Indian food, Andhra recipes and Global cuisine inspired cooking

Indian Food, Andhra cuisine, North and South Indian Recipes, Ayurveda, Traditional Cooking

Corn Chips with Salsa & Sour Cream

Today I’m blogging three recipes - corn chips, tomato salsa and sour cream! At time, I get into those moods where I want to prepare dishes inspired by a cuisine different from the usual everyday food. So, during the weekend it was an all Mexican cuisine at home.

Corn Chips with Salsa & Sour Cream

Eating Mexican food felt comforting, flavorful on the palate and filling on the stomach and you find a lot of culinary similarities between Indian and Mexican cuisines. Especially in the use of chillis, tortillas bearing a close resemblance to our roti, salsas to our chutneys, rich sauces to our curries and beans to our staple dal. As learnt from my chef friend the other food similarities are the regular use of coriander/parsley, garlic, onions, tomatoes, mango, lemon, plantain, coconut, corn and rice. I think he mentioned many more but these are what I recollect.

Corn Chips

Corn chips are Nehal’s favorite chips and I make variations by adding blanched and pureed spinach to the dough for green colored chips and cooked beetroot puree for red chips. Another variation I try is adding dried parsley and fresh coriander to the dough.

Corn Chips Recipe

Prep & Cooking: 15-20 mts, sitting time: 10 mts

Cuisine: Mexican

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Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups makai ka atta (finely ground maize flour)

1 cup maida

1 tbsp oil

3/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp red chilli flakes

luke warm water for mixing dough

1 Sieve both the flours together. Add oil, salt, dried parsley and red chilli flakes and combine. Add luke warm water and make a soft dough similar to a roti dough.
2 Make lemon sized balls and roll out thinly with a rolling pin, dusting some flour as you roll them into 9″-10″ size rotis or rounds. Prick lightly with a fork.

Tortilla rolled out and cut into triangles before deep frying

3 Toast the rolled out roti lightly on both sides for a few seconds on a hot griddle. Remove and cut into desired shape of chips.
3 Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and deep fry the chips till golden brown. Drain onto absorbant paper. Serve with salsa and sour cream. You can store them in air tight containers.

Note: You can alternately bake them crisp.

Read more about corn chips.

This is one salsa recipe I always rely upon and has always been a hit with friends and I love it for its versality - makes a good dip, dressing for a salad, serves as a sauce for spaghetti or a spread over an omlette. This recipe is neither too spicy not too thick and works well for me.

Tomato Salsa

Tomato Salsa Recipe

Prep & Cooking: 15 mts, baking time: 15 mts

Cuisine: Mexican

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Ingredients:

6-7 bright red tomatoes

2 big capsicum, cut into 4 longitudinal pieces

4-5 green chillis

4-5 cloves garlic with skin

1 onion finely chopped

olive oil to coat the vegetables

juice of half a lemon

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp sugar

fresh parsley, chopped

1 Pre-heat oven. Coat tomatoes, capsicum, green chillis and garlic with olive oil such that they are oiled all over. Arrange in a greased shallow baking tray and keep and broil 10-12 mts. Remove and cool.

Tomato salsa ingredients, oiled before broilingBroiled tomatoes and capsicums

2 Discard the skin of garlic, the tomato cores and skin. Combine the garlic, tomatoes, capsicum and green chillis in a bowl and using a hand blender, puree roughly. Alternately, run in a mixer grinder for a few seconds. Be careful not to make a smooth paste of it. It should be chunky and coarse.
3 Add chopped onions, salt, pepper, sugar and fresh parsley to the coarse paste and your salsa is ready. Serve with nachos, tacos and quesadillas.

Note:You can store salsa in the refrigerater for a few days and in that case don’t add the onions. Add onions only at the time of serving.

Read more about the different versions of salsa.

This recipe of sour cream works best with malai (top of milk) or Amul cream. You will require atleast a cup of malai and you might not always have it on hand and also its high fat. The next best option is slightly hung curd. You need to blend the cream/curds smoothly and as you pour the lemon juice you will find that the cream thickens.

