Onion Bajji

My dad's elder sister, my athai, makes the best bajjis ever. Her bajjis and bondas are so famous that my daughter and nephews call her 'Bajji Paatti'! Our uncle was an expert in making bajjis and vegetable biriyani. We were always treated to such delicacies on our every visit to their lovely home. The onion bajji, I am about to share with you today is the signature recipe of both of them.

Ingredients:

2 big onions - keeping the closest peel intact, cut in rounds.(thus the onions will hold shape)

1 cup of chick pea flour

1/3 cup of fine rice flour

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

1 tablespoon redchilli powder

1/4 teaspoon soda -bi-carbonate

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

oil for deep frying.

Keep onion rounds spread on a plate.

Seive all the flours together with bicarbonate of soda, chilli powder and salt.

Put this mix in a bowl and gradually add water to make a batter resembling that of idli batter, more on thicker side than rarer.

Place a pan with oil on the stove. When oil is hot, taking care not to disturb the onion rounds, dip them one by one in the batter and drop them in the oil, so many as will fit in the oil.

Deep fry turning once or twice in the oil, until they are golden brown.

If making larger quantities, mix the flours and separate them in batches. Add water only to a particular batch just before frying.

Serve golden bajjis with coconut chutney.

Raw bananas, potatoes, brinjals and big bajji chillies can be fried in the same way.

This is another entry for EC's WYF: Fried Snack event.

Pappadam Canapes

I usually microwave pappadams for my husband. I had packed two 50s pack of MTR pappadam in the container along with other foodstuff leaving Bahrain to Ghana. I happened to watch these curl themselves like caps and wondered if I can do a filling and serve. That was a brainwave which resulted in my innovative starters. Also, on most occasions I sprout green gram for salads. There stemmed my idea for 'protein rich filling'. And I got one dish easily microwave cooked and rich in protein.




You may need:
6 small size pappadams.
Few drops of oil to rub on either side of pappadams.
1/4 cup of bean sprouts.
2 tomatoes chopped.
1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds soaked until soft.
2 tablespoons onion paste.
1/2 teaspoon ginger paste.
1/2 teaspoon green chilli paste.
1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder.
Few curry leaves chopped.
Few coriander leaves chopped.
Salt to taste.
1teaspoon mustard seeds.
1teaspoon oil for tempering.



Rub little oil on both sides of pappadams. Arrange in a single circle on an absorbent tissue on the turn table of the microwave. Microwave on 100% power for 40 to 50 seconds. Keep aside.
In a microwave safe bowl put oil and heat for 30 seconds. Add the mustards and allow to crackle.
Add the fenugreek and all the pastes. On medium power cook them until slightly dry.
Drop the sprouts, sprinkle some water, cover and cook for 4 minutes.
Open, stir and add chopped tomatoes, salt and redchilli powder. Cook covered again on medium power for 2 minutes. Let it stand for further two minutes.
Open and mix well. Add chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves.
Just before serving, arrange the curled pappadams on a plate and fill them with the beans filling and serve as starters with stirfry hot and sour soup.
I am forwarding this to MEC: protein rich Foods from Microwave hosted by Ramya originally started by Srivalli.

Stirfry hot n sour soup

After my success with barley in my carrot soup, I am now obsessed with using it in most soups. But this hot and sour I tried with brown rice. I had Cooking under ten minutes book by Tarla Dalal and another interesting cookbook for a Hawkins Kadai,each of which had a stir fry soup and a stir fry salad respectively. I combined both recipes and using brown rice (Basmati brown rice) I made stirfry hot and sour soup. Serve the soup with pappadam canapes; the combination tastes very good, you can add herbs to suit your taste.



Ingredients:
Carrot - 1
Beans -5
Green bell pepper -1 (small)
Red bell pepper - 1 (small)
Spring onions - a small bunch of about 8 sprigs
Garlic -1 pod (optional)
Red chillies -2
Tamarind - 1 pea pod size
Brown Basmati rice - 2 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
Clarified butter (ghee) or for a no fat version, extra virgin olive oil to stir fry the vegetables.




