Green Peas and Pudina Vadai

 Ingredients:

  

    Green Peas - 1 cup

    Onion - 1 finely chopped

    Pudina leaves - 1 cup

    Ginger - 2 inches

    Green chillies - 3

    Gram flour - 1 tbsp

    Salt - to taste

    Oil - to fry

  Grind the green peas coarsely. Grind pudina leaves, green chillies and ginger. Mix the ground green peas and pudina,ginger, green chillies and chopped onion . Add gram flour just to bind the mixture. Add salt and sprinkle little water in case required and mix well. Take small balls and make it in vada shape and deep fry it in oil.

Pudina Pakoda

 Ingredients:

  

   Potato - one small grated

   Carrot - one grated

   Beans - 4 to 5 chopped finely

   Pudina leaves - 1 cup

   Gram flour - 1 cup

   Rice flour - 1/4 cup

   Bombay Rava - 1 tsp

   Green chillies - 3

   Ginger - 1 to 2 inches

   Salt - to taste

   Oil - to fry

Grind pudina,ginger and green chillies together. Mix it with gram flour, rice flour, rava, salt.Add the grated vegetables to the mixture. Use very less water to sprinkle on the mixture and mix it well. Make small balls and deep fry it. Pakodas are ready.

Upma Kozhukattai- Pidi Kozhukattai by Uma Sridharan

This is also known as Pidi Kozhukattai.

Ingredients:

Raw rice 1 1/2 cup

Toor dhal  1/4 cup

Salt to taste 

Oil  2 tbs

Ghee  2 tbs

Mustard  1 tsp 

Urid dhal  1 tsp

Pepper corn 1/2 tsp

Jeera  1/2 tsp

Red chillies 3

Asafetida powder- a pinch

Preparation

Grind rice, toor dhall, pepper, jeera, red chillies to a rava consistency. Heat a heavy bottomed pan, pour oil. Add mustard seeds, urid dhall and curry leaves. Pour 4 cups of water and bring to boil. Add salt and ghee. Now slowly put in the ground rice mixture.

Mix well without any lumps till the rice mixture absorbs the water and becomes soft .

Remove from heat and keep aside.

When it is cool shape them into small cylinders.

steam for 15-20 minutes.

Serve with coconut chutney

Makes a different kind of Party Starter dish

Mixed Vegetable Bonda by Shripriya

Starter recipe posted by Shripriya Ramakrishan for party menu contest entry 1

Make the mixed vegetable curry with potato, carrot, beans, peas, capsicum etc., and make lemon sized balls. Instead of dipping it in the Besan gravy, we are going to wrap it in white bread. Remove the brown part in the bread, sprinkle little bit water on the white part, place the mixed vegetable ball on the bread, then wrap the mixed vegetable ball with the bread...if the bread is hard and you are not able to wrap, then wet your hands and try. It will work out. Then deep fry these rolls. The taste will be awesome. I made this for one of the potluck parties....and the guests were going ga-ga over this. :)

Bird's Nest

Party Menu recipe by Rohini Renganathan

Ingredients

Potatoes (boiled) –Four medium size

Paneer , Khoya or green peas - 50 grams (Any one of these or all three, is is your choice)  

Vermicilli - 100 gms

Maida – 50 grms

Red chilli powder – 2 tsp

Coriander powder – 2tsp

Jeera - 1tsp

Hing – ½ tsp

Salt – as per taste

Besan (gram flour) – 2 tbsp (optional)

Lettuce or Cabbage leaves – Shredded finely – for garnish

Oil for frying

 

Method –

Mash the boiled potatoes. Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt to it. In a pan add a tsp of oil. Add Jeera. When it turns its colour add hing and the boiled potato mix. Just toss a bit. It should be in such a texture that you can make ballswith it. If you find it soggy then add besan to adjust the texture. Once thisis done , let this cool.

Mix maida with some water and make a thin paste.

 

Take paneer , khoya,give them shape of very small balls (these would become the eggs). You can use boiled green peas as well to make it green eggs. This is upto your choice.

Spread Vermicilli (unroasted one) in a plate.

 

Now take the potatomix, make a small ball with it. Then place the eggs in its center by making a little hole. Cover the eggs with little bit of potato mix. Remember which side was top (where you covered the eggs)

Dip these balls in maida,(just a coating)  then roll them on vermicelli. The vermicelli should stick on all sides perfectly.

