Medhu Vada - Cooking For My Mommy!

Ulundhu Vadai:

You would have heard that Mom's cooking is the best...well, my mother's cooking is great too. However, with beaming confidence...I cooked this 'Medhu Vada' for my Mommy (during last vacation) and the good news is, she loved it:) Its an accomplishment from my end! Yeah, entering Mommy's kitchen..rearranging stuff, creating a perfect meal and getting that approval!!! Well, I usually get lot of scoldings for rearranging the kitchen/ but now a days she is used to me:) Cooking for Dad and Mom is bit challenging! They have their own set of rules, where knowing and abiding by the conventions is bit tricky. Anyhow, over years I have learned that...rather than showing our culinary abilities to the dinners/guests, its always what they want! So, I tell to myself hundred times...I am not trying anything stupid/ or infusing anything or mutilating the original recipe...its tough, but practice makes it alright:):) And come on, how hard is that to repeat your own Mom's recipe...that surely provides an award winning ticket:)

Ingredients:

Urad dal 1 cup
Green chilies 3 chopped
Ginger 2" chopped
Purple onion 1 small bulb - chopped
Coconut 2 small pieces - chopped
Curry leaves few
Cilantro leaves few
Peppercorns 1 spoon
Cumin seeds 1 spoon
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Baking soda 1 pinch
Sago powder 2 spoons
Salt
Oil for shallow frying.

Method:

Soak urad dal for a tleast 1-2 hours and wet grind the same...like a butter:)

Now add all the above mentioned ingredients to it, except oil. Mix well.

Heat oil in a pan, make vadas using wet-fingers. Fry them till golden to reddish brown.

Serve warm as a snack.

Karuppu Ulundhu Vadai / Kala Urid Dhal Vada

Whole Black Lentils Fritters:

Other Names: Black Gram Fritters, Kala Urid Dhal Vada. Muzhu Ulundhu/Karuppu Ulundhu Vadai. Mina Pappu Garelu.

Ingredients:

Whole Black Lentils 1 cup
Raw rice 2-4 teaspoons
Ginger 2" grated
Green chilies 3 finely chopped
Curry leaves few
Peppercorns 1 spoon - crushed
Cumin seeds 1 spoon - pounded gently
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Oil for shallow frying.

Method:

Soak lentils and rice together for 20 minutes or so. And wet-grind the same to thick paste.

Further add all the above mentioned ingredients to it, except oil. Mix well.

Heat oil in a wok, make fritters with the batter and fry them till golden color and crisp.

Serve warm as a tea time snack, enjoy:)

Corn Fritters / Macachola Vadai / Maize Vada

Makkachola Vadai:(Reposting)

Ingredients:

Oil for deep frying
Field corn kernels, soaked
Chana dal 1 cup
Onions finely chopped
Green chilies finely chopped
Salt
Cilantro leaves
Curry leaves
Ginger 2" grated
Garlic paste 1/2 spoon
Dry red chili flakes
Fennel seeds 1/2 spoon

If you are not so much into spices...skip the last 3 mentioned items.

Method:

Soak the corn kernels and chana dal for about 2-3 hours and coarsely grind them, by adding very less water.

Now throw in all the spices and stuff mentioned above...bring it to vadai consistency batter.

Heat oil in a shallow frying pan, shape them and shallow fry till crisp and nice.

Serve warm as a tea time snack.

Madhur Vada / Semolina Fritters - Regional Delicacy

Madhur Vada:

Rawa Vada. Ravai Vadai. Sooji Vada. Madhur Vadai.

Ingredients:

Semolina 1 small cup
Rice flour 1/4 cup
Green chilies 6 chopped
Ginger chopped about 2"
Curry leaves few
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Peppercorns few
Cumin seeds few
Cashew nuts few - broken
Onion 1 small chopped
Cilantro leaves few
Oil for shallow frying.

Method:

Soak the sooji for 1-2 hours.

Mix all the above mentioned ingredients(of course except oil) to it and make a thick batter.

Heat oil in a pan, make fritters and fry the same. Wait till it turns to reddish brown.

Serve warm as a snack.

