urad daal aur sowa ke pakode | lentil fritters with dill leaves

Daal ke pakode is a winter snack made with tea or coffee in the evenings or for weekend breakfasts in many homes. Weekend breakfast mostly becomes a brunch for us but we normally don't cook elaborated meals on weekends and make something that we enjoy eating in leisure but simpler to cook. So mostly it is something like a platter of hot pakode or crisp cooked methi or alu ke paranthe in this season or a huge bowl of salad in summers. Newspapers and such comforting meals make our weekend mornings very relaxed, usually very late mornings in fact, stretching out well till afternoon.

I had soaked urad ki daal (split and skinned black beans) last week to make some kanji vada to be soaked in the kanji that was fermenting on my kitchen counter and a relaxed Saturday brunch of sowa wale daal ke pakode. But on Friday evening one of Arvind's friends called and came to visit us on a short notice for tea. I decided to quickly fry some daal ke pakode and harey lasun ki chutney with chai and as it turned out, this snack became our dinner that day. Not that I am complaining, I did fry some plain vadas and soaked them in the kanji to make the much craved for kanji vadas.

Sowa bhaji is a fragrant leafy green that is usually mixed with spinach or methi (fenugreek greens) to make saag or stir fries. We love it in our daals, raw chutneys and even in lehsun sagga. It was after a long time I made pakodas with these dill greens. All of us loved this impromptu meal of pakodas.

ingredients 
(enough pakodas for a gathering where no one minds portions)

urad daal 1.5 cup soaked overnight or minimum 3 hours
chopped dill greens 2 cups packed
minced green chillies 2 tsp or to taste
minced or grated fresh ginger root 1 tbsp or a bit more
coarse pepper powder 1 tsp
anardana powder 1-2 tsp (optional)
salt to taste
mustard oil for deep frying

procedure 

Discard the soaking water and grind the soaked daal to a smooth paste. Whip some more while still in the mixie jar to make the batter light. Do not add water while making this paste else the batter will get runny and the pakodas would absorb too much oil while frying.

Mix this batter with all the other ingredients except the oil and start frying right away. Keeping it for long makes the batter runny and it absorbs more oil while frying.

Heat the oil in a deep kadhai and fry small portions of the batter to make pakodas. You can use a rounded dessert spoon or soup spoon to scoop the batter and drop it in hot oil to make pakodas, depending on what size of pakodas you want.

Take care to fry them at medium flame so they cook thoroughly, these pakodas do not soak much oil as urad daal is quite sticky and the surface of the pakodas get sealed quickly in the hot oil.

Serve hot with any green chutney but this green garlic chutney works really well with this dill flavoured daal ke pakode.

To make this green garlic chutney mix a cup of chopped green garlic (leaves and some of the bulbs) with a cup of chopped green coriander leaves along with 3-4 green chillies, 1 tsp chopped ginger, salt to taste and lime juice to taste. The chutney is so good you would want to make it everyday with all your meals. We eat too much green garlic in this season.

These urad daal ke pakode are irresistible. I suggest you to make it a meal always as such snacks feel guilty if one is heading for a meal after this. Or serve it as starters for an elaborate meal for guests and see how fast they fly.

everyday subzi: making lauki ki muthia and using it in many ways

Muthia is a steamed dumpling made with grated vegetables and chickpea flour which is made into a dough and then rolled into sausage shaped 'muthia' before placing them on the steamer. The traditional muthia is made by pressing a portion of dough inside the fist (muthhi) hence the name muthia. It is a Gujrati tradition but popular all over India in some or the other form. Muthias get steamed quickly and can be cut into small pieces and served along with some green chutney.

Or the cut pieces of muthia can be shallow fried along with some tempering to be served as a tea time snack.

Lauki ki muthia is an easy way to make the meals filling and nourishing. Since we use besan (chickpea flour) to bind the muthias it makes a gluten free meal too. Please note that the recipe is easy and takes just about 20 minutes if you are making muthias for 3-4 people. And these steamed muthias can be refrigerated and used later to make tea time snacks or even kofta curries.

If you get the lauki (bottle gourd) grated in a food processor or get it done by the maid (we are spoiled in India :-)), the procedure will be even more quick.

ingredients

grated lauki 2 cups (about 400 gm)
besan or chickpea flour 3/4-1 cup or a bit more
ginger paste 1 tsp
garlic paste 1/2 tsp
cumin powder 1 tsp
ajwain seeds 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
green chillies minced 1 tsp or more
salt and pepper to taste
oil or ghee to smear the plate and hands while working with the dough

procedure

Mix all the dry ingredients with the grated lauki and massage them together so the water from lauki helps make it a dough. You might need to add a little more besan or little more lauki depending on how fresh and tender the lauki is. I recommend the freshest lauki you can find. See how to choose the right tender bottle gourd.

