Ribbon pakoda

Ribbon pakoda is a quick snack to be served with evening tea/coffee or can be enjoyed as any time snack. 

I have fond memories of my mother making batches and batches of snacks during Diwali and other festivals. But my liking for most of the snacks is limited. But after marriage I started trying snacks for my foodie husband who relish home made delicacies. 

Today Aru was asking me, whether I will again try to make the snack for her, I started to prepare for the snack which hardly takes 10 minutes to make the dough, plus 15 minutes to fry it in oil, yes it's such a nice thing to do to engage yourself in the afternoons. 

All you need is good quality rice powder, besan and very few spices. 

Picture courtesy :Aru and her interest in clicking good pictures is a blessing to me when both my hands were busy squeezing the pakoda! 

Now we will go to the recipe 

Ribbon pakoda 

Ingredients 

2 cups rice powder 

1 cup besan

1 teaspoon black til

1/2 teaspoon jeera

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon red chilli powder 

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (for that brilliant colour) 

Salt as required 

A pinch of heeng(I used Tata heeng) 

Method 

* Use a large bowl or plate, Take a sieve and add rice powder, sieve it to get a fine rice powder, do the same with besan, just check the flours, it should be like talcum powder, extremely fine. 

*Add turmeric, red chilli, jeera, til, fennel, salt, heeng and mix them to the sieved flour. 

*Keep oil for heating on a Kadai, pour three tablespoons of hot oil in the prepared flour, knead well, make sure oil is finely spread all over the flour, this step is very important as it gives the crunch to the pakoda. 

*Pour water little by little and make a soft dough. 

*Take the sevai nazhi, the small press that I am holding in the picture, open and place the pakoda thin disk inside, close it, apply oil inside the nazhi, it helps smooth flow of the dough. 

* Check the temperature of the oil in the Kadai, it should be hot, put a small piece of the dough, if the oil is properly heated, the small piece will immediately flot on the oil. Looking crispy and cooked. 

*You can devide  the dough into five parts, place each one into the press, use the other piece of the nazhi to press the pakoda directly to the hot oil, circular move, completely press the dough into the oil, make sure you keep it at a height where your hands don't get burned. 

*Wait for a few minutes, use a perforated ladle to just check whether the pakoda is cooked and is crunchy, you can gently tap it, if it's done flip around and cook the other side, when it's done, the pakoda will be floating on the hot oil, carefully remove and place it on a kitchen napkin, let all the excess oil drain off. 

*Continue making with rest of the dough, once it reaches room temperature serve with tea or coffee. It's crunchy and yum, I am sure you will try this snack often as I do. Happy cooking! 

Wheat halwa (kada prasad)

We all love the prasad that's served in the temples, many times we will be so hungry standing in the long queue the prasad comes as a blessing.

I was looking for a recipe and Ranveer Brar's kada prasad recipe was just what I was looking for, it came so handy to my need.

I have followed the recipe with all the tips Ranveer had mentioned and it came out good. 

Ingredients 

1 cup wheat flour 

1 cup sugar 

1 cup ghee

1 cup water

Yes it's 1:1:1:1 as Ranveer says, that was the perfect measurements. 

A handful of pistachios, almonds, cashew, crushed and roasted in a teaspoon of ghee. 

Method 

*In a large kadai pour ghee, let it melt, add a cup of wheat flour. Mix in and keep stirring, we don't want any lumps in it. 

*Once the colour changes to mild brownish add water, once we add water the halwa becomes more thick and we must stir it continuously. 

*The layers and layers of the halwa turns into very beautiful brown shades, now we will add the sugar and you will notice the sugar literally melts within no time. 

* Cook the halwa for further 10 minutes, check whether it has cooked well, dripping ghee! 

*Once  done, off the stove add in the roasted nuts. Mix in and serve hot, I mean the ghee will be dripping in your spoons too. Enjoy the simple delicious, yummy wheat halwa. 

Masala vada

Our all time favourite masala vada, I sometimes make it for breakfast and serve it with tea.

Masala vada can be eaten as a crunchy snack anytime of the day.

I have nostalgic feeling of eating masala vada as a street food. The thick tiny glass of freshly brewed tea and masala vada were the best during college days.

Whenever we visit hometown my children also like the unexpected treat!

Here recreating the nostalgic feeling of eating crunchy masala vada at home. Served with white coconut chutney and freshly brewed masala chai.

Do you make masala vada?

What's your unique recipe?

Sharing with you my recipe and hope you will try it.

We all like that crunchy munchy masala vada with tea, don't we? 

Today I have made the delicious masala vada which we relished with ginger tea. 

