Sabudana/ Sago Vadas ( Fried dumplings)- veg snack

With the arrival of monsoons, you start racking your brains for some crunchy, mouth-watering, lip- smacking recipes! What better than things like chilas/ poodey, pakodey/ fritters, and the ever favourite of mine- Sabudana Vada!
So let's go and try churning some out! Its easy and fast!

Sabudana/ Sago Vadas:
Serves: 4
Type: Vegetarian Cooking
Actual cooking time: approx. 20 minutes
Pre Cooking time: 2 hours

Ingredients:
Sabudana/ Sago( preferably medium grain size)- 1.5 cups
Coarsely ground roasted peanuts- 1 cup ( you can have a variant of soaked instead of roasted)
 Boiled potatoes- 4 small ( mashed thoroughly)
 Fresh green coriander leaves- 2 tablespoons, finely chopped
Lemon juice- 1.5 tablespoons
Green chillies- 2 finely chopped
Cumin seeds- 1/2 teaspoon, roasted
Salt- as per taste
Oil- sufficient for frying
     
Method:
Wash and soak the sabudana in clean, warm water, for two hours. After two hours, strain off the excess water, pour some cold water on it and strain it once more.
  Now, add the lemon juice, mashed potatoes, green chillies, roasted cumin seeds,  peanuts, salt and coriander leaves.Mix all these ingredients thoroughly, preferably with a fork.
Make small balls and lightly flatten them between  the palms of your hands. Heat the oil and deep fry these vadas, till golden brown.  Drain off excess oil on paper napkin/ absorbent paper. Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

• Tips: Tastes best with green chilli sauce or dhaniya- pudina chutney.
• Lightly smear some oil on your palms, so the mixture does not stick to your hands.
• Use healthy oil like rice- bran, virgin olive or canola oil
• After frying, always throw away the oil and never reuse fried oil- which becomes unhealthy for the heart.

KADHAI PANEER LAZAWAB

KADHAI PANEER LAZAWAB RECIPE

 Serves: 3                                                                                                                                       

 Time: 25minutes

Cottage Cheese or Paneer, as it is known in North India, is a very versatile ingredient for vegetarian cooking. Any preparation of Paneer is a great hit with meals involving rice or Indian Breads. In fact, even as a snack or a starter- dish, paneer has won hands down in any vegetarian menu!

Here we will mention a very popular recipe- ‘Kadhai Paneer Lazawaab’. It is very simple and not very time- consuming to make.

Ingredients:

Cottage Cheese/ Paneer- 250 grams (cut into 1 cm broad strips, approximately 3 inches long)

Onions- 4 large sized

Capsicums- 3 (cut into 1 cm broad strips)

Tomatoes- 4 medium sized

Garlic cloves- 5

Green chillies- 2

Bay leaves- 2

Cloves- 4

Cinnamon stick-1 piece (an inch long)

Green Cardamom- 2

Ginger- 1 piece (an inch long)

Red chilli powder- ½ teaspoon

Refined cooking oil- 2 tablespoons

Edible orange colour- 1 drop/ a pinch (if in powder form)

Salt- as per taste or 1 teaspoon (level)

Method:

Sauté the capsicum and cottage cheese/ paneer strips for a few minutes in 1 tablespoon cooking oil and then keep them aside.

Grind the tomatoes, onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, green cardamom, red chilli powder, salt and green chillies. In this ground paste, add the orange colour and mix well.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan, and add the bay leaves to it. Immediately reduce the flame and add the ground paste to it. Cook this on a medium flame, until the oil starts separating.

Now, add the sautéed capsicum and cottage cheese strips. Cook on low flame for a few minutes, gently stirring in the mixture, so that it evenly coats the paneer and capsicum. After 3-4 minutes, remove from flame!!

Yeh lo!! Its ready to be served!!

Super mango chutney

A hot, summer afternoon meal can be a trifle boring and dreary. And it was so yesterday!! So to goad my son and myself to consume the lunch,I had to do some quick thinking.....And voilà! One look into the refrigerator,and I discovered some absolutely fresh, green mangoes. I hurriedly peeled a few, sliced them and gave them a chhaunka!! Now, WHAT is chhaunka?! Its simply the North Indian word for 'tempering' a dish! Words like baghaar, chhaunka, chounk,tadka basically mean the same.

To try out this fabulous chutney all you need is, as follows-

Ingredients:
  Raw mangoes (not pulpy)- 3( peeled and sliced into 1 cm broad strips)
  Red chillies-3
  Rock salt or common salt- 1/4 teaspoon
*Panch-phoran- 1/2 teaspoon
  Cooking oil- 1 teaspoon
  Sugar- 2 teaspoons

*Panch-phoran is a mixture of equal amounts of fennel seeds, nigella seeds,mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and carom seeds.
If you don't have Panch-phoran, then you can alternatively use only mustard and / or fenugreek seeds.


