Dahi Vada is a savory snack from South India. It can vary in shape and size and are made of lentils, gram flour or potato. We have already discussed about medu vada in our earlier post. Dahi Vada is nothing but medu vada dipped in yogurt mixture and served chill. You can serve it as a snack or alongside a meal. Usually, we eat it at the end of the meal. Here you go…

Ingredients:

For Vada:

• White Lentil/Urad dal - 250 g
• Green chillies - 2
• Ginger (finely chopped) - 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves - 6 to 7 leaves
• Vegetable Oil or Canola oil for frying - 2 to 3 cups

For the Curd Mixture:

• Yogurt - 4 cups
• Green Chillies - 2
• Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

For decoration:

• Carrot - 1
• Cilantro - 1/4 cup

Method of Preparation:

Preparation of the Dip:

Take 4 cups of yogurt and beat it for a minute or two to become a smooth flowing liquid. Do not beat it for a longer time. Now grind the green chillies, cumin, salt and grated coconut into a fine paste and add it to yogurt and mix well. Keep it aside.

Preparation of Vada:

Soak the urad dal for half an hour to forty minutes.Make sure that it is not soaked for more than 40 minutes because the Vada will absorb more oil in that case. Grind it in wet grinder or mixer grinder or food processor along with ginger, green chillies and salt .Do not add more water to the mixture. Add water little by little till it can grind well into a fine paste. It should be little thicker than the cake batter.You should be able to make round shape vadas. When you grind the batter in wet grinder or mixer grinder, it will rise and become fluffy and this texture helps to make soft Vadas. Even the food processor will give you a good result but not like the other ones mentioned above.

Once the batter becomes a fine paste, transfer it to a container. Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel.If you are not concerned about the shape of the Vada and just the taste, it is easy to make it.Just dip your palm in water and take a small portion of batter of lemon size and drop it in the hot oil.Repeat the same procedure and add two to three balls according to the size of the vessel. Turn the other side, deep fry them and remove once they become golden brown in colour. You can see the bubbles settling down in oil once they are ready.

If you would like to get the perfect shape of the Vadas (check here), please follow the instructions below carefully. Take a thick small plastic cover or zip lock cover and grease it with oil. Dip your hands in water and take a small portion of the batter of lemon size and put it in the greased cover. Dip your index finger again in water and make a small hole in the middle of the lemon sized batter like in the doughnuts and slowly transfer it into your palm and slide it in the hot oil. Repeat the same procedure and add 2 or 3 vada in the vessel size and amount of oil. Turn the other side and deep fry till they become golden brown.

Now take the Vadas out and put it in the yogurt mixture. Let it be inside the yogurt mixture till the next set of Vadas are done. Before dropping the next set of Vadas in the yogurt mixture, transfer the dipped Vadas to a tray and arrange them. Repeat the same procedure for the rest of the Vadas. Once you arrange all the Vadas in the tray, shred the carrot and sprinkle some chopped cilantro.

Serve chill with plain yogurt.

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Recently, I went to Detroit to attend one of my friend’s baby shower function. We stayed at Shriya’s place and had lots of fun. I wanted to make something special for Shriya and the other friend, Lothika. So I tried this Moong Halwa and it came out really good. Everyone loved it and it has become one of my favorite sweet. I also added almonds to this halwa which made it more yummy. This is an easy and rich sweet to make for any functions and festivals. And it also has a healthy ingredient, the moong dal. Here you go…

Ingredients:

• Moong dal/Golden gram - 1 cup
• Almonds - 1 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 2 1/4 cup (adjust to taste)
• Ghee - 1/4 cup
• Saffron - 1 pinch
• Cardamom - 4 count
• 2% Milk - 1 cup

Method of Preparation:

1. Soak moong dal in water for 3 hours and almonds in boiling water for 2 hours.
2. Pressure cook the moong dal with little water. Alternatively you can boil 1 1/2 cups of water and add soaked moongdal and cook till the dal gets mashed. While cooking, add water if necessary.
3. Peel the skin off the almonds and grind it by adding milk little by little till they become a fine paste.
4. Grind the cooked moong dal separately to a fine paste.
5. In a deep bottomed vessel, add sugar and little water till the sugar gets wet and heat it.
6. When the sugar syrup starts boiling and beginning to become viscous, add the almond paste, followed by moong dal paste.
7. Add 1/2 cup of milk and keep on stirring to avoid lumps.
8. Add ghee and keep stirring. soak saffron in a tbsp of milk.
9. After 5 to 10 mins, add the saffron and cardamon and keep stirring till it becomes a smooth paste. It will be shiny.
10. Turn off the stove and keep stirring for 5 mins.
11. Transfer it to a serving bowl.
12. You can also transfer it to a flat greased tray and leave it overnight.
13. Cut it into your desired shape.

