Sanna Pakora (Sindhi Onion Pakoda) for Indian Cooking Challenge

For this month's 'Indian Cooking Challenge', Valli chose a delicious Sanna Pakora, a Sindi specialty. She gave us 2 recipes to refer from - one from from Vaishali and one from Alka.

We made a fritter, Patnam Pakodi, from AP for last month's challenge. But this Sindhi pakoda is quite different. Though the ingredients are almost the same in both the recipes, these Sanna pakoras are double fried. First the batter is fried in big chunks, then cut into smaller pieces and fried the second time. This second frying makes the fritters extra crispy and yummy.

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Patnam Pakodi (City Style Onion Fritter) for Indian Cooking Challenge

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli picked Patnam Pakodi. Patnam means City in Telugu and so this pakoda literally means 'city fritter' hence the title 'city style onion fritter' :-)

This recipe is from Padma's grandmother and it was once a popular snack in Tamil Nadu. The recipe that Padma shared used rice flour as the base along with a little bit of besan or chickpea flour. But unfortunately I ran of rice flour but had some brown rice flour in the fridge. I didn't want to take a risk with making the pakodis with that, so I googled and found a slightly different version of the same patnam pakodi using besan or chickpea flour on Vahchef site.

This recipe is very similar to onion pakora or ullipaya pakodi, the only exception being that the pakodis are shaped as balls instead of random shapes. They are golden and crispy on the outside and are soft inside. Addition of grated ginger gives a nice flavor to this snack. They are perfect with a cup of tes/ chai on a rainy afternoon like today :-)

So here's my version of patnam pakodi made with chickpea flour.

Recipe from Vah Chef & Padma.
Ingredients:
Besan/ Chickpea Flour - 2cups
Rice flour - ½cup
Baking powder - ¼tsp
Red Chili powder - 1tsp (adjust per taste)
Ghee - 1tbsp
Salt - to taste
Onion -1 large, thinly sliced
Green Chilies - 1~2, finely chopped
Ginger - 1" piece, finely grated
Curry leaves - 8~10, finely chopped
Cilantro - 3tbsp, finely chopped
Cashews - 2tbsp, soaked in water

Method:

• Soak cashews in water for 10~15 minutes. Drain and keep ready.
• In a small mixing bowl, combine the onions, green chilies, curry leaves and cilantro. Mix well and set aside for a few minutes.
• In another mixing bowl, combine besan, rice flour, baking powder and salt. Add the ghee and rub it into the flour, either by using your fingers or a fork, until the mixture becomes crumbly.
• Add the onions, soaked cashews to the besan mixture and mix well. Add water, very little at a time, until the mixture comes together into a stiff dough.
• Heat oil for deep frying.
• Meanwhile, divide the pakoda dough into small lemon size balls and roll them gently between the palms. Don't put too much pressure while rolling -- that will make the pakoda dense, so be gently when making the pakoda.
• When the oil is hot enough, slide a few pakoda and fry them on medium flame until golden on all sides.
• Remove onto a paper lined plate and serve hot with ketchup.

Sev Khamani

Time sure is flying right by, can't believe it is the middle of May already. It almost slipped my mind that it's time to post for this month's 'Indian Cooking Challenge' and I haven't even looked at the ingredients. I immediately looked at the recipe and my pantry & fridge to see if I had all the ingredients. I was only missing the pomegranate, I went shopping and bought it right away.
So the dish that Valli picked is this Gujarati snack called Sev Khamani. Recipe is from Vaishali's friend, so big thanks to Vaishali & Valli for picking this recipe.

Gujaratis have a knack of making delicious snacks & dishes with just about any ingredient. It's mind boggling the number of snacks and desserts they make. This is one such recipe where the dish uses crumbled up khaman dhoklas. I think it is a genius idea because my dhoklas end up crumbled most of the time anyway and this is a delicious way of reusing them into a completely new dish.

