GATHIYA ~ GUJARATI SPECIAL FOR ICC, JANUARY

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

How are you? Seeing me in Indian Cooking Challenge after 6 months. NO excuses, but really missed all the challenges. 

Hope you all are not Katti with me. 

Srivalli"s ideas are always very unique and she chooses the challenges very 

challengingly :-)

This time it is easier one, but again depends on the quantity of the baking soda 

and the time you roast it.

Srivalli has followed her friend Vaishali's recipe. 

And even my experience is same like Valli's. my dough also got stuck though I added water. And it was very hard to press, I had to call my daughter as my hands are not that strong to press. (got some problem)

And even I did not had mould for gathiya, I had this long strip one so thought of using it,

Whats there in shape??? right?

And I added some pepper powder to give a spicy taste, it was really good.

I used only 1/4th of the quantity as I already had a big packet of ready gathiya (ready made).

So, here goes my pictures for the challenge for the month of January 

which is Gujarati Special Gathiya. 

Here is the  original link from Valli's space:

Gathiya ~ Gujarati Special | How to Make Gathiya | Indian Cooking Challenge - January

AN EVENING TREAT TO MY SELF.

Keep Smiling,

SPICY METHI LEAVES AND GRAM FLOUR CAKE

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

It was long time that I posted something from my place, North Karnataka recipes. This recipe is an extension of Gram flour vadi :-), Are you laughing at my word "extension". I have added methi leaves to the basic recipe. Gram flour vadi is very common food in North Karnataka and there are many versions of this and this is prepared even using green gram flour which is healthier than this one.

Coming to the recipe now,

Adding methi leaves definitely is an advantage for the mothers like me who wants their kid to have green monster(according to kids :-) ). Make these vadas or small cakes and serve it with chapati. I again crumbled it and spread it on the chapati to make it roll and gave it to my younger one.

Ingredients:

Gram flour - 1 cup

Fresh Methi leaves - 3 small bunches or 2 big one

Onion - 2 big

Green chilly - 2 or as per the taste

Salt to taste

Curry leaves - few

Oil - 2 tbsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Haldi - 1/2 tsp

Tamarind paste - 2 tbsp

Method :

Clean and wash the methi leaves. Keep it in a colander to remove the water.

Finely chop the onion. (I used food processor)

Finely chop the methi leaves, green chilly and curry leaves(again I used food processor, its a boon for me )

Using food processor will help you to get the fine texture.

If you don't have the processor, chop it finely with a sharp knife.

Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadai.

Add cumin seeds and onion together. Fry till it turns golden color. Add the gram flour and fry till the aroma comes. Don't leave in the middle. It may take 5 to 7 minutes.

Add the chopped methi and green chilly. Mix and fry till both the gram flour and methi leaves blends well. 

Cover with a lid and cook for few minutes. Open, add salt and haldi.

Mix well and keep frying for few minutes more. Add the tamarind paste, mix well, cover and cook it starts leaving the edge. 

Transfer it on a wide plate. Spread it on the plate to get the round or rectangular shape with little thickness. Allow it to cool. Cut into desired shape(square, rectangle, triangle or diamond). Usually its cut into diamond shape, but here I cut it into triangles. Anyways, the taste won't differ with shape :-)

As there is no water added to it, you can take it while travelling for a day or two. 

Enjoy it with hot chapati or Jowar roti. 

Keep Smiling,

Boondi Chiwda

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Festivals!!! Coming in a row... The kitchens are filled with aromatic flavors of sweets, namkeens and many more delicious snacks.

Today I am here with the recipe of Boondi Chiwda. Chiwda is a spicy crispy snack which goes well with a cup of tea, a very hot Bisibele Bath(Spicy Veg. and dal rice) or Upma.

The Boondi is prepared with gram flour. Here I have used the ready made packet of boondi. Haldiram's product is available at all the major shops. I used the local product.

I will try to give the home made recipe of Boondi  here soon.