Now grease a ceramic or pyrex dish and your hands too. Pinch portions of the dough and shape them like 2 cm thick sausages or press portion in your fist to shape them like traditional muthias. Arrange all such sausages (or muthias) on the greased dish.

 Now cover the dish with cling wrap loosely. Leaving some space for the steam to escape. Make cuts in the cling wrap otherwise.

You can cover the plate with a dome shaped plastic lid meant for microwave and steam it for 5 minutes too. With the cling wrap too it takes the same time.

The muthias get cooked as steam condenses on the cling wrap. Peel off the cling wrap and use the muthias as required. These can be enjoyed right away with green chutney or with any sauce or salsa you like.

These can be steamed over the gas stove too. See this post about another steamed dumplings to get an idea how a simple contraption can be used to steam these.

Once cooled, the muthias get firm and can be shallow fried along with mustard seeds, hing and some sesame seeds for crunch. Sprinkle some amchoor powder or lime juice and have these with some warm salad for a meal. Here I served it with a beans and carrot poriyal and pickled cucumbers.

We sometimes use these muthias to make kofta style curries too. Just deep fry or shallow fry these muthias and curry them with a north Indian style bhuna masala.

I normally shallow fry these muthias cut into one inch long pieces, and pressure cook them along with some bhuna masala and water. Add enough water to the muthia as they soak up a lot of water and double in size when cooked into a curry.

Refrigerated (2-3 day old) muthias behave well in pressure cooker as they get firm and do not break. You can cook this curry in an open pan if using freshly made muthias.

This lauki muthia kofta curry tastes great with roti, paratha or plain boiled rice but you can always make the curry light and thin and have it as a one pot meal as I do sometimes.

We love this kind of kofta curries better than the fried round koftas (like this kele ka kofta). This muthia kind of kofta works better for lauki and is healthier as well. I don't remember if I have cooked a traditional lauki ka kofta ever in my life. But I love besan dumpling curries so this lauki muthia kofta style curry is one of the favourites. The taste and texture is quite different and so is the health quotient of this curry.

Let me know whenever you try making muthias this way in the microwave. It will be the easiest healthy snack to munch on and some spicy curry can be whipped up in a jiffy.

baked bakharwadi | a baked Indian snack that beats a cookie any day..

Bakharwadi is a traditional Maharashtrian snack that is like a sweet, sour and savory fried cookie. That too a pinwheel type. I used to love the fried version long back and would request anyone visiting Mumbai or Pune or even Goa to bring me one. There is a packed Bakharwadi by Chitale Bandhu and then there is one by Haldiram's that is really good. But those are fried and one feels bad when reaching out for such fried packaged snacks. We have been off any packets namkeens for a long time but on a recent travel when the flight got late by an hour, we found ourselves straying into a Haldiram's kiosk and getting a pack of Bakarwadi. The packet was savored slowly between the two of us, but got over before we boarded the flight. It was alarming.

And then Arvind brought home a packet once more, this one was finished in 3-4 days but was enough addictive to rethink and act accordingly.
And act accordingly I did. I baked some.

This was after a long long time. I had experimented a lot on Bakharwadi when I bought my new microwave oven more than a decade ago. The best shape I could get around that time was through microwaving the rolled and cut Bakarwadis briefly and then frying them. This seals the edges and the filling, and allows the Bakharwadis to fry quickly so they absorb less oil. But they didn't turn really crisp. I was not confident enough to bake on combination mode of the microwave oven. Later when I bought the conventional oven for my breads, the same recipe was adjusted a little bit and gave me good results just by baking. So here it is.

ingredients...
(makes about 150 small wadis or pinwheel cookies)

for the pastry dough
whole wheat flour (atta) 1 cup
Chickpea flour (besan) 1 cup
All purpose flour (maida) 3/4 cup
oil 3/4 cup (I used cold pressed sunflower oil)
soda bi carb 2 pinches
salt to taste

for the stuffing
grated fresh coconut 3/4 cup
coconut powder (or dessicated coconut) 1/2 cup
sesame seeds 1/3 cup
poppy seeds 1/4 cup
chickpea flour (besan) 1/2 cup
finely chopped green chilies 1 tbsp
finely chopped or grated ginger 2 tbsp
ginger powder 1 tsp
fennel powder 1 tsp
natural brown sugar 2 tbsp
red chilly powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
freshly made tamarind extract 3/4 cup

procedure..

