Masala Pav Recipe | How to make Masala Pav [Video]

Masala Pav is a popular street food in which Pav bread is sauteed along with a spicy masala made of tomatoes, potatoes and capsicum. This recipe can be made vegan by skipping adding butter or using vegan butter instead.

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So... I had this whole post ready to be published last night, and I forgot! Oops.

Yeah, I can be such a dumbo sometimes. I have no clue how I forgot something this basic. Anyhow, now I'm here and so excited to share one of my favorite recipes.

Masala Pav is another one of those popular street foods. Frankly, I'm yet to come around to a street food that isn't popular. I love that it has so much flavor and it is usually so colorful. And it is our local fast food. Over the years, I have posted so many of my favorites like Pani Puri, Masala Puri, Chana Chaat, Tomato Puri, Pav Bhaji, Tava Pulao and just as of last week, I posted the recipe for Mumbai Masala Toast. I've also posted my version of a few dishes like this Sweet Potato Chaat and the Dahi Bread Chaat.

What is your favorite street food? And what do you like about it?

So, lets get back to today's recipe - Masala Pav. If you are from Mumbai, you may be wondering why my Masala Pav looks like this. I'll clarify. This is the version you get in Bangalore, and it is the only one I've ever eaten and loved. So don't leave just yet, try this one and you may just love it as much as I do.

Masala Pav, first requires you to make a masala that is made from onions, tomatoes, capsicum (bell pepper) and potatoes. You can skip the potatoes if you want, but nothing could ever make me skip them. Allow all the veggies to cook down and mash them coarsely. The masala is spiced with a Pav Bhaji Masala Powder. Once the masala is cooked, shredded or diced pav is added and mixed well. Top with finely chopped onions, coriander leaves and Sev before serving.

If you don't have Pav bread easily available, you can make this with any loaf bread you have or with buns. I have added butter towards the end, you can also use only butter instead of oil. To keep this recipe vegan, just skip adding the butter.

Masala Pav makes for a good evening snack. Especially, when the evenings are cold and rainy. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, enjoy!

Happy Weekend folks!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Masala Pav Recipe

Masala Pav is a popular street food in India. Pav bread is sauteed along with a spicy masala made from onion, tomatoes, potatoes and capsicum. This recipe can be made vegan by replacing the butter with vegan butter or not adding butter at all. 

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Total time:     30 minutes
Yield:                Serves 4

Ingredients:

6 Pav
2 medium sized Onions, finely chopped
3 medium sized Tomatoes, finely chopped
2 medium sized Potatoes, boiled and peeled
1 green Capsicum, finely chopped
2 Tbsp Oil
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
2 Tbsp Pav Bhaji Masala
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder (Optional)
Salt to taste
0.5 cup Water
2 Tbsp Butter (Optional)

To Assemble:

0.5 cup Sev
Finely chopped Onion
Finely chopped Coriander Leaves

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add ginger garlic paste. Saute until fragrant.
2. Add in the finely chopped onions and saute until translucent.
3. Add the finely chopped tomatoes.
4. Add salt to taste and the pav bhaji masala. If you plan to add the red chilli powder, add it now. Mix well and cook until the tomatoes are soft.
5. Add chopped capsicum and boiled potatoes.
6. Mash the capsicum and potatoes until roughly combined with the tomato masala.
7. Add water and allow to cook on low heat for 5-6 minutes.
8. Dice the pav into bite sized pieces and add to the pan. Mix well until combined.
9. Add salt if required.
10. Add in the butter if using it. Skip this step to make the masala pav vegan.
11. To serve, top the masala pav with finely chopped onions, coriander leaves and sev.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Masala Bread Toast

Mumbai Masala Toast

Misal Pav

Read more ...

Raw Banana Kofta Curry Recipe [Video]

Raw Banana Kofta Curry is a spicy, sweet and tangy coconut based curry with fried raw banana (plantain) dumplings. This curry is vegan and gluten free.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

We are mid way through January already!! I must say, time literally flies. It feels like just yesterday it was December and I was getting all excited for the New Year, and today we are already well into it. So did you start all that you planned to do in 2019? I'm still dragging my feet on my checklist. 

In other news, I've been at home an awful lot lately, mainly because of some trade union strikes last week that stopped public transport and we were all forced to work from home, and I had some personal commitments that made me still work from home for a few days here and there. While you would think being home and cutting out all that stress of travel, I'd be more productive in the kitchen. But the truth is, when I'm home I'm super lazy. Sometimes, I make instant noodles or just buy bread to mop up leftover curry. 