Masala vada

Ingredients 

2 cups of kadala paruppu /chana dal

1/2 cup whole urad dal

* wash and soaked for 2 hours.

* Use a colander to remove excess water, keep aside. 

For the masala, dry roast 

1 teaspoon jeera

1teaspoon fennel 

I dry red chilli 

1/2 inch cinnamon stick 

In a small pan dry roast all the dry masala and make a coarse powder. 

We will be adding the following ingredients 

1 large onion finely chopped (optional)

2 green chillies chopped 

A few curry leaves chopped 

A small bunch of coriander leaves( I had a small cup of chopped stems) 

A small piece ginger 

2 garlic pods crushed (you can add more if you like) (optional)

Salt as required 

Method

*Keep two tablespoon full of soaked chana dal in a small cup, we will mix it in the vada batter later. 

*In a mixer, coarsely grind the soaked chana dal in pulse mode. I have divided the soaked dal into two parts and made a coarse batter. 

*Place a large bowl, add coarsely ground dal, freshly ground dry mandalas, chopped onion, garlic, green chillies, ginger, garlic, curry leaves, coriander leaves, two teaspoon full of chana dal kept separately, and salt. Mix well. 

*Take a small lemon sized batter, flatten in your hands, place it on a plate/tray, continue till you finish the batter. I made about 30 vadas. 

*Keep oil for frying, I used peanut oil, let it become hot, slowly dip in each vada, you can add about 6 at time.  Let it fry, nice golden crispy, 

Once the vadas are done, remove it from pan,drain excess oil, spread a kitchen napkin let it absorb excess oil. 

*Serve hot vadas with green chutney and freshly brewed tea or coffee. 

Recipe 2

Variation

Today I used 1/4 cup moong dal and 1/2 cup tuvar dal

1/2 cup chopped coriander stems.

The result was good, crispy crunchy masala vada 

Variation

Parippu Vada for breakfast. Making it after ages. 

I have soaked one cup tuvar dal and one cup chana dal for about 3 hours. Drained the water completely, added, chopped ginger, green chilies, jeera, saunf, heeng, curry leaves and chopped coriander leaves. Blend in mixer using pulse mode. Added salt and mixed well.

Made equal parts of small lemon sized balls, then pressed into small Vada shape, deep fried in medium hot oil. 

Tips : Make fresh batch for crispy crunchy vadas

Vietnamese pho

A delicious mildly flavoured Vietnamese pho, Aru had made for dinner for us. It was just perfect for the chilly evening and the warm, tasty soup was all that I could relish with her. 

The recipe require little preparation and here is the detailed recipe for those of you who wish to give it a try. 

Vietnamese pho

Ingredients 

2 cloves

1 1/2 teaspoon coriander seed

1 green onion/leek

1 piece of ginger

2 cloves of garlic 

5-6 button mushrooms

2 eggs 

(if desired, you can add any meat preferred) 

Vegetable stock or Chicken stock- 4 cups 

2 cups of water 

Handful of flat rice noodles

Garnish (optional):

Slices chillies

Basil leaves

Coriander leaves

Spring onion

Mint leaves 

Bean sprouts 

Method 

*Cut the green onion into finger-long pieces and bruise them with the flat end of the knife. 

*Cut the ginger into pieces and smash them with the knife. 

*Chop the garlic into small pieces 

Slice the mushrooms and keep aside 

In a pot, toast the coriander seeds and cloves for 1-2 minutes. 

*Add in the green onion, garlic, and ginger and toast for about a minute. 

*Add in the stock and let it simmer. Once the flavours have incorporated, add in the water and let it simmer for some more time, then turn off heat. 

*Boil 2 eggs. 

*In a separate pan, cook the mushrooms in some oil and keep aside. 

*Boil and drain the noodles as per package instructions and set aside. 

*Chop up garnish as desired. 

*Strain the soup to separate the liquid, this will be the broth for the dis. 

*In two bowl, put the noodles and cooked mushrooms. Over this, pour in the broth. slice the eggs into two halves and top off the noodles with the eggs. 

*You may garnish the soup with any of the above mentioned ingredients, thinly sliced. 

*Serve hot. 

Growing microgreens (hydroponics method) at home. Step by step procedure)

Growing mucrogreens at home using hydroponics method is a project I have started a week ago. It's such a rewarding hobby. You can select whole green moong to start with. It's easy to grow, maintain and harvest.

Step :1

Day 1

 I have soaked a handful of green moong dal(washed it thrice) and after almost 8 hours. You will notice the whole moong has absorbed enough water and now double in size. Drain off the water.

