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!

Appam for Avani Avittam

Yesterday August 24, 2010 was Avani Avittam and also happens to be Rakshabandhan ....I made Potato Karamadu (Veggie), Satruamudhu (Rasam), Keerai Moolagootal, Kesari (since it also happens to be pournami and as always I do Satya Narayana Pooja) and last but not the least Urad dhal Vadai (and also had left overs Sambhar and my fav chepankiyangu roast). I had postponed the appam which is quintessential to be made on the day of Avani Avittam for the evening snack. I haven't made this in years...do not ask me what happened in the previous years....  Then I remembered that I did not have a shallow pan...and I knew that this is a must for making appams but I have only flat bottom frying pans...so I ventured making this in with my paniyarakal. I am planning to Pancake Puffs Cast Iron set soon....since my paniyarakal moulds are very small and it gets cumbersome to flip it. After a heavy lunch I set out to make the yummy appams....as mentioned in my earlier posts I am big fan of sweets made with jaggery so I was even more excited in making this.....I did have hits and misses the first two rounds but did get it right...though my first two sets turned dark....it still tasted good...crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.....this can be made with rice flour or maida (all purpose flour). But I love it only the ones made with rice...the maida stuff does not turn that tasty....I could not get good photos...but it was too good....hence decided to post it.

Ingredients: (16 pieces)

3/4th Cup Rice soaked in water for an hour or two
1/2 Cup Jaggery
4 Cardamom
1/2 Cup Coconut
Oil for frying

Drain the water completely from the rice and grind it well. Add the jaggery, cardamom and coconut and blend it along with the rice. Heat the paniyarakal with little oil and lower the heat. Pour into the moulds. Once you see it is cooked and is turning brown ...flip it over to the other side carefully using two spoons. Add some more oil on top the appams. Take it out and place it on a kitchen towel to drain out excess oil when you see the flipped side has also turned brown.
If you are making it using a fry pan always remember that you should only do "ONE" appam at a time and also do it on a shallow pan. I know couple of my friends have been looking for this recipe in my blog...sorry could not post it earlier. Hoping it will come in handy for the upcoming Sri Jayanti and future Avani Avittams....Enjoy!

Thenkuzhal

I am not sure as to why on Earth this karumuru stuff got a name synonymous to that of a sweet..."then"kuzhal!! Kuzhal is a wind instrument (like nagaswaram)....likewise when you break the thenkuyal you can see that it is hollow....and "then" (do not read this word the way you do in English though) it is Honey ( தேன்). The word "Kuzhal" always reminds me of the kural - "kuzhal inidhu yaazh inidhu enbatham makkal mazhalai sol kelaadhavar"... true isn't it...

This was the first karumuru my son had and he loved it. When my friend came back from her India trip she brought back thenkuzhal made by her patti...since I never game my son store bought namkeen he had never tasted these.... he loved the thenkuzhal and enjoyed the ones that my friend got for him...He was around 16 months or so at that time....I made the same for Diwali last year but somehow did not get it right....I made it yesterday and it turned out pretty good....Hence wanted to post it... this might come in handy for my friends to make Sri Jayanthi Bakshanam which is falling on Sep 1, 2010.

Ingredients

2 Cups Raw Rice Flour
1 Tbpsn Urad Dhal Powder (Dry roast urad dhal and grind it. Sieve it and then use)
1 Tsp Jeera
1/4 Tsp Hing
3/4th Tsp Salt
1/4 Stick Unsalted Butter
Water
Oil for frying

Take the Rice Flour and mix the urad dhal, salt, jeera, hing and butter. Mix well by sprinkling water from time to time. You may add the oil that you have heated to bind it well. Make it into a soft dough.
Heat the oil. You need the Murukku Press to make these. Spread the oil that is getting heated in the press. Take small balls put in the press. Make thenkuyal by squeezing the press (achu) over the oil. Take it out when the noise stops (the salasala satham of oil). Some people say that thenkuzhal has to turn brown.....but I would say the authentic ones have to stay white in color (the trick for that remains in making the urad dhal!) ....Enjoy the karumuru thenkuzhal!

Karumuru Thattai

Since we went out for dinner last night I have left overs of yesterdays spinach macial, carrot veggie and sambhar hence nothing much to do in the kitchen today.... My son has been asking me for seedai since last week...though it is also easy to make...I am scared to do it alone (when put in oil there is a chance for it to splash all over and end up getting messy....the trick is to always roll the seedais into irregular shape and the seedai balls should be to be brim of the oil ....even though I know it...I do not venture into that).

I have been thinking of making thattai....if we are making this in India it is a laborious process. They soak the rice in water and then dry it in a clean muslin cloth. Take it to the mill (or grind in the mixie at home) to grind it to be made into thattais, murukkus, seedai etc. I do not have to any of it. I haven't made thattai in years....I love it so much.

Ingredients: (makes about 20 thattai of the size you see in the picture)
1 1/2 Cup Rice Flour
1/2 Tsp Urad Dhal Flour
1 Tsp Red Chilly Powder
3 Tsp Ghee
2 Tsp Channa Dhal (soaked in water for couple of hours) or If you have forgotten to soak it then you can use peanuts (roasted) or pottukadalai. I used the pottukadalai since I had not planned ahead!
1/4 Tsp Asafoetida (Hing)
1/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
Water
Wax Paper for making the thattais
Oil for frying

If you have urad dhal powder you may use it as is. If you do not have it then dry roast it in the pan or take 2 tsp of urad dhal and microwave it for a minute (the time varies depending on the power of your microwave).
Grind it into fine powder.

Take the Rice flour in a bowl. Add the Urad dhal powder, red chilly powder, asafoetida, ghee, turmeric powder and the pottukadalai.

Knead it well by adding water as needed. Make it into a nice ball (the dough should not be too soft or too hard).

Now heat the oil for frying the thattai.

Take the wax paper. Make small balls and flatten it with your fingers. Poke it using a fork so that it does not puff up while frying in the oil. Do not allow them to dry for too long before frying them in oil.

Make couple of them and fry it oil. As you fry simultaneously flatten the balls (thattais)..this will keep them from drying. Crunchy thattais are ready to be served. This took me less than an hour to make them (including the prep time).

I do not like giving my son store bought fried items. Whenever we eat the store bought snacks he always asks for it...I end up giving him some cookies since I do not want him to eat it. Today I was so happy serving him home made thattais...