Carrot Balls

Carrot Balls

Besan: Gram Flour

This one is a great dish to those who don't like to eat Carrots, esp kids. And an awesome appetizer for any day.
Printer-Friendly Recipe: Carrot Balls

Ingredients

2 Carrots, grated
1 Onion, chopped
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
few Curry leaves, chopped
few coriander leaves, chopped
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 green chillies, chopped
a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
oil for deep frying
Besan, as needed for binding

Method

1. Heat oil for deep frying.
2. Take a bowl add the rest of the ingredients except Besan and mix well.
3. Keep adding besan little at a time to form a stiff dough.
4. Make small balls out of the dough and deep fry.

Serve hot as is or with Ketchup.

Aratikaya Vada

South Indian: Raw Banana Vada/Plantain Vada/Aratikaya Vada

Plaintains are rich in fiber and they can be a good addition to our daily diet. Cilantro added in this recipe is very good for our digestive system and it tends to remove bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol. Turmeric removes bacteria from the digestive track. So, overall this is a healthy food and can be taken frequently.

Printer Friendly Version: Aratikaya Vada

2 plantains, grated

1/2 cup rice flour

1 cup besan flour

2 green chillies (more if like it hot)

1/2 bunch curry leaves

1/2 bunch coriander/cilantro

1/2 chana dal

red chilly powder to taste

a pinch of turmeric

oil for deep frying

salt to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients together and make them into disc shapes and deep fry them in oil.

Serve with ketchup or as it is.

Tip: Plantains tend to become dark after cutting, putting them in water after cutting will retain their color.

Boondi Laddu

Posted this recipe in my Sweets site, Mithai-Bhandar!.

Please click on the picture and it will take you there!

Print this recipe: Boondi Laddu

Special News w Bandaru Laddu

Wishing all my friends and readers, a Happy and Joyous New Year!!


Along with this, I have some special news to announce and that is ..

We are expecting a baby in May (our first one)!! And we are so thrilled to bring this news to you. We have sent number of cards to all our well wishers and friends about this on this New Year and seeing their responses made our day terrific.

On this occasion, I bring you a dessert, which most of us cherish. I think it should be called Besan Laddu instead of Bandaru Laddu, but I got this recipe from a TV channel, E-Tv and the chef named it as Bandaru Laddu. The procedure for Bandaru Laddu is elaborate and demands a lot of time and attention, but this can be done in less than 30 mins. So, this is not an authentic Bandaru Laddu recipe instead a twisted one. The taste was close to Bandaru Laddu though.

2 cups Besan/Gram Flour
3T ghee
1 cup sugar
1t cardammon powder
1/2 cup milk

1. Heat ghee and fry Besan until golden brown.
2. Add sugar, cardammon powder and mix.
3. Add 1/2 cup warm milk and mix.
4. The whole mixture leaves the sides of the pan and the whole mixture becomes a ball.
5. Mix for a minute or two and remove.
6. Make laddus and let them cool down.

To decorate, garnish with dry fruits of your choice.

Palak Kadhi

A simple and nutritious kadhi loaded with iron, protein and calcium. Very easy to make.

Heat oil, add cumin, rai and few red and green chillies. After they splutter, add Palak/Spinach and cook until done. Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric and cook for a minute. On the side, mix Besan/Gram flour with Dahi/Yogurt with enough water. Add that Dahi, Besan mixture to Palak/Spinach and cook until the curry becomes thick. Add salt before removing and eat hot with rice.

Forgot to add, this was made by my brother when I was busy doing other things in the kitchen.

Stuffed Bhindi

Stuffed okra is one of my favorites and I would like to eat that along with plain dal especially on a rainy day. I got fresh Okra from the local farmer’s market for $4 a bucket and I am planning to make variety of recipes using the remaining ones.

You need…

20 okras
4 tbsp besan/gram flour
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
½ tsp amchur powder
salt to taste
a pinch of turmeric

1. Slit okras vertically and keep aside. *
2. Roast besan until the raw smell goes. This step is optional, you can make it without roasting too.
3. Mix all powders together and with ginger garlic paste.
4. Fill this powder carefully with spoon in the slits that you made for okra.
5. Shallow fry them in oil and remove when brown and cooked.
   

