Sabudana Vada And Rainy Days

Its has been raining on and off here and though we are well into August and September is already peeping round the corner, there seems to be no respite from the heat. The only times it cools down a bit is when it rains. Now rains in my town bring with them not only a much needed drop in temperature but a host of problems as well like traffic snarls, water logging, .... But then I think we welcome the change of weather so much, we are ready to forgive our city anything at that point.

The monsoon set in a couple of months ago for the rest of the country. But in my part of the country we get the retreating monsoon. So it comes a lot later in the year. But the heat sometimes gets too much for even nature to bear and promptly we have some fabulous evening showers.

Now to describe the monsoons in India.... The fabulous musty, earthy fragrance which comes from the dry parched earth, when the first few drops of rains fall just has to be smelt to be believed. The whole garden looks like an emerald green paradise with all the dry dust from the summer getting washed away. The cool cool breeze rushing in , chasing away the heat of the summer months and bringing a freshness to everything. It is the season that everyone really looks forward to.

To come to the point now, dear readers, you need to answer one question of mine. What is the connection between a rainy afternoon and fried food? Samosas, bajjis, pakodas, vadas... The first thing you think of when you see the dark clouds start gathering, is how quickly you can bring the kadai out, the saucepan for a cup of steaming masala chai and a comfortable chair to sit in and enjoy the rains. True? or false? Fried food, tea and monsoons are inseparable and almost a tradition in India. Here I have to say, a very enjoyable and a much cherished tradition.

Now on to the recipe....

Serves 6 ( Makes about 30 medium vadas)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups Sago pearls ( Sabudana)

1 1/2 cups Potato, boiled and mashed

1/2 cup Roasted Peanuts, crushed roughly

2 Green Chillies, minced finely

2-3 tablespoons Coriander leaves , minced

1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

Salt to taste

Oil to deep fry

METHOD:

Soak the sabudana in water for about 10 minutes. Drain the water and cover with a damp cloth for about 2 hours.

Mix it well with the boiled and mashed potatoes and the roughly crushed peanuts.

Add salt, lemon juice, minced green chillies and the coriander leaves.

Heat oil till smoking hot. Reduce the flame to medium.

For the sabudana mixture in small balls, flatten slightly and deep fry in the oil.

Serve hot.

ENJOY!!!!!!

Quesadillas and Feeding Hungry Kids

This is a quick snack to make when kids are home from school- hungry and cranky. It is easy enough to make and has very kid friendly ingredients like cheese. I used home made corn and flour tortillas, recipe for which is also given below.

Before I start with the recipe, let me apologise for the picture accompanying this post. It is sad to say the least and does not do justice to quesadillas. But like I always say for all my uninspiring pictures... don't judge a book by its cover. This tastes GOOD!!! And is wholesome and filling...

The best part of this recipe is also that you have a free rein on what you want to use as the filling.The only constant is Cheese. Most things go well as a filling - onions, olives, capsicums, cooked chicken, spinach, refried beans, mushrooms... the list goes on.

Now for the recipe

Ingredients:

For the torillas:

2/3 cups Maize flour (not cornflour)

1/3 cup All Purpose Flour

Salt to taste

For the filling:

1 cup Cheese

your choice of fillings ( sliced onions, chopped olives, sliced mushrooms, refried beans, spinach, sliced capsicum etc etc)

Method:

For the Tortillas:

Make a stiff dough using a little water a teaspoon at a time.

Roll out into tortilla (like a chapati) Watch this for instructions on how to roll out a tortilla.

Cook for a few minutes on a flat griddle till brown spots appear.

For the quesadillas:

Place the tortilla flat.

On one half put a couple of tablespoons of cheese.

Over that out the filling of your choice.

Fold over into a semi circle.

Place on the griddle again and cook both sides till cheese melts a little bit.

Cut into pieces and serve hot along with some salsa and guacamole.

ENJOY!!!!!!

Murukku or Thenguzhal - Try Pronouncing That

Tamil is an old classical language. It has been around for many many years. And the point to note is that if you don't speak Tamil in Chennai or at least something resembling it, it is very hard to manage. Particularly a while back. At least now, some lots of the people speak English in the city.