Wash the vegetables and cut them in thin long strips.
Soak garlic, tamarind and red chillies in little water for a while and grind in a blender to a very fine paste.
Wash the rice, drain and dry spread on a cloth for about 1/2 an hour.
Place a heavy pan on stove with some of the ghee and roast the rice for a few minutes. Then add water (about 1/2 a cup) to it and cook rice till tender. Grind in a blender to a liquid. Keep aside.
In the same pan, put more ghee and stir the garlic-chilli-tamarind paste. Stir until the raw flavour of garlic subsides.
Then add the cut vegetable strips. Stir fry until vegetables are tender.
Now add the rice paste, salt, pepper and more water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until soup thickens.
Serve piping hot with pappadam canapes.
This quantity makes 2 servings.
I am sending this soup to Shanthi Krishnakumar's Lovely Winter Recipes.

Race Kuzhambu

The Samaithu Paar (சமைத்து பார்) by S. Meenakshi Ammal is my cookbook Bible. My sister purchased it for me sometime in 1988, and I may have tried 80% of the recipes in these 20 years. I cook these regularly and just love the variety the three volumes offer. The Race Kuzhambu (ரேஸ் குழம்பு) is one such kuzhambu that tastes excellent.

This is best made using tender brinjals or ladies finger. However, you can use drumsticks too.

The following measure of ingredients will serve 4.

Ingredients:

Ladies fingers/Okra 8 to 10, cut 2'' pieces or brinjals 2- cut in eights.

Thoor dhal, Urad dhal, Channa dhal and Moong dhal - 1 teaspoon of each.

Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon.

Coriander seeds - 2 teaspoon.

Black pepper - 4 -6 corns.

Red chillies - 6.

Fenugreek seeds -1/2 teaspoon.

Rice - 1/2 teaspoon

Tamarind - a small lemon sized ball.(aged tamarind will taste best)

Salt to taste.

Oil (preferably gingely oil) -2 tablespoons.

For tempering:

Oil -1 teaspoon.

Mustard seeds -1 teaspoon.

Curry leaves - few sprigs.

Green chillies - 2.

Wash, dry and cut ladies fingers or the brinjals and cook until soft.

In a pan first roast without oil the rice. Next roast the fenugreek seeds.

Put oil in the pan and roast separately the dhals until golden.

Roast the redchillies, peppercorns and the coriander seed.

Put all the above roasted ingredients in a spice blender and grind to a fine powder.

Soak tamarind and extract the pulp.

Place pan back on the stove, add oil and temper the mustard seeds. Add the greenchillies and curry leaves and saute for few minutes.

Add the tamarind pulp and the cooked vegetable. Let the tamarind water simmer until the raw flavour subsides. Add salt and the powder with some more water. Bring to a boil and lowering heat simmer for few minutes.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

Sambharapuli and Paldya

I was speaking to my friend on skype and told her about the RCI event, reflecting to her that inspite of being married to a Mangalorean, I have not picked up cooking authentic Mangalore dishes. The reason being that my parents-in-law were well settled in Tamilnadu and even if amma cooked anything that was South Canara, she would call it either, Kozhambu, Sambhar like in Tamil. And I can only recall Neeru dosai and Shavige that too served with some masala kozhambu or coconut chutney being made often.

As we were chatting, Lalitha, mailed me the recipe for paldya stating it was a very coastal canara dish. She said it was a close relative to moarkozhambu and she loves it. She suggested that I may like it too. The recipe was very simple and she was right on both counts. It was very similar to our pachchai (as for raw or uncooked) moarkozhambu and I simply loved it.

I had made my sambharapuli, which is nothing other than Kothumalli thogayal that is ground without water, so that it stays without rotting for atleast a fortnight. And with a simple carrot kari they were all complementing.

Now to the recipes,

Paldya:

Ingredients:

Any vegetable that suits a moarkozhambu. (Chow chow, Avaraikkai, Ash gourd and such)

1/2 a cup of yoghurt beaten and little water added to it.

1 large green chilli

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 tablespoons dessicated coconut

salt to taste

For tempering;

1 teaspoon oil

1teaspoon mustard seeds

1 red chilli

few curry leaves.

Grind coconut, greenchilli and cumin seeds to a paste.

In a pan on stove, cook the desired cut vegetable until half tender.

