Atte ka Halwa / Maida Halwa / Sweetened flour with nuts and raisins

Its so easy to get side tracked with  so many "other stuff " to do in life. Thus is the story of my blog. Side tracked to the bottom of my 'to do' list and feeling the pressure of neglect for the past few months!
Too bad of me know!! I am not going to promise anything, I know I have made promises to get back on track, but never could keep up with any! I will just try!!

With Diwali around the corner and with the on going festival season, I am sure everyone must be preparing to make lots and lots of sweets and hots...ahh you know what I mean! What?? Diwali is next week? was my reaction when I thought about it. Well I guess its been on my mind, but didn't think it would sneak upon me like this. Like a few of you know, how I like to prepare well ahead for Diwali, but this time I am still so much behind. I just wish I could get up and go do something! :) Well I will be be surely doing something soon...but you guys be sure to go through my Diwali posts for something to make which are easy and quick.

Here today I am sharing Maida Halwa. This brings on nostalgia. I remember this from my childhood, when I was in Trinidad, where they used to make this or should I say this dish was a very important part of any festival celebrated. And I used to love it, never got bored of it once! I like it little bit drier and less sweet than usual. Hence I use less water.
Here I wrote a recipe using on 1/2 cup flour, since I make it in very less quantity at home, otherwise I have to end up eating it in the end.
As with any halwa, ghee makes a very big difference...How much you add is the key. Just to keep everything on the healthier side, I used Ghee in combination with olive oil.



Ingredients:

1/2 cup All purpose flour, Maida (dry pan roasted)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
pinch of cardamom powder
1 tbsp cashews
1 tbsp raisins
3 tbsp ghee, clarified butter + 1 tbsp extra
3 tbsp olive oil

*Adding color is optional*

Method:

Dry roast maida, APF in a pan on low heat, stirring continuously, till it starts to turn color to light brown. Remove from  heat and keep aside.
Melt Sugar in water on medium heat. Then turn down to low or sim. Add the pinch of cardamom powder.
*You can add color to the sugar syrup if needed*
In 1 tbsp of ghee, roast the cashews and raisins to light brown and keep aside.
Put the maida back on medium heat.
Add the 3 tbsp ghee and stirring continuously until its all absorbed into the flour.
Add the 3 tbsp oil in a similar way, stirring continuously, it will seem gooey.
Stirring again, add a ladle of sugar syrup slowly, one ladle at a time, giving it time to get absorbed while stirring continuously. Do this till all the syrup is done.
If you prefer drier halwa, add lesser syrup.
Add the roasted cashews and raisins and mix it up well.
Serve warm or cold.
Enjoy!!!

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Tomato Choka or Chonka

I don't actually know where this dish originated from...but I only know that my Mom learned this dish when we were living in Trinidad.
Its a simple tomato dish with lots of tomatoes, onions, green chillies and garlic. Yummy to the core that is!
So simple and takes very less time to make. Make it when you are tired of all the vegetables and want something easy and quick. Goes perfect with chapathis and rotis.
Its more like a comfort food to me...I just enjoy the soupy texture and garlicky flavor of this dish that I end up licking it clean!! :))

Since its also a dish from my childhood days, it also close to my heart and my stomach! :)
Its probably not even close to the exact 'tomato choka' recipe but since there could be many variations...I remember my Mom learning from one of our neighbours back then...so its kind of different from the regular recipe...but this is what we at home at used to and have grown up liking....

Ingredients:

4-5 ripe tomatoes, preferrably juicy ones, chopped
1 big onion, chopped kind of big
5-6 green chillies, slit
4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
bunch of curry leaves
coriander leaves, chopped
1/2 tbsp oil

salt to taste
pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp jeera or cumin seeds, dry roasted and ground to powder

Method:

Heat oil in a pan.
Saute the garlic till slightly brown.
Add the curry leaves, onions and green chillies and saute till translucent.
Add the tomatoes and cook till soft. Add the chilli powder, turmeric and ground jeera powder.
Let cook for 5 min before removing from heat. To keep it juicy, add water. It shouldn't be too thick.
Add the chopped coriander leaves.
Serve hot with rotis, chapathis or parathas... Enjoy!!!

