Chilly Cheese Uttapam ... simply AWESOME !

 
Whenever I go to the BIG BAZAR at Kharagpur we somehow end up having  "Chilly Cheese Uttapam" . It's simply GREAT! If you happen to be in the neighbourhood do not miss this  CCU @ Big Bazar, Food Court.

Last night I decided to make it at home, in my kitchen. Though I did not have the time or the energy to make sambar, the coconut chutney more than made up for it when I served it with the crispy mout;watering uttapam.  Unfortunately I do not have a grinder-mixer in our bungalow Kharagpur  (where my husband is a professor at the School of Management at IIT ) so i had to ask my maid to paste it using a SHIL-NORI.
Do you remember the famous song? "Shil-Nori bina chutney kaise boni ?"   Anyway enough by way of prelude; time for the real stuff ... for which you need the following ingredients to make this CCU

• 2 Cups of rice flour and 1 Cup urad dal powder, soaked in water for over night and mixed well to make a thick batter.
• pinch of salt
• One large onion (finely chopped)
• Green Chillies ( finely chopped)
• Cheese (grated)
• Refined oil

Heat a nonstick pan , grease it with refined oil and place1 tablespoon  thick  batter. Spread it with a spatula. Then sprinkle onion, chillies on top.Turn upside down and add grated cheese on the hot side of the uttapam. Keep it on the nonstick tawa till it becomes crispy and the cheese melts.

Serve hot with coconut chutney.

      

CHUTNEY : A unique Bengali Relish

Traditional PLASTIC CHUTNEY without turmeric powder

CHUTNEY is one of the most important BENGALEE dishes generally served after the main course along with papad, but before the dessert. During Summer it is advisable, if not really pleasant :-) to have the chutney at the end of all meals. This is not only because of the chutney's food value but also it's fruit value ! Fruits after all are always good because they carry  lots of vitamins. Moreover in summer, we tend to lose a lot of fluids in profuse sweating and quite a bit of this is said to be replenished with chutney.

Unfortunately in this age of diet consciousness, a chutney is beyond doubt a HIGH CALORIE dish. But if you do not have bloodsugar and generally lead a reasonably active life, then you can safely have a modest portion of  chutney every alternate day at the end of your lunch without feeling too guilty about it !

All said and done, a chutney is a nice relish to end your meal with.

Basic Ingredients of CHUTNEY is SUGAR, SUGAR and SUGAR, (if you are diabetic, or counting calories you can use sugar-free of course), a little salt and something sour(like lemon juice or tamarind juice).

Making a chutney is simple. You first cook the fruit or vegetable in the sugar syrup. Then you can thicken the chutney at the end by adding cornflour or maida. Addition of  CHAUNK and turmeric powder is optional.

FRUITS that can be used to make chutney:

• Raw Mango
• Pineapple
• Apple
• Grapes
• Date Palm
• Raisins
• Amawat (Dehydrated Mango pulp)
• Pomegranate
• Alubakara ( Plum)
• Cherry
• Green Olive 
• Strawberry

VEGETABLES used in chutney

• Green Papaya
• Gourd 
• Tomato
• Corriandar leaves/Mint leaves

CRISPY BABY CORNS

Fresh Baby Corns as available in any Supermarkets

Ingredients:

Fresh Baby Corns

Corn Flour

Flour

Soya Sauce

Tomato Ketchup

 Salt

 Refined Oil 

Garlic& Ginger (Greated): 2tsp each

 Procedure:

 Clean & Cut the baby corns into small pieces(2 to 3 inches) and marinate with soyasauce, salt and a little sugar. Meanwhile fry the ginger & garlic in 2 tsp refined oil and keep aside. Sprinkle a little cornflour and a little flour over the marinated babycorns. Now make a batter by adding 4tbsp cornflour& and 2tbsp flour in icecold water and deep fry the marinated babycorns by coating them into the batter. Use a low flame to avoid over frying. Toss the crisp-fried babycorns with the fried ginger-garlic and 2 tsp tomato ketchup and serve hot.