Taro Leaf Fritters /Arbi Pathe Bajjis

Here is yet another wonderful stuffing for bajjis - Taro leaves - We have had them as patra & bakavadi - but since I started growing these, we have made bajjis and wonderful kootu or curry, used them as dolmades wrapping. All of these are fantastic because taro leaves lend themselves beautifully to any kind of preparation

WARNING - Do not try to eat taro leaves raw unless you are prepared to feel its acidic sting burn through your mouth and throat - the calcium oxalate burns down your throat, esophagus all the way to your stomach - COxalate also causes kidney stones - so please DO NOT EAT THEM RAW!!! My poor and rather unsuspecting husband ended up dashing to the fridge to gargle and send cold water chasing behind it to calm his throat which was visible red and inflamed - I guess this is the plant's defense mechanism. But they become docile tasty thingees when cooked - So please be warned about their raw "bite"  ;p

Bajii mavu is the simplest - if you have this recipe down then you can make bajjis with any veggie/leaf/blossom you fancy - 1:1 of besan (sifted) & rice flour; 1tbsp chili powder of choice; a pinch of asafetida; salt; and 1 cup + 1/4 cup or as much to get the consistency shown in the picture below.  Dip and Drop in hot oil - fry until golden brown; strain with paper towels in colander; serve hot.
You can cut the veggies any how you fancy - that too is the fun part. Enjoy these  - I have 2 other interesting bajjis to blog soon - adios

Batter Consistency

My Son who cut them for me posing for my sake :)

CherryKachal/ Thokku (Spicy Cherry Preserve)

When first tasted it after making this rather incredible thokku, almost in unison, my hubby and I declared it was cherry kachal - let it be known he said pulikachal  and gave me the idea to call it a cherry kachal.
Memorial weekend and nothing to do - WRONG - we went to a beautiful orchard set in a very scenic place about 45 minutes from where we live - the weather was perfect and there we were, six of us, my little one leading the pack, all armed with plastic bags. Long story short, we got SO carried away, we ended up with 20 lbs of cherries- Since they expect you to buy all of the cherries you pick, we ended up buying $80 worth of cherries :) !!! Not an issue since my head was immediately buzzing with the different things I can make with them - The pie was the first of course. When we came home, we got busy washing and sorting them into grades of ripeness. Before we made our way to the actual trees with the dark fully ripened cherries, our enthusiasm had led us to pick not so ripe ones - My three year old went about it with clear intent and picked a bunch of red, pink and semi-rotten ones - all part of the deal folks.
My kids, hubby and mother-in-law (who is visiting) took the lead role in washing, sorting, pitting process. While I got busy listening keenly to my good friend Stephanie from Joy of Baking, refreshing my pie-crust recipe.

That will be a post to follow. The semi ripe ones are the ones that I decided to make this thokku with.  I decided on a really simple recipe and let the cherries take on the spices and do what they will with it. And we ended up with a tangy, tongue-tickling thokku, perfect as a side for bondas, doasi and idli, or to mix with freshly prepared fluffy white rice :)

here is my recipe

ingredients
2lbs pitted semi-ripe cherries
5 green chilies
5 red dry chilies
1tbsp whole black peppers
2 tsp urad dal
2 tsp crushed rosemary
a small pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup of gingely oil (sesame oil) (approx 6 tbsp)
salt

Preparation

Dry fry the green chilies, red chilies, peppers, urad dal and rosemary and dry grind into a powder.
Take 1/3 of the cherries (aprrox) and grind them coarse -
Add 2 tbsp of oil and and add the powder and roast for a minute.
Add the ground up cherries and the remaining pitted cherries into the pan
Add salt (about 3 tsp) and all it all to simmer and simmer and simmer in a low flame
in intervals of 5-7 minutes, keep adding a tbsp of oil until you've exhausted the oil
You will have a finely simmered thokku in about 45 minutes.

Allow it to cool down. Transfer into a mason jar. Refrigerate and use as needed.

Kara Boondhi

This is a simple and immensely addictive snack made in many parts of India, but perhaps called by different names. In Tamil kara means spicy and boondhi means drops.  The kids had gone out for a swim. My hubby had just finished off a rather distasteful packet of something from the indian store, the kind that is excessively spicy and doughy and not much else - I decided to launch on the boondhi trail - after all, how hard can it be- In my mind, it seemed a cinch, since I had bought the boondhi ladle the last time I was in India.
I took my inspiration from the video from Vahrevah - he explained it quite nicely and it was easy to figure out what I should look for - And the bottom line is consistency - that's really all it boils down to when you consider how, oily or soft, or elongated they could get -if the consistency is incorrect - so what you are looking for is a thick flowing consistency that drops slowly from the ladle - You take a ladle to the ladle and assist the drops
The second point to not is don't over crowd the pan - there should be exactly one layer of boondhis per time else you get yourself and the boondhis into a sticky, clumpy mess.

