Pesto Puffs

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry sheets - 3
• Basil Leaves / Basil leaves ready made paste - 2 tsps
• Olive oil - 1 tsp
• Garlic cloves - 2
• Coriander leaves - 2 tsp
• Green chillies - 2
• Pine nuts - 1 tsp
• Tomato - 2
• Grated Parmesan & Cheddar cheese - 2 tsps
• Salt- per taste
• Black pepper - 1/2 tsp
• Lime juice - 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

• Soak pine nuts in water for an hour.
• Thaw the puff pastry sheets  for an hour to  get them to room temperature 
• In a blender, blend basil leaves/ readymade basil paste, green chillies, olive oil, garlic cloves, coriander leaves, soaked pine nuts into a smooth paste.
• Add a tsp water if required to get a smooth pesto sauce.
• Add salt, pepper, lime juice and mix well.
• The puff pastry sheet is usually a long strip, so cut it into small squares.
• Stretch the pastry sheet with hand- do not stretch it  a lot, it should not be too thin.
• Spread the pesto sauce on the pastry sheet squares.
• Add a topping of tomato slice on each pastry sheet square. Sprinkle grated Parmesan & Cheddar cheese on top.
• Bake in convection oven for 15 minutes at 375 F. Check after 15 minutes if, the pastry sheets have puffed up and browned. If not, bake for another 5 minutes.
• Serve hot as a appetizer or as evening snack with Chai ! 

Holi Special- Maharashtrian Thali - Puran Poli, Katachi Amti

Puran Poli, Katachi Amti is a typical Marathi menu. Its usually accompanied by warm Milk, Batata Bhajji , Papdya-Kurdaya etc.

Puran Poli :

Ingredients :

• Chana Daal - 1 cup
• Jaggery - 1 - 1 n half cups
• Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
• Ata - 2 cups
• Ghee- 4 Tblsp

Procedure :

• Pressure cook  1 cup Chana Daal adding about 4 cups water upto 5 whistles.
• Strain the cooked daal and do not discard the water. We will use this water for "Katachi Amti".
• In a blender, blend the strained chana daal until smooth. 
• Take a deep wok, add 1 tsp ghee.
• Add the pureed chana daal and 1 cup jaggery. Cook on medium flame until the jaggery dissolves and then the contents in the wok start thickening. 
• Check taste, add some more jaggery if required. Add cardamom powder and cook until the "puran"  i.e chana daal and jaggery mixture is thick enough to use as a stuffing in a paratha.
• Let he "puran" cool down completely. Store in refrigerator and use as required.
• For making puranpoli, knead dough using ata, oil, pinch of salt and water as normal chapati dough.
• Roll out a small circle, place the "puran" stuffing on it, close from all sides and then roll out a poli/chapati.
• Cook the chapati on medium heat applying generous amount of ghee. Flip, cook from both sides.
• Serve hot with warm milk, ghee and katachi amti.

Katachi Amti:

The water over the cooked chana daal is called "Kat". We strain the chana daal for  "puran" and use the water /"kat" for making Amti. This goes well with Puran Poli and White rice.

Ingredients:

• Kat - 2 cups.
• Puran - 1 Tblsp
• Water - 2 cups
• Goda masala - 2 tsps
• Red chilli powder - 2 tsps
• Tamarind pulp - 2 tsps
• Salt - as required
• Lime juice - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves chopped - 2 tsps
• For tempering : oil, mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida, turmeric, curry leaves and  dry red chilli.

Procedure:

• Heat oil, add mustard seeds, cumin. When they crackle , add asafoetida, turmeric, dry red chilli and curry leaves.
• Add  2 cups of "kat" that we have stored after straining the cooked chana daal.
• Add 1 tblsp "Puran" to it.
• In goes Goda masala (1 tsp), red chilli powder (1 tsp), tamarind pulp(1 tsp), salt.
• Add 1/2 cup water, mix the contents and let them boil for a couple of minutes.
• Check taste and add "puran"/ water/ tamarind pulp/goda masala/red chilli powder/ salt as required.
• This amti is "sweet" , so add puran to get the sweet taste.
• Finally, add coriander leaves, lime juice.
• Serve hot with Puran poli,white rice.

Kobi Paratha (Cabbage Paratha)

Ingredients:

• Wheatflour - 2 cups
• Besan - 4 tsps
• Yogurt - 1 Tblsp
• Turmeric - a pinch
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Cabbage chopped - 1 cup
• Coriander leaves chopped - 2 Tblsp
• Amchoor - a pinch
• Black salt - a pinch
• Garam Masala - a pinch
• Coriander cumin powder - a pinch
• Salt - per taste
• Oil -  2 tsps
• Ghee - as required
• Water - if required

Procedure:

• Mix all the ingredients (including oil ) except ghee and water. 
• Add water if required to knead into a smooth dough.
• Roll out a paratha and cook on medium heat applying ghee generously.
• Flip, apply some more ghee and cook.
• Serve hot with Yogurt and pickle.