Mix all the ingredients for the pastry dough and knead a stiff dough adding water slowly as you mix. Rest the dough till you prepare the stuffing.

Soak a lime sized ball of dry tamarind in a cup of water and microwave it to make the tamarind extract. Sieve and save for later use.

Dry roast the sesame seeds in a kadhai or any suitable pan. Low flame will ensure even roasting, add the poppy seeds as soon as the sesame starts crackling. Within a minute, add the grated fresh coconut and roast again for about 3-4 minutes or till it starts getting fragrant. Lastly add the besan and the dry coconut powder and roast for a couple of minutes, just to mix everything together. Cooking the filling completely is not the idea, just to cook the besan briefly, the rest will be cooked during baking.

Add the green chilies, ginger and the other powders, the brown sugar and salt, mix well.

Now sprinkle the tamarind extract over this mixture and mix with the help of a spatula.

This stuffing mixture will come in the consistency of a paste that is not too wet. Add tamarind extract keeping the consistency in mind. Too thin extract will make it wet and less sour than required.

The pastry dough is already waiting, the filling is ready. Now is the time to do some rolling.

Divide the dough in 4 -5 portions and roll out on a board to make a rectangular sheet. Thickness of the pastry will be about 3 mm. Divide the stuffing too into equal portions and spread out one portion over the rolled out pastry sheet. Just slap it over and spread with the help of a knife blade.

Start rolling from the longer side so it makes a longer cylinder when rolled. And then roll the cylinder some more to make it tightly packed. Now slice the Bakharwadi cookies carefully holding the cylinder with the help of your left hand fingers.

The sliced cookies may be half moon shaped due to pressure exerted during slicing, just press them all from sides so they become round. Lay them on a baking sheet or greased baking tray.

Bake in preheated oven, 200 C for 20 minutes and then on 180 C for 25-30 minutes. A golden hue will be a sign of readiness.

Cool them on a wire rack or a perforated basket as I did. The cookies will be a little damp when freshly baked. They taste good but the texture enhances the next day as complete dehydration is achieved by that time.

You can always adjust sweet, sour and hot flavors in the stuffing to suit your palate, the nuttiness of the various ingredients is complex and very very addictive. The sesame, coconut and poppy seeds provide a complex texture too apart from the distinct nuttiness that blends with the sweet-sour-hot-savory taste of bakharwadi.

It is a time consuming process but makes enough quantity to last about a week or even a fortnight for a small family. Depends how how you ration them on the go. They are minimal gluten cookies, protein packed and fiber packed so it's not a problem if you binge on them for a while. Tasteful snacks sometimes fix a deep rooted emotional problem and help you get back to track in life.

What do you think?

Keema waala Samosa : deep fried indulgence...

A plateful of piping hot something is not a particularly inviting idea in this smouldering heat. But just think of someone talking about samosa all over twitter and facebook and the husband has already demanded a keema paratha you would definitely be tempeted to some heat and deep frying.

So a friend was talking about baked samosa that I find awful to be honest because the fat in the shortening of pastry dough would not be any less if you want a crisp pastry on samosa. Why not deep fry it because anyway you have them very occasionally only. And then I decided for a Keema samosa dinner that day. Any such heavy snack becomes a dinner for us always. I had this Khajur Imli ki chutney in the fridge and the Samosa took me about 40 minutes from scratch.

recipe of the keema stuffing....

ingredients...

(for about 20 small samosas)
keema (mutton mince) 250 gm
finely chopped onions 1/2 cup
finely chopped(minced) ginger 1 tbsp
minced garlic 1 tsp
garam masala 1 tsp or to taste*
red chilly powder 1 tsp or to taste
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
ghee 2 tsp
whole cumin 1 tsp

*I used 2 tsp of my everyday curry powder and 1/2 tsp of the special garam masala

procedure...

Heat ghee in a kadai and tip in the cumin seeds.

Wait till the cumin seeds crackle and then throw in the garlic, ginger and then the chopped onion in that order. Fry till pinkish brown, adding salt at this stage would help in hastening the process..

Tip in the powdered spices , mix and then add the mutton mince. Mix and keep stirring. It takes about 15 minutes to get cooked and dry. Cook longer if the keema (mince) is coarse.

Check seasoning, adjust and let it cool.

recipe of the cover pastry...

ingredients...
maida (white flour)200 gm or one cup
ajwain seds 1 tsp
salt to taste
ghee 1.5 tbsp for shortening
ghee for deep frying


procedure...

