Vegetable Bajji

Yesterday I was really bored and wanted to eat something yummy and different. I thought of making vada - but this one cannot be had in a jiffy...it has to soaked for a while and then grinded...that involved lot of work, then thought of making cutlet - but that needs boiling the vegetables and lot of process...hence resorted to making bajjis...I haven't made this in almost three to four years. In general I do not make lot of fried items at home because am clueless as to what to do with the left over oil and that too in winter the smell of the oil keeps lingering inside the house. I did not have much veggies for making it but still went and ahead and made with the veggies that I had on hand....potato, onions, yellow bell pepper and spinach were the ones I used for making the Bajjis.....One good thing about this is you can make the batter and make more batter if needed.

If you are making with Potaoes then peel wash and make into thin slices. If you are using bell pepper - deseed them and cut into 1 inch piece. Onions you can make into thing round pieces and carefully place them on the plate and dip in the batter carefully to make the bajjis. You can use the leaves of spinach as is. You can do bajjis with chayote (chow chow), Zucchini....

Ingredients

3/4th Cup Besan Flour
3/4th Cup Rice Flour
1/2 Tsp Red Chilly Powder
1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
1/4 Tsp Hing
Salt to taste
Water
Canola Oil

Sieve both the flours so that it will not form lumps when you are mixing it with water. Add the other dry ingredients listed above to the flour and mix well.

Add water little by little and mix well. It should get the consistency of dosa batter. It should not go too watery or stay very thick. It should be good enough to get a nice coating on the veggies.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the veggies to the batter and give a nice coating and add it to the oil. When it turns golden brown. Take it out and place it on the kitchen towel to drain the excess oil. It comes and nice and crispy.
Serve it with tomato ketch up/tamarind and cilantro chutney....it was yummy and my family enjoyed it!

Venn Pongal and Gothsu

I made this last weekend. We were shopping and did not have much time to prepare elaborate dinner and Pongal came to my mind...It is very easy and takes less time to make it. So between our shopping saga we got home to put my son to nap for a while and that is time I prepared it so that we could continue with our shopping after our nap...wondering what we were shopping....will let you know soon.. We are not that much of a rice eaters these days and hence I do not make these anymore....the last time I made Pongal was for Bhogi...it is almost time for the next Bhogi :) !! H and myself love Pongal with Gothsu (something similar to Sambhar only) but that is the name that goes with Pongal not sure how the name Gothsu originated. Brinjal Gothsu is made as a side for Arisi Uppma (Broken Rice Upma). My son also seems to love Pongal.

Ingredients for making Pongal -

3/4th Cup Rice
1/4th Cup Moong Dhal
1 Tsp Whole Black Pepper
1 Tsp Jeera
1 1/2 TBSPN Grated Ginger
Ghee
Cashew
Curry Leaves
Salt to Taste (I add about 3/4th Tsp for this measure)

Wash the rice and dhal and pressure cook upto 4 whistles with 4 Cups of water. No of cups of water depends on the rice that you use. I use sona masoori.

Take a pan and heat the ghee. Add the pepper, jeera, ginger, curry leaves and cashew.

When the pressure leaves, take the cooked rice and dhal add the above roasted spices and salt. Serve it dollops of ghee with gothsu or chutney.

Recipe for making Gothsu

1/2 Cup Toor Dhal Pressure Cooked
1 medium sized Potato cubed and boiled
1/2 Lemon Sized Tamarind
2 Tomatoes
1 Green Chilly
Sambhar Powder
Curry leaves
Cilantro
Mustard, Channa Dhal, Hing and Urad Dhal for tempering
Oil
Salt to taste

Soak the tamarind in water and squeeze the pulp and get the tamarind water. Heat oil in a pan add the ingredients listed for tempering, curry leaves, green chilly and tomatoes. When the tomatoes are cooked, add the boiled potatoes and the tamarind water.
Add the sambhar powder and salt and cook it for some more time.
Finally add the cooked dhal.
It need to not be too thick in consistency. When it is done garnish it cilantro and serve it with Pongal.

