Share Buttons

Showing posts with label SNACKS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SNACKS. Show all posts

Thursday, July 24, 2008

HOT KACHORI


HOT KACHORI
This is also known as Rajasthani Kachori as it is one of their favorite snacks. In the north it is also known as “Kachaudi”. It’s a hot sweet delight which is not only a treat to your eyes but will tantalize your taste buds and leave you craving for more. The chaat versions of the Kachori are very popular in Mumbai as a street food. I will divide the recipe into 3 halves as the kachori is made in different segments and there is a process in each one. All put together what you get is a slice of heaven
Ingredients
For cover
:
Plain flour – 1 ½ cup
Oil – 2 tbsps
Salt as per taste
For filling:
Yellow moong dal washed and soaked for 1/2 hour -1 cup
Red chilly powder -1 tsp.
Coriander powder -1/2 tsp.
Coriander seeds crushed coarsely -1/2 tsp.
Fennel seeds crushed coarsely -1/2 tsp.
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp.
Asafetida – 1tsp
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry
Method
For cover:
In a Bowl, mix flour, salt and oil, knead into soft pliable dough adding water while making the dough, just like you do for chappatis. Keep aside for 30 minutes.
For filling:
In a vessel, Take 4 glasses of water, when it comes to boiling point, Add the yellow moong dal and when it starts to boil, add the dal. Boil dal for 5 minutes, drain the water from the dal. Allow it to cool down. Now heat some oil in a heavy pan, add the cumin seeds and the coarsely crushed coriander seeds and fennel seeds. When it starts to splutter
add asafetida, red chilly powder, Coriander powder and mix well. Now Add the dal. Add salt to taste. With the back of your spatula smash a few lentils(dals). Do not smash the dal fully. A bit of smashing makes the mixture bind well. Switch off the gas and allow this mixture to cool.
Once the mixture cools down, grease your palms and make balls out of the lentil mixture and Keep aside.
Now make balls of the dough. Take one lemon sized ball and roll it, just like you roll for chappati. Place one ball of the lentil filling in the centre. Now make the dough like a money pouch with the lentil mixture in the middle. Tear off the excess dough carefully
The cover shouldn’t tear, now with your palms press the ball, making it flattish and round.(like in the picture).Make all the kachoris in the same way. The technique to deep fry these kachoris is very important. Once the oil is hot, reduce the flame. Keep it on sim and slowly drop the kachoris, the kachoris fry in the oil for a longer time, only then will they be crispy. If the kachori get a hole anywhere, apply some paste made with plain flour and water and patch it up else the oil will be spilt with lentil and the kachories will be soggy. Once you feel one side is about half cooked and safe to turn slowly turn with a delicate hand to the other side, you can do it with a spatula and a spoon. When you are frying you will notice that small bubbles appear over the kachori, slowly the bubbles will reduce and you know that the kachori is almost done. Fry till golden and crisp.
Drain on a kitchen towel to remove excess oil and serve hot with green and tamarind chutneys.
Kachoris are very filling, The yellow lentils are very nutritious
Kachoris can be made and stored for 2-3 days. We can make kachori chaat or even Dahi kachori chaat with them the following day for a variation.
Variations
For Kachori chaat
: Break the top of the kachori and pour some green chutney and tamarind chutney and some finely chopped onions and top it with sev (gram flour noodles) and garnish with freshly chopped coriander and a dash of lime. You can add a pinch of chaat masala also.
For Dahi kachori chaat: Use fresh thick yogurt. Add some sugar in the yogurt and beat it, it will be fluffy. Now break the Kachori as above and pour a tablespoon of dahi and follow the same as above. You can use bareek sev (Fine gram flour noodles available in the market)

SABUDANA VADA (Sago Vada)

My entry for the SWC -: Maharashtrian Cuisine is this;
SABUDANA VADA (Sago Vada)
Sabudana(Sago) is usually used during fasting in Maharashtra. But it wouldn’t be fair to grade it just as a fasting item. The sabudana khichdi (upma), sabudana Chiwda and the sabudana vada are special Maharashtrian delights which cannot escape any Maharashtrian kitchen.
Any dish made with sago and potatoes taste absolutely good, sago and potatoes are a very tasty and explosive combination according to me, be it the papad or this vada. I am sure your day is made, when you have this vada on a rainy day as an evening snack along with some hot tea.
Sago and potatoes when mixed together tend to absorb more oil, so after you fry it, always absorb the excess oil on a kitchen towel (tissue) and serve hot.
The sabudana vada tastes good only when served hot, as it is crispy only when hot. Once it cools down, the crispyness is lost. Do indulge in this absolutely wonderful Maharashtrian delight.
The sabudana vada is a crispy delight which is usually served with sweetened thick yogurt and green coriander chutney.
I have used the smaller sized sago in my recipe, which is easily available everywhere in Singapore, It soaks fasts and I feel we can make crispier vadas, We can do the same with the sago available in India also.(To the right is the picture of the sago vada made out of the bigger sized sago)

