Aloo-Methi Paratha (Paratha stuffed with Potato and Fenugreek leaves)

Valli, Wish you a very very Happy Birthday!!!
It's our BM Commander-in-Chief, Valli's birthday today and to celebrate the day the BM group decided to cook any dish from her blogs and post it. Valli is our organizer, our motivator and our inspiration. Without her Blogging marathon event, I don't even know if I would be blogging so regularly or not. So big thanks to her for creating this group and leading it so efficiently for more than 5 years now.

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Thalipeeth (Maharashtrian flat bread)

Buffet on Table: Week 2 -- Indian States

Day 1: Maharashtra -- Thalipeeth

After a week of combo meals from around the world, our theme for the second week of our mega marathon, Buffet on Table, is Indian States. So each day of this week, I will be sharing a dish from different states in India.

With the amount of time we had to plan for this marathon, I should have made elaborate dishes and meals for this week. Though I had plans to make it 'mega', when reality really hit me it was a little too late in the game. I stuck to very simple dishes, but I have to say I enjoyed them all very much and I will be making them often in the future.

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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.

Sorakaya Palu posina Kura (Bottlegourd curry with milk)

Continuing with my 'Cleaning my fridge' series that I started last week, I am cooking with the bottlegourd/ sorakaya today. My cousin brought her super long bottlegourd from her garden recently, it was longer than my almost 3ft daughter. I wish I took a picture of both of them together because I had to cut into 3 pieces to share with my sister and cousin. Anyway the 3rd of the bottle gourd I had left in the fridge went into this simple to make curry.
My mom used to make this milk based bottle gourd curry quite often, I'm not sure if I really liked it back then. Now I crave for it once in a while, but I rarely make it because of my dairy-hating husband doesn't like the milky taste.

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So I waited and made this dish when he was away on travel. It is super simple to make, slightly sweet and you can definitely make it more spicy and less sweet. It is great to eat with steamed rice or even roti.

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Mullu Murukku (Rice & Lentil Muruku)

Blogging Marathon# 45: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Diwal Festival Specials
Dish: Muruku

After the mega marathon last month, we are back to our regular BM schedule with 3 day blogging each week this month. For the first week, my theme is 'Festival Special -- Diwali'. Since Diwali is right around the corner (October 23, 2014), I thought I will post some specials that I would make for the festival.

For the first day, I made crispy and crunchy murukkus that are made using rice and lentil flour. I found this recipe on DK's Chef in you blog and her clicks really pulled me to make them.

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Panch Phoron Tarkari & Kulath ki Dal

Kulath ki Dal from Uttarakand: Horsegram is a completely new ingredient for me. I bought it just before April's Mega marathon in the hopes of using it in one of the dishes, but I didn't use it for any of the dishes. But luckily I found quite a few interesting recipes using it and here I am with the very first dish I made with Horsegram.

This dal is from Uttarakand and it is a very simple and earthy dish which is very mildly spiced. Using rice flour makes the dish thick and creamy.

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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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Chhattisgarh -- Chila (Rice flour Crepes) & Katte Masoor Dal

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 5

State: Chhattisgarh
Dish: Chila (Rice flour Crepes) & Katte Masoor Dal

Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India. This state was formed in 2000 by partitioning Chattisgarh speaking districts from southeastern Madya Pradesh. It is the source of elecrticity and steel for India. Chattisgarh accounts for 15% of the total steel produced in India. It is one of the fastest growing states in India.

Cuisine: Chattisgarh is known as the Rice bowl of India and has a very rich food culture. The food is classified into tribal & non-tribal cuisines. The tribes of Chhattisgarh primarily add the various types of fruits that are commonly found in the forest areas of Chhattisgarh.
Staple Food: Rice, wheat, jowar & maize
Specialties: Most of the traditional dishes are made of rice or rice flour, curd and green leafy vegetables. fara/muthiya (rice rolls in white sauce), angakar roti, chousera roti (rice puri's). state. Petha and rakhia badi are the two popular delectables of the tribes of Chhattisgarh.

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Malaysian Apam Balik (Crispy Malaysian Pancakes) -- Eggless Recipe

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: One Dish, Different Countries
Dish: Malaysia -- Apam Balik

Day 2 of BM# 38 and today I've Malaysian sweet pancakes for you. Apam Balik is a crispy thin pancake that is usually filled with sweetened peanuts. These are usually sold at specialist roadside stalls throughout Malaysia.
Watch this video to see how expertly the guy makes apam balik. I especially like the technique he uses to take them off the pan.

Traditionally these pancakes are made in brass molds since brass distributes heat evenly and the metal itself is thick and heavy, so food does not scald that easily. This post has clear pictures of the brass molds used to make Apam Balik. I don't own brass pans and have no plans of buying them, so I used a nonstick pan to do the job. After looking all those gorgeous looking pancakes, mine didn't turn out as golden and crispy in the pictures, but they tasted great.