Sour Cream

Sour Cream Recipe

Prep & Cooking: 10 mts

Cuisine: Mexican

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Ingredients:

1 cup malai/Amul cream/slightly hung curd (at room temp)

approx 5-6 tbsp lime juice

salt to taste

1 tbsp dried parsley

1/2 red chilli flakes

1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped

1 Take a bowl, add the cream, chilli flakes, dried parsley, salt and combine well. Blend the mixture slowly till it form a smooth consistency.
1 Now slowly add the lemon juice and keep blending smoothly and you will find that the cream will begin to thicken. Add lemon juice till it reaches a sour stage.
1 Add the chopped parsley and chill. Serve chilled sour cream with nachos, tacos, quesadillas or mexican rice.

Read more about sour cream.

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By sailu • Mar 14th, 2007 • Category: All Recipes, Appetizers & Starters, Flour Recipes, Savories, Snacks & Tiffins, Vegetarian Recipes

54 Responses »

  1. asha on March 14th, 2007 at 9:00 am:

    WOW!! Sailaja,you are on to Mexico and they are all homemade too.They look fabulous,better than store-bought,I bet:)
    Go to my Aroma blog if you want a REAL Mexican spice mix and there is a surprise at FH too!!:)

  2. Trupti on March 14th, 2007 at 9:28 am:

    i loved that you made everything from scratch…just shows how creative you are! I liked all the recipes,thanks Sailu.

    Trupti

  3. usha on March 14th, 2007 at 10:08 am:

    Hi Sailu,

    Hmm….looks yummy…wow!home made chips and salsa…

    I never tried at home, but we both became a big fan of that after coming here.

  4. sumitha on March 14th, 2007 at 10:40 am:

    WoW!

  5. Nav on March 14th, 2007 at 11:26 am:

    Wow Sailu! I have to admit that you are such a versatile cook, you make the most traditional dishes and at the same time bring out such wonderful recipes from other parts of the world. For a moment, I thought you moved out of India, but seems like you are not. I can see from your blog how India is getting globalised, such delicious international food in the city of Vizag. And with all these fusion cooking I bet there is going to be a new Indo-Mexican cusine (pardon my ignorance if there is already one) . Beautiful, please keep us enlightened like this, all the time.
    ____________________________

    Bet there is a Indo-Mex cuisine, not sure though.:). Nav, Vizag still doesn’t have an exclusive Mexican food joint yet, though its offered as part of ala carte in some hotel restaurants or a Mexican food festival on a rare occassion. Most of the Mexican cuisine I have eaten is during my travels and of course, not to mention, I’ve been fortunate to have some good friends who happen to be chefs with experience in international cuisine and Mexican being one of them.

  6. sharmi on March 14th, 2007 at 11:36 am:

    Wow Sailu, You make it all sound so easy!! Never thought Mexican food can be so interesting and easy. Looks so delicious!!
    oh lovely pics. thanks for making it all so simple and easy . You are really very creative and innovative.

    cheers
    sharmi

  7. sandeepa on March 14th, 2007 at 12:36 pm:

    Sailaja…You are a Tex-Mex Diva:)

    Not your friend its you who should open the next Mexican restaurant in Vizag. You also made Corn CHips at home…thats it..nothing more that I can ever say

  8. padmaja on March 14th, 2007 at 12:43 pm:

    sailu i can’t believe it!!! home made corn chips!!!
    u are an expert in evrything sailu and u make it look so easy but it must be such a hard work!!!
    really great!!!

  9. anonymous on March 14th, 2007 at 2:45 pm:

    wow that a real treat. Do u have the recipe for the cheese dip that goes along with it. Could u share it please.

  10. swapna on March 14th, 2007 at 2:55 pm:

    hi sailu
    everything looks so tasty!!wonderful recipes from a great chef.:-)

  11. Aahaar Vihaar on March 14th, 2007 at 3:09 pm:

    hi sailu,
    Quesadilla and corn chips with salsa looks yummy. Will definitely try your recipes.

