Plantains Sauteed in Butter/Ghee..

The dog days of summer.. long hot days, humid days, a handful of thundershowers.. well.. any day a better summer than last year's wet, unseasonably cold summer.
Someone left a comment saying, " its summer outside my window" and I just realized my bog is still showing fall!!! Well, long hours of work and managing the house doesn't leave time for blogging anymore but I had to change the fall picture!!
Now its Ramzan season and all thoughts of food are centered around the traditional for me at least. 
Ramzan's fast  is a loooong day here this time and barely any time left to do the  2-3 courses of food after breaking fast. Guess we have to wait a long time before wee get winter fasts here!

Ramzan, Iftars..and Plantains..go hand in hand for me..
How many ways can you eat the humble plantains? Ask a Keralite/Mallu..
Pazham Narachathu/Plantains stuffed with coconut and sugar, or scrambled sweet egg.
Pazham Porichathu/ Plantains dipped in batter and fried.
Pazham Vattiyathu/ Plantains cut and sauteed in ghee.
Pazham Ulathiyathu/ Scrambled Plantains with coconut and sugar.
Unnakayi/ Mashed Plantains stuffed with coconut.

This one above is the simplest way to satisfy a dessert craving.. Slice Plantains into slices horizontally or vertically. Heat 2 tsp of Butter/Ghee and saute the plantains for 2-3 minutes on each side on medium heat. When they look golden halfway through the thickness, flip them and cook the other side. Sprinkle sugar and let it melt and as it starts crusting, remove and serve. Traditionally , the sugar is sprinkled after the plantains are removed onto a plate, but the slightly crusted sugar also tastes yum.
Try it on its own.. or in the Americano way.. with vanilla ice cream..:)
Don't ask if you can saute this in olive oil or vegetable oil to make it healthy...its not really meant to be.. it's meant to be enjoyed in moderation.

Cauliflower Manchurian / Gobi Manchurian / Gobi 65

Cauliflower Manchurian / Gobi Manchurian / Gobi 65

Ever since i stepped into Bangalore after my college days, I fell in love deeply with this yummy appetizer or snack..Due to my great love towards this manchurian, I tasted this yummy dish in street side, mediocre hotel, good restaurants and in five star hotels. Out of all, my love looks beautiful and tastes terrible in one small fast food joint in Jayanagar, Bangalore. Its my tendency to try out things which I love so much at home since my childhood. Likewise, I tried and made some manchurian in my kitchen too. With trial and error, initial versions were ok...but not satisfactory. After trying out different versions, I arrived at one final recipe which is simpler and tastier. My friends and dear bloggers, try this version in your kitchen and enjoy this mouthwatering appetizer along with some Chinese veg fried rice / noodles and a suitable side dish.

There are two methods to make this Manchurian. You can either fry the Gobi / Cauliflower florets or bake them in the oven. In both the cases, coat every cauliflower florets with the batter and fry or bake them as you like. I made Manchurians using both the methods earlier and they tasted equally good in both the cases. If you are deciding to fry, please follow the method as described below.

I will append the Baking Method version at the end of this post very soon with corresponding pictures.

Ingredients

Gobi / Cauliflower - 1 Big

Oil - To Fry the Manchurian

For the Batter :
All Purpose Flour - 3/4 cup

Corn Flour - 2 tbsp

Salt - Little

Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tsp

Food colour ( Orange or Red Orange) - 1 pinch ( Optional )

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

 

Gobi Manchurian - Final Process

Red Onion shredded - 1/2 cup

Spring Onion - 3

Garlic Pods finely shredded - 5 or 6
Spicy Tomato Ketchup / Tomato Sauce - 1 tbsp

Soy Sauce - 1 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Black Pepper Powder - 3 tsp

Green Chilli shredded finely - 1 tbsp

 

 Method

 