Sprinkle some slivered almonds and serve.

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Mushroom dry curry is one of my favourite. It is so yummy that will definitely become a fan of it. My friend doesn’t like mushroom but she loved this dish and want to try it. I adapted the steps from Vah Chef and made a few changes to it. Try it out and let me know if you liked it. Here you go…

Ingredients:

• Cut mushroom -  3 cups
• Chopped onion - 1 cup
• Chopped tomatoes - 1 cup
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1tsp
• Curry Leaves - 1 strand
• Green chillies - 2
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Garam masala - 1/2 tsp (fresh masla - bay leaf, 1/2″ cinnamon stick, 2 cardamom, 3 cloves)
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
• Coarsely ground pepper - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Chopped coriander leaves - a bunch
• Oil -  2 tbsp
• Butter -  1tbsp
• Salt

Method of Preparation:

1. Clean the mushrooms with paper towel and cut them to pieces.
2. Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel and add the fresh masala or ready made garam masala and cumin seeds.
3. When they splutter add the onions and fry till they become translucent. Now add the ginger garlic paste and toss them for 2 minutes.
4. Now add the curry leaves and chopped green chillies followed by chopped tomatoes.
5. Add some salt and cook till the tomatoes are mashed.
6. Add the mushroom and sprinkle some water. Cover and cook till they become soft.
7. Now crush the garlic, pepper and cumin seeds.
8. Heat another pan, add a tbsp of butter and add the crushed items and toss them.
9. Add the coriander leaves, cumin powder, coriander powder, chilly powder and toss them for a minute.
10. Now add the cooked mushroom gravy to it and combine them nicely.
11. Cook till the water evaporates and you get a desired consistency.
12. Remove from heat and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve with chappathy/rice.

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I adapted this recipe from food channel. My husband and myself  recently become very addicted to Italian food. We’ve had a party at our home and I planned to prepare totally different kind of  dishes on that day.  I used to watch Food TV whenever I get time. I found this recipe and most likely the combination of spinach and pasta is very interesting, so I made this spinach rigatoni pasta for the party and it was a sooper dooper hit. Everyone loved it. It is easy to make too.

Ingredients:

• Rigatoni Pasta :  1 lb
• Olive oil : 1 tbsp
• Unsalted Butter : 1/2 stick
• Shallot : 1 (large) minced
• Mozarella cheese : 1/2 lb
• Garlic :  2 cloves (Pressed)
• All purpose flour : 1/4 cup
• Milk : 1 1/2 cups
• Ground Nutmeg powder : 1/4 tsp
• Ricotto cheese : 2 cups
• Eggs : 2 (beaten)
• Frozen Spinach : 1 lb(thawed and squeezed out of water)
• White Wine : 1/2 cup
• Salt : Required to taste
• Black pepper : 1tsp

Method Of Preparation:

1. Boil the rigatoni pasta with some salt for 6 minutes in high heat.
2. When its done drain the water and let it sit for some time until its fully drained .
3. Now squeeze the water out of the frozen spinach, chop them and keep it aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl add the spinach, bechamel sauce, 2 cups of ricotta cheese, 2 large eggs and little salt mix them all together.
5. Now add the pasta into the above mixture mix it all together. keep it aside.
6. Grease 9 by 8 Inch baking pan and slowly transfer the above pasta mixture into it spread them equally in the pan.
7. Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top of it.
8. Preheat the oven for 360 degree .
9. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake them for 40 minutes and remove the foil and again bake them for 20 minutes. Or the cheese is lightly brown on top.

Bechamel sauce :

1. In a pan melt the butter over medium heat . After that add the shallots and garlic.
2. Don’t fry them just toss them in butter for 3-4 minutes in medium heat.
3. Now add the all purpose flour into the pan and mix it all together to make it a smooth paste.Add the flour and stir until a smooth paste forms.
4. Gradually whisk in the wine and then the milk.
5. Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking constantly and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper, to taste. Let cool slightly.

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I made this cauliflower dry curry for chappathy and it tasted really good. The blend of ginger, garlic, cumin and the masalas add flavour to the cauliflower and makes it so tasty. This is my friend’s recipe who is a wonderful cook and the proud owner of the blog Nalabagham. You can try this yummy curry from  her blog. Here is the output of the dish that I tried.I hope you like it too.