Ingredients
Sabudana (Sago) – 250gms
Potato - 2 medium
Green Chillies – 2-3,
Ginger - a small piece,
Peanuts -1/2 cup (Roasted and crushed coarsely)
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1tsp.(freshly roasted)
Salt as per taste
Finely chopped coriander leaves
Oil - to deep fry
Method
Roast the peanuts and preferably remove the skin of the peanuts. If you grind the peanuts along with their skin, your vadas will be slightly reddish in color. We want our vadas to be golden in color.
Wash the sago well to remove any dirt and soak it in water. Since I have used the smaller sized sagos. I just add water to immerse the sago, the water should not be too much or else the sabudana will get mashed and the vadas wont be tasty or crispy. The soaking is one of the most crucial aspects in the making of these vadas. I usually soak for 2-3 hours, but the smaller variety of sago used by me gets soaked very fast so even half an hour is enough.
Boil the potatoes, peel and mash well. Keep aside
Grind the chillies and ginger in the mixie (alternatively you can use the ginger and green chilly paste also). Some people just add finely chopped green chillies and finely grated ginger, but I prefer to make a paste and add it to the sago mixture as the spices enter the mixture well and the vadas taste better.
Check your soaked sago after half an hour, all the water will have been absorbed by the sago, thus increasing its size and making it soft, the sago will still be separate and not get mashed. If it gets mashed your vada will be very gluey.
Now in a bowl, take your soaked sago, add the roasted and ground peanut powder, salt, Toasted cumin seeds, ginger and green chilly paste, finely chopped coriander leaves. Mix well. Check for salt and spice. If you find it less add more before you add the mashed potatoes. Once, you add the mashed potatoes everything binds well, so the salt and spices will not be evenly mixed.
In the end add the mashed potatoes and mix well. Now the mixture will bind well. Heat oil in a kadhai (wok), make balls of the mixture, flatten it on your palm and deep fry in the hot oil. Drain the excess oil in paper towels or tissues and serve hot, with thickened sweet yogurt, green coriander chutney or coconut chutney as per your choice. I am sure people will love this recipe.
Note : Some people make the Sabudana Khichdi first and then use the khichdi mixture to make the vadas. It is not necessary though. You can consider it as another method.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

VEGETABLE UPPUMA (RAWA KICHADI)

VEGETABLE UPPUMA (RAWA KICHADI)
This is a very nutritious uppuma, as it has lot of vegetables which brings in a lot of color to the dish and kids like it a lot.
Ingredients
Semolina (Rava) – 2 cups
Onions – 1
Potato – 1
Tomato - 1
French Beans - 1 tbsp chopped
Carrots – 1 tbsp chopped
Green Peas – 1 ½ tbsp
Green chillies – 2
Ginger – a small piece
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Chana dal (Bengal Gram) – 1tsp
Curry leaves – A sprig
Asafetida (hing) - a pinch
Turmeric powder – 1tsp
Salt to taste
Ghee (Clarified butter) – 1 tsp
Method
Take 2 cups of rava and roast without oil in a wok, for the raw smell to go. Be careful that it shouldn’t burn. Keep aside. Now chop the onions and tomatoes. Peel the potatoes and carrots and chop them into squares. Cut off the top and bottom of the French beans and chop into pieces, Rinse the green peas, Chop the chilly into 2 pieces don’t chop it too finely else it will be very spicy for kids. Chop a small piece of Ginger. Now in a kadhai(wok), put 1 tbsp oil, add the mustard seeds, when it begins to crackle add the cumin seeds and the Bengal Gram, once the Bengal gram starts to turn light pink add the curry leaves and ginger and chilly, sauté for about a minute then add the onions and sauté till transparent, now add the tomatoes and sauté for a minute, after which you can add all the remaining vegetables, then add the salt, asafetida and turmeric and let it fry till you see the green peas turn light green in color, At this point add in about 3 cups of water, cover and let the vegetables cook, check for salt, if you find it less then add at this point. After 5 minutes open and check, if the vegetables are done, reduce the flame to sim, then slowly add in the Rava. Add the rava slowly with the left hand and with the right hand keep stirring so that it doesn’t form any lumps. Keep stirring. Soon you will notice that the Rava is absorbing the water. When the water content begins to reduce lower the flame and cook under cover for 5 minutes. Open Add a spoon of ghee, mix well and close the wok with a lid, let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then open the lid and serve hot. Kids love this upma. What more; it is nutritious as its got lots of vegetables.
Tip : You can add in Cashews while seasoning, if you want

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

MASALA VADAI / PARIPPU VADAI / DAL VADA

MASALA VADAI / PARIPPU VADAI / DAL VADA
Masala Vadais are a delight to the palette with a riot of flavors exploding in your mouth.

In the yesteryear's we used to enjoy our long journey train travels from Mumbai to Chennai passing via different stations and tasting the flavors of the snacks made by the different states.
Tam brahms, don't usually add Onions or garlic to their snacks, but while we were travelling by train from Mumbai to Tirupati, I remember Appa purchased these lovely Masala Vadais at Renigunta station, they were so full of flavors, unlike the simple Aama vadais / Parippu vadais made at home. 
The Vadais were warm, packed in a Banana leaf further covered with a newspaper. Inside the banana leaf there was a smaller banana leaf wrap with thick chutney inside, packed carefully so as to not make the vadai soggy. The Vadai and chutney were so yummy and we relished it so much that we wanted to buy more; but the train started to move, looking at our eagerness to buy, the vendor came running and passed us a packet and my father gave him money and asked him to keep the change, the boy was so happy. 
Life back then was simple and we were so happy in the simple things. 
Coming to the present, It was a rainy day and I had cravings for something fried, so I decided to make these Masala vadais.
I have prepared the Parippu Vadai many times following my mom's recipe, It has the dals mentioned in the below ingredients in the same proportion and the green chillies, red chillies, asafetida, curry leaves and salt. It is ground coarse but slightly more finer than the below masala vadai. I prepare Parippu vadai for festivals and grind a bit more and add the remaining ingredients the next day to prepare the Masala vadai, since we don't eat onions on festival days.
Yo (my dear hubby) prefers the Masala vadai though, it’s just another version of the Parippu Vadai, except for the burst of flavour with the added ingredients. 
The vadai batter remains the same but is enhanced further with the other ingredients mainly the onions, ginger, fennel & cumin. 
Yo(my husband) says it spicier, crispier and tastier. 
I pat it a little flatter, that gives me crispier vadais. 
Here’s the recipe for the Masala Vadai and you can also try the Parippu vadai minus the other ingredients mentioned below. 
I will share the recipe of the Aama Vadai soon....




