Ragda Pattice – BRO’s favourite Chaat

For me Ragda Pattice associates as My BROs favorite snack; so had to try this when he was around for his exaggerative comments “Tai makes this perfect”.  People love Pani Puri or other crispier chaats but this Dude loves Aloo with Lentil gravy.  He drools on these delectable snacks and I can challenge anyone on his behalf to win against him for number for pattice :P

Normally this is the most common street food eat out I have with my BRO but wanted to make a Fiesta for him, obviously to get many more flattering comments :P

Ragda:

You Need:

• White vatane (Peas): 1 cup – soaked overnight
• Asafetida: one pinch
• Onion: 1 qty – finely chopped- minced
• Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
• Ginger-Garlic-Green chili paste: 1 tbsp
• Red Chili powder: 1 tsp
• Coriander powder: 1tsp
• Tamarind – Jaggery paste:1tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Cumin Seeds: Tempering
• Oil: Tempering

You Do:

1. Pressure Cook the soaked vatane with two- three whistles along with pinch of salt and Asafetida.
2. Heat Oil in Kadai, Temper with cumin seeds , after spluttering is done add the onion.
3. Caramelize the onion, then add all the stuffs in BLUE.
4. As the oil separates from the mix add the boiled peas- mash it a bit before adding, along with tamarind-jaggery paste along with salt to taste.
5. Simmer for 5-8 mins. Once cooked garnish with some coriander leaves.

Potato Patties – Aloo Tikki:

You Need:

• Potato: 2 large Boiled, Peeled and Grated
• Bread Slices: 2 – soaked in water for couple of mins and squeezed out all water
• Green chilies: 2-3 finely chopped
• Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp
• Red Chili Powder: 1/2 tsp
• Coriander Powder: 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Powder: 1/2 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Ghee: to Shallow fry

You Do:

1. Mix all ingredients except ghee, knead a thick dough.
2. Make small patties , size and shape the way you like it.
3. Shallow fry them in ghee.

How to Serve :

Take couple of Patties on the serving dish, top it with some Ragda . Garnish with tangy and spicy chutney along with some Shev and Finely chopped Onion. I used Tangy chutney – Tamarind + Jaggery + Dates and for Spicy chutney – Mint + coriander + Green chilies. We had it as a dinner so thanks to flash along with the snaps :(

Sending this to EC for her MLLA-19 event the brainchild of Susan and Thanks to My BRO I gave this a try @ home over the street eat out so this also goes to Arundhuti’s Gourmet affair.

P.S. : While editing this post I got an update @ my Google reader with Gujrathi Raghda Patties version @ Sanjana’s so Do Dive in there too :D

Finger Millet Porridge – Nachna Ragi Milk

Madhuram and Indira’s  JFI: Raagi , gave my Memory cells some kick : how many Raagi (Nachna in Marathi) dishes do I know? One ; yeah I don’t recollect Mom preparing anything except Nachnyacha Dudh – Raagi Milk – Finger Millet Porridge. So obviously I will post what I know the best but I am eagerly looking forward for its roundup and would love to see what all can be prepared from this healthy grain.

The mentioned Porridge was a summer special drink at our place, every summer evening we BRO and Me used to get this huge glass full of thick Porridge, not that we complained cos anything with season specialty always attracted us. With the innovative summer drinks coming in I will always cherish our traditional summer drink :)

This will give about 2 cups of porridge.

You Need:

• Nachna (Finger Millet - Raagi) flour: 1 -2 tbsp
• Water: 1-2 cup
• Sugar: 3-4 tsp
• Milk: 1 cup

You Do:

1. Mix Finger Millet flour with water and bring it to boil. Stir in between so that no lumps are created.
2. Once the color changes to transparent brown, add sugar and stir it.
3. Later add the milk and bring the mix to boil. Done.

Serve hot as a thick drink in a cup or as porridge in a bowl.

A-W-A-R-D-T-I-M-E  <:-P

Thank you so much Deepa , Malar and Faiza for this lovely award now about Seven interesting things about ME, I had already posted about it here. As I have already bored you enough with my 7 interesting things I will give 7 interesting sights around the city that I’m staying from last couple of years.

My last two weekends were totally busy with chilling –eating-playing @home with cousins and other with sightseeing my neighborhood with The Foodie’s relatives.  So about my first weekend about chilling – cooking and eating I am posting about it turn by turn ; so thought of mentioning Seven Interesting highlights I saw during my last weekend. So here it goes:

Pune is famous of its surrounding Dams, so what if it doesn’t have beaches tourist and even locals visit these Dam as they go for Chowpatty. I clicked these local boys taking a dip in one of the most famous, pleasant and easily accessible Khadakwasala Dam.