• Take out the cauliflower florets and wash them thoroughly. Drain the water completely and cook the cauliflower florets in a microwave and keep them ready.
• Meantime, make a batter using the ingredients as mentioned above ( just like bajji batter) and keep the batter ready.
• In a frying pan, add oil and heat the pan. When you see light fumes emerging out of the oil surface, take a cooked cauliflower floret and coat the floret with the manchurian batter on all sides and gently drop the floret into the heated oil.
• Fry them to golden brown and fry all the other florets using the same method and finish the entire process. Keep all the fried cauliflower florets on a flat plate openly.
• In a cooking pan / vessel, add oil first. When its heated, add finely shredded garlic, red onion pieces into the vessel and fry them for a minute.
• Then, add the tomato ketchup, soy sauce, black pepper powder, shredded green chilli, required amount of salt into the cooking vessel / pan and stir them nicely for nearly 3-4 minutes on a medium flame.
• Add all the fried manchurian into the manchurian sauce and fry them gently. Add the spring onion into the vessel and stir them again for a minute and switch off the flame.
• Transfer the Gobi Manchurian into a serving plate and place small toothpicks on the side or on top of the Manchurian pieces individually.

Corn Cheese Quesadilla

Corn Cheese Quesadilla

Ingredients
2 Corn Tortillas or 2 Whole wheat chappathis.
4 tbsp low fat shredded chesse ( depending on the size of tortilla/chappathi).

Method
Fry the corn tortillas on both sides. Or make two normal whole wheat chappathis and keep it. On the stove, keep one tortilla/chappathi first. On top of it, spread the shredded cheese uniformly on the surface. Then keep the other tortilla or chappathi and stick the corners of both the tortillas/chappathis together. Naturally the cheese would slightly melt in the corners and get sticked automatically. Turn both sides equally for 1-2 minutes till the cheese inside gets melted. All this process should take place on a very low flame only. Cut the quesadilla into four equal parts and serve it with a healthy vegetable sidedish.

Ragada Patties/ Ragada Pattice/Aloo Tikki Chat

Ragada Patties/ Ragada Pattice/Aloo Tikki Chat

Ragada Patties / Pattice also called as "Aloo Tikki Chaat" in Northern India is one of the famous Street foods in India. Its really difficult to resist a plate of Aloo Tikki Chaat with a cup of Garam Chai on a cold....windy day. More than the aloo patties, the semi gravy Ragada is my favourite. I can even have a bowl of hot spicy watery ragada without a tikki.. The Ragada serves as the main base for many chaats. Also its highly nutritious and adds more value to the Chaat. "Ragada" is a semi gravy made out of white peas / vatana along with tomatoes, onion and other spices and the "Patties" is a round shaped tikki made out of boiled potatoes. The Process of making is also simpler and its an excellent food variety and an after school snack for the kids.

Ingredients

For the Pattice/Patties/Aloo Tikki

Potatoes - 2 big or 3 medium

Multi grain bread corner ones / Brown Bread corner ones - 2

Peas - 1/4 cup

Coriander Leaves - 2 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Dhana Jeera Powder - 1 /2 tsp

Salt - To Taste ( Less than regular as you would be soaking the tikkis with Ragada )

Oil - Enough to Fry them in a pan.

For the Ragada

Vatana / Dried White Peas - 1 Cup

Tomatoes - 2

Red Onion shredded - 1 cup

Green Chillies shredded - 1 tbsp

Turmeric Powder - 2 tsp

Pav Bhaji Powder - 1 tbsp ( Not used garam masala powder for this recipe...)

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 tbsp

Tamarind Extract / Thick Tamarind Pulp - 1/2 cup

Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp ( To garnish)

Method

Ragada Preparation

1. Pressure cook the vatana/white peas for 4-5 whistles till they get cooked softly but not mashed. Drain the water and keep it aside. Take 2 tbsp of cooked vatana and mash them nicely and keep the paste ready.
2. In a cooking pan, add oil first. Add cumin seeds followed by ginger garlic paste. When the raw smell goes off, add the finely shredded onion and fry them till they turn golden brown. Add the cut tomatoes, green chillies and all powders and fry them till the tomatoes get mashy.
3. Add the tamarind extract, sugar, required amount of salt and the drained cooked vatana/white peas into the cooking pan and mix them well.
4. Add the drained water also into the pan and allow them to boil for 4-5 minutes. Finally add the mashed vatana paste and mix well.
5. Garnish with coriander leaves and keep it ready for serving.