Ingredients (Serves 4)
Toor Dal – 1 cup
Udad dal – ½ cup
Chana dal- ½ cup
Green Chillies – 2
Dry Red chillies -2
Ginger – a small piece (optional)
Chopped Onion - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds (Jeera) – 1 tsp
Fennel seeds (Saunf) – 2tsps
Grated coconut – 1 tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves – 1 tbsp
Curry leaves – a sprig
Asafetida – a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method
Mix all the dals and rinse well. Soak for about 2-3 hours. Drain water from the soaked dal. Grind the soaked dals, green chillies, red chillies, ginger with salt and asafetida in a mixer. Grind it coarsely, Don’t add much water, If too much water is added the mixture will be too soggy and absorb too much oil while frying.
Now add the chopped onions, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, grated coconut, curry leaves (break one or 2 leaves into halves for extra flavor), and chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Check for salt, if less, add some while mixing.
Keep for about half an hour aside so that the spices soak in.


Heat the oil in a wok (kadhai). Wet your left palm, with your right hand make a small golf size ball and pat it on your left palm into a vada and drop it slowly into the hot oil. Put the flattened balls of the dough into the hot oil one by one.
Deep fry till golden brown.
Serve hot with coconut chutney and sambhar.


Tips 
  • Soak the fennel seeds in some water for about 15 minutes , rinse out the water and add the bloated fennel seeds to the coarsely prepared vada mixture.
  • You can prepare the batter in the morning and keep it refrigerated and make the vadas the evening. This will allow the spices to soak in and result in tastier vadas. The reason we are refrigerating it is because onions tend to make the batter soggy, so keeping it outside may make the onions sweat in the batter resulting in a soggy batter and oily vadas.

Variations
  • If the vadas are remaining, add them to sambhar and you have tasty sambhar vadas, the next day. 
  • If use the Vadai mixture that comes out of the blender and make Vadai. It is Parippu Vadai/ Dal Vadai
  • You can use garlic in the above recipe as well. 3-4 pods chopped fine or pounded to a fine paste added to the vadai mixture.
  • You can add fresh mint leaves too. Mint gives a good fresh flavour to the vadai. Incase using mint leaves. Take a cup full of freshly chopped mint leaves and add to the vadai mixture.
  • You can add Cinnamon to the vadai too. If you are adding, dry roast 1 cinnamon stick and grind it along with the vadai mixture. 
  • Any of the above ingredients can be added or deleted depending on your taste

Monday, December 3, 2007

CORN PATTICE

CORN PATTICE
Here’s the dish which burnt my nose, thanks to the corn kernel popping out of the oil and directly aiming my nose. It sounds funny but it aint funny as I have got burn marks to prove it. So please read through my recipe. I believe in “Safety First”. But believe me I made the most amazing corn pattice today.
Ingredients
Corn Kernels – 2 ½ cups
Potatoes – 3 medium sized potatoes
Toasted Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Green Chilly paste – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
Corn Flour – 2 heaped tbsps
Bread Crumbs – ½ cup
Fresh coriander leaves
Oil for frying
Salt for taste

Method
I have used frozen corn kernels in this recipe, simply because its easy.Wash the corn kernels. Boil the corn kernels and potatoes separately. Once the corn kernels are boiled, allow it to cool, grind the corns in a mixie until it becomes like a paste, you can keep a few corn kernels whole, so that it is seen through the pattice, but you must remember that corn kernels tend to burst in the oil while frying, so you cant keep too many whole corn kernels. Mash the potatoes. In a bowl, add the grounded boiled corn paste, the mashed potatoes, add the ginger paste, green chilly paste, toasted cumin seeds, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilly powder, fresh coriander leaves and salt as per taste. Mix well. Add the corn flour slowly and keep mixing till the batter starts to loose its soggyness. Now, you can make the pattice in 2 ways, either you can make balls of the dough and roll it over the breadcrumds and deep fry, but I find that the bread crumbs drop off and get over fried and the pattice tend to split in the oil and become too oily. The oil becomes too messy, so here comes my brainwave, what I do is I add the bread crumbs to the dough I prepared in the bowl and mix well, keep adding little by little until the bread crumbs absorb the soggyness which is usually caused by the mashed corn kernels and mashed potatoes. When you mix in this fashion, the dough becomes like the dry masala vada batter. It can be easily rolled into balls without sticking to your hands, flatten the rolled balls with your right palm on your left palm. In the meanwhile, Heat the oil in a wok (kadhai). Put the flattened balls of the dough into the hot oil one by one. While turning the pattice stand away from the wok, lest you burn yourself. Deep fry till golden brown. Serve hot with either green coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

ADAI

ADAI
Ingredients
Rice -1 cups (You can use Raw rice or Parboiled rice as per your choice)
Toor dal – ¼ cup
Chana dal - ¼ cup
Udad dal - ¼ cup
Moong dal - ¼ cup
Red chillies – 4-5
Green chillies - 3-4
Hing – ½ tsp
Salt as per taste
Curry leaves – A sprig
Cooking oil for making adai (Preferably Sesame (Til)oil)

Method
Rinse the rice and all the dals and soak them together in water. Grind the above coarsely with salt, hing and red chillies and green chillies. Add curry leaves to the batter, while adding break some curry leaves for a nice aroma.

Take a tava (a flat bottomed pan). Put 1 tsp oil and spread it evenly over the tave, sprinkle some water and check if the tava is hot enough, reduce the flame. Now take a big spoon full of the adai batter and spread it in a round format evenly. Put a hole in the centre. Put 1 tsp oil around it and a little inside the hole that you placed in the centre. Let it cook on this side for a few minutes, when you see the sides turning brown, flip it over and cook on the other side, if required put 1 tsp of oil around it. Wait till the adai turns brown. Serve it hot with any chutney, molagapodi, some white homemade butter or with some jaggery.

Adai tastes good even after the batter remains for 2-3 days. Keep the batter refrigerated and remove out of fridge 2-3 hours before you prepare the adai. After a day or 2 the batter gets some sourness, which many people enjoy, more than the adai made from the fresh batter. The adai batter need not be fermented unlike the dosai batter, but some people believe that fermenting the batter makes it lighter on the stomach. Adai is very very nutritious and has high protein content.