Add the ground paste and salt. Cook further until the vegetable is well cooked and the masala is blended to it.

Remove off the fire. Allow to cool slightly before adding the beaten yoghurt.

Temper with the mustard seeds, redchilli and curry leaves.

Serve with hot rice and upkari/palya.

Sambharapuli:

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of coriander leaves.

1/4 th of a cup of urad dhal

1 tablespoon channa dhal

10 red chillies (adjust according to spice requirement)

a small lime size ball of tamarind

asafoetida

salt to taste

oil few spoons to roast the dhals, chillies, tamarind and salt.

Wash coriander leaves. Dry them on a cloth spread until all water is dried.

Separate leaves and stems. ( if stems are tender we may grind them too.)

Place a heavy pan on the stove. Put oil in and roast red chillies, dhals ,tamarind, salt and asafoetida until dhals are golden and salt gives away crackling noise.

Remove these from fire and keep aside.

In the same pan toss the coriander leaves and stems for a few minutes.

Let them cool.

Put the dhal, tamarind, chilli combination in the jar of the blender and run it on a slow speed until they are coarsely pounded.

Add to this the coriander and grind further until they are well combined.

This will be sort of coarse chutney as no water is added.

If you intend the thogaiyal to be more combined, you may grind with some water. But that will not keep for long, you may have to use within two days.

This thogaiyal can be served as rice accompaniment or with dosais and idli with little oil.

Masala Kadalai

This recipe is very simple to make. Enjoy the deep fried crunchy peanuts.

Ingredients:

Peanuts 2 cups

Chick-pea flour 1/2 cup

Rice flour 2 tablespoons

Red Chilly powder 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Asafoetida 1/4 teaspoon

Oil for deep frying.

Place peanuts in a microwave proof flat dish and microwave on high power for 1 minute.

Toss them a bit and return to microwave on high for another 1/2 a minute.

In a bowl mix the flours, salt, asafoetida and chilli powder and keep aside.

Remove peanuts from microwave, cool and by rubbing between your palms skin them.

Put oil in a heavy pan and place it on fire.

Sprinkle few drops of water on the peanuts and mix with hand so the water coats the peanuts.They should be moist.

To these moist peanuts add the flour mix. Try not to use more water while adding the flours. They may lose the crunchy texture and turn out like medhu pakodas.

When the oil is hot, drop the peanuts in and deep fry until golden.

Drain on absorbent tissue.

Crunchy evening snack is ready.

I have followed Mr. Mallika Badrinath's recipe.

These savoury peanuts are off to feature in JFI-Peanuts hosted by Cooks Hideout initiated by Mahanandi.

Marina Beach Sundal

The other day, I signed up for a group in Facebook. It is very interesting , all about growing up in India in the 70's and 80's. It was very nice to know that upper-middle-class upbringing has been the same across India, irrespective of region, religion and gender. Reminiscing thus, I observed that on all my visits to Madras, we were taken to the Marina beach but always been denied the Thenga-maanga-pattani sundal and the murukku for hygiene reasons :(

However, my uncle treated us to Pani puri in Chowpatti and most other Bombay street food delicasies when we were a little older.

So, I set out to fulfil my childhood craving by cooking the sundal at home.

Ingredients:

1 cup Dry green peas. (soaked overnight)

1/4 cup cut sour mango pieces

Salt to taste

Oil few spoonsful

Dry roast and pound to a coarse powder:

2 tablespoons Dessicated coconut

2 teaspoons Coriander seeds

4 pieces Red chillies ( the spicier, the better)

For tempering:

Mustard seeds

Curry leaves

2 Green chillies

Drain soaked green peas. Pressure cook until peas is soft but does not mash if pressed between fingers.

Put a heavy pan on the stove with oil. When hot, add mustard seeds, allow them to crackle.

Add the mango pieces, green chillies and salt and saute them for about five minutes. Add the curry leaves and the cooked peas. Toss until mango and peas blend. Put the dry spice powder in and blend well.( if the mangoes are not sour enough, squeeze one small lemon or add little amchur.)

Enjoy!!!!

I'm sending this beach style sundal to Spill the beans-Sunday snacks event.