Palak Cabbage Pakora | Spinach and Cabbage Fritters

I made these pakoras on a cold snowy & a lazy Sunday afternoon. They are a breeze to make & absolutely delicious!! Go ahead...It's alright to indulge in these fried beauties once a while.

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 15-20 mins

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

Shredded Spinach: 2 cups
Shredded Cabbage: 1 cup
Carom seeds/Ajwain/Om kalu: 1 tsp
Red chili powder: 1 tsp
Salt: As needed
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Gram flour/Besan: 1 cup
Rice flour: 2 tbsp
Fine Rava/Chiroti rava/Cream of wheat: 2 tbsp
Hot oil: 1 tbsp
Water: Approximately 1 to 1.25 cups

Other ingredients:
Oil for deep frying the fritters.

Method:

Mix in the shredded spinach, cabbage, carom seeds, red chili powder, turmeric powder & salt in a large bowl.

Let the mixture sit for 5-10 mins. The mixture will ooze out water.
Next, throw in the rice flour, cream of wheat, gram flour to it.

Pour in the hot oil & mix them all together.
Now, slowly add the water & make a thick batter. The batter should be of dropping consistency.

Heat enough oil in a kadai/wok for deep frying the fritters.
When oil is hot enough, drop in a tbsp of batter at a time to the oil.
Cook the fritters on med-high heat, on all the sides until the fritters are golden brown & crisp.
Remove the fritters using a slotted spoon & let them dry on a paper towel.
Serve these fritters hot with a dip/chutney or ketchup.

Doddapatre Bajji (Coleus aromaticus Pakora)

How are you guys? What are you planning for Christmas & New Year? I am back this monday & am all tired, sad, sick & what not!! On top of it.., I had to rush back to work on the same day.., hmmmmm..., Boring isn't it? I will write about my exciting trip to India in my coming posts. Also, will soon catch up with you guys too. I have got few recipe requests. Will try to publish them in the coming months.

I will quickly jump to the recipe & stop all the blah.., blah..
This bajji/bonda/pakoda.., huh...whatever you call it... is from my ajji(grandmom). The strong aroma of the doddapatre leaves along with the bland gram flour & the spicy chilli powder made a great match. I forgot all my diet & took 2-3servings :)

Ingredients:
Gram flour/besan/kadale hittu: 1 cup
Rice flour: 2-3tbsp
Chilli powder: 1 tsp (adjust according to your family needs)
Salt: According to taste
Baking Soda: a small pinch
Oil: 1 tbsp
Water: Around 1 cup (Sorry.., didnot have time & patience to measure it)
Doddapatre yele/Coleus aromaticus: 8-10 leaves
Oil: For deep frying

Method:

For the batter: Add the gram flour, rice flour, chilli powder, salt, baking soda to a bowl & gently mix them. Heat the 1 tbsp oil & when the oil is hot, add it to the gram flour mixture. Mix it again.

Now add water (little at a time) & prepare the batter. Batter should be like a thick milkshake.

Wash each doddapatre yele(leaves) carefully & allow it to dry or pat them dry.

Add sufficient oil to a deep pan & heat the oil. Dip the leaves in the batter(one leaf at a time) & put the leaves properly coated with batter to hot oil. Fry on both sides until they turn golden brown.

Drain it on an absorbent paper & enjoy the hot bajji/pakora with coffee/tea.



Notes:

1. Donot try to mix ginger, garlic, coriander leaves to the batter as it would out power the aroma of doddapatre leaves. These leaves have a great aroma (difficult to take.., if you are first time to this leafy vegetable).
2. Be very gentle while washing these leaves as they tear our easily.

Will write more about the medicinal values of doddapatre in my coming posts (One more interesting recipe using doddapatre soppu is following soon). Meantime, have a close look of the leaves.



Last but not the least....

"Merry Christmas. Enjoy your day with family & friends"

Lasooni Baingan Pakoda (Garlicy Eggplant Fry)

A person who is considered as a 'chatterbox, deterministic, energetic' has frozen down all of a sudden without even giving a clue to anyone or to herself. She used to be always filled with dreams, thoughts & now she has filled herself with a complete “VOID”. Before that NULL take over herself, she needs some serious counseling. By now, you would have guessed who the person is.., it is “ME”.

I am in a state that I’m not interested in anything (thank God, I still have interest in cooking :) ). No mood to work, no mood to blog, no mood to anything .., I feel my mind is no more in my control? I have asked myself a hundred times, but I have no answer. Am I homesick? May be.., not sure though. I’m trying my level best to come out of it.

That was an update about myself & now about the recipes. I have a huge backlog of pictures in my camera that needed attention. I have decided not to click any more pictures until I finish the stock. This dish is the oldest of all lying in my draft post since a very long time. So, thought of performing LIFO (Last In First Out) flushing of recipes. This time, I’m directly jumping into the ingredients list.

