Kaara boondi

Last week, I don’t know but was in a hyper mood. First I made choc chip cookies. Then realised the yummy rava urundai from mom is over, and made some payatha maavu urundai. Around 4.00, another realization, that my better half would prefer a spicy snack to any of these and made Kaara boondi!!! Oh god! And cleaned up my kitchen with baked pasta for dinner! My husband is now constantly asking to take up some part time job..He is scared of the consequence of my quest in the kitchen!!!!

1 cup besan flour
1 tablespoon rice flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
Dash of hing and turmeric
Water as required
Oil for frying
1 spring curry leaves
1/2 cup ground nuts
1/2 cup chopped cashews

Method:
1. Mix all dry ingredients with water and make a nice watery paste. It should be thinner than bajji maavu.
2. You need 2 jalli karandi and one kuzhi karandi. Heat the oil in a pan.
3. Place the jalli karandi just above the oil. Take about 1 ladlle full of batter, pour on the jalli karandi, and with the help of laddle, press the batter moving it in circles, so that the batter falls in oil in the form of tiny droplets.
4. Repeat for every batch and wait until boondi cooks. Sizzling will stop, and they will start turning golden brown. Drain them on a paper towel with another jalli karandi.
5. At the end, switch off the oil, fry the curry leaves and add to the boondi.
6. Add just a teaspoon of oil and fry the ground nut and cashews. Add to the boondi. If you like it spicy, sprinkle some red chilli powder on top and mix them to coat well.

Kodubale

Kodubale is a house hold snack in Karnataka. Its spicy and kaaram and pairs perfectly with a cup of coffee. Having said this, I have never made this at home, assuming it is a very difficult snack to try. But the truth for really trying it out today is something else! When we moved to Chicago from Chennai, never in my dreams did I think that, cooking is going to take up all my time. So I really did not bother to take my murukku achu, though my mom said many a times that it will come in handy. Who really listens to their moms!!!! Though after coming here, my dear hub suggested we will buy one here, I did not want a replica of what I already have back home. Reason, it was gifted to me by one of my favorite, dearest, sweetest neighbor aunt from Pune. She said, when u make chakli, you should remember me. So what can you do w/o murukku achu….tadaa..Kodubale!!

1 cup rice flour
Salt to taste (About 1 teaspoon)
Red chilli powder 3 teaspoon (We prefer hot, reduce it to 2 if u like it medium spicy)
1/4 teaspoon hing powder
4 teaspoon oil (Add this to a pan, bring it to a piping hot, literally boil)
Less than 1/4 cup water, adjust while kneading
2 cups oil for frying
1 teaspoon sesame seeds (white)

For coarse powder:
1/4 cup roasted rava
1/4 cup pottu kadalai
1/4 cup dry coconut or kopparai thenga grated (Dry roast this to remove excess moisture for few minutes)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

Method:
1. Dry and coarse grind everything to a fine powder mentioned in “For coarse powder”. Add this to rice flour.
2. Add salt, hing, chilli powder, sesame seeds and mix roughly.
3. Add the hot oil, and gently cover with flour mixture. Then with hands start rubbing the flour with oil.
4. Start adding water by a teaspoon and knead the flour until it comes together into a nice hard dough.
5. Add oil to the kadai, when it’s very hot, simmer and rest. Meanwhile, take about small seedai amount of dough at a time, make them into a thick string and roll them. Make about 10-15 at a time and let them dry for 2-3 minutes.
6. Fry them in oil. The right temperature is, when u drop them, they will sink to the bottom and rise immediately. Once fried completely, you can see they sink to the bottom again, and u will not hear any sizzling sound/ bubbles around them.

Thayir vadai

Thayir vadai is a nice yummy treat on a sunny day. Vadai soaked in curd, and chilled….its divine!!! You could do this with any leftover ulundu vadai or make them fresh.