Now, coming to the recipe,

Ingredients :

      Boondi - 250 gm(unsalted)

1. 1.Oil - 1/4 cup
2. Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
3. Cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
4. Fresh Curry leaves - few
5. Pea nuts - 1/4 cup
6. Garlic - 10 to 12 big cloves, cleaned
7. Dalia - 1/4 cup
8. Poppy seeds - 1 tbsp(optional)
9. Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp(optional)
10. Dry coconut (thin shavings) - 2 tbsp
11. Red dry chilly - 6 to 8
12. Salt to taste
13. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
14. Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
15. Sugar - 1 tbsp

Keep all the ingredients ready in one place.

TAKE CARE TO ADD THE  INGREDIENTS ONE BY ONE AS I HAVE GIVEN.

Heat oil in a wide and thick bottomed kadai.

Add the mustard seeds, when splutter, add cumin seeds, curry leaves and pea nuts. Fry till the pea nuts are little golden.

Keep on adding other ingredients  till red chilly powder, slowly, keeping on stirring all the time. Once every thing is fried properly, remove from the heat. Add the sugar after few minutes. Allow it to cool.

Add the boondi and mix well. 

Store in a airtight jar.

It can be stored for a week or 10 days.

Keep Smiling,

Pudachi Wadi | Coriander Rolls for ICC April

Tried and tasted by Nivedita 

Hi All,

This is frustrating........ Yesterday I kept the whole draft saved for ICC. Now its gone. Thanks to Blogger.com

Again I need to write down. I don't mind rewriting,. But time is the main problem. Tomorrow I am going out of station and will be back in the night and no time to write in detail. Even my saved draft did not had detailed recipe.
(hey I got the saved draft back in my blog, but I am posting the new one with few lines taken from the old draft.)

Last month I could not attend the challenge as I was in holiday mood. But this time again I am back for Indian Cooking Challenge for April month and Srivalli has chosen the traditional Maharashtrian dish Pudachi Wadi(Coriander rolls) The recipe is taken from Archana of Tried & Tested Recipes.

I loved these wadi or rolls. I had never tasted these. And, I loved the stuffing as I always feel fresh with its freshness and its aroma. Now, this recipe in my menu for an extra snack for guests. Thanks Valli for choosing this recipe for the challenge.
NOTE FROM MY SIDE : 

• The recipe is simple but the trick or challenge is to roll out THIN phulka or puris AND covering these properly after you stuff the coriander masala in it. 
• And then comes roasting the wadis on tawa, BE CAREFUL to roast on low flame or else your wadis will have black spots.
• I am not going to write down the whole recipe but you can check Valli's  link for the detailed recipe.

My pictorial recipe:

The wheat flour and gramflour atta with hot oil, the onion and fresh coriander masala, Tamarind paste, garam masala and oil paste.

 dough rolled into puri size, tamarind paste spread and coriander masala stuff.

The roasted wadi.

Another shape of wadi(followed Archana )

The triangle shape wadi is getting fried.

Both shape wadis before getting cut.

Wadi's ready to serve with green chutney or sauce. 

I loved the challenge and as usual waiting for the next challenge and I hope to participate also :-)

Keep Smiling,

Khaman Dhokla

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Sometimes, we become lazy or scared or ignorant to try new things in the life. And if the first try is a disaster, we stop trying it for the next time. But, I am not in that category. Once I fail in doing something (when comes to cooking), I give time to myself and then again try to do it. And most of the times, I get success also.

Khaman Dhokla is one of those recipes, which I tried few years back and each time it was a disaster. I stopped eating Dhokla for few months, but could not resist to have it. So I always took ready packet but was not so much happy. 

Now, last week when I was searching for few Gujarati recipes for an event, I came through two recipes which I really wanted to retry. 

First one I tried was Khandvi and again it was a failure. I do not know the reason why I could not get the rolls!!

But again like a king in a story who learnt from a spider, I took a challenge to try Khaman Dhokla.

