How to make Medhu vada

I love anything that is deep fried. I am not a health freak! I love to eat Junk food especially when it is tasty. Medhu Vada is one such recipe. Every South Indian function will definitely have this recipe as a starter. You can do many variations to this recipe and all tastes scrumptious. I am not sure if you can bake this Medhu Vada? hmm have to try it sometime. If you know, do let me know.



I made this Medhu vada for Diwali. Usually I do it a different way, but this time I followed different method.

Ingredients: (For 8 to 10 vadas)

1 cup Urad dal
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp crushed pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste
small coconut chunks (optional)
Few Curry Leaves

Method:

Soak the Urad dal for 4-5 hours. The more you soak the more softer and lighter the vadas will be.

Grind it into a smooth paste with adding very little (2 tsp) of water and salt. As it is soaked for a longer time, the dal itself will have moisture in it, so no need to add any extra water.


Add the chopped green chilli, crushed pepper, coconut chunks,chopped curry leaves and mix well.

In a pan, add oil and deep fry these by taking a small amount in hand and making a small hole in the center.

If the dough sticks in your hand just wet you hands before making the vadas.

Deep fry them for a minute and serve hot with Chutney, Sambhar or even eat them without any accompaniment.

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Garlic bread Recipe - The most luring bread variety

Whenever we hit the Pizza hut or any Pizza place for that matter, the first thing I order is Garlic bread. I love Garlic bread as an appetizer. I can eat it all day long if my stomach co-operates without making me sit in the toilet for the next couple of days. I have browsed for many Garlic bread recipes-easy ones, difficult ones. But the recipe which I am going to share is 'The one', at least for me and my family.




When I placed these breads in the oven, I was praying that it must come out well. And by God's grace or should I say I was lucky? huh, either way I am very happy to share this Garlic Bread recipe with you all.

Ingredients:

1 16-ounce loaf of Italian bread (Any bread is fine I guess)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 large cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
1 tbspn freshly chopped parsley
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste



Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F for 10 min.

Mix the butter, garlic, and parsley together in a small bowl.

Add Salt to taste.

Make 1-inch thick slices into the bread.

Put a teaspoon or two of the butter mixture between each slice.

Wrap the bread in aluminum foil and heat for 15 minutes in the oven.

Garlic Bread is ready. Cool it for 5 min and dig in!

Garnished the Garlic breads with Red chilli flakes OR pepper before serving.

Best when hot. But can be refrigerated and reused.

I am sending this recipe to World Bread Day'08 hosted by Zorra.

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Falafel with Pita bread, wow its Arabic!

It was during April'07, when we first stepped into our apartment in Chicago. My first US visit. I was all excited to spend my life as a full time homemaker. Not all will love this position. Though cooking at home is what we prefer, we love to experiment new cuisines. Food is our passion. My husband is a great food critic. Even now sometimes he is the one who checks for salt in my recipes! Though we entered US in April, we did not have car till September'07 and you know how life is in US without cars! You are literally handicapped without car in US, at least in Chicago.

Without cars we could not go out often. But, luckily we had few restaurants at walkable distance from our apartment. One of those was 'The Pita Inn' - An Arabic restaurant. Initially I was skeptical to try any food there because one of my friend had a bad experience with Arabic cuisine. But, my husband was very determined to have dinner there. He convinced me and off we went there walking. It sure was a good exercise!

As I am a vegetarian, I had only one option in the menu to order. My husband decided to be a vegetarian for that night and so we ordered 2 plates of ... yes! Falafel duh! If it was not for Falafel why am I saying these stories of mine. lol! Anyway, from that day I have become a great fan of Falafels and Pita bread and have always wanted to try it at home. Since then I had searched for Falafel recipes and finally here it is, for you to experiment at your home!

When zlamushka announced T&T this month, I know what I had to prepare. Yes! the tasty Falafel! Jugalbhandi is really a very good place for food lovers. They inspire to cook and I have already sent in my Rajma salsa for T&T. This is my second entry. Though my picture of falafel with pita bread is not as luring as theirs(they are the click gurus!), I am sure it will at least be a picture which captured my love for the food.

I tried baking them but as the Jugalbandits said, it was a little dry but tasted good. We both liked the deep frying part! oil, oil and more oil! sometimes you have to do sacrifices for your tongue!

I am also sending this entry to



Ruth's Bookmarked recipes event.



Madhuram's Your Recipe rocks!

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Cassava balls - An African recipe high in carbohydrates

When I was searching for a recipe from Cynthya's blog, to tell you the truth I had so many options, so many varieties. But I chose Cassava balls recipe. This name Cassava, was very different and I was not familiar with it. As usual Wikipedia came to rescue and here are the details of what cassava is.