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Kimchi Pancakes (Kimchijeon) -- Vegan recipe

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: One Dish, Different Countries
Dish: Korea -- Kimchi Pancakes

Being a food blogger, I am always looking for new dishes to make. I rarely repeat or make the same dish again unless it is an everyday dish that the family is used to. My husband was saying the other day I cook for the blog and not for them. Mmmmm, I think I'm guilty of doing that, but I don't usually comment when he says that because I need my taste-testers happy and not grumpy.

Talking about new dishes, when I made this Kimchi -- I wasn't actually sure what to use it in. Then I found Kimchi fried rice recipe which I really liked. But as I said before, repeating dishes is something that happens very rarely, I looked for something else to make with kimchi and I found these Kimchi pancakes on the Kitchn and they seemed simple and easy to make with just a few ingredients.

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Unniyappam/ Unni appam (Kerala Style Banana Pancakes)

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Regional Dishes - Course Specific
Dish: Snack --- Unniyappam/ Unni Appam

For Day 3 of BM# 35, I wanted to try any authentic breakfast dish from Kerala. After looking through the google search results for Kerala Breakfast recipes, Appam looked very traditional and authentic. But after seeing a couple of you tube videos, I decided it's not time for me to make appam. We are currently experiencing bitter cold temperatures and I'm sure the appam batter is not going to ferment to make soft & fluffy appams. So I went back looking for other options to make.
Then I came across these Unniyappams/ Unni appams. Saw a youtube video and the recipe looked simple enough to make. I already have a few bananas riping away, so thought this is a good use for those too.

Unniyapam is a traditional Kerala sweet that is offered as prasad in temples and is also served as snack. These can be made by soaking and grinding raw rice, but lazy that I am I found a recipe that uses rice flour instead. I also used much less oil than showed in the you tube video. I skipped the traditionally used coconut bits because my son is not a fan of coconut.

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Rava Dosa with Onion Chutney

Blogging Marathon# 34: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Instant Idlis/ Dosas
Dish: Instant Rava Dosa with Brown Rice flour

For Day 2 of BM# 34, I have instant Rava dosa. I love Rava dosa and order it once in a while when we are at an Indian restaurant. There is a fast food place here in New Jersey that serves amazing rava dosa. But  I don't usually make them at home because of all the refined flour/ rawa used. 

So today to make our beloved rava dosa (just a tiny little bit) healthier (and not feel too much guilty), I added brown rice flour in place of white flour. There is no discernible difference in either the taste or the texture of the dosas, so I'm happy to report that rava dosas will be made with brown rice flour here on out in my house.

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Poli Boorelu

Bonus Dish for Week 1: B for Boorelu
Theme: A-Z Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Poli Boorelu

Here's Wishing everyone a Very Happy Ganesh Chathurthi!!

While I was planning for the A-Z series, I came across a ton of dishes from Andhra Pradesh that I've never tried before and in my excitement to cook for the event, I cooked more than I should. Since we are only posting 1 dish per alphabet, I had to edit myself and only post the ones I felt really represented AP. So to keep the momentum going, I decided to post the ones that didn't get picked up the regular Blogging Marathon on Sundays as Bonus recipes.

Today's bonus recipe is an easy to make boorelu. I still remember the first time I made boorelu years ago for Varalakshmi vratam. I invited few friends for dinner that day and my filling for boorelu was so liquidy that it completely dissolved in the cover batter. So when I fried them, they ended up looking like pakodi. We all ate them anyway. 

But this recipe is almost fool-proof, since chana dal is first soaked, ground and then steamed (like when we make patoli/ paruppu usili), so there is no chance of the filling getting liquidy.
For the outer cover, usually urad dal (minapappu) and rice are soaked and then ground to a smooth paste. Instead I used store-bought urad dal flour and rice flour. This makes life so much easier making the whole process quicker and leaving only 1 bowl to clean.

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Sago Murukku (Saggubiyyam/ Sabudana Murukulu)

Recipe Courtesy: My Dear friend Yagna Jyothy

Here's another crunchy and delicious snack recipe from Jyothy. Here's what she said on how and what made her make these murukkus for her daughter Raaga:"Cheese puffs are my husband's favorite junk food and he keeps them stocked at home much to my annoyance. Raaga has been munching on them lately and it got to a point where she has to have a handful of them EVERY evening while I make dinner. I decided that if she must eat junk, it might as well be something homemade- and somehow minimize the junk factor. Put in a call to my mom and got this recipe. Raaga has not eaten cheese puffs since I made these. My next goal would be to move from murkulu to fresh veggies for a pre-dinner snack, although that may just be my wishful thinking."

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Pappu Chekkalu/ Thattai

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Traditional dishes
Dish: Pappu Chekkalu/ Thattai

Today we begin the second week our month long blogging marathon. Theme for the next 7 days is going to be traditional dishes. I rarely make traditional dishes myself because I'm not comfortable making them. My mom makes excellent traditional dishes and it's sad that I have never watched her making them so I can learn to make them myself. 