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Dhokli nu Shaak (Gujarati dish for ICC)

For this month's 'Indian Food Challenge', Valli gave us a fairly easy dish to make. It is a delicious yogurt based gravy that has besan cakes dunked in it. The minute I saw her announcement, I mentally made a note to make it, but slowly time flew right by and then this morning I saw Valli's email that her ICC post is up. It was only then I realized that I almost forgot about the event.

Thankfully I had all the ingredients on hand and my husband is travelling, so I can have a field day with yogurt based dishes :-) (did you see my Shrikand recipe from two days ago).
Besan cakes used in this dish are very similar to an Andhra dish called Besan chikki. My MIL sautes the besan before adding the water and making the cakes and the gravy is tamarind based and not buttermilk based.

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Rajasthani Badam Halwa (Almond Pudding for ICC)

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli gave us Vaishali's recipe for Badam Halwa/ Almond Pudding. My mom makes awesome badam burfi, but I have never tried badam halwa before, so I really wanted to make it before the deadline. I knew I had some whole almonds in the freezer and this is a great recipe to use them up before I go buying for more. Holiday season is a great time to stock up on nuts, flour & sugar since many of the stores have them on deep discounts. So if you have the pantry space, then this is the right time to go shopping for dessert & baking staples :-)

Sorry, I digressed. Coming back to this amazingly delicious badam halwa. Recipe had clear instructions to use non-stick pan to avoid sticking, so I used by brand new ceramic coated pan that I bought from India and it worked like a charm.

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Manapparrai Murukku for ICC

We are travelling south to Tamil Nadu for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge. I am amazed by the variation of snacks we have across the country, with just a few changes in the ingredients and the method of preparation -- we end up with so many different type of snacks.

When I saw that Valli has a murukku recipe for this month, I was a little disappointed that we are going to make just another murukku recipe, but I was pleasantly surprised how just a few changes can make such a big difference. These murukkus are fried twice instead of just once in regular murukkus making them crunchy and very addictive.

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Amritsari Aloo Kulcha (Potato Stuffed Indian Bread) for ICC

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli wanted us to make an Indian bread, Amritsari Aloo Kulcha. After the April mega marathon where explored the dishes from all the Indian states, I've decided not to skip any ICC editions because it is a good opportunity to learn regional dishes from different parts of India. Also Valli always makes it a point to challenge us to try dishes that are unique and tries to get authentic recipes of the same.

This month's challenge fit right into our meal plan. While my in-laws were here we ate rotis at least 3~4 times a week, so these stuffed parathas fit right in. If it's just us, I make rotis may be once a week, since my husband travels almost weekly. 

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Uppu Seedai

We are making Uppu Seedai. a Tamil Nadu specialty for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge. Valli gave us 2 recipes to choose from, one from Sharmi's blog and another from her friend's mother. These seedai are traditionally made for Gokulashtami. These crispy and crunchy rice flour balls are very addictive and we couldn't stop eating them.

The main concern with making this snack is the bursting of the seedai in the oil. Reasons could the moisture in the seedai before frying, seedai rolled too tight and any improperly ground particles in the flour. Luckily my seedai preparation went without any incident/ accident.

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Mohanthal for ICC (Gujarati Besan-Mawa Burfi)

Valli picked a simple and delicious Gujarati special sweet for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC). I am a big fan of burfis/ fudges because they are easy to make and don't need too many ingredients. Today's burfi is a Gujarati special and is made with besan, mawa/ khoya, sugar and nuts. 

This sweet is very simple to make and can be done in less than an hour. Only complicated thing involved is to know when the burfi reaches the right consistency. I took it out of the pan a few seconds early and the burfi didn't set and was a little sticky. So I put it back in the pan and cooked it for another couple minutes to get the nice, soft, melt-in-the-mouth burfi. It does require quite a bit of sugar and ghee, so eat them in moderation. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 7~10 days.

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Instant Mango Pickle with Mustard & Jaggery for ICC

This month's Indian Cooking Challenge is a quick and easy to make 'Instant Mango Pickle with Mango & Jaggery'. Varada shared her mom's pickle recipe for all of us to try.

