Egg Chop \ Egg Pakora

This is another popular street food of Bhubaneswar. Not sure about the street flavors of this dish since I have always had it home-made. My MIL used to make it for my nephew and niece and they love it. During a recent party menu-planning, I remembered this dish and gave it a shot. It turned out quite well, to be honest. The only problem is you will have to make it as close to your eating time as possible, so that you enjoy it hot and crisp when the flavor is fully there. This is another kids-favorite recipe -enjoy!

Ingredients
Eggs about 12-15

Besan - 1.5 cups

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Amchur - 1 tsp (or as per taste)

Salt - as per taste

Sugar - a pinch
Baking Soda - 1/8 tsp

Ajwain - a pinch (aids digestion of deep-fried food, prevents heart-burn)

Canola Oil - for deep frying 

Method

Layer the eggs in a saucepan and fill with cold water so the eggs are fully covered in water. Bring to a boil in high heat. Reduce heat to Medium and let it simmer for another 5 mins. Cover and keep aside for the eggs to continue cooking. When the container becomes room temperature or easy to handle, remove the water and peel the eggs. (This was Rachael Ray's tip for perfect boiled eggs.)

Chop the eggs into halves length-wise.

Make a batter of the remaining ingredients (except oil and baking soda). Keep the consistency thick so that it will stick to the slippery egg. Add the baking soda to the batter just before dipping the eggs in the batter and mix the batter well. Note - If there is more batter than you need, keep it aside before adding the baking soda; the batter lasts longer (one of my friend's mom's tip).

Heat the oil. Drop in one egg piece at a time gently so that the oil does not splatter and burn your hand, etc.

If there is time before you eat, keep it warm in oven at 175 degrees F. Don't microwave it else the egg may turn rubbery and the crispiness of the outer shell will no longer be there.

 

Serve with Tomato ketchup, slice of Onion and Lime. Chilli Sauce would also be a good accompaniment.

Home-made Paneer Spread

I am surprised that I have not posted this recipe so long. Quite rightly, this may have been my very first attempt at preparing a food. We used to have a class dedicated to crafting called SUPW (Socially Useful Productive Work) - every parent's nightmare to help their kids excel in this subject. :)

If I remember right, it was during 7th or 8th grade that girls were assigned to make a sandwich. My cousin had provided a certain version of this sandwich and it was a huge hit. After that, me and my mom must have made it a few times before we lost track of it and did not make it. Fast forward to me hosting a baby shower after almost 15 years and while deciding the menu, this spread came to mind. It is quite easy to make and assemble - something that both kids and grown-ups like! Ever since, if I am organizing a party with people of mixed tastes and palatte, this sandwich is a safe bet! Try it - am sure you won't regret it... :)

Ingredients

White Bread - 2 large packs (using a fine knife, chop off the edges - if you don't want to waste the edges, toast them and prepare bread-crumb to store for later use)

Paneer - 3/4 cup

American Cucumber - 1 large (Remove the seeds)

Tomato - 1/2 medium (Remove the seeds and liquid - we want the flesh alone)

Onion - 1/4 th of a small-sized

Salt - as per taste

Black Pepper - this gives the entire flavor to the spread - I like to put almost 1/2 tsp but go easy if kids will be eating it as well - for the first time, I would put 1/4th tsp or even lesser at a time and stop when the flavor is just right for your taste-buds

Preparation

Except the Bread, blend the rest of the ingredients till it results in a smooth flavorful spread. The Tomato gives the spread a beautiful Pinkish color.

 

Assembling the Sandwich involves preparing the Bread by chopping off the edges and spreading the above spread on one side of each bread. Cut them again into halves (as shown in pic) or triangles. 

Enjoy the soft delectable Sandwiches!! :)

Cherry Blossoms - shining like the stars!!

Just an odd pic taken during an evening walk .. Wish the blossoms were a constant fixture, the world would be beautiful!

Mongolian cuisine - Genghis Grill

One way to beat my procrastination and long absences will be to make short quick posts! So here it goes...

I have had a chance to try multiple new cuisines in the last few months - thanks to colleagues, friends and of course my best foodie friend - dear hubby. One of the new cuisine in my palate is Mongolian.

You get to pick your meat, veggies and spice and sauce - literally! They give you a bowl and a small container for sauce. You pick the ingredients based on your choice - you can take as many and as much you can fit in the bowl. Before handing it to the grill master, you get to pick the carbohydrate (white rice, brown rice, pasta, fried rice) - and la voila, they grill the stuff in your bowl, mix it with the sauce and you have a healthy meal to enjoy.