Ingredients:

Brinjal/Egg Plant: 1 medium sized (use purple colored long ones, Chinese Eggplant)

Garlic Paste: 1 tbsp

Gram Flour/Channa Dal: 3/4th cup

Corn Flour: 1/4th cup

Red chilli powder: 1 tsp

Finely chopped cilantro: 3 tbsp (I skipped this as I did not have stock of cilantro at home)

Salt: According to taste

Carom Seeds (ajwain): a pinch

Baking Soda: a small pinch

Hot Oil: 1 tsp

Oil: For deep frying

Method:

• Slice the brinjal & soak the slices in very thin buttermilk or water.
• Mix the gram flour, corn flour, salt, chilli powder, carom seeds, cilantro, baking soda in a broad vessel.
• Add 1 tsp hot oil, garlic paste to this.
• Add 1tbsp water at a time & prepare a smooth batter (should be like thick milkshake or like normal dosa batter).
• Heat oil in a broad pan.
• When oil is hot, dip the brinjal slices in the gram flour batter (ensure the batter coats the brinjal slice well) & drop it in oil.
• Fry on both sides till the pakora turns golden brown.
• Remove the fried pakora from oil & place it on a paper towel.
• Serve it hot with tomato/chilli sauce or green/mint chutney.

PS:

Garlic paste could be omitted & normal pakoras could also be prepared using the same batter.· I personally feel eggplant blends well with garlic & pakoras become more delicious.

Heerekayi Bajji (Ridgegourd snack)

When we were in India, preparing bajji/pakora used to be a rare event, may be during festivals or on some very special occasion, the reason being easy availability of them everywhere. But, after leaving India, it has become very hard to get these tasty bajjis/pakoras. The road side shops are no where to be seen here. Our tastebuds crave to eat all these, irrespective of the country in which you are residing. So, the only option to fullfil our wishes is to cook them, all by ourselves.

On one such Friday evening, it was heerkayi bajji, at our place.

Ingredients:
Besan 1 cup
Rice Flour 1 tbsp
Chilli Powder 1.5 tsp
Salt According to taste
Ridgegourd 0.5 (Peeled and thinly Sliced)
Oil For deep frying

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients except ridgegourd (heere kayi) and make a thin paste, out of it (The batter should be similar to thick milk shake)
  
• Now, dip the heere kayi slices one-by-one and deep fry them in oil
• Heerekayi bajji is ready to serve
  

Cabbage Pakoda (Yelekosu Pakoda)

After seeing LG's plate that contained bisibelebath, my tastebuds went crazy & they wanted me to fulfill their wish. Also, started missing Deepavali with all the family members. The entire family meet on these 3 days however busy they are. This year, we 3 were missing & all members celebrated the Deepavali in India.

I recalled my mom-in-laws dishes on the Amavyse day(Lakshmi Pooja). She prepares Paradi payasa (must item, she can never miss this), bisibelebath, vada/pakoda, rice, rasam, palya etc.., the list grows. My hubby's aunt prepares so many dishes on the Naraka Chaturdashi day like ottu shavige(Idiyappam), kaayi-halu, majjige huli, mango chutney, rasam, rice.., che!!, I missed it :(( All 3 days would be a fest for our taste-buds. These days, a special addition would be done along with the above mentioned recipes. My sis-in-law started preparing godi shira (wheat flour kesaribath).

So, I made a subset of what mentioned above on the Amavyse day. I prepared bisibelebaath, godi shira & cabbage pakoda. Had big plans for the Bali-Padyami too, but fell sick. So, didnot prepare anything great on that day :((



Here is the recipe of cabbage pakoda. Godi shira will be posted soon :))

Ingredients:
1 cup besan/channa dal flour/kadale hittu
1/2 cup chiroti rawa/fine semolina
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup akki hittu/rice flour
250gms cabbage (finely chopped)
salt according to taste
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp hot oil
a pinch of baking soda
Oil for deep frying

Method:

• Mix the besan, rawa, rice flour together with hot oil, soda, chilli powder & salt.
• Prepare a batter with the mixture using little water(similar to onion pakoda mixture). The batter should besimilar to idli batter.
• Now, add the cabbage to it.
• Heat the oil (for deep frying) in a kadai & when oil is hot, make small balls of this mixture & fry it till it turns golden brown in color.
• Pakodas are ready to be served with pudina chutney/tomato sauce.

Goli baje | Mangalore Bajji

How to make Mangalore bajji | goli baje?

 

Ingredients:
Maida - 1 cup
Rice flour: 2 tbsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp or less
Green chillies - 2-3 nos (minced)
Ginger: 1/2 tsp, grated
Sour curd | Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves: 5-6, finely chopped
Grated coconut: 1 tsp, fresh or frozen
Cumin seeds: 1/2 tsp, optional
Salt - according to taste
Water - As needed
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients (of course, except oil) and make a paste of it, using curd and water. 