Patties / Aloo Tikki preparation

1. Cook the potatoes in a separate vessel thoroughly. Peel the skin off and keep the mashed potatoes in a big mixing bowl.
2. Add fine cooked peas also into the bowl. Soak the bread loaf in water and squeeze the water completely. Add them into the mixing bowl.
3. To that, add all the powders, salt and mash and mix them without lumps. Make small rounds of tikki using the mashed mix and keep the rounds ready on a plate.
4. In a flat frying pan, add little oil and fry the tikki rounds to golden brown on both sides. Keep them ready for the chaat.

  

Final Ragada Patties Chaat Making

Take a plate which is slightly deeper in the center. Arrange 2 or 3 Patties / Aloo tikki in the middle.Pour 2-3 servings of hot ragada over them. Sprinkle fine cut red onions and squeeze little lemon juice on its top. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve. Likewise, make other chaat plates and enjoy the evening.

Onion Pakoda - With Wheat Rava Leftover Idly batter

It was very breezy, cloudy and slightly drizzling since afternoon. Its a perfect weather in all aspects to have some crunchy pakodas on the side of hot chai. We have been avoiding oil fried pakoda or any snacks as we have been trying to lose weight and be more conscious about what we eat. But today we have got a nice excuse. Yes.!!! Our friends family was visiting us this evening, and I decided to make crunchy pakodas with my leftover wheat rava idly batter. I added few extra ingredients to the leftover batter and finally the pakodas came out well.

Ingredients

Wheat Rava Idly Batter ( Leftover ) - 3 Cups

Besan \ Kadalai Maavu \ Senaga Pindi - 3 tbsp

Rice Flour \ Biyam Pindi \ Arisi Maavu - 3 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder - 3 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Hing \ Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Green chilli - 3 Medium finely cut into tiny pieces

Sombu \ Fennel - 1 tbsp

Coriander Leaves chopped - 2 tbsp

Curry Leaves - 5 or 6 crushed into tiny pieces

Red Onion - 1 medium cut into small pieces

Method

1. Take the left over wheat rava idly batter in a big bowl. Add the other ingredients as mentioned above to the left over idly batter and mix everything in the bowl thoroughly without adding any water.
2. Heat oil in a small pan. When you start noticing flames coming out of the oil, simmer the heat and small dropping the pakoda batter by hand into different small shapes. 
3. Now increase the heat to medium level and allow the pakodas to get fried uniformly.
4. When its golden brown, take out the pakodas and spread them on a plate covered with a tissue paper.
5. As noticed, there is not much oil in these type of pakodas. Unnoticed extra oil from the pakodas would be absorbed in the tissue paper.
6. Continue the process till you finish the whole pakoda batter.

Tips

Try to make the pakodas into very smaller shapes to get more crunchy ones.

Try to use red onion instead of yellow or white onions in this batter as its more tastier with red onions.

Black Eyed Beans Vada / Vellai Karamani Vengaya Vadai / Alasanda Ullipaya Vadai

Black Eyed Beans Vada / Vellai Karamani Vengaya Vadai / Alasanda Ullipaya Vadai

During this vacation, I felt like making some healthy snack for the kids. Meantime, I did not want to spend more time too. Black Eyed beans vadai suddenly flashed in my mind which I made couple of times before. As black eyed beans is a good source of protein, dietary fiber, its a good choice for making the vadas. Taste of these crispy vadais is unique and to me, it has a mix of both Dal Vada and Medhu Vada. I added a bunch of spinach leaves to add more nutrient value to the snack. Try this out and serve this delicious crispy, tasty vadas to the kids..

Ingredients

Black Eyed Beans /  Alasanda / Vellai Karamani / Lobia-- 2 Cups

Urad Dal / Ulutham Paruppu / Minna Pappu - 1 tbsp

Rice Flour - 1 tbsp

Red Onion shredded - 1 to 2 cups depending on your taste.

