Saturday, August 19, 2006

Maddur Vada's


Shwe , Poo and me have been best of friend’s ever since we were kid’s. Though our friendship has matured over the period of time,there is not a topic under the sun that we have not spoken about, right from whining about our school homework’s to boys to our married lives to our tried and tested recipes. But of all the things I guess that we enjoy talking now is the recipes. Though Poo is not here in US I try to get in touch with her every once in a while and all she does is remind me of her signature dish called Taleepeth. She is famous in our group for that… and believe me she gave me the recipe and I have prepared it probably "n" number of times.
Whereas Shwe has her hands on the snack part and most of all her snacks that I like is her maddur vadas. Maddur is a small town in Karnataka district and this place is just famous for its vadas. My mouth salivates when I am writing this. It is just an awesome comfort food which Shwe has managed to create it with the right quantity of ingredients to match the maddur vadas of Maddur. Thank you Shwe for sharing your recipe .This will always remind me of our travel from Mysore to Bangalore with a in between stop at Maddur to grab a bite for the rest of our journey! Those were the maddur vada days :(




Cheer’s to Maddur Vada

Makes about 15 vadas

1 cup of Rice Flour
1 cup of Maida (All purpose flour)
1 ½ cups of Sooji Rava (Semolina flour, not very coarse)
¼ cup of Vegetable Oil
4 green chillies
1 onion
10 stalks of Cilantro
10-12 Cashews (cut into small pieces)
Oil for Deep Frying.
Curry leaves (few)
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste

In a pan fry the Flours separately (until the flour warms up), add all the ingredients and mix it with water to form the consistency of the chappati dough. Make small sized balls and keep it aside.
On your palm rub some oil, place the mixture ball in the centre and start pressing it with your right hand to form into a not so thick round shape. Deep fry it in oil until both sides become brown and crispy. Drain the excess oil on a paper towel.

Serve it either hot or after cooled with chutney or have it just like that with coffee.

*This can be stored for close to 15 days in an air tight container.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Onion & Spinach Pakora


Potluck at a friend’s place…

I remember those hustle bustle parties that we used to have when we were young, all my aunts used to get together and prepare varieties of dishes flaunting their expertise in the dishes they made, boy that used to be a feast. Those were the times….
Dinner get together with friends now has been an integral parts of our lives since we moved here on work. Since most of our friends are bachelors and bacheloretts they always have lots of things to talk about their culinary experiences and my eyes and ears are always open when it come to the matter of food.
I almost spent half a day of my time thinking what I would be whipping to take to the pot luck party , I breezed form no fat healthy food to all fried items. As you all know, its always the tongue that rules over your head when it comes to food!!! (At least mine!!)…So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

5 big size red or yellow onions (Thinly Sliced)
1 bunch spinach (Finely chopped)
2 green chillies (Chopped)
½ bunch cilantro (Chopped)
½ cup besan flour
2 tbsp Rice flour
1tsp chilli powder
Salt to taste.


In a broad pan put all the ingredients and sprinkle very little water and start mixing it with your fingers. (* Note that the onions are watery and using too much water will make the batter watery).
In a shallow frying pan heat oil at medium, when the oil is hot take a small spoon and scoop the mixture to the size you want and fry it in oil. Keep turning it upside down every 2 mins and let them fry until golden brown. Place the fried pakoras on a kitchen towel to drain excess oil.

Serve it with ketchup or with hot coffee.

** The batter should be prepared just 5 mins before making the pakoras because Onions large water content .