Kachche kele ke kofte/ Raw banana balls

Raw bananas are packed with dietary fibre and are rich in manganese and potassium. I like to incorporate them in my cooking and this is one nice snack which caters to my sinful side. I also like recipes which replace the omnipresent potato from snacks. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against potatoes - I just love them, but change is good, right? 

Served with a green chutney, these koftas are a delight and I was doubly happy when my 2 year old gobbled them up. Trust me, that's a huge compliment :)

Ingredients:

Raw bananas - 2 big ones

Mint leaves - a fistful 

Coriander leaves - a few

Green chillies -  2-3 or more according to taste, finely chopped 

Salt and black salt - according to taste

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Jeera powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Fennel seeds-1 tsp

Dry mango powder (amchur) or amla powder - 2 tsp. ( I try using amla powder as it is healthier than amchur)

Oil for frying

Way to go:

1. Cut bananas into half. Pressure cook in a little water. Make sure that they don't get overcooked or mushy. But don't undercook them either. I figured out that 2 whistles in a pressure cooker would be optimal. 

2. Let them cool. Peel. 

3. Mash them well with hand or a masher. Add all the spices. 

                                        

4. Mix well and make round balls. Put them in the fridge or freezer for a while. 

5. Heat oil. Test the temperature by dropping a little lump of this mix. If it dances in oil, it's ready.

6. Fry all the koftas till they are crispy and golden brown. Don't forget to put them on brown paper or paper napkin to absorb some of the oil. Serve hot with ketchup or a green chutney. 

I got this lovely spoon from my Mom. She got a set for herself but as it happens with Mom's stuff, you can just grab things you like!"A pinch of patience" isn't enough for me - I want oodles of it when cooking!

Tips:

1. If you feel that the mix has become too mushy or if koftas break during frying, add gram flour and mix it nicely again.

2. Keeping koftas in fridge before frying helps making them firm and easier to fry. 

3. You can also shape this mix as patties/cutlets and shallow fry in a pan. 

Kathirikai kadyal / Brinjal sambar/ Eggplant sambar

A Tamilian friend of mine treated me to soft fluffy idlis and instead of the usual sambar or chutney, she served them with this kadyal. When she gave me the recipe, I was delighted as it is simple and delicious. Thanks to you for this, Kalpana!

Ingredients: 
Toor daal: 2 tablespoons
Tomato: 1 medium
Onion: 1 medium
Brinjal: 1 medium
Garlic cloves: 4-5

For seasoning: 
Oil: 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon
Urad daal: 1 teaspoon
Green chilly: 1 big
Curry leaves: 5-8

Way to go: 
1. Soak daal in half a cup of water for about half an hour.
2. Roughly chop brinjal, tomato and onion.
3. Add all the ingredients in a cooker along with half a cup of water( use the water in which daal was soaked). Let the cooker whistle twice.
4. Cool down and puree. The consistency should be medium thick. It should be thicker than the ususal sambar.
5. Now season and serve hot with idlis.

Bhutte ke pakore/ Corn pakoras

August is my favorite month. Not because it happens to be my birthday month, but mainly because it's choc- a- bloc with festivals. Raksha bandhan, teej, hariyali amavasya, janmashtami, Independence Day and after coming to South India Varamahalaksmhi and Gauri-Ganesh. In Rajasthan, monsoon starts in July and is at its peak in August. The brown landscape turns refreshing green and is a popular time for picnics. It is also a time for nature's bounty in form of  bhutte or corn and rainy days provide a perfect backdrop for hot seasonal delicacies like bhutte ka kis, bhutte ke pakore or simply sika hua bhutta! Oh, it's making my mouth water now so let's make some pakoras.

Makes:15 medium sized pakoras

Ingredients:

1 medium sized corn cob
Akha dhaniya / whole coriander seeds 

3 chopped green chillies

A pinch of red chilly powder Chopped coriander

Besan / gram flour - approx 4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Garam masala
Oil for frying

Way to go:
1.Take out corn kernels from the cob. Run them lightly in a food processor so that they get a rough texture. Don't make a paste. It's alright to have a few whole corn kernels too. I love it when the whole kernels crunch in my mouth!
2. Add besan to the crushed kernels, one spoonful at a time. This batter is made without adding any water as the moisture from corn would provide enough water. Add all other ingredients.
3. Heat oil and when the oil is medium hot, make pakoras by adding a dollop of this mix in oil.
4. Sometimes, whole kernels can burst out and hurt you. Be careful and  if you have protective cooking goggles, now is the time to take them out:)
5. Serve and eat hot with any yummy chutney of your choice. Green chutneys are my personal favorites.