When I moved to Chennai about 20 years ago I did not know a word of Tamil. Not a word. Even now I speak it quite badly. I think the reason for that is that I learnt it from the maids and drivers. Even after 20 years, my Tamil is a disgrace. Whether I can fix this after so long, I am not sure. I never know when to give respect, I end up calling old patis "nee".... I can go on and on with my list of mis-spoken(?) Tamil. But I don't want to bore you too much. Suffice to say that I don't speak it well and that I am the butt of all the jokes with my friends. Thats why I tend to speak in English as far as possible unless and until I cannot avoid it.

But I think the main issue with Tamil is the pronunciation. It is HARD to say the least..

The 'zha', the 'sha'... the H is simply not present. All h's are substituted with g so a Mahesh becomes a Mages. There is no P. So a Padma becomes a Badma and a Poori is now a Boori...

I have a hard time mastering the right pronunciation. What trips me up each time without fail is the 'zha'. Mambazham is the word for mango. Now, it is not that simple. The zha is not with a z sound at all. It is some sort of rolling L. So for the uninitiated, it ends up being mambalam. Things get trickier with the word for banana. Vazhapazham. Bad enough having to negotiate the much dreaded 'zha' once. Imagine having to do it twice over for the same word...

This being a food blog, we have to get down to the more important matter at hand. Food..

Now Murukku is the most delicious snack one can ever taste. It is crunchy and perfect for those hungry times in between meals. My husband A lot of people like to eat something crunchy along with their meals. This is a great substitute to papads/appalams.

I always thought this was a hard thing to make. But once I tried my hand at it, I figured it is easy enough though hard on the hands.

This recipe is adapted from Samaithu Paar (Cook and See). It comes out perfectly each time.

Ingredients:

3.5 cups Rice Flour

1 cup Urad Dal Flour

100 grams Butter

Salt to taste

2 teaspoons Sesame seeds (Til) or Cumin seeds (jeera)

1/2 teaspoon Asafoetida

Oil for deep frying

Method:

Sift the rice flour and urad flours together.

Mix in the butter into the flour mixture.

Add the salt and asafoetida powder into a cup of water. Mix it well till the salt dissolves.

Mix this water into the flour/butter mixture a little at a time.

Form a dough which is not too soft. You should be able to just hold it together and roll it into a smooth ball.

Heat oil till medium hot.

Put a small quantity of the dough into the Thenguzhal press.

Make circles into the hot oil.

Do not put in too many at one time as it will reduce the temperature of the oil.

When it gets to be a beautiful light brown, take it out of the oil and put on a paper towel.

Let them cool down then store in an airtight container.

ENJOY!!!!!!

Ragda Pattice and Living in Bombay

I think college days are the most fun days for most people. Everyone looks back on their college days with such nostalgia. Everything was so perfect back then and all one needed to worry about was having fun and the next entertainment plans on the horizon. Movies, partying, eating out, meeting boys!!!! The list goes on. I had the good fortune to go to college even for my intermediate which I am not sure many kids do these days. Now it is still school till the 12th and only then college after that.
I went to college in Bombay and for me that was a real experience. I was brought up in a very small township where Vizag was the "big city" for us. So you can just about imagine my excitement on knowing that I was going to Big Bad Bombay for my education and the icing on the cake was that I was going to be in the hostel. I am quite sure that my mom was not very happy about this but dad was quite insistent and I am really glad he did insist. It was a wondeful wonderful time and I grew up in those few years there. I learnt to cope on my own and do things for myself. Homesickness was my constant companion then and it took quite a while before I could shake off that feeling.

