Vegetable Tikki

This was an experiment we tried today at home. We’d made bread sandwiches for breakfast this morning using potato vegetable. But some of the vegetable got left over. We weren’t sure what to make of it. one option was to add tadka later in the evening to have with dosa.  This evening tiffin was supposed to be aloo tikkis. So ma-in-law and I decided to make our own version using the leftover vegetable.

Ingredients:

• Leftover aloo kura (https://teluguveggie.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/puri-aloo-kura/) without the lemon and tadka
• 1 cup maida (or as per amount of veg left). Approximately 1:1 ratio
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• additional boiled potatoes if needed
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Oil for frying

Method:

• Set a wok with the oil to heat. The oil should be enough for shallow frying, not deep-frying
• Mix all the ingredients while the oil is heating. That way it will stay dry, and become soggy.
• Make into smallish  balls and pat into neat shapes
• Lower slowly into the hot oil, and shallow-fry till brown-ed on both sides
• Take out and set on a tissue to wipe off excess oil

Serve hot with a nice cup of chai/coffee. 🙂

Pesara Pappu Murukulu

Murukulu are light snacks popular in South India. They are also called Jantikalu.

This particular one was taught by my mother-in-law on her latest trip to our place. I usually make murukulu with senaga pindi (gram flour / besan). This time we decided to make them with pesara pindi (flour from moong dal). The preparation of the dough for this murukulu is different, as we need to prepare the flour first.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups pesara pappu
• 6 cups rice flour
• 200gms white/cooking butter
• 3 tsp salt
• 4 tsp red chilli powder
• 4 tsp jeera (optional)

Flour preparation:

• Take 3 cups pesara pappu (moong dal) and roast them in a large wok till it changes color
• Set aside to cool.
• After it becomes cool to touch, grind till it is a fine powder
• Put through a sieve, and grind the rough bits again till the powder is uniformly fine.
• Add the rice flour, butter, salt, chilli powder, jeera, and mix well to form a soft dough. Add water as needed.

Making the Murukulu:

• Use a 3-star plate in your murukulu press/chitti and check for how comfortable it is to press the dough though it. If it is very strenuous, add a little more water to the dough. Ensure that the dough is very firm. Too much water will spoil the dough.
• In a large wok, heat oil enough for deep-frying. Ensure the flame is on high.
• Gently press the dough into a large circle. Unlike all the other varieties of jantikalu, this one is not likely to hold the shape, but get split into smaller parts.
• Take out of the oil when done, and dry out on a sheet of paper/tissue.
• Store in airtight containers when cooled.

Vankai Pappu

I’ve made this particualr dal only once before… and it definitely tasted good even on the first try. Simply because its simple, and is a great option if you’re bored with all the other dal options in the kitchen. 🙂

Vankai Pappu

Vankai (brinjal)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup kandi pappu (toor dal)
• 5 medium size vankai
• lime-sized ball of tamarind, soaked
• 8-10 green chillies
• 1 tsp salt
• 1tsp chilli powder
• Tadka: aavalu (mustard seeds), jeera, mina pappu (urad dal), red chilli

Method:

• Cook the dal, chopped green chillies and vankai chopped into long pieces of 6 or 9.
• In the meantime, squeeze the juice from the soaked tamarind and keep ready.
• Once the dal has cooked, mash the dal and chillies well while keeping the vankai pieces intact.
• Add the tamarind juice, salt, chilli powder and mix well
• cook for 10 mins or till excess water dries up
• In a small wok, heat 1 tsp oil and add the tadka.
• Once the aavalu start popping, add to the dal and mix
• Cook the dal for a couple of minutes more and then take off flame.

Serve hot with rice and ghee.