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Lime rice is one of the popular rice dish in South India. Whenever there is a  pooja(group worship) at home, we make lemon rice, sweet pongal, curd rice and distribute it to all the friends and family. Lime rice is very easy to make and it will not be spicy. It will be tasty and little tangy. You can have it with potato chips or potato fry or papad. Whenever I have less time to prepare lunch, I will do this. You can also try this rice and enjoy.  Here you go…

Ingredients:

• Lime juice - 4 tbsp
• Raw white rice - 1 cup
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• White lentil or Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Channa dal or Split gram - 1 tbsp
• Peanuts - 2 tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves - 5 to 6
• Green chillies - 2 to 3 (adjust to taste)

Method of Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a wok and add mustard seeds.
2. Once they splutter, add, urad dal, channa dal, peanuts, chopped green chillies and curry leaves.
3. When the lentils become golden colour, add turmeric powder. Leave it for 2 minutes.
4. Now add the lemon juice and remove the wok from heat.
5. Add the cooked rice and mix well.
6. Lime rice is ready.

Serve with papad/potato fry

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Macy’s is carrying this Bella Cucina Sandwich maker for $19.99. The reg. price of this item was $29.99. Shipping cost on this item is $5.95. To avoid the shipping charges, you can order the item and pick it up from a nearby Macy’s store. Amazon sells the same grill for $39.52. Hurry up and save your money now. For more details, you can check the following link. Order this product and enjoy the item.

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=315156&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results

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Chocolate cake is one of my favorite cake. And I got a chance to try this for my friend’s birthday. I used the ready made mix. To bake home made base cake, check here. I made a couple of layers of chocolate cake and filled it with chocolate icing. It was all chocolatty and rich! Here you go…

Ingredients:

• Chocolate cake mix - 1 pack
• Semi sweet chocolate chips - 12 0z pack
• Chocolate fudge icing - 1 small tin
• Heavy whipping cream - 1 cup
• Sugar - 2 tbsp
• Water - 1 cup

Method of Preparation:

1. Prepare the batter according to the instructions given on the cake mix pack or check here to make home made base cake.
2. Divide the batter into two portions and bake the cake in two baking pans of same size. This is for two layers.
3. Melt the semi sweet chocolate in microwave for one and half minutes  or check my chocolate truffles to melt chocolate without using microwave.
4. Boil 1/3 cup of heavy cream, add it to the melted semi sweet chocolate and mix them well. Keep it aside.
5. Make a sugar syrup with a cup of water and add 2 tbsp of sugar.
6. Take the base layer of the cake and sprinkle some sugar syrup.



7. Spread the above mixture as shown in the picture and keep the second layer of the cake on top.
8. Spread the fudge over the cake and decorate it with your own style.
9. I bought the icing cone from the local store and used it for decorating the cake.
10. You can make cones using thick plastic cover and cut the bottom of the cone in different shapes and decorate the cake.

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Last weekend I went to one of my folks’ house in Atlanta. They have two kids and a lovely home. I had a good time there. We went to the World’s Largest Aquarium (Georgia Aquarium), World of coke, where you can taste coke from different parts of the world and to a beautiful temple. We had great fun. Specially, the BAPS temple and aquarium were awesome. That’s the beautiful temple I have ever seen so far. It was built of marble and the architecture was amaaazinggg. The aquarium was wonderful. I saw a variety of aquatic life. I should definitely mention about the whale sharks, beluga whales and manta ray.  It was like a tour to the ocean. I took lots of pictures. Oops! I forgot to mention about the near-by falls that I went for. That was beautiful. I felt like diving in and take a shower, just like the olden days in India.

Okay, now I will tell you where these truffles came from. I wanted to make something simple and yummy, specially for the kids. So I was browsing for some ideas and suddenly one of my friend told me that she is planning to do ‘Chocolate Almond Tart’ from food-network. Eureka! here I got the recipe for truffles from food-network. Truffles are made of chocolate, cream and honey and dipped in nuts and cocoa dust. When I say chocolate, honey, cream and nuts, my mouth waters.

There were many versions but I picked the easy one and made a few alterations. You can check the food network website for the video of making truffles. You can refer these two links, Chocolate Truffles from food network kitchens and Chocolate Truffles from Alton Brown. I adapted the recipe from food network kitchens and followed Alton Brown’s method of preparation. It is really simple to make these truffles. It is pure heaven when it melts in your mouth and your kids will love it. I can guarantee that you will no longer buy truffles from outside. I made round shaped truffles. You can also use icing cone and make different shapes of truffles as shown in the food network website.