I made it yesterday and it tasted great. I made panchadhara avakaya with sugar and roasted mustard and fenugreek seeds. But this pickle has jaggery for sweetness and the spices used are not roasted. The pickle was not overly sweet, it is subtly sweet and you can definitely taste it in the background but it is not overwhelming. My husband's been eating it for every meal since I made it :-)

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Gujarati Gathiya for Indian Cooking Challenge

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge Valli and Vaishali wanted us to make a very famous Gujarati snack, Gathiya/ Gathia. Gujarati gathiya are very similar to janthikalu, but the texture is totally different. Gathiya are crispy and crunchy when you bite into them, but just melt in your mouth when eaten. 

To get that melt in the mouth texture, baking soda is dry roasted until slightly charred and then added to besan and other spices. Also generous amount of oil is added to the dough which helps to get the texture.

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Dhokar Dalna for Indian Cooking Challenge

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge Valli chose a delicious Bengali savory dish. I have tried quite a few Bengali dishes already, but luckily I didn't make this dish earlier. This is a spicy curry with lentil cakes in it. 

This dish is a little similar to the besan chikki that my MIL makes. But the difference is that my MIL uses chickpea flour or besan instead of ground chana dal that is used in this Bengali dish. Both the dishes have cooked lentil cakes cooked in spicy gravy.

I followed Sandeepa's recipe to the T. From what I have read, the gravy is quite customizable and there are quite a few variations on the web. I stuck to Sandeepa's recipe that had no-onion and no-garlic, it still tasted amazing.

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Chatti Pathiri for Indian Cooking Challenge

It has been a very eventful day today. I thought it was going to be a quite sunny day and had plans of making 'Chatti Pathiri' for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge in the afternoon. But one phone call changed it all. It changed my mood from sunny to gloomy and I didn't feel like doing anything. I knew it was a problem that could be fixed but still was antsy until it was fixed.

I gave up on participating in this month's ICC, even though I had been anxiously waiting to make this delicious baked dessert from Kerala. Then came the second phone call saying that the issue is solved and there's nothing to worry about at least for the next couple of months. It brightened my mood, but it was almost late after with sunset around 4:30PM, I had less than an hour to make the dessert and then take pictures.

I'm so glad that I did because both my husband and I liked the dessert a lot. My husband said the best part was the nut filling and I have to agree I loved the crunchy poppy seeds & nutty sesame seeds in the filling.

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Raj Kachori ~ Rajasthani Chaat Recipe

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli & Vaishali wanted us to make Raj Kachori, a Rajathani chaat item. When Valli announced the challenge, I read the recipe and thought it was really elaborate with quite a few components to be prepared and then completely forgot about it. Then suddenly this past weekend I realized it was almost time to post for ICC and I didn't make the dish. I knew I had no sooji in the pantry and gave up on the challenge. But when I checked again I found a small container of sooji (!!), I'm not even sure where that came from. Anyway that meant I was going to make this delicious chaat for this month's challenge.

It is definitely an elaborate dish and cannot be made in a rush. So make sure that you read the recipe completely and plan to make the components ahead of time or plan to give yourself enough time to complete them.

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Assamese Kordois (Sweet & Savory Versions)

It has been quite some time that I took part in Indian Cooking Challenge. I either don't find time to make the dish or I totally forget making it on time. I end up blaming my super-busy travelling hubby or my jumping & bouncing around kids for my forgetfulness.

But for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli asked me to pick a dish and as usual I forgot to mail her back on time (oops). But the ever gracious Valli sent a reminder email and that is when I remembered Sunita's awesome blog and asked Valli if we can try any Assamese dishes. Finally we ended up choosing Kordoi.
Lucky for me, my mom is here visiting us and she actually ended up making them for us. Sweet version of these Kordois are same as Panasathonalu made in A.P. Savory version was new to us, but we really enjoyed the spicy ones as well.

