Sri Ganesha Chaturti Prasaadams - Shola Vadai - Fried Corn Patties

SHOLA VADAI

                                                  

Aama vadai or Vadai prepared using bengal gram dal is a standard dish required to celebrate all the festivals in South Indian homes.With the addition of onion and some spices it can be turned out into a delicious Masal Vadae - a spicy  snack.

Vadai occupies an important place among the prasaadams prepared for Sri Ganesha Chaturti as well.

Lord Ganesha is referred to as Dantin (The one who has tusks ) in the ancient sacred texts. Dantin is described as holding a corn sheaf in one hand and a sugar cane in the other. He is the protector of crops and His rat mount symbolises that He controls pests and assures of a bountiful harvest.

Here is a Vadai for Sri Ganesha prepared with His favourite corn - Sholam - which He holds in His hand.

                                                   

INGREDIENTS

Frozen corn - 1 cup
Bengal gram flour/besan - 1 cup
Rice flour - 2 tbsps
Chopped green chillies - 1 tsp
Chopped coriander and dil leaves - 2 tbsps
Chopped fresh ginger - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Hot Oil - 2 tbsps

Oil for frying

METHOD

1. Defrost the corn and squeeze out the excess water.
2. Mix all the ingredients together adding 1 tbsp of hot oil.

3. Sprinkle water little at a time and knead it into a stiff dough.

                                                  

                                                  

4. Mix in  the remaining 1 tbsp of oil so that the dough does not stick to your hand.

5. Heat oil.

6.Pinch a small lemon size ball of dough and pat it into a round vadai on your wet palm.

7.Slide the vadai into hot oil.

                                                     

8. Make batches of  6 or 8 vadais and fry on medium flame until they turn golden brown in colour.

                                                  

Offer the hot and crisp Shola Vadais with soft interiors to Lord Ganesha and relish the Ganesha Prasaadam.

Spicy Potato Curry

Potatoes are a hot favorite in every household. There are many ways potatoes can be cooked and consumed. I make it very frequently and it is my favorite veggie..This spicy potato curry is my mom's recipe and it tastes yumm.. This spicy potato curry can be served with rice, roti's, dosas or with puri's. It is a very simple recipe and super easy to make.

Ingredients:

Large russet potatoes - 2
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - A pinch
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - To taste
Asafoetida - A pinch
Cilantro - To garnish - A few
Curry leaves - About 4-5

Method:

• Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes and boil them in water for about 10-12 minutes. Drain the water and set it aside.

• In a pan, heat oil and add the mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal.

• Add potatoes once the mustard seeds starts spluttering and add the salt, asafoetida, turmeric powder and red chili powder. 

• Mix them all well and allow to cook them for 5-7 minutes.

• Garnish with curry leaves and cilantro.

• Spicy potato curry is ready to be served. 

• Enjoy the curry with a dish of your choice.

Notes:

• You can add asafoetida in the oil itself after adding the mustard seeds.


• You can add curry leaves in the oil or you can add it while garnishing.


• You can boil whole potatoes and then later peel them off and cut them into cubes.


• A dash of lime juice while garnishing will enhance the taste of the curry and will give it a very tangy taste.

Golpapdi - Wheat flour sweetened with jaggery

A quick look at my recipe index or the labels, will tell you my love for sweets. I have a special affinity to jaggery based sweets. I feel jaggery based sweets are generally healthy compared to the sugar ones. Jaggery is rich source of iron and sweets with this, doesn't call for loads of fat. Golpapdi is one sweet that caught my attention for the simple ingredients and the easier method of preparation. I have tried it few times and not once the jaggery melted from the heat of the flour mix. And every time, I will put the pan back to stove and melt it and then proceed further. The result was still good though it may not come close to the actual golpapdi.

Cut back to January and news paper carried articles on Makarashankaranthi festival and various delicious treats specially made for the festive season. In one of such articles, I read about a variety of jaggery which is soft and suits for til/ellu ladoo. It then dawned on me that such kind of jaggery is required to make golpapdi too.  I found that the jaggery block which I had purchased then was the soft kind. I had casually picked it from the grocery shop and did not find any difference. Then I tried again and finally met success. I followed Tarla Dalal's recipe. 

You need


Whole wheat flour/Atta - 1 cup
Grated Jaggery - 3/4 cup
Ghee - 4 tbspn
Poppy seeds - 1 tspn
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tspn

Method

Heat the ghee in  a pan/kadai. Add the wheat flour to the melted ghee. Keep stirring till the wheat flour turns into a brown color and the aroma of roasted wheat flour in ghee will fill your entire kitchen. Make sure, you don't burn the flour. Remove the pan from fire. The rest of the steps doesn't require any more cooking. Quickly add the grated jaggery and cardamom powder to the roasted wheat flour mix. Keep stirring.The jaggery will melt and it will comes to semi solid mass. Transfer the mix to a greased plate, sprinkled with poppy seeds.  Press and spread the mix evenly with a flat based cup/katori. Mark squares while warm. When cool, store in air tight container.

Please check what my blogging marathon buddies have cooked for the day.