Spinach Leaves shredded - 1.5 cups

Salt - To Taste

Hing \ Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Ginger - 1 small square

Green Chillies - 3 or 4

For Extra Punch to Adults

Crushed Garlic - 2 tbsp

Sombu / fennel seeds / Somfu - 1 tbsp

Fine cut green chillies - 5 or 6 big ones

Method

Soak the Black eyed beans and urad dal in warm water for 3 to 4 hours. Drain the water and grind the black eyed beans along with urad dal, ginger, green chillies to a coarse paste. Add rice flour, salt, red onion pieces, shredded spinach leaves , hing to the vadai mixture and mix everything together.  Meantime, heat oil in the frying pan. When you see some slight fumes on top of the oil, start dropping the vadas into the oil carefully. Fry them equally on both sides and drain them out of the oil when they turn into golden brown. Serve hot with hot chutneys.

Variations / Tips

No need to add water at all while grinding. If required, just sprinkle some water on its top and grind.

For adults, add the extra ingredients to the vadai mixture and make them. The vadais would exactly taste like street side hot vadas...

Green Cutlet - Spinach Potato Cutlet

Really got bored with the regular spinach pappu or Palak Paneer , wanted to try out something different with the Spinach..Spinach with some potatoes, peas, yellow corn powder and with some spices, the appetizer was made with less effort and time. We can even substitute this Cutlet as Spinach pattie in burger and could even be used in the preparation of Cutlet chat or a pattie in our regular Ragada Patties.

Ingredients

Potatoes Boiled - 6 or 7 Medium Sized

Frozen Peas or cooked peas - 1 Handful

Spinach finely chopped - 2 cups

Yellow Corn Flour - 2 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Jeera Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp

Green Chilli Paste - 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp ( optional )

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 Pinch

Oil - To Shallow fry the Cutlets

Method

• Cook the Potatoes, Peas and mash them and keep it ready.
• Cut the Spinach leaves and keep it ready too...
• In the kadai on medium heat, add 2 tsp of oil first. Then, add the spinach leaves and fry them till they get soggy and half cooked. Then, add all the powders and fry them for few seconds.
• Finally add the mashed potatoes, peas and the yellow corn flour. Add required amount of salt and a pinch of sugar and mix them thoroughly.
• Fry them for a minute and switch off the flame.
• After it gets cooled, take a ball size of the mix from the kadai. With little oil in hand, make a small flat pattie. Similarly make other patties too with the kadai mix and keep it ready.
• In a non stick pan or dosa pan, add little oil and shallow fry them at one shot with very less oil. Turn them both sides and fry every pattie / cutlet uniformly.
• Keep the fried cutlets on a plate and serve with a side of Tomato Ketchup.

Tips

Don't mash the potatoes and peas too much. Leave few small potato pieces so that the cutlet tastes good.

Variations

You can customize the spice level according to your taste..I prefer this to be milder as i made it for my kids.

Healthy Black Eye Beans Sundal \ Lobia \ Periya Vellai Karamani Sundal

Black Eye Beans are low in calories and rich in fiber which help to control cholesterol in our body. They are low in fat, low in sodium and a good source of folate, potassium, phosphorous and manganese. When combined with grains, they supply high amount of protein and it can be consumed as an alternative to animal meat. Due to its high potassium content and low sodium, it helps to reduce blood pressure also. So, to consume this highly nutrient Black eye beans, I made this healthy sundal on one of the Navarathri days..

Ingredients

Black Eyed beans / Lobhia -- 2 Cups

Oil - 1 tbsp for tempering

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Salt - To Taste

Mustard Seeds - 3 tsp

Urad Dal - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 1 Stem

Dry Red Chillies - 4 or 5

Green chillies - 1

Grated Ginger - 1 tsp

Fresh Coconut Flakes - 1/2 Cup

Method

Soak the Black Eyed Beans for an hour in warm water. Then, pressure cook the beans with enough water to cook it for 2-3 whistles.Drain the excess water from the vessel. In the Kadai, add the oil and start adding Hing, Mustard Seeds, Urad Dal, Curry leaves, Dry red chillies, green chilli and grated ginger first. When the tempering is done, then add the black eyed beans into the kadai and add enough salt and mix it thoroughly. After 2-3 minutes, add the fresh coconut flakes and switch off the flame. Mix the sundal and coconut flakes without mashing the sundal. Now the sundal is ready for Neivedhyam.

