Starters: Heart and soul for any party

Good food coupled with Premier League can lead to lively conversations and if you have your college friends over then fun literally doubles!! As we would be busy enjoying the match so tried my hand at few starter dishes. Easy to eat and goes well with drinks.

Mutton has it's own flavour in South India so tried making mutton pepper fry along with yam kebabs, paneer pepper fry and as it's been raining so onion pakoras were mandatory. Apart from mutton other dishes are relatively easy to prepare so let's start cooking.

Mutton Pepper Fry: It is a relatively dry preparation of mutton with a generous portion of black peppers in it. Goes well with rotis as well but I prefer it as a stater. Relatively lengthy to prepare but the end product will do justice to the effort put in. Normally boneless pieces are used but you can use with bones as well.

Ingredients: Mutton ( small pieces) - 500 gms; Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp; Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp; Onions ( finely sliced) - 2 medium; Dried red chilli - 6; Black peppercorns ( coarsely grounded) - 20; Tamarind paste - 1tbsp; Sugar - 1/4 tsp; Coriander leaves ( chopped) - 1tbsp; Oil - 2 tbsp; Salt to taste

Paste: Curry leaves - 25; Caraway seeds - 1tsp; Pepper corns - 10; Star anise - 1; Green cardamom - 4; Black cardamom - 1; Cinnamon - 1/2 inch; Cloves - 5; Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp; Ginger ( roughly chopped) - 1/2 inch; Garlic cloves ( sliced) - 5; Onion ( sliced) - 1 medium; Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp; Red chilli powder - 1 tsp; Oil 2 tbsp

Steps:

i. Pressure cook the mutton with turmeric powder and some salt for 3-4 whistles. Let the cooker depressurize naturally.

ii. While the mutton is cooking prepare the paste to be used in the preparation. Heat up a pan with oil and first put curry leaves.

iii. Once the curry leaves are spluttering put in all the whole spices for pastes and saute them 2-3 minutes.

iv. Now add the onions, ginger and garlic and saute till the onions are translucent.

v. Now add the turmeric and red chilli powder and mix well. Let the mixture cool down and then make a fine paste. Add water if required while making the paste.

vi. Now take a deep bottom pan or a karahi and to it the remaining oil.

vii. Once heated add the onions and dried red chillies saute well.

viii. Add the paste prepared in step v and mix well along with tamarind paste and sugar.

ix. Now add the mutton pieces and mix well. ( Keep the mutton stock aside for alter use).

x. After 5 minutes add the mutton stock into the mixture and mix well. Also add the crushed peppercorns.

xi. Mix well and let the mutton simmer until it becomes relatively dry. Now add the chopped coriander and salt , if required. Mix for 2 more minutes.

Sprinkle some crushed peppercorns and serve hot!!

Paneer Pepper Fry: For vegetarians paneer is the saviour!! It goes well in curry as well as finger food. I tried a variation of pepper fry , without curry leaves. Turned out to be nice and is really easy to prepare.

Ingredients: Paneer ( medium sized reactangular pieces) - 400 gms; Rice flour - 2 tsp; All purpose flour - 1 tbsp; Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp; Garam masala - 1/2 tsp; Coriander powder - 1 tsp; Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp; Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp; Black Peppercorns ( crushed) - 25; Lime juice - 1 tsp; Oil for frying; Salt to taste; Water - 25 ml

Steps:

i. Make a thick batter with all the ingredients. Add more water if required. Batter should be such that it covers the back of a spoon well.

ii. Now add the paneer pieces and mix gently to ensure that they are covered well from all sides.

iii. Heat the oil to medium and fry the pieces for 2 minutes. We don't want to fry them for too long so that they are crisp from outside and soft from inside.

iv. Add lime juice to the fried pieces and mix well.

Serve with some crushed black peppercorns as garnishing and enjoy!!

Yam Kebabs: Yam is really tasty if prepared well. A curry based preparation with some tamarind juice goes really well with pooris or chapatis. I tried some yam kebabs flavored with coriander paste. Soft and succulent these kebabs are easy to prepare and really tasty.

Ingredients: Yam (diced) - 250 gms; Green chillies ( finely chopped) - 3 big; Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp; Garlic - 6 cloves; Ginger ( roughly chopped) - 3 inch; Coriander leaves with stem - 1 cup; Gram flour - 1 cup; Cumin powder - 1 tsp; Coriander powder - 1 tsp; Red chilli powder and salt - To taste; Oil - for shallow frying

Steps:

i. Pressure cook the yam for one whistle or boil them in a wide bottom pan for 7-8 minutes until they are soft.

ii. Make a paste of green chillies, garlic, ginger and coriander leaves in a blender. Add water if required.

iii. Now mix yam, paste from step ii and other ingredients well. Add salt and red chilli powder as per taste.

iv.Make medium sized dumplings with hands. Flatten them and then shallow fry on a pan.

v. To make them crispy shallow fry each side for 2 minutes.

Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves and enjoy!!

Onion Pakoras: During rainy season onions pakoras, ginger tea and mint-coriander chutney form a holy trinity!! As Bangalore is blessed with rains so onion pakoras are a must in any party. I tried to make them extra crispy by using rice flour. This way then don't become soggy and are a treat to eat.

Ingredients: Onions ( finely sliced) - 4 medium; Baking powder - 1/2 tsp; Ginger julienne - 1 inch; Carrom seeds - 1 tsp; Anardana ( roasted and ground) - 1/2 tsp; Gram flour - 1 cup; Green chillies ( roughly chopped) - 2 ; Oil ( for shortening) - 2 tbsp; Rice flour - 1/4 cup; Salt to taste; Oil for frying

Steps:

i. Mix onions, green chillies , ginger julienne with some salt and keep them aside for 5 minutes. This way the moisture will ooze out of onions and we will use it for making the batter.

ii. Mix rest of the ingredients ( except oil) well in another bowl.

iii. Now add the oil (for shortening) and mix well until you can see it becoming crumbly.

iv. Now add the onions and mix well. If too dry add a little water and check the consistency.

v. Take some portion of the mixture in hand and it should stay.

vi. Heat up oil on medium flame and fry the pakoras. Medium flame will ensure that the pakoras are cooked well from inside as well.

Serve with some mint-coriander chutney and enjoy!!!