When puffiness is good - veg puffs

It is really intriguing how a situation endears certain things to you. Puffs veg or otherwise was no big deal to me. But when I spent 45 days in Trivandrum learning the difference between a sada dosa and ghee roast, upma and appam, a sole egg puff was my highlight of the day. The opportunity presented itself only once a day during the snack hour in canteen of the training centre. A delay of 5-10 minutes would mean a wait of another day. A golden half of a boiled egg ensconced in the crumbly puff pasty with spices was something to savour. I am not sure it was the best I have ever had, in fact I have never had an egg puff since.

Recently I came across frozen puff pasty sheets in the supermarket. I know these sort of things are easily available in the market. But frozen section gets a boycott from both AS and me, other than peas and kulfi. I tried out a simple veg puff. Actually its just a potato puff, as an experiment. They turned out well and tasted yummy. I still need to work out the best way of storing them as they lose the crunch if whatever way I try to store them. They are very easy to make and set a real good impression.

I managed to get a light puff pastry roll. Disaster struck next time though, because I bought short crust pastry. So look closely before you buy. But then I am assuming that you rush through the frozen section as I do. In that section I always feel like the dementors from Harry potter are following me. All exuberance of a supermarket experience drains away and I am left with a overbearing preoccupation with the chill. Thankfully I can shop online without these diversions.

The filling for this pastry can be anything savoury. You can try mixed veg, paneer. This is just a template for anything you want to adapt it for. I tried with a really spicy potato mixture because it seemed to go well with the intended blandness of the puff. Also you need to resist the urge to overfill the parcels. Because you need to account for the fact that the puff will expand. I made morsel sized parcels. You can try bigger sizes , but then they would take longer to cook so adjust the timing accordingly.

Ingredients

2 big potatoes boiled and mashed

1 sheet of rolled puff pastry

1 onion sliced 

garam masala 1 table spoon

coriander powder 1 tbsp

red chilli powder 1 tsp

chat masala - according to taste

Cinnamon- 1 pinch(option)

Defrost the puff pastry.

Boil potatoes. Peel and mash them up. To hot oil in a pan add sliced onions. Cook them till they turn transparent. To this add coriander powder, garam masala, red chilli powder, amchur or chat masala. The pinch of cinnamon is optional. Add the mashed potato and mix well. Add salt to taste and let it cook for 10 mins.

I spread the mixture on a plate to let it cool quickly. While it is cooling, you can prepare the pastry. Roll out the sheet and cut vertical strips of about 4cm in width. Slice the vertical strips into squares. Spoon in about 1 teaspoon is the mixture in the middle. Bring the two diagonal ends of the pastry piece together. Have a little bit of water handy in a bowl. Slightly touch the two end with water and bring them together. This should seal the two ends together. If this feels difficult work, you can simply fold it lengthwise, or even bring the four ends together to make a parcel.

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. on a baking tray put foil paper and put the pastry parcels keep space between then because they are going to grow in size. For the size I have got here, it took 15mins. I knew the filling was cooked so all I looked out for was the layers of the puff rising up. When the top layer is turned a slightly darker shade than golden, it is time to take it out.

Spread them out on a cooling rack. I did not have one so I just put them on the place settings we use for crockery. The steel ones with slots. It is best to put it on something which allows the base to cool. Otherwise it gets soggy.

Since I have not yet worked out the best way to store them, I must ask you to savour some of them as soon as they cool.

I want to make the egg puff one of these days when intent and stamina are both in tandem. It was after an egg puff which started it all.

Kalatop ,maggi and movies

Watching movie in a theater is a big occasion for us. There are only few movies which inspire us both, and even fewer which justify an evening spend at a movie hall. Especially with a new arrival on way we tend to stay away from noisy places and a movie hall counts as one.

Recently though there has been a spurt in the number of movies which meet our stringent criterion. So finally last week we decided to take advantage of a midweek 2 for 1 ticket offer and went for a night show of Lootera. The songs and the trailers promised a good movie (in our case good does not always equate to happy!). Do not worry, I am not going to give a movie review. All in all we managed to sit through three hours in spite of the hero's insipid acting. The sets, costumes and songs were binding enough. But the best bit was the second half, which was shot at a place we had been three years ago.

The house which represented the Dalhousie home, is actually a forest guest house in a place called Kalatop, some hundred feet above Dalhousie. In December 2010, we had been on a forest tour with my papa in Himachal & Punjab covering Dalhousie, Kalatop, Kajjiar, , Gurudaspur and Amritsar. We did not know it at the time , but that was to be our last trip with papa. Seven months later he left us all. But left us with so many rich memories to treasure for a lifetime.

Kalatop guesthouse has thus got a special place in my thoughts.

Kalatop gets its name from the dense forest around it. The foliage is so dense and dark green that it gives a sheen of black when viewed from the panoramic clearing of the guest house. Hence the name Kalatop (Kala- Black, top - cover)

We only stayed there for a night. It was -2 degree C outside and we sat ensconced in the heat from the crackling wood burning fireplace, electricity being a premium commodity. It was a very clear night and there was a veritable traffic jam of stars in the sky!

Looking through the photographs of the trip I came across some great photos of the Dalhousie market.

Among the usual hill station street food staples of boiled eggs, tangy pickled fruits and warm crunchy peanut, interestingly enough there were vendors selling maggi. I tried one of them and this post is about it was made the himachali way. I have called the Dalhousie Maggi Masala.

Ingredients

1 packet Maggi

1/4 Onion chopped

1 green chilly finely chopped

1/4 capsicum chopped

1/2 tomato  chopped

The process starts with adding 1 tbsp of oil to a hot pan. To this green chillies and onions are added and sautéed. After 2-3 mins the onions should turn transparent, then the tomatoes are added. While the tomatoes are being cooked add the contents of the maggi masala (leave a bit to be used for garnish) to it along with the chopped capsicum. Capsicum is optional but I have found it does lend a nice edge to it. A couple of minutes of mixing everything together till the tomatoes disintegrate. Now add the required water ( iw would add 1-1/4 cup of water for 1 packet maggi). Everybody has their own preferred consistency of their maggi. Let the water come to a boil so that all the taste is absorbed into the water. Then add maggi to it and cook to your level of consistency.

Garnish with coriander leaves and the leftover masala.

It might not be the epitome of culinary delight, but in the December chill of Dalhousie the heat and spice from the maggi was really great.

I dedicate this post to the location manager of Lootera who short listed the kalatop guesthouse. If not for you, it might have stayed in my memories and might not have been recorded on a post.

PS : I recently came across a kiosk in the 'famed' DB mall in Bhopal which sells food items made exclusively of maggi. I have tried the spring rolls which were different (another way to say it did not endear itself to me).