Mix maida, salt and ajwain seeds.

Rub in the ghee and mix well.

Add water and make a firm dough.


Make 10 portions out of the dough and roll out small discs.

Halve the discs in half moons and make a cone with each semi circle, folding the straight side up.

Then stuff the keema inside , crinkle the edges and seal with pressure. Repeat with all the discs..

My little trick to flash fry the samosa is to microwave a batch of samosas placed on a greased plate first for 2 minutes and then dunk them immediately in hot ghee so they get fried in minimal time and come out as crisp as the street side shops or college canteens.

Did you check out the samose I saw live demo almost daily while in university and tried making them later? 
Those are the real potato stuffing samosa that is a college time favorite of all Indian students I guess.

These keema samosa are more of a specialty of a few places and mostly are made at home because very few people trust the meat at street shops. They are best home made.

The khajoor imli ki chutney was perfect with the spicy heavy stuffing. We had our dinner earlier than normal that day and it was worth having a deep fried indulgence in a hot summer day.

These are small samosa almost the size of Indian limes. The reason I make them small is that I have to fill the pan less for deep frying them. Bigger samosa would need deeper oil/ghee to deep fry. Reusing the ghee is not harmful because of high smoking point and more stable fatty acids but if you are using other cooking oils you must be careful about reusing the oil. Using lesser in the frying pan makes sense.

Smaller samosa are cuter and crisp too.

Do you see that dark and thick khajoor imli ki chutney?

That bowl was licked clean.

We had some samosas as leftovers the next day with tea.

Reheated in MW they were not as crisp as fresh but as tasty. Those who love keema would know how leftovers are guarded with utmost care.

How often do you have such fried goodies as your dinner?

Bhapouri, Baphouri or steamed dumplings... desi lentil dumplings ...

There are a few old recipes which have been favorites since childhood. I think this one was made quite frequently as it was my mom's favorite as well. She used to make a large batch of it and then some would be eaten warm as steamed dumplings , some would be refrigerated to be fried for the time snacks and some would be curried just like any other kofta curry.

My mom liked it in all three forms and we also liked it just because this thing was praised so much. I think this is a very important tool when we want our kids to like the healthy versions of snacks or home made food. They start liking what we praise and what we eat with delight. Happy moments are associated with good food, tasty food. So if we all enjoy an ice cream and expect a kid would not eat it, behaving like a good girl/boy, we are being unfair.

What do you think?

Coming to this healthy snack or meal recipe, this is a quick cooking one to. Although it looks like extensive work, with a steaming device and a grinding gadget used, the cooking time is not much.

Thirty minutes is not much of a time when 5-6 portions can be prepared if you start from scratch. For the two of us, it results in snacking 3 times or 2 day's worth of snacks and a curry. Good enough.

I used to make it quite often sometime back, almost always using an idli steamer, the dumplings would be in the shape of idlis and would be deep fried sometimes for guests. Always a nice tea time snack.

Sometimes it would be a breakfast too. The shallow fried whole idlies, with slightly crisp spots here and there, will be submerged in a thin green chutney (coriander, mint and green chillies with lime) and that would make a hot-spicy-tangy start to the day.

This time I decided to make it the way my mom used to steam them. Just for the blog as I wanted an authentic looking Bhapouri here :-)

So Bhaap is steam in Hindi and the dumpling is called Bhapouri or Baphouri in regional accents.

The preparation is quite simple and you can steam them even if you don't own a steamer. I always steam all my Momos and Fara (goojha) and dumplings this way and have not felt a need to buy a fancy steamer to clutter my kitchen. Which it already is.

The idli steamer I have and have reduced using it already. Simpler utensils work better most of the times.

ingredients...

To make a paste...
dhuli masoor daal (skinned red lentils) 1 cup (soaked for minimum 2 hours or overnight for convenience)
cumin seeds 2 tsp
ginger roughly chopped an inch piece
garlic cloves 5-6
dry whole red chillies 2-3 or to taste
turmeric powder 1 tsp

To mix in the paste...
diced onions 3-4 to 1 cup
chopped coriander greens 2-3 tbsp (optional)

procedure...

It's really quick if you have soaked the lentils beforehand. Keeping the paste ready is also one step ahead to a quick snack.

So make the paste with all the ingredients listed. A coarse paste is intended.

Mix the chopped onions and greens if using, to the paste.

And while you are doing the blending and mixing, put a pan with water to boil. Place a perforated plate over the rim of the pan and place a muslin cloth to line he perforated plate. I use a square cotton handkerchief.

