Sabu dana (javvarisi) cutlet

I came to know about MBP-Snacks and Savouries event hosted by Ashwini while browsing Madhuram's blog. I particularly liked this event as all you need to do is find a nice snacks recipe from a blog and prepare it. As the recipe is tried and tasted, you need not worry about the outcome. Its is also a kind of showing the food blogger whose recipe we choose, how much we love their blog. I searched the food blogs that I know of and zeroed in on Arundhati's sabu dana cutlet. There were so many other nice snacks recipes, but I liked Arundhati's the best as it was very easy to make and not deep fried consdering the fact that lot of snack items are deep fried.

I followed the recipe as it is. I only changed the measurements a bit. Eversince I bought a small, very useful kitchen scale, I measure all the ingredients in grams using the scale. Everybody liked it very much, especially my mother said of all the recipes that I made till now looking at the internet, this is the best. All credit goes to Arundhati for sharing this tasty and healthy recipe.

I have eaten deep fried sabu dana vada in a maharashtrian fast food centre here. They serve the vada with sweet curd. But Arundhati's sabu dana cutlet scores as it is shallow fried with very minimal oil. I had the cutlet with sweet curd. Others had it with bread and tomato sauce. However we ate, the taste was awesome.

The original recipe by Arundhati can be found here.

Ingredients to make around 30 cutlets

Sabu dana(javvarisi in tamil): 300gms(soaked overnight or for 8 hours)
Potato: 450 gms(boiled, peeled and mashed)
Bread crumbs: 100 gms
Ground nut: 150 gms(I ground it coarsely in a mixer. As Arundhati has mentioned, badam or cashew can also be used.)
Green chily: 2 long(cut into small pieces. Can use more chilys according to one's spice level.)
Salt to taste.
Refined oil: to shallow fry the cutlets.
Coriander leaves: chopped(I did not use it as I did not have it)

Procedure

1. Mix all the above ingredients except oil.
2. Make lemon sized balls.
3. Flatten each ball with palm.
4. Heat non stick pan/tava.
5. Place few pieces of flattened cutlets on the tava.
6. Add 1 tbsp or less oil touching all the cutlets.
7. Keep in medium flame.
8. Once one side is fried well, turn the cutlets and add some oil.(1 tsp)
9. Allow it to fry.
10. Remove from pan.
11. Serve hot.

Note: The cutlets that I made were not at all spicy. I purposely added less chily as I thought my 2 years old son would eat it. Since we also do not eat very spicy stuff, it was OK for us. Next time I might add some masala powder to make it a bit more fragrant.

This is my entry to Ashwini's MBP-Snacks and Savouries event originally started by Coffee.

Hot, sweet and sour Tomato thokku

My aunty made this extremely versatile and delicious tomato thokku when she visited me a year ago. I decided to make this thokku when I saw the FIL-Tomato event hosted by Sanghi.

Luckily I had a lot of tomatoes too. I called my aunty immediately, got the recipe and prepared the thokku. It came out very tasty. It was perfect..Hot, sweet and sour. It is so versatile that it can be eaten with bread, roti or even rice.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

Tomato: 600gms
Red chily: 10 long
Fenugreek seeds: 10 seeds
Vegetable Oil: 4 tbsp
Gingely oil: 2 tbsp
mustard seeds: 1/4 tsp

Procedure

1. Soak red chily, fenugreek seeds and asofoetida in water(pour water till the chily immerses.) for 10 minutes.
2. Cut tomatoes into big pieces.
3. In a mixer, grind the soaked items. Once the chillies are ground well, add the tomatoes and grind tomatoes are pureed.(If there are one or two tomato lumps, its OK.It will get cooked in the pan later.
4. In a sauce pan/kadai, add vegetable oil. When it is hot add mustard. Once it splutters pur the tomato puree and mix well.
5. Keep in medium flame and cover with a lid. (Don't forget to close with a lid. Otherwise, it will splutter all over the wall.)
6. Open the lid and stir once in a while.
7. Let it be in the stove for around 25 minutes or till it comes to thokku consistency.(water in tomato puree should evaporated completely and the puree should start leaving the sides of the pan)
8. Now add the gingelly oil and jaggery and mix well.
9. Remove from stove.
10. Allow it to cool. Store in an air tight container.It can be stored for 2 weeks if kept in fridge.

