Bedmi poori - A delight from the holy city of Varanasi

Varanasi or Kashi, as it is known in South India, is famous for being one of the holiest cities known to Indians. People often spend their last days in this city in the belief that breathing their last there will give them moksham (liberation from the cycle of life and death).
The food of the city is just as good as something that you would expect from "the" holy city. However, it is not as well known outside, as the food of Mumbai or Delhi. Bedmi pooris are usually associated with Agra and New Delhi. However, this is a popular breakfast dish in Varanasi as well. Coarsely ground urad dal with spices is mixed with wheat flour and then deep fried to make these delicious spicy puris. It is usually served with potato curry to make a complete meal.

What you need:

Urad dal - 1/2 cup
Green chilli - 2
Ginger - small 1 inch piece
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Sooji/rava/semolina - 3 tbsp.
Salt
Oil - for deep frying + 1 tbsp.

Wash urad dal well and soak in cold water for 1 hour. Drain and grind along with green chilli and ginger to a coarse paste. Add coriander powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder and garam masala to this along with a little salt. Mix in wheat flour and rava and more salt if needed. Add water, a little at a time and knead to a stiff dough. Knead in 1 tbsp. of oil, cover and keep aside for an hour.

To make puris:
Pinch out small lemon sized balls of the dough. Roll each dough ball into a 4-5 inch circle.
Deep fry in hot oil, cooking until both sides puff up and are slightly reddish brown.
Serve hot with aloo curry.

This is my entry to Week 4 of Blogging marathon #85 under the theme breakfast dishes from different places.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM

Mini meals - A South Indian lunch platter and the recipe for Sambar Rice

BM #74 Week 3 Day 2
Theme : Thali/Platter
Dish : Sambar Sadam/Sambar Rice

Several years back, when I started cooking, one of the things I could never get right is the quantity. For the longest time, I used to cook one dish and then we would eat it for several days. Now, with some experience, I think I am finally getting the hang of it. I still do tend to cook more when I have guest, but most of the time, I manage to cook the right quantity these days. In the initial days of cooking, I never would have imagined cooking a thali meal at home, but today, I've tried recreating the Mini meals served in several popular restaurants in Tamilnadu, India. Small portions of different varities of rice, a flatbread and its side, some fried vadam and pickle are the usual components of a mini meal.

Pictured in the thali above are :
Puri with aloo masala
Thakkali sadam / Tomato rice
Sambar sadam / Sambar rice
Thair sadam / Curd rice
Lime pickle
Vadam

All the recipes except the ones for sambar rice and curd rice have been shared on the blog before and clicking on the names above will take you to the individual recipes.
Today, I will be sharing the recipe for sambar sadam. For this thali, I made sambar sadam by cooking rice and sambar separately and then combining them.

What you need:
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Cooked dal - 1/2 cup
Mixed chopped vegetables - 3/4 cup (I used carrot, beans, potato, onion and drumstick)
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp. (I used sesame oil)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Chana dal - 1/2 tsp
Salt

In a large pan, heat oil. Saute chopped onions until translucent. Add in the rest of the chopped vegetables and turmeric powder. Now add tamarind concentrate and a cup of water. Boil on a low flame until the vegetables are cooked. To make it quicker, you can pre-cook the veggies and add them to the tamarind concentrate.  Now add the cooked dal, sambar powder and salt. Stir well and let it boil for  a few minutes. Switch off heat.
Mix the cooked rice to this. The sambar rice should be a little watery as it will thicken on cooling. You can adjust the consistency by adding some hot water if needed.
In a small pan, heat a teaspoon of oil. Add urad dal, chana dal and mustard seeds to it. When the seeds pop, pour this over the sambar rice. Top with some chopped curry leaves and coriander.
Serve hot.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#74.

Puri masala

The weather here in Minnesota is getting colder by the day. Today, I drove through roads where I was not able to see the lines that mark the lanes or distinguish between the sidewalk and the road. This kind of weather makes me long for tea that is spiced with ginger and cardamom and deep fried snacks. Puris make an appearance at our dinner table on days like this. My favorite accompaniment for puris is this simple yet very flavorful potato masala that is served in restaurants in South India. With just a few ingredients and a bit of your time and supervision, you can make this curry which you cannot go wrong with.

