Chekkalu / Crackers

Learnt From: My Mom.

Makes: 25 crackers

Ingredients:

Raw-Rice --- ¾ cup or Rice Flour --- 1 cup
All Purpose Flour / Maida --- ½ cup
Channa dal --- 1 tblsn
Yellow Moong Dal --- 1 tblsn
Peanuts --- 2 tblsn (optional)
Red Chilly Powder --- 1 tsp
Salt --- ½ tsp
Oil --- ¼ cup + for deep fry

Pre-Requisite:

Soak raw-rice overnight in plenty of water.

Note:

You can even make with ready made rice which is available at store. But my mom does in traditional way and I followed her.


Process:

In the morning, drain the water from rice and keep them in a strainer.


And soak a tblsn of channa dal & yellow moong dal in water.


Let them become partially dry. In the afternoon, grind the raw-rice into fine powder.


Sieve it.


Take a cup of sieved flour to a bowl.
Add half a cup of all purpose flour.
Drain the water from channa dal & yellow moong dal.
Add them to the bowl.


Dry roast peanuts till brown on medium heat. Remove skin of the peanuts when they come to room temperature. Grind coarsely till the peanut breaks to 1/4th of its size. Add them to the bowl.(This step is optional. My mother adds peanuts. But I didn’t.)

Heat ¼ th cup of oil till hot. Add the heated oil to the bowl. First mix with a spoon because the oil is hot.


Then mix with bare hand till the oil incorporates to the flour nicely.


Then add enough water to make a tight dough. (like poori dough).


Heat oil in a pan for deep fry. For deep fry use a steel pan rather than non-stick pan. Non-stick pan is not good for deep fries.
Knead the dough nicely.
Make small balls.


Take an aluminum foil. Grease foil with oil.
Place the small dough. Press the dough to a thin patty.


Remove gently from the foil with your thumb from one edge. Check whether the oil is right hot or not by dropping a tiny ball into the oil. Deep fry till golden brown.


Transfer the fried to a paper towel.


Enjoy the taste of crackers.

Storage:

Wait till the crackers come to room temperature. Transfer the crackers to an air-tight container.

They will be good for a week or more.

Vegetable Curry Puff

Learnt From: My friend Saroj.

Makes: 12 puffs

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry Sheets --- 1 packet (I got this from Price Chopper)
Potatoes --- 2
Carrots --- 2
Green Peas --- ¾ cup (I used frozen peas)
Turmeric Powder --- a pinch
Salt --- as per taste
Red chilly powder --- 1 tsp
Garam masala --- 1 tsp
Coriander / Dhania powder --- ½ tsp
Cumin / Jeera Powder --- ½ tsp
Water --- ¼ cup
Coriander leaves --- 6-8 strands

Note:

You can even add cabbage and cauliflower to it. It is much more tastier. But I used only potato and carrots. If are using other vegetables also adjust the spices and do it with one potato and one carrot.

For Seasoning:

Oil --- 1 tblsn
Mustard Seeds --- ¾ tsp
Cumin seeds --- ½ tsp
Hing --- a pinch

Process:

First take the puff pastry sheets from the freezer and keep them outside. (It should be out for 40 minutes approximately before using. So first keep them out and in the mean while start making curry. )


Peel the skin of potatoes and carrots. Clean them and chop them into very small pieces. Keep the chopped potato pieces in water. So that … the color of potatoes won’t change.
Heat a tblsn of oil in a pan.
Season it nicely with mustard seeds, cumin seeds and a pinch of hing.
Then add the chopped vegetables and cleaned green peas to the pan.


Add a pinch of turmeric powder and enough salt to the vegetables.
Add ¼ cup of water.
Cover it and cook till they are half done.


Stir occasionally.
In the meanwhile, chop coriander leaves. Keep them aside.
Add a tsp of red chilly powder, a tsp of garam masala, ½ a tsp of dhania powder and ½ a tsp of jeera powder. Add water if needed.
Again cover it and cook till done. Stir occasionally.


Add chopped coriander leaves … cook for a while and turn off the heat.
Now take the puffs and cut nicely wherever there is a folding. You will 6 sheets from one packet. Again cut each sheet into half. Then you will get 12 pieces from one full packet.
Take a sheet and test it. The sheets should not be hard. It should be soft and foldable. Then it is right to use. If it’s not … wait for some more time till you are able to fold it.
Pre-heat the oven at bake and 400 degree Fahrenheit (till the red light turns off).
Take water in a small bowl. Dip one of your fingers into the water and apply water to the 4 edges of the piece.
Now take full spoon of the curry and place it on the sheet.