Adai also tastes excellent with Avial and Morkozhambu. Some believe that Avial is the best combination for Adai

(For the recipe of Avial and Morkozhambu, check the South Indian recipes section of my blog)

Variations to the Adai

  • You can add onions to the batter. Cut onions into small pieces and put into the better and follow the above method. You will get some nice ONION ADAI.
  • You can add tomatoes to the batter. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces and put into batter and follow the above method. You will get some nice TOMATO ADAI.
  • You can add coconut, Grate the coconut and add half a cup of this grated coconut into the batter and follow the above method. You will get some nice COCONUT ADAI.
  • While grinding the rice, dals and chillies, you can also add a teaspoon full of pepper and grind. You will get some nice PEPPER ADAI.
  • Add a bunch of finely chopped fresh coriander leaves to the batter and you will get some nice CORIANDER ADAI.
  • Add cut drumstick leaves to the batter and you will get your MURUNGA ILAI ADAI. (Refer picture to your right for murunga ilai adai)
  • You can also make any of the above combos like Coconut + Onion or Onion +Tomato or any other combo of your choice
  • THAVALA ADAI
  • Soak the rice and dals as in the above preparation and grind coarsely with chillies, salt and hing. Now in a pan heat a tablespoon of oil or ghee in a pan, add cumin seeds, pepper and curry leaves and mix it with the batter. And make the adai as above. This is Thavala Adai.
These 2 preparations chakkai adai and kaaradai are slightly different from the above Adai recipes
  • CHAKKAI ADAI
    This is very popular in Kerala. It is usually prepared in the jack fruit season.
    Soak parboiled rice for around 4-5 hours, Grind it into a smooth paste adding salt as per taste. Add cut pieces of jackfruit and small quantity of jaggery half way while grinding. Prepare Adais with this batter.
  • You can use Drumstick leaves (murunga ilai) instead of jackfruit and follow the above recipe to make some murunga ilai adai. This is yet another type of Murunga Ilai Adai.
  • KAARADAI
  • Roast 250 g of raw rice and coarsely powder it into a nice rava like consistency.Dry roast 2-3tsps of cowgram/ Horsegram (known as kuleeth in marathi and Kollu in tamil). In a thick vessel, heat water to boil, and add the roasted cowgram, coconut pieces(cut into very small pieces) and salt as per taste. When they are cooked, add the rava and stir into a paste. Flatten this flour into round shape (the size of medhu vadai), place in idli plates and cook.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

THATTAI - A South Indian Savoury

THATTAI
Thattai is a savoury which was primarily made in Brahmin households. It is made for Gokulashtami, Deepavali etc. Nowadays there are different versions of the Thattai available in the markets, there is the Thattai available even with garlic, but nothing can beat the homemade thattai made with love.
Here are 2 recipes of the original traditional Thattai to tantalize your tatse buds.
These recipes are minus the grinding and pounding traditionally done to make the Thattais.

RECIPE 1
QUICK & EASY THATTAI
Ingredients

Rice flour - slightly heated rice floor -3 cups.
Uluntham podi (udad dal powder) - 1/4 cup
Butter 25 gms
Chana dal soaked
2 tbsp Curry leaves
1 tbsp Chilly powder
3 tea spoon Asafoetida
1/2 tea spoon salt to taste oil (refined) to fry

Method:
Mix together all the ingredients except the oil. Add water little by little to the mixture. Make it a thick dough.

Take a polythene cover and grease it. Make small balls of the dough and flatten it on the on the polythene cover. Poke it with fork twice or thrice (otherwise it will puff up while frying and wont be so crispy). Deep fry in oil till it is golden in color. It must be crispy. You can store them in air tight containers and enjoy it during tea-time.

RECIPE - 2
Here is my mother’s recipe.
This is a nutritious one(because it has pottu kadalai) and ofcourse very very tasty and crunchy.

Ingredients
Rice flour- 4cups
Uluntham podi(udad dal powder)-1/2 cup
Pottukkadalai podi (Chana ka daali or chutney chana as they say)-1/2 cup
Grind the pottu kadalai in the mixie.
Ghee- 4 table spoons (if you add butter, the oil will froth)
Green chillies - 5
Curry leaves- 2 to 3 sprigs
chilly powder - 1 to 2 teaspoons (if you like it spicy)
Asafoetida (Hing)- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt 2 teaspoons or to taste
Method
First grind the green chillies and curry leaves. Mix all the above ingredients.Add two teaspoons of raw Pottu kadalai. Add one teaspoon white sesame seeds.Then add water. Make into a dough. Take a polythene cover and grease it.
Make small balls of the dough and flatten it on the on the polythene cover.
Poke it with fork twice or thrice (otherwise it will puff up like puri while frying and wont be so crispy).
Deep fry in oil till it is golden in color. It must be crispy. You can store them in air tight containers and enjoy it during tea-time
P.S. Some people add bits of coconut to the dough. It does taste very good if it can be finished soon or if u are making a small quantity, but, it’s a bad idea if you intend to store it for a while because the thattais will soon acquire the flavour of the stale coconut.

Anyways, I hope you guys try out this crunchy munchy recipe. It was requested by one of our members. Iam sure there are various permutations and combinations to the recipe of the Thattai and I would be glad to know different variations in this recipe.
Hope you’ll enjoy the Thattais.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

PUNJABI SAMOSA

PUNJABI SAMOSA
This would be my all time favorite tea-time snack. Hot crispy Samosa with a heavenly potato-peas mixture dunked into chutney.
Ingredients

