Dahi Vada

My dad is a good cook, except for the fact that he rarely ventures into kitchen and cooking :D. There are a few dishes however he does attempt occasionally to keep his culinary skills at bay. He has a good understanding of salt and spices, one of the key factors to being a good cook. He can make a simple tomato tava fry or even our traditional affair of his beloved Huli with simplicity, yet perfection. One of his favorite always remains this urad dal vada or the fried lentil dumplings. And if you ever expressed a craving for these, just the word is enough for him to don the cooks cap and please you with these vadas. One wouldn't disagree that he indeed is a good cook.

When we recently got a chance to taste the fresh hot vadas, right out of the frying pan to the salver, pairing them with freshly ground spicy coconut chutney, we couldn't stop ourselves from savoring each of these endlessly. These were surely the best treat we could ask for that evening. His vadas are no doubt excellent and I do admit men do make great cooks ;). Each of us must have served ourselves several helpings back to back, to an extent that by the end, almost none were left for dad himself. I am not a fan of fried stuffs, but a few days later, I felt too tempted to try them myself at home. And my temptation was beyond just vadas, I was keen on making these chat-pata Dahi vadas. One call away to dad to get the exact recipe and the next moment these vadas were all ready, some to eaten and rest to be drowned in yogurt dressing.

Dahi Vada

INGREDIENTS

Urad dal Vada

1 cup urad dal
1 tsp grated ginger
8-10 peppercorns
3 green chillies, well chopped
1 sprig curry leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Oil, for deep frying

For the Dahi/Yogurt Dressing

3 cups of yogurt
Salt and sugar to taste
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin powder
1 tsp chaat masala
1-2 tbsps of tamarind dates chutney
Finely chopped coriander leaves, to garnish

DIRECTIONS

Wash and soak the urad dal in water for about 4hrs. Drain all the water out and grind it to a paste with little or no water. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil is hot enough, drop blobs of the batter. Use a spoon and with the help of your fingers, tip the thick batter gently into the hot oil. Fry gently on all sides on medium low heat till it's golden brown. Remove and allow the excess oil to drain on a kitchen paper. The vadas are ready to be served.

To make dahi vadas, add in salt and sugar to the yogurt. If you like sweeter version, add in more sugar. Also consider that tamarind chutney has a hint of sweetness in it too.

Dip the vadas in warm water and gently squeeze out the water from it. Lay the vadas in a serving dish. Top it well with yogurt till it's covered completely. For best results, soak the vadas for at least a couple of hours before serving.

To add body and flavor, top them with tamarind chutney. Sprinkle chili powder, cumin powder and chaat masala evenly over it. Garnish with coriander leaves.

I am particular about the tamarind chutney in my dahi vadas, since they have the power to elevate your fourth senses to a greater level! This dish is a burst of varied flavors - salt and sweet, spicy and tangy flavors over these lentil dumplings can send a tickling sensation down your taste buds. I bet you will love them too. They make an excellent dish for large gatherings and parties too.

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Amaranth/Dantina Soppu Chutney

Amaranth greens, also called the Chinese spinach is a common leafy vegetable available in India. It's popularly known as dantina soppu or harive soppu in Kannada and is more commonly used in South Indian cuisine. They come in two varieties, the green leaves and the reddish tint leaves. Amaranth leaves are coarser and denser than spinach and fenugreek leaves when cooked.

There aren't many recipes that I make with amaranth leaves, neither do I get them home as often as spinach or fenugreek leaves. If you have any recipe for these leaves, do share with me. I am always on the lookout for new recipes which make our lunch different from the usual. My recipe here is using the red amaranth leaves.

These leaves are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, however due to considerably higher content of oxalic acid in them, it interferes in the absorption of calcium and zinc in the body. Hence, it is also suggested that people with kidney disorders, gout or arthritis, should consume it in smaller quantities. Reheating of cooked amaranth greens is also discouraged, due to nitrate conversion in the leaves. One of the best methods to consume these leaves without having to recook them is in form of this chutney and we love it this way.

This Chutney is very simple and takes a matter of hardly few minutes to prepare. It is extremely tasty and easy to make. What's best is it requires no coconut, hence reducing your job too!

Amaranth/Dantina Soppu Chutney

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch Amaranth leaves
3 green chillies
2 tsp tamarind pulp
1/2 tsp jaggery (optional)
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil

Seasoning:

1 tsp oil
Mustard seeds-1 tsp
Urad dal- 2 tsp
Red chillies- 2-3
Hing-a pinch

DIRECTIONS

Wash the Amaranth leaves a couple of times in running water and keep them aside. In a kadai/pan, pour little oil and fry green chillies for a few seconds. Once the green chillies have blisters on then, add the cut amaranth leaves and fry them for 2-3 mins till the leaves get wilted and cooked. Turn off the flame and allow it to cool down.