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Spicy Mango - Trinidadian style

Yummy Spicy Mango...I can still taste the spice in that thing....Got this at the Carribean festival I went to a few days back...bought back childhood memories....
While in Trinidad, on weekends when we had nothing much, all we did was make this spicy mango and devour it!!
Back then we made it with crisp raw mango, only now I know that it can even be made like this.
The raw mango gave it that katta spicy soury flavor, this had a sweet spicy flavor. Both are equally enjoyable. There was even another fruit we used back then - a ripe 'Pomorac' it was called, another name Trinidadian apple. Had a pear shape, but red skin and white and crisp inside! It was also very delish when made like this!
This spicy mango has very few ingredients and is made with the hottest pepper you can find around. In my knowledge, the "Scotch Bonnet" pepper is the spiciest, "Habanero" being the second.
This has Scotch Bonnet in it. This pepper even has a very different flavor and smell to it and boy is it spicy!!!!
When my Mom first didn't know about this pepper, she made daal using couple of whole pepper which had to be dumped cos it was very spicy!!
Its very easy to prepare. Has only the following ingredients: Garlic, lemon juice, salt, Scotch bonnet pepper and cilantro, everything roughly chopped.
That day was the best....enjoyed the whole cup myself, cos no one wanted to have it after one piece!! Well we all even had Kobbari Bondas (whole coconut), Sugarcane and SITAPHALS (Custard Apple....Ahh...I miss this fruit...very difficult to find in US).

I will make it sometime and post more pics....I think crisp green apple will also taste good...what say!?

Here is the WIKI on Scotch Bonnet Pepper! Read and Enjoy!!!

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Aloo Pie - Food from Trinidad, WI

Trinidad is a small country in the West Indies where I spent a small part of my life when my Dad was working there. I have some fond memories of this place which include the school, where we lived, friends and also the food. Though it was such a long time ago, my Mom still makes a few dishes which she learned when we were living over there. Even after 20 years, we still enjoy eating them like we used to eat then There are plenty of dishes which are traditionally Trinidadian dishes, but we make only a few like aloo pie, buss up shots, aloo channa, tomato chowka etc.,. at home, in which aloo pie is like an apple pie but with aloo or savory potato filling.  Aloo pies look like the south Indian sweet called kajjikayalu which have an outer crispy layer and sweet stuffing inside, this is just the opposite, soft outer covering with savory potato filling.
Buss up shots are nothing but rotis which are made huge and soft and broken up into pieces, thus the name buss up shot or bust up shots which is served in any temples ceremonies or even in weddings, anywhere you go in Trinidad, you are sure to find this simple and yummy food. It is usually eaten with aloo channa. I still remember the flavor of the Trinidadian pelau and the street food called doubles with channa curry. I intend to give these dishes a try very soon. I first will write about the ones which we regularly make at home.

I remember I used to buy hot hot aloo pie from the school cafeteria and mango achaar from the school stores and secretly enjoy them. The way we make at home is probably not authentic but is adapted from it. When I decided to blog about this, I searched online for the actual recipe. It was then when I realized that the way we have always made it at home for the filling that is, is not the traditional way. So here and here is where you can find the traditional recipes, but here is how we make it at home.
For the filling, we use only 5 ingredients, which are mixed together to make the filling. The outer layer is dough made of the all purpose flour and baking powder. It is then fried in oil and savored hot hot!!
It is a simple recipe and takes about an hour from kneading the dough , to making the filling to stuffing the filling and frying them.

Ingredients:

For the filling:

3 medium sized potatoes, cooked in microwave or boiled and mashed
1 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
6-7 garlic cloves
1/2 cup coriander leaves, packed tightly
8-10 green chillies (depends on your love for spiciness, add more or less)
salt to taste
(Traditionally, black pepper, hot sauce are also added, which we have omitted)

For dough:

3-4 cups of all purpose flour
2-3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
enough water to knead into dough
(I have seen some recipes with yeast too, but I have never added yeast to my dough)

Method:

For dough:

Knead all the ingredients together into a soft dough and keep aside for atleast 20 min.

For filling:

Grind the jeera, garlic, coriander leaves and green chillies into a paste and add this to the mashed potato with salt and mix together till evenly mixed.

Assembly:

Take a small golf sized ball of dough, roll it out into an oval shape.
Put some filling in the center of the dough.
Using some water, seal the edges.
When the oil is hot enough (not smoking hot), drop the pies in. They will fluff up and turn golden. Turn over to get even coloring on both sides.
Remove onto a paper napkin.
Serve hot with tomato sauce, chilli sauce, ketchup. Enjoy!!!

Tip: They taste good when fresh and hot. It can be enjoyed as a snack or as a tiffin for lunch or dinner. You can decrease the size and make it an appetizer item.
I like said, I have seen many recipes for aloo pies, but this is how my Mom adapted it 20 years ago and we have enjoyed it this way and how we still make it at home.

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