But living in Bombay has its compensations. I have to say here that one of the best parts of staying in Bombay was the eating out. Like most students, I did not have a whole lot of money and was always on a tight, really tight budget. But I really savoured every moment of my stay in Bombay. Outside the college gate was this sandwich wallah who would make the most amazing chutney and cucumber sandwiches. Little further down the road was the bhelpuri guy who knew exactly how I liked my bhelpuri . Though I cannot imagine eating off the streets like that now, those days I had absolutely no inhibitions what with having been blessed with a cast iron tummy. On Warden Road there was the Right Place which served up amazing grilled sandwiches just loaded with butter and cheese ( I am just back from a trip to Bombay and made it a point to go to the Right Place. I am glad to report that the taste of the sandwiches is still as yummy as ever and they are still as affordable at Rs.50/-). The Frankies at Scandal Point were all of Rs.5. There was this dosa guy who served delicious crispy dosas for Rs.2 and a dollop of amul butter added to it would increase the cost to only Rs.3. It was unbelievable.

But the single dish that I enjoyed eating was the ragda pattice. I had never tasted it before coming to Bombay. This nicely fried crisp aloo tikki was covered with the white peas masala and all the different chutneys were added on top. Topped with finely chopped onions and sev, IMHO it was food for the gods. delicious to the last bite. It was something that I love to date. But for some reason I always thought it chick peas that were used to make the ragda. Only later I realised that it was white peas that were the main ingredient in the ragda gravy.

In one of Tarla Dalal's books I got the exact recipe which I am giving here.

The recipe for the aloo tikkis is here. The one difference is that you can stuff the centre of the tikki with about half a teaspoon of green chutney to add more flavour.

For the Ragda:

1 Cup white peas soaked overnight

2 boiled potatoes diced finely

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

2 teaspoons greenchilli and ginger paste

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

2 teaspoons jaggery grated
1 tablespoon of tamarind juice

salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds

6 curry leaves

a pinch of asafoetida (hing)

2 tablespoons of oil

To serve

1/2 cup green chutney (Recipe here)

1/2 cup sweet chutney ( Recipe here)

1 cup nylon sev

1 cup onions diced finely

Make the tikkis as mentioned in an earlier post here.

For the Ragda:

Boil the soaked peas with 3 times the water till soft.

Heat oil and add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, and asafoetida.

Add all the other ingredients when the mustard seeds start to crackle.

Add more water if required to get a gravyish consistency.

Mash the peas a bit.
Keep aside.

To serve:

Place two tikkis on a plate and pour the ragda over it.

Top with chutneys and 2 tablespoons each of the onions and sev.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!!!!

Chennai Bloggers Meet and Aloo Tikki

Today was quite an exciting day, one that I was looking forward to for a while. I have been off blogging for a few months now due to various personal reasons and despite having many commitments, I was simply determined to go and meet everyone. I have to put on record here that I bravely drove many miles to make it there as I was I think the only one from the other side of town.





We had such a blast all trying to guess who the others were (Confession- I had not done my homework well and was struggling a little bit in this department) but all in all it was great catching up with everyone. It ended up being a warm gathering of friends, rather than strangers meeting for the first time. Internet anonymity is all very well but there is definitely something to be said about old fashioned "in person" meeting





Now the all important topic of food. It was so yummy and I think everyone quite lived up to why they were blogging about food. Each dish on the table tasted sumptuous with mouth watering dishes. I needed to immediately take a 5 mile walk to burn off all the extra calories I must have put on eating all that. Fortunately I am off sweets, so that was one less sin I had to worry about. I made Aloo Tikkis as a starter as the food was going to be predominantly Indian.





Now for the Aloo Tikkis. They are one of the simplest yet scores very high on the satisfaction scale.


For about 20 tikkis you will need the following ingredients:

1 Kg Potatoes ( boiled, peeled and mashed)
2 tbsp Coriander leaves
4 green chillis chopped up really fine
2 slices bread
1 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 & 1/2 tsp amchur powder ( dry mango powder)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
1/4 cup Maida ( all purpose flour) mixed in 1/4 cup water to make a coating paste
Bread crumbs
Oil to deep fry.

Method:

Boil, peel and mash the potatoes.

Crumble the bread slices and mix it in as well along with the coriander leaves and green chillis.

Add the dry powders to this.

Shape into tikkis and dip into the coating batter then place in a plate which contains the bread crumbs to liberally coat it.

Deep fry and serve hot along with green chtuney/sweet tamarind chutney/tomato ketchup.

Veggie Burgers

Its been a while since my last post but as mentioned earlier, things have been a little hectic around here.

