Chunky Guacamole

I didn't de-seed the Jalapeno because we wanted it spicy. If you like it less spicy , de-seed and remove all the white veins and then mince it.
You can substitute lemon juice for lime juice. Make sure the end product is little lemony. This way if you are not serving the dish right away, avocados won't turn black and will taste good even after 2 hours.

I added white onions as I didn't have red on hand. You can use white but red onions will give a very distinct flavor the guac that white just cannot :).

Ingredients:
Guacamole - 4 semi ripe ones cubed
Red onion - 1/2 cup diced fine (almost close to a mince)
Tomatoes - 1 cubed
Garlic - 1 clove minced
Jalapeno - 1 minced
Lime juice - 4 - 5 6 Tbsp.
Salt - to taste
Fresh ground pepper - Pinch

Procedure:
- Mix all the ingredients except avocados.
- let it sit for 5 mins and then add the avocados. Mix well and serve.

Salad Fritters

Very weird title I know. See that bean and potato salad post below. I had a little bit of it left over. Prabu was home last week and I wanted to make a new snack. What did I do? I made deep-fried fritters with it. Yummy I tell you :)

Ingredients:

Left over Bean and Potato Salad - 2 cups
Self-Rising Flour - 1/2 to 1 cup
Minced onions - 1/8 cup
Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
- In a food processor, blend the salad and the flour to make a dough like mixture.
- Mix onions to this and make them into small patties. Deep dry them in the oil till golden brown.

Prabu says this is his favorite way of eating a "salad".

Potato and Paneer stuffed Anaheim Chilli Peppers

Mom is a big fan of mirchi bajjis. She picked the peppers from the market today not knowing they were Anaheim peppers and that their skin is as thick as a bell pepper. But we still ended up with a new and awesome snack. I asked Prabu how he liked it. His response, "Please do make it again and again and can I have the leftover for lunch tomorrow." Alrighty then :).

Also I never cook paneer at home because I don't like the big chunks of it with no taste. But I found a new way to use it. I grate it:). Mind it though, paneer when you buy from store is soft and hard to grate. Freeze it for couple of hours till it's solid and then it is very easy to grate it.

Ingredients and Procedure:

For The Stuffing:

Onions - 1/4 cup chopped fine
Russet potato - 1 cubed and boiled
Paneer - 1/2 cup grated to a fine powder
Ajwain - pinch
Quick Mint Chutney - 1 Tbsp.
Besan/chickpea Flour - As needed
Turmeric - pinch
Oil - As needed
Salt - to taste

- Heat Oil in a pan and saute onions till soft.
- Add ajwain and quick mint chutney to this.
- Add boiled potato cubes and cook for a minute.
- Add grated paneer and 1/4 cup of water and cook till everything is well mixed and comes to a creamy consistency.
- Let this mixture come to room temperature.
- Add besan to this few teaspoons at a time to get it thick enough so you can fill the chillies.

Prepping the Chillies:
Long Chilli Peppers - 9 deseeded
Besan/chickpea flour - 2.5 cups + 1/4 cup
Baking Soda - Pinch
Asafoetida - Pinch
Garlic Powder - 1 tsp.
Salt - To taste
Turmeric - Pinch
Oil - for Deep Frying

- Mix Besan, Baking Soda, Asafoetida, Garlic Powder, Salt, Turmeric.
- Add water little by little to get it into a thick consistency.
- In a wide plate spread the 1/4 cup of besan.
- Stuff the chillies with the potato and panner mixture.
- Coat them with the dry besan.
- Dip them in the batter and deep fry them till golden brown.

This is what the final outcome looks like. pardon the pictures. I got my new camera and I am still playing with the settings :).

Zucchini Pancakes or Cutlets

I am a big fan of Ina Garten. I am in the process of starting to collect her cook books and bought her "Barefoot Contessa At Home" couple of months ago. I made Zucchini pancakes from that book earlier and it came out good. It's a very simple recipe with grated zucchini, eggs, flour and stuff.

However, I made these yesterday without eggs as my mom doesn't eat eggs on Thursday's ( don't even ask;)). I added a 8OZ can of washed cannellini beans that I had on hand. I have to say it was very very good and was able to make V try one. he came back asking for more :).

