Air fryer Masala peanuts

Hunger and distance from home are directly proportional, in my opinion. The moment you step out of home, you tend to feel hungry and that feeling intensifies with the distance that you travel away from home. When there are kids in the picture, then hunger tends to be of specific kinds - like hunger for potato chips, thirst for soda/juice and so on. 

Whenever we travel, I try to pack some home made snacks that we can munch on whenever we feel like it. One of the recent snacks that I tried making in a relatively oil free and healthy manner is this masala peanut which was well received by the kid and the rest of the family.

What you need:

Shelled Peanuts - 1 cup

Chick pea flour/besan/gram flour - 1 tbsp.

Rice flour - 2 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil - 1 tsp

Water

In a bowl, mix the flours, chilli powder and salt. Add water, a little at a time, to make a thick paste. Add the oil to this and mix well. Add in the peanuts and mix well, making sure that the peanuts are coated well with the masala mixture.

Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees farenheit. 

Arrange the peanuts in a single layer, separating them out as much as possible in the fryer basket. Air fry for 4 minutes. Stir the peanuts and heat for a further two minutes. 

Remove and let cool. The peanuts will become more crisp as they cool.

Once completely cooled, store in an air tight container. These will stay good for 3-4 days at room temperature.

This is my entry to Blogging Marathon under the theme Kids' delight - Travel food.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#86.

This also goes to  Srivalli's Kids' Delight event guest hosted this month, by me, on the theme Travel Food.

Love letter - my favorite hostel snack

Like all hostels, the one I lived in when I went to college was not known for the food it served. In fact, there were some dishes that were downright unpalatable. However, given the fact that we were young and almost always ready to eat, we polished off pretty much everything that was served in the mess hall, no matter how it tasted. One of the things that I really looked forward to is a snack that the chechis in the mess made in the evening. Popularly known as "love letter", possibly due to the fact that it has something sweet rolled into it, I am not sure if this dish has a different name.

What you need:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Water
Salt - a pinch
Mix the ingredients to a smooth batter of pourable consistency.

For the filling:
Grated fresh coconut - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Mix the ingredients together in a small bowl.

To make:
Heat a dosa tawa. Pour a ladleful of the batter and spread it into a circle. When you see bubbles beginning to appear, flip over and cook until there are brown spots on both sides. Place some filling inside and roll tightly.
Serve hot.

Do check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 84.

Poha cutlet - an air fryer recipe

The air fryer, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, is the latest addition to my kitchen. Ever since we bought it, we've been trying out various dishes in it. In most cases, we've been able to replicate the taste of the non-air fryer version of the dish and are overall, quite satisfied with the purchase. These cutlets are something that I've never tried before buying the air fryer and so, I do not have anything to compare it with. However, the air fryer version turned out nicely browned and crisp and tasted really good. It is kid approved as well and quite a few were polished off by the kid, despite the fact that she doesn't usually like poha.

What you need:
Rice flakes/poha/aval - 1 cup
Gram flour/Besan - 1/3 cup
Green chilli - 2, minced
Ginger - a small piece, julienned
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Curd - as required
Salt
Coriander - 1 tbsp, chopped fine
Groundnuts - 1/4 cup, coarsely ground

Take the rice flakes in a fine mesh colander and run cold water over it. Leave this aside to drain. I used thin poha, which only needed to be washed. If you use thick poha you may need to soak it for a few minutes and then drain it.
In a pan, dry roast the gram flour over a low flame until it turns aromatic.
Mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add curd, a teaspoon at a time and mix, until you have a stiff dough. Make small balls out of this dough and flatten them using your hands to shape. I used a round cookie cutter to get even cutlets.
Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for  5 minutes. Brush some oil over the cutlets and place them in a single layer in the air fryer. Fry for five minutes, then turn them over, brush some more oil and fry for another five minutes. Remove from the air fryer when they are brown and crisp. Timing may vary depending on your appliance. Do keep watch afterthe eight minute mark.
Serve hot with ketchup or chutney.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM
This also goes to  Valli's Kid’s Delight event, guest hosted by PJ themed on Quick / Innovative Breakfast

 

Gobi (Cauliflower) 65

Gobi (Cauliflower) 65 is a popular street food in South India. I've read various interesting stories on the reason for the addition of the number 65 to the dish, but am not sure if any of them is true. Most street vendors add red food color to achieve the bright red color that the dish is associated with and serve it hot in paper plates or newspaper squares.