If using a proper steamer, you know what to do.

The paste of lentils has to be dropped like Vadis (or Badi) , small round dumplings using a spoon or your fingers, into the lined perforated plate.

Then cover the plate with a lid and let it steam for about 10 minutes on medium flame.

Note that I have used a regular Indian Kadhai and have placed a deep perforated plate (steel chhanni) which fits the rim of the kadhai. We all have a few pans of different sizes and lids of different sizes and such an arrangement can be done every time if you plan to steam something. I find it more practical than a steamer.

The dumplings get cooked and the color changes a bit. Becomes a dull yellowish brown. Flip one of the dumplings using a spoon or a knife, it should not be sticking to the cloth or the surface of steamer. Flipping easily, it indicates it is cooked.

These can be had immediately with or without a green chutney. If you are planning to have it with masala tea, which takes about 10 minutes to boil and get ready with milk, you can steam these dumplings on the side if you have the lentil paste ready. Or just quickly stir fry or deep fry the dumplings if you the leftovers in the fridge.

The dumplings keep well in the fridge and can be reheated, fried or curried later. You can always use other lentils for making these dumplings , which would result in different taste and texture. These red lentil,ones are traditionally made for their light texture, probably due to quick cooking property and because they are really tasty too. I have tried making them with other lentils but always found them inferior to these ones. So if you are thinking of Chana daal (split chickpeas) or even split yellow peas, why not making another version called Beasn Katli which involves a slightly different cooking technique and the taste and texture is really great.

Different ingredients need to be treated differently I feel. To make the best of them :-)

the mystery snack i loved .....from chennai into my kitchen ...

I bought these from Ananda adyar bhavan , Chennai and did not know the name of this beauty. I saw the tiny specks of sesame , some daal and pepper corns and i knew i would love them and immediately bought a packet. Later i realized i should have bought at least four. But the mistake had been done. I had to fend for myself when this flavor was reminded ...

I decided to take the plunge and started guessing the ingredients. This was very different from the Mathhi we make in the north as it was quite hard and chewy. I liked this bite , partly because i like chewing on something whenever my migraine strikes. The spicy taste was another thing i wanted to achieve.

I could guess rice flour and mung daal and the spices and made a small batch . I was so happy to get the exact spice blend , but the texture was very very different ...it was more crisp as it soaked more oil while frying . I made them in square shapes and the difference can be seen clearly...

I call all my blogger friends from Chennai who happen to see this post , please help me with this recipe , and the name of this wonderful snack.

The spice mix i used was a blend of cumin , black pepper and sesame seeds in 1:1:2 ratio . Some half boiled yellow mung daal was kneaded with rice flour and this spice blend without any shortening . Rolled out dough was cut into squares and fried in hot oil.

While everybody liked my homemade version , because it was more crisp and all of us North Indians are so used to our crisp matthhis , i wanted the same hard chewy texture of the original snack....please enlighten me with the name .

Also , my home made savories were a bit darker in color . Mostly because the spices should have been very coarse , but i wanted them to be a bit mixed up , the spicing part was perfect.... I guess it should have had some roasted chana flour too. What say ?

I will make a baked version with the same spices as i loved the spices in it . The most awesome find of this experiment was this spice blend as i used some of the leftover coarse powder for my vegetable stir fries and it was great . We learn with every small step we take..

Anybody there ? Tell me please the name .... and the recipe if you are a generous soul :)

Solve the mystery for me ....

besan ki katli | savory cakes made using chickpeas paste

Besan ki katli or chana daal ki katli is something I have been craving for very long, that too in it's purest form as I have worked on a healthier version of this dish in the past 4-5 years (it's a shame that i haven't posted even that one as yet)...      

Before I move to the recipe of this very traditional UP dish I want to tell you a very funny incident, I was watching the TV show 'highway on my plate' hosted by Rocky n Mayur. I love this show not just for the yummy traditional food they showcase but for the friendly leg pulling both the hosts do with each other as well as with their hosts sometimes. In this particular episode they were visiting Reewa and were being hosted by some prince (belonging to the royal family of the state). Among the other traditional vegetarian dishes they were served this dish called 'Indrahar' ( meaning the food of Indra, the king of all the Hindu gods). Indrahar was made with a mixture of all the lentils in a similar way this besan ki katli is made.

The prince of Reewa estate described this dish in a very interesting way. He told that this is a very healthy meat substitute and the members of his family have been eating this for generations. In his own words...my grandfather, my father and myself have been eating this indrahaar, and see how strong we have been :) Telling all of this with his swollen chest to show the strength, I wonder how he was going on and on about the health and vigor of the male members of the family only. As if the ladies of the family did not need any healthy food, or as if healthy food was made for the male members only. The way he was telling and the way Rocky and Mayur were mimicking him was hilariously funny.

