Muddhi Chatpata

During the lockdown ,to handle cravings for snacks is  very tedious ! 

Every evening the children  want a different item .As a mother,I 
need  to think about their oil intake,carb intake and so on..

I try to design a snack item which is tasty , healthy and nutritious :) 

One such item is  puffed rice chaat (muddhi ). In my state of Odisha, 
this is a very popular evening snack .It is liked by both old and the 
young at the same time. I have designed this recipe keeping in my 
mind the taste of my sons....They don't like tomatoes, whereas 
tomato is an essential ingredients in all puffed rice items .

Here goes the recipe-

Ingredients-

Muddhi (puffed rice)-4 glasses

Boiled potato-1 large (cut into small pieces )

Green chilli -1 medium (chopped)

Cucumber-1 medium (Chopped)

Carrot-1 medium (Grated)

Onion-1 large (chopped)

Peanuts-10-12 (incase someone has an allergy ,one may skip )

Corriander leaves-1/2 cup (Chopped)

Lemon-1/2 lemon juice

Mustard oil-1Tab spoon

Salt-To taste

Chat Masala-To taste

Chilli powder-To taste

Coconut -1/2 cup (grated )

Sev/bhujia- 1 glass

Method-

In a clean dry bowl, add all the items one by one. Add the puffed rice and bhujia at the end .

Mix well and serve immediately .

Chennapoda Pitha (Cheese cake )

Pandemic !!!! It has always been a word in the dictionary for so many years till Covid-19 came into existence. No one would have ever imagined that we have to face such a situation in our lifetime. Stay home and stay safe is the new Mantra of the year 2020 :) During the normal times ,the usual routine was to cook breakfast and lunch in the morning. Then off to work, school and college. In the evenings cook dinner which was usually not a very grand affair on the weekdays. Now with the new mantra of 2020, the lady of the house has to cook a minimum 3 proper meals which includes a breakfast, a proper lunch and a proper dinner. With the children around 24/7 a nice snack item also has to be made in the evenings.... One can therefore imagine the plight of the lady of the house who has to do everything from office work to cleaning to mopping to cleaning utensils etc. and then cooking in the summers when the temperature is very high during the mid-day. It is absolutely a hell lot of work for a lady :( It is absolutely necessary that all the members of the house help her with the daily chores ! One evening, when I had just done with my chores, my family wanted to have something sweet for dessert.... I was like totally upset, angry and disgusted with the idea to make something special for dessert. I kept on reading a book on Mughals of India . Then all of a sudden an idea stuck to me, I can make Chenapoda Pitha ......Yeah !!!;) I had made cottage cheese (paneer) at home in the morning... Half of my job was already done. I felt really happy that now its going to be an easy task ....:) So here goes the recipe - Ingredients - Paneer/Cottage Cheese - 300 gm Cottage cheese water - 2 to 3 tablespoon Suji/Semolina - 3 tea spoons Sugar - 4 table spoons (you can add more or less according to your taste ) Elaichi powder/Cardamom - 1tea spoon Cashews and Raisins - Handful Ghee (Clarified butter) - To grease the baking dish Method- In a clean bowl, take the cottage cheese, sugar, semolina, elaichi powder and the dry fruits. Mix well till everything is incorporated well. While mixing, you need to add 2-3tablespoon of the cheese water. In this way the paneer will be moist and soft. Now grease a baking dish with ghee and set the oven to 180 degrees for 20 minutes. Pre-heat the baking dish and then pour the paneer mixture evenly. Bake it for 20 min or till the upper layer is golden in colour. Let it cool down completely to the room temperature. Then de-mould the Cheenapoda Pitha from the baking dish. Cut it into small pieces.. Now time to relish the super delicious cheesecake from Odisha the land of Temples. You can have it at room temperature or you can slightly refrigerate it for sometime and then enjoy it .... Stay home and stay safe and stay blessed ! Reply Forward ReplyForward

Ghuguni Chaat

GHUGUNI CHAAT

It’s been a long three years since I wrote my last blog. Now that my children are all grown up particularly my elder one, I thought it is the right time to go to my blog again! My elder one is now in 12th grade and the younger one, in grade 5....

Last year my family and I shifted to a new housing-society after living in the old society for nearly 8  years. We shifted in October and then all of us fell ill by turn, perhaps due to our inability to adjust in the new environment. With this severe handicap, we had to set up the new house; send both the children to schools, make the new house congenial for the elder boy so that his study wasn’t disturbed and he was in good shape to attend to various school tests as well. 
You all can understand my plight!!! Anyways, now everything is fine. Touchwood guys 

It is a very quiet and beautiful housing society and everyone is very friendly, enthusiastic and sportive. Last Saturday there was a Cricket match in our society where my husband and both my boys participated and I had put up a chaat-stall. This particular chaat is a hot favourite of people in my state,Odisha, and my neighbouring state, West Bengal.

It was a wonderful event and all liked my Chaat immensely. This prompted me to write about it. So here goes the recipe -

Ingredients-

White peas -1cup

Potato 🥔-1 medium

Tomatoes -2 medium

Onion -One large

Oil-One table-spoon

Spices -

Salt -To taste

Turmeric powder-one tea-spoon

Chilli powder-To taste

Guguni masala - Dhania /Jeera /red chillies

(Two table-spoon Jeera , one table- spoon Dhania , Eight red-chillis. Dry roast all the three spices in a frying pan in low flame. It shouldn’t burn. Take it out in a big plate, let it cool down; then grind into a coarse powder)
Ginger -A small piece

Method -Soak the white peas in water overnight. Pressure-cook the white peas in water without adding any salt or any masala till it’s done. (If you add salt/masala while boiling, the peas will break and will not retain its shape.)

Keep aside the boiled peas. Put oil in a Kadhai (deep bottom pan), add  onion, sauté till it changes its colour into light brown. Add the ginger paste, sauté till the raw smell goes, add the chopped tomatoes. sauté nicely, till done. Add salt to taste,turmeric powder and chilli powder. Mix well, add to the masala one cup of water so that the masala does not burn. Add the boiled peas and mix well. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.Add the boiled diced potatoes and mix well. Let it simmer for five minutes with a lid cover on the Kadhai. Add the ghugunimasala and mix well.

Serve it as a chaat item in the evenings. Take a plate, pour the ghuguni, add chaat-masala, ghuguni masala, dhania chutney and Dahi . Enjoy!!

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