Crispy Cabbage Pakodi

Crispy Cabbage Pakodi

Recently when I went to the grocery store I got cabbage for a less price, so I got 2 cabbages and from then I was thinking apart from curry I want to try something different and was looking on the internet. Luckily I came across cabbage pakodi recipe from here and thought of doing it as an evening snack to R. outside Environment was a bit cool with black clouds in the sky and it was about to rain and I really feel like having pakodi. I started preparing pakodi and by the time R came back home it was full of rain and on the other hand hot hot crispy cabbage pakodi, within no time whole plate of pakodi are completed. What else to say how they have turned out.

Ingredients:

• Besan /Senagapindi – 1 cup
• Rice Flour /Biyyampindi – ½ cup
• Green chillies – 2 (medium hot) [as per the spice level]
• Red Chilli powder – 1 tsp
• Ginger paste – ½ tsp (original recipe calls for ginger garlic paste but R doesn’t like garlic so I didn’t opt for it)
• Large onion – 1 (sliced)
• Finely chopped Cabbage – 2 cups
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves – handful
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Method:

• Take a bowl and mix Besan, rice flour, red chilli powder, salt, green chilli – ginger paste, curry leaves, onion, finely chopped cabbage by slowing adding the water; it should not be too watery nor too sticky or hard. 
• The batter should be medium hard and should be able to drop in oil like fritters.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel for deep frying and once the oil is hot, drop the batter with your hand like fritters into the oil.
• Fry them till golden brown colour on both sides and remove them with a slotted ladle and remove them onto an absorbent paper or paper tissue to absorb the excess oil.
• Serve them hot with any tomato sauce and chilli sauce.

Dropping the fritter into oil

Frying pakodi 

Cabbage Pakodi

Janthikalu

Janthikalu are one of the famous Andhra snack items , if some one are coming to home  or some festival is there or if no occasion is there and if summer holidays are coming my mom used to prepare these for us so that we can eat them while playing also. They are very crispy and once you start eating i am sure you will continue doing the same till the tin gets completed. so this the version to my knowledge. There are many variations in preparing this snack. There are many variations in the shapes of the muruku press also. I am trying to do this ever since i came to america but i don’t have that press /aachu. so i am eagerly waiting for that . Recently when we moved from LosAngeles to Atlanta and got settled here ,Luckily we have a indian family upstairs and i found this aachu in their home  and after seeing that i couldn’t resist myself to prepare it .Next day, after sending R to office, me and upstair aunty started the work, and finally they turned out  very well and  crispy. So here goes the recipe of the same: 

Ingredients:  

• Rice flour - 2cups
• Besan -1 cup
• Jeera - 11/2 tsp
• Sesame seeds - 1 tsp ( i don’t have them immediately so i have not used them)
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Ajwain(vamu) - 1 tsp
• Oil - for deep frying
• Salt - 1 tsp 

Method:

• Take a vessel and mix the rice flour ,besan ,jeera,sesame seeds,ajwain and salt and mix well .
• Pour slowly  very little amount of water  to form the dough , the dough should not be too thick nor  too loose. it should be soft enough to press gently through the janthikala gottam,chatram, muruku press.(Be very careful while mixing the water).
• Take a heavy bottomed vessel and heat the oil for deep frying ,now take the janthikala press and fill the dough to half of it and gently press in circular motion to get the shape,while your are pressing the shape and when the dough enters into the hot oil the whole vessel is filled with bubbles and hot wave will come onto your face . so be very careful while doing this and once the oil is heat enough put it into medium flame and slowly do it to avoid and spill overs.
• Once the janthikalu turns into golden brown color flip to the other side and let both sides turn it into golden brown color remove them using a slotted ladle and  place them on a absorbent paper to absorb the excess oil, Continue the same process till the dough is completely.
• Store it in air tight container after completely cool down to room temperature.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

 

This is a simple,easy and healthy any time snack . Recently in one of the Indian stores nearby to my place, I have seen these spring roll wrappers , I got them for a  less price too. they are just $2 and we can get around 20 wrappers .we need to freeze them and whenever we went just before 15 min take them out and defrost them and stuff it with your choice of vegetables.These  are the wrappers i got it from the store :

   
So here’s the recipe of my version :

Ingredients for filling inside the wrap:

