Fried Phool Makhana / desi popcorn

Phool Makhana is new to me. I had makhana curry in a punjabi restaurant  and loved the taste. Brought this makhana from a indian grocery store. And while browsing Vah chef videos came across this quick, easy and tasty snack. It just took 5-10 minutes to make this desi popcorn and calls for very few ingredients.

Ingredients:-

Phool Makhana 1 cup
Ghee 3 tbsp
Salt as per taste
Red chilly powder 1/2 tsp

Method:-

Mix Ghee with salt and red chilly powder.

Take a pan. When hot add makhana. Saute for 5 minutes and to check if makhana is fried, take one into your mouth and when you bite it you should hear the sound.

Add ghee mixture and mix well. Take out immediately from the stove and serve warm.

Cheese Corn Balls

Daughter celebrated her 8th birthday and as always she wanted a small party at home with neighbor kids. She wanted a theme party and as i was sick last two weeks was not able to plan a theme party ahead. Nevertheless made all the food stuff at home much to her liking and she had a wonderful evening. I made cake pops, cheese corn balls and Oreo medals. Her birthday cake was store brought as i didn't had much time to plan and make the cake. And also i prefer store brought cake on birthdays than me making a cake and be tensed about the out come. Here is the cheese corn balls recipe :-

Ingredients:-

Corn 4 cobs
Cheese (Mozarella 2 cups)
Corn starch 1/4 cup
Boiled potato 2
Salt to taste
Oregano 1 tbsp
Chilly flakes 1 tbsp
Garlic 1 crushed
Bread crumbs
Plain flour
Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Make a smooth running paste with plain flour and water.

Boil corn and separate corn from the cob.

Gently crush corn and mash the potato.

Mix corn, potato,cheese,garlic,oregano,chilly flakes and salt.

Mix well with hands. Make small balls.

Take bread crumbs in a wide plate.

Take each ball dip the ball in the plain flour.

Rotate the balls on the crumbs and take each ball in the hand and gently rotate.

Once all the balls are done, deep fry in batches. Take them on a tissue and serve hot.

The left over balls can be refrigerated and can be fried later on.

The above pic and the below pic is of the next day i deep fried cheese balls with the refrigerated batter.

Lentil and Spinach Vada ( Chana dal and palak vada)

This recipe came in good house keeping magazine long time back, i was going through my recipe book and found this recipe in a small book which came with good house keeping magazine. These vadas minus spinach (palak) is best eaten at the street vendor bandi with chopped onions and chat masala on it. Had boiled spinach in my fridge so made these with chana dal. Here goes the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Chana dal/Lentil 1 cup soaked for 2-3 hours
Spinach/Palak 10-15 leafs boiled
Onion 1 chopped finely
Green chillies 1 chopped finely
Ginger an inch pc chopped finely
Curry leaves few
Coriander leaves few chopped finely
Cooking soda a pinch
Salt to take
Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Grind chana dal into coarse mixture. Add all the other ingredients and mix it with hand.

Take a tennis ball size mixture and press it on one hand with the other hand, make small patties.

Deep fry in batches until brown colour and serve hot with any chutney of your choice

Isn't it easy and simple....

Velluli murukku / Garlic Murukku

We have a store near my house where we used to buy different varieties of murukku and one of them was velluli murukku. Basically that store was run by a tamil family and after the store came into our locality people stopped making murukku or pindi vantalu at home.I remember for 250 gms its was 10 rupees, not sure how much it is now...it's been almost 3 years i had anything from that store.

Of all the murukkus i used to love this murukku and mom used to buy that for me. I took this recipe from my favourite book Kanta mani Vantalu. My kids too love to eat murukku. As now i am at home with kids as they are having Spring break i had some time today, so made these. These will last  for few days not to worry about what snacks to pack for school next week. Here is the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Besan/Sangapindi 2 cups
Rice flour/Biyam pindi 1 cup
Seasame seeds 1 tbsp
Cummin powder 1 tsp
Hing a pinch
Ghee 4 tbsp
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste

Garlic 3
Red chilly whole 4
Little water

Grind garlic and red chilly with water. Just make a coarse paste.