Seven Cups Burfi (for Navrathri)

Navrathri has been one of my favorite festivals since my childhood...as a child I got to dress up nicely in pattu pavadais (silk lehenga) every day....and the place where I grew up Mylai was filled with festive look. The Madaveedi (streets surrounding Kapali temple in Mylapore) is flooded with doll vendors occupying every bit of pavement. Even if one doesnot keep golu at home....it is such a wonderful sight to just walk through the roads and enjoy the display of doll with each vendor. Those days (when I was in First and Second Grade) all my friends used to get dressed and go about house to house in our neighbour hood for Golu and we used to go almost everyday. Gone are those days....now we have some days chalked out for people to visit our homes and we send a mail (email/snail mail) or inform via  phone call to let them know when they should visit our homes....but how much ever it has changed I still love Navrathri.

Here I do not have that many dolls and I keep it in a book shelf. My son enjoyed it too...He liked dressing up in kurta every day and enjoyed playing with my friends kids every evening. I made Channa dal sundal on day 1 ,Black eyed Sundal on day 2,  Kesari on day 3, Ground nut sundal on day 4, Kabuli Channa sundal on day 5, Rajma Sundal on day 6, Yellow Peas Sundal on day 7, Green Peas Sundal on day 8 and Black Channa dal on day 9 for Saraswathy Pooja. I made this seven cups burfi too along with rajma sundal.
Amma made this when she came to visit us couple of years ago. I wanted to substitute the milk with ricotta but reserved ricotta for making rasamalai and used almond paste instead of milk. Navrathri celebrations went well. All my friends came over to my house and I had a good time dressing up in my pattu sari...after a long time all my silk saris saw some light (they were all confined to my suitcase for a long time).

Recipe....

1 Cup Besan Flour
1 Cup Almonds (you can use milk too..the original recipe calls for that)
1 Cup Ghee
3 Cups Sugar
1 Cup Ground coconut

If you are going to go with almond paste then soak the almonds in boiling water for an hour. Then peel the skin and grind it well to form a smooth paste (else you can just add milk).

First step before starting on the sweet is to always grease the plate with ghee.

Take a heavy bottom pan and add a tbsp of ghee and fry the besan flour until it turns slightly brown and brings a nice aroma! Add the sugar, almond paste, coconut and mix well. Keep stirring it. When it starts sticking to the bottom. Start adding the ghee. Pour it into a greased plate when it start leaving the sides.
Allow it to cool for a while and then cut the desired shape. The yummy seven cups burfi is ready! Everyone loved the burfi...it was a great hit!

Potato Peas Masala

It is almost a month since I posted anything...after my son's birthday party I did not try any new recipe....a week long went in eating the left overs!! I had made Veg Puff, Rava Idli and Chutneys to go with it, Bisi Bele Bath, Curd Rice and Jamun...the party was a great hit....

After my son's birthday party ...it was planning for the Golu...so something or the other came up and I got busy with it.

I have been thinking of making potato peas masala for a long time and I made it last week...

Ingredients:

5 Medium Sized Potatoes

8 Medium Sized Tomatoes

1/2 Cup Peas Frozen

1/2 Cup Chopped Onion

1/2 Tsp Coriander Powder

1/2 Tsp Garam Masala Powder

1 TBSPN Butter
2 Medium Size Green chilly
1 Inch piece Ginger chopped finely
1/2 Tsp Red Chilly Powder
1 Tsp Jeera
Salt to taste

Peel the potatoes and cut into big pieces and boil them. Take little oil in the pan and saute the tomatoes and allow it to cool and then puree it.
Melt butter in a pan and add the jeera, green chillies, ginger and finally add the onion. Saute the onion.
When the onion turns slightly brown. Add the boiled potatoes, salt, corinader powder, red chilly powder and garam masala powder and the tomatoe puree cook well.
Garnish it with cilantro and serve it with pulkas....