Pathra / Pathrode / Alu Wadi / Yam Leaves Pinwheel Fritters / Maharastrian Wadi

Pathra:(Maharashtra Style)

I knew, I was going to try this recipe sooner or later. The recipes for Authentic Alu Wadi / Pathra have been floating around the blogosphere for a while. And I couldn't wait to try them myself. As soon as I saw these Fresh Yam Greens in the International market, I convinced myself that the recipe shared by many of my beloved bloggers, would never let me down. I bagged them, with confidence:) Well...googled a million times, before tweaking the original recipe to suit my needs. I simply disapproved the idea of besan flour basting(which I could never find here) and turned them into thuvar dal paste. Gosh, was wondering for the whole time, how its gonna turn out...to my surprise it was splendid, divine and it looked like an absolute piece of art. Here you go...

Note: It isn't complicated as it looks, its easy, and you know...one could get better the each time. If you like bigger fritters, just use more and more layers of leaves.

Ingredients:

Taro Roots Leaves / Yam leaves/ Colocassia Leaves
Besan flour (original recipe) or Thuvar dal paste 1 cup
Salt
Turmeric 1 pinch
Chili powder 1 spoon
Jaggery gooseberry size
Black sesame seeds 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida 1/2 spoon
Tamarind paste 1/2 spoon
Olive oil for pan-frying
Cumin seeds for garnishing.

Method:

Wash and clean the leaves, if you could able to find all even sized leaves, call yourself lucky:)

Well, wet-grind the lentils and add all the above mentioned ingredients to it. Except, you kno...oil, and cumin seeds.

Now, cut the mid-rib, if necessary. Then, smear/baste the above paste over the leaves...arrange them one above the other and continue to do so. Then roll them and set aside. Repeat the same for all the remaining stuff too.

Now steam cook them for about 10 minutes. And cut them into small wadis/pinwheels,perfect.

Shallow fry them for few minutes and add the cumin seeds to the same oil. Voila:)

Mixed Vegetables Masal Vadai - Spicy Veg Fritters

Mixed Vegetables Masal Vadai:

Kaikari Paruppu Vadai. Kaikari Masala Vadai.

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

Oil for frying
Chana dal 1 cup
Choice of you veggies - finely chopped
Onions finely chopped
Green chilies finely chopped
Mint leaves few
Salt
Cilantro leaves
Curry leaves
Ginger 2" grated
Garlic paste 1/2 spoon
Dry red chili flakes
Fennel seeds - powdered 1 spoon
Fennel seeds 1/2 spoon
Cloves 2 crushed
Cinnamon 1 small stick crushed

If you are not so much into spices...skip the last 3 mentioned items.

Method:

Finely chop the vegetables.

Soak the lentils for about 20 minutes and coarsely grind them, by adding very less water.

Now throw in all the spices and stuff mentioned...bring it to vadai consistency batter.

Heat oil in a shallow frying pan, shape them and shallow fry till crisp and nice.

Serve warm to go with you tea.

Layered Vada Korma - Kovai Special

Stuffed Vada Curry:(Coimbatore Special)

Layered Vadai Kuzhambu. Stuffed Vada Kurma.

Ingredients:

For Vadai:

Thoor dal 1/2 cup
Chana dal 1/2 cup
Salt
Fennel seeds 1 spoon
Ginger 1"
Garlic 1 clove
Dry red chilies 5
No Oil - I steamed them, if you prefer frying...I have no objection:)

For Stuffing:

Finely chopped onions
Cilantro leaves chopped
Grated fresh coconut

For Curry:

Cloves 3
Cinnamon 1 stick
Bay leaves 2
Onion 2 grated
Tomatoes 3 crushed
Ginger=garlic paste 1/2 spoon
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Coconut paste 1/2 cup
Cilantro leaves to garnish
Oil few spoons.

Method:

Wet-grind vada ingredients altogether and prepare vadas, stuff them with the ingredients mentioned above. Steam cook for roughly 10-15 minutes or deep fry them, set aside.

In a wide wok, heat oil. Throw in the spices followed by onion, ginger and garlic paste...fry real good till the raw odour leaves the pan.

Add salt, turmeric, chili powder and tomatoes. Cover and cook for few minutes...until the gravy thinckens. Add stuffed vadas and cook briefly. Garnish with cilantro leaves and remvoe from heat.

Serve to go with your rotis or rice.

Thayir Vadai / Dahi Vada - Surprised my Dad that I can Cook!