Method:-


Mix all the dry ingredients.

Add ghee, garlic and red chilly paste.

Add enough warm water and make a hard dough.

I used 3 eyed holes in the murukku maker.

Grease the murukku maker and fill it with the dough.

Heat oil. Press small batches on a plate like the below pic and slowly leave them in the hot oil.

Fry until the bubbles subsides and take them out on a tissue.

Once cool store them in a air tight container.

Egg Puff

Egg puffs....takes you back to your college days. Money given by mom is well spent at the bakery next to your college. And also any visit to a local bakery end up in buying puffs and dil kush. I have been told by the friend to use puff pastery sheet for the puffs. Have used it quite a few times and very satisfied with the out come. This recipe calls in for very few ingredients and can be done in 30 minutes. Here goes the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Puff Pastry  8 square sheets
Boiled eggs 4 sliced into half
Butter 2 tbsp
Egg 1 beaten

How to make the puffs

Sprinkle salt and pepper on the sliced eggs. You can sprinkle anything of your choice, like chat masala,fried onions,red chilly powder or anardana.

Take one square sheet of puff pastry. Place the half slice of boiled egg. Apply water on two sides of the sheet and bring them together over the egg and stick it.

Make all the puffs similarly.

Pre-heat oven at 325 degrees celcuis.

Apply butter on a baking tray.

Place each puff on the tray. Apply egg on the each puff.

Bake it for 20 minutes.

Serve hot with any sauce of your choice.

Sabudana Vada

When i was newly married and re-located to oman i was so bored sitting at home and wait for someone to talk to me. Having worked after collage and never left alone at home i used to get so depressed. In oman you  wont be able to go alone unless you have driving licence and a car. I newly wedded went to oman was not intended to take licence. Only entertainment i had was TV and me not found of watching serials. I carried few recipes books and husband used to get magazines for me to read. So my favorite pass time was to cook. They were few disasters which husband still remembers after 14 years. So many marks of burns on the hands and which i longer have on my hands. And i remember few recipes which i used to do very often and my favourite too. One among them was Sabudana vada which i got from a monthly magazine. That magazine used to have four indian recipes every month and i used to save the paper cuttings. I still have them in hyderabad. Here goes the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Sabudana or Sagobiyam 1 cup
Butter milk 2 cups
Grated potato 1
Onions finely chopped 1
Green chillies 2
Rice powder 4-5 tbsp
Red chilly powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Soak sabudana in butter milk for 1-2 hrs.

Take the soaked sabudana in a strainer and let the excess liquid drains.

Now mix all the ingredients. If the mixture is too liquid, rice flour can be added.

Heat oil.

Make small patties and deep fry in batches on a medium flame.

Once the patties turn  golden colour drain them on a tissue. These patties didnt take much oil. My tissue didnt had any oil on it.

Serve only hot with any sauce of your choice. When cold these patties become soggy...serve only hot.

Grilled Banana Boats

Of all the fruits i love Banana. I can eat Banana anytime of the day. I take it as my evening snack or as my morning breakfast. The other day i saw this recipe in the Walmart magazine and prepared it. I just loved the combination of chocolate and banana. Here goes the recipe:-

 Ingredients:-
 Banana 2 nos
Chocolate chips 3 tbsp
Pecans 3 tbsp
Marshmallows 1/4 cup
Foil

 Method:-

 Remove skin from banana.

 Slit the banana lengthwise.

 Stuff chocolate chips, Pecans and marshmallows. Wrap them in the foil and grill it for 8-10 minutes.

