GODHUMAI MAVVU PAKKODA

INGREDIENTS:
Wheat flour          1 cup
Rice flour             1/4 cup
Onion                  2 No
Green chillies       2 no
Soda                   a pinch
Curry leaves      few
Coriander leaves     2 tbsp
Chilli powder          1 tsp
Salt                     to taste
Hing                    a pinch
Oil                     to fry

METHOD:
Chop the onions, green chillies, curry leaves and coriander leaves.
Mix the chopped items with the rest of the items except oil.
Sprinkle water as needed to make a thick batter.
Heat oil in kadai and drop the batter little by little.
Fry to golden colour.
Serve hot with  tomato sauce or coconut chutney.

CHOLAFALI FOR ICC

Dear readers, sorry for the long break. Exams for kid, vacation joys, etc put me on silent mode almost for a month.Every women will be craving to visit her mom's place during vacations, like our kids we'll also be counting the days when the exams will get over!!!! Just enjoyed my vacation this time as usual, finished my Deepavali purchases, had nice delicious food etc. And also learnt some new recipes from my fav  Annapoorani Atthai.
    Coming to ICC challenge for this month, the team has selected a Gujarati dish which sounded very new to me. I was skeptical in preparing this dish, as I haven't seen or tasted this snack. But gave a try, to my surprise the dish turned out tasty...I selected Preeti's blog. The recipe is easy and can be prepared any time. any day. Perfect for a rainy evening.
INGREDIENTS :
Besan flour        1 cup
Urad dal flour    1/2 cup
Chilli powder      1 tsp
Oil                     1 tsp
Soda                  a pinch
Salt                   for taste
Oil                    for frying

Black salt          for taste

METHOD:
Boil 1/2 cup of water with oil, salt and soda. When warm add to both the flours along with chilli powder to a dough.Keep aside for 15 mins.Roll into thin chappathis, cut into strips and deep ry in hot oil. Sprinkle salt and black salt as for taste.Serve plain or with coriander mint chutney.
NOTE : In the original recipe chilli powder is used  for sprinkling after frying, here I have used  to the dough itself.

SABLES (FRENCH BUTTER COOKIES)

A perfect cookie for a perfect evening. The texture of the cookie is  crispy  outside and softer inside. Ideal for Bday parties, Christmas etc.
INGREDIENTS :
Butter            120 gms
Granulated Sugar        1/2 cup
Maida            2 cups
Egg               1 no
Baking powder  1/2 tsp
Vanilla essencs    1 tsp
Salt                    1/4 tsp
 For Egg wash:
Egg             1 no
Water          1 tbsp

METHOD :
In a bowl add sugar and butter and beat with the electric beater for about 2-3 mins.Add egg and vanilla essence and give a mix.
In a separate bowl seive baking powder, salt and maida.Add this to the butter mixture and mix to form a soft dough. The dough will be sticky, so add little flour and knead to softly. Do not over knead.
Wrap in a cling film and refridgerate for 30 mins.
Preheat the oven to 180*C.
Flour the rolling surface. Roll the dough to 1cm thick. Use the round cookie cutter and cut.
Mix beaten egg and water well for egg wash.
Give a criss cross pattern with the knife to the cookie.Apply egg wash with a brush.
Bake for about 12-14 mins @ 180*C. Baking time varies with the size of the cookie.
Note:
Here I have sprinkled colour balls and choclate strings after the eggwash and baked as said.

FRENCH FRIES

INGREDIENTS:

Potatoes       2 nos big

Salt              to taste

Oil               to fry

Method:

Peel the skin of potatoes and cut into medium sticks.

Immerse them in cold water for 30 mins.Change the water  until the starch is removed.

Dry them in a paper towel.

Fry in medium hot oil for 5 mins.Drain them and keep separate.

Again fry in hot oil till crisp.Sprinkle salt and serve.

Note: Immersing in cold water and frying twice gives extra crispness.

PUDACHI WADI OR CORIANDER ROLLS

This month ICC challenge focuses on a Maharashtrian snack item called Pudachi Wadi. At first I found difficult  to pronounce the dish name itself, but after reading the recipe it was interesting. The recipe is adapted from here. The aroma of fresh coriander lingers in our month after each bite.The actual recipe illustrates us  to  make a roll and fry in oil, but here I have made like the usual samosas.
INGREDIENTS:

For the dough:

Besan flour   3/4 cup

Wheat flour  3/4 cup

Redchilly powder  1/2tsp

Turmeric powder  1/4 tsp

Salt    to taste

Hot oil     3 tbsp

Stuffing:
Fresh coriander    2cups
Dry coconut    2tbsp
Khus Khus    1 tbsp
Sesame seeds  1tbsp
Garlic             3 cloves
Ginger           1/2" piece
Green chillies   2-3 no
Onion            1 no
Sugar            3/4 tsp
Oil              1 tbsp
Salt           to taste
Juice of 1/2 lime.

