Methu Vada / Urid Dal Vada

Methu Vada is synonymous with any Tamilian festival. Medhu Vada and its close associate Dal Vada (Parupu Vada) will find a permanent place across any tea stall in Tamil Nadu. A cup of tea with Medhu Vada is a simple breakfast / evening snack for many commoners in Chennai. Initially I had great difficulty in making crispy, soft methu vada with a perfect hole at its center. Later I learnt it with little practice and it became a child's place thereafter.

Ingredients:




For Dough:



Urid Dal - 1 cup

Rice - 1 tablespoon

Salt - To taste

Oil - for deep frying



For mixing:



(All the below ingredients need to be finely chopped.)

Green chillies - 2

Ginger - 1 inch size

Coriander leaves - 1 string

Curry leaves - 1 string

Onion - 3 tablespoon / 1 small one

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Method:



1) Wash Urid Dal well and soak it in water for an hour.

2) Drain the water from soaked urid dal and grind the dal. Add salt and make a fine paste using a grinder / mixer. If required,only add one or two tablespoons of water. Adding too much of water won't help the cause and it would be difficult to prepare it in a round shape.

3) Add the ingredients mentioned above to be mixed with this fine batter. Mix the contents well.

4) Make sure the batter is only light thick to get the perfect soft methu vada.

5) Heat oil in a Kadai / Frying pan.

6) Take another bowl of water and keep it near to your batter pan.

7) Dip your hands in water and grab the batter paste just in the size of a lemon. Dipping your hand into the water avoids the batter getting sticky.

8) In next step, dip your thumb into the center of the batter to make a small hole.

9) Gently drop this vada batter into oil.

10) Repeat these steps for the remaining amount of batter. Each time ensure that you dip your hand into water before dipping it into batter paste. This helps to prepare vada in the perfect shape and also prevents the batter getting sticky around your fingers.

11) In a single round you can fry 3 to 5 vadas depending on the size of your frying pan.

12) When one side is fried, turn the other side and allow it to fry well. Continue this frying process until you see the golden brown colour.

13) When vada is fried well, remove it from oil and transfer it to a plate / bowl. Let the plate / bowl be covered with a kitchen tissue so that it will absorb the excess oil.

14) Now serve the vada hot with coconut chutney or sauce.





Just another method to make Vada:



1) This method is using a plastic paper/ food wrapper.

2) Take a plastic paper in your left hand and grease it using oil.

3) Dip your right hand into water and then take a lemon size of batter from batter bowl.

4) Put this batter to the plastic cover.

5) Gently put a hole in the center of batter using your right hand index finger.

6) Drop slowly to the oil.

Bottlegourd in coconut gravy / Suraikkai Paal Kootu | Indian Curry Recipes

Kootu is a gravy based side dish made with vegetables with or without lentils. In south-Indian cooking, it can be tamarind based or coconut based. While adding tamarind gives warmth and tartness, adding coconut to any gravy gives it a unique rich taste. This method of paal kootu with coconut is my personal favorite whose taste I got hooked to when I was working in Chennai and staying at my

Samosa Inspired Tartlets

My parents entertained a lot when we were kids. The day of a dinner party, my mom would pat ground beef into cutlets and whack apart a whole chicken for biryani. She would fry papadum, one by one, and stir together a bowl of raitha. For dessert, she would roll out dozens of little footballs from a milk-based dough (her signature shape for gulab jaman), fry them, and soak them in a simple syrup perfumed with cardamom and rose water. She never referred to recipes while she cooked.

Susan Pachikara (COPYRIGHT 2011)

When I walked into the kitchen after completing a task I had been assigned (dusting shelves, vacuuming stairs, polishing mirrors), she would accost me with questions.

"Does the rice have enough salt?" "Are the cutlets too hot?"

By mid-day, there was desperation in her voice.

"Did I fry enough papadum???"

My mom always felt trapped in the kitchen. But she had standards to uphold. I had seen it in India. My aunts served multiple courses and pulled everything together from scratch. They closely monitored guests as they ate and plopped servings of rice on half-filled plates. When glasses were emptied, they were quick to fill them.

Thirty minutes before the dinner party was supposed to start, my mom would put the mop away and fold up wet dish towels. My dad would put the needle on a record of belly dancing music and bring out the wine glasses.

Their guests would always stay well into the night. I took it as a sign that my parents had done something right.

Susan Pachikara (COPYRIGHT 2010)

SAMOSA INSPIRED TARTLETS

(2010 Cardamom Kitchen LLC All Rights Reserved)

I've preserved my mom's three-course tradition. It charms and baffles my guests since so few people seem to cook these day. But I have tweaked my mom's menu to make it my own. I serve a lighter starter: samosa inspired tartlets. They are faster to make than cutlets and less filing than regular samosas. The phyllo cups offer a wonderful crunch. If you're in a hurry, skip all the spices except for cumin, garlic, cayenne and salt.

Makes 12 tartlets

INGREDIENTS

For tartlets:

6 sheets phyllo dough

For filing:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup boiled and cubed potatoes

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 teaspoon finely minced ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/8 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas

2 teaspoons finely diced cilantro

Susan Pachikara (COPYRIGHT 2011)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Unwrap six sheets of phyllo from the roll. Keep the sheets stacked and place on cutting board. Using kitchen scissors, cut out 12-3 inch x 3 inch squares from the layers of dough. Gently push a square in each cup of a miniature muffin tin.

Bake until cups become golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Gently remove cups from tin. Time saver: The phyllo cups can be baked up to one month ahead. Store them in an air tight container at room temperature. Do not place in refrigerator. The moisture will cause the cups to soften and wilt.

Heat oil on medium heat in saucepan. Add onions and ginger and cook for 5 minutes.

Add cumin, garlic powder, garam masala, turmeric, cayenne, and salt. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Add potatoes and peas. Cook until peas become bright green, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Cool.

Place filo cups on serving plate and fill them with potato mixture.

Susan Pachikara (COPYRIGHT 2011)