Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Dal vada

Yesterday it was raining the whole day and what better on a rainy day than a cup of tea and hot bhajis. Well I was not in the mood of eating onion bhaji so decided to make dal vada instead.



Ingredients:
1 cup skinless Moong dal
1/2 cup urad dal
3-4 green chillies (+/- to taste)
1/2 inch ginger
2-3 garlic pods
1 small onion (finely chopped)
few twigs of cilantro
salt to taste
Juice of 1/4 lemon
Oil for deep frying

Process:
Soak moong daal and urad dal in water water for 4-5 hours. Then grind the moong and urad dal along with ginger, garlic, and green chillies adding as little watter as possible until it turns into a coarse paste. Add all the other ingredients to it and mix well. It is the trapped air in the batter that makes them light and fluffy. Make lemon sized balls out of this. Heat oil in a wok or fryer. When the oil is ready, drop the batter balls ito the oil using your fingers. Fry gently on medium fire turning over frequently until they turn lightly golden brown. Remove from oil and keep aside on an absorbent paper.

Serve them hot with sweet and sour tamarind chutney or any other sauce of your choice.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Date tamarind chutney

Date tamarind chutney is a popular Indian sweet and sour sauce. This tangy chutney is used as a dip or stir-in sauce for numerous Indian snacks like samosas, sevpuri, panipuri, bhelpuri, dalvada, tikkis, and chaats.

Dates act as a fantastic natural sweetener and work very well in lieu of other sweeteners.
The acid pulp of tamarind is a natural astringent and is very useful for cutting bland tastes. Tamarind tends to go well especially with dal or lentil dishes.

Ingredients:
100 gms tamarind (remove seeds)
200 gms dates (pitted)
grated jaggery (optional)
2-3 cups water
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder

Process:
In a saucepan, put the tamarind, dates, and water and cook on a medium flame till the dates and tamarind are soft. Turn off the flame and allow it to cool. Use a mixie to blend the mixture together into a smooth sauce. Next, strain tihs mixture through a strainer into a container. Strain it out completely so that you get a smooth consistency. It should not be too runny. Add salt, red chilli powder. Taste it and see. If you feel it is still a bit sour, you can add grated jaggery per taste. Chill and serve.

Tips:
1. As a general rule, take twice the amount of dates or more compared to tamarind. I hardly use jaggery when I make this chutney.
2. Many of my friends make this chutney in bulk and store it in the deep freezer. It keeps very well for a month or so. Just keep it in an airtight freezer container. Whenever you want to use it, just take it out, thaw, and use it. It tastes just fine every time you use it.

Ragda patties

Ragda patties is a popular fast food snack. It is usually found at places or stalls that offer chaat-based items like belpuri or panipuri. Main ingredients in this dish are, as u must have already guessed, the ragda and the patties. Ragda is prepared by boiling dried green peas in water along with flavouring agents like turmeric powder, asafoetida, and salt until they are almost dissolved. The patties are pan-fried and are mashed potato cutlets. Just before serving 2–3 patties are covered with the stew-like ragda and are garnished with finely chopped onion, coriander leaves, sweet tamarind chutney, and some spicy chutney (optional).


This is an excellent snack though for me it is a meal in itself (I like it so much that I hate to have anything else after that).

Ingredients:
For patties:
3 large potatoes
3-4 green chillies (+/- to taste)
1/2 piece of ginger
1/4 bunch Cilantro
1 tsp sugar
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Salt to taste

For ragda
1-2 cup green dried peas soaked overnight
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 pinch asafoetida
salt to taste

To garnish
Onions – chopped finely
Cilantro - chopped finely
Cumin powder
Chaat masala
Sweet tamarind chutney

Process:
For patties:
Boil the potatoes and mash it well. Add green chillies, ginger, cilantro, salt, lemon, and sugar and mix well. Then divide the potato dough into small portions, I had about 8-10 small round portions. Put the potato mix on your palm and flatten it into a small patty. Heat oil on a flat skillet. When it starts sizzling, put the patties and shallow fry them on each side on medium heat for 2-3 minutes till they turn golden brown. Let it cool on paper towel to drain the excess oil.
For ragda:
Pressure cook the soaked green dried peas. Pour it in a thick bottomed pan and add turmeric, asafoetida, and salt to it. Let it cook on medium heat for roughly 5 minutes. Then mash some of the green dried peas in the gravy to make it thick and to give it a nice consistency.
Assembling ragda patties:
Put 2-3 potato patties in a deep bowl. Add ragda on top of it generously so that the patties is immersed in the ragda completely. Add 2 tsp of tamarind chutney and garnish it with onions, cilantro, jeera powder, and chat masala. Serve hot.