Kachche kele ka nashta/ Raw banana snack

My Mom is an enthusiastic learner. She is quite adventurous when it comes to trying out new dishes.

I have inherited that trait from her. She ate this snack at a friend's place and since then it has become a regular at her place. I also love it and try to make it at least once a month. It is specially yummy in monsoons. A hot cup of tea and piping hot banana snack is a lovely way to enjoy rains. Recently, a couple of friends tried it at my place and went gaga over it. So here's the recipe.

Serves: 2 hungry souls or 4 not-so-hungry ones

Ingredients:

Raw bananas - 2

Onions-2

Tomatoes- 3-4

Ginger-garlic paste - 1-2 teaspoon

Green chillies -1

Grated coconut - 2 tablespoon

Chopped coriander leaves - for garnishing

Lemon juice- 1 teaspoon

Roasted sesame seeds- 1 tablespoon

Oil - 2 tablespoons ( you can also make it in 1 tbsp. you can add a little water towards the end.)\

Garam masala- a pinch
Salt - to taste

Way to Go:

1. Peel bananas. Cut slices of medium thickness.

2. Chop onions and tomatoes. I use food processor to chop them roughly.

3. Heat oil. Add cumin seeds. When they crackle, add onions and saute'. Add ginger garlic paste. If you don't have the paste, chop 6 cloves of garlic finely and grate1 inch piece of ginger. Add chopped green chillies.

4. After the onions start browning, add tomatoes. 

5. When the mix starts leaving oil, add banana slices and salt. Cover and let it cook. Bananas won't take much time to cook. Keep checking. When they turn soft, switch off the flame. 

6. Add lemon juice and garam masala.

7. Garnish with grated coconut, chopped coriander and sesame seeds. 

8. Enjoy while piping hot.

Keri ka Achar/ Raw Mango Temporary Pickle

This is one of those absolutely muaah recipes which are fast to make and excellent to eat.

An Andhraite friend of mine introduced me to this temporary pickle which is made as an accompaniment to rice dishes like pongal. It will go fabulously well with parathas and chapatis too. The day I made it for the first time, I ended up eating spoonfuls of it, without any accompaniment!

Recently, a couple of friends had it at my place and were head over heels in love with this. So be prepared, it's going to be yummy........

Ingredients:

Keri or Raw Mangoes - 2 mid sized 

Bydagi red chillies - 12-13

Methi (fenugreek) seeds - 1 teaspoon

Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tsp each for sautéing and for seasoning
For Seasoning : Asafoetida, mustard seeds, chana dal, curry leaves.

Way to Go:

1. Wash keris well. Dry them thoroughly. Grate them without peeling. Then run in a mixie for a second. ( I skipped this step).

2. Sauté chillies and methi seeds together in 1 tsp  of oil for 1 minute on a slow flame. Grind them.

3. Mix this masala and salt with grated keris. 

4. Now heat one tsp of oil. When warm, add heeng, mustard, chana daal and curry leaves.

5. Add this tadka to the grated keris and mix well. 

This is best eaten fresh but can be refrigerated for 4-5 days. 

Enjoy!

Arbi ki Sookhi Sabzi/ Colocasia or Taro Root Dry Vegetable

As a kid, I was a little wary of arbi. After a couple of bites, it used to leave an uncomfortable itch in my throat. But I loved 'arbi ke patte' (patra) that my Mom made as snack. They were simply unbeatable in monsoons - the vision of steaming slices of this delicious snack is making my mouth water.....and making me stray from the topic.

Let's get back to arbi. I started taking interest in this veggie after becoming a homemaker - deciding menus on daily basis always left me scampering for ideas. So when a friend shared this recipe with me, it looked doable and turned out to be quite yummy. Now I look forward to arbi. And I have outgrown the itch!

Serves 2.5

Ingredients:
Arbi: 300 gms
Oil: 3 tsp
Hing: a small pinch
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Chilly powder: 1 tsp
Coriander powder : 2 tsp
Haldi powder: 1/2 tsp
Salt: to taste
Besan or chickpea flour: 1 tbsp
Garam masala: a pinch
Amchoor or amla powder or lemon juice: to taste
Coriander leaves: for garnish

Way to go: 
1. Wash arbi. Put it to boil in a pressure cooker.
2. Peel and press it lightly between the palms of your hands. If the tuber is too big, cut it into half and then press.
3. Heat oil. When it is warm, add hing, mustard seeds and green chilly. Let the seeds crackle.
4. Add haldi and arbi. Sauté arbi lightly.
5. After 5 minutes, add masalas and sauté some more.
6. Add besan and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
7. When besan is roasted, add amchoor or amla powder or lemon juice and garam masala. Garnish with coriander leaves. Eat with hot chapatis.