 Open the foil and eat warm. Isn't it simple and quick. :)

Nacho Chips

 I have been living outside India for 8 years but i didn't develop liking to other international cuisines, only exception mcdonalds, KFC, Subway and Pizza. Pizza too i prefer normal veg or chicken pizza...no goat cheese or other ingredients which i am not used to. There is one fast food chain by name Taco bell. When we came here last year we didn't had car and we used to use buses for our commute. Once we got down at a bus stop and younger daughter was hungry. She said we will try Taco bell, i was against it but has to listen to kids and that too when the kid said i am hungry. We went and ordered burritos and nacho chips. My kids are also like me they don't eat other cuisines apart from what i mentioned above. I was forced to eat burritos and that was first and last time i ate that. Coming to Nacho chips kids liked it so do I.

Elder daughter always asks for nacho chips but we never went to Taco bell after that. For Christmas husband got a goodies bag and there were quite a few items which i don't use in my kitchen nor we eat them. Planning to give them to a food bank. There is one such item which says corn tortillas  .Googled it to check what can be done with that. Bang on i got a recipe for Nacho chips and it was great hit with kids and myself. I liked the easy recipe and can be made to our taste.Very simple and easy to prepare it and can be served with dip of your choice. I used our green chutney and sweet chutney to get that desi taste.

Corn tortillas 3
Oregano 2-3 tbsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Chilly flakes 2-3 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:-

Cut tortillas into triangles. One tortilla will get around 8 triangles. Apply oil on each triangle. Sprinkle oregano,red chilly flakes and salt.

Arrange them on a baking tray. Bake for 5-8 minutes or they change colour at 175 degrees Celsius.

Serve with any dip of your choice.

Oregano and chilly flakes can be replaced with anything of your choice.

Paneer Pakora

 Who doesn't love paneer??? Like all we too love paneer and i make 3-4 times curry with paneer. Now kids at home i have to give them something to eat quite frequently. So i am breaking my head to think what snacks i have to make and give them to eat. Once i made paneer samosa which i baked for the first time and before i would take pictures they were gobbled up. Few days back i made paneer pakoda and kept few aside so that i take the pictures leisurely, The recipe is simple and tasty.

Ingredients:

Gram flour/Chenaga pindi 2 cups
Rice flour 1/2 cup
Paneer 10-12 thick pieces
Baking soda 1tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Green paste

Fry garlic 3-4 in a tsp of oil. Make smooth paste along with green chillies 3 and few coriander leaves.

Now slit the paneer lengthwise and stuff the above green paste. Repeat with all the paneer pieces.

Mix gram flour,rice flours,baking soda and salt with enough water. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

In the mean while heat the oil.

Once oil is hot put the flame to low. Now dip each paneer pieces into the batter and leave them slowly into the oil. Fry on both sides until golden colour.

Take them on a kitchen towl and serve hot with sauce of your choice.

Bakarwadi

First time i ate Bakarwadi is when my brother-inlaw brought them from Pune. The taste was awesome and i still remember them after eating them 2 years back. I forgot what they are called and i chanced upon FB  update of Sangeetha Khanna where she posted pictures of bakarwadi. The best part about Sangeetha's recipe is that bakarwadi are baked not deep fried. I wanted to give it a try. Last Sunday i had much time during afternoon and i baked them. I changed the ingredients for the stuffing and did them as she mentioned in her recipe. The stuffing is  from Chakli blog. Here goes the recipe for baked Bakarwadi.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour 1 cup
Maida/all purpose flour 1 cup
Besan 1 cup
Oil 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Ajwain 1/2 tsp
Soda bicarbonate 2 pinch.

Stuffing

Besan 2 tbsp
Poppy seeds 1 tbsp
Sesame seeds 1 tbsp
Fennel seeds powder 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
Sugar 2 tbsp
Red chilly powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Garam masala powder 1 tsp
Oil 1 tsp




Method:-

Mix all the ingredients of the dough with enough water and make a hard dough. Let the dough rest for while.

In the mean while prepare the stuffing.

Dry roast poppy seeds and sesame seeds. Keep aside.

Take oil in a pan, when hot add ginger garlic paste. Saute until the ginger garlic paste is cooked. Add besan to it. Saute for a while, then add red chilly powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and salt.

Saute for another 2 minutes. Lastly add sugar, poppy seeds and sesame seeds. Let the mixture cools.

