Crispy onion fritters

Its been raining nonstop the past week. A hot cup of tea and bhaji while watching the rains is heaven. Without much ado let me share with you moms recipe which makes the most amazingly crispy kekda bhaji as we call it :) Ingredients 3 medium onions (cut into thin long slices) Red Chilli powder Turmeric/haldi powder Gram flour/Besan Salt as needed 1 tsp Carom seeds/Ajwain Oil for deep frying Add salt to onions, mix well and keep aside for 20-30 minutes. Onions will release water. After 30 minutes or so, to this add gram flour, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and carom seeds/ajwain and mix well without adding any water. Mix only that much gram flour as is necessary. If we add water the crispiness of the fritters is lost. So if needed in more quantity take in more onions. The batter should not look like batter for other fritters/bhajis rather it should be more like partially batter-coated onions. Add oil in a pan for deep frying and place on medium high heat. Once the oil is hot add with your bare hands the batter coated onions into the oil and fry till they turn golden brown. Serve with ketchup.

Peanut dryfruit ladoos

Peanut laddoo is an excellent example of a healthy and a delicious snack. Kids can have it after they return from school or you can even pack them in their snack box.  Ideal for mid afternoon hunger pangs.  You can have these instead of potato chips or cookies.  No preservatives or sugar is used and best of all it is very easy to prepare.  Kids need to learn healthy eating habits when they are young so as to maintain a healthy lifestyle when they grow into adults and as parents it is our responsibility to help them make the right choices.

The photo has come out a shade lighter than it actually is.  No idea why. 


Ingredients
Dates - 40 deseeded or dates syrup as required
Pistachios, almonds and cashewnuts - 2 cups
Desiccated Coconut (optional) 
Ghee - for greasing hands

Process:
Roast peanuts till they turn golden brown in color in a saucepan and let them cool down.  Rub of the peanut skins and grind them into a coarse powder.  Grind all the dryfruits into coarse powder too.

Then grind the deseeded dates (I used Lion dates syrup as I had it at hand and wanted to finish it off).  In a  bowl mix the ground dates, ground peanuts, dry fruit powder and mix them all together well.

Grease your hands with some ghee and take small portion from the mixture.  Shape into tiny balls and arrange in a plate.

Optional
You can roll these laddoos in desiccated coconut if you wish.

Store it in an air tight container and enjoy. These laddoos stay good for more than 10 days at room temperature if handled properly.

Carrot Date cake

Passion cake

Carrot and date cake is a rich and moist cake full of grated carrot and dates. It has great flavor especially when its covered with a cream cheese frosting. The interesting part is that while those pretty orange flecks of grated carrot give the cake color and texture along with sweetness and moisture, its flavor is almost indistinguishable.

Deceptively named, carrot cake more closely resembles a quick bread in construction (all the wet ingredients like the eggs and sugar are mixed together and all the dry ingredients are mixed together and then the wet is added to the dry) and final consistency (it is usually denser than a traditional cake and has a coarser crumb).

Ingredients

2 cups maida

1 cup grated carrots
1 cup finely chopped dates

3 eggs

1 &1/2 cups vegetable oil

1&1/2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn baking soda

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Process

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat eggs. In a spearate bowl, mix together oil, powdered sugar, and vanilla by hand. Add to this the beaten eggs. Now gradually stir in the maida, and then the carrots and dates. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and spread evenly.Bake for 40-50 minutes in the preheated oven or until a small knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Beetroot croquette

Beetroot cutlet

Croquette is basically a serving of minced meat or vegetables encased in breadcrumbs and potatoes, flattened into disks, and then deep-fried. The croquette was originally a French invention that gained a world-wide popularity as a fast-food with the advent of burgers. In India, it is known as "cutlets" or "tikkis".

Beetroots are used widely the world over by cooking them into yummy vegetable dishes, pickling them, utilizing them in salads, and even in making soup. The health benefits of including beetroots in the diet were known since the olden days.

Beetroot is packed with carotenoids and flavenoids that are known to possess antioxidant activity, folic acid, iodine, phosphorus, Vitamins A,B, and C and many substances that are benefcial for our health.

Apart from cooking, beetroot can also be used to add colour any other recipes that call for a red color. Just grate a little beetroot and squeeze the juice to add color to the recipe.

