Vegetable Samosas

Samosas are a traditional Indian snack, that are very popular in all Indian households. They are delicious pastry parcels usually filled with a spicy vegetable filling and deep fried until golden brown and crispy. Samosas are commonly served with tangy tamarind chutney and green coriander chutney.

Samosas sizes and their fillings differ from state to state of India. Where as in the state of Gujarat samosas are dainty little pastry triangle filled with peas and potatoes,carrots they will differ in the state of Punjab where the Punjabi samosas are larger and primarily filled with a potato filling only. In other states cabbage, paneer-Indian cheese, fried fruits and nuts and also lentils are used as a filling too.

There is a very precise art in folding the samosas which although can be tricky is not too hard to master as practice makes perfect. I remember as a child my mum and aunts used to fold some 300 samosas for our family gatherings It was almost like a production line.Samosas are also commonly sold by street vendors and its a favorite street food for all Indians.

This month I created a step by step pictorial on how to make the perfect samosas. You can read all about my samosa recipe at the Foodies 100 site where I have written a guest post all about making these delicious samosas.
You can read the recipe for my Gujarati Style vegetable samosa here. Please do drop by the Foodies 100 website to check out the easy recipe with step by steps pictorial instructions.

Submitting to:
Lets cook for Dad event by simplyfood.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce

In April I had the opportunity to collaborate with Onken yoghurts to create a simple and quick recipe video using Onken natural Yoghurts. I made simple chocolate chip pancakes with strawberry sauce that are not only easy to make but they are low fat and taste absolutely delicious. This is my first video experience and I had a very exciting time filming it. I am sharing the recipe below with the video as it would be the perfect Father's day treat to make for Father's day this Sunday.

 Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce Video

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Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce

by Nayna Kanabar June-23-2015

Light fluffy chocolate chip pancakes with a lovely summery strawberry sauce.

Ingredients:

• 180g Plain Flour
• 60g Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 handful Chocolate chips
• 240 ml Natural Onken Yoghurt
• 160ml Skimmed Milk
• 1 medium egg
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• Sunflower oil spray
• 400g Fresh Strawberries
• 2 tablespoons Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

Method:

1.Sieve the flour and baking powder in a bowl and stir in the sugar.2.In a jug add the egg, vanilla essence, yogurt, milk and butter and whisk together.3. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients to form a dropping consistency batter. 4.Reserve a few chocolate chips for garnish and stir in the remaining  chocolate chips into the batter.5. Spray a pan with oil and heat it on medium heat, next spoon some pancake batter into the pan to form a 3 inch pancake. Wait for small bubbles to form. 6.When the batter starts to set, flip the pancake and cook under side.7.Repeat for the remaining batter, spraying the pan with oil in between pancakes as required8.To serve, stack the pancakes and spoon over the strawberry sauce and sprinkle some more chocolate chips.9.Dust with icing sugar and serve with a dollop of Onken yoghurt and remaining strawberries
Strawberry Sauce
1.Reserve 6 strawberries for garnish and hull the remaining strawberries and chop them into small pieces.2.Add the sugar, strawberries and lemon juice to a pan and simmer for 10 minutes until the liquid thickens. Remove from heat and cool.3.For a smooth sauce, blend the sauce, or alternatively you can use it as it is with chunks.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: 12-15 Pancakes

Submitting to:

 Lets Cook for Dad event by simplyfood

Massala Hut restaurant Review

Massala Hut, a modern Indian restaurant located in central London close to Euston and Warren Street. It is situated on a quiet street in a commuter’s area and predominantly positioned so that it’s convenient for corporate and business lunches and socialising after work. Set on two levels the restaurant is furnished in a contemporary style. The main seating is on street level and the downstairs area is mainly hired out for events, weddings and parties.

The restaurant was moderately busy on Friday evening when we visited but we were greeted and seated immediately. The menu was vast with lots of variety of the various regional dishes suitable for both vegetarian and non vegetarian too. However although there were lots of vegetarian starters and vegetarian side dishes, the choice of vegetarian main dishes was limited. This did not cause a problem as the waiters said that any vegetarian side dishes could be made as a main course. 

