Greek Nachos

I was having friends for lunch and wanted to make some quick appetizer, it was a hot day and didn’t wanted to fry and stand in front of gas and cook anything. I had one packet of whole wheat pita in my kitchen counter. I was making one dip to go with that but still it was more , so thought why not to make nacho style pita, but with Greek ingredients, had feta in fridge , had to use it, had English cucumber to finish it, tomato was there and made quick tzatziki sauce  and voila yummy light appetizer is ready.

Ingredients for Nachos:

15 Pita chips

½ English cucumber chopped

½ Onion Chopped

½ Tomato chopped

5 tbsp. or as per need Tzatziki sauce

3 tbsp. crumbled feta cheese

For Tzatziki Sauce

½ cup Greek or regular yogurt

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2-3 strings of fresh dill leaves finely chopped

Salt and black pepper as needed

Mix everything in bowl and keep it aside.

Method:

Use homemade or ready made pita chips. I made homemade, just cut them in pieces, brush olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper and baked it in oven for 400 till it’s nice and crunchy,. Keep an eye on it otherwise it will burn very fast. I baked it in toaster oven so it was easy for me.

Make all the chips and keep it aside.

To make nachos, take your dish, put the pita chips down. Spread tzatziki sauce on top, sprinkle tomato, cucumber and onion and feta cheese.

Serve it and enjoy immediately.

If you have extra sauce, keep it on side  , so your guest can take more sauce and enjoy it too.

Hearth and Soul blog hop: 3rd week August - Zesty South Indian Kitchen

http://www.amummytoo.co.uk/2015/08/recipeoftheweek-22-28-august/

Dudhi Bataka nu shak | Bottle gourd and potato curry

This shak (we Gujarati call shak to the vegetable curry) is my favorite from childhood. I used to eat all the vegetables which my mom used to make, never been a fussy eater, don't understand why my kids are so fussy. Anyway, when my mom used to make this curry, we used to crumble rotis in shak and its gravy and eat it which means you don't have to bite it roti every time, it’s just mixed in curry , so you can get in every bite curry and roti. But when you grow up , you forget all this and behave like a very manner person and eat it nicely. So whenever I make this , I feel like eating that way only but I control myself but at the end when I have half roti left I just do it. There is no fancy ingredients or spices used, its everyday cooking and spices. Mostly everyone is  making this in their home , following their family recipe. So this is my family’s recipe which I am sharing with you all.

Ingredients :

2 cups of chopped dudhi (bottle gourd) in cubes

1 potato chopped in cubes

1 small onion finely chopped

2 tbsp. tomato puree or 1 tomato chopped

1 tbsp. Ginger garlic chili paste

1 tsp. Badshah Turmeric powder

2 tbsp. Badshah Red chili powder or as per taste. Looking at my curry you can get the idea how spicy my curry is.

1 tsp. Badshah garam masala powder

1 tsp. cumin coriander powder

Salt to taste

2 tbsp. oil

Method:

Take a pressure cooker, yes for this recipe you need pressure cooker, you can make this in pan, but it will take very long time to cook and you don't get that thick consistency also, as per my taste though.

Add oil in it and add onion in it too. Cook till it become brown.

Add tomato puree along with ginger garlic chili paste.

If you are using tomato add that with paste too.

Cook for a minute or two till paste cook.

Add all your spices along with bottle gourd and potatoes.

Now bottle guard loose lot of water while cooking. So don't add too much water in it, just add ¾ cup of water and salt and put the pressure on.

Cook it till 3-4 whistles. When the cooker is cold and pressure is out, open up the cover and check if there is enough consistency of gravy there. You don't need runny gravy, thick one. so you can dip your roti in it and eat it.

If there is too much water, cook it on open cover and let it boil the water till you get your desired result.

Serve it with phulka rotis or just plain rice.

Hearth and Soul blog hop: 3rd week August - Zesty South Indian Kitchen

http://www.amummytoo.co.uk/2015/08/recipeoftheweek-22-28-august/

Kachi Keri ni Chutney | Raw Mango Relish

Well which girl don’t like raw mango with salt, red chili powder on it? I used to eat that a lot back home and when I was kid. When mom used to make pickle and put the raw mango pieces in salt and turmeric powder and spread it on clothe , few pieces always find their way into my stomach. Now I cannot handle that much sourness but still love to eat this chutney because it’s not sour but sweet and spicy one. Just grate raw mango along with red onion , put cumin in it and lots of red chili powder and sugar, mix it , leave it for 10 minutes and easy yummy spread is ready to enjoy with your dinner. My mom used to make this in summer and that day dinner always done in no time and we all enjoyed it. So keeping that tradition here also I make this. Until my husband used to join me but due to his healthy he cannot consume raw food, I solely finish in two days whole bowl of chutney and still craving for more.

Ingredients :

1 raw mango grated

1 red onion grated – white will do too but red give nice flavor

Pinch of Roasted cumin

2 tbsp. Badshah Red chili powder – add more cause we are going to add sugar so it will be not that spicy

1 tbsp. sugar or as per sourness of mango

Method:

Take a bowl. Add grated mango and onion in it, if you don’t want to grate onion, you can finely chopped it too.

Crushed cumin in your palm and add it in mango mixture.

Add red chili powder and sugar and mix it.

Leave it outside for 10 minutes till sugar dissolves.

Then enjoy it with your diner or pulav or as it is. I used to literally drink that chili powder and sugar water.

In my home it don’t last long so don’t know how long it last but try to eat fresh and make it in small quantity.

Hearth and Soul blog hop: 3rd week August - Zesty South Indian Kitchen

http://www.amummytoo.co.uk/2015/08/recipeoftheweek-22-28-august/