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.

Palmiers

Palmiers, a centuries-old French recipe with many many layers of dough and 100% butter that makes each bite of the petite Palmiers irresistibly flaky. It's an enticing and unique pastry that tastes even better with whipped cream or just a touch of honey.






Palmier (pal-mee-ay) is the French word for a palm tree and these cookies are said to resemble palm leaf (I don't see the resemblance though). They are made from a rich, buttery, and flaky dough n sprinkled with sugar n nuts. In French, puff pastry dough is called "pâte feuilletée".

Traditionally the recipe is time consuming and labor intensive (I cheated with the frozen puff pastry though as I'm always searching for shortcuts :D). The commercially available puff pastry sheets are a good substitute.


These quick and easy pastries make a lovely wonderful snack with "une tasse de café " or "une tasse de thé ". Palmiers can be made upto two days in advance and kept in a tightly sealed container. They should be served at room temperature or reheated in a 300 degree oven before serving.


I kind of followed the Pepperidge Farms recipe though made a few changes.

http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/RecipeDetail.aspx?recipeID=26056



You can keep the prepared frozen puff pastry in the freezer. Then, whenever you want to bake, remove the roll from the freezer. Thaw for 15 minutes before you slice it to keep the dough from crumbling and bake as directed below.


Ingredients: One Pepperidge farm puff pastry sheet
Sugar (per taste)
Powdered nuts (Almonds, cashews)
Coconut powder

Process:
Thaw the puff pastry. In a bowl combine the coconut powder, almond n cashews powder, and sugar. Unfold 1 sheet of the pastry. Spread 1/2 of the combined powder mixture on a clean surface and roll the pastry sheet into a rectangle. Repeat the same for the other side too. Roll it to an even thickness.


Starting at the short side of the rectangle, roll the pastry toward the center of the sheet stopping at the middle. Then repeat so the rolls meet in the middle. Trim the ends with a knife.

I forgot to take photos when rolling the sheet. So I googled n found one site where u can see step by step photos for folding the pastry. Here is the link. Click the link The changes I did to the folding procedure was that I rolled it a bit and sprinked more of the combined mixture after each fold.


After the thrid step as shown in the pic, cover it with a plastic wrap and refrigerate it for an hour or so. Then, when you are ready to bake, preheat the oven at 425F. Take the pastry sheet out from the fridge, thaw it for around 15 minutes and then proceed the fourth step of cutting the sheet into 1/2 inch slices. Press each slice gently with your palm and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet(or lined with parchment paper). Keep 1 1/2 inch space between each slice.

Bake them for 7-8 minutes (time varies depending upon the oven) so its better to check them in between as they tend to be brown very fast due to the sugar. Remove from the oven and turn the pastries over. Bake for 5-7 minutes more or until golden. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely. Serve hot or at room temperature.









I like to call them Little Hearts as they are heart shaped. Perfect in time for Valentine's Day.

Vegetable puffs

Here is a simple snack/appetizer when inviting guests over for dinner. It takes hardly any time to put together and is totally delicious. This warm layered pastry with a spicy vegetable filling is always guaranteed bring accolades from anyone who has a bite of it.

I was very fond of the vegetable puffs/pattice available in mithai shops back in India and missed it a lot when I came over to stay in USA. I did not like much the ones available in the Indian grocery stores here and so decided to make some on my own. With the store bought puff pastry sheets, making this lovely snack becomes a breeze.

Ingredients:

1 sheet Pepperidge Farms puff pastry sheet
1 big Onion diced into small pieces
2 Potatoes boiled n diced into small pieces
1 cup Frozen peas
Raisins n Cashews
Butter/Oil
1 tsp Cumin seeds
pinch of Asafoetida
1 inch Ginger
4-6 Green chillies or more
2 tsp Garam masala
pinch of salt

Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets are easily available in any of the American grocery stores in the freezer section. Be sure to buy the sheets as there are plenty of other Pepperidge products, shells, etc. available in the freezer section. In one pack, there are two sheets. One sheet makes 6 large size puffs. So depending on the amount you need to make thaw either just one or both the sheets.


Process:

Start off with thawing the puff pastry sheet. It usually takes around 45 minutes after you remove it from the freezer.

Meanwhile put butter/oil in a pan and let it get heated. Once heated add the cumin seeds, asafoetida to it and let it splutter for a while. Then add in the diced onions and saute on medium flame. Once the onions are pinkish brown in color, add in the cashews and stir it for a while. Once this is done, add in garam masala, turmeric, red chilli powder, ginger, green chillies and mix. After all the above spices are mixed in nicely add the peas, raisins, and diced boiled potatoes and salt and mix it well. Voila, your filling is now ready.

The puff pasty sheet is folded in three vertical sections. Once thawed nicely, cut along those lines so that you will have three long cut sections with you. Then cut each section halfway so that you have six pieces. On a well floured surface, roll out each piece so that it is even.

Preheat oven at 350 F.

Now you can place the filling in and seal the edges using water. Place onto a well-greased baking sheet and place it into the oven for around 40 minutes. Keep for more time if needed. They should have a brown biscuity feeling to it (similar to khari). Oven time may vary based on different ovens but to be sure when making for the first time one can just peek into the oven a little after 30 minutes and shorten the oven time if need be.

I will be uploading the pics soon.