Palakoora Janthikalu / Palak Sev

Ingredients :

• Spinach - 2 cups 
• Rice Flour - 1.5  cup
• Chickpea Flour / Besan : 1 cup 
• Green Chillies -  8 - 10 ( adjust acc to spice of chiili )
• Ajwain Seeds / Vaamu - 1 tsp
• Ginger - 1/2 inch ( optional ) 
• Hing - a generous pinch
• Salt to taste
• Hot oil/ghee - 2 tbsp
• Oil for deep frying

Procedure:

Blanch the spinach leaves in boiling water for a few minutes and drain the excess water.  Grind the spinach. ginger and green chillies into a smooth paste and set aside.

Combine the rice flour, chickpea flour, ajwain seeds, salt, hing and 2 tablespoons of hot oil in a mixing bowl. Then add the ground spinach and mix very well.
Slowly add water little by little to make a soft dough, just soft enough that when  pressed, it should pass through easily though the holes of the Janthikalu press. Test the dough for salt before frying.

Take a small portion of dough and fill in the murukku / chakli press. 

Now lets test the oil for frying. When you drop a piece of flour, your oil is ready for frying if it rises up slowly and floats. Please keep in mind that during the entire process, the flame should be in medium and the oil shouldn't be piping hot.

Carefully press the murukku press over the hot oil. Deep fry them on a medium flame until light golden color and turn over gently to the other side and let it also cook evenly.

Use a slotted ladle to remove onto an absorbent paper and cool. Repeat the same process till the rest of the dough is done. Cool down completely and store in a airtight container.

Dry Gobi Manchurian

Gobi Manchurian is a very popular Indo-Cinese fusion dish. Indo Chinese cuisine is the adaptation of Chinese seasoning and cooking techniques to suite Indian tastes. It is a very simple  and delicious appetizer and a must try for beginners.  Basically, it’s a simple two stage preparation where in the first stage cauliflower florets  dipped in seasoned corn flour batter are deep fried and the second stage involves a preparation of spicy  sauce and sauteing the deep fried florets in it. Whether it is elders or children, everyone would love this snack.  So, lets get started with the recipe…

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cauliflower florets, cut into bite size pieces
• Oil to deep fry

For the batter:

• 5 tbsp maida / plain flour
• 3 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1/4 tsp pepper powder or 1 tsp green chilli paste
• salt to taste
• Water for mixing batter

For the sauce:

• 1 small onion / spring onion whites – finely chopped
• ¼  cup capsicum-  finely chopped
• ¼ cup carrot – finely chopped (optional)
• 1 ½  tbsp finely minced  garlic
• ½ tbsp finely chopped garlic
• 1-2  finely chopped green chillies ( adjust to taste)
• 3 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp green chilli sauce
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp vinegar
• ½ tsp light brown sugar
• ½ tsp red chilli powder (optional)
• Salt to taste (check the sauce before adding salt)

• ¼ cup spring onion – chopped finely to garnish

Procedure:

Soak and blanch the cauliflower florets in hot water for 3-4 minutes. You can also microwave them for 3-4 mins. Drain the florets and prepare the batter for coating. It is very important to drain the florets well to ensure the batter is not diluted.

In a bowl, combine corn flour, maida, rice flour , pepper, ginger-garlic paste, green chilli paste, chilli powder, salt, and water to make a thick paste. Dip the washed and drained florets into the batter such that its well coated. Let them marinate in the batter for 15 – 20 mins.

Meanwhile, heat oil for deep frying in a heavy bottomed vessel.  Place each floret that is well coated with the batter into the hot oil. You can use a spoon to drop these in the oil to keep your hands clean. Deep fry the florets in oil on a medium flame. Turn the fried florets once to evenly fry in all sides.

Remove the fried florets and place it in a paper towel to drain the excess oil. Repeat the above steps to fry all the remaining florets

Prepare the sauce:

 Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large wok , add the chopped garlic and ginger and stir fry for a few seconds followed by  the green chillis. Fry all these on high for  few more seconds.

Add the whites of spring onions or chopped onion and fry for few seconds continuously tossing them. Add the sliced capsicum and carrot and stir fry for another 2- 3 mts.  All these vegetables should be fried on high flame by continuously toss them to avoid burning.

Add the soya sauce, chilli sauce , tomato ketchup,  vinegar and brown sugar and fry them on medium heat.

Cook for 2-3 mins. In case the sauce looks a bit thick,  add a bit of water.

 Add the deep fried cauliflower florets to the sauce and combine them well. Toss on high flame for 1-2 mts. Turn off heat and Garnish with  chopped green spring onion.

