bring the colours to your food this holi : kanji vada, dahi vada, thandai and gujhia for the spring festival holi

Holi is the spring festival in the North India, the festival of colours as it was meant to be. Spring colours were brought into homes, flowers of Palash or Tesu (Butea monosperma), Marigold, Rose petals and Red Sandal wood were used for spraying on each other, I wish I lived in the older times. The chemical colors and the rowdy hooligan nature of this festival puts me off since childhood. I would most preferably stay at home and indulge in some festive foods. Gujhia was always a favourite and now I make a fried version of gujhia and a baked version of gujhia too. This year I have prepared for a fruity stuffing for my gujhia, will share that soon.

Thandai is synonymous with holi and Banaras, the Cannabis leaves are used in this drink for this occasion as this is the season for Bhang (cannabis) drinks.. Falgun that is :-)
And I already had a really nice thandai at Oxford book store, it was bhang free for obvious reasons, will make my own thandai tomorrow may be.

Want to tell you how may garden is full of spring colors as well. Here are a few pictures..

Dahi vada and malpua was another must do on holi, I still try and make these as these are the only ways we feel the festivity. We make fresh hot malpuas for breakfast on the day of holi and I am yet to post the recipe here. I promise to get that done this time around. I have posted a syrupy version of malpua but the deep fried version of malpua is more like doughnuts without the holes. The recipe is definitely coming here very soon.

I made the kanji vada, deep fried urad daal (skinned black lentil) fritters soaked in a fermented drink called kanji. These are so yummy people are known to crave for them when kanji is not available, though one can make kanji easily at home. Just dip the small vadas in the kanji and refrigerate for a day, it stays well for a week if refrigerated.

To make the vadas you have to follow the recipe for plain dahi vadas. Soak skinned urad daal (black lentils) overnight, drain the water and blend it into a smooth paste. Whip the paste into a smooth and light batter. Now drop small spoonfuls in hot oil and deep fry on medium heat. Drain and dunk all vadas in the prepared kanji. Refrigerate and serve as required.

For dahi vadas I used the same batter, just the vadas are made with a hole. These vadas have to be soaked in hot water for 2 hours, drain and then dip them all in whipped yogurt mixed with seasoning.

Serve chilled topped with whatever you like.

Dahi vada recipe has been posted long back. I make different version many a times, going back to my grandmother's recipe of ginger and black cardamom spiced dahi vadas sometimes. This dahi vada is a plain vada made without any seasoning in the batter, the same batter as the kanji vada as mentioned.

The dahi (yogurt) is lightly spiced with salt, pepper, roasted cumin powder and mint powder. A generous sprinkling of coriander greens, some pomegranate seeds and sonth ki chutney is all it requires. One can add a few more ingredients like crushed papdi, chopped onions, green chutney etc and convert it into a dahi vada chaat.

The soaked dahi vadas in yogurt mix can be refrigerated for 2 days. If you keep them dry it can be refrigerated well for a week. Just soak them in hot water till soft, drain and soak them in whipped yogurt mix.

This season I was lucky to witness holi celebration at the Oxford Book Store at Connaught place where a team from The Park was doing a live demonstration of a few holi recipes. They made pistachio and almond thandai, gujhia, namkeen pare and a really nice gulab ki kheer.

It was wonderful to witness colours of holi in a bookshop. I loved the gulab ki kheer the most. Thandai was really good too with rich green colour of pistachios.

Bringing more holi recipes really soon. I am focusing on the malpua as that is one of my childhood favourites and I make it just once a year. Wishing you all the happy colours of spring, more happiness more peace. Stay away from chemical colours and chemically flavoured foods.

Stay tuned for more recipes here..

dahi vada, dahi vade, dahi badey or dahi bhalle | how to make soft dahi vade

These dahi bhalle I made for holi but could not post it then, so it comes now and I am tempted to make them again. These are really soft and flavorful vadas with melts in your mouth texture that comes with a bit of practice. Normally I make them plain but this holi I wanted them the way my dadi used to make. With a flavoring of black cardamom and ginger. All of us remembered her while eating these dahi vadas with a ginger and black cardamom flavor..

Some people find it hard to make soft and melt in the mouth type vadas but the trick lies in making the vada paste a little finer and lighter (by giving it an extra whiz in the grinder).

After that the fried vadas should be soaked in hot salted water until they double in size, they become really soft after this. Drain them, top them with curds n masala and serve.

There are a few things that one must take care of when trying to make soft dahi badas.

1. Soak the urad dal for 3-4 hours minimum.
2. Grind the daal along with a little water to make a very smooth paste that looks like whipped cream. You need to run the blender for extra couple of minutes to whip the paste till light and airy.
3. To test the airy nature of the urad dal paste, take a spoon full of paste and drop it in a deep bowl of water. The blob of urad paste should float on the surface. 
4. Fry the vadas on low flame so it cooks evenly.
5. Soak the fried vadas in salted hot water for at least 30 minutes so it soaks the water and gets really soft. 
6. The fried vadas can be refrigerated for a week or so and soaked in hot water for a little longer time whenever required.

ingredients

urad daal or split black gram without skin 250 gm
ginger 1 inch piece
black cardamom 5 nos.
oil to deep fry
curds 500 gm
cumin seeds roasted and powdered ( can be stored)
black pepper powder
red chilly powder
salt

procedure

Soak the daal overnight and grind to make a smooth paste, water has to be added during grinding and the consistency should be soft but not runny, air should be incorporated into the batter by whizzing it again into the blender.

Now make a paste of ginger and black cardamom and mix with the daal batter.........

Heat oil in a deep frying pan and shape the vadas with a wet hand, just take a handful, smooth it on your four fingers, with your thumb make a hole in the center and drop carefully into the hot oil, 3-4 vadas can be fried in one batch and it has to be done on medium flame so that it gets cooked through.

When the vadas get golden brown in the hot oil, drain from the oil and dip into salted boiling water right away. Repeat frying more batches of vadas and keep immersing them all into salted boiling water. Let the vadas be fully submerged in hot water for about an hour or till they all double in size.

Remove with the help of a slotted spoon when it doubles in size, repeat for all the fried vadas , arrange them into a shallow dish, let it cool, pour beaten curds over this and keep in the fridge until chilled ...

At the time of serving, sprinkle the masala in whatever proportion you like and enjoy soft dahi vadas.

The vadas are crisp just after frying, after soaking in salted hot water it becomes doubled in size and quite soft.

The curd should be beaten smooth and some sugar can be added to it if you like it khatta- meetha.

Sweet sonth wali chutney can be used as a topping too to make it khatta meetha....this one is a plain slightly khatta vada which goes well like a side dish or like a chaat snack. The topping I used this time is some bhuna jeera, red chilly powder and black salt.

I shall post other variants as and when I make them..