Earlier this month, I daringly ventured into the Indian breadmaking arena.  In case you missed my Aloo Paratha post, it was a challenge that turned out to be surmountable after all.  My aloo balls for stuffing the paratha must have been a little on the small side though because we had some leftover aloo filling.  So the following Saturday afternoon, Rajat and I did an aloo tikki experiment using the leftovers.  It ended well – we were left with cornmeal crusted aloo tikkis sandwiched between crusty slices of bread smeared with coriander chutney and ketchup.  We washed them down with a mug of steaming chai.  An ideal Saturday afternoon.  

I added one half a cup of pureed peas and one half a cup of pureed sweet corn to the aloo mixture before making the tikkis.  It made the tikkis a little moister (which you wouldn’t want for making parathas) and heartier.  I’ve copied the aloo mixture from the Aloo Paratha post below with adjusted measurements to make following it a little easier.

About a year ago, my sister signed me up for Martha Stewart Living.  I love reading the magazine, I really do.  Although, I’ve never actually made anything from it.  When I hang a holiday wreath, I don’t cut stenciled leaves from gold foil and staple gun them to a wooden frame.  I buy one – and that’s okay.  I didn’t handpick fabric then sew our bedroom curtains (though a few years ago, I did buy Ikea curtains which had to be hemmed to size with iron-on patches).  I bought them from Bed, Bath & Beyond – and that’s okay.  For my sister-in-law’s baby shower, I didn’t hand squeeze lemons and boil sugar water for the lemonade.  And that’s okay too – because sometimes, who am I kidding – often times, there’s a certain virtue to making great things happen within the time you have available, to ready-made goodness and to shameless shortcuts.

Four ready made, good ole, store bought items that I keep handy in our freezer and pantry are: (1) a variety of frozen Deep brand onion kulchas, garlic and plain naans and tandoori roti (Trader Joe’s brand Indian breads are really good too), (2) Trader Joe’s Vegetable Masala Burgers, (3) Deep or Laxmi brand coriander chutney and (4) cheddar cheese of some variety, either shredded or in a block.

Perhaps an unlikely combination but in a desparate search for savory, spicy, filling and above all fast, I made these four ready made items fast friends in hot skillet and discovered ready-made goodness…a ten minute desi masala burger slathered in coriander chutney and mild, cheddar cheese.

First: Pan fry the Trader Joe’s masala burger patty in a hot skillet with no oil until golden on both side.  You don’t need any oil because the water/ice on the patty from the freezer is sufficient for cooking.  Remove from the pan when golden.  Second: Heat the onion kulcha in the pan evenly on both sides until golden.  Remove from the pan.  Third: Using a paring knife, gently cut the onion kulcha down the center without cutting all the way through the bed.  Fourth: Arrange half of the cheese slices on one side of the kulcha.  Cut the patty in half and arrange in the kulcha.  The halves may overlap.  Arrange the other half of the cheese on the top of the patty.  Fifth: Drizzle coriander chutney over the top of the patty.  Fold the other half of the kulcha over the sandwich.  Place the sandwich back into the pan on medium heat and cook until the cheese melts.  Carefully flip if it starts to brown too much on one side.

I have to imagine that if Martha wrote the above recipe it would involve cutting then boiling fresh veggies, hand packing patties, mixing flour and water and kneading dough and grinding fresh coriander…maybe even milking a cow and churning your own cheese.  Thanks, but I’m opting for ready made goodness on this one.

What are your favorite tricks for ready made goodness – the ready made items that have permanent homes in your pantry and freezer?  I’m keeping an eye on One Food Guy’s Tuesday’s Tastings where he features store bought foods and critiques to help brainstorm more ready made goodness essentials…which I discovered thanks to Jenn, The Leftover Queen – two foods blogs with themes in line with my own busy, food loving heart.  

My top five list of ready made desi foods are:

1. Deep or Trader Joe’s brand frozen garlic naan or onion kulcha

2. Deep brand palak paneer or mattar paneer (Nanak has frozen foods now and those are pretty good too)

3. Trader Joe’s dahl makhani in a box

4. Swad Bhel Puri in a box

5. A tie between MTR Sambar Paste and 777 Pepper Rasam Paste

The stacks of pav have been sprinkled with chutney – the top half of the inside of the bun is bathed in green chutney, the bottom with red garlic chutney…I walk away from the stall  and crush the vada by pressing down on it with the pav, little cracks appear in the crispy surface, and the vada oozes out its potato and pea mixture.  I eat.  The crispy batter, the mouthful of sweet-soft pav tempering the heat of the chutney, the spices of the vada mixture – dark with garam masala and studded with whole cloves of garlic that look like cashews – get masticated into a good mouthful, a good mouth-feel.  My stomach is getting filled, and I feel like I am eating something nourishing a long spell of sobbing.

Suketu Mehta, Maximum City

This description has stuck with me ever since I read Maximum City months ago.  It took about an hour for me, my brother, his wife, H, and R to make the vada pav (pronounced vuh-duh pow) but it was a lot of fun – from the rolling to the frying to the smearing the chutneys and then chowing down.  Photos courtesy of my brother – deep frying and simultaneous picture taking not recommended.

Also, here’s a post from Holy Cow, a vegan cooking blog, also about celebrating Mumbai and it’s beauties through it’s street food that I really liked.

I folded my aloo gobi patty between an onion kulcha, covered with a smear of lemon pickle and raita and accompanied by a side of Trader Joe’s dhal makhani.  For those of you that haven’t had kulcha before, it’s like a stuffed naan.  Yum.  

Raita: There are a lot of different varieties of raita, and that is usually R’s area of expertise.  I went for basic raita – take about a cup of yogurt and whisk it with a fork.  Add salt, about 1/4 tspn. chaat masala (or to taste) and a sprinkle of salt and lal mirch.  Mix well. 

Add the leftover sabji to an oiled, heated pan and use a flat, wooden spoon to break up and mash the sabji together.  After its well heated, remove from the pan.  Take the onion kulcha out of the freezer (I used onion kulcha this time but garlic naan is delicious as well) and heat it in the pan, flipping it when it browns on one side.  Cut it down the center. If you use garlic naan, put the side with the garlic facing down so the garlic doesn’t fall off.

Spread a layer of lemon pickle on one side of the kulcha using just the relish part – not the actual pickles.  Pile the sabji onto one side kind of trying to press it into place, drizzle raita over the top and cap it off with the other half of the kulcha.  Put it back in the pan to reheat. 

As an aside, the Trader Joe’s dhal makhani is delicious and passess R’s healthy test (I don’t really know how to read nutrition labels but I’m trusting him on this one).  It comes in a silver pouch which you’re supposed to boil in water – we always just pour the contents of the pouch into a bowl and microwave it.  We’ve tried some of their other Indian packaged food, and it hasn’t been great (the eggplant was downright bad) but we try to always keep a few packs of the dhal on hand.  Their naan and masala burgers are really good too.