I consider Sinhagad as the favorite Picnic Spot in Pune. Trekkers worship this but lazy person like me love the proud feeling of being at the top without much exercise :P. This is the prominent Tanaji Malusure point ; renowned Maratha warrior climbed this steep cliff with vertical rock face and fought to win this fort during which he lost his life. Famous lines by Shivaji - "Gad aala pan sinha gela" – “We  won the FORT but Lost the LION”

All views from or around Sinhagad are exquisite but for Foodies like us this is the best view you can get. Kanda Bhajji – Onion Fritters also known as Khekda Bhajji (Crab style fritters); these are the typical Maharashtrian style fritters. The chill surrounding and the hot fritters- what else you want in life !

We find this huge Birla Ganpati Idol blessing all the people travelling from Mumbai – Pune J It is gigantic yet saintly.

Bushi is the popular dam made waterfall in Lonavala during rainy season. But now the waterfall was desiccated and you could find such lone survivors staring at the drying up water.

We always find such valley points at hill stations; Lion Point gives this scenic view.

We were keen to visit the ancient Buddhist architecture: Karla Caves, but these were closed so got this outside view.

So passing this lovely award to few others .. Rohini, Sushma, Pari, Ushnish Da, Shubha, SE  and G … I know most of you must have received this award number of times, so do try to give more than your seven interesting things about you !! I’m totally looking forward to read on :)

P.S.:I am going on one small weekend trip; this time to Konkan part of the country so catch you with details of it soon :)

P.P.S.: I am back from Konkan beach trip, with more details later, couldn’t post this before the trip with packing and all… the trip was AWESOME !!

Muthiyaa : Fist Snacks

How lucky can you get!
Preparing a new dish for guests guinea pig cousins – dish which you haven’t heard or never tried, and you get applause for it =D>
Yeah... it was one of those lucky day for me :D

The Foodie had mentioned about Methi Muthhiya for some time now, as I never heard\had these earlier I never ventured the idea of preparing them. But over the weekend we thought of preparing some new starter with those fresh green Methi. This is new and crispy starter – snack item and very healthy as prepared with one of the most versatile green vegetable.

You Need :

• Fenugreek (Methi) Leaves: One Bunch
• Corn flour: One measure
• Gram flour (Besan): One Measure
• Turmeric Powder: ½ tsp
• Red Chili Powder: 1-2 tsp as per taste
• Coriander Powder: 1 tsp
• Carom Seeds (Ajwain - Owa): 1tsp
• Cumin Powder: 1tsp
• Baking Powder: pinch
• Salt to taste
• Water: If needed - To prepare thick dough
• Sesame Seeds: 2-3 tbsp
• Oil : 2-3 tbsp

You Do:

1. Wash fenugreek leaves with loads of water and chop it coarsely.
2. Mix everything in BLUE along with 1-2 tbsp of sesame seeds and 1tbsp of oil and knead into a STIFF dough out of it, using water only if necessary.
3. Now the literal meaning of Muthiya seems “Muthi size” - Fist Size. Take small balls of the dough in you fist and make a fist size –shape “Muthiyas” – small rolls. 
4. Steam these for about 20-30 mins, till they are cooked. I think you can also use Idli maker, but The Foodie persisted to steam these the traditional way. Take a Look here.(Put the rolls on colander over boiling water till the water evaporates to half)



these huge hands or fists are not mine :P 

5. Once cooked, rolls become a bit stiff.Let them cool to room temperature. If you feel the size is a bit big you can cut them to half.
6. Heat Oil in Kadai, splutter the sesame seeds and then shallow fry the Muthiyas till golden brown. 

Done ! We served as starters but they are healthy snacks too, Serve with chutney or sauce.

This seems a wonderful way to disguise the not so liked green vegetable, hence sending this to to CFK-Creative food for picky fussy eaters hosted by Sara’s corner and the brainchild of Sharmi.

Sesame Seeds being the integral part of this dish sending this to Priya’s Cooking with seeds – Sesame Seeds.

Rohini’s Bookmarked Vegetable Pulav:

During this Fiesta for my cousins, I wanted to make something more than my normal routine Pulav. Rohini’s Vegetable Pulav was intriguing because of its mentioned marinate of vegetables with all spices.