  12. Priya on March 14th, 2007 at 3:11 pm:

    WOW…the pictures are beautiful, such vibrant colors ! And I don’t think I need to add that the recipes are great ;-) You have made it look soo simple and easy to make these that I think I have make some myself or atleast rush to the Mexican restaurant :P

  13. madhuli on March 14th, 2007 at 10:24 pm:

    Hi Sailu…I must compliment you for the variety of recipes I see on your blog-all lovely and wonderful looking!Each recipe is a must try for me except maybe the nonveg recipes(I am an eggetarian :( )
    Hats off to you and am going to try your quesadillas and corn chips and salsa and everthing!thanks

  14. sia on March 15th, 2007 at 4:40 am:

    thanks sailu for sour cream recipe. i dont make curds at home. the curd which i get from super market is quite sweet. but will try ur recipe in small quantity and see how it comes. anyways i can always make this with cream if my sour cream from curd fails:)

  15. Jyothsna on March 15th, 2007 at 6:23 am:

    Thats a Mexican fiesta, huh!! Great recipes. The pictures were great too.:)

  16. Menu Today on March 15th, 2007 at 6:23 am:

    Hi Sailu,
    All dishes looks nice. Now I can try mexican foods at home. Thanks Sailu!!!:-)

  17. Latha on March 15th, 2007 at 7:48 am:

    Hey Sailu,
    Your mexican fare is such a treat to the eyes! The chips and dips look ‘restaurant style’ and the quessadillas look amazing! Not to mention the paneer fajitas! Very creative!
    And as always lovely pictures Sailu!

    Cheers
    Latha

  18. Mythili on March 15th, 2007 at 9:05 am:

    Sailu,
    You are on spree! Great going. How are you so inspired? Too much. Just too much.


    Mythili, my husband, Satish is a well-travelled guy who was fortunate to dine at some authentic restaurants in places like Turkey, Greece, Middle East, South East Asia, Italy and Mexico, to name a few. Infact, he taught me how to make pasta. He’s been my best critic and encourages me to try out new cuisines. Infact, I don’t get quite a few ingredients some of the western cuisines call for (in Vizag) and I have to buy them when I visit Hyderabad/Bangalore or ask my chef friends who get them for their eatries.:). I usually prepare a list and get them couriered through friends. I didn’t realise my blogging Mexican food would invite such a sweet response.:). There’s more to come, so look out for them.

  19. Mishmash! on March 15th, 2007 at 9:08 am:

    Sailu….u re on a mexican food fest here :) Beautiful pics ,look at the hot to pic of chips!! I am going to try ur salsa recipe as mine never come out very good .Thanks !

    Shn

  20. Pallavi on March 15th, 2007 at 9:11 am:

    Hi Sailu,

    I love all ur recipes and the way u present them.I am a great fan of ur pictures too……..,even the beginners can try ur recipes.I tried some of ur recipes and got a pat from my hubby…coz it was first time i was cooking and they turned out great….
    Thanks Sailu !

  21. Deepa Chilaka on March 15th, 2007 at 4:19 pm:

    Hey Sailu,

    I came here through Mythili’s website and have to admit it that I am astonished to see someone from Vizag blogging about Mexican cuisine. The shock is more due to the fact that I am from Vizag myself and know that there isn’t a single place that you can get good Mexican food in. My best friend, Srinivas owns a pub called Chrome in Vizag (not sure if you’ve heard of it) and I was just on the phone telling him that there are talented people who can cook genuine Mexican food in Vizag. You made corn chips at home!!! Naaku maatalu ravatledu Sailu….Anyway awesome cooking and way to go!! Claps:)

    Thanks for dropping by, Deepa. Yes, Vizag doesn’t have a single place where Mexican food is authentic and tastes good. Hopefully, the heavy IT Park devt (Rishikonda) and an influx of multi-racial folks into Vizag should bring about an exclusive Mexican food joint like in Hyderabad. Like Sandeepa suggested, maybe I should open one with the help of my chef friends..:):)

  22. Paz on March 15th, 2007 at 6:40 pm:

    Looks wonderful!

    Paz

  23. Linda, The Village Vegetable on March 16th, 2007 at 10:36 am:

    wow very impressive tortilla chips! i’ve never made my own, and this step by step will surely help me change that! honestly they just look perfect. lovin’ your photo skills too!