Voila!!! I got it!!!

The dhoklas were so soft and spongy and tasty, that my whole plate of dhokla was vanished  just in 10 minutes. 

Thanks Chef in You for sharing such a wonderful and easy recipe and for so clear and beautiful pictures.


(Update :Sometimes,NO! NO! NO! Always I am in a hurry. When I got this recipe, I directly went to the ingredients and the method and totally forgot to think about when and why is this prepared. I read it was for ICC but did not think that the recipe for ICC is given by  Srivalli . And Srivalli got it from her aunt. I am sorry for it as I feel everyone including the main person who shared this recipe should get the credit. )
Click HERE for the original recipe.

I have followed the exact recipe except adding sesame seeds in the end(I forgot!)

Giving only the photos :

Sending it to the events :

by SimplySensationalFood.

 "Flavors of Gujarat"

AND

Priya's Guest hosting "Only" event with "Low Oil/Low Calor...

(linking it to Pari's event announcement page)

Keep Smiling,

Potato Fritters or Aloo Pakoda

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All, 

(Don't you feel it looks like crane st anding on a stone and  waiting to catch a fish!!)

                                         

        

(here for details of the image.)

Last week, I posted Can any one guess what is it? when I caught this photo. When I read Nithu's post (Potato Bajji), I remembered that I also promised that I will post the recipe for it in this week. Even she got different recipe.

So here is my recipe!

Potato - 3 big

Keep potatoes in water for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove clean and cut into round thick slices. If you feel potatoes are not clean, peel the skin and cut in to thick round slices.

  

Oil to fry pakodas

For batter :

Gram flour -  1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Hot oil - 1 tbsp

Eating soda ( soda-bi carb) -  a pinch

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

Mix all in a bowl with little water to make the thick batter. Keep it aside for 5 minutes.

Heat oil in a thick kadai. Dip the potato slices slowly seeing that the slice is covered with full batter and slide them in to oil. Fry till golden color, in batches slowly on medium flame. 

Potato Pakodas are ready to eat with tea or kurmura(churmuri).

Linking it to

http://sindhirasoi.com/link/potato/

Keep Smiling,

Gram flour vadi(ಜ್ಹುನಕದ ವಡಿ)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All

When I read about preparing food in 15 minutes, I told to my sis in law, her immediate response was to make jhunakada vadi(ಜ್ಹುನಕದ ವಡಿ )! so without second thought, I planned to prepare the same.
I kept the clock in front of me, and it took 13 minutes to finish it!! Of course, need little planning,
One more good thing of this is, one can store it for 2 days. Good while travelling.

Here is the recipe,
Gram flour - 1 cup
Jeera - 1 tsp
Onion - 1 medium(chopped finely)
Tamarind paste -1 tbsp
(soak tamarind in a bowl, and turn it in microwave oven for 30 seconds.
Chilli powder - 1tbsp
Haldi - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Grated coconut(dry) - 2 tbsp
Poppy seeds - 1 tbsp(optional)
Coriander chopped to garnish
Oil-2 tbsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
As we have to prepare it in thick bottomed pan, I kept the pan on heat, and then started cutting onions(that saves time)
Once oil is hot, add jeera, and onion. Saute for 2 minutes or till slightly brown. Add curry leaves. Now add gram flour. keep on stirring,as there is chance of getting burnt till nice aroma comes. It hardly takes 5 minutes. Then add,tamarind paste, salt, chilli powder and haldi.
Mix properly and add 1 tsp ghee. Let it cook for 2 more minutes. till that time, apply little ghee on a plate and remove the ready mix to the same. Press it evenly and garnish immediately with coconut, poppy seeds and coriander.
Have it with chapati or hot rice as side dish.

I am sending this one to Mahima's(http://spicesetc.blogspot.com/) event ,

http://spicesetc.blogspot.com/2009/04/15-minute-cooking-spieces-etc.html

Keep smiling,