Jalapeno Popper Dip

You all know my love for fried foods and the mildly spicy, cheesey jalapeno poppers are no exception! Honestly, I don’t deep fry often though, because of health reasons and because my whole house smells like a vat of oil afterwards. Well, leave it to Kevin to bring the taste of poppers into a cheesy gooey dip without frying (not that its probably any less calorific!)! If you haven’t been yet, hop over to Kevin’s blog Closet Cooking. I have followed him for years, way before I had a blog, and in my mind he is “The King Of Dips”. 😀 I’m definitely on board with that.

I do not usually put mayonaise in my dips because I never buy it, and don’t use it for anything else either. Here’s another cheapskate frugal tip – Next time you go to subway or other sandwich places where they give you packets of mayo, don’t throw them away… You can use them in things where you just need a little, like this one. FYI, mayo does not contain cream or milk ingredients but it does usually contain eggs.

I also love the taste of buffalo sauce. Basically, hot chili sauce! I wanted to incorporate it into my dip without it taking over.

Here is what I did:

• 5-7 large fresh jalapenos, seeded and diced very small
• 3 spring onions sliced thinly
• salt to taste
• 6 oz cream cheese at room temperature(soft)
• 1/4c strained or greek yogurt
• 1/4c mayonnaise (3 packets hehe)
• 1/2c +1T cheese, grated – I used kerrygold ivernia which is like a cross between cheddar, gruyere and parmesan- any of those would work and so would blue cheese!
• 1T grated parmesan
• Some splashes of hot sauce/chili paste
• 1 handful of panko breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350

In a small amount of olive oil, saute the green onions and jalapeno to soften and bring out the flavors. Add a pinch of salt. Let cool a bit while you grate the cheeses and prepare the other ingredients.

Mix the 2 Tablespoons of cheese with panko breadcrumbs and keep aside. Mix the cream cheese, yogurt, and mayo together till incorporated. Stir in the jalapeno mixture. Then stir in the 1/2 grated cheese. Spread in your baking dish and then sprinkle with the chili paste. Use a fork to smooth it over the top layer of the tip. Top with the bread crumb mixture. Spray with an oil spray (optional) to crisp the bread crumbs. Bake for 20-30 minutes until hot and bubbly!! Serve with tortilla chips. The ones we used are made from blue corn… they are not artificially colored. 🙂

Sending to Hearth and Soul Blog Hop

**I know I’ve been a little inactive lately, but I plan to get back into things soon!! **

Malai Kofta

This rich, creamy dish is one of our favorites, with the fried (of course) koftas. The sauce is usually thickened with ground cashews and finished with a drizzle of heavy cream. Vegetarian koftas are deliciously spiced and made with a mashed mixture of potatoes, peas and raw onion, made into small balls or ovals and deep fried. What’s not to love??? But someone had a smart idea….. instead of deep frying the kofta, she used her paniyaram pan. Brilliant! This is probably the best recipe for malai kofta I have tried.  Please see the recipe at red chillies blog. The main thing I changed was I do not grind the masala with milk, I use water. And then added cream at the end.

I was planning to make this for valentines day, even though I do not celebrate much, especially the commercial aspect of it! But I did want to make some treats (typical foodie isnt it?!). However, due to unforseen circumstances this was made today. The malai, though, had a mind of its own….

Do you see what I see?

A Heart!

The drizzled cream formed a heart shape. It was totally unintentional. Ahhhh. Want to know what is even more romantic? I had help! Doesn’t it feel nice to gather with loved ones in the kitchen and  put together a meal?

The yummy koftas!

 

So even though I’m a party pooper, kill-joy, scrooge mcduck…. I gotta say it (belated)

Happy Valentines Day!

Sending this to Aipi’s Bookmarked Recipes and Hearth and Soul, and Maggie’s DHHD,  with love.

Kadhi Pakora (spicy fritters in yogurt gravy)

Kadhi is a nice change of pace from the usual tomato-onion curries, and great when you are running low on veggies in the fridge. Creamy, luscious sauce with crispy pakora and steaming hot rice. Comfort food at its best! I got this recipe from my friend Shubh, many years ago.

For rice, I have been trying to include wild rice. You can hardly notice its in there and you get more protein from wild rice as well as four times as much vitamin E and six times as much as folate than brown rice! Note that it does take more time to cook than white rice, so plan accordingly or cook it separately(which I did).

For Kadhi:

• 1c yogurt (not nonfat)
• 1/3c besan flour
• 4c water
• 1/4 t turmeric
• 1/2 t red chili powder
• 1 inch grated ginger
• salt
• 1/2t amchoor (add this only if your yogurt is not sour)
• ghee
• mustard seeds
• 3 green chilies sliced

In a bowl put the yogurt and mix it with a spoon until smooth. Then blend in the besan flour and be sure that there are no lumps. Do this before adding water. Mix in ginger, spices and then the water. It will be very thin, but will thicken once its cooked.

Heat ghee (I think there are a few recipes in which ghee really is a lot tastier than oil, this is one of them!) and splutter the mustard seeds. Then add green chilies, stir for 30 seconds. Then reduce the heat and add in the yogurt mixture all at once. Increase heat again to medium. Stir constantly, scraping the bottom and sides until the mixture comes to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the mixture is thick and the besan does not taste raw.

For pakora:

• 1/2 small red onion sliced thinly
• 1c red cabbage sliced thinly as possible (you can make this with just onion too)
• 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed roughly with pestle
• salt
• red chili powder
• water
• besan flour
• pinch of baking soda

Combine the onion, cabbage, spices and salt in a bowl. Keep aside for 10 minutes or more so that the cabbage releases some water. Add pinch baking soda and enough besan flour till the cabbage is well coated, then sprinkle in water, enough to make a very thick batter (it should not be pourable, but able to be scooped easily with a spoon). Heat a sufficient amount of oil in a pot for frying. With your hands or a spoon drop ping pong ball sized mounds into the oil. Do not pack the dough tightly or the pakora will be hard. Its fine if they are not perfect spheres, in fact the onions/cabbage that stick out and get crispiest are my favorite part! Keep the flame slightly above medium and after adding pakora reduce to medium. Cook until golden brown and cooked on the inside.  You may need to adjust the heat for your stove/pot.

Add some of the pakora to the kadhi to soak in, and keep some on the side for the crispy contrast. 🙂