My mom made us quite a few traditional dishes during her recent visit and lucky for me I clicked pictures of some of them, hoping to post them. They have been sitting in the drafts till now and what better time than now to post my mom's traditional dishes.

For the first day, I have these crispy and crunchy deep fried savory snack made with all purpose flour (maida), rice flour and soaked chana dal. These stay fresh in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

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Potato (Alu) Muruku

For the second day under "Traditional Dishes" theme, my mom made these crunchy and delicious Potato Muruku. I already posted 2 muruku recipes, one with dalia and the other traditional recipe with rice and urad dal. Adding potato gives the muruku nice crunch and you can definitely taste the potato.

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Mixture/ Chivda with Kaarappusa (Sev)

For the second day of Blogging Marathon#22, my mom made this savory crunchy mixture that is perfect for snacking. This is also great as a little treat along with sweets for last minute guests that pop in during the festival season. 

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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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Karachi Dosa (Savory Indian Crepes)

Vegan Mofo Day 24:

Hope all of you (in this part of the world) are gearing up for Thanksgiving. It's going to be just the three of us this year and I'm planning to make a All-Vegan feast tomorrow. I'm still working on the menu (or rather checking the pantry to see what I can make). Will keep you guys posted in tomorrow post.

I made these dosas (crepes??) for dinner tonight. Recipe is from a Telugu newspaper, Eenadu and they called them Karachi dosas, I'm not sure why and how Karachi got involved with this dosa, but it doesn't matter, the resulting dosas were quite yummy.

Ingredients:

Sooji (Semolina) - 1 cup

Maida (All purpose Flour) - 1 cup

Rice flour - 1 cup

Onion - 1 small, finely chopped

Green chilies - 3, finely chopped

Ginger - 1tsp, grated

Mustard seeds - 1½ tsp

Cumin seeds - 1tsp

Fresh Coriander - 2tsp, finely chopped

Yogurt - 2tbsp (I used soy yogurt)

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Whisk semolina, AP flour & rice flour in a medium bowl. Add water and whisk into a smooth batter with no lumps. I ended up adding about 3 cups of water.
• Heat 1tbsp oil in a small sauce pan and add mustard and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the oil to the batter.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Cover and rest for at least 1 hour.
• Heat a non-stick or cast-iron griddle on medium-high flame and once ready, pour the batter one ladle at a time to make a round dosa/ crepe. Here's a pictorial on how to make rawa dosas. Thanks Sailu.
• Once done, serve hot with your favorite chutney. I served with Sreelu's no-cook, no chop Chutney & green pepper Sambar.

Chegodilu for ICC

For this month’s Indian Cooking Challenge Srivalli chose Chegodi which is a yummy fried Andhra snack that I’ve never made at home before. I don’t recall my mom making them either, but I know it is a time consuming process and never dared to try it myself. But when Srivalli picked it for this month’s ICC, I was excited to make, so we can have freshly made home-made chegodilu. They turned out crunchy and delicious.

Here’s the recipe from Valli that I used:

Ingredients:
Rice Flour - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Split Yellow Moong dal / Pesara pappu / Mung Dal / Pasiparuppu - 1 1/2tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Sesame Seeds - 1 tsp
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Ghee or oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:

• To make the dough: Soak moong dal in water for half hour to 1 hour. In a deep bottom pan, boil water, then add salt, ghee and moong dal. Bring it to boil, simmer and slowly add the rice flour. Mix the flour with water by stirring it well. When the flour is mixed and done, turn off the heat immediately. Cover with lid and keep aside for 10 to 15 mins.
• Once the dough is cool, add chilli powder, sesame seeds, cumin seeds and mix well. Knead till you get a smooth dough. Adjust the salt and spice depending on your preference.
• Frying the Chegodi: Heat a pan with oil, enough to fry 3 -4 at time,temperature should not be smoking hot.
• Grease your fingers with oil and pinch out a small lemon size ball and roll between your palms to form a thick rope. Bring the two ends to together and press to form a rope. Ensure the ends are firmed pressed as not to give out during frying.
• Continue with the rest of the dough until you are done with the entire batch. You can either cover it with a plate or a cloth to prevent the dough from getting dried.
• Check if the oil is in the correct temperature, by dropping a tiny bit into the oil. Then gently slide the rings or the chegodis in batches of 4 -5. The flame has to be on high until the chegodis come up to the surface, then lower the flame to medium and cook till you get a golden color on the chegodis.
• When the chegodis are golden all over, using a slotted ladle, remove to a kitchen towel and cool. Store in an air tight container for longer shelf life.
  

Notes: Remember to turn the heat to medium to high and high to medium for getting the chegodis to golden color and also to be cooked evenly. Only this way you get crispy chegodis. These should not be cooked on low flame as they will absorb more oil and can turn soggy also at times.