I finally decided it was time to stop being lazy and cook up this amazing Raw Banana Kofta Curry that I had in my mind for so long. I found this recipe in a magazine at the doctor's. I actually dread doctor visits. I can probably count the number of visits I've made in the last 2 years on the fingers of one hand. Raise you hand if you dread doctor visits like me! While I waited for my turn for my annual checkup, I leafed through a magazine on the coffee table and this recipe kind of jumped at me. I made Raj take a quick photo and stored it away. Finally I got around to making it, thankfully.

This Raw Banana Kofta Curry is spicy, sweet and tangy! Flavor explosion in your mouth.

The curry or the gravy is what gives all the flavor. Tomato and Tamarind impart the sourness to the curry, the jaggery adds sweetness, the high count of red chillies gives the curry heat and color and the coconut milk just mellows down everything with it's rich creaminess. My mouth still waters when I reminisce about this curry, it was SO delicious. This curry really had the balance of sweetness, sourness and heat. Take the ingredients below as more of a direction than rigid quantities. Your palate may prefer the curry being less sweet and more tart. Adjust the ingredients to your liking. Start with less jaggery and tamarind and add more as you go along. The red chillies are deseeded so that the curry is not too hot but still has the vibrant color. You can leave the seeds in for a spicier curry.

The Raw Banana Koftas are really easy to make. They taste good just by themselves too. So you can make more and serve them as snacks at tea time. The original recipe called for raisins but I replaced them with cashew nuts. Add any nuts you like into the koftas. I also added in grated Tofu instead of the grated Paneer, because I had tofu in the fridge. The koftas can be either shallow fried or deep fried. You may even try to bake it. Add the koftas just before serving to retain the crispness of the koftas.

Raw Banana Kofta Curry is best served hot with naan or rotis.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Raw Banana Kofta Curry

Raw Banana Kofta Curry is a spicy, sweet and tangy coconut based curry with fried raw banana (plantain) dumplings. This curry is vegan and gluten free.

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     40 minutes
Total time:     50 minutes
Yield:                Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

For the curry:

10-12 Dry Red Chillies
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
0.5 tsp Peppercorns
2-3 tsp Jaggery or Sugar
1 large Tomato
1 tsp Tamarind Pulp
1 cup thick Coconut Milk
2 Tbsp Kasuri Methi
2 Tbsp chopped Coriander Leaves
3 tsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
Salt to taste
Water as required

For the Koftas:

2 raw Bananas or Plantain
10-12 Cashew Nuts, chopped
1 cup grated Tofu or Paneer
1 Tbsp chopped Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil to fry koftas

Method:

1. Cut the edges of the raw bananas and dice them roughly. Boil them with a pinch of salt until soft.
2. Peel the bananas and keep aside.
3. Deseed the dry red chillies and add to a mixer/blender. You can keep the seeds in if you want the curry to be very spicy.
4. Add turmeric powder and black peppercorns to the mixer and grind until you get a coarse powder.
5. Add 2 tsp of jaggery or sugar along with the tamarind pulp and chopped tomato to the blender.
6. Add a little water and blend until you get a smooth paste.
7. Heat oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds.
8. Once they splutter, add the masala paste and cook for 7-8 minutes until the raw smell disappears.
9. Add 1 cup of water and a little salt and allow the curry to boil.
10. Once the water has evaporated, add in the thick coconut milk and allow it to come to a boil.
11. Adjust salt and sugar as required.
12. Once the curry has reached a rolling boil, add in the dried kasuri methi.
13. Allow it to simmer for 3-4 minutes.
14. Remove from heat and add in chopped coriander leaves and keep aside.
15. Mash the boiled raw bananas and add in the chopped cashew nuts, grated tofu or paneer, chopped coriander leaves and salt.
16. Mix well until combined and shape into koftas.
17. Heat oil in a shallow pan for frying koftas.
18. Add the koftas to the pan and fry until all sides are browned. You can also deep fry the koftas.
19. Add the koftas to the curry and mix well.
20. Serve hot with rotis or naan.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Lauki Kofta Curry

Raw Banana Fry

Banana Blossom Cutlets

Read more ...

