JFI Chickpea: Homemade Chana Chor Garam Experiment

Chana chor garam is one of those wonderful street side snacks that no one I know even attempts to make at home. This five rupee slightly salty and sour snack with minute onions and tomatoes was the highlight of the walk we used to take at the lake near our house.

For those unfamilar with it, Chana chor garam is made by flattening Desi Chickpeas or Kala chana into disks and then frying it. It is served in paper cones with condiments like onions, tomatoes, black salt, lime juice etc. Packed with protein and vegetables this snack is healthy and filling.

Now in the US, Haldiram markets Chana chor garam but these are generally the size of a penny and thick - about 1 mm. The ones the hawkers at the lake near my house sold were about an inch in diameter , really thin like a cornflake and they just melted in the mouth.

So for JFI Chickpeas, I tried a brief and alas not too successful experiment to recreate the thin and light version of chana chor garam. I soaked the desi chana(both black and green - with visions of a multicolored and very pretty chana chor garam) in water overnight and then squished it using a small katori or cup as seen in the picture above. I then deep fried these in a small pan of oil, and then put salt and cayenne pepper on the results, as in the picture below.

The result was pretty tasty but i cannot call it chana chor garam. More like desi chana deep fry! . I also tried squishing them after boiling them, i got them pretty thin then but had no way to separate them from the squishing instrument aka the katori :)

Anybody with a better idea or having inside info on how this thing is made, do let me know!

JFI Chickpea: Logo & Bataka Sev Farsan

India is the largest grower in the world. Chickpeas are grown in the drier regions of India - namely UP , MP, Rajasthan, AP, Maharashtra (source: http://www.crnindia.com/commodity/chickpea.html)

Gujarat has a rich tradition of snacks - called Farsan- which to me seems wholly dominated by chickpea flour or besan. Examples in the photo montage above are( from left to right and top to bottom)Sev,Boondi,Gaanthia, Fafda, Khaman, Khandvi and an aloo bonda pretending to be a Dakor Gota! This variety of chickpea flour snacks arises perhaps from Gujarat's dry, arid climate which emphasized staples over fresh fruits and vegetables.

My mom is particularly partial to the phulwadi- also made from besan. A typical gujarati breakfast consists of perhaps one warm dish like Bataka Poha accompanied by strong sweet tea and many of these very farsan doing double duty. We used to have fafda and jalebi on dussehra morning 4 o clock just after finishing 6 hours of garba.

This post's recipe, Bataka Sev is Sev made from Potatoes and Besan.It is from a book called Aneri Vangio by Nayna Shah. Loosely translated Aneri vangio means Different Dishes. I just learnt recently that this is kind of like the Samaithu paar for newly married Gujarati girls.


Bataka Sev:
1 Potato boiled, and chilled in the fridge for abt 24 hrs(no baking potatoes or small new potatoes- they are too waxy)
abt 2 tbsp Besan
salt
hing
red chilli pwd
pinch of clove & cinnamon powder


Grate the potato finely. Add all the seasonings. Add just as much besan to make a round ball of dough. Use an Acchu or Press to extrude the sev and deep fry in hot oil until the bubbles die down.


































































This is a quick logo that I came up with for JFI Chickpea, Please feel free to use it in any size that you prefer.








The first montage was made from these sources.
Photo credits:
1. Khandvi
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Khandvi.jpg
2. Fafda
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiragkpatel/278779630
3. Khaman
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Khaman.jpg
4. Gaanthia
http://picasaweb.google.com/aviral.bansal/Girnar#5032560184875677234
5. Sev
http://www.desisweet.com/images/SEV%20MILD%20FIN%20SM.jpg

Mexican Series#3 Corn Cups

You can have fun with your corn tortilla dough by making easy and beautiful corn cups for great appetizers. This recipe idea is from a book called Hor doeuvres by Erik Treuille and Victoria Blashford Shnell.

Ingredients:
1 recipe Corn tortilla dough
23/4 inch biscuit cutter
Mini Muffin Pan
Oil Spray like pam






















Roll out corn tortilla dough between two sheets of Cling film. Remove top cling film. Cut circles in the rolled out dough with the 23/4" biscuit cutter. Carefully transfer circle of dough to the Mini muffin pan. Spray with pam, Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. In any case, remove before brown. Sometimes, if your circles have different thicknesses, some cups brown before others - so keep an eye on them.