Avocado milkshake

Avocado is an exotic fruit for me. Having grown up in Rajasthan, I never saw it until I travelled abroad. Even then, I did not use it too much other than for an occasional guacamole. But recently while researching for nutritional foods for my 3.5 year old daughter Anya, I read yet again about the benefits of avocado. Avocados are one of the superfoods on our planet. They are packed with mono-unsaturated fats, antioxidants, Vitamins A,C,E,K and many other trace elements. They are good for heart and skin. I made a conscious decision then and there to add them to my shopping basket. To read more about avocados in India, visit this lovely site by Catherine.

As for the milkshake, I stumbled upon this recipe by an interesting turn of events. I and Anya were waiting to be picked up by my husband. We happened to be just outside a fruit and juice shop. The vendor was treating Anya with grapes and his neighbouring gol-gappa wala was pampering her with his goodies. My wait was turning out to be longer than expected and I was getting overwhelmed by the hospitality of these vendors. So I decided to buy a few avocadoes. He told me that they were used for shakes. I had never heard of an avocado shake before and decided to order it. It turned out to be simply delicious and what a delightful discovery it was!

To cut a long story short (after I have told it!), here's the recipe:

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

1 medium sized ripe avocado

2 cups milk

2.5 tbsp sugar (you can use unrefined sugar)

Way to go:

1. Wash avocado thoroughly. You do not need to peel the fruit. Just put a lengthwise cut all around the avocado and pull the two pieces apart. Take away the stone and scoop the soft buttery flesh with a spoon.

2. Dice the fruit, add milk and sugar and blend everything together. Serve chilled.

Tips and tricks:

One of the biggest challenges in using avocado is to decipher its ripeness. Avocado is not exactly cheap in Bangalore. At about 150 Rs/kg, one would like to handle it with care and cut it when it is perfectly ripe. I am still learning the ropes but here are a few tips:

1.The skin. A lot depends on the variety of avocado but generally a darker skin of brownish tone is a sign of ripeness.

2. The stalk (the part where fruit is joined to the tree). Pinch this stalk. If the flesh underneath is avocado yellow, then it's ripe. If it's brown, then it's gone bad.

3. Keep an unripe avocado wrapped in a newspaper. It gets ripened due to ethylene gas it exudes.

Enjoy avocado in different avatars and keep healthy.

Moongfali-Lahsun ki sookhi chutney/ Peanut-garlic dry chutney

This is one chutney which you would either love wholeheartedly or dislike totally. I, for, one just love it. It goes best with daal- chawal but can uplift any other mundane roti-sabzi routine. The good news is that you can store it for a month or more and can just whisk it out to make meals more interesting. I generally end up devouring half of the newly made chutney then and there and hardly have enough left to store for a month!

Ingredients:

Dry roasted peanuts - 1 cup

Dry red chillies - 4-6 

Garlic cloves - 6-7

Roasted sesame seeds (optional)- 1 tablespoon

Whole cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Way to go:

1. Dry roast the peanuts on a slow flame. When they start splitting, they are done. Let them cool. Traditionally, they are skinned but out of laziness and no-wastage policy, I don't skin them.
2. Put all ingredients together and blend to a coarse powder.
3. Store in an air-tight container.

Tips:

1. If you have washed garlic or chillies, make sure they are totally dry before blending.
2. Adjust the quantity of garlic and chillies according to your taste.

Baingan-aloo ki sabzi/ Brinjal-potato curry

A classmate of mine once said "I like anything which is cooked well." I agree. There are people who have permanently crossed off brinjal from their shopping list. I feel they miss something. When cooked right, brinjal can be lip-smackingly delicious. I once ate a starter made of fried brinjal, tomato and onion. I could have made a whole meal out of that dish, had I not paid 500 bucks for the buffet. I made it a point to take the recipe from resort's chef but I haven't tried it yet. That recipe will have to wait but here is a simple recipe for regular sabzi. I like it as it is a very homely, no-fuss and delicious sabzi.

Ingredients:

Brinjal - 250 gms

Tomatoes - 1.5 medium

Potato - 1 medium

Onion- 1 small

Garlic cloves - 3-4

Oil - 2 tsp

Asafotida- a pinch

Cumin seeds- 1 tsp

Chilly powder - 1/4 or 1/2 tsp 

Coriader powder - 2 tsp

Salt- to taste

Amla powder or amchoor powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam masala- 1/4 tsp ( I used kitchen king)

Water- 1/4 cup

Way to go:

1. Dice brinjal, potatoes and tomatoes in medium-sized cubes. Onions and garlic to be chopped finer.

2. Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add asafoetida and then cumin seeds when the oil is warm enough.