It can be eaten with bread, rice or roti.

Note:I have added jaggery because we like the thokku to be sweet. If one does not want it to be sweet, jaggery need not be added.. Also based on one's spice level, red chilly can be increased or decreased. Mine is not very spicy.

This is a recipe which my aunty made with a lot of love for us. I made this dish with the same love for my family and also sending it to Sanghi's FIL-Tomato event.

Sambar-Tamil Nadu style

I feel like chronicling anything that my mother prepares. It has a unique taste and aroma that is unparralleled. (I guess, everybody feels the same about their mother's cooking)

Today, I am going to post two of the very basic lunch items of any South Indian(especially tamil nadu) home, namely sambar and rasam. When I make these items, I forget the proportions sometimes. So I am documenting the recipe here so that I can turn back to it anytime I want.

This sambar is to be eaten with rice. My mother also makes a different variety of sambar(exactly like the hotel sambar) to be eaten with idli/dosa/pongal. I will post the recipe for this sambar, next time she makes it.

Generally we put atleast one vegetable in sambar. There are different versions of sambar, where a lot many vegetables are used instead of just one or instead of sambar powder, a paste made of coconut, red chilly and gram dal is used. The recipe I am posting here is a very basic version.

Ingredients that serves 4 adults

Tamarind: lemon size ball(around 10 gms)
Tuvar Dal: 150 gms
Sambar powder: 1 1/2 tsp(I use MTR sambar powder)
Vegetable: I used white pumpkin this time. Other vegetables that can be used are ladies finger, brinjal, carrot, raddish, yellow pumpkin and the list goes on.(See Note below)
Salt: to taste

Seasoning

Vegetable Oil or Ginelly oil: 1 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds: 10 seeds
Curry leaves: 10 leaves
Tomato: 1 medium size
Green chily: 1 long

Procedure

1. Put tamarind in a bowl and add hot water to it till the tamarind immerses.Allow it to soak in water for sometime.(till you start preparing the sambar)
2. In the meantime, pressure cook dal by adding around 400 litres of water. (Allow 2 whistles)
3. When the dal is cooked, extract juice from tamarind(150 to 200 gms) and keep aside.
4. In a pan/kadai, add oil. When it is hot, add mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add fenugreek seeds, tomato, green chily and curry leaves.
5. Saute for a minute and pour tamarind juice.
6. Add sambar powder and salt. Stir so that everthing is mixed together. Allow it to boil. Once it is boiled, simmer and keep in the stove for 10 minutes.
7. Add the cooked dal and stir. If the sambar is very thick, some water can be added. Heat in high flame for 2 minutes and put off the stove.

Delicious sambar is ready.

Note: I added pumkin along with the dal for cooking. But vegetables that gets mushy when pressure cooked can be directly put along with the seasoning ingredients and sauted. They will get cooked in tamarind water.

Rasam recipe would follow soon.

Vegetable mayo french roll sandwich

I once again made Arundhati's french roll and as usual, it came out flawless. This time I made vegetable mayaonnaise salad adapted from here and sandwiched it between the french roll. The result was a very delicious vegetable mayo sandwich. It was not only delicious but also very filling. With just two french roll sandwiches for each, we were full.

I have already given the recipe for french roll here.

Here goes the recipe for vegetable mayo salad.

Ingredients to fill 8 french rolls.

