Alasande Vade ( Pakoras made of Black eyed beans)

Alasande vade has been a favourite snack ever since my dad introduced its taste to me when I was 10 yrs old.One day when it rained like nobody's business... Soaked black eyed beans came in handy.

This week girls wanted to do a writeup instead of me.. so I thought I will let them do it.They took the whole of yesterday on the computer and I was wondering what they were up to. Did not realise that they had actually made it so well I had no heart to change anything.It was too good to make any changes. I am quite amazed at their computing skills.

Ingredients

1 cup Alasandi beans (Black eyed beans)

1 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)

2/3 green chillies

1 inch Ginger finely chopped

1 onion finely chopped

salt to taste

oil to fry.

Method

Soak the black eyed beans over night. Drain and grind with ginger,green chillies, cumin and salt. Mix the chopped onions and salt.Use little water while grinding the batter should be thick like urad vada paste.

Heat the oil in a pan. Make small balls of the batter and deep fry till golden brown.

Serve hot with sauce/green chutney.

Enjoy the rest of the week.Will update with another simple but tasty recipe.

KHAMAN DHOKLA

I have been trying to make Dhoklas for god knows how many years... There was one Mrs. Baliga who made most yummy I have ever had in my life. A famous and delicious Gujarati snack.. I did tr many times .After several failed attempts I resorted to Gits, and Aashirwad's instant packets of Khaman dhoklas which did give a rather nice snacks . Enjoyed them , but the bug of making from scratch bit me again a few months ago and I got lucky this time... after a few disastrous efforts.


Most lovely dhoklas I had made were from this recipe I found after a lot of browsing and have been using ever since.




Tried watermarking my pictures... it wasnt succesful so forgive the quality of pics...

KHAMAN DHOKLA

Ingredients
1 cup Besan (Gram flour)

2 tbsp Rava (Sooji)1/2 tsp

Citric acid crystals or use Eno Fruit salt

1 tbsp Ginger and green chilli paste

Salt - to taste

2 tbsp Sugar

2 tsp Baking soda

To Garnish:

2 tbsp Oil
2 tsp Mustard seeds
A pinch of Hing (asafoetida)
2 to 3 green chillies finely chopped
3 tbsp Coriander - chopped
2 tbsp Grated coconut (fresh preferred)

Method

Mix all the ingredients except the baking soda. Add about 3/4 cup of water. The batter should be about the consistency of dosa batter. Add little more water if you feel the consistency is thick.
Apply some oil to a deep, flat bottomed stainless steel vessel (like a cake pan) that fits into your pressure cooker. Pour some water into the cooker and let it boil up. Once the water boils, add the baking soda to the batter and whip it up. Please not that the the batter should froth up.
Pour it into the prepared vessel to half the height, leaving enough space for the Dhokla to rise up and expand.

Place it into the cooker and let it steam for about 10 minutes. (steam like idlis, not to be pressure cooked)


You can even do the above process in a microwave, but Dhokla usually tends to become too dry and rubbery if you keep it out for even an hour or so. So this method should be used only if you want to eat it up as soon as you prepare it.

Use a microwave-safe container with a lid, grease it with oil, add the baking soda to the batter and half-fill the container. Microwave for 4-5 minutes with the lid on. Remove and sprinkle some water on the khaman to make it soft.
After the cooking is done , insert a knife or toothpick in the center and make sure it comes out clean. Let it cool down and then transfer it to a plate and cut it into squares or diamonds.

To garnish:
heat up some oil , add mustard seeds, when they splutter, add hing and chillies and then pour it over the prepared khaman dhokla. Garnish it with coriander leaves and grated coconut and serve hot with Green chutney /Tamarind Chutney or both.....enjoy and keep me posted if you like it or not.

MAVINAKAYI CHITRANNA (MANGO RICE)

First of all I have to apologise for not being prompt in updating... I hope you all did miss me. Well even thinking that it is optimism. I would be happy if you all actually did visit to see if there were any updates.

I had to make a short trip to India.The journey was hectic but well rewarded by the mangoes and Sapotas (Chikkoo) Season. Enjoyed everyday on them.Though it was early in the seaoson and the best were yet to come I feasted on the raw mangoes.They are as delicious as fruits.

Mouthwatering Mango

Mangoes are originally from Southeast Asia, where they have grown for over 4000-6000 years. In India, mangoes are considered sacred and India is the world's largest producer of mangoes. Scientifically known as Mangifera Indica, these are part of the sumac family, and related to the cashew.There are thousands of varieties of mangoes which are available in a variety of shapes and sizes.Being season and delicious they are termed King of fruits.

We lived in Mettur Dam ( Tamilnadu, Salem District)for a few years literally in a Mango grove. Each house had the bliss of one or two mango trees. The one in our house would produce on an average of 1000 to 3000 every season. It had become like a ritual to have mangoes everyday as a dish,and finally would be tired of eating it in others house too.

Now, I am delighted at the sight of one mango and keep wondering looking at it, how could anyone get tired of such a sweet and amazing fruit. I did not long ago!!!!!!!!!

This trip I brought back with me a few raw mangoes ..They were from the backyard of an acquaintance of ours.It was the fresh smell.. Cut one to find it was almost sweet.. nevertheless enjoyed it with some salt.The other one was sour as mango should be fit for Mavinkayi Chitranna, a typical dish of Yugadi ( New year according to Hindu Lunar calender ) festival in Karnataka. Everyone would relish this dish I can claim!!!

Mavinakayi Chitranna

( can be said RICE WITH MANGO FLAVOUR, or Mango rice to make it simpler)

Ingredients:

1 medium sized raw mango

1/2 cup grated coconut

4 dry red chillies

1 tsp jeera

1tsp coriander leaves

pinch of hing (asafoetida)

1 tsp turmeric

1 cup rice

salt to taste

1 tsp ghee

For the seasoning

mustard seeds

cumin seeds

chana dal (bengal gram dhal)

urad dal (black gram dhal

sprig of curry leaves

2 tsps of peanuts (cashew nut can be added for richer taste)

Method:

Cook the rice and spread it on a plate and allow to cool. add a spoon of ghee.The rice should be cooked well but the grains should be separated not sticky ( Khila Khila chawal).Keep aside.

Grate the raw mango. Grind together with Coconut, jeera, dry red chillies, salt, turmeric . The paste or chutney is the base.

In a kadai, add the oil , when hot add the ingredients of seasoning.,. when the peanuts are reddish add the above ground masala and saute for a minute and put the heat off.

Mix the above masala to the rice well . Garnish with some coriander leaves and freshly grated mango shreds.

The delicious chitranna is ready to devour... serve with some papad, ( Happala/ Sandige ) .It is tasty on its own.

Try , enjoy and let me know ....