Masal Vadai - Masala Vadai - Paruppu Vadai

Masal vadai is a very popular snack of South India usually had with a cup of tea/coffee. It can also be served as a side dish for any rice, especially with curd rice. During summer days, we used to have this masal vada with pazhaya sadham and mango thokku. Nothing can beat this combo. Well! Are you carving for  a street food style masala vadai now? Here is a very simple recipe !!

 
Ingredients

Channa dal/Bengal gram/Kadalai paruppu - 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp
Red Chillies - 2 (adjust as per your spice needs)
Fennel seeds /Sombu - 1 tsp
Onion- 1 chopped finely
Green chillies - 1 or 2 chopped finely
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few chopped finely
mint leaves - 5 or 6, chopped finely (optional)
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method


Soak Channa dal (kadalai paruppu) in water for 3-4 hours. Drain the water completely and keep 1 tbsp of channa dal aside.

Grind 2 red chillies and fennel seeds first and then add the rest of the channa dal and grind without adding water coarsely.

Then add finely chopped onions, soaked and drained channa dal, which you have reserved seperately, finely chopped green chillies, finely chopped coriander leaves, mint leaves and few curry leaves to the ground channa dal mixture.

Take a small lemon sized ball from the channa dal mixture. Pat it slightly in the shape of vadas. Make the corners slightly thinner than the middle. Do the same and make a batch of patties.

Heat oil meanwhile.Check if the oil is hot enough. For this, drop a pinch of batter and if it raises immediately the oil is ready for frying. Drop the patties in the hot oil and fry them in batches, until they turn golden brown and crispy on both the sides. Drain in paper towel. Serve hot with tea/coffee, but curd rice is my favorite combo.

Notes 

• If we do not soak for enough time, vada may turn hard.
• You can add about a tbsp of rice flour for more crispness.
• You can also add ginger and garlic or ginger-garlic paste for added flavor
• You can also avoid red chillies and use only green chillies
• No need to add water while grinding
• When you drop oil, flame should be high. Simmer after you drop all the patties and cook in medium flame until done. 
• The number of patties you add to the oil depends on the quantity of oil you heat

Thattai Recipe - How to make Crispy Thattai

Thattai is mostly prepared for Krishna Jayanthi or Diwali in the Southern parts of India. I had tried this couple of times earlier, but have never clicked or posted the recipe. So I wanted to prepare this for this Diwali and here is the recipe along with the tips that I have learnt so far.

Ingredients

Rice flour - 1 cup
Fried Gram dal flour (Pottukadalai Maavu) - 2 1/2 tbsp
(OR)
Urad dal flour - 1 tsp
Channa dal - 1 1/2 tsp
Peanuts - 1 tsp (optional)
Unsalted Butter - 1 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few (Optional)
Hing, salt as per taste
Oil - for deep frying

Method

Preparing the flours and other ingredients

• I used the store bought rice flour. Sieve the flour twice and roast it for couple of minutes. Just until the flour becomes warm. Transfer it to a wide bowl.                            

• Take 2 1/2 tbsp of fried gram dal (pottukadalai) and powder it in a mixer. Sieve it and add it along with the rice flour.

• If using urad dal flour, take a tsp of urad dal and fry until golden brown, allow to cool and grind it in the mixer. Sieve and add along with the rice flour. Remember, you need to use either fried gram dal flour or urad dal flour, not both.
• Soak the channa dal in water for 30 mins.

• In a pan dry roast the peanuts, remove the skin and add it along with the flours.

 

How to prepare thattai

1. Take the bowl containing rice flour and gram/urad dal flour. Along with this add chilli powder, curry leaves, hing, channa dal, peanuts and salt. Mix well.                          
   
2. Now add enough water to knead to a soft pliable dough. 1/2 cup of water is what I needed for getting the right consistency. Now, the thattai dough is ready. Check the dough for salt and add adjust accordingly.
3. Make equal sized small balls out of it and keep covered.
   
