Spicy Foood: January 2013

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Urad dal puris/Split white lentils flat bread

Its Magic mingle time again and its MM V 2.0 this time, so you'll see the ingredients are a tad bit more interesting (made me think for a while).I had seen many puris/khachori recipes with urad dal stuffing, I took an inspiration from there and decided to try these!Yes the MM ingredients are urad dal/split white lentils and lime.

I;m in such a composing this post i want to be the first one to link to MM.Now that has to be a joke because even while I was all time free i never took the pains to do this.

And secondly i have some time in hands(both kids sleeping..blissful) so might as well use it up!

I made just few puris because i didn't know how the reaction would be but the filling tasted superb and the dash of lime juice took it several notches ahead!

To make this you need

For the outer cover:

Chapati flour + rawa + ajwain seeds made into puri dough + baking soda (optional)

Oil to deep fry

For the filling:

Urad dal soaked in water for 2 hours and drained

Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Oil 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp

Lime juice 1tablespoon

To make the filling : heat a pan,heat oil add cumin seeds and the drained ural dal roast it well until the water goes away.(this smell is heavenly)
Add salt,lime juice and red chilli powder and give it a good stir and remove it onto a plate to cool down.
Once cooled down, grind it coursely and make balls out of this.This is pretty workable as the dal has been soaked it has a good amount of moisture and once you make balls the stickiness of the dal is really helpful.
Roll the puri dough into discs and place a ball of filling in the centre and roll it out.This can't be rolled too thin so i got nice soft thick puris.

Deep fry them until golden brown on both sides.
Serve these puris with spicy chana masala or any spicy curry.I had it yogurt.

With the remaining filling i made a vada and it was so crispy and yummy!Not to forget the urad dal is really healthy apart from the fact it is shallow fried.I made the filling into flat patties and dusted them in rice flour and shallow fried them.

Enjoy these crispy vadas with a hot cup of coffee on a cold evening :)

Sending this to MM14 , Mission breakfast AND CookCookandCook andThoushaltcook

Urad dal puris/Split white lentils flat bread

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Old fashioned doughnuts with chocolate glaze

I love doughnuts!who doesn;t.I fell in love with these fried beauties long ago i don;t remember when.But whenever i pass by a doughnut store i'm lifted off my feet by the amazing fragrances!!!So for our wedding anniversary last year i decided to try these.While the whole world is turning healthy and using more and more of their ovens, i decided to try these deep fried traditional doughnuts.Chocolate glazed too!

I can't think of anything much to say about these doughnuts i'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

The weather here in Chennai is fairly decent just right for some doughnuts but i would love for it to be more cold atleast winter should show its presence.Having kids around i seal the windows and doors by 5pm and then i'm pretty much playing bat and ball with mosquitoes.Those who are in India would know about our recent technical gadget - the electrical mosquito trap.

These doughnuts were a big hit especially since they were chocolate glazed.I made the balls for my LM chocolate glazed as well.Father and daughter were pretty much fighting over it!

I plan on making these for valentines day too because these are much easier to make and ofcourse look so professionally done that i wouldn't want to waste much time making something too complex.

You need :

Preparation time : 1 hour (preparing dough + frying)
Cooling time: 1 hr or more
Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker
You need

All-purpose flour 1 n quarter cup

Baking soda 1 tsp

Fresh grated nutmeg 1/4 tsp

Pinch of salt

Granulated sugar 1/3rd cup

Plain yogurt or sour cream 1/4 cup

Egg 1 large

Unsalted butter, melted 1 tbspn

Vegetable oil for frying

In a bowl, sift dry ingredients flourbaking soda, nutmeg powder, salt.
Whisk egg,yogurt and butter until they are well mixed.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well into a smooth dough.
Dust flour on the counter top, spread dough into a thick 1 n half inch layer and cut out doughnut shapes.I used 2 lids one large and one small to get the shape.
Deep fry the doughnuts and allow to cool.

For the chocolate glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (or less as the cocoa powder already is sweet)

4 tablespoons cocoa powder ( cadbury drinking cocoa)

3 tablespoons milk or water

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract.

In a bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Slowly stir in milk and vanilla extract. Whisk until silky and smooth. If you need make this a chocolate dip glaze, add a bit more milk to this.

Enjoy these beautiful doughnuts the same day or refrigerate them.

Sending this to Valentines Day Recipe Contest ,

Old fashioned doughnuts with chocolate glaze

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Kuzhi paniyaram with mix vegetables - Spiced Lentil dumplings

I had this last batch of my idli batter sitting and staring at me.Usually the last batch is a little too fermented to be made into dosas(lentil crepes) so I make them into kuzhi paniyarams and this time i added some vegetables.

You can add grated carrots, peas and other soft vegetables to this batter and season it (takda) with mustard seeds,curry leaves and then make the paniyarams.

I usually like to serve it with a tangy spicy chutney the one you see in these pictures is a onion tomato chutney.I have explained how to make kuzhi paniyarams in detail in my other post check it out..

You need
Idli batter
Grated carrots, onions, tomatoes all finely sliced 1 cup
Salt to taste

To season:
Oil 2 tsp
Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Urad dal/white lentils 1/2 tsp
Channa dal/Bengal gram 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves 2 springs finely chopped
Ginger grated half a tsp
Chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Chopped cilantro/coriander leaves 2 tablespoon full

In a pan heat oil and add the ingredients for the seasoning one after the other and allow each of them to fry well.
Add this to the idli batter and mix well.
In another pan, heat oil and fry onions, tomatoes until soft, add the grated carrots and let it cook well.Add this to the batter as well.
Mix everything together and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
Heat the paniyaram pan and pour spoonfuls into the moulds cover and cook on each side until done.
For the chutney - grind 1 medium onion/few baby onions, 1 medium tomato, 2 tablespoons of grated coconut, 1 tsp sambar powder, salt to taste, enough water to grind to a smooth paste.Heat oil in a pan, and pop some mustard seeds, add the ground paste and let it simmer for a few minutes until the raw onions smell goes away.

Enjoy hot paniyarams with tangy chutney :)

Have a Good morning!

Sending this to Lets cook - Healthy breakfasts , Bon vivant -Healthy appetite, New U -2013,Mission breakfast , Foodabulous, CookCookandCook andThoushaltcook

Kuzhi paniyaram with mix vegetables - Spiced Lentil dumplings

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Winner of CEDD17 and CEDD17 Cake's gallery

I recently held an event the first ever on my blog.I was happy Raven of CEDD gave me the opportunity to do so, thanks Raven.

I received 29 entries.Thank you to all those who made my event a big success.

The winner is Janine Bruce for her Mulled red wine velvet cake.Congratulations Janine!

Janine Bruce - Mulled red wine velvet cake