Assorted Bajji

Assorted bajji

Bajji is an Indian snack pretty much famous in the states of Andhrapradesh, Telangana, Karnataka,Tamilnadu and Maharashtra. Bajji is one of the popular street foods of South India. For any occasion like weddings, festivals its a ritual to serve particularly Bajji or Indian fritters. In olden days where restaurants, hotels or street food was not that popular it’s our tradition to serve Bajji(Prepared with Potato or raw banana) and kesari for the guests. Because we don’t require any preparation. We can easily prepare bajjis in a trice. The key ingredient to prepare bajjis is besan flour. There are so many varieties of bajjis which are made with different veggies. Here in this recipe I have cooked bajjis with onion, potato, betel leaves and basil leaves. Here I present inviting assorted bajjis to serve on any day especially during winters or monsoons. Njoy Cooking, Serving n Savoring!

Ingredients:

Besan flour: 1 cup

Vegetables: 1 potato, 1 onion, few betel leaves n basil leaves(or veggies of your choice)

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Rice flour: 2 tbsp

Salt: As required

Turmeric: a pinch

Asafoetida: A pinch

Baking soda: A pinch

Oil: for deep frying

Method of preparation:

1. Mix thoroughly all the ingredients except oil.

2. Add required amount of water to get thick batter. The consistency of the batter plays vital role for the bajjis.

3. Heat heavy bottomed Kadai and pour generous amount of oil for deep frying.

4. Meanwhile slit the potato  into thin slices and immerse in water.

5. Likewise chop the onion also into thin slices.

6. Rinse betel leaves and basil leaves too and keep aside.

7. Now check the temperature of the oil for deep frying. For this put one drop of batter into the oil. If drop comes immediately to the surface of the oil then it’s ready to go.

8. Take one slice of potato drain the water completely and dip it in the batter,coat well on all sides of the potato and immediately drop it in the oil. Care should be taken while dropping into the oil.

9. Fry the potato bajjis on low to medium flame and transfer onto the plate which contains kitchen tissue paper to absorb excess oil present in the Bajji.

10. Similarly fry the onion bajjis and transfer them into a plate.

11. Now cut the betel leaf into half and dip them in the batter. Coat the batter well boat sides and carefully drop into the oil.

12. Fry them on low to medium flame till the bajjis turn into golden brown colour. Transfer them onto a plate.

13. Now fry the basil leaves similarly and transfer them onto plate.

14. Now the assorted bajjis are ready and can be served piping hot with ketchup or coconut chutney.

Tips:

1. Here in this recipe I have used potato,onion,betel leaves and basil leaves. Likewise you can use bread or carom leaves(Vaamu aaku) or plantain.I have prepared bread bajji separately and adding the pictures here.Cut the bread slices into small triangles. Dip them in the batter one by one and drop  in the hot oil carefully. Fry them on low flame and  transfer them onto a plate and serve hot with coconut chutney.

2. While dipping veggies in the batter like potato or plantain completely drain the water and coat the batter. Otherwise the consistency of the batter changes and bajjis drink more oil.

Mullangi Aakula Koora/Radish Leaves Curry

Mullangi aakula koora/Radish leaves curry

Radish leaves curry is prepared using radish leaves. People in general discard the leaves and only use radish root. But radish leaves possess high nutritional value with sharply strong taste. Radish leaves are good supplement for iron deficiency. They contain dietary fibre. Radish leaves  dissolve stones deposited in the kidney and flushes through urinary bladder. Radish leaves also give relief from constipation. So with all its amazing health benefits, from now on we incorporate in our regular meal without disposing. Here I present simple and easy radish leaves curry  which can be served with hot steamed rice. Njoy Cooking, Serving n Savoring!

Ingredients:

Radish leaves: 3 small bunches(or leaves picked from 3 radish)

Moong dal: 2 tbsp

Fresh grated coconut: 1- 1 1/2 tbsp

Tempering:

Oil: 1 1/2 tbsp

Chana dal: 1 tsp

Urad dal: 1 tsp

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds/jeera: 1 tsp

Hing: A pinch

Turmeric: A pinch

Method of preparation:

1. Pluck the radish leaves from radish.

2. Rinse thoroughly 2/3 times under running water.

3. Finely chop the leaves and keep aside.

4. Take a vessel and put chopped  radish leaves adding sufficient quantity of water.

5. Add moong dal into it and boil them together. Boil the leaves and dal for 15-20 minutes or till the leaves are cooked.

6. Now heat Kadai pour oil add mustard seeds, cumin, chana dal and urad dal. When mustard splutters add hing into it.

7. Now add fresh grated coconut too. Mix thoroughly.

8. To this add cooked radish leaves and moong dal mixture and mix thoroughly with spatula.

9. Keep on low flame stirring at intervals till all the excess water present in leaves evaporate.

10. Now add curry powder or spice powders of your choice(coriander powder or garam masala powder).

11. Mix thoroughly for a minute and switch off the stove.
12. Now the radish leaves curry is ready and can be served with steamed rice or can be directly consumed like salad. Because it’s not spicy and I haven’t added any chilli powder to it.

Tip:

Radish leaves curry can also be prepared along with radish. While preparing this curry, chop the radish into fine pieces and steam radish and leaves together in pressure cooker. Remaining procedure is same as the above.

