Finger Food For The New Year Party - Lentil & Vegetable Dumplings

FINGER FOOD FOR THE NEW YEAR PARTY

LENTIL & VEGETABLE DUMPLINGS

This is an easy to prepare finger food. Lentil and Vegetable Dumplings are very healthy and nutritious since they are cooked in steam.

INGREDIENTS

Tur dal - 1 cup

Bengal gram dal - 1 tbsp

Green gram dal - 1 tbsp

Red chillies - 4  

NOTE - Wash the above ingredients, cover with water and soak for one hour.

Grated carrot - 1/2 cup

Finely chopped beans - 2 tbsps

Finely chopped capsicum - 2 tbsps

Finely chopped onion - 2 tbsps

Finely chopped Green chillies - 2 tsps

Finely chopped coriander leaves - 2 tbsps

FOR SEASONING

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

Black gram dal - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - 1 pinch

Salt - 1 tsp

METHOD

1. Drain the soaked ingredients and grind coarsely without adding water.

2. Blend in the salt and keep aside.

3. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds.

4. When the mustard seeds splutter add the black gram dal and roast till golden in colour.

5. Add cumin seeds and asafoetida.

6. Add chopped onion and green chillies.

7. Add chopped capsicum and beans and stir fry till they are half done.

8. Mix in the ground lentil , switch off flame and allow to cool.

9. Blend in the carrot gratings and the chopped coriander.

10. Take lemon size balls of the prepared mixture and shape them into dumplings.

11. Arrange the prepared dumplings in a greased idly plate and steam in the pressure cooker without the weight for fifteen minutes.

Serve the hot Lentil & Vegetable Dumplings with a tangy tamarind sauce or mint chutney.

Avial / Aviyal

Getting fresh Indian vegetables/fresh coconut in the place where I stay is once in a blue moon. Right from the time I started this blog, I wanted to post traditional recipes, but they were getting postponed due to lack of ingredients at my place.

So, when I find and buy fresh coconut or any other native vegetables I try to cook some traditional dishes as soon as possible before they lose it's freshness. This time, I have prepared Avial with limited ingredients what I had.



Avial is nothing but an assortment of vegetables cooked with coconut, curd and seasoned with aromatic coconut oil. Avail can also be prepared in thin gravy consistency or thick consistency. It is a popular recipe often related to Onam sadya and can be traditionally served with steamed rice or with adai.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4



Ingredients:



For Avial:



Mixed Vegetables - 3 cups -  Any vegetables like Carrot, Beans, Potato, Drumstick, Eggplants, Yam, Plantain (Vazhaikkai), Peas, White pumpkin(Vellai Poosanikkai), Raw mango, Cucumber, Snake gourd(Pudalangai), Bottle gourd(Suraikkai)

Turmeric powder - a big pinch

Salt - to taste

Thick sour curd/ Yogurt - 1/2 cup



For Grinding:

Fresh coconut - 1 half shell of medium size coconut , shredded or finely chopped

Green chillies - 3 nos

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon



For Seasoning:

Coconut Oil / Vegetable Oil - 1 tablespoon

Fresh Curry leaves - 2 strings

Method:



1) Chop vegetables into 2 inch length pieces.

2) In a saucepan, mix vegetables, turmeric powder, salt and 3/4 cup of water.(If you need thick avial, add water just enough to cook vegetables) Cover and cook it for 5 minutes in medium to high flame or till the vegetables are 3/4 th cooked.

 

3) When vegetables are cooking, grind the ingredients given for grinding with water just required for grinding. Do not add too much of water.

 

4) Add the ground ingredients to the vegetable mixer. Mix well. Cook till it boils.

5) Meanwhile, In a seasoning pan, heat coconut oil and add half of curry leaves when it is hot.

6) Pour this seasoning to the avial. Add remaining curry leaves and turn the flame off. Mix well.

7) Now, add sour curd and mix well. The heat in the pan itself enough for the curd.

 

8) Avial is eady and serve with steamed rice or Adai.

Note:

1) You can use any vegetables available at hand. For quick cooking of vegetables, use pressure cooker. However, the time taken for preparing the avial is almost same.

2) Make sure to chop quick cooking vegetables into bigger sizes and slow cooking ingredients into slightly smaller sizes, if your are going to cook in one bowl.

3) I used one large carrot, 5 beans, 2 small potatoes, 2 eggplants, 1/4 cup of peas for this recipe.

4) If you are using raw mango, reduce the sour curd quantity to half. If you do not have curd or don't want to use curd, add a big pinch of tamarind extract along with ground coconut paste.

Finger Food For The New Year Party - Idly Sticks

FINGER FOOD FOR THE NEW YEAR PARTY

IDLY STICKS

Basically Idly Sticks are nothing but fried idlies. The addition of garlic and and other spices lend a distinct flavour to the Idly Sticks.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE BATTER

Raw rice - 3 cups

Black gram dal - 1 cup

Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp

Beaten rice or puffed rice - 1 tbsp

Bengal gram dal - 1 tsp

salt - 2 tsps

Sugar - 1 tsp

METHOD

1.Wash and cover all ingredients except salt and sugar with water and soak for one hour.

2. Grind the soaked ingredients into a thick, smooth and fluffy batter using the grinder.

3. Mix salt and sugar and run the grinder for two more minutes. 

4. Store the ground batter in a big vessel allowing space for fermenting.

5. Cover with a lid and leave the batter in a warm place overnight.

TO PREPARE IDLIES FOR THE IDLY STICKS

INGREDIENTS

Finely chopped garlic - 2 tbsps

Chilly flakes - 2 tbsps ( Dry roast red chillies till crisp and crush them using a pestle )

Sesame seeds - 2 tsps

Cumin seeds - 2 tsps

Finely chopped coriander - 1 tbsp

METHOD

1. For every cup of the fermented idly batter add the above ingredients and blend well.

2. Grease idly plates ( I have used tattae idly plates ) and pour one cup of the prepared batter into each plate.

3. Steam the idlies for fifteen minutes in a pressure cooker without the weight.

4. Allow to cool and then refrigerate the idlies along with the plates for half an hour.

5. Remove the idlies from the idly plates and cut them into long sticks using a sharp knife.

6. Heat oil in a pan and gently drop the sticks one by one into the hot oil so that they do not clump together.

7. Turn over using a perforated ladle and fry till the Idly Sticks become crisp and golden brown in colour.

8. Remove the crisp Idly Sticks and drain them on a paper towel.

Enjoy the flavoursome Idly Sticks as they are or with tomato sauce, chutney or any other dip of your choice.