Sabudhana Vada



Crispy , tasty snack, straight from the Marathi Cuisine, here it is, the Sabudhana vada.

Ingredients: (Makes 10 - 12 vadas)

1. Sago or Sabudhana - 200 gms
2. Potatoes - 200 gms
3. Freshly grated coconut - 2 tbsp
4. Green chillies - 5 finely chopped
5. Ginger - A one inch piece, finely chopped
6. Roasted and coarsely ground groundnut - 100 gms
7. Garam masala - 2 tbsp
8. Red chilli powder - 1 tssp - Optional
9. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
10. Salt - To taste
11. Finely chopped coriander leaves - A Handful
12. Oil - To deep fry


Method:

1. Soak the sago for 4 hours , or until they are completely glassy.If you use smaller size sago, have an eye, they should not soak up a lot of water. when you crush a soaked sago between your fingers, you know they are done, when they are really soft, with no sign of any coarse particles.

2. Boil and mash the potatoes into a smooth paste.

3. Add the sago, coarsely ground groundnuts, coconut, ginger, the dry masalas, salt, to the potatoes and mix them well.

Adding the roasted ground nuts gives an awesome texture to the vadas.

4. Add the chopped coriander leaves and give it a good mix until all the ingredients are well combined.

5. Make small balls out of the mixture and gently press in between your palm and fingers to form a small patty like vadas.

6. Deep fry them in oil until golden brown.

Traditional Brinjal Curry

A perfect blend of aromatic spices and softened brinjal combo , is always a hit among the Brinjal lovers. I am bringing this very simple dish to you from my Mom's cuisine

Ingredients:(Serves 3)

1. Brinjal - 300gms (Slice them into half inch thick piece)

2. Channa dhal - 1 tbsp

3. Coriander seeds - 1and 1/2 tbsp

4. Urad dhal - 1 tsp

5. Dry red chillies - 5-6(For medium heat. If you like it hot add upto 7-8)

6. Oil - 2-3 tbsp

7. Mustard Seeds - 2 tsp

8. Curry leaves - Few

9. Hing - a Pinch

10. Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pan, add some oil and add the Channa dhal, urad dhal and coriander seeds. Once the dhal and coriander seeds, starts turning color, add the red chillies, Fry them well.

2. Once the lentils and chillies turn color and you start getting a nice aroma of the corianderseeds, take it off the flame and allow it to cool, and grind it into a Coarse mixture.

3. Add oil to a frying pan. Add mustard seeds and wait for it to splutter. Add the curry leaves and Hing.

4. After a couple of minutes, add the sliced Brinjal and some salt(This will help the Brinjal to cook faster)

5. Allow it to cook until the brinjal becomes soft, but still retains its texture. This might take several minutes.

6. Now keep the flame on high for 2 minutes and gently fry continuously. By this, the cooked Brinjal starts browning beautifully.

When the brinjal becomes crisp, add the ground powder.

7. Mix well, you can check for salt now. If required can add some more.

A small tip: The brinjal starts getting softer, once added to pan. make sure to fry or stir it gently, so that the pieces do not loose their texture.

Brinjal curry is ready to be served as sidedish with most of traditional kuzhambhu or sambhar varieties.

Chinese Inspired Idli Manchurian


A little variation to a traditional recipe can totally give it new color, flavour and taste. Heres one such dish , the Chinese inspired, Idli Manchurian.

Its not completely A chinese recipe by all means because, I add tomato puree to it, which is never a part of any chinese manchurian recipes. My family likes it on a little saucy side and hence the name :)

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
1. Idlies - 10 nos - chopped into one inch cubes
2. Onion - 2 Big - chopped in cubes
3. Capsicum - 1 Big Chopped in cubes
4. Tomato puree - 200 gms
5. Spring onions - a Handful chopped finely
6. Corn flour - 2 tbsp
7. Riceflour - 2 tbsp
8. Oil - for frying
9. Tomato ketchup - 3 - 4 tbsp
10. Chilli sauce - 1 tbsp
11. Soy sauce - 1 tsp
12. Salt - to taste
13. Ginger - 1 inch piece
14. Garlic - 4 cloves
15. Green chilli - 3 nos

Method:

1. Grind ginger, garlic, chillies into a smooth pate

2. Make a thin batter by adding the corn flour and rice flour 

3. Dip the idlies into the batter gently and deep fry them in oil. the batter part is totally optional, you can fry the idlies directly too. The batter adds additional crunchy-ness to the fried idlies.

4. In a big wok, add some oil and add the ground paste.

5. Saute for two- three minutes until the raw smell goes off

6. Add the cubed onions and the spring onion  to it

7. Once the onions becomes transparent, add the cubed capsicum

8. Saute well until the green capsicum is fully cooked through. It might take 6-7 minutes

9. Once the capsicum is cooked, add the tomato puree

10. Cook well untill the raw smell of the tomato goes off and the puree starts to thicken and darken.

11. Once the tomato puree is cooked, add the sauces (tomato, soy, chilli) and salt to taste. You can add a pinch of sugar now. But its optional.