For cover:
1 cup plain flour (Maida)
2 tbsp. warm oil
Water to knead dough
Ajwain seeds (Bishop’s weed) – ¼ tsp
For filling:
Potatoes large boiled, peeled, mashed - 4 -5
Green peas - 1 cup
Green chillies - 2 -3
Ginger - 1/2 tsp.
Coriander finely chopped - 1 tbsp.
Coriander seeds crushed - 1/2 tsp.
Cumin seeds crushed – ½ tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp.
Salt to taste
Fresh Coriander leaves chopped finely – 1tbsp
Oil to deep fry
Method
For dough
:
Make a well in the flour. Add oil, salt, toasted bishop’s weed (ajwain seeds) and little water. Mix well till crumbly. Add more water little by little, kneading into soft pliable dough. Cover with moist cloth, keep aside for 15-20 minutes. Beat dough on work surface and knead again. Re-cover.
For filling:
Make a paste of the green chilly and ginger. Heat 3 tbsps. oil, add coriander seeds & cumin seeds and fry then add ginger-green chilly paste, saute till light brown. Now add the Garam Masala and salt to the pan and then add the green peas, let it get cooked thoroughly then add the mashed potatoes and mix well. Check for salt and spice, if required add at this point and mix well, add finely chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Wait for the mixture to cool down.
How to make the samosas :
Make a small puri with the dough. It shouldn’t be too thick. In the centre of this puri, add the filling. Now take the left side flap and the right side flap and make a cone. Now take the filling mixture and put into the cone. Keep on a flat surface, then with the bottom portion pull and seal on top enclosing both the left and right side flaps, now with your index finger press on, until it’s sealed and keep aside. Make all the samosas and then start frying.
To Fry:
Heat the oil. Once the oil is hot, keep the gas on sim and start dropping the samosas one by one, deep fry on a low flame until the samosas are light brown. If you fry on a high flame, the samosas will turn out oily and soggy. Drain on a kitchen towel.
Serve hot with green and tamarind chutneys (refer chutneys and sauces section of my blog), or tomato sauce.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Recipe for Cheese Dosai


Hello Members,
Here is the recipe for Cheese Dosai. This recipe is not for the weight watchers though, but those who want to have a variety and still watch your weight u can try the low fat cheese. One dosai will not harm u....Happy Eating!!!!!!

Cheese Dosai
Ingredients :
50 gm Amul cheese/ or any other Mozarella cheese - grated
2 1/2 cups rice and 1 cup urad dal(soaked for 5-6 hours and ground to a fine smooth past)
1 onion - chopped
Small bunch fresh coriander - chopped
3-4 green chillies - chopped
1/2 tsp salt
Oil for frying.

Makes about 12-14 dosais

Method : Add salt to rice and dal paste and leave covered for about 8 hours
Grease a flat tava (a hot iron cooking plate) very lightly. See that there is no excess fat or the dosa will not spread. Pour a ladleful of mixture on the tava and spread it quickly with the back of the ladle. Pour a little oil on the sides and cover for a few seconds. Uncover and add a tablespoon of grated Amul Cheese/ or any other cheese, a few bits of green chillies, onion and fresh coriander. Fold over and serve at once.

Tips : - For those who dont like onions u can avoid onions and for kids u can avoid putting green chillies.

*One very important note to all the members. *
When u are in India u safely can buy Amul or any other cheese. But for those of the members who are living abroad like me, please note the ingredients behind the cover and note, if the ingredients contain cow/calf rennet, if it does, please avoid buying the cheese. You can get cheese minus the above ingredient also.

What is Rennet? (Web definition of Rennet)
An extract from the membranes of calves' stomachs which contains rennin, an enzyme that aids in coagulating milk or separating curds from whey. Rennet-like enzymes, also used commercially, are produced by selected fungi and bacteria.

Hope that members will try the cheese dosai. Enjoy.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

ANDHRA PESARATTU WITH UPMA


Ours is an evening tiffin family. So everyday we have to think of making something for tiffin. Something new is always welcome. Here is the recipe for pesarattu, some of you’ll maybe already making this recipe but for others it will be a refresher.
The Andhra Pesarattu is a spicy snack similar to our Adai but more nutritious as it has the Green Moong Dal.
“For those who have a problem with onions u can avoid onions in the recipe”.
1.PESARATTU
Ingredients
Whole green gram with skin - 1 cup
onion -1 medium sized
ginger - a small piece
green chillies - 5
salt 1 tsp
Raw rice- 2 Tblsp
For Topping
Finely chopped onions - 3/4 cup
Finely cut green chillies -1 Tblsp
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Oil-1Tblsp
Serves about 10 pesarattu dosas.
Preparation :
Soak green gram and rice together for 9-10 hrs in enough water. After that grind with onion, ginger and green chillies. Add salt at the end of grinding.
For the topping Heat oil and fry cumin seeds, green chillies with diced onions for 2- 3 mins or till the onions is transparent, If your taste buds want it a little spicy, chop one or two chilies more into small pieces and add these also to combination) .Keep this seperately in another plate. Heat a heavy dosa pan/tava. Pour dosa by spreading from the centre. Add a teaspoon of oil around the dosa. Sprinkle the topping and press with the flat ladle. Fry in medium flame till the dosa becomes crisp. Sprinkle a little water on the pan and use the same procedure for making your next Pesarattu. It is traditionally served with Upma and Ginger chutney by the Andhraiites.But u can also serve it hot with coconut chutney. Top it up with a teaspoon of butter for added taste. Since it is a spicy dish it is good to have it with butter. Weight watchers can avoid this.

2.UPMA INGREDIENTS :
1 cup Rava / cream of wheat
2 cups water
1 teaspoon chana dal (Kadalai paruppu)
1 teaspoon Urad dal (Ulutham paruppu)
1\4 spoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon oil
2 green chillies
Small piece of ginger
Half a dozen curry leaves
3\4 teaspoon salt
Carrots cut into small pieces
Fresh peas
1 chopped onion
1 tablespoon of Ghee
Preparation :
Heat the oil in a Kadhai (wok) pan. Add chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds and heat on a low fire. When the dals become light brown and the mustard seeds crackle, add the green chillies after cutting them into small pieces, chopped ginger, onion pieces and curry leaves. When the onions are cooked soft, add the other cut vegetables like peas and carrots. Add 2 cups of water and salt. When water starts boiling add one cup of Rava continuously stirring. Then add one table spoon of butter. Reduce the heat and cook till it becomes a soft pudding. Remove from fire and keep it for 5 minutes. Your Upma is ready for serving. Eat it with ginger chutney or any other chutney or pickle. You may add a little lemon juice, if you like . It adds to the taste of the Upma.
3.GINGER CHUTNEY INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1\4 cup grated jaggery
2 tablespoons chana dal
1 tablespoon urad dal
5 red chilies
1\2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon tamarind paste or u can use concentrated tamarind soaked in water also
A pinch of Asafoetida
1 teaspoon oil
Preparation
Fry chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, red chilies and asafoetida in 1 tablespoon oil. Fry till the dals become brown and the mustard seed split. Wait till the mixture becomes lukewarm. Then add salt and grind the mixer into a powder. Add chopped ginger, grated jaggery, tamarind paste and water and grind again to a thick paste. Your ginger chutney is ready.
Eat Pesarattu and Upma with this chutney.
In all the recipes add salt and chilies to suit your taste.
The quantities given here are for one or two persons. For larger numbers increase
quantities proportionately.
Hope u enjoy your pesarattu served hot with Upma and Ginger chutney or any other combinations u want.Enjoy!!!!!!