Cassava is also known as manioc, manihot, yucca, mandioca, sweet potato tree, and tapioca plant. It is an important food crop in the tropics where it is grown for its starchy, tuberous roots. It is a great source of carbohydrate and mainly grown in Africa.

This African recipe, is very tasty and easy to prepare. I tried the same way Cynthya instructed and it came out very well. I will share you the recipe given to me by Cynthya and here is the link to the original post of cassava balls from Cynthya's blog.

The recipe given below is Cynthya's and I did not do any modification to it. It needed nothing more. The Cassava balls were scrumptious.

Yield: 7 – 8 balls

Ingredients

For batter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
⅛ teaspoon salt
Water

For cassava ball
1 pound peeled cassava, quartered
Water to boil cassava
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ cup diced onions
½ teaspoon minced thyme
Hot pepper to taste, finely minced
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon salted butter, room temperature
Oil for deep frying
Equipment
1 whisk
1 small bowl
1 saucepan
1 colander
1 large bowl
1 potato masher
1 pan for deep frying
1 slotted spoon
Paper towels

Method

For batter
Mix all the ingredients together using a whisk or your hand, adding enough water to make a thin batter (the consistency of crepe batter)
Set aside

For cassava ball
Add cassava to pot with water and salt to taste and bring to a boil covered
Boil cassava until it’s soft and begins to fall apart by splitting open
Meanwhile, heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan
Add onions and thyme and sauté gently until translucent; season with salt
Stir in hot pepper and let cook for a minute
Remove pan from heat and immediately stir in sliced green onions
Strain boiled cassava using a colander; do not wash off the starch
Discard the stems found in the middle of the cassava
Add the hot, cooked cassava to a bowl along with the butter and mash until it becomes creamy (this requires some elbow-grease as the mashed cassava thickens)
Once the cassava is creamy, scrape off the bits from the masher and set the masher aside
Add the sautéed onion mixture to the mashed-creamed cassava and with clean hands gently combine the two; taste for salt and adjust if necessary
Divide the cassava mixture evenly and roll into balls; set aside
Heat oil for deep frying in pan
Bathe the cassava balls one at a time and fry (coat completely); depending on the width of your pan, you can fry 3 – 4 cassava balls at a time; be careful that they do not stick to each other
Fry until golden brown all over and drain on paper towels
Serve warm or at room temperature. Can be eaten as is or with your favourite sour or pickle





I am sending this to Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted in which she has chosen Cynthya's blog this month.

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Salatat Bathinjan - A Middle eastern Food made from Eggplant

Eggplant, often called "the poor man's meat". Most of my friends like eggplant. The name eggplant developed in the United States , Australia , New Zealand , and Canada because the fruits of some 18th century European cultivars were yellow or white and resembled goose or hen's eggs. So now we know why brinjal is called Eggplant. When I was searching for preparing something in Eggplant for fortune cooking event, I came across this wonderful recipe. This happens to be a recipe from Middle east. Yey! That is a jackpot now I can send this to Siri's AWED: Middle Eastern cuisine event too. This recipe is called Salatat Bathinjan, a famous appetizer from eggplant.

Ingredients:
Large Eggplant 2 - cut into thick slices
2-3 flakes of Garlic
Salt to taste
Oil to fry
1tsp of pepper
1tsp of lime juice

Method:
Sprinkle the eggplant slices with salt. Place in a strainer or colander, top with a weight, and allow to drain for 40- 45 minutes. This is done so that the moisture in the eggplant is removed. The Salt helps to achieve this.

Now place these slices in a towel/tissue and remove the water.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, then add the eggplant slices and fry on both sides until they are golden brown.

Mash the garlic cloves with salt. Add to the diced eggplant along with the pepper powder and lemon juice.

Serve hot!


This recipe is really very crispy and very easy to prepare too. I am sending this to Siri's AWED:Middle Eastern Cuisine and here is the link to Dhivya's Blog. Also I am sending this to fortune cooking contest of Spicy Tasty.

And now for my second Award. I was really taken by surprise when Roopa of RV Kitchen Treatsgave me the 'Yummy Blog Award'. I was so happy. Thanks roopa. It is very encouraging to get these new awards. Make me feel more committed to my blog.



I am passing this to

Asha of Aromahope
Bhags of Crazy Curry
Rinku of Cooking with Rinku
Gaurav of Gastronome by choice
Sagari of Indian cooking

Enjoy friends!