To make ulundu vadai:
1 cup whole urad dal (If using Black whole urad dal, soak it overnight and clean them off completely the black skin)
2 tablespoon rice
2 green chillies
dash of hing
dash of salt
2-3 cups oil to fry the vadai

Method:
1. Soak the urad dal for about 1.30 hrs with green chillies, hing, rice and salt. Do not soak it overnight if using white whole urad dal. If using black dal, wash and then add green chillies, salt and hing for grinding which can be done immediately, as the dal is already soaked overnight. Soak the rice separately and add while grinding.
2. Drain off excess water and retain just a little to help in grinding.
3. Grind the dal to a nice smooth paste in mixie or grinder. Once dal is made to a paste use it quickly. Storing them and using later will make them use lot of oil while frying and will not taste good.
4. Heat oil in a kadai. When you drop the vadai, it should swim to the top immediately..this is the right temperature for your vadai to fry nicely.
5. Have a bowl of water nearby to soak your hands. Keep a paper towel inside a dry dish separately to scoop your vadai. Take about a handful of vadai and drop them into hot oil. One way to have a nice crisp top and soft inside is….When your first batch cooks half, take them out and keep aside and add your next batch. When this 2nd batch is half-cooked, remove them and re-fry your first batch until golden. Repeat this cycle. This was a tip given in a cookery show. And I’ve tried it and they come out very well.

This will make about 10 medium-sized vadai.

Dahi vadai:

1. This is the end if you need plain vadai. If your making curd vadai, drop the hot vadai into warm water with little salt.
2. If you are using leftover, then sprinkle some water on it and keep it microwave high for 45 seconds and drop into warm water with little salt.
3. Let them soak in it for 15-20 mins. Then squeeze them out without breaking and keep aside.
4. Take a handful of coconut, 1 green chilli and salt. Grind them to a fine paste and add to your curd.
5. Take about 1 cup of curd, beat it with little water to form a thin buttermilk consistency, add salt and drop the squeezed vadai into this and let it soak for about 30 mins.
6. Then take another 3 cup curd, beat it w/o water, mix the coconut paste. Mix this to the rest of the vadai and soak for another 1hr. This will help in puffing up the vadai well to absorb enough curd into it. If you like, garnish with little black salt, cumin powder, red chilli powder, grated carrots and chopped coriander. I like mine plain because I don’t have the patience!

Thattai

My husband has been asking me to make some snacks for quite sometime.. If I don’t find something and make, I know the usual Lays chips will sneak in very soon.. So i took the plunge to try some thattais. And they came out very well, crispy and nice brown…

1 cup Rice flour
2 tablespoon whole urad dal flour (Just fry the whole urad dal w/o oil for few minutes, not burning them of course. Let them cool and grind them finely)
2 tablespoon red chilli powder
2 tablespoon kadalai paruppu (soak this in water for about 30 mins, and pat dry them)
1 tablespoon Coconut (Chop them into small strips and quickly just toast them to remove excess moisture)
Dash of hing (Soak hing in teaspoon of water)
Salt to taste (Soak salt in water)
2 teaspoon of butter (preferably unsalted)
Oil for frying

Salt / Hing might contain tiny stones or dirt, and while frying they might burst. So for any murukku / seedai / thattai etc, soak them in water and add them to the dough.

First mix all ingredients except salt and hing to crumble. Then add bit of hing water, and salt water. Start to knead the dough. Keep adding water little at a time and knead the dough. The dough consistency should be like a soft ball, but not sticky, and when you just make balls they should stick w/o falling apart. Then take a about a lemon sized ball. Grease your hand with oil, on a plastic sheet, flatten these balls to a thin pattie. Do not let them dry for a long time. Make about 10 thattais and fry them. The heat of oil is very important. If it’s too hot, thattai will be crisp outside but still soft and uncooked inside. When you drop them in, they should go deep down and immediately fry and float on top. This is the right temperature. Drop them, and reduce the heat, fry on both sides and take them on a tissue paper. And by the time next batch is ready, increase the heat. This will ensure they are crisp and cooked well.