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

MORKALI AND PULI- MA

Heres another tongue tickling recipe for tiffin time....Can make it for morning breakfast or evening tiffin. Good for health and tasty too

Morkali
Ingredients
Raw rice flour - 250 gm
Sour curd - 1 tumbler
Mustard - 1 tbspUluthamparuppu
1 tbspAsafoetida
A littleRed chillies
2Curry leaves
1 sprigCoriander leaves - A little (optional)
Refined oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Method
Mix the rice flour in the curd and add a spoon of salt. Splutter the mustard, uluthamparuppu, red chillies and asafoetida in the oil. Pour the mixed rice flour in it and stir well. Add the curry leaves and coriander leaves and allow the mixture to cook well. Stir continuously till the raw smell goes off.

Puli Ma (Puli Uppuma)
Use all the above ingredients. As an alternative, you can use tamarind juice in place of the curd. But here u must mix it like chappati dough. Add tamarind juice, salt, asafoetida and make the dough then split it into pieces and put in the oil after thalichi kottardhu.....It should be done so well that it should come out udhur-udhira(seperate) and lo and behold u have some tasty Puli ma or puli uppuma.
Puli Ma takes a lot more oil than Mor-kali as to get seperate it drinks oil.
Mor-kali is very good for health.....Can be given in case of sicknesses also. It is tasty and easy to digest.

Tip : To enhance the taste of both can add 4-5 of Mor molaghai / thair molaghai (the dried and pickled chilly). You must fry it first before u add it. It tastes very good and adds that extra zest, a little of that extra spice and tastes oh so yum!!!!!

Please do try these recipes.

Friday, November 11, 2005

NAN KHATAI (INDIAN COOKIES)

VANILLA COOKIES / VANILLA NAN KHATAI
What would one think of to have with a cup of tea or coffee, Yes, you guessed it right, the answer would be cookies.

I personally prefer our Indian biscuit style cookie which I cooked dunk in my tea and relish. So here’s the recipe of the cookie that we used to get at a local bakery in Mumbai, India.

Ingredients
All purpose flour (Maida) - 150 gms
Rava (Fine sooji) - 50 gms
Powdered sugar - 85 gms
Butter - 120 gms
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp (Optional)
Cardamom powder – a pinch
Few almonds, pistachios and cashew nuts(optional)


































Method
In a big bowl, beat the butter till it turns fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and mix well. 
Now add the vanilla essence followed by the maida and sooji. 
Make a smooth dough of this mixture. 
Roll out medium sized balls and cut them into two halves. 
Put a cashew nut and broken almonds or pistachios on the top of each piece. 
Bake them on a greased pan for 25 minutes at 150 C.
Wait for 15 minutes after it comes out of the oven. 
Your Vanilla Biscuits or Vanilla Nan Khatai is ready. 
Dunk it into your tea and enjoy. 

Saturday, October 8, 2005

IDLI (Steam cooked Rice and lentil cakes)

IDLI (Steam cooked Rice and Lentil Cakes)
Idli is very good for health, since its steam cooked and made of rice and black gram lentil and fermented overnight, its supposed to be very light on the stomach. Idli can be had during typhoid, jaundice or Malaria, its also served to ladies after delivery as it is light on the stomach and very easy to digest. Idli contains very little oil, the oil that we use to grease the moulds is all the oil that we use. If you are using a nonstick idli mould, you don’t need to use oil at all for greasing also.

Each Idli approximately provides 1.67gms of protein, 0.14gms of fat, 9.12 gms of carbohydrates, 0.21gms of minerals, 44.5kcal of energy and 0.09gms of fibre.
It’s a very good breakfast item to be had early in the morning. Idli can be fed to infants 4 months and above. Mash the cooked idlis and feed them, its very nutritious. Here is the basic Idli recipe.
Ingredients
Par boiled rice - 3 cups
Udad dal -1 cup
Salt as per taste
Method
Rinse and soak rice and udad dal seperately in water for 2 hours. Grind the two seperately, and mix them together with salt. Keep it overnight for fermentation, In the morning you will see that the batter has risen and doubled in size. Mix the batter well. Now coat the idli moulds with oil, pour the batter into the Idli moulds and steam cook. Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi.

IDLI RAVA IDLIS
Making Idlis using Idli rava
If you are making Idlis using Idli Rava, The proportion you can use is
Idly Rava – 3 cups
Udad dal -1 cup

Salt as per taste
Method
Soak the Idly rava and Udad dal separately. When you soak the Idly rava, any impurities will come up, remove it and change the water. Rinse the Udad dal and once it is soaked for around 2-3 hours. Grind it into a fine paste separately, Once the udad dal is grounded, Add the soaked idly rava and grind together with the grounded udad dal and your batte4r is ready. Allow it to ferment overnight. Once the batter has risen, add salt, mix well. Coat the idli moulds with oil and pour batter into idli moulds and steam cook. Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi.