Close the edges nicely. Make sure the edges of puff stick properly.


In the same manner stuff the curry into the puffs.
Place the stuffed puffs in an aluminum foil or cake pan or persulin plate. Anything is fine.
When the oven is pre-heated (when the red light of the oven turns off), keep the plates in the oven carefully.
Keep the thicker one on the bottom grill of the oven and keep the aluminum foil on the top of grill.


Bake it for 30-35 minutes till the upper layer of the puffs turn to brown color and crispy.
Turn off the oven switches, keep the oven open and wait for 10 minutes.


Take the plates carefully from the oven.
Wait for 5 more minutes.
Have them or serve them with tomato ketchup.


Look the layers of the puff.


Enjoy the taste of curry puffs. MMM … Yummyyyy …

Mint Kebab

Before telling abt this recipe, I would like to tell a few words about Charu from whom I learnt this “Mint Kebab”. Charu is my husband’s colleague. She stays upstairs to our apartment. Even though is an employee … she tries many new dishes. Whatever she makes that comes downstairs (to us). I got this recipe from her only. Many are in queue.

Learnt From: My friend Charu.

Makes: 30-35 kebabs.

Ingredients:

Mint Leaves --- 1 small bunch (tightly 1 cup)
Potatoes --- 4
Carrots --- 3 - 4
Whole Moong Dal --- ¼ cup
Onions --- ½ of the big one
Green Chilies --- 5
Red Chilly powder --- 2 tsp
Ginger-Garlic Paste --- 2 tsp
Besan (Gram Flour) --- ½ cup
Garam Masala --- 2 tsp
Cake Rusks --- 1
Salt --- as per taste

Pre-Requisite:

To make this recipe you need to have sprouts. For that clean the whole moong dal with water. Soak them in water for overnight. Wait for 1-2 days (which depends on the climate) to become sprouts.

Process:

Peel the skin of pototoes & carrots. Place them in a pressure cooker. Pour water till they dip. Cook them for a whistle.


Wait till the pressure goes off which takes around 10-15 minutes. Remove the lid. Take the cooked carrots and potatoes with a big ladle and place them on a plate. Grate the potatoes and carrots comes to room temperature. Keep them aside.


Boil Sprouts in water. But don’t cook till mashy. Drain the water. Mash the sprouts.


Grind a cake-rusk into fine powder.
Grind cleaned mint leaves & green chilies with a very little water.
Heat a tblsn of oil in a pan. Fry chopped onions till they turn to light brown colour.


Add ginger-garlic paste.
Add grinding mint juice. Stir fry till the water from the mint juice goes away as vapour.
Add grated potatoes & carrots, mashed sprouts.
Stir fry till the wetness from the potatoes, carrots & sprouts goes off.
Add besan flour, red chilly powder, garam masala & salt. Adjust besan till takes off all the remaining wetness from the mix. Taste it and adjust spiciness & salt.
Fry for a while till the rawness of masalas and besan goes off.


Turn off the heat.
Wait till the mix comes to room temperature.
Add cake rusks powder too. Mix nicely.


Heat oil in a pan for deep fry.
Take a small amount of mix and make kebabs (shape) according to your wish.


Tip:

If you keep this fritters in fridge openly and fry for the next day the kebabs come very nicely. If any water is left it will take off. Even this tip I got from Charu only.

When the oil is at right hot … Drop the kebabs gently into the oil. Wait for a while. Then reverse the kebabs with a ladle. Fry till brown. Remove the kebabs from oil and place them on a paper towel when they are done.


Fry all the rest of the kebabs too.


Have them with tomato ketchup.

Masala Peanuts / Palleelu

Can you imagine cooking masala peanuts in micro-wave. In one site I found it. Immediately I tried it. The taste was simply superb. Same taste … Same crispiness … as we do regularly in deep fry.

If you have a micro-wave. Don’t think about it. Just make an attempt. Surely a surprise mixed with grin leaves on your face.