Tips / Variations

Don't overcook the beans as the sundal would become pasty.

Instead of curry leaves or if its not available, you can add fresh coriander leaves at the end for garnishing.

To make it more spicy, you can add the grounded powder of coriander seeds and dry red chillies to the sundal after tempering.

Bajji Platter

Bajjis are the mostly served snacks on Jaanavasam, the day before marriage in South India. On a snowy, wintery day, it will be an ideal choice to have some hot bajjis with a side of hot tea. Though bajjis are fried snacks and made with besan flour and are highly caloric, still they are tasty and mouth watering.....Well, my daughter has been asking me to make her favourite potato bajji since few weeks....and somehow it was not working out...Finally her dream came true..I made her more potato bajjis and few..chilli bajjis for my husband too. Believe me, its really difficult to resist our feelings and we did not care so much about our calorie counts on that day.!!!!

Ingredients

Potato - 3 or 4 Medium

Green Peppers - 3 or 4.

Besan Flour / Kadalai Maavu / Senapindi - 1 cup.

Rice Flour - 3 tbsp.

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - To Taste

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Omum Seeds / Ajwain Seeds - 1 tsp

Oil - Enough to fry the Bajjis.

Method

• Wash and peel the skin of potatoes and slice them into thin rounds and put them in a bowl of hot water with some salt.
• Likewise, cut or slice the hot peppers as per your choice and put them into a separate bowl of hot water with little salt. I mainly did these steps to half cook the veggies inside and its easier for the kids to have them.
• In a vessel, add the besan flour, salt, required powders and make a smooth paste enough to coat the veggies with some water. Let the paste be not too watery..
• In a frying kadai, add some oil and heat it. When the oil gets heated up, dip the potato rounds into the bajji batter and drop them carefully into the heated oil one by one. While dropping the bajjis, reduce the flame to a low level and after dropping all the bajjis, increase the flame to a medium.
• When the bajjis turn golden brown on both sides, take them out and drain them on a flat plate with a paper tissue on it to soak the oil coming out of the bajjis...
• Similarly, soak the Hot peppers too into the batter and make Mirchi Bajjis and drain them out on a plate.
• Now the bajji platter is ready to eat with a side of tea.

Tips / Variations

You can make bajjis with any kind of vegetables like Brinjal, Onions, Zucchini, Raw banana, Paneer.

You can increase the quantity of chilli powder as per your spice level.

Godhumai Vazhaipazha Appam / Wheat Banana Appam

Wheat Appams, Godhumai Appams are easier to make during festival days. My mom used to make these Godhumai Appams on Saraswathi Puja day. I added a big ripe banana into the appam batter and made it. Appams tasted almost like a banana walnut muffins..

Ingredients

Wheat Flour - 1.5 Cups

Rice Flour - 2 tbsp

Jaggery Syrup - 1 Cup

Elachi / Cardamom Powder - 2 tsp

Bananas - 1 big ripe banana mashed

Oil - Enough to fry the Appams

Method

1. Make a Jaggery Sryup with 1 Cup of Jaggery in a separate vessel. The Syrup should be little thick and should drop down but not too watery.
2. Meantime, in a vessel add all the ingredients for making the Appam Batter and keep it ready.
3. After the Jaggery syrup is done and cools down little bit, pour them slowly over the appam batter and mix it thoroughly without any lumps.
4. In the frying pan, add some oil and heat it. When the oil gets heated up, drop small rounds of appam batter into the oil carefully.
5. Flip them on both sides and fry them till they become golden brown in colour. Drain them all in a flat vessel with a paper tissue on it to soak the extra oil from the appams.
6. Likewise, continue the same for the rest of the batter. Mostly these appams wont drink that much oil. Arrange all the appams on a plate after they are drained completely and its ready for Neivedhyam.