 

Deep fry these balls.(need not keep in oil for long as vermicelli gets roasted soon ). While deep frying you need not toss this. Deep fry it with the egg part on top.

In the serving plate,spread the lettuce or cabbage leaves, place these birds nest. Before servingremember to open the top part so that the egg shows.

 

Serve this hot with any chutney.

Cheese Pakora an after school snack recipe

Cheese Pakoras are delicious snacks that can be served to the kids as an after school snacks.

Ingredients:
Cheese cubes - 2 nos
Onion - 1 no
Green chilly - 2 nos
Bread slice - 2 nos
Curry Leaves - a few
Gram flour - 1 cup
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil for frying

Method:
Cut the sides of the bread slices. Soak them into water for a min. Squeeze out the water. Mix salt, red chilly powder to gram flour. Chop onions, green chillies and curry leaves finely. Mix these too to the gram flour. Cut the cheese into small cubes. Mash the bread and mix it with the corn flour. Mix the cheese cubes also to the corn flour and make a dough which is not too hard or too watery.

Heat oil in a shallow pan and add small balls of the dough to it. Fry them till they become golden brown in colour. Serve with green chutney or tomato sauce.

Moong Dal Vada

Ingredients:
Moong dal - 2 cups
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Curry leaves - 1/2 cup
Saunf - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 8 nos
Onions - 2 nos
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method:
Wash and soak the Moong dal for about 2 hours. Drain and grind it along with 6  nos of green chillies and 1/2 tsp of saunf to a thick paste (it should not be watery so avoid adding water while grinding). Chop onions, remaining green chillies, coriander leaves and curry leaves finely. Mix them to the moong dal batter along with the remaining 1/2 tsp of saunf. Make vadas out of it and fry them till it becomes golden brown in colour.

Serve with green chutney and or coconut chutney.

Masala Vada - 2

This is another method to make Masala Vada using ingredients used for Aama Vadai.

Ingredients:
Thuvar Dal - 2 cups
Bengal Gram Dal - 1 cup
Rice - 2 tbsp
Fennel Seeds - 2 tbsp
Asafodeita - 1/2 tsp
Red Chillies - 6 nos
Curry leaves - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Onion - 2 nos
Oil for frying

Method:
Wash and soak the dals  and rice together for about 1/2 an hour. Grind them coarsely along with salt, asafodeita, curry leaves and red chillies.

Chop onions finely. Crush the fennel seeds. Mix onions and fennel seeds to the ground dal. Make vadas out of the dough and fry it in hot oil. Fry untill golden brrown.

Omapodi - an easy to make savoury recipe

Omapodi is very easy to make snack and kids love it very much. Not necessarily this need to be made on a festival day but can be made on any week end or on a rainy day.

Ingredients:
Besan Flour - 4 cups
Processed rice flour - 2 cups
Butter - 100 gms
Salt - 8 tbsp
Asafodeita - 1/2 inch piece
Oil to fry

Method:

Omapodi Achchu

Make a dough out of 1 cup of rice flour and 2 cups of besan flour. Use 1/2 of the other given ingredients and make a soft dough that can be squeezed in oil. If the dough is stiff, it will get struck in the holes as the omapodi achchu holes are very small.

Squeeze out the whole of the dough that is placed in the cylinder in hot oil. Reduce the flame after the omapodi is squeezed in it. Turn it to the other side and when it turns golden brown in colour remove from oil and spread it on a tissue paper to remove the excess oil. Can be served in whole or can be broken into pieces and served in a cup too.

Easy Veg Paneer Cutlet

Ingredients:
Potato - 2 nos
Carrot - 1 no.
Onion -  1 no.
Peas - 1/4 cup
Paneer - 100 gms
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
Red Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Roasted Rawa - 1/4 cup
Oil for shallow frying

Method:
Pressure cook potatoes. Mash well. Heat oil in a pan and add ginger garlic paste and finely chopped onion. When the onion turns glassy, add the grated carrot, peas. Add red  chilly powder, pepper powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and salt and mix well. Remove from flame add the grated paneer.  Make a watery batter of the corn flour .Make the potato mixture into small balls and flatten it. Coat both the sides in the corn flour batter and roasted rawa.