Ingredients:

• Semisweet chocolate chips - 1/2 pound
• Hershey’s Milk chocolate bar - 1
• Heavy cream - 1/3 cup
• Quality honey - 2 tbsp
• Unsalted butter, at room temperature - 2 tbsp
• Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/4 cup
• Ground sugar - 1/2 cup
• Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Skinned almonds - 1/4 cup
• Pistachio - 1/4 cup

Method of Preparation:

Preparation of Truffle coating:

• Scrape the skin off the regular almonds or you can buy skinned almonds from the shop.
• Grind pistachios and skinned almonds to a coarse powder. There should be tiny pieces of pistachio and almonds.
• Grind 1/2 cup of sugar to a fine powder. Remove 1/4 cup of sugar from the grinder and add unsweetened cocoa and grind them well.
• Add the remaining powdered sugar according to your taste. Now add the fennel seeds to the mixture and make a fine powder. Cocoa coating is ready.
• Now keep the almond, pistachio and cocoa coating in 3 different trays.

Preparation of Chocolate mixture:

• In a thick bottomed vessel, add heavy cream followed by honey. Keep it in low heat and mix them well.
• When it is combined well, increase the heat to medium. Keep stirring in-between.
• Now, take the chocolate chips in a glass bowl and microwave it for a minute and half.
• Remove it and mix it using silicon spatula/batter scrapper. If you don’t have one, you can use the normal spatula that is suitable for mixing.
• If you don’t have a microwave oven, you can follow this method: Boil water in a flat bottomed vessel. Take the chocolate chips in a glass bowl and keep it in the vessel. The bowl should fit into the vessel but it should not touch the bottom of the vessel. Chocolate should be melted with the steam coming out of the boiling water. We follow this procedure because chocolate should not be melted under direct heat. It will be burnt.
• Now remove the heavy cream and honey mixture once it starts boiling and add it to the chocolate chips.
• Mix them well and add butter. Combine them well till it becomes a shiny, smooth batter.
• Transfer it to a flat bottomed glass tray and refrigerate for an hour.

Preparation of Chocolate Truffles:

• After an hour, remove it from the refrigerator and scoop it using small scoop or any round headed spoon of desired size.
• Keep the chocolate scoops in a tray and refrigerate them for 15 minutes.
• Take the scoops out and shape them into balls and arrange it in a tray.
• If it sticks to your palm, just don’t worry. Refrigerate in-between for 3 to 4 minutes and continue doing.
• Once all the balls are done, refrigerate them for 15 minutes.
• In between, melt the milk chocolate in microwave or using the same procedure mentioned above.
• Take the melted chocolate in a wide spoon and roll the refrigerated balls one by one in the milk chocolate and roll it in the almond or pistachio or cocoa coating.
• Yummy truffles are ready. Try it, it will melt in your mouth with the nuts/cocoa dusting.
• Store them in a container and refrigerate it.
• You can put it in the paper baking cups and serve chill.

Yummy……isn’t it?

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You’ve heard me mention and share some excellent recipes from my beloved sister Suja. Now it is my pleasure to share her recipe and pictures straight from her Kitchen. The speciality about this recipe is that all the ingredients are available in any Indian pantry. It is a simple recipe you can make it in 30 minutes. It tastes best with chapathi, rice and parota. Try this recipe and share your comments for Suja.
Ingredients:

• Chicken : 500gms
• Onion : 1 (medium)
• Tomato : 1(medium)
• Ginger and garlic paste : 2 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder : 2 tsp
• Peppercorns: 10
• Green chilies : 2
• Red chili powder : 1 tsp
• Cashew : 5-8
• Badam : 3 (optional)
• Curry Leaves : 4-5

Method Of Preparation :

1. Heat oil in a pan add onions and fry them till it becomes translucent.
2. Now soak the cashews and badam for 10 minutes, grind them with green chilies and peppercorn. Keep the paste aside.
3. Add ginger&garlic paste to the onion. Fry them till the raw smell goes off.
4. Now add the chicken and mix it all together.  Add the turmeric powder to it. Cook in medium heat for two minutes.
5. After that add the ground paste, tomatoes, red chili powder, salt  and curry leaves. Cook them till the chicken becomes tender and fully cooked with covered lid.
6. After 15 minutes open up the lid and add half a glass of water and boil it again for 5 -10 minutes in medium heat (the consistency of the gravy could be upto your tatse).
7. Garnish  it with roasted cashews and coriander leaves.

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