In case you are preparing this recipe for guests, you can prepare the deep fried florets and sauce well ahead. Just before your guests arrive, toss the cauliflower florets  into the sauce and fry them on high flame for 1-2 mins  to  retain the crunch of the gobi. For best results, serve it immediately.

Pappu Chekkalu / Nippatlu / Rice Crackers

These lovely savory pappu chekkalu make a great snack for tea time or travel or picnic. Whenever we plan for a long drive, I ensure to pack some Chekkalu or Chegodis. Its a popular snack made
South Indians prepare lots of rice based deep fried snacks during festive time to be relished for festive get togethers. There are many versions of these chekkalu varying from region to region.
For good Chekkalu , its important that you have good quality rice flour which is fresh. The course rice flour from grinding mills works best.

Ingredients :

• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Green chillies - 8 (vary acc to spice of chilli)
• Jeera - 1 tbsp
• Chana dal / Groundnut  - 2-3 tbsp
• Chopped Curry leaves - few
• Chopped Coriander leaves - few
• Butter : 2 tbsp
• Onion : 1
• Oil : for deep fry
• Salt: as per taste

Procedure:

Soak Chana dal in water for an hour. I used course ground ground nuts and my hubby loves the groundnut flavor a lot. You can also use a combination of soaked chana dal and groundnuts if you wish.

Grind green chillies  and onion coarsely using a mixer.

Take a  mixing bowl and add rice flour , chilli and onion paste  , soaked chana dal / groundnut ,jeera , butter , chopped curry leaves,  coriander leaves and salt.

Mix them into a soft dough by slowly adding water little by little.The dough should be soft  enough that when flattened by  pressing with your hands in the form of a chekka,  it should not break at the edges. Test the dough for salt before frying.

Heat Oil in a heavy bottomed vessel for deep frying . Pinch a small lemon size ball from the dough. Grease a  plastic sheet evenly with oil and place the dough ball on it. Cover it with another greased plastic sheet and  flatten it  into a 5-6cm dia round circle by using a flat bottomed plate or with your fingers .

 Test the oil for frying. When you drop a piece of flour, your oil is ready for frying if it forms bubbles and the dough floats.Please keep in mind that during the entire process, the flame should be in medium and the oil shouldn't be piping hot.Always fry in medium heat oil because low heat will result in very hard chekkalu and high heat will result in unevenly cooked soft chekkalu. 

Once the oil is hot, slowly peel the shaped chekkalu off the plastic sheet and slide into the hot oil.  Reduce flame to medium and deep fry the chekkalu to a golden colour  to achieve that golden color and crispness.

When the chekkalu turn a light golden brown color,  use a slotted ladle to remove onto an absorbent paper and cool. Repeat the same process till the rest of the dough is done. Cool completely before storing in an air tight container.

Enjoy these with your friends and family ...

Kara Sev / Karapusa

Kara Sev or Karam pusa is a fried Indian snack with Chickpea flour and Rice flour as the main ingredients. Kara sev can be savored as a snack or for topping in any type of chat or bhel puri. To make things simple, you can even  have this spicy and crunchy sev with a cup of yoghurt seasoned with chat masala.  There are a couple of  irresistible Indian snacks like sev, muruku, janthikalu, ribbon pakoda etc made with a Murukku/Chakli Press/Janthikalu Gottam by just varying the plates as shown in the photograph. For this sev recipe, I used the plate with the smallest holes. With this Muruku press, you can make  lots of different varieties of Indian snacks by just varying the plates (disks with holes).
All you need to do is prepare dough, fit an appropriate plate, fill the murukku press with dough,  and squeeze  in hot oil on medium flame in concentric circles. Thats it !!!

Ingredients:

• Chickpea flour - 1.5 cups
• Rice flour - 1/2 cup
• Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp (adjust acc to chilli spice)
• Warm Oil / Ghee / Butter - 1 tbsp
• Powdered Ajwain / Vaamu - 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Water to knead for dough

Procedure:

Grind the Ajwain / Vaamu into very fine powder. As the holes in the disk are very small, its important to grind ajwain into fine powder.

In a mixing bowl add gram flour, rice flour, salt, chilli pwd,  warm ghee /oil and ajwain powder and combine well. Slowly add water little by little to make a soft pilable dough, just soft enough that it is pressed through easily with the janthikalu/Chakli  press. Test the dough for salt before frying.

Heat a heavy bottomed vessel with oil for deep frying. Attach the disc with the smallest holes in the Muruku press and fill it with dough.  The traditional Chakli press ones are heavy and need to be pressed little hard. Now a days you get light weight ones which are pressed by a screw like mechanism by rotating it making it easier and lighter.