4. You will need ziplock bags or milk covers or any plastic sheets, greased with oil for flattening the thattai. Place a ziplock cover on a flat surface. Place few drops of oil in its center and grease it. Do the same to the other ziplock cover too. Now, place a dough ball over the ziplock cover and cover it with the other greased one. Meanwhile heat oil for deep frying. 
5. Flatten it with your finger tips or use a bowl with a flat surface and press it until it is thin and even on all sides. This is the key thing for getting crispy thattais. Carefully take off from zip lock cover by inverting it on one hand and drop in hot oil. Cook in medium until golden brown and crispy on both sides. Repeat the same for all the thattais. Store in an airtight container  and enjoy the crispy thattais.

Tips

1. The dough should not be too dry. For checking this, take a small ball and try flattening it. It should not crack, you should be able to flatten it smoothly. That is the right consistency.
2. Flatten the thattais as thin as possible. Only then you will get crispy thattais.
3. Prick it with a toothpick or fork here and there, if thattais are not cooked in the middle
4. Oil temperature has to be perfect for perfect thattais. Oil should not be fuming hot, else the thattais will turn dark brown in color. Keep the flame in high while dropping the thattai dough. Then turn the flame to medium low and cook on both sides until golden brown.

Basundhi Recipe - How To Make Basundhi

Basundi is an easy-to-make milk dessert with a nice flavor of cardamom or kesar. It  is a traditional sweet recipe of Maharashtrians and Gujaratis. This recipe is very easy and doesn’t require much preparation as compared to other sweet dishes. The thicker version of Basundhi is called as Rabri. Rabdi is very thick with lots of malai / heavy cream when compared to Basundhi. It just took 30 minutes for me for the whole process. Do not worry if you don't have whole milk in hand. You can also use the 2% one. All you have to do is, once the milk reduces to half, add 4-5 drops of lemon juice and cook for 2 more minutes so that the milk curdles a bit and gives you a creamy texture. Now lets learn this easy recipe.

 
Ingredients

Serves - 2

Full Fat Milk (Whole Milk) - 1/2 litre
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Cardamom Powder - 1/8 tsp
Saffron strands - 5 or 6
Nuts of your choice - 1 tbsp (almonds, pistachios, cashews etc)

Method

In a heavy bottomed vessel (preferably non-stick), boil the milk until it reduces to half of its original quantity.

To do this, place the milk on high heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce the flame to medium-low and add sugar, nuts, saffron strands and the cardamom powder. Stir well until the sugar dissolves.

Keep on boiling until it reduces to half of its quantity, scraping its sides and bottom of the pan continuously. At the end of the process, the mixture will start to thicken and get a creamy texture. Turn off the stove. Serve hot or chilled.

Wishing you all a very Happy and Joyous Diwali with this yummy dessert.

Note

Scraping the sides and bottom of the pan continuously is very much important, else the milk can get burned at the bottom which might alter the taste of the basundhi. I used the rubber spatula which made my work easier for clean sides and bottoms without stickiness. You can also use a wooden spoon.

Once basundhi cools down completely, it would turn more thick. Refrigerate overnight for a better texture and taste.

Aval Laddu/Poha Laddu - Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

This is the first time I am preparing Aval Laddu. When I was looking for some simple and less time consuming recipes for Krishna Jayanthi I came through this recipe in RaksKitchen. The process is all same as we make Besan Laddu. So I did a trial today and it came out well, except for the perfect shapes. I used little less ghee than the specified amount, that can be the reason. Otherwise the laddu's are too good.

Ingredients

Aval/Poha/Flattened Rice - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1/4 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Cashews - few, broken to small pieces
Raisinns - few

Method

• Spread the poha in a plate and check for any dust or impurities. After removing them, heat a pan and dry roast the poha until golden brown. Allow to cool and then grind it to a fine powder in a mixer. Also powder the sugar in the mixie.
• Heat ghee and fry the cashews until golden brown then add the raisins and fry until they become fluffy.
• In a wide bowl add the powdered poha, sugar, cardamom powder, fried cashews, raisins and the ghee. Mix well and make laddus out of it. If required grease your hands with ghee for getting perfect shaped laddus.