  24. Deepa Chilaka on March 16th, 2007 at 11:21 am:

    Well, I think you should definitely go ahead and open one. I and all my ex-colleagues from HSBC would be thrilled to get such yummy food:)

  25. latha on March 16th, 2007 at 7:16 pm:

    Vow sailu garu,you are amazing. Tappakunda try chestanu.
    me website nenu everyweek chustanu. Nenu egg pulusu curry meeru describe chesina vidham ga chesanu. It was so good.My husband liked it a lot.

    Keep up the good work
    latha,.

  26. viji on March 16th, 2007 at 11:51 pm:

    Hi Sailu, any recent visit! The recipes are so real and looks so yummy. Feel like coming to Vizak in the near future. Very neat presentation Sailu. Tks for sharing. Viji

    Your most welcome anytime, Viji.:).

  27. Linda on March 17th, 2007 at 8:10 am:

    Hi Sailu, leave it to you to make *homemade* corn chips that look so thin and crispy! Everything looks delicious, but those corn chips are a knockout :):)

  28. seema on March 17th, 2007 at 4:42 pm:

    Sailu, oh boy your made them all ….all from scratch…you the best girl!!! I never knew you could make corn chips at home …yours looks so perfect. Also thanx for the recipe of sour cream. Loved it all.

  29. jai on March 17th, 2007 at 6:12 pm:

    just outstanding.

  30. shaheen on March 17th, 2007 at 6:28 pm:

    homemade chips! looks great and would give the ready made ones we buy a run for their money.like the salsa too.

  31. Rajani on March 17th, 2007 at 7:34 pm:

    Hi Sailu
    Recipe from scratch now thats interesting and very well presented.
    cheers
    rajani

  32. nandita on March 18th, 2007 at 1:46 am:

    Sailu,
    It indeed has been a Mexican fest at your place! And thanks for sharing all the recipes will all-Indian ingredients, some of the tortilla recipes I saw on blogs had masa harina and exotic ingredients that I cannot even hope to find in a city like Bombay…Indianising the ingredients is the best thing you’ve done for all of us here!
    Thanks a ton dear!

  33. Swathi on March 18th, 2007 at 3:48 am:

    Sailu,

    Ee link chuudandi : http://www.andhrajyothy.com/sunday/sundayshow.asp?qry=vantasala

    Meeru gaani ee column raasaaraa?

    Thanks, Swati, naaku inform cheysinanduku. Naaku Andhra jyothi daily tho sambandamu emmi laydu. Images naa blog noonchi lift cheysaaru.

  34. Rahin on March 18th, 2007 at 10:02 am:

    hey sailu , quite a feast , love mexican food , will definitely try these recipes, thanx for sharing :)

  35. laxmi on March 18th, 2007 at 10:32 am:

    Hi sailuji,

    This is unrelated to this recipe. Your recipe pictures today came in andhrajyothi sunday daily. Photos are for chandrakanthalu and bellam vadalu. They didn’t give any credit to u so I think this also is some kind of copy right violation. I just felt bad and wanted u to know about this.

    Regads
    laxmi.

    Thanks for informing me, Laxmi. They have violated my copyright since they didn’t seek permission before using the images in their daily.

  36. Dilip on March 18th, 2007 at 7:54 pm:

    wow….reminds me of my time Texas on business visits….tex-mex i love it…great stuff…thanks for sharing…

  37. Jeff on March 19th, 2007 at 10:30 am:

    I’d love to make my own chips, but way too much frying for moi

  38. There are postcards in the mail….. » jugalbandi on March 19th, 2007 at 10:36 am:

    […] Meanwhile, check out Sailu’s Ugadi postcard, and her little sojourn to Mexico, from her kitchen in Vishakhapatnam, India. Our jaws are sore from repeatedly picking them off the floor. […]

  39. Mae on March 21st, 2007 at 7:08 am:

    Oh, wow! I’d like to try making the tortilla chips but what is maida?

    Looks so good.

    Its all purpose flour, Mae.

  40. Chaitanya on March 21st, 2007 at 1:24 pm:

    Thanks for sharing the recipes. Do you the recipe for Mexican tortilla soup….

