Pakoda Curry | Side Dish for Biryani / Pulao ~ Step by Step

Being a Sunday, it was the usual pattern at home. Made Poori Channa, then planned for some vegetarian biryani. I wanted to make the most of the day, as I have to prepare myself for tomorrow. Konda starts her school tomorrow. And she made sure she enjoyed the last day to the best. Spent the whole day watching movies.

Today's recipe is something I ended up making on whim. When I made the Vegetable Biryani last weekend, I knew I had to make some gravy as it was not that spicy. Amma suggested I make some Pakoda curry as it will pair well with biryani.

Pakoda Curry

Step by Step Pictures

 

Pakoda Curry

 

Ingredients Needed:

For the Gravy

Onions, coarsly pulsed - 1 & 1/2 medium
Tomato puree - 1 & 1/2 medium
Garlic - 2 finely chopped.
Bay leaf - 2
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp

How to make the gravy

Wash and peel the onions. Pulse the onions coarsly. Puree the tomatoes.

Heat a pan, add the onions. Saute well. Then add the chopped garlic, bayleaf. Saute for couple of mins.

Then add the tomato puree, salt, chili powder, coriander powder. Simmer for 10 mins with lid covered.

Add enough water to make a gravy. Simmer until the gravy is cooked well.

For the Pakoda

Onion - 1 medium
Gram flour / Besan - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying.
Chili powder
Coriander leaves

How to make the pakoda

Chop the onions, add the besan, salt, chili powder, coriander leaves, curry leaves. Mix well. Sprinkl water and make a stiff dough.

Heat a kadai with oil. When it is hot, drop in spoonful of batter. Cook on all sides.

How to assemble the pakodas in gravy.

When the gravy is done, just before serving add the pakodas and serve with biryani

Serve this along with Vegetable Biryani

Aloo Paneer Bondas | Potato Indian Cottage Cheese Fritters | Step by Step Recipe

After the stuffed bajjis that Konda liked a lot, Peddu wanted some for himself. Though seeing the chillies he said he wanted something else. That's when I remembered that he used to love bondas as a kid and wanted to make the stuffing as bondas. When the boys were 2 & 1/2 or so, we had taken them to Tirupati along with my sis in laws family. Over there while we had gone for darshan, my bil had taken the kids for snacks. That's when they saw the bondas they wanted to eat that. In fact they ate and even after coming back home, they kept asking for bondas. So if I wanted the boys to eat something I normally resort to making them as bondas and telling them it's the same they ate at Tirupati.

Truth be said, these stuffed fritters were really awesome. Of course there is no denying that deep fried snack tends to be very delicious.

Prepare the stuffing as it was in Stuffed Chilli Bajji and the outer layer too.

Then to the stuffing, add in 2-3 bread slices soaked in water and squeezed out completely. Crumble this mix with the stuffing and combine everything to a stiff balls.

Dip the balls in the batter and deep fry them right away.  

This goes for my Snack Mela, which is on till the end of the month.

And to my Kid's Delight, hosted by Veena this month themed on colourful palette

Maddur Vada | Maddur Vade ~ Tempting Snack from Karnataka

There are always certain dishes that evoke nostalgic memories that make you feel wonderful. Maddur Vada is one such dish for me. It's been so many years since I tasted this dish. Maddur Vada if you must know the history is sold in a place en route to Mysore from Bangalore. This tempting, delicious snack gets its name from the town Maddur where it got popular.

We used to visit Mysore almost once a year during summer vacation. And during the halt, getting a pack of this Vada was a must. What with Daddy's staff packing a huge parcel of this, we used to enjoy it on the way to Mysore. Those frequent visits were during my high school and Mysore was like a summer house for us. I remember writing about Uncle B and the wonderful memories that he created for us.

When I decided to make the Maddur Vada, I remembered Uncle B and missed him. He was such an awesome human being. I wish I could get in touch with his family but regret loosing contact with them.

As I made these vadas in a hurry, will surely be making them again to enjoy them in leisure. The ingredients are so commonly available, I really wonder at myself at how I missed making it all these years.

I adapted this from Lathamma's recipe and added ingredients roughly. Must be almost half of the quantity she mentioned.

 

Ingredients Needed:

Rice flour – 1/2 cup
Rava / Semolina – 1/2 cup
All purpose flour / Maida – 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Ghee 2 tsps
Hing – 1/4 tsps
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Finely chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves – 2 tablespoons
Finely chopped Onion – 1/2 cup

Oil for frying

How to make Maddur Vada

Take all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix everything together and slowly add water to form a stiff dough

Heat oil in a kadai on a medium flame.

Pinch out equal balls from the dough and flatten them on your palm. The discs should be thin in size so that these turn out crispy.

Check the temperature of oil by dropping a small piece of dough into the oil. If it rises immediately the oil is ready for frying.

Fry the vadas in medium to low fire in batches. Drain them on a kitchen towel.

Notes
You can flatten all the vadas and keep them on a plate before you start frying.
These will make a great snacks to pack for trips as this is supposed to stay good for 3 days.