What you need:
Cauliflower - 1 small , separated into medium sized florets
Oil - for deep frying

For the batter:
Corn flour - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 1/3 cup
Rice flour - 1/3 cup
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Tandoori masala - 1 tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander
Curry leaves
Salt
Water

For tempering:
Oil - 1 tbsp
Green chillies - 2 or 3, slit lengthwise into two
Curry leaves - a handful

Take the cauliflower in a large pan. Pour boiling water over it. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and a pinch of salt, cover and let it stand for 5 minutes. Drain off all the water and keep aside.

Mix all the ingredients for the batter into a smooth, slightly thick batter. Add in the cauliflower florets and mix well to coat all the florets with the batter evenly.

Heat oil for deep frying in a pan. Add the florets, a few at a time and fry until reddish brown. Remove on to a kitchen towel. When all the florets have been fried, fry them again in hot oil in batches, to give them an additional crispiness. Set aside.

Heat the oil for tempering. Add slit green chillies and curry leaves to it and saute over a low flame until the chillies just start to brown. Add in the fried cauliflower and mix well.
Serve with ketchup or a little bit of chaat masala sprinkled on top.

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

Nachos

A Mexican dish which is very popular , nachos in its most basic form, consists of tortilla chips topped with lots of melted cheese. To this basic form, you can add ingredients of your choice like black beans, roasted corn, tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos and onions. No matter what ingredients you choose to add, this snack is a crowd pleaser. Here is my version of this dish.

What you need:

Tortilla chips
Black beans - 1 can
Red onion - 1 small, chopped
Corn - 1/2 cup
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Salt
Grated cheese - a generous amount

Spread the tortilla chips in a single layer on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, combine the drained beans, onion, corn, cumin powder and salt. Mix well. Spread this mixture evenly over the chips. Top with grated cheese.
Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit until the cheese melts.
Serve with guacamole, sour cream and salsa on the side.

This is my second post for Week 2 of BM#78 under the theme Oceanic Cuisine - dishes from countries that are bordered by two or more oceans.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM# 78

Sesame Honey chilli potatoes

Deep fried potato fingers coated in a honey-chilli sauce and covered in toasted sesame seeds - this dish is a crowd pleaser. If you have a pack of frozen French fries on hand, this is very easy to put together. Even if you don't, except for the time spent in chopping potatoes into French fries, this is pretty much a quick recipe.

What you need:
Frozen French fries - I used half of a 28 oz pack
Oil - to deep fry

For the sauce :
Red chilli sauce - 1 tbsp.
Tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp.
Garlic - 1 clove, minced
Oil - 2 tsp
Honey - 1 tbsp.
Toasted sesame seeds - 1 tbsp.
Sriracha sauce - 1 tsp (This is optional. I usually add it to spice up the potatoes just a tad bit more)
Spring onion greens/Coriander - to garnish

Deep fry the frozen fries as per package instructions and set aside.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the garlic and saute on high heat. Lower the heat and add red chilli sauce, tomato ketchup and Sriracha (if using). Add the fries and mix well so that the sauce coats each piece well. Stir in the honey and toasted sesame seeds. Mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander or spring onion greens.

Serve immediately as this, though still tasty, tends to get soggy as time goes on.

This is my entry for Week 4 of the Blogging Marathon under the theme Festival Special dishes for Valentines day as this is something that my Valentines absolutely love.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#73

Cabbage pakoda/Crunchy, crisp cabbage fritters

These are easily some of the best pakodas that I've made. Easy to make, these deep fried delights stay crisp and crunchy for a really long time. The only major chore involved is chopping cabbage, which I am usually not too fond of, but the recent addition of a chopper to my kitchen makes this snack a breeze to make.