For my daughters birthday I made these in three flavors, cheese, spinach and beetroot. For cheese, replace 1/4rth cup of the masa with Parmesan cheese, for spinach and beetroot - replace the water with pureed spinach and beetroot respectively. The spinach and beetroot affect baking times, so keep an eye on the cups in the oven.

I have seen some versions of this recipe online that used cooked , store bought tortillas. I tried that out, But I felt that those resulted in really inferior quality cups.

Serve these with a gorgeously unhealthy - dare i say it - VELVEETA based dip( Recipe from Epicurious)! and top with fresh tomato salsa. If velveeta makes you queasy, replace the velveeta with a good cheddar cheese + 1/4 cup heavy cream + 1/2 tsp sugar. You wont get the velvety :) texture of velveeta, but it will still taste fierce. I skipped the beer and the refried beans in the recipe and added a lot of jalapeno.

Fry A Thon: Mixture Mom style

Mixture is a quintessential South Indian Snack, and it is exactly what its name implies: A mixture of little bits of everything : nuts, puffed rice, raisins, green chillies, curry leaves : Sugar and spice and all thats nice. Salty sweet with a hint of fennel, so unhealthy and yet so irresistable. Making it at home though is a Frying Marathon. My mom usually makes this every Diwali, but H. likes it so much I make it atleast once a month. The price of love i guess. Now, it is available at stores, but if you have the patience, try this recipe.Not only are the results infinitely better, it is endlessly customizable.

Some ingredients I buy readymade, but even then this recipe is basically a BIG assembly job and one where going through the instructions is worth it.

Ingredients:

Store Bought Ingredients:
1 14 oz bag Masala Boondi
1 14 oz bag Sev
2oz Fennel Sweet: Basically a cake sprinkle type candy with a fennel seed inside.

Other Ingredients:
11/2 cups Thin Poha
1/2 cup Peanuts
1/2 cup Cashew Nuts
1/2 cup Raisins
Diamond Cut : Little pieces of flavored fried dough that melt in your mouth
Ingredients:1/2 cup Maida,1 tsp Black Pepper Powder, 1 tbsp Crisco


Flavorings:
10-15 Curry Leaves
3-5 cut green chillies
Turmeric
Red Chilli Powder

Equipment: I set up a frying station to do this. Look at the picture to the left. A deep pan and a completely stainless steel meshed strainer ( large) are ideal. If you have a strainer with a plastic rim like me, you will have to be very careful that the rim does not ever touch the hot oil.

I first mix the dough for the Diamond cut. Take the 1/2 cup of maida , rub the shortening into the dough. You can do this with your fingers. Add pepper powder and salt to taste. Now add cold water slowly to the dough and add as little water as possible to make a soft dough.(Think pastry dough). Cover with cling film and Referigerate.

Now back to the strainer oil set up. Keep the following ingredients ready on the side while the oil heats up, the thin poha, curry leaves, green chillies, raisins.

For the puffed rice: Once the oil is hot, put some ( about a couple of tablespoons) thin poha into the strainer and dip it into the hot oil. Within 1 or two seconds you will see the poha puff up AND the sizzling of the oil will stop. Shake the strainer to remove excess oil and put the poha on to bounty sheets or paper to drain the oil. Donot overcrowd your strainer with poha or your rice wont puff up. Other thing is the oil has to be really hot or the rice doesnt puff up. Dont worry if if your first batch doesnt puff up, it tastes quite good.

Once the rice is done, put in the curry leaves in the strainer, Dip into the hot oil. Once fried , reserve on paper.

Next come the Green chillies. Deep fry them too.

Last are the Raisins. Deep fry the raisins and reserve.

Peanuts: Toast the peanuts in 1 tbsp oil over low heat until golden and just browning. Season with salt and red chilli powder , reserve.

Cashew: Toast the cashewnuts in 1 tbsp oil over low heat until golden and just browning. Season with salt and red chilli powder, reserve.

At this point you might want to change the oil in the pan.

Last thing to make is the Diamond cut. Divide the diamond cut dough into four parts. Roll out one part dough with a rolling pin ( belan) like you would a roti. Cut it with a pastry wheel or a knife with a sharp edge into little diamonds. You could also do any other shape you like. Deep fry.