Dal Stuffed Poori Recipe | How to make Stuffed Dal Puri Step by Step Recipe | Navaratri Recipes

Coming to the delicious stuffed poori that I made for the Vijayadasami Lunch, it's a recipe I found while I was looking for special dishes made for the Navaratri Pooja. One fact that was interesting during the research was the fact that the dishes made during this Pooja in North, differs so much to what is made in South. Now I am not separating into west and east, but just on a broad classification. 

I was determined that the lunch was to be special and I felt it's not unless you offer fried food. Though I had planned to start early, with the different methods the recipes called for, I was still late. I had yet to make the Maddur Vadas that was long pending, so decided that I must complete these pooris at least for the pooja. While the pooja was going on, I finally managed to make the Maddur Vada, seeing that recipe called for such basic ingredients. Will be blogging about it tomorrow.

The stuffed Dal pooris made a delicious combination with the Mixed Vegetable Kurma. You must surely make this and enjoy your special day.

Step by Step Picture Recipe

Dal Stuffed Puri Recipe

Ingredients Needed:

For the Dough

Wheat flour - 1 cup
Blackgram dal / Urad Dal - 1/2 cup
Water enough to knead
Salt To taste

For the Masala

Red Chillies - 3 nos
Cardamon - 1
Cloves - 4 nos.
Cinnamon 1/2"

Oil To fry

How to make Stuffed Dal Poori / Puri

Making the Dough:

In a wide bowl, take the wheat flour, add salt and mix well. Slowly add water and knead to a stiff dough.

Making the Stuffing:

Soak Urad dal for 1 hour

In a mixer take the whole spices, pulse it couple of times for the spices to blend.

then add the drained urad dal, a pinch of salt to the blended spices. Sprinkle some water for the paste to run smoothly.

Heat a non stick pan with 1 tsp oil, add the ground urad paste and saute till it becomes dry. It's quite difficult to fry this in a regular pan, non stick pan makes this easier. Most of the urad dal might get struck to the pan, will not be able to save much though.

Making the Stuffed Pooris

Knead the dough once again and pich out small balls. Flatten the sides and make sure the middle is thick, place a small amount of dal stuffing in middle and enclose completely making sure the dal doesn't come out. This is same as how you will do Aloo Stuffed parathas.

Heat a kadai with oil just enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot, gently drop in the rolled out pooris.

Notes:

Proceed making the pooris just as you do with regular pooris. Though the recipe asks you to rest the dough, from my experience I have noticed that when the poori dough rests for more time, it tends to absorb more oil.
I forgot to add Cumin seeds for the Urad Dal masala, though I am sure it must have added so much more flavour.
Though I was thinking that the cardamon might make it sweet, the stuffing was prefect by the chilies added.

Serve it with Mixed Vegetable Kurma. This was our special Vijayadasami Lunch

Moong Dal Carrot Vada , Uddi Bonda | Ganesh Chaturthi Recipes

Meddu Vada  or Masala Vada is mostly made during all festivals. For a change we think of making different varieties. I had plans to make Maddur Vada, but Athamma had soaked Urad Dal so decided to make something with that itself. 

Amma had the same problem too. Dad was very much against the same Meddu Vada being made. So she opted for this tasty fritters, though it's deep fried I guess you can indulge one in a while. 

Today being Sunday kids have been enjoying their holiday, it's been a lazy day all together. Not much of cooking done, as we went for fresh salad and simple rasam. After the heavy festival eating, I felt this simple meal was refreshing.

Moong Dal Carrot Vada | Pesara pappu Carrot Vada

Ingredients Needed

Split Yellow Moong Dal / Pesara pappu -  1 cup
Carrot - 2 medium, grated
Onion - 1 medium
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves
Salt to taste

To be ground :
Garlic - 1/2" , Green Chilies 2 nos, Whole Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

How to make Moong Dal Carrot Fritters

Soak the moong dal for 2 hrs. Drain and grind it coarsely.

Mix in grated carrot, finely chopped onions, finely chopped coriander leaves and curry leaves, salt and the ground paste.

Heat a pan with enough oil to deep fry.

Drop in balls, or flatten as a discs. Cook on all sides, drain on a kitchen towel.

Uddi Bonda | Urad Dal Fritters

Urad Dal / Uddi pappu - 1 cup
Green Chillies - 3 medium
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

How to make Uddi Bonda

Soak the Urad dal for 2 hrs, drain on a colander.

In a mixer, take the green chilies, urad dal and grind to a smooth mix. Add salt.

Heat a pan with oil, scoop in balls and gently drop into hot oil. Cook on all sides by turning it around.

Drain on Kitchen towels.

Notes: Finely chopped onions, coriander leaves and curry leaves can also be added.

Coconut Vada | Coconut Fritters Indian Style

It's been so hot this entire week, you can imagine how hot if 6.30 am looks 10 am. So it's been such a pleasant surprise to have the sudden showers blessing us. Since last night it's been raining and the city dwellers were in for a nice day. Most of them enjoyed the entire day by going out and I am sure it will continue so for couple of days. I dread the hot summer again.