What you need :
Cabbage - a small one, chopped thin and long (I measured and got approximately 4 heaped cups of cabbage)
Gram flour/besan - 1 cup (approx)
Rice flour - 2-3 tbsp
Red chilli powder - to taste
Salt - to taste
Onion - 1/4 cup, chopped fine
Ajwain/carom seeds - 1 tsp (optional. I am fond of the flavor and tend to throw this in wherever I can)
Oil - for deep frying

Take the chopped cabbage in a bowl. Sprinkle salt over it and leave aside for 10 minutes. The cabbage would have released quite a bit of water in this time. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well to form a thick dough. You will not need to add any extra water, but if you feel that your dough is too dry and crumbly, sprinkle a tiny bit of water and mix until it reaches a thick, just moistened consistency.
Heat oil in a kadai. Pinch out small bits of the dough and deep fry on medium heat until well browned and crisp. Drain on to a paper towel.
Serve with ketchup or chutney.

This is my second entry to Week 3 or Blogging Marathon #53 under the theme Fritters.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM

Hara bhara kabab

This is arguably one of the most popular starters in India. Whether at restaurants or at home parties, this is a dish that makes an appearance at the table quite frequently. The kabab possibly gets its name from the distinctive green color it has. Mine are not green because I used yellow peas instead of green peas.

What you need: 
Potato - 1 medium sized, boiled peeled and mashed
Spinach - 1.5 cups, packed, steamed, squeezed and mashed
Peas - 1/2 cup - soaked overnight, cooked and mashed
Salt
Garam masala - 3/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger - a small piece, chopped fine
Green chilli - 2, minced
Cilantro/corriander - a little, finely chopped
Oil - a little for shallow frying the kababs
Cashew - one for each kabab (optional)

Mash the potatoes, spinach and peas together in a large bowl . Ensure that any excess water is squeezed out from the veggies before mashing. Heat oil. Toast the cumin seeds in it. Add in the ginger and chilli and saute for a minute. Pour this over the mashed vegetables. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Shape into balls. I was able to make 13 kababs using this recipe. Flatten slightly between your palms. Press a cashew into the center of the kabab. Shallow fry on tawa, turning over now and then until both sides are well browned and crisp.
Serve hot with ketchup or mint and tamarind chutneys.
This is my first post for Week 2 of Blogging Marathon #47 under the theme North Indian party starters.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 47

Minimal oil vegetable koftas

Fall is a beautiful season. The heat of summer is gone, but the bone chilling cold of winter is not yet here. The changing colors of leaves on the trees - the gorgeous shades of yellow, orange and flaming red - these are testimonials of nature's artistry. The leaves have now started falling, a signal that fall is coming to an end and colder weather is imminent.

 While deep fried snacks are enjoyed by us, I do try every now and then, to see if a recipe can be tweaked to use less oil. These koftas were made to be used in a curry that I wanted to serve with rotis. However, we soon found that these made for a great tea time snack. Luckily, I had enough of these on hand to make a curry after we were done with our snacking binge.

What you need:
Potato - 1 large or 2 medium sized, boiled, peeled and mashed
Carrot - 1, grated
Green beans - 10, chopped very fine
Spring onion - 2, chopped fine
Green chilli - 2, minced
Bread - 4 slices
Ginger - one inch piece, skinned and chopped fine
Salt
Dhania/corrainder powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Add the carrot, beans spring onion, ginger and chilli to the mashed potatoes. Mix in salt, garam masala, red chilli powder, dhania powder and turmeric powder. Dip the bread in water, quickly squeeze out all the water and add it to the vegetables. Knead well and then divide into small balls.
Heat a paniyaram pan/aebelskiver pan with about 1/4 tsp of oil in each depression. On medium flame, fry these koftas, turning over until they are well browned and crisp on all sides. Do not rush this process. It will take time, but the end result will be worth it.
The recipe for the curry I made with these koftas in it, will be up next.
This is my third post for BM #45 under the theme healthy tea time snacks.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45

Crispy corn

The temperature outside has been steadily dropping over the last few days. I am one of the few people who still go outside for a walk in the morning, but am not sure I will be able to do that for much longer, given how many layers of clothes I have to wear and how cold it still feels despite all those layers. Warm soups, adrak-wali chai (ginger tea) and crisp, deep fried snacks are what the stomach craves for every day.