Method:
Heat the oil in a saucepan/ wok, add the whole red chillies to it and then the panch-phoran. As soon as the seeds start spluttering add the sliced mangoes and stir it all for a few minutes. Now, reduce the flame to medium intensity and sprinkle the salt on it. Allow it to be cooked on this flame for 3-4 minutes,then cover with a lid and further reduce the flame. In between stir the mango slices, so that they do not get burnt. In a few minutes, the slices will change colour and become soft in texture, now you must sprinkle the sugar on it and allow it to be cooked further, until a slight brown tinge appears. Remove the vessel from the flame and either serve it hot or allow it to cool. for storing in the refrigerator. My mango chutney gets consumed in a day!

Happy chutney-session!

Tamarind (Imli) Chutney/Dip

No snack is complete without the tangy flavour of Tamarind chutney. The best part is that, irrespective of the season, you can enjoy this with actually anything!

Ingredients:

150 ml tamarind pulp (sieved)

½ teaspoon ginger paste

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon rock salt

½  teaspoon mustard seeds

A pinch of red chilli powder

½ teaspoon cooking oil

4-5 curry leaves (optional)

250 ml water

Method:

Boil the tamarind pulp in 250 ml of water, on medium flame (stirring occasionally). As soon as the pulp attains a thick consistency, remove it from flame.

Heat the cooking oil in a saucepan, on a high flame and add mustard seeds; as soon as they start spluttering add the ginger paste, curry leaves, chilli powder and rock salt. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Now pour the tamarind-water mix into the saucepan and add sugar. Cook for another 3 minutes.

Tangy tamarind chutney is ready. Have it as a dip with pakoras, finger-chips, rice,fritters etc.

Cauliflower - Carrots-Baby Corn in Tomato base.

Ingredients:
Cauliflower florets - 2 cups
Orange Carrots diced- 1 cup
Baby corn - 6 ( cut into rings or thin slices)
Onion thickly sliced - 1 large onion
Tomato purée - 2 cups
Mustard oil - 1 tablespoon
Salt - 1/4 th teaspoon or as desired.
Green coriander sprigs for garnishing.

Method:
In a heavy- bottom pan ( kadhai), heat the mustard oil and then add the onion slices. Cook the onions on a high flame for a couple of minutes, then reduce the flame and let the onion slices turn a darkish brown (not black!). Now add the cauliflower florets, baby corn and carrots and sauté them for a few minutes.Sprinkle salt on the vegetables and then add the tomato purée to it. Allow this to simmer on a low flame till the gravy thickens and the vegetables are coated with the gravy.
Chop the green coriander and sprinkle on the veggies.

Can be served with steaming hot plain rice!

SAFE Cooking Oils rich in MUFA & PUFA

We have always mulled over the question, that which is the cooking medium which is safe with reference to our heart. Invariably we hear that oils should be used and not butter, and also that the oils should be having a high smoking point. This is all the more essential for Indian cooking where a lot of dishes are deep fried. In all dietary discussions words like MUFA, PUFA, Trans fats, Saturated,Unsaturated, High smoking point etc. are flung around with such solemness that one almost fears  consuming any sort of oil! Oils like mustard,olive, rice bran,canola, sunflower etc. 
All fats and oils are composed of fat molecules known as fatty acids. The molecules can be classified into three categories depending on their degree of saturation. You have saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids.(ref.http://naturalhealthychoices.weebly.com/safe-cooking-oils.html )
MUFA, refers to monounsaturated fatty acid, i.e fatty acids that have one double bond in the fatty acid chain. Similarly PUFA refers to poly unsaturated fatty acids that have more than one  double bond in the fatty acid chain. Now,what are trans fats? 'There are two types- the naturally occuring type found in small amounts in dairy and meat and the artificial kind that results when liquid oils are hardened into 'partially hydrogenated' fats. Natural trans fats are not the ones of concern, especially if you usually choose low-fat dairy and lean meat.These artificial trans fats started getting a lot of attention after research showed that they could increase the risk for heart disease by increasing "bad" LDL cholesterol and decreasing "good" HDL cholesterol."Even though the label says "zero trans fats"one serving of the food can contain up to 0.5 grams of trans fats according to law, and still be labelled trans-fat-free," explains Elizabeth Ward,MS,RD 

The same guideline exists for saturated fats.  Only when the food label states "no trans fats" does it really mean there are none.

The problem is that small amounts of these artery-clogging fats can add up quickly, especially if you eat several servings each day of foods that contain up to 0.5 grams per serving.

For example, popcorn can be an excellent source of fiber, is a whole grain, and can be low in calories. But if you eat several cups of microwave popcorn, the trans fat can really add up.(http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/trans-fat-free-food-whats-the-truth)' 
However, one has to remember that with age even though the quantity of oil consumed should be reduced, one can not altogether do away with it. I read in the newspapers today, that we should try and remember that oils to be heart-friendly have to be trans-fat-free, cholesterol free, high in MUFA and PUFA, low in saturated fats, have a high smoking point, and have an acid ratio of N6 to N3. Now, what is N6 and N3? I am clueless, so here I go and read and article on the same. You too can juggle your grey cells and find out some nuggets of wisdom from the following article which I found on the net.
http://fanaticcook.blogspot.in/2009/04/omega-6-and-omega-3-in-foods.html
Sounds interesting!!
And yes, will share a recipe (which I tried on the spur of the moment today) in my next post :)