• Mixed Vegetables -  1 cup ( Finely chopped cabbage,spring onions,frozen green peas,sweet corn,bean sprouts,shredded carrots )[ these are what i have used , u can use your choice of vegetables]
• Onions- 1 small size(finely chopped)
• Green Chillies - 2 medium size(finely chopped)
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper powder -  a pinch
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Chat masala powder - 1tsp
• Oil - for deep frying

Method :

• Heat a pan and add some oil to it and  add the onions ,green chillies and saute them till the onions becomes transparent or till they turn to pinkish colour , now add the remaining vegetables  and cook all the vegetables until tender soft by adding sufficient amount of salt and water to it .
• Finally sprinkle the garam masala and chat masala and black pepper powder to the cooked  vegetables and mix them thoroughly .
• Remove from the heat and let the mix gets cooled down.
• Take the Spring roll wrappers sheet and place the stuff inside and roll it up and fold the edges inside and close by applying little bit of water.
• Heat a vessel and add oil ,once heated add the spring roll to it and fry it for 2 min or till it turns to brownish red. and remove them onto a paper towel so that any excess oil will be absorbed.
• serve hot with any chutney or with tomato sauce.

KalaChana Masala/Senagala masala snack

Ingredients:

• Black channa / Kala Channa – 1 cup (soaked whole night in water)
• Green chillies – 2 small sized (finely chopped)
• Onion – 1 medium size (finely chopped)
• Kothimeer/Cilantro - to garnish
• Dry coconut powder/fresh coconut powder – 2 tsp
• Carrot- 1 grated
• Cumin seeds /Jeera - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds/Avalu – 1 tsp
• Curry leaves – few handfuls
• Oil-3 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Lemon juice-1 tbsp
• Hing – a pinch

Method:

• Boil the soaked black channa (actually they will be brown in colour), by adding little bit of salt.
• Boil them till they become soft and remove from heat and let them cool down.
• Heat a pan with some oil in it and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds curry leaves to it and let them pop up.
• Now add onions, green chillies, grated coconut, grated carrot and stir fry them with a spatula till they are cooked well.
• Add the cooked black channa to the above mixture and mix well with a spatula and let it cook for 2 – 3 min.
• Sprinkle the lemon juice on the top of it and mix well with a spatula.
• Garnish it fresh cilantro leaves.
• Kala channa masala is ready to be served hot with rice/roti or as a snack in the evening time.

Kara Sev (Step by Step procedure for ICC -June 2010)

Kara Sev is yet another delicious Snack from the South India, Usually prepared during the festival times and when children are there at home especially during summer season the snack is more helpful for all at home. Even though, my mom used to do all these in my childhood. I never gave an attempt to prepare this. When Srivalli announced this snack as a part of ICC (Indian Cooking Challenge) this month challenge, I really thought of giving it a try .But I have my own doubts, about preparing the sev with a holed ladle, giving  a try is always fun in cooking and  without any kind of second thoughts, I immediately started preparing it and they really turned out well and crispy. Raj also was happy and by the time he came back from office I just gave him few for taste and later  in no time he completed a small bowl of Kara sev just chit chatting with me. So what else we want when someone are eating happily, what we are cooking.  Thanks to Srivalli for choosing this snack. I made some modifications to the original recipe. So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

• Gram Flour (Besan)-  2 1/2 cups
• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
• Black pepper coarsely powdered - 1 tsp
• Ghee -  2 1/2 tsp ( I used vegetable oil ) 
• Cooking soda pinch (optional)
• Salt to taste.
• Crushed garlic (optional) 2 pods (original recipe calls for this I didn’t use this) 
• Oil to deep fry.
• Ajwain/Vamu - 1 tsp (I used)
• Jeera – 1 tsp (I used)

Method:

• Sieve both Gram flour and Rice flour together in a bowl and make a pit.
• Add chilli powder, Pepper powder, Salt, Ajwain, Jeera, Oil, Cooking soda.

• Mix thoroughly with hands so that salt, jeera, vamu gets mixed up. Divide the dough into small ball like portions.

• Take one portion of this mixture, sprinkle water, and knead like Puri dough.
• Heat oil in a kadai, Use a ladle with lot of holes (Kara Sevai ladle).

• Put some dough on that and rub directly into oil.

• It will be like split string. Deep fry in oil drain excess oil.

• After cooling this off, Store this in an airtight container.