Vegetables: 1 cup (Carrot, cucumber, capsicum and tomato cut into small cubes.)
Coriander Leaves: 1 tbsp (chopped)
Pepper powder: as per taste
Salt to taste
Eggless Mayonnaise: 3 tbsp (vary the quantity if needed to bring the salad to almost spreadable consistency)

Procedure

Mix all the above ingredients together.

To make the sandwich

1. Cut the french roll into two halves.
2. Apply mayonnaise salad on one side of the roll and keep the the other half on top of it.

This is a very good breakfast recipe. Instead of frech roll ordinary bread can also be used.

Brinjal Rice/Vangi bhath

This is one of my mother's authentic recipes for variety rice, liked by everybody who tastes it.

I would definitely not classify this recipe as a very healthy one as she uses a lot of oil. When I protest against her for using so much of oil, she reverts back saying "If you don't eat such stuff at this age, when will you?". I know its not a very good argument, but I generally give up as I too want to savour her delicious food. Once she goes back to her native, she will also follow a strict diet plan as both my parents have high BP and she is diabetic too..I too go back to my usual sambar, rasam, vegetable curry routine devoid of coconut or ghee with just 1/2 tsp of oil going into the items in the name of seasoning. Food can't become healthier than this...

So, I have decided to relish whatever she makes for these 2 months that she is going to be here in Bangalore..

Here is the recipe for brinjal rice loved by everybody at home..

Ingredients that serves 4

Brinjal: 8 pieces cut into small cubes
Gingely oil: 6 tbsp
Turmeric: a pinch

For grinding

grated Coconut: 4 tbsp
Sunflower oil: 1 tbsp
Bengal gram/channa dal: 2 tbsp
Urad dal split: 1 tbsp
Tuvar Dal: 1 tbsp
Red chily: 5 long pieces or according to your spice tolerance level.
Tamarind: small lemon size ball(around 10 gms)
Asofoetida: a pinch

Procedure

1. Add sunflower oil in a sauce pan. Once it is hot add all the grinding ingredients except for tamarind and fry until the dal becomes light brown in color. Allow it cool(10 minutes)
2. Grind the above roasted ingredients, tamarind and salt in a mixer until the chillies are ground well.(Add water if needed and the final mixture should be coarse)
3. Add gingelly oil in a pan. Add bengal gram and stir.Once the gram turns slightly brown add the cut brinjal and turmeric and stir once.
4. Keep in medium flame, close the pan with a lid. Stir occasionally so that the brinjal does not get burnt.It might take around 15to 20 minutes for the brinjal to cook completely. You can test by putting one piece of brinjal in a plate and pressing it with your finger. If it easily crushes, its cooked.
5. Add ground powder to the vegatable and mix well. Stir for 5 to 10 minutes and then remove from heat.
6. Mix this well with cooked rice. If the salt is less, add some more at this stage. 7. If its very spicy, add some ghee and mix well.

Spicy and tasty brinjal rice is ready.

It can be served with tomato raita. (cut tomato into small pieces and add some yogurt and salt to it.Season it with mustard and a red chilli)

This is my entry to Colors of Taste - Powders: Flavored Rice by Smitha of Kadumanga

Mother's south indian style dal

This is another of my mother's speciality. This is not a typical North Indian dal. She uses some south indian ingredients which gives it a unique taste and aroma.

It is one of the must try recipes and its also very easy to make.

Ingredients 

Moong dal: 200 gms(split green gram which will be yellow in color after removing the skin)
Water: around 350 litres(or how much ever is needed to cook the dal in the pressure cooker)
Tomato: 4 medium size, cut into four pieces
Green chily: 2 long cut into two pieces
Grated coconut: 3 tbsp
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric: a pinch

For seasoning

Ghee: 1 tbsp
Mustard: 1/4 tsp
Urad Dal: 1/4 tsp

Procedure

1. Pressure cook dal and tomato.(Add a pich of turmeric too.) Allow 2 whistles.
2. Grind green chily, coconut and cumin in a mixer, to a smooth paste.
3. Remove cooked dal from cooker and pour it in a sauce pan and keep on a stove. 4. Add the ground mixture and stir so that it mixes well with the dal.
5. Keep on medium flame for few minutes. (5 minutes)
6. Remove from stove.