And as per the tradition my favorite desserts are
1. Carrot halwa
2. Kaju Katli
3.Gulob Jamun
4.Rasamalai

Once again Thanks Roopa.

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Samosa - The famous Asian Appetizer

Whenever I think of tea time, the first thing that comes to my mind is of course tea. But, the next is my favourite samosa. Samosa is a famous Indian appetizer which is believed to have originated from central Asia. Samosa is generally a fried triangular shell with potato stuffing. It is a very easy yet delicious snack. You can make it in different shapes and size. It gives room for your creativity too. You can use any kind of stuffing for your samosa.



Ingredients:

For the shell:

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup
Carom seeds (Ajwain) - 1tsp
2tsp of oil
water to prepare the dough
salt for taste

For Stuffing:

2 potatoes (boiled and pealed)
1/4 cup peas
1/4 cup of carrot and beans
1/4 cup of onions finely chopped
1/4 cup of coriander leaves finely chopped
1/4 cup of fried cashews (optional)
1 tsp of chilli powder
1tsp of coriander powder
1tsp of cumin powder
1tsp of cumin seeds
1tsp chat masala powder
1-2 green chillies finely chopped
a pinch of hing powder
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1tsp lemon juice

Method:

In a bowl, add the flour, salt,ajwain and oil. Mix well. Add enough water to make it to a stiff dough. Rest it for 15-20 mts.

In a pan, add oil, cumin seeds, hing. After few seconds, add onion and saute them till they become light brown. Now add the ginger garlic paste and saute.

Add the chilli powder,cumin powder, coriander powder , salt and chat masala with little water so that the spices are not burnt and mix well. Now add the cashews.

Add peas, carrot &beans,potato and mix them well. Add the coriander leaves and mix. Finally add the lemon juice and mix well.

How to make samosa:

It is very simple. Just follow these steps.

1. Take a lemon size ball of dough.

2.Roll it into a circle with the help of roller.

3.Now make it to oval shape by rolling only one side of the dough.

4.Cut it in the middle.

5. Take 1 cut piece and apply water in all the sides so that it sticks properly to form the triangular shell.

6.with the curved edge facing you, fold the semicircle so that you overlap the dough in your left hand with the dough in your right hand.

7.Now you have a cone shape, fill it up with your stuffing.

8. close the edges by pressing lightly and make the samosa stand.

Now you have the samosa ready to fry. In a pan, heat oil. When the oil is hot, deep fry the samosa till it becomes light brown in colour.

Serve hot with sauce/ketchup/chutney.

Variations:

1. The major variation you can do is with your samosa stuffing. You can stuff your samosa with anything you like. Even meat/chicken, your wish.

2. You can make your samosa in any shape you want.

3. Instead of deep frying the samosa, you can also bake it. Wow! sounds healthy right? Yes you can bake them too. Preheat the oven at 400 degree F for 5 minutes. Place the samosa and reduce the temperature to 300 degree F. In 45 minutes you have hot baked samosa ready. In between the baking process, just check once or twice so that the samosa is baked evenly in all sides.

I am sending this recipe to Monthly mingle started by Meeta. This month it is Appetizers & Hors'Doeuvres hosted by Mansi.

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Bread/Egg/Onion/Potato Baji

Baji is a very famous Indian snack. It is similar to Pakoras but tastes entirely different. Checkout the pakora recipe here. This food is prepared in less than 10mts if you have all the ingredients. You can show your creativity in this food by making different kinds of baji. Some of my favourites are Onion, Egg, Potato,Bread,Plantain, Green Chillies. You can make even with Meat ( I am not sure, but what the heck ? you can try it and if it doesn't come out well, feed the bin).

Ingredients:

To make the Paste:

2 cups of Besan Flour (Gram flour)

1 tsp of red chilli powder

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp of baking powder

Oil to fry

Water to make the paste

You can have any one or all of the following to make your kind of baji

2 medium Potato sliced

1 plantain sliced

4 Bread pieces ( Remove the outer bread and cut into halves)

2 Egg (Boiled and Cut in Half ,with Yolk)

1 medium onion sliced in round shape

Method:

Add the gram flour, chilli powder , baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Mix well adding water so that it becomes a smooth paste.

The Paste must be semi solid (Not too loose)

Now dip the ingredient you want to make baji with and deep fry in oil.

Make sure that the ingredient i.e. potato or bread is covered with this paste properly so that the baji comes out tasty and puffy.

Do come back for my recipe on making stuffed Mirchi (Green Chilli) Baji which is the most famous baji variety in India. I will post the recipe asap.