* You can even roast okras before filling it with powder for crispiness.

Interesting facts:

Okra leaves may be cooked in a similar manner as the greens of

beets or dandelions. The leaves are also eaten raw in salads. Okra seeds may be roasted and ground to form a non-caffeinated substitute for coffee.

Nutrition Info: Okra is a rich source of many nutrients, including fiber, vitamin B6 and folic acid.

1. The superior fiber found in okra helps to stabilize blood sugar as it curbs the rate at which sugar is absorbed from the intestinal tract.
2. Okra's mucilage not only binds cholesterol but bile acid carrying toxins dumped into it by the filtering liver. But it doesn't stop there...
3. Many alternative health practitioners believe all disease begins in the colon. The okra fiber, absorbing water and ensuring bulk in stools, helps prevent and improve constipation. Fiber in general is helpful for this but okra is one of the best, along with ground flax seed and psyllium. Unlike harsh wheat bran, which can irritate or injure the intestinal tract, okra's mucilage soothes, and okra facilitates elimination more comfortably by its slippery characteristic many people abhor. In other words, this incredibly valuable vegetable not only binds excess cholesterol and toxins (in bile acids) which cause numerous health problems if not evacuated, but then assures easy passage out of the body of same. Unlike some prescription and over-the-counter drugs for this, the veggie is completely non-toxic, non-habit forming (except for the many who greatly enjoy eating it), has no adverse side effects, is full of nutrients, and is economically within reach of most.
4. Further contributing to the health of the intestinal tract, okra fiber (as well as flax and psyllium) has no equal among fibers for feeding the good bacteria (probiotics).
5. To retain most of okra's nutrients and self-digesting enzymes, it should be cooked as little as possible, e.g. with low heat or lightly steamed. Some eat it raw. However, if one is going to fry it (and it is undeniably delicious prepared that way when rolled in cornmeal and salt), only extra virgin olive oil, or UNREFINED coconut butter is recommended (this is NOT the unhealthy partially hydrogenated product found in processed foods.) Organic ghee used by gourmet chefs, has the oil and flavor of butter without the solids, is also excellent for frying okra (does not burn like butter),
   
   Nutrition Info :

http://www.physiology.wisc.edu/ravi/okra/

1. Interesting facts: wikipedia.org
   

Gujarathi Style Baked Cabbage

After Baking

I was searching for some recipes to make with Cabbage on the net and I found this recipe. I am really not a cabbage lover and in fact I have never eaten cabbage my first 20 years in India. After coming to US, I and my close friend Divya tried fried cabbage curry and we didn’t eat but served to others. Everybody praised on how good the curry was. This made us try that and we took very little in the plate along with others. We liked it instantly and we also cooked at our respective places in India during our X-mas vacation. Our family members were really surprised. And lot of such veggies that I never tried before in India made me try in the US. And I still hate Radish; I just can’t get myself to eat that.

I got this recipe from International Vegetarian Union. I am really surprised to find that this was started in 1908 and India is also in the list. Read more on the site for more info…

You can view the recipe here, I didn’t make any changes to it and the dish tasted almost like Pakoda. I took some for my colleagues and they liked it too. I took some Hot and Sweet Maggi Sauce on the side and we liked it both ways.

Before Baking

Besan Toast

These days I am making things out of the leftover stuff lying in the fridge, I am in the process of clearing the fridge and concentrating on many veggies and other stuff. In this case, it is bread, there is a big packet of it unused yet. We don't normally feel like eating bread but I got about 2 packets thinking of making bread roll but I made many with just one packet. Looks like I am wasting a lot of money on food...

Anyways, this is a simple food for the weekend brunches if you are in the middle of weekend chores. Add anything you like to the besan and make a toast of your choice.