Verdict: I totally followed her version of Pulav and loved it instantly. The marination does give the royal feel to the Pulav.Everyone loved this party style Pulav and especially the spicy feel to all vegetables in it. Thanks Rohini , this was just the start to your many more bookmarked recipes =P~

Pulav goes to Anita’s APS-RICE event.

Gossip wins over Tadka ..

Results Out !!

Thank you all for your valuable inputs to decide on my header name. They say ”Change is the Only Constant Thing” , So thought of asking you all if you are ready for some change and Clear and Loud Answer was NO ! Here it goes …
So Kitchen Gossip is here to stay :D
So Let’s celebrate this with some Chill Winter Drink

“Fruit of the vine” : Grapes

Especially during winter we get fresh, delicious and juicy RED- BLACK grapes. The Foodie wanted to do some usage of our Centrifugal Juicer present with the Food Processor.. so he went vroooommm  with loads of Grapes and some Pomegranate seeds to prepare Indian Homemade Wine =D>

You Need:

• Black Grapes: 1/4 kg
• Pomegranate: 2 small ones

You Do:

Nothing Much to do mix grapes and pomegranate seeds and use appropriate centrifugal juicer – as this gives not only the direct pulp of fruits plus forces the juices away from the pulp.

This was especially done to use my juicer blades, one of my least not used Kitchen property. Personal Tadka will display such kitchen properties whenever possible. Would love to know what type of juicer you all use, and how frequently is it used?

Monthly Mingle this month is @ Sudeshna’s  Cook Like A Bong for Winter Vegetables and Fruit, so here goes my entry.

B’bye 2oo9 !

Dear 2009,

You are one of my favorite years, y? I got engaged, married and honeymooned and yeah my favorite hobby – Personal Tadka was born this year!

Thank you for some lovely – sweet – awesome – delicious – yummy – spicy - delectable memorable moments of my Life ! (I know these have been my most used adjectives this year- will try to use new words soon ;) ).

I won’t select any tops out of 38 odd posts here, I cherished each of them, I worked hard to prepare the dishes the way I wanted and worked harder to post about them!
I still recollect …. (being into IT field I’ve this tendency to mention everything in bullets :P )

• My joyous face (as if I won a Noble Prize) when Personal Tadka won its first award <:-P
• The proud call I made to my mom when I prepared the perfect Sambhar and Solkadi (Maa main pass ho gaya), :)]
• The Foodie’s amazed look when he had the Mexican Tacos and Parsi Omlette (yeh kya hain??) :-O
• My satisfactory smile when The Foodie prepared his favourite Bhutte ka kees , Moong pakode or Bharwa Mirchi (Good work Honey…) :x
• My Happiest Giggles when I prepared my favorite Pani puri or Pav bhaji ! :D(Yayyayayay !!)

Along with these I also reminisce …….. I cluttered my kitchen, read too many recipes, tried many more, stalked many food blogs, crazily clicked every other dish that I prepared, drafted too many posts to post, participated in every other food blog event, whimsically got up early morning to check out comments of posts, refreshed my google reader after every one fourth of a min to check new updates from fellow bloggers and I have done many more weird stuffs – thanks to Personal Tadka. You had truly been a sexy year and 2010 promises to be more sexy and hot! :-*

Sigh !! You had been an eventful year, bidding you goodbye with a portugal sweet !
Thanks !! Miss you ! :(

B’Byeee!!!! :-h

Recipe #7 for Nupur’s Marathon, one of the most fun and exciting event I participated this year !

Arroz Doce

While browsing for Rice Pudding, I stumbled on these Portugal Rice Pudding Recipes.I was impressed with there step wise clicks and beautiful description.I had immediately bookmarked it and prepared over the weekend.Its our very own Rice Kheer with egg in it :D
Verdict: I loved the thick essence of pudding and overall deserty look ! Though it was mentioned that the desert tastes better when cold, I preferred the hot version. I clicked these snaps after I refrigerated it, hence the dry look. I normally love puddings so loved the egg essence in our very own Indian Kheer, but The Foodie found the egg essence as a distraction to the kheer and was of the opinion that it would have tasted better without egg :P
P.S.
Throughout in my post, I dint thank you- yes you – My lovely blogger- non blogger friends who visit my space once a while and make it very special for me! Personal Tadka strives for better year – thanks to you  ! As I always say – Hope to see you often around next year :)
Love you !

Happy Successful Delicious Scrumptious Year Ahead !!

P.P.S, Sending this post to one more last event – Best Of 2009 by Srivalli :D and Priya’s A.W.E.D-Portuguese originally started by DK's AWED