Pre heat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius.

Take a cricket ball size dough and flatten it with a rolling pin.

Spread 2 tbsp of the stuffing. Roll the flattened dough into a long log.

Then cut into log into 1 inch pieces.

Grease the baking tray and spread the bakarwadi in  a line giving enough space. Can see that in the picture above.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180 degree Celsius. When hot they are soft but the next day they are hard.

For detailed pictures of who to make bakarwadi visit Sangeetha khanna's blog Banaras Ka Khana.

Grilled Chicken Frankies

This a slight different version of chicken Frankie.I grilled the chicken and shredded it and made the usual frankie.I blogged about chicken frankie here.Here are the ingredients :-

Grilled chicken few pieces
Rotis/Khaboos/Arabic bread 4
Egg  broken and beaten well 2
Chopped onions 1 cup
Chopped tomatoes 1/2 cup
Amchur powder 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil 1 tbsp

Chopped coriander leaves few
Red chilly powder 1/4tsp

Heat a pan.Spread roti/Khaboos/Arabic bread and brush the roti with egg.Turn and cook the other side with 1tsp of oil.

Remove from pan.

Shred chicken into small pieces.

Now assemble the frankie. Spread the roti. On that spread chicken pieces.Then add onions,tomatoes and coriander leaves.Sprinkle amchur powder,salt and red chilly powder.

Wrap up the roti and roll the end of the wrap with a foil.Serve warm.

PS: Didn't take the grilled chicken pic hence not writing the recipe.Once i make it again will post the recipe.

Sagubiyam vada/Sabudana Vada/

 
I used to make this very often 9 years back when i was newly married.Later on i totally forgot about the vadas.Few days back i made sagubiyam vadiyalu and i had much of sagubiyam left after making the vadiyalu.I usually make sweet or just i boil them and give my girls to drink with or without milk.This sagubiyam reduces heat in the body and very good for the kids.

Ingredients:-

Sagubiyam/Sabudana 1 cup
Buttermilk 1 1/2 cup
Potatoes 2
Peanuts (fried) 2 tbsp
Onions chopped finely 1
Green chillies chopped finely 2
Ginger small pc chopped finely
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Soak sagubiyam/sabudana in buttermilk for- 4-5 hours.Boil potatoes and crush peanuts.Chop onion and green chillies finely.

Drain any excess buttermilk left after soaking for 4-5 hours.Mash potatoes and add it to the sabudana.

Then add peanuts,ginger,salt,onions and green chillies.Mix well and make small patties and deep fry in hot oil.

Take them on a absorbent paper and serve hot.

Kheema balls fry

Kheema balls fry is quite easy to make and goes very well as snacks along with drinks or just evening snacks.I made this to eat along with pachi pulusu and rice.Here goes the recipe

Mutton kheema 1/2 kg
Ginger and garlic paste 1 tbsp
Clove 1
Cinnamon 1/2' pc
Khus khus 1/4 tsp
Green chillies 2
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Wash kheema and drain all the water.

Add all the ingredients and make it into fine paste.

Apply oil to your palm and make small balls and deep fry them in batches.

PS:-If the paste is runny just add roasted channa dal powder (putnalu podi)

That's all isn't it easy :D

Chicken Sausages fitters/bajjis

 It been a while i updated my blog.Firstly it was my laptop which had some issues and was preventing me to open few websites including blogger and youtube.Was busy with house work and was able to allocate some time for myself.Was going to gym and some diet plans which worked for me.Able to reduce 5 kgs in 3 months not bad though.

Not much cooking too as i was no diet.Morning and night it was oats and lunch it was just fulka and vegetable curry.Was cooking for the kids but nothing new or special just the routine cooking.The other day kids were asking me amma why you are not making anything special,its been long you made anything.

I regularly buy chicken sausages and i usually fry or use them in semiya upma.I was thinking to make something new with them and then the idea of making sausages bajji struck me.And it was a awesome hit.
The recipe is just simple like another other fitters/bajji's.

