Potli Samosa | Dhan Gathri Samosa | Party Appetizer Idea

What will the first guess in your mind be when I ask you to tell me the shape of a samosa?

Triangle, right?  That is how it has forever been, always shaped in a triangle, and that is how it is the most popular as.  But we want to do things differently these days.  Each one hosting a party at home (or taking a dish to a potluck get together) looks for diverse ideas, a new recipe, some unique style of presentation.  For example, this:

Peas and Potatoes Potli Samosa

Rasgulla: Paneer Balls in Sugar Syrup | Indian Dessert

After you curdle the milk, drain the whey, mash the fresh crumbly chhena (paneer) until you can form smooth balls, then boil them in sugar syrup – you know what that makes?

The popular dessert, Rasgulla.
If you thought making rasgulla at home was complicated, time-consuming, or a big deal - I am going to change the way you think.

failed attempt: chocolate chip cookie batter - what to do?

I have made chocolate chip cookies more number of times than I can remember.  But some days, I still screw it up.  Every other ingredient would be measured correctly, but some days in order to experiment the eggless chocolate chip cookie, I add more egg substitute than required.

One day, I added more liquid to my chocolate chip cookie dough than necessary.  Instead of a thick dropping consistency kind of dough, my chocolate chip cookie dough became thin and runny.

Uh-oh.  I have got chocolate chips and walnuts too in the cookie-dough-turned-batter.  What should I do now?

Cocktail Samosa with Potatoes and Peas Filling

Cocktail Samosa is smaller than the regular size samosa, more so for a party or large gathering and easier to have along with a drink.  Serving these bite-size cocktail samosa as appetizers or transforming them into a samosa chaat is also possible and a great idea.

Alike the regular samosa, you can make a cocktail samosa with any of the stuffing: potato, peas, onion, cauliflower, paneer, and so on too.  The only difference would be smaller pieces of vegetables chopped, crumbled or mashed to be able to fill inside a small samosa.

Small Sized Cocktail Samosa for Parties or Large Gatherings

There are three parts to making a samosa:

(i) cooking the potatoes and peas stuffing, and making the samosa dough,

(ii) shaping the dough, and filling the stuffing in samosa dough, and

(iii) frying the samosa, and resisting the urge to eat it hot.

Cabbage and Paneer Stuffed Paratha

Name me one food that can be:
- eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner,
- rolled or cut into pieces and packed in lunchbox,
- carried to picnics or take while traveling,
- a full meal on its own,
and
- made in various ways?

Cabbage Paneer Stuffed Paratha Recipe

Stuffed paratha, that's right, absolutely fits the bill.

Chocolate and Vanilla Eggless Pudding Layer Recipe | Make-Ahead Party Dessert Recipe Ideas

Making the eggless vanilla pudding as I have shown earlier is simple, making the eggless chocolate pudding posted previously is easy too.  And to make these chocolate and vanilla pudding layer here – you only have to put them together in layers.  This method does take a little more time and patience, but it is well worth the effort in the end.

Bakarwadi Recipe | Crispy Savory Rolls with Spicy Filling

Can you relate to days when you cook something for the first time and it turns out SO good that you can’t wait for your husband to get home in the evening so he can taste it too?  That is how I felt when I made this popular Maharashtrian snack Bhakarwadi, which generally appears too complicated to make at home.  But it is not.  I can especially vouch for this after having made plenty of times at home.

Bhakarwadi - Tea Time Snack recipe