Bhel puri

This might be one of those recipes considered taboo to traditional bhel puri makers, due to the order of preparation- mostly. If that does not matter, do give it a try. Its quick.

Time to make something with puffed rice aka pori in tamil. I did not have a thing for chaat ever, but P loves it. Especially the Bombay street food types. When he walked in the door today, remarking how bone chilling the evening was, I decided to throw this together. Used a packet of leftover Haldiram mixture, screaming to be consumed instead of papdi - the small flat crunchy disks you see in big bags in Indian stores.

Ingredients (listed in order of preparation)

Coriander leaves - a handful, washed
Green chillies - 3 (I used Thai peppers)
Dates - 6 (soaked in water for few minutes)
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Chaat masala - 1.5 tsp

Onion - 1 small, red onion for strong flavor if desired
Tomato - 1 medium
Potato - 1 large, I used a russet potato boiled, peeled and roughly chopped

Mixture - any brand, 1 cup (or) papadi broken up
Puffed rice - 5 cups

Sev and chopped cilantro - just enough for garnish

Preparation Method

Take a large mixing bowl. Puree the cilantro leaves and green chillies together, in the blender with some water to make a runny mix. Pour in the large bowl. Add the spoon of tamarind paste, puree the dates and add it in. Next add the salt, chilly powder and chaat masala. At this point in time, taste test it. Now is the best time to make changes. Make sure the heat, sweet, salt and sour are on their way to town- adding the puffed rice and potatoes will tone it down significantly.

Now add the onion, tomato, potato, the mixture and puffed rice. Give them a good mix.Scoop to serving bowls and add the garnish.

Overall, I liked the spice punch and burst of flavors.

Things I would improve on, especially if its going to make it to a guest/party table rather than a snack for just us.

1. Toasted the puffed rice, just a 5 minute dry roast to give it that warmth and crunch.

2. Added in a handful of roasted peanuts for some quality protein.

3. Cranked up the sweetness a tad bit. Probably 2 more dates would have done it.

4. Gone low on the cilantro for the puree, my bhel looks very green not aesthetically appealing. I went overboard on the cilantro since I believe its a great detox agent and wait for opportunities to pile it in hidden ways as this.

Thanksgiving

It’s getting to be a food blog lately. While food is surely my passion – I prefer it stays as one of the passions and not the only. Need to write and think about other matters. 

As I was hanging K’s coat and bag at her class today, the teacher caught me off guard and said “Mrs. Pramod, are you celebrating the harvest?”, when circle time was in progress. Teachers are notorious for these types of things- whether you are the student or the parent. I tried to put a straight face, make the right eye contact to the children and answer to the best of my knowledge what we were up to for Thanksgiving. My answers were accepted with little smiles. Then she went on to explain the idea of sharing, friends, family and being grateful to the 3 year olds around her. Driving back home, I thought about recent happenings.

With the move to India coming in 2 weeks, I have been drowning in a pool of mixed emotions. Somewhere in those waters I need to find the virtue of being grateful for life over the last few years. As a matter of fact, my way of dealing with this big change has been – not to deal with it at all. And that will have its repercussions. Anyways, am grateful for God’s faithfulness. Through various events this year, God has been faithful in keeping us through everything that happened. Turns out, P is thankful for being humbled through our circumstances this year. Grateful to God for making us learn these aspects. Thankful because we are troubled yet not distressed, perplexed but not in despair (2 Corin 4:8,9). The icing on the cake was when K remarked that she is thankful for mommy's hugs. It made one happy mama.

So, what are you thankful for today?

That being said, we hope to make it to Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s place. Got to be an interesting feast or feat may I add, considering they have planned a traditional spread? I have been assigned/signed up for Corn Bread and Pumpkin Pie – both of which I never made before. The hostess certainly places a lot of trust in me. Will blog my experiences with the encounter and maybe add a few pictures. Need to fancy up this online space. The blog looks SO blah right now and I can’t stop talking about food! Whatever!