But it frustrates me even today whenever I think of it. No, I am not a feminist that way but do get frustrated when there is a bias at this level.

Now coming to the recipe of this healthy dish, as healthy as you can think of.

It can be made with besan (gramflour or chickpea flour) or with split chickpeas (chana dal) or with any other daal for that matter or with a mixture of daals as it is done in indrahar :)

If you make it with besan the texture of the katli will be very smooth, I like it a bit grainy so I use chana daal, soaked overnight and ground to paste. It is actually a lentil dumpling or lentil cake which can be very very versatile. It can be a fat free snack, a fried or shallow fried snack or can be curried in different types of gravies.

ingredients...

chana daal 2 cups soaked overnight
garlic cloves 4 nos
ginger 1 inch piece
green chilies 3-4 nos.
whole cumin 2 tsp
black pepper corns 2 tsp
red chilly powder 1 tsp ( optional ) I did not use this time
garam masala 1 tsp (optional  I do not use
turmeric powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
oil 1 tsp for the kadai n 1/2 tsp to grease a thali

procedure....

Grind everything together except oil into a paste, the consistency should be like a cake or idli batter so water can be added wile grinding for convenience.

Now heat oil in a thick base kadai and pour the paste into it and start stirring, it needs constant stirring but do not worry as it's not going to make your arms fall off. After all eating Indrahar makes you stronger :-)

The mixture gets curdled first, and then within a couple of minutes of heating, it starts sticking to the kadai. Keep scraping and turning for about 5 minutes and you will see that it cooks to become a cohesive, sticky ball of dough. By this time a lovely cooked aroma indicates that it's done.

Keep a greased thali ready, dunk the ball of cooked daal dough into the greased thali......

Now with wet hands pat this dough to make it flat on the thali , like this....

Let it rest for about 10 minutes or till it is cooler, then cut in diamonds or squares ...

It can be made into small balls, especially if you intend to make a kofta style curry with it, for that you don't need to spread it on a greased thali and can proceed right from the kadai......make balls and do whatever you want :))

They can be had like a tea time snack without frying when they are warm and fresh, they keep well in the fridge for a couple of days and in the freezer for months. If using from the fridge you need to shallow fry them for a tea time snack ....

This is a real healthy tea time snack .

Besan ki katli, as it is called in my family is a childhood favorite of mine and I am glad that Arvind loves it too. I make a spinach version of this dumpling snack in microwave and will post that very soon

It is an eastern UP specialty and I have seen some bihari families making it too, a friend of mine told that it is called 'khadahara' in her family. The bengali version is called 'dhokar dalna', a bit different in taste and in appearance of the dumplings.

I have posted a recipe of this  besan katli in mustard gravy but it can be prepared with any kind of gravy which suits your taste.

Enjoy....

Vrat ka khana | kuttu ki tikki or buckwheat savory pancakes

Another fasting recipe for navaratra brings me here today, the kuttu ki tikki or savory pancakes with buckwheat flour and grated zucchini(or use any gourds). Kuttu or Buckwheat is a grain which is a popular health food all over the world, this is the grain behind soba noodles and they can be cooked whole to make khichri or tahiri. However this time I could not get hold of any whole buckwheat and had to make do with this flour which is called kuttu ka atta (buckwheat flour)......

Most of the people make kuttu ki poori or kuttu ke pakore for fasting. I love those preparations too but they are better to be had occasionally. When on a nine day fast you need to have lighter meals, kuttu ki tikki (savory pancakes) will be a better option for you too.

I have been buying whole buckwheat as it gets powdered very easily in the mixie, the taste of the freshly ground buckwheat flour is far more superior that the store bought kuttu ka atta. I try and get whole buckwheat if possible and get it powdered freshly whenever required.

Another interesting fact is that the flour gets quite sticky when mixed with water and makes a very adhesive batter, needless to say it is easier to spread on the pan and it easily incorporates any grated veggies.

For this simple recipe I grated a small yellow zucchini and a small green on. I used zucchini as I had plenty of them from here, grated bottle guard, pumpkin or grated cabbage work very well too, and if you are not fasting try using chopped onions and make a batter with curds instead of water. That makes it taste almost like a vada. Will share that recipe sometime soon.

I added grated ginger and finely chopped green chillies to taste and a handful of chopped coriander leaves, salt n pepper to season and just a little water (curds can be used too) to make a thick batter, the grated vegetables release water after adding salt so be careful while adding water...