Mainland China's crispy corn chilli pepper is something that I love and have ordered  every single time we've eaten there. I love how crisp yet juicy the corn is, and how beautifully it is presented in a fried fritter basket. Here's my version of this to-die for snack/starter.

What you need :
Frozen American sweet corn - 2 cups
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 small, chopped fine
Spring onion(with greens) - 2, chopped fine
Green chilli - 2, slit into half
Juice of half a lemon
Salt
Oil - 2 tsp
Oil - to deep fry

Defrost the frozen corn. Remove it on to a paper towel, cover with another paper towel on top and gently press to remove moisture.  Transfer the corn to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the rice flour evenly over it so that each corn kernel has a fine coating of flour over it. Keep this aside for at least half an hour so that any excess moisture is absorbed by the flour.
Heat oil for deep frying. Fry handfuls of corn until crisp. Drain onto a paper towel and set aside.
Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan. Add the green chillies, onions and spring onions and saute for a few minutes. Add the fried corn to it along with salt and lemon juice. Mix well. Serve hot.
This is my second post for BM#45 under the theme healthy tea time snacks.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#45

Moong sprouts kabab aka Disaster management kabab

It was to be just another ordinary day with no post from me commemorating the ordinariness of my everyday cooking. Some moong beans soaked in water the previous night, drained and sprouted were to be combined with onion and tomatoes to make an ordinary salad. However, at the last minute, inspiration struck and I thought of turning the sprouts into deep fried vadas. Then, the rational mind intervened and said, why deep fry? Why not make baked kababs? And that, my dear friends, is how this recipe was born.
I drained the sprouts and ground them with an onion, some garlic and green chillies. This is where the disaster management part of the post title kicks in. Despite ensuring that there was absolutely no water in the beans, the ground mixture had the texture of a thick chutney. Definitely not kabab material. So, in went a boiled potato and some quite a bit of chick pea flour (besan). The resulting mixture, while not dry, could be shaped if I wet my hands frequently. Baking was out of the question as I knew without doubt that the mixture would stick to the pan. So, back to the frying pan it was, quite literally. The end result, though, was not bad at all, and quite possibly something I might attempt again, this time, intentionally, of course.


What you need:
Moong sprouts - 1.5 cups
Potato - 1, boiled, peeled and mashed
Onion - 1, peeled and chopped into large chunks
Ginger - a small piece
Garlic - 7 or 8 cloves
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Besan ( I didn't measure this, but kept adding a spoonful at a time till the mixture was fairly dry. Probably close to 1/4 cup)
Salt - to taste
Oil - for deep frying

Grind the sprouts, onion, ginger, garlic and turmeric powder to a smooth batter without adding any water. Add the mashed potato and salt to this. Mix well. If you are able to shape this mixture into kababs, proceed to deep fry at this point. If not, add besan, little by little, until you are able to shape the batter. Deep fry in oil over a medium flame until both sides are well browned. Serve hot with ketchup/tamarind chutney.

Ammini kozhukkattai - savoury steamed rice flour dumplings

Kozhukkattai is a traditional stuffed dumpling that is made during Ganesh Chaturthi. Grated coconut and jaggery, cooked over low heat with a hint of cardamom thrown in, is stuffed into an outer layer of rice flour dough that is shaped by deft hands into a dumpling. This is then steamed, offered to Ganesha whose favourite sweet it is, and then relished by the family.
Ammini kozhukkattai - the bite sized, savoury version - is almost always made on days when the regular sweet kozhukkattai is made. It probably is a dish that was invented when some resourceful woman decided that she would put the left over rice flour dough to good use.
Having grown up in a household where kozhukattais were(and still are) made at the drop of a hat and not just for Ganesh Chathurti, it is little wonder that this bite sized, savoury version is something that I have fond memories of eating.
The only time when dough is made exclusively for ammini kozhukattai, and not as an after thought to the sweeter modak cousins, is during Navaratri when this is made as Neivedyam/prasadam - an offering to the deity.
 