  41. shami on March 28th, 2007 at 3:25 am:

    Is Maize flour the same as corn flour?

    No, Shami. Its called Makkai ki atta (maize flour) and is yellow in color.

  42. Rubina on March 28th, 2007 at 2:29 pm:

    Hi,
    Thanks for the recipes. I really appreciate your effort and they way u have presented it. It is very clear and triggers one to try it immediately. Thanks a ton.

  43. Mexican Tacos Indian Food & Andhra Recipes from Sailu’s Kitchen on April 18th, 2007 at 6:25 am:

    […] snack - tacos and I set myself the task of preparing home made taco shells right from scratch using corn tortillas, loaded with a delicious paneer-vegetable-baked beans filling as a tea-time snack and use the left […]

  44. Enchilada Casserole Indian Food & Andhra Recipes from Sailu’s Kitchen on April 23rd, 2007 at 6:31 am:

    […] cup home made salsa 1 cup white […]

  45. roopa on April 23rd, 2007 at 10:50 pm:

    Too good Sailu:) I love mexican chips and the other recipe where I saw the link to this recipe, the nachos thing i guess….great going..love your blog

  46. My Foodcourt on May 3rd, 2007 at 5:03 am:

    […] impressed and encouraged by Sailu’s recent posts on Mexican recipes.  I used her recipe for the Tomato Salsa as well as Sour Cream. Thanks Sailu. You will find very simple and easy recipes on her lovely blog […]

  47. rani on May 18th, 2007 at 9:59 am:

    hai sailu,
    today only i saw ur recipes. firstly i have to say “THANKS” to u becz u are helping a lot of people like me who didnt know how to cook. ur recipes are nice, not only nice they are excellent, i like all recipes. may i know what is maize ka atta in telugu?

    Thanks for your sweet words, Rani. Maize ka atta is mokka jonna pindi.

  48. Maninas on July 20th, 2007 at 7:06 am:

    WOW! my jaw dropped when i saw you made your own tortilla chips! that is really impressive! i must admit, it never occured to me to do that, though it makes perfect sense, and - why not?! :) also, the sour cream dish is gorgeous! :)

  49. Saaya on August 7th, 2007 at 6:23 am:

    Sailu
    is it possible to prepare the salsa without baking the ingredients into the oven ? any other alternative method ?

  50. Thelma on September 17th, 2007 at 9:33 pm:

    Hello Sailu,

    Thanks for sharing the recipes. I tried the corn chips as per your instructions. However, they turned out quite hard! May be I rolled them out quite thick but I was wondering if they can be made crispy and softer.

  51. peechie on September 27th, 2007 at 10:28 am:

    Your recipes look absolutly gorgeous and im sure they taste wonderful too. Im planning a menu for an all girls evening, and i’m sure the salsa and corn recipe will be a great big hit! Will definately try and make this at home.

  52. roxy on March 17th, 2008 at 2:59 am:

    im trying this out 2night. you know what, that salsa and sour cream sauce over a baked potato will be dam good too.

  53. Sid on March 26th, 2008 at 6:20 am:

    Sour cream and Salsa look good… but you’re wrong about the corn chips. I’m pretty sure any authentic mexican recipe calls for *baking* the chips not deep-frying it !!
    They look like an indian-ized version of corn chips…. sorry! Not appealing to me!

  54. Anita Christy on April 9th, 2008 at 11:27 am:

    The Salsa seems so much time consuming. I make this fresh salsa. I take the seeds out of plum tomatoes (around 5), chop this fine, chop 1/2 red onion fine, chop 1 jalapeno (banana pepper), chop a big bunch of cilantro, juice of 1 lime, 1 tsp of lime zest, kosher salt to taste, 1/2 tsp sugar. Mix this all up and let it sit in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour atleast before serving with chips.

    At Christmas time - I reduce the tomatoes to 2, add 1 chopped mango (ripe), 1/2 cup craberries to the above salsa and serve with chips - the mango and the cranberries give it a festive look.

    Substitude tomatoes for tomatillos and you have a fresh green salsa. For tomatillos use only juice of 1/2 lime.

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