Once cooled, add the tamarind pulp, jaggery (optional) and salt to taste. Grind this coarsely with little or no water.

To season this chutney, heat little oil in a pan. Add in the mustard seeds, urad dal, hing and broken red chillies. Fry them till the mustard begins to splutter. I love the aromas that rise from the seasoning, they are heavenly! Add this seasoning to the chutney and mix well. Serve with hot rice or rotis.

Another variation to this chutney is to exclude urad dal and add crushed garlic cloves instead to the seasoning. They add a lot of flavor and health factor. The oil that is released from the red chillies while frying them for seasoning adds an amazing aroma to this dish, making this chutney extremely tasty and flavorsome. This tangy amaranth chutney not only tastes yummy, but goes very well with hot rice, rotis or even dosa.

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Lauki Malai Kofta

Apologies guys! It's been some time since I have been away from blogging and the blog world. I did take a month's break from blogging to wrap up other important work on my list, but extended it to two months! Also, my health took a toll, which took so long for me to be back here. I am sure I have missed a lot on other spaces, but I will soon resume to catch up with you guys.

During my absence though I did receive enormous responses from my readers and followers. I was often complimented for my bakes and desserts, while was also requested why common everyday cooking hardly saw the space. I had to ponder. Somehow, I wondered if everyday cooking needs to be mentioned here. There are hundreds of recipes and I know it would be great to jot them here. But, I put up this space as a repository for my own future reference too. So would I come back to view those recipes which I am thorough at? Probably, I need to look beyond myself.

I do realize there are many others who look for Indian recipes, breakfast dishes, main course meals, quick bites, savories and much more beyond just desserts, no matter how common they may sound to us. So with my comeback, I promise to bring more of these.

One of the main course recipes I had seen a while ago was this Makhani Masala from ecurry. I totally fell in love with this Malai Kofta recipe. The rich dumplings in creamy gravy looked so perfect and tempting, as if they were taken off a restaurant menu. I had to try them to convince myself that they could replicate the flavors too. I followed Soma's Makhani Masala recipe exactly the same way. For the dumpling however, I used Lauki koftas instead of paneer, just to put in some health and reduce on guilt of eating this rich gravy ;). I have made Lauki koftas in the regular low fat gravy way on many occasions, but this creamy version is surely the one you will crave for those occasional treats. And yes, do reserve this for those special occasions... where you want to be showered with compliments of being a Master Chef!

The recipe may seem long, but I bet, it's worth every attempt.

Lauki Malai Kofta

For the Lauki Koftas

INGREDIENTS

1 big bottle gourd/lauki, grated and water squeezed
1 green chili, finely chopped
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp red chili powder
Cornflour to bind
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Bind all the above ingredients with cornflour to form a dough. Bottle gourd has a lot of water content, hence it's best to add salt to the grated bottle gourd and leave it aside for 10 mins before squeezing all the water away. Reserve this water for the gravy to be made later. You may use cornflour or chickpea flour to bind the ingredients. Make lemon sized balls and deep fry in oil on low flame till the koftas are cooked and turn golden brown in color. Keep aside till the gravy is made.

Makhani Masala

INGREDIENTS

1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 cup onion paste
2 bay leaves
2 black cardamoms
2 green cardamoms
1 tsp fenugreek/methi seeds
1/2 tbsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
5 cups pureed fresh tomato
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
Salt to taste
3 hot green chillies slit (optional)
1/2 cup melted butter/ghee
1.5 cups heavy cream (I used Amul cream)
4 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon cashews, soaked and ground into a paste
3 teaspoons kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves available at the Indian groceries)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat butter/ghee/oil in a pan. Add bay leaves, cardamoms and fenugreek seeds. As the seeds begin to sizzle, add in the ginger garlic paste, onion paste, chili powder and stir fry till the fat separates. Add tomato paste, green chillies, cinnamon powder and crushed kasuri methi. Simmer to cook and reduce the gravy till the oil separates.

Add the milk & cream, cashew paste, crushed kasoori methi and simmer for about 10 minutes. Adjust the salt to taste.

Add the koftas into the gravy one at a time carefully. Turn the flame off the moment you add in the koftas and serve immediately. The koftas will soften in the gravy. Hence, add the koftas only when you are ready to serve. You may reserve some koftas aside and serve it fresh with the gravy on top of it. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and fresh cream before serving.

This is a rich indulgence and not an everyday food you can have. A low fat cheat version is by reducing the cream and using yogurt instead. But the flavors would differ and that's a compromise for health. If you are looking for that authentic restaurant flavor, I wouldn't recommend you to use substitutes. After all, there's no harm if you indulge in these once a while. Sometimes, it's fun to break rules, may be diet rules too!

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