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Aloo (potato) Bonda Recipe

Potato is 'the' vegetable which is loved by the world. I have never come across a person who hate potato. What is so special in potato? I don't know but it tastes awesome. Though it has more carbohydrate, no one seem to bother. This recipe is a very famous Indian snack. This food can be prepared in 15-20 mts. Who doesn't like food prepared in minutes? and that too with potato.

Ingredients:

2 or 3 medium potatoes (boiled and peeled and loosely mashed)

1/2 tsp. of cumin seeds

1/2 tsp. of mustard seeds

2 green chili chopped finely

1/2 tsp. of ginger finely chopped

1/2 tsp of garlic finely chopped

3/4 cup of finely Chopped Onions

1/4 tsp. turmeric powder

1/2 cup. cilantro leaves (chopped)

Salt to taste

1 tbsp. Lemon juice

1 1/2 cups besan (Gram flour)

1/4 tsp. baking Soda

Oil for deep frying

Hing powder

Method:

In a Pan, 1tbsp of oil and mustard seeds. When the seed pops add cumin seeds and hing powder.

Now add Green chillies, garlic, Ginger and fry them for 30 sec.

Add turmeric powder and within few seconds add the chopped onions.

Fry the onions till they become light brown in colour and then add salt. Now add the chopped cilantro .

Add the mashed potato with this and mix well. When it is mixed properly add the lemon juice and mix.

Prepare a paste with Besan (gram flour) and baking soda. Add chilli powder and salt to taste.

Mix well with the batter and the consistency of the batter must be a little thick.

Make small balls from the potato mixture and dip it in this batter. Make sure that this batter covers the ball well and deep fry in Oil.

Serve hot with chutney. This food tastes good even without any side dish.

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Gobi Manchurian Recipe

Gobi ( Cauliflower) Manchurian is a very famous recipe in India. I know people who go to hotels just to eat this recipe. They feel that though it is possible to prepare Gobi Manchurian at home, it won't taste the way it does in the hotels. Why not? Nothing is impossible. Preparing Gobi manchurian in India is slightly tedious because the Gobi (Cauliflower) that we get in India has worms in them and hence we need to cook it in salted boiling water so that the worms are dead and can be easily removed. However in the US, we get all clean cauliflower and hence preparing Gobi manchurian is not that difficult.

Ingredients:

1 medium Gobhi (Cauliflower)

1/2 cup All purpose Flour (Maida)

1 tbsp Corn Flour

Salt to taste

1 tsp chilli powder

1/4 cup spring onions finely chopped

3-4 flakes of garlic finely chopped

1-2 Chopped green chili

11/2 tbsp Garlic Paste

11/2 tbsp Ginger Paste

1 cup finely Chopped Onions Finely Chopped

Coriander Leaves

1/4th tsp Ajinomoto

2 tbsp Soya Sauce

2-3 tbsp Tomato Ketchup or chilli sauce

Oil for frying

Ghee (Cleared butter) 1tbsp

Method:

Make a paste with all purpose flour, corn flour and salt using water. This paste must be littile thick (Semi solid).
Take a tsp. of ginger and garlic paste, add it to the paste.

Add a tsp of chilli powder to the paste and mix well.

Cut the cauliflower into small florets.
Dip the Gobi florets in the paste and deep fry in oil till golden brown. Keep aside.

Heat Ghee in another pan and add 1tsp of ginger & garlic paste, chopped onions and green chili to it. Fry them till the oinion turns light brown.

Now add Spring onions and Garlic to it.
Now, mix aginomoto, soya sauce and tomato sauce/chilly sauce to it. Please note that aginomoto is not good for pregnant ladies and so avoiding it is good. Instead you can use salt.
Add fried Gobi kept aside and mix well.

Garnish it with coriander leaves. Serve the gobi manchurian hot.

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Soy Meal Maker Recipe

This is a very healthy dish. You can eat this as a snack or as a side dish. Though it is vegetarian, my friends say that it tastes like chicken. So non-veg lovers, try Soy meal maker instead of chicken to reduce your calorie intake. This dish was also introduced to me by Rekha. You get Soy Nuggets as a packet in all the grocery shop.

Ingredients:

Soy Nuggets (Meal Maker/Nutrela) : 1/2 pack

Water : 2 1/2 glass

Salt to taste

Red Chili pwdr : 1 tsp

(Coriander) Dhaniya pwdr : 1 tsp

Oil for shallow frying

Curd : 2 tbsp

Black pepper pwdr : Little

Method:

Heat the water in a big vessel and when it starts boiling, add the soy nuggets and cook for 5 min.

When the Soy is cooked, drain the water and marinate with curd, chilli powder, dhaniya powder,salt and pepper. You can also use garam masala.