12. Mix it well and cook until well combined.

13. Add the fried idli pieces and mix well.

15. Garnish with the finely chopped leafy part of the spring onion and serve hot.

Samosa - My version with assorted veggies

Samosas are the most popular snacks made with aloo filling. I have made this snack with assorted vegetables filling.

The below measurements will make 10 samosas

Ingredients:
For filling:

1. Carrot - 50 gms - Cubed
2. Beans - 50 gms - Cubed
3. Green peas - 50 gms
4. Potato - 50 gms - boiled and mashed
5. Cauliflower - 50 gms
6. Onion - 1 small - finely chopped
7. Salt to taste
8. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
9. Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
10. Garam masala - 1 tbsp
11. Oil - 2 tbsp

For wrap:
We can use 200 gms of  maida. Making it completely with all purpose flour is the authenticated recipe.  but for health reasons, I have subtituted with 3/4 th portion wheat flour and 1/4 maida 

1. Wheat flour -150 gms
2. Maida - 50 gms
3. Salt to taste
4. Chilli powder - A pinch

Method:

1. In a pan, add some oil and add the cumin seeds

2. Once they are well roasted, add the onions and cook well untill they are brown.

3. Once the onions are brown , add all the vegetables (Steam all the veggies, except cauliflower, we grate the cauliflower because since we have the other veggies steamed, all of them will cook in the same time. Mash the boiled peas coarsely)

4. Allow the veggies to cook for a couple of minutes, and then add all the seasoning agents

5. Give it a good mixture and cook until the masala loose their raw smell. Once done, our filling is ready

For the wrap:

1. Add all the ingredients for the wrap in a bowl.

2. Add required water and knead it to roti dough consistency

Making of the samosa

1. Add about a tbsp of wheat flower in a bowl and add enough water to make a thin batter. This is to be used as glue to stick the sides of samosa 

2. Make small balls of the dough and roll them in to 6 inch diameter circle, and cut it into half 

3. Take the edge from the right and fold it as shown below.Apply some batter on the folded edge (the edge that is on top)

4. Take the left edge and place it on the glue applied edge and press it slightly , as shown below 

5. The wrap will be of a conical shape now and fill the wrap with the veggie filling. Press the filling well so that the filling goes upto the top edge of sthe cone. if it is not done, apex of  the samosa will be empty, which we do not want 

6. Seal the bottom edge of the samosa by applying the batter again

7. Now if we invert the samosa, there will be a line of overlapping edges, fold the edge at the bottom and give it a little press to get the exact shape of samosa which we buy

8. Make all the samosas in the above method

9. Deep fry them in oil until golden brown. Hot samosa are ready to be served 

Masala Rava Idli 

Rava idlies are so soft and tasty, when infused with vegetables, they become healthier. Here we go, with our Masala Rava Idli 

The below measurements will make 14-16 idlies

Ingerients

1. Rava - 300 gms
2. Sour thick curd - 600 gms
3. Baking soda or Sodium Bi carbonate - 2 tsp
4, Salt to taste
5. Finely chopped carrot - 1/2 cup
6. Finely chopped beans - 1/2 cup
7. Finely chopped Capsicum - 1/2 cup
8. Finely chopped cabbage - 1/2 cup
9. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tbsp
11. Chilli powder - 1 tbsp

To Temper

1. Mustard - 1 tbsp
2. Urad dhal - 1/2 tbsp
3. Channa dhal - 1/2 tbsp
4. Asafoetida - 1 tsp
5. Curry leaves - finely chopped
6. Dry red chilli - 2 nos

To Garnish:

1. Carrot - 1/2 cup grated
2. Chilli flakes - 2 tbsp
3. Cashews - few

Method :

1. In a Pan, Add a very little oil about half a teaspoon  and add all the vegetables.

2. Once they get cooked for a couple of minutes, Add the salt for vegetables alone, coriander powder, turmeric powder and chilli powder

3. Saute them well until the seasoning ingredients are cooked.

4. Remove them and allow it to cool

5. In the same pan, add the rava to dry roast it. We need not add oil now.

6. Dry roast it, until every granule of the rava is golden brown. This is a time consuming step, also an important step, as , only the roasting will make the idlies soft. Else they become a hard mass after cooking, making it really less appetizing and less tasty.

7. Roast the rava until it becomes brown as shown below

8. Remove it from the pan and allow it to cool

9. In a separate pan, Add all the ingredients for tempering and fry them 

10. Once the Rava cools down completely to room temperature, add the veggies and tempered ingredients to it and salt and mix well. Cooling of all the ingredients is very important , as hot ingredients might dilute the Curd, which will make batter watery and thus idlies loose their shape.

11. Add the curd to the mixture and stir well.

12. Add the soda Bicarb to the batter and mix well. Allow the batter to rest for 2-5 minutes.

13. Grease the idli mould with oil and then add the grated carrot, chilli flakes, place one cashew exactly at the center of the mould.

14. Add the batter to the moulds very slowly, as the below pattern set should be disturbed , else, cashews , flakes might be misplaced

15. Steam the idlies for 10-15 mins and allow it to cool a little, before carefully un-moulding it. Slowly flip the idlies to find a beautiful colorful pattern on them 

Serve hot with tomato chutney