Baby Corn Wontons

I love visiting the Asian/Chinese store. I would always cross a variety of Wonton wrappers in the refrigerated section and always think to myself that the possibility to use these would be endless. They come bundled in 100s and sell for a dollar fifty. The last time I visted, I made myself buy a pack even without knowing what I was gonna do with it.
Last evening we were invited to my friend Latika's place for dinner. I typically always like to take some course of food to anyone's place I visit - it just gives me pleasure.
So for this evening, I decided to get experimental with my wrappers. A basic search on the net will show you the method to make them step by step.
I decided to stuff them with baby corn - cause, you guessed it, I had a packet of baby corn in my fridge that was just ready to be used.
I remember reading a Tarla Dalal recipe where she marinated the baby corns and then deep friend them with a rice flour coating. Here, I've tried to take that recipe to the next level by stuffing the wontons with the marinated baby corns.
I served this with a really spicy Chilli dip.
All in all, it made for some delicious appetizers, with an exotic look to boot.

Ingredients:

15-20 baby corns - slit in half lengthwise and breadth wise
40 wonton sheets

2 tbsps flour

1 tbsp pepper

Oil for deep frying

For the marinade:
1/2 cup butter milk
2 tsps jeera powder
1 tsp rock salt
2 tsps pepper

Method:
In a bowl, mix the marinade ingredients, add the slit baby corns and allow the baby corns to marinade for atleast 3 hours.

After that, remove the baby corns from the marinade, add 1 tbsp pepper and keep in a bowl.

Make a paste of flour and water : we will use this as a stickign agent to assemble our wontons.

Now take two wonton wrappers, one on top of another and brush the sides with the paste.

Keep the diagonal as the top and arrange 4-5 pieces of the baby corn from the diagonal to one corner edge.

Fold over the wrapper diagonally to end up with a Triangle-shaped structure.
Now trim the edges to design into a semi circle (I used a bowl)

Finally, take a small fork and press the semi circle edges with this to create lines.

Take a flat bottomed pan with 1 inch oil. Heat the oil till you see some smoke rise.

Prep 4-5 wontons and slide these into the pan, The wontons will turn brown very fast and expand a little as well. Turn over and allow the other side to brown as well.

Baby Corn Wontons are ready to be served.

Serve Hot or reheat in the oven before serving.

Broccoli Chowder

I picked up this really fresh head of brocolli from the farmer's market and was truly inspired to create a fresh and light dish. I googled brocolli recipes and came across a recipe for chowder. Here is my version of the same with a little leftover cauliflower added in.

Ingredients:

1 head broccoli - chopped: 1 cup

Chopped cauliflower: 1/4 cup (add as per your taste)

1/2 cup diced onion, 1/2 cup diced celery

1 tbsp flour

1 cup milk

1-2 cups vegetable broth (I used Trader Joe's Organic Broth)

2 big pods chopped garlic

1 tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

1 tbsp butter

Salt, 2 tsps pepper and 1 tsp oregano ( to season - optional)

Method

Lightly heat the EVOO, add garlic, onion and celery and fry for 10 mins.

Add the cauliflower and broccoli and saute for another 10-15 mins. Next add the broth and boil until the veggies are all semi-soft

Now, allow to cool and pulse in a mixie: I like it chunky, so I did not puree it. But it is entirely left to your taste.

In the same pan, heat the butter, add the flour and saute till flour is cooked. Then add the milk a little at a time and keep stirring to avoid lump formation. Add the puree into this mixture and allow to simmer.

Add the salt, pepper and oregano at this stage.

Add more broth as per your taste. The consistency should not be as thin as a soup - it is a chowder, so its definitely gotta be thick.

My chowder got a slight brown tinge to it as I let the onions brown - you could stop frying the onions when it turns translucent.

Serve hot with a nice chunky toast smeared with butter - you're eating healthy enough with the chowder after all!