Salem Thattuvadai Set

 

There are so many triggers for nostalgia and to me food definitely comes up in the top few. There was this street snack I used to enjoy as a high school kid usually after a tuition class or a weekend trip to the "shopping complex".  The Salem famous Thattuvadai Set. This such a simple yet tasty and healthy thattai sandwich. A thattuvadai or thattai is a thin crispy  deep fried snack made with rice flour and urad flour. This is also known as nippattu or chekkalu in neighbouring states. This healthy sandwich involves 2 chutneys (red and green) and a some crispy vegetables. I was never a big fan of beetroot and that too raw....no way. However just in this one instance even raw beetroot tastes great. This was one snack which I haven't tried (does 30 years count as long?) a long time. Fast forward to last week I found these yummy crispy thattais made by one of my friends here. So without further ado here comes the recipe.

Ingredients

Red Chutney

1. Dried Kashmiri chillies - 3 to 4 (for the colour)
2. Dried red chillies - 2 to 3 (for the heat)
3. Sliced Red onions - 1
4. Garlic cloves - 4 to 5
5. Tamarind (softened) - 1 teaspoon
6. Tomato - 2
7. Salt to taste
8. Vegetable oil

Green Chutney

1. Coriander leaves - 1 cup
2. Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
3. Green chillies - 8-10
4. Grated coconut - 2 table spoons
5. Salt to taste
6. Ginger - 1 inch

Salad

1. Carrot
2. Beetroot
3. Onion
4. Green Apple (this was my twist - raw mango is used typically)
5. Lemon
6. Chopped Coriander leaves 

And of course a lot of thattais. Preferably the bite sized mini ones.

Method

Red Chutney

1. Blend all the ingredients of the red chutney together to a smooth paste.
2. In a wide sauce pan heat 2 to 3 table spoons of vegetable oil and saute the paste for a few minutes until oil separates.

Green Chutney

1. Blend all the ingredients of the green chutney. (Yup nothing more just blend).

Salad

1. Slice the onion into thin slices.
2. Slice the remaining vegetables in equal amounts.
3. Mix them up in a bowl.

The Set

1. Take a thattai and smear it with the green chutney. Repeat as many as needed.
2. Place the salad on the thattais and sprinkle lemon juice over along with chopped coriander leaves.
3. Take thattais and smear it with the red chutney and place on top of the salad.

Best served on a piece of newspaper to get the authentic feel and consumed as quickly as possible.

Enjoy!!

C

Schezwan Chilli Chicken

Schezwan or should I say Sichuan cuisine is known for it's spiciness thanks to extreme climate of the Sichuan province in China. As with many other Indo-chinese adaptations here's my version of Schezwan Chilli Chicken made using home made schezwan sauce. It's a great appetizer / entree that has a slight amount of sauce in it. 

Ingredients

1. Diced chicken - 500 gms - I normally use chicken with bones for this one.
2. Schezwan sauce - 3-4 table spoons. Something you can keep adding later if you want to increase the "heat".
3. Finely diced red onion - 1
4. Dried red chillies - 10-15
5. Egg - 1
6. Corn flour - 2 table spoons
7. Vinegar - 2 table spoons
8. Sugar - 1 teaspoon
9. Tomato sauce - 1 table spoon
10. Spring onions - for garnish

Method

1. Marinade the chicken with egg, a table spoon of schezwan sauce and corn flour. Let it marinade for at least 30 minutes.
2. In a large wok - heat a few table spoons of vegetable oil.
3. Add half of the minced onions and saute for a few minutes.
4. Add the schezwan sauce and the red chillies and saute for a few minutes.
5. Add the vinegar and sugar and mix it up.
6. Add the marinaded chicken and cook for about 15-20 minutes.
7. Add the remaining onions and saute for a few minutes.
8. Finally add the tomato sauce and mix it up well.
9. Garnish with spring onions and serve.

Enjoy!!

C

Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms - Something that the American restaurants blessed me with on many occasions.  Stuffed mushrooms along with corn meal biscuits are an amazing combination. A good part is we can experiment with it in so many different ways for the stuffing. Few years ago I tried masala stuffed mushrooms.  This time it's a bit more traditional but with my own twists. It's a great option for an appetizer / entree and goes very well with a glass of red. :) 

Ingredients (these measurements for about 15-20 mushrooms)

1. Mushrooms – preferably the wide ones that you can stuff after removing the stem
2. Garlic – minced (about 3-4 cloves)
3. Onions – finely chopped (1/2)
4. Cream Cheese (100 gms)
5. Parmesan Cheese – grated (1/2 cup)
6. Mozzarella Cheese - grated (1/2 cup)
7. Sundried tomato - minced (optional) 3-4 tablespoons
8. Italian herbs - 1 tablespoon
9. Butter - 30 gms
10. Coriander leaves – finely chopped - 2 table spoons
11. Bread crumbs - 3-4 table spoons
12. Black Pepper powder - 1 table spoon
13. Olive oil spray

Method

1. Remove the stem of the mushrooms and chop them finely. This is of course going to be the core of your stuffing.
2. Heat a sauce pan and melt a few tablespoons of butter.
3. Saute the onions, garlic, mushroom stems and sun dried tomatoes for a few minutes with Italian herbs, black pepper powder and salt to taste.
4. Keep the mixture aside and bring it close to room temperature.
5. Using a fork, mix the cream cheese, bread crumbs, parmesan.
6. Add the cooled down mushroom mix into the cream cheese and mix well.
7. Use a teaspoon of this mixture and stuff the de-stemmed mushroom cups.
8. Garnish the stuffed mushrooms with a sprinkle of parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
9. Place the mushrooms on a baking tray lined with aluminium paper.
10. Spray them around with olive oil. This is optional.
11. Bake the mushrooms in an oven at 175 degrees Celsius for about 5-7 minutes – just until the parmesan starts turning golden (or you start smelling a burnt smell – whichever comes earlier).
12. Allow the mushrooms to cool for a few minutes before serving.
13. Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy!!

C

Schezwan Chilli Baby Corn

Schezwan sauce is such a versatile sauce that can be used to make a variety of dishes.  You can find the recipe for the sauce here. The 1st in those series in Schezwan baby corn. This works very well as a starter / appetiser/ entree / side dish - whatever you like to call. :) You can of course adapt this to make many dishes to replace the baby corn with any bite sized chunky food item - such as paneer, mushrooms, cauliflower (for the veggies) or chicken, prawn or fish. You can also prepare noodles and fried rice - which will be coming up shortly. This is definitely not for those who can't consume spicy food.

Ingredients

1. Baby corn - 400 gms
2. Schezwan sauce - 3-4 table spoons
3. Maida (All purpose flour) - 4 table spoons
4. Corn flour - 2 table spoons 
5. Eggs - 2 (for pure vegetarians you can exclude the eggs)
6. Soya sauce - 3-4 table spoons
7. Tomato ketchup - 2 table spoons
8. Sugar - 1 tea spoon
9. Vinegar - 2-3 table spoons
10. Minced garlic - 1 bulb
11. Dice onions - 2-3 table spoons
12. Kashmiri dried red chillies - 8-10 (you can use normal dried red chillies too)

Method

1. Depending on the size of your baby corns, you may cut them up into 2 or 3 pieces.
2. In a wide bowl mix 1 table spoon of the sauce with a pinch of salt and marinade them for about 30 minutes.
3. Prepare a slightly thick batter with the all purpose flour, corn flour, eggs, 1/2 tea spoon of salt, 1 table spoon of soya sauce and water. Make sure you add water slowly to make sure you don't have a watery batter.
4. Add the marinated baby corn into the batter and mix well.
5. In a large wok heat up enough oil (any oil will do) and deep fry the baby corn coated in batter few at a time until it turn slightly brown.
6. Once done transfer the excess oil to another bowl leaving about 3-4 table spoons of oil in the wok.
7. In high heat let the wok smoke a bit.
8. Add the garlic and onions and saute them quickly for about 30 seconds. Make sure you don't burn the garlic.
9. Add the red chillies, sugar and vinegar and give it a good mix.
10. Add the deep fried baby corn pieces add tomato sauce and soya sauce. You may add a bit of salt to taste.

Enjoy!!

C

Chicken Lollipops

Chicken Lollipop known by many different names - Chicken Drumstick, Drums of Heaven etc., has been huge hit recently at home while we visit an Indian restaurant nearby. My kids call it "the lollipop restaurant". This is an awesome indo-chinese appetiser (entree) that I tried ages ago and almost forgot about it since not many restaurants outside India served this delicacy. So after a few visits was inspired to recreate it at home. It took a few tries and knowing what part of chicken was best to use. This goes best with Schezwan sauce which will be coming up soon at Chetty's Kitchen.

Ingredients

1. Chicken wings - at least 4 per person (unless you want a dog fight at home). I bought 16 for the four of us. Make sure you buy the smallest chicken wings possible and the one without the shoulder piece or the winglet.
2. Corn flour - 1/2 cup
3. Plain Flour (Maida) - 1 cup (the ratio between Cornflour to Maida should be 1:2 whichever measurement you use)
4. Egg - 1
5. Ginger garlic paste - 1 table spoon
6. Salt - to taste
7. Lemon juice - 2 tea spoons
8. Light Soya sauce - 2 table spoons
9. Kashmiri chilli powder - to taste
10. Red food colour - 2 pinches (totally optional)

Method

1. Take a chicken wing and feel out the 2 bones. There will be one thin bone and a thick one. Run a knife around the thin bone, scrape the flesh and remove the bone (by twisting it out).
2. Run the knife around the remaining bigger bone and scrape the flesh down.
3. Push the flesh down towards the other end of the bone and roll it up into a ball (loosely). The lollipops are formed now.
4. In a large bowl mix the ingredients for the marinade - ginger garlic paste, lemon juice, soya sauce, kashmiri chilli and salt.
   
5. Marinade the lollipops in the above mix for at least 30 minutes.
6. While the chicken is being marinated prepare the batter with the egg, corn flour, plain flour, kashmiri chilli powder, salt and food colour. Prepare a fairly thick batter by adding water slowly. 
7. Heat a deep sauce pan / kadai with vegetable oil. Enough oil to have at least 3 to 4 cms depth. Once hot move the heat to medium / low heat.
8. Dip the chicken lollipop in the batter and roll it smoothly to maintain the ball shape and immerse them in the hot oil.
9. Cook on medium heat for about 7 minutes occasionally turning them around.
10. Drain and serve hot with a spicy Schezwan sauce. You can decorate the bone tips with aluminium foil if you would like.

The result is a crunchy on the outside but juicy on the inside Chicken Lollipop!!

Enjoy!!

C

Indo Chinese Spring Roll

Spring Rolls - this dish takes me back about 3 decades ago when I had tasted it for the first time at "China Town" restaurant in Salem. Since then it was always one of my favourite starters to order whenever we went to a Chinese restaurant in India. Some of my family may still remember the short "stint" I did at the kitchens in Savera Hotel, Chennai in 1993 - right after high school. That is where I learnt how to make a spring roll which I replicated a few times in few of my relatives houses. I couldn't cook this dish at home since eggs were still not allowed in the kitchen then. Fast forward a few years I had the opportunity to try spring rolls in USA. It was never the same - it was bit more crispier, but the fillings were bland. For whatever reason I stayed away from this dish for decades - until recently it popped up in my memory urging me to try this again. I couldn't quite remember the ratios of certain ingredients and fumbled a bit initially but got it right the 2nd time around. So let's get going with this yummy appetizer / entree (depending on which side of the globe you are).

What goes in

Wrapper

1. Maida / Plain flour - 2 cups
2. Corn flour - 3 cups (note the ratio between Maida to Corn flour should be 2:3)
3. Eggs - 2
4. Baking soda - 1 tea spoon
5. Salt - 1 tea spoon
6. Water - 4-5 cups (enough to create a runny batter)

Filling

1. Carrot  - 2 or 3
2. Cabbage - 250 gms
3. Capsicum / Bell Peppers - 1 or 2
4. Red Onion - 1
5. Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves
6. Salt
7. Black Pepper powder
8. Vinegar - 1 table spoon

Feel free to add any eggs or thinly sliced chicken should you chose to add any protein to the filling.

The Method

Wrapper

1. Mix all the ingredients of the wrapper in a large bowl and create a runny batter.
2. Heat a large wok - preferably non-stick wok.
   
3. Pour about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of batter on to the wok and keep swirling it around until the batter creates an even thin skin around the wok.
4. In about 20 seconds you should slowly blow around the edges and the wrapper / skin should separate out of the wok. Use your fingers to slowly remove the wrapper out of the wok. You should not be using any spatula / utensil for this.
5. Store the wrappers on a plate dusting it with corn flour between the wrappers.

Filling

1. Thinly slice / shred the vegetables 
2. In the same wok heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil and saute the minced garlic with the vinegar.
3. If you are adding chicken or egg, now would be a good time to add and saute until cooked well.
4. Add the vegetables and saute for a few minutes with salt and pepper to taste.

Spring Roll

1. Place about 1 tablespoon of the filling in one end of the wrapper and slowly roll it into a cylindrical roll. After 2 or 3 rolls fold the sides and roll it up so that none of the filling is exposed.
2. Use egg wash or corn flour slurry to glue the last bits of the wrapper so that it sticks to the roll firmly.
3. In a large wok fill enough vegetable oil to be able to deep fry the spring rolls.
4. Once the oil is hot enough deep fry the rolls until golden brown.
5. Chop them up diagonally or just as cylinders and serve hot with tomato or sweet chilli sauce.
6. You should have a crisp outer layer with some soft and crunchy layers of filling inside.

Happy Cooking!!

C