Tips

Consistency of the appam batter is very important here. If the batter is little loose and thin, it drinks lot of oil. Try to make the appam batter mostly with the Jaggery Syrup itself. Still if the batter is too thick, you can add some water into it and make the batter like the Idly batter.

Variations

You can add crushed nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, pistas into the batter.

You can add few fresh coconut flakes into the batter too and try them out.

Paruppu Vadai / Ama Vadai / Pappu Vada / Dal Vada

Paruppu Vadais also called as Aama vadais are more commonly made during the festival days and its a South Indian speciality snack. As they are made out of different kinds of Dal / lentil, they are rich in protein. There are different versions of Dal Vadas and every variety depends on the kind of Dals and the proportion they use to make them. I used thuvar Dal ( Thuvaram paruppu / Kandhi pappu ), Channa Dal ( Kadalai Paruppu / Sena pappu ), Urad Dal ( Ulutham paruppu / Mina pappu ) and Moong Dal ( Pesara pappu / Payatham paruppu ) in my preparation.

Ingredients

Thuvar Dal - 1 Cup

Channa Dal - 1/2 Cup

Urad Dal - 1/2 Cup

Moong Dal - 1/4 Cup

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Curry leaves - 1 or 2 stems

Dry Red Chillies - 3 or 4.

Oil - For Frying

Salt - To Taste

Method

• Soak all the Dals in the water for an hour. Then, grind them coarsely with red chillies, hing and some salt. Add the crushed curry leaves into the vadai batter and mix it.
• Meantime, heat the oil in the frying pan. When the oil gets heated up, take a small ball of the vadai batter and make a small round and drop it slowly into the heated oil. Continue the process for the rest of the batter.
• Fry the vadas till they become golden brown and crispy. Drain all the vadas from the pan carefully and put them on a plate with a paper tissue on its top to soak the excess oil from the vadas.
• Now the parppu / Dal Vadas are ready for Neivedhyam.

Tips / Variations

You can add crushed coriander leaves, onion pieces into the batter too and fry them during non-festival days.

Madras Mixture with less oil

Mixture is one of the most common snacks made in different regions of India in their own traditional way.  Few varieties are slightly sweeter and most of the varieties are spicy only. Though I love all kinds of mixture I have tasted so far, I often prepare the Madras Mixture which is a common variety made in South India. It might look more complicated and bit oily, but its very easier to make with less oil. Also, it yields more quantity too....And I am happy to share with you all the madras mixture recipe...There's no diwali at home without the mixture. Enjoy making lots of Diwali Sweets and Snacks...and share your experience.

Method of preparation

Groundnuts   -    1 Cup

In a big kadai or big round pan, roast the groundnuts / peanuts patiently on medium heat till they get crispy and fried well. Add very little oil , may be 2 tsp of oil to the groundnuts while frying... Transfer them to a big basin / vessel where you could mix all the contents upside down well.

Cashew Nuts  -   1 Cup

On the same frying pan / kadai, add the Cashew Nuts and roast them in the same manner till they get golden brown and crunchy. Transfer them to the big basin where you transferred the groundnuts before.

Pottukadalai / Dalia - 1 Cup

Roast the Pottukadalai also in the same manner with little bit of oil. After sometime, they get roasted with a nice aroma and get more crispy. Transfer them to the big vessel on top of the Cashew nuts.

Aval / Poha / Avalakki - 1 Cup

Roast the thin Poha variety with little bit of oil on medium heat. While roasting the Aval, add some turmeric powder to them and roast it. After sometime, the aval get fried nicely and if required, add little bit of oil in the middle and fry them. After its done, transfer them to the big vessel on top of the Pottukadalai.

Curry Leaves / Karuvepillai - 1/2 Cup

Roast them in the same heated kadai with a tsp of oil and keep them separately. This needs to be added to the mixture at the end.

