Evergreen South Indian Snack - Aloo Bonda

The below measurements make 15-18 bondas of 1.5 inch diameter

Ingredients:

For filling

1. 200 gms potatoes
2. 1 big carrot cubed
3. 50 gms green peas
4. 1 tbsp lemon juice
5. green chillies - 3 nos finely chopped
6. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
7. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
8. Urad dhal and Channa dhal - 1 tbsp (Together)
9. Hing - 1 tsp
10. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
11. Red chilli powder - 2 tbsp
12. Oil - 1 tsp
13. Salt to Taste
14. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp (Optional)

For Batter

1.Gram flour  - 150 gms
2. Rice flour - 25 gms
3. Sal to taste
4. Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
5. Hing - 1/2 tsp
6. Soda Bi carbonate - 1/4 tsp
7. Water - 125 gms + 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Boil, peel  and Mash the potatoes. make sure the potatoes are not overcooked. they should not take in a lot of water. the mashed potatoes must be absolutely dry and non-sticky

2. Steam the vegetables

3. In a fry pan, add oil and once hot, add mustard seeds, once the mustard seeds splutter, add urad dhal, channa dhal, greenshillies, curry leaves. 

4. Once the lentils are golden brown, add turmeric powder and red chilli powder to the oil. make sure the flame is completely on Low, while adding the powders, we do not want our red chilli powder to burn. 

5. Add the mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables and mix well.

6. Add the lemon juice , garam masala, salt to taste and mix well to form a nice smooth mixture.

7. for the batter, Add all the dry ingredients , except soda bi carb. mix well. Pour water , not all once, little by little. my flour took 125 gms + 2 tbsp water, to form a thick batter. 

8. Make sure the potato mixture is cooled to room temp, to handle it. 

9. Make small balls of the potato mixture.

10. At this stage, before dipping the potato ball, add the soda bi carb into the batter and mix it really well, beat the batter well. 

Dip the ball into the batter and make sure the potato ball is well coated on all sides with the batter.

11. Deep fry it in oil until golden brown.

12. Serve with coconut chutney 

13. This is what it looks like in the inside.

Finger millet&Veg patties/Ragi adai

A perfect healthy breakfast/snack recipe - a great combination of Ragi and vegetables.

The below ingredients make 10-12 patties of 4 inch dia each

Ingredients:

1. Ragi flour - 200 gms

2. Finely chopped vegetables

Onion - 1/2 cup

Cabbage - 1/2 cup

Capsicum - 1/4 cup

French beans - 1/2 cup

Carrot (Grated) - 1/2 cup

3. Curry leaves - 1 sprig

4. coriander - a handful

5. Coconut oil - 1 tbsp

6. Salt to taste

7. Oil - to saute veggies and shallow fry the patties

8. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

9. Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp

10. Finely chopped green chillies - 2 nos 

11. Hing - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1, Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add finely chopped onion and greenchillies. Once the onions become slightly brown, add the veggies.

2. Saute the vegetables until they start cooking , leaving out the moisture. Add a little salt about 1/2 tsp for veggies to cook faster. As the veggies cook, add hing, red chilly powder, garam masala. this recipe is a little spicy, to make it interesting for my family. The Chilli powder could be cut down to 1/2 tsp for all who like it less spicy.

3. Once the dry spices get incorporated well and veggies are cooked, add the ragi flour and coriander leaves.

4. Just mix the flour well with the vegetables and take it off flame into a wide vessel.

5. At this stage add the coconut oil to the flour mixture. this will give a great flavour to the dish. 

6. Heat about 250 gms of water and bring to a rolling boil.

7. Add the boiling water carefully to the flour mixture. please add little by little. do not add all at once. mix well with a spatula. the flour should form into a sticky ball of dough.

8. The flour will be sticky. Do not panic. Only if it is sticky , the patties would be soft.

9. Once the dough cools a little, oil your hands and form the dough to a smooth ball.

10. Allow the dough to cool down completely.

11. Take a plastic sheet and oil it.

12. Take a ball of dough - a size of about a big lemon.

13. Flatten it to form a circle of 4 inch diameter.

14. Shallow fry it on a tawa until it becomes brown on both sides

15. Serve with spicy chutney.

Channa pulao - a perfect blend of rice and spicy channa masala.