My kids are on their new ( I call it "adoloscent") phase where they want to eat out all the time. I feel so old when I tell them "but we never would eat out at all as kids". Things were different back then. I guess it was a combination of no restaurants and the fact that the concept of eating out was just not existent. We did eat out but that was only once in a way, when we were out of town. Mom ensured that we got goodies to eat but they were all homemade. We never even thought to complain. We would have been finished if we even entertained the idea. But now..............

Kids of today and also mainly the city bred kids think nothing at all of eating out every meal, despite having good wholesome and innovative food made right here at home. My older one who is touching 17 has to be threatened during holidays to eat at home. So now we have a deal going where one meal has to be at home other than breakfast.

I think the effect of globalisation is seen right here with the amount of choice that there is out there. Different cuisines, different price ranges ( thats important depending on whether parents are a part of the program or not. This is how it works. Parents present - pricier places. No parents?? Cheap and best) And just the habit they get into of finding food outside of the house tastier as it is loaded with all the unhealthy things like sugars, transfats etc..

This I think is a real challenge facing most urban parents of today. Things tend to get a little unpleasant when we put our foot down and say " NO"

One of his fave low cost eating places is the little burger kiosk found all over the city, Burger Man. He just loves the burgers there. So today I decided Mr.Burger Man was going to have competition. Nice healthy competition and I was not going to back down from the challenge.

Got the ready-made burger buns, picked up all the veggies and started my making my healthy version of a burger.

Can I be honest and preen a bit and tell you how well they came out? The crunchy cutlets, the delicious mayo, and the nice spicy chilli tomato sauce all came together into this absolutely tasty delicious whole.

Anyway, enough of the preening, now for the recipe..

This makes 8 veggie burgers.

Ingedients:

8 Burger buns

2 tomatoes sliced finely ( totally about 20 slices)

1 onion ( or about 8 slices)

1 head iceberg lettuce

8 tablespoons mayonnaise ( i used eggless mayo)

8 slices cheese

8 veggie cutlets ( recipe follows)

Assembly:

Cut each burger bun into half horizontally.

Apply mayo on the inside of the upper half.

Place a leaf of the iceberg lettuce on the lower half.

Place two to three tomato slices on this and top it with a slice of onion.

Place one cutlet on the onion. Top this with a slice of cheese and cover with the upper half.

If you like it hot, you can either microwave the whole thing for about 15 seconds or toast the halves of the bun in an oven and then assemble it.

Serve with chilli-tomato ketchup and enjoy.

Now for the cutlets...

1/2 kg potatoes boiled, peeled and mashed

1 carrot diced very finely

100 grams cabbage finely diced

2 slices bread torn up into bits

2 onions chopped finely

2 cloves garlic minced

1 inch piece ginger minced

1 green chilli minced

2 teapoons oil

salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon pepper powder

1/2 teaspoon amchur powder ( dry mango powder). Can be substituted with juice of 1/2 a lime.

2 tablespoon all purpose flour ( maida)

200 grams bread crumbs

Method:

Microwave the carrots and cabbage in the microwabe for about 2 minutes.

Heat the oil in a kadai. Add the onions and the ginger, garlic, green chillis and fry till translucent.

Mix this into the mashed potatoes along with the carrot/cabbage mixture. Add the bread pieces, the salt, pepper powder, the amchur/ lime juice.

Mix well.

Add a little water to the flour to make a paste.

Shape the cutlets into rounds with the diameter of the burger bun.

Dip into flour paste to coat well all round.

Press nicely into the bradcrumbs till there is a thick cover ( thicker the better as this makes the burger really crunchy).

Deep fry. (Maybe be unhealthy but it is way better than the ones found outside)

Enjoy.

Corn on Toast

Some days the kids come home with a heartfelt request. "Mom, I don't want regular food. Can't I have something different and yummier to eat?" It is always such a challenge. We have to get the fine balance of yummy and nourishing bang on. That's after all a mother's job. But I guess, sometimes its ok to have just a hearty snack even if it is not that nutritionally sound.