Boondhi  -    4 Cups

In a small frying pan / vessel keep oil for making Boondhi and Sev for the mixture and heat it. For preparing Boondhi, first make the Boondhi Maavu / batter with 2 cups of kadalai Maavu / Besan Flour, 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder, required salt, 1 tsp of red chilli powder, required amount of water. The consistency of the Boondhi batter should be like Dosa Batter. Take a Boondhi making spoon or a regular big karandi  ( spotted big spoon )  with holes in it. Wipe it with a tissue and keep it ready. Put some Boondhi Batter onto the karandi and gently shake the karandi on top of the heated oil. You could see rounds of Boondhi batter falling into the heated oil. Gently shake the Boondi karandi so that you get nice round Boondhis. Likewise, make boondhis with the rest of the Boondhi Batter too. Drain all the Boondhis separately and let them get dried for sometime. After its completely drained and cooled, transfer them to the big vessel on top of the nuts.

Thick Sev - 3 Cups

Make the Sev dough first by mixing 2 cups of Kadalai Maavu / Besan Flour, 1 tbsp of rice flour, 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder, required salt, 1/2 tsp of omam powder / ajwain powder, 1 tsp of dry red chilli powder and little water. The consistency of the Sev dough should not be very loose , should be thick like a Murukku dough. Then using the Murukku / Sevai maker, make some big thenguzhal in the heated oil. Fry the thenguzhal till they are golden brown. Complete the same procedure and finish the process. Drain all the Thenguzhals separately and break them into Sev. After its cooled and dried, transfer all the Sevs on top of the Boondhis in the big vessel.

Mixing Process

Add little salt , 2 tsp of dry red chilli powder, 1 dash of Hing / Asafoetida to the mixture.  Using a clean dry flat karandi / spoon , mix everything upside down till all of them get mixed uniformly. Finally add the fried curry leaves and mix them one more time carefully. Now the Mixture is ready for Diwali.!!!

Variations

You can increase the spice level by adding more red chilli powder to the mixture.

You can add sweet diamond shaped biscuits made with Maida to the mixture if you like some sweetness in your mixture.

You can add small sweet rice mittais into the mixture if you like.

You can add fried green peas to the mixture if you like.

Also, you can modify the dough / batter while making the Sev / Boondi according to your taste and spice level.

You can add plain Corn flakes instead of Aval.

Note

As we don't fry the Nuts in this version, its somehow made with very less oil. Only the Boondis and Sev are fried in oil. The taste of this mixture with roasted nuts is amazing.

Plain Medhu Vadai / Urad Dal Vadai

Plain Medhu Vadai / Urad Dal Vadai

Medhu Vadai, the soft spongy and crispy rounds are always special and great to enjoy them during tiffin time, great prasadam during festival time and perfect on any occasions. I made this medhu vadai on several occasions but everytime failed to take pictures as they would disappear quickly from the serving plate. That's the main reason for the delay in posting this recipe. There are so many varieties of Vadai we could make using the same batter. I would append those varieties whenever I make in future.. These vadas can be an excellent breakfast treat with a side of cocnut chutney and sambar too....

Ingredients

Urad Dal / Minna Pappu / Ulutham Paruppu - 2 Cups

Rice Flour - 1 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Curry Leaves - 7 or 8 crushed

Hing / Asafoetida - 1 Dash

Method

Soak the Urad Dal in warm water for 1-2 hours. Grind them in a wet grinder by sprinkling very little water while grinding. Do not pour more water while grinding. Try to get a fluffy batter and keep it aside. If you are using a mixie, then try to use the whipper for grinding which gives a very fluffy batter.(In my experience). To that batter, add all the other ingredients and make a small round shape with a hole in the middle ( like a mini donut ). Drop them carefully into the heated oil in the pan. Fry them on both sides till golden colour and keep doing the same for the rest of the batter. Now the golden crispy vadais are ready for Neivedhyam.

HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY VEGETABLE JUICE WITH CARROTS AND BEETROOT