curry leaves and add beaten rice flakes and fry on high flame. Sprinkle turmeric rice and salt to it.

 Remember to stir continuously or else you will end up with burnt rice flakes. Keep stirring it for 5-6 minutes or until you get nice aroma. Rice flakes will look crispy, now add the fried chana, chanachor / mixed bhujia, peanuts and coconut slices.

Remove from heat and let it cool down. Later keep it in an air tight container. Enjoy freshly made chire bhaja and the rains ! I served my crispy chire bhaja with lemon tea to Ma.
  

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