For seasoning

1. In a small pan, add 2 tbsp of ghee.
2. Once it is hot, add mustard. When it splutters add urad dal.
3. Add this to the dal and mix well.

Garnish with coriander leaves.

Mouthwatering dal is ready..

Vegetable Noodles and carrot salad with yogurt

I just want to give a brief about how the combination of noodles and carrot salad came about. Sometime back, while I was browsing the net, I came across this blog called almostturkish. It has lot of authentic turkish recipes. I was particularly impressed with the turkish vegetarian recipes. One among them was this carrot salad with yogurt. It was similar to Indian carrot , though the original recipe called for dill. Though I did not have it, I still went ahead and prepared as usage of mayonisse in the original recipe was very tempting. It was awesome and I think the thick curd and mayonisse gave it the rich creamy texture. Also I prepared noodles on that day. Somebody at home tried eating noodles with the salad and just loved the combination. Everybody followed, and now I always prepare this salad along with vegetable noodles. I think this is one of the best

Vegetable Noodles

Ingredients to serve 5 adults

Hakka Noodles: 1 packet (500 gms)
Green capsicum(green bell pepper): 1 (cut into long thin slices)Cabbage: 3 tbsp(measure after cutting into long thin slices)Carrot: 2 (cut into long thin slices)
Spring onion: 3 tbsp(Measure after cutting into small pieces)Green chily: 2 (long, slit vertically)
Refined Oil: 3 tbsp
Soya sauce: 1 tbsp(add a bit more if needed)Vinegar: 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Procedure

1. Boil noodles as per package instruction and keep aside.
2. In a pan, add oil. Once it is hot add chillies and the other vegetables except spring onion. 
3. Stir the vegetables for some time, simmer slightly and close the pan with a lid. Check every now and then if the vegetables are almost cooked. (around 10 minutes) 
4. Add the spring onions, soya sauce, vinegar and salt and mix well. 
5. Remove from the stove. 
6. Mix the boiled noodles with the vegetables in a wide mouthed pan.

Vegetable noodles is ready.

Carrot salad with yogurt/carrot raita

Ingredients

Yogurt/Curd: 100 gms(I used Britannia brand. I don't use homemade curd when I make this salad as it is not as creamy as shop bought curd)
Carrot: 1 (big, grated)
Eggless Mayonaisse: 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Procedure

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl just before serving.
 

Delicious carrot salad with yogurt and mayonnaise is ready and it tastes great with the vegetable noodles.

"Strawberry jelly and cream" sandwiched eggless vanilla cake

I decided to participate in FIC-Pink event guest hosted by Priya (announced by Harini of Tongue Ticklers) as soon as I saw it. Pink being my favourite color, I did not want to miss this event. As soon as I saw pink as the color for the FIC event, only rose milk came to my mind. It was my co-sister who suggested using strawberries for the recipe.. The idea of combining jelly, cake and cream was given by her and I am obviously awe struck at her culinary skills.

So here is the recipe for Strawberry jelly and cream sandwiched eggless vanilla cake. The SJACS eggless vanilla cake consists of three individual recipes.

1. Strawberry jelly
2. Eggless vanilla cake
3. Strawberry cream(icing)seet

Strawberry Jelly

Ingredients

Strawberry Jelly mix: 1 packet or 100 gms(I used Weikfield brand)Powdered Sugar: 3 tbsp(Optional)

Procedure

1. Follow the instructions in the package to set the jelly.
2. Refrigerate the set jelly.

Note:

1. I did not add powdered sugar this time. But I will definitely add the next time as the sweetness was not sufficient for us.
2. I added some jelly mix to set in the glass in which I was going to make the sandwich. (A little less than 1/4th the glass)

Eggless Vanilla Cake

I have made this cake number of times and every time I get the same great texture and taste. To make this cake, I just followed Bharti’s recipe. This is one of the cake recipes that's a treasure.