What you need:
Rice flour - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Salt - to taste

Oil - 2 tsp (preferably coconut oil)
Fresh grated coconut - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Broken red chillies - 2
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Mix rice flour with one cup of water to a thick, smooth paste. Heat the remaining cup of water along with salt in a heavy bottomed, large pan. When the water starts to boil, reduce the heat and add the rice flour paste. Cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture forms a thick ball. Switch off heat. When the dough is warm to the touch, remove it on to a plate, add a teaspoon of coconut oil and knead well. Apply oil on your hands, pinch out small bits of the dough and roll into marble sized balls. Steam these balls in an idli plate/steamer for 8-10 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes after switching off the heat.
In a pan, heat a teaspoon of coconut oil. Add urad dal, chana dal and broken red chillies. When the dals start to brown, add the mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, add in the curry leaves and the grated coconut. Saute on low heat till the coconut turns reddish brown. Add the cooked kozhukkattais to this. Mix well and heat for 2-3 minutes.
Enjoy as an evening snack or a light tiffin.

Variations : Omit grated coconut. Knead in some red chilli powder to the dough and then proceed with the recipe.
For the recipe of the sweet version of kozhukattai, click here.
This is my second recipe for Blogging Marathon #29, showcasing Kerala Iyer snacks.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#29
 

Vella dosai - whole wheat and jaggery pancakes

Kerala Iyers are Tamil brahmins who migrated out of Tamilnadu some time in the early 13th century and settled down in different parts of Kerala. Kerala Iyer cuisine is an amalgamation of the cuisine of both states and so is the language. The Tamil spoken by Kerala Iyers is so heavily interspersed with Malayalam that it is often jokingly referred to as Talayalam.
There are quite a few dishes that are unique to Kerala Iyer cuisine. In our fast paced world where traditional snacks are being replaced by two minute noodles and out-of-a-packet and into-your-mouth pasta, many of our indigenous snacks are forgotten about. Over the next three days, I will be sharing the recipes of three such evening snacks that used to be (and probably still are in some households) made in Kerala Iyer households. This is a part of Blogging Marathon #29 where the theme I have chosen is Course wise meals from a State - the course here being evening snack/tiffin and the state being Kerala - more specifically, Kerala Iyer cuisine.
Vella dosai is something that can be made in almost no time at all, as long as you have wheat flour and jaggery in hand. It does take a little practice to be able to flip the dosa over without tearing it, but even if it does tear, it tastes really good. Rich and iron and protein, this makes for a filling and nutritious after school snack for children.

What you need:
Jagggery - 3/4 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Water - 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder - a pinch (optional)

In a microwave safe bowl, heat the jaggery and water on high power for 30 seconds. Remove, stir well and keep aside for 5-10 minutes. Stir again until jaggery dissolves completely in the water. Add the wheat flour and mix to get a smooth batter. The batter should be of pouring consistency. Add some more water/flour if needed to get the consistency right. Mix in the cardamom powder.
Grease a skillet with ghee and heat it. Pour a ladleful of the batter on the hot skillet and spread into a thick circle. Cook on a medium flame until the bottom turns brown. Flip over and cook the other side until brown spots start to appear on it.
Serve hot with a blob of butter.

Note :
Jaggery tends to burn fast. So take care and ensure that you cook on a low flame.
Jaggery tends to be sticky. You might find it difficult to turn the dosa over and might find it sticking to the pan or the spatula you are using to turn it over. A good quality non-stick pan will take care of this. If not, grease your pan really well and flip the dosa over only when the under side is well browned.
If you want your dosa to be really sweet, add 1 cup of jaggery.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#29

Banana chocolate chip muffins

Making healthy snacks for kids is an art. Dodging requests for Maggi, Lays or Kurkure every evening and providing something healthy in its stead is definitely something that requires practice and a certain amount of sternness and will power. These muffins are easy to whip up, healthy and at the same time something that kids will love. In fact, my little one made this herself. She did the measuring, the mixing and the spooning into the muffin tin. Needless to say, she enjoyed eating what she made.