But nice and easy AND quick have to be the hallmarks of most things we make. One of the easiest snacks that I have made has to be corn on toast. It is hot, very filling and very easy on the tastebuds. And corn being the ultimate comfort food, the kids love it. And this recipe is pretty open to any amount of tweaking to suit personal tastes.

Ingredients:

2 cups corn steamed/boiled till done. (Can use corn niblets too. That does not need any steaming and tastes even better)

2-3 onions, chopped finely

1 green chilli chopped finely

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 to 1 1/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon italian seasoning (I use the sachets that come with the pizza order)

1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes

salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon pepper powder

4- 6 tablespoons grated cheese (I use Amul)

Method:

Heat butter on a medium flame. Add chopped onions and green chilli.

Fry till onions turn translucent.

Add the flour and fry for about a minute till it get gets cooked but not brown.

Add milk, stirring all the time so that there are no lumps.

Let it cook for about 10 minutes till it thickens and a saucy consistency is reached. Add the salt, pepper, seasoning and chilli flakes.

Let it get to be thick and not very liquidy(?). It should have the consistency of thick idly batter or thick cake batter.

Now add the cheese and stir till it melts.

Add the corn at this stage.

Serve hot on buttered toast.

Falafel

You know the old rut. " Ma, You never make anything nice nowadays. Its always soooooo bbbboooorrrring". Somehow whatever we make, the grass is always greener on the other side. A vegetable made in a friend's house is always "ssoooo yummy!!!!!" whereas the same thing when made at home, will get a response of " yuck, no". Like they say 'ghar ki murgi dal barabar' ( translated as a chicken from ones own house is equivalent to an ordinary dal)

Its always a challenge to come up with nutritious yet tasty, new but not too different tastes...

So thats something I am always on the look out for, new recipes loaded with nutrition, and of course lot of vegetables hidden in it.

A few years ago on a holiday, I had falafel . The taste was so familiar to my palate, but yet so different.

But I somehow forgot about it after that first time. The other day just scouting around all the blogs looking for something for the MBP event on bread, I came across a reference to a falafel recipe on Nupur's blog. It was a part of the Pita sandwich. I had anyway decided on the whole wheat pita bread for an event. So this was just taking the concept forward and going the whole hog.

It looked so yummy and interesting, I had to give it a try immediately. So here goes.

I used the same recipe she did with wonderful results.

No changes at all. It was yum.

I also made the "taratour sauce" to go with it.

I had to make the tahini from scratch. I blended
1/2 cup lightly roasted sesame seeds along with
3 tablespoon light sesame oil.

To make the taratour sauce exactly as per her recipe I added
1/2 cup yoghurt,
1 minced garlic clove,
salt to taste ,
2 tablespoon lemon juice,
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder to the
tahini.

I made pita bread ( recipe here ) and made a pita sandwich. I stuffed the pita with 2-3 falalfels, some sliced iceberg lettuce, and a salad made with diced tomatoes, cucumber, red/yellow/green capsicum, coriander leaves and parsley, salt and pepper.

The final sandwich was very tasty only it lacked that spicy kick that most Indian palates enjoy. So I add a few drops of tabasco to add that hot taste. PERFECT!!!

( BTW, the kids loved it. They thought it was something quite different). I am glad I tried this one out. It will definitely be a repeat at home.

Batata Poha and Wives Are Priceless

I read this online today and was most amused by it. I thought I should share it with all of you.

A man came home from work and found his three children
outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty
food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.
The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door
to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding
into the foyer, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had
been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against
one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a
cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys
and various items of clothing.
In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was
spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog
food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the
table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back
door.
He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and
more piles of clothes, looking for is wife. He was worried
she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.
He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way
out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet
towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor.
Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been
smeared over the mirror and walls.
As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled
up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked
up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.
He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened
here today?"
She again smiled and answered, "You know every day
when you come home from work and you ask me what in
the world did I do today?"
"Yes," was his incredulous reply.
She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

Wives are Priceless, aren't they?

:) Funny isn't it?