What you need:
Potato - 3 or 4, medium sized (boiled, peeled and mashed)
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Green chillies - 3 or 4, slit into half vertically
Ginger - a small piece, chopped fine
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp. (* See note)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Chana dal - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Salt - to taste
Juice of half a lemon

Heat oil in a pan. Add chana dal, urad dal and mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, add the slit green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. Saute a bit and then add the chopped onion. Saute on a low flame until the onions turn translucent.  Add turmeric powder and the mashed potatoes. Mix well and stir in a cup of water and salt as per your taste. Let it boil for a few minutes until the masala thickens. Switch off the heat and mix in the lemon juice.

Serve hot with puris.

Note : * I am partial to coconut oil and think that it imparts a characteristic flavor to this masala. However, any oil will serve the purpose.

This is my entry to the second week of Blogging Marathon #72, under the theme Vegetarian dinners.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM

Veggie puris, anybody???

All mothers are necessarily inventors. Right from the time a child is born, we take on a new avatar. We invent new ways to put them to sleep, new ways to sleep while they sleep without waking them up(i tell you i can write a book on that), new stories to keep them engrossed, silly songs to make them laugh, devious err...clever methods to sneak those veggies in. One such invention is what I am going to talk about today.
A few days back, I thought of making puris for dinner. The little girl (to see what she is up to, click here) loves puris....and we don't have to go through our usual cycle of threats and tears if puris are on the menu, but she doesn't like eating any side dish with the puri. I started off by taking some atta for the dough and then thought, hey, why not add some ragi to this? And while I was kneading together the ragi and atta, I had another Eureka moment. I decided to add some cooked, pureed carrots and some mashed potatoes to the dough. A little salt, some kashmiri chilli powder and there.....I had a complete guilt-free and tasty meal which the little girl and her friend enjoyed.

What you need:
Ragi flour - 1 cup
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Salt
Red chilli powder (I used kashmiri chilli powder)
Carrot - 3 medium sized, cooked and pureed
Potato - 1 large, cooked, peeled and mashed well
Oil - for deep frying

Mix all the ingredients well. Add water if needed and knead to a smooth, pliable dough. Divide the dough into lemon sized balls. Roll into small, thick, circles and deep fry in hot oil until lightly browned on both sides.
I served this with a simple, tangy tomato chutney. To make this chutney, heat a few spoons of oil in a pan. Chop up some onions and tomatoes into large pieces. Fry some red chillies and then the chopped onions in the oil. When the onions starts to brown, add the tomatoes and fry till mushy. Let it cool. Add some salt and grind till smooth.

This is my entry to JFI-Ragi hosted by Madhuram, Creative Food for Kids hosted at Sara's Corner, and Kid's Delight event hosted by Srivalli.

Masala puris

For life to be interesting, you need to move away from the regular path every once in a while.....you have to welcome the unexpected. As Oswald says "A surprise never hurt anybody" (Sheesh....can't believe i am quoting Oswald.....can u tell I watch way too much Pogo these days???)
Well, the same rule applies to food too. Every now and then, you need to experiment, to get out of your comfort zone and just throw things together and cross your fingers and hope that something edible comes out of that strange combo that's in the pan.
Here's one such experiment that I tried....To make masala puris you need:
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Potatoes - 2 or 3 medium sized, boiled, peeled and mashed well
Onion - 1, chopped really fine
Salt
Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp

Combine all the ingredients together and knead into a smooth pliable dough adding just as much warm water as needed.
Make small lemon sized balls out of the dough and roll it out into small puris.
Heat some oil(enough to deep fry the puris) in a kadai. Slide one puri at a time gently into the hot oil. Turn over once so both sides are cooked and browned evenly. Remove and drain excess oil using a kitchen/paper towel.
Eat hot off the stove with thick yogurt and a spicy pickle on the side.....and trust me, once you've tried this, you'll never want to go back to plain puris ever again....

Speaking of surprises, there are two blogger buddies who made my day by passing on some lovely awards to me.
Sukanya has given me the yummy blog award.
Thank u dear.....it really does mean a lot to me.
As a receiver of this award, I have to list out four of my favourite desserts. I really don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I'll try to list a few that I do like better than the rest.

• Palada pradhaman
• Rosogollas
• Jilebis
• Kaju Kathli

I'd now like to pass this award on to

• MS
  
• DK
  
• Rachel and
• Happy cook

Sowmya has passed on the Nice Matters Award to me. She says “Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”
Thank you Sowmya.

The masala puris are off to Srivalli's Roti Mela.