Heat a pan with a little ghee and shallow fry like pancakes. Drop spoonfuls over the pan and flip when one side is cooked. Let it brown on the other side too and serve hot with any green chutney. Mint or coriander chutney is great with it.

This pancake tastes really good with a cucumber raita or tempered yogurt. Even a coconut chutney makes a nice pairing with it. You see it is a versatile recipe, can be adapted to many versions with many vegetables and many accompaniments.

Cheers for fasting.........

edible flowers : drumstick flowers make really good pakoda, cheela or shallow fried fritters

This is the season when we start seeing drumstick flowers in the quaint neighborhood markets in Delhi. The high end grocers don't stock such foraged produce but the weekly vegetable markets and the friendly neighborhood subziwala (green grocer) starts bringing it for you if he knows there is a demand. I see that many middle aged and old women keep inquiring the subziwalas about swanjne ke phool or sehjan ke phool (drumstick flowers in local parlance) and buy them quickly if they spot. I feel great at such times that I have a huge drumstick tree in my garden that flowers twice a year.

What I do as an instinct that I offer the auntyjees a bunch of drumstick flowers from my garden next time she needs and start chatting. And then I ask how does she cook swanjne ke phool. Believe me I have done it about 4-5 times and everytime I get the same recipe of the curry that has a base of tomatoes and curd and the flowers are boiled and squeezed before being added to the curry. I figured this is the authentic Punjabi recipe of swanjne ke phool ki subzi. I recreated it in my kitchen and tried all the options suggested by different women I met in the weekly vegetable market. I learnt that whenever you add water to the curry it becomes a little bitter in taste as the juices of the drumstick flowers come out in the gravy. If we keep the curry dry and let it cook in it's own juices the taste is better and the bitterness is only in traces.

But the best use of these drumstick flowers I learnt from my mother in law. She used to make very nice cheela with chopped onions and drumstick flowers and later I started adding some chopped dhaniya patta (coriander greens) and green chillies etc to the batter mix, started making pakodas too sometimes but the cheela became a common breakfast whenever drumstick flowers were in season. The drumstick tree in my garden flowers twice a year as I mentioned, we get to enjoy this pakoda or cheela quite often.

To clean drumstick flowers you just need to pick all the stalks from the buds and flowers and rinse them under running water once. If you have bought from market and have doubts about some dust in it, you would need to dip the flowers in plenty of water in a large bowl, then strain them and rinse again under running water. Let all the water drain before using.

ingredients
(2 breakfast servings or 4-5 tea time snack servings)

drumstick flowers cleaned, rinsed and drained 1 cup
finely diced red onions 3/4 cup
minced green chillies 1 tsp
minced ginger 2 tsp
chopped coriander greens 1/2 cup
ajwain seeds 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp
salt to taste
besan or chickpea flour 1 cup or a bit more if required
water to make a thick batter to bind everything together
mustard oil to shallow fry about 1 tsp per small flat pancake or fritter

procedure 

Mix everything together to make a thick batter.

Heat a flat bottom frying pan and grease with oil. Spread large spoonfuls of batter into several discs on the pan and drizzle oil around them. You can easily make 3-4 small pancakes (cheela or pakoda) at a time on a regular sized pan.

If you drizzle the oil a little generously you get the texture of a crisp pakoda and if you keep the amount of oil lesser you get the texture of a pancake. The pancake type would need to be cooked for a little longer to get completely cooked.

Serve hot with a green chutney or fresh tomato chutney. The one I served this time was made of 3 large tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic and 2 green chillies and salt to taste. Just blend everything together and pour into the serving bowl.

As kids we used to eat such fritters as a sandwich filling sometimes. I remember buttered slices of bread sandwiching one such fat crisp fritter or patty made of any vegetables and paneer etc or even ghee smeared rotis wrapped around such fritters used to be a filling snack after some long distance cycling or whatever that exhausted us and made us hungry.

A similar shallow fried pakoda recipe is here. Such shallow fried pakodas and pancakes make really good tea time snacks or hearty winter or rainy day breakfasts. Don't forget to serve a tangy hot freshly made chutney on the side and see how everyone laps up healthy food without a wink.

I will share recipes of drumstick flower subzi really soon.

khandvi ...step by step...

A couple of years back i was watching a cookery show by Madhur Jaffery where she was covering gujrati cuisine , she was calling the khandwi a kind of pasta dish .... it was startling for me as i had never thought of a similarity between the two earlier , but yes the way it is made, it surely is a counterpart of a pasta ......

