Schezwan Cut Dosa

The world is going through one of the worst crisis of our times. The COVID-19 has taken toll in everyones lives in one way or the another. Everyone is at home trying to stay safe and keeping their loved ones safe. However, one positive way to look at it is- We all now have ample family time to do that craft with the family that we wanted to do, to play games with the kids, to create that art project, to pursue that hobby that we look forward to, to develop a new skill that otherwise got pushed to the back in our busy lifestyles.

For me, amongst the most satisfying and gratifying thing is that, I am able to help the community through the COVID-19 efforts through my work place and through some personal efforts along with my husband to show a small gesture of gratitude to the healthcare workers, who are the real heroes and fighting on the frontlines. Another bright side is that I am able to pick up on my cooking and blogging hobby again which had become a rare opportunity amidst the busy lifestyle! So expect new stream of posts over the next few days:)

In the current situation....Trying to eat healthy, conserve groceries and still keep the food interesting and delicious is surely a challenge on its own 😟
Repurposing yesterday’s ‘Kobi chi bhaji’ can’t get better than this!😁Mommy happy... little ones happy 😛Try it... you will love it!!! 😋

Yellow moong-Brown rice Dosa layered with schezwan sauce and then stuffed with filling of Sautéed cabbage-carrots and peas😋😋

• Recipe-
2 cups yellow moong dal
1/2 cup brown rice
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp green chili
1 tsp cumin
Salt to taste
Leftover cabbage bhaji ( I added carrots and peas too) Or You can make Chinese style stirred veggies
Schezwan sauce 

1) Soak dal and rice together for 6-8 hrs. Grind into fine paste along with rest of the ingredients.
2) Heat non-stick pan. Apply some oil. Make dosa. Add few drops of oil on the sides. Spread schezwan sauce and add leftover sautéed Cabbage chi bhaji. 

3) Roll the Dosa when golden brown.
4) Serve hot and cut before serving. 

Enjoy!!! 😋😋😋

Indo-Chinese "American Chopsuey"

Indo- Chinese is one of a kind cuisine! It is nothing like Indian nor authentic Chinese. The dish names ...the flavors...everything is unique. What "American Chopsuey" (similar to Chili mac- macaroni with beef) is to a American, is very different from the Indo-Chinese "American" chopsuey. I have no clue...why the word "american' was in the dish name!! Maybe anything 'american' sounded cool ;) In Pune, I have even had a "American" Shev Batata Dahi Puri!!! Instead of puris, the base was something similar to 'Ritz' crackers.
The Indo-Chinese American chopsuey is a spicy-tangy thick soup with vegetables topped with crunchy fried noodles. There are many variations in this recipe too, depending in which part of India you get it!

 So here goes my recipe for a "Indo-Chinese Vegeterian American ChopSuey":

Ingredients: makes 6-7 servings
1 cup Bean sprouts ( I used caned ones, but fresh are great!)
1/2 cup finely chopped cabbage
1/2cup finely chopped carrots
1/2 cup bamboo shoots (I used caned ones)
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup chopped green onions
3tbsp  corn starch
2tbsp Light soy sauce
1tbsp Hot and sweet sauce
1tsp Ginger-garlic paste
1tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp Sambal Olek chili paste
1/2tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2tsp oil
salt
Cilantro for garnish
4-5 cups water

"La Choy" Chow mein noodles

Method:
1) Soup: In a large pot, heat 2tsp oil, add the chopped vegetables and saute.Add the ginger garlic paste and the water.
2) Mix the cornstarch into smooth paste in little water. Add to the above pot and stir. Add the sauces,spices salt and stir. Check for seasoning. The soup should be mildly sour and spicy to your taste.
3) Let it boil till it thickens.
4) Serve hot! While serving, place the soup in the serving bowl, top with the crunchy chow mein noodles, cilantro and chopped green onion.

Enjoy a steaming bowl of this spicy-tangy-crunchy bowl of "American Chopsuey" !

"For Little Tummies"- Mix Vegetable Tikki/ Vegetable burger/Mix Vegetable Tikki Chaat

When you want to sneak in Veggies into the little tummies, something like this really works for my little guy.
The more 'colorful' (with veggies) you make this tikki the more nutritious it will be.I also add various spices to make it more flavorful and mask the 'sulfurous' odor of cabbage.

I use this recipe for making mix vegetable tikkis, mini burgers with vegetable patties, mix vegetable tikki chat etc etc.The 'Cabbage-Corn-Carrots'  along with Potatoes and Ginger-Garlic paste -combo is my favorite,but I also add spinach, black beans, peas as per availability in my refrigerator.

Ingredients:
1 cup boiled mashed potatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped cabbage
1/4th cup finely chopped carrots
1/4 cup corn kernels
1tbsp boiled black beans
1/4th cup chopped spinach
1tsp Ginger-garlic paste
1/2tsp cumin seeds
1/tsp mustard seeds
1/2tsp fennel seeds
1/4tsp Garam masala
1/4th tsp Turmeric powder
1/4tsp chili powder(use as per desired spiciness)
2tsp oil
salt
Plain bread crumbs for coating
Oil for shallow frying

If making burgers: Burgers buns/bread rolls
If making Mix vegetable Tikki Chaat- all the fixings for chat- Chopped onions,tomatoes,tamarind chutney/yogurt, sev etc

Method:
1) Heat 2 tsp oil,add mustard,cumin seeds. Fry the cabbage, carrots, spinach, corn till tender.Add the Ginger garlic paste,spices, potatoes, black beans, salt and fry for few minutes.
2) After cooling, roll into small 'tikkis/ Cutlets'.
3) Roll into bread crumbs and shallow fry in oil on both sides till golden brown.