What you need: (Recipe adapted from Tarla Dalal's Healthy snacks for kids)
Bananas (mashed) - 1/2 cup(I used 3 small overripe ones)
Whole wheat flour - 4 tbsp
Oats - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Oil/butter - 1/4 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Chocolate chips - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp

Mash the bananas in a small mixing bowl. This is a task my little girl did very meticulously and with great enjoyment. Mix the vanilla essence and sugar into it.
Take the whole wheat flour, oats, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the banana mixture and oil to it. Mix well. Gently stir in the chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 150 degree centigrade.
Line/grease your muffin tin. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy!!!

This is my first post for Blogging Marathon #17 themed on Kids' Delight - Evening snacks/Tiffin. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 17
This post goes to Radhika's Let's cook - Kid's special

Cucumber snake

Making children eat nutritious food is a humongous task. Here is a fun way to get your kids involved in making something that looks interesting....and since they "made" it, they will be tempted to eat it too.

What you need:
Cucumber slices - cut into half moons (cut a circle and then cut it into half)

Arrange cucumber slices as shown in the picture. Cut two thin slivers of tomato to make a forked tongue and use a pepper corn for the eye. That's it.....sprinkle some salt on it if your kiddo likes it that way, stand back and enjoy the glee on their face.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other marathoners doing BM#16.
This post goes to Smitha who is hosting Kids' Delight this month

Baked bread cups

Bangalore is hot these days......and not in a good way. I find myself trying to avoid spending too much time in the kitchen, my appetite is less, and most of the time I find comfort in a bowl of curd rice. To meet the fruit and veggie quotient, I also make quick salads which don't require standing by the stove for very long. Today I made a chick pea salad, some of which I filled into baked bread cups for an evening snack. The idea of making bread cups is from Tarla Dalal, but the filling is something that I came up with.

What you need:
Bread - 6 slices (or how many ever you intend to serve)
Chickpeas/kabuli channa - 1/2 cup, soaked overnight and cooked
Tomato - 1, chopped fine
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Carrot - 1, grated
Corriander - a little, chopped fine
Salt - to taste
Chaat masala - to taste

Preheat oven to 200 degree centigrade. Cut off the crust of the bread slices and steam them in a microwave steamer for 1:30 minutes. Remove and place each slice on a muffin pan. Press down to form a cup shape. Brush some ghee over the bread and bake for 10-12 minutes until brown and crisp. Baking time will vary from oven to oven.
Once baked, remove the cups and keep aside until ready to use.
To make the filling, mix all the ingredients together and spoon some into each bread cup.
Enjoy!!!

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#14

Crispy rice balls

Don't we all at some time or the other, cook a little too much, and then wonder what to do with the leftovers? It happens to me more often than I care to admit, and I am always on the look out for ideas to turn these leftovers into new dishes that can be made with minimum fuss. Sometimes I have these brainwaves which help me turn an ordinary upma into something unique, or to jazz up rotis into a breakfast dish. This time, though, inspiration came in the form of Tarla Dalal's cookbook - Healthy Snacks for Kids.
Today's dish is a snack that can be made in a jiffy. What's unusual about that? Well, not only is this something that you can whip up quickly, but it is also a great way to use up leftovers. Some left over rice, and chopped/grated veggies of your choice is all that you need to make a really crunchy and crisp tea time snack.

Recipe source : Tarla Dalal's Healthy Snacks for Kids
What you need:
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Carrot - 1, gratedhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Onion - 1, chopped fine
Green chilli - 2 or 3, minced (adjust to taste)
Corriander leaves - a handful, chopped fine
Rice flour - 1/4 cup
Water - roughly 1/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Oil - for deep frying

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Make small balls of this and deep fry in medium hot oil until well browned and crisp. Drain on to absorbent paper.
Enjoy with a cup of hot chai.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#14

Pittha

Pittha is similar to the South Indian kozhakattai/modak and to the Tibetan momos. It has an outer cover made of rice flour/maida/wheat flour and an inner stuffing made of ground dal and spices. This is cooked in boiling water to make a soft on the outside and bursting with flavour inside snack.

