Tempting, tasty tidbits

LIVING IN THE KITCHEN

Here are a few recipes to wake you up from this sleepy weather. Using them, you can dish up spicy and scrumptious small snacks to add colour to a grey evening. And if you’re feeling generous, you could go the extra mile and throw a party for friends with an assortment of vadas and pakoras. Snacks like these can also be a part of a lunch/dinner menu as they make excellent starters. If you don’t mind the extra calories, feel free to pamper your taste buds with these snacks on a regular basis till the monsoons end.

Maddur Vadas
To one cup of maida, 3/4th cup of fine sooji (very thin rava) and half cup of rice flour, add finely chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves, salt and 2 tablespoons of hot oil. Mix this into a hard dough, using very little water. Gently pat small portions of this dough on a thick plastic sheet and deep-fry the patties in hot oil, on a very low flame, till they turn golden brown. Store them in an air-tight container to ensure they remain crisp and crunchy and last longer.

Sago Vadas
To soaked and fully-drained two cups of sago (sabudana), add two medium-sized peeled and mashed potatoes, chopped raw onions (optional), green chillies, coriander leaves and salt. Roll them into small shapes or patties in your palm. Deep fry these in hot oil, on a low flame, till they turn golden brown.

Mint-Channa Dal Vadas
To soaked, drained and coarsely ground channa dal, add finely chopped onions, green chillies, mint leaves (washed and cleaned) and salt. Instead of mint leaves, you can try using chopped sago leaves (sabsige soppu) too. But use either mint or sago leaves, not both. If you want the vadas to get a crunchy texture, then soak the dal only for half-an-hour. Before grinding, keep aside one fistful of soaked dal. Mix  this unground dal with ground dal, for extra crunchy texture.   

Arbi Pakoras
To a quarter kilogram of cooked, peeled and mashed arbi (senegadde), add a cup of gram flour, finely chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves and salt. Add a little water to blend these ingredients into a hard dough. Drop small portions of this dough into hot oil in a kadai. Deep fry till they turn golden brown.

Rava Pakoras
To one cup of thin rava, add half a cup of sieved maida, finely chopped onions, green chillies, coriander leaves, salt and a pinch of baking soda. Using a little water mix the ingredients to make a dough and keep this aside for five minutes. Fry small portions of this mixture in hot oil, till they turn golden brown.

Moong Dal Pakoras
Soak a cup of moong dal for half an hour. Drain the water and grind into a coarse paste. To this, add half a cup of rice flour. Add onions, green chillies, coriander leaves and salt. Add water only if needed. Deep fry small portions of this dough till they turn golden brown. Serve hot.

 Note: Moong dal pakoras may not turn out crisp, unlike the above two varieties. You may turn them into dumplings for any kind of gravy.