Sending my dahi bhalles to PJ's Scrumptious Delights from Leftovers Event.
I am also sending these to Kitchen Flavors' Yummy Food : Joy from Fasting to Feasting-Season III and Happy Ramadan wishes to her
KAARA VADAI
This was my grandma’s signature dish, she used to dish out the best Kaara vadais in the world. She was always full of life, she loved it when people visited her and would whirr around the kitchen dishing up some wonderful things. Kaara vadai was one such evening snack. It never happens that we make kaara vadai and don’t think of my grandma. This post is an ode to my grandma who is no more in this world but forever in our hearts and her recipes are a sheer gastronomic indulgence. I wish I had the energy she had, the bounce in her steps, the never-say-never attitude, the zeal for cooking no matter how many people came home. Her initiative and enthusiasm to dish out her famous recipes for all and sundry who visited us, be it the relatives or friends was matchless. I would love to share this recipe keeping in lieu the spirit of sharing that she passed on to us. Enjoy this recipe, make a sizeable number of kaara vadai, you can’t stop with one and you will keep coming back for more of the crispy, karari and lip smackingly delicious bite sized kara vadais. If its leftover, u can put it in sambhar and tastes excellent like sambhar vadai or you can even put it in yogurt (dahi) and trust me it tastes better than Medhu vada or the lentil vadas(bhalle) put in Dahi(Yogurt). Kaara vadais go well with tea. It’s a tea time snack.
Raw rice - 1 cup
Udad Split Black Gram Dal - ½ cup
Chana dal (Bengal Gram) – ¼ cup
Chana dal (Bengal Gram) – 1 tbsp soaked
Green chillies – 7-8
Asafetida – ½ tsp
Salt as per taste
Curry leaves
Oil to fry
Method
Wash well and soak 1 cup raw rice and 1/3 cup urad dhal and ¼ cup chana dal for 2 hrs. Also soak separately 1 tablespoon soaked chana dal.
Drain and grind all the dals along with the green chillies in a wet grinder or mixer except the soaked 1 tbsp chana dal.
Grind into a coarse paste adding salt, asafetida and sufficient water. The batter shouldn’t be very thin or thick just like normal vada batter, it should be to dropping consistency
Now tear some curry leaves and add to the vada batter, also add in the soaked 1 tbsp chana dal and mix well.
Heat oil in a frying pan and when the oil is hot, put small balls of the batter, shouldn’t be too even(very round) while dropping, when dropped unevenly it will be more crispy. Fry the vadas till golden and crisp, remove and drain on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Serve hot with coconut chutney or green chutney.
Priti of Indian Khana has showered me with awards.
Thanks Priti, it really boosts me, I would like to share it with some of my blogger friends.
I am passing this to;
Sanghi of Sanghi's Tasty Bites
Deepa of Simple Home cooking
Alka's Sindhi Rasoi
Ramki of One page cook books
RIPE BANANA BAJJI & GORENG PISANG (SWEET BANANA FRITTERS )
AND A RAINBOW & HAPPY HOLI TO ALL.
Iam living in
Bananas – 2 ripe ones
Rice flour – 1 tbsp
Soda bi-carb – a pinch (optional)
Red chilly powder - 2 tsps
Salt as per taste
Oil – for deep frying
Method
Peel the Bananas and cut into chunks. Keep aside. In a bowl, Add Besan flour, rice flour, a pinch of soda bi-carb, red chilly powder and salt as per taste. Add water and make a thick paste first, this ensures that the lumps get dissolved. Then add more water till it comes to the dosa better consistency. Keep aside. Now take a deep frying pan, Add oil for frying.
Take a chunk of banana and dip it into the batter, the banana should be coated well with the batter else it will come in direct contact with the oil and absorb too much oil. Drop the coated banana chunks into hot oil and deep fry until golden brown. Once you remove from oil place on kitchen towel to drain the excess oil. Serve hot. You can eat it just like that. Just bite into one and a riot of flavors explode into your mouth, ranging from hot, sweet, salty and crispy outside and the soft and gooey banana inside. Enjoy this delightful snack on a cold winter or rainy day.
GORENG PISANG
I would like to share with you’ll the recipe of Goreng Pisang, wherein Rice flour, salt, sugar are mixed with water to form a batter like consistency and then Bananas(not over ripe usually the “Pisang Raja” variety available in this part of the world ) are dipped into this batter and deep fried. Sometimes, glutinous rice flour is also added to the batter and sometimes a bit of ginger powder is added to give that extra flavor to the batter. Then the bananas are dipped in the batter and deep fried until golden brown and served hot with a dash of cinnamon powder and some fresh cream.