For the paste:
Oil   2tsp
Garam masala  1tsp
Thick tamarind pulp   2tsp

Oil  to deep fry

METHOD:
Combine all the items given for dough. Add  enough water and make a stiff dough.
Wash and chop the coriander leaves finely. Dry fry khus khus, sesame seeds and dry coconut,and make a coarse powder.
Grind ginger and green chillies to a coarse paste.
Heat a tbsp oil and saute chopped onions, ginger chilly paste and garlic.
Add this to the chopped coriander along with coarse powder,lime juice,sugar and salt.Mix well and keep aside.
Mix oil, garam masala and tamarind to a thick paste.
Take little dough and roll into a thin chappathi.Cut the sides to a square shape.Apply the paste.Keep the filling in the center and close  to form a triangle.Apply water and seal the sides.
Fry in medium heat to golden colour.
Serve with tomato sauce or katta meeta chutney.

Notes: In the actual recipe the Pudachi Wadi is made into rolls, lightly roasted in tawa and finally fried in hot oil. But here I have directly fried in oil.Also for the stuffing Archana has added red chilly powder, which I have omitted and increased the spiceness with green chillies itself.

VAZHAIPOO VADAI

INGREDIENTS:
Vazhaipoo(banana  flower)    1 no
Kadalai paruppu                   2 cups
Raw rice                               2 tbsp
Onion                                   2 No
Green chillies                        4-5 no
Garlic                                   4-5 pods with skin
Sombu                                 2 tsp
Ginger                                 1/2" piece
Curry leaves                        few
Coriander leaves                 few
Cinnamon                           1/2"piece
Salt                                     to taste
Oil                                     to fry
METHOD:
Clean the banana flower  and cook with turmeric powder till soft.
Drain the water and keep aside.
Soak kadallai paruppu and  raw rice for about 2 hrs.
Grind coarsely with the given items except oil, curry leaves, onion and coriander leaves.Do not add water.
Atlast  towards the end of grinding add the cooked flower and mince once.
Check for salt. Add chopped onion, coriander leaves and curry leaves.
Heat oil in kadai, shape into round and fry in hot oil.
Serve hot with coffee or tea.

ONION PAKODA

INGREDIENTS:
Big onion    3 no
Gram flour   5 tbsp
Rice flour     3 tbsp
Corn flour    1 tbsp
Maida          1 tbsp
Chilli powder  2 tsp
Saunf powder  1 tsp
Ginger           1/2"piece
Green chilly   1
curry leaves   few
Salt       to taste
Oil        to fry
METHOD:
Cut the onions lengthwise. We can use the chips blade which we use to slice potatoes for chips.The onions will be thinly sliced.
Grate the ginger. Finely chop the green chillies.
In a wide bowl add onions, ginger, green chillies and whole curry leaves. To this add the other items except oil. Mix well with hand.By pressing the onions hard,  some moisture will be released and the masala will get coated.If not sprinkle little water.
Heat oil in kadai and fry to gold colour. Do not make into big lumps while adding to oil.
This recipe is different from usual pakoda recipe.Adding maida and cornflour will give extra crispness.By this way the crispness will be retained for some time.
Serve hot with coffee or tea.

MEDHU VADAI

INGREDIENTS :
Whole urad dal     1 cup
Raw rice               1 tbsp
Salt                      to taste
Oil                       to fry
To chop finely:
Onion         2 no
Green chilly   2 no
Ginger         1/4" piece
Curry leaves   few
METHOD:
Soak urad dal and rice for about 30 mins.Grind  to smooth batter by adding water very little at intervals.
Mix the batter with hand in circular direction for about 10 mins.By doing this, air gets incorporated into the batter and the vadai will be crisp and will increase in size while frying.Always mix in the same direction.
Add the salt and chopped items and mixwell.
Pinch small batter and shape into vadas and fry in medium hot oil.

SWEET CORN MASALA (PEPPER)

Who will say no, to a cuppa of coffee with steaming sweet corn on a rainy day? I wud love to have this  during rains, enjoying the drizzles, the cool breeze , admiring the greenishness of the leaves being taking bath from the natural shower....

INGREDIENTS :
Sweet corn kernels    1 cup
Pepper powder         2 tsp
Butter                        1 tsp
Salt to taste.
METHOD :
Steam cook the kernels for about 20 mins or till cooked. Drain it and keep aside.
Heat  butter and add the cokked kernels and saute for few seconds.
Add pepper powder and salt to taste.
Serve hot, hot, hot...