Step : 2

Day :2

Take a sieve or a colander with lots of tiny holes. Place the soaked green moong in it.

Step : 3

Place a plate under the sieve or colander and pour a little water. Use a plate/net or an aracanut plate to cover. Allow the green moong to sprout.

Step : 4

You will see tiny sprouts peeking, you can either spray a little water or gently show the colander /sieve under the running water for a few seconds. Change the water in the plate beneath. Close the container with net or plate. Repeat the  process every single day.(Day 2,3,4,5 and 6)

Step : 5

If you wish you can enjoy the moong bean sprouts in your salads almost from 3 rd day as I did. Yet there will be a lot growing on your sieve.

Stepv: 6

Day :7 you will have the bean sprouts had turned into a tiny sapling with tender greenish yellowish leaves and you can harvest the microgreens. Remove the roots, wash and enjoy with your salads, soups and springrolls. It's yum.

Sharing with you articles on growing microgreens. These are from chefatlarge website and from my blog. We have explained different procedure to grow microgreens. 

https://jayanthisindianrecipes.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-simple-process-to-grow-microgreens-at.html?m=1

https://www.chefatlarge.in/featured/microgreens-at-home-101766/

Chilli mango mojito

A refreshing mango chilli mojito with a twist!

A cup of overriped mango slices, half a green chilli, a few ice cubes, a dash of chat masala and garnish with cilantro, serve in a tall glass. It's yum!

Try this If you are adventurous like me for new flavours and different taste.  I am in love with the green chillies.

Mango green chilli mojito 

Ingredients 

1 cup overriped mango slices 

1 cup water 

5 ice cubes

1/2 a slice green chilli

A pinch of chat masala 

A tiny piece of coriander leaves for garnish 

Method 

*In a mixer jar add mango slices, water, ice cubes and close the lid, run the mixer, make a smooth juice.

*Take a tall glass, pour the juice, adds pinch of chat masala and garnish with cilantro.

*Serve

I am sure you will enjoy the mild sweet, spicy, chilled juice with a desi flavour of chat masala and coriander leaves. 

Tomato pickle made from garden fresh tomatoes (tips for growing from seeds in garden)

I grow tomatoes from the overripe store bought tomatoes, It taste good when we grow them in small grow bags in the garden.

 

Tomato plants are easy to grow and require good care, as it grows long and spreads you should give support for the plant to grow well. A good plant will yield upto half a kilo tomatoes, if looked after well by providing manure and water, sunlight and exposed to rain. It's an asset to your garden. 

I love pickle especially its freshly made with home grown ingredients. sharing with you a simple recipe that I follow.

Tomato pickle made from raw green tomatoes.

Tomato pickle from garden fresh tomatoes. It's a very simple side dish for Roti or rice.

I have used the big green tomatoes. 

Tomato pickle 

Ingredients

Fresh tomatoes 10 

Dry Red chili broken four 

Ginger a small piece

5 green chilies 

Mustard 1 tsp

Methi seeds 1/2 tsp

Chana dal 1/2 tsp

Turmeric 1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder 2 tsp

Salt as required

Jaggery a tablespoon grated

Heeng a 1/4 tsp

Oil two tablespoon

Method 

*Wash and slice tomatoes and ginger.

 *Heat kadai and pour oil, add mustard seeds, methi, chana dal and dry red chilli

. *Let the mustard splutter

.* Add chopped tomatoes, ginger, green chilies, turmeric, heeng,salt and chilli powder. Mix well. 

*Add grated jaggery and cred chill powder. Mix well. Adjust salt.

* Cook in high flame till soft and tomatoes well cooked.

 *Taste delicious with Roti or rice.

Notes

For growing tomatoes at your garden, there are few points to remember 

1.Select good quality overriped tomato for seeds. 

2.Cut the tomato into halves or thin slices, let it sun dry. 

3.Place the dried seeds in a grow bag, filled with cocopeat, soil, vermicompost and néem pellets (this prevents meanly bugs from destroying the plant) 

4. Water should be just enough for the seeds to germinate, you may get a cluster of tiny saplings, after a weeks time select the healthy plant and gently place them in a separate grow bag or pot, I grow one plant in a small sized grow bag. 

5. Once the plant starts growing give it ample support as tomato plants are not sturdy and they need help to grow. 

6. The tiny yellow flowers eventually turn into baby tomatoes, water regularly and if you are in tropical climate you may get abundance of rain. 

7. It takes about 10 days for a tomato to be matured to pluck. 

8. I got about a kilo of fresh green tomatoes from three plants. 

9. They were fresh, juicy and I have used all of them to make pickle. Happy gardening!!