• Batter consistency should be like the medhu vada (a little thicker than the idli batter)
• Keep it aside for an hour.
• Heat oil in a kadai and when oil is hot, prepare the bajji.
• Preparing the bajes: just like you fry any other bajji - Scoop out about tbsp of batter & drop it in the oil. 
• Fry the bajes till they turn golden brown in color
• Serve it hot - My hubby says it tastes better with hot coffee. I couldn't agree more with him :)

Bread Bonda

Another day...Another fried food :)
Everyone in my family, including my little monster, loves eating fried foods and the month of September, being full of family occasions, gives many chances for their (and even mine) wishes to get fulfilled...
This time the occasion was my son's birthday and the dish what I tried was 'Bread Bonda'...

Before we jump right in, my standard disclaimer:
If you are calorie conscious, please stop reading this right now and read my other blog on 'Ragi Dosa' :) :)



Ingredients:
Bread - 2-3 slices (preferably white bread)
Gram Flour - 1 cup
Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Rice Flour - 1 tbsp
Salt (according to taste)
Oil (for deep frying)


Method:

• Sieve the gram flour and rice flour
• In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except bread and make a paste out of it
• The paste should be thicker than the normal bajji paste
  
• Remove the edges of the bread and toast it on a tava till the bread becomes crisp
• Allow the bread to cool
• Cut the bread into smaller pieces (4-6 pieces)
• Dip the bread pieces one-at-a-time in the paste and deep fry the same
• Bread bondas are ready to be serve
• Tastes best with spicy coriander chutney or chilli sauce/hot & sour sauce.
  

Bendekayi Podi (Okra Pakora)

Let me tell you my story about this podi. I'm married to a person who belongs to South Canara District, Karnataka, India. His mother tongue is Tulu & I dont understand that :( But, in my in-laws house, they normally speak Kannada ( a regional language of India). I face a lot of problem (even now!!)when I go to his village, as they dont speak Kannada. Meanwhile, let me tell you.., podi means bonda/bajji or pakora in Tulu.

First time when I went to his village, I was amazed to see the variety of food prepared there. Even though I ate most of them for the first time, they tasted so good & felt like eating again & again. I can never forget the halasina kayi dose (raw jacfruit dosa)!! I'm missing them :(( After going there, I started eating lot of leafy vegetables like ondelaga(Alternate Name: timare, English : Brahmi) & kesuvina yele(English: taro leaf, colocasia leaves). Their food preparation was quite interesting & was amazed at the variety of items they prepare. Some of them to name are patrode (made from kesuvina yele), jee gujje podi ( breadfruit bajji/pakora), jee gujje idli, nendra bale hannina jamoon ( A sweet dish made from banana), timare tambli(brahmi tambli), karjoora barfi (a sweet made from dates). Aren't they sounding yummy?? I'll try to learn the recipe of each of them & try to publish.

Seems like, I'm lost in those memories.Let me come back to bendekayi podi...
I attended a Brahmopadesham function in his village & when they were serving the food.., they said...., podi.., podi. I didn't understand what it was" ??? " & said " no" to that. My husband's aunty who was sitting next to me suggested me to taste that as it was a different kind of pakora/bajji. I ate it & then realized it is ladies finger pakora :)) I had never heard or tasted before this pakora.It was sooooo tasty that I fell in love with it. I asked few of his relatives for the recipe but.., didnot get any response. Finally, I got the recipe..........., I was so happy that I tried it on the very next day & it turned out to be a disaster.

Relax ...., dont be shocked. I'm not posting that disaster recipe here. I have learnt it quite well now & here goes the recipe. Do prepare & enjoy eating!!. Dont forget to post me a comment..,after eating.



Ingredients:
Gram Flour (Besan) - 1 small cup
Corn Flour - 1 table spoon
Ajwain - 1 pinch
Chilli powder - According to taste
Salt - According to taste
Baking Soda - 1/2 pinch
Bendekaayi/Ladies Finger/Bhindi/Okra - 4 - 5 nos
Oil - for deep frying

Method:

• Wash and dry bendekayi and cut into small rings
  
• Mix together besan, corn flour, chilli powder, baking soda, ajwain and salt in a bowl
• Add water and make a paste (thicker than idli batter).
• Heat the oil in a kadai
  
• Mix ladies finger to the paste. (If you prepare this in large quantities, dont add all the ladies finger to the paste. Add as much required to fry once in a kadai. If you add all, the paste becomes sticky).
  
• Make small balls of the mixture & deep fry in oil. It should be fried on a very slow flame. The ladies finger needs to be cooked properly.
  
• Remove once it becomes crispy & golden brown in color.
• Serve hot with sauce.