Learnt From: Easy Indian Food

Ingredients:

Besan --- ¼ cup
Red chilly powder --- ½ tsp
Salt --- as per taste
Peanuts --- 1 cup (approx)
Oil --- to grease

Process:

Take a bowl. Add besan flour, red chilly powder & salt.
Just sprinkle water and mix.
The batter should be very thick.
Add a cup of peanuts to the batter. Mix well.
Take a microwavable plate. Grease the plate with oil.
Place the peanuts which are coated with the besan batter. When you place the peanuts coated with batter … the batter should stick to the peanuts. That thick the batter should be. If not just mix little more besan flour to get tht consistency. Still more thick than in the photo below. The coating should give a rough finishing still more than in the photo below. Next time I should try in a right way. To look it is bit different but there is no change in the taste.


Micro-wave for 3 minutes.
Remove the plate from micro wave.
Wait for a couple of minutes.
Remove the peanuts. Wait till the peanuts become cold or room temperature to have crispy taste.


Store them in an air-tight container.

Vada / Vadai / Gaarelu

In Telugu there is a saying for Vada or Gaare “ Thinte gaarelu thinu … vinte Bharatham vinu.” Which means tht “Do either of the things … Listen to Bharatham or Eat Gaare.” They compared the taste of Vadas with the holy bharatham.

Any festival is not complete at my house without these vadas. We used to eat hot when my Mom used to prepare. I know only eating at that time. After marriage I didn’t made my husband’s favorite vada for 8 months. Now, for Pongal I made vadas and took them for a get together too.

Learnt From:

I discussed about vada with so many. But finally I learnt it from Vahrehvah.

As per my view Vada is very tough. Keeping that impression in mind … I have not even tried it for 8 months which is my husband’s favorite dish. Later I made a trail of it. Actually I have grinded the batter very tight without adding any water. I don’t know how to dip the batter in the oil to fry. So I made punugulu on that day with tht batter. When I was doing for the second time my husband told me how to dip the batter in the oil. But the taste was not good.

After that I came to know about this Vahrehvah site.. After watching that site again I made an attempt. He demonstrated in a very nice way. What he told about aeration has worked out for me. Vadas has come very soft and fluffy. My friend Kalyani told me to mix chopped onions, ginger, and coriander leaves. The taste is good. But still shape of the vada was not good.

In the forth trail when I made for Pongal gathering … I was able to dip the batter in his way. That made me happy. Now I am confident in making vadas. Click on this link to watch his video. Type "Medu Vada" in his 'Recipe Search'. Try making vadas after watching his video.

Makes: 32 Vadas

Ingredients:

Urad Dal --- 3 Cups (750 ml) (To make for 2 people 1 Cup is enough.)
Oil --- for deep fry
Onions --- 1 big
Chopped ginger --- 4 tblsn
Coriander leaves

Pre-Requisite:

Clean the soak urad dal in water for 4-6 hours. Generally I soak overnight if I am going to prepare in the morning.


Process:

Once again clean the urad dal which you soaked. Fill the soaked urad dal bowl with water.
In a blender add small amount like half a cup of soaked urad dal with your palms let the water come along with the dal.


Add enough salt to the dal.
Don’t add water to the blender. The water which has come along with the dal that much is enough.
Grind the dal to a coarse paste.
Transfer the grinded dal to another bowl. (If you have the habit of cleaning vessels with water before using … wipe the water off with a paper towel or neat kitchen towel.)
In the same manner grind rest of the soaked dal.


Heat oil for deep fry.


In the meanwhile, Pat the grinded dal with your palms to get aeration. I got this tip from Vahrehvah. Sanjay demonstrated very nicely. The aeration concept worked for my vadas which made them soft after cooking. It's better check the video link of him which will be very useful and easy for you in making vadas.
Chop ginger to very small fine pieces.
Chop onions and coriander leaves too.
Add chopped ones to the grinded dal. (don’t let the water come along with the chopped ones.)


Mix them well.


Take water in a bowl. Keep tht aside.
When the oil is at right hot … dip ur right palm in the water bowl. Take the grinded batter with ur palms. Toss the batter in air to make a smooth ball. Let the ball be on ur palms itself. Make a small hole at the center of the ball with ur thumb.
Reverse ur palms to the top of the heated oil. Drop the batter with the help of the thumb.
In the same manner drop enough vadas to the pan.


Fry them till golden brown.


Take the fried vadas with holes spatula. Keep them on a paper towel or strainer.


In a bowl place a paper towel. Arrange all the fried vadas. Again the top of the vadas place one more paper towel. Press the vadas gently. So tht the paper towels take the excess oil from the vadas.
Remove the tissue papers.
Have it with ginger chutney or pickle or with peanuts chutney.
Enjoy the taste of vadas.