Vegan Laksa Soup Recipe | How to make vegan Malaysian Laksa Lemak [Video]

Vegan Laksa Soup or Curry Laksa or Malaysian Laksa Lemak is a spicy noodle soup from Malaysia that has a rich creamy base made from coconut milk and topped with noodles, blanched vegetables and fried Tofu. The soup is spicy, sweet, salty and creamy. It is perfect for a cold winter day. This recipe includes video instructions to make the Laksa Soup.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

Hello friends, wishing you a very Happy New Year once again. Are you excited for what 2019 holds for you? Have you made resolutions yet?

I sure have. As every year before, I resolve to eat healthier, blog more and just spend contribute more time towards home. I would also love to reduce stress, and interact more with you on social media. I also want to go on more vacations and carve out some "me" time. A lot of resolutions and I hope can follow them through.

Now that we have our new year courtesies off the table, lets get on to the recipe - Vegan Laksa Soup.
The Laksa Soup is an uber-delicious Malaysian Noodle Soup. While there are different varieties of Laksa, this is the recipe for Curry Laksa or Laksa Lemak which is a spicy soup finished off with rich creamy coconut milk.  Which is perfect for this weather. Something weird is going on with the weather in Bangalore and we've had just about the coldest January in ages. Temperatures are dropping to 8-10 degree C and that's not really normal. So cozying up under a blanket and enjoying some delicious spicy soup is just perfect. I mean the weather calls for it!

My inspiration for recreating a Laksa at home came from the Laksa I ate at FoodHall in December. You have got to try theirs! It was so deliciously flavored, that I wanted more. When you want more and more of something, you have to make it at home, especially when they don't do a home delivery. So I looked up several recipes, and came up with mine. I mostly followed Adam Liaw's recipe, but kept it vegan.

The Laksa Soup has 3 main parts to it:

• Laksa Curry Paste - The curry paste is what gives the soup its flavor. The Laksa I had was spicy and hence, I added enough chillies to give the same heat. This heat is eventually balanced by the sweetness and saltiness, but I'd say add just as many chillies as you can tolerate. The curry paste is simple to make, just blend all the ingredients together and you will get your smooth curry paste. If you don't have access to fresh lemongrass, use lemongrass paste or lemon zest (lots of it!). Candle nuts can be replaced with cashew nuts like I did. Use fresh turmeric if you have access to it, else use the ground powder like me. 
• Laksa Soup - The soup I had was spicy, sweet, salty and sour (from the lemongrass).  It had the perfect balance of flavors (MasterChef judges would be proud of me!). To get the best flavor our of the soup, the laksa paste has to be fried until the oil separates or at least for 15-20 minutes. After that just add in broth or water to thin it. Add the thick coconut milk towards the end to get the creamy richness.
• Toppings/Additions - Since it is a noodle soup, noodles are kind of mandatory. Use any noodles you have accessible. If you are not  purist, you may also use spaghetti. After this it is totally up to you to add whatever vegetable you want. I added blanched broccoli, capsicum, snow peas and mushrooms. I blanched my veggies instead of cooking them in the soup because I wanted my vegetables to retain their crunch and texture. Since I did not have Tofu Puffs, I added pan fried Tofu and it was delish!

Enjoy this bowl of heartwarming deliciousness before the Winter is over! See you next week.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

Vegan Laksa Soup | Malaysian Laksa Lemak Recipe

Vegan Laksa Soup or Curry Laksa or Malaysian Laksa Lemak is a spicy noodle soup from Malaysia that has a rich creamy base made from coconut milk and topped with noodles, blanched vegetables and fried Tofu. The soup is spicy, sweet, salty and creamy.

Recipe Type:  Soup
Cuisine:            Malaysian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     50 minutes
Total time:     60 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the Laksa Curry Paste:

6-8 Dry Red Chillies
2-3 Fresh Red Chillies
10-12 Cashew Nuts
3 Lemongrass Stalks (white part only)
1 small Onion
1 Tbsp Garlic
1 Tbsp Ginger
0.5 tsp Turmeric powder
1.5 Tbsp Coriander Seeds

For the Laksa Soup:

2-3 tsp Jaggery or Sugar
1 cup thick Coconut Milk
4 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
Water or Broth as required

For the Crispy Tofu

100 gms firm Tofu
2 tsp Corn Starch
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp Oil

To assemble the Laksa Soup

2 cups cooked Noodles
1 cup Broccoli Florets
8-10 Snow peas
0.5 Capsicum
5 Mushrooms
1 Tbsp chopped Coriander leaves