Murukku press / Janthikalu gottam with discs

Test the oil for frying. When you drop a piece of flour, your oil is ready for frying if it rises up and floats. Please keep in mind that during the entire process, the flame should be in medium and the oil shouldn't be piping hot. Now press the Janthikalu Gottam in circular motion forming concentric circles.
When the sev turns into golden color, turn over gently to the other side and let it also cook evenly.

Use a slotted ladle to remove onto an absorbent paper and cool. Repeat the same process till the rest of the dough is done.

Cool completely and  store in an air tight container.

Kashta Kachori - Rajasthani special snack

Kashta Kachori is a traditional Rajasthani snack recipe which is puffed up and flaky from outside but hollow inside as the filling sticks to the crust.  The trick for this texture is to fry the kachoris on a very slow flame so that the crust is flaky and crisp and stuffing part gets cooked  well on the inside.

Ingredients

For The Dough (crust):

• 1 cup maida (all-purpose flour)
• 2 tbsp  melted ghee
• Salt to taste (approx 1/2 tsp)
• Chill water to knead the maida (approx 1/4th cup)

For The Filling:

• 1/4 cup yellow moong dal - soak for 4  hrs
• 1/4 cup urad dal - soak for 4  hrs
• a pinch of  asafoetida (hing)
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (or powder) 
• 1/2 tsp ginger  paste
• 1 tsp finely chopped green chilli (Alternatively you can use paste also) 
• 1/2 tsp red chilli pwd
• 1/2 tsp coriander pwd 
• 1/2 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
• 1/4 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp besan
• 1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves (optional)
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

Other Ingredients:

• oil for deep-frying

Method :

Drain the soaked dal mixture and grind it into a course dry paste and keep aside.

Take a bowl and mix the maida , salt , ghee to form a crumbly textured dough. Slowly add the chilled water  and make a  semi-soft dough by kneading it well  for 4 -5  minutes.

Cover the dough with a  wet muslin cloth and let it rest for 15 mins. Meanwhile lets prepare the stuffing.
Drain and grind the soaked moong dal into a course paste.
Heat a vessel on medium flame , add oil, cumin seeds and once brown, add the ginger - green chilli paste.

Saute for few seconds and all the remaining dry ingredients and saute on medium flame for a 1-2 mins.  Add coarsely ground dal mixture and coriander leaves and saute  for 6-8 mts  until brown and turn off heat.

Now that the stuffing and the dough are ready, lets start with the rolling process. Remove the dough from the wet cloth and divide it into 12 equal parts. Keep in mind that during the entire process the dough should be covered and not exposed to air.

Roll out each portion of the dough into a 2"diameter circle . the sides should be little thinner than the centre. Place one portion of the filling mixture in the center of the rolled dough circle.

Slowly stretch the sides of the dough over the filling mixture .Seal the ends tightly like a dumpling and remove any excess dough.

With your palm gently press each filled portion into a 2½" diameter circle taking care to ensure that the filling spreads evenly and does not spill out.

Repeat with the remaining dough and filling to make 11 more kachoris. Cover and keep them aside.

Deep fry the kachoris in hot oil over a slow flame till golden brown on both sides. The kachoris should puff up and float on the oil. Please keep in mind that the oil should not be piping hot as the inside stuffing will not be cooked well. So cook it well on a low flame.

Remove onto absorbent paper , Cool and keep aside or store in an air-tight container.

 This dish can be stored in air-tight containers for upto a week. Warm up the kachoris and serve them with  any chutneys .. Bon appetit  :) . 

Sweet Maida Diamond Cut Biscuits

Of all the authentic deep fried snacks, I feel this is the easiest one with minimal ingredients.The sweet and spicy version of this maida biscuits needless to say are very addictive and one cant resist with just a single diamond biscuit  ;-)

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour - 2 cup
• Powdered Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Ghee/Oil - 2 tsp (Heat it or microwave it for 15 sec)
• Oil - to deep fry
• Salt - 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

In a mixing bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar and warm ghee.

Add water and make into a smooth dough. Consistency should be like chapathi dough.  Spray some oil on top and keep aside covered for 30 mins.

 Knead the dough again and divide into equal parts. Roll as thin as possible evenly with generous dusting. With the use of pizza cutter/ knife, cut out thin strips. Cut diagonally to make little diamonds. Gently peel using a spatula and set aside.

 Heat oil in a kadai and when it is hot, sprinkle the diamonds into the oil. Cook in medium flame turning around to make sure it is evenly cooked.

Once done remove from oil and drain in tissue paper. Cool and store in air tight containers.