Palakura Dosakaya Pappu/Spinach Yellow Cucumber Dal

Palakura dosakaya pappu

Palakura dosakaya Pappu is very tasty and highly nutritious  recipe especially when bored and tired of making  regular dal recipes. This recipe is prepared with good amount of  toor dal, with a combination of palakura(spinach leaves) n dosakaya (yellow cucumber). To enhance the taste and flavour I have added 4 tbsp of moong dal(yellow lentils) and 1 tbsp of chana dal (Bengal gram lentil). The addition of chana dal imparts nice aroma, texture and crunchiness to the dish. Here I present palakura dosakaya Pappu tempered with garlic along with regular tempering ingredients(mustard seeds n cumin seeds) and can be served as an accompaniment to hot steamed Rice or Roti. NjoY Cooking, Serving n Savoring!

Ingredients:

Dosakaya (Yellow cucumber): 1 no. Small

Palakura(Spinach leaves): 2 big bunches

Toor dal: 1 1/2 cup

Moong dal: 4 tbsp

Chana dal: 1 tbsp

Turmeric: A pinch

Salt: As required(Appx 1 tbsp)

Water: 4 cups(Approximately)

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Green chillies: 2 nos.

Red chilli: 1 no.

Tempering:

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Garlic flakes: 5/6 nos.

Oil: 1 tbsp.

Red chilli: 1 no.(Optional).

Method of preparation:

1. Take 1 1/2 cups of toor dal, 4tbsp of moong dal and 1 tbsp of chana dal into a small pressure cooker(of 3l capacity).

2.  Dry roast them on low flame till nice aroma comes.

3. Rinse thoroughly the dals under running water and add 4 cups of water. Keep it aside.

4. Now clean and rinse the spinach leaves and chop them finely. Add finely chopped leaves to the dal and keep the cooker on stove top. Keep the stove on low to medium flame. A green chillies an a re chilli too.

5. Meanwhile chop the yellow cucumber into big chunks and add to the dal mixture.

6. Add a pinch of turmeric.

7. Keep the lid of the pressure cooker and then weight.

8. Cook the dal, spinach leaves and yellow cucumber on low to medium flame for 2/3 whistles.
9. Switch off the stove and allow the pressure to settle down.

10. Meanwhile soak lemon sized tamarind in water.

11. Open the lid of the pressure cooker and mix thoroughly with spatula.

12. Check the consistency of the dal, if required add little water to it.

13. Add required amount of salt and tamarind extract to the dal.Bring it to boil.

14. Heat a small kadai add 1 tbsp of oil, add tsp of mustard seeds. When it splutters add cumin, broken red chilli , garlic flakes and a pinch of Asafoetida.

15. Switch off the kadai and pour the tempering onto the dal.

16. Mix well and add 1 tsp of red chilli powder to the dal. Continue boiling the dal for 2 more minutes.

17. Transfer the dal into a serving bowl.Now the palakura dosakaya pappu is ready and can be served with hot steamed rice and a drizzle of melted ghee.

Minumula Chintapandu Pachadi/Blackgram Lentil Chutney

Minumula chintha pandu pachadi
/urad dal chutney/minapa pappu pachadi/blackgram lentil chutney

Minumula chinthapandu pachadi is special delicacy of Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. Almost all,every household in that region makes this pachadi very frequently. Me being native of Nellore dist.,got the opportunity to taste the pachadi several times from my childhood. My mom makes amazing minapa pappu pachadi. I tried many times this pachadi and presenting the best pachadi today. The main ingredients used in this pachadi are minapa pappu(blackgram lentil), tamarind and red chillies. Blackgram lentil(urad dal) is roasted and grounded along with red chillies and tamarind to a coarser paste. This pachadi tastes awesome with hot steamed rice with melted ghee or ground nut oil/peanut oil. Here I present tangy and coarse textured Nellore classic dish to relish on any day. Njoy Cooking,Serving n Savoring!

Ingredients:

Urad dal(Black gram dal): 1 cup or small tumbler

Red chillies:15/20 nos.

Tamarind: big lemon sized

Salt: As required

Coriander seeds: 1 tsp

Oil: 2 tbsp.

Tempering:

Mustard seeds: 1 tsp

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Hing(Asafoetida): 1 pinch

Method of preparation:

1. Take one small cup or tumbler of urad dal and keep aside.

2. Heat kadai pour 1 tbsp of oil into it and fry the urad dal.

3. Fry the urad dal on low flame till it changes to brown colour.

4. Meanwhile soak tamarind in a bowl of water.

5. When urad dal jus starts to change its colour add red chillies,coriander seeds into it and fry for a minute.

6. Transfer them onto a plate and allow the mixture to come down to room temperature.

7. Add required amount of salt too.

8. Take a mixer grinder, first put red chillies alone into it.

9. Grind red chillies to a coarse powder.
10. Now add soaked tamarind to it keeping water aside. Water used for soaking tamarind  can be used for getting good consistency for the pachadi.

11. Grind tamarind also to get smooth consistency.

12. Add urad dal and salt to the grounded tamarind and red chilli mixture.

13. Grind them to get coarse texture to the pachadi. Add required amount of water along with left over tamarind water to get right consistency to the pachadi.

14. Now use pulse button in the mixer grinder to get good texture to the pachadi.

15. Heat small kadai add remaining and prepare the tempering using tempering ingredients.

16. Transfer the tempering into a serving bowl.

17. Now the pachadi is ready and can be transferred to a bowl which contains tempering.
18. Mouth watering and tempting minumula chinthapandu pachadi is ready and can be served with hot steamed rice drizzling ghee or oil onto it.