Interestingly another cookery show i watched recently by Ritu Dalmia where she cooked a pasta more like a khandwi.....i mean the dough was more like batter which was cooked to make a sticky mass ....spread on a plate in a thin layer and then cut into strips....into wedges ( to be fried later n had with sauce) actually and that was a pasta by some other name......she called this a pakoda like pasta but i think the way a batter is cooked till sticky n lumpy , then spread onto a greased surface , cut into pieces.........it was more like making a khandwi.....and incidentally khandwi and pakoda , though made with a set of similar ingredients, are way too different from each other......

Dhokla is another recipe made with similar ingredients but how different is that from a khandwi......while the one holds all the sweet n sour n hot syrup inside the air pockets , the other is rolled over the same flavors with a nutty texture of sesame to flaunt........both are delight to have ...and that is for sure!!

Now we realize why all those weird shapes of pasta are different from each other....some are made to hold the cheesy sauce inside the tubes, some are meant to entangle with a salad like textured vegetable sauce , while some of them are just made for floating gleefully in a hot steaming soup ....aaah !! Some even hold the cheese n veggies inside their tummy too......:):)

After all this gyan ( is it?) , i must tell you that the khandwi is an easy snack , believe me ....many of my friends think that i make them because i can make so many other difficult things with ease.......but i want to make them understand that this is an easy and healthy snack.........i am posting this recipe on request of some friends and also to show them that this is an easy one........you just need to understand the consistency of the batter and work quickly.......within a time of 10 minutes you see yourself cutting the strips and rolling them...believe me..

see how it goes.......
  
the first step is to make the tempering as it will be easier to assemble the khandvi when it's ready.....sometimes the tempering is poured over rolled up khandvi and the insides of the rolls are not stuffed , i like the tempering layered inside the rolls and make the tempering in very less quantity of oil.....

ingredients for tempering.. 

 oil 1 tbsp

asafoetida 1 pinch

rai or small grain mustard seeds 1 tsp

finely chopped green chillies 1 tbsp or more

sesame seeds 1 tsp

finely chopped curry patta 1/2 cup

( i chop them because i like stuffing them into the rolls and it is more flavorful this way)

water 1/2 cup

sugar1 tbsp or more if you like it sweeter

lemon juice 2 tbsp
shredded coconut 2-3 tbsp

 To make the tempering ...... heat oil in a small pan...throw in asafoetida and rai grains...wait till it crackles and then throw in sesame seeds and the finely chopped green chillies ...as the oil is less you may need to stir the mixture while cooking........now out all the chopped curry patta in it and roast slowly on low flame ( as it will get burnt in very less oil ).......pour 1/2 cup of water n let it boil...add 1 tbsp of sugar and let it dissolve......take off the flame and add the lemon juice and keep aside till needed.

ingredients for khandvi ..


besan or chickpea flour 200 gm

buttermilk 300 gm ( you may need some more or less depending on the consistency of buttermilk)

salt to taste

turmeric powder 2 tsp

To make the khandvi , first of all take care to make the batter in a large measuring cup .....take the besan in it and pour the buttermilk over it to make a thin batter.......see the consistency.........

if the buttermilk is too thin you may need lesser amount of it , season with salt and turmeric powder ( you may add pepper n chilly too but i like these to be in the tempering)........once you pour the batter in the kadai on flame , stir constantly as the batter thickens to become sticky.......for about 5 minutes .......

One thing to take care is that ...it is better to make the sticky paste in two batches , as it will be easier to spread the paste on greased surface evenly n quickly....so i do it in two batches for this quantity......make the batter , pour half of it into the kadai for first batch...spread it on the greased surface ....then again proceed to cook the next batch of paste into the kadai......spread it and proceed to cut stripes and the next step......you get perfect thin khandvis this way.......

Test to see if it is done by looking for the bubbles ...more like blisters....which appear from the base of kadai into the cooked besan mass and releases steam as it bursts........stop cooking at this point and quickly empty the contents on a greased surface and spread it like you spread butter on toast....as thin as possible to make a large sheet..........

 now cut strips 1 inch wide and 3-4 inch long into it.........

spread the tempering mixture over this evenly ...........

sprinkle finely grated coconut and start rolling the strips into neat rolls, repeat till all the strips have been rolled and serve immediately......sprinkling some of the leftover tempering and some grated coconut on top............

 It will take 15 minutes from start but your hands should move quickly while stirring the batter and spreading it.........

Try this sweet n sour n hot snack with your evening tea and tell me how it was.........