Method:

1. Soak the dry red chillies and cashew nuts in hot water and keep aside for 10 minutes. Then discard the water.
2. Blend together the soaked red chillies, cashew nuts along with all the other ingredients for the laksa curry paste along with a little water to a smooth paste.
3. Heat 4 Tbsp of Oil in a thick bottomed pan and add the curry paste.
4. Fry the paste for 15-20 minutes on low heat or until the oil separates.
5. Add 1 cup of water or broth and bring to a boil.
6. Add salt and sugar to taste.
7. Add in the coconut milk and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and keep aside.
9. Boil water in a pan and add a pinch of salt.
10. Dab the Tofu with kitchen towel to extract as much water from it as possible.
11. Dice the Tofu into cubes and add to a large bowl.
12. Sprinkle the corn starch, salt and pepper to the bowl and toss until the tofu is coated with the corn starch.
13. Heat 2 Tbsp Oil in a frying pan and place the tofu in one layer. Flip the tofu until all sides are browned and crisp. Remove from heat until time to serve. Alternately, you can deep fry or bake the tofu.
14. Drop in the vegetables - broccoli, snow peas, diced capsicum and sliced mushrooms, one by one and blanch for few minutes until the vegetables are slightly soft.
15. To assemble the Laksa Soup, spoon the soup into a bowl, add the cooked noodles and the blanched vegetables. Top with crispy tofu and chopped coriander leaves before serving.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Miso Noodle Soup

Broccoli Almond Soup

Mushroom Leek Soup

Read more ...

Avarekalu Saaru Recipe | How to make Hitikida Avarekaalu Sambar (Huli) [Video]

Avarekalu Saaru or Avarekaalu Huli is a winter special curry made in Bangalore, with seasonal hyacinth beans by double peeling them and cooking them in a coconut and spice based masala. This Avarekalu Sambar is vegan.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

Avarekalu, is a delicious bean that is very local to the region around Bangalore-Mysore. It is very similar in profile with edamame beans, just much smaller in size. They flood the markets in Bangalore around this time of the year aka winter. They are either sold whole, with the beans still in their pods or sometimes, loose beans removed from the pods. There is even an entire fest dedicated to these beans at the Food Street near V.V. Puram in Bangalore. The entire food street gets obsessed with these avarekalu and you will see them being used so creatively in so many recipes. There are dosa, thalipettu, curries, sweets, and what not. If you are in Bangalore, this is one traditional fest you should not miss. 

I first ate avarekalu when I moved to Bangalore. The first time I ate in this avatar of Hitikida Avarekalu Saaru was when my friend got it for lunch at work. It was her grandma's specialty and it was super delicious. I managed to get the recipe from her and after several confusions about the quantities of the ingredients, I finally got it right to suit my palate. Since then, come winter, I make this curry multiple times.

When I first posted this recipe back in 2014, I never imagined it would be my most popular recipe on the blog. Come winter and the popularity of this Avarekaalu Saaru recipe starts rising. After 5 years, I decided it was time I reposted this recipe along with a video that gives you step by step instructions on how to make this Hitikida Avarekaalu Saaru.

(Clockwise from top left) Whole avarekai, Shelled avarekalu, peeled avarekalu, peeled and unpeeled avarekalu

Hitikida Avarekaalu Saaru is a South Indian vegan curry made from double peeled avarekaalu or hyacinth beans. You can make this curry with any fresh beans you have available - edamame, fava, double beans, toovar or even avarebele (lentils of hyacinth beans). Hitikida refers to the process of squeezing out the beans from their cover. The beans are double peeled to make the curry, first the beans are removed from the pods and next from their really thin cover. If you are bored to do the second step, you can cook it with the cover on, only they will take a tad longer to cook. While soaking the beans in water before squeezing them out is the traditional way to peel them, I found that freezing them overnight in a bag works wonders. It is much easier to squeeze them out when frozen and thawed. 

The curry is actually a sambar or huli which is made with freshly ground sambar masala. The masala is simple and contains coconut, aromatics, whole spices and ground spices. The curry can be enjoyed as a side with akki rotti or chapati when it is thicker in consistency and with rice when it is thinner in consistency. 

Enjoy!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Avarekalu Saaru | Hitikida Avarekaalu Sambar

Avarekalu Saaru or Avarekaalu Huli is a winter special curry made in Bangalore, with seasonal hyacinth beans by double peeling them and cooking them in a coconut and spice based masala. This Avarekalu Sambar is vegan.

