Tempura Pakoda

Starting this new year with loads of wishes, warmth and love. A very Happy New Year to all my dear blogger friends. Hope this year brings good health, prosperity and well-being of all.

I have been out of action, AGAIN, for the past 3 weeks. This time it is not any reason related to academics. I was literally kicked out of the kitchen.Thanks to the LONG renovation work that was happening. 3 long weeks surviving on microwave food..Uffff...It was unimaginable. Finally, I managed to get rid of that nasty electric coil range and welcomed my new lovely gas range. Also, the kitchen looks really pretty by abandoning the tiled counter-tops and installed a black granite top. Love my kitchen!!

Today has been a really lazy day. Was on the couch watching TV all day (which is very unusual of me). I never watch TV for more than 2 hours straight. My palates were tickling, my stomach was grunting..I was in no mood at all to have good Indian wholesome meal. I needed some munchy-crunchy kinda stuff. IDEA...I remembered that I got some Tempura batter mix from the grocery store a couple of days back. I felt like trying something with the batter and giving it an Indian Twist. And Voila..It worked..Yummy tempura onion pakoda..Goes perfect with some pudina chutney or a spring roll dip. Let check out how I made it.

(Kindly excuse me this time...I was so engrossed in making the pakodas and eating them that my camera had no role to play until the last pieces were the only ones left out and they were really lucky to be captured).

Ingredients
Tempura Batter Mix - 1 cup
Ice cold water - Approx. 2/3rd cup (May vary)
Salt - To taste
Red pepper flakes - 1 tsp
Black pepper powder - 1 tsp
Red Onions - 1 medium sized (finely chopped)
Spring onions - 2 sprigs (finely chopped)
Mint leaves - About 10 (Finely chopped)
Cilantro - A handful (Finely chopped)
Green chillies - 2 small - optional (I used Thai) (Finely chopped)
Oil - To fry

Method

• Mix the tempura batter as per the instructions on the box.
• Mix all the chopped veggies and add all the other spices.
• Whisk the veggies and spices well in the batter.
• Heat Canola/vegetable oil in a pan. Using a spoon add the batter into the oil.
• Fry until light golden brown.
• Serve hot with Pudina Chutney and Spring roll dipping sauce.

Notes

• Using greed chillies and/or red pepper flakes is optional. You can use either of them or both. I prefer spicy pakodas. So I used both.
• You can alter the ingredients I used like the choice of veggies. You can be creative and can use the veggies of your choice. But trust me this one is truly awesome...

Yam Roast / Senaikizhangu Roast

Yam or Suran or Senaikizhanguis a tuber that grows underground. It has a very wonderful earthy flavor to it and is used in many South Indian meal preparations. I had some guests over last week and I wanted to serve them some special appetizer than the usual store bought ones. So decided to make this Yam Roast. It is a very easy and a very simple appetizer to make. You can try the same dish with different tubers like Potato, Taro Root and Sweet Potato. I used a convection oven to bake and roast these Yam and it is healthy too as there is much less oil than the actual frying.The taste was so awesome that they just could not stop munching.

Ingredients:

Yam - 2 Cups
Red Chilli Powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 Tsp
Paprika Powder - 1/2 Tsp
Cumin Powder - 1/4 Tsp
Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp
Salt - Taste

Method:

• Cut the Yam into bite sized pieces and add them into a bowl.
• Add the Olive Oil and coat all the Yam pieces well with the oil.
• Mix all the dry spices in a different bowl so that they get blended into a homogeneous mix.
• Now add all the dry spices to the Yam cubes and mix well so that all the spices are well coated on the yam.
• Add the Lemon Juice and mix well and marinate for about an hour. The spices will be absorbed by the yam.
• Take a baking sheet lined with a aluminum foil and spray it with an olive oil spray. Place the marinated Yam cubes on the sheet.
• Pre-heat the oven to about 350^OF and place the baking tray in the oven.
• This should take about 12-15 minutes until it gets done completely.
• Serve hot and enjoy the Yam Roast with Tomato sauce or with any dipping of your choice.

Thattai / Crispy Rice Savory

I wanted to make Thattai's during Diwali. But I just did not have the time to make it. I just could not stop thinking of Thattai's for the past few days and finally decided to make them. They are perfect for eating as a snack with tea, or with Rice or just like that when you get bored!!
How I made them?????

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 1 Cup
Urad Flour - 3 Tbsp
Sesame seeds - 1 Tbsp
Chana Dal - 2 Tbsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 Tsp
Crisco or Dalda - 1 Tbsp
Ghee - Clarified Butter - 1 Tbsp
Curry leaves - A Few
Salt - According to taste
Water - A few tablespoons
Oil - For Frying

Method:

• Soak the Chana dal in water for about 2 hours and drain the water and keep aside.
• Take a bowl and add the rice flour, urad flour, sesame seeds, soaked chana dal, asafoetida, crisco/dalda, ghee and the curry leaves.

• Mix all the ingredients well without adding water.

• After mixing the ingredients well, we have to be able to hold the dough together between our fingers and our palm.

• Add water slowly using a spoon and make a very stiff dough.

• The dough should be like as shown below.

• Take an aluminum foil or a zip-lock cover for making the Thattai's.
• Take a little bit of ghee for greasing the hands so that flattening the Thattai's will be easy.

• Make small balls out of the dough and place it on the foil and flatten it out.

• Do not make it very thin otherwise they will break while removing.

• Make enough Thattai's and keep so that it gets easier and it saves you a lot of time.

• Prick the Thattai's with a fork so that they don't puff up while frying.

• In a pan heat oil and once the oil is hot enough, drop in a few Thattai's and allow them to fry for some time.

• Once they fry on one side, turn them so that they fry equally on the other side.

• Once they turn golden brown,you can remove them from oil.

• Drain out the excess oil and place them on a paper towel.

• Allow the Thattai's to cool down completely before relishing them.

• Store the Thattai's in a air-tight container and it stays fresh for about a week.

Notes:

• You can dry roast the curry leaves and add them or add dried curry leaves too.
• Crisco or Dalda is added so that the Thattai's get more crispy.