CRISPY CASHEW –CHEESE PAKORA

  

It was a heavy rainy day while I was going through my Twitter account and came to know about the latest update of Archana’s Kitchen. While my eyes could not make through the dense rain outside I was lost otherwise in the irresistible smells of the monsoon snacks.In the process of thinking of what I can make today and write about I felt an urge to read about the history of Indian snacks. Actually the romantic aura could not let me immediately jump into cooking but to go through some haunting snack food stories.

One particular story,while going through various stories simply left me dumbfounded. Let me share it with you. 

‘When the British armies set foot in India, their cooks were dazzled by the sheer number of variations of the same dish. One legend stands out of the crowd from the history of Indian food, British cook William Harold. William was quite an experienced chef, working for a rather successful restaurant in central London, when he was sent to India to help the war effort with his meals. Because his dishes were so delightfully well done, he was promoted to be the personal cook of a high ranking officer in the British Empire's Army. One day, the officer ordered William to get the recipe for a local dish he ate and thoroughly enjoyed that day, named by the locals Bhel Puri, in order to mass-cook it for the troops. 

Because there were very few written recipes in India back then (locals were passing on their cuisine with each generation, usually orally) William started walking from home to home, knocking from door to door, in order to find the recipe for the Bhel Puri, which, even today, is quite a complicated appetizer. With every house he went to, he got another recipe, another kind of spice to put on top of the potatoes and rice (seemingly the only ingredients that remained constant in the dish) and another kind of oil to use. 
                                                 
After a long day of inquiries in which the poor cook was unable to find a stable recipe for the wonderful snack, he returned to the barracks, beaten and amazed by the variety of semi-recipes he managed to pile up. Seeing that he is back, the officer asked if he could serve the first portion of Bhel Puri that night, but William told him he couldn't get any real recipe in his hands and ironically stated that "we'll have to stick to French fries again tonight, Sir!". Legend says that the officer, berserk with fury, took out his handgun and shot the cook dead, causing a mutiny amongst the barrack's soldiers, who were both fed up with the officer's cruel and disrespectful ways and in love with William's heavenly cooking. 
                                                     
That's how a small bowl of Bhel Puri (or should I say the lack of it) shook an entire British barracks and caused a long night in the Court Martial offices.’

The power of the snack though worked negatively here, the power cannot be denied. Actually in the monsoon season I am generally get inclined to Indian snacks or more to a fusion rather than a purely foreign recipe. Today I am going to make Europe influenced Indian snack that my family is very fond of.

         To make Crispy Cashew-Cheese Pakora we need: 

Ingredients

• 15 salted big sized Cashew nut
• 7 cheese cubes or 250 grams cheese slab
• 1 cup white Flour 
• 2 tsp Oil
• 1 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Red chili powder
• 1/2 cup Water
• ½ cup milk                                 
• 3 table spoon chickpea (besan)
• ½ cup bread crumbs

Method

•   Beat the chickpea flour with some water to make a thin batter.
•   Let the batter rest 1/2 hour in a warm place
•    Heat the cheese or put in the oven for a minute or so to melt it a little
•    Mix the flour, milk, salt, chilli powder with it and make a smooth dough. Use hands first then beat with a beater until smooth
•    Cover the cashew nut with the dough to give it a shape of a cashew
•     Dip it in chickpea batter and roll on the bread crumbs
•    Deep fry in oil until crispy brown
•   Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.
•    Serve the cashew-cheese  pakora with green salad or coriander/mint chutney

Serves: 4 persons

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Level of cooking: Easy

Imagine it's raining heavily outside and a plate of cashew-cheese pakora with a cup of hot coffee with your favorite magazine or book or music/poetry or with a TV show with friends,family or even alone.Even a snack can open a door to heaven,what else is more important on earth then ?

ref: http://ponniyinselvan.in/forum/

This recipe is an entry to Monsoon Snack Challenge for The Hub @ Archana’s Kitchen challenges.