Ingredients:

Zuchhini - 2 grated
Onion - 1 small chopped fine
Cannelini beans - One 8 Oz can drained and smashed (not puree)
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp.
All purpose Flour - 1/2 to 1 cup
Baking powder - pinch (optional)
Salt and pepper - to taste
Oil - for pan frying

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a wide skillet
- Mix all the ingredients except flour.
- Add flour little bit at a time to get the Zucchini batter to a thick consistency. It should be thicker than usual pancake better.
- Make patties and pan fry them turning after 20 to 30 seconds on each side.

Serve hot with any hot and sour sauce.

The picture of these cutlets standing up has been taken with an inspiration from Jai and Bee's Sweet potato Crisps :).

Easy Peasy Spicy Toast Suji's Style

Say that title fast 10 times ;). I used whole grain white bread for this, you can even use wheat bread if you like.



Ingredients:

White bread - 6 slices edges cut off and sliced into 4 squares
Tomato - 1/4 cup deseeded and chopped fine
Onions - 1/4 cup chopped fine
Green Chillies - chopped
Cheese - American cheese slices ( optional)
Salt and pepper - to taste
Mustard Oil - 2 Tsp.

Procedure:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix onions, tomatoes, green chillies, salt, pepper and oil in a bowl and keep aside.
- Spray cooking oil in a baking pan and arrange the bread pieces.
- Scoop little bit of the onion and tomato mixture onto the bread slices.
- Bake them in the oven for 8 to 12 minutes or till bread is lightly toasted.
- If you are adding cheese, add them few minutes before you take the toast out of even so you get melted cheese and not burnt cheese.

Curried Corn stuffed Yellow Chillies

I found these chillies in my super market the other day and decided to try them. They are super spicy with the seeds inside but once you deseed and take the veins out, they are very good for stuffing. I was debating between a cream cheese filling and others. Decided to go with corn. I used Mccormick's curry powder. As far as I know, none of the Indian curry powders taste that way. use very little of the curry powder as it tends to overwhelm the dish.

Ingredients:

Yellow chillies - 6 washed, deseeded and split in half
Corn Kernels - 1 to 2 cups
White onion - 1/4 cup diced fine
Curry powder - 1/2 tsp.
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil - as needed
Pam or any oil for spraying the baking sheet

Procedure:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Boil the corn and just mash them lightly ( don't make it into a mushy paste)
- Heat oil in a skillet. Saute onions till soft and add corn to this.
- Add curry powder and season with slat and pepper to taste.
- Remove the mixture from heat and let it come to room temperature.
- Spray a baking pan with oil and arrange the chillies. Season them salt and pepper and brush them lightly with little bit oil.
- Add the corn and onion mixture to these chillies. It's usually 1 to 2 tablespoons of mixture per chilli.

- Bake them for 10 o 15 minutes.

You say Tandoori Chicken, I say Suji's special Chicken

I made this dry fry yesterday. why? Because I just felt like it:)

Marinade:
Yogurt - 2 cups
Garam Masala - 2 Tbsp
Red Chili Powder - 1 Tbsp
Turmeric - 1/2 Tbsp.
Ginger and garlic paste - 1 Tbsp

Mix all the above ingredients and keep aside

Ingredients:
Chicken - 2 lbs cut into thin strips
Oil - as needed
Salt - to taste

Procedure:

Coat the chicken well with the marinade (do not add salt ) and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

You can the grill them or even bake them in the oven. I stir fried it in the pan with olive oil and sprinkled salt towards the end that way the meat doesn't become too tough.

Salsa? Pico De Gallo? Say What?

I am not sure what I want to call this. It's just a mix of 6 things:)

Avacado - 2 minced
Tomatoes - 1 small finely chopped
White onion - 1 small finely chopped
Green chillies or jalapeno - Minced ( Per your spice level)
Lemon Juice - to taste
Salt - to taste

Mix everything in a bowl and serve it with tostito scoops. Tastes awesome for an evening snack or as an appetizer for your cinco de mayo party;). And no, no cilantro for me please:).