Source: Humor World

Now for the Batata Poha:

Ingredients

250 grams thick poha ( flattened rice. Use the thicker version of poha as it does not disinegrate so easily on adding water))

2 potatoes diced really really small

2 onions chopped finely

2 green chillis chopped finely

2 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon oil

juice of 1 small lime

2 tablespoons grated coconut ( optional)

Method:

Wash the poha under running water in a colander. Leave to soak for about 1/2 an hour.

Heat oil in a kadai. When medium hot, add the mustard seeds till they crackle.

Add the onions and chopped green chillis and saute till translucent. Add the turmeric powder and immediately add the potatoes. Keep frying till potatoes are cooked. If required sprinkle a little water every now and then to hasten the cooking process and to reduce the sticking.

Add salt at this point. Then add the soaked poha. Mix around for a few minutes and add the lime juice.

Garnish with coriander leaves and grated coconut and serve hot.

Kosambari and Random Acts of Kindness

Once long ago I watched a talk show which spoke about random acts of kindness. It really touched a chord within me. We go through life sometimes in such a hurry that we miss a lot of things along the way. We miss a lot of opportunities to help others. Little realising that we need people as much as they need us. One act of kindness performed will come back manyfold even if it is in the form of just smiles. No one need know that we are doing it. It can be our little secret. It is one thing that benefits both the giver and the receiver.

Helping someone disabled cross the street... feeding someone who just needs the next meal... just a smile at people in the lift..volunteer at the school...have a conversation with the elderly at an old age home..just say something nice to everyone you meet today...call a long lost friend.. tell your parents how much they mean to you...there are ways and means. Everything we do need not be linked to money. Each of us has within ourselves the time, patience or talents to give others.

I guess teaching this one value to the kids will help them a lot in the long run. It makes the world a better place to live.

I read on one of these blogs about the blogger helping out in a community kitchen and making things from whatever is available. I am sorry I forgot which one. What a commendable job.. That is exactly what I am talking about. Volunteering your time and effort. Thats all it takes.

Now for the food part... Kosumbri is a salad made typically in Karnataka. It is a salad made up predominantly of lentils along with some raw vegetables and a tadka of mustard seeds.. Garnished with coconut and coriander leaves, it makes a wonderful accompaniment to a meal.

Ingredients

one carrot peeled and grated

one cucumber peeled, seeds removed and grated

3 tablespoons split moong dal soaked for 2 hours

1 green chili chopped finely

1/2 a lime juiced

2 tablespoon grated coconut

1 teaspoon coriander leaves chopped finely

salt to taste

Method

Mix the grated carrot, cucumber, soaked moong dal, grated coconut and green chili.

Add the lime juice and salt when ready to serve ( otherwise the salt will make the cucumber water pour out and will dilute the taste)

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with a meal.

Hara Bhara Kababs

You know how we pick up recipes from here and there? Jot them down on a piece of paper and then transcribe them with a lot of interest into our recipe books? My book is full of such recipes. Those that I found interesting when I read it and written down so diligently but never tried out. Various types of recipes... North Indian, Continental (or as we like to refer to them - Bakes), lately Mexican etc. I think the next month should go in trying out all these untried recipes. I am sure I will find a lot of gems out there.. a lot of keepers.
One such recipe was the Hara Bhara Kabab. I had written it down in so many different places but never tried it out. Finally I put my lethargy behind me and took the plunge and was so pleasantly surprised... It turned out extremely well.

Recipe:

4 medium sized Potaoes boiled
3/4 cup Peas boiled
100 gms Spinach

1 tablespoon Green chillies chopped finely
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 teaspoon chaat masala
2 tablespoon cornflour
salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Peel and grate potatoes.
Mash boiled peas.
Blanch the spinach and finely chop it.

Mix the above 3 ingredients with green chillies, coriander leaves, ginger, chaat masala, cornflour and salt.

Divide it into 25 equal portions. Shape into a little tikki or ball and deep fry.
(In case there are worries on high calories that this dish will entail, then it can be shallow fried too.)

Serve hot along with green chutney and tomato ketchup.