Here is my recipe with a few changes that helped me make the best boondhi

2 cups of besan (or what you amount you choose)
1 tsp of baking soda
1.5  cups of water (divided)
2tsp of salt

kara podi (to mix in after the boondhi) I used homemade molagapodi, some roasted cashews and curry leaves.

Preparation of batter

Sift the besan to get rid of knots
add the salt and the baking soda
mix them in nicely with a whist
Add 1/2 cup of water first and and make a thick paste
Then slowly add the rest of the water in small installments, checking for thick flowing consistency

Note: Too much water will not make round drops and will absorb too much water. Too thick a batter will not allow the batter to drop into the oil -

Trial and error is OK! It took me at least two tries to know when to stop the dripping to avoid clumping. I had to add more batter because I had gotten it a little too thin for starters. I guarantee you that by the 3rd or 4th round, you'll have nailed it :)

Heat oil on a medium flame
Get the boondhi ladle positioned above the centre of the frying pan.
Now I will let my pictures speak for themselves.

The boondhi ladle

My watery atta

bad bad bad!!

Not so great -too much water and too much batter in one go!

Really good right :)

That's my wrist flying around with a ladle stirring the ladle :)

Check out these beauties :)

I had added to much batter

My best batches :)

You can see how I kept improving until it really did get perfect - I think adding the baking soda gave it the air to puff up nice and round.

Onion Flower Pakodas & Event Announcement

Onion Flower Pakoras AKA Vengaya Poo Pakoda

For those who saw these beautiful flowers as a garnish on my Paella Primavera post, this time I decided to use them in pakodas - just like I had used Zucchini flowers for bajjis last summer when we had Zucchinis coming out our ears :). This beautiful purple flower resembles a mum and is as potent as its stalk (green onions) and its bulb which is the onion itself - I guess it takes a while for these plants to mature enough to put out flowers, since these are  from the crop we planted last year. Hubby dear has been busy making me my veggie garden - my horrible allergies prevent me from being too active outdoors this time of year - and I am eternally grateful to have married this wonderful man who not only LOVES pottering around the garden, but has the greenest thumb

Onion flower/Vengaya Poo

Spring Onion stalk

Method:
For these pakoras, I used the simple, standard method of mixing equal proportions of besan (chickpea flour) and rice flour.
Ass asafetida (just a pinch) some sambar powder/curry powder for spice and salt
Wash these beauties well and dab dry with towel or wash before hand and allow to dry naturally
Heat oil to fry
Dip the flower into the batter and fry
Drain excess oil from the pakoras with paper towels
Serve hot by itself or with some ketchup

Close up :)

And now, I am happy to announce that my Blog is hosting the Bake Fest this month of May - This event is a brainchild of Vardhini of Zesty Palette/ Cook's Joy- Look forward to all your entires

1. Send in any recipe which has been baked / broiled.

2. Only vegetarian or vegan recipes please. I normally accept eggs in baking and hence eggs are allowed.

3. Usage of the logo is appreciated as it helps spread the word.

4. Link to this event announcement and Vardhini original Bake Fest announcement is mandatory. If sending an old entry, it needs to be re-published with the links.

5. You can send in any number of new entries and a maximum of 2 old entries.

6. PLEASE ONLY USE LINKY to submit your entries (no email entries please!!!)

Cashew Chutney & Onion Chutney

A cold and dreary day with much needed rain - I've learnt to appreciate rain a lot more after we moved her to well water - every mm counts. We have had several summers where water curfews were imposed when watering the lawn was an indulgence not to be exercised.  But a rainy day always makes me hungrier for some reason and I want to make something that warms the cockles - Steamed Sweet Potatoes was what I settled on - Hubby dear comes home and asks me what I plan to make with it - as a sort of spread - my mind sifts through the chutney spread files that are stored away in the brain, but I thought I'd make two chutneys - One I have made often - onion chutney and the other a variation of its more commonly prepared nut cousin, peanuts - And settled on cashews. Yes, that plan excited me. So I got to work and literally in 5-7 minutes, we were all smacking our lips after tasting this spicy, tongue-tickling oh-so nutty chutney - If you like nuts and cashews in particular, trust me my friends you will not be disappointed!

