Lentil Fritters - Masala Vadai

I believe everyone had a wonderful  Mother's Day. I wanted to post a recipe that I will always associate with my mother today and one that I know she loves too - vadai. Being a diabetic, she rarely indulges in sweetmeat and is more of a snack person. She also happens to be a vegetarian and a very picky eater but one thing she will never be able to resist is deep-fried goodness like these crispy lentil fritters (paruppu vadai) or masala vadai.


This vadai goes by many different names but is often sold as masala vadai at restaurants, probably because the word masala conjures such pleasant images to people. I tried to make these once before, in my early days of cooking, but unfortunately that attempt went bonkers and the vadai fell apart while frying. I did the mistake of not grinding the batter properly. Anyway, I have finished mourning that mishap and have been wanting to give this another try. This time the masala vadai turned out really well and I was told it tasted great too.

We don't normally add garlic to this but I was inspired to try these with garlic after seeing a recipe on Rak's Kitchen for the same. I do add ground garlic to falafel and pakoda and since the garlic adds an immense depth of flavour, especially to fried food, it got me curious. Those of you who do not wish to use garlic could substitute the garlic with a pinch of asafoetida (hing). The green chilies are optional and could be added if you prefer your masala vadai to be really hot.

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow lentils (chana dal)
1 onion
1/2-1 tsp fennel seeds (or powder)
1 1/2 tsp red chili powder
2-3 green chilies (optional)
2 garlic cloves
2 sprigs curry leaves
3/4 to 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
Oil for frying

Method:
Rinse and wash the lentils in water 4 times or so until the water becomes clear and then soak the yellow lentils for 4 hours. Finely chop the onion, garlic cloves and the green chilies (if you are adding them). I prefer to cut the curry leaves with a food scissor as well. After 4 hours the lentils should have doubled in size. Drain the lentils. Put away 1/4 of the lentils and grind the remaining with garlic. Alternatively, grind the fennel seeds as well, because they can be a little domineering in flavor as whole. The batter should be ground coarsely with a generous amount of whole lentils. The more whole lentils there are in the vadai, the crunchier the vadai will turn out. So bearing this in mind, don't grind the lentils too much - just enough so as to able to shape them. In a bowl, mix the batter with red chili powder, curry leaves, onion, fennel seeds, salt and green chilies (if you are adding these) and mix/knead well.

Heat the oil needed for frying the vadai. Prepare a plate with tissue or absorbent paper to to drain the excessive oil from the deep-fried vadai and keep aside. Pinch off some batter and shape a small ball out of it and then flatten it out little to resemble a small cookie and carefully place one vadai in the oil. Take care not to splash oil while dropping the vadai into the oil. Also, take care not to drop it from a high altitude so as to avoid splashing hot oil around you. Fry it until it looks crisp on medium heat. Once you have fried the first vadai, taste to check whether the salt level is right. Add some more salt at this stage, if needed, and knead the batter before frying the rest of the vadai. Make sure the oil is really hot when dropping the vadai to get a crispy exterior, then lower the heat to medium so that it gets evenly fried. Serve the vadai warm and crispy with chutney/dip/ketchup or enjoy them just the way they are. Good luck!

Plantain fritters - Vaazhakkai bajji

I hope everyone has a dandy day and I want to wish everyone a Happy Pongal! I saw this recipe for vaazhakkai bajji posted on Tasty Appetite sometime back and the bajjis have been haunting me in my dreams, literally everyday since I saw them. Plaintains are a popular commodity at our home. As a matter of fact, ever since I told my family that I am going to make vaazhakkai bajji (which was about a week ago), every time I go into the kitchen to prepare something, they come into the kitchen and ask longingly whether I'm going to make bajjis. Today, I finally made them and they came out tasting good. Thank you, Jay, for this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients:
1 plantain (vazhakkai/vaazhakkai)
1 cup chickpea flour (besan/gram flour)
1 1/2 tbs rice flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp chili powder
A pinch of asafoetida
3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
3/4 cup water
Oil as required to deep-fry