4) Kids love it with Ketchup.

Veggie Burgers:
Serve the patties as 'mini veggie burgers' in mini bread rolls/ buns
Add Cheese and sliced cucumbers,tomatoes etc

Mix Vegetable Tikki chat:While Serving the above patties as 'chaat', top them with ketchup/yogurt/ Tamarind chutney, chopped onions, tomatoes, Cilantro and Sev.

"Everyday Cooking'- Kobi chi vadi/ Steamed cabbage and gram flour rolls

Ever wonder what to do with that BIG cabbage head you buy at the grocery store? It lies in my refrigerator for an awfull amount of time.Last week after buying the cabbage.....I used the cabbage to make 'Bhaji' , then in chinese type stir fry, in fried rice, in mix veg soup....but still some was left. I remembered the 'Kobi chi vadi' my mom used to make. It is nothing but cabbage, gram flour mixed together....kneaded into rolls, steamed.....cut into discs...and shallow fried. It doesn't feel that there is 'cabbage' in there and is a sure winner for those 'Cabbage dislikers' out there.
Couple months ago I tried a different version of this, but this time decided to stick with the 'known simple' version of it. They came out really good.....I was snacking on those all day long!!!

Ingredients:
1 cup cabbage finely chopped
1 and 1/2 cups Gram flour/ Besan
1tbsp corn flour
1tsp garlic ginger paste
1/4 cup roasted sesame seeds
1tsp tamarind extract+ 1tbsp jaggery mixed in little water
1/2tsp turmeric
1tsp chili powder
1/2tsp cumin seeds
salt
oil

Method:
1) Mix together cabbage, Gram flour, corn flour, turmeric, cumin, chili powder,sesame seeds, ginger garlic paste,salt etc. Knead with the tamarind-jaggery water. The dough is very sticky.Add only as much water as necessary to make semi soft dough. If dough is too hard, vadis will be hard and dry.If too soft, it will be hard to make into logs.
2) With oiled hands, roll the dough into log shape.
3) Place the logs into oiled vessels.
4) Steam in pressure cooker without whistle for 20-25 mins.Let them cool.

5) Cut out thin slices/ discs from the cooled roll.
6) Shallow fry in oil untill golden brown and crisp .
7) Garnish with roasted sesame seeds and serve warm with ketchup.

"Appetizers"-Steamed Cabbage and Carrot Rolls

This morning was pretty relaxed as 'E' did not have to go to school today(He goes only 3 times a week) and also mainly because...we had left overs from last night and therefore did not need to cook for lunch today.Last night made 'Pav Bhaji' for dinner. Whenever I make Pav Bhaji ,'M' always reminds me to make it sufficient atleast for 2 meals.Reasons for that-Well...

It's one of his favorites ... so eating it once doesn't satisfy his 'craving' for Pav Bhaji.Secondly, pav bhaji tastes better the next day...all the flavors marinate and come together well....and lastly...it saves 'cooking' the next day! How thoughtful is that!

So, I had some time on hand...and I decided to experiment on Cabbage I had in the refrigerator.

The whole idea behind these rolls was...kind of 'fusion' of 2 recipes or cuisines. First one is the 'Alu chi vaadi'/Patra Rolls' made in Maharashtra with Colocasia leaves.The second inspiration was 'Paula Deen's (Food Network)Cabbage rolls stuffed with meat.

I used the ingredients that are used to make Patra rolls but used Cabbage leaves instead of Colocasia leaves and instead of using any meat (as in Paula's Cabbage rolls),I used carrots and besan.

There were some modifications I had to do to make Cabbage 'work' like Patra in this recipe-like boiling the cabbage leaves prior to making the rolls and trimming the stems to make the leaf more pliable.

The rolls came out pretty good (Making them was a bit messy though)...and they tasted really delicious after shallow frying (like patra rolls).To my surprise even 'E' liked those!

Here is the recipe of my experimentation:

Ingredients:

1) 4 Whole Cabbage leaves

2) 1/4 cup Carrots(Julienne cut) Fancy name hmm...i.e cut thinly into strips!

3) 3/4 cup besan/gram flour

4) 1/2 tsp sesame seeds

5) 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

6) 1/4tsp tamarind extract

7) 1/4tsp jaggery

8) 1/4tsp Chili powder

9) 1/4tsp Ajwain seeds

10) 1/4tsp turmeric powder

11) Oil to fry

12) Salt to taste

Method:

1) In a big pot keep water for boiling. Carefully cut 4 whole cabbage leaves from a cabbage head.

Immerse them in boiling water for 3-4 mins just to soften them and make them pliable.

2) Mean time make a thick paste of besan,chili powder,sesame seeds, turmeric, ajwain, salt, tamarind and jaggery.The paste should be thick enough to coat the leaf surface.It should taste spicy, and little sweet-sour.

3) Take out the cabbage leaves from water.Let them cool a little bit.With a sharp knife,carefully trip the backside if the cabbage stem.(So that it becomes thin like leaves and easy to roll later)

4) Keep the biggest leaf on flat surface.Apply the besan paste on the inside of the leaf evenly.

5) Keep the next leaf on top of the pasted leaf.Repeat the same and stack the leaves on top of each other.

6) On the last leaf,spread the besan paste and the julienned carrots.

7) From the edges,start rolling the leaves into a big roll

8)Stick the edges with besan batter

9) Oil a plate/pan, and keep the roll on it.Steam the roll in a cooker( without whistle) for about 15 mins.Let it cool

10) Cut the roll horizontally into discs.

11) Shallow fry the rolls/discs in oil till golden brown.

12) Serve hot with ketchup.