Tryst with Taste

When it comes to costal cuisine Goans know their food the best, having a costal vibe to it, it's rich in spices as well. One of my favourite dish from Goa is the local sausage(choriz) pao and its been my staple mid-meal munchie since the first time I visited Goa, and you find small carts selling them through the entirety of Goa. The Goan sausages don't need any seasoning, except for probably some salt. they are already flavoured with the traditional spices and vinegar which is also a core ingredient of goan cuisine. My version of the dish varies in the look but tastes exactly akin to the street vendor's "choriz pao".

INGREDIENTS:

300 gms Goan sausages, diced
1.5 Onion, finely sliced/chopped the way you would prefer them
2 green chillies, slit from the middle
2-3 cloves of garlic
3-4 pairs of pao
pitch of salt
2 boiled potatoes
4 tbsp coconut milk
1/4 cup water
whole-wheat flour dough (aata) , for the tuile.

METHOD:

In a frypan, warm up about a teaspoon of olive oil and sauté the garlic and onion.
Add in the sausages, stit it for about a minute and add the water. Cover it, and let it simmer for about 4-5 minutes.
Remove the lid and cook it for another minute. Once this is done allow it to cool for sometime.

cooked sausage

In the meanwhile shred the pao, mix in the milk and knead it like dough. It won't have a smooth texture so don't get worried.

Shape the pao dough flat with a slightly indented centre.

Fill the sausage in the pao pocket and gently roll over to form a ball.

Sprinkle it with some bread crumbs or rice flour.

Deep fry the balls until nice and golden brown and has a slight crust.
Heat the coconut milk in the microwave and add a pinch of salt to it.
Roll out the dough, and wrap it around a bowl and bake it for about 15 minutes to make a tuile.

ASSEMBLING THE DISH: Mash the boiled potato, and place it in the centre of the plating dish, spoon the coconut milk and oil from the sausage pan, place the tuile in the centre of the mash and place the deep fried sausage pao on it .

Enjoy your meal

The onset of November marks the beginning of festive season in almost all parts of the world, with that comes the responsibility of not gaining too much weight and staying fit, I have been trying to do the same and my best buy of the festive season was the phillips air-fryer. This is a great recipe extremely healthy and a winner on taste, if you don't have an air fryer you can always deep fry or even shallow fry the balls but that would be on the unhealthy side. We paired the dish with balsamic glazed pineapple, it gives the mozzarella balls a balance of acidity and slight sweetness to the hot dip we served alongside.

INGREDIENTS:

For the mozzarella balls:

250 gms Tofu
1 small onion chopped finely
green chilli , chopped finely
70 gms Mozzarella
Parsley , chopped finely
bread crumbs, 50-60 gms approximately
2 tbsp cournflour
4-5 tbsp water

For the dip:

1 tomato , finely chopped
1/2 onion finely chopped
2 dried red chillies
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
few basil leaves , chopped finely
1/4 cup cream

METHOD:

In a mixing bowl, spread the tofu finely with your hands , add in the onion, green chilli, parsley and salt and pepper as per your taste.
Cut the mozzarella in small cubes.
Shape the mixture into balls adding the mozzarella cube in between.
Mix the cornflour and water.
Dip the balls in the cornflour mixture and coat them with the breadcrumbs.

Cook the balls in a preheated air-fryer, for 5-7 minutes, check them around the 3rd minute.
FOR THE DIP: Sauté the ingredients in a pan and once cooked add in the cream and salt, allow the dip to cool and blitz it in the food processor.