Ingredients

All purpose flour/maida: 2 cups(260 gms)
Usalted butter: 5 tbsp at room temperature(ariubd 65 gms)
Sweetened condensed milk: 1 tin(400 gms)
Butter milk: around 1/2 cup(around 120 gms)(Butter milk quantity can be varied a bit based on the consistency of the cake batter)
Baking powder:  1 tsp
Baking Soda: 1 tsp
Vanilla Essence: 2 tsp

Procedure

1. Pre heat oven to 150 degree C.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly.
3. Cream the butter and condensed milk using an electric hand mixer until soft. (I generally mix/beat with an egg beater. I recently bought a electric hand mixer, hence used that.)
4. Add butter milk and vanilla essence and beat again for few seconds.
5. Add the dry ingredients 3 tbsp at a time to the wet mixture and mix well in one direction. (Need not beat. I generally do this with hand)
6. Pour the batter in a greased cake pan and bake for around 30 to 35 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean.

Note:

I made some cup cakes too using muffin tin which was very useful for making the sandwich cake. See more on it in Putting Everything Together Section.

Strawberry Cream

Ingredients

Unsalted Butter: 3 tbsp(butter should be at room temperature)Icing sugar: 10 tbsp
Strawberry Essence: 2 tbsp
Milk: 1 tbsp(Optional)

Procedure

1. Beat butter, strawberry essence/puree/powder and icing sugar using a hand mixer or egg beater.
2. If the mixture is very thick, add a little milk to bring it to a spreadable consistency.

Note:

I did not have Strawberry Essence. So I saved some powder(2 tbsp) from Strawberry Jelly mix and used it in the cream instead of essence.
Since I wanted to pour the cream over the cake, I made it a bit thin by adding more milk.

Putting everything together

I used a juice glass to make the sandwich cake.

1. If the jelly is already set in the glass, proceed to the next step. Otherwise, cut a small piece of jelly using a cookie cutter and put in the glass.
2. Cut 2 pieces of cake using a cookie cutter and place one piece on top of the jelly in the glass. Instead of cutting the big cake, I cut the cup cake using the cookie cutter as that was easier. Also I did not want to disturb the big cake
3. Pour some cream on top of the cake and place the other piece too. Again pour some cream. Decorate with some cherries.

I did this sandwich especially for the event. So the last step(Putting everything together) can be modified according to one's one creativity. I thought the jelly would also be in light pink in color, but it was dark pink or rather red. But the cream is still pink in color and I am sending this recipe to Priya’s FIC-Pink event

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Microwave fried masala papad

Blogging has kind of become an addiction. My visiting parents are complaining that I don’t spend enough time with them and the kid. To prove their point, I started blog hoping as soon as I came from office and came across MEC: Savoury Snacks event hosted by Priya of easyntastyrecipes. I totally admire her enthusiasm and energy to host two events in the same month. As soon as I saw the theme, masala papad came to my mind. The papad can be fried in microwave oven and the toppings are just sliced onions and tomataoes and some masala powder to spice it up. More importantly, it can be prepared in a wink of eye and I can treat my parents with this tasty and easy snack without even they realizing that I spent time in kitchen. I just made one papad especially for the event.

Ingredients

Lijjat papad:  1 piece
Onion:  1 small
Tomato:  1 small
Salt to taste
Chat masala powder to sprinkle on the papad
Coriander leaves finely chopped to sprinkle on the papad
Lemon juice to sprinkle on the papad

Procedure

1. Slice onion and tomoto into thin pieces, add chat masala powder and salt and mix well.
2. Fry the papad in microwave oven for 1 minute or until it is fried completely.
3. Remove from oven and spread onion and tomato mixture on the papad.
4. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and lemon juice.