Today being a holiday for the boys, they were out of ideas on how to spend the whole day. Athamma was worried how they will manage their summer vacation that will soon start shortly. Though they look short of ideas, you will be impressed on how they keep themselves so well occupied. Peddu made his breakfast clear saying he wants Appam, while Chinnu wanted Chocos, their latest addiction. Seeing him opt for that, Peddu cancelled his order and wanted the same as his brother.

Konda has thought them to say "Order Order" when they all sit down to eat. Which only happens for couple of dishes. Rest you can either see Athamma running around or me doing the honours of feeding them. They eat themselves only if its appams and when one is done, they will call out Order Order, they even tip me after their meal. So it's kind of fun to see how they go about. 

Coming to recipe today, since it's raining, I thought I might post this deep fried delight. An innovative dish that Athamma thought of and we ended up making it often.

It's made with Freshly grated Coconut with Besan and spices. You can shallow fry it, if you want to avoid the oil. Else it tastes great.

Ingredients Needed:

Fresh Coconut, grated - 1 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Besan / Gram Flour - 3 tbsp
Red Chili powder - 1 tsp
Fried Gram flour / Putnala podi - 1 tbsp
Ajwain Seeds/ Vamu - 1/4 tsp
Bread Crumbs as required
Corn Flour - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep fry

Method to prepare:

Grate the coconut fresh. Take it in a bowl along with ginger garlic paste, red chili powder, besan, fried gram flour, corn flour and Vamu. Mix well

Sprinkle little water just enough for it to hold together. Divide into equal balls, and flat them into round vadas. Make sure they hold their shape.

Roll these vadas over bread crumbs and deep fry them in hot oil. Remove these are fried on both sides

Notes:

Add just enough water for the mix to hold the shape.
In the pan, add very little oil for the vadas to be immersed and not as you deep fry your regular fritters.
You will feel the crunchy taste of Coconut when you bite into it.

Enjoy your Vadas with a cup of coffee!

Have a great weekend ahead.

Pazham Pori | Banana Fritters | Step By Step Recipe

Pazham Pori is also known as Ethakka Appam as I am told. The mere mention of Pazham Pori conjures of memories long forgotten, of childhood delights, of youthful indulgence and a mature fantasy. Well for all the adventures we have had, the conquest of Pazham Pori remains the one of the top. And my fondness to this delightful snack remains untarnished.

If you can understand how much of an impression these Pazham Pori has had on my "snack disliker" hubby dear, who  got these Nenthra Pazham, you can know how great these tastes. I think I have some deep connection with Kerala and its cuisine as I love all their dishes. Growing up on these dishes during our many summer vacations, made us love the cuisine. In fact most times I am mistaken for a malayali and addressed in Malayalam.

Ernakulam is one city we must have visited many times. When Dad was the Medical Director, in-charge of the south zone, he used to take us along for vacations. All those wonderful trips down south, surely brings back many nostalgic memories. We could be sure of getting treated to the best of what the place had to offer. And these tempting, delicious Pazham Pori were a must on the list when we visit Ernakulam. Of course Pazham Pori is available across the state, yet I can relate this more to this place than anything else.

Hubby dear just decided he wanted to eat Pazham Pori and got some Nenthra pazham. And it was pretty late when I got down making these. We managed to finish some and even had some spared for my colleagues.

How to make Pazham Pori in Step By Step

Nenthra Pazham before peeling. I used only two of these.

After peeling cut into two horizontal pieces.

Then proceed to cut vertically into thick pieces

 Like this..

Dip the banana pieces into the batter made with all purpose flour, sugar, soda.

Make sure the fruit is coated on both sides.

 Gently drop them into hot oil.

Cook on both sides.

Drain using a colander ladle.

Pazham Pori | Banana Fritters

Ingredients Needed

Nenthra Pazham - 2 big ones
Maida / All purpose flour - 3/4 cup (can use more)
Sugar - 3-4 tsp
Cooking Soda - 2 pinches
Turmeric - a tiny pinch.
Rice flour - 1 tsp (opt I didn't use this time)

Oil for deep frying

Method to prepare:

Peel the banana and cut in the middle horizontally. Then proceed to cut vertically into think strips.

Take the flour, sugar and cooking soda in a bowl, mix well. Then slowly add the water to get a thick batter. Whisk it well so that it rises up. You wont actually see the rise but you can see froth coming out during whisking.

Heat kadai/pan with oil. When it is hot, dip the banana strips into the batter on both sides and gently drop into the hot oil. If the banana/plantain is over ripe, it will slip very badly, so got to hold it tight!

Once it turns lightly golden flip to the other side. When done, remove on a kitchen towel to drain excess oil.

Notes:

• The fruit has to be ripe, yet not too ripe for you not be able to handle the cutting.
  When you use rice flour, the batter tends to come out little crispy.
  Take care not to lower your fingers close to the oil, it has happened few times to me.
• I added a bit of turmeric, in fact more than necessary by mistake during the first batch. The fritters turned out pink! So if you want a little yellow hue, add a small pinch and not more.
• The proportion of Rice flour depends on how crispy you want. Without this flour the fritters tend to become soggy. 

We enjoyed the Pazham Pori and it transported me to my childhood days. Do share which dish brings your childhood to memory!

Happy Weekend and enjoy!