Heat oil in a shallow pan and shallow fry the cutlets. Turn it both the sides till they become golden brown in colour. (Care should be taken not to over brown it). Serve it hot with tomato ketchup and green chutney

Potato rolls - A great snack for evening after school

Ingredients:
Potato - 4 nos
Green Peas - 4 nos
Cumin powder - 1 tbsp
Amchur - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tbsp
Green chilly - 5 nos
Salt to taste
Bread slices - 4 nos (White sandwhich bread)
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Bread crumbs - 1 cup

Method:
Boil, peel and mash potatoes and green peas. Chop green chillies finely. Chop the coriander leaves finely. Soak the bread slices in water for about 2 seconds after removing the sides. Squeeze out the water completely.

 In a big bowl add the mashed potatoes and peas along with jeera powder, green chillies, coriander leaves, salt and amchur powder and mix well to a fine dough. Add the bread slices to the mixture and knead well so that the bread get mixed thoroughly. Roll the dough to cylinder shapes.

In a shallow bowl, mix 1/2 cup of water and corn flour to make a thin paste. Dip the rolls in the corn flour paste ensure that it is evenly coated. Roll the cylinders in bread crumbs.

Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the rolls in the oil till they turn golden brown and crisp. Serve hot with tomato sauce or green chutney.

Healthy Snack bag

Ingredients:
Corn flakes - 2 cups
Roasted Channa Dal - 1 cup
Roasted puffed rice - 2 cups
Roasted Poha - 1 cup
Roasted peanuts - 1 cup
Roasted channa - 1 cup
Roasted green moong - 1 cup
Curry Leaves - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method:
Heat 1/2 tbsp of ghee in a pan and fry the curry leaves in it till they turn crispy. Add all the ingredients one by one and saute them. Add the remaining 1/2 tbsp of ghee on top and mix well. Remove from flame and let them all cool. Store in an airtight container.

This makes a great snack for exam going students and for dieters.

Keerai Vadai

Ingredients:

Bengalgram Dal - 1 cup
Thuvar Dal - 1 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Green Chillies - 2 nos
Red Chillies - 6 nos
Black Pepper - 1 tsp
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
Greens (preferably Mulai Keerai) finely chopped - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Asafodeita - 1 tbsp
Oil - for deep frying

Method:
Wash and soak the dals together in water for about 1 hour. Drain the water and spread to dry all the excess water thoroughly. Grind it coarsely along with pepper, red chillies and salt. It should be ground without any water.

Chop the onions finely. Mix it along with chopped greens to the ground dal finely. Using chisel and pellet grind the fennel seeds. Add that too to the dal mixture and mix well.

Heat oil in a pan and when hot make vadais out of the batter and fry in the oil. Fry till both the sides turn golden brown in colour.

To make soft keerai vadai, it can be made only with Urad Dal.

Recipe for Paneer Samosa

Ingredients:
Maida or All purpose flour - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Salt little
Oil - to fry
Paneer - 200 gms
Onion - 1 big
Salt to taste
Green Chillies - 1 no
Coriander Leaves - 1/4 cup

Method:
Grate paneer. Grate green chilly. Chop Onion finely. Mix paneer, green chilly, salt, coriander leaves and onion.

Make a dough of Maida. Let the dough set for about an hour. Make small balls out of Maida and roll them into small chappaties. Place 1 to 2 spoons of the paneer mixture inside the chappati and fold them in triangle shape. Make all the samosas and leave them in freezer for about half an hour.

Heat oil and when hot reduce the flame to medium. Fry the samosas in hot oil. (You can add one or two at a time). Keep turning the samosas till it becomes golden brown in all the sides.

Serve hot with mint chutney and Katta meeta chutney

Recipe to make Cashew Pakora at home

Ingredients: 

Cashew nuts whole - 1/4 kg (approximately about 50 pieces)

Bengal Gram Dal - 1 cup

Raw Rice Powder - 1 tsp

Cornflour - 1 tsp

Green chilly - 2 nos

Curry Leaves - 1/2 cup

Garlic - 6 cloves (optional)

Saunf - 1 tsp 

Salt - To taste

Oil - for frying.

Method:

Mix besan flour, rice flour, corn flour together along with salt. Grind garlic, green chillies and saunf to a paste and add it to the flours. Add finely chopped curry leaves to the flour. Add cashew nuts to the flour and add water slowly to make a dough. 

In a pan heat oil and when hot reduce the flame to medium. Add small dumplings little by little to the oil. When they turn golden brown, remove from flame, drain the excess oil. 