Adai

One of the few things I really enjoyed discovering after moving to Chennai was this concept of TIFFIN.
Tiffin usually refers to the small meal eaten in between major meals. Or any hot light snack taken at any time during the day. In Tamil Nadu, often the main meal i.e lunch is eaten first thing in the morning. So at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, when the tummy starts making demands for food, then a light snack is called for. This snack could be a variety of dosas, idly, sandwiches, upma, khichadi, pongal, vada etc. Adai features as a major dish in the tiffin listing.
Adai is a thickish dosa made of different dals ground together. Adai is traditionally served with a little blob of white freshly churned butter, jaggery and a chutney.
It is normally a dense and not too crispy styled dosa. It can be really filling.
On the nutrition front, it is a dish which is rich in proteins because of its high dal/lentil content.




Recipe:

Ingredients

1/2 cup moong dal
1/2 cup toor dal
1/2 cup chana dal
1/4 urad dal
2 cups raw rice
4 red chillies

4 green chillies chopped finely
2 onions chopped finely
handful of Coriander leaves chopped finely
3 sprigs of curry leaves chopped finely
1/2 inch piece of ginger chopped finely
a pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste

Soak the dals, rice and red chillies for about 4 hours.
Grind to a coarse paste. Add the remaining ingredients.
Heat the dosa tava ( griddle) till medium hot. Put a tablespoon of oil on the tava. Spread a spoonful of the batter on the tava till flat and like a pancake.
Pour a little oil on the sides and on top of the dosa. When the bottom turns golden brown, turn over and fry the other side too. Serve hot with jaggery, butter and a chutney of choice.

Dibba Roti, Minappa Roti - Andhra Food Series

I am sure many of you out in the real and blogging world have been through these questions with the kids of today.

A horrified - " You mean you did not have computers as a kid? No internet? No computer games?"

A nervous - " At least did you have TV?"

A totally puzzled or stunned - " What did you do for entertainment?"

They don't understand, those were the years when we relied on ourselves to keep us busy. We played, cycled, played good old seven stones, 'gilli danda'( remember those games?). On rainy days, it was Ludo, Monopoly and Chinese checkers.
Above all, we read and read. All of us were such voracious readers. All types of books, comics... in the absence of anything worth reading and in the beginning of the school year, we read our English text books from cover to cover more for fun than for any serious learning.
Every once in a while one yearns for everything familiar. Don't you wish you could go back to your childhood where life was much simpler? No major decisions to take, nothing to take care of and absolutely NO WORRIES. Just gamboling through life only planning for the next hour's entertainment. Childhood is definitely synonymous with carefree summers (and winters!!!). Unlimited reading of story books, never studies....I think everyone goes through this phase now and then.





I have been on this trip for a while now. Then immediately start craving those comfort foods (cos food does play an important role in my life as you can see ;) )

One of the things my mom would make frequently was dibba roti ( literal translation - a fat dosa). It is also known as a minappa roti. Minappa referring to urad dal which is its main ingredient. It is the ultimate comfort food ... fried... full of carbs... and tasty tasty tasty. It looks like an oversized vada and tastes like a cross between idly and dosa. All things rolled into one.






Recipe:

2 cups Raw Rice ( any variety)
2 cups Urad dal( black gram)
1 tablespoon jeera
1 tablespoon whole peppercorn
Salt to taste
Oil to fry.



Soak both the rice and the urad dal for 4 hours separately.


Grind the urad dal very fine with minimal amount of water. Grind the rice with a little water a little coarsely. Mix the two well and add salt, jeera and peppercorns.


Heat a little oil in a kadai or wok (maybe 2 tablespoons or so). Pour in the batter and reduce the flame to sim. Cover and let fry on a very slow flame till golden brown. If required add a little more oil. When the bottom is golden brown, turn over and fry the other side adding a little oil again.


Enjoy with ginger chutney or kandi pachadi (recipe follows).

