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.

Vazhakkai Podimas / Raw Banana Curry

I had a nice plump raw banana at home and was very tempted to make Podimas out of it, just the way it was made during our wedding. I had a very vague idea as to how to make it. But I needed the exact method to make it. I looked it up into Shanthi's Cookbook. She had this delicious tasting Vazhakkai Podimas. I tried the recipe and it came out really very yum. I have altered the measurement of the ingredients as per my taste. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Raw Banana - 1
Oil  - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Chana Dal - 1 tsp
Ginger - Chopped - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - A few
Dry red chillies - 4
Salt - To taste
Coriander leaves - A few (Chopped)
Lime Juice - 2 tsp (I used concentrate)

Method:

• Cut the Raw Banana into big pieces and boil them in water for about 15 minutes.

• Once the bananas have cooled, peel them and grate them coarsely.

• In a pan, heat the oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds, Urad dal and Chana dal.

• Then add the dry red chillies, curry leaves and chopped ginger.

• Then add the grated raw banana and add salt.

• Add about 3 tbsp of water and cover and cook for about 5-7 minutes.

• Turn off the flame and add the chopped coriander leaves and drizzle the lime juice over the curry.

• Serve hot with Rice. 

• Enjoy the Vazhakkai Podimas!!

Lemon pickle

Pickles are an essential part of every Indian's meal. There will be no one who will not like the tangy and spicy pickles.Being a very avid fan of pickles, I decided to make lemon pickle for the first time.It has turned out really very very yummy,just the way my dear Granny used to make.

Ingredients:

Lemons - 5 (5 lemons in US , you can use 10 if Indian lemons)
Sesame oil - 1 1/2 cups
Asafoetida - 2 teaspoons
Red chillies - 20-25
Mustard seeds - 1 tablespoon
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt - About 3 tablespoons (I eyeballed the salt measure)

Red Chilli powder - 2 tablespoons (optional instead of whole red chillies)

Method:

• Wash the lemons and pat dry them well. The lemons have to be completely dried.
• Cut the lemons into wedges and add them into a clean and dry glass bowl.
• Add the salt and mix them well with a dry spoon.
• Close the bowl with a lid or cover the mouth of the bowl with plastic wrap or aluminum foil (If the bowl does not have a lid) and keep it aside.
• Keep the bowl in a sunny place for 4-5 hours daily for about 10-12 days.
• Let the salt get incorporated well into the lemons and the lemons will turn very soft in due course of time.
• After 10-12 days the pickle can be made.

After 10-12 days:

• Take a pan and dry roast the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and the red chillies.All of these have to be roasted separately.
• Instead of dry roasting the red chillies, you can even use red chilli powder. I prefer using dry roasted chillies and powdering them because of the freshness and the distinct flavor it gives.
• Grind all these dry ingredients into a fine powder.
• Heat 1tablespoon sesame oil in a tadka pan/any pan and once the oil is hot, pop some mustard seeds and add the asafoetida and set it aside and let it cool down completely.
• To the bowl of lemons, add 2 teaspoons turmeric powder, the ground masala powders and mix well with a dry spoon.
• Add the rest of the sesame oil and mix well.
• Add the cooled sesame oil mixture of mustard seeds and asafoetida.
• Mix all the ingredients well and store it in a clean and dry bottle.
• Let the mixture sit for a day or two so that all the ground masalas get well blended into the lemon and form a pickle.
• Enjoy the pickle with rotis, rice or even just like that..

Instant Mango Pickle/ Manga Thalar Oorgai

Mango pickle and Ripe mangoes are my all time favorite..I have never made this pickle in the 2 years that I have stayed here. I found the raw mangoes a few days back at the local grocery store and I decided that I would make this quick and easy instant pickle. You can store this pickle for almost a week but I am sure that the pickle will be empty from the refrigerator in a jiffy. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Raw mango - 1
Oil - 2 tbsp
Asafoetida - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - According to taste

Method:

• Wash the mango and pat it completely dry. Make sure that there is no moisture on the mango.

• Cut the mango into small bite sized pieces and keep it aside.

• In a pan heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds and allow the seeds to pop. 

• Turn off the flame after the mustard seeds pop up. Allow the oil to cool down a little.
• Do not cool the oil completely. Add Asafoetida to the warm oil.

• Then add the turmeric powder, Red Chilli powder and salt to the oil and mix it all well.

• Allow the oil to completely cool down .

• Add the cut mango pieces and mix well.
• Keep the pickle aside for about 2 - 3 hours.
• This pickle stays good for about 1 week.
• Enjoy the pickle with any mixed rice or curd rice.