Mixture (Mixer)

Mixture or "mixer" as I have been fondly calling it since childhood :) is a very popular snack in Sri Lanka and India. In our family, we prepare mixture with fried chickpeas, yellow lentils, dry-roasted cashews, salty peanuts and gram murukku. Making mixture is a time consuming process that requires copious amounts of oil but this snack has a long "expiry" date and is usually enjoyed by everyone in the household. It has been ages since we made this but with the upcoming festive season, it was about time we made this protein-packed snack.

Mixture:
2 cups chickpeas
2 cups yellow lentils
1 cup salty peanuts

Cashew nuts
4-5 sprigs of curry leaves
500 ml coconut oil for deep frying
Salt and ground chili powder to taste

Murukku:
2 cups gram flour (ground yellow lentil flour)
1 cup all purpose flour or rice flour
1/2 tsp ground ajwain
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 tsp ground chili powder
Salt to taste
Hot water

Step 1: Soak the chickpeas and the yellow lentils for 10-12 hours. Wash them again and drain from excess water. In a large pan heat the oil. Deep fry the yellow lentils. Deep-fry them in 2-3 batches. When you place them in the oil they will sink to the bottom. Once they are properly fried, they will start to float to top (see pictures). It will take about 10 minutes to deep fry them. Take some out and taste. They should be medium crunchy (they will get more crunchy once you have taken them out). Place them on tissue paper to drain the excess oil. Add salt and ground chili powder and mix while the lentils are still warm. Taste and adjust spices.

Step 2: Drain the chickpeas from water. This is very important as some of the chickpeas tend to "explode" and fly off in different directions while you deep-fry them. Place the chickpeas in a spoon and put them in the oil. Don't stay or sit close-by because one or two chickpeas always tend fly out in different directions. Deep-fry the chickpeas for about 15 minutes in 2-3 batches. Taste the chickpeas. They should be crunchy. Take them out and place them on a tissue paper. Add salt and ground chili powder while the chickpeas are still warm and mix with a spoon. Taste and adjust spices.

Step 3: To make the murukku, mix both flour types in a bowl. Add salt, turmeric, ground chili powder and dry roasted, ground ajwain and mix. Heat some water. Pour a small quantity of the water in the flour och wait for 3 minutes and then mix with a spoon and repeat this process until you get the same batter texture as seen below. 

Stuff an idiyappam/murukku maker with this batter and press it into the oil (see picture below). You'll have to repeat this process many a times till you finish the batter. Fry the murukku on both sides until golden brown. Take it out and place it on a tissue paper.

Step 4: Crush the murukku. Mix the deep-fried chickpeas, yellow lentils and the murukku in a large bowl. Dry roast some cashews and add them to the mixture. You can use store-bought salted peanuts or you can dry roast raw peanuts (I used a combination of both) and add them to the mixture. Lastly, add fried curry leaves and mix. Taste and adjust spices, if needed. Good luck! 

I am sending this as my entry to "Snacks Mela" by cooking cooking4allseasons.

Pakoda

Pakora/pakoda is a crispy snack made of chana dal. Typically, ready made flour (gram flour) is used to make them. My mother grinds soaked chana dal into a semi-coarse batter to get that crispiness.

2 cups chana dal
1 onion
1 whole garlic bulb
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2-1 tsp ajwain seeds (dry roasted and ground)
2 tsp chili powder/chili flakes
Salt to taste
Curry leaves
Water
Oil for frying

Soak the chana dal for 3-4 hours. Chop the onions, curry leaves and garlic finely. You could also grind the onion and garlic, which is what I did. Grind the chana dal semi-coarsely, add some water if needed. Add the onion, curry leaves and garlic to the grinded dal and mix. Add fennel seeds, chili powder, salt and ajwain seeds that have been dry-roasted and ground finely, to the mixture. The ajwain seeds are added for fragrance, you could exclude them if you want to or don't have them. Heat oil for deep frying. Take a handful of the pakora mixture and drop it carefully in the hot oil in small quantities with your hands. Fry them on both sides. After making the first batch, taste and adjust salt and spice, accordingly. Pakodas are best when eaten on the very first day, when they are still crispy.