 Ingredients :-

Chicken Sausages

Besan/Gram flour/Sanagapindi 1 cup

Rice flour 2 tbsp

Ajwain 1 tsp

Cooking soda a pinch

Salt as per taste

Red chilly powder 1 tsp

Water for making the batter

Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Make a thick batter of besan,rice flour,ajwain,cooking soda,salt and red chilly powder.

Cut sausages into your desired sizes

Dip each piece  in the batter and deep fry in batches.

Take them on a absorbent paper and serve hot.

Rice Bhajiya

Its been long i have updated my space.Not getting much time,what ever little time i am getting is spent on Facebook,no doubt Facebook has taken over blogging.This post is to participate in a event at my friend Lubna's blog Kitchen flavours--Joy from Fasting to Feasting-IV

The recipe is a simple recipe which i made in the evening when it was raining here.One can use left over rice too but i cooked rice for this bhajiya and left over rice was had for dinner.And this recipe is from one of my blogger friend hitchwriter who blogs at My attempt to write.Here goes the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Cooked rice 1 cup

Onions 2 chopped

Green chillies 2 chopped finely

Capsicum 1 chopped finely

Tomatoe 1 chopped finley

Crud 1 cup

Besan/senaga pindi 1 cup

Semolina/bombay rava 1/4 cup

Red chilly powder 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

Coriander leaves

Method:-

Mix all the ingredients except oil with curd and make a dough.Heat oil and make a shape of ur choice and deep fry them in batches.Take them on a kitchen towel and serve hot with chaai...

Egg Manchurian

Ingredients:-

Egg boiled 4

Plain flour 1 cup

Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp

Pepper powder 1 tsp

Salt as per taste

Oil for deep frying

Slice eggs lengthwise.Make thick batter with plain flour,ginger garli

c paste,pepper powder and salt.Carefully dip each egg slice into the batter and deep fry them in batches.

Drain them on a tissue and keep aside.

For Manchurian sauce

Capsicum 1 cut into rings
Spring onions few chopped finely
Cabbage a small pc,chopped into thin long pcs
Curry leaves few
Green chillies 3 chopped finely
Ginger 1'' pcs chopped finely
Garlic 3 chopped finely
Soya sauce 1tbsp
Ajinamoto 1/4 tsp
Salt as per taste

Take oil in a frying pan.When hot add ginger,garlic,curry leaves and green chillies.Saute them on a high flame for 2-3 minutes.

Then add capsicum and cabbage.Saute them on a high flame as well.

Add ajinamoto and soya sauce.Saute for few more minutes.

Then add 2 tbsp of water.When the water starts boiling add the fried egg pieces.

Again saute on a high flame until the egg pieces are dry.Switch of the flame and add spring onions.

Mix well and serve hot

Palak Pakoda

Ingredients:-

Palak/spinach few leaves

Besan 1 cup

Rice flour 2 tbsp

Cooking soda a pinch

Salt as per taste

Oil for deep frying

Method:-

Clean each palak leaf and dry it with a cloth.

Make a thick batter of besan,rice flour cooking soda and salt.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan.When hot take a single leaf of spinach and dip into the batter and slowly leave it into the hot oil.

Fry until light golden colour.Take it on a tissue paper.

Do with the rest of leaves.

Serve hot with chat masala.

Chakalu

Ingredients:-

Rice flour 1 cup

Channa dal/senagapappu 2 tbsp (soaked overnight)

Curry leaves few

Salt to taste

Red chilly powder 1 tsp

Ghee/butter 1 tbsp

Oil for deep frying

Water warm to make the dough 1cup

Method:-

Drain water from the soaked channa dal.Pat dry them.

Take flour,salt,channadal,curry leaves and ghee in a big bowl.With warm water make a thick dough similar to puri dough.

Take a small lemon size dough and press it on a plastic sheet into a round 2''circle.

Make with the rest of the dough.

Heat oil and deep fry in batches until light golden colour.

Once cool store in a air tight container.