Gooseberry Chutney, Usirikai Pachadi - Andhra Food Series

I have a niece who has a farm where Amlas or Indian gooseberries grow abundantly . On a recent visit, they sent me back with a carton of these sweet and sour beauties (in a size that I have yet to see elsewhere. I guess XXL would fit the bill). Not knowing what to do with them, I asked my mother for a solution. She suggested that we make Usirikai Pachadi, a very traditional Telugu accompaniment to rice or to curd rice - a staple South Indian favorite. My first time at this, it came out well even if I have to say so myself. Very tasty - tart and spicy at the same time. Perfect foil for soothing "perugu annam" or "thaiyir sadam"
Gooseberry is also known as Usirikai in Telugu, Nellikai in Tamil and Amla in Hindi. Widely used and eaten in India, it is powerhouse of nutrition particularly rich in Vitamin C. It is used in a lot of Ayurvedic medicines for obvious reasons. It is supposed to help in reducing cholestrol and in stabilizing blood pressure.

Recipe:

6 large gooseberries
2 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Tadka/Popu:

2 teaspoons Oil

1 teaspoon Mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon methi seeds (fenugreek)

1/2 teaspoon asfoetida powder

2 red chillies

4 green chillies

handful of coriander leaves

Pound the gooseberries till the seed separates. Be careful not to pound the seed. Add salt and turmeric powder and grind in the food processor till fine. Do not add water as this will result in the chutney getting spoilt too fast. Keep aside.

This can be kept aside for almost a year without getting spoilt just as long as you add enough salt. So in season make a large batch of this and keep in a "jaadi" to use in chutneys or pickles whenever you need a bit of tang on your tongue.

Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they pop add methi seeds and red chillies. fry for a couple of minutes till redchillies look fried. Add the asfoetida at this point and switch off the flame.

Grind some of the kept aside mixture along with the coriander leaves and green chillies and the fried popu/tadka.

Enjoy with plain hot rice and ghee or with "perugu annam"!!!

Kathi Rolls

When I was in college in Bombay ( or Mumbai as it is known now) money was always scarce. " Amma, I have run out of money . I need some urgently" can only be used occasionally. Hating the hostel food ( who doesn't?) and foraging for food outside of the college, Bombay's famous street food always came to our rescue. One day it was dosas on Warden Road for 2 rupees and a big blob of Amul butter for a rupee more, other days bhel puri or sev puri from the chaat guy round the corner. But one thing that I always loved was the very well known Bombay Frankie. It was a nice tasty snack which filled all the empty pockets in my tummy.

Left Bombay, started work, got married, had kids.... Never though did I forget the taste of those yummy frankies..

Suddenly about a year ago found out that they were being marketed in Chennai too... My joy knew no bounds. Went halfway across the city to get my first taste of a frankie in many years. TASTED JUST THE SAME !!!!!!!!.

Many times after that I tried to replicate the taste. But that did not happen.

So I improvised and here is my version of the Frankie - a cross between the Original Bombay Frankie and the local Kathi Rolls ( more kathi rolls and less frankie). Healthy and full of taste.

Heres the recipe...
Ingredients:

Carrots - 2
Beans -100 gms

Potatoes - 2

Onions - 2 sliced finely

Capsicum - 2 sliced finely

Ginger garlic paste - 1 teaspoon

Tomato Puree - 3 Tablesppons

Jeera - 1 tsp

Pav Bhaji Masala - 1 tablespoon

Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Garnish:

Onions- 2 sliced finely

Vinegar- 2 teaspoons

Salt - a pinch

Rotis:

2 cups wheat flour

Curds - 1 cup

Butter - 50 gms

Salt to taste

Method:

Slice carrots, beans, potatoes into juliennes (matchstick like pieces). Steam or boil till almost done. It should not be over done.Heat oil. When hot, add jeera and fry till golden. Add sliced onion and capsicum. Saute for a few minutes. Add ginger garlic paste. Fry for 5 minutes longer. Add the pav bhaji masala, chilli powder and salt. Fry for about a minute. Add tomato puree. Add the carrot, beans and potato.Cook for a bit till all the tastes come together.

Soak the garnish onions in the vinegar and salt for a few hours.

Make dough for rotis using curd and the butter instead of water. Knead well.

Roll out rotis and cook each with a little oil on a griddle.Place a roti flat and put a tablespoon of the masala on it. Put the garnish onions on top. Roll up the roti.

Serve hot along with green chutney.