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Dapka Kadhi (Gujarati Kadhi with Moong dal Dumplings)

It has been quite some time that I made anything for Indian Cooking Challenge. When I see Valli's email announcing the dish of the month, I get excited and plan on making it, but some time between the announcement and the actual date of posting I either completely forget about it or don't find the time to make it.

Anyway I didn't want to miss this month's challenge because kadhi is one of my favorite dishes, But I don't make it often because my husband doesn't eat milk/ yogurt based dishes and so I avoid making them when he's around. Lucky for me, he's been travelling and I went ahead and made this yummy kadhi with moong dal dumplings.

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ICC June - Pati Shapta

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli chose a Bengali dessert usually made during the Sankranthi season. I have missed quite a few ICC challenges but when I saw this scrumptious dessert, I knew I had to make them.

I thought Pati Shapta were Indian version of French crepes that are filled with delicious coconut-khoya filling and drizzled with sweet syrup. They were easier to make than the French crepes and the filling was to die for. We thoroughly enjoyed these and the reheated leftovers taste just as good.

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Khara Biscuit for ICC-May

For this month’s Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Srivalli wanted us to make an Indian baked goodie. We are using Champa’s Khara biscuit recipe that makes savory, melt in your mouth cookies that are a snap to make.

This is the first time ever we baked for ICC and I was really excited about the challenge, since I’ve never made savory cookies before. The recipe also requires very few ingredients and needs less than 30 minutes of hands on time.

Even though the recipe is simple enough to make, I had to get some help to make these yummy goodies. My 3 year old had a blast making (messing up) the cookies. Here’s how I made them.

Champa's Original recipe here.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour – 2 cups
Butter – 1/3 cup, softened
Yogurt – 4tbsp (original recipe had only 2-3 tbsp, but I added a little more than 4tbsp to get the correct consistency of the dough)
Sugar – 4tsp
Salt – 1tsp
Pepper – 2tsp
Cilantro – 2tbsp, finely chopped

Method:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment papers and set aside.
• Whisk flour, salt and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar in a medium bowl, until light and fluffy. Add 2tbsp yogurt and continue to beat.
• Next add flour mixture and beat slowly. The mixture was pretty dry, so I used my hands to incorporate all the ingredients and added an additional 2tbsp of yogurt to make a smooth, non-sticky dough. Add chopped cilantro and work it into the dough.
• Roll the dough into ¼” thickness.
• Use cookie cutter or bottle lids to cut the cookies. Place them on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Enjoy with a cup of tea (You can tell from my half filled cup that I'm not a tea drinker :-) . We usually serve a sweet (dessert) with a hot (savory) when serving tea, so I made Champa's Ricotta coconut fudge. The only modification I made to the recipe is that I added 1 cup of coconut powder along with 1 cup of roasted ground cashews, this is one quick and easy dessert that can whipped up in no time. Thanks to Champa for both the recipes and thanks to Valli for choosing this savory snack for ICC.

Pudachi Wadi for ICC-April

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli chose Pudicha Wadi recipe from Archana's Tried & Tested recipes. I don't think I ever heard about or had this dish before, but the process making this dish looked very interesting. I thought wadis were like pakodas (pakoras) where the veggie (s) are mixed with besan and deep fried, but in this recipe chopped cilantro or kothimeer is stuffed inside a wrapper and then deep fried.

The filling and the wrapper were so flavorful by themselves that I couldn't help myself from snacking on bits of dough and pieces of cilantro while cooking. I thought the addition of roasted and ground coconut, sesame and poppy seeds made the dish extra special. All in all a very yummy dish that is a little time consuming to make but the result is totally worth it. It took me about 1.5hrs to make and we finished all of them in 15minutes. Thoroughly enjoyed making and eating, thanks to Valli for choosing this dish and Archana for a fool-proof recipe.

