The rain is beating down intensely, the windows of your house rattling and winds whistling outside. You’re glad to be at home, warm and safe from the outside world. A warm, crunchy snack would be just the perfect thing. Chef Ranveer Brar, curator of gourmet menus around the world and judge of MasterChef India has got you covered. His solutions to your monsoon cravings are piping hot dishes with delicious textures and unique flavors. Enjoy listening to the interesting histories of these foods while you make four of his recipes.
Fried Chicken
Start by cutting your chicken and brining it by immersing the pieces in salt, buttermilk and a little hot sauce. Let the chicken sit in this mixture for three hours so it becomes tender. For the batter of the fried chicken mix flour, paprika powder, white pepper powder, garlic powder, onion powder and salt to taste. Then coat the chicken evenly with the flour mixture. For the second coating, break eggs in a bowl and add the same seasonings (paprika powder, white pepper powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt). Go ahead and dip the pieces of chicken in the egg mixture and then coat with flour again. Now, you’re ready to fry the chicken until you get a golden-brown crust. Enjoy your crispy snack while the rain beats down.
Matar Samosa Chaat
These samosas with a creamy filling of spicy peas is a delicious option for when you’re sheltering from the rain. To make the samosas, take a mix of flour and atta for the dough and enjoy the meditative process of rolling out the dough, cutting it into sections and filling the cones of dough with peas filling. Then, fry on low to medium heat. Once you’ve made your samosa, enjoy it with some tamarind chutney, tangy dahi, crunchy sev and pomegranate seeds for a tasty chaat.
Chilli Cheese Toast
This simple comfort food is the perfect thing to whip up for a quick snack. Finely chop capsicum, green chillies, garlic and coriander. Mix this with butter and grated cheese. Toast your bread lightly in a pan and then add the cheese mixture and toast the bread again till the cheese has melted. Savor your crispy, spicy cheese toast.
Vada Pav
If you miss street food but don’t feel like getting wet, here's a great recipe to make Mumbai vada pav at home. In his recipe, Chef Ranver also talks about the interesting history of how the Portuguese may have more to do with vada pav than we might think. Start by mixing your boiled potatoes with mustard seeds, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves on a flame. Then mix gram flour (besan) with turmeric and red chili powder for the batter of the batata vada. Enjoy the crispy vada with delicious pav, tangy chutney and fried green chillies on the side.
