Saturday 19 November 2016

Sweet & Spicy Dip/Chinese Sauce

One of my favourite flavors and cuisine is Chinese...I love Asian flavors and especially chinese for the strong Garlic tinge in the food.

Needless to say Chinese dips go very well with Raw salads as well as party starters. Here is one such Asian inspired Chinese dip that can get your party rolling.



Here goes the recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 Tsp Red Chilli flakes
1  Tsp Finely chopped garlic
1 Tsp lemon
1 Tsp Chinese Hot & Sweet Chili Sauce
1 Tbsp Corn Starch
1/2 Tsp Salt
Sugar or honey are desired
1/4 cup water

In a saucepan, bring water, sugar and lemon to a good boil.  Now at chopped garlic, red chilli flakes, salt, Chinese Sauce and mix well. Let the garlic cook well and the flavor blend in. At this time, dissolve the corn starch in 3 tablespoons of water and keep aside. Once garlic has cooked, add the corn starch liquid into the saucepan and keep stirring to desired consistency. Top it up with some good quality vinegar. 

Friday 11 November 2016

A greek Fava for a glowing Skin!

When I was travelling in Greece, I was not searching for Greek Gods, rather I was searching for Greek goddesses. And I found. Not just one or two, so many of them, so beautiful and such a great complexion.  One of the secrets that they revealed was the consumption of Fava. A Fava is just loads of split yellow peas, cooked and smashed into a fine paste. Usually eaten with Pita breads, with a liberal topping of onions and olive oil.



Here goes the recipe for the Fava, that I made using Indian ingredients:

Ingredients:

A cup of yellow split peas
4 gloves of garlic
Salt
1 tablespoon of vinegar
Pepper as desired
Spring onions - half a cup

In a large pan, boil together, the yellow split peas, garlic and spring onions with a good sprinkle of olive oil. Once boiled nicely, let it to cool. Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor along with lemon juice. Serve with raw onions cut finely and a good drizzle of olive oil.

Thursday 10 November 2016

Skordalia - A Greek alternative to Hummus!

When they say Skordalia the greek dip can give Hummus a run for its money, they are not kidding. While Hummus is a more adult version of a dip, I found a new recipe in Skordalia that is perfect for potato lovers and both adults and kids would savour it alike. Potato, garlic and a lime zing are 3 killer combos that I personally love with fritters.

I bumped upon this recipe during my Greece travels, in one of home cooks' house. Here is a recipe that is simple, quick to make and goes so well with Pita OR Spicy Indian snacks to even out the Zing on your tongue.


Ingredients: (for one cup of Skordalia)

1. 2 medium sized Potatoes
2. 4 cloves of garlic
3. 1/2 cup of pure olive oil ( the more authentic the oil is, the closer to home the flavor will be)
3. salt and pepper to taste
5. A tablespoon of lemon juice.
6. A handful of walnuts and almonds

Method:

Boil the potatoes to a point where they can be nicely mashed into a smooth paste. Skordalia has to be really smooth and thin, So please take care to boil a little extra to mash them. Push the potatoes through a sieve or a potato ricer. Crush the garlic along with salt into a smooth paste. Mix the potatoes and garlic paste and add in the lemon juice. Add additional salt and pepper as needed.  Grind walnuts and almonds to a crumble and top up the dip with this. An alternate variation was to grind almonds with the garlic, potatoes paste with generous oil.  I purposefully avoided the use of vinegar, some variations add vinegar during the last stages of the grinding though.

I used a Indian mixer to mix the potatoes and garlic and then added some hot water to make them thin. When serving, add a little bit more olive oil and serve.