Dahi Vada:

My Dad visited me recently during this spring break. In spite of all his obligations, working commitments and time schedule...he made it. These 15 days has been an ultimate gift:) We just goofed around a little, did some trekking, lot of gardening, walked into the woods and talked talked talked all day & night:) Pappa really liked Oxford. He is the first person to appreciate my small country dwelling...and enjoyed the company of horses, cattle, deer, duck, tortoise and snakes:)

Though he has tasted my food' occasionally, but this is the first time he actually witnessed my cooking abilities. Now, he could agree with me more 'Cooking is a Wonderful Hobby'. Experimenting in the kitchen, sharing my recipes with you all and giving classes to Oxfordians, keeps my day fresh and running in this small town:)

Ingredients:

For Vadai:

Urad dal 1 cup
Rice 1-2 spoons
Salt
Ginger 2" peeled & chopped
Whole peppercorns 1 spoon
Cumin 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Coconut 4" piece finely chopped
Curry leaves few
Sago 1 spoon - powdered(to give some crunch on the crust)
Rice flour - gives reddish tint
Oil for deep frying.

To Garnish:

Cilantro
Kara boondhi/oma podi

Method:

For Vadai:

Soak urad dal and rice in water for nearly 1-2 hours.

Then drain off its excess water. Wet grind them to thick butter like paste.

Now mix all the above mentioned items to it(except oil)

Heat up the oil in deep frying pan. Wet your palm and make vadas as given in the pictures.

Fry till golden to reddish brown. Let the outer vada turn nice and crispy.

For Thayir Vadai:

Dip the warm vadai in luke warm water for few seconds and leave it in serving bowl. Then pour some generous amount of yogurts on top. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serve chilled.

Hotel Style Sambar Vadai

Sambhar Vada:(Hotel Style)

There were days, when I simply relied on hotel food. While studying, thats the best thing to do to myself...eat a decent breakfast and keep a big distance from hostel mess:) I am not the person who wants perfection in every bite...but during those hectic days, big breakfast was pretty mandatory.

So, whenever we girls step out for morning tiffin, I order myself sambar vada...and my friends used to pull my legs, saying' its leftover vadas Malar and call me 'Sambhar Maniac'. Those were days...

Ingredients:

For Vadai:

Urad dal 1 cup
Rice 1-2 spoons
Salt
Ginger 2" peeled & chopped
Whole peppercorns 1 spoon
Cumin 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1 pinch
Coconut 4" piece finely chopped
Curry leaves few
Sago 1 spoon - powdered(to give some crunch on the crust)
Rice flour - gives reddish tint
Oil for deep frying.

Ingredients:

For Sambar:

Thoor dal 1 cup
Small Onions 1 cup/Red onions sliced
Country Tomatoes 2-3 diced
Garlic 5 cloves crushed
White pumpkin diced 1/2 cup
Drumstick 1 chopped to the same size of pumpkin
Jaggery 2 spoons
Curry leaves few
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Asafoetida 1/4 spoon
Mustard 1/2 spoon
Tamarind paste 1/4 spoon
Coriander leaves finely chopped 1/2 cup
Ghee 1/2 cup

To Be Roasted Each Separately And Powdered Together:

Coriander seeds 2-4 spoons
Chana dal 2-4 spoons
Curry leaves few
Fenugreek seeds 1 spoon
Dry red chilies 3-5
Asafoetida 1 spoon.

To Garnish:

Finely chopped onions
Finely chopped chilies
Finely chopped cilantro leaves
Lemon juice and pinch of salt.

Method:

For Sambar:

In a pressure cooker, heat few spoons of ghee. Add 2-3 cups of water to this. Pressure cook the lentils till soft and tender.

In a separate non-stick cook- ware, heat ghee. Add mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves to this. Let them splutter.

Now add onions and garlic to this and fry for a while. Add tomatoes and fry till they loose their water content and oil shows up on sides.

Add vegetables, turmeric powder, salt, chili powder, jaggery and 1 spoon of freshly prepared sambar powder to this.

Now add the cooked lentils. Cover and cook over medium flame.

Once the vegetables are done, add tamarind paste, remaining sambar powder and freshly chopped coriander leaves.

Run a few spoons of ghee, before serving.

Mehtod:

For Vadai:

Soak urad dal and rice in water for nearly 1-2 hours.

Then drain off its excess water. Wet grind them to thick butter like paste.

Now mix all the above mentioned items to it(except oil)

Heat up the oil in deep frying pan. Wet your palm and make vadas as given in the pictures.

Fry till golden to reddish brown. Let the outer vada turn nice and crispy.

For Sambar Vadai:

Dip the warm vadai in luke warm water for few seconds and leave it in serving bowl. Then pour some generous amount of sambar on top. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serve at room temperature.