Recipe Type:  Curry
Cuisine:          South Indian 
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     40 minutes
Yield:              2-4 Servings

Ingredients:

2 cups Avarekalu or Hyacinth Beans
0.75 cups grated Coconut
1 Tbsp Poppy seeds
1 small Onion
1 Tbsp chopped Garlic
A pinch Asafoetida
1 - 2 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1.5 Tbsp Coriander seeds
1/2" piece Cinnamon
1-2 Cloves/
1 tsp Tamarind
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
8-10 Curry leaves
2 tsp Oil
Salt
Water

Method:

1. To double peel the avarekalu or hyacinth beans, remove the beans from their pods.
2. Soak the beans in water for 30-45 minutes or freeze them ovenight in a ziploc bag or a box.
3. Pat the beans dry on a kitchen towel.
4. Gently squeeze out the bean from its peel.
5. Boil the beans in mildly salted water until soft.
6. While the beans cook, make the sambar masala by grinding together coconut, onion, garlic, poppy seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida or hing, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and tamarind along with a little water.
7. Once the beans are cooked, add the sambar masala along with 1-2 cups of water and allow it to reach a boil.
8. If you are planning to eat it with rice, add more water, and if with chapati or rotti, add less water.
9. Add salt as required. Remember the water was salted while cooking the beans.
10. Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds.
11. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves.
12. Pour this tempering into the curry and remove from heat.
13. Serve hot with rice, rotti or chapati.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Avarekalu Uppit

Rasam

Kaalu Palya

Read more ...

Misal Pav Recipe | How to make Misal Pav [Video]

Misal Pav Recipe. This video shows how to make popular Maharashtrian spicy vegan curry called Misal. Misal is a curry made with sprouts and coconut that is topped with Sev or Mixture and served with Pav.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

Bangalore has the weirdest weather of all places I've been to. It can be bright and sunny one day and pouring cats and dogs the next. We ran through October like it was Summer, barely a hint of chill in the air and the Sun was all powered on. And then we got loads of rain, just when I was ready to get those light trousers and leather footwear out !!  Finally, since mid-November, the chill has been setting in and it feels like Winter, at least in the evenings. The days are still as hot as Summer.

When it's cold outside, I want to stay cozy inside and eat warm spicy curries while lazily watching reruns of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. And this Misal Pav totally fits the bill. It is spicy, hearty and best of all, you can top it up with awesome crunchy things.

When I think of Misal Pav, it takes me back to my college days. Thursday night dinner in hostel was Misal Pav and it was actually horrible. If one were to eat that Misal Pav, one would never ever dare to eat one again. I don't know how the cooks in the hostel mess could mess up something so simple, but they managed to put up an unappetizing dish in the name of Misal Pav. It was only when I ate Misal Pav in a Maharashtrian restaurant that I came to appreciate the flavor and texture of this spicy vegan affair.

Misal pav is a simple yet complex dish. It is simple to cook, but the flavors are complex, the textures are complex. Misal consists of 3 main things:

• Usal - Usal is a quick curry made from sprouts. Sprouts are boiled with turmeric, salt and a little bit of asafoetida. You can add other spices to usal when you want to have it plain, but when you are cooking usal for Misal Pav, it is best to keep it simple. Generally, moth bean sprouts or matki sprouts are used for Misal Pav, but if you don't have moth beans, just use mung beans or any other sprouts that you can.
• Kat - The spicy coconut based curry that dominates the flavor of Misal Pav is called the Kat. Kat is made by grinding together spices, coconut, onion and tomatoes and boiling them until the flavor develops. I have used Kokum as the souring agent in the Kat, you can use tamarind pulp instead. Kokum helps in giving a darker color to the Kat, that you may miss if you use tamarind. If you have access to Misal masala powder, then you can use that instead of the whole spices I have used.
• Sev/Mixture/Farsan - This is the fun part of Misal Pav. Misal is always topped with crunchy spicy mixture. You can use any topping of your choice - papdi, ghatia, sev, chiwda etc. The more you add, the better it tastes. Only thing to remember is to add this at the end, while serving, else your mixture will get soggy and loose its texture and flavor.