Assemble all the ingredients, the boondi, the sev,the fennel sweet, the diamond cut, the fried poha, the cashews, the raisins, the peanuts, the green chillies and the curry leaves. Take 1 tbsp oil in a pan, when hot add the turmeric and red chilli powder. When the turmeric and red chilli powder are no longer raw, in about a minute, pour this oil on the assembled ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Taste for salt and adjust.

Customizations: You can sub unpuffed corn flakes for the poha, adjust the green and red chilli powder according to your heat level. Its easier to begin with lower levels of heat and salt , because you can always add them.

Whew!

I would recommend making a huge batch, because of the assembly involved the size of the batch is not a problem. You can even skip a few ingredients like the diamond cut, the boondi or sev or even the cashews - depending on what you have on hand and how much time you are willing to spend. Dont skip the seasonings though.

Onion Rings

Recipe from Michael Chiarello Foodnetwork

Aloo Bonda

Ingredients:

Boiled Potato
Green chilli
Coriander leaves
Red onion, finely chopped.
Salt
Turmeric
Besan

In proportion the red onion is only about 1/10th of the potato. Mix all the ingredients but besan very well. Make small balls and referigerate for about ten minutes. Makes for easier handling while frying.

Mix besan and water to a consistency a little thinner than dosa batter.

Fry and serve with green coriander chutney. Or serve on pav.

Apple Chips

Ingredients
Golden delicious apples
Caster / Confectioners Sugar
Oil
Sesame seeds
Red Chilli Powder

Slice the apples horizontally into slices around 1 mm thick. As far as possible maintain uniform thickness, because different thicknesses will mean different baking times.

Take a baking tray, line with wax paper or parchment paper. Thoroughly cover with the confectioners sugar. Place the slices on the tray in a layer. Donot overlap the slices of apple. Cover with a generous sprinkling of confectioners sugar. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and red chilli powder for some kick. Alternate toppings could be fresh cinnamon powder or even ground ginger powder.

Bake at around 250 degrees F for around 2 hours or until you see the apple dry up and turn a nice deep brown. Take the tray out of the oven, if your slices donot turn crisp from the caramelized sugar within five minutes and stay mushy, you know that your slices are too thick.

Also watch out for burning. After one hour in the oven, keep checking every 15 minutes.

Oil a tray or some parchment paper. As soon as you remove the tray from the oven, transfer the chips to the oiled parchment. If the sugar crystalises before you can transfer all the chips, just place the tray in the oven again for five minutes.

Store in an airtight container in the referigerator to keep the slices crisp.

Sweet Potato Chips

Scotch Eggs

Recipe:
1 Pound yukon gold potatoes
salt
pepper
red chilli powder
As many boiled eggs as you want
1 beaten egg
Parmesan cheese
breadcrumbs

Donot use boiling potatoes for this recipe as the outer shell gets very soft when fried and does not hold its shape.

Tips for boiling and peeling eggs:
If you want a perfect ovoid shape for your egg, pierce either the top or bottom of the shell with a sharp thin pin, like an office document pin or safety pin. Doing so will push the air bubble inside the egg out as the egg cooks. Donot worry about egg leaking through that hole, the hole is miniscule. This ensures a perfect ovoid shape.

To boil the egg perfectly without a green ring, keep the eggs in normal room temperature water and boil for ten minutes. After exactly ten minutes, turn off the heat, cover with a plate and let cool for ten minutes.

To peel the egg easily , fill a bowl with icecubes. Drain water from the pan in which the eggs were boiled, give the pan a couple of shakes with your hand to crack the eggs slightly.

Tip the eggs into the ice bath. Give it five minutes. You should be able to peel the eggs with a smooth and nice finish and not have pitted craters like the surface of the moon.

Back to Scotch Eggs:

Mash up the potatoes nicely, add salt, black pepper and red chilli pwd to taste. Make a ball of the potato mixture in your hand, flatten it, place a boiled egg in it, and wrap the potato mixture around it. Does not have to be very neat. Roll this ball in first the egg wash, which is a raw egg whisked with a little water to form a homogenous mixture. Then roll in the parmesan and bread crumb mixture. Deep fry.

Not the healthiest snack i know, but pretty darn tasty!

These cannot be frozen before hand.

Happy Diwali!!