I added salt, pepper, chilly powder, turmeric, ginger-garlic paste, fresh chopped coriander to the besan and added some warm water to mix it. Don't make it too thick as it takes sometime to cook and will not cook well. Make the batter into a semisolid consistency and leave aside for 15-20 mins.

Heat a pan, smear some oil on the pan. Dip the bread and shallow fry in little bit of oil. Actually I didn't use oil at all and it was good that way too. I don't know how nutritious this is, it can be if we make the toast with either whole grain or wheat bread. But besan is all protein and I guess that's enough for one meal. Serve it with sauce (something hot) and some juice or milk. I served pista and saffron milk with this meal. It was full and we were not hungry until late night.

Our Saturday's brunch

Palak Rava Cheela

I went home early and wanted to make something nice for the dinner. I have searched various blogs, the cookbooks at home and stood near the refrigerator looking at the vegetables for long but I didn’t feel like eating any of them. And we both were not in a mood to eat heavy food because of the heavy lunch we had, rice and drumsticks sambhar.

I was looking to make food that is something light and easy on stomach. And I had one more issue on mind that whatever I make I should be able to take that for next day’s lunch instead of cooking two different items. And I am working on 8 am shift these days, so it is not possible to cook in the morning. After an hour of thinking, browsing, struggling on what to cook, I ended up making this pakal rava cheela. I decided to make rava cheela in the beginning but added spinach to it at the end. These days I am adding spinach in almost all the dishes, even in chole and aloo mutter.

--------------
Ingredients
--------------
1 cup rava
1 cup palak/spinach
4 Tbsp besan
1 small onion
2 green chillies
½ inch ginger
1 Tbsp yogurt
1tbsp ajwayan (oregano seeds)
Few springs of coriander
Curry leaves (optional)
Salt to taste
Water (about a cup)

1. Chop palak, onion, green chillies, ginger, coriander, curry leaves and keep aside.
2. Add besan and salt to rava and mix all together.
3. Add yogurt and water to step2 to make a smooth batter.
4. Add chopped veggies from step 1 to the batter. Add ajwayan.
5. Heat a pan and season it with a little oil (just like you do for Dosas).
6. Put some batter on the pan and spread in the shape of a circle. Spray oil on the sides for crispiness (you can avoid this if you are conscious about fat).
7. Cook on both sides until light brown.
8. Remove and serve with ketchup or coconut chutney.
   

The outcome was better than expected; the taste of palak was completely different with this dish. You can even puree palak before adding to the batter for uniform taste.

Mouth-Watering Muthiyas

These muthiyas are so tasty (writing as I eat) and so extra rich. I never thought these would be so good. I saw this post on Trupti’s site and was trying to make this from that day but never found time. This dish got ready in no time. I made this with Whole Wheat Flour and thought that this might turn bad but it did not.

I would have asked you to refer to Trupti’s site for the recipe, but I have added few more items, so I am presenting that here.

Ingredients

1.5 cup whole wheat flour
4 tbsp besan
1 tbsp rava
1 cup spinach leaves
½ cup methi leaves
1 cup corn
2 big chopped green chillies
½ inch chopped fresh ginger
1 tbsp oil from pickle
Yogurt to bind the dough
Handful of cilantro leaves
Salt, sugar, turmeric as per your taste

For seasoning

2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp asatofoetida
1 tbsp sugar
Few drops of lime juice
Cilantro leaves for garnishing

1. Mix wheat flour, besan, rava, spinach leaves, methi leaves, corn, green chillies, ginger, pickled oil, salt, sugar and slowly add yogurt. Don’t add too much yogurt, you need it just to bind everything together and make the mixture into small balls.
2. Steam the balls until they are well cooked. You can check if they are cooked by inserting the knife, the knife should come out clean. Cut them into pieces after they cool down.
3. Put cooking pan on the stove, add oil and let it heat for a minute
4. Add mustard seeds, let them splutter, and add sesame seeds, asatofoetida. Add cut muthiyas to the seasoning and stir fry them until light brown.
5. Add sugar and lime juice (fresh juice is preferable) and garnish with cilantro.

Serve with sweet yogurt or ketchup.