Serve Misal with toasted Pav or regular bread. And always serve it piping hot!!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Misal Pav Recipe | How to make Misal Pav

Misal is a popular spicy vegan Maharashtrian curry that is served with Pav bread. Misal is made with sprouts and coconut and is topped with Sev or Mixture.

Recipe Type:  Curry
Cuisine:            Maharashtrian, Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Total time:     60 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

For the Usal:

2 cups Sprouts
2 Tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
A pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)
Salt to taste
Water as required

For the Kat:

1 large Onion
1 large Tomato
0.5 cup grated Coconut
2 Tbsp Oil
1 Clove
1" Cinnamon
0.5 tsp Pepper
1-2 Bay leaves
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 Tbsp chopped Garlic
1 Tbsp chopped Ginger
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
3-4 Kokum peels or 1 tsp Tamarind Pulp
1-2 cups Water
Salt to taste

To assemble the Misal:

1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Tomato, finely chopped
2 cups Sev or Mixture
0.5 cups Coriander leaves, finely chopped

Method:

To make the Usal:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
2. After the mustard seeds splutter, add the sprouts, turmeric powder, salt, asafoetida (hing) and 1 cup water. Cover and cook until the sprouts are cooked.
3. Grind the clove, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, garlic, coriander powder and cumin powder into a coarse masala without any water.

To make the Kat:

4. Soak the kokum peels in 0.5 cup warm water and keep aside.
5. Heat oil in a pan and add the coarsely ground masala.
6. Saute the masala until fragrant, then add chopped onion.
7. Once the onions are slightly browned, add in chopped tomato and grated coconut.
8. Fry for 2-3 minutes, then grind everything to a smooth paste with a little water.
9. Pour back the masala into the pan.
10. Add in turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt, soaked kokum peels or tamarind pulp and 1 cup water. You can remove the kokum peels after a while if the gravy has reached the sourness you desire.
11. Allow it to come to a boil and let it boil for 8-10 minutes.
12. Adjust seasoning if required. Add more water for a looser consistency. If you want a thicker consistency, boil it longer.

To assemble the Misal Pav:

13. To serve the Misal Pav, add the usal in a bowl.
14. Pour over the spicy kat.
15. Top with finely chopped onion, tomatoes and coriander leaves.
16. Top with sev or mixture and serve with toasted pav.

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Traditional Chakli Recipe | How to make Chakli [Video]

Chakli is a deep fried savory Indian snack that is popularly made for Diwali. Chakli is a spiral snack made from rice and black lentil (urad dal) flour and can be enjoyed in a gluten free diet. This recipe will show to how to make chakli from scratch along with a video tutorial.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

Soooo.... this post comes almost a month later than what it should have been posted. I had planned to post this Chakli recipe before Diwali, so you guys could try it for Diwali. But I totally missed it. I thought of waiting for next year to post it, but then who has the patience to wait another year. And I figured out, you don't need Diwali around to make Chakli, you can make it anytime you like. With cold weather coming our way, the demand for deep fried goodness is only going to go up. So here's the recipe for the crispy crunchy Chakli.

There are several variations of the Chakli - Palak Chakli, Butter Chakli and what my friend told me recently, there's even an Jalapeno Chakli out there. But this is the recipe for the traditional chakli.

Some background.

It’s been years that I have been planning to cook snacks and sweets for Diwali and restart our old tradition of visiting friends and family and sharing those delicacies with them. But for the last 2 years, I’ve been out of country for Diwali (visiting Bali and Cambodia). So while I made elaborate plans on what to cook and how to box them, it never materialized. But this Diwali was different, I was in country and better yet, I was in Goa. Gee and I split up the dishes and managed to put up two savory and two sweets on the plate. It was such a delight!

I had several ideas for the savory snack and while I had Chakli at the back of my mind, Gee picked it too. Chakli was what my mom made every Diwali when we were little and gave it to everyone in the apartment complex. And this year, I restarted that tradition.

I made Chakli several times in the last one month, I made trial batches and I made more batches for distributing. With all the Chakli making so fresh in my mind, I'm at my best to give you all the tips and tricks required to make the perfect Chakli. There are several small things that impact how your Chakli turns out, and I have included it in the Notes section at the bottom of the recipe. Who knew, that things like humidity and temperature could affect your Chakli?

