THE MAKING OF UZHUNNU VADA/ LENTIL CROQUETTES

R
emember that I made some Dahi Vada's a few days ago? No? Okay, I made some Dahi Vada's a few days ago and I wanted to make some real doughnut shaped vadas for it. But again, who would see what's beneath the yogurt sauce? It would be just me since I am making them...and yes, Jobin too as he was poking around the kitchen because it was very tempting! Other than that,no one ever saw anything.

Yesterday,we had the real doughnut shaped vadas for brekky...with some Onion Chutney. They were very good. This was the first time that I am trying my hand at making them. It came out pretty fine, so I thought I'd share the making of it with you all. I know, I know, many of you must have mastered the art but I bet there will be are many like me who wants to know how :-)

Get the batter ready. You can see my recipe here.

Wet your palm and fingers and grab a small ball of the batter/dough and make a smooth ball out of it.

Flatten them using your fingers into a nice smooth circle.

Poke a hole in the centre of it using your pointer /middle finger.

Then it should look like this.

Drop them into hot oil (350F) so that they sizzle and get fried.If you think the outside is getting browned very fast, reduce the flame and fry them.

Once fried to a nice golden brown colour, lift them out using a slotted spoon and drain the excess oil.Transfer them to a plate lined with kitchen towel .Serve them hot with Onion chutney!

Verdict: A crunch with every bite!

CHANNA MASALA... my all time fave!

CSN stores has selected me as CSN Preferred Blogger. So get ready for a lighting post at Ria's Collection & More!

For all those who came here looking for the Sweet Punch bake for the month of July, I'm sorry! I am pressed for bloggie-time these days, so I couldn't get baking much this month, not even for my own event! Sigh! I hope to get to full - swing baking in sometime! :-)

Channa Masala and I are thick pals. The bond can be traced back to my college . We used to get chapathi and channa masala for lunch on Thursdays in our college canteen. I used to wait for it every week, so that I could skip my hostel lunch that day. I sometimes used to have 2 lunches too! :) No wonder did I put on weight during my grad days! :)

This recipe comes straight from Amma's handwritten diary (the one she wrote for me). I haven't added or subtracted any ingredient because I wanted it to be authentic Amma's curry. This recipe had never failed for me...oh yeah, sometimes, when I add in that extrrra bit of tamarind  :) This might not have all the long list of ingredients we sometimes see in certain Channa Masala recipe, but, it tastes delicious!

Back in India, we used to make this curry with Batura. Well, that is another favourite bread of mine and surprisingly, it never made into my blog! :-D

CHANNA MASALA

Recipe source : Amma

Ingredients:

Boiled Channa/ Canned Garbanzo beans- 250 g (If you are boiling channa at home, reserve the liquid)

Onions- 5 medium, finely sliced

Tomato-2, medium

Red chilli powder-1 - 11/2 tbsp

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Coriander powder- 2 tbsp

Garam masala- 1/2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste-2 tbsp

Coriander leaves, chopped- 1 cup

Tamarind- size of a lime (soaked in water) *

Oil- 1/2 cup

Salt-to taste

Method:

• Heat oil, add in the onions and saute till transparent.
• Add in the ginger garlic paste and saute for 1-2 mins.
• Add in the chopped tomatoes and cook till nice and soft.
• Lower the flame and add in the powders and mix well.
• Cook till the masala leaves oil on the sides of the pan.
• Add in 3/4 cup of chopped coriander leaves and boiled channa.
• Mix well and add in the liquid. If you need more gravy, add some water and mix well.
• Squeeze the pulp from the soaked tamarind and add it to the gravy. Let it boil.
• Once the obtain the required consistency , switch off the flame .
• Garnish the curry with the reserved 1/4 cup of coriander leaves and serve hot!

* You may have to increase or decrease the amount of tamarind depending on your taste.

Verdict: This recipe is precious! We both love it at home!

ONION CHUTNEY...a perfect accompaniment !

I love chutneys! Be it coconut chutney,tomato n' onion chutney ,peanut chutney ...anything! I love to dip my crisp, heavily ghee-laden dosa in them and I can go on munching all day long! This is a perfect chutney to kick start or even wind up your day. The tanginess of the tamarind ,the pungent taste of the onions and the spice from the chillies will leave you craving for more!

This is a short and sweet post, because I am quite held up these days with some work at home. So, that explains why I have just 2 photographs for this post. Sometimes I have my posts loaded with pictures and some have very few. It all depends on the time I have at hand, then. I wanted to click more, but time didn't permit me to do it. Maybe, next time ;-)


ONION CHUTNEY
My own recipe

Ingredients
Red onions- 3 medium , chopped roughly
Dry red chillies-5, broken up
Tamarind paste/pulp- 1 -1 1/4 tsp (to your taste)
Salt-to taste
Urad dal- 1 tsp
Oil-3 tsp


Method:

• Heat a pan, add in the roughly chopped onions and pan fry them (without oil) till they turn light brown.
• In the same pan, our 1 tsp of oil and add in the broken dried red chillies and fry for 30 secs.
• Grind the cooled onions, dried red chillies, tamarind and salt together to a fine paste.
• Heat a pan, add in 2 tsp of oil, add in the urad dal and let it brown.
• Add in the ground paste and cook for 2-3 mins.
• Check for salt.
• Serve with hot ghee dosa/idli.

Verdict: We both love it! Period.