Puffed Rice Masala

Ingredients:

• Puffed rice/Marmaralu-2 cups
• Mango slices raw – 2 slices (cut in length wise) (sour one preferably)
• Garam masala- 1 pinch
• Salt to taste
• Red chilli powder-1 tsp
• Ajinomoto- ½ a pinch
• Carrot - 1 grated
• Cilantro to garnish
• Onion- 1 (finely chopped)
• Lemon juice-1 tbsp

Method:

• Take a bowl and add puffed rice.
• Add all the above masala’s, onions to the puffed rice and mix it well.
• Finally add grated carrot, kothimeer/Cilantro and salt.
• Sprinkle Lemon Juice and serve it.

Sweet Corn Masala Chat

Now, it’s time for summer and the children will be at home and  they need something to fill their stomach from time to time , so thought of posting some easy and quick snacks which can be prepared in very less amount of time. This snack is one among them “ Sweet Corn Masala Chat ”. Here goes the recipe :

Ingredients:

• Sweet corn- 2 cups
• Salt to taste
• Garam Masala- 1 tsp
• Dhaniya/Coriander powder- 1 tsp
• Red chilly powder – ½ tsp
• Cilantro/ Kothimeer – handful
• Melted butter- 1 tbsp
• Onions- 1 small (finely chopped)
• Jeera powder – 1 tsp
• Lemon juice – 2 tsp
• Tomatoes -1 (finely chopped) 

Method:

• Boil the sweet corn, let it cook completely, keep aside and let it cool.
• Take a pan and add the melted butter /ghee and add onions and let it fry till onions turns to slight golden brown in colour.
• Now add tomatoes, salt, garam masala, jeera powder, chillipowder, dhaniyapowder and mix it with spatula.
• Finally add cooked corn to the masala and squeeze the lemon juice on the top of the corn and mix well with a spatula.
• Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves, grated carrot

Peanut Masala Snack

This very quick snack is easy to prepare and ready to be served at any time of the day.

Ingredients:

• Peanuts (soaked in water whole night) - 1 cup
• Small Onion – 1 (finely chopped)
• Red chilli powder -1/2 tsp
• Salt-to taste
• Lemon juice- 2 tsp
• Carrot – 1 medium size (grated into thin flakes)
• Kothimeer /fresh coriander- 1 small bunch (for garnishing) 

Method:

• Boil the peanuts by adding little salt.
• Cool the peanuts and take it in a bowl.
• Add finely chopped onions, salt, grated carrot and mix well with the boiled peanuts and leave it aside for 2 min.
• Finally sprinkle few drops of lemon juice on the mixture of peanuts and garnish it with fresh coriander leaves.
• Peanut masala is ready to be served.

Sabhudana /Saggubiyam Punukulu

Sometimes we find very difficult to prepare a quick and easy snack, the other day one of my friend “Divya” was discussing about the same thing. She is always so friendly and open minded person during our chat we just came across this simple snack which she shared with me .Thanks Divya for sharing the recipe.  So here it goes this way, I forgot to mention this snack is better we have the Idly Batter (1 cup Urad dal + 2 cups Idly Rava). Without further delay here it goes:

Ingredients:

·  Idly batter – 1 cup

·  Saboodana /Saggubiyyam – 1 cup (Soaked in curd/yogurt for 2hrs)

·  Onion – 1 (chopped finely and should measure up to 1 ½ cup)

·  Green chilies--3 small (chopped finely)

·  Curry leaves –few

·  Salt to taste

·  Jeera – 1 tsp

·  Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

·  Rice flour/Biyyam pindi - ½ cup

·  Oil for deep frying 

Method:

•  Take a bowl / vessel and pour in the idly batter and the soaked saboodana and mix    well without forming any lumps.
•  Now add finely chopped onions, curry leaves,jeera/jeera powder, green chilies to the above mixture and form a medium batter ( by this I mean the batter consistency should not be too liquified (watery) nor too hard ), it should form like a ball and be able to drop into the Oil.
•  Now add the Rice flour to the above mixture slowly and stirring continuously with a spatula without forming any lumps.
•  Make small lemon sized balls from the above mixture and just press little bit out of the balls to form a little oval shape.
• Heat oil in a pan and put the balls in that oil and allow them to deep fry or till golden brown in color turn up side down in the middle with a spatula.
• Remove from oil and put them on a paper to absorb the excess oil.
• Serve them with tomato sauce/ chilli sauce / with any chutney. 

Note : This is can also be prepared as a vada by pressing the batter on a plastic cover and dipping it in oil. 