Here's how I made the dish:

• Filling: In a sauté pan, heat 2tsp oil and add 1 medium onion, chopped. Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 2 finely chopped green chilies, 1" piece of ginger grated and 2 cloves of garlic, minced. Cook for another 1-2 minutes or until garlic and ginger are fragrant don't smell raw anymore. Remove from heat and keep aside.
• Dry roast until golden 1tbsp sesame seeds, 1tbsp poppy seeds and 2tbsp dry grated coconut, preferably separately and grind them together into a coarse powder.
• In a medium bowl, add 2cups chopped cilantro, cooled onion mixture, sesame-coconut powder, red chili powder (to taste), 2tsp lime juice and salt (to taste). Keep the filling aside.
• Covering: In a bowl, mix ¾ th cup each of Atta (whole wheat flour) and Besan, along with a pinch of turmeric, ½ tsp of red chili powder, 3tbsp of hot oil and salt to taste. Add water as needed to make a smooth pliable dough. Keep aside covered.
• Spreading paste: In a small bowl, mix together 2tsp oil, 1tsp garam masala (kala masala) and 2tsp tamarind paste. Mix well and set aside.
• Making the Wadis: Heat oil for deep frying. Divide the covering dough into small equal sized balls. Roll each ball into a thin disk, spread evenly with the paste, and place about 2-3 tbsp of filling in the middle. Fold the disc in such a way that the edges overlap a little bit in the middle. Fold the corners to cover the filling. Press all the edges with little water to seal. Deep fry until golden brown on both sides, this does not take too long, about 1 minute per side.
• Remove onto a paper towel to drain extra oil, then cut them into bite size pieces and enjoy with sweet imli chutney or green chutney.

We enjoyed ours with sweet imli (tamarind) chutney (from Show me the Curry) and I have to say these wadis are definitely very addictive, even my 3-yr old came back for seconds. Enjoy!!

Vatteppam for ICC-March

For this month’s Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli chose a delicious rice cake dish from Kerala, Vatteppam. Recipe is courtesy from an Keralite who knows her rice cakes very well, SHN @ Kitchenmishmash. SHN’s pictures are breathtaking and when I saw her mouthwatering pictures of Vatteppam, I wanted to try and make them right away and for the first time ever, I made them almost 2 weeks before the deadline.

I halved the recipe, since I was making for just the 3 of us at home and I made them in idli stand instead of a round mold. I also used coconut milk instead of fresh grated coconut as I didn’t have any fresh coconut on hand. I really loved the sweet, spongy, yeasty treat. Thanks to Valli for choosing the dish and to SHN for providing the detailed recipe.

Here's how I made these delicious Rice cakes:

• Soak ½ cup of Raw Rice (Par boiled rice) for 6-8 hours. Then grind the drained rice with about 1-2tsp water to make a coarse paste.
• Set 2 tbsps of the coarsely ground rice to the side.
• To the remaining rice, add 1/3 cup coconut milk and grind to a fine paste.
• Next add 1tbsp cooked rice (I used cooked brown rice) and ¼ cup of water to make a batter that is as thick as idli batter.
• Cook the coarsely ground rice with 1/3 cup of water. Bring the mixture to a boil in a small saucepan and simmer until it gets to porridge consistency. Set aside to cool.
• In the meantime, proof ¼ tsp yeast by adding it to ¼ cup luke warm water and 1tsp sugar. Set aside in a warm place to foam up.
• Once the rice porridge is cool enough to handle, add 2tbsp of it to the blender with the rice and coconut batter and blend well until combined.
• Finally add the frothy yeast solution and blend until mixed well.
• Pour the batter in a glass/ steel container and leave in a warm place for about 8-12 hours to ferment. Choose a container that can hold about double the batter once it rises.
• After the batter has doubled and fermented, add 1/3 cup sugar, mix gently and set aside to ferment for another1½ - 2 hours.
• In the meantime, fry some cashews and raisins in ghee until golden brown and plump. Set aside.
• When ready to steam, add the fried cashews and raisins and 1tsp of ground cardamom (elaichi).
• Mix well and pour into greased idli molds. Steam in a pressure cooker for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool completely before enjoying them.