As most of us, even I hate wasting food. Certain days when a rich aromatic gravy is left over, who will ever hesitate to  make a nice pulao out of it? below is one such recipe. 

The below measurements serves 3

Ingredients:

1. Cooked Channa Masala - 200 gms

2.  Basmati Rice - 200 gms

3.  Potato - 200 gms 

4. Green chillies - 3

5. Onion - 1 big - thinly sliced

6. Coriander leaves - a Handful

7. Oil - 2 tbsp for saute / more oil for deep frying

8. Salt as required.

9. Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Method.

1. Cube the potatoes 

2. Deep fry them in oil until golden brown , sprinkle some salt and chilli powder. so that they do not taste bland.

3. Wash the Basmati Rice well until the water runs clean. do not add any additional water. leave it aside. Let the rice soak in the moisture that is remaining in them out of washing. Soak it until you don't find any water on the rice grains. 

4. Add twice the amount of water to it and Cook it for two whistles in a pressure cooker. Once the cooker cools down completely, spread the rice over a broad pan or plate to cool it. rice grains will break and rice becomes soggy, when handled hot. so letting it cool is important.

5. Add some oil in a pan and add the slit green chillies.

6. After few seconds, add the sliced onions.

7. Once the onions are cooked, add the channa masala. Saute the channa masal well. though they are already cooked, we saute them to remove all extra moisture from it, as we are making a pulao.

8. Add the cooked rice, chopped coriander leaves.

9. Mix well until all the rice grains are beautifully coated with the masala.

10. Add the fried potatoes and serve hot 

Godhumai Adai (Wheat flour patty)


From the traditional tamizh cuisine, I bring to you a healthy, tasty dish, which could be relished as Breakfast / dinner/ snack time munchies.

 

 

The below measurement makes 25 adai of 3-4 inch diameter.

Ingredients:

 

1. 200 gms (1 cup) of wheat flour

2. 50 gms (1/4 cup) of rice flour

3. 200 gms of grated coconut

4. 1/2 tbsp. hing /asafoetida

5. Salt to taste

6. 1 big onion - finely chopped

7. 1 inch ginger piece finely chopped

8. 4-5 green chillies finely chopped

9. 1 tsp - Mustard seeds

10. Coconut oil - 2-3 Tbsp

11. Cooking oil - for toasting the adai.

12. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

13. Coriander leaves - a handful

 

Method:

 

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.( the flours, hing, salt)

 

 

2. In a kadai , add 1/2 tsp cooking oil and add mustard seeds.

 

3. Add the chopped onion, green chillies , curry leaves and ginger and saute well. Add a pinch of salt now.

 

4. Once the onion becomes translucent, add 2 cups(400 gms i.e twice the quantity of wheat flour). add the coconut oil. This will give a great flavour to the dish.

 

5. Once the water boils well, add the dry ingredients, coconut and coriander leaves.

 

6. Stir continuously, initially the flour mixture will form lumps. do not panic, just keep on stirring firmly. The flour mixture will get cooked well and will form into a nice ball of dough. remove it off the heat, apply some coconut oil on top of the all, so that it does not form a skin.

 

 Please be very precise with water quantity, if you add less, you will find pocket of raw flour, which we do not want. If you add more water, dough will not be formed easily and you will have a tough time, forming it into correct consistency by stirring for a long time.

 

7. Allow the dough to cool down a bit. the dough should be just warm enough for you to handle.

8. Make small balls of the dough.

9. Grease a plastic wrap with oil, flatten the balls into 3-4 inches dia patty. the patty must be only 2-3 cm thickness.

10. Add the adai to a dosa tawa, add 1/2 tsp of oil , wait for a couple of minutes until the adai browns on one side. flip the adai, add little oil if necessary and cook until both the sides are golden brown.

11. Serve hot with kara chutney.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

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.