Although there are many benefits of eating beetroots, most of the people do not really like to eat them. However, there is no harm in trying to tempt people into eating beetroots by trying out simple yet tasty beetroot recipes. One such recipe is that of beetroot cutlets. A no-fuss easy and quick recipe that turns out yummy cutlets that none can refuse even though they may hate beetroots.

Ingredients:

3 small beets

1 medium boiled potato

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp red chilly powder

1 tsp dhaniyajeera powder

1/2 tsp garam masala powder (optional)

2 tbsp semolina or breadcrumbs

Salt as required

Process:

Wash beetroots. Peel skin from beets and boiled potato. Then grate beets and potato. Add all the other ingredients and salt and mix well. Now,make small lemon-sized balls. Spread semolina on a plate. Take the lemon-sized ball into your palm and flatten it like a tikki and pat with semolina on both sides. Shallow fry this on a hot tawa or deep fry and serve hot with ketchup or chutney of your choice. It tastes wonderful with date tamarind chutney.

Lentil dumplings in yoghurt sauce

Dahi vada

Dahi wadas are fried lentil dumplings prepared using skinless split black gram dal (urad dal) and served with loads of yoghurt (dahi). Dahi wadas are my top favourite in chaat items. They are easy to prepare (you just need some preparation ahead of time like soaking the dal).

Fresh Dahi Vada is very refreshing and easy to digest. Dahi wada is generally served as an evening snack though for me it qualifes to be in the dinner category.

So without further ado, here is one of the numerous delicacies that I crave for.

Ingredients:
1 cup skinless split black gram dal (urad dal)
3-4 cups yoghurt
1 tsp red chilli powder
2-3 tsp roasted cumin (jeera) powder
pinch of rock salt (kala namak) - optional
salt
Oil for frying

Process:
Soak the dal overnight. Grind it adding as little water as possible to get a coarse paste, a batter similar to that of medu wada. It would be better if you don’t add water at all but if you think your grinder won’t coperate just add necessary water little by little. Add salt and mix.

Heat oil in a pan. Make small lemon-sized balls with your hands using a wet hand and place the batter into the hot oil and deep fry it until both sides turn golden brown. Fry all the wadas and keep aside.

Take care to keep the flame on medium to medium high as if the oil is too hot, the wadas will turn crisp on the outside but the center will not be cooked and if the flame is too low and the oil is not hot enought, the batter will soak in too much oil.


Take water in a bowl, and put all the wadas into the water. After soaking them for about half an hour, take out the Vadas from the water and squeeze out the excess water by pressing the vadas with your hand. The best part of it is that most of the oil will get squeezed out too.

Meanwhile in another bowl, take the curd and whisk it without adding any water. Add salt to it also rock salt if you want and roasted cumin powder and mix properly. To serve, scoop out the wadas on to a shallow bowl & add some of the curd. Pour date tamarind chutney liberally on top. Sprinkle a little rock salt, roasted cumin powder, and chilli powder and serve.








The batter freezes well for upto a week. Alternatively, you can make the vadas and store them in an air-tight container in the freezer for quite a while and when required just thaw the amount of vadas you need.

Spinach paratha

Palak paratha

Palak paratha is a great way of enjoying the goodness of spinach. This Indian recipe for the unleavened flatbread is a bit different from the traditional stuffed version of parathas and the best part is that you will not realize that you are eating spinach.

Palak paratha is made with fresh spinach leaves, whole wheat flour, and spices and can be served with curry, pickle, and a cup of yogurt. It can be eaten at breakfast, lunch or dinner and is a perfect food to take for a picnic.

The recipe which I had seen from my moms recipe book called for bajri (pearl millet) flour or a mix of millet flour and whole wheat flour, but since I had no millet flour at home I decided to make it with only normal whole wheat flour.

Ingredients:

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

4 cups Palak

1/2 cup cilantro

2-3 pods of garlic

1/2 inch ginger

1/2 tsp ajwain seeds (carom seeds or bishop's weed)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

3-4 green chillies

1 tbsp garam masala powder

Pinch of asafoetida

salt to taste

Yoghurt (as needed to make a soft dough)

Oil/Ghee (Pan-fry)

Process

Chop palak finely. Add all the above ingredients to it and mix well. Add yoghurt as required and knead to a smooth dough. After making into a smooth dough, smear oil(a spoonful) all over the dough to prevent drying up. Keep it closed for about an hour. Then when ready to eat, make parathas and serve hot. You can serve them with yoghurt, chutney or pickle of your choice.

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.