Easy and tasty microwave masala papad is ready and its on the way to MEC:Savoury Snacks event hosted by Priya of easyntastyrecipes

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Eggless fruit and nut cake/Plum cake

I tried making a Christmas cake last December when I had just developed interest in baking (I know, wanting to bake this cake is asking for too much for a beginner) and I did not have an OTG. Got a recipe from the net and off I set to bake this cake in a cooker!!! I just followed the recipe as it is….and to everybody’s horror, the cake was completely burnt, the vessel had become black beyond recognition. I was very upset as I had put lots and lots of fruits and nuts into the cake. I had decided that I would never bake a cake ever again.. But as it turned out, I baked a cake the very next week. :-)

So, baking a fruit and nut cake was always behind my mind though I did not dare to try it once again..Yesterday, as my son had gone out with his grand parents, I was pretty much free. The baker in me raised her head again..and to keep her calm, I asked my husband if I can bake a fruit and nut cake..(I was pretty sure that he would say no..) But to my surprise, he gave a big YES.. I immediately sat in front of the PC and started searching for the recipe.

That’s when I came across Shilpa’s eggless fruit and nut cake in Aayi’s recipe. I had all the ingredients that the recipe called for except for orange juice. This is were Madhuram’s egg substitutes come handy.. I assumed that orange juice is used just to give softness to this cake.(as the recipe did not call for soaking the fruits in orange juice) So instead of orange juice, I used apple sauce as I had a lonely apple in my refrigerator. I also added as many different types of nuts and dried fruits that I had.

The cake was very delicious and my husband just loved it.. He is a big fan of fruit and nut cake and he was really waiting restlessly for the cake to be baked. And once he tasted, he said SUPERB. This is the first time, I felt so satisfied after baking a cake…All credit goes to shilpa for coming up with such a great eggless

I am posting this recipe for my reference with the modifications that I made. Please click here for the original recipe.

Ingredients

All purpose flour/Maida:  1 cup(125 gms)
Powdered Sugar:  1/2 cup(100gms) + 1/4 cup(50gms)
Butter:  7 tbl spn(100gms)
Spice powder:  1/8th tsp cinnamon powder, 1/8th tsp nutmeg powder, 3elaichis powdered Apple sauce:  3/4th cup(Peel the apple, cut into small pieces, put it in a bowl of water and boil in the microwave oven for 10 minutes. Once it is cool, grind it in a mixer into a smooth paste)
Vanilla extract:  1 tsp
Baking powder:  1/2 tsp
Baking soda:  1 tsp
Kissan Jam(mixed fruit):  1 tbsp
Salt:  ¼ tsp
Dry fruits and nuts:  I used a mixture of cashew, raisins, dates, cherries, tutti fruiti(red, yellow and green colors), walnuts and almonds. (peel the skin from almonds before chopping, by heating the almonds in a bowl of water in microwave for 2 minutes. Otherwise, almonds can be soaked in water for an hour and then can be peeled)

I just saw to it that all the fruits and nuts together weighed 300 gms.

Procedure

1. Mix all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.
2. Pre heat oven to 150 degrees C for 10 minutes.
3. Melt butter and mix the chopped fruits and nuts with it.
4. Heat 1/2 cup sugar with 1 tbsp water in a thick bottomed pan till it becomes dark brown in color . This process is called caramelization (If you burn this, the cake become bitter, so be careful).
5. Add the caramelized sugar to the fruits and mix well. When I did this, the mixture formed some hard lumps due to the caramelized sugar. But there is no need to panic and can go to the next step.
6. When it is cooled a bit, add the spices, jam, vanilla extract and apple sauce and mix well.
7. Add the dry ingredients, 2 tbsp at a time to the fruits mixture and combine well. 8. Pour the batter in a greased baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes..

Allow it to cool for sometime before gorging on it. :-)