There are different varieties of Chakli Press available in the market, you can buy:

• Stainless Steel Ones -  
• Brass ones -             
• Wooden ones  from local markets.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

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Video Recipe

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Traditional Chakli Recipe

Chakli is a savory deep fried Indian snack that is popularly made for Diwali. Chakli is a crispy spiral snack made from rice and lentil flour. It is a spicy crunchy vegetarian snack.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            South Indian
Prep Time:     10 hours
Cook time:     60 minutes
Total time:     10 hours 40 minutes
Yield:                80-90

Ingredients:

3 cups or 570 gms raw Rice
1 cup or 190 gms Urad Dal
0.75 cup or 75 gms Ghee
0.5 cup Oil
5 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Asafoetida (Hing) (Use gluten free hing to suit a gluten free diet)
2-4 tsp Salt
3-4 cups Water
Oil to fry
Water as required

Method:

To make the Chakli Flour:

1. Wash and drain the rice. Spread it on a dry muslin cloth in a single layer to dry overnight or for 8-10 hours.
2. Once the rice is dry, dry roast it in a kadhai until all the moisture evaporates and the rice turns bright white. Roast on low flame by stirring occassionally. Do not allow the rice to change color or burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. Dry roast the urad dal on low heat until it turns pinkish-brown. The dal will turn fragrant once roasted well. Stir occassionally and do not allow the dal to burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. Once the rice and urad dal have cooled, grind it into a smooth powder in batches. You can either do this at home in a mixer or get it powdered at a mill.
5. Sieve the flour to remove any unpowdered rice or dal.
6. With the quantities used in this recipe, you should get around 750-760gms of chakli flour.

To make the Chakli:

7. Grind 3 tsp of cumin seeds into a coarse powder. Alternately you can use roasted cumin powder.
8. Add the cumin seed powder to the chakli flour.
9. Next add in the red chilli powder, remaining cumin seeds, hing and 2 tsp of salt and mix it roughly. Hing or asafoetida may contain wheat and hence avoid it if making a gluten free version.
10. Add in melted ghee and rub it in the flour.
11. Add hot oil by the spoonfuls and rub it in the flour. Squeeze a bit of the flour in your palms, if it holds the shape, you can stop adding oil. If it crumbles away, add more oil and mix.
12. Once you have added all the oil, add in water slowly and start kneading until you have a smooth dough. Adjust seasoning or spices as you continue to knead.
13. Once you have a smooth dough, cover with a wet cloth and keep aside.
14. Grease the chakli press well.
15. Take a ball of dough and stuff it in the chakli press.
16. Press out the chaklis onto a smooth plastic sheet.
17. Heat oil in a kadhai for deep frying. Add a small piece of flour to test the oil. If the piece floats up, the oil is hot enough.
18. Once the oil is hot, carefully pick up the chakli and add it to the oil. Fry in batches and do not crowd the kadhai.
19. Once you have added the first batch of chaklis, lower the heat to a minimum and allow to cook for 4-5 minutes. Depending on the quantity of oil you have in the kadhai and the stove settings, you may require more or less time than what is mentioned. Try a test batch first to get the time and temperature of the stove correct. See notes for more tips.
20. Remove from oil and place it onto a absorbent kitchen towel to cool.
21. Once cool, store in an airtight box.
22. Serve at room temperature with tea.

Notes:

1. To make the chakli gluten free, do not add hing or asafoetida.
2. To make the chakli vegan, you can replace ghee with oil.
3. To make the chakli richer tasting, the oil can be replaced with ghee or butter. Butter can also be used in place of ghee or oil completely.
4. If you are making chakli for the first time, it is better to make the dough in small batches, so that you can correct the next batch if required. Humidity and temperature in your house may change the amount of ghee/oil required in your recipe, a trial batch will help get that quantity right.
5. If the chaklis start breaking when you try to shape them, then add more water to the dough and try again. The water can be added to small batches of dough as you go along.
6. If the chaklis start breaking in the oil while frying, that means the amount of ghee or oil added to the dough is more than required. Add it a little dry flour and knead again.
7. The chakli flour can be stored for 1-2 months in a dry airtight container.
8. The chakli dough cannot be stored and it is recommended to make chakli with fresh dough.
9. Cooking the chakli is the trickiest part, make sure the oil is hot when you drop in the chaklis, after that set the stove to sim or minimum heat. Cook on a low temperature until crispy. The high temperature gives color to the chakli while the low temperature cooks it all the way through making it crispy. It is recommended to make a few trial batches so that you get the temperature and time required in your environment.
10. Allow the chaklis to cool completely before storing, else they may get soft.

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