Here is the recipe
3/4 cup of roasted cashews
5 green chilies
2 red chilies (dried)
urad dal 1/4 cup
olive oil- 2 tsp
salt to taste
Tempering with olive oil (1tsp), mustard seeds and curry leaves

Preparation
I first used 2 tsp to roast the urad dal and the chilies, like we normally do for any chutney and then threw in the cashews for a minute before removing from flame.
I ground it warm in my Magic Bullet into a fine paste and tempered it

Spread this over your steamed sweet potatoes - while the chutney has a fine kick to it, it is beautifully set off by the sweetness of the sweet potato.

NOTE: the guilt of fat from the cashews can be lessened by the fact that you have had a most satisfying and completely healthy meal for I recently saw on Dr. Oz - Here is the quote from his website

Cashews are one of the top 4 anti-cancer Super foods! 

These nuts contain proanthocyanidins, a class of flavanolds that actually starve tumors and prevent cancer cells from dividing. In some studies, it’s been shown that eating 12 cashews a day can reduce your colon cancer risk.

There you go folks, the Ozacle has spoken :)

Onion Chuntey

1 med. sized red onion
4 red chilies
1 green chili
asafetida
olive oil 2 tsp
urad 2 tsp

Preparation
Fry in the oil all the ingredients and grind adding salt when you do.
Temper with the same ingredients as the above chutney

Enjoy mes amies.

Kumato- Mozzarella Hors D'oeuvre

Kumatos is a brand name but the most common one that comes up if you are googling brown tomatoes. The first time I saw them I was intrigued! Thought it was a cross between a plum and a tomato - My friend used Kumatos in a salad the first time I tasted them and I loved the crisp sweetness of it raw and enjoyed them a lot more than the regular raw tomato.

Of Spanish origin, Kumatos are a cross of red & green tomatoes. They are from the Mediterranean region of Spain but are now being grown in many parts of Europe and Canada since people have come to taste them and realize how incredibly sweet they are :) So it was a pleasure to make something with them for the first time after which I have gone on to experiment with other dishes which I will post soon, hopefully.
This hor D'oeuvre is a simple & sophisticated dish and would be an amazing addition to either fine dining or a casual party. I used port wine along with other ingredients to be listed below to marinate the mozzarella. I know many people in my circle who are not crazy about raw tomatoes, but even they loved this preparation.

Ingredients

6 Kumatos
About 6 ounces of Small fresh mozzarella
For the Marinade
2 tbsp port wine
1 tbps balsamic vinaigrette
1/2 tsp herb de Provence
1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1tsp of agave nectar
1/2 tsp of freshly ground pepper
Fennel greens for garnish

Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices (this can be done before serving)

Similarly cut the Mozzarella balls into wedges

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together in a flat plate with sides - Soak the mozzarella in it and refrigerate for until an hour to half an hour before serving.

Arrange the cut tomatoes in a serving plate - Top with cheese as shown in the picture. Drizzle any extra marinade over the tomatoes as well. Place you fennel on each serving decoratively and hear the Mmm mmms or Wows :)

Cream of Spinach Soup

A week or so ago, I was praying that that darned groundhog would not see his shadow - but he did and what's more, ever since the weather has altered to winter-like conditions with nasty wind-chills. This, after a really balmy spring like January is not cool - I mean for the weather to be so cool ;p.
This weather has warranted some warming of them cockles - so I made me a cream of spinach soup that got eaten to the last drop :)
Agreed, I actually used cream in this recipe, but a cup for about 10 cups of spinach and a small fistful of pine nuts.  The Fat content is hopefully negated by the goodness of the greens. It yielded about 6 servings. A winner soup for those who love spinach.

Ingredients

• 1Family Sized Box of Organic Baby Spinach
• 1Small fist ful (about 2 tbsp) pine Nuts
• 1-2 Dry red chilies (cayenne) (not for the faint hearted)
• 1 tsp of whole black peppers (this is a must ;)
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1cup of milk (if required)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp olive oil

Preparation

• In a wide mouthed pan, heat the olive oil and temper the chilies, peppers and brown the garlic
• Add the spinach and swiftly toss it around - 
• NOTE: A whole box of spinach is a lot volume-wise. So stir in handfuls at a time so as not not get overwhelmed 
• Once the leaves have softened a bit, add the cream and the pine nuts and allow them to boil together - this should take 3-5 minutes
• Add some milk if you want more volume
• Salt to liking
• Cool it before you grind.
• Refrigerate if you like cold soups. 
• Pour back in the pan and allow it to heat up again, if you like it hot - like we do chez moi.
• This can be served with warm bread or crackers 

Until the next time, adios amigas!
Sharing this with Javelin Warrier's Event  Made With Love Mondays