MASALA IDLI
This is yet another recipe I learnt from my good friend Srilatha and tastes absolutely divine. You can make this with the freshly fermented Idli batter or with yesterdays idly batter. Srilatha says, today you can make idli and next day you can make masala idli for breakfast. This is one dish no one would complain about. People who don’t like Idlis may actually love this spicy idli. Always make the masala to be mixed with the batter, just before you pour into the idli mould else the idli wont taste so good. Don’t mix the masala in the morning and make the idlis in the evening.
Ingredients
Idli batter
Onions - 2
Grated carrot – ½ cup
Green peas – 2 tbsps(optional)
2 green chilies, chopped
1 small piece ginger grated
1/2 tsp. red chili powder
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder

Asafetida - ½ tsp
Peanuts or Cashew nuts – 2 tbsps
Grated fresh coconut - ½ cup
Salt to taste
Curry leaves – a sprig
Freshly chopped coriander leaves
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Chana dal (
Bengal gram) – 1tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Oil
Method
Finely chop Onions, peel and grate the carrots, grate the ginger, finely chop the chillies.
Fry the Peanuts or Cashew nuts whichever you are using in ghee and keep aside.
In a pan, take some oil, Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and chana dal, wait for the mustard seeds to crackle and then add the grated ginger, finely chopped chillies and curry leaves, once they are fried, Add the grated coconut and the grated carrot, salt, turmeric, asafetida, red chilly powder and just stir fry once, so that all the masala mixes well. The carrot should not be cooked, it should be crunchy.
Incase you are adding green peas, after frying the green chillies and ginger, add the peas and fry till you see the peas slightly changing its color and then add the remaining things as mentioned above. Add this masala into the idli batter, also add the fried cashew nuts or peanuts that you are using and mix well. Add coriander leaves and mix well.
Check for salt, if you feel it’s less add at this point. Now coat the idli moulds with oil, pour the batter into the Idli moulds and steam cook.
Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi. Try out the masala idli.


KANJEEPURAM IDLI
Ingredients
Par boiled Rice - 3 cups
Udad dal - 1.5 cups
Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Asafetida - ¼ tsp
Pepper – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – a sprig
Cooking Oil
Ghee - 2 tsp
Salt as per taste

Method
Rinse and soak par boiled rice and udad dal separately in water for 2 hours. Grind the above coarsely and add asafetida and salt to this. Keep it overnight so that this will ferment. Fry pepper, cumin seeds, grated ginger and curry leaves in ghee. Add this to the batter. Mix everything together. Coat the idli moulds with oil and pour batter into idli moulds and steam cook. Serve hot with chutney, sambhar or molagapodi.
Tips:
  • Some people add a pinch of soda bi-carb to the idli flour, so that it comes out well, but personally I don’t prefer to add it. Incase, your idli has flopped, may be you can add soda bi-carb and try the next round.
  • Someone suggested to me that adding a tablespoon of sago to be soaked along with the udad dal and ground as usual makes the batter soft and the idlis more fluffy. I did try but the results were quite similar except that the idlis were slightly fluffier, you can try this tip.
  • Someone also suggested that while grinding the dal and the rice, adding a tablespoon of cooked rice and grinding it along with the batter, will make the idlis softer and fluffier, you can try this tip and let me know.
  • You can also add a teaspoon of fenugreek (methi) seeds to the dal and grind it, its good for health and gives a faint fenugreek flavor to the idli. Fenugreek is usually added during winters as it gives heat to the body during the cold season.
Note: Grinding the idli batter in a wet grinder (stone grinder), gives you more batter than grinding it in the mixie. Also the taste will be better when ground in stone.