We munched on fried and roasted poppadum’s with a selection of condiments and sipped drinks while our starters of chilli paneer, onion bhajis and vegetable samosas were being prepared. We chose not to consume alcohol although there was a fully stocked bar. The restaurant serves halal meat and can also cater for people who want gluten free or have nut allergies which is an added bonus.

The starters arrived fairly quickly, they were individual sized portions and  well presented. All three were really delicious; we relished them with pleasure while enjoying some Indian music playing in the background.

For the main course we selected the saag aloo; a delicious potato and spinach curry, tarka dhal which is a blend of lentils tempered with ginger, garlic and spices, all were served with pilaf rice and garlic nan which was super fluffy and beautifully cooked. The portion sizes were generous and the food was piping hot.

We enjoyed the main course too, all the dishes were well cooked, they were a little on the mild side for the Asian taste and we think the taste is catered keeping in mind a western palate.

The dessert menu had some delightful desserts and we were tempted to order the ferrero rocher icecream and the strawberry sundae, both were delectable and completed our meal wonderfully.

Our dining experience at Massala hut was enjoyable, the staff were helpful next time and friendly and very attentive. We would most certainly visit again and take the opportunity to sample some different dishes on the menu.

Score 11.5 /15

Service - 4.5/5

Food - 3.5/5

Ambiance -  3.5/5 

                           

We were guests of Massala hut and would like to thank them for their generous hospitality. All the views and opinions expressed in this post are of our experience and honest.

Cookie bars~Secret recipe club challenge 15th June

Secret recipe club

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try it and blog about it. For the month of June my assigned blog The Painted Apron by Jenna Meon .Jenna is an artist nad you can see the creativity in her blog posts.I really enjoyed browsing through all the recipes but I fell in love with the heaven in a cookie bar recipe, and immediately decided to make that. The only changes I made were that I drizzled some white chocolate and added smarties to the cookie bars .

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Cookie Bars

by Nayna Kanabar June-15-2015

Delicious melt in the mouth cookies that will leave you wanting more and more.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Plain Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 10 tablespoons Melted butter
• 2 cups Light brown sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla Essence
• 12 oz Chocolate chip
• 1/4 cup Flaked Almons
• 4 oz White chocolate chips
• 1 handful Smarties

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C2.Line a 9x12 baking tray with grease proof paper.3. In a bowl sieve together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.4. In another bowl add the vanilla, melted butter, eggs and sugar and whisk together.5. Stir in the chocolate chips and almonds into the flour mixture and add the wet ingredients to it.6. Mix together the ingredients and spread them into the prepared baking tray.7. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes until slightly brown, do not over bake cookies should be chewy in the center. Remove tray from oven and leave to cool.8. Melt some white chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave. Fill a icing bag with the melted white chocolate and drizzle some white chocolate over the cookie bake. For additional touch sprinkle some smarties over the bake and leave the chocolate to set. 9. Once set, cut the cookies into squares and transfer to a serving dish.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: 20 small bars

An InLinkz Link-up

Submitting to:
Lets cook for DAD event by simplyfood

Roundup of Lets cook with Peas

Thankyou to everyone who sent in the awesome recipes.

Here are all the delicious recipes:

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Announcing event Lets cook for DAD

The month of June brings us Fathers day, so the whole of June I am dedicating the month of June to our Dads. I am inviting all bloggers to create any vegetarian dishes (eggs allowed) that they want to cook for their dads and please link up here.

To Participate:

1.Prepare a dish vegetarian dish  (eggs allowed) please link your dish using the linky below by entering your Dish Name and Post URL
2.Please link this event announcement with your entry, this is mandatory.
3.Use of logo is  not mandatory but it helps to spread the word if you can post it..
4. Multiple entries are allowed, archived are only allowed if reposted and updated with this event link.
4. In the event of problem using linky you can email me the entry at simplysensationalfood@gmail.com

Please use this format
Your Name:
Recipe Name
Recipe URL
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