What you need:
For the outer cover - Atta kneaded as you would for rotis (Maida/ rice flour is more commonly used. However, I chose to use atta)

For the filling:
Chana dal - 1 cup, soaked for 3 hours in plenty of water
Onion - 1 large
Green chillies - 2 or 3
Garlic - 4 cloves
Ginger - a small piece
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Amchur powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Drain water from the chana dal. Add green chillies, garlic, ginger, onion and turmeric powder to it. Grind to a coarse paste without adding any water. To this, add the garam masala, amchur and salt. Mix well.

Pinch out a small ball of atta. Roll it into a circle. Place some filling inside the cirlce.

Fold one side over the other to make a semi circle. Press down with a fork on the edges to make a beautiful pattern.

Bring 7-8 cups of water to a rolling boil in a large kadai. I used my pressure cooker. Drop 3 or four of the stuffed pitthas into the boiling water. It will sink down when dropped in, but will soon rise to the top. Once it rises to the top, reduce the flame to medium and let it cook for 5-7 minutes. You will know it is done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let it cool. Cut each pittha into two pieces. Heat some oil in a pan. Add some mustard seeds to it When the seeds pop, pour this season over the prepared pitthas. Mix well. Serve with green chutney and tamarind chutney.


Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#11

Aval/Rice flake cutlets

Very often I find myself buying something, only to find that I already have a pack or two of it at home. Then, after stuffing as much of it as I can into the freezer, I try to find ways of using up what remains. It is while trying to use up some(well, a lot, actually) of rice flakes/poha, that I chanced upon a recipe for cutlets made out of rice flakes. The recipe is modified from Tarla Dalal's "Iron Rich Recipes".
What you need:
Rice flakes - 1 cup
Green gram dal - a handful
Green chilli - as many or as few as you like
Salt
Garam masala
Potato - 1, boiled, peeled and mashed
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chopped corriander

Soak the rice flakes and dal separately in water for atleast 30 minutes. I used matta rice flakes which handle soaking pretty well. However, if you are using a thinner variety, I would suggest just washing it thoroughly until wet through and not soggy.
Drain off all the water and grind the rice flakes (after squeezing out as much moisture as you can out of them) and dal coarsely in a blender. Mix in the other ingredients. Shape it into small balls and flatten them between your hands. Now heat a shallow frying pan (I used my microwave), arrange the cutlets on it, drizzle some oil over it and fry until crisp and brown on both sides.
Serve with some ketchup or as is.
I do not have any pics of the cutlets as we finished them before I could click any.....will update the next time I make these.
Check out the blogging marathon page to see what my fellow marathoners are cooking.

Mangalore bonda - Golibaje

The first time I had mangalore bondas is at Matsya, a restaurant in T.Nagar, Chennai. These small, light and fluffy deep fried balls of flour disappeared almost as soon as they arrived at our table and since then, I have never missed a chance to order these when I visit that restaurant.
Blogging Marathon 6 gave me a chance to try my hand at making this snack at home. The recipe is from Ramya's Mane Adige. Thank you, Ramya, for helping me recreate a restaurant favourite at home.

What you need:
Maida - 1 cup, heaped
Curd - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste
Green chillies - 2, minced
Corriander - a little, finely chopped
Ginger - a small piece, julienned
Cooking soda - 1/4 tsp
Oil - for deep frying

Mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Don't add all the curd at one go. Add it little by little and keep mixing until you get a dough that is of dropping consistency. I added a few more teaspoons of curd in addition to the half cup listed above to get the right consistency. The batter will be sticky. So dip your hands in some water and pinch out small gooseberry sized balls of dough and gently slide them into hot oil. Deep fry until brown on both sides.
Enjoy with coconut chutney or ketchup.

What I think of the dish:
This is an easy snack to whip up and it tastes really, really good. These can be quite addictive and it is difficult to stop eating them once you get started. The bondas turned out to be very light and crisp and were not too oily despite being deep fried.
Do take a look at what my fellow marathoners are up to.
This goes to Champa who is hosting Kids' Delight -Mini bites, an event started by Srivalli.