Monday, September 5, 2005

HOME MADE CHIPS

HOMEMADE CHIPS
Homemade Potato ChipsTalking of homemade chips conjures the finest memories of my childhood. Living in a Mumbai suburb, a co-operative society, a cosmopolitan neighbourhood. We were quite united and as thick as a family. Living in this atmosphere can help you to reap the benefit of learning and enjoying multi cuisines.
During our summer vacations, my mother and our neighbours, a Punjabi, a Gujrati, A Maharashtrian and we South-Indians used to negotiaite a deal with the local vegetable vendor situated below our building and buy a sack of potatoes, my neighbour aunty used to warn the vendor, "Heh, Juna batata hi dena ha bhaiyya"(please give us only old potatoes. When my mom used to raise her eyebrows in surprise, aunty used to explain to mom, "You should be very careful when you are buying one goni(one sack), these people will put new potatoes and the chips will be ruined as it will smell of the mud.
So the vendor used to bring the sack upstairs to the fifth floor, where we used to live. The venue was decided, (our Punjabi aunty's house), as their house was big, they were staying in a joint family, there were 2 ladies under one roof, also they had stoves and big size vessels. It was decided that all of us will work together and share the expenses and the chips equally.
We were so excited, that we will be able to work and play together, adding to the joy of eating and tasting the chips. We all ended up in the bathroom washing the potatoes in huge buckets and passing the washed potatoes to the kitchen in another bucket. There was one group which was given the task of peeling the potatoes. Buckets, peelers, knives were brought from all the houses sharing this task of making the chips. The doors of our houses were open giving it a wedding feel. It felt like our regular flats were transformed into a mini factory.
There was such a flurry of activity, with one group, washing the potatoes transferring them into buckets, one group peeling and putting them into buckets filled with water, one group slicing the potatoes and putting them into buckets filled with water.
After some time we took turns in our activities so that we dont get bored doing the same thing, While our group was peeling the potatoes...the Gujrati aunty started saying, "Faster, you girls are so slow, peel faster, we dont have any potatoes for slicing". The slicing was given only to the expert adults, as slicing was the dangerous part where u could cut yourselves.
Once we had 2 buckets full of sliced potatoes. Our 2 Punjabi aunties started their stoves and kept the huge kadais with 10 litres of water and started boiling the sliced potatoes. Our downstairs Kutchi aunty who is the expert came up to guide as to how much the sliced potatoes should be boiled and for how long. The kids were asked not to come near the stoves for fear of the hot boiling water falling on them.
Once the potatoes were boiled they were put into some cold water and we kids were assigned the task of carrying small basins of potatoes to be dried on the terrace, 2 of us spread bedsheets, plastic sheets and mats taken from our houses and fixed them with pegs, stones that were picked from the ground. and we started spreading the potatoes on the mats/sheets. once it was over the delivery team were asked to go down and collect more of the boiled potatoes for drying.....our mini factory with a brigade of workers finished the whole process in 3-4 hours. So one afternoon of our vacation was spent fruitfully.
The next day we went up to the terrace to flip the potatoes and this continued for 3 days until they were totally dried. Once they were dried, we brought it down and it was divided equally with a weighing scale.
All were so eager to try the potato chips which we all contributed to make.
The moment the potato chips were received all proceeded to fry it in their respective homes, I remember our excitement to see the first chip dropped in the oil, fluff up, and how me and my brother were waiting to taste the success of our labours.
It was a huge success, so much so that, the chips got over in all the households a trifle sooner than expected....so it was decided that we must do it once more, this time maybe we should add a little more salt, maybe the chips should be boiled a little longer, so all the improvisations were made and it was given a second shot. Had it all been done by one person alone, Iam sure it would have been such a tedious and laborious task and tired the person to no end, but, working like this was not only fun, but also easy on all of us. Many hands as they say make light work
Here is the recipe for the Potato Chips.........
Homemade Potato Chips
Ingredients:
5 kg. White potatoes (Always buy old potatoes, new potatoes will give a mud smell and your chips wont turn out good)
2 tbsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Alum
Water
Large Pan or Kadai for boiling (can hold atleast 10 litres)
Thick clean Plastic Sheets, old mats or even an old bed sheet will do for drying.
Method:
Fill a large vessel or clean plastic basin or bucket with cold water.
Peel the potatoes
Slice them with a potato Slicer. Slice them into thin slices using a sharp blade.
Immerse the slices into water. Cover and keep aside overnight.
In a large Pan or Kadai, heat plenty of water, bring to a complete boil, Add salt and 6-7 pinches of powdered alum
Drain out potato chips from the water and drop them into the boiling water.
Boil till chips change colour and are just a little tender.
Do not allow to overcook or they will break on draining.
Undercooking will make the chips blackish on drying.
Drain out the water completely.
Spread the plastic sheet in the hot direct sun and peg down with some weights on all corners.
Spread out the chips in single layer all over the sheet.
Allow to dry till brittle.
When all moisture evaporates, heap them indoors on another sheet. It will look like dried papads.
Bring the chips to room temperature and store in a clean dry airtight container.
To eat :
Heat oil in a frying pan till hot.
Put in 10-12 chips, allow to expand.
Drain quickly with perforated large spoon.
Put on absorbent kitchen paper to soak excess oil.
Season with salt, if u like it plain salted, Salt and chilli powder if u like it hot, Salt and pepper or chaat masala as per your taste and desire.
Toss lightly to coat all chips.
You can serve it as a Tea-time snack, have it with lunch, just gobble it up like that, eat it with dips, Take it in your lunch box, or for a picnic. Serve anytime, anywhere, with anything.
People from all age groups will love them.
Makes: 3 kg. Approx.of dry chips
Shelflife: Dried chips: 1 year or more
Fried chips: 1 week or more if they last upto a week that is.
Please do try them and if you have a neighbourhood like ours Iam sure making it would be as fun as eating it and it works out to be very cheap.

Thursday, May 5, 2005

CHEEDAI (SEEDAI)

CHEEDAI (SEEDAI)
Ingredients
Rice flour-500gms
Udad flour - 2 tbsps
Butter – 2 tbsps
Asafetida – a pinch
Salt as per taste
Sesame seeds - 4 tsp,
grated coconut - 1 cup (optional)
Oil for frying.

Method
Slightly roast the rice flour in a kadhai(wok). The raw smell must go, Now allow the flour to cool down and add the other ingredients and mix well. Add a little water and knead the flour to the consistency that it can be rolled into balls. Make very small balls using this flour. Deep fry the balls in oil on a low flame. Crispy cheedais will be ready for your snack time. Cheedai is also made during Gokulashtami. You can store the cheedais in an airtight container and enjoy it for a few days.

Note : Adding grated coconut is optional. If you add grated coconut you must finish the cheedai fast but, it’s a bad idea if you intend to store it for a while because the cheedais will soon acquire the flavor of the stale coconut.

Friday, October 8, 2004

Verum Arishi Adai (Only Rice Adai)

Hi Members,
Coming abroad changes a lot of things....it makes you crave for our Indian food, specially the home food which we actually never cared for or appreciated about.
Here is the recipe for Verum Arishi Adai which is slowly slipping out of our lives.
My grandmother used to dish out some of the most crispy and tasty verum arishi adais.

Verum arishi adais.
Ingredients
one cup boiled rice
a small quart of raw rice
salt
fresh grated coconut
a teaspoon of edible coconut oil

Method
Verum arishi adai is also known as kal kanji dosai.(kal as in stone)
You have to soak par boiled rice one cup and a small quart of raw rice. then grind this into a fine paste, add some salt and fresh grated coconut.
Now take a kadhai(pan) and pour one cup water, take 3/4ths of the batter and stir with the water in the kadhai on a low flame till u get a slight kanji like taste. , add a teaspoon pf the coconut oil.
Tip :Mind you, the flame should be very low and u should keep constantly stirring lest it form lumps
The reason we take only 3/4ths of the batter is, incase the consistency becomes very watery u will have the 1/4 batter to mix with it. Then as usual u must pur some oil on a tava and pour the batter of verum arishi adai and cook it both sides until crisp.
Tip : You cannot roll it like the conventional dosai on the tava....it will be like how we make maida or rava dosai.so u must pur it on a round shape without leaviong much gaps and then try to shape it on the tava.q1qj
It can be served with some coconut chutney or molagapodi (popularly known as gunpowder).
This preparation is very good for health, very easy to digest and lip-smackingly tasty.

This journey will continue.....and there will be recipes galore....until then chao

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails
LinkWithin Related Stories Widget for Blogs
YOUR TEXT HERE