Onion Pakoda

Ingredients:
Onions - 2 (large)
Green Chillies - 8
Coriander leaves - as desired
Gram flour - 3 cups
Rice flour - 1.5 cups
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Ghee - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Peanut - 1/4 cup
Cahews - 6 or 7 (optional)
Oil - for frying


Mix all ingredients other than the red highlight without adding any water. Heat oil in a pan. Fry small clumps in oil till it turns light brown. Stain excess oil using paper towel. 


Goes well with sweets like Coconut Poli or Sanza or Carrot Halwa.

Raw Mango Chutney

Now a days raw mango is available round the year and the sour taste is not only desirable for pickles like avakkai but varieties of nice and mouth watering dishes. In this page I describe my favourite mango recipe':
Ingredients:
1 cup                   Raw mango chopped into small bitd
1/2 tsp                 Fenugreek seeds
5 nos.                  Red chillies
1 tsp                    Urad dal
1/4 cup                Grated coconut
1/4 tsp                 Asafoetida
1/2 tsp                 Mustard seeds
2 tsp                    Oil
1/4 tsp                 Turmeric powder


Process:
Lightly saute the fenugreek seeds asafoetida and red chillies. Add this to mango, grated coconut, salt, turmeric powder and grind them all to a coarse paste. Heat a pan, splutter mustard seeds in 2 tsp oil with urad dal and drop the mango-coconut paste into this and blend well.

This is a very delicious chutney. Can be eaten with rice with a dash of ghee. Good for dosas and idlis too.

Onion/Potato Bajji

This is a snack essentially to please an unexpected guest and is quick to make. This is oil intensive since it absorbs more oil and is less frequently made due to health reasons these days. However if a guest is offered this item it sure will be  devoured gladly, which we shall when we ourselves turn up as guests elsewhere.
Chief items are onion and potatoes thinly sliced after the curvature is shaved off.
For the bajji batter:
2 cups                    Channa flour or gram flour
1 cup                      Rice flour
1 tsp                       Salt
1 tsp                       Red chilli powder
1/4 tsp                    Asafoetida
1 tsp                       Ghee
Method:

Mix all the above ingredients into paste like thick consistency. Heat oil to fry point in a fry pan. Dip the sliced potato and onion one at a time sufficient to cover with batter mix and drop in hot oil. Drp as many as the fry pot can take leaving room for turning over. Fry till golden brown turning over gradually as the bajjis cook. Remove from fried bajjis, strain excess oil or pat out in paper towel.

Quick mix Mixture

This is a  quick snack for tea time made from unsweetened cereal mix. 


Ingredients
1/2 kg                        Puffed rice or Puffed poha
50 gms                      Peanuts, roasted and dehusked
200 gms                    Fried corn flakes
150 gms                    Raisins-dried blackberry-cashews-almond mix
1 tsp                          Red chilli powder
5 tsp                          Cooking oil
1/2 tsp                       Gharam masala powder
2 tsp                          Salt
2 pods                       Garlic
1/2 tsp                       Turmeric powder
1 tsp                          Amchur 
Method

In a large pan pour oil, garlic, curry leaves and saute slowly for a minute. Drop chilli powder and add puffed rice or puffed poha, turmeric powder, salt, amchur, red chilli powder, gharam masala- mix all these well and gently in low heat. Now drop the dry fruit mix, peanuts and saute for five minutes again. Mix well and take out from fire.
Note: Ready made mixture can also be used as one of the ingredients,

Kichadi(Upma)(Khara Bath)

There are n number of variants to this easy to make delicasy and in this page I describe my way of preparing it.
Ingredients:
2 cups                       Rava
1"                              Ginger, cut into bits
7 Nos                         Green chillies, bits
1/2                              Lemon, small
1/2 tsp                        Mustard seeds
1 tsp                           Urad dal
1 tsp                           Channa dal
1-2                              Red Chilli
2 tsp                           Salt
2 tsp                           Ghee
6 tsp                           Oil
few                             Curry leaves
Few stalks                 Coriander leaves
6-8 nos                       Cashew nuts, in bits
1/2 tsp                        Ghram masala powder
Making:
Heat a pan, saute the rava in 2 tsp ghee till it turns light brown. remove from pan and keep aside.

Next, heat the pan, pour oil, fry  cashew bits to medium brown, remove. Now splutter mustard seeds with urad dal, red chillies, ginger bits and split green chillies. Add 4 cups of water to this mix, 2 tsp salt and allow it to boil. Now slowly drop sauted rava, stirring briskly so as not to make lumps. When the contents reach a  smooth consistency, stop the stove and cover the pan with lid. Drop the previously roasted cashew bits, gharam masala, curry leaves, mix well and top the kichadi with coriander leaves and a dash of lemon juice.
Relish with ginger chutney(refer previous post)

Sweet Coconut Poli

Ingredients:

4 cups                 Grated coconut

3 cups                 Maida

1/2 cup                Rice flour

1/2 tsp                 Cardamom powder

1/4 tsp                 Salt

As reqd               Oil to cook

For the filling:

Heat a pan, add 1/4 cup water, jaggery, cardamom powder and grated coconut, stir well. When the mix blends well and cooks without sticking to the bottom or sides. Let it cool.

For the maida dough:

Mix the maida, salt make it to smooth dough adding water little by little. Add  5 tsp oil to this dough and blend well.

Making of the poli:

Make small lemon size  balls of the maida dough, flatten, add the coconut filling and cover it all around with the dough, and use a rolling pin lightly to bring to chapati like shape. Cook this raw poli just like chapati adding oil to both sides.

Note:

Materials suggested are enough for 20 normal chapati size polis. Scale up to increase number.

Sanza

This is a delicious and interesting item. It is simple and can be made in a jiffy. This item is considered to be Shirdi Saibaba's most desired offering or neivedya from his devotees.
Ingredients:
2 cups              Wheat Rava
2 cups               Milk
8 nos                Cashew bits
20                     Raisin
5 nos                Cardamom powdered
1 cup                Jaggery
1/4 cup             grated Coconut
5 tsp                 Ghee
Method:
First saute the coconut and keep aside. Fry Cashew and raisins in ghee and keep aside. Then fry rava till it browns. Pour boiled milk in the rava, stir and let it cook for 5 minutes. Add jaggery and water in a pan. When it comes to a boil add it to cooked rava. Add coconut, nut , raisins and cardomom powder. Top it off with 2 tsps of ghee.