Allow it to rest for 15mts. You can keep it in fridge or you can keep it outside.

Now add some oil preferably in a nonstick pan and when the oil is hot, add this marinated soy.

Close the lid and allow it to deep fry.

Occasionally stir and add check for the spices. If you need more you can add them now.

Cook for 20mts in a Sim flame, serve hot.

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Bhel Puri Recipe

I went on a trip to Knoxville to meet my friend Rekha. We were together in middle and high school. We had loads of fun and most importantly she cooked me a lot of my favourite dishes. I am very happy to share her recipes here. One of my all time favourite chat is 'Bhel Puri'. When ever I want to eat chat it will always be Bhel puri. I love this dish and rekha prepared it for me on my birthday.

Ingredients:

Puffed rice 4 cups

Sev 2 cups

Onion 1 no finely chopped

Mango 1/2 cup finely chopped.

Turmeric 1 tsp

Potatoes 2 nos boiled,peeled & cubed salt,

chilli pwd acc to taste

fried Ground nuts 1/4cup

Armature powder 1tsp

Black salt - 1tsp

Chips (Powdered) 1 cup

cilantro - 1/2 cup finely chopped

Green chutney
sweet chutney

Method :

For Green chutney:

Cilantro 1/2 bunch

Mint 1/2 bunch

green chillies 6 nos

salt & lemon juice.

Blend all the above to a fine paste & reserve.

Sweet/sour chutney:

Tamarind extract 1 cup

Brown sugar 1 Tbsp.

Cumin Powder 2 tsp.

Chilli Powder 2 Tsp.

Salt Acc to taste

Boil the above till they reduce by half & cool.Grind it to smooth consistency.

Note: Instead of sweet chutney you can also use Maggi hot and sweet sauce.

Bhel puri:

Mix all the ingredients & serve in an individual plates immediately.

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Keerai Vadai Recipe

Today I had to cook spinach. It was way past its expiration date. Because today was Tamil new years day I had to prepare payasam and vadai. So ...guess what? I made keerai vadai! how clever? (lol!). It is very good recipe and healthy too. Generally kids don't like eating spinach. But when you give them this spinach based recipe, they will adore you.

Ingredients:

1 cups split green gram (Moong Dal)

1/2 cup Bengal gram dal Channa Dal)
2 cups of spinach ( very finely chopped)
1/4 cup of rice

1/2 inch piece of Ginger

3-4 Green chillies

1 pinch Hing powder
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Onion -1 finely chopped (optional)

Garlic -2 to 3 flakes finely chopped (optional)

Method:

Wash and soak the dals and rice in water for two to three hours.

Clean, wash cut the spinach leaves .

cut the ginger,garlic,green chillies and onion.

Drain the dals and rice and coarsely grind them along with the ginger, green chillies and Hing powder. Make sure that you drain all of the water so that after you grind it will be easy for you to make it into vada shape and fry.

Add the chopped spinach and salt to taste and mix well.

Heat sufficient oil in a kadai. Make small balls of the prepared mixture , place it in your hand and press slightly so that it becomes flat and then deep-fry them until they are crisp and brown.

Serve hot with a chutney of your choice or you can eat them without any side dish.

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Let us start with a Starter

We had potluck last week and I prepared my all time favourite vegetarian starter. It is 'Venkaya Pakora' (Onion Pakora). Its crispy, yummy and very very easy to prepare. Most of us know this starter as this is considered to be one of the basic dish in India. However i am sharing the recipe for those who have not yet tried this scrumptious dish.

There are different ways of preparing this pakora. All works, but this is my way of preparing. Preparation time is 15mts.

Ingredients:

2 tsp Ghee

1 pinch of Baking soda

1 cup of Bengal gram flour (besan)

1/2 cup of Rice flour

2 or 3 finely chopped onions (lengthwise)

2 Green chilies -- finely chopped

1 tsp Chili powder

few cashew nuts/Ground nuts

1 cup of Cilantro (coriander) finely chopped

2 strands of Curry leaves

Salt -- to taste

Water -- as required

Oil -- for deep-frying

How to prepare:

Place 2 tsp. ghee and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Rub together until frothy. Add the remaining ingredients and combine well, using sufficient water to make a thick batter. Leave it to rest for 15 mts.

Heat oil in a heavy frying pan. Make small balls from the batter and drop them into the oil . Fry the pakoras until golden in color. When cooked, drain the excess oil on a sheet of brown paper or paper towels. Serve hot with chutney.

This dish goes well with Mint chutney. You can also eat them without any side dish.

Happy cooking!

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