Variation : 


Instead of sabhudana we can soak  vermicelli  in yogurt and follow the rest of the procedure.

Semiya Kesari

Last week I went to see one of my friends Divya who stays near to my home, in our discussion we came across the blog that I created and showed her the same. She was so impressed and she thought of sharing few recipes to me. One of such recipes is the Semiya Kesari .It is very simple and quick breakfast or a snack at any time. Thanks to Divya for sharing this recipe. So here goes the recipe:

 Ingredients: 

• Roasted Semiya or Vermicelli - 2 cups
• Ghee/ melted butter  - 1 tbsp
• Cashew nuts-5
• Raisins -5
• Badam/Almonds-5
• Elachi powder - a pinch
• Food colour / Rose water - pinch/ 1 drop 
• Sugar -1 cups

Method: 

• Take a pan and pour some ghee in it and add Cashew nuts, Almonds and Raisins and roast them till they are golden brown in colour and keep it aside. 
• In the same pan roast the vermicelli / add the roasted semiya and roast for 2 min. 
• Add the boiled water into it by stirring the vermicelli continuously without forming any lumps. 
• let it boil for 5 min / till vermicelli becomes soft , now pour the  sugar  into the vermicelli by stirring with the spatula
• Add Elachi powder, cashew nuts, almonds, raisins and food colour/ rose water. 
• Bring to simmer and stir in the middle and let it cook for 2-3 min and turn off the stove.
• Let it cool and take out in a bowl and serve hot.  

 Person who shared the recipe : 

                                                                          Divya 

Alu bonda

Ingredients:

· Boiled and Mashed Aloo (Potatoes)- 2 large

· Boiled frozen Peas -1 small cup

· Besan – 2 cups

· Oil for frying

· Green Chillies – 2 ,chopped

· Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp, finely chopped

· Garam masala – ¼ tsp

· Salt to taste

· Red chilli powder- to taste

· Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

· Ajwain /Vamu -2tsp

· Ginger -1 inch piece

Method:

· Take a small bowl and put the besan flour in that and add red chilli powder, salt, ajwain and turmeric powder and add water to the batter to get the consistency and form like a batter.

· Boil the potatoes and peas with a little bit of salt and mash them.

· Grind the green chillies and ginger, now mix them in the mashed potatoes mixture and add the chopped coriander leaves.

· Roll the mixture into small balls and mix into the batter.

· Take the heavy bottomed skillet and add oil to it and heat it for deep frying.

· Dip the potato mixture into the batter and put them into oil and fry them deeply / until they are in golden brown in colour

· Remove them and put in on a paper towel so that they will absorb the oil.

· Serve them hot with mint chutney/ tamarind chutney.

Chegodilu

This is one of the most delicious and mouth watering snack .This is one of my all time favourite snacks. . Once you eat this snack u will not leave this. It’s so crunchy and tasty. Let us look at the recipe:   

Ingredients:                                              

· Rice Flour – 1 cup

· Yellow moong dal/ pesara pappu – ¼ tbsp

· Cumin seeds – 2 tsp

· Red Chilli powder – 1tsp

· Water – 1 cup

· Oil – 1/2 tbsp

· Salt to taste

· Oil for deep frying

Method:

· Take a small cup and soak the moong dal for 5 -10 mts .

· Take a vessel and boil the water, add salt to it and add the soaked moong dal to it.

· Add the rice flour slowly and combine it with water by stirring it and ensure that there are no lumps formed in it.

· Turn off the heat immediately, cover it with lid and keep it a side, let it cool.

· Once the mixture is cool, now add red chilli powder, cumin seeds and combine with the rice flour.

· Knead the dough till it is soft.

· By applying little bit of oil to hands and fingers knead once again the dough and make into small lemon size balls.

· Now roll each ball like a rope of approximately 4 inches in length and now form that rope like a ring.

· Press the edges firmly to form a ring/ chegodi shape. Prepare all the other balls also like this.

· Now, heat a heavy bottomed vessel with oil sufficient enough for deep frying. Once the oil is heat enough for frying, place the chegodis slowly into the oil. Don’t overlap the chegodis.

· Let the chegodis fry under a medium flame till you get the golden brown colour shade.

· When they turn golden brown shade slowly turn them over and cook them once again.

· Finally, remove them onto a paper towel/ tissue paper to absorb the oil.

· Let them cool for 10 min. and place them in an air tight container to remain that crunchiness.

· Serve them as snacks in the afternoon / eve / at any time.