Don't worry - no matter what combination you pick, it will taste good. For the less experimental, they have recipe cards for you.

I love it! The pic below is from Genghis Grill at Sterling, VA.

'Choona Machcha' (Tiny fish)

Something I have loved since childhood. Luckily for me, unlike my mom who had to spend a good of amount of time cleaning these tiny beauties, I get them pre-cleaned. Of course, they lack the freshness since these are frozen. Hey, at least I get them here now!

Maa makes a nice curry of these, these frozen ones don't hold up as well in curry (failed attempt! :)), so went with deep-frying this time round. Hope you like these as much as I did!

Ingredients

I pack Frozen Tiny Fish pack (bought from NJ Indian store - contained about 50 fishes - From Bangladesh)
Rice Flour - about 5 tbsp or more, depending on how crunchy and well-coated you want it
Salt -about 1 tsp, as per taste
Turmeric - 1 tbsp, to cut away the fishy smell
Red Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp, again as per taste
Cumin-Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp

Method

Completely thaw the fish to room temperature.
Add all the ingredients and mix well.
Keep aside for 15-20 mins
Deep fry in high heat. It gets cooked in no time.

Enjoy with Rice/Dal as we did! It will be a good accompaniment in the Ofiya summer soul food 'Pakhala'.

Cherry Blossom 2013 .. how could I miss it!

Hello Everyone -

Finally spring is upon us! Spring onset means arrival of the Cherry blossom season in DC metro area. This was my 10th year - don't think I will ever want to give it a miss. With the weather being very random this year, the blossoms were also short-lived. They peaked on a Wednesday and since there was heavy rain on Thursday night, the blossoms did not last long. I went along with my friend and her two adorable sons one weekend - it was lot of fun catching up and experiencing the spirit of DC during this time of year! Enjoy some of the pics from this trip...

Tidal Basin - Jefferson Memorial

Drawing wall for kids to write and draw sending their message to kids of Japan - nice idea!

Few of the remaining blossoms...a close shot!

Cherry blossoms..lovely pink!

Tulip Garden @ National Mall...amazing colors and what a range...

Gorgeous..this is it!

Soothing...

Dainty...

Simply superb...

Beauties..such a lovely mix of color...

Japanese Lantern - saw it in the Junior Park Ranger book handed to kids. We went looking for it to complete the Bingo game in the book of my friend's son! :)

I still exist!

Before everyone gives up on me, I have to make a random post to make sure you all don't give up on me (yet!) and my sudden disappearances...

Life takes on and blogging takes a backseat! Have been busy with lot of get-togethers, travels and happy times! 2013 has been good - I am quite optimistic..even in my toughest times, I have survived through it thinking it can't get worse than this, so sail through it! Had multiple bad news in 2011 and 2012 but yet kept going..as Karan Johan (yes, I am a fan!) proudly proclaims "Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham".

Let me share some of my recent food pics for you to drool and enjoy..have a great day, everyone!

Lunch @ Athenian, Pike Place Market, Seattle - loved the view from in there!

Prawn and Chips @ Athenian, Pike Place Market, Seattle - Delicious food and awesome service!

Veggie Sandwich @ Athenian, Pike Place Market, Seattle - my friend loved the flavors!

Around the World event for January - Switzerland

Hi All -

Reshmi has kindly provided me the opportunity to host this unique event "Around the World" once again.I had the grand opportunity to spend 10 days in Switzerland the past year with my college friend who is like a sister to me. We had a great time touring the different places of Switzerland and experience the beauty and serenity that is so often associated with this country. There is Italian, German and French influence in the different areas of this country ..

Thanks to the Late Yash Chopraji, Switzerland will always represent romance and love to all Indians. That's always the de-facto choice for honey-mooners. During my visit, I realized you can visit any corner of this country and you will find an Indian restaurant to pamper your taste-buds. Jugfraujoch "the highest point of Europe" was one place I thought that was least likely to have an Indian restaurant - lo and behold, there was one! Let's learn a little bit more about the food of this country that is already so famous for their Chocolates ... :) Looking forward to all your entries..

Here is the rule for the event:

1) Prepare any dish from Switzerland, post them on your blog and link here. The linky tool will be open till Jan 31st, 2013. Non-Bloggers can send their recipes with the details to the my email id psorisha AT gmail DOT com.

2) Please link back your recipes to this event announcement and to Reshmi's event page. Do include the logo in your post (mandatory requirement).

3) You can link as many links as you want.

4) Archived posts are accepted. Repost them and you are good to go.

Entry submission link: