Aloo Tikkis – Potato Patties

by Trisha Vaz
The last couple of weeks have just passed me by. There are so many goodies that I’ve whipped up during this time, but I just haven’t gotten around to posting any of them yet. To top that I had the craziest weekend. We had the family over for lunch on Saturday, it was so much fun having them over, that’s 11 people and 3 dogs in all. Once they left, I had to focus on a real quick clean up since I had to complete an order of a kilo of handmade liqueur chocolates and a couple of dozen thank you bars for a Monday pickup. By the time Monday  arrived, I was ready to sleep it off. Of course, that was not possible. Even though things were so hectic, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Since I had very little time to put meals together in the last few days, I whipped up some of the quick but good stuff. One such treat is the Aloo tikki, or a potato cutlet. Its comes together fairly quick and is really tasty. I served it as a side but I think it would be really tasty in a vegetarian burger as well. This tikki is fairly versatile and you can add a few finely chopped veggies to it if you’d like. You need to add some bread crumbs to make these a little sturdier than they would ordinarily be. It also adds a lovely crunch to the tikkis.  This would be a great way to serve the kiddies their veggies, in a burger. I think they’d enjoy it. Try it out and let me know how it goes.
Aloo tikkis before frying
Aloo Tikkis

2 potatoes, washed, boiled and mashed
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 green chilly, finely chopped (optional)
Some fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Salt to taste
A pinch of chat masala (optional)
1/2 tsp red chilly powder or to taste
A couple of pinches of cumin powder
1-2 tbsp bread crumbs
Oil, for frying
Mix all the ingredients except the oil well. 
Check for seasoning and adjust if needed.
Shape into small cutlets.
Shallow fry in a pan.
Serve hot.

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Recipes, Sides, Starters / Appetizers, Vegan

Hasselback Potatoes

by Trisha Vaz
I was amazed by the Hasselback potatoes every since I first saw it. Initially I though it would take some fancy knifework or some exotic equipment to get a potato to look this pretty. After a little reading up, I realized how wrong I was. Once, I figured out how easy it was, I decided to try it out. I think I can eat potatoes in almost any form – baked, roasted, boiled or fried. I have yet to meet a potato I didn’t love. What made this different was the slices of garlic between the slices of potato. Everything about this was just right. I am quite eager to make these for the next dinner party I throw. I know it will look stunning on the table.

Hasselback Potatoes

1 potato per person being served
A few cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
Salt, to taste
Crushed black pepper, to taste
Some butter, a small knob for each potato
Olive oil, to drizzle over the potatoes
Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
Wash the potatoes well and scrub them.
With the skin on, place the potato on a cutting board, with the flat side down and cut into slices almost all the way, but not seperating the slices from the base of the potato. You are basically making slits without cutting the slices through.
Place a slice of garlic in each gap between the slits of the potato. 
Arrange the potatoes in a baking dish. Place a small knob of butter on each potato and drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes are crisp on the outside and the flesh is soft and fluffy on the inside. 
If you want, you can place a small knob of butter when you get it out of the oven. Serve immediately.
The next time, I’m going to sprinkle some chives over the potatoes midway through baking.
This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday
Mouthwatering Mondays
My Meatless Mondays
Mangia Mondays

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Recipes, Sides

Bananas Foster with a twist

by Trisha Vaz
Ever since I was a little girl, bananas have been my favorite fruit. I absolutely love them. As a kid, my mum would sometimes make stewed bananas or banana fritters for us once in a while, which I absolutely loved. Besides that, we only ate it straight or in a fruit salad or with jelly. When I took up my first job at Standard Chartered Bank, I used to work with this girl Deepti; I wonder what shes upto these days? but she had once brought a bar of banana cake to work. With the first delicious bite, I was smitten. I used to search high and low in every cake shop for this cake, but never found it. Later in life, when I started baking, with a little research I started making my own and was very pleased with myself. A few months ago, I made some banana bread, a slightly healthier version than regular cake, and had great results with it. Pleased with what I had made in the past, I had no idea about what I was missing out on till yesterday. What happened yesterday? I decided to try making some Bananas Foster and, I was thrilled to pieces with this treat.

I know a lot of you are thinking, this is such a simple thing to put together, no biggie, whats she raving about? I don’t know about you, but for me, sometimes, the simplest things are the tastiest, and I never miss a chance to appreciate these simple wonders. Bananas Foster has got to be one of the simplest desserts I’ve come across. I don’t know why I’ve never tried it before, but I sure am glad to have this in my arsenal. I did a little searching on the web, and ultimately I had a rough idea what this dish was about. I just winged the rest of it and it worked out fine. I had a couple of plantains (I love plantains, probably a little more than the regular bananas) that were a little past their prime. This was what got me searching for ways to use them up. I cut them in half lenghtwise, and across, which got me 4 pieces per plantain. It took me about 5 minutes to stew them up and I served these up with some chocolate ice cream. That’s it; easy peasy! 
I know most folks serve it up with vanilla ice cream, but chocolate is all I had and it went really well the stewed plantains. I love the play of warm plaintains and the cold ice cream, with just a hint of rum and cinnamon from the sauce coming through. There is such an explosion of flavor in every single bite. I know for a fact I’m going to make this more than once in a while. I hope you try this out, if you haven’t already. You’ll be glad you did. 
Bananas Foster

2 plantains/ bananas, peeled and cut in half lengthwise and across (4 pieces per plantain)
1/3 cup unsalted butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cup dark rum
Chocolate ice cream 
Gently warm the butter in a frying pan to melt it. As it melts, add the brown sugar and still to dissolve thoroughly.
Place the cut plantains / bananas in the sauce and let it stew for a couple of minutes on each side, till is gets a nice caramelized look. Sprinkle some cinnamon powder over it and gently flip them over. 
Carefully pour in the rum and stir it in a bit. Very carefully slightly tilt the pan so that the sauce reaches the edge of the pan and makes contact with the flame to ignite. Again, please be very careful with this step. 
Let the flame do its thing as the alcohol burns up leaving behind the most amazing flavor. The flame will go off on its own. Once that happens, if your sauce is still very fluid, let it cook off for a few minutes till it thickens to the desired consistency.
Place ice cream in bowls to serve and place the hot plantains on the ice cream. Drizzle some of the sauce from the pan over it. Serve quickly. 
Make sure you plate and serve while the plantains / bananas are still hot.
Enjoy!
This recipe is linked to – 

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Dessert, Recipes

Sweet N Salty Cumin Cookies

by Trisha Vaz
There other day when I was browsing the web for some inspiration, I came across a recipe for cookies that were savory and sweet all at the same time. I remember these cookies from when I was much younger, I don’t know why these aren’t available any more. I used to love these, but somehow, strangely, even back in the day when they were available, it wasn’t easy to find them. So imagine my joy when I found a recipe for these cookies. It had my name written all over it. I made these cookies that very day and was really happy with the way they turned out. Now I have access to these cookies any time I’d like. I’m so excited with this find. The salty and sweet combination is fantastic, it’s not overpowering in any way. In the end, it still is a delicate cookie. I hope you try this. Its different compared to all the other stuff out there. If you do, let me know if you like them or not, I’d love to hear from you.

Sweet N Salty Cumin Cookies
Adapted from: Group Recipes
Yields about 36 cookies
120g butter (salted)
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp. table salt
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 egg, beaten
200g all purpose flower
1/2 tsp baking powder
Sieve the flour and baking powder and keep aside.
Cream the butter, salt and sugar till fluffy.
Add the cumin seeds and half the beaten egg and beat well. 
Add the flour and baking powder and gently mix everything together to get a smooth dough.
Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a baking tray with some baking / parchment paper.
The original recipes suggests that you roll out the dough out till its 1/4″ thick, prick it randomly with a fork and cut into desired shapes. I simply rolled the dough into a log and cut slices and then pricked it a couple of times with a fork.
Place on the parchment lined baking tray. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. 
I noticed that if you take the cookies out of the oven too early they are less crunchy but if they are lightly browned, the crunch is so much better.
Cool completely and store in an airtight container. 
(Something I forgot to do was to use the remaining beaten egg to brush the tops of the cookies with and sprinkle a few cumin seeds over, just before baking. The cookies still turned out great.)
This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Cookies, Recipes

Mutton Liver Masala

by Trisha Vaz
Here’s a stir-fry that’s really quick to put together. It literally takes about 15 minutes. The veggies are lightly spiced (of course you can increase the spice levels if you fancy it) and still a little crunchy. The liver is tender and so flavorful. This dish is one of my childhood favorites. I remember my mum and dad making this once in a while and I so enjoyed it. What I can’t figure out though, is why it took me so long to make this. This is literally the first time I’ve made it on my own. Better late than never! I know for sure this recipe is a keeper. We loved this dish so much, I will use it more often.

Mutton Liver Masala


250g fresh mutton liver
1 large onion, sliced
1 tomato, cut into thin wedges
1 potato, cut into wedges or cubed
1 green chilly, slit
Salt, to taste
Juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
Black pepper powder, to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
1-2 tbsp oil

Wash the mutton liver and cut in into bite sized slices.

Marinade with salt, lime black pepper powder and the ginger garlic paste for about 10 minutes, while you get the other ingredients prepped.

Slice the onion, tomato, slit the green chilly and peel, wash and cut the potato.

Heat some oil in a large pan and fry the potato wedges / cubes till they’re done. Take them out of the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add some more oil if needed and fry the mutton liver for a few minutes turning them over to make sure that they are cooked. Don’t overcook the liver as it gets rubbery and doesn’t taste as good. Take the mutton liver pieces out of the pan and set aside.

Using the same pan, add a little more oil if you need it. Drop in the green chilly and let it fry off for a few seconds. Then add the onions and saute them till they sweat a little. They should maintain some of their crunch.

Now add the turmeric powder and red chilly powder and stir well.

Add the tomato wedges and stir fry for a little while till the tomato has softened a little.

Tip the cooked potato wedges and the cooked liver into the pan. Stir everything gently but thoroughly to make sure the spices have coated everything and let it all warm through for a couple of minutes.

Serve hot.

This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday
Mouthwatering Mondays
Mangia Mondays
Hearth and Soul

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Goan Recipes, Lamb, Mains, Recipes

Pooris – Deep Fried Whole Wheat Flatbread

by Trisha Vaz
You’ve probably heard me mention the “poori” (pronounced poo-ree) in a couple of posts before, like here and here. Both these posts give you ideas of stir fries and curries that you can serve with pooris. They are fairly simple to make. I love these little fellows so much, that I can eat them plain, without anything else to go with it. I don’t make them too often ‘coz they’re deep fried and trust me when I say you may not be able to stop at just a couple. They taste incredible when they are hot. If there are any leftovers, I refrigerate them and the next day I simply warm them on a griddle and they are good to go.

Learn how to make the Puris here –

Pooris


2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp Salt, or to taste
Water (approx 1 cup)
Oil, for deep frying

Mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Make a well in the centre and adding water a little at a time, knead to form a nice pliable dough. If you need to use more than a cup of water, please do so.

Heat the oil for deep frying over medium heat. To test the oil, drop a tiny pea sized ball of the dough carefully into the oil. It should sizzle and rise to the top fairly quickly. If this happens, your oil is at the right temperature. If it browns straightaway, your oil is too hot. Take it off the heat for a while and then start frying. If it just sinks to the bottom without any sizzle, your oil is not hot enough.

Make small walnut size portions and roll to form a disc. Do not roll out too thin. (According to my mum, they need to be a little on the thicker side to puff up. I simply follow that and get brilliant results each time.)

Deep fry as you’re rolling them out. Don’t stack the raw discs before frying.

When golden brown, drain on absorbent paper.

Serve hot!

This recipe is linked to –
Let’s Do Brunch
Full Plate Thursday
It’s A Keeper Thursday

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Bread, Goan Recipes, Recipes

Tricolored Vegetable Pulao

by Trisha Vaz
This is a recipe I came up with on the go. This Saturday, I was presented with a situation where I had a couple of really great side dishes(one of them being fish cutlets and the other I will share with you shortly) for lunch and I  needed to whip up a nice rice dish. I didn’t want to use my regular pulao recipe (which I’ve just realized I haven’t shared with you yet, but I will), so I decided to try making a vegetable pulao. Usually I only ever use peas in my rice, but this time I felt a little adventurous and used some corn kernels, peas and chopped up carrot. I ended up with a tricolored medley of vegetables in my rice, hence the name Tricolored Vegetable Pulao. Doesn’t it look pretty. I was very happy with the way it looked and it tasted great. I think I’d be able to eat this by itself. This dish is also ideal to prepare if you have kids in the house that don’t each too much spice, I’m sure they’ll love it. Try it out and you’ll see for yourself why this is a kid friendly recipe.

Tricolored Vegetable Pulao


1 cup rice
2 bay leaves
2″ cinnamon
6 cloves
4 pepper corns
2 pods of cardamom, whole
Salt, to taste
1 tbsp vegetable oil (You can use ghee/clarified butter if you prefer)
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1/4 cup green peas (You can adjust this quantity to suit your liking, I used a little more)
1/4 cup corn kernels  (You can adjust this quantity to suit your liking, I used a little more)
1 onion, chopped

Wash the rice and soak it in some water while you prepare the other ingredients for the pulao, about 15 minutes.

Heat some oil in a vessel and add the bay leaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and pepper corns. Let it infuse the oil with its flavors.

Once you can smell the aromas from the spices, add the onions and saute till they are soft and translucent.

Add the vegetables and stir fry them for a couple of minutes. Add salt to taste.

Drain the rice and add it to the veggies. Stir gently.

Add 2 cups of water. (I use a 1:2 rice to water ratio while making a pulao.)

Stir gently to mix everything. Cover and cook till all the liquid is absorbed.

Turn off the fire and fluff the rice up using a fork.

Serve hot!

This recipe is linked to –
Mouthwatering Mondays
Just Another Meatless Monday
Mangia Mondays
My Meatless Mondays

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Mains, Recipes, Vegetarian

A ridiculously good sandwich

by Trisha Vaz
This is going to be a quick post, because I was having my doubts about whether or not I should post something so ridiculously simple. But in the end the freshness and the taste of this sandwich triumphed.

Back when I was in college, we had this amazing cafe really close by that served some of the most amazing snacks and it was a fact that if you couldn’t find a person on campus, you’d definitely find them at this cafe. On offer was a range of savory puffs, rolls, cutlets, sweet stuff and sandwiches. This humble tomato cheese sandwich was my favorite. Just recently, out of nowhere I really wanted to have one of these and there was no way that I was going to travel 1 hour to and another hour back just to get a taste of this, considering how easy it was. So I ran to the kitchen and in less than 5 minutes I was happily munching away on one. At that moment nothing could’ve tasted better. This sandwich is so simple, that nothing can go wrong really.

But don’t take my word for it. Try it out yourself and let me know what you think of it. Its a meatless sandwich that I absolutely love.

Tomato Cheese Sandwich
Makes 1 sandwich

2 slices of bread
Butter, to spread
1 tomato, sliced
A slice of cheese
Salt, to taste
Freshly crushed black pepper corns, to taste

Spread butter on one slice and top that slice with slices of tomato. The butter prevents the slice of bread from getting too soggy from the juice of the tomato.

Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the slices of tomato to season it.

If you’d like, you can butter the other slice of bread and place a slice of cheese over it.

Cover the slice of bread that has the tomato slices on, with the one that has the cheese slice on.

Enjoy!!!

This sandwich (hardly a recipe 😉 ) is linked to –
A Little Birdie Told Me
Tuesdays at the Table
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Recipes, Sandwiches

Bombay Street Food Special #4 – Sukha Bhel – Light and healthy puffed rice salad

by Trisha Vaz
Today I’m going to actually add another post to the Bombay Street Food Special Series I’d started a while ago. I’ll bet you thought I was done with that. But I’m not. I will keep adding to that section, because I love street food. Today’s recipe, falls under the chaat category and there is a more fully loaded version with a number of chutneys and stuff that I so want to try making at home, I’ve just never gotten around to it, but this version is a quick and easy treat that you can munch away on in about 5 minutes. It has lovely fresh flavors and it makes for a quick, healthy snack.

It is ideally served with some papdi, which is a small crispy puri. I didn’t have any handy and haven’t yet tried making them, but soon will. I did the next best thing. I served it with some of my homemade tortilla chips. The street food stalls in Mumbai sell portions of this chaat in paper cones and patrons use the crisp, but sturdy papdi as a spoon.
Sukha Bhel

1 cup puffed rice, murmura
1/2 onion, chopped 
1/2 tomato, chopped
1 green chilly, chopped fine (optional)
1 tsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
A pinch of Salt
A couple of pinches Chaat masala
A squirt of lime juice
1/4 cup sev
1-2 papdi/tortilla chips crushed
1 papdi/tortilla chip whole
Mix the onion, tomato, chilly, salt, lime and chaat masala lightly, in a bowl.
Add the puffed rice, crushed papdi / tortilla chips and sev and toss well. 
Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
Serve with a whole papdi / tortilla chip.
This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Recipes, Salads, Snacks, Vegan

Homemade Tortilla Chips – Take 2

by Trisha Vaz
Here’s another take on homemade tortilla chips. You must’ve figured out by now that I like my nachos. Unfortunately, tortilla chips are pretty hard to come by in stores around here. And when you do find a packet, their either insanely overpriced or terribly salty and full of artificial stuff you don’t want to be putting into your system. So a while ago I’d made some Nachos, from scratch. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out. The only thing that I wasn’t thrilled about is that the tortilla chips were roasted on the griddle and then deep fried, meaning, lengthy process, not to mention I found the chips absorbed more oil than I’d have liked. So when I was browsing through my recipe book collection the other day, I came across another take on tortilla chips by Nita Mehta. So I said why not give it a try. Here you deep fry the dough directly.

I must say, I was really pleased with this take on homemade tortilla chips and I know for a fact that this will be my go to recipe in the future. For starters, the process was considerably shorter that the first version. These chips can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container. They don’t absorb much oil and are nice and crunchy. A note of caution, these are so darn good, you won’t be able to stop munching on them just the way they are. We went though half of the quantity without even making a single portion of nachos with them. They make fantastic nibbles.

Tortilla Chips
Recipe from: Soups, Salads & Starters by Nita Mehta


1 1/2 cup corn meal (also called maize flour or makki ka atta)
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.

Knead into a pliable dough with water.

Make large marble sized portions and roll them out into thin discs.

Prick it all over with a fork.

Cut into wedges.

Heat some oil in  pan and deep fry on a medium flame till they turn golden brown in color.

Drain them off on some absorbent kitchen paper.

When they’ve cooled off completely, store in an air tight container.

Use as needed.

This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday
Mangia Mondays
Hearth & Soul
A Little Birdie Told Me
Tuesdays At The Table

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Recipes, Snacks, Starters / Appetizers, Vegan