3. Add onions, tomatoes, garlic. Saute for 3 minutes. 

4. Add diced brinjal and potatoes. 

5. Add all the spices except khatai and garam masala. Mix well.

6. Pour water, mix and close the lid.

7. After 2-3 whistles, remove from fire. When the cooker cools down, open and add khatai and garam masala. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves, if you so wish.

8. Serve hot with chapatis. I guess it can go with rice too but being North Indians, I pair it with phulkas. 

Tips:

1. As curry leaves have many health benefits, my Mom keeps dried curry leaf powder in her spice box. You can make this powder easily by drying curry leaves in shade and powdering it. Add 1 tsp of this powder when you add all spices.

2. You can sprinkle flax-seed powder in the end too as it has many health benefits.

Sooji uttapam/ Semolina pancakes

I ate these uttapams at a friend's place when I was newly married and was learning to cook. I was quite impressed with her cooking skills as they were quite good. Now many years later, these uttapams are a staple in my kitchen.They are quick to make, good to eat, quite filling and nutritious too.  I cook them every week if not more. In fact, the credit for these becoming a staple goes to my many failed attempts to set curd. Earlier, I wasn't able to set curd well. Sometimes it got too sour and sometimes stringy. I am against wasting stuff. Hence came sooji uttapam to my rescue - my knight in shining armour. I just added sooji to curd, threw some veggies in, seasoned with salt and pepper and the batter was good to go to the skillet.

Ingredients:

Sooji or semolina - 1 cup
Curd - 1 cup
Tomato, onion, capsicum, green chillies, coriander - finely chopped
Carrot, cabbage - grated
Salt - to taste
Black pepper (freshly ground) - to taste

Way to go:

1. Mix sooji and curd. Set aside for half an hour to one hour. There have been instances when I have used the mix immediately but I like the soaked version better.
2. Start chopping veggies and add to the batter.
3. When you are ready to make uttapams, check the batter consistency. The sooji might have soaked all moisture from curd. Add a little water or whey to thin it. The batter should be on the thicker side but with a dropping consistency. 
4. Heat a tawa for 2 minutes. I use a cast iron tawa from Udupi which was generously gifted to me by a dear friend. You can always use a non-stick one. Spread a teaspoon of oil before putting on the batter.
5. Put a dollopful of batter and spread it. Drizzle oil lightly on the sides. Let it sit for 3 minutes or so and then flip it. (If you are cooking it in a non-stick pan, you can try the flipping-in-the-air trick.This cast-iron tawa doesn't have a handle so sadly, I can't show off my skills anymore!) Roast on the other side for 2-3 minutes till brown.
6. Serve with a chutney of your choice or ketchup.

Tips:

Uttapams might break in first couple of rounds. This might be because of
1. Thin batter - Add some more sooji and try again.
2. Tawa - Many times, my first uttapam, dosa or cheela doesn't turn out well but the rest of them are good. The tawa takes time to get seasoned, I guess. So keep trying and you will master it sooner or later.
3. If everything fails, you can still roast the batter on the tawa. Even if it breaks, it will be edible and will taste good.

Besan ki bharwa mirchi/ Stuffed green chillies

This is one Rajasthani recipe loved by all. No prizes for guessing the star of this recipe. It's besan (gramflour) which tastes great in any form.

Ingredients:
Big light green chillies : 8-10
Oil: 2 tbsp
Asafoetida: a pinch
Mustard: 1 tsp
For the stuffing:
Gram flour(besan): 1 cup
Coriander powder: 1 tbsp
Red chilly powder: 1tsp
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
Dry mango powder/ Dry amla powder: 1 tsp
Fennel seeds: 1tsp
Salt: 2 tsp
Sugar: 1 tsp
Oil: 1 tbsp

Way to go:
1. Wash chillies and pat them dry. Slit vertically at the middle and shake out seeds. (Seeds are what make chillies hot so if you love it spicy, retain them)
2. Mix all ingredients and stuff chillies.

3. Heat oil in a non-stick pan. When hot enough, add asafoetida and mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds crackle.
4. Add stuffed chillies. Cover the pan and cook on low flame. Keep turning every 3-4 minutes so that they get cooked evenly.
5. If you have stuffing mix leftover after filling all the chillies, add it to the pan just 5 minutes before turning off the flame. It will give extra masala which is always welcome.
6. Enjoy with hot phulkas or parathas.

Tips:
1. Another way to prepare the stuffing is by roasting gramflour in oil. Ingredients remain the same. That turns out to be great too.
2. Some people tie each chilly with a string so that the stuffing doesn't come out! The string is removed once the chillies are cooked.
3. These stuffed chillies can easily be stored in refrigerator for 4-5 days.
4. You can stuff chillies with a mix of potatoes too. I will soon upload the recipe.