'Snacks' ↓

Mamak Rojak is a popular Malay snack which has Indian flavors. Rojak is basically a salad either made of fruit or vegetables; it is popular among South-East Asian Countries. Wikipedia states that Rojak is a Malaysian term for “mixture” to show the ethnic mixture in Malaysia and neighboring countries.

Mamak Rojak, also known as the Indian Rojak, is made by Indian Muslims locally in Malaysia. (Mamak is derived from Mama which means Uncle in Tamil). It is a spicy hot salad with piping hot chillies and vegetable gravy. Usually a vegetarian food, it is also served with seafood.

Try this recipe below and create your own variations of Mamak Rojak by mixing the vegetables.

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Deepa Eshwarraj from Bloomington, US shares with us this Gujarati snack.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup poha(thick)
1 - normal sized Aloo (potato)
1 - Large sized tomato
1tbsp green peas
5-6 curry leaves leaves
3 - Green chillies chopped
1/2 tspn mustard seeds
1/2 tspn cumin seeds
1/2 tspn turmeric pwdr
1/2 tspn chilli pwdr
4 - tspn oil
salt to taste

Method :

Soak poha into water for 1 minute, drain the water and keepp it aside.Heat oil in a pan, Add mustard, cumin curry leaves , Green chilli, green peas,tomatoes and fry nicely. Boil the potato and cut into pieces and add it along with the frying items as mentioned above.spray little water into it so that it does not get burnt. Add the powders into it. Mix well. Now add the poha and mix gently in a low flame.Add salt to taste and Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve it hot with
tomato sauce or curd.

Thanks to Mr Makarand Dhuri for this wonderful recipe! “This is a very simple Garlic Bread recipe. We tried this at our home and it turned out a delicious one. It does not require French loaf bread, no need of oven. Just the regular sandwich bread, and the non-stick pan does the job of the oven.”

Ingredients:

Sandwich bread – 8 slices
Butter – 2 tablespoons
Cheese – 4 cubes
Garlic – 10 to12 cloves
Coriander Leaves – 4 to5 strands (leaves separated)
Black Pepper powder – ½ teaspoon
Cumin powder – ¼ teaspoon
Salt to taste

Method:

Take 2 tablespoons butter in a bowl. Peel 10 – 12 garlic cloves and crush them to paste form. Chop the coriander leaves finely. Add the garlic paste, coriander leaves, pepper powder, cumin powder and salt to the butter. Mix the ingredients thoroughly. Freeze the mixture overnight.

Next day, remove the butter from the refrigerator and allow it to mellow for approximately an hour.Spread the butter evenly on only one surface of all the 8 bread slices.Place the bread slices as one on top of each, with the butter surfaces facing each other.

This makes 4 sandwich types of two bread slices each.Grate cheese cubes on top of each of them. Heat the non-stick frying pan on slow heat.Place the sandwich on the pan and cover it with a plate big enough to cover the pan, so that vapors do not escape through.
Remove after about 60 to 90 seconds.

This is prepared in Karnataka, in which instead of steaming they fry it. They call it by a special name called ‘Karjikaai’; It resembles Samosa but tastewise, it is sweet.

Karanji is a similar sweet known only by a different name in Maharashtra.

(Karanji Photo Credit: harshad sharma)

The Coconut and Cardamom stuffing give it a unique taste. It is prepared during Southern India festivals like Ugadi, Deepavali and Ganesha Chathurthi.

Update:

• 5 Kozhakattai recipes (Modakam, Kadubu) for Ganesha festival is here
• 5 more Ganesha Chathurthi recipes are here

You will need:

• 1 cup wheat Atta [or wheat flour]
• 4 table spoons Ghee
• Salt to taste [a pinch]
• A pinch of cardamom powder
• 1 cup grated coconut
• 3 cups sugar
• A little milk
• Raisins

Method:

• Mix the flour, salt and ghee well. add water and make a dough as for chapattis. Keep aside.
• Cook the coconut, sugar, milk, raisins and cardamom powder till dry. This is for the stuffing.
• Make balls out of the dough. Roll them into little Rotis, place some stuffing in the centre , fold into semi circles and bind the edges together. You can use the milk for this for extra bonding.
• Take care to see the edges are closed completely. Otherwise they’ll open in the oil and disintegrate.
• Fry till light brown. The end-result should be crispy Karjikai with the sweet coconut layer coated inside.
• Serve hot.

Browse more Indian sweet recipes at Indian Food Kitchen main website. Please leave your feedback using the comment form below. Thanks

Capsicum Sauce

250 gm capsicum - deseeded and finely chopped
4 tbsp oil
1 dsp chilli garlic sauce
1 tbsp grated jaggery
4 tbsp lemon juice

Topping

red, green and yellow capsicum - deseeded and shredded
50 gm tender green beans
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tsp sesame oil
8 roughly chopped spring onions
25 gm unsalted cashew nuts
1 tbsp honey
1 dsp soya sauce

For the sauce:

1 cup tomato puree
1 cup tomato-grated
1 cup onion-grated
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
2 tbsp Basil or Tulsi leaves
2 tbsp Oil

Crispy Fried Vegetables are usually found in countries like Thailand and China. This dish is modified to make it more Indian. Based on your preference you can add Soya sauce or Schezwan sauce to add more flavor (tip by Ankur - a guest to this blog)

photo credit: VirtualErn (photo is not of the exact dish - it is only indicative)

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetables - cut thinly
• 2 tbsp maida
• 4 tbsp soojee or rawa
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder or to taste
• 1/4 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• water, as required
• oil to deep fry

1. Wipe the vegetables dry with a cloth.
2. Mix the soojee/rawa, salt, chilli powder, ginger-garlic paste and add enough water to make into a pouring consistency - when you drop it from a spoon it should pour in a continuous line.
3. Dust the vegetables lightly, with maida, shaking off any excess.
4. Heat the oil, dip vegetables into the batter and place into the hot oil.
5. Turn, fry for a few seconds and remove from oil and keep aside on an absorbent paper.
6. Just before serving, fry once again over high heat, drain on absorbent paper and serve hot with a chutney.

Browse more Curries from Indian Food Kitchen Blog or Go to our main site for more curries and gravies.