This pakora can be stored for about two or three days. Makes a good starter and also a good tea time snack. 

Note: Do not increase the flame untill, the whole consignment of dough is fried.

Onion Pakora

Ingredients:

All ingredients as in Simple Pakora

Onion - 2 to 3 nos big

Method:

Chop Onions finely. Mix the dough as that of Simple Pakora, but before mixing the water add onions and mix well. Add water little by little and make a dough. Heat oil and fry the dough just as said in simple pakora recipe. The onions will turn brown a bit faster than the dough. (But wait till the dough turns golden brown before removing it from oil).

Serve hot. Ideal snack for rainy day.

Potato Sabudana Wada

Ingredients:

Sabudana - 1 cup

Potato - 3 nos (medium sized)

Green chillies - 2 nos

Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup

Ginger - 2 inch piece

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Method:

Boil, peel and mash potatoes. Wash and clean sabudana and soak in water for 2 hours. Deskin the dried peanuts and grind it to coarse powder. After 2 hours drain the water from sabudana and let it dry. 

In a bowl, add sabudana, crushed peanuts, chopped green chillies, mashed potatoes, grated ginger, coriander leaves and salt. Mix everything well and form a dough. Make flat vadas with your hands. Press them slightly so that the vadas dont break. 

Heat oil in a pan. In medium flame add 4 to 6 vadas in hot oil. Increase the flame to high again. Keep turning sides till it turns golden brown in colour on both the sides. 

Remove from oil and put it on a kitchen towel to absorb excess oil. Serve with green chutney and or tomato sauce.

Paneer Pakora - A tasty starter recipe

Ingredients:

Paneer(Cottage Cheese) - 1/2 kg

Red chilly Powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Gram flour - 2 tbsp

Amchoor powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Green chillies - 2 to 3

Salt to taste

Water - 3 to 4 tbsp or as required to make a smooth paste

Method: 

Chop paneer pieces to square or cube or triange or diamond shape. In a bowl add besan flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp red chilli, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp amchoor, 1 tsp coriander powder, green chilies and mix well and make a thick paste. 

Heat oil in a pan and when hot enough reduce the flame to medium, dip one piece of paneer in the besan flour mixture. Ensure that the entire paneer piece is dipped in besan flour mixture. Fry the paneer pieces till they turn golden brown. Turn sides constantly so both the sides cook well. 

A great starter recipe for parties and also an evening time snack.

Vegetable Cheese Balls

Ingredients:

Potato - 1/4 kg

Beans - 100 gm

Peas - 100 gm

Cheese - 100 gm

Carrot - 1 no

Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup

OIl for cooking

Powdered Ginger - 1/2 tsp

Green chilly paste - 1/4 tsp

Red chilly powder - 1/4 tsp

Lemon - 1/2 

Salt to taste

Method:

Boil potaotes, carrot, beans and peas and mash thoroughly. Add ginger powder, green chilly paste, salt and lemon juice to the mashed vegetables. Make a ball of the mashed vegetables and make a hole in the middle.

In a small cup add cheese, salt, remaining green chilli paste, red chilli powder. Mix them thoroughly and make a fine blend. Add the cheese paste inside the hole and cover it with a piece of the vegetable mix. Dip the cheese balls in bread crumbs and arrange them in a plate and leave it in freezer for about 15 to 20 mins.

Heat oil in a pan and when hot reduce the flame to medium. Fry the balls till they become golden brown in colour. 

Serve hot. Kids will enjoy this recipe.

Cauliflower Pakora

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1 big

Gram Flour - 3 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Amchoor - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 2 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Green Chillies - 2 to 3

Oil for frying

Method:

Wash and chop cauliflower into florets in a big shallow bowl. Add 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp amchoor, 1 tsp coriander powder and mix well. Add besan flour, 1/2 salt, 1 tsp red chilly powder, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp amchoor, 1 tsp coriander powder, chopped green chillies and mix well with water and make a thick paste, with very less water. The paste should be thick enough that it coats all over the cauliflower. 

Heat oil. When hot turn the flame to medium. Dip each and every floret of cauliflower in the besan flour mixture till the whole floret is covered with the besan mixture. Fry in oil till it becomes golden brown. At one point of time, about 6 to 8 florets of cauliflower can be fried. Repeat the same with all the florets. 

Serve hot with Tomato sauce and coriander sauce. 

Note: If the paste is not thick, the pakoras will not be crisp enough.