Banana Pepper, Spinach and Onion Pakoda

I think it's time for a hot snack in this cold weather. I was thinking of making some pakoda, quickly spinach is the one I remembered. I had this frozen spinach, which I blanched it and kept it freezer for later use. So I decided to make this new pakoda recipe, so make sure that Anush also eats it. I made spinach and onion pakoda for Anush and added banana pepper to give it a kick for some extra spice. It came out good and we ate so much that we skipped dinner that day. :-)

Ingredients:

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1 cup Basen

1 big Onion sliced

1 bag Spinach (can you frozen - I used previously blanched and frozen spinach)

4 Banana Peppers sliced in rounds

Salt to taste

1 tsp Ginger paste/grated ginger

1 tsp Chili powder

1/2 tsp Cumin powder

1/2 tsp Garam Masala powder

Water as needed

Oil for deep frying

Method:

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1. In a bowl add sliced onions and little bit of salt and keep it aside for about 15-20 mins.

2. In a kadai add oil and let it become hot, keep it in medium high heat.

3. After 20 mins squeeze the water out of the onions, this will keep the onions crispy when you deep fry it in basen batter.

4. In the same bowl of onions add besan, salt, chili powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, ginger paste, spinach and water and mix the batter. (The batter should be little bit thicker than the dosa batter and little bit thinner than the idli batter).

5. Now add the banana pepper and mix well again so that the banana peppers are all mixed well in the batter.

6. Now when the oil is hot enough take a ample amout of batter in you hands and sprinkle it gently into the oil, making sure that your hands are little above the oil.

7. When the oil stops bubbling a bit turn the pakodas over and seperate the pakodas if they are all sticking and cook the other side for more 3-4 mins.

8. Serve hot with with any sauce or ketchup. I made a sauce out of ketchup and habanero sauce.

Sending this recipe to the Event " Serve It - Grilled" hosted by Oh Taste n See and Krithi's Kitchen

Sri Ganesha Chaturti Prasaadams - Ellu Poorna Kozhukattai - A Sweet Dumpling With Sesame Seeds And Jaggery Filling

 ELLU POORNA KOZHUKATTAI

                                                 

Lord Ganesha's happy face - Prasanna Vadanam - looks radiant with grace when His devotees offer Him His favourite Kohukattai / Modakam. Kozhukattai is the first and foremost among the various other sweets prepared on Ganesha Chaturti day.

Tengai poorna kozhukattai ( a dumpling with coconut and jaggery filling ) is the traditional sweet prepared for Ganesha Chaturti. Some times Ellu Poorna kozhukattai ( dumpling with sesame and jaggery filling ) is also prepared for variety. The method of preparing both the kozhukattais are the same except that the fillings are different.

The dough for the outer covering of the kozhukattais are usually prepared by cooking the rice flour in water. Portions of the dough are shaped into cups, stuffed with the sweet filling, sealed and then steamed.

Here is another method where the raw rice flour is only mixed with water to make the dough. Portions of the dough are flattened on the palm and filled with the poornam ( Sweet filling ) and sealed. Then  the raw kozhukattais are directly cooked in  boiling water.

                                                  

INGREDIENTS

Rice flour - 1 cup

oil - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 pinch

Sesame seeds - 3/4 cup

Grated dry coconut ( copra ) - 2 tbsps

Jaggery - 3/4 cup

METHOD

1. Dry roast sesame seeds till you get a pleasant aroma.
2. Cool the roasted seeds and grind with dry coconut gratings and jaggery into a slightly coarse powder.

3. Make plum size balls out of the ellu poornam .The oil in the sesame seeds and the sticky jaggery will enable the balls to hold.

                                                 

4.Mix rice flour, salt and oil in a bowl and make a soft dough adding water little by little.

5. Pinch a small lemon size ball from the dough, flatten it on your palm and place a ball of poornam in the middle.

6. Gather the edges together and seal the poornam with a peak.

                                                  

7. Set a wide mouthed vessel with 1/2 lit of water adding 1/2 tsp of sesame oil  on the stove and switch on the flame.                          

8. In the mean while make a batch of 6 , 8 or 10 kozhukattais depending on the size of the cooking vessel.

9. Gently drop the kozhukattais one by one into the boiling water.

10. Boil for 5 minutes . Use a spoon and slightly prod the kozhukattais so that they do not  'sit' at the base of the vessel for long.

10. Cook for 5 more minutes till the cooked kozhukattais start floating up.

                                                  

11. Remove the kozhukattais gently using a perforated ladle and drain them.

                                                  

Offer the delicious Ellu Poorna Kozhukattais to Lord Ganesha and enjoy the prasaadam along with His blessings.

The benefits of doing business locally - do you really know your neighbor?

I am continually amazed by how little I know about the businesses that I drive past on a weekly basis... and trust me that I am an unusually inquisitive individual!  Sometimes, giving me insight can be as simple as hanging a sign in front of the business or updating the existing sign to include a bit of what they do or benefits of stopping in.

Whereas Brandom Cabinets does not have a street that is well traveled on a main thorough faire, our signs let visitors know that they are in the right place.  Still, relatively few people in our small town are aware that they have a cabinet manufacturer in their back yard!  Of course, a great many of our staff members live in the immediate area and spread the work of their employment to friends and family... but how well do you know your neighbor?


Brandom's heritage of providing quality wood cabinetry to Designers and Builders through our network of Dealers stretches back more than 58 years.  When we visit conventions and tradeshows like KBIS (the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show - http://www.kbis.com/) we are pleasantly surprised by how many visitors have heard of our small to mid-sized company.  Based about 1 hour south of Dallas, TX we are a neighbor to many kitchen & bath showrooms, builder headquarters, etc. in the regional area.  Recently, Brandom Cabinets was host to the business leaders in our town of Hillsboro, TX where we were able to showcase our manufacturing capabilities and share a bit about our workforce.  We informed them that we offer local pick-up for regional customers to save shipping costs, technical support in the field for installation questions & warranty help for issues within driving distance, and sales support and training from our sales management for new Dealers.  Just mentioning these few benefits, they could see why getting to know their neighbor just might benefit them with more than just being able to borrow a cup of sugar!


Our current initiatives include updating our popular website (www.brandom.com) to include facility photos, location mapping, and more information about employment with Brandom.  Do you know any neighbors that might benefit from knowing us?  Let them know that they can follow our Blog or get additional information on our website.  Be sure to bookmark our website to re-visit us after our changes are posted to become better acquainted with Brandom... who knows, we just might be your neighbor!