Sauteed Chickpeas - Kadalai Sundal

Today is Saraswati puja. Most Hindus prepare and offer a variety of food to Goddess Saraswati today. One of the many items found at the offering table is sauteed chickpeas (kadalai sundal). I have been thinking about posting this recipe for a very long time and finally got the opportunity today. If you disregard the hours spent to soak and boil the chickpeas, this is an easy recipe with few basic ingredients. Apart from finding its place on the festival tables, sauteed chickpeas also make for a healthy snack and breakfast.

1 1/4 cup chickpeas

Oil (as needed)

1 onion

1/2 tsp cumin

3-4 dry red chilis

2 springs of curry leaves

Salt to taste

Soak the chickpeas overnight or for about 10-12 hours. Boil the chickpeas with salt for about 50 minutes, or until soft, at medium to high heat. Cut the onion finely and split or cut the red chilis. In a pan, heat oil and add cumin. Let the cumin darken a little bit. Then add onion, curry leaves and red chilis and fry until fragrant and light golden brown. Add the chickpeas and saute for 5-10 minutes. Ready to be served!   

Ulundu vadai

Although I did not manage to get the perfect shape, the vadais were deliciously crispy.

1 cup ulundu (urad dhal)
1 onion
1 tsp fennel seeds
3-4 green chilis
4-5 springs of curry leaves
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Soak the urad dal for 3-4 hours. You need to remove the black skin first (if you use urad dal without skin you can soak it for 2 hours). If you pour cold water and make circular motions in the water with your hand, you'll notice that the skin comes off and floats. Wash out the skin. You'll have to repeat this process until all the skin has been washed away. Cut the onion and the green chili. 

Now place half of the urad dal in a blender/grinder and grind the dal very smooth and thick. Add the least amount of water you possibly can. If the batter contains too much water it will be difficult to "shape" it into vadais. When you have ground all the urad dal, pour the mixture in a large bowl and mix all the ingredents. Meanwhile, heat oil for deep frying the vadai. Cut some squares, large enough to shape vadai, on a clean plastic bag/sheet and oil the squares on one side. Take some batter and place them on the square, flatten them slightly and make a hole in the middle. When the oil is ready, remove the vadais from the plastic squares and place them carefully in the hot oil and deep fry both sides. 

Have a plate with a tissue paper prepared to place the deep fried vadais and drain the excess oil. At first it is better to fry only one vadai and taste it and add more salt, if needed, and then after that, deep fry more vadais at a time. These vadais are best consumed on the very same day they are made, when they are still warm and crunchy. Best of luck!

Potato patties

This is a recipe on potatoe patties, which is perfect for outings such as picnic. Since these patties are baked in the oven, they are not as oily as samosas and are very soft, like bread.

Dough:
25 g yeast
1 cup water
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tbs oil
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:
2 large potatoes
2 medium onions
2 large green chili
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tbs curry powder
3 spring curry leaves
Salt to taste

Peel the potatoes and the cut them into halves (to allow them to boil faster) and boil them. Meanwhile, prepare the dough for the patties and let it rest covered for 30 minutes. Slice the onions and green chili as well as the boiled potatoes into small pieces. Heat 3 tbs of oil, add cumin, then the onion and chili. Fry until golden brown. Then add the potatoes, spices and the curry leaves and mix well for about 10 minutes at medium heat. Put aside. Divide the dough into small equal balls and roll them out. Place the filling in the middle and fold it in the middle. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 C (400 F) degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Once out of the oven, let them cool on a wire rack.