I saw a beautiful rainbow outside and I thought I must capture it in my camera. There is a pot
of gold at the end of the rainbow. I thought this signifies the recession we are going through and the optimistic th
ought that it will end and things will brighten up as I believe that there is light at the end of a tunnel and we will find that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
I would like to send this wonderful dish to my blogger friend Purva for the “ Festive Food – Holi” event that she is hosting.
I would also like to send this to PJ’s Tasty Bites for Toddlers event
POTATO BAJJI (POTATO FRITTERS)
Here is yet another offering from my kitchen. Golden crispy Potato fritters. My parents are here with me and my father and my daughter love these fritters(bajji), so I decided to indulge in this yummy delight on a rainy weekend, which sets me in the mood to usually serve these kind of deep fried delights at home.
Potatoes-2
Besan flour – 2 cups
Rice flour – 1 tbsp
Soda bi-carb – a pinch (optional)
Green chillies paste – 1 tsp
Ginger paste – 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 2 tsps
Ajwain seeds(Bishop’s weed) – 1 tsp
Asafetida – 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
Oil – for deep frying
Method
Wash the potatoes well. Slice them into think roundels. Keep the slices soaked in cold water. Putting the slices in cold water makes the slices crisp and separate and ensures that they don’t become black. Keep aside.
In a bowl, Add Besan flour, rice flour, a pinch of soda bi-carb, green chillies paste, ginger paste, red chilly powder, ajwain seeds, asafetida and salt as per taste. Add water and make a thick paste first, this ensures that the lumps get dissolved. Then add more water till it comes to the dosa better consistency. Keep aside. Let the batter marinate with the spices for about 15- 20 minutes.
Now take a deep frying pan, Add oil for frying. In the meanwhile add some more water and make the batter a bit thinner (not too thin or watery though). Mix well, when you dip the potato slices the batter should stick well to the slices.
Once the oil is hot, dip the potato slices into the batter and deep fry until golden brown. Once you remove from oil place on kitchen towel to drain the excess oil. Serve hot with Tomato ketchup and Coriander chutney.
Dunk them into the ketchup and coriander chutney and enjoy the crispy potato bhajjis.
Tips : Potatoes and gram flour together can be gassy. So I always add in ginger paste, asafetida and ajwain seeds, which helps in aiding digestion. This is a tip from one of the popular street vendors in Mumbai who sells these fritters.
PEAS POTATO CUTLET
Not every time can you think of healthy and diet conscious foods, there are times when your heart craves to binge on comfort foods which make you happy, like when it’s raining and you crave to eat something fried. I really don’t know what could be the connection between rains and the cravings for hot fried foods, but there is and when I go blog hopping I see that it’s a universal syndrome. So here is a dish that’s nutritious in a way as its got vegetables but Peas potato cutlet is that kind of crispy delight that no one can resist dunking into.
Ingredients
Green Peas – 1 cup
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp
Green chillies - 2-3
Ginger – ½ an inch
Cumin powder – 1tsp
Garam Masala – 1 tbsp
Asafetida – 1 tsp
2 slices bread
Coriander leaves – 1cup
Rice flour - 2-3 tbsps
Semolina (Rava) – 2 tbsps
Bread crumbs – 1 cup
Salt as per taste
Oil
Method
Boil the potatoes and green peas separately in a pressure cooker upto 3 whistles. Peel and mash the potatoes. Just lightly mash the potatoes (don’t mash into a paste).Drain the water from the boiled peas. Now, in a wok, take one tablespoon cooking oil, add the cumin seeds, when they are getting fried, add the ginger chilly paste and fry, then add the garam masala, asafetida, cumin powder and fry for a minute. Now add the green peas and fry, when u see that it is getting light in color, add in the mashed potatoes and salt as per taste mix well. The masala and salt must mix well with the potatoes and peas mixture. Now add finely chopped coriander leaves and mix well.
Now soak 2 bread slices in water. Squeeze the water out completely and mash into a paste and mix it with the Potato-peas mixture. This helps the mixture to bind better. If you find the mixture soggy, you can add some bread crumbs to it. This will make it bind better and also the cutlets will be crispy.
Make heart shapes or give the cutlets a circular or cylindrical shape as per your preference.
Now make a watery paste of rice flour and salt. Dip the heart shaped cutlets into the this rice flour paste and then roll over the roasted semolina and then roll over the bread crumbs until the bread crumbs coat the cutlet. Now deep fry until Golden brown and crisp.
Once you remove from oil place on kitchen towel to drain the excess oil.
Serve hot with Tomato ketchup and Coriander chutney.