Capsicum & Tomato Dip with Tortilla chips

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a cookery demonstration at the club wherein three different dishes were prepared. We were all given a sample of the dishes for tasting.

I liked them all but this dish which I am sharing with you, is not only very easy to prepare, but also quite appealing, tasty and healthy too. Moreover, most of these ingredients used in this recipe are at hand in ones’ refrigerator.

Here, I have used the word “Dip” for this dish and accordingly I have used (Indian) chapattis to be made into tortilla chips. This is my version or shall I say the Indian version of tortilla chips. Tortilla is generally made from corn flour. But our chapattis made from wheat flour works really fine.

Ingredients:

Capsicum (Red or Green) - chopped	1 Medium
Tomatoes (chopped)	2 medium
Onion  (chopped)	1 medium
Thick Curds	½ cup
Salt	As per taste
Coriander leaves (chopped)	2tbsps
Seasoning ingredients
Oil	1 tsp
Mustard seeds	½ tsp
Split black gram (Udad Dal)	½ tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Green chillies (chopped)	1-2 (as per taste)

Method:

1. Keep all the chopped vegetables ready.
2. Heat oil (on a medium flame) in a pan and add mustard seeds, split black gram (udad dal) and when the mustard seeds starts spluttering, add curry leaves and green chilies.
3. Next add chopped onions and sauté them lightly till they are translucent (do not brown them).
   
4. Then add the chopped tomatoes and capsicum. Give it a good stir. Add salt and cover it for 3-4 minutes till the tomatoes and  capsicum have wilted but have not changed their colour. Switch off the gas and remove the lid off the pan and allow the contents to cool.
5. Once cooled, roughly pulse it in a blender or a food processor. Do not grind it to a paste.
6. Now place the roughly ground mixture in a bowl and add the curds. Mix well and garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.
7. Serve with the tortilla chips made from chapattis.

Vegetables being stir fried

Chopped Ingredients

Tortilla chips made from chapattis

Dip with Tortilla Chips

How to make Tortilla Chips from Chapattis (Indian flat Bread)

• Make chapattis in the usual way. Take care to see that they do not puff-up.
• To avoid the chapattis from puffing up, prick them with a fork on the surface at random on the rolled out chapatti. Then fry it as usual (on both sides) on a hot tawa/griddle without using any oil or ghee till light brown spots appear.
• Once the required quantities of chapattis are made, smear the surface of each chapatti lightly with ghee or butter and pile them up one on top of the other and cut them into quarters. Now, cut each quarters into half again so that you get 8 triangular pieces from each chapatti.
• Now, spread all the pieces in a greased baking tray in such a way that the pieces smeared with ghee is facing upwards and bake it in the oven at 180 degrees centigrade for about 10 mins or till they are slightly browned.  Keep an eye on these so that they do not get burnt. You can flip them over after a few minutes.
• Allow it to cool completely. They will be nice and crisp.

                                                             OR

• You can even fry these without the oven by placing them on the non-stick frying pan.
• Heat the pan and smear it with a little ghee/butter. Once the pan is hot, lower the heat to a minimum and fry about 10-15 pieces depending upon the size of your pan. Overturn them when they are slightly browned on one side and repeat the same procedure on the other side too. The end result will be nice and crisp. Remove from the pan and allow it to cool completely.
•  Store them in an air-tight container - will last for few days.

Serves : 4

Note:

• This is best served as a starter or an appetizer.
• The “Dip” can also be served as a side dish and tastes good as a sandwich-spread too.
• Tortilla chips can be made from left-over chapattis too.